Chapter 3: Found

JANUARY 2003

Venice Beach, California

"Fat-free Latte, right?" The barista, a girl of no more than sixteen, asked. Molly was the same girl that waited on Miss Parker almost every morning for the past month in the little out of the way coffee shop. The sweetness and innocence of her perky smile always made Parker reciprocate.

"You got it, Molly." Parker responded with a small smile of her own. As she moved to her usual table, Molly stopped her and in an exaggerated whisper says. "Oh, by the way, some hottie just stole your table," she pointed and winked, but all Parker saw was a laptop and some papers spread out.

Miss Parker had been sitting in the same table for the past month. Being a creature of habit, she would set up her lap top, spend an hour or so searching her normal secure servers, then head home. Huffing her disappointment at her table being taken, she made a beeline for the table all the way across the coffee shop, set up her laptop and waited for Molly to finish her coffee.

"Miss P? You're coffee's ready!" Molly says. As Miss Parker took her coffee from Molly, she again whispered loudly . . . "I swear he was here like ten minutes ago and he was so hot. He's like close to your age and I didn't spot a wedding ring or anything. And he has the tightest a –"

Parker holds her hand up to interrupt Molly "Ah – yeah. Thanks for the info." She mentally rolled her eyes. Spare me from matchmakers. The last thing she was needed was to meet someone. Hottie or not, it just wasn't the right time. She didn't think it would ever be.

After her Houdini from the coffee shop, she decided to just hide out in her beach house. She sat on the front porch with her coffee cup.

When Miss Parker disappeared a year ago, it was because she was trying to keep those she cared about safe. After all the lies and half truths, the deception, and the pain, the manipulation and torture by the Centre, she hadn't been sad to see it fall. She just hadn't realized that it would happen so quickly after she delivered the last of the evidence.

Why she continued to stay away from the only home she had ever known, was still a mystery to her. The first three months, she spent in Europe. Sightseeing and going to the places she and her mother had always dreamed about visiting. France, Germany, Romania, Russia, Italy. Europe had so much history she never ran out of things to do. She would monitor the goings on in Blue Cove from time to time, but only to make sure Sydney and Broots were adjusting to the Isis Foundation with Sydney as chairman, Broots as head of IT.

The next three months she spent in Asia, doing much of the same thing.

She had been back in the US for six months now, the last month in the same place. Not once had she gone back home to Delaware.

Home. She had remembered a conversation with her mother when she was very young; about how to define what a home was. She had remembered her mother saying something hackneyed and trite. "Baby, home is where the heart is." At that age, she just thought that it was an answer parents gave when they really didn't know the answer to the question.

It was only after a year, two continents, half a dozen countries, twenty or thirty odd cities that it dawned on her. She realized that a home is where you feel the safest, where you feel protected. A home is where you can say or do anything without judgment. A home is where you can be who you are; warts and all.

I don't know where my home is.

Her home wasn't a place at least not by itself. She had always considered her mother's summer house as home. Her house was not a home unless it had someone in it that protected her and made her feel safe. Jarod was part of her home. He knew her dark places, places she couldn't even begin to tell Thomas about. He knew her as well as he knew himself. Jarod knew everything she was, everything she had been. He was her missing piece. She had given him her heart when she was eleven and he had refused to give it back. He was her home.

It has been over a year since she had last seen Jarod at Carthis. Almost a year and still she felt the pain of his loss. She had finally admitted to herself then that there was more to his question of 'What about . . . us?' Even then she knew that there was more than just 'You run. I chase.'

Jarod never knew how close Parker was to helping him escape that day in Scotland. How close she was to running away with him. She wanted to tell him that she had a plan, a plan to end the Centre, but she couldn't without jeopardizing all the work she had put into it. She had wished countless times that she could take back the pain she had caused him.

After her call to Ethan telling him where Margaret was. She had made herself stay away. To not contact him and give him time with his family.

During her weak moments, the little girl inside of her had secretly hoped that he would try and find her, come for her. Gallop in on his white steed and rescue the princess. It would be at that point that reality would set in. Who was she kidding? Get a grip Parker! She would tell herself. What do you think he's going to do? Wrap his arms around you and make everything feel better?

The truth of it was that she didn't deserve him. After everything she'd done to him over the years, she deserved this punishment for every despicable thing her family has heaped on Jarod over the years. She wiped a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Oh Lord. The angst is working overtime today isn't it? She didn't really know what she wanted except to be near him. There was always something about Jarod that made her feel safe; made things better. Rubbing her hands across her face, she mentally shook herself. Snap out of it Parker. This self pity is not getting you anywhere. You want to see him, do something about it.

He was watching her from afar. People who knew Miss Parker would barely recognize her now. Gone were the designer suits that were tailored, flattering and oh too short. Gone too were the stilettos. She was wearing jeans, grey cashmere sweater, and boots. Not one whiff of Centre Ice Queen in her.

After refocusing his efforts, it had been easy enough for Jarod to find her, though it wouldn't have been so for anyone else. He knew how her mind worked and seeing as how she had a ten month head start on him, she had been able to cover her tracks well. Following her money trail allowed him to narrow down the city that she was in, it took him several days before he found where she was living. He had finally caught up with her a week after she had settled in her little beach cottage.

Once he found her, then he set about following her to get an understanding of what she was doing. Why she was still running. Physically, she appeared fine, emotionally, he wasn't so sure.

Jarod was standing on the beach several hundred feet from her house. He was watching her through high powered binoculars as she sat on her front porch. The sight of her tears and despondency clutched at his heart. She seemed so alone, so lost. He had been watching her for nearly three weeks. It was time to make his presence known.

"I need you Parker, just as much as you need me. Whether you want me or not, it was just meant to be." Jarod whispered to the wind that floated his words away.