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Chapter or Story
Chapter 5
Stretching her sore and tired muscles, Parker glanced into the backseat and smiled at the sight of Ben sleeping peacefully, Snowball tucked under his arm. The boy never went anywhere without the stuffed puppy and Parker found the behavior oddly endearing.
Not everything the boy did, however, was as endearing as his attachment to the puppy. There were times when he would cry for hours for no reason. His temper tantrums were intense and like the unexplained crying jags could last for hours. His nightmares were a nightly occurrence that caused him to wake up screaming like a banshee and craving any kind of tactile contact. Hence why the stuffed toy and his freedom were his only Christmas presents that year. Perhaps the most gut wrenching and most annoying of his habits was constantly asking why. Though she knew from the limited experience, she had with small children this was decidingly normal behavior for a child Ben’s age. But he asked about things a boy his age should already know. Like what clouds were, and what candy was, and what a stuffed animal was. But his constant questions were about the only normal thing about Ben or the entire situation.
Sighing heavily with frustration Parker turned back to the road ahead of her and put the SUV back into drive. As much as she wanted to continue to gaze at her adorable little boy that was not something that would help either of them at this time. Continuing to move and stay ahead of the Centre was more important, getting away, far away from Lyle and Raines was more important, protecting her boy was more important.
But to help her little boy as best she could, she had to get to him. She knew her heart would break again; in fact, it felt like her heart had been breaking since Carthis when to protect him she’d been forced to hurt him. Nothing about their situation was fair, all she could do was fair, and all she could do was hope that he would ignore Ben’s connection with her and help the boy anyway. If she had to she would play the “little boy lost” card. She felt no guilt over that, after all how many times had he played the “mother” card with her to get her to do whatever he wanted.
Keeping her eyes on the road, she followed the trail she’d avoided following for six years. When she’d been brought on to lead the pursuit team the Powers That Be had hoped that she would use the gifts that they assumed she had to track him down.
But she hadn’t.
It would have been easy to do so, even in the beginning, but back then, she had wanted to avoid going back to Corporate, despite what she said to the contrary. Then when it had come down to her freedom for his, the final decision had been made. She would chase him, but chasing didn’t necessarily mean catching. After all, one of them deserved to be free, and it sure as hell wasn’t her.
But know there was a new player in the game, Ben. So she was now following the trail that would lead her to Jarod. A trail that only she could follow.
JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP
It was dawn when she arrived at the large farmhouse. The cynical part of her mentally commented on how mush it looked like the house on The Waltons. Stopping the SUV and getting out, she stretched. Except for gas, she had not stopped for the last 16 hours. She had not just been trying to get here, she’d had to also make a few false leads and make sure no one was following.
She couldn’t have anyone follow her here. They already had so much that they would probably never forgive her for; she didn’t need to add more fuel to that particular fire. Taking a deep breath of the cold late March air, she removed a sleeping Ben from his car seat. Accidentally, Snowball fell from the boys normally iron hold on him and once the puppy was no longer in his grasp, Ben woke up. Moving quickly, so as to stop the cry she knew the small boy would emit, she deftly moved him to her hip and grabbed the still falling puppy before it hit the ground.
Once his Snowball was safely back in his arms, Ben sighed and leaned into Parker. Content to go back to sleep for a while. Smiling at this, Parker dropped a quick kiss onto his head before she grabbed the filed she needed. She decided to leave the DSAs for now. She didn’t have the hands needed to carry Ben, the files, and the Halliburton case. If she needed it, she could retrieve it later.
Tucking Ben a bit closer to her hip she nudged the car door closed with the other, and approached the cheery wraparound porch, and the ominous back door. She knew that normal people would knock on the front door, but the driveway curved around the house and lead to the back door. Besides she was a child of the Centre, normal had never been a real option for her. For practical reasons though, she wanted to face the hardest part of this ordeal first.
The back door faced east and the view from the back half of the porch or even what she assumed must be the kitchen would be perfect for watching the sunrise on another brand new day. Sleep was an ever-elusive commodity for those who the Centre had some type of hold on. But especially for those who knew the darker secrets, those who had been or were prisoners of Hell.
She knew him. Better than she knew herself at times. Knew his voice, his grin, the mischievous twinkle that he got in his eyes when he played some trick on her or the Centre, knew the blank look he got in his eyes when retreated into himself fully, knew his harder darker look that he got when he was getting justice for those who had no one else to fight for them, that look he got when the darker more twisted aspects of personality came out.
Taking another, final deep breath, she knocked on the wooden door, painted a cheery red to go with the shutters.
With the red rising sun as her backdrop, Parker smiled lightly at the sleep depraved Pretender who opened the door and blinked at her, as if wondering if he was seeing no more than a mirage.
“So Rat, can a huntress and a baby claim refuge?”
Stretching her sore and tired muscles, Parker glanced into the backseat and smiled at the sight of Ben sleeping peacefully, Snowball tucked under his arm. The boy never went anywhere without the stuffed puppy and Parker found the behavior oddly endearing.
Not everything the boy did, however, was as endearing as his attachment to the puppy. There were times when he would cry for hours for no reason. His temper tantrums were intense and like the unexplained crying jags could last for hours. His nightmares were a nightly occurrence that caused him to wake up screaming like a banshee and craving any kind of tactile contact. Hence why the stuffed toy and his freedom were his only Christmas presents that year. Perhaps the most gut wrenching and most annoying of his habits was constantly asking why. Though she knew from the limited experience, she had with small children this was decidingly normal behavior for a child Ben’s age. But he asked about things a boy his age should already know. Like what clouds were, and what candy was, and what a stuffed animal was. But his constant questions were about the only normal thing about Ben or the entire situation.
Sighing heavily with frustration Parker turned back to the road ahead of her and put the SUV back into drive. As much as she wanted to continue to gaze at her adorable little boy that was not something that would help either of them at this time. Continuing to move and stay ahead of the Centre was more important, getting away, far away from Lyle and Raines was more important, protecting her boy was more important.
But to help her little boy as best she could, she had to get to him. She knew her heart would break again; in fact, it felt like her heart had been breaking since Carthis when to protect him she’d been forced to hurt him. Nothing about their situation was fair, all she could do was fair, and all she could do was hope that he would ignore Ben’s connection with her and help the boy anyway. If she had to she would play the “little boy lost” card. She felt no guilt over that, after all how many times had he played the “mother” card with her to get her to do whatever he wanted.
Keeping her eyes on the road, she followed the trail she’d avoided following for six years. When she’d been brought on to lead the pursuit team the Powers That Be had hoped that she would use the gifts that they assumed she had to track him down.
But she hadn’t.
It would have been easy to do so, even in the beginning, but back then, she had wanted to avoid going back to Corporate, despite what she said to the contrary. Then when it had come down to her freedom for his, the final decision had been made. She would chase him, but chasing didn’t necessarily mean catching. After all, one of them deserved to be free, and it sure as hell wasn’t her.
But know there was a new player in the game, Ben. So she was now following the trail that would lead her to Jarod. A trail that only she could follow.
JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP
It was dawn when she arrived at the large farmhouse. The cynical part of her mentally commented on how mush it looked like the house on The Waltons. Stopping the SUV and getting out, she stretched. Except for gas, she had not stopped for the last 16 hours. She had not just been trying to get here, she’d had to also make a few false leads and make sure no one was following.
She couldn’t have anyone follow her here. They already had so much that they would probably never forgive her for; she didn’t need to add more fuel to that particular fire. Taking a deep breath of the cold late March air, she removed a sleeping Ben from his car seat. Accidentally, Snowball fell from the boys normally iron hold on him and once the puppy was no longer in his grasp, Ben woke up. Moving quickly, so as to stop the cry she knew the small boy would emit, she deftly moved him to her hip and grabbed the still falling puppy before it hit the ground.
Once his Snowball was safely back in his arms, Ben sighed and leaned into Parker. Content to go back to sleep for a while. Smiling at this, Parker dropped a quick kiss onto his head before she grabbed the filed she needed. She decided to leave the DSAs for now. She didn’t have the hands needed to carry Ben, the files, and the Halliburton case. If she needed it, she could retrieve it later.
Tucking Ben a bit closer to her hip she nudged the car door closed with the other, and approached the cheery wraparound porch, and the ominous back door. She knew that normal people would knock on the front door, but the driveway curved around the house and lead to the back door. Besides she was a child of the Centre, normal had never been a real option for her. For practical reasons though, she wanted to face the hardest part of this ordeal first.
The back door faced east and the view from the back half of the porch or even what she assumed must be the kitchen would be perfect for watching the sunrise on another brand new day. Sleep was an ever-elusive commodity for those who the Centre had some type of hold on. But especially for those who knew the darker secrets, those who had been or were prisoners of Hell.
She knew him. Better than she knew herself at times. Knew his voice, his grin, the mischievous twinkle that he got in his eyes when he played some trick on her or the Centre, knew the blank look he got in his eyes when retreated into himself fully, knew his harder darker look that he got when he was getting justice for those who had no one else to fight for them, that look he got when the darker more twisted aspects of personality came out.
Taking another, final deep breath, she knocked on the wooden door, painted a cheery red to go with the shutters.
With the red rising sun as her backdrop, Parker smiled lightly at the sleep depraved Pretender who opened the door and blinked at her, as if wondering if he was seeing no more than a mirage.
“So Rat, can a huntress and a baby claim refuge?”
