A/N: I added a little bit to chapter 5 but nothing I won't explain so you won't need to go back and re-read it. Sorry about how long it takes me to update. Now that I'm free for the summer I am hoping to update regularly. Thanks for all the reviews and everything. J

Chapter Seven

A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), Society and Solitude: Works and Days, 1870

Confidentiality is a virtue of the loyal, as loyalty is the virtue of faithfulness. ~Edwin Louis Cole

Obedience is due only to legitimate powers. ~Jean Jacques Rousseau

I stood staring at the Pylons unable to move closer to them, let alone through them. My first day on the Island, I recollect, Ben had strictly told me never to go out into the jungle without permission. Somehow, even through he wasn't here, I couldn't bring myself to disobey him. I had finally grown a bit chilly as I stood staring at the Island I had never been able to truly explore refusing to consider the power Ben seemed to hold on me. Sighing I turned around to head towards my house. I jumped in surprise as I saw Ben a mere foot from me.

"Miss Kendrick. Finally got the codes from Jackson," he bluntly states. He had stopped in front of me and was staring.

"Sir. Yes." In that moment I realized what I had not been able to see before, he had played me. I remember a moment from our previous conversation in the woods that I thought I'd forgotten.

"The only thing that I have felt linked to is this Island" I say.

"Linked? With the Island you don't even know? You know it inhabitants so well." He pauses his eyes analyzing me. "Go back to the party Cassandra."

He had bated me. Calling me out on my lack of experience with the Island to make my confinement as unbearable as it has been in the last month. He wanted to see if I could get through the pylons. He played me. I nibble on my bottom lip to help reign in my anger. It's mostly directed at myself for not noticing the play than at him and I'd never want to shout at him. His eyes move to my lip as I bit it before quickly retuning to my eyes as a slight smile plays on his face. He is enjoying my anger.

"I knew I'd find you out here eventually," he asserts.

"How did you know I was out here?" I ask. I did not see any cameras but at the rate I'm going there could be many watching this particular point, which I had chosen for it's privacy.

"I didn't," he says, " I have something to do." He begins walking past me and was soon a couple feet from me. "Get back to your house Miss Kendrick," he ordered moving towards the pylons easily, something I couldn't do. "I'll be speaking to your boyfriend about giving you those codes."

"He didn't give them to me." That made him stop although that hadn't been my intention. I had only been unable to keep quiet around him. He turned back to look at me. "I found them written on a piece of paper in the pocket of his pants," I say then realize how inappropriate that sounded and the darkness surrounding us, I hoped, hid the blush that formed.

"Just happened upon them did you?" he asks taking a step closer.

"I was looking for them. I know he is dreadful at numbers and guessed he'd write them down. I found it yesterday," I say unable to stop myself from happily reveling my plan to this man. This man who knew all about plans.

"With all that work I'm surprised you were too petrified to go out on your own," he said unfazed by my confession. I did that a lot, confessed to him.

"I'm not afraid," I say in what might have been a petulant voice. I hope not.

"Then what are you doing out here little girl retreating back to your house without stepping through the pylons?"

"You told me not to," I say with an edge to my voice. Why? Why did I say that? Why not just tell him that he somehow has me wrapped around his finger. Here I was breaking my own rules. Don't appear venerable. While I didn't explicitly live my life following any self imposed rules. I avoided venerability like the plague. And here I had gone and royally displayed it. And he was just staring at me with that indifferent analytical look. Up close it was more than unnerving and I felt my blush spread down my neck. I swallowed as I pushed thoughts of my reoccurring dream from my mind.

"That was two years ago," he says.

"I know that." He seems to ignore me and turns away making his way back to the pylons.

"Come on," he says without turning around. Being as stunned as I am I don't move forward until he barks out. "Now." At the pylons Ben types in the code not bothering to hide the sequence.

"I'm changing them when we get back." His hand comes to rest on the small of my back. He is slowly pushing me forward and thorough the harmless pylons as if knowing that I would have trouble doing it on my own again. Once were through he reenters the pass code and marches ahead of me. I quickly follow.

Walking through the jungle I follow Ben without thinking. The excitement of being in the jungle without a caravan of supervision and the ability to explore barely holds a candle to the fact that Ben is obviously allowing me to accompany him while he takes care of whatever he is doing. He is walking purposely through he jungle. He knows the Island better than, I'd imagine, anyone and he definitely knows where he is headed. Trying to split my attention between the Island and Ben, both of which are more than enigmatic, I'm not even considering making conversation. Until Ben decides to slowdown a bit and fills the silence.

"I'm surprised you waited a whole month to rifle around for the codes?"

"I could have been looking for them this whole time." He doesn't say anything. "I didn't want to risk it until I was sure he wouldn't go telling if he caught me."

"If you would have waited he would have taken you out himself."

"I wasn't about to settle for a romantic picnic." Pht. What a metaphor for my life.

"You could have just tired him out and waited until he fell asleep then gone exploring," he says and I don't miss the insinuation.

"I wasn't about to wait longer than I had to and plus Jackson and I don't have that kind of relationship."

"Does he know that?" he asks but doesn't allow me to answer before he beginning again. "A month, give or take, and you got the codes from him without any intimacy? I wouldn't have expected that from someone with your hobbies." I was never going to live down my moment of inadvertent voyeurism. "If you had given him that type of relationship I'm sure he would have happily given you the codes on a silver platter." I didn't know whether to be offended or uplifted that he thought my body or seduction skills could induce such a reaction from Jackson.

"I prefer duplicity to reciprocity," I respond. He looks over at me as we are now walking side by side.

"Yes you would wouldn't you." We continued walking through the harsh underbrush of the jungle in silence. After a while I decide to brave conversation once more. He had spoken earlier so I assume he wasn't completely adverse to it.

"I know you're not going to tell me what you're doing. Do you go out a lot by yourself?"

"You tell me," he says but it wasn't harshly spoken.

"You yes, you do. But for the security team they usually always go out in groups."

"This particular task I can complete easily alone and thus I had no need for their assistance," he replies. I look over at him and really see him. He is staring ahead leading us through the jungle without any problem although now that were in the jungle the darkness had gotten worse, even with our flashlights. I smile to myself before turning my attention back to the ground so I wouldn't trip over a root. "You seem to know a great deal about the coming and goings of life in the barracks."

"I pay attention." I glance to Ben and he is watching me as he walks. "I pay an abnormal amount of attention," I relent.

"How long have you known about Goodwin and Juliet?"

"Almost two years," I respond letting him know that they were never really good at hiding it or that I was paying attention to Juliet from the beginning. Not as much attention as he did but I was only human. When I turned to look at Ben he was still looking at me and I knew he saw the mildly frustrated face that I had at the thought of the Ben-Juliet-Goodwin triangle. He chuckled lightly at me and continued walking. I let it lapse in to silence once again after that because I was too interested in watching Ben as we walked.

The first rays of light had penetrated the canopy not long ago when Ben suddenly stopped. Where we were could hardly be called a clearing but there was a fallen tree resting against a rock and the ground was littered with leaves. Ben lookes at the tree before turning to me.

"Sit." I did and watched as be begun to walk away. The word "Stay" while not said was clearly felt by me. He made his way out of my eyesight without turning around. I could tell this was what he had come into the jungle to do and I waited like he implied I should. The moments turned into minutes. My urge to explore unencumbered grew but I stay sitting on the log admiring the landscape while waiting anxiously for Ben's return. Not fearing the dangers of the jungle but wondering where Ben was and anticipating his return. At one point I thought I could hear Ben's voice conversing with another but the winds changed and I could only hear the normal sounds of the Island. It hadn't escaped my notice that before he had completely left my eye line Ben had taken the gun from waistband, which had up until this point been hidden from my view. Minutes continued to crawl by as I sat on the tree. Soon however I hear someone approaching from the general direction Ben had left in.