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"Was there anything else you needed, Miss Smith?"

Vasile quickly jumped up and headed after Cassidy. He caught her chair and helps her out, walking her back to the village.

"Well, a sky goddess is better than just a snake, huh? And.. and you're not poisenous..."

Vasile took a deep breath before stopping the chair and walking in front of her. "Look, Cass, I just really want to say I'm sorry for how I acted before. You have to understand... I was completely fooled. They deceived me.. honestly. Anything was easier to believe.. than..than this!

Please forgive me?"

Vasile nodded, taking what he can get. He went back and resumed pushing her back to town. "So uhm... about this Halloween Dance-thinger. Do you have a date yet?"

"Well, what a coinscidence, I don't have one either. Would you like... to go with me? Get out, have some fun. Let your mind dwell on that. Just for alittle while?"

Vasile couldn't help but break a wide smile. He was convinced there was a woman somewhere under that icy shell.

And he sympathized with her dilemma. Vasile had a hard enough time dealing his changes - as minor as they were.

Well, Ambrose called them minor. His hair going grey was far from minor in his book. But definately not as drastic as losing his legs.

Maybe.

"Excellent. Shall I pick you up tonight then?"

Finally falling to sleep after crying for what seemed like forever, Aubrey woke around eleven the next morning. Moreau hadn't called her and demanded she show up for 'work' and god knows she wasn't going voluntarily today. She managed to drag herself into the shower and cleaned off the layers of make-up that had caked onto her overnight.

Decided today was definately a day to visit Margaritaville, she pulled on a bathing suit and sarong and headed out into the hallway on her way down to the beach

Sabin, meanwhile, was emerging from his room, with a yawn and a stretch. He had changed since the night before, back in one of his garish shirts and scrub pants. Blinking sleepily towards Aubrey his brows furrowed. "Aubrey..?" He said, his sleep-sluggish mind trying to tell him that things weren't quite adding up.

Finally it clicked. "What are you doing down here? And going to the beach?" He gestured to her sarong. "The morning just started."

Aubrey pulled off her sunglasses to reveal her puffy eyes from lots of crying. "I've been kicked out of the mansion," she said bitterly. "So I'm taking a day off."

Sabin stopped mid-stride and shook his head. Had his sleep-addled mind misheard? "I'm sorry... what was that again?" He turned to fully face her. "That... can't be what I just thought I heard."

Aubrey held her head up high, trying not to start crying...again. "You heard me. The Doctor has demoted me down to staff dormitories. Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other now."

He had heard correctly. But that certainly didn't make any more sense than the first time he had heard it. "But... why?"

"Because the doctor is a heartless, obsessed man who thinks I'm property more than a person. Not that I should have fooled myself that he thought any better of me! He thinks all people are merely tools to use for his personal processess." It was rather obvious Aubrey was bitter.

Both of Sabin's eyebrows lifted at that. Those were words he had never expected to hear from Aubrey. "Are you feeling okay, Aubrey..?" Sabin queried. "You certainly are singing a different tune than you did last night..."

Aubrey huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "The party did not go well. Sean surprised Nick with a hard right, and Moreau ended up putting the sleep on him and he came this close to cracking his ******** skull open. And sense I decided to make sure he wouldn't bleed to death on the damn dancefloor, Doctor Moreau decided that I was no longer suitable to be in his presence until he knows where my loyalties lie."

Aubrey batted at a tear as it slipped down on her cheek. "My loyalties, Mr. Duvert. My LOYALTIES. Do you know everything I've given up to be here, Sabin? My life. My family... my heart. All that, apparantly, null and void now."

Sabin shrugged nonchalently. "I mean, we all know Moreau is a heartless, obsessed, and to pardon the cliche, "Mad" scientist.... but I figured you knew that. We all knew that - it's kind of part of the package deal."

He was unprepared for the barrage of the night's events. "Wow.... Guess I stepped out too early then." He shook his head at himself. "Figures, the action always happens. But I'm this close to finalizing my latest project.... well, my team is at least." He waved his hand. "The Dude punched Moreau? Wow, I'd hate to be in his flippers right now, yes?" Sabin gave a hearty chuckle. "And yes, we know you're loyal. I'm sure he does too. But you obviously know Moreau." A wiiiide smile spread across his mouth. "Just a liiiiitle bit of a control freak. Especially with you - no offense, Aubrey. But if he says jump, he expects you to reply "how High" - regardless of how actually out of control he might be of the situation." he gave a tight-lipped smile with a shrug.

Sabin's flippant attitude about the whole deal just angered her more. Moreau was her world, and not something to shrug off so lightly. "Well, I'm sorry to have wasted your time with my problems. Now if you would excuse me, I've had my share of uncaring assholes for the week." She shoved the glasses back on her face and headed towards the elevator.

Sabin pursued his lips as she stormed towards the double doors of the elevator. Since the party last night, and eating up the reactions of the Islanders who thought he was one of them had left Sabin in a very special mood the next morning, and sympathy was something that at the moment was a little hard to reach. But something gave him a small kick in the gut at seeing the young woman's reactions to his words. "Well..." Sabin started with a sigh. "You do have to admit... or at least consider, I think a big part of Moreau's attraction to you, especially your invitation to this island, IS your loyalty. He's as much as said so. It puts him higher on his pedestal of power. He's upset because, well, he has to be in control and what he assumed to be a person who would always follow along with him, casting whatever nefarious deed he does in rose-colored light stops to question sets him off just a teensy bit, non?"

Aubrey stopped and peered over her shoulder. "I would like to think I can be loyal to the man I love and be able to show some friendly emotion towards other human beings. I'm insulted he would question me."

Sabin gave an over-exaggerated shrug. "Well. I didn't see what happened - I can go back and watch the tape if you'd like - but he's possessive. You saw what happened after you flirted with Mr. Carrol."

Aubrey flushed a deep red. Oh yeah she remembered. "I know he's possessive. And thats okay. But its frightens me to think he's willing to cast me off so easily."


"Who knows. Maybe this is some other test. If I know him as well as I would like to guess, he's waiting for you to come crawling back, begging him to take you... To prove your loyalty to him. I'm sure what you did wasn't that bad - at least most sane men wouldn't think so - I wouldn't either - but, again, Moreau doesnt' care about reasonings for doing things. If he sees you make a choice between him and someone else - regardless of what that choice might be based after, he gets... well... 'twitchy'. He needs to know that his Things are truly His."

"Do you really think thats all I am to him? Some kind of.. human dog?" She winced as she remembered the first serum he gave her...

Sabin also thought back to his first meeting of the freckled woman. "Well... I'm not Moreau." He said diplomatically.

Aubrey gave a miserable sigh, knowing that was a nice way of avoiding the question. "How could I have been so ... stupid."

Sabin shrugged. "I don't know, honestly." The voice sounded oddly sincere. "I mean.... I came here knowing what I was getting into. You've always seemed strangely in denial of what's really going on here."

Aubrey puffed. "I'm not in denial!"

Sabin shrugged. "Suit yourself"

She shot him a look. "I'm not in the mood to argue symantics with you. I saw you leading those guys on, making you think you're a subject. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Sabin laughed at this, a grin on his face. "Why? I know full well what I'm doing, and I can live with myself for doing it. Hell, I'm enjoying myself. I was studying them just as much as Moreau was. I'm an anthropologist, after all. What I was doing is what Moureau is doing. I took the ethics out of my science." He raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Aubrey just narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not in the mood to argue this with you," she said flatly

"Who's arguing?" Sabin defended. If she really wanted an argument, he would gladly step to bat. "But to me, it looks like you are in the mood to drink. You tend to do that when you're dressed like that. But usually it's not till afternoon. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with that little niggling feeling of guilt. I used to drink too." Sabin commented.

Aubrey looked him up and down, trying to decide if he was calling her a drunk. "There's not much else to do around here."

"I'm sure the Islanders would agree." Sabin mused out loud. "But me, I just say that you don't know where to look." He tapped the side of his rather pronounced nose.

Aubrey gave an over-dramatized roll of her eyes. "I've leaving."

Sabin was half tempted to follow after her. Who needed coffee when you had this? "Aww, and just when I was enjoying myself." She thought that she was lonely here. Sabin had even fewer people to talk to - he had had a blast the previous night, pretending to fit in.... or was he having fun playing the incognito manipulator...? He frowned. The past couple of months here surrounded by this environment were starting to get to him.... and he couldn't tell if he was enjoying it or not. He had kept a side of himself rather suppressed in the halls of Harvard... the life he had started to be with his family... since that was gone, and since coming here.... things were starting to shift to the other side. Maybe he should try to get some time off - away from this..... or maybe he liked it.

Sabin stopped, the gears turning in his head with a rather confused look on his face as he mused those thoughts. "Well. I am here." Sabin left it simply.

"Here for what? To belittle my concerns. I swear was I the only person who didn't check their humanity at the airport?"

"I'm not belittling them. I'm trying to draw your attention to what was going on that you chose not to see."

"Look, I know Nick's no Casenova, okay? But I would like to know he feels something more for me than just a loyal little puppy who shares his bed with him at night, oh-kay?"

"Unfortunately what we'd like and what is isn't always the same thing. Sometimes it takes a rather startling viewpoint to make you question what you took for granted. I'm sure Moreau loves you.... or at least the closest thing he can to love. But that might not be the same thing you define as love."

Aubrey chewed on her tongue and raised an eyebrow. "You don't think Nick's capable of love, eh?"

"That's not what I said. I just don't think that Moreau can love another person as much as you can."


Aubrey's expression softened alittle. That was.. almost sweet. She sighed. "I know. I know that. I do. But... I think he's capable of more. More than what he's showing right now."

Sabin looked unconvinced. "Moreau IS in love. With you, yes, but he has another love. His work. And... well... I'm sorry, but I don't exactly see that going away."

"You don't understand me at all," she said simply. "I'm not blind. I Know he has his work."

"I think you're missing my point." Sabin sighed. "His work is always going to come first. And you're going to be the person who's there to help him with it, barring anything happening. He is going to take for granted that you're there helping him with it, and God forbid you want to do something else. Ever. Or ever make a decision to do something for someone instead of something he asks, then be prepared."

"Maybe I'm the one who should be testing him. See what I'm really worth to him."

Sabin chewed on his lip. "I... Maybe. I dont' know what would happen, to be honest. But be warned - you may not like the result. He views himself as the one in control, NOT the one who has to prove anything."

"I think you might be underestimating him. At least alittle bit."

Sabin gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Well, I would be happy to see you prove me wrong."

Aubrey pulled a hand through her frizzy hair, looking distinctly upset. "I hope so." she said honestly

Sabin nodded. "Well. Let me know how things turn out." He sighed and glanced inside his empty coffee cup. "Well, I have a lot of work to finalize today. There should be some new subjects arriving soon. And I've been promised a full test of the project I've been working on."

"Well, do a good job. Maybe Nick'll bed you next." It was a half-joke to Sabin, and a half-insult to Moreau. With that she finally stepped through the elevators.

"Yes Aubrey, come in." Moreau said as she tapped on the door. Moreau was working dilligantly but was in an improved mood. The hardest part of his work was done and his subjects were on the way.

To be truthful to himself though, he had been a little lonely. Not enough to compromise his pride. But he'd grown... used to having someone around.