Summary and disclaimer in part 1.

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Ms. Parker could no longer hide her fatigue from him after they walked a couple of miles. Breathing had become an uphill battle, as if each particle that she was forcing down her lungs took some sadistic pleasure in making her life difficult.

"What are you looking at?" she snarled as she caught Jarod staring at her.

"Don't move," he whispered, slowly inching towards her.

She deliberately moved away from his grasp. "You have some nerve to order me around."

Jarod looked agitated but still kept his voice low as he answered, "Damn it, Parker, just trust me this once."

"Why the hell should I..." Her voice trailed off as she felt something slither up her leg. With infinite slowness, she looked down to find a snake twined around her leg. "Shit."

"Don't panic. I know this looks bad, but."

"Don't panic?!" she interrupted, her voice tinged with hysteria as she watched the serpent glide up to her thigh. "I have a snake attached to my body and you expect me not to panic?!"

"I worked as a snake handler once. I know what I'm doing. If you'd just stand still and let me."

"No," she answered, unwilling to seek help from him even under the dire situation. She could handle this just fine on her own, thank you very much.

"This is not the time to be stubborn," he informed her through gritted teeth. "You're tired; you're in no condition to fight this thing off on your own."

"I said I could handle it."

"Well, you'll never find out, will you?" Before she could ask him what he meant, he'd managed to lure the snake onto a stick and threw it far away from them.

Ms. Parker knew she should probably thank him. He had gone against her wishes with her well being in mind, after all. Unfortunately, old habits died hard and instead she ended up telling him, "I would have done that eventually, you know."

Jarod grabbed her by the shoulder to turn around and face him. She'd never seen him so upset, his usual easygoing expression replaced by anger, frustration, and even a hint of fear for what might have happened to her. "Stop this. Why do you have to be so difficult? You could have died."

"I work for the Centre, Jarod; believe me, dying from a snake bite would be a hell of a lot less painful than what they'd do to me if they find out I cooperated with you."

"In case you haven't noticed," he said, his arms waving about as he pointed to their surroundings. "We're in the middle of nowhere, meaning no Centre and no daddy to find out that God forbid, you're human and might sometimes need other people's help."

His tone softened as he added, "Look, all I'm asking for is a truce that lasts only as long as we're on this island. With the Centre and the rest of the world out of our way, what do you have to lose?"

Ms. Parker stared at him, unsure of what to say. What *did* she have to lose? Accepting his entreaty would take away all unnecessary risks, ensuring that they'd be more likely to survive this ordeal. But could she forgive herself later on? Could she live with herself knowing that she'd aided and abetted the enemy?

Then again, there wouldn't *be* a later on if she didn't survive this. She let out a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding. "All right."

Jarod's face lit up at her assent. He stuck out his right hand and took a hold of hers. "Then it's a deal?"

She looked at his hand much in the same way that she'd looked at the snake but grudgingly shook it. "It's a deal."

******

The sun had begun to set and there was still no sign of civilization to be found. Ms. Parker had already lost her patience a couple of miles back and was ready to take her frustration on Jarod, truce or no truce.

Any other time, she might have appreciated the gradual shift in sound and color as the forest prepared for the coming of dusk. She could see animals that had spent the day sleeping coming out of their burrows just as some headed back in theirs. The trilling of birds that had accompanied their walk gradually quieted down only to be replaced by the chirping of crickets and other animals she'd much rather not identify.

But she was tired, and she was angry at their lack of progress. She'd never had much patience to begin with, and Jarod's unwaveringly cheerful disposition despite their circumstance had long ago begun to grate on her nerves.

"You know, this isn't so bad if you think of this as an adventure."

Ms. Parker let out a derisive snort after hearing his statement. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm only trying to make the best of the situation. Is that a crime?"

"It is if it annoys others. Especially me."

Jarod stopped and turned towards her, looking thoroughly baffled. "I don't remember ever reading that."

Ms. Parker rolled her eyes. "Must you take everything I say literally? What I was trying to subtly tell you was that you're being way too cheerful and it's annoying the hell out of me."

"Like I said, subtlety doesn't suit you. Although I'm confused why you find my positive outlook annoying. Through my experiences I've found that most people prefer to be with someone who could keep their head cool when faced with peril."

"Well I'm not most people," she snapped. "When in trouble, I prefer my companions to be the strong and *silent* type."

Jarod ignored her answer and suggested, "Why don't we stop for the day? It's getting pretty late and I don't think it's safe to stay in here."

"Oh, and where do you suggest we go? The Four Seasons? In case you don't remember, we're stuck on a fucking deserted island!"

Ms. Parker could see Jarod's jaw clench as he tried to reign in his anger. "I'm suggesting that we find our way back to the beach. That way, we don't have to worry so much about the animals."

"Fine," she answered before stomping back towards the beach without a backward glance.

******

"Jarod," Ms. Parker whispered as she tried to shake the pretender awake. "C'mon, get up."

He let out a groan and turned away from her, all the while mumbling, "Five more minutes."

"You know, you wouldn't be in this predicament if you'd woken me up for my turn to stand watch like you were supposed to."

Jarod opened up one bleary eye and answered, "But you needed the rest. you were so tired from our-" he yawned and opened his other eye as he sat up. "-walk that I thought you'd appreciate the extra hours of sleep."

Ms. Parker's features softened as she watched him stand up and poke the dying embers, sending a shower of red and orange sparks to fly. Fortunately, he was far enough to avoid them while he effortlessly threw more branches into the flame. "I also picked up some more food while you were asleep." He smiled as the fire roared to life and walked back towards her. "Sydney mentioned that you can pretty unreasonable until you've had your breakfast."

It never ceased to amaze her how kind he was, especially after the way she'd taken out her frustration at him the night before. "Thank you."

He looked down at her in surprise, obviously not expecting her kind words.

She noticed his expression and quickly added, "But that still doesn't excuse you from what you've done. You really should have woken me up. You were tired, which means you got careless. You could have gotten us killed!"

Jarod looked crestfallen but tried to hide it by turning around and staring back into the flame.

'Good,' Ms. Parker thought. Wouldn't want him to think she was going soft on him. Tried as she might, however, she couldn't get rid of the guilt nibbling at the edge of her brain. She really shouldn't have been so harsh with him; after all, he really was just looking out for her. It was just that she was so used to dealing with people with hidden agendas-including, sadly, her father at times-that she automatically pushed people away. "Look, it's done. Let's just forget about it, ok?"

Jarod nodded and turned back to face her. "You get started on your breakfast. I'll go gather more wood."

"You've eaten?"

"No, I'll-I'll grab a bite later."

Ms. Parker watched his retreating form, all the while thinking how stupid this whole situation was. She knew he was hungry; she could hear his stomach growling all the way from where she was sitting. He only left because he was still smarting over her caustic remarks.

She felt bad about that and wanted to apologize. She really did. Except in a perverse way, her pride wouldn't let her, so she said the closest thing to an apology that she could utter. "I really think you should eat first," she yelled, causing him to stop in his tracks. His back was still turned away from her, but he wasn't saying no, either. Always a good sign. "Sydney wasn't joking when he said I can be unreasonable before my first meal. Now you two can bond even more by sharing horror stories about it."

Jarod's smile was bright as he loped back towards her, causing her to wonder if he'd really been hurt by her words at all. But as she sat there listening to his usual cheerful chatter, surrounded by white sand, blue skies, and the warm West Indies' sunshine, she realized that it didn't really matter. He was with her. She was forgiven.

End Part 5