Hey guys! I'm really glad that you like my story so far and I'm really thankful for that! Things will start to pick up soon, I promise.

Thanks to HockeeChica, howling-wolf28, sapphirenight12, ladaane, emotionalpoemgirl, hanaharoo, aleex9350, twihardhannah, WhiteCamellia, PachO'shea, DracoMalfor4Ever, RawSugarX23 and native-soul for your wonderful reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Host or any of its characters; they belong to the lovely Stephenie Meyer. I do however, own the plot.

Ian POV

"I love you. I love you. I love you," I repeated in my head over and over again as I looked up at Wanda and where she was sitting on my lap. I could say it in my head a million times, but how hard was it to say out loud to her? I knew that I truly felt that way, but I supposed that telling her that right then would seem a little cheesy, especially since she was the one who had grown a pair and confronted me about the kissing thing. I had wanted to kiss her properly for a long time, but I just wasn't sure how she was feeling about everything, so I held off on it. I must have pushed it too far or something though for her to ask like that, and I vowed to never let that happen again.

"Are you okay?" she inquired gently, twirling her fingers through the hair at the back of my head and I couldn't help but to nod my head and marvel at her amazing ability to put others before herself. In a way though it could be seen as a bad thing; as Melanie had so graciously demonstrated when she used it to blackmail my Wanda into going outside with her.

"I'm fine," I responded, rubbing my thumb against her small cheek and simply watched as the blush instantly painted her soft skin like magic. "Are you?"

"I'm good. No, I'm really good," Wanda amended, bending her head down towards mine once again, to which I instinctively reacted by inclining mine up to meet hers halfway. The result was that our lips met in another heated battle and it felt like my heart was going to split in two with the love that I felt for her; there was so much of it that it was very overwhelming.

I decided to take a chance and see just how far Wanda would be willing to take it; not that I was going to seriously push anything, I was too much of a gentleman for that, but just one step further wouldn't hurt. If she pushed me away, then I would know that she wasn't ready. As her lips left mine so that she could take a short breath, I gave her a quick grin before I felt them back on mine. When they met again, I slipped my tongue out and let it touch her lips for a second, testing to see what her reaction to that would be.

I could feel her lips curve up into a smile before they opened up for me and my tongue slipped inside of her mouth. Our tongues clashed for dominance for awhile until she drew away from me again, but I wasn't ready to let go of her just yet, so I buried my face into her neck, kissing at the skin there instead.

"Please don't leave a mark there," Wanda breathed heavily and I stopped kissing her for a second, unwillingly ripping my lips from her porcelain skin.

"Why not?" I whined a little bit, but my voice was much lower than it normally was and I knew that it was because of Wanda's affect on me.

"Just... please," she pleaded with me while still trying to catch her breath.

I simply nodded before gently placing my hands on either side of her head and holding it in place. I knew that she would be questioning me, but instead I placed soft kisses on her skin, creating a trail from her shoulder up to her lips where I lay another kiss upon them. I then pulled away from her and looked Wanda right in her eyes.

"Are we okay?" I inquired, nuzzling my nose against hers and she simply beamed back at me, nodding her head ever so slightly and biting her bottom lip that was red and swollen at the same time.

"Good," I said, kissing her cheek one last time. "I think that we should get some sleep then. We've had a big night."

"We sure have had a big night," Wanda echoed me and I knew that she had felt something as well. When we had kissed for that first time I knew that something inside of me had changed. It was hard to find words to describe the feeling that I had felt, but I hadn't realized that she had experienced something similar to that as well until that moment.

"I've got to go and retrieve the laundry that I left down at the river room though before I sleep; I probably shouldn't leave it down there all night," Wanda told me, climbing off of my lap and sitting beside me. I quickly scrambled on top of her, effectively caging Wanda's small body underneath mine and forcing her to lie back down onto the mattress.

"I will go and get it. You stay here and relax a bit, okay?" I basically instructed Wanda, quirking my eyebrow at her for good measure and she laughed. Her laugh was very contagious, so I ended up chuckling along with her.

"Fine," she sighed, caving in to my request. "But come back quickly, okay?"

"I'll be back before you know it," I promised, leaning in to press another sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Eww, Ian!" Wanda giggled, wiping it off her cheek dramatically, but I knew that it was all very theatrical, for she was beaming the whole time.

I pushed myself up and off of her using my arms to propel me and Wanda used the opportunity while I was standing up to scoot her way up to the top of the bed. I made my way over to her side and held up the sheet for her while she got settled underneath of it before I brought them up higher to tuck her in. I could see Wanda rolling her eyes as I bent forwards to kiss her forehead.

"Hurry back," Wanda said while nodding ehr head and I smirked at her.

"I'll be back before you know it," I replied, smoothing her hair down one last time before I turned from her bedside and walked towards the door. I really didn't want to leave her, but I knew that she was right; we couldn't leave the laundry down by the pool all night, someone was liable to make off with it if they hadn't already.

I had a slight bounce in my step as I walked down the hall toward the fork in the sleeping tubes and as I got closer I could hear several voices speaking to each other about something, but I couldn't exactly make out what they were saying. I decided to stay out of whatever was going on so that I could just go about my business as quickly as possible to not keep Wanda waiting; I certainly didn't have any hopes for what exactly she wanted me for, but knowing her it would be something simple like lying with her as she fell asleep. Of course I wouldn't deny her of that, one of my favourite things to do was just to hold her; and it didn't matter to me where we were.

As I got nearer to the fork, the voices became clearer, and I could tell that Melanie and Jared were arguing with each other again. I shook my head as I stepped out into the area that they were in and noticed Kyle with them as well, but for once in his life he was being quiet. All of their heads snapped around to look at me and I felt a little self-conscious and continued to move towards the entranceway by skirting around the walls.

"Don't let me disturb your fun," I said to them in a joking manner.

"No, you're actually just the person we were looking for," Jared said and I stopped moving, turning to frown at him instead.

"But you knew where I was, you could have just gone and knocked on the door and I would have come out to play, you know," I teased and heard several footstep and looked to my left just in time to dodge Kyle's fist before it came into contact with my arm. "Hey!"

"Kyle, leave him alone!" Melanie hissed and he complied, stepping back only to cross his arms over his chest in his 'menacing' look. "Jeb is looking for you. We were debating whether or not you were sleeping and if we should wake you up," she finally explained.

"Is it something that can wait until the morning? I just want to get the laundry I was going to retrieve and then go to bed," I said, sighing. Of course he would find something that needed to be done right then though; it never mattered to him what the others were doing, as long as his jobs were completed.

"I don't think so," Jared said, shrugging and giving me an apologetic face. "After he read us the riot act when we got back, he practically demanded that you go and see him right away. He thinks that he's seen something out there again. We all had a look and didn't see anything, but he wants your expert opinion too."

"I will go down and get the laundry. I know where she left it because I'm the one who dragged her away from it in the first place. Sorry about that, by the way," Melanie offered, but I didn't accept her apology for giving me a near heart attack when I saw Wanda out by that store. For all I had known, something had happened in the caves and she had been taken away from me again.

"How is this going to be explained to Wanda though?" I inquired, looking them all right in the eyes. "I don't want her to know about whatever is going on out there; I don't want to freak her out or anything and she'll already be suspicious if I don't show up with the laundry like I said that I would."

"I will go and get it," Mel said, stepping forward. "I can just make up some excuse that I went and beat you to the punch or something and that I didn't see you along the way. It's no big deal."

"Fine," I relented, moving towards the entrance. "Where is Jeb?"

"Up top," Kyle finally spoke and made himself be known for more than just a fly on the wall through the whole conversation. "I can come with you if you want."

"No, I'm good," I told him, not getting why he would feel the need to come with me. "Where's Sunny? Don't you need to be with her?"

"She went with Jamie to get him something to eat before bed. They'll be back soon though, I'm sure. I'm still coming up just in case you two decide to be gentle about this or something; then you'll need a take charge person," Kyle said and I shook my head, but walked away from him. If he wanted to follow he could, but I didn't want him there, per say.

I arrived at our little hiding spot outside the caves and found Jeb there, looking through the binoculars at the landscape around us while whistling out one of his tunes. Jeb turned around and spotted me while still looking through the binoculars before breaking out into a wide smile and taking them down from his eyes.

"What did you bring him for?" he asked, jutting his chin out towards Kyle and I shrugged, shaking my head.

"Trust me, I didn't want to him to come along, he just sort of followed me out here like a lost puppy dog or something," I explained and Jeb frowned at him.

"Beat it," Jeb said simply to Kyle, pointing towards the direction back to the caves and I bit back a smile at his bluntness.

"But I figured that you needed someone else with a bit of muscle out here just in case, you know?" Kyle said, flexing his arm muscles at us, which was pretty ridiculous, considering that we were all men and had plenty of muscles to go around.

"Get inside," Jeb said in a threatening voice and Kyle shook his head and waved his hand at us as we watched his retreating back get farther and farther away from us. Eventually he was gone from eyesight and that was when Jeb spoke to me.

"Ian I called you up here to have a look at something that I saw out here earlier before you all came back, which was probably why I was a bit hard on you all when you got back from your little raid and stuff," Jeb explained to me, handing me the binoculars and pointed me out in the same direction that he was looking in before.

"I don't see anything," I said honestly, slightly annoyed with Jeb if he had called me out for something that wasn't even there in the first place. I kept looking around though, just in case I did find something in another place.

"It's out there. You just have to keep looking and be a little patient and it will move around again. It doesn't appear to be following the pattern of the lines I left some people, but I can't be sure. I'm not sure if it's the same one from before or not though."

"Jeb, do you think that it's alone, or are there other people with them?" I asked, focussing in on a spot where I thought that I saw something moving in the desert, but I wasn't sure if it was from the wind or not.

"No idea. What do you think that we should do about it, Ian?"

"Well, I definitely think that we need to keep an eye on it to see if it's alone or not, and if it's just looking around or not. Remember how Wanda's Seeker just sort of searched around but didn't come close? Maybe they're doing it again or something because of the whole ordeal with Pet's mother when Wanda was out there with them," I suggested, stifling a yawn as I kept my eye trained on the unmoving spot.

"Possibly. I believe that you're right about the watching it deal. I'll do it for awhile, and then you can come and relieve me, okay? But I don't know if it has anything to do with Wanda this time. How would they have known to come all the way down here looking for her? You guys don't leave trails or anything when you're out," he pointed out and I nodded.

"That's true," I agreed with him. "Well, if you notice anything out there, come and get me right away. Unless you don't want my input, which is totally justified, seeing as how it's your place and all and you make all the decisions."

To my surprise, Jeb burst out into a belly aching laugh and I was temporarily frozen as it echoed through the vast space that was around us. While I was stuck in one place, I scanned my eyes around the landscape that was immediately in front of me to make sure that nothing was disturbed by his outburst.

"Relax, Ian. If something was out there to get us, it would have shot us or run over at the first decibel that had echoed through the air. Now pass me those binoculars and get back inside to sleep some before I come to get you up here to take over for me," Jeb instructed and I willingly handed over the binoculars and spun around to head back to the caves.

Once I got back inside, I headed back down to my room and I was really tired. It had been an emotionally charging day all around; first Jared wanted us to go out and get some Heal because he had some 'feeling' in him about whatever, and then we find the girls out there as well. I seriously needed a vacation, I realized as I scrubbed my face with my hands, especially after everything I'd been through in the last six months; hell, we all did, but we simply couldn't ever have one anymore. That was just another thing that had been taken away from us.

I carefully edged the door aside so that I could step through as quietly as possible, just in case other people were sleeping or something. In the moonlight I noticed the laundry stacked in a pile right beside the door and I stepped around it just in time so that it didn't get knocked over and undid all of Wanda's earlier work. I quickly made my way over to the bed and crawled in under the covers to curl around Wanda's back. As soon as I touched her I knew that she was asleep for her body didn't move at all, except with the slow and steady rhythm of her breathing.

I groaned and rolled over onto my back and ran my left hand through my hair before letting it rest under the back of it. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the person that could have been out there walking on the ground over top of our rooms. I knew that the ground was thick enough to hold people without having them fall through; Jeb had told me one time about how he'd tracked his way around to the top of the tubes and jumped all over the place to test it. Plus, we hadn't had any cave-ins at any time that I had been living in the caves with everyone, so I still believed that it was okay.

I couldn't believe that I had been away so long that Wanda had fallen asleep before I'd gotten back; that really wasn't my intention to. I wanted to be back before then, as she had not only asked me to be back, but because I just wanted to after our little breakthrough and everything. As I lay there, Wanda rolled over towards me and settled her head on my chest as her legs intertwined with mine. I grinned at her move and wrapped my right arm around her torso when I felt something drumming on my chest so I looked down at met her silver eyes.

"I fell asleep," Wanda whispered groggily and I could see that she was fighting to keep her eyes open to look up at me. "Mmmmn you said you were coming back in time."

"I know, I'm sorry," I apologized, offering her a small smile in apology while smoothing the hair back off of her head. "I got talking to my brother for awhile and then the laundry wasn't there for me to get."

"I know, Melanie brought it back," she said sleepily and I chuckled at her a little bit, watching her head bounce a little from my motions. "She beat you to it."

"Indeed she did," I murmured, watching Wanda's heavy eyes close and I could see that she was giving up the fight to keep her eyes open. "Go to sleep, Wanda."

"Mmmmm," she groaned one last time before I felt her fingers stop moving and I could tell that she'd fallen asleep again. I let the smile linger on my face until it faded away and my heart felt like it was full at that point with her curled up against me like that. I had to think of a good plan to tell her that I loved her, I decided while combing my fingers through her soft, silky hair.

Jared POV

"Well, did you at least get what you were out there looking for?" I asked Mel while we walked along to get Wanda and Ian's laundry. I hadn't wanted to, opting to go and lie down but she had forced me using a combination of her literal body force as she pinched my arm hard and then threatened me. I essentially had no choice in the matter so I trudged along beside her with my hands in my pockets.

"We sure did," she chirped and got this almost dreamy look on her face. That was enough to cheer me up a little bit and I reached out to wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into my side so that I could place a kiss on the top of her head. "Well, at least Wanda and Sunny did."

"Didn't you get to have a say in what they picked? I mean, clearly you couldn't go into the store and whatever, which I am eternally grateful that you didn't even try to, by the way, but still," I said, probably sounding stupid to her, but thankfully she didn't say anything about it.

"Well Wanda was supposed to keep in mind what I had imagined myself in from before and all, and I trust them," she concluded. "I haven't actually seen the dress, but that's just a small technicality in the grand scheme of things, really."

"Who are you and what have you done with the usual sassy Melanie," I teased and received a glare from her. "I'm just kidding with you, baby."

I braced myself for the contact that I was sure would come when she smacked my shoulder, but it never came. Instead, we simply walked along until we came to the opening to the river room and I could hear the echoes from the streams flowing through loud in my ears.

"I forgot to bring a flashlight," I groaned while peering into the dark space. "How are we ever going to find the laundry this way? It will take all night!"

Melanie simply let go of me and walked away while I watched her retreating back until it was swallowed by darkness. I stayed where I was so that I could leave that place with Mel fast whenever she returned to crawl into my bed and fall fast asleep; that was what I was looking forward to the most. In a few seconds, she returned into my line of sight and I could tell that she was holding something in her arms. Once she got close enough to me I stepped forward with my arms out, offering to take the clothes from her but she shook her head and continued to walk right past me. I smirked before I turned around and followed her out of the room, not at all surprised that she had just breezed by me like that.

As soon as I caught up to her we kept walking side by side until we got out into the main plaza, not really speaking to each other. Personally, I was exhausted and I could tell that Mel was tired as well as she was shifting the weight around in her arms quite a bit.

"Just pass it over here," I instructed her, taking a chance in dictating what she should do as I placed my arm on hers and stopped us in the plaza.

"Jared, I'm fine," she replied but it wasn't convincing enough for me so I simply reached over and took the load out of her arms and walked away without saying a word. I looked behind me and saw her standing there in the moonlight glaring at me so I just smiled at her.

"Just wait one minute, Jared Howe!" she called after me and I slowed my pace when I heard her running footsteps on the ground. "I was perfectly fine with carrying that, you know. You don't have to be all 'knight in shining armour' like and save the day and whatnot."

"I know," I shrugged, not really caring about what her argument was going to be. "I just want to finish this up quickly. I know that we're both tired and stuff, so let's just make this go faster, okay?"

Mel grumbled some form of a response but didn't make any move to take the stuff away from me so I counted that as a battle won. I knew that in our lives together we would have many fights; we already had minor ones and stuff, but I thought that the reason we did disagree was because we were both just looking out for one another. That was where our personalities clashed, but I could look past that part; I loved her way too much to not do that. Overall I believed that we would have a happy life together, and I could certainly picture little ones running around. Ideally, I would never want to bring a child into the world that we lived in, but I didn't ever get my hopes up too much about getting out and having our lives get back to normal. Waiting wasn't much of an option, because I didn't want to waste time and then have us be too old if we ever did make it out. Living in hiding had certainly changed my view on things, and if we ever did bring a child into our environment I had no doubt that it would be well loved by everybody, as we had our own little community instead of just Mel and I on the run on our own.

Eventually we made it back to Wanda and Ian's room and I handed the clothes over to Mel who took them in to her. I waited outside and could hear Mel giving her lame excuse to Wanda, who ate it up right away and totally believed her. I sighed and shook my head a little bit; Wanda was a bit too trusting sometimes. I needed to work with her on that, but I wasn't sure how much of that could be changed, and how much of that was just how souls were in general. Mel came out rolling her eyes at me, to which I just smiled and held my hand out for her to take, which she did gladly. As I led her back to our room I felt her hand squeeze mine a few times and when I held back the curtain she kind of gracefully skipped inside and stood there, facing me.

"What?" I asked cautiously, noticing right away the smirk and the look on her face; it usually meant that she was up to no good.

"Nothing," Mel answered innocently, looking up at me through her eyelashes, which she knew affected me. "I was just hoping that you weren't too tired tonight, Jared."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, taking another step inside the room. "Of course I'm tired, and you should be too. We were working our asses off all day and then I went on a raid and you were out and everything, you know that."

Quick as a flash, Mel had her shirt up and over her head and she threw it at me; I caught it right away, but couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"I know. I was just hoping that we could do a little something else, Mr. Howe, that's all," Mel said kind of innocently, but I took two great strides and was at her side, holding her in my arms in an instant.

A/N: Done school, so there will be updates from now on every Sunday, just like they used to be way back in the day for Broken and Bleeding.

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