Mysterious Connections
Epilogue

Seeing the light, despite his closed eyes, Jarod felt himself panic. It should still be dark, and, if it wasn't, he wouldn't get to work on time, even if he ran. Tensing, he opened his eyes, but the strange surroundings prevented him from getting out of bed. The room was bathed in a pale, rosy light, as the sun shone in through thick, red curtains and illuminated his bedroom. For a few moments, Jarod stared around in bewilderment, before the events of the previous night returned to his mind. He allowed himself to relax, closing his eyes again, as the tension faded away, to be replaced by a feeling of comfort.

Lazily pulling himself up into a sitting position, he ran a hand over the crisp, white sheets and the warm blankets, enjoying the softness that was such a contrast to his bed of the past five weeks. Examining his hands, Jarod could see the blackness under his fingernails, reminders of his temporary home, and gravely shook his head, feeling the emaciation of one hand with the other.

"Well, was I too harsh to say that you were trying to destroy yourself?"

Jarod looked up to find Sydney leaning on the doorframe, arms folded, a look of amusement on his face.

"You don't honestly expect me to answer that, do you?" the younger man retorted at once.

"When I can read the answer on your face, it's probably not necessary."

The Pretender unsucessfully tried to hide a grin. "So, is my doctor going to let me get out of bed?"

"What do you think you are, sick or something?" Sydney smiled and came into the room. "Do you feel well enough to get up? You won't be doing a lot today, but it's a choice of not doing a lot here or not doing it in the living room."

"I think I'd rather..." Jarod trailed off, looking up at his former teacher. "Where are you going to be all day?"

"Here, of course." Sydney sat down on the bed. "Where else would I be?"

"But doing what here?"

Understanding, the psychiatrist nodded. "I'm going to catch up on some reading that I wasn't allowed to do while I was sick." Sydney smiled. "I can either do that here or in the living room - or outside if the sun comes out. Why not have a shower first and then see how you feel after that?" Glancing at his watch, Sydney looked up again. "It's only ten o'clock now, and you've got all day to decide."

"Only ten?!" Jarod would have got up but for the man who, by his position sitting on the edge of the bed, prevented it. "Do you know the last time I slept that late?"

The older man raised an eyebrow. "Did you ever sleep that late in your life?"

"Probably not." Looking down, Jarod suddenly had to yawn.

"You don't have to get up of you don't want to," the psychiatrist commented with a smile.

"I want to." The Pretender looked up. "I'm just not sure if my body wants to."

Sydney laughed. "It's probably enjoying the feeling of the soft mattress, instead of the two-inch thick one it's had to sleep on for the past few weeks, and I won't mention the insufficient covering. But if you tempt it now with a long, hot shower then I'm sure it'll let you know what it wants to do after that."

Jarod grinned. "I always thought it had a mind of its own."

***

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.

Jarod looked up sheepishly from the book he was reading, sitting in the beams of sunlight that shone in through the glass doors that led outside, and his voice was hesitant. "Well, um, kind of..."

"Hungry?" Sydney's eyes twinkled with amusement.

"I guess..."

"Well, are you or aren't you? If not, I'll have lunch all on my own - in front of you, of course, so that you've got company."

"I didn't think you liked torture."

"Oh, I don't know. It has its uses." Sydney turned away, laughing. "Well, all right, if you're sure you don't want anything to eat..."

"So you want me to beg?"

"Now that would be a novel experience!" The psychiatrist tried to hide a smile as he looked at the younger man. "I'm waiting."

"I have my dignity to think of."

"The same dignity that let you take a job as a waiter in a horrible, dirty, dingy, disgusting little restaurant?"

Jarod stared up from the large easy-chair he was sitting in. "How did you know?"

"Who do you think went to tell them you wouldn't be working there anymore while you slept in the car?"

"I guess I forg... I hadn't really thought about it."

"So a person whose IQ is off the chart manages to 'forget' that?" Sydney raised an eyebrow. "And this is the same person who was only 'a little tired'..."

"Okay, enough already." Jarod tried not to grin. "I said I hadn't thought about it."

"You started to say that you forgot and changed it, hoping I wouldn't notice."

"Begging's looking like a very real possibility."

Sydney smiled. "I'll save you your dignity this time."

He went into the kitchen and returned to the living room carrying a tray. Jarod looked at the contents of the bowl and then up again with an expression of irritation on his face.

"I was hoping for food."

"What did you eat whenever you had your last meal?"

"I don't think I want the lecture that'll go with me telling you."

"You're going to get the lecture anyway, but I'll wait until you're well enough not to drowse off in the middle of it."

"Gee, that's something to look forward to." Jarod tasted it and looked up. "What is it?"

"The same invalid diet a certain doctor recommended for me during my recent bout of illness." Sydney's lips twitched. "Revenge is sweet."

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Eating the small amount in the bowl, Jarod looked up. "Is that it?"

"For now. I think we'll work you up from a number of small meals to a few bigger ones before you sit down to your next pizza."

"Now that's something..."

"...to look forward to later. You'd have about three bites and be unable to eat any more, but I might order one for you before we leave here," the psychiatrist finished knowingly.

Jarod looked through the large, glass windows to the garden outside and then up at Sydney.

"Where are we exactly?"

"A house that Michelle and I came to one year during our vacation."

"You got vacations?"

"The Centre was different then." Sydney smiled. "We spent a few weeks here. As soon as I worked out where you were, I contacted the owners to find out if it was available."

"How long for?"

"I've taken it for four weeks, but, if you need all that, I'll be very surprised."

"So will I," the Pretender agreed.

Jarod relaxed back against the cushions and watched Sydney carried the tray to the kitchen, returning to sit in another armchair. Sitting down, the older man took up a book and began to read before looking up to find himself being scrutinized.

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking... how much I missed you."

Sydney smiled. "I missed you a lot, too, and I've hardly seen you since you left."

"I had to weigh up my options."

"Well, now that I'm not on the pursuit team anymore..."

"I know." Jarod smiled. "That's one of the nicest parts. And Broots isn't either."

"Nor is Miss Parker." Watching the smile fade, Sydney put down the book. "I think it's time we had that discussion I mentioned."

The man stiffened in his seat. "Sydney, I..."

"Jarod, please, don't get defensive. As I said, I'm not going to defend her to you. I don't think her behavior deserves it."

"So why are we having this conversation?"

Sydney smiled. "I'm not sure that it constitutes a conversation, are you? You had planned to sit in that chair and not say a word while I did all the talking."

The Pretender raised an eyebrow. "I can deal with it when my brother reads my mind. I'm not sure I'm ready for you to do it too."

"I would have thought I had more right than he did to be able to do that. After all, I've known you more than six times longer than he has."

With a sigh of defeat, Jarod looked over at the older man. "Well, what is it then?"

"I think it's time you forgave her."

Jarod remained silent. After a moment, Sydney continued.

"She knows what she said and how wrong she was in saying it."

"How?"

"Henry talked to her. He told her some of the things you told him and his cousin. I think you've made your point, Jarod. If you give her a second chance, you might be a little surprised at the direction things take."

"I was surprised enough to see that she'd left the pursuit."

"Things do change, and I think it's time they changed between the two of you as well."

For several moments, Jarod stared out of the window to the garden, before turning to look at the man opposite. "How do you suggest I go about it?"

"First, you'll need to make sure that you really mean what you say. It's easy for you to be all magnanimous now and say 'I forgive you,' but if you turn around the next time she annoys you and come out with the whole 'don't forget that you said this' thing, it will only start all over, worse than before."

"But surely she has to meet me half-way," Jarod protested.

"Oh, of course. I suggest that it's her place to make the first overtures. I think, if you give her a chance, that she will." Sydney looked at the younger man, a somewhat severe expression on his face. "Let her actually talk when you next call your brother, instead of hanging up as soon as you hear her voice."

"How did you...?"

"I'd also suggest that you refrain from the rather unpleasant epithets next time," the older man continued.

"All right, Sydney, were you there when I called Broots at work?"

"I thought you would already have known, Jarod," the psychiatrist teased. "After all, you know everything else that goes on at that place."

***

"Broots here."

"I hear somebody's been worrying about me."

"Jarod! Finally! It's been..."

"It's only been two weeks since I last phoned, little brother. I can't help that my email address closed down on its own when I didn't use it for a while."

"Did... did Sydney...?"

"Yes, Broots, he found me."

"And... did..."

"Yes, we've talked and everything's fine. He'll be back at work in a few days."

"So where have you been?"

"Oh, come on, do you really think I'm going to tell you that? I know you're not on the pursuit team anymore, but I imagine Lyle must have every phone in that place bugged, waiting for my next clue."

"Are you going to give him one?"

"Not right now. He can sit and twiddle this thum... oh, no he can't, can he? Okay, then he can just be patient. I'll be sending something along soon-ish."

There was a short pause.

"Uh, Jarod?"

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to know... were you planning to hang up any time soon?"

"That depends, little brother. If Lyle decides to break into the conversation with a few of his infamous threats, then maybe."

"How about if Miss Parker does?"

"Threatens me? I've always found that rather amusing, actually."

"Jarod?"

At the sound of the female voice, Sydney glanced at the Pretender, waiting for him to react, but Jarod remained silent.

"You're not going to hang up on me again?"

"Not right now, Parker, no."

"And... why not?"

"Do you want me to or not?"

"Oh, no," she answered hurriedly. "I guess I was just..."

"Expecting it?"

"Maybe..."

"Well, I was thinking that it was time things changed." Jarod met Sydney's eye as he spoke and watched the older man fail to hide a smile as he got up out of his chair.

***

Sydney walked out of the door and into the backyard where Jarod was sitting in a deck chair, enjoying the sun.

"Parker said to say hello - if I saw you," the younger man greeted him, closing his book.

"Thank you." Sydney sat down on the veranda steps and looked at the Pretender with a smile. "What are you thinking about, Jarod?"

"I thought you could read my mind," the other man teased.

The psychiatrist laughed. "I only do that in emergencies. There's usually so much going on up there that it's easier to ask than to read."

Jarod grinned. "So how am I supposed to be able to untangle it all?"

Becoming serious, Sydney glanced at the younger man. "I'd imagine that, for at least the last few weeks, you probably haven't been able to."

"I think that's pretty accurate. It did feel like it sometimes." Jarod rubbed his head, as if he was still able to feel the stresses of the last few weeks within it. "Sometimes I'd be confused about how I felt, and what I should do. I even began to doubt that what I was doing was right - and I can't remember the last time I felt like that."

"That's because what you were doing wasn't right, not for you. For some people, it's good to withdraw from all human contact, but you're not like that, Jarod. You need to have constant interaction, especially from people who care about you, and you also need new challenges all the time, or it gets boring, and that's when it becomes potentially dangerous."

Nodding slowly, Jarod looked over. "How did you imagine I'd be when you found me? In what state, I mean?"

"I didn't know for sure," Sydney replied honestly. "But I do know that I expected to find you in a dark horrible little hut in some far-flung corner of the country, a long way from other people. When I was most worried about you, I imagined that you might have started to drink or to use drugs to try and get away from the emotional confusion that I knew you'd be in." Sydney half-smiled. "Nicholas said he thought I'd probably actually have to psychoanalyze you, and I'd been planning for that to possibly be a necessity as well."

The younger man grinned. "Does that mean you'll send me a bill?"

"Well, you never know..."

***

Jarod ate the last of the food in front of him and then looked over to see Sydney finishing his own dinner. "I think yours looked, smelled and probably also tasted better than mine."

"If you hadn't been neglecting yourself then you could have had the same thing, but this isn't something you're ready for. Maybe in a few days, Jarod, but not yet."

Nodding, Jarod stared out of the window into the darkness for several minutes before turning back to Sydney. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You started to say something yesterday about how you felt when you first came around after fainting at my feet and I didn't let you finish. Can you remember the other thing that you were going to say?"

Sydney thought for a few minutes before looking up with a smile. "When I said that I was with the one person who could not only help me to recover..."

Jarod nodded as the older man paused. "What were you going to say when...?"

"When you so rudely interrupted me?"

The younger man looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, yes, then."

"I would have expected you to be able to work it out for yourself, Jarod. I told you on the last full night you were still there that I knew I was safe with you, and that was the other thing I would have said if you'd given me the chance."

"It seems kind of ironic, considering the situation we've been in for the past five years, doesn't it?"

"Oh, very much so. But, if I'm ever sick like that again, you're the person I want beside me, Jarod. Even at the times when I felt like I just couldn't fight against the pain anymore, you always somehow managed to keep me going." He paused for a minute. "Although I know it'll be hard for you, Jarod, I hope you're with me when I'm dying."

"You don't have plans for that yet, do you?"

"Not as far as I know, but, like I said then, we all have to go sometime." He looked at the man opposite him. "But at least I won't need to have regrets." Sydney smiled. "And, now, neither will you."

The End