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Part 1 of the Madeline Series
By Danielle : - )

Author's Note: This story jumps back a while-- to January of the first season, not too long after Jarod gave Miss Parker the white rabbit, who, since he hasn't been mentioned since (tsk, tsk), I've named Bunny. It might take awhile for you to get the connection between the beginning of the fic and The Pretender but I promise there is one!

Author’s Note 7/20/13: Reworking this part a little- no major changes, really, just some small stuff, like the weird tense thing I had going on at the beginning (and, after 15 years, ‘aspirin’ is finally spelled correctly).  Plus I can't in good conscience keep her stepfather's name Steve, since our PTB Steve is the coolest guy to ever live. :)

Disclaimer: Miss Parker, Jarod, Sydney, Raines, Angelo, Broots, and the Centre belong to NBC, CVS, and SLM.. Everyone else belongs to me.

~~~~~

"Oh!" Madeline moaned softly in pain. She couldn't have told you an exact location of the pain- her whole body was liberally covered with bruises. If she’d had the strength or desire to look, she would’ve been hard pressed to find an area of her body that wasn’t cut, bruised, or caked with drying blood.

Madeline looked up at the person responsible for the majority of the most recent pain- her stepfather, Anthony.

"Is that enough? You ready to do it yet?" he asked, looking at Jack, who'd hit her more than his fair share as well before taking them for a ride.

"No matter how much you hurt me, I'm not going to kill anyone," proceeded a gasp as Anthony kicked her in the stomach.

"Look, you little whore, if you don't agree with my plan to kill the governor, we're going to kill you." Jack went to the small kitchen of their rundown apartment for another beer.

"Just kill me already!" the teenager meant it, too, but knew Anthony wouldn't want to get rid of all the money she brought in. Madeline wanted them, or anyone, to put her out of this misery she’d been in for two years. Her stepfather used all the money he got pimping her out to buy drugs. Madeline couldn't remember how many times she’s held a knife to her wrist, wanting to slash it; or a gun to her temple, wishing she could pull the trigger. Something always stopped her from ending her life, though, a miniscule part of her head that told her the pain and degradation wouldn’t last forever.

"Come on," Anthony pulled her to her feet and dragged her to the door, afraid she’d cry out loud enough for a neighbor to call the police (as if that would happen in their neighborhood). Jack got behind the wheel of his brand-new convertible. Anthony shoved Madeline in the back and then got in as Jack sped away.

Madeline knew he'd really let her have it now that no witnesses were around. It would take all her willpower not to cry out as his fists rained down on her already battered body.

Anthony continued to hit her while Jack drove around aimlessly. After a while, her stepfather stopped to catch his breath. Madeline gingerly lifted her head to take the opportunity to see where they were. Jack had taken them to the lake outside of town. Since it was the middle of January, all the summer cottages were dark. Madeline wondered if they were going to leave her there to die.

They slowed down and Jack turned around and slapped Madeline as hard as he could. When she still wouldn't agree to their plan, he told Anthony to push her out of the car and let her walk home. He did just that, pushing her out into the snow without a jacket. They sped off amid a squeal of tires. Even at such a low speed, she hit the ground hard enough to have the wind knocked out of her and add a few more bruises. Madeline didn‘t have the desire or the energy to get up from where she had landed.

~~~~~

Miss Parker was sitting in front of the tv, which was on, but wasn't holding her attention. She was thinking about the past, something her father would have disapproved of, had he known. She was interrupted by the slam of a car door and the sound of someone hurrying away.

She reached for her gun- it was never far from reach- and headed to the front door of the cottage she had turned into her year-round residence.

"Probably some trick of Jarod's," she muttered as she neared the door. She had learnt early in her search for Jarod to expect anything and everything from him.

With the gun expertly aimed in front of her, she descended the steps leading to the front door. At first she saw nothing of interest on the snow covered landscape but then noticed a dark form near the side of the road.

"Great!" she said, wondering what it could be this time. What new thing had Jarod decided to torture her with now? Possibly another animal, she thought, remembering the bunny he gave her only a few weeks ago. Miss Parker made a mental note to feed him and clean his cage after she cleared this up. Could be a DSA containing yet another clue to her past...

Miss Parker crept toward what she was now sure to be courtesy of Jarod. She had the gun ready to shoot if it turned out to be Jarod himself. Whatever it was, it wasn't moving. Now standing directly over it, Miss Parker could see that it was a woman.

"Hey." Miss Parker said to get her attention. She hadn't loosened her grip on the gun.

The woman slowly rose to a sitting position to see who had addressed her. Miss Parker quickly hid her surprise when she saw the girl's bruised, bloody face. And it was a girl, hardly more than a teenager.

"Who are you?" Miss Parker growled.

"Madeline."

"Madeline what?"

"Stanley."

"Did Jarod send you here?"

A pause and then, "I don't think I know anyone named Jarod."

~~~~~

Madeline had just made up her mind to stay where she was and hopefully die when a harsh voice made her look up. She painfully got into a sitting position to see a tall, brown haired woman holding a gun aimed directly at her. Behind her a house was lit up.

"I don't think I know anyone named Jarod." Madeline said after trying to remember if she knew a Jarod.

Miss Parker, who was getting cold, decided they should continue the interrogation in the house, "Well, I don't know who you are but come inside so I can find out."

Madeline slowly, every movement hurting, got up and headed into the house ahead of her. Miss Parker ushered her into the room where the tv was still on.

"Who are you?" Miss Parker asked again.

"Madeline Stanley. Who are you?"

"Now, about Jarod." Miss Parker didn't answer the question, "Why did he send you here?”

Miss Parker was surprised that the girl wasn’t the least bit scared of her, or the gun still pointed her way. Even without a gun, she was used to people quaking in their boots around her.

"I don't think I know any guys named Jarod and if I do, he didn't send me here." Madeline's voice was flat.

"Then who did? Did they do that to you?" Miss Parker didn't like looking at this girl's bruised face and haunted eyes. It entered her mind that Raines could have sent this girl, a little warning not to get too nosy. But she dismissed the thought almost as soon as it entered her mind, knowing Mr. Raines wasn't the kind of person to play games. If he had any idea what she, Sydney, and Broots have been doing lately, they'd all be pushing up daisies.

"Anthony and Jack did most of it and dumped me out here. He wants me to walk home but I'm not going to this time. I'd rather lay out there and die."

Miss Parker blinked at the statement, spoken so matter-of-factly. She relaxed her grip on the gun, sure by now the girl was harmless but not willing to let down her guard completely just yet.

"Who are Anthony and Jack and why would they want to hurt you?"

"Anthony's my stepfather and Jack sells him most of his crack. The governor likes young prostitutes and they wanted me to kill him. When I said no, they thought if they beat me up a little I might change my mind. I didn't, so they dumped me."

"You're a prostitute?" Miss Parker had a hard time believing it. Minus the bruises, the girl was the poster child for the all-American, popular teenager with the perfect life.

"Yeah. But Anthony didn't ask first- he just took the money and left." Miss Parker detected bitterness and betrayal in her voice now.

"And your mother lets him do this?" Miss Parker regretted it the second she saw the effect it had on the girl. Madeline looked hurt as a tear rolled down her left cheek and made a trail through the blood from her nose and split lip.

"Mom died two years ago."

"Your father doesn't care?" a picture of her own father came to mind but she resolutely pushed it away.

"He died in a car accident when I was ten."

"I should probably take you to the hospital, huh?"

"No, I'll be okay." seeing the skeptical look on the woman's face caused her to add, "Nothing‘s broken. Just, do you have any aspirin?"

Miss Parker left to get it. She took the gun even though at this point she was sure the girl was harmless. Old habits die hard. Returning with the aspirin and a glass of water, she found Madeline hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. After Madeline had swallowed the pills, she looked at Miss Parker with panic in her eyes.

"You're not going to make me go back, are you?" she reminded Miss Parker of Bunny when he got scared, eyes wide and darting, ready to bolt.

"No." Miss Parker paused for a moment, then continued, "You can stay in the guest room for the night and I'll figure out what to do with you tomorrow."

She led Madeline upstairs to the room that used to be hers, pointing out the bathroom at one end. She headed back downstairs to find one of her old nightgowns for the girl. When she met Madeline back in the bedroom, the blood was gone from her face, making the bruises even more visible than before. Miss Parker handed her the nightgown and examined Madeline's face more closely. Both eyes were bruised, the right one nearly swollen shut. Her cheeks were both huge bruises and her lips were split and swollen. Her neck was also bruised, as if someone had tried to strangle her.

"The gun's on the nightstand by my bed. Don't try anything." the girl was obviously harmless and Miss Parker wondered what her mother would think of her if she knew how she was treating the poor girl.

"Who are you afraid I'm gonna shoot? You, or me?"

Miss Parker softened her tone to add, ‘If you want to take a shower, everything you need should be in there.”

“Thank you,” Madeline gave her a grateful look before heading towards the bathroom.

Miss Parker went back downstairs and put the gun next to the phone in her own room. Remembering her promise to Bunny, she went to his cage in the corner of the living room. Taking the white rabbit out, she cuddled him under her chin. She sat for a few minutes with no real thoughts going through her head. Finally, she got up and gave him more food.

"I'll do the rest tomorrow after I figure out what to do with Madeline," she said as she put him back in his cage and went to bed.

She could hear the shower going above her for a long time as she tossed and turned. Madeline fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as she laid down. Miss Parker wasn’t so lucky. Every time she fell asleep, she'd wake up minutes later after having a nightmare, the same one over and over. Sometimes it was her mother getting beat up by a shadowy figure and sometimes Madeline was getting beat up by a different man with no face.

One nightmare around 4 am had Mr Raines beating Madeline up. Her mother tried to stop him from hurting the girl, saying she was innocent and hadn't done anything to deserve it. He stopped, but then turned on her mother. Miss Parker could see her father standing motionless in the shadows.

She knew she'd never fall back asleep after that one so with shaking hands she grabbed and managed to light a cigarette.

In the room above her, Madeline awoke with a start. For a moment, she tried to figure out where she was. She relaxed when she remembered that she was safe for the time being. Then she thought of Miss Parker, who never did introduce herself. Madeline wondered if the demons chasing her were similar to the ones she hoped to now be able to put behind her. People don't keep guns within reach at all times without a good reason.

Wondering what the future held in store for her and knowing for the first time in years that she really had a future, Madeline drifted back to sleep.


Two hours later, Miss Parker decided to get up. She took a shower to try to shake off the bad feelings her nightmares had left. Then she dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. The Centre would have to live without her for the next few hours. The gun was unmoved on the nightstand and Miss Parker decided to leave it that way. On the way to the kitchen, she checked on Madeline and found her still asleep.

In the kitchen, Miss Parker searched for something to make for breakfast. There wasn't much. They would have to settle for Corn Flakes. Checking to see if she had milk, she found some bacon but it had expired a month ago.

Miss Parker closed her eyes and remembered standing in this kitchen on an already hot summer morning watching her mother cook bacon and eggs, or better yet, pancakes from scratch. No one made pancakes like Mama did.

"Hi." Miss Parker turned around to see Madeline standing in the doorway as if afraid or unsure about entering. She had obviously washed her clothes in the sink or shower the night before, as they were considerably cleaner. Her face looked a little better after a good night’s sleep, but Parker still found herself uncomfortable looking the girl in the face.

"Corn flakes is all there is," she said without apology.

Madeline sat at the table. After Miss Parker poured two bowls full of cereal and added milk, she brought them to the table and turned around to get them glasses of orange juice- which expired a few days ago, but how bad can orange juice go? When she turned to put them on the table, Madeline's bowl was almost empty.

"Could I have some more, please?"

Once seated again, Miss Parker asked, "When was the last time you ate?"

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"Tuesday I had some fries." Madeline told her matter-of-factly.

"All you've eaten in two days is some French fries?"

"Yeah, Anthony's crack is more important than my dinner. I just have to hope someone gives me a little more money than he expects so I can stop by McDonald's or something." A good night's rest had helped bring some expression back to Madeline's face and voice. Now on her third bowl of cereal, Madeline still hadn't slowed down.

Miss Parker watched the girl eat and still didn't know what she was going to do with her. She wasn't about to keep her, that's for sure. Maybe Sydney would know what to do.

"What am I going to do with you?" hoping the girl would have a suggestion.

Madeline shrugged and continued eating.

"Do you have any other family?"

"No. All my grandparents are dead and mom and dad were both only kids."

Noticing the empty bowl, Miss Parker asked if she wanted any more.

"No thanks. You know, you never told me your name last night." Madeline pointed out.

Again, Miss Parker had a hard time believing this polite, obviously well-mannered girl was a prostitute.

"Miss Parker.”

Madeline raised her eyebrow slightly at the formality of the answer as she finished her juice, but wasn’t about to question the woman who had literally saved her life the night before.

“Okay," Miss Parker said in her usual clipped manner, "let's go."

"Where?" Madeline immediately got nervous, still afraid she'd be returned to her stepfather.

"To see a friend of mine who will help me figure out what to do with you." Miss Parker knew Sydney would have more ideas than her. Besides, the kid could probably use a shrink.

"Who and where?" Madeline was still somewhat wary, not completely trusting the woman standing in front of her puffing on a cigarette. The past few years had made her very untrusting.

"My friend Sydney is a psychiatrist and we work together." Miss Parker was about to leave when she remembered Madeline didn't have a coat. She got two, an old one for the girl and her regular, long, black leather one.

They drove in silence for maybe ten minutes, each thinking about all they'd lost in their lives. When they pulled into view of the Centre, Madeline gasped in shock at the immense stone building.

"Is this where you work?"

"Yeah," Miss Parker remembered when she was younger and her mother was still alive, how she had had the same reaction every time she saw the Centre. Now she just hated it.

"What's it called?" sometimes curiosity is a stronger emotion than pain.

"The Centre."

"I've never heard of it, what does it do?"

"Stuff." Miss Parker answered, not about to tell the girl the truth- that it steals children and locks them away for years and probably tortures them, too.

Madeline was silent as they parked close to the entrance- Daddy had seen that she got a prime parking spot. They headed inside to the elevator and Miss Parker tried not to think about the significance this elevator had in her life. Once in, she pushed a button and they started going down.

"What's SL mean?" Madeline asked, having noticed most of the floor buttons said SL and then a number.

"Sub Level.” She pulled out a cigarette and noticed Madeline watching her, "Do you have a problem with cigarettes?" Not that the answer mattered- no one could stop her from smoking, not Sydney's warnings about cancer, not Broots' constant coughing when she was around, and certainly nothing this girl could say.

"Not really." Madeline knew she didn't sound convincing, "Regular cigarettes are better than what Anthony smokes, I guess. But my grandmother died of lung cancer."

In answer, Miss Parker pulled out her lighter. They reached their floor and Miss Parker led the way to Sydney's office. It was empty but she knew Sydney. He was around somewhere and Broots would know where. She picked up the phone and called his cubicle.

"Broots." as always, he sounded nervous.

"Do you know where Sydney is?"

From the tone of her voice, Madeline figured whoever she had called was someone she didn't like very much. She hadn't been around long enough to know Parker always sounded like that. She was silent as the person on the other end of the line answered.

"Miss Parker, um, yeah, he, uh, just left my office."

"Jarod?" Miss Parker sounded more interested, alert, making Madeline wonder if this was last night's Jarod, and who he was.

"Yeah. He left Sydney an e-mail and we were trying to figure it out."

"Was he going back to his office?"

"I think so." he expected her to say something more but all he got was the dial tone. With a sigh, he turned back to the computer and Jarod's puzzling message.

"He's coming." Miss Parker told Madeline, "Let's just hope he doesn't make any detours."

If Syd decided to stop by the sim lab or something, she knew it could be hours before he showed, "How old are you?" She asked, since Sydney would probably want to know.

"Sixteen."

Before either woman could say more, Sydney walked in.

"Miss Parker." he greeted as his gaze went from her to the injured girl standing next to her. Madeline couldn’t believe he didn’t seem shocked by her appearance. Then he settled his questioning gaze back on Parker. She walked over to where he still stood in the doorway.

"Her name's Madeline, her bastard of a stepfather dumped her in front of my place last night. He's been prostituting her. I figured you'd know what to do with her more than I would."

"Hello, Madeline. You can sit down." he had assumed that quiet, reassuring voice Miss Parker knew he used with children performing simulations.

The girl sat down, never taking her eyes off of him, as if afraid he was going to attack her. Miss Parker leaned against the filing cabinet by his desk.

"What were you doing by the lake last night?"

"My stepfather left me there."

Realizing she had already heard this, Miss Parker decided not to waste the whole day and go see about Jarod's e-mail, "I'm going down to see the e-mail, Syd."

As soon as Madeline realized she was leaving, she rose from her chair in alarm. Miss Parker walked over to her and displayed a rarely seen kindness.

"Don't worry, he's harmless. I'll be back in ten minutes."

Madeline barely knew this Miss Parker, but somehow she was able to see beyond the woman’s tough exterior and knew she could trust her, and thereby Sydney; so she settled back in her seat.

"Why did your stepfather leave you there?" Sydney continued once they were alone.

"Because I wouldn't kill the governor for him and Jack."

Even Sydney, the psychiatrist who'd heard it all, couldn't hid his surprise, "Excuse me?"

"For some reason- probably a really stupid one- Jack hates the governor. The governor has a thing for young prostitutes so they wanted to send me to him and then have me kill him. I refused 'cause I'm not about to add murder to my list of sins and they thought if they hit me around a little I'd change my mind. I guess they were afraid I'd make a lot of noise so they took me for a ride and got fed up with me refusing so Anthony dumped me in front of her house."

"Did he expect you to go back?"

"Yeah. I've always gone back before because no one else ever helped me, not even the police."

"You've gone to the police and they didn't do anything?" he didn't find that as hard to believe as one might expect. Sydney didn't believe for a second that the Blue Cove PD could be completely oblivious to all the illegal happenings at the Centre.

"Yup. Once after I got beat up really bad, I went and they didn't believe me. They just laughed in my face. And all those times I had to go to the emergency room, no one did anything."

"Is there no one you can go to?"

"If I did, do you think I'd be here right now?" she snapped.

"There has to be someone."

"Nope. Right before it started, Steve moved us down here from Boston, and didn’t enroll me in school, so I don’t know anyone around here. I looked for Mom's address book to call her best friends, but it was gone."

Before Sydney could answer, the phone rang. He listened, said ,"I'll be right there," and hung up.

"I have to see to something. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay." Madeline said with a tired sigh.

Miss Parker headed back to Sydney's office after her daily torture of Broots. She was upset about Jarod's seemingly impossible e-mail. Upon entering the office, she saw Madeline staring off into space and the chair behind Sydney's desk empty.

"Where's Sydney?"

"He got a phone call, an emergency or something, I guess."

With a sigh Miss Parker leaned up against the wall and pulled out another cigarette, "With Syd, we could be waiting here for hours."

As if to prove her wrong, Sydney walked in and sat down without an explanation.

"So what's the verdict?" Miss Parker wanted to know.

"None has yet been reached, Parker."

"Well, I don't have all day!" she snapped.

"We could bring you," he spoke to Madeline and ignored his foul tempered colleague, "to Dover. They'd probably put you in a foster home until you turn 18. How old are you?"

"Sixteen since October."

"But, I believe foster care should only be used as a last resort."

"Why?" Madeline and Miss Parker asked simultaneously.

"As a psychiatrist, I've heard horror stories about abused children being put into foster homes where they only receive more abuse."

"I don't even think that should be used as a last resort." Madeline told him firmly, "I'm not escaping Steve only to have someone else take his place."

"Of course not. We'll forget that one," after a thoughtful pause he continued, "If only we could find a family member or friend! What about godparents?"

"Mom's best friends all through school. He moved to Russia or someplace after she died. I told you, I have no one!"

Sydney guessed why she was snappish and wanted to calm her fears, "No matter what, we are not going to send you back to Steve. We could also find someone who'd be willing to take you in and become your legal guardian. You would have to got court to legalize it and probably again to try Anthony because they'll ask why you want your guardian changed."

"So they'd arrest him and we‘d go to court?" Madeline was beginning to get upset again.

"Yes, you would be the prosecution's key witness."

"No! He knows too many people, he'd send someone to kill me."

"Madeline, we'd get you protection. We--"

"NO!! You don't get it, he knows drug dealers, hit men, mobsters! They'd find and kill me!"

"Okay, I'm sure we can get around that." seeing how agitated she was, he continued against his better judgment, "We could not even take it to court, once we found the person, we could forge the legal guardianship papers."

Miss Parker almost dropped her cigarette, she was so shocked at the words coming out of the mouth of someone she thought she knew so well. She managed to get out a, "We could?"

"Broots could probably do it. If not, Jarod might once I tell him why it's needed."

"Jarod!" Miss Parker scoffed.

"Yes, Miss Parker, Jarod." Sydney repeated calmly.

"But who's going to want me? What if Steve sends someone to bring me back? Most of them would kill their own twin for a gram of crack. Who'd want to take a risk like that?"

Madeline looked so dejected that without even thinking, Miss Parker said, "I would."

Sydney looked ready to have a heart attack from the shock. Miss Parker couldn't believe she'd said it but had some idea when she saw the look on Madeline's face.

"Really?" Madeline couldn't believe the woman who'd held a gun on her last night and had seemed so eager to be rid of her this morning would be willing to do this.

"Well, until other arrangements can be made." She said quickly. God, what had she done? What would her father say? Madeline was smiling at her in such a way that gave Miss Parker the uncomfortable feeling the girl could see right through her.

"Come on, let's go home." Miss Parker breezed out of the room without so much as a good-bye to Sydney, who sat smiling behind his desk. Madeline gave him a grateful smile before following.

The End

Madeline Series
Part II : Sydney

by: Danielle : - )

Disclaimer: Everyone except Madeline and her school and gymnastics friends belong to NBC. Thank you for creating such wonderful characters.

Author's Note: In Home I had said at one point that Madeline was 17 and then later 16. She is really supposed to be 16 and still is about sixteen and a half in this story. Sorry for any confusion! : - ) And I'm not sure of the driving laws in Delaware so I just decided it would be 16 and a half for a license so Madeline could drive. If anyone from Delaware would care to enlighten me, I say 'go for it!'. And thanks Jonathan Yip for all your help!

~~~~~

Mid-Late April 1997

A Friday, Blue Cove High School

"What?!" Madeline asked in disbelief. She was sitting in her Sociology and Psychology class and one of her more outspoken classmates had just said that if he saw a man and a woman (who was considerably smaller than the man) fighting, he would not step in to stop it, because "it's not my problem".

Madeline's hand had immediately shot up. The teacher noticed and called on her. "What?!" she asked. "How could you not help her?"

"It's not my problem," he said in this isn't-it-obvious tone.

Madeline shook her head, "But if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem! So it is your problem!"

"You really believe that?" one of his equally vocal friends broke in.

"Yes!" she said passionately. "I can't understand how you could live with yourself knowing you could have done something but didn't. I mean, it's not like you're small, you'd have no problem helping out." he was a big, intimidating football player, at least 6'5" and 250 pounds.

"So, you're telling us you would go up and approach them?"

"Yeah!" now it was her turn to adopt that isn't-it-obvious tone. "If I didn't, I- I couldn't live with myself," she struggled to explain how she felt, "Like... I'd always feel bad, guilty because I didn't help her."

"What if he then turned on you?"

"Well, then at least I tried." she said, "But I wouldn't expect you to understand it."

He opened his mouth to say more but the bell rang and everyone filed out to head to their next class.

~~~~~

The last bell of the day (and week) had just rung and Madeline was heading to her locker at a fairly fast pace.

"Hey Madeline." the voice of her best friend Sandy said behind her.

"Hey." Madeline replied.

Sandy had been her best friend since kindergarten up in Boston, but had moved to Dover the year before Madeline’s mother died. They’d been penpals and talked on the phone for a while, but had lost touch once Madeline’s world got turned upside down. During that time, Sandy and her family had moved to Blue Cove. It had been a complete surprise her first week of school to find her old best friend walking down the hall towards her.

"Hi guys!" their friend Amanda said. She had been going in the opposite direction but had pulled a u-turn to walk with them, "You guys busy today?"

"Yeah." Madeline answered, "I'm finally caught up on all my makeup work so I'm starting back at the gym today!"

Her friends could see her excitement. She’d been working nonstop since enrolling back in school, catching up on almost a year’s worth of material. She was now set to graduate a year behind Sandy and the rest of her peers. Amanda had been her first friend from her new class. There hadn’t been time to get back into gymnastics at all during the catch-up process, and Madeline was raring to go.

"Really? That's great!" Amanda said.

"I'm kinda nervous," Madeline admitted, "I haven't done so much as a cartwheel in two years!"

"You don't need to be! You were always great at it! You probably would have gone to Atlanta and won the gold if you hadn't stopped." Sandy told her.

"I know... but what if I've lost it?"

"You haven't!" Amanda fairly yelled in exasperation.

"Yeah, you can't lose a talent that good." Sandy added.

Madeline smiled at their attempts to reassure her. She did feel better. They parted for their lockers and a few minutes later she met up with Amanda again, who she drove to and from school. They had to sit in Madeline's white '96 Mustang for a few minutes before someone let her pull out.

After dropping Amanda off, Madeline headed to the Centre to see Miss Parker and let her know her plans.

As always, the size of the place shocked Madeline. She could not get over it; or the fact that Mr. Parker ran it. Then she sighed when she remembered how much he hated her.

~~~~~

Mr. Parker had been very upset when he found out what his daughter had done. It hadn't bothered him that she had forged the documents- he was actually proud that she had had the guts to do it. What enraged him was the fact that she had opened up both her home and her heart to a stranger.

He had refused when his daughter approached him about getting Madeline a car so she wouldn't have to drive her to and from school every day since no buses got anywhere near the lake. When he said there was no way he was buying her a car, she had told him "Then I will." He also didn't like the fact that his daughter had seemingly given her free rein of the Centre- letting her come and go as the teenager pleased. She may have only dropped by for appointments with Sydney and to visit with his daughter, but he still thought it was very inappropriate.

His Angel had actually refused to let him ban her ward from Centre property. She stated that Madeline had already formed a connection with Sydney as her psychiatrist, and that him losing one measly hour a week wasn’t going to be the downfall of the Centre or their search for Jarod.

Madeline brought out a defiance in his daughter that he did not like. Actually, he blamed her and Jarod equally, but was only able to take out his ire on her. But Madeline didn't know his reasoning. All she knew was that her guardian's father hated her and she tried to avoid him whenever possible.

~~~~~

After finding Miss Parker’s office empty, Madeline headed down to Sydney’s. She knew they often worked closely on whatever it was they did at the Centre; although for the life of her, she couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone about what exactly it was they did.

"Hi." Madeline greeted Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots. She had trusted Broots almost instantaneously while he was going through the forgery process.

"I'm finally all caught up on my work!" she told them triumphantly.

Because of the unusual circumstance that led to Madeline dropping out of school, they’d allowed the special arrangements that had left her only one grade behind her peers, although it probably should have been two. Every day for the past three months she had stayed after school with one teacher or another finishing up the work from the year Anthony hadn’t allowed her to finish up in Boston as well as the first semester of the current year, while simultaneously attending classes with the sophomore class.

It was an insane amount of work, and left her virtually no free time; but she’d made up her mind to have it completed by the beginning of May. She’d done it with a week to spare. Now it was time to start gymnastics up again. She had stopped when her mother got cancer, more than two and a half years ago. At the time, they had been talking about moving somewhere so that Madeline could attend an elite gymnastics camp as a way to better prepare for the Olympics. When her catchup work started winding down, she began looking into local gyms to find out which one would be the best fit.

"I'm going to the gym to talk to Jackie about starting up again. Hopefully she’ll see enough promise still in me to agree to take me on. And I think I'll stay and see what I can still do even a little decently."

"Okay," Miss Parker said indifferently.

Madeline had gotten used to the two Miss Parker's- the cold, uncaring in-front-of-others Miss Parker and the warm, compassionate alone-at-home Miss Parker.

"Good luck," Broots said as she left.

She passed Mr. Raines, who was going in the room she was just leaving; his cold, steel, ever-present companion still needing oil. She greeted him cheerfully by name with a big, pleasant smile. Sure, he was a little creepy, but Madeline wasn't afraid of the sick old man and she couldn't understand why everyone else was. She saw him as just a dried up old guy very much past his zenith whom the Centre only kept around out of loyalty. She had yet to share her opinion with anyone, though, or look into why he was so feared.

~~~~~

By the time she pulled up in front of the gym, her hands were clammy and she was filled with the fear that she wouldn't be able to do it.

The pleasant sound of bars squeaking and floors springing met her ears as soon as she opened the door. What a comforting sound all of it was! She hadn’t realized how much she missed the smell of chalk until that very moment. Jackie, the head coach/owner, spotted her as soon as she entered the gym. They had met briefly at various regional meets over the years, but Madeline was sure the woman wouldn’t have remembered.

“Hi, I’m Madeline-”

“Madeline Stanley, yes! I remember you.” Jackie greeted her warmly, “Haven’t seen you around in a few years.”

“Yeah, my mom got sick, so I stopped, and then we moved down here… it’s been complicated. But I want to start back up again. I was wondering if you’d want to be my coach?" Madeline held her breath.

"Yes, Madeline!" Jackie answered as though she thought that was a stupid question to be asking, “I thought for sure someone with your skills would be going to Atlanta last year.”

Madeline could tell her enthusiasm was real, and the fact that she had noticed Madeline enough to remember her name spoke volumes. The churning in her stomach began to settle down with the combination of the familiar sounds and smells, and Jackie’s clear interest in training her.

“I don’t have any leos that fit me anymore." Madeline told her new coach.

"Okay, go find something out back. I'll meet you in the locker room when my class is over in about ten minutes."

Madeline nodded and went into the back room where leotards and work-out clothes were on sale for a fraction of what they cost elsewhere.

What worked and what didn't came back to Madeline as if she hadn't been away. She found a pair of black spandex shorts and a black tank top that resembled a sports bra. This wasn't her usual attire these days by any means but she knew it was the only thing that would be comfortable during practice and allow her the necessary range of movement. Then she grabbed a large gray sweatshirt that had "JJ's Gym" written on it in black lettering. Jackie tended to keep her gym cool like most coaches; and ever since moving in with Miss Parker, she had preferred loose clothing that hid her body from attracting very much unwanted attention. Sydney said that was normal given what she’d been through.

She went into the locker room to change. There were a half dozen shower stalls against the left wall, with doors much like a bathroom stall.

Good. Madeline thought, More privacy.

Five-foot tall beige lockers lined the entire back wall as well as the back half of the right wall. Next were a couple of bathroom stalls and sinks.

She sat down on one of the benches in front of the lockers. She didn't know what to do with her street clothes until she had a locker, not wanting to inadvertently steal someone else’s, so she left them on the bench and headed out to stretch.

~~~~~

Three hours later Madeline let herself into the cottage. She was tired as well as sore, but content. She had been so busy grieving and then out-running fists that she hadn't realized how big a part of her life gymnastics really was. She still had a ways to go until she'd be ready for meets but when she and Jackie had sat down to talk about it before she left, they had agreed that even in a few hours, Madeline had improved drastically.

Jackie said that some of the problem was that Madeline needed to get used to the changes her body had gone through in the past few years. She had grown four or five inches and her figure had filled out somewhat. A giant grin spread over Madeline’s face as she remembered how Jackie said that the 2000 Sydney Olympics weren’t completely out of the question for her.

Miss Parker wasn't home but Madeline knew her late hours. She greeted Bunny and sat down to do the little homework she had. Then she called Sandy to tell her how practice had gone. Her best friend had only encouraging words for her; and Amanda wasn't home.

Bunny was being noisy, which Miss Parker and Madeline took to mean he wanted attention. Bunny was a very person-friendly rabbit who loved to cuddle. Holding him, she remembered overhearing Miss Parker tell Sydney once that Jarod had given the soft white rabbit to her for Christmas.

Madeline wasn't sure about the true story behind Jarod. She knew he had to be more than the valuable, irreplaceable employee that everyone made him out to be. She didn't know of anywhere else that would go to one-hundredth of the trouble that the Centre did trying to bring this "employee" back.

He was always sending Miss Parker things that either put her into a blind rage or a deep depression. Madeline knew that her sometimes pitiless guardian's frequent business trips were all about finding Jarod. She wondered if he was a lover that did her wrong and she was hunting him down with her father's permission; but she knew better than to ask, no matter how much she might want to know the answer.

She had just put Bunny back in his cage with the intent to go on-line and check her e-mail when the phone rang. Thinking it was Amanda returning her call, she picked it up with a cheerful, "Hello!"

"Oh... I must have dialed the wrong number.... I'm sorry." A rather sexy male voice said in confusion.

"Wait!!" Madeline cried. Her answering the phone with a welcoming "Hello?" threw people who were used to a snappish "What?!". She had gotten into the habit that if someone said they had the wrong number, Madeline asked them, "Who were you looking for?"

"A Miss Parker but I have her number in speed dial. She must have just changed it. I'm very sorry to have-"

"This is Miss Parker's. But she's not here right now. Can I give her a message?"

"So..." the pleasing-to-the-ears voice said slowly, like the person who owned it was deep in thought figuring something out, "she has a secretary at home now?", he finally asked in a serious voice.

Madeline laughed before answering, "No. I'm Madeline. She's my legal guardian."

Jarod was silent on the other end of the line for a moment as he tried to process this surprising information, "I heard rumors that she‘d taken a girl in, but thought for sure it couldn‘t be true… are we talking about the same Miss Parker here? The one who lives by the lake and works at the Centre?"

"And doesn't like her first name. That's the one." Madeline added, trying extremely hard not to burst out laughing again. This was by far the best reaction she had ever gotten.

"What makes you think she doesn't like her first name?" the man asked curiously.

"No one uses it. In fact, no one seems to even know it!! And she refuses to tell me. But who are you?" answered the girl who was getting sick of talking to a complete stranger.

"My name is Jarod." he said cheerfully.

Madeline's eyes widened, Who better to ask about the real story than the infamous Jarod himself?

"Okay, so who are you?" Why not cut to the chase?

"Today?" the confusion returned to his voice, as well as what Madeline thought to be wariness or suspicion.

"Um, in general! Who the hell are you?" she said impatiently. "Why is Park looking for you so hard?"

"Why did she say she was?"

He seemed to like answering questions with some of his own and that was a quality Madeline couldn't stand. If her curiosity about his role in Parker’s life wasn’t so strong, she would’ve hung up on him.

"Everyone says you were a wicked valuable employee and you left and she's trying to get you back."

Jarod started laughing so Madeline was now completely sure she hadn't been told the truth. She waited until he calmed down and could explain.

"Hardly!" he said while still chuckling, "Do you really want to know the truth, Madeline?"

"Yes."

"What's your definition of an employee?"

She couldn't see where this was going but she told him "Someone who works for someone else or a company or something and gets paid to do a specific job, I guess."

"And is it voluntary; can they leave if they wanted to?"

"I don't know..." Madeline rolled her eyes, "I guess. Well, it depends. Like, if they're teenagers their parents might be making them, or they might not be able to get another, or one that pays so well. But mostly I think it is." What does this guy want to hear? He's worse than my English teacher!!

"Good. I was not an employee by any definition. The Centre kidnapped me when I was a child. I-"

"What?!" Madeline broke in, "Now you're lying worse than they are!"

"Madeline, I'm not. Please, just hear me out? Please?"

"Alright." she agreed, and listened in disbelief for the next half hour.

"Do you know what happened to Parker's mother, Catherine?"

"Yeah. She killed herself. Why?" Madeline answered slowly.

"Catherine Parker did not kill herself. The Centre killed her."

"Why?" Madeline snapped. She was ready to hang up on this outrageous story she was slowly being told.

"Because they found out she was rescuing children, smuggling them out of the Centre."

"So why didn't she save you?" Madeline asked, triumphant, sure she had found a catch in his story.

"She died before she could rescue us." Jarod sadly informed her. Then he continued and didn't stop until he had told her of his escape and activities since then. The last thing he asked her was if she believed him.

"I don't know." She admitted before hanging up the phone.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Next Morning (Saturday)

Madeline went to the Centre at the same time as Miss Parker because she had an appointment with Sydney, like she did every Saturday morning.

About fifteen minutes into their session, he got a phone call.

"He what?" Madeline heard him ask, "Yes. Yes. I'll be right down." His brow was knit in concern.

Sydney often had to leave the office so Madeline didn't mind too much. She liked having time to think about her newly resuscitated gymnastics career.

She was lost in thought when a noise behind her caused her to jump. She whipped around in her chair and saw a man climbing out of the air vent. The ease with which he lowered himself to the floor told Madeline that he did that sort of thing a lot.

Once landed, he looked at her and smiled. Actually, it looked more like a grimace. His face was kind of twisted up and his hair was long and unruly with bushy sideburns.

Madeline immediately got this sense that she had no need to fear him (even though she didn't know why) and softly said, "Hi."

He continued to stare at her so she said, "I'm Madeline."

When he still said nothing, she signed it, thinking he might be deaf. Still nothing. She stared back at him for a few minutes before sighing.

"An-ge-lo." He finally said with a little difficulty, like he didn‘t talk much.

Madeline smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you Angelo."

He smiled his strange smile and took her slim hand in his.

"Do you live here?" Madeline asked. He nodded slightly.

"You're the strong, silent type, aren't you?" When he didn't answer, she grinned and answered her own question, "Yup!"

Hoping he'd be able to help her figure out everything Jarod had told her, she decided to see if she could get some answers out of the puzzling man Jarod had spoken so highly of on the phone.

"Do you know Jarod?" If he didn't even know Jarod, Madeline would know he was lying. And she hoped he had been lying. She didn't want to believe that anyone she knew could be involved in things as horrible as those Jarod had told her, especially Parker.

Again, all she got was an almost imperceptible nod.

"He told me all this bad stuff that the Centre has done. But he can‘t be telling the truth, can he? Park couldn‘t work somewhere like that!"

She looked mournfully at Angelo. He moved over to the air vent and looked over his shoulder at her. He clearly meant, 'Follow me.'

Madeline looked at him, then at Sydney's vacant desk, and back. Then she looked at her watch and back to Sydney's desk.

"Big problem." Angelo said.

Her gaze returned to him and she sighed in resignation, "That better mean Sydney's gonna be gone for a while." she warned him as she went over to where he stood by the vent.

He climbed in and helped her rather awkward first entrance into the secret passageway of the Centre. She then followed him this way and that and before long she was clueless as to where in the enormous waste water treatment pl- ah, Centre they were. Madeline's knees were just starting to go numb when her guide stopped. Crawling up beside him, Madeline saw a depression in the silver aluminum of the vents. That depression was overflowing with what looked to Madeline like miniature CDs.

"What are they?" She whispered because she didn't know if anyone might be nearby to hear them.

He nimbly jumped over the pile and reached for something in the shadows.

He pulled out a silver briefcase. It appeared to be heavy as he set it down next to her with a thud. Then he opened it up.

The top half of it consisted of a screen. The bottom half had lots of little slots, apparently for the small CDs.

Madeline looked to Angelo for an explanation. She guessed that he was going to show her rather than use words and it was confirmed when he reached into the pile and haphazardly pulled one out.

He stuck it in the machine and shades of black and white filled the screen. It confused Madeline- at first she thought she was looking at a surveillance camera in a prison. The small room was furnished only with a cot, simple table, and chair. Then in the bottom left hand corner, Madeline noticed the words Jarod, For Centre Use Only. After a moment, a young boy entered the room and sat down at the table, resting his head wearily on his arms.

"That's Jarod?" she asked in disbelief. Angelo didn't answer but his silence had stopped surprising her.

"Okay, so he lived here. That doesn't prove everything else he said was true.” she explained out loud to herself.

Angelo reached back into the pile. This time he was searching for a particular one. He kept flipping them over to look at the back, for what, Madeline wasn't sure. When he found the one he wanted, he slipped it in the small slot at the front. It showed a kicking, screaming, obviously terrified adult Jarod being dragged into a room. Madeline's eyes widened as she watched Mr. Raines instruct people about what to do. She held her breath as he was locked in a decompression-type chamber. By the time his heart stopped, she was crying.

Angelo stopped it once they got Jarod's heart beating again. There was no more doubt in Madeline's mind as she crouched in the cool air vent, his screams still echoing in her head.

"How can Park work here?" she asked in a voice filled with horror.

"Scared... sad… trapped." Angelo answered.

Madeline rolled her eyes- she had been looking for a slightly better answer than that.

"I have to go back. But I look awful!" she dried the tears from her face with a corner of her shirt.

Angelo nodded, which got a laugh from Madeline. He looked at her quizzically with his head slightly tilted to the right. This just made Madeline laugh more, because her dog RoseBud had always done the exact same thing. She headed back in the direction they had come, still chuckling. She went about a dozen feet before remembering she had no idea how to get back to her psychiatrist's office. Angelo led her back to the still-empty office. After seeing her safely returned to her chair, he headed off to parts unknown. Madeline grabbed her compact out of her back pocket to see just how bad she looked in good light. Her face was a little red but other than that she figured there were no clues to give away her secret. Their secret.

Madeline didn't have long to wait before the aging psychiatrist returned. He sighed heavily as he sat down.

"Everything alright?" she tried to ask nonchalantly.

He only shook his head in a silent refusal to answer the question before redirecting her to their interrupted discussion.

~~~~~~~~~~
Early May
The Centre

"I'll be home hopefully by nine." Miss Parker said by way of goodbye.

"'Kay." Madeline agreed and then headed down the hall towards the elevators that would lead her out of this depressing place. A little over halfway there, she turned around. Good, she thought when she saw that the hallway was empty. She stopped in front of a door and looked both ways, checking to see if the coast was still clear. Safely in the dark utility closet, Madeline felt her way over to the air vent. She easily climbed in and within minutes, was sitting in Angelo's DSA hiding place.

While she waited for her friend to show up, she thought of the past few weeks. I wish Jarod would call me again! She hadn't heard from him since their first conversation. I have to tell him I believe him now! Angelo's been great showing me the DSAs and where the children are and everything, but I need someone I can talk to- with! I can talk to Angelo all I want, but I need someone who'll answer my questions. And I need to know how much Park knows without actually asking her! Angelo had showed her Corridor 15; and on her own, she had begun to introduce herself to and get to know the children who lived there.

She looked up expectantly when she heard her silent friend rustling towards her. Madeline smiled a greeting and couldn't tell if his next expression was returning that smile or merely one of his many seemingly uncontrollable twitches, as she had decided to call them.

When he headed down a vent at a fairly fast pace, Madeline knew to follow. She felt a chill run up her spine as she wondered where and to whom he was leading her this time.  After crawling for an eternity, Angelo finally stopped in front of a vent cover. Madeline pulled up next to him and rubbed her knees gently. They had toughened up considerably as she had gotten to know the Centre via Angelo's vents but she still hadn't yet acquired the stamina he had.

They were in a new part of the Centre. New to Madeline, anyway. They appeared to be over a boiler room that looked deserted. Madeline couldn't see why Angelo had brought her there but before she could voice these thoughts (she still talked to him even though he rarely answered), her strange friend was removing the grid.

The heat of the room- which was much bigger than Madeline had originally thought- overpowered her and made breathing difficult. If Angelo was having the same problems, he didn't let on. He just walked through the maze of pipes and tanks. Why he was leading her to a dark, almost black wall, Madeline wasn't sure; but she trusted him enough to follow.

He moved to the right of the wall. When Madeline stopped behind him, she saw a stairway leading down. Not knowing what level they were on to begin with, Madeline saw nothing too unusual in this hidden entryway; except for the fact that it was hidden in a rather peculiar spot that didn't seem too easy or quick to get to.

On the stairwell now, Madeline stopped when she smelled smoke. Not cigarette smoke like she had gotten used to breathing around Miss Parker, but real fire smoke. The place looked like it had been burnt. Madeline could hear wind howling through the wreckage and the plip-plop of water in the distance.

Madeline grabbed Angelo's arm for reassurance before he could get too far ahead of her.

"Where are we?" she demanded with a slight tremor in her voice.

"S... L 27." Angelo replied slowly.

"What?! There are only 26 sublevels in the Centre, Angelo." Madeline's voice was full of disbelieving scorn.

He just shook his head and started walking. Not wanting to be alone in so eerie a place, Madeline kept a tight grip on his arm.

Angelo was almost acting as a guide, showing his guest around the secret abandoned floor. There were a few rooms with the charred remains of furniture that could have been cells (as Madeline called the rooms where the children lived). Other rooms had tables and chairs with restraints. Madeline shivered as she thought of the torture that must have gone on down here.

Madeline's heart nearly stopped in one room. There was a biohazard suit hanging against the far wall. Angelo grabbed it by the shoulder and quickly spun it around. The abrupt movement caused the skeleton inside to shift. The sound of the glasses that were still perched on it's nose sounded like cannon fire in the eerie silence when they hit the plastic mask. Madeline could not remember ever having been so startled as she grabbed Angelo's arm with a shocked squeak. He looked at her with his face all screwed up but let her pull him from the room.

"Can't we leave now, Angelo?" she asked with a very obvious tremor now in her voice.

He didn't answer, only led her to yet another room. Madeline hesitated in the doorway, afraid of what might be in there. But Angelo was extremely insistent. First he just looked at her. When she didn't go over to him, he went to her and pulled her into the room.

A quick appraisal of her surroundings assured Madeline that there were no corpses in this room. All she saw was a steel examination table. Curiosity got the better of her and on further inspection she saw that it had leather shackles on it.

Seeing something on the floor on the other side of the table, Madeline cautiously moved around to that side. There was a pile of maybe two dozen needles laying on the ash-littered floor. Madeline shivered at the sight; she hated needles.

"Now we leave." she said in a no-nonsense voice. Angelo headed out of the room and

Madeline added, "You had better be heading towards the exit, Mister!"

She couldn't help smiling when he turned to look at her, thoroughly perplexed. She linked arms with him and they headed to the stairs in silent camaraderie.

The End