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Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used
without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.


The Chase
Amanda Parker




"You run, I chase." Had she really said that to him? And even worse, did the words "moment of weakness" really escape her lips? The look she saw on his face, the tear filled eyes haunted with pain and exhaustion, the pleading gaze directed at her as she jerked her hand from his tore at her heart.

"How could I be so...no. I have bigger things to worry about than what's happening, what's NOT happening between the two of us." Her cell phone rang in her purse.

"What?" she answered.

"Why don't you ever answer with 'hello'?"

"What do you want, Jared?"

"We never finished our fireside chat in Osee's place."

"We more than finished it, we were millimeters away from making it a sealed agreement."

"Agreeing on what, though? That the only person that's ever there for you is me?"

"We agreed that the Centre taught me to hate you, but certain plans were changed once you were in the picture."

"Speaking of the Centre, did you find out if your father really IS your father?"

"That is not to be doubted. He's the only father I've ever known, or needed, for that matter. In all hat counts, he is my father. And I will not sit here talking about him to you."

"What do you think was on those scrolls? About me...about you?"

"Something on them made my father jump from that plane into the middle of the ocean, and I need to find out what."

"Want some help?"

"That's the last thing I need. The last time you helped, my world was turned around."

"Everyone needs adventure."

"I wake up. I got to work where I invariably find out some dark family secret, and then I go home to my Lipton's Cup o' Soup. That's adventure enough."

"You know what?" His voice got bitter. "As tough as you pretend to be, as icy and distant as you make people believe you are, you're just scared." Trembling, she hung up the phone.

"Screw him. Screw him and his pop psychology and his analysis and his 'you're scared'. I'm not scared. I'm a Parker, and the only thing I have to be afraid of..." Her phone rang again.

"Is yourself," Jared said, the moment she picked the phone up.

"What?"

"The only thing you have to be afraid of is yourself."

"Where are you? How did you know what I was saying?"

"I had a favor owed me. I had your house bugged. I've been listening to you since you got home."

"Where is it? Now, Jared."

"In a minute. First, we are going to talk about what we both said at Osee's."

"I already told you, Jared, it was a moment of weakness."

"And I forgot to say how I don't buy that for a damn minute."

"Well, then don't. But despite what was almost done by that fireplace, I have no...romantic, or, or, sexual intentions towards you whatever."

“I’m still not buying it.” His words had a bite to them. “You are scared. Of me, of yourself, I don’t know. But in denying it, you’re denying yourself.”

“What are you implying, Jared?”

“Let me make you a proposition. You say you aren’t scared of anything concerning us. Prove it. No weapons. No sweepers. No surprise guests of any kind. Just you and me.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you.”

“Then prove it to yourself.”

“When and where?”

“First, promise no one from the Centre or Triumvirate or anything tags along, no guns, no tricks.”

“Oh, for…fine, I promise.”

“Osee’s. Saturday at ten a.m. their time.”

***

Friday, 12:25 a.m. U.S. time

“Hello, this is your captain speaking. We are about to take of for Carthis, please buckle your seatbelts and observe the No Smoking signs.” Miss Parker smiled and shook her head in disbelief. Jared was flying the plane.

***

Saturday, 9:55 a.m.

She walked into the room where she knew Jared would be. He was stooped over, poking at the growing fire.

“Glad you could make it, “he said, turning around.

“I almost didn’t, the pilot was horrible.” Jared flashed her a smile.

“Yeah, it’s amazing who they let fly those things these days.” Miss Parker smiled back.

“You should do that more often,” Jared continued, putting another log on the fire.

“What?”

“Smile. It makes you look like the Miss Parker I used to know. Do you remember?”

“Vaguely. I remember being very naïve, and following you and Angelo around because I was so lonely.”

“He was Timmy then. But hey, I guess we were all different then.”

“Do you remember Faith?”

“I don’t think I could ever forget her.”

“She was my first friend, real friend.”

“We were friends then.”

“Yes. We were.”

“I remember when she died, and you and I hid so we could see when they took her away. You started crying, I wanted to hold you so much, but I just couldn’t.”
“Why not?”

“You were Miss Parker even then. No matter how much I wanted to hold you, I could no less do that than escape.”

“But you did escape.”

“Yes, I did. And here we are.”

Parker laughed with disbelief.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Jared? Because if you are, the answer is most definitely no.”

“I’m not saying anything except that you and I are here together, alone. Most of the villagers haven’t even come back yet. The people that are think I’ve come here to mourn for Osee, and that you, my “sister” have come here to mourn with me.”

“So no one’s coming up here.”

“Nope.”

“So,” Parker said, weighing her options.

“So.”

“We’ve reached an impasse, Jared. Let’s do away with the minor pleasantries and get down to why I came.”

“Which is…?”

“I came because I want you, Jared. And not for the Centre. The way I wanted you when I was sixteen, the way I wanted you when I was twenty-six. And I know you want me, too.”

“You were so unattainable. So vulnerable, but pretending to be strong.”

“I need to stop pretending. I have to. I came here for a reason, one you made clear to me.”

“How so?”

“You said that by denying what I felt, I denied myself. I’ve denied myself for far too long. How about you?” She walked closer to him, inches away from his body.

“I call it manic self control. I refused to get involved with anyone. How could I know someone so closely yet not know myself?”

“So you’ve never..”

“Oh, plenty of times. But it was all…impersonal. Mechanical.”
She went in for the kill.

“I’m sorry for that, Jared. Why did we wait so long to do this?”
Before asking “do what?,” Miss Parker leaned in and kissed him. Not hard at first, but more lingeringly, like she was trying out a new ice cream flavor. She walked with him until he hit the wall. She kept him pinned there for a few moments, then, to her surprise, he deepened the kiss and maneuvered her so she was against the wall. Fingers fumbling, they divested of shirts, shoes, pants, and everything else hindering them.

As the sank to the floor, Miss Parker asked, “Why now?”

“I was tired, finally, of being chased,” were Jared’s last coherent words of the day, and night, for that matter.









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