(A/n – Thank you for all the great reviews! I'm so glad you still like it!)

Chapter 16: The Aftermath

(Wanda's POV)

'YOU'RE AN IDIOT IAN O'SHEA!' I felt like I'd just been punched in the stomach, my breaths started coming in short gasps that I couldn't control – is that it? Is it over? Am I never going to see him again?

I don't even know how he could think that I'd only feel for him out of pity. Does he not realise that I had these feelings before I even knew about what happened to him? I'm pretty sure I've had them since the first time I met him… how can he not know that…

Tears kept streaming down my cheeks, I'm not even sure if they're out of anger or sadness anymore. I don't even know what to feel at all – am I mad at him for not telling me? Yes – especially because of what happened with Burns and me. But am I upset because this might be it for 'us'? Yes…100% yes…how can I fix this?

Go after him…a small part of my mind called out from the back of my head - the reckless part I normally ignored. Wouldn't he just turn me away if I saw him again or tried to talk to him? I have to at least try, don't I?

I had been rooted to the same spot outside of the diner for what felt like hours, only when I looked up to see Ian turning the corner at the end of the street did I realise it was only a matter of minutes…so I ran after him. I had to see him. Of course I did! We had to work this out. We will work this out.

I didn't care that I had just left Mel and my warm coat inside the diner, I didn't care when I'd be home, I didn't care that Mel's parents might worry about me – all I cared about was seeing him again.

I turned the same corner Ian had but didn't see him anywhere – had he gone through the park? Had he been picked up by his brother? Ugh! Where is he?!

I ran through the park anyway – no sign of Ian. So I jogged the mile to his house, by now my fingers were numb and I'm pretty sure my lips were blue, even the running and the adrenaline hadn't boosted my temperature much.

I tried to pound on the front door, but my shaking fists would only allow for a mediocre knock which I hoped to god someone heard.

'Wanda? What are you doing here? Shit you look frozen' Kyle answered the door, not the O'Shea I wanted to see but it was better than nothing.

'I-I need to speak to Ian' I tried to control my shaking but failed miserably.

'Ok ok, just come inside and get warm first, I don't want to be rushing you to the hospital.' He led me to the couch inside. I could see nail polish bottles on the coffee table and assumed Jodi would be here too, it might be good to get her opinion on this…

'-Ian's not here right now though' Kyle continued, 'I think he went for a walk or something.'

Great, Ian had disappeared…

'Wanda? What's going on?! Omg why are you so pale?' Jodi came bounding in the room but stopped when she saw me sitting on the couch. She kneeled in front of me to look up at my face, I could only imagine how bad I looked, I felt like I was going to throw up or burst into tears any second…

Ian's gone. He doesn't want to see me. God. This is really over isn't it. All because of stupid Burns. He doesn't trust me. He doesn't like me…

My mind was buzzing with these voices all talking at once, I couldn't shut them up, I just kept picturing Ian's face as he shouted at me, telling me I wasn't good enough. My eyes burned and my nose was running already from the cold – now that I had sat down the adrenaline had stopped pumping, I felt colder than I ever have done before. I stared down at my blue fingernails that looked like they could fall off…my stomach rolled at the thought.

'…come on let's get you in the bath, you're freezing...' Jodi took one of my ice-block hands and stood up, trying to get me to stand too, but I couldn't. I couldn't move, I felt like I had literally frozen to the spot.

Kyle was next to me, he held my arm and pulled me up from the couch – what felt like all of the blood left in my body rushed to my head as I wobbled trying to take a step forward, 'Woah, steady' I turned to look at Jodi but my vision was blurry, blackening around the edges – then all of a sudden I was flying, what felt like flying anyway… I heard some muffled shouting in the distance but I was too far away already to make out the words, like someone had pulled me through to somewhere unknown.

(Kyle's POV)

'Shit!' I managed to get my arm around Wanda's waist before she fell back on the floor; I knew she looked too cold. What the hell was she even doing walking all the way here without a coat. I bent down to scoop her up in my arms and laid her back down on the couch, with a cushion beneath her head. 'Jodi go and get every blanket we've got' I know she hated being bossed around but this time she just left to go get them – I'm surprised how much Jodi and Lacey have taken a liking to Wanda…I think everyone must do as soon as they talk to her.

I put another pillow under Wanda's head, knowing from past experience how uncomfortable this couch was to sleep on. Moving across to the other couch I grabbed my cell and pressed the speed-dial number for Ian. Why was Wanda so eager to talk to him anyway? I heard a distant buzzing as my phone dialled Ian's.

'Is this yours?' Jodi walked back into the room with arms full of blankets and a cell perched on the top…Ian's phone. Great. 'Looks like we'll have to wait for him to get home, that's Ian's'

We covered Wanda in every blanket and duvet we had in the house but she still looked the same, Jodi even found a hot water bottle stuffed in the back of a kitchen cupboard and tucked that in between the blankets, but Wanda's face was still sickly pale, her lips still blue.

Jodi had tried out practically every major at university, including pre-med, so she knew there was nothing more we could do – if we took her to a hospital this is all they would do too, but they'd charge 500 bucks for it. And we probably shouldn't move her, so Jodi fished around under the blankets for Wanda's cell, which was in her Jean's pocket; at least someone was sensible enough to carry one around.

We figured it'd probably worry her folks too much to tell them, all they'd want to do is take her home which might not be the best idea. Turns out we didn't have to decide on who to call though as the screen started flashing as we were scrolling through the contacts list. The caller ID said 'Mel'.

'Isn't that Wanda's cousin?' Jodi answered the call and I heard the one ended conversation, 'Hi Mel? … It's Jodi, I'm Wanda's friend…She's right here but she's passed out…yeah she walked over I guess without a coat…yeah…we don't know where he is…she's fine here, it's probably best that she just get warm and you come by when she's awake…okay I will…bye.'

It was like she had turned into a nurse, her voice was soothing and she was the calmest I think I've ever seen her.

'She says thanks for looking after her; she'll come by later or tomorrow to check on her, she's out looking for Ian. Apparently they had some fight or something and Ian stormed off.' She sighed as she put Wanda's cell on the coffee table and picked up her nail polish again. 'Mel doesn't know what happened though; she only saw the fight from inside the diner, she said to call if he turns up without her.'

'Fuck. Wanda walked all the way from the diner?' Jodi nodded sat down next to me. We didn't really have anything else to say, we were both just thinking about the whole situation…Ian must have really fucked up if she'd come all this way to talk to him.

I turned on the TV and we both just sat there waiting for Ian to come through the door, or for Wanda to wake up – whichever came first.

{Page Break}

Jodi had eventually fallen asleep on my shoulder as I constantly flicked through the TV channels, never finding anything to fully focus on. I could feel myself start to get annoyed and angry at Ian – it was stupid of him to just go off without telling anyone, and even more stupid to yell at Wanda.

After about an hour of us sitting around nervously, Wanda lips returned to their normal pink colour. Even though the rest of her face still looked pale, me and Jodi both relaxed, made some food (with extra's for if Wanda woke up hungry), and just chilled for a while.

It had been about 3 hours from when Wanda showed up when Ian finally came through the door…more like fell through the door, and slamming it shut behind him. Jesus, he could barely stand up without hugging the wall. Jodi had woken up because of the slamming and was on her feet marching towards him.

'Where the fuck have you been' Ian just looked blankly at her, then almost shoved her out of the way to come and sit down next to me – completely oblivious to the fact that Wanda was right next to him.

'I wen'out jeezz, whatssswith the fourth d'gree' he was slurring his words, great, he also smelled like a brewery.

'Man, did you drink the whole bar you went to – you stink.'

'It's the third-degree smart ass, and while you've been out getting drunk we've been looking after your half-dead girlfriend.' She pointed towards the mountain of blankets that was now Wanda – she hadn't stirred even with all of the door slamming and shouting from Jodi.

Even though it wasn't technically true…Wanda wasn't half-dead, but she still wasn't okay…Ian shot up at the mention of her being that way. It seemed to get him out of his drunken stupor too.

'WHAT?!' He winced as he shouted, clearly not meaning to be so loud. His eyes ran across the blankets and cushions and obviously saw the bright blonde hair fanned out on the couch's armrest - in the next moment he had practically leapt up and across to the side of the couch where her head was laying.

'Calm it Jodi. Ian, she's not half dead, but she has passed out.' Jodi was still seething over by the front door so I motioned for her to come and sit down.

'…but what happened?' It didn't even sound as though Ian was drunk anymore, he still stunk but at least he seemed to be thinking properly.

'After you apparently stormed off after fighting with her, she came here' I shrugged, 'We don't really know how long she was outside for, but when she turned up here she was frozen. She passed out and been there ever since.' Ian nodded but looked like he was going to burst into tears; he stroked Wanda's hair and face and shoulders – everywhere that wasn't covered in blankets. It felt like me and Jodi were intruding on an intimate moment…

'Why don't you go get cleaned up? There's some left over's in the fridge…' Ian shook his head, but after a few minutes of sobering up he could clearly start to smell the beer on him so he went to go shower.

'What do you think they were fighting about?' Jodi whispered to me when she heard the water start running.

'I don't know…but he doesn't go out to drown himself in beer very often so it must be pretty big.' We knew tonight wasn't the right time to ask him about it, but we'd get him out of him tomorrow.

After Ian had come back, his hair still dripping, he pulled up an armchair right by Wanda and started to rhythmically stroke her hair as he watched her sleeping.

We sat and watched TV for a few more hours before Jodi couldn't stay up any longer, 'Alright bud, we're calling it a night.'

'…sure.' I don't think he'd taken his eyes off her all evening.

'It's good that she's sleeping – it means she's healing.' Jodi's voice was still sharp and protective over Wanda, but the words were kind and what Ian needed to hear.

'Thanks' He gave a small smile and glanced up at us as we left him the front room watching over Wanda.

(A/n – Just want to say that I know nothing about American Hospitals, or what they charge for health care, or if that was even the right thing to do in Wanda's situation – so apologies if it was all wrong - I just made it up as I went along because I didn't want her to be in hospital.)