Worried. Sydney sat across from Broots, stimulating his mind with checkers. For a week straight, Jarod had not spoken to him. None of them. He left, and he didn't come back. As news came in of a woman matching not only Miss Parker's description, but also two young infants also being found dead.

It didn't take any time to know why Jarod was gone. They still stayed, waiting for Jarod to return. What was done was done, and as ugly as the hand had been, the game wasn't over yet. Jarod still had to deliver the final blow to the triumvirate.

Something terrible that would destroy it. No one could guess what it would take or how Jarod could accomplish it. At least it was almost all over. Then they could live out the rest of their lives with nothing over their head. No Centre. No Triumvirate. No Scrolls.

Sydney looked toward the front door as he finally saw him. He opened it up and slammed it shut. He was tempted to call out his name.

Jarod looked horrible. As bad as Broots did when he thought he lost Debbie. Yet, he had a look on his face. Still smart as a whip. He moved swiftly toward Broots. He was holding a case. "Shirt, Broots."

Broots felt his shirt, but then felt Jarod start to yank it off. Broots tried to help toward the end with the removal. Aggressive. Jarod was far from okay. Sydney watched as Jarod laid the metal case he was carrying on the table. He opened it up and pulled out a syringe.

"Relax," Jarod spoke. Yet, not in a manner that reflected what he said. He injected Broots with it. "Done." He closed the briefcase. "It's all done."

"What is, Jarod?" Sydney asked concerned. "Have you processed your feelings about the situations you've faced?" He didn't answer. "Did you find a way to stop the Triumvirate?" He still didn't answer right away. "Jarod?" How far down the road of no return had Jarod already traveled? He wouldn't even tell him what had happened. "Jarod."

"I can't get inside," Jarod said out of the blue. "I can't. I had, if I could, but the people involved." He looked toward Sydney. "I knew them all, and they know I don't belong. I don't pretend in the same place twice for a reason." He looked toward the metal case. "Where they were found. The only one who knew the real me was killed. Everyone else knows that I had used a fake identity and bailed."

Ah. "So, the Heaven area." Jarod had tried to find a way in to investigate. That place she had been taken to, the people working the crime scene, all had seen Jarod before on a past Pretender job at some point. "Have you ever had a problem of a pretend doubling up?"

"No," Jarod said. "No. No, which means it was deliberate. Someone took her to a place that I couldn't investigate." He gritted his teeth a moment. "All I have are the basic facts that I could get into. Nothing much more than the media knew."

Oh. "To be that deliberate," Sydney said softly, "do you think that-"

"It could be fake," Jarod said rapidly. "I already know that it's a possibility. They could have planted an exact replica and sacrificed two . . . " He couldn't finish his sentence. "But I can't see it, I can't know it, I can't get into the facts because they all know me! They all know I don't belong. But I can't know for sure, it could be just to be twisting with me to catch me. They'll know I want to come."

Jarod clearly felt gridlocked. "Can you hack into-"

"They know me, Sydney. What are you not getting about that?" He warned him. "This isn't like hacking into the Centre, I am trying to receive something from a small area. A tiny spot. Information they are not letting travel down any line."

"Yet," Broots said. "Can I help?"

Jarod glanced at Broots. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Mister Broots."

"Well, why?" Broots asked.

"Because. In my . . . haste, I almost sentenced you to death," Jarod admitted.

"Death?" Broots asked. "Is that what the injection was for? To not die? Tell me it was to not die."

Jarod. Sydney could barely look him in the eye. He barely looked anyone in the eye. He had already carried so much pain after all these years. But? Miss Parker and his own children. It was a different kind of pain. It was a pain he couldn't even hope to let go of, considering he could not prove one way or the other if Miss Parker and the twins were dead. "Isn't there someone a little newer-"

"Who doesn't know me," Jarod finished for Sydney. "No. It wasn't an accident. They didn't just pick a random pretend, everyone in there knows me. Even the newest hires, I knew them. I knew all of them. Some of them should be there, some of them lucked into a great job here, and others could have been planted.

If he investigated too far, and they were already expecting him? Yes. It could just very well be to catch him. His curiosity about Miss Parker and the twins' death. They were counting on it to become unbearable not knowing. They could be dead, or they could not be. And that? Was driving Jarod mad.

"I'll help," Broots said again. "If I can."

"They'll recognize your tactics, you could be pulled back into something bad," Jarod warned him. "You still have Debbie. I can't let you do that."

"But," Broots reasoned, "Jarod. You need to-"

"You need to stop risking your life right now, and start thinking about your little girl!" Jarod scolded him. "Miss Parker. The twins. That is my life. You focus on yours, and be damn happy you still have one."

Jarod started to head back out again.

"Jarod," Sydney called out to him. "Do you want us all to go? Do you want me to tell your mother and Kyle you stopped by?"

"How's Argyle?" Jarod asked instead.

"Last I heard, doing fine," Sydney answered. "Ethan seems to have taken on the role of caring for him."

"Has Ethan heard anything else?" Jarod asked.

He hadn't even been in contact with Ethan? "No," Sydney said. "I'm sorry."

"Soon, it won't matter where you stay," Jarod said.

"Why do you say that?" Sydney asked. Jarod didn't respond. Simply went out the door. Bad.

"You know, I-I didn't pick up any good vibes from him at all," Broots said to Sydney. "Nothing. He's. I don't know. Almost scary." He looked straight at Sydney. "What do you think he injected me with? What do you think he plans on doing?"

"I don't know, Broots," Sydney admitted. He looked at the door where Jarod had come out of. "I don't know."

"Even if they were alive, and it's just a trap," Broots continued. "They're . . . they are all still doomed to die by the scrolls. So."

"It would hurt. Either way," Sydney said. "Jarod would want to have been there when it happened."

"The not knowing." Broots moved his piece. "It's got to be the not knowing that tears him apart even further. Jarod wants to know everything, and he was denied the truth about himself for so long. He'll find a way in, they can't keep anyone out forever."

"He knows that, Broots." Sydney moved his piece. "But the longer he deals with not knowing. Jarod." He sighed slowly. "He's been through many things in his life. He's built himself back up after every failed attempt. But." Sydney watched Broots jump his checker. "Everyone has a limit. Everyone. If they've pushed him enough, there's no telling what he could do. I must go."

Jarod made one quick call in french to Miss Parker's relatives in Paris. A very quick thank you. He didn't want to dwell on the thank you. Yes, it saved Broots, but the fact he didn't even think about Broots wasn't comforting. If Sydney had known how far off the map I'd fallen. Broots would have been dead just like . . . I moved too soon. It was either Broots or the world though. While he had tried to find out more about his family, whether they were dead or alive, he'd also been checking out every other corner he could. He ended up on the steps of where Miss Parker was supposed to have been taken as a child by her mother. If they had made it.

A lovely place filled with people that looked just like Miss Parker. Just another . . . reminder. Heartbreaking reminder. I had her next to me, for so many nights. Her fire, when it was alive, it could make a man do anything. We lived together. We had children together. Why didn't I . . .? 

Regrets. Jarod had many of them in life, and he just added more. A rather large one. Before she left, if he couldn't stop it. If the scrolls did come true. "I should have said it." Whether she lived or died. Whether any of them did. He should have said it.

He'd said it often to Little Angel and Onyssius. Not a day went by that he was with them that he didn't say it. Even when he wasn't there, before he went to bed. He never forgot them. He never forgot his mother, his father, and he never forgot to tell them.

But he never said it to her that whole time he was with her. Pregnancy and onward. Too scared she'd run off. Maybe scared of losing what little they had. The friendship they had established. Even before the friendship, there was an unspoken bond he only tapped a little bit. When he was learning about things. About feelings. About love.

It was too soon though. He was still too fresh in the new world. Then, there was the island. That moment, he tried to capture it and she broke. But, this wasn't a day stay with her away from the Centre.

She'd been with him for months. Still. He didn't want her to run. He didn't want to get denied again. I even tried to give Thomas back to her.

To repel the feelings. Giving her the one she truly loved so she wouldn't look back. He'd know she wouldn't look back. But now. "I get so used to freedom sometimes, Sydney. Even I forget." He looked upward into the sky. "I take it for granted, like all the people who lived day to day. I let it all go."

He looked back at the ground and found himself weeping again. He wiped his eyes. "You'd think by now they'd be all gone. They never will. I'll always remember." He continued to walk feeling the wind blow in his hair. "I don't know how I'm going to live with myself after this, Sydney. I just don't." He continued to move on. Move through the motions. "If I don't, the world ends. I know it's necessary. I just, I don't like the fact . . ." He stopped walking. He shook his head. "This isn't me, Sydney, I shouldn't, but there is no other way. This is how I have to do it. I know that."

"It's going to be something terrible, isn't it, Jarod?"

Jarod looked back at Sydney. He knew he followed him out there again. He wanted to bail and to go, but he wasn't without emotion. He knew deep in his heart, he needed someone right now. As much as he loved his mother and his father. He had an undeniable trust with only one man. No matter how much it hurt.

When he turned around and saw him, it was like all the years he was on the outside faded away as Sydney's eyes registered back to him his concern. His deep concern. His voice. He even followed him without wearing a coat.

Feeling like he was just a young boy again, instinct took over and Jarod ran to Sydney, wrapping his arms around him. He didn't even say anything as he expressed his grief. He felt Sydney hold onto him as well.

Miss Parker was right the whole time. Sydney wouldn't dare to take the place of his father, but . . . he'd always been. She's right. I've had two fathers. One that couldn't find him to be one, and one that couldn't show him he was one.

"Jarod," Sydney said in deep concern. "Please. You need to confide in someone about what's wrong. Jarod?"

"Sydney." Jarod seemed to get a hold of himself again and stopped hugging Sydney. "I loved Miss Parker." Oops. That wasn't what was supposed to fall out of his mouth. He was going to explain what would happen, but that confession tumbled out.

"I know," Sydney agreed.

"I always did. I thought it was a crush, she was the first girl. For so long. I determined that the decrease in choice had turned me toward her and I would be better out in the real world where numbers were abundant in the choice of partners." Jarod didn't realize at first that he was speaking as if he just left the Centre. "Fate wouldn't let me leave her, and it just pulled us closer. Time after time until our children were born. Our children." He choked slightly feeling himself lose it again. "I've lost so much before, Sydney. I just." He shrugged. "I don't know if I can make it through this." He swallowed.

"I know, Jarod, that it's hard," Sydney said. "Especially, not knowing. Are you giving up on the notion they are in any way alive? Or are you giving up on a way to save them if they are?"

Oh. Sydney knew him too well.

"Broots will help you," Sydney said to him. "I know you don't want him involved, but he knew Miss Parker too, and none of the others there know him. He used to work for the Centre, and he has been placed in tough times before. He wants to help you, Jarod. I know he can find a way."

"I can take care of it on my own soon." This was it. Hopefully, Sydney didn't see him in the dark light he now felt surrounding him.

"May she forgive me one day." Broots stared at the computer. While Jarod wasn't thrilled with the help, he wasn't getting a choice, and Broots found a way in. He had a legitimate cover.

It wouldn't cover forever, but long enough for him to get at the real information about Miss Parker and her children's death. No matter who you are, or how much you plan for something, sometimes things happen at work and you need extra help. In this case, some easy idiot for hire took their car and went barreling through the front of the building.

In hindsight, it was dumb, and he could have been caught, but it now meant they had no choice but to hire someone. For construction. The Triumvirate weren't the only ones who could move people around, and there was no more legitimate construction worker than Thomas Gates.

Right now, Broots wasn't covered. He had to leave the spot next to Thomas to get to the information he needed, but he knew those risks. Broots stared at the results and called up Sydney. "Sydney. The whole thing is real," Broots said. "She was about Miss Parker's age. There are several family members that look like her though."

"Children, Broots," Sydney said. "I know it's difficult, but you'll have to look at the children. Do they look like Little Angel and Onyssius?"

"Little A and Onyssius." Broots hated looking. Whether it was them or not, he was staring at the ended life of two innocent infants. He had lived with them for some time, even helping to take care of them with Miss Parker. "The girl looks like her." The boy though. Did he have darker hair? Lighter hair? It was hard to tell from the picture. They were growing up so fast. "I." Then. He saw something. "It looks like him, but it doesn't matter. He's not related."

"What do you mean, Broots?"

"The woman and the female child, Syd. It shows a relation, but the little boy is no relation. That's the findings, the little boy can't be Onyssius!"

"Which means it was a ploy for Jarod to come. Thank you, Broots. Next time we see Jarod, we'll be able to tell him the good news. You did well."

"Yeah, but? They are still dying," Broots reminded Sydney. "Instead of being able to look for a cure, he's been trying to save the world. Even when we find them. We can't save them."

"Have faith in Jarod, Broots."

"But the scrolls have never lied," Broots said to Sydney as Thomas moved into the room real quick, ushering him out. "It said that they would go to Heaven and Jarod's rage would destroy the Triumvirate. Jarod wouldn't have rage if that cliff spot named Heaven was the place and he found out they were alive." Broots started to get out quickly through the back. He nodded to Thomas and spoke back through the phone. "Sydney?"

"I know, Broots. Translations are not always perfect."

"No, but, I mean? Maybe if his rage is so great, and he is coming up with the perfect thing somehow to stop this terrible airborne thing?" Broots calmed his heart. "Maybe if we let him let that rage out first. This adrenaline rush of his could get him working so hard he does find something."

"Are you suggesting that we should hide the fact that Miss Parker and his children aren't dead, Broots?"

"Well, they are going to be soon," Broots said, "and I hate to say that, but if he knows they are alive, he is going to start dividing his time looking for their cure too. Which is great, but, if we get this first thing taken care of. You know, the saving humanity's existence part? Then maybe he'll have his undivided attention to save them. Which is a lot better. You know that."

Sydney was silent.

"Sydney?" Broots asked again.

"You can't trick the scrolls, Broots. What must be, must be," Sydney reminded him before hanging up.

----------------------

Broots came back to Sydney and the others. He told them all what he saw, but they told him about something else. "Really?" Broots got behind his own laptop and pulled up the news, seeing what they had told him about.

In different parts of the world, something was wrong. Several people were being taken off the streets after they started to act 'bizarre'.

"The symptoms they displayed," Sydney said over his shoulder, "are the same one's Jarod said that Hades displayed in the end."

"Oh. You mean?" Broots looked back at the screen again. "Do you think? I mean, is that the end of the world? The end of man's progress? Does this virus not kill us, but it makes us . . ."

"Distracted," Jarod's mother said as she came out toward Broots. "Most is happening in Africa. Some are in America. The hit ratio is random, even children are involved. They just get distracted while the next person to them isn't affected at all." She shook her head. "No one knows the connection."

"Oh, man." Broots looked at the computer screen. "Some must be weaker than others."

"But if the scrolls are right, most likely the catastrophe will become greater," Sydney said to them. "Before it's over, we may all be in danger."

"Maybe. But? Jarod never said what he injected me with," Broots reminded Sydney again. "He didn't say much."

"He never does," Sydney said. "His eyes are clouded with rage against everything right now. Jarod is still Jarod. He's still the warm-hearted individual that I've known. However. His behavior is . . . less than stellar. I am deeply concerned."

"He loved her," Margaret added so casually. "He loved all of his family. He wanted to get back to me and Major Charles and his brother. It wasn't the same though. He didn't remember us."

"He still loved you dearly," Sydney said. "Still does."

"But he knew her," Margaret reminded Sydney. "He knew you, and he knew her. We were his family, and it was wonderful to be reunited. His memories though, of his past. His good and his bad. All of it falls on you and her. He's lost her." She dabbed her eyes. "The scrolls took her away and his chance to make a new family."

"Those children represented a second chance," Sydney agreed with her. "The burden of losing that second chance."

Broots watched as Margaret and Sydney hugged. Trying to hold on. Strange. Watching them like that. You'd swear Jarod was their own child. In a way, he was both of theirs. 

"Dad?" Debbie said as she came over to the computer. "When more time passes by, do you think that maybe we . . ." She fidgeted. "Maybe we could go see him?"

That him. Broots knew what that 'him' had been. It was hard letting her grow up like this, but it was even harder on Jarod. He'll never see Little A dating or crushing on boys. Never see her marry. Never see his own grandchildren. "Yeah, Debbie. I promise." Her smile almost killed him though. Gemini was Jarod's clone. Debbie was the first little girl he seemed to fall for.

And the real Jarod had hung onto that crush for his whole life. There wasn't much Broots could do in the future, if Gemini grew up and came after her. It would be like stopping Jarod. Approving of whatever the future held for them was his only choice, or they might just run away when they got older.

Still? Right then and there. "When you get a little older, if you want to. Maybe we can see him again." She was still there with him. She said thank you and gave him a great big hug.

Just another huge moment in life. That Jarod would never experience. "Hide it," Broots said to Margaret and Sydney. "It's not tricking the scrolls, they were at Heaven. Just hold off til' his rage."

"They are dying, Broots," Sydney reminded him again. "Waiting does nothing. Hiding it is only hurting even more. Jarod would want to be there to do everything he could for them in the end."

"Which may be nothing," Margaret said to Broots. "But he deserves to spend every last second with his babies and his girl."

"Girl of his dreams." Girl of Broots' dreams too. If he hadn't been so diligent of a person for Jarod, Broots could have had a chance with Miss Parker. It wouldn't have been a real chance though. She'd never see him as anything more than a friend. There was only one genius that needed to be in her life.

There was only one genius that had the potential to save her life.

Jarod.

Jarod Angel's Hideout

"Jarod Angel, what's the holdup?" Miss Parker complained. She felt fuzzy in the head. The whole world seemed to be getting worse. Countless news reports of so many people running red lights had cropped up, it was advised to stay off the road or be very careful. People turning without a second thought, multiple accidents. Not just drivers either, people falling from their own balconies and forgetting who they are. The whole world seemed like- the texture in the wood was pretty- seemed like it couldn't completely hold focus.

Even Jarod Angel who was wearing a white vest and white shirt. "You look like a choir boy. Where did you shop for that?"

"Concentration," Jarod Angel simply said to her. "You aren't concerned about that. You're concerned about living and your children."

"Yeah." That was more important than his outfit. Living. It was a good thing. Miss Parker wanted to live. Jarod Angel had taken them to more people that looked like Miss Parker and got something for her. She didn't trust it though, so she was having him test it.

She wanted to make sure it wouldn't kill them. The children should grow up and live and be safe. Like food, eat safe food. "A lot of things have been happening with lettuce, do you think lettuce is safe to eat?"

"Your children," Jarod Angel repeated. "Focus on living and your children. Not lettuce."

Huh. Lettuce. Not lettuce. "Why are you so better?" She noticed that too. "Clothes need work but you aren't calling my kids angel anymore, and you seem more . . . like Jarod. The real Jarod."

"The real Jarod," Jarod Angel complained as he looked toward her. "Am I really just nothing but a copy of him to you? You are running a very unfortunate risk in the future if you don't start learning how to trust me, Miss Parker."

"Just pointing it out." Miss Parker looked toward her children. "Where do you think they should go for their first birthday? Maybe somewhere nice to celebrate. Or maybe something like a kid's restaurant. Jarod might want to experience their birthday in that kind of place. Do you think it would have a ball pit? I never went and saw ball pits, daddy made too much to want me down in those kinds of places. Those occasions were usually spent with mother." She looked back at Jarod Angel. "Why are you dressed like a choir boy?"