I'm really, really, sorry that this chapter took forever to post!!! But a lot of it wasn't my fault. I have stupid computers to thank for this terrible delay and I am banging it as I write! So, yeah, my deep apologies! And I must also apologize for what a short chapter this is! I am sorry but the next one will be super long and very cool... I hope. I just write what my fingers decide to, okay? Don't worry I'll post it as soon as I can! Which will hopefully be a few days this time.

Chapter Five

Ian's POV

I watched Wanda as she ate. I still couldn't think of her as my fiancé. Of course, it was only the first morning since she'd accepted me but I still felt like I could never be able to believe it. She was too perfect to promise herself to me. She could do so much better, but it was useless to think like this. Wanda was mine and would always be no matter what I thought sounded fair. Who was I to complain about something that made me so happy?

My beautiful fairy was eating some oatmeal and chatting with Mel. She didn't seem to notice how I was playing with her blonde curls, twirling them around my finger. I was in a daze until Mel asked a question that addressed both Wanda and I.

"When do you guys plan to tie the knot," Mel looked like she would die if she didn't know the answer. I just sat there, not knowing what to say. I didn't think Wanda had gotten that far yet, either. I just proposed! I was way too nervous to be able to think farther from asking the question and Mel here thinks that I should already have a date in mind?

"What knot?" Wanda looked so curious that I had to hold my breath to keep from laughing. She would be hurt if I laughed at her for her lack of knowledge for human expressions. Mel looked like how I felt but she covered it with a cough.

"'Tie the knot' means getting married. When do you guys plan on getting married?" This time it was Wanda's turn to be struck dumb. I decided that I should save her from internal combustion for not knowing the answer.

"We haven't talked about it, but I'm willing to do it whenever Wanda wants to. We could get married tomorrow and I'll be there. It's all up to her." I turned around and smiled at my treasure. She somewhat recovered enough to look at me with loving eyes and smile a smile that would put angels to shame. I was glad that she found this exciting, she actually wanted to marry me! That thought made me feel like the happiest man on Earth. I felt like I couldn't love her any more than how much I already did. (Does that sentence make sense?)

"So, what do you think, Wanda?"

"Well, how long does it usually take?"

"The wedding ceremony itself only lasts like an hour, depending on what kind you do. And the reception goes on for as long as you want, but planning the wedding it what takes the most time. If everything was normal then it would take like a year." That seemed to make Wanda solemn.

"If everything was normal he would be marrying someone else," Wanda muttered seriously. I tightened my arm around her shoulders and whispered reassuringly into her ear, "I would never find someone like you. You're the only person that can make me this happy. I love you."

"Come on, Wanda! You know I didn't mean it like that. I'm really sorry, sometimes I have to pay more attention to the trash that comes out of my mouth!"

"It's okay. I know what you meant… anyways, I don't want it to take very long. I want us to be married at least by the time the rains stop." She looked up at me and smiled knowingly.

She must have figured it out. She knew that I wouldn't take the next step in our physical relationship unless we were married first, and of course, Wanda didn't ask for an explanation. She trusted me enough to know that I wouldn't deprive us both from what we wanted if it wasn't for a good reason.

"That sounds like a reasonable time… how long is that? Like two more weeks? Wow, that's a short time."

"Yup, but it will take like a whole other week to have everything be dry enough to go back to our old sleeping arrangements." And new sleeping arrangements, I thought to myself with glee. Mel shared the same wicked grin that I was sure was on my face as well.

"Are you ready to get to work?" Wanda asked anxiously. She obviously felt bad for doing nothing yesterday and wanted to make up for it today. I sighed, how was I going to get her to think of herself before others? She should at least do it sometimes. I got up though, because I knew that there was no point in arguing with Wanda when she got like this. She smiled and kissed me goodbye saying she would see me at lunch, and then she went off with Sunny to the washing room with two bucketfuls of dirty dishes. It looked like they were both having trouble with the heavy load and I was going to go help them until Kyle beat me to it, taking both tubs from our girls.

I stared after her until she was out of sight. I turned around to head toward the fields only to be intercepted by Mel. She looked at me with accusatory eyes, as if I had done something absolutely terrible.

"What?"

"Why did you make it so soon?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to plan a wedding? And now it's going to be twice as hard with a deadline like that! Even with simple taste like Wanda's, it's still going to be quite a feat for us to pull off." Why was she being so rude about this?

I was mad at myself for not thinking about this. Mel was right. Wanda deserved to have a big, happy, normal wedding. That's what she could have if she had stayed with her own kind, if they had weddings, and that's what I wanted to give her. I wanted Wanda to have the best that I could give her, and what I wanted for myself was definitely not enough for Wanda. I looked back at Mel with the most pleading puppy-dog face I could manage.

"Please help, Mel. This is for Wanda, remember that. I'm sure that we can make this happen soon, especially since Wanda won't want anything big, I don't think." She looked like she was considering my proposal with doubt but I knew that I had her as soon as I had said this was for Wanda.

"Fine." she said exasperatedly, "but only for Wanda."

"Yes! Okay, now all we need to do is find a way to get a priest, decorations, good food, and...music?" I was trying to list the things that were normal at a wedding but I knew that a few would be nearly impossible.

"You're joking. I doubt that souls have priests and I also don't think that any D.J's would be willing to come to a whole group of wild humans, but don't worry we'll do something to make this wedding worthwhile. Besides, whether it's amazing or it sucks I know that both of you will be very happy, so happy that Jaime will want to puke," Mel said in a matter-of-fact tone. I smiled, knowing that her attitude wasn't really what she felt. I knew she was happy to help but she didn't know how to do it without her "this is a big deal for me" attitude.

"Thanks, Mel!" I felt like hugging her guts out but I knew that it would be awkward so I didn't.

"Whatever. Just make sure that we can go on a raid really soon to get the wedding dress and the tux, okay?" I didn't even think about that. Boy, was I glad Mel was helping out. Wanda and I both didn't know much about what it takes to have a wedding.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot," I covered up my carelessness as best I could. And with that I ran off to the fields.

Wanda's POV

Sunny and I were washing the dishes when it suddenly occurred to me; I had absolutely no idea how to plan a wedding. I knew the basics, sure, but what were those tiny details that made it your own? I really wanted Ian to be proud of me when I did this human tradition, I knew that it was very important to them and was not to be taken lightly, but I couldn't lie to myself. I didn't have any clue when it came to acting human in a human ritual!

"Sunny?"

"Yeah?"

"Does Jo-," I stopped abruptly. Sunny always started feeling guilty when anyone mentioned Jodi. She thought it was her fault that Jodi never came back but everyone-mostly everyone- knew that it was because Jodi just wasn't a fighter. She gave up before anyone-even Sunny- could save her. Sunny looked up at me and had resolve written all over her face.

"You can say her name, Wanda. Jodi, Jodi, Jodi, Jodi. See? It's all right. I accept the fact that she was Kyle's first true love and that he will always love her. But... well... Kyle has told me that she is now his past. He says that their love will never end but then he has moved on now. He says that... that I'm his present and his future now. And...it took me awhile to be able to believe him, but now...I do."

I was surprised that Sunny shared all this with me. Sure, our relationship was very strong now, we were pretty much sisters, but she still wasn't really the one that shared all her thoughts. Mel and I were more talkative whereas Sunny did most of the listening. I looked at her with what I was sure was a proud smile.

"I'm glad you finally got that through that adorable little head of yours, Sunny," I giggled. Sunny laughed a little in return and then faced me with an excited look on her face.

"You want to know more about weddings." I nodded, chagrined by my ignorance on something I was planning on doing in just a few short weeks.

"Well, J-Jodi," it seemed hard for her to say her name too quickly, "loved to plan these type of things. She and Kyle weren't engaged but they were serious enough to give her the idea that he was going to propose soon. So, she would buy tons of these bridal magazines and imagine her wedding."

"What were they like?"

"Well, it all depended on what you wanted and what your style was. Jodi was a bit shy but she loved bright colors, and loud things. She wanted an assortment of different bouquets all over and the wedding dress she wanted was absolutely huge with lots of ruffles and beads." I watched as Sunny got some sort of wistful look in her eyes. I knew that neither one of us would want anything as extravagant as that but it did sound magical, I had to admit. I was about to ask something when Sunny started again.

"But the best part, I think, is having all the people that love you there. Everyone gets together to celebrate your union and everyone is happy. You'd almost think that they were all souls." Sunny and I both laughed at that.

"Sunny, what are wedding dresses like? Are they really important, because I don't have any dresses."

"Wanda! We're going on a raid, of course! No one expects you to have a wedding with the caves! Especially when we can easily get everything ourselves."

"What exactly do we need besides a wedding dress?" This sounded like a bigger affair than I thought it was...

"We need tuxes for Ian and his groomsmen, flowers, food, cake, candles, and if you want bridesmaids then you also need bridesmaid dresses..."

Wow, that was a pretty big list. I thought that it was only going to be really simple. Like Ian and I telling everyone that we were going to be together forever. On second thought, that did sound a little too boring for the humans. They of course need to make everything much bigger than it had to be, but I had to remind myself that Ian was human. This is what he expected from me and I wanted to be the best I could be for him. It didn't matter if I felt uncomfortable at our wedding, all that mattered to me was Ian's happiness.

"Wanda?" Sunny's voice broke me out of my reverie.

"Hm?" I tried to bring myself back to the conversation we were having. "What are bridesmaids and groomsmen? You have to explain everything in detail, please. I'm really new to this." I blushed.

"Don't be embarrassed it's not your fault. I wouldn't know anything either if it wasn't for Jodi. Bridesmaids are usually the brides sisters or closest girlfriends. They help her plan the wedding and stand next to her as she weds. The groomsmen are bridesmaids except for the groom. Th-"

"Who is the groom?" Sunny looked at me for a minute and then began laughing hysterically when she saw that I really was curious. I let our a huff of indignation and crossed my arms across my chest as Sunny laughed away. After a few minutes of her unstoppable laughs she started to calm down a little and was able to stutter an apology between giggles.

"Now, what is so funny to you?" I tried to keep the needless embarrassment out of my voice but my red cheeks were enough to reveal my true feelings. It looked like she was in physical pain as she tried to hold in her laughter. I rolled my eyes but appreciated the effort. When she was finally able to breathe properly she took a few deep breaths before she answered me with a grin.

"Wanda, Ian is the groom. Your groom. He is the man getting married and you're called the bride. These are the labels that humans put on the couple. I don't know why but there are few human traditions and habits that can be explained. Now, let's finish these last few dishes and then we can go find Mel for lunch and talk about this with her." I nodded, thinking that it would be easier with Mel because she knew the level of my knowledge.

Sunny and I finished all the dishes and were lugging the tub back to the kitchen with little success. Neither one of us was very strong and weren't much bigger than the size of children. Actually, the only things that made us look at all like women were our curvy figures and chests. Sunny was slightly taller than me, but I had rounder hips than she did, I thought.

I heard Sunny give an exasperated sigh. "It's no use, Wanda. We had Kyle's help to get these down here. There is no way that we're able to carry these all the way to the kitchen, and we have to soon because no one will be able to eat lunch without them."

"Don't worry about it, Sunny, it's no big deal. I'll go get Ian or someone to help us. Actually, I think I hear someone coming right now." And indeed I was sure I could hear a set of footsteps coming right in our direction. Sunny and I both looked up and waited, both of us trying to hide our embarrassment. But as soon as we saw who the footsteps belonged to we both cringed in fear.

In front of us stood a beautiful young woman with fiery red hair and a look of pure hate etched across her gorgeous features. I wanted run away screaming but I knew that I didn't have a concrete reason to do that so I stood my ground but still had a terrified look on my face. I could see that Sunny was frozen in fright and couldn't even move when Sharon took two steps closer to me. She was right above me when she spit at my face. Her spit dribbled down my cheek and onto my shirt, leaving a dark mark in the fabric.

"You don't deserve to be here, parasite. You should have been rotting away in some hole in the desert a long time ago with a bullet in your pathetic little head, but instead you put everyone under your spell. Now, you're going to marry Ian? How can you even know what love is? You don't have the right to have a wedding. You're not human and Ian's only doing it because he has been blinded by the mask you wear. The mask of innocence. You've fooled everyone but me, monster, but I promise that one day I will take you down and I will show no mercy," she sneered before she put a quick but very painful slap to my face.

My cheek stung terribly and I could taste blood in my mouth but I didn't touch it, I didn't cry in pain and I didn't fight back. I just stood there, staring at the girl that was right. Sharon strutted away after she gave me one last death stare. After she was out of sight I collapsed right where I stood. That seemed to break Sunny out of her trance and she immediately came to my side.

"Wanda? Wanda? Are you okay? Oh my God, oh my God! What do I do?" But I couldn't say anything. I just got up from the ground and started walking to ward the kitchen, not bothering to bring the dishes and not wiping off the spit that was still moist on my stinging cheek. As I walked I didn't think about what just happened. I didn't think about anything at all.

Sunny was worrying the whole way there and thought she threatened to take me to Doc's she never forced me to change my direction, and I was glad for that. The last people I wanted to see right now were Maggie, Sharon and Sharon's boyfriend. Sure, I trusted Doc, but I didn't want him to have to choose between the woman he loved and girl he promised to protect. And quite frankly I wasn't sure who he would choose; Doc kept all his promises.

By the time we reached the kitchen we saw that only Trudy and Lily were there. It seemed we were earlier than we thought because they were just finishing making lunch. They didn't notice our return until Sunny tapped Trudy on the shoulder. Trudy jumped in surprise but smiled when she saw it was Sunny.

"Sorry, Trudy, but Wanda and I couldn't bring the dishes all by ourselves." Sunny's voice still shook with fear from Sharon but I knew she wouldn't want to tell someone that she wasn't always with. She would wait until Kyle or Mel came. But Trudy and Lily both noticed how Sunny and I were pale and how spit was still on my cheek and I was sure that it was swelling now too.

"Wanda," Lily gasped. Trudy took a towel and came to me with a motherly expression on her face. She wiped my cheek and then put a cold water bottle against it.

"Wanda, what happen to you? You look terrible and frozen with fright." When I didn't answer she turned to Sunny. Sunny looked unsure but then she seemed to feel softened by the woman's kindness.

"We were met on our way by Sharon… she wasn't too happy to see us."

"Oh. Oh, my." Trudy seemed to understand immediately but she wasn't able to say or do much afterwards because at that exact moment Ian, Jared, Mel, Jaime, Kyle, and Brandt walked in laughing.

At first when Ian saw me he looked ecstatic but when he saw how Trudy was hugging me comfortingly his face turned concern and he came swiftly to me, taking me out of Trudy's arms and into his own, holding the water bottle against my cheek with his chest. His left hand tangled into my hair soothingly while his other rubbed comforting circles on my back.

"Wanda, what happened? What's wrong?"

I thought about where I stood in this. I decided that I wasn't angry at Sharon. I didn't blame her for what she did. She did what Ian should do, what everyone should be doing to me. With this thought I tried to get out of Ian's embrace but he was so strong that it seemed almost impossible. But when he noticed he immediately loosened his hold on me. I walked out of his embrace and tried to smile.

"Nothing happed. I was just… uh… thinking about Cloud Spinner and Trudy was trying to comfort me." The lie shone through my voice and called me a liar, but before Ian could ask for the truth Sunny stepped closer to Ian and I.

"That's not what happened at all. Wanda, why aren't you telling them the truth?" I could see that she wasn't that surprised by how I was acting, but I also saw that she wanted to defend me. She wanted to make sure that Sharon got what she deserved. I was surprised at how much Sunny had grown in these past few weeks, and I couldn't help but wish that she wouldn't tell them the truth. Though she was trying not to show it, her fragile frame shook with fear and Kyle wrapped his arms around her.

"W-we were met by Sh-Sharon. She spit in Wanda's face and then said that she should be d-d-dead and r-rotting in a hole," she gulped down tears and struggled to continue, "she said that Wanda isn't human and she has n-n-no right-"

"Sunny, stop it."

"No, you stop it, Wanda. I can see where this is going and I know what you think about what Sharon said." Mel walked over to me, taking my arms into her hands and holding me at arms length.

"Wanda, you have done more for this family than Sharon has. She is selfish and stubborn whereas you are all generosity and sweetness! You gave up your way of living just to save me! And yo-"

"No! I wouldn't have done any of that if you weren't inside my head! That was all you and your strength. I? I did nothing. I-I'm just a monster, Mel." I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry, but when rough but gentle and familiar hands took me out of Mel's grasp and into his own the hot salt water leaked from me. His hand stroked my hair and then he began whispering to me.

"Am I in love with a monster, Wanda? Don't you think I have better judgment than that?" I could feel Ian's chest rumble slightly, trying to cheer me up no doubt. "Wanda, I don't love you because you brought Mel here. I don't love you because you're a soul either. I love you because you are Wanda. And that's why I'm marrying you, too. I love you so much that I won't even kill Sharon because I know that would only upset you. Though, I really, really want to see her suffer. But I want you to be proud of me and be happy that you chose me because I still feel like you're not a reality. Please be reality, Wanda. Stay with me."

He was asking me to love him. This beautiful, intelligent, and compassionate human was confessing his love for the millionth time but this was the first time that I realized that he would always love me. Ian would always be here for me no matter what anybody said or thought about me. Not even what I thought about myself would stop him. This epiphany hit me hard and hit me good. It made me ecstatic. I looked into those brilliant sapphire eyes of his and saw the love that he had held in his voice. I melted by eyes that looked more like ice than fire.

I grinned and giggled. "So you really do love me, O'Shea?" He seemed relieved to see me cheery again. He grinned right back at me and then twirled me in a half circle before crushing my lips with his.

"With all my heart, Wanderer." I shivered at the use of my full name. Oh, he had such an affect on me! When he put me down I remembered that we weren't exactly in a private enough place to kiss Ian like that. I looked around at the still-small crowd with violet cheeks but my embarrassment was forgotten when I saw that a small portion of the group was gone.

Jaime saw my confused look and answered me with a nervous smile, "Mel, Jared, and Kyle went off to do something before lunch. They said to save them a spot for lunch."

"We should probably get the dishes before everyone comes demanding to be fed," Sunny put in with a giggle. I smiled too as the thought reminded me of hungry puppies waiting for their mother to nurse them.

"Okay. Ian, will you help us?"

"Of course. I should've thought of that earlier…"

"It's all right." He was always blaming himself. I wondered how anyone could be like that…

A short while later we were all seated together at our regular table enjoying rolls with some vegetable soup and plenty of water. When I asked Mel where she went earlier all she said was that she thought Ian and I deserved some privacy, but the fact that she didn't make everyone else go made me doubt her, but I didn't question further.

I was at peace until I saw Sharon come in with Doc at her elbow. She was holding a wet rag to her eye but when she put it down to get some food I saw that it was swelling and looked like it hurt really bad. I averted my stare before she noticed it and glared at Mel instead. She felt it immediately and slowly turned to face me with an innocent expression.

"What did you do?" I kept my voice quiet enough to where even Ian, who was in a conversation with Kyle with his arm slung around my frail shoulders, couldn't hear me. She looked at me with her big, gorgeous green eyes but I didn't fall for that overused trick. I just narrowed my eyes further, trying to create the most dangerous face I could manage. Mel gave up on trying to weasel out of it and instead narrowed her eyes in return.

"Wanda, she deserved it and you know that she did." She kept her voice low, too, but she still put force behind it.

"But she's your cousin, Mel!"

"And you're my sister," she said plainly.

I looked at her and knew that this was a useless argument. She thought of things as a human would and I thought like a mix between a soul and a human so we obviously came to different conclusions but I was the one who could see both sides of the deal and I knew that deep in side I was glad for what Mel did to Sharon. That's the fact frightened me the most.

A/N: I told you it was pretty short. Well... I was thinking that since I don't get very many reviews that I could say "I won't post the next chapter until I get 6 reviews." but then I thought about it and told myself that youguys would probably hate me for it. So, I won't do it. Instead I'm going to beg. PLEASE review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would really help me along!!!!