When she woke up the next day, Miss Parker found empty the other half of the bed but voices and laughter were echoing from downstairs, she guessed Jarod was likely to be entertaining Ben with stories of the youth. Honestly, Parker was glad she didn’t have to face Ben’s comments. She loved that man, he was very dear to her, but she still felt a bit umcorfotable around him. He’d had a relationship with her mother, after all. He could have been her father, if things had turned out different. There were times that she tried to imagine how her life would have changed, if Ben actually had been her father.

Dismissing those thoughts from her mind with a shrug, she stood up. Jarod’s DSA viewer drew her attention from the desk, it was still open. Knowing the pretender as she did, Miss Parker figured that Jarod might have been watching his past sims to find advise on his actual condition of father-to-be. But she doubted that the Centre ever made him pretend to be a father. Too much emotion, too many risks.

Intrigued by the black screen, Parker approached the desk and played the last DSA that Jarod had been watching. A huge grin appeared on her face when she realized that the not-supposed-to-get-emotional-pretender had been watching a memento from their past. The day they had the first kiss.

‘Sentimental bastard’, she thought, smiling.

And yet she found herself involved as much as Jarod. After all, she’d never *seen* it, she had only memories of it. And Miss Parker was pleased to notice how good her real memories were. The only difference was that her memories were in color, not black-and-white. That thought made her realize how many years had actually passed.“Feeling melancholic, aren’t we?” 

 The pretender’s voice startled her. She couldn’t stand the fact that after all this time she wasn’t able to hear him approaching behind her, yet.

“He was definitely cute.” She told him, as young Jarod nervously tried to wedge the body doll anatomic elements in.

“So was she.” Jarod nodded towards the screen, grinning as young Miss Parker reminded his younger self that ‘girls mature faster than boys’.

“Gee, such impudence!” she laughed.

“Yeah, reminds me so much of her older version.” He confessed, holding her while their younger selves kissed.

“You wish I was like her, don’t you?” Parker turned around, smirking.

Jarod rolled his eyes jokingly, “At times.” Parker prodded him “But *you* are far more interesting to deal with. Not to mention…arousing.”

When Parker felt the bulge in his pants, she grinned mischeviously, “Oh boy, you have no idea…”

---

Two mugs with coffe were on the kitchen table, next to Jarod’s laptop. Ben smiled as Parker took one cup in her hands.

“You shouldn’t drink coffee, you know?” Jarod teased her.“Yeah, try to deal with the didn’t-get-her-morning-coffee-cup-Miss Parker, then you tell me.”

Ben laughed at Jarod’s amusement expression.

Then they were interrupted by a sound coming from the laptop; The computer voice advised Jarod that he had just received an e-mail.

He turned around, surprised, “It can’t be Lyle, it’s not time yet.”

“Then who?” Miss Parker asked him.

When Jarod opened the message, Ethan’s face appeared on the screen and both he and Parker gasped. She put a hand on her mouth while Jarod frantically controlled the mail details. With his next sentence, he destroyed at once Parker’s hope to discover that their half brother may still be alive.

“It’s a postdated message. It’s a video, it was recorded…the night he was killed.”

“My God.”

Ben could only assume that the boy in the video was Ethan, the brother Miss Parker and the pretender had in common and of whom he’d been told about by Jarod that very morning.

“Uhm…I’ll give you some privacy.” Ben announced.

Parker watched him exiting the kitchen and Jarod managed to murmur an almost voiceless “Thanks.”

Miss Parker gazed at Jarod and shook her head, “This can’t be real.”

“But it is. Do you want me to watch it alone?”

“No, no.” she sighed deeply. “Just…let’s play it, ok?”

Jarod nodded and did as she asked. The video began and they fell silent.

 

*Jarod, Miss Parker. I know this is going to be difficult for you, but if you’re watching this video…it probably means that I’m already dead.*

Parker gasped again and squeezed Jarod shoulder. The pretender’s hand moved automatically over hers.

*I don’t think we’ll ever meet again, and I’m sorry I have to send you this message, I really wanted to deliver this information in person, but the voices are telling me that…I won’t leave this place…*

As their brother sighed, a terful Miss Parker noticed that the building around Ethan was the same they had found his corpse in.

*The voices are also telling me that you have received this message together and that you are encouraging each other to overcome my death.* Ethan paused for a few seconds and smiled to himself. *Thanks, Mom* he said to an invisible voice, only audible in his head; Parker and Jarod shared a worried glance.

*Our mother is telling me that you’ve finally found the strenght to follow the path that you’ve denied yourself for so long, Sis. That you and Jarod found each other again. I’m happy for you both, really. I’m just sorry that to reach this achievement you’ve had to lose me. But it was a necessary sacrifice.*

Jarod realized that Ethan was talking to the past, like he already knew what they woul think and feel even if nothing had happened yet.

*I’m not afraid to die, the voices are with me, always. Specially Mama’s, Miss Parker. She’s already waiting for me.*

Miss Parker’s tears streamed shamelessly down her face and Jarod couldn’t help but follow her example and starting to cry.

*Jarod, I have to tell you. I found your mother. I know where she is.*

Jarod stared at Parker in disbelief and hope.

*That’s why I’ve disappeared all of a sudden, and I’m sorry for worrying you like that. But Mama really wanted me to find Margaret, she guided me until I met her, a couple of days ago.*

“I can’t believe this!” Jarod exclaimed.

*I took her to a safe place and I asked her to wait for you, I made her promise that she won’t leave until you and Miss Parker show up.*

“But where, Ethan?” Miss Parker silently asked her dead brother.

*I can’t tell you where she is because I’m afraid of this message ending up in the wrong hands. You’ll find her in the place we first met, big brother.*

Jarod smiled to himself. He knew where Margaret was. Parker noticed the smirk of satisfaction on his face, too.

*I’ve gotta go now, I think they’re coming. Sis…I’m glad that you’ve finally found what you were looking for. Take care of Jarod, you know that he shows the tendency to think about other people more than himself. He’s stubborn, but he needs you in his life more than anyone else in the world, even if he would never admit it. But one of the first things he confessed me when we escaped was that to him you were a piece of work.*

Parker chuckled lovingly, cheered up by Ethan’s words, and so did Jarod. He rememebered that conversation very well.

*Well, he tried to talk with undisguised irony, but I saw a light in his eyes. And I saw it sparkle only when he spoke about you, Miss Parker.*

If Jarod had tried not to blush until then, after those words he totally failed.

*That was what pushed me to come and save you from that explosion. I wanted to meet you so badly, I wanted to know better that piece of work. And you really were.*

Miss Parker was still crying, she simply couldn’t stop.

*Jarod. I know you will suffer for my loss, even more than my sister. She’s stronger than you, and she’ll help you through it.* The two of them glanced at each other in agreeement. *But you don’t have to be sorry. I know you feel guilty because I’m dead, but you must know that you saved me, Jarod. You set me free from a life I would have spent at Raines’ service. He wanted me to be an assassin and I was following his rules, until I met you. You helped me and you changed me. I know this may sound ridiculous, but I feel like I already accomplished my fate, even if you don’t understand this. Don’t blame yourselves for what’s happened to me, it was just meant to be. Your journey will be still difficult and dangerous, but if you face it together, then nothing will ever harm you. And I’ll always be with you, I promise. I love you both. Goodbye.*

 

As the video faded into black, Miss Parker continued her crying of relief. Jarod closed the laptop screen and caressed her back, trying to calm her by saying soothing nonsense words.

“He was right about everything, Parker. He was so wise. I’m so proud of him.”

“So am I.” She managed to say between the sobs. “And I’m happy for you, too. He took that weight off your shoulders. You won’t have to feel that guilty anymore.”

“Neither will you.”

Ben appeared from the other room and noticed that Miss Parker’s face was a mess.

“Are you ok?”

“Got a bonus question?” Jarod demanded him.

As Ben smiled bitterly, Jarod’s mobile rang. The pretender stood up to collect it.

“What?” he blurted out.

“It’s me.” Jarod recognized Lyle’s voice. “I know where the boy is.”

Jarod’s eyes roamed over the room, falling on Miss Parker, “You have him already?”

“Not yet. But it won’t be difficult to take him. Raines is still trying to find the two of you, he won’t suspect the abrupt disappearance of the last pretender he still holds captive.”

Jarod grimaced, “If you keep your word, you run out of pretenders. Why would you mind?”

“I don’t expect you to understand my motives. I just expect you to tell me where and when.”

Jarod sighed and Miss Parker casted him an encouragement look.

“2429 Sylvan Lane, Philadelphia. 9.00 p.m., tomorrow.”

If Lyle was wondering why in hell Jarod would want to meet in Philadelphia, he didn’t show.

“Lyle.”

Jarod got only silence as answer.

“If you try anything, this time I kill you. You have my word.”

Jarod ended the call and prepared himself to explain eveything to Miss Parker.

“Ethan took my mother to his foster parents’ house. That’s where we met for the first time, a few hours after Raines ordered to get rid of them.”

“Why setting up the meeting with Lyle there? It’s going to be dangerous. It’s only the two of us, Jarod, what if the Centre finds out the truth? What if Lyle is planning to betray us?”

“Who told you it’s going to be just the two of us?”

Parker casted him a questioning look, then she watched as he made another phone call.

“Hi dad, it’s me. I know, I know! Just listen to me, we don’t have time for that now!”

Miss Parker stared carefully at the pretender, who was sighing in exasperation.

“I know where Mum is. No, listen to me!”

Ben watched the scene in astonishment. He hadn’t known Jarod for so long, but he was sure of one thing: He always knew what he did. So he couldn’t understand why his father was giving him such a hard time just in listening to his explanation.  

“Daddy, I swear, I’m going to tell you everything. But now I need you to move from wherever you are and come straight to Philadelphia. Leave Emily and Jeremy behind, I don’t want them to be in danger. Can you do this for me?”

Parker could hardly imagine the Major’s reaction to his son’s phone call. He hadn’t heard from him in almost a year, and now, all of a sudden, Jarod was calling to say that he’d found Margaret and needed his help. She probably would have yelled at him too. God, a few months before she *would* actually have.

“Yes.” Jarod closed his eyes. “Yes. I hope so, too.”

The pretender closed his mobile and ended the convesation, looking back at Parker, “We’ve got to go.”

“What did he say, Jarod?”

“He’s on his way. God, I thought he was smarter than this…every second we spend at the phone could be our last, he should know by now. The Centre is always listening.”

Parker smiled bitterly, “He’s just a very worried father, Jarod. How long was it since you last talked to each other?”

Jarod gazed at her and realized what Parker was trying to tell him. His father had just been missing him. Trying to reassure him, Parker caressed his arm, “You’ll have all the time in the world to make up for all the years you spent in solitude.” Jarod nodded, and Parker looked straight into his eyes, “All of you.” She remarked.

Jarod kissed her forehead and let his own rest on hers for a few seconds while Parker kept stroking his arms tenderly.

“So, it seems that you’re running again.” Ben interrupted them.

“I’m so sorry, Ben.” Parker whispered to him.

“Don’t be. Last time you came,  you were chasing each other. Now you’re leaving together, running in the same direction. That’s all that matters to me.”

Parker moved past Jarod and hugged Ben. She did love that man, and she wanted to spend more time with him. But now they weren’t allowed to. Jarod was right, the Centre could find them at any time.