The Host *Accepting*

Jake

I lay there and watch her sleep. The pain of not telling her is killing me. I get up and pace around the little room. “Jake, what are you doing?” She says sleepily. Great I woke her up.

I walk over to her and get on my knees beside her bed. I brush a strand of hair out of her face. “Something happened today. I am not suppose to tell you.” I say.

She sits up. “What happened.” She asks.

“You have to promise you will not tell I told.” I say. She nods. “Skyler is back and she is a host.” Her eyes are wide.

“Ocean was so worried. I have to tell him.” She says. She begins to walk toward the door.

I grab her arm. “No you can't.” I says. “It is to dangerous. We want to keep you safe. I could not lie and say that everything was okay.” I say to her. She sits back down on the cot next to me.

“Is she going to hurt us?” She asks. Her voice is shaky.

I lay her head on my lap. “ I will keep you safe, but you can not tell anyone.” I say brushing her hair. She nods. I sit their and watch her fall asleep in my lap. We can not stay here for long or we will get in trouble. I have to wake her up, but she looks so peaceful.

Jami

I wake to a pat on my shoulder. I am still laying in Jake's lap. I slowly rise and sit up. I brush my hair with my fingers and put it up in a ponytail. It is going to be so hard not to tell Ocean the news. I want to keep him safe though. I do not want him to get his hopes up. I walk out of our room with Jake and see Ocean walking out to. Seeing him makes me happy, but I want to tell him so bad. Jake grabs my arm and we walk. I smile at Ocean and wave. Then I turn around and walk to get something to eat. I am starving.

Ocean

I wake on my own and hesitate before heading out. Jami and Jake are just leaving their room. Jami waves to me, smiling, and I wave back. Not wanting to overstep any boundaries, I follow a few feet behind them as they head down to get something to eat. I'm not that hungry, but know that if I don't eat I won't be much help to Jeb. I don't want to be a burden on anyone.

Jami

I can hear Ocean's foot steps behind me and I want to turn and talk to him, but I know I will slip and Jake would not like that. I go sit down at the table and Jake goes and gets us something to eat. I wave Ocean over and he comes over and sits with me. “How are you doing today?” I ask.

“I am not sure yet.” He asks. I see Jake looking at me and he gives me a look. He knows I want to tell, but I won't. Jake comes back with three plates of food. “Thanks.” He says.

“No problem.” Jake say. He sits down next to me. I can tell this is weird for the both of them. I look at Ocean and smile.

Jake

I go to get the food. I ask for two plates of food, but turn back to see Ocean at our table. I change and ask for three. I walk back over and sit next to Jami and give her a plate, I give one to Ocean and myself. I see the way Jami and Ocean smile at each other and the way Jami looks away and frowns. She wants to tell him so bad, but she is not going to. I know she is not going to right not. “I will be right back. I need to see what my job is for this week.” I say. I get up and walk over to the wall. I am posted for night duty, crap. I have never left Jami for a job. We usually have something together, but I guess something came up. I look to see what Jami has. She has to clean the kitchen and so does Ocean. “Great, more to worry about.” I say to myself. I walk back over to the table and throw the empty plates away. “Jami lets go.” Jami wave good-bye to Ocean and gets up and walks back to the room.

When we get in the room she sits down in the bed. “Whats wrong?” she asks.

“My job for this week.” I say sitting next to her. “I have night duty.” Her eyes widen.

Jami

“What?” I say. I feel so safe when Jake is here, but he is going to be gone. “We always have our jobs together.” I lay my head on his shoulder. “Are you going to be okay?” I ask him.

“I am more worried about you.” He says.

“I...” I start. “I don't know if I will be fine.” I say “It does not matter what I think anyway.” I say. “What job do I have?” I ask.

“Kitchen with Ocean.” He say.

“It's going to be even harder not to tell him.”

“They put you with him, because they think you do not know.” He says.

“You better get so sleep if you are going to be up all night.” I say getting up. “I have to go clean the kitchen.” He nods and I walk out of the room.

Ocean

Jami waves me over and I sit with her, Jake getting the food.

“How are you doing today?” She asks.

"I'm not sure yet," I reply.

Jake comes back with three plates of food and hands me mine.

"Thanks," I say, watching him sit next to Jami.

"No problem," He says.

Jami looks at me and smiles and I can't help but smile back. Did I just make a friend? Jake leaves to check his chores and I mentally note to do the same a little later. I'm halfway done with my food when he comes back and throws away their empty plates and tells Jami they have to go. Jami waves goodbye and I smile lightly and wave back.

Sighing, I finish and check my chores. Kitchen duty. With Jami. That could be interesting. Not knowing what else to do, I head off to the kitchen and run into Jami on the way.

"Looks like we're stuck together, huh?" I flash a smile.

Spoiler

Jeb posts will be limited and only when needed, so just remember to mention him every now and then in your posts. Also, there will be people who try to kill Casper, so whoever is watching her is in charge of keeping her safe too.

Casper/Skyler

Not eating was something my body might have been used to doing lately, but it was killing me not to reach down and pick up a roll or at least drink the water they'd brought me. My stomach growled every time I started to think about eating, so Skyler had began showing me memories of the world before the Souls had come. To be honest, that world scared me. There was always death, people shooting people, people starving to death... my stomach grumbled.

Stay strong, Skyler demanded. Though we knew Jeb wouldn't hurt us just yet, we weren't sure what the others would do. We'd heard what they said when Jeb first brought us here, they were all angry, just like the Souls had warned humans used to be.

Hey, I take offence to that, Skyler argued. I mentally smiled at her. In the past two days, we'd grown closer and though I wished I'd never followed her instructions in the first place, I was glad she was there in my head. I wasn't sure what I'd do without her now.

Without even thinking about the cold food in front of me, my stomach growled again. I groaned and slowly reached my hand out to push it farther away from me. I felt the guards eyes on me as I retracted my hand and hugged my knees. I'd been sitting in that position for quite some time, and now every bone in my body was hurting. I didn't move, though, I didn't stretch out like I wanted to or stand up and walk around. Mentally sighing, I closed my eyes and watched the memories of a life I'd never lived float by.

Jami

“Looks like we are stuck together, huh?” He says smiling.

“Poor thing, stuck in a room with me. How will you live?” I say. He laughs. We walk over to the kitchen and look at the pile of dirty dishes. “You wash, I’ll dry.” I say. I grab a rag and jump up and sit on the table with the sink. He smiles and starts to wash. I dry off the dishes as he hands them to me.

“So, what does Jake have?” he asks.

I sigh. “Night duty.” I look away.

“Whats wrong?” He asks handing me a dish.

“Ah, nothing. I just....” I searched for an answer. “got soap in my eye.” I rub my eyes to wipe away a tear that was about to fall.

“Here.” He says flicking water in my face. “Did that get it out?” He asks smiling.

I smack him with a dish towel. “As a matter a fact it did.” We laugh and he hands me another dish.

Ocean
“Poor thing, stuck in a room with me. How will you live?” She jokes.

I laugh and lead her into the kitchen. We see the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and she grabs a rag.

"You wash, I'll dry," She says, jumping to sit on the table with the sink.

I smile and sigh, starting to wash. Once I'm done with a dish, I hand it off to her to dry.

"So, what does Jake have?" I ask.

She sighs, "Night duty."

She looks away and I hand her a dish.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Ah, nothing. I just...got soap in my eye," She rubs her eye.

I study her before flicker water in her face.

"Here. Did that get it out?" I smile.

She smacks me with the dish towel and laughs with me.

"As a matter of fact, it did," She says.

I smile and hand her another dish, almost forgetting about the void in my chest.

Jami

I stop thinking about Jake and start to enjoy my time with Ocean. Something about him takes my mind off things. I laugh with him and smile a lot. My smiles are different with him, they come from that tingly feeling inside. I jump of the table and stand beside him. He hands me another dish and I bury my face in my hands. “How many people are in this cave?” I say. He laughs.

“I don't know, but they sure use a lot of plates. We are almost done.”He says. I dry the dish and stack it with the rest.

I stack the last few dishes and we are done. I look at my watch. “It is 8:30 already.” I say. “We just spend three hours washing dishes,” I say throwing the dish towel in the basket. “and surprisingly I had fun.” I say. “Thanks.” I say.

“For what?” he says walking out of the room. He waits for me at the door and I follow him.

“Taking my mind off things.” I says. He looks at me. “I rather not talk about it.” I say.

“You know someone once told me that it helps to talk about it, oh wait that was you.” He says.

“I have never been without Jake this long, and part of me is worried and the other part feels really happy. I do not know what this feeling is, but it's nice.” I say tilting my head. “I am going to wake Jake up.” I say. “Bye.” I wave and walk into my room.

Jake

I wake to Jami shaking me. “It is time for you to go.” She says sitting next to me.

“ How was kitchen duty?” I ask her sleepily. I sit up.

“Good.” She says.

“That's good.” I say. “I will be back before I know it.” I say. She wraps her arms around me and lays her head on my shoulder. I kiss her head. “You are going to be fine, I promise.” I say. “I have to go.” I lay her head down on the bed and cover her up with a blanket. She cries into her pillow. I leave quickly before I don't go at all. I walk out of the room and see Ocean stand outside.

“You need something Ocean?” I ask. He shakes his head. “Okay see you later.” I stop. “Check on Jami for me later tonight.” I say and I walk down to my station.

Ocean

I watch her walk back to her room, wondering what could be bothering her, before heading off to mine. What else did I have to do? Just as I reach it, Jake comes out of the room he and Jami share. I wonder what it looks like, me standing outside like this.

"You need something, Ocean?" He asks.

I just shake my head.

"Okay, see you later," he says.

I nod and turn to my door, hating the awkwardness between us. I don't even know the guy...

"Check on Jami for me later tonight," He stops and says.

I turn back around and nod, heading into my room as he walks off. Laying down, I take a deep breath and find myself thinking about Skyler again. Even a good day couldn't keep those thoughts away...

Jami

I curl up ball and bury my face in a pillow. Jake said I would be fine, but I do not feel safe without him here. What if he gets hurt. I can not loose him. All I can think about is a Soul taking over his body or something and him dying. I begin to cry I sob. My face is hot and wet. I get up and walk around the room. I just walk back and forth. I wipe my face and shake the tears off. I sit on a floor next to his bed and rock back and forth. I know something bad will happen, I just know it.

Ocean

After a little, I remember what Jake said and head out of my room. I walk to their door and knock before opening it and poking my head through. Jami is curled up on the floor, rocking back and forth. Cursing mentally, I shut the door behind me and sit at her side, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Jami? What's wrong?" I ask.