A Wanderer No Longer (The Host one-shot)

Hey guys! I just finished reading the Host for the 8th time. I figured after all this time it would be essential for me to create fanfic of my own. 

This is set a little after the book ends (after meeting Nate, Burns, etc.) and Wanda is starting to get truly comfortable with her new self, taking advantage of her new body to discover the selfish ways of being a human, starting with her lovely Ian. It's just a little one-shot to fuel my inspiration, nothing that special.

~*~

Wanda

After months of getting accustomed to my new body, getting used to how tired I could get, I decided to enjoy the benefits of having this body. I was going to let people protect me, and use my vulnerability to make things easier for my humans. I didn't want to feel like a burden, most especially to Ian.

After all this time, Ian was the one who cared for me the most, and wanted what was best for me. I had always wanted the best for him as well, but what if the best for him coincided with what was the best for me?

I wanted to spend this long, beautiful human life with Ian. He deserved it. After all this time, I had finally accepted that I deserved it, too. Mel and Jared had each other, and now it was time for Ian and I to have each other. It was time for me to be a little... Selfish.

Maybe what I really needed to do now was to make up for what Ian had done for me.

He had waited.

He had been the one to put me in this body, and he was the first to accept me. 

I felt insecure about being in this young, vulnerable body, and having to lie about my age. Ian was a respectable man, and he would wait for this body to be of age, but I don't think I was respectable enough to... wait. 

I wanted to belong to Ian, just as much as he belonged to me. No more jealousy with Jared and Melanie.

If it was one thing Burns taught me, it was to be as loving and accepting to my humans as they loved and accepted me. 

When the rains had stopped, we all moved back into our separate rooms. Doc and Sharon had finally decided to share, and they started to take comfort in each other. It was more than I had expected, and Sharon was Doc's new assistant in transferring the souls into the cryotanks. We had bonded after time. We kept in regular contact with the other humans we met, making sure we shared all of our resources and teaching them our ways of dealing with soul-human matters.

I crept in with some mint ice cream for Ian after a long day of being on a raid. He was tired and had bruised his shoulder from protecting me from Seeker Williams, who Doc had transferred into a cryotank earlier this afternoon.

Ian was stretched along our bed, arms folded to cradle his head. When he heard me come in, his eyes opened and his face lit up. 

"Wanda, you were gone so long I was beginning to worry," he smiled, sitting up and meeting me into a tight embrace. It nearly took all the breath out of me. I still wasn't used to his strength in this fragile form, and I nearly dropped our ice cream. I huffed.

"Oh, sorry. I sometimes forget how fragile you are."

A pang of jealousy struck my heart, and it seemed to show on my face. I tried to cover it up, but it was too late. He had seen through me.

"No, Wanda. That's not what I meant. I told you already that the whole Mel thing was gone. It's you who I love, not Melanie. You, the little silver worm... You inhabit this body, and the body is you."