Miss Parker sat at her office desk and hung her head low as she dozed off. Every several minutes, she tried to hold her head up, but, eventually dropped it down again. The sudden sound of a door slammed immediately had gotten her attention.

"Sleeping on the job, Parker?" Lyle drummed his fingers on her desk and waited for an answer.

"What the hell do you want?" She hissed.

"Well? Why so tired? In fact you're looking a bit drawn for the past month. You're not your usual self, you know, full of gust!" He laughed annoyingly. "So, what's keeping you up at nights? Or should I say who's keeping you out at all hours? A new man in your life? Maybe we should have a little family dinner party to meet your new guy."

"What exactly did you come in for? I haven't time for your nonsense." Miss Parker growled at her brother.

"Just a little concern over my other half." He smiled wickedly and walked out.

"Bastard!" Parker reached into her hand bag for her cell phone, flipped it open and hit number one on her speed dial. After several rings, she yelled out. "Pick up the phone, why don't you?" After what seemed like the hundredth ring, she hung up and hit the dial again. This time she was greeted by an out of breath voice.

"Where were you?" She asked the person on the other end of the line. "Is everything alright? Is the baby alright?"

Lyle stood outside of his sister's door and listened to the one-sided telephone conversation. His ears perked up like a dog's when mentioned of a baby. Well, he definitely knew it certainly wasn't Miss Parker's child.

"I hear him crying. Just lightly stroke him on his back, then, pat him, then stroke him again. He'll soon fall asleep." She waited a bit, then spoke again. "He's still crying! How long has he been like that? Now he's screaming! What a day for the sitter to be gone. Do want me home?"

Hurriedly, Lyle stepped away from her office when Parker dashed out nearly colliding into him. He stared at her and waited for an explanation.

"What? Get out of my way! I'm taking the rest of the day off!" She snarled and trotted off.

"What secrets are you hiding, Parker? And don't you worry, I'll get to the bottom of this." Softly, Lyle spoke to himself.

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Miss Parker heard his little voice screaming at the top of his lungs as she entered the house. Jarod exhaled loudly at the sight of Parker. Looking disheveled, he collapsed onto the chair as soon as she got a hold of his baby.

"Hey, hey. What's the matter? Did daddy not know how to calm you down?" She cuddled Burke closely to her chest and rocked him slowly back and forth. The baby cooed in her arms. "There you go. It wasn't so hard to keep you quiet, was it?"

"He's been crying for you." Jarod leant his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes as he spoke.

"Did you miss me, sweetie pie?" She gave the baby a kiss on the forehead.

"I sure did, hon. He wouldn't stop crying. I tried feeding him, he wasn't hungry, his diaper wasn't wet, I don't know what was wrong with him," Jarod blurted out.

"Excuse me? I was talking to the baby." Miss Parker smiled at Jarod.

"Oh." He laughed.

"When you're nervous, he can feel it and that's why he cries. The sitter will be back tomorrow. And this new "pretend" of yours..."

"A forensic anthropologist."

"Which means dealing with bones? You will be home during the nights, with us? No working late?" Burke laid quietly in her arms.

"Yes, to all of the above questions. Don't worry. I'll have time for my family." Jarod reassured her.

Parker swayed the baby in her arms. Jarod's full attention was on her. He smiled to himself and listened to her tone of voice which was unlike her usual hissing, snapping and growling. "Sorry, to have left you this morning. I really had to get to work today. And you know what? Debbie will be here to play with you this weekend. You like her, don't you? Yes, you do." Miss Parker lowered her face down to the baby and sniffed at him. "Who'd think the love of my life would be a fat bald-headed little guy? You smell so soft and fluffy that I could just eat you up. Give me a kiss. You were put here on earth just for me to love. You want to sleep with daddy and mommy tonight? All snuggled up safely between us?"

At that moment, she hadn't realized her choice of word for herself, but, Jarod heard. Mommy. She called herself mommy. When Sydney had informed them of Rachel's pregnancy, he questioned how much of an involvement would Parker have with his child. Having fathered a child by someone else, he definitely knew that she was not one who would open her heart to just anyone. He was mistaken.

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Miss Parker sat in front of the mirror and brushed her hair. Jarod embraced her from behind. He kissed her neck, then took hold of the hairbrush and continued brushing her dark locks. Jarod loved watching her, especially with the baby. She stared at him in the mirror as he ran his fingers through her hair. He pulled her up and turned her around. He embraced her. She snaked her arms around him.

He nuzzled her neck. "You smell like the baby."

Jarod pushed her gently on the bed. He laid next to her. They held hands. "Thank you." He kissed her fingers.

"For what?" They both were sprawled onto the bed and looked straight up into the ceiling, their fingers interlocked each others.

"Your love for the baby. You're the only mother he knows." Jarod turned on his side and propped his head on his hand.

"When he gets older, you will tell him about Rachel. Won't you? And that his mother never meant to leave him. I promised her that." She kissed him on the nose.

"Yes, I will." Jarod kissed her lightly on her lips.

This was the first time they've spoken of Rachel since her death and the first time Parker had said anything about their conversation with each other.

"I hated her so much, Jarod, you and her together. I thought I lost you forever. But, then, you weren't mine to begin with," she confessed. "I never thought I had a heart, until I felt it breaking. After meeting with her at the hospital, I can see why you loved her. She said we could have been friends, if only we both didn't love you and that she wasn't having your baby."

"When you asked me if I loved her, I said no. I did, but not the way I should have. And it was because I loved you. I love you."

They both were silent until Parker again spoke. "She said she'd tell mama that she had the pleasure of meeting me. She asked what her name was just so she knows who to look for. Those last moments with her, she made me cry. And for a split second, I wished I was the one in her place. She didn't deserve what happened to her. She had a child to look forward to. I, on the other hand, had no one."

Jarod and Miss Parker spoke openly about their deceased love ones.

"With Thomas, although, I was the one who told him about you, I saw how much you loved him, how much you mourned over him. And I was jealous over a dead man." Jarod told her truthfully.

"Why did you tell him about me?"

"Because, you needed someone to love you, to take care of you and since you didn't love me, Thomas would be someone good for you. And I laid many a nights thinking of the two of you together. Each night it nearly killed me when I knew you were with him. In the end, he was the one who was killed. I lost you to him. But, I didn't want him dead. I blame me for his death."

"You weren't the one who pulled that trigger. But, I've always loved you, Jarod. I guess no one had the courage to say anything."

"You loved Thomas, I knew that. But, you never had his baby. I loved Rachel, but not in a way she would have wanted me to. I told her that. What do you see when you look at Burke? Me and Rachel together?"

"I see you. You, me and the baby. I forget sometimes he's not mine. And when he hangs on to me so safe and secure, I can't imagine of ever letting him go." She wiped her tears away which unexpectedly slipped out.

"He's your baby as much as he's mine, Parker. What's wrong?" He brushed his fingers on her wet cheeks.

"I'm just happy you're both in my life. But, I'm afraid "The Centre" will find out about the baby and take him away. A "Pretender" baby."

"We've been fine so far, right? I won't let anything happen to either one of you." He assured her.

Jarod laid atop of her, when Miss Parker pushed him away. "Wait, what are we doing?"

"Well, Parker, I guess it's been a while if you have to ask." He kissed her tenderly.

"The baby," she murmured in between their kisses. "He'll wake up."

"Then you'll just have to be quiet. Don't be as loud as you normally are."

Slowly, they undressed each other. He shushed her as the sound of her voice echoed the bedroom. The next sound they heard was of the baby crying from his nursery.

"You want to get him," she whispered in his ears.

Jarod pulled himself away from her. "You woke him up."

"I owe you one," she laughed as she got off of their bed.

Jarod pulled her back and kissed her passionately. "You owe me more than one."

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"Raines and "daddy" listened to Mr. Lyle as he spoke to the both of them on his recent findings of Jarod.

Lyle gloated. "Hey, I did some checking. So, our "pretender" bedded down some profiler. She was taken ill and died in childbirth. A boy. And our Miss Parker's playing mommy to him. I knew we couldn't trust that bitch."

"Jarod's son. What more could we ask for? Get that baby! I don't care how you do it, just get him! Do it now," he wheezed and walked away pulling his oxygen tank along with him.

"Lyle, make no assumption to your sister that we know of her indiscretions. Just follow her for awhile, know of her whereabouts, then we can catch her off guard. You got that!" Mr. Parker spoke to his son with clenched teeth. "My angel has become a traitor. Doesn't she know how much that breaks my heart?"

Yeah, like you've got a heart, daddy.

TBC - Chapter 6