Chapitre Neuf!
Thanks to PachO'shea, piccolover22, jediahsokaroxx, silverbell1, HockeeChica, brokenfromthepast, Sillla and Bloomerica for your awesome 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
Wanda POV
"Is it later yet?" I asked Ian as soon as I heard his breathing speed up beside me and I knew right away that he was waking up from our little sleep.
I had been up for awhile and was sitting in bed, leaning against the pillow that I had propped up on the wall behind me, reading a book. I'd read it a few times before, but I still loved reading those same words on the pages; in fact, Jeb had given me permission to keep it because he knew of my love for the story.
Ian emitted a deep groan into his pillow and I looked down at him as two sleepy blue eyes glanced up at me before they quickly closed again at the harsh light from above. I giggled a bit at his reaction and bit my bottom lip to stifle it a little bit. Ian looked very comfortable lying on his stomach like that and it was too good of a sight to miss, so I put the book down on the mattress on the other side of my legs to turn my full attention on him.
"Well, is it?" I asked again, smiling fondly at my Ian.
I took notice then of how he was dressed; or not very dressed as the case was. He only had on the jeans from earlier, but had lost his socks and shirt at some point, so he had a bare chest as well. I blushed a little as my body just naturally reacted to how little clothing he had on.
"Mmmmmmmm...no," he replied groggily, beginning to move around on the bed and I felt bad then for waking him up like that; I should have let him do it on his own.
"I'm sorry," I apologized softly, trying to undo the damage. "You can go back to sleep if you want and I can leave you be," I offered right after, starting to scoot sideways off of the bed, but Ian's hand gripped my right thigh, effectively stopping all of my movements.
"Stay," Ian said right before emitting a long yawn. "Please stay."
"You will be able to sleep much better if I leave though," I protested, but instead of verbally answering me, Ian dug his feet into the mattress and pushed himself closer to me until his head was right beside my belly.
"I think that I would feel much better if you were with me," he replied, blearily while slowly using his first and middle fingers as legs and walked them across my stomach.
Ian's fingers started along the right side of my waist and made their way down to the hem of my t-shirt, where he used the same two fingers to drag it up towards my chest, revealing my entire mid-section. I felt a little uncomfortable being revealed to him in that kind of way, even though I didn't have a good reason to feel that way; it was just a natural reaction that I had. It also wasn't the first time that he had seen that part of my body either; I was just being silly about it.
"Relax," Ian whispered in a feather light voice as his breath tickled my skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps across my stomach as it ghosted over in its wake.
I tried very hard to follow his instructions, but the muscles underneath my skin tightened up just as soon as Ian's careful fingers touched me again. We both watched almost transfixed on his fingers as they crawled over to my belly button, dancing around it once before each finger dipped inside for a brief second. I involuntarily giggled then, as the feeling tickled a bit and I glanced down at Ian to see his eyes sparkling; the corners crinkled and his lips turned up in amusement so I knew that it was all good.
While Ian's fingers continued their journey across the left side of my belly, he began to move his whole body closer to mine. I felt him grip my back with the same right hand that had caressed me so gently and an orange beam of light lit up our room in the same instant that Ian's lips first touched my skin. I gasped and clenched my abdominal muscles at the sensation, finding that I liked it quite a bit. My hands began to move then, rising up to tangle themselves in Ian's already messed up hair from his slumber. It was in desperate need of a cit just like mine was and I made a mental note to fix that very soon.
Ian's lips were soft against my skin, leaving a trail of wet kisses while he traced the same path as his fingers had taken. I giggled out loud when Ian's lips encased my belly button and his tongue dipped inside, causing my stomach to jump up and down, bouncing Ian's head along with it; it simply tickled a lot.
"Are you okay? Am I hurting you?" Ian asked into my stomach, making me shiver in the process as his breath washed across me.
"I'm fine Ian, it just tickled a bit, that's all," I reassured him, patting the top of his head where my hands were already twisted in it.
"Hmmmm," he hummed in response, repeating the same action and it made me actually laugh out loud that time, the sound echoing through our room a lot louder than I had anticipated.
"I love your laugh," Ian murmured and I couldn't help but to smile as much as I wanted to roll my eyes and protest that it wasn't true; some things just weren't worth the effort.
"I love you,' I told him and even though it sounded cheesy to me, Ian didn't seem to think so at all.
Instead, Ian continued to kiss along the same trail that his fingers had previously taken, sucking on every inch of my skin over to the other side of my waist. After Ian finished that I thought that he was done with everything, but he continued his path by moving more towards my chest, kissing the skin right up to where he had lifted my shirt to before.
I noticed that my breathing began to shift when he got closer to my face and it was becoming more rapid, my chest rising and falling with a frequent pace. In a deeper part of my mind I knew that I should have been alarmed by that because I was always hyper aware of anything wrong so that it could be caught early, but another more rational part of my brain told me that it was okay. I subconsciously had convinced myself that it was only a natural reaction to Ian's closeness to me when we had moments like those.
"I love you too," Ian whispered back, touching the tips of our noses together and caressing the right side of my face with the backs of his knuckles, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. I instinctively turned my head into his touch and Ian mirrored the action, pressing his lips to my left ear in the process.
"One day, I promise you Wanda, I'm going to worship your entire body the way that it deserves to be," he told me, yet I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think anything much about his little statement.
I responded to him in the only way that I knew how to right then; I kissed his still scruffy cheek tenderly and in the next instant it was replaced with Ian's soft lips. I jumped at the contact as I wasn't expecting it, but soon melted into the kiss. Ian lifted my upper body towards him as his arms slid into their usual positions behind my neck and shoulders.
"Do we have to get up at all?" I asked into his ear, making Ian shudder for once in his life.
"Mmmmmn, I wish that we didn't," he practically moaned and I felt his body shift on top of mine and something brushed against my lower body, sending hot sparks up and through my insides; a new sensation for me.
I nearly had myself convinced that we could indeed stay there, but then Ian's stomach emitted a rather large growl; so loud that I nearly felt his stomach rumbled with mine. I laughed out loud then, but it didn't last long for he covered my mouth with his, turning my giggles into a long, drawn out kiss and before long he was poking his tongue out and I immediately accepted it. Another growl interrupted us and I sighed in defeat.
"So, food then?" I inquired and Ian nodded reluctantly.
"Just so you know though I really don't want to leave at all," Ian told me, looking me right in the eyes to make sure that I knew what he was talking about.
"Of course," I replied softly right before I placed both of my palms flat on his bare chest and pushed up, indicating that he should get up. Ian luckily got the hint and released his hold on me to shove himself up to a kneeling position and then hopped to his feet beside the bed.
"Care to join me? I think that I might need some food in my belly," Ian said in a deep voice, rubbing his hands over his stomach to prove his point, so I giggled in response.
"I don't think that I have much of a choice here, do I?" I replied, sitting up and stretching my arms up and over my head, yawning at the same time.
When I opened my eyes up again, I noticed that Ian's eyes appeared to be a slight shade darker than usual and he was giving me a look that I'd never seen before. In an instant, the bed was shaking and Ian's hands cupped both of my cheeks while his lips pressed up against mine. I certainly didn't just sit there and I kissed him back just as equally to try and show my delight for him doing that; it felt like we were finally really getting back to where we should have been.
"Sorry," he gasped, trying to get his breathing under control.
"You don't have to apologize for that," I assured Ian, running my hand through the hair at the top of his head. "You really don't."
"Alright," he agreed. "But you really don't have any idea how you make me feel, do you?" he asked, tilting my head back to kiss the side of my neck, making me moan in response and I immediately felt embarrassed about that.
"Ian... food," I reminded him when his stomach growled loudly again.
"Mmmm... just a sec," he groaned, kissing my neck once more. "Okay, let's go," Ian finally agreed when it growled once more, climbing up off of the bed once more and holding his hand out for me to take.
"Are you sure that we don't have to talk more about why you kept me so in the dark?" I inquired, taking his hand and getting up onto my feet.
"Wanda, I will apologize to you for the rest of my life if I have to for that. I really, really didn't mean for it to happen like that at all. I just wanted to tell you know in my own way and kind of break the news to you gently. Not that I need to be so cautious around you or anything, but just so that you didn't..."
"Freak out? Run for the hills?" I suggested several alternatives and he adamantly shook his head back and forth quickly, a look of protest plastered across his features. "Anything of the sort?"
"No, no that's not it at all!"
"You know what, it's okay; forget that I even brought it up again. It's clear that I'll never be able to understand why you did it, so I'm sorry that I ruined a perfectly good moment," I told him with a bit of a flippant attitude, but it was only because I was frustrated with everything.
"I'm sorry that I can't explain it to you very well either Wanda. But please, please just know that everything I did, or didn't do as the case may be, was for your own good. Ultimately, I wanted to protect you from what was out there in case that it was something bad. I'd rather sacrifice myself than have you go down again. We've been down that road and I'm not looking to go back there any time soon," Ian concluded, tapping his right pointer finger on the tip of my nose, ducking his head to look directly at me. "Comprede?"
"Yeah," I replied, nodding my head while internally beating myself up for wanting to bring it up again and then quickly getting upset when I still didn't understand. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and clear my head before I beamed up at Ian, whose face was still clouded with different emotions.
"Sorry," I whispered, letting go of Ian's hand and slipping past him making a beeline towards the door.
"Wanda wait!" he called after me, probably taking only two long strides over to my side as he grabbed my wrist to stop all movements. "You don't have to apologize, love. If there's something more you want to ask me, or know please, by all means ask me. I really want us to be open with each other and honest because I feel that it's the only way to make a relationship work. So if you want to talk about this more, let's talk."
"I'm fine, Ian trust me," I told him, but apparently he wasn't believing that for he took another giant step; well, giant for me, to stand directly in front of me with his eyebrows raised. "What? It's fine."
"Are you sure?" I nodded my head, trying to get him to see that it was fine for me, but Ian was being stubborn. "Absolutely, positively?"
"Yes, Ian. One hundred percent sure."
"All right," he conceded after a considerable pause. It felt to me like he was searching my face specifically for that one flicker of doubt, but he never found it. I plastered another bright smile on my face and this time he believed it, sliding his right arm around my shoulders, effectively tucking me into his side, making my heart rate rapidly increase with the action.
"I wonder what there is to eat?" I asked out loud, trying to make conversation and diffuse the little silence that we had going on. Ian shrugged, opening the door as we slipped through and out into the hallway.
"I have no idea; hopefully something good though," Ian mused, rubbing his belly. "I'm starved."
"I can tell," I told him dryly, making him laugh which in turn made me laugh as well. Together we stumbled out of the hall into the fork, finding it completely empty.
"If you could eat anything in the whole entire world right now, what would it be?" I inquired, truly curious as to what he would come up with.
"Anything I wanted, eh?" he repeated with what I had come to know as his 'thinking voice'. It had a distinctive sound to it, and it was yet another quality that I loved about him.
"Well, there was this burger joint close to where I went to University in Pennsylvania that had the best burgers I've ever had in my entire life; just don't tell Lucina that of she'll kill me," he added and I glanced up to see that Ian's entire face had lit up at the thought of this food. "It was just this little hole-in-the-wall greasy joint, but man were they ever good. My mouth is literally watering just thinking about it."
"What did it taste like?" I asked, loving that he was so into the simple question.
"Tasted like awesomeness, that's all!" Ian laughed loudly and the sound carried through the passageway to the main cavern where we had to turn sideways to fit through the narrow opening.
I spotted about a dozen people working in the fields picking berries and smiled; fresh strawberries was something that I was looking forward to trying as Jeb had told me that they were an extremely rare commodity in the caves.
"No, but in all seriousness it was very greasy; basically a heart attack on a bun, but it was smothered in cheese and bacon and was massive," Ian held his hands up; fingers making a mock circle to demonstrate it. "The fries that came with it were always just slightly crispy; the ones on the bottom always crunchy and awesome. But the burger was just delicious."
"Sounds delicious?" I said, but it came out as more of a question than anything simply because I found it hard to relate his descriptions to anything that I had ever experienced during my two short lives on Earth.
"It's hard to describe unless you've tasted it," Ian shrugged again, waving with his free arm to someone who had stood up and looked over.
"Maybe we should go there the next time that we're out on a raid," I suggested and was instantly ground to a halt where I was standing.
"No. We're not going out on any more raids, without question. There are other people here that are more than capable of handling everything and I just don't want to risk losing you again. Call me possessive, but I don't want you to ever, ever leave my side again," he explained seriously.
"I feel the same way too, but how will everything get done?" I asked, wrapping my arm around Ian's waist in response to his little primal outburst.
"It just will; bottom line is that you don't have to worry about going out there again. If they were looking for you once, and found you, there is no saying what they would do if they found you again," I could tell that Ian was growing worried, so I did the boldest thing that I had possibly done in my life; besides lying to him on that raid, of course.
I stood up on the tips of my toes and kissed him right then and there in front of everyone who was standing in the same vicinity as us; I could feel their eyes on us, but I didn't care all that much. All that mattered to me was making sure that Ian was okay and that he would drop the little thing that he had going on. As much as it made me feel safe and secure to know that he was protecting me, I didn't want him to have to worry so much; if he said that I wasn't going out on any more raids, I would just have to accept that and move on. Truthfully, I wasn't exactly looking forward to going out there again anyways.
"Ian, please don't worry about a thing," I whispered once he broke away from me. "If you don't want me to go out there again, I won't; it's as simple as that."
"That's not what I mean; I don't want you to feel trapped in here or anything, but..." I interrupted him with another short kiss and felt the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile so I pulled back, raising my eyebrow at him.
"I don't feel that way, trust me."
"I think that I should have more of these conversations with you in public if this is how you're going to react," Ian teased me with a sparkle in his eye that had been missing as of late. I promptly turned a nice shade of pink and swivelled on the spot to walk away from him, finally noticing that three people were watching us from the distance but it was hard to see who they were; it just added to my embarrassment though.
"You shouldn't be ashamed of that fact, love," Ian said, his breath floating into my ear which made me shudder. "I like that you are becoming more and more bolder when you are with me; it drives me crazy."
I didn't say anything, but simply continued to walk along, averting my eyes from anyone who was potentially looking to save myself. I did notice the orange glow that was filtering through from above and bouncing off of the mirrors, indicating the time of day and I realized that we had essentially wasted just about all the hours of daylight possibly sleeping and not doing work.
I felt guilty as we drew nearer to the kitchen and the smell of food wafted towards us that I didn't do my job of the day, which was helping to make the food for dinner. I fully intended to apologize to whoever was on duty in there, as I felt horrible for sleeping through the majority of my shift.
"Mmmm chicken noodle soup," Ian commented, taking a deep breath. "I used to love it when my Mom made it for us when we were sick. This one with the canned chicken won't measure up by any means, but still."
Ian guided me forwards into the cavern and towards the back to grab our portions, but my mind was running a thousand miles an hour with idea after idea flowing through it. I was so distracted by what was floating around in there that I barely heard Ian calling my name until he physically grabbed my upper arm and gave it a squeeze.
"Hm? Oh, right. I'm sorry for missing my shift today, Lucina," I told her, trying to look her straight in the eyes and all that I got in response was a slight nod of the head from the woman who was dishing up our plates. "I will come in and work early tomorrow, I promise."
She didn't respond to that comment either and I sighed, just knowing that it was enough for her to even acknowledge the fact that I had spoken to her at all. Ian scooped up our steaming soup bowls while I grabbed the spoons and rolls of bread, letting him lead us back to a little perch near the edge of the room where we could eat. Once I had received my food from him, I smiled before sitting back and picking at my roll, waiting for my soup to cool down a little bit; Ian on the other hand had dug right in.
My mind began to wander then, thinking more about what I had been pondering before and I had essentially made up my mind about what to do by the time that my soup cooled down enough to eat normally. I finished off the majority of it pretty quickly so that it didn't get cold and wordlessly slid the remains in Ian's direction.
"Are you sure that you're done? I don't want you to go hungry later," he said, sounding concerned but I simply rolled my eyes at him and threw the remainder of my bread into the bowl as well, watching it soak up the liquid.
"Ian, I'm fine. I wouldn't pass it to you unless I was for sure full; promise," I told him, touching my right index finger to his left cheek, which was easily in reach. Just as I knew he would, Ian polished off the rest of my food; he was literally my human vacuum cleaner for things like that.
"What should we do now?" he asked me as I collected the bowls and stacked them, ready to walk them back to the kitchen to put them in the wash bin with everything else.
"Well, I kind of want to go and track down Mel to ask her about something so..." I was interrupted by a shout from the door and I jumped before turning to see what the commotion was about.
"There you are! Thought you had died or something," Brandt tried to joke with Ian, as he would never in a million years speak to me in that way; it was a stretch that he was even doing it in my presence, but that was okay.
"Yeah, yeah," Ian replied, placing his arm protectively around my shoulders, bringing me closer to him no matter how hard I tried to pull away; it seemed as though he was trying to make a point, but I really didn't want to be dragged into the middle of anything that concerned Brandt. "What do you want?"
"The girl down there is asking for you. Megan, I think it is? Jeb said that we could go and get you after the sun had gone down and it's just about there; we can't take her whining anymore though," he informed Ian, who shook his head in response.
"Is that okay with you if I go to see what's up?" Ian turned to me then and I looked up, nodding insistently.
"Why wouldn't it be okay? She's your friend, you should go and see what she wants," I told him, shrugging my shoulders and pulling away from him in another useless bid to give him and Brandt some space.
"Well, I just don't want to leave you alone much now is all," Ian countered and I rolled my eyes at him; he was being too protective for the circumstances.
"It's fine; like I said earlier, I was going to find Melanie to tell her something. You go on ahead and I'll be with her until you get back if that makes you a little less worried or whatever," I answered, smiling brightly so that he would see that I really would be okay on my own.
"All right," he finally conceded, kissing my forehead and I could faintly hear Brandt groan from behind him. "But at least let me help you with the dishes first."
"Oh please, Ian! I can handle them all on my own!" I practically cried, snatching the bowls and spoons out of his reach so that he wouldn't have a chance to get a hold of them. "It's not like it's anything strenuous or anything."
"Then let me come and find Melanie with you and then I'll go down and see what Megan wants," he tried again, but I shook my head firmly.
"No. You go with Brandt now and I will get rid of the bowls and go find Mel all by my self. I'm a big girl you know; I can handle that sort of thing all on my own," I said with a giggle and a little shove to get him going in the right direction. I didn't want to hold up Brandt any longer, for I really feared what he might do to me.
"Okay! Fine, fine, fine, I give up," Ian said, standing up and I rose beside him. "I will be as fast as possible though and be right back to you though," he vowed, leaning closer to me and I stood up straighter to accept the kiss that he planted on my lips before turning to Brandt and the two of them set off.
"Take your time! There's no rush!" I called after Ian's retreating back, shaking my head in disbelief; there was no reason for him to be so defensive when it came to me; it wasn't like these new humans had been let free and were after me or anything.
Sighing, I trudged back to where Lucina was waiting with the bin for me to drop the dishes off. I did so and offered a smile, which she returned, shocking the pants off of me. Today was certainly a day for surprises, I decided, setting off to find Mel.
A/N: The only reason this is late is because my brothers are home from school and used up our allotted internet maximum for July and I was waiting for it to reset before I could post! Blame them!
I've also posted a sweet interview from the cast of VD from Comic Con over the weekend on my profile, so check it out!
Ummmm what else? Oh! Infinitus was last week, which is a big Potter-Con and it seemed like so much fun! One of my friends went and had a blast, so I'm going to the one in 2010. Useless info, but still...
How is your summer going?
Review : )