BLUE COVE
02/21/1999

Thomas had spent the toughest week of his life with Miss Parker.

She had asked him to renovate her living room and to fix a wall damaged by water. Thomas had then seen her mother's picture for the first time, which had reminded him of Jarod's advice. His friend had told him not to push the subject with her, should she not feel like talking about her mother. He'd also mentioned that Miss Parker looked just like her mother Catherine.

Tommy had been enchanted to realize how much she really resembled her mother. However, following Jarod's suggestion, he hadn't gone too far.

"That's gotta be mom."
"I look just like her, I know. She passed away when I was a little girl."
"Oh. Must have been tough."
"Yeah."

Then he had diverted their conversation, trying to make her change her mind about the paint color she had chosen for the wall. He had defined her a "doer", and Parker had made him notice that she always got what she wanted.

Anyway, she hadn't been offended by his comment, because later she had said to him that she was indeed a "doer", because she thought that stability breeds success.

Then he had almost freaked out when he had seen her gun. He didn't want to let it show, but he was really scared. Parker's excuse for the fact that she carried a weapon was as lousy as her lies about her job. What kind of sick "corporate risk assessment" company would make her carry a gun?

And when he had told her he had found another room behind the wall, she had put the walls up again, and all the chemistry between them had suddenly disappeared.

So, he was now calling Jarod for advice.

"Hey buddy, what's up? How's Miss Parker?"

"I, uhm – I saw something that really scared me, today." he confessed.

"What, her sharp claws?"

Jarod chuckled, but Tommy didn't.

"She carries a gun."

Jarod shut up at once. Another thing he hadn't mentioned before. How could he explain such a thing to Tommy?

"Well, she uses it – her company –"

"Yeah, she told me the story about the company that wants her to use a gun."

"Well, it's corporate policy."

"Oh, come on, Jarod! Jeez, you two come from the same planet! You really are meant for each other, you know?"

Jarod now felt a lump growing in his throat, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Tommy realized he'd just said a stupid thing.

No, not stupid. He thought what he had just said, but he shouldn't show his insecurity with Jarod. By now, he knew Jarod and Parker enough to know that they were very much alike, but he didn't want to admit that Jarod was the right person for her. Most of all, because he had been very clear about this: they weren't meant to be, were they?

"I'm sorry Jarod, please, I – I was just disappointed. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because you must know her on you own. There will be dark places inside her. Very dark places. And you must be ready to accept them if you want this to work."

"You are afraid that I would reject her, should I find out she's too – weird?"

"Not weird. Tortured." Jarod corrected him. Miss Parker wasn't strange; she was just an outcast. She was a very lonely woman grown up in the wrong place. Just like him.

"Ok. You're not hiding something from me, are you, Jarod?"

He didn't like lying to Thomas. He was his friend, one of the best he'd ever had. But he couldn't tell him about The Centre, he wasn't ready to understand. And he didn't want to put him in danger.

"Look, I can't tell you. But I'm sure of one thing. You got to be strong if you want to win Miss Parker's heart."

"I'll try."

And he had tried, indeed. Even when she had come back from her work and got frightened at the realization that he had found her mother's studio. She'd been very upset, and that wall had become the symbol of her sorrow and resentment.

She had accused him of being a "stranger", that she didn't want to bare her soul to a man she didn't really know. So, he had tried to follow Jarod's advice and hold on, even when she had yelled back at him.

"Is that what the gun's for? Hmm? To keep strangers away? I'm guessing your life is filled with them, starting with her."
He had pointed at her mother's picture.
"Put the wall back up while I'm gone."

Tommy was afraid that might be the end. He didn't know what to do. Everything was so difficult. Parker was difficult.

Jarod was right, he had to be strong if he really wanted to win her heart.

And the idea came to him while he was putting the wall back up. If that was the end, then he wouldn't leave without a fight.

'Every room deserved a door', he thought.

So, he put a door in the wall. And he locked it.

Then, he waited for Parker's return.

He didn't know where she had been, but he didn't even care. All he knew was that he didn't want to lose her.

And when he saw her face when she noticed the door shape, he understood he'd done the right thing.

He heard her apologies, and her tale about her mother about how that room used to be her "sanctuary".

But Tonmy knew that if that space was her sanctuary, it wasn't just for the room. It was because of what she did with her daughter inside that room.

"When you closed off that room, you closed off a part of your soul. The part that came from her. Get it back."
"I can't do it alone."
"Come on. It'll be okay."

The moment he stretched out his hand and Miss Parker let hers inside his, he realized he was in love with her.

'Oh my god, now I'm in serious trouble', he thought.

They spent the whole night inside that room. Catherine's studio was full of dust and memories of the past. Parker felt like she was coming back home after decades of absence. She could feel her mother's presence throughout the place, and she liked that feeling. She even allowed herself to cry a bit in front of Thomas, who kept holding her hand while she wandered inside the studio.

And then Tommy saw the picture.

An old black and white photograph portraying two children together. One was recognizable as Miss Parker; he'd seen other pictures of her as a child. The other was a boy. Dark hair, dark eyes, very sweet smile.

"Who's that boy, your brother?" he asked her.

He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer, he was afraid he already knew. And he didn't like lying to her.

Parker turned around and looked at the picture. She didn't even remember when it had been taken, maybe before her mother's death. It portrayed Jarod and her, happily playing together.

"No, he's just…"

Parker sighed. Thomas noticed a slight and imperceptible smile appearing on her lips. That was the moment he realized that the feelings Jarod had for this woman were absolutely returned. Parker was visibly miles away, while looking at that picture. She even touched it slightly and sighed a second time.

"He's just a boy I used to know when I was a kid." she finally explained Thomas.

"A friend?" he asked her, feeling a pain dictated by jealousy.

Parker glanced at him and smiled, "The only one I've ever had."