Back at the beach Shalimar was getting worried that Kailey and Ben hadn't come back yet from their little talk.

"It's been an hour Adam, I think we should go look for them." Shalimar stated anxiously.

"What, are you afraid Kailey might have beaten Ben up?" Brennan smirked. Shalimar shot him a dirty look.

"They had a lot to talk about." Adam assured Shalimar but at the same time he looked at his watch. "We'll give them another twenty minutes and then we'll go look fro them Okay?"

"Fine," Shalimar conceded.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"So, now that we're trapped down here, it might be a good time to for me to explain my actions to you because you can't run away from me." Ben started with Kailey. He shifted his weight and grimaced at the pain of moving. Kailey had been so worried about the Ben's injuries she hadn't had time to remember that she was mad at him but now that he mentioned it the anger over the incident returned.

"You can say whatever you want but nothing can excuse your behavior."

"I realize that and I am not trying to excuse it, it was wrong plain and simple but I would like to explain it." Ben pleaded.

"Go ahead if you think you can." Kailey allowed but was none too egger to here what he had to say.

"Ever since we joined Mutant X, I feel like we've grown apart. You've become so much more independent, I am afraid that you don't need me any more."

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it? You said yourself that you don't need a big brother anymore."

"Yeah, I don't need a big brother but I still need you, in fact I need you more than ever. The only reason I have been doing so much on my own was because I thought that you thought of me as a burden, a little sister who you always have to look after. I wanted you to be able to take some time for yourself; you've spent enough of your life taking care of me." Ben smiled.

"Wow, we really do need to talk more. Kailey, I did use to think of you as my little sister and I will always want to protect you but not just for that reason. If you only knew how…" He almost let slip the feeling he'd been having for her lately.

"If I only knew what?" She questioned.

"Well, the reason I got mad at that Chris guy for talking to you was partially because I wanted to protect you but even more than that it was because.." he hesitated.

"Because of what Ben? You can tell me." Kailey pleaded.

"Because I was jealous." There he had said it.