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Disclaimer: Not my characters, but my story.
Author's Note: Ok, so this Christmas story is a month late. I was waiting to write it until after I saw the movie. And since I had to wait until a friend sent it to me (thanks Ashlee!) it took a while to write. As those of you who have been around for a while know, this originally was a story than has now grown to a series with annual installments. Also, thanks to KB and the Capt for giving this a primary read. 7:49 pm 1/19/02
Sequel to The Angel Collection and The Angel Collection II
The Angel Collection III
By Gables
~~~~~~~~
Miss Parker stood by her office window looking over the gray beach. She turned away briefly when there was a knock on her door. Sydney entered looking down at the folder in his hands. "This report should satisfy the..." He trailed off when he looked up and only saw her back. "Miss Parker, is something the matter?"
"No, Sydney."
"Of course not." He closed the folder and walked around the desk to stand next to her. "Not a very cheerful sight." He commented, looking over the gray waters and gray winter sky.
"It's better than looking in toward the Centre."
Sydney chuckled. "Miss Parker, What are you doing here? I thought that Broots and Debbie had invited you to their house for Christmas Eve dinner."
"That's not for a couple more hours."
He stood silently, waiting for her to reach out to him. Waiting for the small gesture, like a small child's hand tentatively looking for an adult's larger grasp.
"I keep wondering what really happened on that plane. What would..." she choked briefly, "What would have happened if I hadn't gotten onto that plane at all. Would Daddy still be alive. Would he really have told me the truth about him and Raines. What the scrolls really said. What Jarod's role in the Centre really is." She trailed off, implying that that list could go on.
"I'm sorry that I don't have answers to any of those questions."
"So am I, Sydney." They fell into silence again.
Finally Miss Parker took a deep breath and then turned away and started picking up papers from her desk, organizing the few loose ones into their proper folders. She picked up all the folders, and the jogged them against the desk to get them straight. Then she set them down again. Sydney dropped the folder he had been carrying on top.
"It's the report from Idaho. Jarod..."
"Idaho?" She snorted, "And what was Jarod doing in Idaho? Digging into my life? My family? Researching my grandmother now?"
Sydney stopped, and looked at her curiously. "As far as I can tell, Jarod did nothing there. Didn't take on a job, didn't investigate anything. Nothing that I can find of his actions relates to his family, or yours Miss Parker. It appears that he spent his time alone in a cabin in the mountains."
Miss Parker looked down at her desk again, looking at the folder on top of the pile with Jarod's project code. She took the folder and slid it to the bottom of the stack.
"Miss Parker, what happened on that island? You seem..." He paused and tilted his head so that he could look her in the eye, "angry with him."
"Of course I'm angry with the lab rat Syd. He won't come home like he's suppose to."
"No, Miss Parker, don't give me that excuse again. Something happened on that island. Something not connected with the plane ride or the scrolls."
Miss Parker dropped her head and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sometimes I don't remember why I gave up smoking."
Sydney smiled. "You don't regret it. But if you want to know, it was because you shot me in the leg."
Miss Parker laughed. She tossed her head back and then rolled it to one side to look at Sydney. "That was 5 years ago Sydney. How many times do I have to apologize? Besides, that's *not* when I stopped smoking."
"Yes it was. At least, that was the beginning. The day you realized that you could have a better life. A life outside of the Centre."
Miss Parker's smile faded, and she straightened stiffly. "I chase. He runs. That's how it was, and that's how it's going to be. Period. Things are back to how they were. Nothing's changed."
She left Sydney's side and went to gather her coat.
"And that's the problem, isn't Miss Parker? Something did change on that island, but you don't know what to make of it."
Miss Parker pulled out a small package from her coat pocket. She held it out for Sydney. "Merry Christmas, Syd. Enjoy week off. You're going to spend it with your son, right?"
Sydney took the offered gift gently. "Yes, I am."
Miss Parker pulled on her coat, grabbed her briefcase and walked out the door.
Sydney looked down at the box in his hand and lifted the lid. It was a key chain. He lifted it carefully out of the box, and tilted it so that the light caught on the gold plating. It was a design of a small hand. Rubbing it with his thumb, Sydney spoke to the empty room, "Merry Christmas, Miss Parker."
~~~~~~~~
After a long shower, Miss Parker walked down the stairs combing out the last tangles in her hair,. She dropped the comb into her gown pocket, then wrapped the gown tighter until she lit the fire in the living room. The flickering light danced off different objects in the room, and especially off the ornaments on her Christmas tree.
She stoked the fire once more and then stood up, wiping off the knees of her pajamas. Miss Parker walked out of the warm room to the front door and checked her security system - everything was still set correctly. Then she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an ornament. She couldn't see it well in the dark foyer, but when she walked back into the living room, it shone in the firelight.
Miss Parker plugged in her Christmas lights and hung her new ornament on the front of the tree. She could see a warped reflection of her living room, with the orange dot of the fire as the focal point. As she stared, the dot briefly blinked out. Without turning around, Miss Parker spoke.
"Don't think that you can get out that easily, Jarod." She turned around to see the pretender at the entrance to the next room, already half in its shadows.
He turned and smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Miss Parker followed his gaze to her coffee table. A box now sat there where it hadn't before.
"I knew I shouldn't have chosen the box with the metallic coating. I was
hoping that you didn't see the glint when you looked around the room."
"I did. But I also saw you move across the fire in the reflection of this."
She cupped the ornament like an apple on a tree.
"From young Miss Broots?" asked Jarod, still from his position.
Miss Parker nodded. Then she walked over to her liquor cabinet and reached down to pull out a bottle. When she turned back around, she was surprised to see that Jarod was still in the room. Now, in fact, standing completely in the room.
"Would you like something to drink?" She asked, mostly because she didn't know what else to say.
"No, no thank you." Jarod stood straight. He wore a typical black outfit, jeans, and a t-shirt, with a black leather coat. He still faded into the darkness of the room even though he was standing near the fireplace.
Miss Parker poured her drink and looked at the coffee table. Then sat down on the couch, right in front of it.
"This can't continue Jarod."
"Why not? You said that things are back to where they were, and this is what I've always done." He took a few steps forward toward the couch.
"No, it's not Jarod." She took a sip and gently fingered the bow of top of the box.
"Yes, Miss Parker, it is." His voice was low and close as he sat down next to her.
With a half chuckle Miss Parker tired to deny that Jarod was sitting next to her. "No, its not. You're way too early. I'm not supposed to see you."
Jarod looked carefully into her eyes, but then he looked away. Releasing a breath, he pulled back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a photograph and handed it to her.
"I'm supposed to spend the night with my father and my brothers." He stumbled over the last word.
The photograph was of Jarod, the boy and Ethan. They were all smiling. "How is he doing?" She spoke to the photo, and stroked the back of her nail against the image of Ethan.
"Good. He's doing good. But he misses you. They both miss you, in fact."
Miss Parker looked at the image of Jarod's clone, his other 'brother.' The boy was now a young man, though she barely recognized him. When Jarod was that age, she was off to boarding school and rarely saw him until he was fully-grown, looking like the man he was today.
"I didn't get him anything for Christmas. I didn't get either of them anything." She looked up and offered the photo back to Jarod.
"Keep it."
She took a long drink from her class, finishing it off, and then set it down on the coffee table. She gently laid the photograph on top of the box.
"I chase..." She started.
"And I run." He finished. "Things go back to where they were."
"So why aren't they Jarod?" She turned and looked at him.
He met her gaze and slightly shook his head. "Too many other variables have changed, Miss Parker. Our little situation..." He leaned closer to her, "is the only which hasn't."
Miss Parker felt his breath against her cheek and closed her eyes when he kissed her. The only thing she heard was the crackle of the fire, and the wind outside the window. She didn't hear the sound of Jarod's jacket as he reached up to caress the side of her face. They pulled apart slowly, but not too far. He kept his hand against her cheek, and still rubbed his thumb slightly.
"But why do I feel that it has, Miss Parker?" Jarod asked.
She tried to contain her smile, but she couldn't. The smile erupted in to a laugh, and she pulled away from him, embarrassed. Jarod was smiling too, though, like her, there was a look of painful irony in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Jarod." She stood and picked up her glass from the coffee table, and tilted it back for the last few drops.
Jarod stood as well, and rubbed his hands nervously. "No, I'm sorry, Miss Parker. It was inappropriate for me to come here tonight. I should have just mailed that." He nodded to the box, which still sat, untouched on her coffee table.
Miss Parker looked at it again, and then sat in front of it again. Jarod took a few steps, toward the front door.
"No, Jarod. Wait."
He paused and turned back to her. "At least stay to watch me open this."
"It's not Christmas yet. It's only eleven o'clock."
"Please?"
Without another word, Jarod walked back and sat on the lounge chair beside the couch, facing her. Miss Parker stood and crossed to the closet where she kept the other angels. She pulled them out and placed them one by one on the coffee table. Jarod watched her silently, looking over the collection of the other five angels he had given her.
"I'm not sure what it says that you keep them locked away in a closet." He said in an amused tone.
"Nice to know that there are some places in this house that you still haven't rifled through."
Jarod smirked. "Who says I didn't know they were in your closet?"
Miss Parker glared at him, but let the comment pass. She lifted off the lid of the box and reached through the silver laced tissue paper to the object beneath. Whereas the other angle were figurines, this was a stone tablet with a design engraved in it. Jarod pulled the box out of her way, and she set it down on the table.
"It's beautiful Jarod," she said softly, running a finger along the lines of the face. "Where did you find it?"
"I didn't. I made it."
Miss Parker looked up. "You made this?"
"That surprises you?"
"No, I guess not."
"Well," he shrugged, "I made it, but I didn't design it."
She looked back down at the tablet. "I, I recognize this. This is the cherub that Angel on drew the island."
Jarod nodded. "I thought you might like it. She must have been a special girl for you to have a unique connection with her."
"I wonder how much she knew about her father; how... evil, he really was. She was just a girl. How much could she possibly have understood?"
"You mean to ask how did she know the truth about her father, while you..."
Miss Parker's gaze locked on to his. "Don't go there Jarod. Not tonight."
Jarod ran a hand through his hair. "I should leave."
"Yes. I think you should, too." They stood awkwardly. "It's not very often that I see you simply walk out my door."
Jarod smiled slightly, understanding that she was letting him go.
"I'm sorry that I didn't give you anything for Christmas though, Jarod."
"What more could I ask for then a kiss from a long time friend?"
Miss Parker unconsciously rubbed a hand across her mouth. "Now I know what Broots asks Santa for every year."
Jarod chuckled. "I'm sure that Miss Debbie would love for you to be her mother."
"She'll have to stay disappointed. I'm not marrying Broots."
"No, I doubt you will. But I would suggest that you go back over there tomorrow for Christmas dinner. Bring them a pie."
Miss Parker wrapped her arms around her waist. "A pie?"
"And ice cream. Pie a la mode - it's very good."
"I will. Thanks, Jarod, and take care of your family."
"Merry Christmas Miss Parker," he said as he opened the door.
"Merry Christmas Jarod."
~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: Ok, so this Christmas story is a month late. I was waiting to write it until after I saw the movie. And since I had to wait until a friend sent it to me (thanks Ashlee!) it took a while to write. As those of you who have been around for a while know, this originally was a story than has now grown to a series with annual installments. Also, thanks to KB and the Capt for giving this a primary read. 7:49 pm 1/19/02
Sequel to The Angel Collection and The Angel Collection II
By Gables
~~~~~~~~
Miss Parker stood by her office window looking over the gray beach. She turned away briefly when there was a knock on her door. Sydney entered looking down at the folder in his hands. "This report should satisfy the..." He trailed off when he looked up and only saw her back. "Miss Parker, is something the matter?"
"No, Sydney."
"Of course not." He closed the folder and walked around the desk to stand next to her. "Not a very cheerful sight." He commented, looking over the gray waters and gray winter sky.
"It's better than looking in toward the Centre."
Sydney chuckled. "Miss Parker, What are you doing here? I thought that Broots and Debbie had invited you to their house for Christmas Eve dinner."
"That's not for a couple more hours."
He stood silently, waiting for her to reach out to him. Waiting for the small gesture, like a small child's hand tentatively looking for an adult's larger grasp.
"I keep wondering what really happened on that plane. What would..." she choked briefly, "What would have happened if I hadn't gotten onto that plane at all. Would Daddy still be alive. Would he really have told me the truth about him and Raines. What the scrolls really said. What Jarod's role in the Centre really is." She trailed off, implying that that list could go on.
"I'm sorry that I don't have answers to any of those questions."
"So am I, Sydney." They fell into silence again.
Finally Miss Parker took a deep breath and then turned away and started picking up papers from her desk, organizing the few loose ones into their proper folders. She picked up all the folders, and the jogged them against the desk to get them straight. Then she set them down again. Sydney dropped the folder he had been carrying on top.
"It's the report from Idaho. Jarod..."
"Idaho?" She snorted, "And what was Jarod doing in Idaho? Digging into my life? My family? Researching my grandmother now?"
Sydney stopped, and looked at her curiously. "As far as I can tell, Jarod did nothing there. Didn't take on a job, didn't investigate anything. Nothing that I can find of his actions relates to his family, or yours Miss Parker. It appears that he spent his time alone in a cabin in the mountains."
Miss Parker looked down at her desk again, looking at the folder on top of the pile with Jarod's project code. She took the folder and slid it to the bottom of the stack.
"Miss Parker, what happened on that island? You seem..." He paused and tilted his head so that he could look her in the eye, "angry with him."
"Of course I'm angry with the lab rat Syd. He won't come home like he's suppose to."
"No, Miss Parker, don't give me that excuse again. Something happened on that island. Something not connected with the plane ride or the scrolls."
Miss Parker dropped her head and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sometimes I don't remember why I gave up smoking."
Sydney smiled. "You don't regret it. But if you want to know, it was because you shot me in the leg."
Miss Parker laughed. She tossed her head back and then rolled it to one side to look at Sydney. "That was 5 years ago Sydney. How many times do I have to apologize? Besides, that's *not* when I stopped smoking."
"Yes it was. At least, that was the beginning. The day you realized that you could have a better life. A life outside of the Centre."
Miss Parker's smile faded, and she straightened stiffly. "I chase. He runs. That's how it was, and that's how it's going to be. Period. Things are back to how they were. Nothing's changed."
She left Sydney's side and went to gather her coat.
"And that's the problem, isn't Miss Parker? Something did change on that island, but you don't know what to make of it."
Miss Parker pulled out a small package from her coat pocket. She held it out for Sydney. "Merry Christmas, Syd. Enjoy week off. You're going to spend it with your son, right?"
Sydney took the offered gift gently. "Yes, I am."
Miss Parker pulled on her coat, grabbed her briefcase and walked out the door.
Sydney looked down at the box in his hand and lifted the lid. It was a key chain. He lifted it carefully out of the box, and tilted it so that the light caught on the gold plating. It was a design of a small hand. Rubbing it with his thumb, Sydney spoke to the empty room, "Merry Christmas, Miss Parker."
~~~~~~~~
After a long shower, Miss Parker walked down the stairs combing out the last tangles in her hair,. She dropped the comb into her gown pocket, then wrapped the gown tighter until she lit the fire in the living room. The flickering light danced off different objects in the room, and especially off the ornaments on her Christmas tree.
She stoked the fire once more and then stood up, wiping off the knees of her pajamas. Miss Parker walked out of the warm room to the front door and checked her security system - everything was still set correctly. Then she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an ornament. She couldn't see it well in the dark foyer, but when she walked back into the living room, it shone in the firelight.
Miss Parker plugged in her Christmas lights and hung her new ornament on the front of the tree. She could see a warped reflection of her living room, with the orange dot of the fire as the focal point. As she stared, the dot briefly blinked out. Without turning around, Miss Parker spoke.
"Don't think that you can get out that easily, Jarod." She turned around to see the pretender at the entrance to the next room, already half in its shadows.
He turned and smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Miss Parker followed his gaze to her coffee table. A box now sat there where it hadn't before.
"I knew I shouldn't have chosen the box with the metallic coating. I was
hoping that you didn't see the glint when you looked around the room."
"I did. But I also saw you move across the fire in the reflection of this."
She cupped the ornament like an apple on a tree.
"From young Miss Broots?" asked Jarod, still from his position.
Miss Parker nodded. Then she walked over to her liquor cabinet and reached down to pull out a bottle. When she turned back around, she was surprised to see that Jarod was still in the room. Now, in fact, standing completely in the room.
"Would you like something to drink?" She asked, mostly because she didn't know what else to say.
"No, no thank you." Jarod stood straight. He wore a typical black outfit, jeans, and a t-shirt, with a black leather coat. He still faded into the darkness of the room even though he was standing near the fireplace.
Miss Parker poured her drink and looked at the coffee table. Then sat down on the couch, right in front of it.
"This can't continue Jarod."
"Why not? You said that things are back to where they were, and this is what I've always done." He took a few steps forward toward the couch.
"No, it's not Jarod." She took a sip and gently fingered the bow of top of the box.
"Yes, Miss Parker, it is." His voice was low and close as he sat down next to her.
With a half chuckle Miss Parker tired to deny that Jarod was sitting next to her. "No, its not. You're way too early. I'm not supposed to see you."
Jarod looked carefully into her eyes, but then he looked away. Releasing a breath, he pulled back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a photograph and handed it to her.
"I'm supposed to spend the night with my father and my brothers." He stumbled over the last word.
The photograph was of Jarod, the boy and Ethan. They were all smiling. "How is he doing?" She spoke to the photo, and stroked the back of her nail against the image of Ethan.
"Good. He's doing good. But he misses you. They both miss you, in fact."
Miss Parker looked at the image of Jarod's clone, his other 'brother.' The boy was now a young man, though she barely recognized him. When Jarod was that age, she was off to boarding school and rarely saw him until he was fully-grown, looking like the man he was today.
"I didn't get him anything for Christmas. I didn't get either of them anything." She looked up and offered the photo back to Jarod.
"Keep it."
She took a long drink from her class, finishing it off, and then set it down on the coffee table. She gently laid the photograph on top of the box.
"I chase..." She started.
"And I run." He finished. "Things go back to where they were."
"So why aren't they Jarod?" She turned and looked at him.
He met her gaze and slightly shook his head. "Too many other variables have changed, Miss Parker. Our little situation..." He leaned closer to her, "is the only which hasn't."
Miss Parker felt his breath against her cheek and closed her eyes when he kissed her. The only thing she heard was the crackle of the fire, and the wind outside the window. She didn't hear the sound of Jarod's jacket as he reached up to caress the side of her face. They pulled apart slowly, but not too far. He kept his hand against her cheek, and still rubbed his thumb slightly.
"But why do I feel that it has, Miss Parker?" Jarod asked.
She tried to contain her smile, but she couldn't. The smile erupted in to a laugh, and she pulled away from him, embarrassed. Jarod was smiling too, though, like her, there was a look of painful irony in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Jarod." She stood and picked up her glass from the coffee table, and tilted it back for the last few drops.
Jarod stood as well, and rubbed his hands nervously. "No, I'm sorry, Miss Parker. It was inappropriate for me to come here tonight. I should have just mailed that." He nodded to the box, which still sat, untouched on her coffee table.
Miss Parker looked at it again, and then sat in front of it again. Jarod took a few steps, toward the front door.
"No, Jarod. Wait."
He paused and turned back to her. "At least stay to watch me open this."
"It's not Christmas yet. It's only eleven o'clock."
"Please?"
Without another word, Jarod walked back and sat on the lounge chair beside the couch, facing her. Miss Parker stood and crossed to the closet where she kept the other angels. She pulled them out and placed them one by one on the coffee table. Jarod watched her silently, looking over the collection of the other five angels he had given her.
"I'm not sure what it says that you keep them locked away in a closet." He said in an amused tone.
"Nice to know that there are some places in this house that you still haven't rifled through."
Jarod smirked. "Who says I didn't know they were in your closet?"
Miss Parker glared at him, but let the comment pass. She lifted off the lid of the box and reached through the silver laced tissue paper to the object beneath. Whereas the other angle were figurines, this was a stone tablet with a design engraved in it. Jarod pulled the box out of her way, and she set it down on the table.
"It's beautiful Jarod," she said softly, running a finger along the lines of the face. "Where did you find it?"
"I didn't. I made it."
Miss Parker looked up. "You made this?"
"That surprises you?"
"No, I guess not."
"Well," he shrugged, "I made it, but I didn't design it."
She looked back down at the tablet. "I, I recognize this. This is the cherub that Angel on drew the island."
Jarod nodded. "I thought you might like it. She must have been a special girl for you to have a unique connection with her."
"I wonder how much she knew about her father; how... evil, he really was. She was just a girl. How much could she possibly have understood?"
"You mean to ask how did she know the truth about her father, while you..."
Miss Parker's gaze locked on to his. "Don't go there Jarod. Not tonight."
Jarod ran a hand through his hair. "I should leave."
"Yes. I think you should, too." They stood awkwardly. "It's not very often that I see you simply walk out my door."
Jarod smiled slightly, understanding that she was letting him go.
"I'm sorry that I didn't give you anything for Christmas though, Jarod."
"What more could I ask for then a kiss from a long time friend?"
Miss Parker unconsciously rubbed a hand across her mouth. "Now I know what Broots asks Santa for every year."
Jarod chuckled. "I'm sure that Miss Debbie would love for you to be her mother."
"She'll have to stay disappointed. I'm not marrying Broots."
"No, I doubt you will. But I would suggest that you go back over there tomorrow for Christmas dinner. Bring them a pie."
Miss Parker wrapped her arms around her waist. "A pie?"
"And ice cream. Pie a la mode - it's very good."
"I will. Thanks, Jarod, and take care of your family."
"Merry Christmas Miss Parker," he said as he opened the door.
"Merry Christmas Jarod."
~~~~~~~~
