Briggite slammed the file in her hand against the desk, "you can't possibly believe her. She is playing us all and you are melting right into her pretty little hands."

"Miss Parker will do anything to gain the freedom Mr Parker promised her, and that includes betraying Jarod," Mr Raines wheezed in reply. His oxygen tank whined behind him as he strolled closer to the angry blonde.

"So you're just going to let her go then? I can't believe it. You watched her kill Mr Cox through the security records! Clearly she is on Jarod's side! You imbeciles have really lost it this time."

"I don't appreciate your tone, Briggite," he countered abruptly, staring into her angry eyes with his dead ones, "It's not a matter of believing her or not. Either way, this will work to our benefit. As for letting her go, keep in mind that the one who made this promise to her is no longer with us."

Briggite's face began to curl into an elvish smile, one which Raines returned. "I see. I'm going to go check on our friend in rehabilitation then."

"Good."

*****

The heart monitor chirped steadily and Briggite stood over their wounded patient.

"I can't believe you're still alive," she muttered almost to herself. At this point it was just getting ridiculous. She pulled the chart out and read over the lines there, smirking a bit in dismay. "One day you won't be able to scrape yourself up and crawl away."

*****

Miss Parker had barely moved or slept at all over the last few hours. Jarod had slumped down and she'd placed his head in her lap, subconsciously stroking his hair every so often. She just kept staring at his face, sleeping innocently. He had no idea. She knew this was probably the only rest he'd had in days. He deserved at least that. God knows what they had been doing to him ever since they'd been separated.

He was starting to mumble again. About every hour or so he'd do this, mutter things under his sleep, begging, protesting. She realized she'd never seen him sleep without his dreams being infected by this God awful place. Not once. His breathing was growing more and more rapid until his eyes sprang open as he gasped for air.

"Sorry. You're still here, still alive. Everything still sucks," she attempted a fake, on the edge of a breakdown laugh.

"But you're here," he replied, eyes so stupidly full of hope, "that makes this stay better than all the other ones anyway."

"Yeah." She bit her lip and turned her face away from him.

They stayed silent for a while. Him staring at her, she trying to avoid the blunt honesty in his every look. It was always like that, but not for much longer

"What's wrong, Parker?" There was no answer. "You can talk to me. You can always talk to me."

She shook her head. "You're just so stupid, Jarod. So stupid." He tried to protest, his face baffled. "No. You just don't understand. There's no reason to care about me. This is a mess. Everything's a mess. And it's all because of me. And I'm real sorry, Jarod. I'm really really sorry. For everything."

Jarod cocked his head, stupified. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you trust me?" she whispered, turning her face down to face the one which had been numbing her left thigh for hours now.

The man she'd been hunting, tormenting, for so many years looked her straight in the eye and nodded, "Completely."

Miss Parker didn't answer, just started running her fingers through his hair again. Ignoring the weak "Parker"s coming out of the pretender's mouth.

Almost an hour later, the door opened and Briggite and Raines stepped in, three sweepers and an oxygen tank behind them.

"Nice and cozy aren't we?" Briggite smiled, "how sweet."

"It's time to go, Miss Parker," Raines beckoned as one of the sweepers unlocked the cage. Jarod looked up at her, searching for an answer in her face to the hundred questions that were running through his mind. He could see though, that the wall had come back up and no emotion could escape that stone facade.

Miss Parker lifted his head off of her and turned him to lean against the wall again so that he was halfway sitting up. His lips were parted, trembling, and he stared at her in complete disbelief. She looked into his eyes and he could tell she was sorry, that there was a deep pain inside her, the same kind of pain he felt inside him. It was helplessness. She stood slowly and walked out of the cage, while Briggite stepped in.

"Surprise," grinned the blonde, knealing down and stroking Jarod's face with the tip of her pistol. He refused to look into her eyes, instead remaining fixated on Miss Parker's form, standing beside Raines. Briggite slapped his face with the side of her gun, "Was I not talking to you, love?"

Jarod barely felt the steel colliding with his already wounded face. His gaze never left the brunette though and the lack of emotional reaction from Miss Parker satisfied him. She'd given up everything.

"Ha, poor boy needs some time to let this all sink in I think," Briggite said, running a finger down from his chest down along his abs and back up, lingering. She stood then, closing the door behind her, "let's go."

It was as if she wasn't there. Jarod was internally begging for his cold huntress to look at him just once before leaving. But the six of them walked out of the room. Miss Parker never looked back and was holding her breath the entire time. She veered off at the tech room, daring them to even think about following her, and then pulling up the surveillance of Jarod. Only then, completely alone, did she allow herself to cry at the sight of him, lying on the ground with his arm covering his eyes, clearly sobbing. Alone again.