But I can show you a better time - baby, you can drive my car.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden had stopped trying to figure out how she was supposed to feel about the island. After all the horrible things it had done and the fact of Claire's disappearance, there were still a few important facts to consider in its favor. For one thing, she was there and alive, which kind of weighed in above all the other considerations. Her friends,

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[thecompanyman]

Bennet had been avoiding Eden for some days until he had settled from his experience with Claude, but he found it too difficult, especially with Claire gone. Of course, when he did find Eden, he couldn't help but take off his glasses and rub at his eyes.

That didn't make the hovercar disappear at all. "Eden?" he asked warily. "Where exactly did this come from?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"It was hanging out outside my door," Eden said brightly. "It had my name on it and everything." She slowed the thing until she had brought it to a stop, not far from Bennet, and smirked. "And I looked at it before I climbed in and turned it on. I don't think it's gonna blow up."

[thecompanyman]

"That's a hovercraft of some sort," Bennet noted curiously, because it was there and...seemingly impossible. "I'm almost more concerned to ask if someone made this for you and if so, where have they been hiding the technology?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"Like I said, it was outside my door," Eden said, shrugging. "I mean, either it's a present from the island or whatever like everyone keeps saying or someone around here has knowledge we hadn't previously counted on. And possibly a crush on me." It wasn't entirely out of the question.

[thecompanyman]

"It's hovering," Bennet assessed for the second time. No one could call him slow, but he might have been somewhat dubious about where a thing like that might have come from. "A crush?" He turned his focus to that. "Is there someone I should know about?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"I was kidding," Eden said quickly, biting her lip as she turned her head away to focus on landing the car. Once she had, she looked straight ahead of her. "But since you mention it, yes." It was, she thought, every bit as awkward as she had once imagined it might be.

[thecompanyman]

Not Claude, not Claude, if he was lying, he was going to pay, ran Bennet's thoughts, but none of it showed on his face. "Oh? Was I going to be told or is this more of that sneaking around thing I hear kids talking about?" he teased, good-naturedly.

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden shifted in her seat, then climbed out to lean against the side of the car on her own two feet. It was easier to talk to Bennet that way. She didn't feel so small. "I was going to mention it," she said, shrugging, then smiled sardonically, hands folding together at her waist. "I just wasn't interested in you scaring the first boyfriend I've ever had just yet. I thought we might take a few weeks before he's mentally scarred."

[thecompanyman]

Bennet couldn't help a laugh at that, smoothing out his polo-shirt and gesturing to himself. "Am I really that scary, Eden?" It was only half-serious, seeing as he had made a career out of being the Man with the Horn-Rimmed Glasses, a nightmare and a dark memory.

[wishesandsmoke]

"Yes," she deadpanned immediately. Crossing her arms, she leaned back further, eyebrow arching. For all that she'd told Brodie, she'd left out twice as much, but father figures, with or without guns, tended to scare guys anyway. "He's a good guy and I really like him, so you have to play nice, alright? His name's Brodie."

[thecompanyman]

"Brodie," Bennet echoed, as if just saying his name would somehow give him the key to what made him tick, as it were. "Well, so long as you can handle him, I'll stay out of your way," he promised. Unless he did anything ill-advised.

[wishesandsmoke]

"Okay, see," Eden said, eyebrow arching, "even that was kind of creepy." There was something almost fond in her tone, though, and she shrugged, biting her lip. "Believe me, it's okay, I can handle him. You... you don't have to stay out of the way, just remember that he's a - a civilian or whatever you want to call it and this isn't home, okay?"

[thecompanyman]

"I am not unintentionally creepy, Eden," he patiently said, because he knew when he was and when he wasn't. "And I'll remember that, but it doesn't mean that I won't be critical. You deserve the best, after all."

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden sighed, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm and looking up with wide eyes and eyebrows raised. "Why am I not surprised?" she asked wryly. Critical was nothing new with Bennet, but it had always served her well before. Now, though... She adored Brodie, but that didn't mean she could see him passing inspection with Bennet. Even so, she softened. "And thank you. That's very sweet," she added, voice teasing as she smiled. "If he runs off after meeting you, you're finding me a new one."

[thecompanyman]

Bennet gave something of a self-satisfied smile, settling as he thought that he could still have a modicum of control and power. "I can't promise results, but I hear there are lots of duplicates. I'm sure we could find a suitable one."

[wishesandsmoke]

Eden laughed. "I think the idea of you playing matchmaker's gonna give me nightmares," she teased. "Who would you pick for me anyway, James Bond?"