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Chapter or Story
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.
Regeneration
part 2
by Gizmo
“I’ve got a deal to offer you,” she started. “Finish your dinner and hear me out.”
He nodded and stabbed his fork into the potatoes. Since she had run from the room an hour earlier, he had simmed several potential escape plans. The plan most likely required him to gain her trust. Cooperation was the key right now.
“You don’t want to go back to the Centre because you’re afraid of what happens if the experiment works.” She took a deep breath. “But you’ll agree to go back if I’ll agree to…”
“To kill me once you take out the sponsors,” Jarod supplied helpfully around a mouthful.
“Yes. But there’s another problem we need to talk about.”
Jarod waited – his mind already anticipating her thought process and it’s probable solutions.
“My mother – I didn’t really know her that well. As we’ve seen with Sydney, sometimes it’s the people closest to you that you really don’t know at all. Jarod, what if this whole thing is just an elaborate…”
“Revenge plan of your mothers? Her final way of getting even with both the Centre and me and my family?”
“Yes. From your sim…”
He shook his head. “As you said – it’s the people closest that we can’t see clearly. The people whose lives affect mine directly – I can’t sim them effectively. Otherwise, I would have been able to determine this when I simmed your mother. I don’t know whether her plan was faulty or she wanted me dead.”
“It just doesn’t make sense. After everything she did to get you out of the Centre and help your family…”
“But she didn’t get me out – she faked her death instead. And why would she have Raines bring me to the safe house and tell me about the DSA? Why not Sydney? He was her shrink. I don’t have the answers.”
“And you’re willing to go along with it? Finish her plan even though you’ll end up dead and you’re not sure what her motivation was?”
He pushed the tray of food away. “I’d do it if I knew that you would pull the trigger and finish it.”
She set the tray aside absentmindedly and looked him in the eyes – seeing his determination.
“Why, Jarod? You’ll never know if your family is safe or not. And your father would be devastated. You could just disappear. They can’t continue the experiments without you.”
He refused to answer, turning to look out the window. She grew angry and climbed onto the bed, straddling him and yanked his chin around.
“I spent almost four years chasing you. I could have killed you any number of times and solved all of this! I deserve an explanation!”
“What exactly would you have solved?” he snarled, letting his anger out. “They’d just put you on the chase for the boy if they didn’t kill you. You would never have found the truth and the Centre would have owned you.”
She gasped as she found her answer in his eyes. He was willing to do it for her.
“Get off me!” He tried to shove her away but he was weak from the injuries and near-starvation he had endured for the past weeks. She leaned over him and pinned him to the bed easily. He struggled beneath her, bucking and panting.
“Stop it Jarod!” He ceased his struggles and stared at the ceiling, his chest heaving up and down from his exertions. She examined his face. Did he think of her as another victim needing to be rescued?
“I’ll find a different way,” she told him firmly.
“There isn’t any other way. It’s an either/or situation.”
“I don’t find your alternatives acceptable. I will NOT kill you and I will NOT go back to chasing you all over kingdom come. It doesn’t have to be my freedom or yours.”
“Why not?” he asked. “Isn’t that what it’s been all along? What’s different now?”
“I’ll ask you the same thing. Why, after four years, have you decided to rescue me? When did I become another one of your little causes?”
“Do you think I WANT to do this? I’ve been looking for a way to take down the Centre for four years. Now, I’m just a pawn in your plan and Lyle is running the show. If you would just let me go, I…”
“You would keep looking for a plan where you get to be in control,” she interrupted. “Well, guess what, hero? I don’t find your alternatives acceptable and you don’t get to choose. You belong to me now and you’re not going anywhere. Got that?”
“NO!”
She smiled evilly at him. If there was one thing Jarod loathed it was having his plans and control taken away from him. A demonstration was in order.
She leaned down towards his face and kissed the end of his nose. He turned his face away. She grabbed his earlobe between her teeth, bit down and then blew in his ear. He shivered and she smiled as she watched the pulse in his neck jump. Deciding that area needed attention, she tossed her hair to one side and licked and sucked at his neck.
“Have you ever had a hicky, Jarod?” she murmured against him.
He desperately searched his mind for a sim to preoccupy it. He knew what she was doing – forcing him to acknowledge that she was running the show now. She began sucking hard on his neck and he searched his mind for a way to make her stop before his body reacted.
“Is rape the latest Centre technique they taught you?” he gritted out between his teeth.
She nipped him, letting him know that getting her angry wouldn’t work. She sucked a moment longer, then leaned back and considered the mark on his neck. Applying her lips to his neck again, she began working her way down to his collarbone. She kissed and licked the bruising there, enjoying his sharp intake of breath.
“Stop,” he breathed. He turned his face away from the wall. “I’ll stay.”
She sat up, released his arms and smiled down at him. “Good choice. Now, what do I have to do to persuade you to run a couple of sims?” She ran her fingertip down his chest to his navel and circled the indentation. He reached out and caught her hand.
“No more handcuffs or cold baths.” She nodded. “I want access to a laptop and phone line.” She smiled nastily and shook her head. He huffed. “At least let me contact my father and let him know I’m alright. We can’t have him deciding to do something on his own.” She considered this and nodded. “I want unrestricted access to the grounds and house.” She shook her head again. “I’ve agreed to stay. Why not?”
“You’re staying in bed. When you’ve recovered sufficiently, you can move around more.”
“Playing nurse doesn’t suit you.”
“And all these beautifully colored bruises and stitches don’t suit you.” She turned serious. “I want to know where that device is. I’ll give you the reports if you’ll tell me where the device is located.”
He shook his head. The device was something he needed to keep control over. If something went wrong, he had to be able to use it to guarantee his family’s safety. It was all he had left since she demanded he turn himself over to her plans. Also, he knew she had to give him the reports to do the simulations anyway.
“If my father finds that control device because you wouldn’t tell me where it was at…”
“He won’t.”
She glared at him in frustration. Reasoning with him was getting her nowhere. He was still trying to keep some control and she couldn’t allow that. This was her mother’s plan and she was the one running the show.
“I thought we had already settled this but if you insist…” She smiled down at him but instead of the worry she expected to see in his face, he grinned back up at her. He took control of the situation this time by reaching up and pulling her down to him. She was in too much shock to resist as he leaned up and kissed her. A shudder went through her and she realized that what he lacked in experience, he more than made up for with raw talent. She jerked back as that thought hit her – anger replacing the desire. Her hand came around of its own accord and the resounding slap shocked her. He turned his face back to look up at her and his hand came up to wipe the blood from his lip where her slap had reopened a cut.
She jumped off him and his laughter followed her out as she ran down the stairs. She pushed past her brother and slammed the front door. Lyle looked at the door, totally mystified, before deciding whom to approach – Jarod or his sister. He turned towards the stairs and knocked at the open bedroom door. Jarod was sitting up against the headboard, holding a hand to his bleeding lower lip.
“What did she do, slap you?” Jarod nodded. Lyle bent down to look at the cut and red print on his face. “She got you good. That could use some ice. What did you say to piss her off?”
Jarod just shook his head, pressing his hand back over the cut and Lyle noticed another red mark.
“What happened to your neck?” Lyle asked. He tried to get a closer look and Jarod shoved him back but not before he got a glimpse of two small teeth indentations in the skin.
Lyle started laughing and Jarod glowered at him which just made Lyle laugh harder. He fell into the chair as he laughed.
“That must have been some conversation you had with my sister. I take it from your bleeding lip that you reached a draw?”
“Can I have some ice?” Jarod asked.
Lyle fetched ice and handed it to the pretender. Jarod pressed the piece, wrapped in a towel, to his rapidly swelling lip.
“So are you going to tell me what happened or do I chase down my enraged twin and risk my life asking her?”
“She persuaded me to stay for the next two weeks and run some simulations.”
“And?”
“And she also wanted the control device in exchange for giving me the reports.”
“But you knew that she would have to give you the reports to do the simulations so you refused. Which made her try other techniques to persuade you.” Lyle laughed. No wonder his sister was furious. Sex had always been her primary weapon to get what she wanted from men. Jarod had probably taken that and shoved it right back in her face. “These control games you two play – I’m beginning to wonder if you don’t enjoy it a little too much.”
“She wants me to give her complete control over this and I won’t do that. It’s my family that’s at risk here.”
“Ethan is our brother too. She’s not going to put your family in any danger because it puts him at risk too.”
Jarod removed the ice from his lip and leaned forward to emphasize his point.
“This plan to take me back - you and I know she won’t be able to do it…”
Lyle suddenly saw the ending Jarod was predicting. It was like a vision of the future. The three of them in a room – his sister with a gun she lowers from Jarod’s forehead – and Jarod with the control device.
“You’re going to use the control device to get me to kill you. Turn it on,” Lyle whispered. He chuckled briefly.
Jarod nodded. The double irony was inescapable. And it would end the experiments permanently. Even with his clone out there, Cox would be finished. With his death, his family would have no ties to the Centre anymore. They could disappear.
“Does she know this?”
“No. There’s another choice – we all go back to playing cat and mouse. She didn’t like that one either. And it’s risky - they’ve been threatening her for some time because of her failure to bring me back. Thomas Gates was ample proof that their patience is limited.”
“There’s got to be another way.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. I’ll need those reports to do simulations. Maybe there will be something in there that will help.”
“I’ll give them to you the day after tomorrow.”
“Why the wait?”
Lyle rolled his eyes at Jarod. “Obviously you need help understanding this. You are in no condition to be running simulations. You have pneumonia, three broken ribs, a concussion and twenty-six stitches in your body. Today was the first day you’ve been able to hold anything in your hollow stomach in more than two weeks. I may not be a doctor or a genius but I know you need rest, food and sleep.”
“I’m going to need as much time as possible to do these simulations. We’ve only got two weeks. I can handle it.”
“My sister and I can’t. You’re a pain to take care of. Sorry, but giving you baths is not my idea of how I want to spend the next two weeks.”
Jarod scowled at the reminder. Lyle grinned down at him as he stood – it wasn’t often that he shut the pretender up.
“Do you want any pie?” Lyle asked. Jarod got over his shock at Lyle’s question and nodded. He decided to take advantage of Lyle’s good disposition.
“Lyle?” Jarod asked before he could leave. “What’s a hicky?”
Lyle almost dropped the tray. He grinned, set it back down and went to his mother’s former bedroom. Returning with a hand-held mirror, he gave it to Jarod. Jarod took it and looked up at him, perplexed. Lyle pointed at Jarod’s neck.
“That is,” Lyle told him. Jarod’s expression was priceless.
Lyle was still chuckling when his sister returned. He couldn’t resist.
“I see you’ve taken to marking your property,” he teased. “But really, sis, a hicky? You couldn’t have just tattooed him? Especially since he had to ask me what a hicky is.”
“He what?” she asked in shock.
“Don’t worry, with that beauty you gave him I think he got the concept. It goes really well with the split lip. I think I’ll get you a dog collar for him for your Christmas present this year.”
She actually looked somewhat embarrassed. He expected her to go on attack and wasn’t disappointed.
“And what should I get you? A complete stalker package perhaps?” she asked, referring to Emily.
He laughed at her and that made her laugh too.
“He had to ask you what a hicky is?” she choked out. “I guess you’re his replacement for Sydney now.”
“Does that mean I’m going to get phone calls in the middle of the night about the meaning of play dough?” Lyle joked. They laughed even harder.
Ben came into the room with Jarod’s dirty dishes, smiling at the hilarity the twins were enjoying. They laughed even harder when he asked what had happened to Jarod’s face. Miss Parker finally got a hold of herself.
“What did Jarod say happened to it?” she asked Ben.
“He said he bumped it. There’s also this mark on his neck…”
Lyle fell off his chair. Miss Parker had to wipe the tears off her face. Ben shook his head at the two of them and left.
***
Late that Night
Miss Parker sat up in bed. The noises coming from next door let her know that Jarod was in the midst of another nightmare. But hadn’t awakened her. Something else was wrong.
The hallway was dark but she followed her instincts. She almost tripped over him sitting on the top step.
“Lyle?”
He didn’t answer so she sat down next to him. Patience was never one of her virtues. Come to think of it, she didn’t have any virtues, she decided. But she was learning.
“I dreamt of her.”
“Our mother?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ve never…” He stopped and reconsidered his words. “I used to have this room in my apartment. I’d lock myself in there when the memories or dreams came. The room – it was the only place I let myself feel anything. But now...”
She took her brother’s hand. “Tell me about the dream.”
“In my dream – she and Jarod were at the Centre and I was chasing them. I kept yelling that I wanted to help but they kept running away from me. She was protecting him from me. She was afraid of me.”
“It was just a dream,” she comforted.
“No. It was the future.”
“What do you mean?”
Lyle turned to face his sister. “Jarod won’t give you the device because he intends to use it. He’s going to turn it on.”
He watched the horrified expression spread like butter.
“No,” she whispered. “I won’t let him use you that way. I’ll keep him chained to that bed until we find the device.”
Lyle shook his head. “Won’t work. I’ve got an idea. But it’s dangerous.”
“What is it?”
“We get the thing out of my head first.”
Brain surgery was a little beyond her skills.
“Who can we trust to do this surgery?”
“The boy. You call Major Charles and talk with the boy. Get him to come here – without his father.”
She sat back, shocked. If this was a test of how well she trusted her brother, he couldn’t have come up with a better one. Having both the boy and Jarod in one place – that kind of temptation would be the ultimate test of Lyle. Even if she risked it, Jarod would not.
“I’ll do it but only on one condition. No drugs. You’ve got to promise not to use any drugs on Jarod.”
“I can’t do that. You know as well as I do that we can’t keep him chained up. He’ll escape. And without him, we can’t complete the plan.”
She considered this. A scream interrupted her thoughts and she followed her brother to the pretender’s bedroom. Jarod sat with his head down, breathing heavily on the edge of the mattress. He looked up at the twins.
“Get out,” he told them.
“My, aren’t we in a nasty mood tonight,” Miss Parker responded. She approached the bed and its wary occupant while Lyle fetched a washcloth. She sat on the edge of the mattress watching as Jarod tensed and slid towards the headboard, putting more distance between them. Lyle returned and handed her the washcloth.
“I’ll leave him to you,” Lyle told her. He nodded towards Jarod. “He won’t get any better like this.”
Jarod looked up at Lyle and scowled.
“You try injecting me with anything and you’ll regret it,” Jarod warned.
Miss Parker studied Jarod’s pale face and shaky hands. “You’re right,” she told Lyle. “God, I never thought I’d say those words to you.”
Lyle nodded at her and left them to the argument he could feel brewing. At the door, he turned.
“Sis, you might want to call it quits after 30 minutes or so. We’ve only got one day before we need him to run those sims.”
“Don’t worry, I brought reinforcements.” Holding up the handcuffs, she smiled back at her brother. Lyle grinned back and left.
They sat for a few moments. The handcuffs jangled as she set them on the bed between them. She stared at them for a moment and smiled again. Lyle may have been right about something else today, she thought. I do enjoy these control games we play too much.
Jarod heard the cuffs and glowered at the floor. They were up to something. He quickly began running through the possibilities in his mind and settled on the solution they had probably found.
“You agreed NOT to involve my family!” Jarod accused.
Her eyes sprang to his and read the anger reflected there.
“It’s the only way. Jarod, if there’s a way that they can transfer a consciousness into you, then there’s got to be a way to get it out. Perhaps it’s in those files.”
“And how will you know if it worked? Memories are stored in many locations in our brains. It’s possible that even if Regeneration works, Jacob or whoever they stick in me will have access to my memories.”
“It hasn’t worked so far. Why do you think it will work?”
“It hasn’t worked because I haven’t cooperated! If they get a member of my family, I will and, by the time you figure out whether I’m Jarod or Jacob, it may be too late!”
“And if we let you go what happens? How long do we keep playing chase the lab rat before they get lucky and one of your family members gets caught? If you’re not there for this upcoming project review…”
“They’re going to put everyone and everything on the hunt. I know.” Jarod sighed. They were getting nowhere with this conversation and exhaustion overwhelmed him.
She watched him for a moment. He needed sleep.
“What did you dream of?” she asked gently.
“I don’t need a shrink. I’m still recovering from the last one I had.”
“No, you don’t need a shrink. But you could use a friend – an old childhood friend.”
He looked up at her. “My only friends from childhood are either dead or brainwashed by the Centre.”
“I’ll go with recovering brainwashee.” She smiled gently. “You used to ask me to trust you – to believe in you. Now, I’m asking you for the same thing. Trust me. I feel it. My mother’s plan will work and you don’t have to die to make it work.”
He stared at the floor while he considered her words.
“It’s not you. It’s Lyle. You’re going to call the boy and talk him into doing the operation?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “You’re asking too much of me. If Lyle has both the boy and I…I won’t risk the boy…” He sucked in his breath. He remembered the boy’s words about her gentleness.
“It wasn’t so much a dream as remembering. I was about the boy’s age the first time. I knew the moment they drug me out of bed that something terrible was going to happen. Then it was so cold and afterwards I just wanted…”
She knew what he was doing – using her feelings for the boy to persuade her to go along with him. But she could manipulate him too.
“You wanted warmth and your only protector’s heart seemed as frozen as that chamber they shoved you in. So you learned to rely on Jarod and only Jarod. I know you. You’re still that little boy that stayed alive in there by making the Centre dependent on YOU. They wouldn’t kill you with their sick experiments because they needed you too badly. You’re terrified of going through with my mother’s plan for one reason – you don’t want to risk someone else controlling you. You can’t handle being part of a plan where you’re not in control and you could wind up like Lyle – with someone else at the joystick.”
He stared at her as her words sunk in. He had lived in denial all those years – repressing the memories of Regeneration – because it was something beyond his control. And control meant survival. Eventually, he had become a control junkie – he needed to be needed.
“I’ll do it,” he whispered. “Let me call my father and talk with the boy.”
He began to shake at that – fear slithering through him. She nodded and watched him closely. Picking up the handcuffs, she dropped them in the garbage can.
“Then we won’t need these anymore.” He heard the sound of the cuffs clanging inside the can but didn’t look up. She knew he was trapped inside that steel coffin again, the cold seeping in all around. She sat next to him and he flinched away. But she reached for him anyway.
“No. You’re not doing this alone. Now you trust me with your family’s safety so you better believe you can trust me with you.”
“I’m afraid,” he whispered.
“I know.” She released him and climbed onto the bed. She wrapped both arms around him and pulled him down beside her. After a moment, he put his feet up onto the bed and curled up.
“Turn over here,” she told him. He turned so they were face to face. There were tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“For chasing me?”
“No. That was too much fun for both of us to ever be sorry. Stressful and challenging – but fun. I’m sorry that you have to go through this.”
“I don’t want your pity.”
“Good because I’m not offering any. You don’t know how to do this, do you?”
“Do what?”
“Receive.” She scooted closer to him and touched his face gently. His lower lip trembled and tears came to his eyes. “They hurt you. Now cry dammit!”
***
Late the Next Morning
Lyle peered into the room and grinned. They were still asleep. He closed the door and went back downstairs for the tray. He wished he had a video camera for this.
“Breakfast is served!” Lyle announced loudly to the bed’s occupants. His sister jumped out of the bed so quickly you would have thought it was on fire.
“Lyle!” She glared at him. “What are you doing in here?”
“I could ask you the same question. Exactly what type of nursing are you practicing here?”
Jarod started laughing and Lyle looked towards him surprised. When Jarod’s laughter turned to coughs, Lyle sighed dramatically.
“Nurse, your patient needs cough medication,” Lyle informed his sister. “Or would you rather give him mouth to mouth?” He smirked at her.
She stomped over to the medications and poured a dose. Handing it to Jarod, she turned back to her brother.
“I’d rather hit you!” she announced.
“Jeez,” Lyle addressed Jarod. “You bring her breakfast in bed and this is what you get. Let her have the other side of the bed tomorrow.”
“The other side of the bed?” Jarod questioned. He examined the area where Miss Parker slept. Turning back, he tilted his head to the side. “Why?”
Lyle threw back his head and laughed. He set the tray on Jarod’s lap.
“While you eat, my sister will explain it to you. Then afterwards, Nurse Parker can assist in your bath. I’m going into town with Ben. Behave yourselves!”
Lyle shut the door as he was leaving and they stared at the door for a moment.
“Was that really your brother?”
“I thought television shows were making it up,” she responded. “But it’s true. Brothers are annoying. I want to strangle him.”
“Well, if you said shoot him, I’d be worried. But strangle…”
“Don’t start. God, is that coffee?”
Jarod handed her one of the mugs and she sat cross legged on the bed beside him. He set the tray between them and picked up a muffin. Turning it back and forth, he examined it closely. She grabbed it from him and bit into it.
“You eat it,” she told him around a mouthful. “Not examine it.”
He reached for it and took it from her. Taking a bite, he chewed and talked.
“It’s not as good as a doughnut. What is it?”
“Apple-cinnamon muffin. My apple-cinnamon muffin.” She tried to take the muffin and failed. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled it towards her face and took a bite from the muffin he held.
“Now, now,” he lectured. “I’m the patient. I need my calories.”
He took a huge bite from the muffin.
“Yeah, well muffins are low-fat,” she told him. She looked at his thin frame. “You need the high-calorie stuff. Eat the oatmeal and give me back my muffin!”
“Oatmeal is extremely good for the digestive tract,” he replied around another mouthful. “It would be great for your ulcer.”
She picked up the bowl and examined the mush. “It’s also good for the skin.”
With that, she turned the bowl upside down on his chest and watched the warm mush slide. He sputtered and released the remains of the muffin to her as the goo slid to the top of the bandages around his ribs and stopped. Scooping up a handful, he dumped it on her head.
“Then it must be good for hair too.”
“I cannot believe you just did that.” She glared at him. A hunk slid down her face to her nose and she wiped it away. Jarod laughed and coughed until tears rolled down his face.
“It’s not that funny,” she informed him, her lips twitching. “You should see yourself. You’re black, blue and oatmeal.”
She stuck her finger in the oatmeal coating his upper chest. After licking her finger clean, she grinned.
“Not bad. Could use some more honey.” She picked up the honey jar.
“No – don’t you even!” But she did.
She bundled up the sheets into a tight wad so the honey, oatmeal and muffin crumbs wouldn’t leak onto the floors on her trek to the laundry room. Their food fight had ended after Jarod pinned her to the bed and bent to eat the oatmeal from her nose. She had been laughing too hard to fight him off and suddenly, she didn’t feel like laughing anymore. They stared at each other until he coughed and she freed herself easily.
It was the reminder of his illness and weakness that put her back in nurse-mode. He had complied with her orders, even accepting her help to the bathtub wordlessly, until she reached to pull down his pants. Then he had told her in no uncertain terms that he was a man and quite capable of undressing himself.
She had left him to take his bath and cleaned up the mess. She scowled as she got ready to take a shower. Lyle would have a field day with this. Perhaps she could get Emily to come help during Jarod’s convalescence. No, that would just make Jarod more nervous. Anyway, Lyle would probably soon be a patient also. Brain surgery wasn’t something one recovered from overnight.
After her quick shower, she knocked on the door to the bathroom where Jarod bathed.
“I brought you clean clothes,” she announced as she barged in.
He watched her and smiled a little. With her hair wet and face clean of makeup, she looked more relaxed than he had seen since she was a child. Then he grimaced at the items she set down.
“You said clothes – not pajamas,” he accused.
“Pajamas are clothes. Clothes for sleeping in – which is what you’re going to be doing today.”
She turned to face him and noticed that the water in the tub was opaque with soap. She started to grin at him then noticed steam rose from the water.
“You’re not supposed to have made it that hot,” she lectured. “You’re still running a low-grade fever and those wounds will open back up.”
“Would you stop? Yesterday, I couldn’t even feed myself. I’ll be well enough tomorrow to start running those sims.”
“You better be.” She sat down on the toilet lid and watched him for a minute. He seemed relaxed as he leaned against the back of the tub. She briefly remembered the last time he had been in this tub. The water hadn’t been opaque then. “You’ve been in there long enough. I’ve got things to do.”
“Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll manage.”
“You’ll manage to make yourself sick enough that you won’t be able to do the sims tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Miss Parker.”
“Look, Jarod, I know you’re feeling a lot better this morning. And the warm water makes it easier to breathe and you probably feel warm for the first time in days…”
“Weeks,” he interrupted.
“Whatever. You’re getting out. Now.”
Why did everything have to be a battle with her, he wondered.. He knew it was just as much his fault as hers. He couldn’t help but resist and fight her even when there was no clear logical reason – like with the antibiotics in the car. And last night, when she had backed him into a corner until he dealt with his fear and pain, he had known she would win. But he had wanted her to force him. He shook his head at his own contrariness. Perhaps when he felt better he would analyze their relationship.
“Hand me that towel,” he asked. He pushed up with his arms, stood and took the towel from her. A second after he tucked the towel around his waist, his shaky right leg collapsed under him.
She grabbed him before he landed back in the water. Muttering about his stubbornness, she shifted his weight and supported him until both feet were firmly planted on the bathroom floor. He took the three steps to the toilet and sat down heavily. She glanced at him as she collected some toiletry items.
“Not everything has to be a war between us, Jarod.”
He shot her an amused look – her thinking was obviously in line with his own.
“What are you suggesting? That we lay down arms for awhile – declare a cease-fire?”
“Yes. At least for the next two weeks.”
He considered this. She handed him a toothbrush and he automatically started brushing. When he was done, he rinsed at the sink.
“If I agree to this – will you do something for me?” he asked.
“What?”
“I know you too, Miss Parker. If I agree to this – you’ll become my nurse and ignore me. I told you before. I don’t want a nurse. I could use a friend though.”
“We can’t go back to the way things were when we were children.”
“Then we’ll just have to start out new.” He smiled at her. “Hi, I’m Jarod. What’s your name?”
She stopped. She had demanded his trust and forced him to reveal his wounds. He had done the same things to her. Now, he was asking to start out new – no wounds or scars.
“Madeline - you can call me Parker. Put your head back, Jarod. I’m going to shave you.”
He smiled wider and leaned his head back. She smiled back and applied the razor to his face. This cease- fire, she thought, couldn’t last. But she would enjoy it while it did.
feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com
part 2
by Gizmo
“I’ve got a deal to offer you,” she started. “Finish your dinner and hear me out.”
He nodded and stabbed his fork into the potatoes. Since she had run from the room an hour earlier, he had simmed several potential escape plans. The plan most likely required him to gain her trust. Cooperation was the key right now.
“You don’t want to go back to the Centre because you’re afraid of what happens if the experiment works.” She took a deep breath. “But you’ll agree to go back if I’ll agree to…”
“To kill me once you take out the sponsors,” Jarod supplied helpfully around a mouthful.
“Yes. But there’s another problem we need to talk about.”
Jarod waited – his mind already anticipating her thought process and it’s probable solutions.
“My mother – I didn’t really know her that well. As we’ve seen with Sydney, sometimes it’s the people closest to you that you really don’t know at all. Jarod, what if this whole thing is just an elaborate…”
“Revenge plan of your mothers? Her final way of getting even with both the Centre and me and my family?”
“Yes. From your sim…”
He shook his head. “As you said – it’s the people closest that we can’t see clearly. The people whose lives affect mine directly – I can’t sim them effectively. Otherwise, I would have been able to determine this when I simmed your mother. I don’t know whether her plan was faulty or she wanted me dead.”
“It just doesn’t make sense. After everything she did to get you out of the Centre and help your family…”
“But she didn’t get me out – she faked her death instead. And why would she have Raines bring me to the safe house and tell me about the DSA? Why not Sydney? He was her shrink. I don’t have the answers.”
“And you’re willing to go along with it? Finish her plan even though you’ll end up dead and you’re not sure what her motivation was?”
He pushed the tray of food away. “I’d do it if I knew that you would pull the trigger and finish it.”
She set the tray aside absentmindedly and looked him in the eyes – seeing his determination.
“Why, Jarod? You’ll never know if your family is safe or not. And your father would be devastated. You could just disappear. They can’t continue the experiments without you.”
He refused to answer, turning to look out the window. She grew angry and climbed onto the bed, straddling him and yanked his chin around.
“I spent almost four years chasing you. I could have killed you any number of times and solved all of this! I deserve an explanation!”
“What exactly would you have solved?” he snarled, letting his anger out. “They’d just put you on the chase for the boy if they didn’t kill you. You would never have found the truth and the Centre would have owned you.”
She gasped as she found her answer in his eyes. He was willing to do it for her.
“Get off me!” He tried to shove her away but he was weak from the injuries and near-starvation he had endured for the past weeks. She leaned over him and pinned him to the bed easily. He struggled beneath her, bucking and panting.
“Stop it Jarod!” He ceased his struggles and stared at the ceiling, his chest heaving up and down from his exertions. She examined his face. Did he think of her as another victim needing to be rescued?
“I’ll find a different way,” she told him firmly.
“There isn’t any other way. It’s an either/or situation.”
“I don’t find your alternatives acceptable. I will NOT kill you and I will NOT go back to chasing you all over kingdom come. It doesn’t have to be my freedom or yours.”
“Why not?” he asked. “Isn’t that what it’s been all along? What’s different now?”
“I’ll ask you the same thing. Why, after four years, have you decided to rescue me? When did I become another one of your little causes?”
“Do you think I WANT to do this? I’ve been looking for a way to take down the Centre for four years. Now, I’m just a pawn in your plan and Lyle is running the show. If you would just let me go, I…”
“You would keep looking for a plan where you get to be in control,” she interrupted. “Well, guess what, hero? I don’t find your alternatives acceptable and you don’t get to choose. You belong to me now and you’re not going anywhere. Got that?”
“NO!”
She smiled evilly at him. If there was one thing Jarod loathed it was having his plans and control taken away from him. A demonstration was in order.
She leaned down towards his face and kissed the end of his nose. He turned his face away. She grabbed his earlobe between her teeth, bit down and then blew in his ear. He shivered and she smiled as she watched the pulse in his neck jump. Deciding that area needed attention, she tossed her hair to one side and licked and sucked at his neck.
“Have you ever had a hicky, Jarod?” she murmured against him.
He desperately searched his mind for a sim to preoccupy it. He knew what she was doing – forcing him to acknowledge that she was running the show now. She began sucking hard on his neck and he searched his mind for a way to make her stop before his body reacted.
“Is rape the latest Centre technique they taught you?” he gritted out between his teeth.
She nipped him, letting him know that getting her angry wouldn’t work. She sucked a moment longer, then leaned back and considered the mark on his neck. Applying her lips to his neck again, she began working her way down to his collarbone. She kissed and licked the bruising there, enjoying his sharp intake of breath.
“Stop,” he breathed. He turned his face away from the wall. “I’ll stay.”
She sat up, released his arms and smiled down at him. “Good choice. Now, what do I have to do to persuade you to run a couple of sims?” She ran her fingertip down his chest to his navel and circled the indentation. He reached out and caught her hand.
“No more handcuffs or cold baths.” She nodded. “I want access to a laptop and phone line.” She smiled nastily and shook her head. He huffed. “At least let me contact my father and let him know I’m alright. We can’t have him deciding to do something on his own.” She considered this and nodded. “I want unrestricted access to the grounds and house.” She shook her head again. “I’ve agreed to stay. Why not?”
“You’re staying in bed. When you’ve recovered sufficiently, you can move around more.”
“Playing nurse doesn’t suit you.”
“And all these beautifully colored bruises and stitches don’t suit you.” She turned serious. “I want to know where that device is. I’ll give you the reports if you’ll tell me where the device is located.”
He shook his head. The device was something he needed to keep control over. If something went wrong, he had to be able to use it to guarantee his family’s safety. It was all he had left since she demanded he turn himself over to her plans. Also, he knew she had to give him the reports to do the simulations anyway.
“If my father finds that control device because you wouldn’t tell me where it was at…”
“He won’t.”
She glared at him in frustration. Reasoning with him was getting her nowhere. He was still trying to keep some control and she couldn’t allow that. This was her mother’s plan and she was the one running the show.
“I thought we had already settled this but if you insist…” She smiled down at him but instead of the worry she expected to see in his face, he grinned back up at her. He took control of the situation this time by reaching up and pulling her down to him. She was in too much shock to resist as he leaned up and kissed her. A shudder went through her and she realized that what he lacked in experience, he more than made up for with raw talent. She jerked back as that thought hit her – anger replacing the desire. Her hand came around of its own accord and the resounding slap shocked her. He turned his face back to look up at her and his hand came up to wipe the blood from his lip where her slap had reopened a cut.
She jumped off him and his laughter followed her out as she ran down the stairs. She pushed past her brother and slammed the front door. Lyle looked at the door, totally mystified, before deciding whom to approach – Jarod or his sister. He turned towards the stairs and knocked at the open bedroom door. Jarod was sitting up against the headboard, holding a hand to his bleeding lower lip.
“What did she do, slap you?” Jarod nodded. Lyle bent down to look at the cut and red print on his face. “She got you good. That could use some ice. What did you say to piss her off?”
Jarod just shook his head, pressing his hand back over the cut and Lyle noticed another red mark.
“What happened to your neck?” Lyle asked. He tried to get a closer look and Jarod shoved him back but not before he got a glimpse of two small teeth indentations in the skin.
Lyle started laughing and Jarod glowered at him which just made Lyle laugh harder. He fell into the chair as he laughed.
“That must have been some conversation you had with my sister. I take it from your bleeding lip that you reached a draw?”
“Can I have some ice?” Jarod asked.
Lyle fetched ice and handed it to the pretender. Jarod pressed the piece, wrapped in a towel, to his rapidly swelling lip.
“So are you going to tell me what happened or do I chase down my enraged twin and risk my life asking her?”
“She persuaded me to stay for the next two weeks and run some simulations.”
“And?”
“And she also wanted the control device in exchange for giving me the reports.”
“But you knew that she would have to give you the reports to do the simulations so you refused. Which made her try other techniques to persuade you.” Lyle laughed. No wonder his sister was furious. Sex had always been her primary weapon to get what she wanted from men. Jarod had probably taken that and shoved it right back in her face. “These control games you two play – I’m beginning to wonder if you don’t enjoy it a little too much.”
“She wants me to give her complete control over this and I won’t do that. It’s my family that’s at risk here.”
“Ethan is our brother too. She’s not going to put your family in any danger because it puts him at risk too.”
Jarod removed the ice from his lip and leaned forward to emphasize his point.
“This plan to take me back - you and I know she won’t be able to do it…”
Lyle suddenly saw the ending Jarod was predicting. It was like a vision of the future. The three of them in a room – his sister with a gun she lowers from Jarod’s forehead – and Jarod with the control device.
“You’re going to use the control device to get me to kill you. Turn it on,” Lyle whispered. He chuckled briefly.
Jarod nodded. The double irony was inescapable. And it would end the experiments permanently. Even with his clone out there, Cox would be finished. With his death, his family would have no ties to the Centre anymore. They could disappear.
“Does she know this?”
“No. There’s another choice – we all go back to playing cat and mouse. She didn’t like that one either. And it’s risky - they’ve been threatening her for some time because of her failure to bring me back. Thomas Gates was ample proof that their patience is limited.”
“There’s got to be another way.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. I’ll need those reports to do simulations. Maybe there will be something in there that will help.”
“I’ll give them to you the day after tomorrow.”
“Why the wait?”
Lyle rolled his eyes at Jarod. “Obviously you need help understanding this. You are in no condition to be running simulations. You have pneumonia, three broken ribs, a concussion and twenty-six stitches in your body. Today was the first day you’ve been able to hold anything in your hollow stomach in more than two weeks. I may not be a doctor or a genius but I know you need rest, food and sleep.”
“I’m going to need as much time as possible to do these simulations. We’ve only got two weeks. I can handle it.”
“My sister and I can’t. You’re a pain to take care of. Sorry, but giving you baths is not my idea of how I want to spend the next two weeks.”
Jarod scowled at the reminder. Lyle grinned down at him as he stood – it wasn’t often that he shut the pretender up.
“Do you want any pie?” Lyle asked. Jarod got over his shock at Lyle’s question and nodded. He decided to take advantage of Lyle’s good disposition.
“Lyle?” Jarod asked before he could leave. “What’s a hicky?”
Lyle almost dropped the tray. He grinned, set it back down and went to his mother’s former bedroom. Returning with a hand-held mirror, he gave it to Jarod. Jarod took it and looked up at him, perplexed. Lyle pointed at Jarod’s neck.
“That is,” Lyle told him. Jarod’s expression was priceless.
Lyle was still chuckling when his sister returned. He couldn’t resist.
“I see you’ve taken to marking your property,” he teased. “But really, sis, a hicky? You couldn’t have just tattooed him? Especially since he had to ask me what a hicky is.”
“He what?” she asked in shock.
“Don’t worry, with that beauty you gave him I think he got the concept. It goes really well with the split lip. I think I’ll get you a dog collar for him for your Christmas present this year.”
She actually looked somewhat embarrassed. He expected her to go on attack and wasn’t disappointed.
“And what should I get you? A complete stalker package perhaps?” she asked, referring to Emily.
He laughed at her and that made her laugh too.
“He had to ask you what a hicky is?” she choked out. “I guess you’re his replacement for Sydney now.”
“Does that mean I’m going to get phone calls in the middle of the night about the meaning of play dough?” Lyle joked. They laughed even harder.
Ben came into the room with Jarod’s dirty dishes, smiling at the hilarity the twins were enjoying. They laughed even harder when he asked what had happened to Jarod’s face. Miss Parker finally got a hold of herself.
“What did Jarod say happened to it?” she asked Ben.
“He said he bumped it. There’s also this mark on his neck…”
Lyle fell off his chair. Miss Parker had to wipe the tears off her face. Ben shook his head at the two of them and left.
***
Late that Night
Miss Parker sat up in bed. The noises coming from next door let her know that Jarod was in the midst of another nightmare. But hadn’t awakened her. Something else was wrong.
The hallway was dark but she followed her instincts. She almost tripped over him sitting on the top step.
“Lyle?”
He didn’t answer so she sat down next to him. Patience was never one of her virtues. Come to think of it, she didn’t have any virtues, she decided. But she was learning.
“I dreamt of her.”
“Our mother?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ve never…” He stopped and reconsidered his words. “I used to have this room in my apartment. I’d lock myself in there when the memories or dreams came. The room – it was the only place I let myself feel anything. But now...”
She took her brother’s hand. “Tell me about the dream.”
“In my dream – she and Jarod were at the Centre and I was chasing them. I kept yelling that I wanted to help but they kept running away from me. She was protecting him from me. She was afraid of me.”
“It was just a dream,” she comforted.
“No. It was the future.”
“What do you mean?”
Lyle turned to face his sister. “Jarod won’t give you the device because he intends to use it. He’s going to turn it on.”
He watched the horrified expression spread like butter.
“No,” she whispered. “I won’t let him use you that way. I’ll keep him chained to that bed until we find the device.”
Lyle shook his head. “Won’t work. I’ve got an idea. But it’s dangerous.”
“What is it?”
“We get the thing out of my head first.”
Brain surgery was a little beyond her skills.
“Who can we trust to do this surgery?”
“The boy. You call Major Charles and talk with the boy. Get him to come here – without his father.”
She sat back, shocked. If this was a test of how well she trusted her brother, he couldn’t have come up with a better one. Having both the boy and Jarod in one place – that kind of temptation would be the ultimate test of Lyle. Even if she risked it, Jarod would not.
“I’ll do it but only on one condition. No drugs. You’ve got to promise not to use any drugs on Jarod.”
“I can’t do that. You know as well as I do that we can’t keep him chained up. He’ll escape. And without him, we can’t complete the plan.”
She considered this. A scream interrupted her thoughts and she followed her brother to the pretender’s bedroom. Jarod sat with his head down, breathing heavily on the edge of the mattress. He looked up at the twins.
“Get out,” he told them.
“My, aren’t we in a nasty mood tonight,” Miss Parker responded. She approached the bed and its wary occupant while Lyle fetched a washcloth. She sat on the edge of the mattress watching as Jarod tensed and slid towards the headboard, putting more distance between them. Lyle returned and handed her the washcloth.
“I’ll leave him to you,” Lyle told her. He nodded towards Jarod. “He won’t get any better like this.”
Jarod looked up at Lyle and scowled.
“You try injecting me with anything and you’ll regret it,” Jarod warned.
Miss Parker studied Jarod’s pale face and shaky hands. “You’re right,” she told Lyle. “God, I never thought I’d say those words to you.”
Lyle nodded at her and left them to the argument he could feel brewing. At the door, he turned.
“Sis, you might want to call it quits after 30 minutes or so. We’ve only got one day before we need him to run those sims.”
“Don’t worry, I brought reinforcements.” Holding up the handcuffs, she smiled back at her brother. Lyle grinned back and left.
They sat for a few moments. The handcuffs jangled as she set them on the bed between them. She stared at them for a moment and smiled again. Lyle may have been right about something else today, she thought. I do enjoy these control games we play too much.
Jarod heard the cuffs and glowered at the floor. They were up to something. He quickly began running through the possibilities in his mind and settled on the solution they had probably found.
“You agreed NOT to involve my family!” Jarod accused.
Her eyes sprang to his and read the anger reflected there.
“It’s the only way. Jarod, if there’s a way that they can transfer a consciousness into you, then there’s got to be a way to get it out. Perhaps it’s in those files.”
“And how will you know if it worked? Memories are stored in many locations in our brains. It’s possible that even if Regeneration works, Jacob or whoever they stick in me will have access to my memories.”
“It hasn’t worked so far. Why do you think it will work?”
“It hasn’t worked because I haven’t cooperated! If they get a member of my family, I will and, by the time you figure out whether I’m Jarod or Jacob, it may be too late!”
“And if we let you go what happens? How long do we keep playing chase the lab rat before they get lucky and one of your family members gets caught? If you’re not there for this upcoming project review…”
“They’re going to put everyone and everything on the hunt. I know.” Jarod sighed. They were getting nowhere with this conversation and exhaustion overwhelmed him.
She watched him for a moment. He needed sleep.
“What did you dream of?” she asked gently.
“I don’t need a shrink. I’m still recovering from the last one I had.”
“No, you don’t need a shrink. But you could use a friend – an old childhood friend.”
He looked up at her. “My only friends from childhood are either dead or brainwashed by the Centre.”
“I’ll go with recovering brainwashee.” She smiled gently. “You used to ask me to trust you – to believe in you. Now, I’m asking you for the same thing. Trust me. I feel it. My mother’s plan will work and you don’t have to die to make it work.”
He stared at the floor while he considered her words.
“It’s not you. It’s Lyle. You’re going to call the boy and talk him into doing the operation?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “You’re asking too much of me. If Lyle has both the boy and I…I won’t risk the boy…” He sucked in his breath. He remembered the boy’s words about her gentleness.
“It wasn’t so much a dream as remembering. I was about the boy’s age the first time. I knew the moment they drug me out of bed that something terrible was going to happen. Then it was so cold and afterwards I just wanted…”
She knew what he was doing – using her feelings for the boy to persuade her to go along with him. But she could manipulate him too.
“You wanted warmth and your only protector’s heart seemed as frozen as that chamber they shoved you in. So you learned to rely on Jarod and only Jarod. I know you. You’re still that little boy that stayed alive in there by making the Centre dependent on YOU. They wouldn’t kill you with their sick experiments because they needed you too badly. You’re terrified of going through with my mother’s plan for one reason – you don’t want to risk someone else controlling you. You can’t handle being part of a plan where you’re not in control and you could wind up like Lyle – with someone else at the joystick.”
He stared at her as her words sunk in. He had lived in denial all those years – repressing the memories of Regeneration – because it was something beyond his control. And control meant survival. Eventually, he had become a control junkie – he needed to be needed.
“I’ll do it,” he whispered. “Let me call my father and talk with the boy.”
He began to shake at that – fear slithering through him. She nodded and watched him closely. Picking up the handcuffs, she dropped them in the garbage can.
“Then we won’t need these anymore.” He heard the sound of the cuffs clanging inside the can but didn’t look up. She knew he was trapped inside that steel coffin again, the cold seeping in all around. She sat next to him and he flinched away. But she reached for him anyway.
“No. You’re not doing this alone. Now you trust me with your family’s safety so you better believe you can trust me with you.”
“I’m afraid,” he whispered.
“I know.” She released him and climbed onto the bed. She wrapped both arms around him and pulled him down beside her. After a moment, he put his feet up onto the bed and curled up.
“Turn over here,” she told him. He turned so they were face to face. There were tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“For chasing me?”
“No. That was too much fun for both of us to ever be sorry. Stressful and challenging – but fun. I’m sorry that you have to go through this.”
“I don’t want your pity.”
“Good because I’m not offering any. You don’t know how to do this, do you?”
“Do what?”
“Receive.” She scooted closer to him and touched his face gently. His lower lip trembled and tears came to his eyes. “They hurt you. Now cry dammit!”
***
Late the Next Morning
Lyle peered into the room and grinned. They were still asleep. He closed the door and went back downstairs for the tray. He wished he had a video camera for this.
“Breakfast is served!” Lyle announced loudly to the bed’s occupants. His sister jumped out of the bed so quickly you would have thought it was on fire.
“Lyle!” She glared at him. “What are you doing in here?”
“I could ask you the same question. Exactly what type of nursing are you practicing here?”
Jarod started laughing and Lyle looked towards him surprised. When Jarod’s laughter turned to coughs, Lyle sighed dramatically.
“Nurse, your patient needs cough medication,” Lyle informed his sister. “Or would you rather give him mouth to mouth?” He smirked at her.
She stomped over to the medications and poured a dose. Handing it to Jarod, she turned back to her brother.
“I’d rather hit you!” she announced.
“Jeez,” Lyle addressed Jarod. “You bring her breakfast in bed and this is what you get. Let her have the other side of the bed tomorrow.”
“The other side of the bed?” Jarod questioned. He examined the area where Miss Parker slept. Turning back, he tilted his head to the side. “Why?”
Lyle threw back his head and laughed. He set the tray on Jarod’s lap.
“While you eat, my sister will explain it to you. Then afterwards, Nurse Parker can assist in your bath. I’m going into town with Ben. Behave yourselves!”
Lyle shut the door as he was leaving and they stared at the door for a moment.
“Was that really your brother?”
“I thought television shows were making it up,” she responded. “But it’s true. Brothers are annoying. I want to strangle him.”
“Well, if you said shoot him, I’d be worried. But strangle…”
“Don’t start. God, is that coffee?”
Jarod handed her one of the mugs and she sat cross legged on the bed beside him. He set the tray between them and picked up a muffin. Turning it back and forth, he examined it closely. She grabbed it from him and bit into it.
“You eat it,” she told him around a mouthful. “Not examine it.”
He reached for it and took it from her. Taking a bite, he chewed and talked.
“It’s not as good as a doughnut. What is it?”
“Apple-cinnamon muffin. My apple-cinnamon muffin.” She tried to take the muffin and failed. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled it towards her face and took a bite from the muffin he held.
“Now, now,” he lectured. “I’m the patient. I need my calories.”
He took a huge bite from the muffin.
“Yeah, well muffins are low-fat,” she told him. She looked at his thin frame. “You need the high-calorie stuff. Eat the oatmeal and give me back my muffin!”
“Oatmeal is extremely good for the digestive tract,” he replied around another mouthful. “It would be great for your ulcer.”
She picked up the bowl and examined the mush. “It’s also good for the skin.”
With that, she turned the bowl upside down on his chest and watched the warm mush slide. He sputtered and released the remains of the muffin to her as the goo slid to the top of the bandages around his ribs and stopped. Scooping up a handful, he dumped it on her head.
“Then it must be good for hair too.”
“I cannot believe you just did that.” She glared at him. A hunk slid down her face to her nose and she wiped it away. Jarod laughed and coughed until tears rolled down his face.
“It’s not that funny,” she informed him, her lips twitching. “You should see yourself. You’re black, blue and oatmeal.”
She stuck her finger in the oatmeal coating his upper chest. After licking her finger clean, she grinned.
“Not bad. Could use some more honey.” She picked up the honey jar.
“No – don’t you even!” But she did.
She bundled up the sheets into a tight wad so the honey, oatmeal and muffin crumbs wouldn’t leak onto the floors on her trek to the laundry room. Their food fight had ended after Jarod pinned her to the bed and bent to eat the oatmeal from her nose. She had been laughing too hard to fight him off and suddenly, she didn’t feel like laughing anymore. They stared at each other until he coughed and she freed herself easily.
It was the reminder of his illness and weakness that put her back in nurse-mode. He had complied with her orders, even accepting her help to the bathtub wordlessly, until she reached to pull down his pants. Then he had told her in no uncertain terms that he was a man and quite capable of undressing himself.
She had left him to take his bath and cleaned up the mess. She scowled as she got ready to take a shower. Lyle would have a field day with this. Perhaps she could get Emily to come help during Jarod’s convalescence. No, that would just make Jarod more nervous. Anyway, Lyle would probably soon be a patient also. Brain surgery wasn’t something one recovered from overnight.
After her quick shower, she knocked on the door to the bathroom where Jarod bathed.
“I brought you clean clothes,” she announced as she barged in.
He watched her and smiled a little. With her hair wet and face clean of makeup, she looked more relaxed than he had seen since she was a child. Then he grimaced at the items she set down.
“You said clothes – not pajamas,” he accused.
“Pajamas are clothes. Clothes for sleeping in – which is what you’re going to be doing today.”
She turned to face him and noticed that the water in the tub was opaque with soap. She started to grin at him then noticed steam rose from the water.
“You’re not supposed to have made it that hot,” she lectured. “You’re still running a low-grade fever and those wounds will open back up.”
“Would you stop? Yesterday, I couldn’t even feed myself. I’ll be well enough tomorrow to start running those sims.”
“You better be.” She sat down on the toilet lid and watched him for a minute. He seemed relaxed as he leaned against the back of the tub. She briefly remembered the last time he had been in this tub. The water hadn’t been opaque then. “You’ve been in there long enough. I’ve got things to do.”
“Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll manage.”
“You’ll manage to make yourself sick enough that you won’t be able to do the sims tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Miss Parker.”
“Look, Jarod, I know you’re feeling a lot better this morning. And the warm water makes it easier to breathe and you probably feel warm for the first time in days…”
“Weeks,” he interrupted.
“Whatever. You’re getting out. Now.”
Why did everything have to be a battle with her, he wondered.. He knew it was just as much his fault as hers. He couldn’t help but resist and fight her even when there was no clear logical reason – like with the antibiotics in the car. And last night, when she had backed him into a corner until he dealt with his fear and pain, he had known she would win. But he had wanted her to force him. He shook his head at his own contrariness. Perhaps when he felt better he would analyze their relationship.
“Hand me that towel,” he asked. He pushed up with his arms, stood and took the towel from her. A second after he tucked the towel around his waist, his shaky right leg collapsed under him.
She grabbed him before he landed back in the water. Muttering about his stubbornness, she shifted his weight and supported him until both feet were firmly planted on the bathroom floor. He took the three steps to the toilet and sat down heavily. She glanced at him as she collected some toiletry items.
“Not everything has to be a war between us, Jarod.”
He shot her an amused look – her thinking was obviously in line with his own.
“What are you suggesting? That we lay down arms for awhile – declare a cease-fire?”
“Yes. At least for the next two weeks.”
He considered this. She handed him a toothbrush and he automatically started brushing. When he was done, he rinsed at the sink.
“If I agree to this – will you do something for me?” he asked.
“What?”
“I know you too, Miss Parker. If I agree to this – you’ll become my nurse and ignore me. I told you before. I don’t want a nurse. I could use a friend though.”
“We can’t go back to the way things were when we were children.”
“Then we’ll just have to start out new.” He smiled at her. “Hi, I’m Jarod. What’s your name?”
She stopped. She had demanded his trust and forced him to reveal his wounds. He had done the same things to her. Now, he was asking to start out new – no wounds or scars.
“Madeline - you can call me Parker. Put your head back, Jarod. I’m going to shave you.”
He smiled wider and leaned his head back. She smiled back and applied the razor to his face. This cease- fire, she thought, couldn’t last. But she would enjoy it while it did.
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