Disclaimer: “The Pretender” and its characters do not belong to me they belong to TNT and NBC and are being used without permission. Please don’t sue because I have no money.

Flashback.

Miss Parker walked into the tech room ready to begin another day of trying to find Jarod once again. She hated how he always had him on a wild goose chase all the time. She hated this job and wished that she could just get away from here with Thomas.

Sydney and Broots still weren’t there and so she waited for them to make their appearance. Suddenly she heard a noise and turned to it. She saw Angelo sitting by the vent and she went towards him.

“Miss Parker, save him and save yourself.”

“What do you mean Angelo?”

“They are going to kill Thomas. Save him.”

“When is this going to happen?”

“Two weeks. You have time. Get away from the Centre.” Angelo said and then disappeared.

She stood there in silence and then turned when Broots and Sydney came in. She didn’t even yell at them when they were late getting in.

“Are you okay, Miss Parker?” Asked Sydney in a fatherly voice.

“Just peachy.” Replied Miss Parker as she glared at Sydney for asking that question. “Have we found Jarod yet?”

“No, not yet, but I’m working on it.” Replied Broots not even looking up from the computer.”

It was a week later that she had put her plan into motion.

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Present time

“Angelo came into the tech room and told me that they were going to kill Thomas.” She looked at Jarod as she was telling him this. “Just before this Thomas had asked me to leave with him and I foolishly told them that I wanted to leave with him. It was my fault that he would have been killed and I wanted to go with him, so I made sure that the house would catch on fire, but made sure that we went out the back just in time. I had parked the getaway car far away and we carried our belongings toward it and drove away. Nobody saw us and they all thought that we had perished in the fire.”

“Why didn’t you ask me to help you? You know I would have helped you if you just asked.”

“I know, I’ve always known that you would have done anything for me, but I wanted to do this myself. I needed to do this myself and not rely on anyone else.”

Thomas was standing in the doorway with a tray in his hands listening into their conversation.

Jarod nodded and then spoke again. “Your mother would be proud of you.”

“Leave my mother out of this.” Miss Parker angrily replied.

“She would be proud. She tried to get you, me and Angelo out of the Centre a long time ago and now you’re out.”

“I would of already been out if I could have caught you.”

“You know they would have never let you go if you caught me and dragged me back there. Plus I won’t ever do Sims for them ever again because of what they did with them. I won’t have any blood on my hands again.”

“You’re right they would have never let me leave.” She sighed hating that he was right. “It wasn’t your fault you know. How they used your Sims. You couldn’t have known.”

“I’m a genius I should have known what they were doing to them.” Jarod said as he looked down.

“You were just a boy when you were taken from your parents and did your first sim. You couldn’t have known.”

“But when I grew up I should have figured it out. Look at all the lives that were destroyed because of me because of what I thought of.”

“Look at the pretends you did after you escaped. You helped a lot of people; people that would have fallen by the wayside if you hadn’t have stepped in to help. You tried to help me even when I didn’t want your help.” She stopped and looked at Jarod. The both of them hadn’t seen Thomas standing there listening.

“What are you doing here anyways?”

“You’re neighbor’s Trevor and Gina’s eight year old son Nathan has gone missing. I decided to do this pretend because I know what It’s like to be a lost little boy like he is. I just wished that someone would have found me and taken me back to my parents. I have to help this little boy go back home to his family. I was only four years old when I was taken from them and I cried the first month I was there wanting my Mom and Dad.”

“You’ll find him. I know you will.”

Thomas decided to make his presence known. “Here’s the coffee.” He put down the tray and looked at Jarod and Miss Parker.

Miss Parker watched Thomas and remembered that when Thomas opened the door he acted like he knew Jarod. “How do you know Jarod?”

“A construction company was making houses with poor material and I helped him with putting him out of business.”

“I see.”

Jarod picked up a cup and started drinking it. “Have you seen the neighbor’s son? Did you see anything?”

“I’ve seen the boy in front of the lawn, but I didn’t know that he was missing.” Replied Thomas. He hesitated for a minute. “I didn’t mean to, but I overheard your conversation. I never knew you knew each other as children and before we left you used to chase after him?”

“I had to. My father is in charge of the Centre and put not only me, but Jarod’s handler Sydney and a tech assistant on the chase for him.”

“I hope you find your parents Jarod.” Thomas said sincerely.

“Thank you.” Jarod replied and then started talking again. “We should get together and take the Centre down. Angelo can help.”

“Angelo can’t help.”

“Why not? He’s been helping me and he wrote to Kyle when he was in jail.”

“I didn’t know that.” Replied Miss Parker. She was shocked that Angelo would help him and Kyle.

“Who’s Angelo and Kyle.” Asked Thomas curiously.

“Angelo was a little boy named Timmy, but Mr. Raines turned him into Angelo. Kyle was my brother.”

“I have to go and talk to other people that may have known the boy and try to find him.” He got up and walked towards the door and opened it. “I’m glad that you two are alive.” He smiled and stepped outside.