Blue Cove, DE:

" . . . Happy Birthday dear Mommy, Happy birthday to youuuuuuuu!" A slightly off key voice of 4 ½ year old Logan sang as three month old twins Jacob and Sydney gurgled and Sydney, Michelle, Broots, and Debbie looked on.

Blowing out her candles, Miss Parker contemplated her life. Who would have thought that the woman who claimed not to do "mommy", would someday own a big SUV, for she refused to drive a minivan, with three car seats in the back?

"Hell of a life we have here Jarod." She remembered telling Jarod. Hell of a life indeed. That hell of a life Parker was leading filled with lies, half truths, and atrocities finally came to an end a year ago with the demise of the Triumvirate in Africa.

In the last year, her life had become what she had always wished, but never hoped for. A life filled with laughter, love, and dreams of the future. Parker felt fortunate that she had three beautiful children, though they were conceived without her knowledge or consent, it didn't stop them from being a family in every sense of the word.

It had been discovered a little over a year ago, that her "baby brother" was not in fact, her brother. Logan was unfortunately another Centre project, similar to project Mirage, its purpose was to create pretenders that had the inner sense as well. The result of project Mirage was her brother Ethan, conceived using her mother's egg and Major Charles sperm. This project however, used different donors. This time, they used the genetic material of two red files; herself and the ultimate pretender, Jarod.

Phase I of the Project was deemed a success when tests showed that Logan certainly had Pretender abilities. Although not readily apparent if he had the inner sense, they continued onto Phase II. Phase II was a project for the Triumvirate in Africa. For the Triumvirate project, however, there wasn't a Centre Chairman's wife to act as a vessel. Instead a surrogate was chosen and two eggs were implanted by a Triumvirate doctor living in a US safe house. The babies were born only 3 months ago, 9 months after the Triumvirate fell.

"Parker, is everything okay?" Sydney asked.

Shaking herself from her reverie, Parker realized that her birthday festivities were over. She found herself alone at the table. "Oh nothing Syd, just thinking . . ." was her response for she didn't know how to describe what she was feeling.

Scanning the living room, Parker found the little boy that brought her so much joy. Logan was sitting in the corner building rocket ships with Legos, not unlike his father. A huge, often rare smile lit up her face. There seemed to be very little of Parker in Logan except for his eyes, a sparkling blue. This was a fact that she was confronted with every time she looked at him or when someone said that he must look like an awful lot like his daddy.

It has been three years since she had last spoken to Jarod. Three years since she first felt the sting of that loss; finally admitting to herself then that there was more to his question of 'What about . . . us?' And that there was certainly more to 'You run. I chase.' Her heart had been seized when she was eleven and was never released. Yet, after those awful, hurtful words were spoken, she left him. To protect him she had said to herself. But was it to protect him or herself?

Shortly after their return from Carthis, Jarod had been reunited with his mother and the rest of his family thanks to Ethan. Knowing that his mother was Jarod's missing piece, it came as no surprise when Jarod and his family had completely vanished from the Centre's radar. He had finally let go and left for good and cut all ties with the Centre which included his mentor and his best friend; well, not completely. As far as the Centre was concerned, the wayward Pretender had ceased to exist, but every now and again, he would contact Sydney or Parker, if only to try to convince them to leave.

"Thinking about the past as well, it seems. You were quite far away. Any regrets?" Sydney asked.

"How can I have regrets, Syd?" She asked motioning towards Logan and the twins.

"Parker, I've known you since you were a little girl. I know when something is bothering you. A lot has happened in the last few years. I'm not sure you've had to time to truly reflect on what you have accomplished."

Of course Sydney knew her as if she were his child. He knew that she was barely keeping it together. For the past three years she hadn't had time to worry about anything except bringing down the Centre and the Triumvirate. With both gone, she had nothing to distract her from her loneliness. She was slowly falling apart. Driven to despondency because of a choice she made three years ago. Though she justified that decision by saying it was to protect him, it still didn't change the fact that she felt so terribly alone.

Her broken heart was scarcely beating, only the thought of her children kept her on an even keel. They were her last ties to him.

The twins were the purest source of joy in Parker's life. She had taken them in as soon as they were born. Although physically, it was difficult to tell which of their parents they resembled because babies that age seem to change from month to month, personality wise, it was easy to tell. Little Jacob took after his father, determined but thoughtful. He was always trying different ways to get what he wanted. Little Sydney though, took after her momma. No patience whatsoever, she was just as determined as her twin, but just made a lot of noise when she was trying to get what she wanted.

"I don't want to be the one to bring this up, Parker, but don't you think it's time you try to contact Jarod?" Sydney asked. "You've had a year to adjust to having children."

Parker knew that if she were to ever see him again, the first step would have to come from her. God knows she missed him. She never realized how much until she was forced to live without the late night calls from the pain in the ass lab rat. Parker would shoot herself before admitting to anyone how lonely she still felt even though her life was filled to capacity with the children. Trying to live a life without him was beginning to takes its toll on Parker.

Parker knew what Sydney was saying was true. She couldn't use the excuse of not knowing where they were. She knew exactly where they were because of her connection with Ethan. And she knew exactly why she had put off the inevitable.