Summary and disclaimer in part 1.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ms. Parker took a good look around before taking her second dip at the river, this time sans clothes. She'd made Jarod promise not to go near until she was done cleaning up, but she still didn't trust him completely. Despite his earlier insistence that this whole desert island nightmare wasn't his style, she thought it fit quite well with his profile of putting childish twists in his little games.

She'd often dreamt as a child of escaping the Centre and living in some deserted island; a chance to be free from all the restrictions, all the unhappiness that seemed to go hand in hand with the place. Wasn't it possible that this was just another fantasy that Jarod was trying to fulfill?

Ms. Parker cleaned her clothes as best she could and hung them on a nearby rock to dry. She cupped water on her hands and splashed it on her face, wishing not for the first time for some soap to help wash off some of the grime.

She then floated on the water for awhile, savoring the feel of the cool water rushing behind her as the hot sun warmed her front half. Only the sounds of birds chirping in the distance could be heard, and she had to admit that the peace and quiet was nice. A couple of hours of this just might be the cure for what ailed her.

The sounds of leaves crunching broke the reflective silence, reminding her that she wasn't alone. Ms. Parker righted herself and frowned. Wonder Boy always did have bad timing.

"I told you not to come here until I'm done," she said coldly as he appeared from behind a nearby clump of trees.

Jarod, who'd been trying to brush some of the dried mud off his shirt, looked up in surprise. "I've waited almost an hour. I figured you were more or less done."

"Well I'm not."

His eyes dipped down for a second as he took her in fully. "You look pretty clean to me. Look, Ms. Parker. It's ninety-eight degrees out. I'm hot, I'm filthy, and I'm sweaty. Unless you're looking for a bathing companion, I suggest you get out and give me my turn." When she didn't move, he impatiently asked, "Well?"

"You don't honestly think I'm getting out with you standing right there, do you?"

Jarod sighed and turned his back to her. Ms. Parker took a good look at him to make sure his eyes didn't stray towards her before getting out of the water and dressing.

"Okay, I'm. . ." her voice trailed off as she turned around and came face to face with a shirtless Jarod. She unconsciously licked her lips as a vision of her running a hand through his well-muscled torso came to her unbidden, quickly followed by a mental slap as she remembered who she was checking out. This was *Jarod* for God's sake. ". . . done."

"Good, you can go out and find us something to eat while I clean up."

Ms. Parker stared at him like he'd just grown another head. "Why don't *you* do it?"

"Because I just spent the past hour trying to build a fire the old fashioned way. Unless you want to switch jobs and have the pleasure of tending it for the rest of our stay here, you better start looking for food."

"Fine, but if you keel over and die from a poisonous berry that I accidentally pick up, don't go blaming me." With that parting threat, she headed back into the forest to find their lunch.

******

Lunch was an uncomfortable affair with tension so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Neither Jarod nor Ms. Parker knew what to say, or to be more accurate, she didn't want to talk to him and he knew it was futile to try. For the moment, anyway.

It wasn't until she was reaching for a second helping of the berries she'd left near the fire that he saw his opportunity. Rivulets of sweat trickled down her brow in an almost continuos stream; her smart cotton shirt, which earlier had hung in straight, crisp lines, now clung to her body like a second skin. It was obvious that she felt uncomfortable but was just too stubborn to admit it.

"Hey, why don't I get that for you?" Jarod offered as he walked towards Ms. Parker and reached for the stack of berries. "You look like you're ready to pass out from the heat."

She blatantly ignored his offering and walked around him to get the rest of the berries piled up behind him. "No thank you. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look so."

"I'm fine," Ms. Parker reiterated sharply, her tone challenging him to disagree with her again.

Jarod refused to take the bait and decided to change his tactics instead. "I realized you were right when you accused me earlier of giving up too early on alternate routes of escape."

"I was?" she asked, more than a little bit bewildered by his words. First implying that she couldn't take care of herself by saying that she needed his help to do something as simple as getting more food, then complimenting her for being more level-headed than him-she wasn't quite sure how to react. Should she be angry that he even doubted her? Pleased that he admitted she was better than him at something?

Did it really matter? Why waste her energy trying to decide? For all she knew, this was all a part of his plan: try to confuse her so that it'd be easier for him to later stab her in the back.

Jarod added more wood to the fire as he told her his plan. "I thought we should go explore the area after we're done eating; hopefully, we'll find a village or a radio tower so that we can contact the outside world."

******

Ms. Parker and Jarod had been walking for quite awhile when they ended up by the river again.

"Do you think we should cross it and see what's straight ahead, or should we walk along the river's edge?" he asked as he leaned over to take a quick drink of the clean river water.

She stared at him in surprise. She'd never in a million years would have guessed that Boy Genius would let her lead their little adventure. If anything, she expected him to act like his usual all knowing self and take control of the whole situation.

Ms. Parker looked over at the thicket that lay on the other side of the river, the thick foliage blanketing their path in an ominous shadow even in the bright afternoon light. The small shafts of sunlight that did managed to pierce through the gloom revealed only creatures that stared unnervingly back at them with wide, unblinking eyes.

She glanced back down at her companion's oh-so-innocent form with suspicion. Their next strategy to her was obvious, leading her to wonder why he even bothered to ask.

"It's probably better for us to walk by the river today. It'd be harder for us to get lost since we'll have it as a guide; we won't have to worry about dehydration; and since we don't know yet what kind of animals we might encounter in this jungle, we have the option of either climbing up a tree or jumping into the water when we meet one."

Jarod heeded her advice and started walking parallel to the water. A pleased smile momentarily fluttered across her features before she, too, began the trek uphill. The ground seemed easy enough to traverse at first, with it being mostly flat after years of wear from the river; however, it was no picnic to walk on in her Blahnik shoes. She could feel her heels sinking deeply into the soft earth with each step, and the effort required to lift her foot for another one was unmatched by any Stairmaster she'd used to date.

Ms. Parker silently cursed her companion and all his ancestors for even *thinking* of having him. She should have known that his request for her to lead was nothing more than a ruse so that he could make her look like a fool.

She was about to put those thoughts into words when she looked over at him, her glare softening slightly as she watched him struggle to walk beside her as a particularly sticky patch of mud trapped his right foot and almost caused him to fall flat on his back.

She let out a soft sigh and decided that this was as best a time as any to find out if Jarod had engineered this whole disaster like she'd originally suspected. With the adhesive mud bogging them down, neither one of them was going anywhere anytime soon.

"Hey Jarod," Ms. Parker huffed, completely spent after a couple of yards of the grueling terrain but unwilling to ask him for a brief respite. "Did you ever dream as a child of living in a deserted island?"

He grabbed her hand in an effort to help her take another step, a move that earned him a glare as she snatched her hand back. "I dreamt of living in many places. The Centre wasn't exactly my ideal home."

"But did you ever dream specifically about living on some deserted island?"

"Are you trying to psychoanalyze me, Ms. Parker? You really shouldn't, you know. You lack the subtlety for it."

"Oh, I'm *so* sorry for not meeting up to your standards," she replied sarcastically as she'd finally had enough with her shoes and decided to go barefoot.

Jarod ignored her rebuttal and continued: "Besides, from what I've read, living in a deserted island is a common escapism fantasy. Almost as common as people wishing they were somebody else."

They walked a couple more steps in silence before she asked, "Did you ever wish that you were somebody else?"

"That's a pretty silly question to ask, don't you think? Of course I did."

"You mean you'd be content being ordinary? Having a boring Monday to Friday job, driving a minivan, living in the suburbs with your wife and two point five kids. . ."

"Being ordinary doesn't necessarily mean my life would fit some cookie-cutter form that society thinks everyone should try to achieve." He stopped walking and looked over in the distance, a thoughtful look in his face. "If I was ordinary, I'd probably be Mickey Mouse."

Ms. Parker had to admit that she sometimes had trouble following the pretender's train of thought, but this. . . took the cake. "What?!"

"If I was ordinary, I'd work in Disney World and dress up as a giant mouse. How about you?"

It suddenly struck her then that Jarod was a handsome man as she watched his profile from the corner of her eye'. Funny how she never noticed it before. Then again, maybe it wasn't so weird considering that when she normally met him, his capture was foremost in her mind. "I don't know. That's pretty hard to beat."

"How about an Indian Guide?"

She looked down at her well-tailored tank top and skirt. "I don't think so."

"Oh, c'mon. I remember how excited you were when you decided to become one. You wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks. And you still seem to remember which foods were edible and which weren't. I mean, neither one of us are dead, yet."

"Your charm is underwhelming," Ms. Parker answered with a wry smile. "Seriously, though, if I was somebody else, I'd probably be an investment banker or something."

"You've got to be kidding," Jarod guffawed, almost falling on the mud as laughter wracked his body. "You wouldn't last a week. You'd be so bored that you'd probably end up holding a gun to your secretary's head just to relieve some of the tension."

"Been there, done that, shrunk the T-shirt." She couldn't help but smile at his expression. It wasn't every day that he was shocked speechless. He went as far as to gape at her when she added, "How else did you think I get this vacation?"

End Part 4