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Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, I believe that NBC has the official right to manipulate them but like others, I like to wonder what they would do in *my* world. Please do not archive with out my permission. (at the very least you'll guarantee another hit on your site :) Selbag@hotmail.com
This is a story that I started a while ago. I posted the first part but then didn't do anything with it because I didn't have any ideas. That is until Alieta emailed me and convinced me that to write some more. So thanks to Alieta for taking interest in the completion of this story!
The Shoemaker's Elves
Por Gables
~~~~~
An empty ally
Boston
"Stop Jarod or I'll Shoot!"
"You won't shoot me Miss Parker" He said raising his hands.
"Don't be so sure about that, this time Sydney isn't here to deflect the gun."
"If I was gone, your life wouldn't be nearly as fun" Jarod took a few steps to the building on his left.
"Don't move Jarod!" He reached the wall and leaned his back against a door.
"I said, don't move! You're wrong, my life would be much easier if you were *out* of it."
"Are you sure of that?" He quickly dropped his hand and turned the knob of the door, entering and closing the door in one swift movement. A bullet flew through the door as he jimmied a chair under the knob, thus giving him time to escape, again.
~~~~
Near a Small Canyon in New Mexico
15 days later.
"Jarod!" Miss Parker was yelling at Jarod again. He took off running, looking very panicked, running blindly.
Ten minutes later Jarod was still running, being chased by Parker, Sydney, and Broots on foot, and a car or two behind them. When he turned back to look at his pursuers, he tripped over a rock.
"JAROD!" Sydney and Parker yelled at the same time, then they watched as he fell over the edge of the cliff. They stopped and looked at each other.
"He did see the cliff didn't he?" She asked.
"How could he not?" Sydney replied.
"May...maybe he didn't know the area well enough, by uh my estimates he only arrived in uh town las...uh last night. He was just passing thorough." Broots mumbled behind them.
Parker shot him a glance and ran over to the side of the cliff. She leaned over and saw the body hit the water and float down the river, a trail of blood turning the water red. The river tuned a corner and she turned away from the cliff. A black car pulled up and she jumped in, ordering the car to follow the edge of the cliff.
Eight minutes later the car arrived at a landing point at the base of the cliff. A ranger's car had just arrived and he was just exiting the car.
Miss Parker ran to the edge of the water. The ranger, sensing her distraught, ran down with her.
"Did you see... see a body float down?"
"A body? No I just arrived, someone's in the river?"
"A friend of ours tripped while up on that cliff" she pointed. "He fell over the edge, any way he could have survived?"
"I doubt it, at the bottom of that cliff is a shallow and rocky bottom. But I don't know if we'll see the body past us, the river goes two ways just at that bend, part goes underground, and part above it."
Miss Parker stepped out of the muddy banks, not even realizing that her shoes were destroyed. She was in a total state of shock. She looked over at Sydney.
"He's dead? Sydney?" She sounded like a little girl. "How could your genius miss that cliff?"
"We were lucky that that waitress saw his road map, we caught up with him early. Just like Broots said, he didn't know the terrain."
"But Sydney, Jarod doesn't make mistakes like missing a *CLIFF*"
"He only knows what he has learned Miss Parker."
"And we'll probably never find his body." She turned back to the river yelling, "JAROD YOU WOULD DIE LIKE THIS!!!"
The ranger, who was on his radio reporting the incident looked at her. >Must have been more than friends he thought to himself, and then continued talking to the dispatch.
~~~~~
Miss Parker's Home
1 week later
9:00 pm
Miss Parker answered the door. She wore her pajamas and robe around them.
"Hello Sydney."
"Hello Miss Parker. I wanted to check on you. How is your.. uhh sabbatical going?"
"It's not a sabbatical Sydney. The Jarod situation is taken care of, therefore I am leaving the Centre. Permanently."
Sydney frowned. He did not like her phrase, 'the Jarod situation.' He could tell that she wanted to mourn, but part of herself would not allow it.
"Would you like to talk about it Miss Parker?"
Miss Parker swung open the door, giving Sydney about as much of an invitation as he would get to enter her house. She walked over to her couch and sat down, pulling her feet up.
"I don't know why I'm sad Sydney. He is the reason that my life has been such a hell."
"And now that he's gone, you realized that he was not the source of all your problems." Sydney sat down in a chair facing her, trying not to look too much like a psychiatrist.
"No, that's just it Sydney. My life *has* gotten better. I finally found a competent maid who doesn't snoop, my car stopped acting weird, my roof doesn't leak anymore and for once the grocery boy actually delivered *exactly* what I asked for!"
"So you feel guilty that you are surviving?"
"Remember about a month ago, when we were in Boston chasing him and I cornered him in the ally? He said that I wouldn't shoot because if I did, my life wouldn't be as much fun. Then I told him that my life would be *much* easier if he was out of it. And the last thing he said to me was, 'Are you sure about that?' Then he got away."
"hmm." Miss Parker's story added to Sydney had a nagging suspicion about Jarod's recent behavior.. something didn't add up. He agreed with Miss Parker, Jarod should *not* have missed seeing a cliff.
"Tell me Miss Parker, are you still surrounded by summer homes?"
"Yes why?"
"I think I'll go and take a walk"
"It's 9 o'clock at night Sydney. Where the hell do you think you are going?"
"Your mother and I used to walk about the area. We held many informal sessions that way, far from the Centre's ears. Goodnight Miss Parker. Sleep well." Sydney got up and let himself out.
On the porch he sighed and thrust his hands into his pockets. She doesn't see the connection. She accepts his death as an accident, just like she accepted her mother's death as a suicide. he thought. Sydney stepped off the porch and began to walk up the road. He didn't remember as many houses, but a few looked familiar. He walked up to and peered into every house. All the houses within sight of Miss Parker's were empty, and the next seven or so after that were dark as well. At the end of the lane, Sydney saw a light in the window. Sydney knew he had found it. There was no reason that anybody, especially Miss Parker, would see that this house was occupied. It was at the end of the road, and in back of a grove of trees. No light could be seen from the road.
He walked up the steps and opened the door without an invitation. The cabin was small. It had two rooms: a bathroom in one corner and an open living room -- one corner was the kitchen, one corner was the dining table, and in the fourth corner sat a bed with Jarod dozing on top, a book open on his chest.
Jarod opened his eyes when Sydney closed the door.
"Jarod" Sydney stated in a stern tone.
"Hello Sydney. What do I owe the pleasure?"
"Jarod, what do you think you are doing? You are supposed to be dead!"
"I'm making a wish come true."
"So you *are* responsible for Miss Parker's sudden leap in good luck"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Why did you do it Jarod, do you realize what you have done to her?"
"Miss Parker's life is better now that I'm dead. She's free from the Centre, will never have car trouble again, and in a couple of weeks she'll have her new life set up."
"Do you honestly think that it's that simple? This is not a sim Jarod, this is real life."
"What? I never simmed real life before? I know what I'm doing Sydney."
"What are you trying to prove Jarod? That she needs you? That she doesn't?"
Jarod tried to speak but Sydney held up a hand. "She is confused Jarod. She wants to mourn, but won't let herself, and you *not* being dead doesn't help her. So decided Jarod, come back from the dead or take off completely. You can't spend the rest of your life as the shoemaker's elves."
"Elves? Syd..."
"No Jarod, you must choose by tomorrow, because I'll be back, and if you haven't decided, then I'm calling the Centre. Goodbye Jarod."
Jarod lay his head back on the pillow. His plan was so simple. If he died, then he could continue to help her, but she wouldn't feel guilty about accepting his help.
He thought back to his "Accidental Death."
~~~~~ Flashback Scene ~~~~~ Flashback Scene ~~~~~
Near a Small Canyon in New Mexico
He took off running, acting more panicked then he actually was. He appeared to be running blindly. He counted his steps and on number 27, he turned back to look at his pursuers. His foot caught at the rock he had tripped on, over and over again in practice.
Jarod fell over the cliff and reached out his arms. There he caught the trapeze bar that he had bolted into the under side of the cantilever cliff. He swung right into a small cave. He hung the bar on a small hook on top of the mouth and reached for a dummy.
He knew he had 5 seconds before Parker would reach the edge. The dummy weighted about one and a half times as much as he did, to make up some time in the fall. It wore the same clothes, and underneath were small packets of his own blood. They would break on impact, and if the Centre somehow managed to collect a sample, they would find that it *was* his blood.
He threw the body down into the river and quietly took out the bolts of his swing with long arm pliers. The Centre employees were too shocked to hear any noise that might have come from the process.
His next step was to set up the false door. He had designed a covering for the cave so that when the Centre cleaners look up at the cliff, they would not be able to see the cave. (they would not be social with the local law enforcement to hear that there should be a cave underneath the cliff). The cover was made out of a breathable material, so that he got fresh air, yet it was also sturdy enough that someone could repel off of it like any other rock face. Jarod could stay in that cave for three weeks if need be, but the Centre gave up after one. He had listening devices and cameras along the top of the cliff and the hotel rooms that he knew each member would get. (It was a small town after all) He knew exactly when they left.
The body never would be found. He had a friend waiting in a canoe just around the river bend. His friend picked the body out of the water and hauled it over to his car that was parked at the same spot where Miss Parker met the ranger. The friend had the canoe and dummy loaded in four minutes. Then he pulled out and drove down the road disappearing in a minute down a hill.
Two minutes after that the ranger showed up, erasing any tracks made in haste, and seconds after that Miss Parker and company arrived.
~~~~~
It really had been easy. Jarod hung out in the cave for a week, meditating and then moved up into the house by Miss Parker's. He enjoyed the vacation, doing small fix-it chores on her house during the day when she went out and working on her car at night when she slept.
Jarod couldn't go back to sleep so he went online to check out any reference to "shoemaker's elves."
~~~~~
2 years later
St Louis, MO
The signature heals clicked along the school hallway.
"Our classrooms have the best technology that ..."
She was being lead on a tour of the school, and not caring about any of the information given. She already knew it from the files.
"We have tremendous parent support..."
She hated these tours, but they were required for her job on the board of education. This was her third job in the department of education, and also the third state she had lived in since leaving the Centre. She occasionally talked to Sydney but she never to Broots anymore, which really did disappoint her because that meant she never saw Debbie either.
Finally she had enough of the principal's inane tour. She stopped and turned to the woman and spoke in her most intimidating voice, "If you have such excellent relationships with the union and the parents association, then why did this strike ever happen? Your negotiations should have gone smoothly, yet here I am assessing the education that these kids are receiving while their normal teachers are on strike. Tell me, why is it taking so long?"
The principal didn't have an answer for that and Parker knew why - the relationship between the teachers and the administration, in reality, was full of distrust and petty disputes.
"The kids are still receiving a quality education." The principal started walking again, so Parker continued with her, "We brought in substitutes to do teach, and they are all excellent teachers, especially Mr. Eft. He's the substitute biology teacher. The kids really love him, better than their own teacher in fact."
The principal led the way to the biology lab. "He has done more hands-on experiments with the kids in these three weeks than were planned for the whole semester. I don't know where he gets the materials but he insists that he doesn't mind funding the classroom."
The principal held open the door and Parker walked into the lab. The teacher was giving directions for their lab that day.
"Next you are going to...." He stopped when he saw her enter the room, his hand stationary in the air pointing to his prop. When he stopped the entire class looked over at who had entered the door. Everybody was silent, looking back and forth between the two, wondering what was going on.
She was stunned. It was him alright, it was Jarod standing there in the flesh. She couldn't contain her surprise and backed up a step, almost tripping over a backpack.
Jarod couldn't believe his luck. He hadn't seen here in over a year, he had determinedly stopped checking up on her so that he could move on.
"Jarod?!?" She managed to squeak.
"Oh do you know Mr. Eft, Ms. Gates?" asked the principal.
"Ms. Gates? I should have guessed." Jarod kicked himself for not digging in deeper when looking over the school board. 'P. Gates' had a substantial record and was often praised, but there was no mention of personal details or a picture -- not even a first name. "Hiding your first name again P. Gates?"
Parker forced herself to regain control when she saw him so calm. Then she realized that the principal and the entire class were staring at the two of them.
"Yes, Mr. Uhh Eft and I are old associates, but we lost contact. One day he just fell off the side of the earth. I haven't seen him since. He might as well have been dead." Parker tilted her head and smiled.
Jarod made a small laugh and looked at the principal, "Yes Ms. Gates and I go waaay back, but no matter where I go, she does seem to follow." He gave his own smile.
The principal knew that this was beyond an awkward meeting, figuring that they were more then casual 'associates' but decided that it was not her business.
"Ms. Gates, why don't we continue and let Mr. Eft teach his class, after school you are free to ask any of the teachers any questions you like."
"Sure, great idea" Parker said still staring at Jarod.
Parker put him out of her mind as she walked away, doing the job she came for.
~~~~~
She returned to the bio classroom after school. When she entered, Jarod was working with a student, diligently going over the diagrams in front of them. He didn't look up until she was a few feet away from his desk.
"Jason, It looks like my next appointment has arrived. I think that you know what you are doing, but if you have anymore questions, find me tomorrow."
"Thank you Mr. Eft." The boy looked at Miss Parker then back to Jarod. He grinned at his teacher and then left.
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Well you could have at least told me."
"Parker, it is not my job to test your loyalty to the Centre. I didn't want to put you in that situation."
"I like it here Jarod, I really do, and once again you have messed up my life by showing up."
"Look, I'll leave and never come back to St. Louis, I'll never come back to Missouri."
"That's not good enough. I have no doubt that the Centre is still tracking my movements, and they will know that I came here, and met you."
"They won't know anything."
She didn't look convinced. "Who else knows you're not dead?"
"Sydney."
"I should have known you'd never be able to cut the cord."
"Actually, I haven't talked to him since a week after New Mexico."
"A week? He came over to my house and talked to me."
"I know"
"How?"
"He found me."
"Son of a bitch, you were spying on me?"
"No, just helping out."
Parker nodded, remembering how everything in her house had suddenly fixed itself.
"Alright, I'm staying, but you are leaving now." Miss Parker decided that the sooner Jarod left, the better the chance that the Centre didn't know he was alive. However, she didn't see the principal enter the lab in time to hear that last comment.
"You're leaving Mr. Eft?"
Jarod and Parker looked at the principal. Then they looked at each other.
"Yes I am, I told you that I would only be staying until the strike is over, and with Ms. Gates here, I know that the arguments will be settled quickly."
"Mr. Eft, I was actually coming here to offer you a full time position. You are the best biology teacher we have ever had, and I would be a fool to let you leave."
Jarod looked over at Miss Parker. He probably would have taken the offer if she hadn't found him. Parker spoke before Jarod did.
"I know Jarod, he wouldn't be happy sitting in one place for too long. I don't think that he will be able to accept your offer."
The principal looked sadly at Jarod and watched him nod his head.
"She's right. I won't be back tomorrow. Tell the students that it was time for me to leave."
The principal walked a bit closer and turned away from Parker
"Are you in some kind of trouble, Jarod?" She half whispered.
Jarod laughed and stood up. He walked around the desk and stood next to Parker.
"No, don't worry about me."
The principal eyed them suspiciously but she had no other course of action. When the principal left, Parker stepped away from Jarod.
"Get your stuff and leave." She started to walk away.
"Parker?" Jarod called out. She stopped at turned toward him. "It was nice to see you again."
Parker turned back around and walked out quickly so that he would not see her tears. She didn't know if they were tears of happiness that he was alive, anger because he lied to her, or sadness that she was going to lose him once more.
~~~~~
Restaurant
"Parker, what's the matter?"
Parker looked at the man across from her. His name was Kurt. He was a lawyer, and a workaholic like herself. He was that same type of man that she had always dated: tall, handsome with dark hair, an athletic build, and a great smile. Unfortunately, also like the other guys she had dated, he tended to be vain and a bit egotistical. She met Kurt a couple of months ago at a function of some sort, and had agreed to go out with him mainly because she was lonely. Of course it didn't hurt that he took her to good restaurants.
"Huh?"
"I asked you, 'What's wrong'?"
"Oh nothing."
"How was the meeting at the school? Did you find anything interesting?"
Hell yeah "Oh no, the principal, surprise, is inept at keeping the teachers happy."
Kurt began talking about his day, but she didn't listen. She had flicked the switch inside her personality to turn on her emotionless Ice Queen mode. Otherwise, she would be taking out her anger on every poor sole that came within ten feet. As it was she had already snapped at the mailman and the busboy since leaving the school.
When Kurt dropped her off, she gave him a kiss on the cheek to get rid of him quickly. When the car was out of sight, Parker walked down the street to a phone booth. She dialed Sydney's number. It was a safe line that Broots had set up, which was good because she had some yelling to do, and couldn't do it slyly.
"This is Sydney"
"Sydney! Why didn't you tell me that Jarod was alive!"
"Excuse me?"
"YOUR LAB RAT!" She hissed. "He's A L I V E."
"Oh really?" he tried to sound nonchalant.
"Yes! Why in the *hell* didn't you tell me!???"
"I didn't think it was necessary. You had already started to mourn, I saw no reason not to let him follow though with his plan and save grief. Might I enquire how he is doing?"
"He's breathing... for right now."
"Are you going to contact the Centre?"
"I should bring that deceiving bastard in."
"Sounds like either way you will be talking to him again."
Parker hung up the phone disgusted.
"Bye Miss Parker." Sydney said to the dial tone.
~~~~~
Parker snuck out of her house at about 1:40am. The late time was half due to the secrecy she needed to ditch the Centre watchers (since she was once in security, she knew what type of measures they would use to cover her, and also how to elude them) and half because she wanted to be the one who woke
up Jarod for once.
Getting Jarod's temporary address proved to be no problem. The principal gave it to her with a wink. It was a half hour run away, but she didn't mind. It gave her time to expel the emotions she was feeling and think about what she wanted to tell him.
She walked around the back of the complex and scouted out his window. It was dark. Parker grinned to herself and entered the building.
~~~~~
Jarod's Door
The hallway was empty when she arrived. She waited a few seconds listening for any sounds, and when there was none, she pulled out her lock pick kit and began to fidget with the lock.
The door was open within a minute and Parker quietly stepped inside and shut the door. She clicked on her pen light and began to walk through the apartment. It was a small apartment, like the ones he used to lead her too: two rooms with one bathroom. He had biology books strewn about the table and couch intermixed with charts and other papers. The door to the bedroom was open. She stood at the door listening for any sound to indicate sleep, but there was none.
"He not even here" She grumbled to herself. Parker reached for the nearest light she was about to flick it on, but decided it would be better not to, in case he returned.
She flashed the light around again, this time, more liberally. The light didn't help the sight of the apartment at all. Instead she saw more papers that had fallen onto the floor, the sink was full of dishes and he had a coupled of shirts and a pair of jeans draped across a chair in the bedroom.
"Probably the only clothes he owns." She muttered.
She started to open the drawers and look under the bed, for no particular reason other than she wondered how he actually lived. All the places she had ever seen were neat, tidy and bare except for the 'breadcrumb.' She scanned the trash can, seeing mostly white paper and food wrappers. In the closet were a number of briefcases, none of them unfortunately were the DSAs. They had never been recovered and her father as a result, was never that happy about how Jarod's time at the Centre ended. He only ever wanted the DSAs back, whether or not Jarod was alive was inconsequential.
She walked back to the table and scanned it again. There was a vase of local wildflowers, and the books were open to diagrams of flowers to match. She sat down with a journal she had found the closet and began to read. Parker was in the middle of the first page when the door busted open, and she was the target of two police issued guns.
"FREEZE!!"
"What the hell?" Parker lifted a hand and tried to block the spot light in her face.
"Ma'am you under arrest for breaking and entering and attempted robbery."
"WHAT!?!?"
One of the officers stepped forward and turned on the light. The other grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around, taking out his handcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you..."
"Oh good grief." Parker said to herself. "This is not happening to me. There is *no* way he could have orchestrated this!" She didn't listen to the rest of her rights, because she picked up a shrill voice saying the one thing that she DIDN'T want to hear.
"Jarod! Jarod! I'm so glad you're here!"
Parker didn't hear Jarod's response, but she did hear the lady again.
"I knew you were out because you are always out late on Wednesdays! I *heard* somebody in your apartment and I called the police! I *knew* that somebody shouldn't be in there!!"
Parker was up against the wall, thankful that she didn't bring her gun, when she heard Jarod chuckle, obviously amused at her predicament.
Moments later, he entered the apartment.
"Sir, is this your residence?"
"Yes it is officer. May I ask what the problem is?"
"We got a call about a possible robbery and found this suspect inside."
Miss Parker was so humiliated, that she almost started to resist the arrest to regain some dignity for being blind-sighted by these officers. Instead she just talked back to them.
"Shouldn't you be busting drug dealers or at least taking bribes from them?"
The policeman pushed her against the wall again. "Quiet!"
"If I have the right to stay silent, doesn't that also mean that I have the right to say whatever the fuck I want?"
Jarod's laugh interrupted any further conversation between her and the cop.
"Officer, I happen to know this woman."
"Do you want to press charges?"
"What was she doing when you found her?"
"Reading that notebook sir." The officer pointed to a blue book on the table. Jarod walked over and picked it up. He spent a few moments reading the pages, then looked up .
"She was reading this?"
The officer nodded. Jarod looked at Parker.
"You remember?"
"Of course I remember! For God's sake, let me go Jarod!"
Jarod smirked. "Miss Parker, I've warned you about following me."
The cop holding Parker made an assumption and jerked her around again. "Is this woman stalking you?"
"Me stalking him? He made my life hell for THREE years by calling me in the middle of the night and leaving weird gifts in my house!
Jarod laughed again. "Well officer, we have run into each other a couple of times over the years, but I haven't seen her in a while.
The officers couldn't decide who was actually stalking who. They looked at each other confused by Parker and Jarod's apparent hostile, but tolerant relationship.
"Sir, we need to get going. Are you pressing charges or not?'
"No, no I won't."
The police officer uncuffed her and stepped back.
"Ma'am, please don't try this again." Then the two officers left.
Jarod closed the door slowly and turned back to look at Parker. He was still smirking.
"Shut up Jarod."
Jarod couldn't get rid of the amused look on his face, "So, Miss Parker, what brings you to my side of town?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you were leaving."
"Hmm, and why does that necessitate reading my journals?"
"I wanted to see how much you knew about my life."
"Right.... Well now what? Are you going to stay with me until I leave?"
Parker didn't answer, instead turning around and walking about the room with her arms folded.
"I don't think that works as well without your high heels."
"Jarod, you should be at the Centre!"
"What benefit will that do Parker? You have already left the Centre and found a new life. What will your father say when you bring him back after learning that you have been fooled into thinking that I was dead for two years?"
"Leave my father out of this."
Jarod's voice was getting more worked up as he went on, "Fine. What about your brother? Brigitte? Raines? The tower? The triumvirate? Nobody will like the fact that *you* didn't know that I was still alive. And then they will begin to ask questions, who did know? That will no doubt lead them to Sydney. Do you want him to get into trouble for your ignorance?"
"Ignorance? IGNORANCE???" She was yelling at him now. "Jarod! You fell off a cliff! I saw you do it!"
"Did you do everything you could have? Did you find the body? Did you test how a body would float down the river to see if it was possible that mine *didn't* go underground? Did you ever ask around too see if it really wasn't my first day there?"
He paused and took a breath, then started talking again in a calmer voice, "Come now Parker, you've been at a T-Board, do you really want to sit through another? If you go back, you will never be able to leave, it won't have anything to do with me, no deal will get you out Miss Parker. Daddy will have too much pressure to keep you aboard. You barely got out last time!"
Parker listened to his reasons and saw the validity of all of them. Unfortunately, it would all happen if Jarod was ever found, whether she was the one that brought him in or not.
"Jarod..." She stopped. She looked at him, tried to glare at him, but only succeeding at looking scared.
"Parker, don't worry. The Centre won't know that I am alive. I'll find some mountain and hide out where not even you can run into me."
Parker didn't want to show how scared the situation actually made her so she changed subjects. "Did you ever find your family?"
"No. I know my father has contacts at the Centre. He has no doubt heard that I am supposedly dead. My last clue is 18 months old. I was close at one point, I was only a week or so behind Emily and my mother, but I've lost them too.
"I'm sorry Jarod."
"How about your family?"
"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I followed your life for a while after New Mexico," He picked up the blue journal which she had been reading. "But, as you will read on the last page, I decided that I needed to get away from your life. I couldn't help how I wanted to. My reappearance would have messed up things further. I finally decided to listen to what you kept telling me, it was your life and I decided to let you live it."
"Remarkable."
"That's what I specialize in."
"It's remarkable that you finally got out of my life, and now, HERE you are! Well Jarod, you tell me. What *should* I do right now?"
"Since when do you ask for my advice?"
"No answer? Interesting, because how I see it, we are in a situation that needs your 'specialization' to get us out.. You are supposed to be dead, and therefore trying to avoid all Centre employees, past and present, yet I find you teaching Biology at some high school as Mr. Eft." Her tirade got off
track when she thought of an irrelevant question, "Where the hell did that name come from anyway?"
"It's Middle English for newt. The 'f' sound changed to 'w' about the time of..."
Parker held up a hand and cut him off there. "Forget I asked. The point is, I wasn't even looking for you, and you showed up. That means that it's possible that you can run into a loyal Centre employee eventually. So what should we do right now?"
Jarod ran a hand through his hair and finally took off his jacket. He draped it over a chair and walked over to the refrigerator. He thought about questioning her choice of words, >Does that mean your not loyal anymore Parker? but then decided against it.
"Do you want anything Parker?"
"Vodka, and lots of it."
"I thought you gave up drinking."
"I did. But then again, I thought you were dead." She snapped.
"Point taken. I don't have anything to drink here, but I can go run and get something."
"Is not worth it. If you leave you won't be back." She waved a hand at him, trying to think.
"Isn't that what you want?"
Parker looked up at him, unclear about what he meant. "Isn't what I want?"
"Don't you want me to leave tonight?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then why, Miss Parker, don't you want me to leave now and disappear into the night?"
"That's not what I meant."
Jarod looked at Miss Parker, obviously puzzled. He poured himself some orange juice and fell into the couch. He made an "oooff"" sound, signaling his exhaustion.
Parker sat at the table and began to leaf though the journals again. "Where have you been all night?"
"I work at the hospital, helping with whatever is needed, lab work, seeing patients..."
"Odd hours" Parker was half listening to him.
"Well, the teaching only takes up 9 hours of my day. I needed something else to do. I volunteer my time so they let me come in and work when I can."
She turned a page in the journal grazing some pages, and intently reading others. She looked over at Jarod. He was sitting, orange juice still in hand, with his eyes closed, waiting for her to do something.
"You look like you should get some sleep." Parker looked at her watch. It was 3 am.
"I'm fine" He replied, not moving. "Shouldn't you be slipping back into your house before the sweepers wake up Parker?"
"Mmm"
"Take the journal Parker, it's all letters I wrote to you anyway. You might as well have it."
"Uhh huh Thanks." She read some more. When she first started reading, she stumbled over the code, but now after a bit of practice, she was reading it at a fast pace. They were all letters to her, telling her why he set up his death, why he hung around anonymously helping her, and why he finally stopped.
"I wish you would have told me."
He calmly took a sip of orange juice, "Why?"
"Why? Jarod, you pretended to kill your self! I have the right to know if you are dead or alive!"
"Why?"
Because you are my friend her mind said. Outloud she said nothing, and instead looked back at the book in front of her. She finally spoke after a few more minutes.
"Do you know what you are going to do now Jarod?"
"Do you know how many times I've been asked that question? I've heard it after about 80% of my pretends."
"And?"
"And I still don't have an answer. I don't have a job, I don't have family, and I don't have a home. Do you have any of those Parker?" He opened his eyes and rolled his head to look at her.
"I have a job, I like what I do, but I hate the people. They make the sweepers at the Centre look like Einstein. At least at the Centre I could carry my gun daily. I haven't loved anybody since Thomas died, I live alone in a sparse apartment, and my family? Do you really want to know? Last thing I heard, Brigitte divorced my father and married Lyle."
Jarod laughed. He laughed because all in all, nothing had changed like he had hoped it would.
"I truly believed, Parker, I believed that your life would be better without me in it."
"Jarod what are you drinking? Are you admitting you were wrong?"
Jarod chuckled. "I've been wrong before Parker."
"Never with my life."
He shifted his body turning fully toward her. He looked at her, head slightly tilted with one eyebrow raised.
"What? You've never admitted that you were wrong when it came to controlling my life."
"Uh huh"
Parker knew that she had slipped up for a second time, and attributed it to stress and simply being tired. Jarod leaned back against the couch, once again closing his eyes.
"Here is what you will do Parker. You will give me a hug goodbye then go back to your house, waving hi to the sweepers as you walk past them. You'll go into your house, take a bath and go to work on time. After work you will call Sydney, apologize for whatever you said to him about him knowing that I am alive and ask him how he is doing. Tell him that I'm fine. After you talk to Sydney, you will call Broots. Talk to him for awhile, and then chat with Debbie. Maybe make plans to see her. You will call them every week. I bet that they are still the best friends you have in your life." He took a deep breath. "Meanwhile, I will pack up and leave. I'll be gone before you even get home. You will never say that you saw me, and that, Miss Parker, is what you will do."
"Sounds simple enough."
"You deserve simple." He looked at her sincerely.
"You deserve simple as well."
He leaned his head back again, thinking if his life had ever been simple.
"I barely even know what simple looks like Miss Parker."
"Then how can you prescribe to me the simple life?" She raised an eyebrow.
Jarod laughed. "I've missed arguing with you Parker, you always were the best." He yawned, then finished his orange juice.
Parker looked at her watch again. "I'm leaving now." She stood up holding the notebook. She walked toward the door with her back towards Jarod.
He stood up as well, and set the glass down. As he walked to the door, he grabbed a flower from a vase. Parker put her hand on the knob and was about to turn it when Jarod spoke.
"Parker?"
She kept her hand on the knob, but faced him. "What?"
He hesitantly leaned forward, looking at her directly in the eyes, "It was nice seeing you again." Then he gently kissed her.
Parker closed her eyes, and parted her mouth the deepen the kiss. Her hand finally came off the doorknob and moved up to stroke his face. Jarod pulled his head back and looked at her. He put his hand over hers, and gentle brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers.
"I thought you said you'd hug me."
"I said that *you* would hug me. I didn't say what I would do."
She stood still, her hand in his, arguing with herself.
Why do you have to leave? Because I need to That's not an answer I can't stay, this is Jarod! Right! This is Jarod! He's been your one and only friend! He's being chased! I'm chasing him! No your not, You are free from the Centre. Disappear with him! I can't disappear, they will know! He can and will protect you!
Jarod watched her, knowing what she was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing, Ask her to go with you She won't accept Yes she will, you love her and she loves you!Oh Crap he thought.
"Jarod, this will work if one thing happens... You tell me how you did it."
Jarod grinned and kept on walking backwards to ward off her intimidating advance.
"Ahh Miss Parker, a magician never revels his secrets."
"You are no magician Jarod."
"I'm not?" He reached out his arm and stoked her hair. He followed the strands to the ends and then reached back to do it again. The second time his hand came down, there was a flower in it. He smiled and held it out for her.
Parker's face changed from the frozen mask to a smile. She tired to hold it back, but when Jarod's smile grew to a big grin, she broke. She reached out for the flower.
"Ok boy wonder, you are a magician."
"And I'll make us disappear. I promise."
~~~~~
Sydney entered his house and took off his jacket. He had had a hard day and was ready to forget basically the past 30 years of his life. Miss Parker disappeared from the Centre trackers three months ago, and it was his job to find her. >The Centre just can’t let go He signed to himself.
Sydney always felt that Jarod’s talents were better used in the pursuit of science, and still had feelings that Jarod should have remained at the Centre, but only because the Centre’s facilities were the best. Yet also knew that Jarod should never return to the Centre because he deserved to live his own life. However he had no such conflicting feelings about letting Miss Parker go. He knew that it was the best thing for her to leave.
Sydney walked in to his home office and turned on some music. He sat down at his desk, planning to just let the music take away his tension. Directly in front of him on the desk was a box. Sydney smiled. On top of the box was a card, addressed to him – in Jarod’s handwriting. He had not heard from or seen Jarod since the day he found the pretender in the empty summer cottage.
When he opened the card, he was shocked to see that the cover was a picture of Jarod and Miss Parker. They were smiling and toasting their glasses towards the camera. Sydney felt as though they were looking directly at him. Inside was a short note written by Jarod:
"We hope that you walk far away from the Centre during your retirement."
Sydney’s smile got even bigger as he thought about Jarod and Parker together again. The cycle has started over again: it was them versus every body else, then them versus each other, and now they were together again.
He propped up card so that he could see their picture, and studied the box. There was nothing special about it. Nestled inside the box was a pair of loafers. He carefully picked one up and studied it. It was completely handmade – the stitches were less complicated than machine made shoes, and of course there were no tags inside the shoe. The leather was a dark brown and very soft. Underneath, etched in Jarod’s handwriting was, "To Sydney, from your elf."
Knowing Jarod, the shoes would be a perfect fit. He took off his other shoes and put the new ones on. When laced and tied, Sydney thought that they were the most comfortable pair of shoes he had ever worn.
He looked at the picture of the smiling couple and gave a salutary nod.
"Thank you Jarod."
Sydney jumped when the phone rang right after he finished speaking. He thought that it might be Jarod, and wanted desperately to talk to the young protégé, but he answered his phone in the normal calm fashion.
"This is Sydney."
"Sydney? Good. I heard from my Angel today. She says she’s fine, but she won’t have me looking for her. Stubborn girl. However, she said that she’ll visit me once a year if you are allowed to retire." Mr. Parker spoke quickly as though he resented people not knowing what he was talking about.
Sydney had worked with Mr. Parker long enough to know when the old chairman allowed comments or not.
"Oh?" He tried to sound surprised.
"Yes, yes. So Sydney, I made the deal, your work with Jarod was a big contribution to this corporation , and you deserve to be rewarded. We’ll find somebody to take over your current project, Raines will surely want some of it. Goodbye Sydney. I Suggest you come in tonight I remove anything personal before the cleaners come in." Mr. Parker hung up, not giving Sydney a chance to respond.
"My" He looked at the phone in his hand, surprised at the turn of events. He looked back at the picture of Jarod and Parker. "Jarod, Parker, good luck, and keep in touch."
Sydney grabbed his jacket and put it on while exiting his home. Then he went back to the Centre, for one last time, still wearing his new pair of shoes.
~~~~
The End
Questions, comments, concerns?? Email me!
This is a story that I started a while ago. I posted the first part but then didn't do anything with it because I didn't have any ideas. That is until Alieta emailed me and convinced me that to write some more. So thanks to Alieta for taking interest in the completion of this story!
Por Gables
~~~~~
An empty ally
Boston
"Stop Jarod or I'll Shoot!"
"You won't shoot me Miss Parker" He said raising his hands.
"Don't be so sure about that, this time Sydney isn't here to deflect the gun."
"If I was gone, your life wouldn't be nearly as fun" Jarod took a few steps to the building on his left.
"Don't move Jarod!" He reached the wall and leaned his back against a door.
"I said, don't move! You're wrong, my life would be much easier if you were *out* of it."
"Are you sure of that?" He quickly dropped his hand and turned the knob of the door, entering and closing the door in one swift movement. A bullet flew through the door as he jimmied a chair under the knob, thus giving him time to escape, again.
~~~~
Near a Small Canyon in New Mexico
15 days later.
"Jarod!" Miss Parker was yelling at Jarod again. He took off running, looking very panicked, running blindly.
Ten minutes later Jarod was still running, being chased by Parker, Sydney, and Broots on foot, and a car or two behind them. When he turned back to look at his pursuers, he tripped over a rock.
"JAROD!" Sydney and Parker yelled at the same time, then they watched as he fell over the edge of the cliff. They stopped and looked at each other.
"He did see the cliff didn't he?" She asked.
"How could he not?" Sydney replied.
"May...maybe he didn't know the area well enough, by uh my estimates he only arrived in uh town las...uh last night. He was just passing thorough." Broots mumbled behind them.
Parker shot him a glance and ran over to the side of the cliff. She leaned over and saw the body hit the water and float down the river, a trail of blood turning the water red. The river tuned a corner and she turned away from the cliff. A black car pulled up and she jumped in, ordering the car to follow the edge of the cliff.
Eight minutes later the car arrived at a landing point at the base of the cliff. A ranger's car had just arrived and he was just exiting the car.
Miss Parker ran to the edge of the water. The ranger, sensing her distraught, ran down with her.
"Did you see... see a body float down?"
"A body? No I just arrived, someone's in the river?"
"A friend of ours tripped while up on that cliff" she pointed. "He fell over the edge, any way he could have survived?"
"I doubt it, at the bottom of that cliff is a shallow and rocky bottom. But I don't know if we'll see the body past us, the river goes two ways just at that bend, part goes underground, and part above it."
Miss Parker stepped out of the muddy banks, not even realizing that her shoes were destroyed. She was in a total state of shock. She looked over at Sydney.
"He's dead? Sydney?" She sounded like a little girl. "How could your genius miss that cliff?"
"We were lucky that that waitress saw his road map, we caught up with him early. Just like Broots said, he didn't know the terrain."
"But Sydney, Jarod doesn't make mistakes like missing a *CLIFF*"
"He only knows what he has learned Miss Parker."
"And we'll probably never find his body." She turned back to the river yelling, "JAROD YOU WOULD DIE LIKE THIS!!!"
The ranger, who was on his radio reporting the incident looked at her. >Must have been more than friends he thought to himself, and then continued talking to the dispatch.
~~~~~
Miss Parker's Home
1 week later
9:00 pm
Miss Parker answered the door. She wore her pajamas and robe around them.
"Hello Sydney."
"Hello Miss Parker. I wanted to check on you. How is your.. uhh sabbatical going?"
"It's not a sabbatical Sydney. The Jarod situation is taken care of, therefore I am leaving the Centre. Permanently."
Sydney frowned. He did not like her phrase, 'the Jarod situation.' He could tell that she wanted to mourn, but part of herself would not allow it.
"Would you like to talk about it Miss Parker?"
Miss Parker swung open the door, giving Sydney about as much of an invitation as he would get to enter her house. She walked over to her couch and sat down, pulling her feet up.
"I don't know why I'm sad Sydney. He is the reason that my life has been such a hell."
"And now that he's gone, you realized that he was not the source of all your problems." Sydney sat down in a chair facing her, trying not to look too much like a psychiatrist.
"No, that's just it Sydney. My life *has* gotten better. I finally found a competent maid who doesn't snoop, my car stopped acting weird, my roof doesn't leak anymore and for once the grocery boy actually delivered *exactly* what I asked for!"
"So you feel guilty that you are surviving?"
"Remember about a month ago, when we were in Boston chasing him and I cornered him in the ally? He said that I wouldn't shoot because if I did, my life wouldn't be as much fun. Then I told him that my life would be *much* easier if he was out of it. And the last thing he said to me was, 'Are you sure about that?' Then he got away."
"hmm." Miss Parker's story added to Sydney had a nagging suspicion about Jarod's recent behavior.. something didn't add up. He agreed with Miss Parker, Jarod should *not* have missed seeing a cliff.
"Tell me Miss Parker, are you still surrounded by summer homes?"
"Yes why?"
"I think I'll go and take a walk"
"It's 9 o'clock at night Sydney. Where the hell do you think you are going?"
"Your mother and I used to walk about the area. We held many informal sessions that way, far from the Centre's ears. Goodnight Miss Parker. Sleep well." Sydney got up and let himself out.
On the porch he sighed and thrust his hands into his pockets. She doesn't see the connection. She accepts his death as an accident, just like she accepted her mother's death as a suicide. he thought. Sydney stepped off the porch and began to walk up the road. He didn't remember as many houses, but a few looked familiar. He walked up to and peered into every house. All the houses within sight of Miss Parker's were empty, and the next seven or so after that were dark as well. At the end of the lane, Sydney saw a light in the window. Sydney knew he had found it. There was no reason that anybody, especially Miss Parker, would see that this house was occupied. It was at the end of the road, and in back of a grove of trees. No light could be seen from the road.
He walked up the steps and opened the door without an invitation. The cabin was small. It had two rooms: a bathroom in one corner and an open living room -- one corner was the kitchen, one corner was the dining table, and in the fourth corner sat a bed with Jarod dozing on top, a book open on his chest.
Jarod opened his eyes when Sydney closed the door.
"Jarod" Sydney stated in a stern tone.
"Hello Sydney. What do I owe the pleasure?"
"Jarod, what do you think you are doing? You are supposed to be dead!"
"I'm making a wish come true."
"So you *are* responsible for Miss Parker's sudden leap in good luck"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Why did you do it Jarod, do you realize what you have done to her?"
"Miss Parker's life is better now that I'm dead. She's free from the Centre, will never have car trouble again, and in a couple of weeks she'll have her new life set up."
"Do you honestly think that it's that simple? This is not a sim Jarod, this is real life."
"What? I never simmed real life before? I know what I'm doing Sydney."
"What are you trying to prove Jarod? That she needs you? That she doesn't?"
Jarod tried to speak but Sydney held up a hand. "She is confused Jarod. She wants to mourn, but won't let herself, and you *not* being dead doesn't help her. So decided Jarod, come back from the dead or take off completely. You can't spend the rest of your life as the shoemaker's elves."
"Elves? Syd..."
"No Jarod, you must choose by tomorrow, because I'll be back, and if you haven't decided, then I'm calling the Centre. Goodbye Jarod."
Jarod lay his head back on the pillow. His plan was so simple. If he died, then he could continue to help her, but she wouldn't feel guilty about accepting his help.
He thought back to his "Accidental Death."
~~~~~ Flashback Scene ~~~~~ Flashback Scene ~~~~~
Near a Small Canyon in New Mexico
He took off running, acting more panicked then he actually was. He appeared to be running blindly. He counted his steps and on number 27, he turned back to look at his pursuers. His foot caught at the rock he had tripped on, over and over again in practice.
Jarod fell over the cliff and reached out his arms. There he caught the trapeze bar that he had bolted into the under side of the cantilever cliff. He swung right into a small cave. He hung the bar on a small hook on top of the mouth and reached for a dummy.
He knew he had 5 seconds before Parker would reach the edge. The dummy weighted about one and a half times as much as he did, to make up some time in the fall. It wore the same clothes, and underneath were small packets of his own blood. They would break on impact, and if the Centre somehow managed to collect a sample, they would find that it *was* his blood.
He threw the body down into the river and quietly took out the bolts of his swing with long arm pliers. The Centre employees were too shocked to hear any noise that might have come from the process.
His next step was to set up the false door. He had designed a covering for the cave so that when the Centre cleaners look up at the cliff, they would not be able to see the cave. (they would not be social with the local law enforcement to hear that there should be a cave underneath the cliff). The cover was made out of a breathable material, so that he got fresh air, yet it was also sturdy enough that someone could repel off of it like any other rock face. Jarod could stay in that cave for three weeks if need be, but the Centre gave up after one. He had listening devices and cameras along the top of the cliff and the hotel rooms that he knew each member would get. (It was a small town after all) He knew exactly when they left.
The body never would be found. He had a friend waiting in a canoe just around the river bend. His friend picked the body out of the water and hauled it over to his car that was parked at the same spot where Miss Parker met the ranger. The friend had the canoe and dummy loaded in four minutes. Then he pulled out and drove down the road disappearing in a minute down a hill.
Two minutes after that the ranger showed up, erasing any tracks made in haste, and seconds after that Miss Parker and company arrived.
~~~~~
It really had been easy. Jarod hung out in the cave for a week, meditating and then moved up into the house by Miss Parker's. He enjoyed the vacation, doing small fix-it chores on her house during the day when she went out and working on her car at night when she slept.
Jarod couldn't go back to sleep so he went online to check out any reference to "shoemaker's elves."
~~~~~
2 years later
St Louis, MO
The signature heals clicked along the school hallway.
"Our classrooms have the best technology that ..."
She was being lead on a tour of the school, and not caring about any of the information given. She already knew it from the files.
"We have tremendous parent support..."
She hated these tours, but they were required for her job on the board of education. This was her third job in the department of education, and also the third state she had lived in since leaving the Centre. She occasionally talked to Sydney but she never to Broots anymore, which really did disappoint her because that meant she never saw Debbie either.
Finally she had enough of the principal's inane tour. She stopped and turned to the woman and spoke in her most intimidating voice, "If you have such excellent relationships with the union and the parents association, then why did this strike ever happen? Your negotiations should have gone smoothly, yet here I am assessing the education that these kids are receiving while their normal teachers are on strike. Tell me, why is it taking so long?"
The principal didn't have an answer for that and Parker knew why - the relationship between the teachers and the administration, in reality, was full of distrust and petty disputes.
"The kids are still receiving a quality education." The principal started walking again, so Parker continued with her, "We brought in substitutes to do teach, and they are all excellent teachers, especially Mr. Eft. He's the substitute biology teacher. The kids really love him, better than their own teacher in fact."
The principal led the way to the biology lab. "He has done more hands-on experiments with the kids in these three weeks than were planned for the whole semester. I don't know where he gets the materials but he insists that he doesn't mind funding the classroom."
The principal held open the door and Parker walked into the lab. The teacher was giving directions for their lab that day.
"Next you are going to...." He stopped when he saw her enter the room, his hand stationary in the air pointing to his prop. When he stopped the entire class looked over at who had entered the door. Everybody was silent, looking back and forth between the two, wondering what was going on.
She was stunned. It was him alright, it was Jarod standing there in the flesh. She couldn't contain her surprise and backed up a step, almost tripping over a backpack.
Jarod couldn't believe his luck. He hadn't seen here in over a year, he had determinedly stopped checking up on her so that he could move on.
"Jarod?!?" She managed to squeak.
"Oh do you know Mr. Eft, Ms. Gates?" asked the principal.
"Ms. Gates? I should have guessed." Jarod kicked himself for not digging in deeper when looking over the school board. 'P. Gates' had a substantial record and was often praised, but there was no mention of personal details or a picture -- not even a first name. "Hiding your first name again P. Gates?"
Parker forced herself to regain control when she saw him so calm. Then she realized that the principal and the entire class were staring at the two of them.
"Yes, Mr. Uhh Eft and I are old associates, but we lost contact. One day he just fell off the side of the earth. I haven't seen him since. He might as well have been dead." Parker tilted her head and smiled.
Jarod made a small laugh and looked at the principal, "Yes Ms. Gates and I go waaay back, but no matter where I go, she does seem to follow." He gave his own smile.
The principal knew that this was beyond an awkward meeting, figuring that they were more then casual 'associates' but decided that it was not her business.
"Ms. Gates, why don't we continue and let Mr. Eft teach his class, after school you are free to ask any of the teachers any questions you like."
"Sure, great idea" Parker said still staring at Jarod.
Parker put him out of her mind as she walked away, doing the job she came for.
~~~~~
She returned to the bio classroom after school. When she entered, Jarod was working with a student, diligently going over the diagrams in front of them. He didn't look up until she was a few feet away from his desk.
"Jason, It looks like my next appointment has arrived. I think that you know what you are doing, but if you have anymore questions, find me tomorrow."
"Thank you Mr. Eft." The boy looked at Miss Parker then back to Jarod. He grinned at his teacher and then left.
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Well you could have at least told me."
"Parker, it is not my job to test your loyalty to the Centre. I didn't want to put you in that situation."
"I like it here Jarod, I really do, and once again you have messed up my life by showing up."
"Look, I'll leave and never come back to St. Louis, I'll never come back to Missouri."
"That's not good enough. I have no doubt that the Centre is still tracking my movements, and they will know that I came here, and met you."
"They won't know anything."
She didn't look convinced. "Who else knows you're not dead?"
"Sydney."
"I should have known you'd never be able to cut the cord."
"Actually, I haven't talked to him since a week after New Mexico."
"A week? He came over to my house and talked to me."
"I know"
"How?"
"He found me."
"Son of a bitch, you were spying on me?"
"No, just helping out."
Parker nodded, remembering how everything in her house had suddenly fixed itself.
"Alright, I'm staying, but you are leaving now." Miss Parker decided that the sooner Jarod left, the better the chance that the Centre didn't know he was alive. However, she didn't see the principal enter the lab in time to hear that last comment.
"You're leaving Mr. Eft?"
Jarod and Parker looked at the principal. Then they looked at each other.
"Yes I am, I told you that I would only be staying until the strike is over, and with Ms. Gates here, I know that the arguments will be settled quickly."
"Mr. Eft, I was actually coming here to offer you a full time position. You are the best biology teacher we have ever had, and I would be a fool to let you leave."
Jarod looked over at Miss Parker. He probably would have taken the offer if she hadn't found him. Parker spoke before Jarod did.
"I know Jarod, he wouldn't be happy sitting in one place for too long. I don't think that he will be able to accept your offer."
The principal looked sadly at Jarod and watched him nod his head.
"She's right. I won't be back tomorrow. Tell the students that it was time for me to leave."
The principal walked a bit closer and turned away from Parker
"Are you in some kind of trouble, Jarod?" She half whispered.
Jarod laughed and stood up. He walked around the desk and stood next to Parker.
"No, don't worry about me."
The principal eyed them suspiciously but she had no other course of action. When the principal left, Parker stepped away from Jarod.
"Get your stuff and leave." She started to walk away.
"Parker?" Jarod called out. She stopped at turned toward him. "It was nice to see you again."
Parker turned back around and walked out quickly so that he would not see her tears. She didn't know if they were tears of happiness that he was alive, anger because he lied to her, or sadness that she was going to lose him once more.
~~~~~
Restaurant
"Parker, what's the matter?"
Parker looked at the man across from her. His name was Kurt. He was a lawyer, and a workaholic like herself. He was that same type of man that she had always dated: tall, handsome with dark hair, an athletic build, and a great smile. Unfortunately, also like the other guys she had dated, he tended to be vain and a bit egotistical. She met Kurt a couple of months ago at a function of some sort, and had agreed to go out with him mainly because she was lonely. Of course it didn't hurt that he took her to good restaurants.
"Huh?"
"I asked you, 'What's wrong'?"
"Oh nothing."
"How was the meeting at the school? Did you find anything interesting?"
Hell yeah "Oh no, the principal, surprise, is inept at keeping the teachers happy."
Kurt began talking about his day, but she didn't listen. She had flicked the switch inside her personality to turn on her emotionless Ice Queen mode. Otherwise, she would be taking out her anger on every poor sole that came within ten feet. As it was she had already snapped at the mailman and the busboy since leaving the school.
When Kurt dropped her off, she gave him a kiss on the cheek to get rid of him quickly. When the car was out of sight, Parker walked down the street to a phone booth. She dialed Sydney's number. It was a safe line that Broots had set up, which was good because she had some yelling to do, and couldn't do it slyly.
"This is Sydney"
"Sydney! Why didn't you tell me that Jarod was alive!"
"Excuse me?"
"YOUR LAB RAT!" She hissed. "He's A L I V E."
"Oh really?" he tried to sound nonchalant.
"Yes! Why in the *hell* didn't you tell me!???"
"I didn't think it was necessary. You had already started to mourn, I saw no reason not to let him follow though with his plan and save grief. Might I enquire how he is doing?"
"He's breathing... for right now."
"Are you going to contact the Centre?"
"I should bring that deceiving bastard in."
"Sounds like either way you will be talking to him again."
Parker hung up the phone disgusted.
"Bye Miss Parker." Sydney said to the dial tone.
~~~~~
Parker snuck out of her house at about 1:40am. The late time was half due to the secrecy she needed to ditch the Centre watchers (since she was once in security, she knew what type of measures they would use to cover her, and also how to elude them) and half because she wanted to be the one who woke
up Jarod for once.
Getting Jarod's temporary address proved to be no problem. The principal gave it to her with a wink. It was a half hour run away, but she didn't mind. It gave her time to expel the emotions she was feeling and think about what she wanted to tell him.
She walked around the back of the complex and scouted out his window. It was dark. Parker grinned to herself and entered the building.
~~~~~
Jarod's Door
The hallway was empty when she arrived. She waited a few seconds listening for any sounds, and when there was none, she pulled out her lock pick kit and began to fidget with the lock.
The door was open within a minute and Parker quietly stepped inside and shut the door. She clicked on her pen light and began to walk through the apartment. It was a small apartment, like the ones he used to lead her too: two rooms with one bathroom. He had biology books strewn about the table and couch intermixed with charts and other papers. The door to the bedroom was open. She stood at the door listening for any sound to indicate sleep, but there was none.
"He not even here" She grumbled to herself. Parker reached for the nearest light she was about to flick it on, but decided it would be better not to, in case he returned.
She flashed the light around again, this time, more liberally. The light didn't help the sight of the apartment at all. Instead she saw more papers that had fallen onto the floor, the sink was full of dishes and he had a coupled of shirts and a pair of jeans draped across a chair in the bedroom.
"Probably the only clothes he owns." She muttered.
She started to open the drawers and look under the bed, for no particular reason other than she wondered how he actually lived. All the places she had ever seen were neat, tidy and bare except for the 'breadcrumb.' She scanned the trash can, seeing mostly white paper and food wrappers. In the closet were a number of briefcases, none of them unfortunately were the DSAs. They had never been recovered and her father as a result, was never that happy about how Jarod's time at the Centre ended. He only ever wanted the DSAs back, whether or not Jarod was alive was inconsequential.
She walked back to the table and scanned it again. There was a vase of local wildflowers, and the books were open to diagrams of flowers to match. She sat down with a journal she had found the closet and began to read. Parker was in the middle of the first page when the door busted open, and she was the target of two police issued guns.
"FREEZE!!"
"What the hell?" Parker lifted a hand and tried to block the spot light in her face.
"Ma'am you under arrest for breaking and entering and attempted robbery."
"WHAT!?!?"
One of the officers stepped forward and turned on the light. The other grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around, taking out his handcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you..."
"Oh good grief." Parker said to herself. "This is not happening to me. There is *no* way he could have orchestrated this!" She didn't listen to the rest of her rights, because she picked up a shrill voice saying the one thing that she DIDN'T want to hear.
"Jarod! Jarod! I'm so glad you're here!"
Parker didn't hear Jarod's response, but she did hear the lady again.
"I knew you were out because you are always out late on Wednesdays! I *heard* somebody in your apartment and I called the police! I *knew* that somebody shouldn't be in there!!"
Parker was up against the wall, thankful that she didn't bring her gun, when she heard Jarod chuckle, obviously amused at her predicament.
Moments later, he entered the apartment.
"Sir, is this your residence?"
"Yes it is officer. May I ask what the problem is?"
"We got a call about a possible robbery and found this suspect inside."
Miss Parker was so humiliated, that she almost started to resist the arrest to regain some dignity for being blind-sighted by these officers. Instead she just talked back to them.
"Shouldn't you be busting drug dealers or at least taking bribes from them?"
The policeman pushed her against the wall again. "Quiet!"
"If I have the right to stay silent, doesn't that also mean that I have the right to say whatever the fuck I want?"
Jarod's laugh interrupted any further conversation between her and the cop.
"Officer, I happen to know this woman."
"Do you want to press charges?"
"What was she doing when you found her?"
"Reading that notebook sir." The officer pointed to a blue book on the table. Jarod walked over and picked it up. He spent a few moments reading the pages, then looked up .
"She was reading this?"
The officer nodded. Jarod looked at Parker.
"You remember?"
"Of course I remember! For God's sake, let me go Jarod!"
Jarod smirked. "Miss Parker, I've warned you about following me."
The cop holding Parker made an assumption and jerked her around again. "Is this woman stalking you?"
"Me stalking him? He made my life hell for THREE years by calling me in the middle of the night and leaving weird gifts in my house!
Jarod laughed again. "Well officer, we have run into each other a couple of times over the years, but I haven't seen her in a while.
The officers couldn't decide who was actually stalking who. They looked at each other confused by Parker and Jarod's apparent hostile, but tolerant relationship.
"Sir, we need to get going. Are you pressing charges or not?'
"No, no I won't."
The police officer uncuffed her and stepped back.
"Ma'am, please don't try this again." Then the two officers left.
Jarod closed the door slowly and turned back to look at Parker. He was still smirking.
"Shut up Jarod."
Jarod couldn't get rid of the amused look on his face, "So, Miss Parker, what brings you to my side of town?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you were leaving."
"Hmm, and why does that necessitate reading my journals?"
"I wanted to see how much you knew about my life."
"Right.... Well now what? Are you going to stay with me until I leave?"
Parker didn't answer, instead turning around and walking about the room with her arms folded.
"I don't think that works as well without your high heels."
"Jarod, you should be at the Centre!"
"What benefit will that do Parker? You have already left the Centre and found a new life. What will your father say when you bring him back after learning that you have been fooled into thinking that I was dead for two years?"
"Leave my father out of this."
Jarod's voice was getting more worked up as he went on, "Fine. What about your brother? Brigitte? Raines? The tower? The triumvirate? Nobody will like the fact that *you* didn't know that I was still alive. And then they will begin to ask questions, who did know? That will no doubt lead them to Sydney. Do you want him to get into trouble for your ignorance?"
"Ignorance? IGNORANCE???" She was yelling at him now. "Jarod! You fell off a cliff! I saw you do it!"
"Did you do everything you could have? Did you find the body? Did you test how a body would float down the river to see if it was possible that mine *didn't* go underground? Did you ever ask around too see if it really wasn't my first day there?"
He paused and took a breath, then started talking again in a calmer voice, "Come now Parker, you've been at a T-Board, do you really want to sit through another? If you go back, you will never be able to leave, it won't have anything to do with me, no deal will get you out Miss Parker. Daddy will have too much pressure to keep you aboard. You barely got out last time!"
Parker listened to his reasons and saw the validity of all of them. Unfortunately, it would all happen if Jarod was ever found, whether she was the one that brought him in or not.
"Jarod..." She stopped. She looked at him, tried to glare at him, but only succeeding at looking scared.
"Parker, don't worry. The Centre won't know that I am alive. I'll find some mountain and hide out where not even you can run into me."
Parker didn't want to show how scared the situation actually made her so she changed subjects. "Did you ever find your family?"
"No. I know my father has contacts at the Centre. He has no doubt heard that I am supposedly dead. My last clue is 18 months old. I was close at one point, I was only a week or so behind Emily and my mother, but I've lost them too.
"I'm sorry Jarod."
"How about your family?"
"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I followed your life for a while after New Mexico," He picked up the blue journal which she had been reading. "But, as you will read on the last page, I decided that I needed to get away from your life. I couldn't help how I wanted to. My reappearance would have messed up things further. I finally decided to listen to what you kept telling me, it was your life and I decided to let you live it."
"Remarkable."
"That's what I specialize in."
"It's remarkable that you finally got out of my life, and now, HERE you are! Well Jarod, you tell me. What *should* I do right now?"
"Since when do you ask for my advice?"
"No answer? Interesting, because how I see it, we are in a situation that needs your 'specialization' to get us out.. You are supposed to be dead, and therefore trying to avoid all Centre employees, past and present, yet I find you teaching Biology at some high school as Mr. Eft." Her tirade got off
track when she thought of an irrelevant question, "Where the hell did that name come from anyway?"
"It's Middle English for newt. The 'f' sound changed to 'w' about the time of..."
Parker held up a hand and cut him off there. "Forget I asked. The point is, I wasn't even looking for you, and you showed up. That means that it's possible that you can run into a loyal Centre employee eventually. So what should we do right now?"
Jarod ran a hand through his hair and finally took off his jacket. He draped it over a chair and walked over to the refrigerator. He thought about questioning her choice of words, >Does that mean your not loyal anymore Parker? but then decided against it.
"Do you want anything Parker?"
"Vodka, and lots of it."
"I thought you gave up drinking."
"I did. But then again, I thought you were dead." She snapped.
"Point taken. I don't have anything to drink here, but I can go run and get something."
"Is not worth it. If you leave you won't be back." She waved a hand at him, trying to think.
"Isn't that what you want?"
Parker looked up at him, unclear about what he meant. "Isn't what I want?"
"Don't you want me to leave tonight?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then why, Miss Parker, don't you want me to leave now and disappear into the night?"
"That's not what I meant."
Jarod looked at Miss Parker, obviously puzzled. He poured himself some orange juice and fell into the couch. He made an "oooff"" sound, signaling his exhaustion.
Parker sat at the table and began to leaf though the journals again. "Where have you been all night?"
"I work at the hospital, helping with whatever is needed, lab work, seeing patients..."
"Odd hours" Parker was half listening to him.
"Well, the teaching only takes up 9 hours of my day. I needed something else to do. I volunteer my time so they let me come in and work when I can."
She turned a page in the journal grazing some pages, and intently reading others. She looked over at Jarod. He was sitting, orange juice still in hand, with his eyes closed, waiting for her to do something.
"You look like you should get some sleep." Parker looked at her watch. It was 3 am.
"I'm fine" He replied, not moving. "Shouldn't you be slipping back into your house before the sweepers wake up Parker?"
"Mmm"
"Take the journal Parker, it's all letters I wrote to you anyway. You might as well have it."
"Uhh huh Thanks." She read some more. When she first started reading, she stumbled over the code, but now after a bit of practice, she was reading it at a fast pace. They were all letters to her, telling her why he set up his death, why he hung around anonymously helping her, and why he finally stopped.
"I wish you would have told me."
He calmly took a sip of orange juice, "Why?"
"Why? Jarod, you pretended to kill your self! I have the right to know if you are dead or alive!"
"Why?"
Because you are my friend her mind said. Outloud she said nothing, and instead looked back at the book in front of her. She finally spoke after a few more minutes.
"Do you know what you are going to do now Jarod?"
"Do you know how many times I've been asked that question? I've heard it after about 80% of my pretends."
"And?"
"And I still don't have an answer. I don't have a job, I don't have family, and I don't have a home. Do you have any of those Parker?" He opened his eyes and rolled his head to look at her.
"I have a job, I like what I do, but I hate the people. They make the sweepers at the Centre look like Einstein. At least at the Centre I could carry my gun daily. I haven't loved anybody since Thomas died, I live alone in a sparse apartment, and my family? Do you really want to know? Last thing I heard, Brigitte divorced my father and married Lyle."
Jarod laughed. He laughed because all in all, nothing had changed like he had hoped it would.
"I truly believed, Parker, I believed that your life would be better without me in it."
"Jarod what are you drinking? Are you admitting you were wrong?"
Jarod chuckled. "I've been wrong before Parker."
"Never with my life."
He shifted his body turning fully toward her. He looked at her, head slightly tilted with one eyebrow raised.
"What? You've never admitted that you were wrong when it came to controlling my life."
"Uh huh"
Parker knew that she had slipped up for a second time, and attributed it to stress and simply being tired. Jarod leaned back against the couch, once again closing his eyes.
"Here is what you will do Parker. You will give me a hug goodbye then go back to your house, waving hi to the sweepers as you walk past them. You'll go into your house, take a bath and go to work on time. After work you will call Sydney, apologize for whatever you said to him about him knowing that I am alive and ask him how he is doing. Tell him that I'm fine. After you talk to Sydney, you will call Broots. Talk to him for awhile, and then chat with Debbie. Maybe make plans to see her. You will call them every week. I bet that they are still the best friends you have in your life." He took a deep breath. "Meanwhile, I will pack up and leave. I'll be gone before you even get home. You will never say that you saw me, and that, Miss Parker, is what you will do."
"Sounds simple enough."
"You deserve simple." He looked at her sincerely.
"You deserve simple as well."
He leaned his head back again, thinking if his life had ever been simple.
"I barely even know what simple looks like Miss Parker."
"Then how can you prescribe to me the simple life?" She raised an eyebrow.
Jarod laughed. "I've missed arguing with you Parker, you always were the best." He yawned, then finished his orange juice.
Parker looked at her watch again. "I'm leaving now." She stood up holding the notebook. She walked toward the door with her back towards Jarod.
He stood up as well, and set the glass down. As he walked to the door, he grabbed a flower from a vase. Parker put her hand on the knob and was about to turn it when Jarod spoke.
"Parker?"
She kept her hand on the knob, but faced him. "What?"
He hesitantly leaned forward, looking at her directly in the eyes, "It was nice seeing you again." Then he gently kissed her.
Parker closed her eyes, and parted her mouth the deepen the kiss. Her hand finally came off the doorknob and moved up to stroke his face. Jarod pulled his head back and looked at her. He put his hand over hers, and gentle brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers.
"I thought you said you'd hug me."
"I said that *you* would hug me. I didn't say what I would do."
She stood still, her hand in his, arguing with herself.
Why do you have to leave? Because I need to That's not an answer I can't stay, this is Jarod! Right! This is Jarod! He's been your one and only friend! He's being chased! I'm chasing him! No your not, You are free from the Centre. Disappear with him! I can't disappear, they will know! He can and will protect you!
Jarod watched her, knowing what she was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing, Ask her to go with you She won't accept Yes she will, you love her and she loves you!Oh Crap he thought.
"Jarod, this will work if one thing happens... You tell me how you did it."
Jarod grinned and kept on walking backwards to ward off her intimidating advance.
"Ahh Miss Parker, a magician never revels his secrets."
"You are no magician Jarod."
"I'm not?" He reached out his arm and stoked her hair. He followed the strands to the ends and then reached back to do it again. The second time his hand came down, there was a flower in it. He smiled and held it out for her.
Parker's face changed from the frozen mask to a smile. She tired to hold it back, but when Jarod's smile grew to a big grin, she broke. She reached out for the flower.
"Ok boy wonder, you are a magician."
"And I'll make us disappear. I promise."
~~~~~
Sydney entered his house and took off his jacket. He had had a hard day and was ready to forget basically the past 30 years of his life. Miss Parker disappeared from the Centre trackers three months ago, and it was his job to find her. >The Centre just can’t let go He signed to himself.
Sydney always felt that Jarod’s talents were better used in the pursuit of science, and still had feelings that Jarod should have remained at the Centre, but only because the Centre’s facilities were the best. Yet also knew that Jarod should never return to the Centre because he deserved to live his own life. However he had no such conflicting feelings about letting Miss Parker go. He knew that it was the best thing for her to leave.
Sydney walked in to his home office and turned on some music. He sat down at his desk, planning to just let the music take away his tension. Directly in front of him on the desk was a box. Sydney smiled. On top of the box was a card, addressed to him – in Jarod’s handwriting. He had not heard from or seen Jarod since the day he found the pretender in the empty summer cottage.
When he opened the card, he was shocked to see that the cover was a picture of Jarod and Miss Parker. They were smiling and toasting their glasses towards the camera. Sydney felt as though they were looking directly at him. Inside was a short note written by Jarod:
"We hope that you walk far away from the Centre during your retirement."
Sydney’s smile got even bigger as he thought about Jarod and Parker together again. The cycle has started over again: it was them versus every body else, then them versus each other, and now they were together again.
He propped up card so that he could see their picture, and studied the box. There was nothing special about it. Nestled inside the box was a pair of loafers. He carefully picked one up and studied it. It was completely handmade – the stitches were less complicated than machine made shoes, and of course there were no tags inside the shoe. The leather was a dark brown and very soft. Underneath, etched in Jarod’s handwriting was, "To Sydney, from your elf."
Knowing Jarod, the shoes would be a perfect fit. He took off his other shoes and put the new ones on. When laced and tied, Sydney thought that they were the most comfortable pair of shoes he had ever worn.
He looked at the picture of the smiling couple and gave a salutary nod.
"Thank you Jarod."
Sydney jumped when the phone rang right after he finished speaking. He thought that it might be Jarod, and wanted desperately to talk to the young protégé, but he answered his phone in the normal calm fashion.
"This is Sydney."
"Sydney? Good. I heard from my Angel today. She says she’s fine, but she won’t have me looking for her. Stubborn girl. However, she said that she’ll visit me once a year if you are allowed to retire." Mr. Parker spoke quickly as though he resented people not knowing what he was talking about.
Sydney had worked with Mr. Parker long enough to know when the old chairman allowed comments or not.
"Oh?" He tried to sound surprised.
"Yes, yes. So Sydney, I made the deal, your work with Jarod was a big contribution to this corporation , and you deserve to be rewarded. We’ll find somebody to take over your current project, Raines will surely want some of it. Goodbye Sydney. I Suggest you come in tonight I remove anything personal before the cleaners come in." Mr. Parker hung up, not giving Sydney a chance to respond.
"My" He looked at the phone in his hand, surprised at the turn of events. He looked back at the picture of Jarod and Parker. "Jarod, Parker, good luck, and keep in touch."
Sydney grabbed his jacket and put it on while exiting his home. Then he went back to the Centre, for one last time, still wearing his new pair of shoes.
~~~~
The End
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