Okay here is another one. Thank you to those who reviewed, I appreciate it. I hope you continue liking the story, I have a lot planned out and hope I can keep it going. Work and life may interupt but I will try to update as quickly as possible each time.

and as ususal: I do not own any of this as I am not the wonderful Stephenie Meyers

CH 4.

I woke up to an empty room. The room was bright. How long had I slept in? I wondered. I stretched and pulled myself up off the mattress. I was surprised Ian had gotten up before me. He was such a heavy sleeper and usually I had to drag him out of bed. The few times he had awakened before me he just stayed in bed holding me. He said he just couldn't tear himself away from me. What had changed this morning? Was he mad at me for endangering our family and life here in the caves? My mind started to go through all the possible scenarios. I realized that we may have to pack up and evacuate our home. Then it clicked. They must have run while I was sleeping. I had betrayed them and they left me here. I was abandoned. I felt like I was sinking into a never ending pit. I fell back onto the mattress and put my head in my hands, feeling defeated.

I shook my head in my hands. I recalled Pet having this feeling before. Like her world was ending. It was 3 years ago Pet was crying into her mother's lap, begging her to fix it and make it all better. That if it stayed like this she would not survive. Pet's mother reassured her daughter and rubbed her back. She was trying to comfort her distraught daughter. I missed Cloud Spinner and often thought of her. I know she was never my mother, but the memories were so strong. What was so upsetting to Pet? Then I remembered.

She had gone to the salon to get her hair cut and they had cut too much off. It was falling just above her shoulders. She felt like her world was ending because of a haircut. I understood the ridiculousness of this, but my body remembered the earth shattering pain this had once caused. Pet's mother reassured her. "It is okay my dear. It will grow back," as she ran her hand through the hair. "The human emotions in a teenager are always magnified. Just remember that. It may seem like it is the end of the world but you will survive. You just have to make it through the emotional ups and downs of these few years."

It amazed me that the reassuring words of Pet's mother could still impact me the way they did. They provided me with the clarity I need to realized that of course my family had not left me. Ian would not have let them. He would have picked me up and held on to me. Nobody would have been able to pry me out of his strong arms. I was clearly letting my teenage emotions get the better of me. I, the tiny silver creature in Pet's body, may be thousands of years old but this body was not. I was getting so good at pretending this body was 18 that I often forgot myself that it was merely 17.

I got up determined to find out where everyone disappeared to. I walked with as much determination as my petite body would allow, trying not to let the fear come through. I made my way to the kitchen, hoping that they were all just eating breakfast. When I got to the doorway I exhaled a very relieved breath. There were several people sitting eating breakfast while carrying on quiet conversations. Sharon and Maggie were in one corner, while Lily, Trudy, Geoffrey and Heath were at the table beside them. Kyle and Sunny were on the other side of the room. Kyle had his back to me and seemed to be focused on devouring the food in front of him. Sunny looked up at me with her reflective eyes and smiled. I smiled back but did not come in to join them. I had a mission to find the people that I could not survive on this planet without. Nobody else had looked up or noticed me so I slipped back into the dark halls of the cave. I was not sure if they knew what I had revealed to Burns last night and I knew I did not want to face the wrath of Sharon right now. I knew I had no right to defend my behaviour or to ask them for forgiveness. I continued my search for Ian, Mel and Jaime.

I walked through the dark halls looking in every room as I passed trying to find them. I made my way to the fields but they were empty. I went to the bathrooms and called out into the darkness but I heard nothing in return. I had one last thought as to where they could be. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it earlier. There would really only be one reason for them to be all missing together...somebody was hurt. I knew where I would find them now. Ian probably hadn't wanted to upset me. It bothered me how vulnerable this body appeared to everyone.

I spun around and quickly exited the bathroom on a mission to the hospital area. I didn't know what I would find once I got there but I knew it was where I needed to be. I was so focused in my walk down the dark tunnel that I ran right into Melanie, almost knocking myself flat on my butt.

Mel grabbed my arm to keep me on my feet. "Wanderer! I am so sorry! It is so dark down here I didn't even see you."

"Oh Mel!" I wrapped my arms around her neck. "I was so worried about you! Where is everyone? I can't find Jaime or Ian. Have you seen them?"

Melanie peeled my arms from around her neck started to lead me away from Docs. "No need to worry Wanderer. Everything and everyone is just fine. I just saw Ian at Docs. He needed to help him with something. Jared too."

I tried to turn around to go see for myself but Mel kept me by her side. "I promised I would make sure you got some breakfast first. Then we can go help the guys out." Mel put her arm around my shoulder. "You are such a worrier Wanderer."

"I know." I admitted before walking with Mel to the kitchen. Once we arrived in the kitchen she sat me down across from Sunny. I looked back to see Mel but she was already walking towards the counter to get our food. I could see Kyle was already there, most likely getting seconds.

"Hi Wanda, did you sleep well?" Sunny asked. She had a big smile on her face.

"I must have. I didn't even hear everybody get up." I looked down and I felt a blush spread across my checks. As I looked at the table I saw Mel's tanned hand place a bowl of oatmeal in front of me. "Thanks Mel..." I looked up at my friend and I was shocked at what I saw.

I looked at Mel's face. It was the same tanned face that I once shared. The smooth skin, same mouth and nose...and the same eyes...the exact same eyes as when we shared that face. How could that be?

I cringed back in shock. "You're not Melanie!" I gasped.

This stranger looked back at me. "No Wanderer I am not. My name is Sings Like A Bell."

Kyle sat back at the table, this time he sat beside Sunny and across from me. I had never been happier to have Kyle and his temper in such close proximity. I reached out for his hands not taking my eyes off of Mel... or Sings Like A Bell. "Kyle! Kyle! They got Mel!" I exclaimed. "Don't worry Mel, we will get your body back. I promised you that you would have a life with Jaime and Jared."

Kyle squeezed my hand but made no other movements. I was expecting him to leap over the table. I turned to look at him and what I saw chilled me to the bones. It was his deep sapphire eyes, the same eyes as Ian's, but yet they were not the same. The silver rings stared at me. I pulled my hand out from his and jumped out of my seat.

I backed away from the table shaking my head back and forth. "No, No, No, No...NO! NO!" I was now screaming at them. It couldn't be true. I felt the tears filling my eyes. What have I done? This was all my fault. Mel and Kyle were gone. I looked around the room. They were all staring the young girl screaming in the middle of the room, staring at me with their silver eyes. I couldn't take it anymore. I turned and ran from the room.

I ran down the halls, the tears now overflowing from my eyes. I couldn't see through them, but I knew the way. I ran down the hall sobbing, trying to wipe my face with my sleeves. I needed to see once I got there. I needed to be able to stop them. I had to save Ian. I couldn't let them wipe him away. "Fight them Ian!" I yelled out into the dark corridors. "Fight them! Don't fade away!"

I could make out the light coming from the hospital. I stopped running. I had to compose myself before doing this. I couldn't risk putting Ian in danger. If they had already implanted him I had to keep the soul calm enough that it wouldn't shred Ian to bits. I took one more swipe of my sleeve across my face and a long deep breath in.

I only took a few steps into the hospital before what happened became crystal clear. My mistake had caused the souls to find us. Sharing our secret must have turned Burns back to the souls. I scanned the room to take it all in. On my left was Jaime and Jeb sitting on a cot, their silver eyes looking curiously at me. Doc stood by his desk with two people I didn't recognize but were dressed in the calling of healers. There were stacks of empty cryo tanks behind him and he was watching me cautiously. Burns was placing one last tank onto the stack and had not seen me enter yet. My eyes then feel upon the cot to my right. Jared was leaning over it looking at someone but he was blocking the way just enough that I couldn't see who. He adjusted his stance and opened my view the rest of the way to the sleeping figure. At that moment my breath felt like it was sucked right out of my body.

Seeing Ian laying on that cot sent a panic through me. I rushed to the cot, practically knocking Jared over in the process, and threw myself on Ian's body. I started to shake as the sobs broke through my chest. I felt like they were going to rip me apart. This was all my fault. I had done this. I never should have stayed here. It was too selfish of me to think that I deserved the love of this man and the happiness I felt with him and my human family. I should have been laid to rest with Walter and Wes. If I had been then none of this would have happened. My tears had already soaked through Ian's shirt but they just wouldn't stop. I had not cried like this since I was in Melanie's body. Ian would never have let me cry this long. He would wrap his arms around me and the world would finally feel right...

I barely got the thought through my head when I felt movement underneath me. He was coming to. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I buried my face into his chest and took in every moment I could before looking at him. I listened to his strong heart one more time. The steady pulse calmed me tears, settled my breathing and somehow managed to slow down my own heart that previously felt like it may escape from my chest. The panic left me and I was able to think clearly. Just being near Ian's body relaxed me and made me feel safe. I even imagined Ian's arms wrapping around me now. That he was pulling me closer to him, like we could fuse into one body...

It was not my imagination though. Ian's arms had wrapped around me and he was embracing me. "Wanderer?" He questioned. I froze. Had I arrived in time? And even if I did, how long could we fight them off? I was no longer the physical force I had been when I was with Melanie.

I was afraid to open my eyes. Afraid to burst this happy bubble I was in, but I had to know though. So I pushed myself up from his chest and lifted my head towards Ian's. I kept my eyes squeezed closed, picturing his piercing eyes. Pools of deep blue in a bed of snow white, nothing else. I forced my eyes open to look into his.

Ian looked at me with such compassion in his eyes, but it brought more tears to mine. "Aren't you Wanderer? I recognize you from his memories..." He said as his compassionate look from before became one of confusion. "My name is Soars With The Waves." He smiled and his blues eyes shined, but I only saw the tiny silver ring in the centre of them.

I couldn't take it any longer. I slid my way out of his arms and stood up quickly. Too quickly because I started to get dizzy and the room felt like it was spinning. I had to get out of there. I had to think. To find a way to make this all right. I had to get away from him.

I turned and I ran out of the hospital as quick as I could. My feet were not steady and my balance was off. I heard the footsteps behind me so I knew I had to keep going. I had to get away so I could find a way to free my family. I pushed my body as hard as I could but I was tired from the running before and my weak body could not handle it. I collapsed against the rock wall and fell to the floor. My head throbbed and my body ached. I wanted to cry but had nothing left. I could hear the footsteps getting closer but I could do nothing to stop them. Then it all went black.

I don't know how long I was out but slowly I felt everything coming back, including the tears. I was rocking back and forth on the floor of the hallway. I should have been cold laying on the floor but I was warm and instead of feeling jagged rock beside me it felt smooth. I was being held, actually cradled, in strong arms.

"Shhh. It is okay. I am here."

I heard his voice through my cloudy state, but I couldn't be happy about it. This voice was not really him talking to me. It was just his voice. That made the tears come out harder. I tried to speak but I couldn't stop the sobs. I just let him hold me until I got it all out, I knew it was wrong but I needed his body at that moment. When the sobbing stopped and only a few stray tears remained he brought his hand up to my face and wiped the strays away.

"Please tell me what is wrong." He pleaded, his voice cracked at the end. He swallowed loudly like he was trying to hold back tears of his own.

"You...You're not him." I croaked out in barely a whisper. And it is all my fault, I thought to myself.

"Who? Who were you expecting me to be?" He still sounded on the brink on tears.

"Ian... You are supposed to be Ian."

"And who do you think I am?" He lifted my chin to make me look at him. In the dark of the halls and with my swollen eyes, but the face I looked at was Ian's. I was grateful that there was no light to reflect off his eyes. I put my hand on his face running my thumb along his cheek bone.

"You are Soars With The Waves... I saw you in Docs office... I saw your eyes...I saw everyone's eyes." I whispered through hiccupped breaths.

He didn't say a word. He just picked up my tiny body and stood up off the ground where he sat me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, succumbing to my exhaustion and no longer being able to fight. He started a slow jog down the hall, carrying me in his arms like he had so many times before. It took me a moment to realize where he was taking me. We were taking the same path I had just run myself. He was taking me to them...

"No...please..." I was begging him as I clutched tighter to his neck. "I don't want to leave here." He did not respond in words but speed up his jog so he was almost at a run. At this speed I knew I had no time. I tried to come to terms with the inevitable outcome. I didn't want to leave this planet, to leave my family with their lives shattered apart. I couldn't live forever with that thought. I could shred this host and end my life now, in the arms of the only being I have ever loved... but if Ian was still in there somewhere, that would destroy him. I could only hope that he would fight his way through. As we entered the room where my tenth life both became and would surely soon end I hung onto Ian's body even tighter. I buried my eyes into his neck hiding the room from my sight.

"Come on Wanderer. You need to see this," he urged while trying to pry me off of his neck with one arm, cradling me in the other. My body could not hold out against the strength of his.

I refused to look at his face as the morning light coming in this room would not be able to hide the truth. So I looked out to the room. It was not the same as I left it. There was no one in this room, not even a cot. It was emptied of everything except Doc's desk and a few boxes of medical supplies. I was confused by this change and let my grip on Ian loosen. He placed me in the chair behind Doc's desk and crouched in front of me. I looked at my hands, fidgeting them in my lap.

"Wanderer?" He asked quietly. "Can you please look at me?"

I took a deep breath and looked into in beautifully sculpted face. He looked up at me with signs of stress on his face. His lips were pulled tight and eyebrows pulled together forcing creases on his forehead. I looked into his eyes. They were red from the tears that had once been in them. I got lost in the deep blue pools that felt like they were looking right through Pet's body, through to the real me. The deep solid sapphire blue eyes. That was when I realized that they were only blue.

"Ian! It really is you!" I threw myself forward wrapping my arms around his neck, grabbing his hair while slamming my lips into his. My sudden movements surprised him and caused him to lose his balance and topple us both backwards onto the floor. I made sure to keep our lips in contact the entire time, tasting the salt tears I had cried earlier. I kissed him like I would never be able to kiss him again, because I truly thought that I was never going to. Eventually my lungs needed air and I had to break our lips apart. I was panting, which normally I would have been embarrassed about, but not now. I was too relieved.

He took this break in my assault as an opportunity to regain control over the situation. He rolled be over, placing one arm under my head to keep it off the floor, stopping just before he was fully over top of me. I felt the blush coming to my checks now. We had never been this intimate in a room to ourselves before. I was fighting the butterflies in my stomach. "Not that I mind be attacked by you that way…don't get me wrong," he said sounding just as out of breath as I felt. "But what was all that about? I didn't know what was wrong with you... you scared me half to death?"

I reached up and brushed his cheek. It hurt my heart to know that I scared him. I never wanted him to feel any pain. "Are you okay? I am sorry to have scared you…I don't know what happened…." I paused to think back. It had all felt so real, but having Ian here not as a host but as the complete him, I knew it was false. It must have been a dream. It was as vivid as Mel's memories had been of Jared. I shivered remembering seeing my family overtaken by souls. Ian took this reaction as me being cold.

"Oh Wanderer, you must be cold on the floor like this," he stated as he scooped me easily up into his arms. He walked over to the chair and sat down, leaving me in his lap. He absently rubbed the sides of my arms and legs, the friction spreading warmth over my body. Not a burn, but a slow heat that spread deep inside me. "Better?"

"Yes," I sighed. "But I wasn't really cold…" Ian looked at me with his head tilted slightly waiting for me to continue. "I was remembering what I thought I saw…I guess it was a very realistic dream I was having."

"I think that may be an understatement," he chuckled at me, seeming slightly more relaxed. "I went a little crazy when I woke up and you weren't there. The last time that happened I found you in a cryo tank…" He shook his head, trying to shake out the memory of that time.

"How did I get all the way out here?" I wondered. "I remember doing it in the dream…but how did I actually get here?" I was very confused by how this could happen.

"Maybe if you told me about the dream it would help," he suggested.

I sat there, curled up in his lap, retelling the dream to Ian. He held me on his lap and listened to me intently and I went over all the details. At one point he smiled slightly when I mentioned knowing he would have held on to me for dear life if they had tried to leave without me. Probably glad that even in my sub conscious state I knew he was my protector and always would be. I felt the tears coming back when I told the part about Mel and Jaime being hosts, but he wiped them away. By the time I got to the part about finding him on the cot, my throat was thick with tears.

"Well that would explain why I found you collapsed in the hallway," he said. "You were sleepwalking. Kyle used to do it when he was a kid whenever he was upset about something." Ian placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. "It figures you would worry yourself to the point of sleepwalking through the caves."

"I am still worried about what Burns will do once I tell him our story…I want to make sure you are all safe."

"How about you let me worry about that," he said rubbing his hand through my hair. "I will make sure we are all okay…I will never let anything happen to you or anyone you love. I promise."

"Especially to you…I don't want anything to happened to you." I quietly admitted.

"The only thing that could hurt me is losing you, my love," he put his hand under my chin and pulled my face to his. His lips were softer on mine that I was during my previous assault on his. He ran his hand under my hair and up the back on my neck, his fingers lightly tracing the pink scar left from my insertion. He pulled his lips away and leaned towards my ear. "And when I say 'you' I am not speaking on the body you are in. I mean my beautiful silver ribbon Wanderer."

Okay so I felt kinda like I took a cliche route doing the whole "it was just a dream" thing but I just couldn't resist. I personally have had many of those dreams where you are so upset that when you wake up that pain from your dream follows you. Almost like you can't quite tell if you are back in reality. Considering Wanda experienced Melanies memories so vividly I imagined that her dreams could be much the same. Anyways that was where I was at with this chapter. The next one will pick up with her explaination to Burns and then we shall see where it goes.

Please review. I appreciate the feedback, good or bad.