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Chapter or Story
Part 12
Ashe, New York
Helen opened the door and the two people walked into the room unnoticed, as all attention was focused on the card game that was in progress. Placing the tray on the table, Helen sat beside Debbie and Jonathon sat on her other side. The girl's eyes widened at the sight of the strange boy, but Helen smilingly put a finger on her lips and the girl nodded, nestling closer to the woman. Jonathon stared for a moment but then did the same.
"Who's winning?"
"Jarod."
Sydney looked up, about to speak again, when he saw the boy. His jaw dropped and the doctor hid a smile, assuming her look of mock-innocence.
"Sydney, is something wrong?"
At the tone of Helen's voice, Jarod glanced up from his cards and his eyes fell on the boy sitting opposite him. A grin spread over his face and he put the cards down on the table, holding out his arms. "Hey, buddy. How's life?"
Jonathon got off the sofa and threw himself at the man. "I missed you and you didn't even call!"
"Easy, short-stuff." Helen spoke warning, trying to hide her giggles as she saw the expression on Margaret's face at her words. "I told you to be gentle with your big brother, remember? And I also told you why he hasn't called."
"I've been sick, Jon. If I had called, I probably wouldn't have talked any sense."
"That would have been a new experience." Helen laughed before turning to the older woman. "Do you remember me telling you about Project Gemini?"
Margaret nodded slowly. "And is that...?"
"That's him." Helen leaned over to tug on the boy's sweatshirt. "Hey kiddo, get over here and be introduced. Other people want to say hi too, you know."
Grinning, the boy got out of the chair and walked over, glancing at Helen. "Is this the person you told me about?"
"It sure is. You'll need to talk to her too, like you talked to your dad."
"And does she know that Dad's here?"
"Well, she didn't until you mentioned it." Helen looked over her shoulder, raising her voice slightly. "But he might as well come in now."
"Mommy?"
The girl's voice was a whisper and Helen leaned down. "What's up?"
"Who are they?" Debbie pointed to Jonathon, who had taken Margaret's cards and was soundly beating his older brother.
"That's Em and Jarod's little brother and their dad."
"And how does he know you?"
"Good question, Debbie." Sydney glanced at Helen. "How does he know you?"
The doctor smiled. "You know how Margaret was my philosophy teacher?"
"Yes."
"Charles was my flying teacher." She smiled. "Family connections. Margaret told him that I was interested in learning and so he taught me."
"And Jonathon?"
"I think this is a family failing, but I got called in to treat a particular disease a year ago when Jon was staying with a mutual friend of Charles' and mine. Guess which one."
"Hmm," Sydney looked thoughtful. "It couldn't have been the measles, could it?"
"I'm beginning to think that Jarod wasn't the only genius in your partnership."
"All right, I give up." Jarod himself interrupted the discussion at this point, tossing his cards onto the table. "You win."
Helen grinned. "Don't worry, Jarod. When Jon was sick, even I could beat him at that game."
"Oh, that's very comforting," he responded sarcastically. "Thanks."
The boy looked up. "Did you beat him at Trivial Pursuit too, Helen?"
"I sure did. He didn't like it any more than you did."
"Maybe we should team up against you."
"No way." She laughed, refilling her mug. "If I know either of you, you both sat down to memorize every question in each box and I like being the only person with that advantage. I might play one of you, but I'm not playing against a team with more than triple my I.Q."
Jarod looked over at his brother. "I think she's scared of losing."
"Probably." Jonathon finished the last of the hot drink in his mug. "Want to play it against me?"
"If you can cope with losing," Jarod teased. "Helen wasn't kidding when she said I learned every question. That's what I spent this morning doing."
"That makes two of us then." The boy got out the box and set up the board. "This could go on for a while, couldn't it?"
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
The man scanned the pages of results and glared at the man who was standing opposite him.
"How certain are you of your results?"
"We've done as many trials as we can." The researcher's voice trembled and he swallowed to try and ease his dry throat. "It was harder with the short time frame to work in, but we're pretty sure."
"If we gave you the same time frame again, could you be more sure?"
"Y… yes sir."
"Then get on with it."
Taking this as his dismissal, the man thankfully fled. The head of the Triumvirate waited until he was gone before looking at the other two people at the table.
"We need to get Mr. Parker back to the T-Board and find out how much he knows of all this."
"How big are the discrepancies?"
"Tiny. But they're enough to have caused major problems if we'd relied on them."
"And what about the other information that Raines has found in offices all over the Centre? Can we trust any of it now?"
"No," the first man growled. "I don't think we can."
Ashe, New York
Helen felt the slight draught, but was too busy concentrating on the evaporation process to look up for a moment. When she finally did, she saw Debbie standing just inside the closed door of the laboratory, a dreamy smile on her face, blinking sleepily.
"Mommy?"
Helen raised her goggles and removed gloves and mask before standing up. The girl swayed a little as the woman came over, bending down in front of her to put an arm around her shoulders. "Debbie, I'm not sure if it's a very good idea for you to come in here when I'm mixing things."
"Why not?" The girl's eyes were wide and her tones were drowsy as she nestled against Helen's shoulder.
"Because I mix up powerful drugs and they might have a bad effect on you." She gently brushed the hair out of the girl's eyes and smiled. "Still, the one I'm making now isn't so bad."
"So can I stay?"
"For about twenty minutes, baby, until this is finished, yes."
"Goody." There was little enthusiasm in her voice as Debbie followed Helen to the bench. "What are you…?" She stopped to yawn widely. "What one are you making now?"
"The one I use to keep people asleep when they already are." She smiled. "But it also makes people a bit drowsy while they're awake too."
Nodding, Debbie leaned her head on Helen's arm as she watched the last of the excess liquid vanish and the doctor carefully filtered the remainder into the bottle, sealing it and setting it aside.
"Does it work right away?"
"I usually give it about three days before I use it, sweetie, but, if I needed to use it today, I could."
"And how come you're still awake?"
"Because I made a drug that works to block it and gave it to myself." Smiling, she began to heat another beaker. "I gave it to Jarod as well."
"Why?"
"So that he could be safe when he was helping me to bring Miss Parker here."
"Will you give it to me, too?"
Helen looked down as the next batch began to evaporate. "Why would I do that, sweetheart?"
"I want to come down here and watch you work."
"But everybody's upstairs, having fun in the living room, baby. Wouldn't you really rather be up there than down here with me?"
"No." Debbie nestled close to the woman. "I like to be with you and we'll be going home soon so I want to spend time with you before we leave."
"Well," Helen responded quietly. "We'll see."
When the last bottle was prepared, Helen pushed aside the containers and made sure that the gas connection to the Bunsen burner was firmly turned off. Washing the beakers in hot water, she upturned them on the sink and left them to dry out. Lastly, she switched on the fan to air the room and turned to the girl who was sitting on a stool, leaning against the wall and nodding sleepily. As Helen came over, Debbie put up her arms and linked them around the doctor's neck as she was picked up. Debbie snuggled against Helen's shoulder and watched through dreamy eyes as the woman left the room, firmly locking the door behind her. As they entered the living room, Broots jumped to his feet.
"What on earth...?"
"Now don't panic." The doctor spoke reassuringly. "She came into the lab when I was bottling a sedative and it's affected her slightly, that's all."
"Which one?"
"The same one I used to get her into the car."
Broots sat down beside her and looked at his daughter. "I thought that it only had an affect when people were already asleep."
"That's when it has greatest affect, but exposure to it when a person is awake will leave them with somewhat reduced motor skills and lethargy. It's the same affect as you find on drugs when the labels say 'Do not operate heavy machinery after taking this medication'.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that." Jarod put down his book. "How was it that Miss Parker was so restless after you used it on her? As far as I understood it she really should have been out enough for us to get her into the car without all the problems we had."
"Still regretting that, Jarod?" Helen smiled and glanced at Debbie, who gave her a drowsy smile, shutting her eyes. "It's really only capable of deepening sleep, and by that I mean that if a person is already a light sleeper, they'll be in a state of slightly deeper sleep and less likely to wake. Miss Parker, when we arrived, was sitting up on the sofa, and wouldn't have been sleeping particularly soundly anyway. That made it easier for her to know that you were about to abandon her to her fate on the back seat." She grinned at the woman, who laughed before looking up, an expression of curiosity on her face.
"Have you ever been affected by your own creations?"
"Regularly." Helen grinned. "But, other than on one occasion, I've been able to hit the switch that will turn the fan on and clear the room, meaning that, although I've often woken up on the floor, it's usually only been a fairly short time later."
"And that one occasion?"
The doctor laughed. "I woke up to find myself in bed, in the next room." She laughed. "I couldn't understand it and, when I looked at my watch, I couldn't believe it either. It was over twelve hours since I'd gone to the lab. Eventually I sat up, looked around and saw a person sitting in the corner and grinning obnoxiously."
"Eddie?"
"Exactly. I'd sent him off to do some shopping and had taken advantage of him being gone to create a very strong sleeping gas. He'd wanted to help with it, but I was feeling cantankerous and said he couldn't. Unfortunately there must have been something wrong with the ventilating fan because he found me on the floor and, if it hadn't been for the fact that Eddie guessed what had happened, he probably would have rushed in without putting on a gas mask that I'd provided for just that situation." Helen laughed again. "If that had happened, I think the two of us would both probably both still be there."
"Have you ever used it?"
"No, not yet, except for testing. But it has another interesting effect. Somehow, in a way I don't fully understand, it seems to encourage sleepwalking. In the early stages, when Eddie found me on the floor, it didn't, but, by the time I'd finished refining and testing it, that was the end result."
"So was that you were planning to use on Miss Parker?" Jarod suggested.
"Exactly. Along with the willingness to go for a stroll, the person is also easy to direct. It's far better than the old 'truth serum', sodium pentathol, because as well as telling you anything, the person will also do anything their strength will permit. And, as a bonus, they won't be able to remember a thing about it later." She smiled slightly bitterly. "I'll bet the Centre was kicking themselves when that formula got stolen."
"The Centre?" Jarod's eyes widened. "And how did you find out about it?"
"It was one of Eddie's projects. He glanced through the pages that I'd stolen and recognized that one. After a few hours he told me what it was but said he'd never got it to the stage where it could be used. I suggested we try to make it and all of you now know the result."
Helen looked around. "Where are short-stuff and the philosopher?"
Charles looked up from the chess game he and Emily were playing. "They went to have the first mother-to-son chat while setting up beds for us."
"Where are they finding space for that? Let alone beds."
"I bought a couple of blow-up mattresses along, as well as sleeping bags, so one bed can go in Jarod's room for Jon and the other into Margaret's room for me."
She nodded and then glanced down at where the girl was asleep, her head lying in Helen's lap. "I was going to suggest that we go shopping, but I think I've become a willing captive of the sofa."
"We could play Trivial Pursuit again," the man opposite her suggested.
"Who won when you and Jon played?"
"I did." Jarod grinned in satisfaction. "Only by one question, but I won."
"Smarty." Helen got out the pieces. "Wipe that smirk off your face or I'll wipe it off for you when I beat you again."
"I'd like to see you try it." A determined look on his face, Jarod produced the card with a flourish. Reading it, his eyes widened slightly before he glared over at her. "Okay, where did you get the extra box from?"
"Do you know how many different sets of questions they made for this game? Of course, I bought every one. And I made sure you wouldn't find that one earlier, when you were memorizing." Helen sat back in the chair, raising an eyebrow and watching as the psychiatrist tried not to laugh. "You wouldn't have to consider the possibility of losing to me yet again by any chance, would you, Jarod?"
"Jarod, are you losing again?"
"I'm trying desperately hard not to," he laughed as the boy came and sat on the arm of his chair. "Unfortunately, I think the answer to your question is 'yes'."
"How? I thought you learned the answers."
"I did." He nodded at the box Helen had earlier managed to swap with another without anybody noticing. "But I learned those answers, not the ones that we're playing with now."
Jon narrowed his eyes. "That was very devious, Helen."
"I know," she smiled. "And it was a lot of fun, too." Rolling the die, Helene moved her piece to the very middle of the board and sat back expectantly. "I want to get the question on the card, thanks Jon, not one you make up out of your head the way you did when I beat you."
"Will you know?"
"Didn't I know when you tried it last time?"
"Mommy, are you winning again?" Debbie sat up and rested her head on Helen's chest, looking at the board.
"Yes, sweetheart, I am."
"Good." The girl watched the two people opposite conferring about a question for a moment before Jarod looked up, trying to hide a grin.
"Category: Sport."
Helen rolled her eyes. "Jon, I hate you. Jarod would never come up with that one on his own."
The Pretender laughed. "You learnt the questions, so I think it's only fair for me to get help."
"I don't." Reaching over, Helen grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him around so he was sitting on the sofa next to her. "Oh, and I didn't learn the questions, I learned the answers. There's a big difference."
"Helen?"
The woman looked up as the technician carried the laptop into the room and she smiled. "News from the work front?"
"They've got the first round of results from the projects."
"And?"
He shook his head and waved a finger disapprovingly at her. "Your brother's very disappointed with you, Helen."
Sydney fought to hide a grin as he watched the eyes of the man seated opposite him widen and felt Miss Parker stiffen as she sat on the floor, leaning against the psychiatrist's chair to be close to the fire. Ignoring their reactions, Helen heaved a rueful-sounding sigh.
"I always knew he didn't like me. He's probably jealous or something."
"Want to watch?"
"Sure." She grinned. "It's always fun when his face is the same color as his hair and I seem to be very good at causing that."
Jarod reached out and pushed down the lid of the laptop as Broots put it in front of the woman.
"Tell me," he began conversationally, "whose 'brother' might the two of you be discussing?"
"Mine, of course." Helen shrugged in mock nonchalance, as she struggled to avoid the eyes of both Sydney and Broots. "Who else's brother could I talk about in such a casual fashion?"
"And," continued Jarod in the same tones. "What would your brother's connection with the Centre be?"
"Oh, he's head of the Triumvirate." Holding tightly to her self-control, she glanced at Sydney. "I'm sure I said something about that at some stage."
"Well, you told me," he responded in similar tones. "But I'm not sure that you ever mentioned it to anyone else. Broots and Debbie know, of course, but it may have possibly slipped your mind when you were telling your family history to everybody else."
"Oh dear," she responded lightly. "How could I have forgotten that?"
"In your defense, Helen," the psychiatrist answered, "you have been rather busy. I'm sure it's understandable that you forgot even something as important as the fact that your big brother's in charge of the Centre."
"He's what?!" Unable to take it any longer, Miss Parker jumped to her feet. "What do you mean, he's head of the Triumvirate?"
"What do you mean 'what do I mean'? I mean he's head of the Triumvirate. That red-haired man who gets to order everybody else, including you, around also just happens to be my big brother." Helen grinned as she felt Debbie begin to giggle, continuing to speak in nonchalant tones. "I don't know why you find that detail so surprising, Miss Parker. You have a brother yourself. Jarod has two. As far as I'm aware the only people in this room who don't or haven't had one at some stage in their lives are Margaret and Debbie. It's not a very difficult thing to do."
"And you just happened not to mention this fact before," Jarod commented.
"Like I said, it must have slipped my mind." Helen looked down as her lips started to twitch. "I'm sure, if I had remembered, I would have mentioned it at some point because I know it's a fact of interest to a few people here."
"Like everybody," Broots commented as he sat down on the sofa. "There's not a single person in the room who doesn't find that fact interesting."
"I think that I could fairly say that it's of most interest to me."
"And does he know this fact?" Margaret asked calmly.
"That he's the head of the Triumvirate and in charge of the Centre?" Helen fought the urge to laugh. "Probably."
"Actually," Margaret rolled her eyes, "I mean the other fact."
"I have no idea," Helen responded. "I have thought about calling him and letting it slip but I think I'll hold onto it for now. Knowledge is power and, if I'm ever caught, it might be a useful card to have up my sleeve."
"And when did you find that tiny, unimportant piece of information out?"
Helen looked at Broots. "Was it four days ago that you noticed?"
"I think so. About that, anyway."
She looked at Jarod, struggling to hide a smile. "What's the matter? Surely a little thing like that isn't going to change the way you think of me? I'm no different from the person I was twenty minutes ago."
"I just don't like the shadow I can suddenly see behind you."
"Oh, Jarod," Helen wailed, giving a muffled sob "I never thought you could be so shallow. Just because my big brother turns out to be an absolute bastard doesn't mean that you won't ever speak to me again, does it?"
"No." He tried to hide a grin. "The reason I'm never going to speak to you again is because you beat me at Trivial Pursuit twice and were so smug about it. The new fact I just learned about your family is what's making me never want to stay in the same room with you again."
Helen pulled a tissue out of her pocket, making an obvious show of blowing her nose and wiping her eyes before she looked up again.
"And you, Miss Parker? Are you going to do the same as your second cousin and never want to stay in the same room with me either?"
"Well," the woman sent her a mock-glare, "I'll think about it."
"Em?"
"Oh, I'll go along with whatever the rest of the family decide." She smiled. "I don't want to be seen as an outsider, do I?"
"Don't worry, Mommy." Debbie threw her arms around the woman's neck. "I won't be so nasty as to never want to see you again after you took care of me." The girl glared at Jarod. "I don't want to be ungrateful or anything."
Sydney laughed. "Well done, Debbie. You stand by Helen, even if nobody else is willing to."
"Will you, Sydney?" Helen looked up, her eyes sparkling with amusement but the rest of her face wearing an expression of concern.
"Hmm, give me time to consider."
Helen looked down at Jonathon and he smiled. "Before you ask me, I agree with Debbie." He put his arms around Helen's waist, hugging her. "I don't want to be seen as ungrateful either."
"Okay, I'm satisfied now." She put one arm around Jon's shoulders and the other around Debbie. "I don't need anybody else's support. I've got all I need."
"What about me?" Broots tried to look offended. "Doesn't my opinion count?"
"I'm not sure whether I want to hear it, but go on."
"Well, as I don't want Debbie to have to choose between us, I'll support you too."
Helen glanced over to where Margaret and Charles had watched the exchange in silence but with amusement evident on their faces. "And my beloved teachers?"
"We need time to consider as well," Charles responded with a grin.
"Fine." Helen got up. "I'll take my supporters and go shopping while you weak, indecisive people make up your minds. Just don't hope to lay eyes on any of us ever again, that's all."
"Hey!" Miss Parker bounded to her feet again, glaring up at the woman in mock-indignation. "You can't just abscond with my technician like that! What likelihood do I have of locating my second cousin, when your brother puts pressure on me for results, if Broots isn't around?"
"That's your problem, not mine. If you'd been nice, I might have let you share, but you weren't."
Helen followed Broots into the house carrying the last of the bags, and Debbie shut the door, blocking out the cold wind. Putting the bags down on the table, Helen removed the girl's jacket and scarf, but left her sweater on and gave her a loving push in the direction of the living room.
"Go and sit in front of the fire, sweetie, and get warmed up, okay? We'll be there soon."
The girl nodded and her father followed her out of the room. Helen smiled at Jonathon, who was kneeling in front of the fridge putting things away. "How's it all going?"
"Nearly done." He grinned. "Are you going to go into the living room or let them think that they've really offended you?"
"Gee, darn." The doctor looked down in mock-annoyance. "I wish I hadn't said to Debbie that I'd come. I could have given them an interesting situation to deal with, but I can't do that now." She shrugged. "Oh, well. I'll just pretend they aren't there."
"You do that." He stood up and hugged her. "We'll both do it, shall we?"
"Well, you should be able to pretend," she teased him. "Okay, let's get all this put away and then we will."
Going into the room nearly ten minutes later, Helen sat beside Debbie and let the girl lean against her shoulder as she and Jonathon both picked up books and read with interest. Broots, after eyeing them in amusement for a moment, did the same.
"Helen?"
The woman looked down at the boy. "Did you hear something, Jon?"
"No." He shook his head. "Nothing important, anyway. Maybe it was just a piece of wood falling in the fire."
"Could be." She returned to her book as Sydney hid a smile at the expression on Jarod's face.
"Helen, don't you want to hear our decision?"
The woman continued to read, raising a hand to lovingly stroke Debbie's hair as the girl drowsed against her shoulder.
"I think we're being ignored," commented Margaret after a few minutes of silence.
"No, really?" Emily stared at her mother. "What on earth gave you that idea?"
"Just a random guess."
Helen looked down at Jonathon. "Short-stuff, did you leave your new acquisitions in the kitchen?"
"Oops." He got up and disappeared from the room, returning with a shopping bag that he opened, expertly unwrapping and filling a PEZ dispenser before offering it to her. "Want one?"
"Sure." She took a piece of the candy, slipping it between her teeth. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He offered it to Broots, who declined with a grin, before slipping it into his shirt pocket. Taking out an O'Henry bar, Jon tucked the bag down between himself and Helen, before unwrapping the chocolate and starting to eat it as he picked up his book again. Sydney watched Jarod staring at the dispenser, with an undeniable look of desire in his eyes, and the psychiatrist laughed.
"I think they're winning."
"So how do we win?" his former student queried.
"Hard-core begging and humiliation." Sydney shrugged. "It's the only way."
Jarod grinned. "I'm not sure we've reached that stage yet."
Helen looked down at the boy again. "Do you want to practice your cocoa-making skills for the three of us? And don't forget about the marshmallows I bought. If you'll bring the crackers in as well, we can make s'mores."
"Sure thing." The boy got up. "Make sure nobody steals my treasure."
"Who would?" Helen shrugged. "As you said, we're the only ones of importance here, and Broots doesn't like them."
"True."
He grinned and left the room, returning quickly with an open pack of marshmallows and a sealed one of crackers, both of which he gave to Broots, with a toasting fork. The technician got up and, without a word, loaded the fork and moved over to the fire. Helen turned a page of her book, reaching out a hand in time to move away the bag as Miss Parker's hand snuck towards it from her seat on the floor. The doctor raised her voice.
"How much sugar did I instruct you to use last time, Jon?"
"Too much and then some," came the laughing reply from the kitchen.
"Good boy. I was hoping you wouldn't forget."
Broots made the s'mores and gave one to Helen, eating the other himself, before starting to cook more. As he held them over the flames, Jon appeared with three mugs on a tray. Handing one to the technician, he handed the second to Helen before picking up the third and his book. Leaning his head against Helen's free shoulder Jonathon sipped the hot cocoa, licking the partly melted marshmallow from his lips, and Sydney saw Jarod unconsciously swallow and lick his own top lip.
"Here, Jon." Broots handed Jonathon one of the s'mores and the boy slowly devoured it, licking every crumb off his fingers.
"Thanks, Broots, that was great."
"I'll do you another in a sec." Broots ate the other s'more and then stuck more of the white, fluffy marshmallows onto the toasting fork. "You and Helen can have the next two.
"Sounds good, Broots." Helen turned another page, sipping her cocoa before she smiled down at Jon. "You know, your cocoa's just as good as mine. I can even taste all the sweetness in spite of the PEZ and the s'mores. And it's so creamy too. Did you use the full-cream milk?"
"Uh huh." The boy sipped his drink. "I thought it could only enhance the flavor."
"I must remember that when I make more for the three of us later."
"Four."
"Four?" Helen raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Oh, Debbie, right."
"Okay, all right, enough. You win!"
Helen lifted her hand from Debbie's hair and rubbed her ear. "You know, I’d almost swear I'm hearing things."
"Maybe you need to go to a doctor or something. It might be serious."
"I'll see if it gets better." She read for a moment before glancing up. "Do you think they still deliver pizzas in this weather?"
"Oh, that was low." Sydney grinned at Margaret. "They're hitting every single one of Jarod's weak points."
"It shouldn't matter if they don't deliver." Jon shrugged. "I thought we got all of the ingredients we might need to make pizza for us four."
"Oh yes, so we did. And I bought plenty of ice cream too, so we'll have things to enjoy for desert." She took her second s'more and ate it, glancing at Broots. "Try not to use all of those. We'll want more cocoa later and it would be a great pity if it had to be marshmallow-free."
"No problem." He stuck one more on the prong and then rolled the top of the bag and pocketed it. "I'll do this one for me and that'll do for the three of us."
"You know, Helen," Sydney commented, "I never actually stated whether I would stand by you or not. I think I will."
"Traitor," Miss Parker muttered under her breath, but still audibly.
"Jon," Helen looked at the boy, "will you go and make a hot mug of coffee for our new friend? I think he'd prefer that to cocoa."
"Sure thing." The boy left his book but, to Jarod's chagrin, took his cocoa and bag of candy with him.
"Helen, should I offer to make that same new friend one of my confections?"
"You'd better ask if he wants one first. It would be such a shame if we had to toss it into the fire if he didn't."
"Would you care for one, Sydney?"
"Thank you, Broots, I'd love one."
The man accepted his coffee and the s'more before handing Broots the book that was lying on the free seat on the sofa and picking up his own.
"I think I need to amend my sentence," Margaret commented. "The rest of us are being ignored."
"Well, you know," Charles turned to her, "we never made a decision one way or the other either."
"Oh, neither we did." The woman smiled. "Should we give the others an example of that begging Sydney mentioned before?"
"I have a better idea." He whispered into the woman's ear for a moment as Jarod, Emily and Miss Parker exchanged wary glances. Margaret laughed, nodding, and turned to the woman on the sofa.
"Helen, we two who made no firm decisions would like to volunteer ourselves as supportive pizza makers of tonight's dinner."
The doctor looked up from her book and smiled. "I think that's a very acceptable alternative to the begging I could have sworn I heard mentioned some time ago." She looked at Broots. "Would you care to induct our two newest members into the s'mores support group?"
"Certainly." The technician turned to his task with alacrity and the boy put down his book, heading for the kitchen to make two mugs of coffee. Miss Parker looked at Jarod.
"I think we're in a minority."
"It's about to get smaller," Emily laughed. "I promised to support my family, so I think that means I'm included in the pizza-making team, if they'll have me."
"I find that acceptable, Emily." Helen nodded graciously and Broots, having given out the s'mores, now made another. "Considering how friendless I was before, I seem to be doing quite well now."
"It's amazing what emotional blackmail will do," Sydney commented airily, sipping his coffee.
Miss Parker suddenly raised her head. "It occurs to me that I only said I'd think about it too." She moved over to sit at the doctor's feet. "Might it be possible for me to throw my support behind you as well? I would happily make ice cream sundaes after tonight's pizza."
"Well," Helen eyed her. "I'm not sure." She glanced from Jon to Broots. "What do my most faithful followers say?"
The technician watched Jarod out of the corner of his eye before nodding. "I'm of the opinion that it would be a good idea."
Jon nodded and went into the kitchen, to reappear immediately carrying two big mugs of cocoa in which half-melted marshmallows already bobbed. With a laugh, Margaret turned to her husband.
"We appear to have lost a son."
"You've still got one, Mom," Jon grinned from the seat on the sofa. "And as I'm exactly the same as the one you no longer have, you've got no reason to miss him."
"You just have more sense, Jon," Helen remarked. "And that's a big difference."
"Mommy?"
"Yes, Debbie?" Helen looked down at the girl. "What is it?"
"Is everybody still being nasty?"
"Not quite, baby. Only one person's not supporting me now."
The girl eyed each person in the room before looking back. "Is it Jarod?"
"Very good." She hugged the girl and handed her the almost-empty mug. "Do you want to finish that for me, sweetheart?"
"Mmm hmm." The girl swallowed the last of the hot drink, shaking the mug until a partly melted marshmallow fell into her mouth and she ate it. "That was nice."
"Good, sweetie." Helen dipped a finger into the mug and licked the last of the soft whiteness off her fingertip before reaching forward to put it on the coffee table.
Jon pulled the PEZ dispenser out of his pocket and offered it to Debbie, who took a piece and looked at it. "What flavor it is?"
"Cherry." The boy tilted the dispenser to one side and ate a piece before putting it back in his pocket. "My favorite."
Sydney watched Jarod nod involuntarily and hid a smile as the Pretender took up his book and tried to ignore what was going on.
"Jon, what else did you get in that bag of yours?"
Keeping an eye on the man opposite him, Sydney watched as, in response to his question, the boy got up from his chair and tipped a pile of candy and chocolates onto the psychiatrist's lap.
"That seems like an awful lot of stuff for one person."
"Well, apparently I was supposed to share," Jon eyed Jarod surreptitiously "But it seems that, as there's nobody important enough here for me to even consider it, I guess I'm allowed to have it all myself."
"But not all at once, Jon," Charles warned. "I doubt Helen will want to get up in the night to treat a bilious boy."
"Still," Helen commented, "as a reward for loyalty I think it's only fair that he gets something, don't you?"
"And what did Debbie get?"
"Sweetheart, do you want to go and bring in the thing I bought for you?"
"Uh huh." Debbie jumped up from the sofa and ran into the kitchen. "Mommy, do you want me to bring yours too?"
"That would be nice, baby."
The girl reappeared with two cans of Dr. Pepper and two large glasses. Sydney's eyes traveled from the shining can to the man who was still desperately trying to read. As the first can was opened, Sydney saw Jarod's hand involuntarily tighten and knew that the younger man was reaching his limit. He decided to push it.
"You know, Helen, considering how loyal Debbie was to you, being your first and best friend, I'm surprised she didn't get more."
"Oh, that's not everything." The doctor put down her book. "Although Miss Parker volunteered to make ice cream sundaes for us, I'm going to make Debbie's, and I bought a lot of lovely things to add to it."
"Such as?"
"Chocolate sprinkles, crushed nuts, glacé cherries, cookie pieces, peanut brittle, wafer bits, mint chips, a Crunchie bar to break up and sprinkle over it..."
"Jelly," added Debbie with a grin, watching Jarod swallow hard.
"Don't forget the extra special ice cream and toppings."
"You're right, Jon." She hugged him. "They don't call you a genius for nothing, do they?"
Margaret leaned over to Sydney, speaking softly. "I think my son's about to cry."
"Jon?" The psychiatrist raised an eyebrow, responding in similar tones. "Now why would he do that?"
"I didn't mean him."
The man smiled. "I think you're right."
"Broots," Helen looked up at him. "Did you say something yesterday about a t.v program that you didn't want to miss?"
"Oh, right." He looked at his watch and stood up. "Thanks for the reminder. Debbie, do you want to come?"
"Uh huh." She got off the sofa. "Is anyone else coming?"
"I will." Jonathon got up also, watching Miss Parker come to join them. "Mom, Dad, do you want to watch as well?"
"Why not?" The woman got up. "We can leave the two very important people and the unimportant one up here. I can't see things changing while we're gone."
Laughing, the group left the room, heading down to the cellar, and Sydney again glanced at the Pretender, to find the younger man watching him.
"What is it, Jarod?"
"Sydney, who are you talking to?" Helen asked.
"Oh, nobody important." The psychiatrist hid a smile as he saw the expression on Jarod's face. "But I thought it would be impolite to ignore him."
"Well, don't waste too much energy on something so unimportant."
"I won't." He looked back at the Pretender. "What's the matter, Jarod? You're only getting what you wanted."
"Am I allowed to change my mind about what I want?"
"Well, you were pretty insulting." Sydney glanced at Helen out of the corner of his eye. "She's got a strong sense of family loyalty."
"Considering what she called her brother, I think that statement might need to be reconsidered."
"There's a difference between her insulting him and you doing it."
"All right." Jarod rolled his eyes. "It's time for that hard-core begging, isn't it?"
"I think it's more than time," Sydney laughed. "If you don't start it soon, she might start putting forward suggestions for the rest of us for tomorrow's breakfast."
"Now that you mention it, Sydney..."
"Don't mention it, Helen. Not yet, anyway. That would be far too unkind."
The doctor put down her book and, for the first time since coming home from the shopping trip, looked at Jarod. Folding her arms and crossing her legs, Helen sat back against the sofa and put her head slightly on one side, a look of curiosity on her face.
"Do you have something you want to say to me?"
