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At the end of Chapter 41, Wanderer asked Ian to kiss her with no explanation. When Ian questions her request, she simply repeats it. He compllies and kisses her very quickly. This is not good enough for Wanderer, though, as she replies, “No, Ian. Really kiss me. Like…like you’re trying to get slapped.”
Ian refuses to do this until he gets a reason out of her. Wanderer takes matters into her own hands and initiates the kiss instead, but she still doesn’t hear anything from Melanie. She lets Ian in on what she is trying to accomplish. She decides to let Ian in on what’s happening. She slowly goes into panic, worrying that Jamie will be able to tell that she’s lost Melanie and that this may worsen his condition. Ian asks Wanderer to just considered her own well-being and desires for once, but she insists that erasing Melanie would make her a monster and she couldn’t have that. So Ian puts past what he wants and helps brainstorm a way to get Melanie back. He runs off and leaves Wanda panicking to herself for several minutes, then he returns with Jared. Wanderer is a bit humiliated, but then explains to Jared how she lost Melanie and why he needs to kiss her.
Jared is willing to do anything to get Melanie back, so he agrees. He kisses Wanderer, but is gentle about it. Melanie is still lost. Jared becomes frustrated just as Wanderer has. He scolds, “Melanie Stryder! You will not leave me. Don’t you love me? Prove it! Prove it! Damn it, Mel! Get back here!” He intensifies his kiss and finally Melanie weakly ‘wakes up’ in the back corner of Wanderer’s mind. She is unaware of what is happening at first, but once she realizes she gets really angry and breaks through Wanda’s control to push Jared away.
Realizing that Melanie is back, Jared is extremely relieved and tries to kiss her again, but Melanie bites him. Melanie then gets mad at Wanderer, but then is updated on Jamie’s situation. She states that she can’t remember where she’s been for the past couple of days. Melanie is able to interact a little more with Jared, but then sees how much Wanderer is suffering. When Wanderer regains control of her body, Jared asks her why she can’t let Melanie out all the time. Wanderer explains that it’s like trying to pause her heartbeats- she doesn’t know how to do it. Jared doesn’t answer and Wanderer can feel her heart breaking yet again, but she pushes it away as there are more important things to worry about.
