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Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.
The Gift
part IV
by N.R. Levy
Parker looked behind her and saw a chair nearby. Holding tight to Ryan, shemaneuvered her way there, and after sitting down, she began to rock the still crying little boy. Guilt flooded her. Granted, he had been a monster to her, but she hated seeing anyone this hurt, especially a defenseless child. He was only a baby, she reminded herself, not even three yet, and being a genius didn't make him a grown up, nor did being raised by Centre goons give him any idea of how to behave himself.
Softly, the words muffled against her neck, she heard Ryan's little voice break through his tears.
"I'm sorry I was a bad boy. I didn't mean to..."
Parker continued to soothe him, her hand moving up and down his back as she rocked her body back and forth on the chair.
"Shh, it's okay, Ryan. I didn't mean to get so mad, either. Maybe the two of us better just learn to think before we do something, hmm?"
She felt his head nod against her, and finally, his tears began to subside. She continued to rock him, his breathing growing more and more relaxed until Parker knew that the little boy had fallen asleep in her arms.
Sydney watched from the darkened shadows of the room. He had come to tell Parker about Jarod's call, but seeing the quiet moment between her and the child, he had decided not to interrupt. Clearly, something far more than just an exchange of anger had occurred in this room today. A bond was forming between Parker and Ryan that Sydney knew could be good for both of them, but could also be very, very dangerous.
Seeing that Ryan had fallen asleep, Sydney stepped forward, clearing his throat to alert Parker to his presence so as not to startle her.
"Syd, where's his room?"
"They fixed up Jarod's old room for him. I can take him..."
"No, that's all right. I'll take him and then I'll meet you back in my office."
Sydney nodded as Parker left, and it was with a bit of shock that he noticed her heels still lying on the floor after she'd gone. Miss Parker walking barefoot through the Centre with a sleeping toddler in her arms....somehow he knew almost no one would believe it if they weren't witness to it.
*****
Jarod drove the short distance to Blue Cove with his mind clouded by a constant echo of Angelo's message. "Ryan, both friend and daughter." What exactly did that mean? Jake was living proof that the Centre had samples of his DNA, but he had checked their records carefully after Donoterase and found nothing to indicate they had any of Miss Parker's genetic material. He still wasn't sure what had made him check, a nagging fear that if they'd cloned him, that logically she was next? He still wasn't certain, but his worry was renewed by the current situation.
He needed to learn as much about the child as he could, and the best way to do that was to go straight to the source -- the Centre. He knew his family would be worried about him, but there was little he could do about that right now. Whether he was another clone or the result of some new twisted Centre experiment, Ryan had to be freed from the monstrosity that had created him.
He thought about Parker, and about what Sydney had said. A promise to who, he wondered. And why was it that she could have such concern for Ryan, that she could knowingly have let his father and Jake slip through her grasp so many times in the last four years, and yet still hunt him so viscously? Of course, she didn't know that he knew about the latter, but it was hard to miss when you studied the scenarios as carefully as he could. He'd spent too many hours jumping through hoops trying to avoid her not to see when she had pulled up the reins, keeping the sweepers just a few steps behind for enough minutes to let the other two men in his family escape.
Well, Ryan, he thought, you've got yourself some ally there. I just wish I knew what I had to do to make her feel that way about me.
*****
Miss Parker found Sydney in her office, and she tried to hide an embarrassed smile when she saw her heels sitting on the floor beside her desk. Casually slipping them back on, she sat down in her chair and let her fingers idly slide over the file Broots' had compiled on Ryan.
"Ryan is settled in?"
Parker looked up at Sydney, and then leaned forward on her desk, her hand running through her hair.
"Yes. He didn't even wake up when I laid him down. He must have been exhausted."
Sydney nodded, not wanting to say anything that would make her feel uncomfortable with her behavior toward the little boy. Her concern and care might be too instrumental in the boy's future to make her feel awkward about it and risk having the cold shield she normally put up in front of the world come back into place. Instead, he decided to update her on the situation with Jarod.
"Jarod knows about the boy."
"Tell him to stay away, Sydney. They probably expect him to come after Ryan. That's probably why they brought him here."
"He told me to tell you basically the same thing. Something about Lyle testing your loyalty to the Centre."
"I've given them my entire life, how much more loyalty do they want?" Parker spoke the words with a venom she didn't even realize she was feeling, and she immediately regretted them. Sydney's face filled with concern for her, and she hated the way it made her feel to see that -- needy, something she could not afford to feel any more. She had made that mistake with Thomas, she would not make it again.
"Syd, I mean it. Tell him I'll deal with it."
Shaking his head, Sydney turned and walked out of the room. Parker was definitely the most stubborn person he had ever encountered in his life. He walked down the hallway, a slight smile on his face until another thought followed his first.
'Stubborn like Ryan.'
The words ran through his brain, and Sydney turned heading to Broots' office rather than to his own. He found the tech running a tracking program, trying to find leads on Jarod.
"Broots, I need you to do something."
"What's up, Syd?"
"I know you've done a thorough check of Ryan's records already --"
"Yeah, not much there though."
"I want you to do a check on someone else's. We need to find out if there's anything out of the ordinary, anything we can't account for in the last four years."
"Sure. Who, Syd?"
"Miss Parker."
****
Emily held the letter in her hand. She read the words again, knowing there was nothing inherently threatening in them, and yet, fear still filled her heart. Jarod was delayed, "a day or two," by something that needed "his immediate attention." That meant only one thing -- something to do with the Centre. She knew him too well now to not know that's what he meant.
Many times over the past few years, she had asked Jarod why he didn't simply end his game with the Centre. He had a lot of excuses, about righting wrongs, saving friends, making up for his own mistakes, but none of them ever seemed to carry quite enough weight with her. Not even his obvious affection for Sydney seemed to be reason enough to continue the dangerous cat and mouse chase.
It was Jake who had finally made her realize why it was he wouldn't cut the cord. They had been talking one day about how he came to be with their father, and he had begun describing that horrible scene at the airfield when Miss Parker had been shot and Jarod had chosen to stay behind. Emily doubted Jake realized he was giving anything away with the way he related the details, but he clearly felt that Jarod's feelings for Miss Parker were anything but those of a man toward his pursuer.
It was difficult for her to understand that. The woman had done nothing but hound her family, specifically her brother for years now, and though both Jarod and Charles had told her on several occasions that Miss Parker had made certain Jake escaped the Centre's clutches any chance she got, her relentless pursuit of Jarod made any gratitude Emily felt toward the icy brunette disappear.
Whatever was happening at the Centre had something to do with her, Emily was certain of that, and that meant Jarod was in more danger than he could possibly know. His heart was far more vulnerable than he imagined.
Sighing, she moved to the window of the little cabin, waiting for her parents to arrive. There was no reason to call them on their cell phone, they would be worried enough once they learned of Jarod's change in plans.
****
The night had been a restless one for Parker, and she was late getting to the Centre because of it. She'd slept hardly at all, her dreams haunted by the little boy who had both sparked her fury and touched her heart yesterday.
What was it about him that made her feel such strong emotions? She loved Debbie, and she never felt that angry or that moved by anything that happened between them. Still, there was no denying that the sight of the boy huddled in tears had practically left her crying herself.
Maybe it was just the fact that she knew he was a part of Jarod. True, it was not yet confirmed that he was another clone, but her suspicions were based on lots of past history. Despite her resolve to catch him, she was never able to push the loneliness she'd seen in Jarod as a little boy out of her mind. Maybe that's what had touched her about Ryan -- he was Jarod in so many ways, and it was just the memories of the boy she'd known that were getting to her.
Exhausted, she made her way to her office, her eyes immediately drawn to the beautifully wrapped package that sat on her desk. Moving closer, she dropped her briefcase on the floor and looked down at the package --- a box wrapped in beautiful gold and white angel paper, a spray of iridescent ribbon adding the perfect final touch.
A Christmas gift. Odd, the holiday was still two weeks away, and no one she knew was going to be sending her any gifts anyway....unless. Their contact had been far less recently, but he always remembered her birthday and Christmas, and he still called her every year on the anniversaries of both her mother and Thomas' deaths.
Well, there was nothing on it saying "Do not open until Christmas," as if she'd have listened anyway, and so Parker unwrapped the beautiful gift and then reached into the box, pulling free the most amazing doll she had ever seen in her life. As she picked up the porcelain creation, she saw a card in the box and, after carefully sitting down the blue-eyed figure, she opened it.
Jarod. She knew she shouldn't be surprised that he had sent her gift, or that it was something so beautiful. He always sent her the most spectacular things, and though he didn't know it, his gifts were the only parts of the holidays she ever looked forward to. And her name, Morgana, another reminder of who she used to be, of the life they had shared together so many years ago now that it hurt to think of it.
Taking great care, she replaced the doll into the box. This gift would be going home with her. Like so many of his others, it was not meant for Centre eyes. She had just finished putting the package away in a safe place when her phone rang.
"What?"
"Miss Parker, it's Sydney. I'm afraid my little charge is refusing to do his work again."
"Sydney, what do you expect me to do about it?"
"He says he wants to see you. I was wondering if..."
"Fine, I'm on my way."
Miss Parker slammed down the phone, and taking deep breath, made her way out of the office. 'Great,' she thought,' just what I need -- another Jarod running my life!'
*****
Mutumbo hated Mr. Lyle. The fact that he was a useful ally didn't change that fact, and seeing the man pacing angrily in his office was not helping.
"But I don't understand why you didn't tell me you were bringing him here."
"I wasn't aware, Mr. Lyle, that I had to clear my decisions with you."
Lyle stopped moving, realizing his mistake. Don't challenge him directly, he thought, remember the objective here.
"I only meant, Mutumbo, that I -- well, I played an instrumental part in achieving Ryan's creation. I would just like to be kept informed of his progress."
"He wasn't making any progress, that is why he is here. There is no use in us having a Pretender of his magnitude if he is uncontrollable."
"But bringing him here, this close to --"
"I'm well aware of what I'm doing, Mr. Lyle. The child needs to learn discipline. I have seen to it that he is surrounded by those who can teach it to him. Already, he has learned his first lesson."
"Yes, because she was there."
"And she is the key, Lyle. She always has been. You are the one that's forgetting that."
Scorched by the glare he received from the Triumvirate boss, Lyle stood still in his spot as Mutumbo exited the room. He made certain the man was gone before he let his anger come through on his face.
She was not the key, he was, and damn it, this time, he'd prove it to all of them.
*****
Sydney stood in the SIM lab, awaiting Miss Parker's arrival. Ryan was sitting on the table, his arms and legs crossed, refusing to look at anyone until she got there. When the door opened, he turned, expecting her, but instead finding Broots.
"Broots, good morning."
"Morning, Syd. Look, about that check you asked me to run?"
"Yes?" Sydney raised an eyebrow, and seeing the worry on Broots' face, he steered the technician into an unoccupied corner of the room.
"Well, remember when Miss Parker was shot in North Carolina? She had emergency surgery at the county hospital, then Mr. Lyle snuck her out and into that mental place, um, St. Catherine's?"
"Yes, Broots, how could I forget."
"Well, the weird thing is, there's no record of Miss Parker needing any other procedures once she got to St. Catherine's, but there is an order for general anesthesia for her in the logs the doctor kept. Why do you think they needed that, Syd, if she didn't have any more surgery?"
part IV
by N.R. Levy
Parker looked behind her and saw a chair nearby. Holding tight to Ryan, shemaneuvered her way there, and after sitting down, she began to rock the still crying little boy. Guilt flooded her. Granted, he had been a monster to her, but she hated seeing anyone this hurt, especially a defenseless child. He was only a baby, she reminded herself, not even three yet, and being a genius didn't make him a grown up, nor did being raised by Centre goons give him any idea of how to behave himself.
Softly, the words muffled against her neck, she heard Ryan's little voice break through his tears.
"I'm sorry I was a bad boy. I didn't mean to..."
Parker continued to soothe him, her hand moving up and down his back as she rocked her body back and forth on the chair.
"Shh, it's okay, Ryan. I didn't mean to get so mad, either. Maybe the two of us better just learn to think before we do something, hmm?"
She felt his head nod against her, and finally, his tears began to subside. She continued to rock him, his breathing growing more and more relaxed until Parker knew that the little boy had fallen asleep in her arms.
Sydney watched from the darkened shadows of the room. He had come to tell Parker about Jarod's call, but seeing the quiet moment between her and the child, he had decided not to interrupt. Clearly, something far more than just an exchange of anger had occurred in this room today. A bond was forming between Parker and Ryan that Sydney knew could be good for both of them, but could also be very, very dangerous.
Seeing that Ryan had fallen asleep, Sydney stepped forward, clearing his throat to alert Parker to his presence so as not to startle her.
"Syd, where's his room?"
"They fixed up Jarod's old room for him. I can take him..."
"No, that's all right. I'll take him and then I'll meet you back in my office."
Sydney nodded as Parker left, and it was with a bit of shock that he noticed her heels still lying on the floor after she'd gone. Miss Parker walking barefoot through the Centre with a sleeping toddler in her arms....somehow he knew almost no one would believe it if they weren't witness to it.
*****
Jarod drove the short distance to Blue Cove with his mind clouded by a constant echo of Angelo's message. "Ryan, both friend and daughter." What exactly did that mean? Jake was living proof that the Centre had samples of his DNA, but he had checked their records carefully after Donoterase and found nothing to indicate they had any of Miss Parker's genetic material. He still wasn't sure what had made him check, a nagging fear that if they'd cloned him, that logically she was next? He still wasn't certain, but his worry was renewed by the current situation.
He needed to learn as much about the child as he could, and the best way to do that was to go straight to the source -- the Centre. He knew his family would be worried about him, but there was little he could do about that right now. Whether he was another clone or the result of some new twisted Centre experiment, Ryan had to be freed from the monstrosity that had created him.
He thought about Parker, and about what Sydney had said. A promise to who, he wondered. And why was it that she could have such concern for Ryan, that she could knowingly have let his father and Jake slip through her grasp so many times in the last four years, and yet still hunt him so viscously? Of course, she didn't know that he knew about the latter, but it was hard to miss when you studied the scenarios as carefully as he could. He'd spent too many hours jumping through hoops trying to avoid her not to see when she had pulled up the reins, keeping the sweepers just a few steps behind for enough minutes to let the other two men in his family escape.
Well, Ryan, he thought, you've got yourself some ally there. I just wish I knew what I had to do to make her feel that way about me.
*****
Miss Parker found Sydney in her office, and she tried to hide an embarrassed smile when she saw her heels sitting on the floor beside her desk. Casually slipping them back on, she sat down in her chair and let her fingers idly slide over the file Broots' had compiled on Ryan.
"Ryan is settled in?"
Parker looked up at Sydney, and then leaned forward on her desk, her hand running through her hair.
"Yes. He didn't even wake up when I laid him down. He must have been exhausted."
Sydney nodded, not wanting to say anything that would make her feel uncomfortable with her behavior toward the little boy. Her concern and care might be too instrumental in the boy's future to make her feel awkward about it and risk having the cold shield she normally put up in front of the world come back into place. Instead, he decided to update her on the situation with Jarod.
"Jarod knows about the boy."
"Tell him to stay away, Sydney. They probably expect him to come after Ryan. That's probably why they brought him here."
"He told me to tell you basically the same thing. Something about Lyle testing your loyalty to the Centre."
"I've given them my entire life, how much more loyalty do they want?" Parker spoke the words with a venom she didn't even realize she was feeling, and she immediately regretted them. Sydney's face filled with concern for her, and she hated the way it made her feel to see that -- needy, something she could not afford to feel any more. She had made that mistake with Thomas, she would not make it again.
"Syd, I mean it. Tell him I'll deal with it."
Shaking his head, Sydney turned and walked out of the room. Parker was definitely the most stubborn person he had ever encountered in his life. He walked down the hallway, a slight smile on his face until another thought followed his first.
'Stubborn like Ryan.'
The words ran through his brain, and Sydney turned heading to Broots' office rather than to his own. He found the tech running a tracking program, trying to find leads on Jarod.
"Broots, I need you to do something."
"What's up, Syd?"
"I know you've done a thorough check of Ryan's records already --"
"Yeah, not much there though."
"I want you to do a check on someone else's. We need to find out if there's anything out of the ordinary, anything we can't account for in the last four years."
"Sure. Who, Syd?"
"Miss Parker."
****
Emily held the letter in her hand. She read the words again, knowing there was nothing inherently threatening in them, and yet, fear still filled her heart. Jarod was delayed, "a day or two," by something that needed "his immediate attention." That meant only one thing -- something to do with the Centre. She knew him too well now to not know that's what he meant.
Many times over the past few years, she had asked Jarod why he didn't simply end his game with the Centre. He had a lot of excuses, about righting wrongs, saving friends, making up for his own mistakes, but none of them ever seemed to carry quite enough weight with her. Not even his obvious affection for Sydney seemed to be reason enough to continue the dangerous cat and mouse chase.
It was Jake who had finally made her realize why it was he wouldn't cut the cord. They had been talking one day about how he came to be with their father, and he had begun describing that horrible scene at the airfield when Miss Parker had been shot and Jarod had chosen to stay behind. Emily doubted Jake realized he was giving anything away with the way he related the details, but he clearly felt that Jarod's feelings for Miss Parker were anything but those of a man toward his pursuer.
It was difficult for her to understand that. The woman had done nothing but hound her family, specifically her brother for years now, and though both Jarod and Charles had told her on several occasions that Miss Parker had made certain Jake escaped the Centre's clutches any chance she got, her relentless pursuit of Jarod made any gratitude Emily felt toward the icy brunette disappear.
Whatever was happening at the Centre had something to do with her, Emily was certain of that, and that meant Jarod was in more danger than he could possibly know. His heart was far more vulnerable than he imagined.
Sighing, she moved to the window of the little cabin, waiting for her parents to arrive. There was no reason to call them on their cell phone, they would be worried enough once they learned of Jarod's change in plans.
****
The night had been a restless one for Parker, and she was late getting to the Centre because of it. She'd slept hardly at all, her dreams haunted by the little boy who had both sparked her fury and touched her heart yesterday.
What was it about him that made her feel such strong emotions? She loved Debbie, and she never felt that angry or that moved by anything that happened between them. Still, there was no denying that the sight of the boy huddled in tears had practically left her crying herself.
Maybe it was just the fact that she knew he was a part of Jarod. True, it was not yet confirmed that he was another clone, but her suspicions were based on lots of past history. Despite her resolve to catch him, she was never able to push the loneliness she'd seen in Jarod as a little boy out of her mind. Maybe that's what had touched her about Ryan -- he was Jarod in so many ways, and it was just the memories of the boy she'd known that were getting to her.
Exhausted, she made her way to her office, her eyes immediately drawn to the beautifully wrapped package that sat on her desk. Moving closer, she dropped her briefcase on the floor and looked down at the package --- a box wrapped in beautiful gold and white angel paper, a spray of iridescent ribbon adding the perfect final touch.
A Christmas gift. Odd, the holiday was still two weeks away, and no one she knew was going to be sending her any gifts anyway....unless. Their contact had been far less recently, but he always remembered her birthday and Christmas, and he still called her every year on the anniversaries of both her mother and Thomas' deaths.
Well, there was nothing on it saying "Do not open until Christmas," as if she'd have listened anyway, and so Parker unwrapped the beautiful gift and then reached into the box, pulling free the most amazing doll she had ever seen in her life. As she picked up the porcelain creation, she saw a card in the box and, after carefully sitting down the blue-eyed figure, she opened it.
Jarod. She knew she shouldn't be surprised that he had sent her gift, or that it was something so beautiful. He always sent her the most spectacular things, and though he didn't know it, his gifts were the only parts of the holidays she ever looked forward to. And her name, Morgana, another reminder of who she used to be, of the life they had shared together so many years ago now that it hurt to think of it.
Taking great care, she replaced the doll into the box. This gift would be going home with her. Like so many of his others, it was not meant for Centre eyes. She had just finished putting the package away in a safe place when her phone rang.
"What?"
"Miss Parker, it's Sydney. I'm afraid my little charge is refusing to do his work again."
"Sydney, what do you expect me to do about it?"
"He says he wants to see you. I was wondering if..."
"Fine, I'm on my way."
Miss Parker slammed down the phone, and taking deep breath, made her way out of the office. 'Great,' she thought,' just what I need -- another Jarod running my life!'
*****
Mutumbo hated Mr. Lyle. The fact that he was a useful ally didn't change that fact, and seeing the man pacing angrily in his office was not helping.
"But I don't understand why you didn't tell me you were bringing him here."
"I wasn't aware, Mr. Lyle, that I had to clear my decisions with you."
Lyle stopped moving, realizing his mistake. Don't challenge him directly, he thought, remember the objective here.
"I only meant, Mutumbo, that I -- well, I played an instrumental part in achieving Ryan's creation. I would just like to be kept informed of his progress."
"He wasn't making any progress, that is why he is here. There is no use in us having a Pretender of his magnitude if he is uncontrollable."
"But bringing him here, this close to --"
"I'm well aware of what I'm doing, Mr. Lyle. The child needs to learn discipline. I have seen to it that he is surrounded by those who can teach it to him. Already, he has learned his first lesson."
"Yes, because she was there."
"And she is the key, Lyle. She always has been. You are the one that's forgetting that."
Scorched by the glare he received from the Triumvirate boss, Lyle stood still in his spot as Mutumbo exited the room. He made certain the man was gone before he let his anger come through on his face.
She was not the key, he was, and damn it, this time, he'd prove it to all of them.
*****
Sydney stood in the SIM lab, awaiting Miss Parker's arrival. Ryan was sitting on the table, his arms and legs crossed, refusing to look at anyone until she got there. When the door opened, he turned, expecting her, but instead finding Broots.
"Broots, good morning."
"Morning, Syd. Look, about that check you asked me to run?"
"Yes?" Sydney raised an eyebrow, and seeing the worry on Broots' face, he steered the technician into an unoccupied corner of the room.
"Well, remember when Miss Parker was shot in North Carolina? She had emergency surgery at the county hospital, then Mr. Lyle snuck her out and into that mental place, um, St. Catherine's?"
"Yes, Broots, how could I forget."
"Well, the weird thing is, there's no record of Miss Parker needing any other procedures once she got to St. Catherine's, but there is an order for general anesthesia for her in the logs the doctor kept. Why do you think they needed that, Syd, if she didn't have any more surgery?"
