27 by TLM

Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story

- Text Size +

Author's Chapter Notes:
Please forgive me for the obscene wait. This semester has turned out to be more busy than anticipated. Chapters will most likely be slow for a while until work or school finish. Either or would be nice! Thanks for all your lovely reviews and enjoy!

Day 10

Parker had taken the guest room that night, but had found sleeping difficult. There were too many thoughts and unanswered questions for her mind to allow her rest. It was also the first night in many that she felt separated from Jarod, and while that shouldn't have bothered her, deep down she knew it did. It wasn't that she missed him. Dreams were just easier to face with someone who understood.

When she went downstairs, the sky outside was still dark and indicative of night time. She wasn't surprised to see that Jarod was awake as well. He either hadn't bothered unfolding the couch to make a bed or he had long ago given up on the idea and refolded it. His laptop lay in his lap and he was reading intently by its soft glow, occasionally pressing a button on the keyboard. When he noticed her standing there ready for the day in jeans and an emerald green sweater, he laughed. She just shrugged and sat next to him on the sofa, pulling her knees to her chest with a deep breath.

"Dreams?" she asked.

Jarod nodded sympathetically, "You?"

"Yeah, and not of the dancing sugarplum sort either."

The pretender cocked an eyebrow and she just shook her head, unwilling to elaborate.

Parker gestured to the laptop, "What are you doing?"

"Researching." Jarod turned the laptop so that she could see it and she leaned in closer for a better look. "I was trying to figure out what the Centre's connection to Armenia was, but I can't find anything. It seems too specific to be random though, so it has to be important."

"When your mother comes, she should know right?"

"Yeah, I just," he stammered slightly. "It's best not to count on things like that."

Silence.

"Jarod, you let me think that way. I'm far better at it. You," Parker paused and then spoke compassionately. "Your unrelenting faith in others has always distinguished you from everyone I've ever met. Hell, after all those years of questioning your little charity cases and pals, not one of them even hinted at giving you away."

"I never gave them the information to do so. Besides, this is different. I've never properly met my mother and there have been so many close calls. I just don't want to get my hopes up this time. I'm tired of being let down."

Jarod looked at her with insecure, childish eyes. She grasped his hand.

"I have a good feeling about this."

She looked at him authoritatively and then tilted her head with a playful glint in her eyes. Jarod smiled and only then realized she was holding his hand.

"Would you walk with me, Parker?"

The playfulness disappeared. "Come again?"

——-

There hadn't been much of a choice in the matter, at least that's how she thought of it as she stepped through the snow by Jarod's side. It wasn't as cold here as it had been in Maine, but it was cold enough and a thin layer of snow still covered the ground.

They were walking closer together than they normally did, an observation internally noted by both. Occasionally, their arms would grace each other's and they would temporarily separate a bit further until they were once again drawn close enough to repeat the sequence.

The air had that cleansed smell that snowfalls always bring along with a faint whiff of pine. The sun was beginning to appear in the distance with a soft pink glow. They walked toward it through the field behind Tina and Rick's home. After they crossed the wide expanse, they trudged up an increasingly steep hill. At one point, Jarod slipped and Parker reached for him automatically, mocking him only through facial expression.

"Wow," she said, once they reached the top of the hill. "It's beautiful."

It was. The glow of the sun contrasted with the snow like ripe grapefruit against milk. The snow amplified the growing light so that the whole world seemed to sparkle from the horizon to the snow-coated tree branches surrounding them.

"How did you know this was here?" Parker said, so quietly it could pass for a whisper. Out in the frosted morning, it was as if voices had to be soft to keep from disturbing the empty white.

Jarod shook his head, gazing around him. "I didn't. I just love sunrises. They're hopeful and they make me feel that way, too."

"We have a lot to hope for," she agreed, completely focused on the rising sun.

"Yes, we do."

Jarod took his coat off then and laid it out flat on the ground, leather side down. He sat down and then looked up at Parker expectantly. She rolled her eyes and begrudgingly joined him.

"You're going to ruin that jacket," she said off-handedly.

Jarod shrugged and slipped an arm around Parker's shoulders, "That's okay."

Against her own mental protests, she leaned into his embrace.

The sun was radiant and gorgeous. They were alone. There were very few moments in their lives together that they could truly say they spent alone. Nobody watching, nobody listening, nobody running.

"What do we do now?" Parker asked.

The pretender took a deep breath, releasing the air in a visible puff, "We wait."

Jarod, always the lion tamer, very delicately turned her chin to face him and even more cautiously pressed his lips to hers. Parker hesitated at first, but she couldn't deny the sparks that seemed to literally ignite every time he touched her. She cupped her palms around his rough, whiskered face and kissed him back.

Waiting.

——-

"Tell me more about my mother," Jarod said as Tina piled another scoop of steamed broccoli onto his plate.

She smiled fondly and replaced the pan to the top of the stove and joined Jarod, Miss Parker, and Rick at the kitchen table, "Well let me think. Your mother." A twinkle entered her eyes, "Your mother makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had."

Jarod beamed, "Really?"

"I'll second that," Rick said between bites of fried chicken leg.

"And she's extraordinarily clever," Tina continued. "I suppose that's how she's been able to go on all these years. She's just always had this air of calm, knowingness about her; it's the same feeling I get from you."

Jarod smiled faintly and glanced at Parker, who was carefully selecting a piece of broccoli from her plate. She had been quiet all day while Jarod rattled off questions to Tina and Rick, some of which they could answer and others of course they could not. She'd even left at one point to shop for some of the things they'd left behind or forgotten on this merry little adventure they'd set themselves on. Jarod had worried that maybe Parker found everything with Tina and Rick to be a distraction from their original goal, but in pulling her aside, found that to be the furthest thing from the truth. She didn't want to detract from his joy. For now, he had to learn everything he could about his own family, a need nobody understood as well as she could.

"I can't wait to really meet her," Jarod said.

Tina shook her head sympathetically, "I hope you're not disappointed if it takes some time."

"I've waited a lifetime to meet my mother. A little longer won't hurt."

Parker cleared her throat and took her dish to the sink, "I just hope you don't run these poor people out of house and home before that happens."

"Nonsense. A good man clears his plate," Rick nodded at Jarod's empty plate.

"It was very good."

Tina stood up to help Parker with the dishes.

"No no, please sit. You've done enough for us," Parker insisted. "Jarod will help me."

"Agreed," Jarod said, collecting some dishes and bringing them from the table to the sink.

Tina smiled, "In that case, I think I'll go take a long bubble bath. It sounds like just the ticket right now."

At that moment the phone rang with an old-fashioned bell-like quality. Tina answered on the second ring, and her eyes immediately went to Jarod as she listened to the caller speak.

"Yes, you do want to hurry. Hold on, I know someone who can explain better than I can," Tina held her palm over the receiver. "Jarod, it's for you."

Jarod's brow crinkled, "You don't mean—"

She placed the phone in his hand and he held it to his ear saying hesitantly, "This is Jarod."

"Jarod," a woman breathed on the other end of the phone. "My God. Sweetheart, I can't believe it's really you."

Tina beamed as she watched the mental connections click together in Jarod's eyes.

"Mom," he whispered back, entirely awestruck. Parker stopped the running water and watched him fascinated while he muttered a few yeah's, no's, and okay's. And then, he said goodbye and hung up.

"That was it?" Parker raised one eyebrow curiously.

Jarod gazed up at her looking completely baffled, "I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say. I don't think she did either. She's coming though, as fast as she can. I can't believe after decades of waiting and thinking I couldn't think of one thing to say to my own mother."

He wrung his hands together and stared at the floor in frustration.

"You were surprised," Tina intervened. "I shouldn't have thrust you on each other like that. I just couldn't let her call and hang up like it was nothing."

Jarod nodded and returned to the sink area, cutting the water on. "Let me help you with these."

Rick bit his lip and pulled his wife out of the kitchen with him. Parker had no idea what to say to Jarod, so she just handed the dishes to him mechanically until they had nothing left to clean.

"When she's here, you won't have to say anything at all. Both of you just being together will be enough whether you know that now or not," Parker said reassuringly, surprising even herself with her inspiring words.

"I know," Jarod remarked detachedly. "You're right of course. We can't expect to instantly connect on the phone."

"Exactly," she agreed, secretly recalling the many intense phone calls she and Jarod had so often shared in a matter of thirty seconds sometimes.

"Hey," Parker threw a crumpled napkin at the side of his face. "It'll be okay."

Jarod smiled slightly and nodded, tossing the napkin into the trash. Parker watched him leave the room, obviously dazed. She couldn't imagine how he was feeling right now, but she hoped it would ameliorate itself when Margaret came— if Margaret came. No, she reminded herself, when.

 




Day 37


Parker was surprised to have any human contact at all. Ever since her freak out for the cameras, the only person she had seen was the woman who slipped in her food every ten hours or so. Even still, she was in and out in a matter of seconds and Parker didn't have the heart to strike up a chat with the woman.

But this morning (or night, who could tell?), she had been pulled from her cot mid-slumber, hooded, and yanked through hallways, corridors and eventually to an elevator. Sweepers attempted to pull her faster, perhaps in the hopes that they might drag her along like some pathetic Raggedy Ann, but she picked up her pace, walking confidently in long strides despite her blindness.

She was pushed suddenly and she heard a metal door slam shut behind her. Parker tugged the black fabric off of her head and looked around. She knew this little room. In fact, she'd spent many hours in this room a few short years ago.

That could only mean one thing and Parker rushed to peer out of the door's small, square window. Her fears were confirmed instantly. T for torture. This was an interrogation. On the short end of the T-shaped table sat Raines and Lyle. On the wrong side of a T-board under the line of fire, sat a man, shoulders slumped, looking restless. He had probably been there for hours. She recognized the back of his head better than anyone, having unfortunately seen it so many times over the years, and she hoped Jarod was surviving his first T-board.

Parker pressed her fingers to the glass subconsciously and felt a burning in her chest. Jarod turned his head suddenly and his eyes went directly to hers. She bit back a frown and looked back at him confidently, trying to share any bit of strength she had. That pretender grinned back at her obnoxiously and the corners of her mouth tripped into a tiny smile. It was enough, and he turned away with restored confidence as Lyle snapped his fingers.

——-

The snap brought Jarod back.

"See something you like?" Lyle asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"You bet," he responded casually.

"Have you slept with her?"

The smile on Jarod's face disappeared instantly and once again he was rough, animal-like, and guarded. Jarod was running on his sixth hour in the T-board and had found the process far less intimidating than they had made it out to be, probably because the idea was a mental torture and with the possible exception of Sydney, there was no Centre employee who had the capability of doing that.

Lyle sighed, "A simple yes or no will do, though if you feel the need to elaborate I won't stop you."

There was no indication that Jarod had even heard him.

"Maybe we should ask her," Lyle said to Raines. There was no reply there either and Lyle shrugged. "No need to make this complicated, Jarod."

A boy and a girl, about ten years old, walked by the table, hand in hand. They held Jarod's gaze for a second, but otherwise he ignored their giggling, innocent faces.

Lyle stood up, "Alright fine."

"Why do you even care?" Jarod said abruptly.

"Sorry, but we're on the questioning side of the T and you're on the answering. Perhaps if you answered my question, I'd think about answering yours."

The pretender stared at the edge of the table in front of him, "Go to hell."

"Alrighty, it was your decision." Lyle called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh, Miss Parker."

Jarod swallowed nervously as he heard the door open behind him. There was an obvious strength in having Miss Parker on your side, but the Centre understood now that they could easily break him through her. Somehow they had twisted his strength into his weakness. The Centre had always specialized in twisting.

The sight of her sent a nervous shiver through Jarod. She was unkept and probably hadn't showered in days, yet there was the same roaring glow around her. She was incapable of being anything but dangerously beautiful.

Parker looked at him and raised her eyebrows slightly. He understood immediately and repeated her gesture, "I'm fine."

"Me, too," she said quickly as a sweeper gripped her by the bicep and pulled her toward the table.

"That's real sweet," Lyle mocked. "Get him out of here, boys."

More sweepers descended and forced Jarod out of the chair and into the holding room where Miss Parker had been. She noticed that he had an intense limp to his walk and she struggled to swallow the anger she felt. She moved to the empty seat by sweeper escort and brushed his arm away when he tried to seat her roughly.

"Always in control, right sis?"

"Quit calling me that. I'm having enough trouble keeping my food down lately," she responded. She glanced back at the door behind her and saw Jarod calmly watching the scene through the glass.

"Hey don't complain. I had to hear Jarod talk about sleeping with my sister. Not a pretty picture," he grinned lasciviously. "But still quite the picture none-the-less."

Parker rolled her eyes, "Nice try, Lyle."

"You think he's too honorable, don't you? That your white knight wouldn't share such intimate things. You would be surprised what men under pressure are willing to reveal, especially with the right motivation."

"Yeah okay," Parker plastered on her artificial smile briefly and watched the children playing in the corner.

Raines released a breath of air and finally spoke, "What did you and Jarod find in Armenia?"

"It was awful cold," she teased.

"Answer the question. What did you find?"

Parker shrugged, "The truth."

"Miss Parker," Raines wheezed.

"You really wanta know? Okay," she said seductively. "We did find the scrolls. They're real. We know the big secret now and the games are finally over. What we're doing here... is a waste of time."

Both Raines and Lyle stared at her intensely, neither knowing how to proceed. But Miss Parker started laughing.

"The funny thing is that Lyle has absolutely no idea what I'm talking about," she composed herself. "Seriously, Lyle. You think you're important around here but you just know what they want you to know. You're just another pawn. The only difference between you and me is that you're too stupid and arrogant to know when they're playing you."

Lyle protested childishly, "You have no idea what I know about—"

"No, Lyle," she said, her voice raised as if to discipline him. "You are the one who has no idea. And I can't decide if I should feel sorry for you or not."

The twins exchanged glares, but there was nothing to say to that. Neither of them was going to tell the other what they knew just to prove a point.

Not a word was spoken for about half an hour then. The boy and girl laughed and played with a puzzle obliviously. Occasionally, notes were passed between Raines and Lyle, or via a grey-suited man to someone else. Parker found it ironic that they thought that not speaking to her was a form of torture.

After a while Parker spoke softly, "Daddy, how could you let this happen again?"

"Dad's not going to come to your rescue. You've royally screwed yourself this time, sis."

She ignored Lyle. "I know you're listening and I never thought I'd be so disgraced to be your daughter. Then again, that wasn't really true either was it?" Parker's eyes began to mist over and she shook her head briskly as if to clear the emotion away. "All my life, I just wanted you to be proud of me, no matter the sacrifice, no matter who I lost in the process."

Parker glanced back at Jarod, who had no idea what she was saying but nodded reassuringly anyway. He'd been watching diligently the entire time. She knew that without really knowing and it gave her strength. She took a deep breath and spoke definitively, "I hate that I lived so much of my life under your shadow, but it's never going to happen again. I know what I'm doing now."

"Take her away," Raines ordered with bulging eyes.

Sweepers seemed to appear from nowhere, emerging from the shadows all around the room. Three escorted her to the holding room, where she gladly threw herself into Jarod's waiting arms. The door clanged shut and they clutched each other desperately for a moment muttering each other's names.

Parker finally pulled back, putting an arm-length between her and his shoulders, looking him up and down, "Jarod, you look awful."

"Why thank you, you're looking quite lovely yourself," he joked.

Parker hated the lopsidedness of his smile, a wicked cut distorting the left side. She grazed a thumb softly over the injury and then his lips. He was trying so hard to hide his inner wounds, but she saw beyond the playfulness that he was hurting inside just like she was.

"They haven't touched me since I saw you last," she said, knowing exactly what he needed to hear.

Jarod nodded and answered breathlessly, "Good, good, good. We'll be out of here soon, you know. Not much longer now."

There were tears building in her eyes and they both pretended not to notice.

"Yeah," she scrunched her face into one of the utmost resolve. "Yeah I know."

"Really. Trust me. It's almost over, Parker."

"I do," she leaned against him and closed her eyes. These words were so important, so rarely applicable in her life. "I trust you."

 










You must login (register) to review.