A lone figure strode quickly across the lot, his eyes never darting from the left or the right as he swiftly crossed the lonely expanse of asphalt that made up the Motel 8's parking lot. Here and there a curtain was cracked enough for him to glance inside and see families lounging on their beds watching TV, exhausted after a day on the move in touring LA. But he didn't need a crack in the curtains to know which one she was staying in.

His feet carried him at a fast clip; she had always been somewhat emotionally unstable, and the stress of everything that she undergone was bound to be getting to her. It could be only a matter of time before she snapped.

There ahead of him was the door to her room, #104. He was only ten feet away and he could see through the thin curtains that she had the light on, but nothing else was visible to him. When he finally stood before the worn wood of the door he looked at the tarnished metal of the room number hanging precariously from where it had been nailed in many years ago. There was no noise coming from inside, but he pressed his ear against the door to be sure and that was when he heard the sound of furniture being moved.

Puzzled, he hesitated only a moment before exacting three rapid knocks on the door. The noise stopped, and he pulled his face from the door, waiting for it to open. The wait carried on with no sign of her coming to answer, so he knocked again. This time he didn't even need his ear to the door to hear the faint whimper that emitted from behind it.

Immediately he knocked again, but the whimper faded and he suddenly felt a panic seize him. There was no telling how he knew, but something inside him told him she was in trouble.

"Meggie? Meggie?" he asked, "Meggie, let me in please, we need to talk."

From the other side of the paper thin door he heard her sharp intake of breath but his impatience got the best of him. He reached in his pocket for the keys he had temporarily lifted from the hotel's maid and unlocked the door, swinging it wide open.

There she was, standing on a table with one of the ceiling tiles broken above her and the electrical cord his men had seen her buy downtown today acting as a noose around her neck.

"Ben?" she whispered, and he rushed forward to her, slamming the door behind him.

She looked like she was ready to take the fateful step forward, and he begged her.

"Meggie, no! Meggie, don't do this! Let's think about things for a minute here."

She shook her head, tears rolling off her cheeks as her hair hung in her face pathetically.

"Meggie, please," he begged again, stepping up close enough that he could catch her if she did jump.

"What's the point?" she moaned, "It's all over, I can't get back. I'll never get back."

"Meggie, you can't think like that, you will get back, we both will."

"Noooo," she wailed, "It's impossible, John came to me and said that we all have to go back, and the others will never do it. Sun, Sayid, Kate? I'm stuck here forever, and I'm completely alone."

Her voice broke with that last statement and she leaned forward but Ben reached up his hands to steady her. "Meggie, listen to me. You and I can find a way back okay? We will get back to the island, and we'll find a way to get the others to come too."

She whimpered with the effort of not crying and shook her head again, "It's no use. We're doomed to fail."

The table was short enough that he was at eye-level with her waist, and his hands found her wrists and held them gently, trying to comfort her. He stroked the palm of one of her hands and she looked down at him in shock.

"We are not doomed to fail," he whispered up at her, "And you are not alone."

She kept looking down at him not knowing what to do, but her hand unconsciously reached forward to stroke his face, smoothing back his hair.

"You are special," he cooed, "You always have been. You're much too special to do this to yourself, to all of us. We can't get back without you." His voice was like a siren song, she closed her eyes and listened to it as his words rolled off his tongue, her hands now resting on his shoulders. "Please take that thing from around your neck," he said calmly, as if her touching him so affectionately were the most natural thing in the world given the situation.

Her eyes seemed to betray her second thoughts momentarily, but then she finally reached both her hands up to loosen the noose and pull it over her head. Ben's hands rested themselves on either side of her hips while the noose swung ominously from the ceiling where Meggie had let go of it.

He saw the half-empty gin bottle on the dresser and looked back up at her with those expressionless eyes. She started to cry again, and he wanted to get her down to his level so he could fully calm her down.

"Here," he said, his fingers tightening their hold on her hips, "Let me help you down from there."

She stared down into his eyes and the hand she rested on his shoulder twitched involuntarily as the other brushed his cheek and lips. She bent down low to his level, with her face inches away. The faint smell of gin reached his nose but was overpowered by the sweet smell of her. That scent he had only caught a waft of a few times but every time it turned his head towards her unwillingly. There were her lips so close to his, and here she was bending down to him to let him help her. He tried to think clearly as she gave him an expectant look.

Rational thoughts were hard to come by and he tried in vain to convince himself that he should not take advantage of her in this present state. She was weak, emotionally vulnerable, and judging by how much gin was left, she was more than a little drunk. But one long, lingering glance in her eyes was enough to convince him that deep down; she knew what she was doing.

Finally, he reached one hand from her hip to pull her head down a little further and kiss him. Her lips were the softest thing he'd ever tasted, and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck desperately, and melted into him.

That was what did it for him as she melded herself around him almost inextricably. There was a need in her embrace, a necessity for someone to hold her right now and tell her it would be alright, but the bulge in Ben's pants reminded him that was not all he wanted to do for her right now.

Still, his surprisingly strong arms lifted her down to his level where he was now taller than her. She leaned back against the table for support as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, her hands clawing at his back as if she could somehow bring them any closer. A low moan escaped her throat and he felt another tear roll from her eye, but he couldn't bring himself to break away.

Instead he carried her over to the bed and laid her down on it, collapsing on top of her because she wouldn't let any piece of him leave contact with her. He tried to be gentle, stroking her face affectionately and softening the kiss in the hopes that maybe she would come to her senses before he completely lost control of his. But another moan in his ear was the last straw and he knew there was no way he could leave now without fucking her.

"Ben," she whispered, arching her neck as his mouth trailed kisses and licked every spot he could find.

"Meggie," he replied, his hands on her throat almost predatorily, but she found that she liked it and it only made her want him inside her more.

"Please Ben, don't leave," her voice cracked and another tear leaked out. He brushed it away and then kissed the corner of her eye where it had trailed from.

"I won't," he promised in a whisper, and moved his hands down to the bottom of her shirt.

He lifted it above her head and she began unbuttoning his own while he slid the straps of her bra down off of her shoulders. He shrugged his arms from the sleeves of his shirt and tossed it absently to the floor, oblivious of all the other things he would have to do tonight, all the people he would have to see, maybe even kill. All he could think about now was the sweet warmness of Meggie and the driving need he had for these few quiet moments with her.

He pulled down her jeans and stared in wonder at her wonderfully small, firm breasts when she removed her bra for him. His hands fondled them tenderly, holding them so that her nipples were facing upward and he could watch them harden before his eyes. When they did he leaned down and flicked his tongue across one to her cry of pleasure. Down below he could feel the heat between their bodies intensifying and his lower half ground against hers to keep him from taking her right now.

Her back arched when he licked the next one and she wrapped her legs back around his waist, squeezing tightly, to beg him to continue.

His hands travelled underneath them to stroke the smooth slope of her back and grab a fistful of her hair which he ran his hands through and sighed. She was perfect.

Finally, he pulled his undershirt over his head and unbuttoned the top of his pants, having a hard time of it with her legs so tightly wound around him. He stroked her through her underwear and she cried out even louder than before, her back arching into the pillow and her mouth open in an expression of pure pleasure.

"Oh God, Ben," she moaned, and he pulled her legs from around him so that he could hook his fingers into the sides of her underwear and slide them down her small, slender legs.

She lay there looking at him pleadingly, her legs spread wide and inviting him to enter her. He kissed along the inside of her thigh and she couldn't even moan when he finally blew on her core, so breathtaking was the sensation. He licked her folds and slid his tongue along them carefully, reveling in the gasps she managed to get out, but somewhat concerned she might faint from lack of oxygen if he kept it up too long.

His boxers came off next and there he kneeled on the bed in front of her, his erect member probing the inside of her and she begged him with her eyes not to make her wait a moment longer. With one swift, desperate thrust he plunged inside of her so deeply that she screamed, but not in pain. He felt her walls contract around him immediately and smiled as she finishing moaning out her orgasm. When he was sure she could be ready to start again, he withdrew to the very tip and repeated the move.

Each thrust carried him closer and closer to the edge as her white hot heaven surrounded him. Everytime he plunged inside of her she cried out or whimpered or moaned his name and it was too much for him to take. Finally, as he felt her nearing her last one, he allowed himself his own release and collapsed on top of her, with the sensation of her walls shuddering around him still.

They lay there silently like that for awhile, both still damp with sweat. Eventually Ben rolled onto his back and pulled her with him, her face resting on his chest as he stroked her hair and traced circles in the palm of her hand. All he wanted to do now was fall asleep with her like this, but he knew the phone call he was waiting for couldn't be long in coming, and then this happy moment of bliss would have to end.

She seemed to be sleeping at this point, and he kissed her forehead lightly, a rare show of affection that only he would know about, but it was enough for now.

The sound of his phone vibrating from the floor alerted him that now was the time to go. Meggie must have felt the difference in him immediately because she seemed to startle awake, then looked at him.

"What is is?" she asked.

"We have to go," he told her plainly, extricating himself from her soft, warm arms to climb out of the bed and locate his clothes.

"We?"

"Yes, we," he said distractedly, trying to find the phone in the pocket of his pants. "You're in danger right now Meggie, I have to get you to a safe place."

The puzzled look she gave him would have made any lesser man climb back in with her and tell her what she wanted to hear again, but right now she needed to hear the truth, and that was they had to go.

"Get dressed," he ordered, but not unkindly. Even she sensed that with so many years of being continually obeyed speaking in commands must be a hard habit to break.

"Where are we going?" she asked, still not moving.

He looked at her impatiently, could he get no cooperation in looking after her wellbeing? "Somewhere I can keep you safe until we finally get back."

"Where?"

He sighed, "There are a dozen different ways to answer that question Meggie, and now we simply don't have the time." As his hand finally clasped around the phone in the back pocket of his pants he put them on, then walked over and sat back down next to her on the bed.
"Do you trust me?" he asked her with deadly seriousness.

She seemed to ponder that question for a moment. It didn't offend him, right now he was in business mode again, and whether or not someone trusted him personally could not be allowed to affect his emotions and thus his work.

"Yes," she finally answered.

"Good, then I need you to trust that I'm doing what's best for you, what's best for all of us right now," his hand reached over to stroke her cheek. "Please just do what I say for right now."

After another few seconds of introspection she finally met his eyes again, "Okay," she whispered.

He smiled, the first truly genuine smile she had seen from him in a long time, and it was for her.

"Good," he repeatedly, then kissed her on the forehead and stood up. "I'll pick up the car I have waiting and be back for you outside the checkout office in ten minutes," he told her as he slipped his arms through the sleeves of his dress shirt and buttoned it, then grabbed the keys he had lifted earlier on his way out the door. "Don't be late."