A/N: I don't own the Host, but I do own a copy of the host! Is that good enough???
Ah, the golden days. I think that's what they're called. The days and weeks and months that have passed can only be expressed with a term as priceless as gold.
Our lives continued uninterrupted and not unhappy. We were always happy these days. And today was no exception. The only downside was a little stomachache. Of course I didn't tell anyone that. No need to worry over nothing.
I hoped it would go away soon, but the hours stretched and stretched until it became unbearable. Ian noticed when he saw me with my face pressed on the counter. I lifted my head to greet him, but he was frowning.
He took long strides and quickly closed the gap between us. When he put a hand on my forehead, I knew I was busted. When he said "You're sick," only added further proof.
I looked away and nodded slightly. He frowned and took my hand, leading me out. It took me quite a while to realize what was going on. "Wait, Ian…it'll go away; there's no need to be anxious. I can still do my morning chores and maybe it'll help--"
"Wanda, please don't argue with me. Whenever you're sick, you can't make straight decisions. Now just listen to me this time. You're going to take some medicine and you're going to rest," he said firmly.
Ian was always like this whenever anything bad--from an attack by humans to an attack by the common cold--happened to me. I knew arguing would do no good so I just grumbled an "okay."
He left me in our room for a while. He later came back with some medications from Doc. This is ridiculous; it's just a stomachache and a cold! But I didn't voice my thoughts and simply took the medicines. I was seeing stars soon after.
I woke up and yawned as loud as can be. "Finally up, sleepyhead." I turned and spotted Ian lying next to me.
"Yup. Have I been sleeping long?" I asked, my brain still disorientated from the medicine. I stood up and that only added to the whooshing in my head.
"Not that long. How do you feel?" he asked suddenly serious.
"Much better, actually," I said with a smile, "I don't feel a thing."
Ian stood up from where he had been sitting next to me. He walked up to me and placed his hands on my face--staring deeply into my eyes. Of course, I was feeling hypnotized by his stare and didn't even notice the blood rushing to my cheeks. He finally smiled and kissed me, finally confirmed of whatever he had been thinking.
"Just checking if you were still sick or not. Well, we'd better hurry before all the good stuff's gone."
I smiled as he took my hand.
Amazingly we caught the eggs before Kyle or anyone else devoured them all. There was hardly any, but at least there was some. After all the riot was done, I took the tub of dirty dishes and walked to the room with the streams. I didn't get far and before I tripped and fell to my doom, Ian had taken the tub away from me.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be on washing duty," I said.
"Well, now you will be on watching duty and I will be on washing duty. Apparently, that's the only job that fits your requirements," he said with a smile, clearing teasing me at how weak I was.
I didn't care. I smiled back and rolled my eyes.
He started washing the dishes quickly and thoroughly. But every so often he would look at me and smile. I so loved his smile. I wish I could always see him smile.
This reminded me so much of how Melanie was with her Jared. He would always smile and she couldn't help smiling back. I remembered how Jared had changed so drastically when Melanie disappeared. I wonder if that would happen to Ian, if he lost me. I wonder if that would happen to me if I lost him.
The horror that struck me was so fierce. I felt it seeping at me and for some reason, I felt it seeping from my stomach…up my throat…No this was obviously my imagin-
My thoughts were proved wrong as I violently threw up--right on the recently cleaned dishes.
I was slightly aware of Ian hollering out my name--demanding to know what was wrong. He picked me up when I had nearly fainted and left the now dirty dishes there. He carried me all the way to the hospital wing and that's all I remember.
I was still in the hospital wing. I sat up and noticed I was in the dark. Why had that happened? I thought to myself. Why had I thrown up? I hadn't eaten anything bad. I barely ate anything at all!
My hands flew to my stomach as I felt the pain. My hands tightened as the pain incresed. Oh, why did this stomachache have to turn so frighteningly painful?
"Are you okay?" I heard someone whisper. I turned and saw Ian looking at me with such worried eyes. He had his arms folded on the rail of my cot and his head was half-hidden, but his eyes were in full view.
My hands flew off my stomach as quickly as they had appeared. Deal with the pain, I told myself. "I'm perfectly okay," I said lying through my teeth.
"Don't lie to me," he sighed as he closed his eyes, "Why didn't you tell me you were feeling so bad? If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know? How am I supposed to help?" he whispered his questions with such sadness.
I gulped back the lump in my throat. "Ian…" I put my hand on his hand, but he wouldn't open his eyes. Had he fallen asleep? No, I didn't believe that. I placed my hands on the sides of his face and dragged him up to me; that forced his eyes open. I lightly kissed him on the mouth. "It's okay…I'll…I'll be okay."
But the sudden pain stroke me harder than before and I gasped out in pain. I couldn't hold back my scream. I hugged my stomach and buried my face in my lap. After a few minutes, the pain become bearable and I sat up to face Ian.
His face was as I had expected. Horrorstruck. "Wanda…" he whispered as just a few tears escaped his eyes. No…I couldn't handle this too.
"Ian…" my voice was thick with tears. The pain was too much! "Ian, it hurts," my voice sounded so childlike as I spoke. "It hurts so much." My hands kept gripping my stomach and my face fell into my lap again.
"Wanda."
This surprised me so. Although the pain was excruciating, I looked up to question why Ian's voice had changed.
The look in his eyes had changed also. They were so…resolved.
He continued, now that he caught my attention. "Wanda…I'll make the pain go away. I swear to you, I'll make the pain go away."
He stood up and started walking towards Doc, whom was currently sound asleep.
"What're you--" I started asking but he didn't stop to answer me.
He shook him awake; "Doc," he said. "Still got any morphine left?"
This surprised Doc. "Uh, yes. It's right there in the second cabinet. But why do you--"
But just as he did with me, Ian hadn't stopped to wait for him to finish. He raided the cabinet until he found the morphine. As he walked to me, my slow brain started working. My eyes widened in fear.
I didn't even have the energy to stop him as he took my wrist and injected the horrible meds into me. My pain had struck again and I bit my lip to avoid the screaming. I tasted blood.
I wouldn't move from my stiff sitting position. Ian noticed that and reclined me so I was lying on the cot. I looked up at him with narrowed eyes. My brain somehow managed to still be working through all the pain and drowsiness. I didn't need to open my mouth to ask the question; Why? my eyes clearly said.
His eyes softened. He touched my cheek and I held onto that hand. "Wanda…you must be very confused and I probably...won't be able to explain for some time but…I'll come back. I swear to you; I'll always come back to you." he said it with such certainty.
Yes, my brain was definitely confused. And what was he talking about when he said for some time? Or when he said he'll come back? Where was he even going in the first place?!
But those questions are for later. All I knew is that he'd always come back to me. With that happy thought in mind, I slowly edged closer to sleep. The pain was hardly even noticeable anymore.
"Oh, Wanda?" he asked.
"…Hmm?" I slowly answered. I wanted to sleep, but I wanted to hear his voice more.
"One more thing. I love you, Wanda. Always have; always will," he said, his voice getting quieter and quieter as the morphine seeped into my system.
"…Me too…" I whispered. And with that, I plunged into the dark.
A/N: Ah, I would like to clear something up. I don't think Burns and the gang are going to show up again, so I feel I need to write this down here. Burns actually never liked Wanda. Well, not that way. The kiss on the head was like saying "Farwell, my little sister." And you know how he was relieved when Wanda told him to leave? It was because he knew how loveable Wanda was and he didn't want to fall in love with her. And Ian was kinda bothered about Burns because he thought Wanda would fall for him or he'd fall for her.
But anyway, story's over. The real reason I had the other rebel gang there was because of how they were in the last chapter of the Host. I felt like they had to be in my story sorta.
Oh, I'd like to add that I'm re-reading the host. And because of that I've gotten so much ideas it looks like I'm gonna be uploading much quicker and sooner. The different rebel gang kinda strayed me away from my plot, but no biggie.
Hope you loved this chapter. Took me quite a while and this was actually two chapters separate. But the first one was kinda boring for me so I added the previously-known-as-chapter-9 to this. Hope it's okay. R & R! Please???
P.S: Are you wondering how Doc stayed asleep during Wanda's screaming? Let's just say in my story he's a heavy sleeper ;)