I jumped as my alarm buzzed loudly on the small table next to my bed. I rolled over, squinting at the bright red numbers. I groaned. 6:00am seemed to come sooner and sooner with each passing day. I slammed my hand down on the clock, silencing it immediately. I swung my feet over the side of the bed, sitting there for a moment before forcing myself to stand, shuffling drowsily into the bathroom. I flicked on the light, squinting under its vibrant glare. I leaned to my left, water hissing as I turned the shower on, holding my hand under the pounding water as it slowly warmed.

A short while later, I was walking down the sidewalk leading away from my small house as the sun began to creep over the rim of the dark trees. I walked mechanically down the walkway and up to a stout building sitting just beyond the clutter of tiny houses. I stepped through the glass doors, down a short hallway and into the last door on the left. She looked up as I entered, smiling some.

"Good morning Abby," Juliet said warmly, looking up from the microscope she had been peering into. I smiled back.

"Good morning."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, I feel much better, thank you," I replied, walking over to stand beside her. Juliet smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it." She handed me a clipboard and a pen, looking back into the microscope. "We don't have too much to work with today...so we don't be here too terribly long."

I frowned. Why on earth did we have to wake up so early then?

"Alright."

I had been following Juliet around like a curious child for weeks now. I was told this is what I had to do until further instructions were given. I still did not have a firm understanding of why I had been taken here…and I still had not seen Jack. But the set routine had somehow calmed my nerves. It made it easy to fall into the pattern, to forget what I had known on the beach. To start adapting to the "Other's" way of life. I didn't even really think of them as others anymore. Even in this short time, I felt somehow…as if I might belong. The thought confused and upset me.

And in all of this time, I had only seen Benjamin Linus once.

He had come to speak with me after my first week. Check up, see how I was doing. He asked about Juliet. About the work she was doing. He asked about the others I had met in the small community. Richard. Tom. Karl. What I thought of them. How they treated me. It was a very average meeting.

But for some reason, I could still not get him out of my head.

Every time I asked Juliet about Ben, she would give me a very short answer, change the subject quickly, even act like she hadn't heard me. It changed her entire demeanor, the topic of Ben. It was as if she was scared of him. As if he were something she wasn't able to face, something she did not want to acknowledge. This only heightened my curiosity.

"Abby. Can you write that down, please?"

I blinked, looking to Juliet. She was staring at me, leaning over the microscope. Her blue eyes stared into mine questioningly. Almost suspiciously. I nodded quickly.

"Yes, sorry…can you repeat that?"

She sighed, blinking slowly.

"Yes. The diameter is-"

Before the words left her mouth, the door to the small lab opened. We both turned as Ben Linus entered, standing just in the doorway. He looked to me first, then Juliet.

"Good morning. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take Abby from you, Juliet. I'll send Alex to help you, if that's alright."

Juliet stood frozen for a moment, her expression hardened. She relaxed, smiling once again.

"Of course. No problem," she said before looking into the microscope again, pretending to be lost in her findings. Ben looked to me, still smiling slightly. I felt my heart rate begin to climb.

"Abby, please come with me."

I put the clipboard down automatically, following him without question. I had no idea what it was about him that intrigued me so thoroughly. He had a strangeness about him, something I could not put my finger on. Although I did not find his words and actions to be, for the most part, sincere, I was not adverse to following his commands. For some reason, I wanted to do as he told me. Not because I trusted him…it was something different, something almost instinctive. We walked in silence from the building, down the sidewalk, back towards the houses. He looked to me, his thin lips still curved upwards in a slight smile.

"I apologize for taking you from your work, but you will not need to assist Juliet with her studies anymore. We've received the information we were waiting for, and it's time you started to understand your purpose for being here."

Excitement leapt into my chest. Finally. Answers. I no longer felt threatened by these people, at least, not nearly as much as I had the day I was taken, but I did not know what their true intentions were yet. They were liars, this was something I was sure of. But, I still felt the strange sense of belonging that had begun just days after Ben had shown me my new home. We walked up the steps of a house that was identical to mine, but on the other side of the small clearing. Ben opened the door, holding it for me.

"I hope you don't mind discussing things here. Alex isn't at home, so we will have more privacy."

I looked to him, my eyes lingering in his for a moment. I could not find my voice as he held my gaze, heat creeping into my cheeks as it had the first day I met him.

"No, I don't mind at all," I finally managed weakly. He smiled invitingly.

"Good."

We entered the small home, Ben leading the way into the living room. It was very similar to my own, the layout much the same, but the decorations slightly different. Photographs of Alex dotted the walls and the tables, the furniture modern and practical. Everything was neat and clean, everything in orderly, predetermined locations. I sat down rigidly on the unwrinkled cushions of the small couch, almost afraid to disturb the tranquility of the room. Ben sat down beside me, turning slightly to face me. I looked at him, folding my hands awkwardly in my lap.

"So…are you still comfortable here?"

"I guess…I still don't really understand why you are treating me this way after keeping me in that cage for so long…I don't know what changed from then until now," I said, feeling the words come naturally. I had so many questions I had neglected to ask, afraid of what the answers might be. But now, with Ben approaching me, I could not wait any longer. "You told me you needed my help, but all I've done so far is write down notes for Juliet's little experiments. I don't really even understand what she's looking for. I've been here for almost a month, but I still feel like I am completely in the dark with what you people are doing. My people haven't even come looking for me, as far as I can tell…and I have no idea if you are even still holding Jack hostage. You tell me I'm important, then leave me to do stupid, mindless work for days on end? It doesn't make any sense." The words continued to spill out of me before I could stop them. Ben chuckled, seeming completely unfazed by my confusion. He leaned forward some, his eyes locking with mine.

"We told you that you're important, Abigail, because you are important. Very, important. We could not tell you what exactly we needed your help with…it's something you will understand with time. But not now. Patience is something you will learn quickly here…as I can see you already have," he commented, grinning slightly. "Abby…I'm sure at times in your life, you have been told that you're special. Not just by your mother or teachers…but by people you wouldn't expect. You've been in situations you can't explain, with outcomes you would never have guessed. You probably have always, in the back of your mind, felt like you had…a path. Something you were meant to do. Something you were supposed to do."

I felt a chill run up my spine. I listened intently, my mind racing.

"Well, we think you are different. There's something about you that brought you to this place, some reason that we have run into each other. There is a reason you crashed onto this island…and we want to help you find out what that is."

I looked at him, my brow furrowing some. "…that's not really telling me what I'm doing here," I said bluntly. Ben folded one leg over the other, leaning back on the couch some.

"Well Abby, to be completely honest with you we don't really know that either. But we will. And you will discover it just as we do. But what we do know, is this is where you are supposed to be. Where you are meant to be. And it might take time, but things will start happening fast, and when they do, we will be ready for it. You aren't ready Abby, that much is obvious, but you are on the right track," he added with a smile. I continued to stare. This made no sense.

"So…what. What do you want me to do now if I'm not going to be helping Juliet?"

Ben sighed, frowning some.

"Well…think of it more as…a time to learn. To become more comfortable with us. To get to know the people you now live with better. You will need to get to know them…much better than you do now. So instead of spending your time with Juliet, you will be seeing much more of me." He smiled as he said this, and for some reason, I was relieved. I immediately felt as though being around Ben was where I was supposed to be, that I would get the most answers that way. I nodded.

"Well, for starters…would you do me the honor of joining me for lunch?"