It had been four days since Jodi had grown stronger, and she was now completley back.
All that was left now was to take Sunny out and put her into a new body.
Almost everyone had agreed to give Sunny a new body, and it would be nice to have someone else help with all the things I did. I loved going on the raids, but it would be nice to skip a few now and then.
Let Sunny go instead of me and Ian.
It was always me, Ian, Jared and Mel who went on the raids. Jared would want Mel to stay home sometimes, and Ian wanted me to stay home. No one wanted to risk the girls' they loved.
And me and Mel was the opposite, didn't want the mens' we loved being on the raids.
So we had made a deal, if I went, so did Ian. If Mel went, so did Jared.
And since Jared always went on the raids - he was the best - so did Mel. And they needed me, so Ian always followed.
We would leave for a new raid in only an hour, and this time Sunny followed. It was her body after all that we were getting, and she had a right to choose. Kyle followed, too, mostly to say goodbye to Amanda. We would drop her off at the caves she lived in, and then find a body for Sunny, and hopefully be back tomorrow.
But now I was on my way from the bathingroom. I had taken a quick bath to clean myself up.
Ian was still asleep as I left him, and it was time to wake him up. If he wasn't already awake.
Jared and Mel probably were, or at least Jared. And it wouldn't surprise me if Sunny and Kyle was deep asleep. Jared always woke up first, and woke everyone up.
I had woken up from myself awhile ago, and I had already eaten breakfast.
I found my jeans after awhile of searching, it was difficult to see in the dark, and pulled them on.
It wasn't until I was about to leave that I slipped over a rock or something – as I said, it was dark – and fell to the ground. It didn't hurt, but I probably got a small scratch. And I had difficulties to support myself on my left foot.
I groaned. Just perfect timing, of course I had to hurt myself as we were about to go on a raid.
I tried to support myself as much as I could on both foots, so that I would walk faster, and stumbled my way over to the hospital. Doc probably wouldn't be there, but I knew where to find the No Pain.
It took awhile for me to get there, longer than it used to, but eventually I made it.
Doc was there, but fast asleep. For a quick second I wondered what he was doing there.
Had he and Sharon had a fight, and had she kicked him out? I hoped not.
I was as quiet as I could, so that I wouldn't wake him up, and quickly found the No Pain.
I didn't have to wait long for the effect to work, and then placed the rest in my pocket.
Just in case. I wouldn't tell Ian about this. I didn't want him to worry about me.
It was just a sprained ankle, nothing to worry about. But if he asked, I would tell him the truth.
That I had fallen over something, and hurt my ankle.
I could walk completly normal as I walked back, and I felt no pain at all.
Ian wasn't in our room, so I walked to the kitchen were I found everyone, including Ian.
"There you are. I was beginning to worry about you... Which I should of, since your bleeding," Ian said as I sat down next to him, and he dried my blood away with his thumb. It wasn't much, just a scratch on my head.
"Oh, well you shouldn't be. I tripped over something, it was dark and I didn't see anything. Nothing, really," I said, truthfully. A sprained ankle was nothing.
"Then why do you have No Pain in your pocket?" he murmured to me.
"How do you know?" I asked, curious. It was in my pocket, how did he see it?
"You didn't hide it very well. I could see it as you walked into the room."
I sighted. He knew everything, and I loved that about him.
"Okay, so I might of sprained my ankle. But I'm not sure, and I didn't want to wake Doc."
He had looked peaceful, and it was still early in the morning.
"You might?" Mel asked me, and I nodded at her.
"Give me your ankle," she said then and I smiled at her, doing as she said. She pulled my jeans leg up, and examined the leg.
"So, the so called expert, do you find anything?"
"You shouldn't have taken the No Pain, but I think it's a sprain, and you shouldn't support on it."
"Told you," I said then, looking at both her and Ian.
"And you shouldn't follow with us, Wanda."
"Why?" I looked at Mel, as I asked her the question.
"Like I said. You shouldn't support yourself on the foot. I am the expert after all," she grinned as she said the last part. She really was something of an expert when it came to sprained ankles or wrists.
"What makes you an expert?" Kyle asked her, and she sighted.
"I've had my deal of sprained ankles in my life."
"How many times?"
Mel and I looked at each other, and answered the question at the same time, laughing after.
"Seven."
"Seven?" Kyle was shocked and both Jared and Ian raised an eyebrown. Seven was seven times two often after all.
"What the hell did you do? Torture yourself?"
"Climbed trees, played football, climed more trees. And once, when I was eight, I fell off my bike."
"Oh, and don't forget the time you were a cheerleder, and fell down. I'm surprised you didn't break your leg that time," I said then, and Mel glared at me. She didn't really like the fact that anyone knew about her being a cheerleder.
Jared and Kyle almost dropped their chins, and Ian's eyebrown rose again.
Mel seemed to want to dig a hole and hide in it for the rest of eternity.
"You didn't tell Jared about this?" I asked, disbeliving. The told each other everything. But as I thought about it, I couldn't remember that conversation.
"No, no one was supposted to know. And if you hadn't been inside me, no one would."
"Oh, come on. You were cute as a cheerleder, don't be ashamed."
"I was eleven. And no, I wasn't."
"You were eleven, and very cute."
"I'm having trouble pickturing you as a cheerleder," Jared said then, smiling.
"She only did it to...-" I started but Mel interuppted me by glaring at me.
"I don't know about all of you, but don't you think we should leave Wanda and Ian, and find Sunny a new body?" Mel looked at me the entire time.
"Why did she do it?" Jared whispered to me over the table, as quietly as he could.
"I can hear you Jared, I'm not deaf. And Wanda, don't you dare say anything!"
"Jared, you should probably ask her yourself, even though she probably won't tell you."
Jared looked at her, and it seemed like he was thinking the same.
Ian took my hand, and I squeezed it gently, trying to remember exactly why Mel had done it.
I knew the reason; I just didn't remember how he looked like.
I gasped as I realized why the boy looked so familiar too me.
"Mel, I need to talk to you. Now."
I got up and so did she, and I walked with a fast pace out from the kitchen.
I had to be wrong about this. It couldn't be? Right? No way that it could be like I thought it was…
"Wanda?"
I stopped and turned around, so that I faced Mel.
"The guy that you tried to impress, when you were a cheerleader… What was his name?"
"Wanda, I was eleven. I don't remember, what is this about?"
"Tell me about him."
"Eh…" she looked like she was concentrating hard on remembering.
"He was there on vacation over the summer, with his family. They were visiting relatives, and they knew my parents. That's how I met him. It's ridiculous really, I never even talked to him."
"How did he look like? Brothers, sisters?"
"Ehm… I think he had a brother, and a sister. Both older then him. Dark haired, pretty long… Wanda, what is this about?"
"Think about it Mel. You're describing a guy, with black hair, long. Has a brother and a sister."
Mel concentrated on my words, and it was obvious when she thought the same thought I had been thinking for several minutes know.
"Oh no! It can't be, right?"
"I don't know. And I'm not planning on asking him, Mel."
"If I had a crush on him… Oh please, kill me now," she groaned the last part, just like I wanted to.
We heard footsteps from the kitchen, and we stopped talking.
First we saw Kyle, Jared and Sunny, and then Amanda and Ian came after them.
Mel groaned again as she saw Ian.
"Mel, it's not like you have a crush on my husband right now, so shut up!" I whispered to her, hoping no one would hear me.
I still had a hard time picturing Mel having a crush on Ian when she was eleven, and I honestly I didn't want to. It was just stupid that she had a crush on him so many years ago, and only a few months ago she wanted to hit him when he kissed her lips, even though she knew it was me that he was kissing. But still. Just plain stupid and weird and definitely not something I wanted to think about.
"It's not like I ever wanted to, right? And it's not like I knew it was him," she whispered back to me.
"What are you two so sneaky about?" Jared asked, and put one of his arms around Mel's waist.
It looked like she relaxed the second he did, and she probably did just as I always did when Ian put his arms around me.
"Wanda just wanted to ask me something," Mel said quickly, and no one seemed to notice that her words were almost a lie. Sometimes I wished it was so easy for me. But at the same time I loved the fact that I couldn't lie to Ian. Not that I ever wanted too.
We followed them to the exit, were we said goodbye to everyone. Especially Amanda.
It would be awhile until we saw her again. Ian said goodbye first.
They hugged each other, and said a few words I didn't listen to.
If I would, I would probably be crying. It was emotional for some reason.
A brother saying goodbye to his sister, not knowing when they would see each other again.
"Wanda, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure," I was a little confused by her question. What did she want to know?
"I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I can understand if you don't want to answer my question… But, I've learned that the souls name have something to do with the planets they've been on. Your name is Wanderer, and I figured it had something to do with the fact that you've been on a lot of planets. Am I right?"
I nodded at her, answering her question. For some reason I got reminded of my teaching days here in the caves, and noticed I missed it more then I thought I would.
"How many lives have you lived?"
I didn't know how to answer this question. Should I tell her the truth? If I did, she would find out about the fact that I had been inside Ian. How would she take that? I looked up at him, asking him with my eyes what I should do.
"It's okay," he said and squeezed my hand.
Amanda didn't seem too confused about our little exchange; she saw them between us all the time.
"Earth is my ninth planet."
"So, eleven lives?"
"No, twelve actually. I had another host between Pet's body and this. Only for a few days, though."
She looked surprised, but composed herself quickly. Now I was going to tell her the hard part, and I had no idea of how she would take it.
"Who was your eleventh host? And why did you change?"
I couldn't say it, didn't find the words, and I leaned into Ian for support.
He removed his hand from mine, and wrapped his arms around me, and I relaxed instantly.
I hadn't even realized I had stiffened, before I felt my body relaxing into his.
I didn't have to look at Ian. He understood, and continued for me.
"Her eleventh host was me." His words were confident, no hesitation as he spoke them.
Amanda composed herself faster this time, and I couldn't read her emotions.
Her poker face wasn't as good as Jeb's, but it was still good and hard to see through.
"H-h-how? Why?" she asked, and Ian begun to explain.
I didn't listen, I cut them out. Didn't want to hear the words, didn't want to experience it again.
It was something I didn't like thinking about, and I really didn't want to hear about it.
So instead I though about teaching. I would like to do it again, I had always liked doing it. Especially here in the caves, with all the people I care about. But as I thought about it, I figured I had told everyone all of my stories.
They knew most of it, and I couldn't really tell them the stories again.
Ian and Doc were always the one with the most questions, and Jeb and Jamie with the most interesting. But Walter and Wes had both of them asked me several questions I had to think about to answer, and they had been there supporting me when I needed it.
As I though about them I got sad. I missed both of them, two close friends.
Walter had left Earth too soon, but hopefully he was with his Gladdie now. Happy.
But Wes was all too young to die. He and Lily had been so happy, and I felt so sorry for her.
They had had so little time together.
I couldn't even imagine a world without Ian. I couldn't imagine myself living if he was dead.
Instantly, almost like a reflex, I leaned closer into his side and pulled him closer to me at the same time. I wanted to feel his living body closer to me. I wanted to feel his chest heave up and down with his even breaths.
"Wanda?" Ian's voice pulled me back to reality, and I looked up at him. He looked… worried?
I didn't realize a few tears were leaking over until I spoke. That's probably why he was worried.
I wiped them of with the back of my hand before I answered him.
"I'm okay. I just thought of something."
His look clearly asked me what I was thinking about, but it wasn't something I wanted to talk about right now. With people around us.
"I'll tell you later," I promised, and he hugged me tighter never breaking the eye contact.
I heard Amanda then, saying something. I had almost forgotten about her being there, next to us.
I turned to look at her, and she looked very calm. I couldn't tell if she had the poker face on or not.
What did she think of me now? I felt the need to apologize.
"I'm sorry," my voice was only a whisper for some reason.
"You don't have to apologize for anything, Wanda. It's not your fault."
I was about to argue with her. It was my fault. If I had just told Ian to stay in the van with Mel and Jared none of this would have happened.
But I didn't have time to do just that, before Kyle spoke.
"Amanda, we need to go." He said the words and then he turned around and walked out to the rest.
"I'll see you, soon I hope," she said and then gave me a quick hug and left.
As she had disappeared out the exit Ian lifted me up in his arms.
"Ian?" I asked him, probably looking as confused as I felt.
"Mel said you shouldn't support you foot, so I'm helping you do just that," he said, and started to walk. None of us said anything until we were in our room, sitting indian style on the mattress.
Our fingers were intertwined together, our eyes boring into each other.
"Tell me."
"It's nothing really. I just thought about that maybe I would like to teach again, I miss it. And then I thought about Walt and Wes, and that I miss them too. And that I feel so sorry for Lily, they had so little time together. And I can't even think about not having you in my life. I don't know if I could exist if you didn't." I looked down at our hands as I spoke, twisted together like our lives.
Ian unfolded one of his hands, and placed it on my cheek, making me look at him.
His eyes were penetrating, burning beautifully, as they looked into mine.
"I'm not leaving you. Ever," his voice was calm, confident.
I climbed up into his lap, so that our faces were only a mere inch away from each other.
I placed my arms around his neck, locking them there. His free hand was stroking my back.
I closed my eyes, and leaned my forehead against his.
"I know. It's just… I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."
It was quiet for a few minutes, before he spoke.
"Baby, look at me." I did as he said, and slowly opened my eyes.
He moved his left hand so that it was on my other cheek, so that he was holding my face between his hands.
"I am here. And I'm always going to be, okay?" It was easy to believe him.
I nodded and he placed a chaste kiss on my lips.
"Good. So don't ever think like that again." His voice was only a whisper, but he had a determination in his tone that made me believe him even more.
---
Ian and I were sitting in the hospital talking to Doc when they got back from the short raid.
I had been right when I guessed he and Sharon had had a fight, and that's why he had been sleeping in the hospital. It was ridiculous really. She was one of the few that didn't want Sunny to be here in the caves. 'There wasn't enough room, and we already have a soul here' she had said, and Doc had argued. He was one of my best friends, but he didn't have to do that. I already knew how Sharon and Maggie felt about me, and Doc didn't have to argue with Sharon over it.
And Mel was right when she said it was a sprain, and that I shouldn't support on it.
Doc had just told me to take No Pain if it hurt, and I would.
But since Ian insisted on carrying me, I hadn't had the chance to feel any pain yet.
I was relaxing more and more into Ian's side, and I was close to sleep when we heard footsteps coming closer.
We saw Mel and Sunny first, and then Kyle with a body over his shoulders.
Jared was probably leaving the van, and it would be awhile before he would come back.
I didn't take much notice on the girl hanging over Kyle's shoulder. Short, dark hair hanging over her small and dainty body. She looked cute.
But when Kyle laid her down on the table, and I saw her face, my chin dropped.
Long forgotten memories flooded back into my mind. Two children, girls, playing on the playground. Teenagers, talking about boys, friends, and music. And a dramatic, heart breaking goodbye.
Two best friends saying goodbye, knowing they won't see each other again.
Without realizing it I was standing up and walking toward the sleeping body on the cot.
I didn't listen to the people around me, just looking at the 21 year old woman in front of me.
She looked so different. In my memories she was blond, and had long beautiful curly hair.
But it was the same person.
"Celia."
"You know her?" Mel asked me, and I didn't look up as I answered the question.
"No. My body did, though. Before Rises with the Sun was inserted into it, they were best friends. They knew each other since they were born. They were like sisters."
I held her hand, and squeezed it gently while Doc prepared himself for what he was going to do.
I felt Ian standing behind me, and I leaned my back against him.
"Where did you find her?" I asked as Ian took the cryotank Mel had in her hands, and prepared it. He was the best assistant, after all.
"A couple of hours away from here. I don't really know where we were, since I fell asleep," Mel laughed, and I smiled. I hoped Celia had lived a good life before a soul was inserted into her. But at the same time a small part of me hoped that she was still in there, so that she could live again. I knew Sunny would take care of her body, but it would be nice to meet her.
Very carefully Doc placed the beautiful soul in the cryotank, and Ian closed the lid.
Now, all we could do was to wait.
So, between this chapter and the next it's going to be a gap of a few months. Review, and just let me know what you think ^^
Just so you know.
In the beginning of next chapter you will now what happened under these months, and then the real story begins.