Hey guys! Sorry, real life got in the way! It was my birthday and then a bunch of stuff happened, so sorry about being late (again).
Thanks so much to hanaharoo, ladaane, oohapoo, piccolover22, PachO'shea, Separate Entitiy, DracoMalfoy4Ever, jediah sokaroxx, 123-Markham-123, anmapamo, 4-eva-bookworm, HockeeChica, emotionalpoemgirl, 17cowgirl, Silent Shootting Stars, Karen Mc N and O'Shea Fan 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
"Megan?" I asked again, blinking a few times just to make sure that I wasn't seeing anything and that she really was standing there in front of us. I opened my eyes up again and saw that she was staring directly at me with a similar look of disbelief to the one that was plastered across my face.
I noticed that she had begun to lift the corners of her lips up into a smile, but I cut my eyes across the group to Kyle to see what his reaction to the development would be. He was still gripping the knife tight in his right hand, but he was scratching his right shoulder while shaking his head back and forth. Kyle must have sensed my gaze on him because he turned his head to look over at me and together we shared a significant look.
"Anyone care to explain?" I vaguely heard Melanie ask from somewhere in front of me, but I was in so much of a daze that I barely even knew how to start responding to that question.
"Megan was our next door neighbour for all of our lives," Kyle finally spoke up after a minute of silence. "Well, technically just her and Ian's life cause I'm older than them and all."
"Our Moms were really good friends," Megan added and everyone's head turned to look at her. "It was one of those things where the three of us spent all of our little lives together; from all of the family trips everywhere to bathing together as toddlers. Not that I remember that, they just had lots of pictures."
"While that's cute and all, but who are the rest of you?" Maggie asked, obviously not impressed with our little story. The other people introduced themselves, but I didn't retain any information from the introductions, I was just so shook up at the fact that someone other than Kyle was there from my past. I thought that I would never see anyone from that 'old life' ever again, but standing in front of us was the number one person in my life for a number of years; well, outside of my family, of course.
I felt my right hand being squeezed and looked over to see Wanda giving me a questioning look, I could tell by her face that she was confused and just wanted to see what was going on. I was surprised that none of the new people had noticed that my one hand was out of their sight, being held at an awkward angle for someone supposedly coming to them alone. I nodded at Wanda who took a tentative step forwards, so I smiled widely at her to know that it was all okay out there. The thought of them not liking the fact that Wanda had switched teams did cross my mind, but then I realized that the number of us that were holding weapons outnumbered the number of the others, so I figured that she would be covered if anything were to happen; I would be the first one to jump in front of her should anything happen.
"Where's Wanda?" someone asked and I whipped my head around to see that all eyes were trained on me.
"She's right here," I told them, giving her hand a gentle tug and Wanda stepped out from behind the rock to stand right beside me. I took the opportunity to let go of her hand and wrap my arm around her waist instead, simply watching her reaction to the scene around us. It was kind of hard to do in the dark, but I was so attuned to her that I could sense exactly what was going on with her. Wanda first glanced at me for reassurance before looking at all of the familiar faces around us; I quickly gave her a smile and felt her relax ever so slightly. When she looked over the unfamiliar people two of the men gave her little smiles, but one looked away right away. I was a bit relieved that none of them had really noticed what she was until Megan spoke up.
"What the hell are you thinking? She's a soul!" Megan practically cried out, but Jeb and a few others shushed her; just because we had found them, it didn't mean that they were the only ones out there in the desert.
"Wanda is my friend and she lives with us and if anyone has an issue with that then they can find another place to live. That's my rule and we all have to live by it, you hear?" Jeb spoke up and I was glad that he did so that I didn't have to. Plus, it was better that he did, since it was his place and all.
"But... but... she's one of them," the man closest to Wanda said maliciously, with a menacing gleam in his eyes. Instinctively, I turned our bodies so that I put myself in front of Wanda, angling us as I glared back at this man. At the same time, I was a bit surprised to see that both Jared and Kyle stepped in front of us in sort of a protective stance. It was nice to see that they were both willing to stand up for Wanda, just like I was.
"Yes, we know, and..." Melanie piped up, but Jared cleared his throat and she stopped, which was probably the best thing for her to do. Judging by the tone of her voice, she was looking for an argument, and that was the last thing that any of the group needed with these new people if we were going to make anything of this meeting.
"Why are you guys not doing anything about it?" another man asked and I shuffled Wanda back a few feet just in case.
"There's nothing to do about anything," Jared responded. "Wanda is with us, end of story."
After that, nothing was said from the men about the subject, but I could tell by the look on both of their faces, and Megan's that they still weren't really happy with the settlement.
"Ian," Wanda whispered into my right ear, and I tilted my head down towards her so that I could keep my eyes on the newcomers standing there and staring right at her. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that I came out here after all; I should probably go back to the caves or something."
"No," I murmured in response. "No, you're not going anywhere. Hiding you away won't make anything any different; they were going to have the same reaction whether you were out here with us or not. Don't worry; we won't let anything happen to you. Besides, I don't think that they will pull anything with us armed and all."
"Okay," she said quietly, and I gave her a small squeeze into my side and holding her a bit tighter.
Jeb then began to give his usual speech about the rules of his place if they chose to go with them. He also told them of the other colonies that we had found out about, should they want to ever hook up with one of them instead of us and then made them decide whether or not they wanted to join us. They all agreed to, which wasn't much of a surprise at all because they didn't really have any other place to go unless they wanted to run around some more, and I bet that they were all tired of that by that point in their lives.
Everyone turned to start travelling back in the direction that we had come in from and Kyle and Jared jogged over to us before anyone else had even started moving their feet.
"You two should go ahead and we'll kind of sandwich them in between us. Jeb, Maggie and Brandt can hold up the back," Jared said matter-of-factly. "I still don't trust them very much and there is no telling if they'll try to pull something over us."
"Sounds good," I replied, nodding my head. "I doubt that any of them will give us much grief once they're all back home and living with us and they can see exactly the role that Sunny and Wanda play though. I think that it was more just the combined initial shock of learning that there were more humans out there and the fact that we have a... Wanda with us."
"You can say it you know," Wanda said and I looked down at her to see that she was shrugging the shoulder that wasn't attached to my body. "I won't be offended if you say it; it's not like it's a bad word or anything, I am a soul."
"Wanda, how many times do we..."
"I know Ian, we've been over this a hundred times as you keep reminding me, but you know as well as I do that I am not human. As much as I would like to be, I am not and just because you don't want me to say the word 'soul' out loud doesn't change what I am. You were about to say it, so I think that you should give up the whole thing Ian. I'm okay with you saying it; you don't have to hold anything back."
I honestly couldn't believe all the stuff that was coming out of her mouth right then and I knew that I had to set things straight right then and there. For some reason, she was clearly feeling vulnerable at that moment, very opposite to how she was before when she had confronted everyone in the hallway right before we were about to leave, demanding to join us and not taking 'no' for an answer. I didn't care that everyone was around us, but I stopped dead in my tracks to rectify the situation right at that moment.
I stood face to face with Wanda, letting go of her for a moment before taking her cheeks between my palms and I literally felt her face get warmer as she flushed and even though I couldn't visibly see it, I knew that she was blushing. I vaguely registered that people were walking past us, as I was solely focussed on Wanda, but I felt a hand clap on my shoulder and recognized it as Kyle's and that it meant he was staying behind with us.
"Wanda I didn't say that word simply because I didn't want to peg you in with the rest of the population out there. I know that you're right and we've been over this a hundred times, but it's the truth," I told her, touching my nose to hers; at least I hoped it was her nose, it was kind of pitch dark out.
"My intention was not to degrade you and group you in with the rest of those people out there in the world because in no way are you like them. Do we really have to go over it again?" I asked and heard her giggle as her sweet breath fanned across my face due to our closeness.
"No we don't," Wanda laughed and I gently kissed what I hoped was her cheek before releasing my gentle hold on her and taking her hand in mine instead to lead her back across the desert.
"We should come up with some new name for people like you," I commented, thinking of something appropriate while Wanda just giggled some more. "No seriously though! I don't want to have to skirt around that word any more, we need something good though, nothing cheesy."
"I don't know, Ian. It sounds a little silly if we do that. How will people ever know what we're talking about then?" Wanda asked and I shrugged as we caught up to a looming figure that I could only assume was Kyle waiting for us.
"They'll just know," I answered kind of lamely and I didn't think anything of it when she snorted in response. "We don't have to think of it right now, but it would still be nice to have, you know?"
"Sure Ian," Wanda said, laughing slightly as we reached Kyle.
"So what do you make of this, Ian?" he asked and when I didn't respond because I didn't know what he meant Kyle elaborated further.
"I mean, about the whole Megan showing up in the desert thing."
"Oh that," I said, looking at the retreating backs of the people in front of us. "I don't really know what to make of it. What do you think?"
"It's definitely weird, I have to say. I mean, what are the chances that someone from our childhood just randomly shows up in the desert where we happen to be hiding out. Personally, I believe that there might be something fishy about that," Kyle said and I rolled my eyes though he couldn't see them in the pitch darkness.
"Are you seriously kidding me? You think that Megan would have followed us or something and hid out for this long? It just doesn't seem like something that she would do. The others though, we don't know what they are capable of at all, so they might have had something to do with it," I told him
"Are you excited to have her hanging around though? You know, to actually have your best friend here with you and stuff. After all, you two were practically joined at the hip for like, ever," Kyle pointed out but I simply shook my head, looking out on the horizon to see the first few rays of sun peeking out as it started to rise up.
"Megan and I were friends a long time ago. Since we graduated high school we barely kept in contact with each other; I have no idea what's happened to her since then." I noticed that Wanda was being awfully silent again, so I bumped my shoulder against hers. "Besides, Wanda is my best friend now. She knows me better than anyone and I want it to stay that way."
"Oh gee, Ian that's cute," Kyle mocked me, snorting.
"No, but it's the truth!" I protested, trying to make them see.
"Yeah yeah. But what do we make of the other guys. They don't seem to like the idea of people like Wanda and Sunny, so we've definitely got to set that straight, eh?" Kyle continued on, but I began to tune him out and usher them along to get back before the sun got up even higher in the sky. It was important that we got back as soon as possible to get everything figured out.
Wanda POV
I still wasn't sure what to think about everything that had happened in the last hour or so; everything seemed too surreal and confusing and I just didn't know how to react so I kept quiet unless someone was speaking directly to me. I knew that things would certainly get interesting with Ian's childhood friend coming to live with us, but I hoped that she would just fit in somewhere and just be another friend to everyone. By the look on her face when she figured out what I was though, my gut instinct told me that it wouldn't end up being that simple.
As Ian and Kyle bantered back and forth during our hike home I didn't want to interject so I remained silent while holding on to Ian the whole time. I felt something wrap around my feet so I paused for a second to look down at the ground to try and see what was causing all the trouble but I didn't see anything so I continued to walk. On my second step, my feet stopped moving and I knew that I would hit the ground; sure enough, I began to fall but felt my arm being pulled against as Ian tugged on it but my hand slipped from his and I hit the ground hard.
"Wanda!" Ian called out quite loudly for it being very early in the morning out in the open. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"
"I'm fine," I told him, pushing up off of the sandy ground using both of my palms, but I still felt him gripping my arms to guide me up all the same. "Really, I'm okay," I tried to reassure him once I was standing up again and I offered him a small smile.
"Promise?"
"Ian," I giggled. "I promise you that I am okay, seriously." I cupped stepped closer to him and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, kissing his scruffy cheek once before wrinkling my nose.
"What, you don't like that?" he teased, enfolding my body in his strong, muscular arms and our close proximity made my stomach come alive with the butterflies that always seemed to be there, but only really fluttered around a lot when we were close.
"You're not liking my scruff?" Ian asked, deliberately rubbing his cheek against mine and I couldn't help but to laugh out loud while I tried to get away from it, but he held me so tight to him that I had no choice but to be subjected to his torture. "Most girls like that look on their guys."
"Stop, stop... stop!" I laughed and tried to push his head away from me but instead he just burrowed into my neck. "I'm not saying that I don't like the look of you like that, but it scratches! I'm afraid that you'll leave red marks on my cheeks or something!"
"Ah, don't you worry about a thing, my dear," Ian replied, kissing my neck and rubbing his cheek against it for good measure. "You still look as beautiful as ever."
"Let's go you love birds!" Mel called softly. "You can get a room later on, but we need to get back before the sun comes right up out of the sky and we're all exposed."
"Okay, okay," Ian relented, letting go of me but not before placing one last kiss on my lips, leaving them tingling, and not just from the hair on his face. "We'll continue later," he said, turning to face me and in the small bit of light illuminating the sky I noticed that he winked at me.
"Race ya!" Kyle yelled out from somewhere and all of the people that knew him started running towards home while the others just looked at us wildly, but I guessed that they had a point; there was a bunch of burly men running across the desert with weapons still gripped tightly in their hands.
Ian took off but I didn't want to chase after him because I was getting tired out from my earlier exercise so I let him go on ahead. By the time I caught up with the group, Jeb was leading the newcomers into the entrance, but not before having Jared blindfold each and every one of them to lead them into the caves. I didn't see Ian with them, so I assumed that he'd already gone inside without me. Right when I was about to follow Mel inside I heard a noise coming from my left that sounded a bit like something leaking so I stopped to see what on Earth it was.
"Wanda, over here!" a whisper floated over to me and I revolved on the spot, looking around. I spotted a hand from over on my right and I frowned, not sure who it was attached to, but I decided to go and investigate it all the same. Once I got around the corner that hid our access to the caves I saw a familiar figure sitting on top of a big, flat rock and grinned before bouncing over to Ian and plopping down beside him.
"Care to explain why you're hiding out over here?" I asked, cuddling up to his side. Even though we lived in the desert, it was still sort of chilly so very early in the morning. Almost instinctively, Ian draped his arm across my back, rubbing up and down my arm so I leaned my head on top of his shoulder.
"I just wanted one more moment of quiet before everything gets all wonky inside," he explained and I nodded my head in understanding. "I mean, even though it will be great to have someone else that I know in there, I'm just not sure how the others will take it; on both sides."
"That's understandable," I responded gently, resting my right hand on Ian's knee before giving it a small, affectionate squeeze.
"I also wanted to watch the sunrise, to be completely honest. We're out here anyways and all that I'm going to do when I go back in there is sleep and make up for losing a night of rest."
"I don't know if I've ever watched it before," I admitted, looking up at the vibrant colours lighting up the dark sky. There were all kinds of yellows, oranges, pinks and purples dancing around in an intricate way that looked choreographed; almost in a way that looked like it was very rehearsed in a very magical kind of way.
"I'm sure you have," Ian murmured softly and I sighed in contentment.
"Not on Earth, I don't think. Well, not that I can remember at all."
"Well then, of course that didn't count if you can't remember it," he stated.
"Of course it didn't," I agreed, leaning into him further, wanting to commit the colours to my memory for the rest of my life. "It's gorgeous." By that point the top of the sun was peering up over the landscape, sending different shades of red not only streaking across the sky, but cascading all over the terrain on the ground as well.
"You're gorgeous," Ian's deep voice rumbled in my ear, sending shivers down my spine; good ones though. I lifted my head off of his shoulder to give him a look but I saw that he wasn't even paying any attention to the beautiful sunrise, he was just watching me. I instantly blushed, knowing that all his attention was on me.
"Ian," I groaned, looking back at the brilliant sky, tilting my head up to the sky as the first few sunrays hit my skin, starting to instantly warm me up, adding to the heat from Ian's body beside mine.
"So beautiful," Ian mumbled nuzzling his face into my neck again, though I didn't mind the scratchiness that time around, for his soft lips touching my skin and the instant flaming sensation that followed them more than made up for it.
"You really don't see yourself clearly at all, do you?" I shook my head in response, not trusting myself to form coherent words as he was dragging me into the usual daze that I got while around him and it wasn't fair.
"I will spend the rest of our lives together trying to make you see how lovely you really are if I have to," Ian vowed and I flushed red again. "I really will."
He then pulled my shoulders around, effectively forcing my entire body to turn around in towards him until I ended up settled against his side. A gust of wind blew around us at that very moment and my hair fell into my face so I reached up to push it aside like I'd grown accustomed to, but Ian beat me to it, yet again. He very gently brushed it all away before tucking the hair back behind my ear, caressing the lobe with the fingers on his right hand on his way by. That same hand the cupped my cheek, rubbing it once and leaned in closer to me, his face looming as I started biting my bottom lip between my teeth in anticipation about what I thought was to come.
Without saying a word, Ian touched his thumb to my lip and gently pulled down, effectively making my teeth let go. I started to smile up at Ian, but as soon as my eyes locked on his Ian closed the little space between us and pressed his lips to mine. Like always, it felt like I was walking on a cloud when we kissed and I never, ever wanted that feeling to go away. I vowed then to never let anything come between us ever again; well, at least I would try my best to not let it.
"I love you," Ian muttered softly once our lips parted for an instant, but he still kept them touching mine in the lightest way so my lips ended up moving with his, mirroring every movement. "I love you so much."
The sincerity with which Ian said those words made tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I swallowed hard, determined not to let them fall and show him how vulnerable those words made me feel. Every time Ian uttered them it made me feel like I was the luckiest girl on the world to have found someone who could ever reciprocate my emotions with the same intensity that Ian could.
"I love you too Ian. With all of my heart," I responded, taking a hold of his hand and slowly guiding it up until I rested it on top of my hear so that he could feel the rapid pace at which it was beating. I knew by the look in his eyes that he knew that it truly belonged to him and I smiled a little before kissing him back gently.
I then released my hold on him completely and turned around; settling myself down on top of the rock in between Ian's outstretched legs. Once his arms were around me, effectively caging me to him, I leaned back, trying not to topple him over, but I'd seen his abs, he was strong so that wouldn't happen. I felt very safe and secure in his arms; like usual but it was a feeling that I relished. It wasn't too often that we had special quiet moments to ourselves where we could just sit and watch the sun come up. To me, it almost felt like the calm before the storm, but I immediately pushed that thought to the back of my head so that I didn't ruin the moment; I wanted to commit all the good things to my memory so that I'd never forget them.
"It's so beautiful. I mean, the sun when it's first rising like this," I said, elaborating a bit so that Ian knew exactly what I meant.
"I can think of something else that's just as beautiful, if not even more," he replied, nuzzling his nose into the hair that fell down my back. "And she's sitting right in front of me."
"Ian," I groaned, my face flushing a nice shade of tomato. "You keep saying that."
"I say it because it's the truth," he said simply and I stayed quiet, opting to focus on the sun without directly looking at it. It was nearly all the way in the sky and out of the ground so I knew that we'd have to go back inside soon, but I didn't want to at all.
"I love you," Ian said again right before his soft lips pressed down right over top of my insertion sky and I literally melted into his body even further, completely relaxed by his little action.
"Love you too," I whispered, but I knew that he heard it by the gentle answering squeeze that he gave me and I felt Ian's chin rest on top of my head. I wished then that we could stay that way forever; just Ian and I alone and without a care in the world. It would be the greatest gift that I could be given.
A/N: Bit of fluff for you at the end there.
Now. With regards to postings, I have been babysitting a lot this week for whatever reason and had a lot of time to write, so the next chapter will be up either late Sunday or Monday some time. Sorry for the lack of updates in these last weeks!
I will reply to replies (hehe) tomorrow, but I'm very tired and I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow so I will leave it until then when I am more coherent.
I had a question about the Harry Potter Exhibition too... yes, it is only in Toronto right now until the end of August. I'm not sure where it's going after this (if it is) because it was only ever supposed to be in Chicago and New York, but then the organizers decided to bring it up to Toronto too. I'm not sure of the exact reason for adding a third showing, but I'm sure not complaining!
Review! : )