Here's an extra long chapter for you guys, since I'm leaving for Virginia bright and early tomorrow and won't be back for a couple weeks. I hope to update while I'm down there, so be patient. Love you guys! :)

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0o0 Flashback 0o0

Ben's eyes flew wide open and he threw the covers off of his body. His ears perked up as he waited a moment and listened intently into the quiet and dark night. For a moment, he thought he had imagined the muffled sound, but then he heard it again, only this time it was louder – – a scream. He practically leaped out of the bed, walked out of his bedroom, and strode the six steps it took to get to Alex's room.

"Alex...? Is everything alright?" When there was no response, Ben switched on the light. His eyes instantly fell on the bed; more importantly, they fell on the small lump under the covers in the middle of the bed. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" No reponse. He gave a small, sleepy smile and sat on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?" He asked again.

There was a muffled response from underneath the covers, but it was indecipherable. "Why don't you come out so I can hear you?"

He watched as, very slowly, the covers were peeled back just slightly, and he found himself looking into a pair of beady brown eyes. "Are the monsters out there?"

Ben shook his head. "No, Alex. There aren't any monsters out here. You're safe to come out."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Feeling reassured, the young girl threw back the covers and crawled over to Ben so that she could snuggle into his side.

"What were you dreaming about?"
"There were monsters under my bed," she whispered back.

He smiled gently and laid his head on top of her mop of curly brown hair. "Well, you don't have to worry about anymore monsters being under your bed. Want to know why?"

Her big eyes peered up at him. "Why?"

"Because no matter what, I will ever let anything hurt you."

Ben was rewarded by a large grin from Alex, and then she nuzzled into his side. "I love you, Daddy," the young girl said sleepily.

"I love you too, Alex," he replied, clearly touched. "Do you want me to tell you a story until you fall asleep?" She nodded against his shoulder.

He didn't need the storybook on the bookshelf in the corner. Alex's favorite had always been The Princess and the Frog, for as long as he could remember. He had used to read it to her when she had been a restless baby. The sound of his voice would make her fall asleep. Now, five years and countless re-tellings of the fairytale later, Ben knew it by heart.

"Once upon a time..." and before he could even finish, Ben heard the light snores of the little girl fast asleep by his side.

0o0 Flash to Present 0o0

Ben's eyes watched Karl and Alex playing with baby Aaron. He was a good distance away from them, never moving, never making a sound. Just watching. Observing. His lips tightened as he saw Karl wrap one arm around Alex's waist. He wanted nothing more than to go over there and wrench that boy's hands from his daughter. But he knew he couldn't. And that killed him.

"Are you alright?" Annie asked from beside him, but he didn't hear her. "Ben?"

"What?" His voice sounded abrupt, like he was just being pulled out of a deep thought. He glanced over at her and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." She cocked her head and frowned at him. She knew he was lying.

Annie motioned to Alex and Karl with her eyes. "You know they'll be fine, right?"

"As her father, no I don't."

"I haven't seen Alex since she was a little baby, Ben, and perhaps that's why I can see that she's all grown up, and you can't. And Karl loves her. Anyone can see that as plain as day. He won't hurt her."

Ben's lips tightened even more. "I suppose." She snorted with laughter and he turned to her with a scowl on his face. "What?"

"Aren't you in a bad mood tonight!" She exclaimed in teasing before she answered his question. "You're worse with Karl than you were with Drew."

"You knew about that?"

"Of course I knew about that! Everyone knew that you would sooner beat him to a pulp than let him lay a finger on me."

Ben couldn't help but smile slightly at the memory. "I didn't know you were aware -" he stopped his sentence short as he saw Alex and Karl stand up and prepare to leave the bungalow for the night. "Excuse me," he quickly said to Annie before he made his way over to the two. "Alex? May I have a word with you?" His daughter stopped and turned around, eying him hard. Karl followed suit. Once again, his arm weaved around her waist. Ben gritted his teeth but chose to ignore it.

"What do you want?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw Danielle move closer so that she could listen. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. "This is a map to the Temple." He handed it to Alex and she took it. "It's a sanctuary. It may be the last safe place on the Island."

"How come we didn't know about this?" Karl asked, suddenly looking arrogant. As if he had the right to know, Ben scoffed inwardly.

"Well, it wouldn't be a sanctuary if I told everyone, would it? The rest of our people are already there. If you leave now, you can get there in a day and a half."

"If it's safe, why don't we all go – Hurley, Claire, the baby?"

Ben sighed. Did he have to explain everything to this boy? "Because the Temple's not for them, Karl. It's only for us. The people who are coming – they know who I am, Alex. They're here to capture me. If they knew who you were, that you were my daughter, they would use you to get to me."

"Maybe he's right," Karl finally acquiesced, forcing Ben to grimace. Of course I'm right.

Danielle piped up as well. "I agree. We should go."

Alex nodded her head and then looked squarely at him. "These people – you said they were dangerous. More dangerous than you?"

He pretended that those words didn't cut like a knife. "Yes," he responded tightly, "But your mother will protect you. Now go."

And without another word, his daughter just turned and left. Not even a hug or a goodbye. She really must not have thought very highly of him at all anymore.

0o0 Flashback 0o0

Alex was a brave young girl. Even at nine years old, she barely ever cried. Her eyebrows would furrow and her lips would quiver, but she always seemed so adamant that the tears would never leave her eyes. It was one of the things that impressed him about his little girl.

Ben's eyes trailed her face. She bit her lip when he applied more pressure to the nasty scrape on her elbow. He wrapped it up in a thin layer of gauze and then looked up at her expectantly. "Alex, I'm not going to ask you again." His voice was soft but firm. "How did you get hurt?"

"I fell," she mumbled to him.

"Off of what?"

She shrugged. "A rock."

"How did you fall?" He pressed. Ben knew his daughter inside and out, and he knew when she wasn't telling him the truth.

"I tripped, Daddy."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows. "Because that's not what your teacher told me." The young girl frowned. "Alex, I want you to tell me who pushed you off the rock."

Alex was silent for a long minute while her father just waited patiently for her to answer. Finally, she did, as he knew she would. "It was Karl."

"Karl?" Ben's lips tightened. "The same Karl who pulled your hair in class last week?" Alex nodded. "Why?"

She just shrugged. "I think he likes me."

Ben didn't like the sound of that at all, not even when she was still just a little girl. Something – something of a protective and very jealous nature – swirled around in his gut. He tried to make the feeling go away but it refused to go anywhere. Instead, he just chose to sigh. "I guess I'll have to have a talk with Karl and his parents then."

"No, don't!" She plead. "You always embarrass me when you get involved."

"Be that as it may, Alex, I am your father, and I promised I would never let anyone hurt you."

But Alex gave him the legendary pout, the pout that left all other pouts behind, the one that she knew all too well he could never resist. "Please, don't, Daddy."

And so Ben caved into his daughter and nodded his head in agreement. Then, he lifted her up off the kitchen counter and she smiled her thanks at him, and once again, everything was right in her little world.

0o0 Flash to Present 0o0

Ben was just about to enter his bungalow when he felt someone beside him and he turned to see that it was Alex. His eyes flashed with surprise but he said nothing.

"I'm ready to talk now," she said simply and without a trace of a smile.

Ben looked at her and then he turned to Annie. The woman gave him an encouraging smile. "I'll be inside." She left him and walked away into the house, leaving father and daughter alone.

"Why don't we sit down?" Ben offered as he went and sat down on the porch. To his increasing surprise Alex sat down next to him. His heart was beating hard in his chest. He hadn't thought this moment would ever come. "Where's Karl and your mother?"

"Packing for the trip."

"Alex, I'm so glad you've finally decided to-"

"Dad, I think you misunderstood," she interrupted in a hard tone. "I meant that I would talk, and you would listen. Do you think you could do that? Just this once?"

Silently, Ben nodded, and she looked satisfied.

"Good. You lied to me. You've lied before, but you actually lied about my mother. You told me she had died. But she never did. You let me think my own mother was dead! Why?"

Ben licked his lips and sighed. His eyes were trained on his hands; he couldn't bear to look up at his daughter. "I stole you from your mother when you were just a few weeks old. I was ordered to kill her, but when I went to do so, I found you. No one knew your mother had had a child. She was insane, and sick, and hardly prepared to care for you. You would have died if I hadn't saved you, and so I brought you back with me." He paused and then forced himself to look at her. "I never told you the truth because I was too ashamed. I was afraid of what you would think of me if you ever found out. So I lied. And I was wrong." She pressed her lips tightly together. He begged for her to understand. "I hated lying to you, and I never ever wanted to. But I didn't want you to know that I had stolen you away and I didn't want you to know that your real mother was an insane French woman who had crashed on this Island. You didn't need to know that."

"Who were you to decide what I did and didn't need to know?!" Alex shouted at him.

Ben sighed. "I'm your father." At protests from her, he shook his head. "I may not be your father by blood, I may have stolen you away from your mother, but for the last sixteen years of your life I have raised you. I have changed every diaper, consoled every tantrum, read every fairytale under the sun, kissed every scrape and bruise you have ever had. I raised you as my own daughter, Alex. Everything I have ever done I did to protect you. Do you remember that promise I made to you a long time ago?"

"That you would never let anything hurt me," she said in a voice that wasn't so hard anymore. She looked at him and she actually seemed a bit sorry.

He nodded his head. "I know I took that promise to heart because I became overly-protective. You're right. You had every right to know who your mother really was. I'm so sorry, Alex."

She actually gave him a small smile. "My mother never really had red hair, huh?" Ben shook his head in shame. Again, another lie. "That woman in there-" Alex motioned with her head towards the door of the bungalow, "Annie – she's the one you told me about when you lied to me about my mother. Isn't she?"

He nodded again. "She took care of you after I stole you away. She was like a mother to you for the first few months. And then, she died."

"But she's still here," she said in confusion.

"Yes, but she wasn't always. I did terrible things to her as well."

"Is that why she hated you when she came back?"

He sighed. "Yes."

"She doesn't hate you now...and neither do I."

Ben looked at his daughter with shock. He wished he could say something else – anything else – but he couldn't.

Alex stood up and walked down the steps, turning around once, before leaving. "Goodbye, Dad."

"See you soon, Alex."

Then, she was gone.

0o0 Flashback 0o0

"Alex, I know you're upset with me because I won't let you go out with Karl tonight."

The girl had her arms crossed over her chest and she was frowning at him. "Yeah? What else is new?"

"When are you going to realize that I just want what's best for you?"

"And when are you going to realize that this is what's best for me?" She snapped.

Ben let out a deep breath and just stared at her for several long seconds. She was fifteen. She was irrational. She was hormonal. Ben expected her to be angry at him most of the time, and he tried to tell himself that it didn't hurt him to see his baby girl like this all the time. All because of a boy...couldn't Alex just go back to being a little girl again? "Come on. Get your shoes. I want to show you something."

Alex gave him a strange look, but, fortunately, she decided to obey him and do as he said.

0o0 Flash to Present 0o0

The sounds emanating from the piano were melancholy, forming into a nearly perfect version of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor. Annie almost felt relaxed as she leaned against the door frame and just watched his fingers glide effortlessly across the black and white keys. When the song had nearly come to its end, she chose to break the magic and alert him to her presence. "I didn't know you could play."

Ben's head swiveled to glance at her and then he looked back down at the piano. "I learned a couple years after you had gone. Needed something to pass the time."

"Well, it was worth it," she gave him a small smile. He just stared blankly at her. "Maybe you could teach me some time?"

He nodded his head and his lips quirked into the bare makings of a smile. "Of course."

Annie frowned. He most definitely wasn't acting like himself. His mind was concentrating on something else, something far and distant. "Are you thinking about Alex?" His silence was enough of an answer. "She'll be alright. It's like you said, Danielle will protect her."

"I should be the one protecting her," he admitted, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "I'm her father. But I can't, not anymore. And even if I could, Alex would never let me."

Annie frowned sadly. "She still loves you, Ben. Trust me. If she didn't, she would've been miles away from here weeks ago."

Ben looked at her, and she actually felt pity for him for the first time in more years than she could count. He looked absolutely miserable. "I don't-"

But before he could say anymore, John burst through the door, followed closely by Sawyer.

"Thanks for knocking," Ben remarked dryly, all traces of misery and sadness gone from his eyes. Annie marveled at how quickly he could change his expressions.

"What's code 14-J?" Locke asked.

Ben's eyes widened. "Where did you hear that?"

"The phone rang. I picked it up. A voice kept repeating 'code 14-J'."

Annie watched as Ben quickly leapt off of the piano bench and lifted its cover. Her heart jumped in shock when she saw him pull out a shotgun from inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sawyer grab his gun from his belt. But before anyone could react, Ben had cocked the weapon and tossed it to Sawyer.

"We need to get to the other house," he ordered urgently, his eyes never leaving John's. "It's easier to fortify, and we'll have better position on the tree lines." He rushed for the door, motioning for the other three to follow him.

"What are you talking about?" Annie asked in confusion.

"They're here."

Ben opened the front door and walked out, Annie following close behind. He stopped abruptly to scan the perimeter and she ran straight into his back. He turned his head to look at her. His eyes were hard and distant, but she could see the worry as plain as day. She bet that she was the only one who could actually see it. "It's a good thing I sent Alex away while I had the chance," he replied simply before he turned back around and began to walk at a fast pace to their next destination.

"You all go ahead!" Sawyer told them. "I have to get Claire." Before they could say anything in response, Sawyer had taken off in the direction of the woman's home. John made to follow but Ben stopped him.

"You need to survive this thing, John. And you're best bet of doing that is to stay with me."

John frowned. "And why is that?"

"Because these people won't risk hurting me. You want to live? I'm your best chance."As Annie followed behind him, he called back to her. "Just stay close to me. As long as we're in the house we should be fine. John and I can keep a good front."

"And me!" She called back.

"Annie, just do as I say," he commanded as they entered the home and began to move things around for better access to the windows. Ben worked on barricading the door, while John closed all of the curtains.

"These people who are coming," John ventured to ask. "You're scared of them, aren't you?"

Ben nodded his head. "That's right, John. I am."

Just then, they heard a baby crying as Hurley rounded the corner and entered the living room. He was holding Aaron in his arms. "What's going on?"

"They're coming, Hugo," John said simply.

"Well, what are you doing? How's Sawyer going to get back in?"

Ben stopped directly in front of him. "He's not." Then he walked over to Annie and looked her dead in the eyes. "Stay away from the windows. I'm not letting you get hurt again."

"To hell with that!" She shouted at him. "I spent twenty years alone in a jungle. I can probably shoot better than all three of you combined. Now where's a gun that I can use?"

Ben was silent for several seconds, just staring at her with a look of shock in his eyes. Then, finally deciding to give up the argument, he motioned towards the mantle over the fireplace. "Behind that clock."

Annie gave him a fierce smile and then turned to retrieve the gun.

0o0 Flashback 0o0

"Why did you bring me here?" Alex asked Ben, her breathing irregular from the walk.

"Because you can see the entire horizon from this one spot." It was true. The ocean stretched out as far as Ben and Alex could see until it eventually seemed to melt into the sky.

"I didn't even know this place existed," Alex remarked as her eyes explored the small, hidden cove. Ben took a seat on one of the rocks and looked out at the ocean. Alex remained standing. "How did you find it?"

"I found it many years ago when I was exploring the outer boundaries of the village."

"Do you come here often?"

Ben shook his head. "In all of the years that I've known of this place, I've only been here three times, counting now. I brought someone else here once."

"Who?"

"Someone that I knew a long time ago."

Alex smirked. "It was her, right? My mother?"

Ben swallowed and nodded his head. Alex walked up to him and sat down beside him, their shoulders almost touching. "You never talk about her."

"It's too hard to talk about her."

"Because she died?" Ben nodded sadly and Alex frowned. "What did she look like?"

He sighed. "Alex..."

"Please, Dad," she snapped, but when he looked at her, he saw that her eyes were pleading desperately with him to answer. He sighed again.

Ben hated to lie to her, especially about her mother. Her real mother. But he did it anyway because her knowing the truth about Danielle Rousseau was completely out of the question. So, he lied. "She had red hair, really light red hair. Almost like an auburn color. And her eyes were this bright, sparkling green."

"She sounds really pretty," Alex said with a small, sad smile.

"She was beautiful."

"How did you two meet?"

Ben eyed his daughter and quirked his lips. "When I came to the Island, she was the first person to come up and talk to me. We were best of friends after that."

"And then you two fell in love?" Alex said with a cheeky grin.

"Yes. In fact, your mother first told me she loved me right here, exactly where you're sitting now."

The look on Alex's face made Ben's lie all the more worth it. The way her eyes lit up made his heart melt. She looked so happy to know that little piece of information – true or not.

"When did you first tell her that you loved her?"

Ben's lips tightened and he looked down at his lap. "I never told her. She died before I could."

"You always said that she died after I was born. Is that true?...or did she die when she gave birth to me?"

"No!" He exclaimed and turned to look at her. "No, don't ever think that. Your mother died a few months after you were born." It was true. Annie had gone out into the jungle and had died shortly after he had brought Alex back to the barracks with him. Granted, she still hadn't been Alex's mother, but... "Alex, raising you without your mom has been hard. I don't know how women think, much less how to raise one. But I'm trying the best that I can. I know that I can be hard on you sometimes, and that you don't think it's fair. But everything I do – every decision I make – I do it because I love you. I just need you to be patient with me, Alex. Can you do that?" He willed himself to turn his head and look at his daughter. To his great relief, she slowly nodded her head.

"I know you're trying to do your best, Daddy." She leaned forward to hug him and he wrapped his arms around the small of her back.

"I am, Alex. I really am."

0o0 Flash to Present 0o0

Ben stood behind Annie as they both looked out the window. They heard multiple shots of gunfire, followed by the sounds of heavy artillery machine gun. "Do you think Sawyer will make it in time?"

Ben's lips formed a grim line but he didn't answer.

Their eyes were trained on Claire's house. They saw Sawyer dart out from behind a fence and make a break for it, but just as he was fast approaching the porch, the entire house exploded, sending Sawyer sprawling back twenty feet. Annie gasped in shock and then turned away from the window to nervously begin filling her gun with ammunition.

It was deadly silent once again, until several minutes later, when they heard the familiar sound of Sawyer's voice screaming for them to open the door. Hurley moved to do so, but quick as a flash, Ben had loaded his shotgun, cocked it, and pointed it straight at the man. "Hugo, you don't want to do that."

"Open the damn door!" Sawyer screamed.

"Ben!" Annie shouted in turn. "For God's sake, help him!" Her voice was enough of a distraction for Hurley to take up an armchair and throw it through one of the windows. They watched as Sawyer handed an unconscious Claire to Hurley before jumping in through the window himself.

"Is she alright?" John asked with concern.

Sawyer nodded his head. "She got her bell rung, but she's gonna be alright. They just started shootin'. Why?"

"Those people were murdered to make you angry, James," Ben explained in a dry tone, "So you'd be more likely to come storming in here and throw me to the wolves."

Sawyer suddenly reached out and grabbed Ben by the lapel of his shirt. "Yeah? And what's wrong with that? Sounds like a great plan. What do you say?" He turned to ask Locke, but before anyone could say anything else, the door bell rang and Sawyer released his hard grip on Ben.

"I wouldn't open that door if I were you," Ben said as he straightened the collar of his shirt.

"Shut up!" Sawyer ordered before pointing his pistol at the door and opening it just a crack to pull the newcomer inside. When he did, they all found themselves staring at Miles, his hands raised high in surrender. "Who the hell let you out?" Sawyer growled in surprise.

"The people who gave me this," Miles answered as he showed the walkie-talkie he held in his hand. "They want to talk."

Locke motioned to the walkie. "And where are they?"

Miles looked grim. "Take a look out your window."

Dread pooled in everyone's stomach as they obeyed. Ben and Annie reached the window first, and saw ten or so men standing no less than twenty feet in front of them. Miles quickly approached and handed Ben the radio. Ben held it up to his mouth. "Hello?"

"Am I speaking to Benjamin Linus?" The man in front, the leader, asked into his own radio.

Ben nodded. "That's right."

"My name is Martin Keamy. I'm an employee of Charles Widmore, and these are my terms: You're gonna step out the front door, put your hands above your head, and you're gonna walk straight to me. Once I have you in my custody, then I promise you that no one else in that house will be harmed."

He scoffed. "You and I both know that once you have me there's nothing to stop you from killing everybody else on this Island."

Keamy laughed, the sound crackling through the radio. "What kind of a man do you think I am?"

"Martin Christopher Keamy — former first sergeant, United States Marine Corps, served with distinction from 1996 to 2001, but since then, you've worked with a number of mercenary organizations, specifically in Uganda. So I know exactly what kind of man you are, Mr. Keamy, and we can dispense with the formalities."

"Okay. You got it Ben." Ben watched as Keamy whistled and then one of his men brought forth a young girl and pushed her down to her knees. Keamy grabbed the girl by her hair and lifted her so that Ben could see her face. Both Ben's and Annie's hearts leapt into their chests. That girl was none other than Alex! Their worst nightmare come true. Keamy wasted no time in pointing his gun to her head. Ben swallowed hard as Alex cried. "Get your ass out here...or your daughter dies."

Ben was silent as he thought. Annie looked up at him, not knowing what choice he would possible make, only hoping that he would make the right one. Finally, Ben answered back. "I'd like to make a counter-proposal."

"I'm listening."

"You and your friends... you turn around. Walk back to your helicopter. You fly away and forget you ever heard of this island."

Keamy gave a sickening grin. "Tell your daddy goodbye," he said to Alex as he handed her the radio.

Alex whimpered over the frequency, making Ben's insides feel sick. "Dad, they're serious. They killed Karl and my mother."

"Alex, I have this under control," he said trying to calm her down, "Everything's going to be okay."

"Daddy, please." She begged between sobs. "Please...just please..."

"You have ten seconds, Ben," Keamy said.

Ben licked his lips and tried to keep his voice calm. "Okay, just listen..."

"Nine."

"She's not my daughter."

"Eight."

Annie grabbed onto his arm hard. "What are you doing?" She whispered frantically.

"Seven."

Ben had run out of ideas, out of excuses, out of a plan. For the first time, he knew what it felt like to not know what to do next. And so, he did and said the only thing he could think of. "I stole her as a baby from an insane woman. She's a pawn, nothing more. She means nothing to me. I'm not coming out of this house. So if you want to kill her, go ahead and do it-"

To his horror, he heard a gunshot and then he saw the body of his daughter slump to the ground in death. He wanted to scream, to curse, to threaten, but he could do nothing as his entire body turned numb. He couldn't move. He couldn't hear Annie scream or feel her bury her face in his shoulder.

Ben couldn't believe it no matter how much he repeated it into his head. Alex was dead. His daughter was dead. Gone. He couldn't save her. He couldn't protect her. She was dead. Gone. Dead. And he could do nothing but stand there and look on in horror.

0o0o0o0o0o

Did I really just do that? REALLY?! Who else is crying? I totally am! And I totally cried more when I read this while listening to "Rue's Farewell" from the Hunger Games...