I wanted to take this moment to thank the anonymous reviewers for their kind words: Val, Tam, Annabelle, Lou M., and Rozare.

OPEN WOUNDS

I woke up to the unpleasant smell of hair dye and developer. I was alone. The room was dimly lit. My stomach was growling as I sat up, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I could see light coming from around the corner, so I ventured towards it. There were several people in the chairs being worked on. As I focused on Fluttering, I saw that she was working on Sunny's hair. What was Sunny doing here? Over in the waiting area sat Burns. Fluttering was the first to notice me.

"Hey, sweetie. Are you feeling better? Look who came to rescue you." Fluttering was always happy. She couldn't know the horrible shambles my life was in.

Burns got up immediately and came to me. "Hey, Sis." He hugged me. "Can we talk for a minute?" Burns was generally a serious guy, but today he looked desperate.

"How did you find me?"

"I saw the van when we came back through town."

I led him back to the room I had come from. We sat in the dim light. "What the hell happened last night with Nate?"

"I don't know. We were having a lovely evening, and the next thing I knew he was kissing me." The lump in my throat was coming back.

"We got back, and Ian went looking for you. Sunny told him you were gone. He wanted to know why. She said she didn't know. She only knew that you said you screwed up your life. Ice told him that Nate had cornered you in the root cellar and was talking about you and him being together."

"Oh my god. What happened?" My heart was pounding like crazy.

"He went to the cave and found Nate in his room. He cornered Nate and asked him what happened."

"What did he say?" My stomach was in knots.

"Nate said that you were in love with him and that you spent the night together."

"Oh no. He didn't." My heart sank. "What did Ian do?"

"What do you think he did? He came home to no girlfriend and a guy claiming to have bedded her. He went nuts! He punched Nate in the face repeatedly and broke his nose and his jaw. He tried to strangle him. It took four of us to pull him off of him. We had to tie his hands behind his back and we literally dragged him to the root cellar. We united his hands and locked him in. He started punching the walls. I'm afraid he might try to kill himself. Wanda you have to go back," he pleaded.

I was shaking. "I'm afraid, Burns. He must hate me."

"Why would you sleep with Nate?" Burns was trying to be sympathetic.

"I didn't! Why did Nate tell Ian that I slept with him?"

"He didn't exactly say you slept with him. It was more like he implied it when he said that he spent the night with you."

"Then why didn't he clarify it to him?"

"I honestly don't think he had the chance. Ian broke his jaw pretty much on the first punch. I'm pretty sure Ian broke his hand doing it. Everything happened so fast. Nate didn't even try to defend himself. Even Kyle was shocked at the strength that Ian possessed."

"Superman." I murmured to myself.

Sunny came around the corner with her hair well coifed. She sat down next to me and hugged me tight. "Come home, Wanda. Ian needs you. He's a mess. I used up most of the 'Heal' on Nate. Ian has a broken hand. He won't let me touch him. Burns and I will go find some more meds, but you need to go back. Kyle is waiting for you. He's guarding the door to the root cellar."

"Nate is healed?" I asked hoping that he was.

"Yes. He's resting. It was quite an ordeal."

I got up to leave and immediately felt light headed and had to sit back down.

"Are you okay?" Sunny asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Sunny helped me get up and accompanied me to the bathroom. I felt like I had to throw up but I had no food in me. I had the dry heaves. When I came out of the bathroom, Fluttering greeted me with a broiled chicken breast sandwich from the shop next door. She had seen me order it during the lunches we shared during my two previous visits to town.

"Thank you! You are so kind."

"Sweetie, you are a dear friend. I know you are hurting but in my world, food always cures what ails you. Your friend Sunny says that she believes you and your boyfriend belong together, and she wants you to try and patch things up. If I was your mother I would offer you the same advice. You obviously love this boy."

"Thank you Fluttering. You are a good friend."

I ate most of my sandwich. Burns finished what I couldn't. He walked me to the van and hugged me. "Go get him, Sis. Tell him what Nate didn't have the chance to tell him."

Burns and Sunny drove off down the road to a town that had a small hospital. I turned around and headed back to the mountain. I didn't hurry. I was scared and I had to keep talking myself into not turning back. As I pulled around to the back of the house, Jeb and Ice were sitting on the back steps. They sprang to their feet and opened my door.

"Well, little girl, I don't know what you've done, but it's gonna take some doing to fix this. Remember how much you were hurting back at the caverns? For him it's one hundred fold. He feels betrayed. Be very careful in how you approach him. If Ian is what you want, you need to let him know that." Jeb was always good at giving advice without being specific. I turned his advice over and over in my head. I suppose the best thing would be to consider my words before speaking them.

Kyle was waiting at the root cellar. I'd never seen Kyle look so afraid. He wasn't afraid for him. He was afraid for his brother.

"How is he?" I spoke softly.

Kyle couldn't speak. His eyes were near tears and he just shook his head.

Seeing Kyle like this made my jaw start to quiver. I felt I needed to apologize to him as much as I needed to apologize to Ian. "I'm sorry, Kyle, I screwed up." He unlocked the door and held it open for me.

I stepped silently into the root cellar. It was dark and at first I couldn't see anything. After a minute my eyes adjusted to the dim light. Ian was sitting on the floor slumped over with his back to me. The wall that he faced looked like Swiss cheese. He had punched at least twenty holes in the wall. The holes were not deep because behind this wall was dirt. The root cellar was underground on that side of the room. In addition to the holes, there was blood spattered everywhere that he had landed a punch. It looked like the scene of a bizarre murder. I wanted to run to Ian but I couldn't. I was terrified by what I was looking at. I knew that Nate had suffered at the hands of Ian and even though I deserved it, I didn't want to get hit. I stood with my back against the wall near the door. It wasn't locked, but I couldn't walk away from this. I had to face the music. I just stood there, shaking, my eyes fixated on the back of his head.

He remained quiet for some time so when he spoke, it took me by surprise and made me jump. "Wanda, why are you here?" Besides the fact that his voice was cold, he had called me Wanda. That was like a stab in my heart. The question although very simple was filled with implications. If Burns had not come to get me, I would undoubtedly still be at the salon. Did I come back because they forced me to? No, I didn't have to come back. Did I come back because I was afraid Ian would commit suicide? Yes, there was that, but it wasn't the only reason. I came back because I still harbored that tiny grain of hope that Ian might still love me enough to forgive me. I didn't know how to put what I wanted to say into words. He put his hands on the floor at his sides to push himself to his feet and I could see the dried blood that completely covered his hands. He cried out as he tried to use them and ended up on his knees bent over absorbing the excruciating pain he was in.

"Ian. Your hands! Please let me heal them!"

"NO!" he growled.

The tears that had finally dried on the way home were coming yet again. Ian was on his feet now and turned to face me. My chest heaved as I saw that the look on his face was as crippled as his hands. He stepped towards me and stopped about a foot away. His face was contorted from the pain. "You didn't answer my question." He hissed.

All I could squeak out was "I'm sorry."

"DON'T SAY YOU'RE SORRY!" He bellowed as he swung his arms in the air. I flinched and turned my head to the side and closed my eyes. I was waiting for him to punch me. "Tell me, why are you here?"

I panicked. I blurted out the only thing that made sense to me. "I'm here because I love you."

He got in my face and exploded. "YOU LOVE ME? ...YOU LOVE ME?"

I couldn't back away. I was already up against the wall. I just cringed. "You love me, but as soon as I leave you are ready to jump in bed with Nate?"

I answered quickly. "I didn't…I wouldn't!" I reached out to touch his face and he backed away from me. "Ian I…"

He blasted me. "YOU DON'T TALK UNLESS I ASK YOU A QUESTION!" I lowered my eyes to the floor. He walked around the room as if he was debating on whether to ask the next question. I was shivering. My headache returned.

He brought his voice back down to almost a whisper. "He told me you were in love with him. Did you tell him that?"

"No, I never said that I was in love with him."

"But you do love him."

I didn't answer.

He spoke slowly. "Wanda. Do you love him?"

If I lied he would see right through it. "Yes, but…"

He punched the wall next to my head. I slid to the floor and cowered. Ian screamed out in pain. He cradled his hand in his forearm since that hand was broken too.

"GET UP!" He snapped.

Kyle had obviously heard Ian yell 'get up'. He came rushing in to see if I was hurt.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to changes in light. He couldn't see if I had been hurt. "Wanda?"

I raised my head to look at Kyle. "He didn't hurt me." I stood up slowly. I was shaking violently but I was too afraid to cry. Kyle didn't say anything further. He went back outside and closed the door gently.

I tried to be brave. "My love for him and my love for you are not the same."

The presence of Kyle must have calmed him because he spoke in a stoic voice.

"I nearly killed him when he told me that he begged you to make love to him. Do you know that? If they hadn't pulled me off of him, he would be dead right now."

I didn't know how to respond to that. Nate knew what was coming. Burns said Nate didn't even try to fight back.

"I can't think about Nate right now."

Ian turned his back to me again. He spoke in a low voice. "Wanda, they are leaving tonight. Go back to the caverns and take him with you."

"NO!" I bolted across the room and threw my arms around his neck. I pulled with all my might so my legs were off the ground and I wrapped them around Ian's waist similar to what I had done to Kyle when he was trying to throw me into the underground hot spring. Ian couldn't pull me off because his hands were useless. "No, Ian. I won't go. You can't make me go." I was pleading with him. My chest was heaving and I couldn't catch my breath.

He spoke as he had so many weeks ago in defeat. "Then, I'll go."

"NO!" I squeezed him tighter around his neck.

"Let go, Wanda!"

"NO!" He struggled to one of the cots and sat down with me still clinging to him. "Yell at me, beat me, do anything you want but don't leave me and don't make me go. PLEASE!" I was crying uncontrollably. Now that he was sitting I was in his lap. I pulled my head off his shoulder. I looked in his dead eyes. I was desperate. "I won't live without you. I can shred this brain you know."

The deadness in his eyes turned to horror. "You wouldn't."

"I don't want to!" I pulled my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry. It will never happen again. Please, Ian. Please!" I felt his arms slowly pull around my back. It was the smallest of signs. "I'll be the perfect girlfriend. I promise. Please give me another chance."

He was crying now too. "I don't know if I can."

We both cried for a long time. Eventually, I pulled my face to his and I tried to kiss him but he pulled away. "No." He spoke softly.

"Please!" I yearned for his kiss. I never wanted anything more in my whole life.

He was calm. "I need you to tell me what happened last night and don't leave anything out."

I tried bargaining. "Then will you kiss me?"

"I don't know."

"Let me at least heal your hands first." I knew they had used most of the 'Heal' on Nate but maybe even a little would help.

"No. I'm too upset to control myself right now and I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't believe you could hurt me." I lied. I was surprised he hadn't already hurt me, but I was sitting on his lap with my legs still tightly wrapped around his waist. The only way he could inflict pain would be with his hands. That would undoubtedly hurt him more than me. Unless, he head butted me and my head was already pounding.

"Wanda, you're evading the question." He growled in my face.

"Okay." My voice hitched. I spoke like a child in trouble crying to its mother. "I was bored without you." Right there I had already indirectly shifted the blame onto Ian. "I ran into Nate and he offered to take a walk with me. He asked me if I had ever been to the caves at night." I had to stop and wipe my tears from my face.

Ian had no reaction to my tears. "And?"

"And he showed me a special place in the caves where you can see all the stars in the sky. Then he showed me his room." Ian closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Nothing happened. I never even sat down."

He sighed and then opened his eyes. "Go on."

"We came back to the house and sat on the front steps. He asked me about the argument at the baseball game." Now I was careful because I wanted to get the conversation as close to the exact words as possible. "I told him that you were jealous of him."

"Did he not know that?"

"I don't know. He said he was jealous of you."

"That's understandable."

I hugged him again. "Oh, Ian! I don't want to do this!"

"You have to or it's never going to work between us."

"At least call me Wanderer. It's me, in here that you're mad at."

"Forget it. I'm out of here." He tried to get up.

"NO!" I wrapped myself tightly around him and he tried to peel me off of him but his broken hands couldn't grab me.

"AAARGH!" he cried out in pain. I locked my arms around his neck and didn't move for several minutes before he calmed himself enough to speak. "Wanderer." He paused. "If you truly love me then will tell me what happened." He spoke softly into my ear since he couldn't pull back to see my face.

"I don't remember where I was."

"You said he was jealous of me."

I eased my grip on his neck and leaned back so there was a space between his body and mine. I swallowed hard. "I told him that you insisted that I still had a thing for him. He asked me how I responded to that. I told him that I didn't say anything. Then I got up and walked to the top of the stairs and leaned against a railing on the porch."

Ian was tense. "Go on."

"Wait. I'm trying to remember exactly what he said." I stared off blankly trying to concentrate. "He said something had been bothering him for a long time. He said it was something you said."

Ian creased his forehead. "Something I said?"

"Yes, I was curious too."

"Well, what was it?"

"Before he spoke, he moved in front of me and placed his hands on the rail on either side of me. I remember feeling very uncomfortable." I looked away from Ian's face.

"So he trapped you." Ian surmised.

My legs had relaxed as the conversation had progressed. I looked down at the empty space between his chest and mine.

"Wanderer?"

"Initially, yes I was trapped."

"What was it I said to provoke this?"

"He said that when you sent me away to the caverns, you asked me to take him with me. I reminded him that I didn't because I didn't need to. I knew after one kiss that it was you I wanted to be with. Nate said when he told you that I initiated the kiss, and that he responded by kissing me back that you said that I tried too hard. He said that I had already made my mind up to not enjoy the kiss because I was afraid. He said I never gave us a chance. Then he kissed me. I tried to stop him at first."

"At first." He looked into my eyes. "So, you kissed him back."

My tears stung my already swollen cheeks. "I'm sorry Ian. As soon as it was over, I wished that I could take it back, but I couldn't." I was afraid that he would push me off of his lap, so I pulled myself tightly around his neck and locked my elbows with my hands. I couldn't see his face but I didn't have to.

His lips were near my ear. "You kissed him back so you must have enjoyed it."

It wasn't a question, so I didn't answer him. He slammed his fists down on the wooden edge of the cot and howled out in pain. I flinched and held on.

"Wanda, get off me before I throw you off!" he barked in my ear.

I didn't move. He called me Wanda again, and it stung. I chose my words carefully because I knew Ian was on the edge. I tried very hard to speak clearly into his ear without crying or blubbering. "No matter how I felt about the kiss, it never changed the way I feel about you. And it will never happen again because I won't be stupid enough to put myself in that position." I was angry at how Nate had tricked me. I punched Ian's back in anger. "I bet he was just waiting for the moment to get me alone."

"Wanderer?" he whispered.

He called me Wanderer so I felt that I could release my grasp to look at his face. As I pulled back I put my hands on his face and I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. I felt the charge of electricity between us. It lasted only a few seconds before Ian pulled away. "Stop," he whispered.

"Why? I don't want to stop." How could he not feel what I felt?

His voice was still cold. "You promised to tell me everything that happened." He paused and then he looked into my eyes. "Did you sleep with him?"

"NO!" My eyes did not waiver from his.

"Then what happened after the kiss?"

"He said, 'I knew it'. Then he said 'You are in love with me too'."

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. I was crying. I turned my back on him."

Ian looked lost. "Why were you crying?"

Now I looked into his eyes. They were dark blue in the dim light and piercing. "Because I knew that I could lose you."

Ian sighed and looked away from me. I knew this was not a good sign. Without looking back at me he continued. "So, you turned your back on him."

I swallowed again. My throat was dry and I couldn't produce any moisture in my mouth. "Yes, he came up behind me and kissed my neck. That was when he told me that he wanted to make love to me."

"So …why didn't you?"

I pulled his face to look at me. "When your lover is Superman, why would you want anyone else?" I was hoping to make him smile but he didn't.

"If that was true then why would you kiss someone else?" He was giving up.

"Come on, Ian! I didn't ask him to kiss me!" I needed to keep up my defenses because I wasn't going to let him give up. I was holding on by a precarious thread.

For the third time I tried to kiss him, and again, I was able to taste his lips for a few seconds before he pulled away. "Damn it, Wanderer!"

"What?" He called me Wanderer again. That was good. All of a sudden he looked really pale. He closed his eyes. "Ian! Are you okay?"

"It's the pain. Just give me a minute. I'll be okay."

I slid off of his lap carefully. I went to the door. Kyle was still outside. The sun was very bright and it tortured my eyes. I felt a wave of nausea pass through me.

"Did Burns and Sunny get back yet?"

"No, I haven't seen them."

"He's in a lot of pain. Don't we have any 'No Pain'?"

"I don't know. Do you want me to check?"

"Yes, in the bedroom. Look in my bag. There might be a bottle in there somewhere."

It was a relief to get back in the dim light of the root cellar. Ian was still sitting with his eyes closed. I brushed my fingers through his hair. He opened his eyes.

"Ian you might be going into shock from the pain. Maybe you should lie down."

"No." He muttered.

"Why are you fighting me on this?"

"He asked you to make love."

I was tired of this conversation. I wanted to take care of his physical needs. "That's it. The end."

"It's not the end. I want to hear it all." His voice was weak.

"Ian, do we have to do this right now?"

"Yes. What happened that you keep avoiding the question?"

I had to get through this in order for him to let me help him. "He said he wanted to make love to me. I pulled myself free of him and I asked him if he was out of his mind. I told him you would hurt him."

Ian's eyes closed and he started to fall sideways onto the cot. I caught him in my arms and held his head to my breast. I started to cry again. His hands were so swollen. It was painful to even look at them. Where the hell was Burns? I pulled out my cell phone. I dialed Burns' number on the speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Burns, where are you?"

"We're on our way back. We should be there within the hour. How are things?"

"He's going into shock. Both of his hands are busted up pretty badly. I'm really worried."

"Okay. As soon I get there I will come straight to you."

"We're still in the root cellar."

"How are you doing? The two of you I mean?"

"I don't know. He's very angry."

Kyle came through the door at that moment waving a little bottle. "I found some."

"Burns I gotta go. Kyle found some 'No Pain'." I snapped the phone shut and shoved it back in my pocket.

I turned my attention to Ian. "Ian, wake up. I need you to open your mouth so we can take away the pain."

"No." He didn't open his eyes but he was awake.

"Please, if you love me, you will do this, Please? I love you. I need you."

Ian opened his eyes.

Kyle held out the last translucent strip of 'No Pain'. "Come on, Bro. Open up."

Ian opened his mouth, and Kyle placed the 'No Pain' on his tongue. Ian closed his mouth. He closed his eyes again. We waited. After about a minute Ian took a deep breath. "That's better." His voice was normal again. I kissed the top of his head.

Kyle smiled. "Your hands are still broken, so let's try not to do anymore damage, okay?"

"Okay."

Ian sat up. Kyle hugged him.

Ian obviously was still not satisfied with our conversation. "I don't remember where we were in your 'night with Nate'."

Kyle interrupted. "I should leave. I'll be right outside if you need me."

"Thank you Kyle." I hugged him quickly and turned back to Ian. If I was going to finish this I wanted to be in the safety of his lap again.

"May I?" I gestured towards his lap and raised my leg to indicate I was climbing back on. The good thing about 'No Pain' is it makes not only your body feel better but your mind as well. I planned to take full advantage of that. He didn't deny my advance so I climbed right back on and immediately put my arms around his neck.

"You look better."

"I feel better." He smiled for the first time. It made me feel warm.

"Good. Can I kiss you now?"

"Can you finish the story now?" He was not going to let this go.

I begged. "One kiss?"

He pecked me on the lips quickly.

"Not fair!"

"What's not fair is you dragging this out. I don't want to make the wrong decision."

"It doesn't matter. I won't let you leave me." I tried to sound confident.

Now his smile was gone again. "Please, Wanderer, tell me what happened after he told you that he wanted to make love to you."

"I told you this already." Another wave of nausea took hold of me.

I could see he was frustrated but he kept his voice level. "I was a little out of it. Do me a favor and refresh my memory."

"Okay, let me start by saying that I love you very much."

Ian raised an eyebrow to me.

"Nate told me that he wanted to make love to me." I felt like if I said this one more time I was going to scream. "He whispered it in my ear actually. I pulled away from him and said and I quote: 'Are you out of your mind? Ian will destroy you!'." I was very animated as I told him this as I tried to relive the moment.

"You know me so well." He pulled his mangled hand up to rub his forehead.

"Ian!" I caught his arm before he touched his hand to his head.

"Sorry, I forgot." He put his arm back on his knee where it had been resting before.

"He said he would die a happy man and then he pulled me to him."

My cell phone rang at that instant. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. "It might be Burns." I looked at the number. "It's Nate."

At that moment Ian growled and stood up. My arms were not around him and I was suddenly falling head first to the cement floor. He realized what was happening and instantly sat back down and caught my body in his hands just before my head was about to hit. The phone flew out of my hand and skidded away from us. I shrieked in fear. He pulled me tight to his chest. I felt so relieved. I felt his hands on me. The bones were already broken and disjointed. Using them could only make things worse.

"Ian, your hands."

"It doesn't matter. I don't feel any pain. You could have been hurt."

I put my hands on his face and turned my head to the side to kiss him. He didn't pull away. I pressed my open mouth to his. He kissed me back. I was delirious. I held his face and guided his head as I kissed him again and again before I finally pushed my tongue into his mouth. Our tongues circled each other. I licked his lower lip. He caught my lower lip between his lips and then pulled it gently between his teeth. "I love you." He whispered between several smaller kisses.

All of a sudden Burns came crashing into the room. "I've got the meds." He was followed by Kyle, Sunny, and Nate. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust and they stared at me sitting in Ian's lap with my legs wrapped around him. We definitely did not look like we had been fighting. Sunny called out 'Yes' and pulled her fist in a victory pump. Everyone was smiling at us except Nate.

Ian growled when he saw Nate. "You son of a bitch. I'll kill you!"

I pulled myself around Ian again and whispered in his ear. "No. He's not worth it. Focus on us. Please? I need you." I pulled back and stroked his face until he stopped looking at Nate, and focused only on me. "That's better." I didn't take my eyes off of Ian as I addressed Burns. "Burns will you come and take care of Ian while I talk to Nate?"

"I don't want you talking to him." Ian barked. I promised to be the perfect girlfriend, but I had a score to settle with Nate.

"Please, Ian, I need to do this. We won't leave. We can talk right here. I won't talk to him unless you say it's okay."

Ian closed his eyes. "Go."

"Thank you." I carefully climbed off of Ian's lap and turned towards Nate. He was standing near the door. I crossed to him but I stopped a few feet short. "Hey…are you better?"

His dark eyes were sad. "Yes. I'm better now."

"I heard it was bad. I tried to warn you."

"I know."

Enough small talk. I needed to get to my point. "Why did you lie to Ian?"

"About what?"

"About us. Why did you tell him that I slept with you?" I knew Ian was listening to our conversation.

"I didn't lie about anything," he said with a straight face.

I was stunned. He was taking my words and twisting them around. Technically he never told Ian that he had slept with me. Ian assumed it. Nate just never denied it so therefore, he never actually lied. I had to try a different approach.

"Are you saying you slept with me?"

"You know you wanted it," he replied. I stumbled back. He didn't answer the question. He again implied that we had. Ian roared and lunged towards Nate. Kyle and Burns pulled Ian back. Nate stepped quickly towards the door and before he left he said, "I'll always love you." And then he was gone.

Ian stared at me with fury in his eyes. "YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T SLEEP WITH HIM!" He bellowed.

"I DIDN'T!" I wailed. This new scream fest was making me dizzy.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" he screamed.

"NO!" I screamed back.

Sunny grabbed Kyle and Burns, and pulled them towards the door.

"I haven't finished healing him!" Burns protested.

"This is more important." Sunny spoke with authority. The door shut behind them and I heard the lock click.

I was alone again with Ian and he was furious. I crossed the room to where Ian was standing. I tried to hug him.

"Oh no. Not this time," he said defiantly.

"Ian, I didn't sleep with him. He twisted everything I said to him."

Ian stood in the middle of the room and stared at the ceiling with his arms outstretched. "WHY ME? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?"

My heart was pounding out of my chest. I felt dizzy and nauseated. I climbed onto Ice's cot and lay down. All the work I had done to try to fix things, and Nate destroyed it in a few sentences. My head was pounding again just like last night. I curled up in a ball and tried to squeeze the pounding from my head.

Ian called out, "Wanda, get up."

"No, it hurts."

He stood over me and grabbed my wrists from around my head. "Don't you do anything stupid."

It was my turn to give up. "Ian I love you, but I can't fight anymore. I'm exhausted and my head is pounding. Leave me now. I'll go back to the caverns…alone." I couldn't even cry.

Ian stood over me. "So, are you going to let him win?" He seemed sad.

"He already did. You believe him over me." I put my arm over my eyes to block out the light.

"Wanda, get up." It was an order.

"No. I feel sick."

He tried bargaining. "I want to show you why I went on the road trip with Burns."

"I don't care."

He was frustrated now. He grabbed me by the arms and pulled me out of the bed and to my feet. The sudden change in position made me queasy. There was a bad taste rising up the back of my throat. I tasted hot water in my mouth. My migraine headache had come full circle. My knees buckled as the vomit came up my throat. Ian reacted quickly. He circled around my back and wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me from kneeling in my own vomit. He pulled my hair away from my face. "Are you done?"

"I think so."

He scooped me up and cradled me in his arms. He kicked at the door. "Open up, Wanderer is sick."