A/N: First of all I would like to thank everyone for the reviews and the birthday wishes! Your reviews made my birthday even better, so as a thank you gift I am posting this chapter sooner than I had planned.

I will be MIA from fan fiction next week because I am going on vacation to a place where I will have no access to my laptop and probably no access to internet.

So why am I pushing aside the crap load of work I have to do to write this chapter and get it out before I leave? Because …

One. I'm in a writing mood for once in so many weeks

Two. I have a really bad case of senioritis because I have been accepted to 4 out of 6 of the colleges I applied to!! And the one I really wanted to go to!

Three. I feel bad that I update so late and my spring break vacation would just make the update later

That being said… here's the chapter you've all been waiting.

Disclaimer: Only Stephanie Meyer owns the Host, but I have all rights to this plot and the character Maudy.

Last Chapter

Wanda went the extra mile, like always, and invited Maudy to Melanie's wedding. But Maudy refused and explained that though she might pass as a soul, the seekers that shopped at her boutique would suddenly suspicious if she disappeared into the woods searching for a cave.

She said that she had heard all about the seeker who claimed for months that she had discovered a "pack of humans" living in the caves. Then when the seeker disappeared, many seekers became suddenly suspicious too. After a couple months all was forgotten, and she said she would hate to be the one to reignite those suspicions.

We accepted her excuse and she wished Melanie and Jared a lifetime of happiness and joy. Then she winked at me, motioned me to lean over with her index finger, and whispered in my ear "She loves you, don't ever doubt it. Just follow your heart and everything will fall in place wonderfully."

As we drove out of the parking lot and down the highway into the sunset, Maudy's words kept repeating in my head. Wanda swarmed inside my arms and snuggled deeper into my side. I rested my head on her head and realized Maudy's words couldn't be any truer. Wanda loved me. I was going to propose to her as soon as Melanie and Jared declared themselves husband and wife. If the time is right and she is ready, nothing in this world would stop me from marrying my Wanda.

Chapter Fourteen

IPOV

The sun had long gone and with it the humid hot weather. The night was quiet except for the crunch of tiny rocks as the tires of the Honda rolled over them. We pulled into the cave and a sense of relief washed over me. We were home, safely. I was used to going out in the daylight hours, but that uncomfortable paranoid feeling never seemed to dissipate until I was back inside the cave.

I rubbed Wanda's cheek with my thumb lovingly and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Wanda, my love, we're home." I whispered soothingly.

I knew that was enough to arouse her from the deepest of sleeps. I wasn't sure why but ever since that first night we shared in my room after that significant rainy night in the game; I knew that shaking her awake was pointless. One because I was afraid I would hurt her fragile body and two because I've realized my voice is the easiest and quickest way to wake her up.

Unlike Jared, who seemed to be having a hard time waking Melanie up at the moment. When everything failed, he ended up just planting a kiss on her lips. It was like saying open sesame, because as soon as his lips grazed Melanie's, her eyes flew open.

Wanda giggled beside me.

"Hmm… you know that's not a bad way to wake up. " she pondered teasingly and wistfully.

She looked up and winked at me. I leaned down and kissed her softly.

"I'll keep that in mind." I said, after I pulled out of the kiss.

Then I let go of her waist and opened the car door. At the same time, Jared bent over in the driver seat and popped open the trunk. Before I could take a step out of the car, Melanie had flung her door open, slammed mine closed, and ran to the back of the car.

I scowled at the now closed car door. Wanda's bell like laugh filled my ears and my scowl twitched up into a smile. I shook my head to clear the fuzziness in my head, pushed the door open, and got out of the car dragging Wanda out with me.

We walked to the truck hand in hand. Reluctantly I pulled my hand out of Wanda's and took out the three suits we had bought from the trunk.

When I turned back around to hold Wanda's hand in my only empty one, I saw a puzzled expression displayed on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"Why do you have three suits?" she questioned.

Shit. I forgot that it might be a little suspicious if we bought three suits for only two guys. I had to come up with something fast, I couldn't tell her that I bought one for Jared and Mel's wedding and one for my own.

"Well, I thought that maybe Jamie would want a choice between a new suit and an old suit for the wedding." I lied, almost as badly as she does.

A genuine smile grew on her face. "That was very thoughtful of you." She said, eating up my untruthful words.

I felt myself caving to tell her the truth. I hated lying to her.

"So are you guys going to stand outside all night? Or what?" Melanie voice echoed from somewhere inside the cave, stopping me from spitting out the truth and ruining all that Mel and I had planned.

"No we're coming." Wanda replied as she grabbed my empty hand and pulled me deeper into the cave and towards Melanie.

*****

"So how'd the shopping go ladies?" Jeb asked.

We were all sitting with around one of the kitchen tables eating lasagna for dinner. I scooped a mouthful in, as Wanda and Melanie animatedly described the cute little boutique and Maudy.

"Maudy…Maudy. Why does name sound so familiar?" Jeb asked thoughtfully, while stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger.

After a couple seconds of consideration, Jeb shrugged. Then he raised his right arm and glanced at the antique watch wrapped around his arm.

"Well, it's almost midnight and now that I know you guys have come back in one piece I think I'm going to get some shut eye." Jeb exclaimed, standing up from his chair.

"Goodnight." All of us said in sync.

He nodded and walked to the entrance of the kitchen.

"Goodnight and don't stay up too late." He chastised us like a parent would to their child.

With that he left.

A yawn slipped through Wanda's lips and she instinctively covered her mouth. Suddenly, Jared was yawning lazily too. I found myself yawning in response and Melanie joining me. It was like the domino effect where one domino falls over and the rest fall with it.

I stretched out my arms, losing some of the tension that had built up in my muscles during the day.

"Man, I didn't realize how tired I feel until now." I said yawning subconsciously again.

"Tell me about it." Melanie replied, standing up along with Jared and picking up the now empty dishes.

Before I could help, they had scooped them all up and were placing them in the sink. I noticed Wanda's head was drooping as well as her eyes. I gently helped her to her feet and she graced me with a sleepy smile.

"Come on sleeping beauty." I said scooping her up bridal style.

I followed Mel and Jared out of the kitchen, the dirty dishes neglected sloppily in the sink for tomorrow morning.

As we neared my room, Jared and Mel said their goodnights and walked over to their room.

I placed the sleeping Wanda inside the comforter, slipped out of my shirt and jeans and got into bed as well.

I wrapped my arm over her waist and scooter her back into my bare chest. I brushed the stray hairs out of her face and placed a kiss on her temple.

"Goodnight, my love." I whispered against her hair.

And then I dozed off.

*****

I woke up to find my arms empty and cold. I opened my eyes and the empty sheets beside confirmed that Wanda wasn't next to me.

I sighed heavily and stepped out of bed. I noticed Wanda's clothes from the day before, the same ones she fell asleep in last night, in the hamper near the wardrobe. I pulled on a pair of jeans and basic black T.

As I dressed, the warm buttery smell of pancakes wafted into the room. I grabbed my toothbrush and practically ran to the bathroom.

My stomach was twisting with hunger and growling obnoxiously by the time I reached the dining area.

"Look who decided to wake up." Jared said boisterously.

"Hey Ian! Wanda told me you bought me an extra suit." Jamie exclaimed, winking at me.

I shook my head and chuckled.

"Yup." I replied, popping the "p".

All of them were seated with delicious steaming pancakes stacked high on their plates. I pulled up a chair next to Wanda's and sat down in front of the plate they had filled for me.

"This looks delicious!" I drooled, and stuffed a big bite into my mouth. I shoved it in so hastily that a little bit of the syrup dribbled down my chin.

Wanda giggled at my barbaric behavior, kissed me lightly on the cheek, and wiped the excess syrup off my face.

I was about to take another bite when, Jeb rushed into the dining area toward our table.

He was clad with what looked like a bunch of antique, torn photo albums.

All of us looked at him suspiciously and questioningly as he slammed the albums on the free space of the long rectangle table.

A mushroom cloud of dust emerged from the albums and with a closer look I could see how worn out they were.

"Uncle Jeb, what is all this?" Mel asked curiosity enveloping her tone.

Without a word, Jeb opened one of the albums to a page that he had tabbed with a clean new sticky note. Then he stuck his finger on to one of the photos.

We all stood up and walked to stand behind him.

He was pointing to a family portrait, but more specifically to a face that we had just seen yesterday.

Maudy.

A/N: So how do you like the twist? Was it what you expected…? I know I'm delaying the wedding ..but once I write the wedding this story will be almost over. And I don't think I want it to be done yet.

Why did I twist my story like this? Because I knew I wasn't officially done with maudie after last chapter. I needed closure I just couldn't create a character and then suddenly drop them out of the story. I needed a way to fit her in more and then eventually slip her into the background. I probably am not making any sense but hopefully you'll understand in a chapter or two. Also a lot of people said they wished maudie could come back to the cave with them…im not going to do that…but I realized you guys needed a better way for maudie to stay a part of their lives and still live out there.

Enough of my rambling please review? I'm leaving in an hour and I would love to come back to find my email full of review alerts for this story.

Xoxo

rmla

p.s. I didn't have time to reply to any anonymous reviews in this chapter… BUT I LOVED THEM all.

If you want me to reply to them…email me at readingmylifeaway yahoo . com with your anonymous username and I'll email back with my reply.

If not I'll try my best to reply to all of them next chapter.