Fanfic

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘The Pretender’ or any of its characters. They rightfully belong to NBC, MTM, TNT and Pretender Productions. Man this is getting depressing! I’m not doing this for the money, but for my sanity. Please don’t sue. Thanks, Thunderchild.

Guardian Angel

Part 2

by Thunderchild

A week has passed by and Parker is still sick, but her temperature is going down a little. Sydney, Jarod and Lyle are taking it in shifts to look after her during the night, while Broots is keeping watch during the day just in case someone shows up.

Mr Parker has visited four times in the last eight days and every time Lyle has told him where to go. Jarod has been sleeping next to Parker because every time he leaves for a long period of time she gets upset and NO ONE can calm her down. They find this out when Mr Parker comes to visit and Jarod goes away, she is whimpering and crying the whole time, until he comes back.

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TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2000:

PARKER MANOR:

12:30A.M.

Jarod was sleeping next to Parker, while Lyle was wiping her face with the cloth. She was coming out of her delirious state.

She opened her eyes and slightly moved her head to the side. She could barely make out Lyle’s blurry figure that was sitting at her hip, but she couldn’t grasp the meaning of what was happening. "Hello, how are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

"Tommy…" She started to say but she fell asleep before she could finish.

"At least we know you’re coming back." Lyle said and continues to wipe her face.

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TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2000:

THE NEXT MORNING:

8:30A.M.

Jarod woke up with Parker’s head resting comfortably on his shoulder and her arm draped across his stomach. He felt her forehead. No heat. "Good to know." She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn’t be returning to the world of the living." He joked.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"In your room." Jarod answered.

"What happened?" She tried to sit up but since she’s been lying down for over a week her muscles are weak and she doesn’t move.

"Sydney and Broots found you outside last Monday in the freezing cold only in shorts and T-shirt. You were delirious and you were turning blue with cold. What made you go and do a stupid thing like that?" He propped her against the pillows and stood up.

"I remembered something." She said sadly. "Have you been here ALL the time?"

"Yeah, so has Syd, Broots and Lyle."

"Lyle?" She asked confused.

"Take it easy. He’s been taking care of you when the rest of us were sleeping." He walked over to the nightstand. "Thirsty?" He asked indicating to the bottle of water.

"I wanna have a shower." She threw her burden of covers off. "Help me up?" She smiled at him and held her arms up.

"Do you think that’s such a good idea? You’re as weak as a kitten." He picked her up like she weighed nothing at all.

"I’ll have a shower then go back to bed like a good girl. I promise." She said as he puts her carefully back on her feet at the bathroom door. "Thank you." She walked over to her dresser. "But I think I might like some clothes or would you prefer me to wear nothing?" She asked but when she saw Jarod turn bright red she laughed. "I wasn’t serious." She walked back to the bathroom and closed the door.

"Do you want me to stay out here for you?" He asked through the door.

"No, I’ll be OK." She called back.

"OK." He walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "The Huntress awakes." He smiled to the others.

"How is she?" Lyle asked as he headed for the door, but stopped when Jarod continued.

"She’s in the SHOWER. She’s fine apart from been as weak as a kitten." He sat down.

"Is it wise to leave her alone if she’s that weak?" Broots asked. Everyone’s head shot around to stare at him shockingly. "I d-didn’t m-mean it like that." He stuttered.

"No, she’ll be all right, but I’m going to check on her in a few minutes."

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Jarod stood up and walked into the living room. "I thought you said that you were going back to bed." When Sydney and Lyle heard him talking in the next room, they went to investigate.

"What? I came down to make sure you haven’t done anything to my house." Parker said defensively as she continued down the stairs slowly.

"You should really go back to bed." Sydney said.

"Oh hi Syd. I’m just walking round slowly and if I go back to bed I’m going to stay weak like Jarod’s, supposedly, kitten."

"OK, but you don’t have to start walking round just yet. You’re still sick and you should be taking it easy." Jarod said and walked over to her.

"Fine! You win." She said halfheartedly and turned round and started to climb the stairs. Jarod heard the sound of her voice and he walked up behind her, knocked her legs out from under her with his right arm, while his left was behind her shoulders. She didn’t resist she just let herself get carried back to bed.

When he put her on the bed, which was about a minute or less later, Parker was asleep. "Told you that you’re weak as a kitten." He tucked her into bed and quietly slipped out of the room.

"She doesn’t know how sick she was and is. She thinks a day or two and she’ll be fine and it’s all Mr Parker’s fault for pushing her into doing things that she wasn’t up to." Sydney said sadly.

"We’ll tie her down if we have to." Jarod walked over to him.

"She doesn’t know that she has to take it easy till her immune system recovers otherwise she’ll fall back into a heap."

"What do we do when Mr Parker comes round for his visit?" Broots breaks the depressing mood.

"Tell him that she’s no different." Lyle answered him.

"But…"

"No BUTS!" Lyle snarled. He backed down quickly. Lyle continues in a much kinder tone. "She isn’t up to coping with him yet. While she’s like this he’ll bully her into doing something that she doesn’t want to do but will do it if it will please him."

"Yes sir."

"What’s Sis doing?" Lyle asked changing the subject.

"Sleeping. She’s pushing herself to hard to try and prove that she doesn’t need us around to look after her. It’s a wonder that she can walk up right with the burdens that she chooses to carry alone. It’s also amazing that she can even breathe with the thickness of her shields that she uses to protect herself. She thinks that she was weak to fall in love with Thomas and then to fall apart when he died, but even when she was breaking apart she was and is one of the strongest people I know. She was always like that when we were kids, strong minded and strong willed. Catherine can be proud that Parker has still carried that along with her." Jarod says.

"Well we’ll just prove that she can trust us and when she needs a shoulder to cry on, so to speak, we’ll be hanging around somewhere." Lyle said. "And that we won’t judge her if she shows us her weaker side."

"Are you turning into a cross between a psychiatrist and philosopher on us?" Jarod joked.

"No, I was just saying what I thought."

"Oh." Jarod said not really convinced.

"Shut up!"

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

4:58P.M.

When Parker woke up she saw that she was back in her room and in bed. *Damn him* Parker thought sleepily.

What? He just put you back in bed.

*I know but he let me sleep for 7½ hours OR MORE* Parker bit back.

Take it easy, you need your rest. You’re still too sick to be moving around.

*I know, I can’t believe half the stuff I was saying* Parker exclaimed.

You were out of it, you didn’t know what you were doing.

*I suppose I should get up* Parker got out of bed and walked carefully over to the door.

When she was walking through the living room there was no one around. "Good." She walked into the kitchen. "Now, some juice." She walked over to the refrigerator.

She had her vision blocked by the cupboard door, so she didn’t see Jarod standing in the doorway. "Ahem!" Her head flew around the door and collided with the corner.

"Ow!" She held her head just above her eyes. "I wanted a drink." She showed him the glass of orange juice.

"OK, sorry. But I could’ve gotten that for you." He walked over and had a look at her head. "You’ll have a small bruise, but nothing serious. Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, I just want the drink."

*Pity* He thought. "You should really have something solid, you’ve been living on soup and tea." She said.

"Maybe later, where are the others?" She asked as she finished her drink.

"Syd and Broots have gone back to their homes for a little while and Lyle’s outside walking round. He decided to stick around just in case your father shows up."

"You mean he’s been here?" She growled.

"Yeah, every second day."

"I don’t want him in this house. I don’t like him here, not when I can’t see what he’s doing."

"OK, but you better go back to bed now."

"Yeah, how sick have I been?" She asked as she walked through the house.

"Very. You were calling out for Thomas and you thought I was him." He said just as they reached the stairs.

"I didn’t do anything, did I?" She asked nervously.

"No, we only talked. You OK?" He asked concerned.

"I don’t know what’s wrong with me, one minute I’m fine and the next…"

"You can’t do anything, I know. You’re still sick and you have to recover fully. Do you want me to carry you?"

"I don’t like been like this." She leant on the banister and slowly dropped to her knees, but Jarod caught her before she fell completely.

"You’ll start getting your strength back soon, until then you’ll have to take it easy."

"I’m so tired." She mumbled.

"I know Baby." Jarod let it slip, but thankfully Parker was out of it. *What the Hell do you think you’re doing. You’re going to get yourself KILLED* He put her on the bed.

"Jarod…" She mumbled before she fell asleep.

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PARKER MANOR:

8:30P.M.

Parker had been sleeping constantly since Jarod put her down and he decided that he should go up and wake her, to see if she’ll have something to eat. "I’ll go wake her." He walked out of the kitchen and no one stopped him from leaving.

When he got to her room she was still sleeping. He walked over to the bed. "Parker, can you wake up for a minute?" He gently shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes slowly, but as soon as she got them opened they started to shut again. "No, don’t go back to sleep. Do you want to come and get something to eat?"

She tried to open her eyes again. "Sleepy…" She mumbled and rolled onto her side.

"I know but you have to have something to eat."

"Food?"

"Yeah, do you want me to help you up?"

"I want to go to the bathroom."

"OK." He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the door.

"Thank you." She slipped inside and shut the door.

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"Are you OK in there?"

"Yeah." She opened the door and she looked a whole lot better. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, her blue eyes were glittering and she was brushing her teeth.

"Don’t you look better?" He commented.

"I always look like Hell after I’ve been asleep for awhile."

"I wouldn’t say that you look like Hell, but you didn’t look well."

"Ah, isn’t that sweet." She spat the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed her mouth out. "Now I’m ready to go back downstairs, are Syd and Broots back?"

"Yeah." They left the room.

"But when I start to fall asleep you can bring me back up."

"OK." They walked into the kitchen.

"Hia Syd."

"Hello there, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, but in about 10 minutes I’ll be the walking dead."

"What?" Broots asked confused.

"She gets tried VERY, VERY QUICKLY." Jarod said.

"Yeah, so I won’t be on the hunt for a while. But I don’t need to be when the prey is RIGHT HERE!" She smiled evilly. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out the bread.

"I’ll do that, you sit down before you fall down." Jarod took the bread out of her hand.

"Fine, but let me get some juice first."

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PARKER MANOR:

9:50P.M.

Everyone has had something to eat and they’re in front of the fire. Parker is curled up on the couch sleeping. "I think I better take her back upstairs." He walked over to her. "Parker." Jarod shook her shoulder lightly. She uncurled and sat up. "Good girl." He put his arms around her waist, pulled her to her feet and carried her upstairs. He gently laid her on the bed and covered her in a blanket. "Night Kitten." Then crept out of the room.

"How long will she be like that?" Lyle asked when Jarod came back downstairs.

"I don’t know. If you like you can go home instead of hanging around here. Mr Parker shouldn’t be calling round this late at night." Jarod said to them.

"I’ll stay here tonight." Lyle said.

"Broots and I can go home then, because I’m sure you two will be able to handle anything." Sydney walked over to the door and got his coat of the rack. "Come on Broots, I’m sure Debbie would like to hear a progress report on Parker."

"OK Syd, night sir, Jarod." Broots scuttled over to the door.

"Night Syd." Jarod said.

"Night Jarod and if there’s a change call me."

"I will." Sydney and Broots left. Jarod walked over and locked the door.

"If you don’t mind, I’m going to go to bed. All those late nights have worn me out." Lyle headed for the stairs.

"Yeah, I’ve got some work to do so I wouldn’t be much company."

"One of your pretends?"

"Yeah, but I won’t be leaving until Parker is better." He sat down at the table, surrounded by papers.

"In case I don’t tell you later, thank you for helping my sister. Even though at any time she could catch you and take you back." Lyle said sincerely.

"That’s OK. I remember what she was like as a child and for that reason I help her. She was my friend when I was alone and she’s been tortured a lot more than I ever was. She deserves to know that someone’s around that will take care of her and listen to her." Jarod explained.

"You still love her don’t you?" Lyle asked suddenly. Jarod merely nodded.

"Always have and always will. Nothing will change that."

"I think she still cares about you too, even though she treats you the way she does. That’s just a cover because she doesn’t want to get hurt like she did with Thomas. She’s afraid of what The Centre might do if the PTB’s found out what was going on."

"At least he got through to her. He didn’t back down when she started to feel threatened and fight and push him away." Jarod said sadly.

"You knew him, didn’t you? You and Thomas were friends."

"Yeah, I met him on one of my pretends. And I thought that it would be really good if Parker met him. But I was wrong, it only hurt her more."

"It wasn’t your fault, how were you to know that they would kill him? You just wanted to help her and you did, technically you knocked a little hole in the shields. A hole that ONLY YOU can see. Well, I’m going to bed before I drop dead here. Night Jarod."

"Night Lyle, and thanks."

"For what?"

"Helping me think some things through."

"Glad I could help." Lyle walked upstairs and into the spare room.

Jarod just sat at the table staring at the papers. He couldn’t do this now. Five minutes of sorting things through in his mind, he started work on the papers.

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PARKER MANOR:

12:30A.M

Jarod was laying on the couch with a bunch of papers next to him in three piles. Lyle was up in the spare room sleeping. Parker was starting to have a nightmare. It was the same one as before, but instead of waking up when she found Tommy the nightmare got worse.

She was in the cemetery and she was visiting Tommy’s grave when the ground starts to open up and sucking everything in and own into a deep, hot, fiery pit. She got up and started to run away from the pit, but something was stopping her from running anywhere. Tommy’s spirit rose up from the middle of the fiery pit and he just hung in the air. His face was one of sadness and he was crying, shaking his head. "It wasn’t my fault!" She cried out.

"I know, but you saw the signs. You should have watched them." Tommy answered her. But Parker noticed something in his eyes, instead of warm and sparkling they were cold and lifeless. Suddenly the ground underneath Parker disappeared and she fell into the fiery pit screaming…

Parker sat up in bed screaming her lungs out. She got out of bed as fast as she could and ran out of the room.

Lyle woke up to the sound of her screaming and he leapt out of bed and out into the hallway, just in time to see Parker jumping down the stairs.

Jarod fell of the couch and look around spooked, but he saw Parker running through the living room to the front door only in her underwear. He jumped up and ran over to her. Lyle came up next to Jarod with the rug from the couch. "Shh, it’s OK." He took the afghan from Lyle and put around her shoulders.

"NO IT’S NOT! I KILLED TOMMY AND NOW HE HATES ME!" She screamed and started crying her eyes out.

"Shh, you didn’t kill him and he DOESN’T hate you." He held her tightly.

"Make it stop, I can’t take it anymore! I WANT IT TO STOP." She coughed and choked. Jarod started to twist her around slowly and gently stroking her back.

"Shh. Shh. Shh." Jarod was whispering soothingly to her.

"Make it stop." She whispered as she collapsed against him.

"Now we know what happened." Jarod lifted her into his arms to carry her back up to bed. Lyle tucked the afghan around her.

"Poor Parker. She REALLY believes that she killed him."

"What did you expect? Tommy was alive before he met her and after a few weeks he is murdered. She can’t come up with any other reason for why he was killed so she just put it down to that she was the cause of it. If Tommy had never met her he would still be alive."

"Then she wouldn’t have got the hope that she could escape from The Centre." Lyle added.

"Yeah. I suppose there are good and bad points." Jarod headed to the stairs and up to her room. He had put her on the bed and was walking to the door when heard her small voice.

"Jarod?" She lifted her head.

"Yeah?" He turned to face her. She looked so lost and helpless.

"Can you stay? Well until I go back to sleep?" Jarod could see the pleading look in her eyes.

"Sure, I’ll just go tell Lyle what’s happening." He turned and walked out the door. "Lyle, Parker wants me to stay with her, so you can go back to bed if you want." He said to him when he walked over to him in the living room.

"Is she OK?" Lyle and Jarod walked back to the stairs.

"She should be OK, if you want you could come up and talk to her for a while."

"No, I’ll let her be for now. She’s got enough to cope with and she doesn’t need me adding to it." Lyle said and walked into the spare room.

"Night Lyle."

"Night Jarod." Jarod walked into her bedroom.

"Are you OK now?" Jarod came over and sat next to her.

"I can’t take this anymore. It’s all my fault, I should have protected him. He didn’t deserve to die. I should have know what they were doing." She sat up and cried into the hollow of his neck.

"You can’t keep blaming yourself. You didn’t know and you couldn’t have stopped it. This is The Centre we’re talking about, they do things cleaning and quietly." Jarod let go of her and crawled into the middle of the bed next to her.

"But they didn’t do it quietly. I HEARD THEM." She said slowly and softly.

"You just think you heard them. You feel guilty about what happened and you want to take the blame for it, but you can’t, not this time. You have to stop trying to find ways in which you could have done something. You’re only hurting yourself. Everyone played their part to the best of their ability and you couldn’t have known what was coming until it hit." He touched her face.

"Then why won’t it stop hurting? It hurts so much sometimes I can’t move and all I can do is cry." She curled up against him.

"You loved him. And it won’t stop hurting, but things will get better." He put his arms around her.

"When? I’ve got nothing that will help, I don’t have Momma and I don’t…I don’t even have you." She said quietly.

"Yes you do." He whispered. She looked up at him. He was smiling down at her. "And nothing can tear us apart."

"It’s been so long." She started to cry.

"Don’t cry Kitten." He said gently. "I don’t like to see you cry."

"No one’s ever called me Kitten before…But I like the sound of it." She stopped crying and relaxed against him.

"Well that’s what I’ll call you from now on." He wriggled down further into the pillows.

"How long will you stay?" She asked, nestling down into the pillows and closing her eyes.

"How long do you want me to stay?" He replied.

"I don’t want you to go." She linked her fingers with his and went to sleep.

"Then I won’t leave you." He whispered and followed her to sleep.

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WEDNESDAY 18 OCTOBER 2000:

PARKER MANOR:

9:30A.M.

Lyle was up early because he wanted to meet Sydney when he came around 9:45. Lyle had his shower and was dressed and he walked quietly into his sister’s room to see how she was. After last night’s performance he just wanted to make sure she was all right.

When he walked to the doorway, he could see Jarod laying on his back with Parker’s resting her head on his chest, with her arm slung across his stomach. Both were sleeping soundly, just before he turned to leave Lyle pulled the blankets over her back. Just as the covers moved Parker started to wake up. Lyle froze and braced himself to be killed, but Parker just moved closer to Jarod and went back to sleep. Lyle started to breathe when she made no more movements to say that she was waking up, so he quickly tucked the blanket around her and left the room quickly but quietly.

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After Lyle left Parker woke up and looked around. Jarod opened his eyes when he felt her looking around quickly. "What’s wrong?"

"I thought someone came in here." She put her head back down.

"It was probably Lyle." He gently stroked her head. "How do you feel?"

"All right, what about you?" She moved her head up higher, closer to his face.

"I feel great. That was probably the first sleep I’ve had when I actually felt safe." He moved his hand down to stroke her neck.

"Glad I could help." She looked into his eyes and was about to kiss him, when she sat up. "Sorry. I’m still sick and I don’t know what I was doing."

"You knew what you were about to do." He stroked her back.

"Yes, but we can’t." She looked back at him.

"Why?" He moved his hand onto her jaw and stroked down onto her neck then down onto her shoulder, rubbing in small circular movements.

"Because it’s wrong. I’m meant to be hunting you down to bring you back to The Centre, if we do this it could get me killed, and God knows what they’ll do to you." She tried to get off the bed but he pulled her back. "Don’t." She whimpered and turned her head away from him.

"We could get into trouble anyway if they found out that I was here and you didn’t tell anyone about it, could we not?" He continued his soft stroking.

"Yes, but…" He put a finger to her lips to silence her.

"Don’t say anything, JUST listen. Last night I had time to get a few things straightened out, with Lyle’s help…"

"Lyle…" She started to say.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk to much?" He joked. She stayed silent. "Good, now like I was saying before you interrupted me, Lyle helped me straighten something through. I love you, I’ve always loved you and when you told me all those times that you were going to kill me and other times when you got pissed off, making your eyes glow like embers on a fire, that just made me love you even more." He was starting to lose her eye contact, so he gently took hold of her jaw and ever so softly kissed her. He had her complete attention. "Lyle also told me that you care about me too, maybe not as much…"

"But I…" She started to say.

"You have to learn not to interrupt me when I’m speaking to you." He said to her.

"Sorry."

"Apology excepted. Now, Lyle said that you MIGHT care about me to, but he doesn’t have any proof. On the other hand, Sydney does. He’s told me about the way you look when you see the people that I’ve helped and that means a great deal coming from you…" He was silenced by her, as she kissed. She replaced her mouth with her hand.

"Now it’s my turn. I do care about you and when I have something to say I expect you to listen to me. I don’t like been shut up and I DON’T like people organising my life when I don’t know about it and we have some other problems that we need to work out but I think we can handle it." She replaced her hand with her mouth again. He leant back and pulled her top of him.

"Well aren’t we Little Miss Control?" He said when the kiss ended.

"Yes, and don’t you forget it." She said and went to kiss him again but he rolled them over, so that he was on top and pinning her down.

"But I like been in control A LOT more than you do." He said and kissed her.

"I don’t think so." She shoved him off and pinned him down, making the blankets fall away from her body. Every curve and line of her being captured his attention. He lifted his hand and traced her ribs and moved onto the front of her of belly.

"Maybe you’re right, I think I like it this way better." He said and kiss her deeply.

"Maybe we should go downstairs and keep Lyle company?" She asked as Jarod started to kiss her neck and down on to her chest, above the line of her bra.

"Maybe, maybe not." Jarod said and started to sit up, pulling her up with him.

"I think we should." She started to let go of him, but he just tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. "Jarod, we can continue our little discussion tonight, but I REALLY think we should go downstairs."

"OK." He let go of her and got off the bed and helped her up. "God, your beautiful." He said and pulled her to him and again. "And you’re MINE again." He kissed her sweetly on the mouth.

"I don’t think I was ever YOURS to begin with, now if you don’t mind I want to have a shower and get changed." She started to push him over to the door.

"OK, but I want to finish out little discussion sooner than tonight." He said to she as she closed the door in his face.

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PARKER MANOR:

10:05A.M.

Parker came downstairs only to find Sydney and Broots sitting with Lyle and Jarod in the living room. "What’s going on?" She asked. Jarod got up and walked over to her.

"We’re just talking." Jarod picked her up and carried her over to the couch.

"Then how come you stopped when I came down the stairs. I don’t like the look of this." She stood up.

"And what isn’t too like?" He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

"You four are up to something. Well maybe just you and Lyle." She tried to stand up but he wouldn’t let her go. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

"Take it easy, they know." Jarod said.

"Ha, what?" She tried to get up stronger this time but he still wouldn’t let her go.

"I told you it would be best if you didn’t bombshell it." Lyle said.

After a few minutes more of struggling with Jarod, she just collapsed against his shoulder. "OOPS." He said smiling.

"You knew I’d get tired quickly." She mumbled.

"Maybe." Jarod picked her legs up off the floor and rested her feet on the couch then wrapped his arms around her tightly. She nuzzled into his neck and started to go to sleep.

"What’s going on?" She whispered.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about, now go to sleep." He kissed the top of her head.

"I don’t like this." She whimpered and fell asleep.

"Maybe we should explain it to her, she doesn’t like not knowing what’s going on." Sydney said quietly.

"After she’s had a sleep, she’ll be more reasonable." He tightened his hold around her waist.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Parker had been sleeping for an hour when she started to wake up. She could hear everyone talking quietly, so she kept her eyes closed and listened for a little while. "How long have you known?" Sydney asked.

"I’ve always known, Lyle just brought it to my attention last night. I probably just needed for someone to tell me." She could feel the vibration in Jarod’s chest as he talked. It was comforting.

"She seems peaceful when she’s near you now." Broots said quietly.

"Yeah." He tightened his grip around her.

"And what about Parker?"

"She feels the same way. We talked."

"And what about The Centre? If you’re not careful, they’ll find out." Sydney warned.

"Yeah, but that doesn’t matter, I just want to be close to her now, especially now when she needs someone."

"Will you still be doing pretends?" Sydney asked him.

"Yeah, I’ve got one lined up but I can do it from here. I won’t be leaving till Parker’s better and able to be back on the hunt and then only when she’s a little better about losing Tommy." Jarod whispered.

"And when you go away, we’ll take care of her. Just to make sure she’s OK and nothing’s wrong. We’re with her all the time and we find out first thing in the morning when she comes in, so we’ll be the first to know if something’s wrong." Sydney said.

"I suppose it’s a stupid question to ask, if I tell you about having to hold your tongue about this." Jarod said as she started to stir.

"About what?" Lyle asked smartly.

"Yeah, what thing am I talking about?" Jarod smiled. She prodded him in the chest.

"You better not be laughing about me, or I’ll make you pay." She purred.

"I wouldn’t dare!"

"Umm, somehow I’m not sure if I believe you."

"Feeling better?" He asked and touched her face.

"Yeah, I heard what you were saying." She rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We would’ve told you after you woke up." He said gently.

"You could’ve told me before I went to sleep." She said sleepily, still waking up.

"No, we couldn’t. We hadn’t finished discussing something." He kissed her temple.

"Umm, what would that have been?" She asked, resting her head closer to his neck.

"You." Lyle answered.

"Great." She purred.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Just when I’m starting to get comfortable someone has to come." She growled and sat up.

"It’s Dad." Lyle said looking at his watch. "Right on time."

"You knew he was coming and you didn’t tell me!" She growled at him.

"Take it easy, just fake sleep." Jarod said as he walked upstairs.

"I don’t need to, I can fight him now." She nestled back into the corner of the couch. Lyle walked over and opened the door.

"How is she?" Mr Parker asked.

"See for yourself." Lyle pointed over to the couch where Parker was sitting.

"Oh Honey!" Mr Parker rushed over to her. She stood up and backed away.

"Hello Daddy." She growled at him coldly. Everyone knew she wasn’t pleased to see him. All except Dear Old Dad. OF COURSE.

"Are you all right now Sweetheart?" Mr Parker asked her kindly.

"Like you care!" She hissed at him.

"But Honey…"

"Don’t but Honey me! Since when have you cared enough to call round?" She snarled dangerously.

"I do care about you. When I found out you were sick I was calling round every couple of days to check up on you." Mr Parker whimpered.

"You’re partly to blame of why I was sick!" She growled getting angrier with him and started to pace around him.

"But I didn’t have anything to do with you getting sick."

"BULLSHIT! You had Tommy killed!" Her eyes were glittering brightly.

"But I…"

"DON’T YOU DARE! Don’t you dare weasel out of it! For once in your life take the responsibility of something you did!" She shook her head at him. "You know I really pity you, I hope one day you can find out what it feels like. One day you’ll need a shoulder to lean on and no one will be around. You’ve dug yourself a very deep hole and you can’t reach the rope." She stood in front of him. "Now the door is over there and I expect you to use it, if you enjoy breathing. I’m giving you a chance to live. Which is more you gave Tommy."

"But I didn’t have anything to do with that."

"Don’t you DARE! I’ve already warned you, don’t push it! Now get out!" She snarled. Mr Parker shrunk and walked to the door with his shoulders slumped slightly. Lyle opened the door for him. He walked outside and down to the car. Lyle shut the door. "I must be stronger than what I think." She let out a long shuddering breath and held her head.

"You better sit down." Sydney backed her over to the arm of the couch and made her sit.

"Facing off Daddy is a lot harder than I thought it was." She said in a small voice.

"You OK Sis?" Lyle ran over to her.

"I’ll be OK in a minute."

"What a way to tell Daddy off, hit him where it hurts."

"I meant all of it. He will be alone. He’s been so busy digging a hole he hasn’t noticed that the rope is getting higher and higher. It’s so high now, he can’t reach it." She ran her fingers through her hair, lifting her head and looked up at them. "I’ve climbed out of that hole because you threw a longer rope." She smiled at them as Lyle knelt in front of her and held her hands.

"And what about Tommy?" Jarod came down the stairs.

"He had something to do with it. Every instinct is screaming yes even thou I don’t have any proof, I’d bet my life on it." She looked down at her hands sadly.

"It’s OK, we’ll help you find those answers, won’t we?" Lyle looked at Sydney and Broots.

"Yeah." They both agreed.

"I could even go back to The Centre and start digging around if you like." Broots offered. She nodded.

"Thanks." He walked out the door.

"You shouldn’t have fought with your father as long as you did. You exhausted now." Jarod said gently.

"I know, but he won’t be calling round again. As far as he’s concerned by the way I was fighting him I’m all better. I had to come off that way, so he’d stop coming round." She said to him tiredly. "I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it up long, so I just hit hard and fast in the guts. While he was still recovering, I could back off a little." She started to slip off the arm of the couch.

"I’ve got you." Jarod caught her waist and brought her back to her feet.

"I’ll be OK in a little while." She put her arms around his neck loosely.

"No, you’re going back up to bed and sleep it off." He picked her up.

"I wanna stay down here with you guys."

"Maybe she could stay down here with us for a while." Lyle said. "She could still sleep."

"Is that what you wanna do?"

"Yeah." She whispered.

"OK." Jarod sat down and held her on his lap like before.

"Thank you." She whispered as she was falling asleep.

"For what?" He asked.

"For giving me a rope." She fell asleep.

Jarod looked up at Sydney and Lyle with a confused expression. "What?"

"When she was flying off at Dad, she told us later that he was digging a hole and he was concentrating on the hole he didn’t notice that the rope was getting higher and higher. We just gave her a longer rope before she ended up in the same situation." Lyle said, but since Jarod was still looking confused he said it simpler. "She’s glad she isn’t alone like Dad. She has friends and people that care about her."

"Oh." He held her tighter.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

PARKER MANOR:

2:00P.M.

Jarod was still cradling Parker in his arms. She was sleeping like a baby. Lyle and Sydney were sitting around the table drinking coffee, talking quietly.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Came quickly at the door. Lyle ran over and looked through the peephole in the door. It was Broots and he looked completely spooked. He was holding a piece of paper. "What’s wrong?" Lyle asked as he opened the door.

Broots ran in holding out the paper. "I…B…Tommy…K." Broots was trying to say 10 things at once.

"Take a breath, you’ll wake Parker." Sydney walked over to him.

"Read!" Broots thrust the paper at Sydney.

Sydney read through the paper and lifted his head slowly. His eyes wide and his mouth making a perfect O. "What’s wrong?" Lyle asked. He handed him the paper. He read it. "Oh Christ. I’m not leaving her when we tell her. She’s going to go nuts."

"What?" Jarod asked gently. After what happened before with Parker faking sleep, Lyle thought it would be best if Jarod read it. Lyle held the paper in front of Jarod’s eyes so he could read. "We better ALL be around when she finds out." He held her tighter and rested his cheek gently on the top of her head.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

For another hour everyone sat in silence, waiting for Parker to wake up. She stirred and moved her head closer to his neck, since he still had his cheek resting on the top of her head, she wanted to get closer to him. "Sweetie, wake up, we have something to tell you." He whispered and kissed her forehead.

"What?" She lifted her head.

"Can you sit on the couch for me?" Jarod asked. She looked around and she saw Broots was back. She sat on the couch and looked into Jarod’s eyes. They were sad.

"No. I don’t want to hear." She covered her ears and started to cry. "Just don’t tell me, I don’t want to know!" He held her in his arms.

"We’ll tell you when you want to hear it." He said next to her ear.

"Promise?"

"Promise." Her hands slowly fell away from her ears.

"I don’t know when I want to hear it, but not now!" She held him tightly.

"We’ll tell you when you’re ready."

"Thank you." She relaxed against him. He kissed her temple. Everyone knew this was going to be harder now that she didn’t want to hear it. But they can wait. They’ll have to.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

PARKER MANOR:

4:20P.M.

Everyone was outside to get some fresh air while Parker went to the bathroom. When she came back downstairs there was no one around and there was a piece of paper on the table. Her curiosity won and she walked over and looked at the paper.

It was an Inter Centre Memo, to Brigitte from somebody code-name Wolff on Tommy. And at the end the name was in signature form.

"YOU FUCKING SLUT!" She screamed. Jarod and Lyle came running back inside when they heard her scream. When Jarod saw her she was trembling and holding the paper in front of her. "THAT FUCKING WHORE KILLED HIM!" She yelled at him.

"Take it easy, we would have told you when you were ready." He tried to calm her down. Broots and Sydney came in only to hear Parker explode again.

"DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME TO TAKE EASY! THAT FUCKING WHORE KILLED TOMMY AND SHE THINKS SHE’S GONNA GET AWAY WITH IT." She yelled at him.

"She’s not going to get away with it. If you’ll just calm down we’ll explain everything to you." He tried to calm her down but it wasn’t working.

"DON’T START PATRONISING ME! I’M NOT STUPID. I CAN READ FOR MYSELF I DON’T NEED YOU TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME THAT I ALREADY KNOW!" She snarled at him angrily, her eyes were blazing dangerously.

"I’m not patronising you, but you don’t know everything. You might know that Brigitte pulled the trigger and that you’re father ordered it but it still doesn’t tell you why he was killed."

"THEY KILLED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS GOING TO TAKE ME AWAY! I WAS GOING TO LEAVE…" She stopped talking she was opening and closing her mouth quickly. She fell to the floor.

"Parker what’s wrong?" He rushed over to her.

"I…Can’t…Breathe…" She was panicking, trying to stand up but only just falling down.

"Easy, just calm down and try and breathe normally." He rubbed her back. She started to have a coughing fit. It lasted about a minute, when it started to subside she hung her head down. "Keep your head up."

"I can’t…It hurts." She whimpered as she was breathing.

"It’s OK now." He moved in front of her and rested her head against his shoulder, gently rubbing her back. "Lyle get some water and two Ibuprofen. They’re in a purple and white box." He said quietly. Lyle nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"What just happened?" Sydney asked concerned.

"She was too aggravated and it upset her lungs. When she was sick she had a server chest cold." He said as he felt that she was starting to breathe normally.

"You didn’t say that I wouldn’t be able to breathe." She whimpered.

"I’m sorry, but I was trying to calm you down as quickly as I could under the circumstances." He said gently.

"My head hurts and it hurts when I breathe. Like someone just stabbed a knife in my chest." She whimpered.

"I know, you’ll be OK when the tablets kick in." Jarod helped her up as Lyle came back in with a glass of water and two white round tablets about as big as the tip of your index finger.

"Don’t move me. Everything’s all blurry and I feel dizzy." She whimpered.

"Don’t worry, I’ve got you." Jarod held his arms around her waist but not holding her tightly so she could still breathe. "Now take these and you’ll feel better." Lyle held out his hand with the tablets and the other one holding the drink.

She was trying to pick up a tablet but she just kept on missing it because she was still dizzy. "Hang on." Lyle stopped her groping hand and turned in upside down so he could put the tablet in it. She swayed forward slightly but Jarod just pulled her back against him. Lyle put a tablet in her hand. "Put that in you’re mouth and I’ll hold the water." She put the tablet in her mouth and moved it to the back of her tongue. Lyle held the water in front of her to be able to drink. They did this once more and on both times with complete succession.

"I wanna sit down." She started to slip down Jarod to sit on the floor.

"No, don’t sit on the floor, I’ll put you on the couch." He picked her up carefully. She started to whimper and held her head against his shoulder. "Shh."

"Don’t move me anymore." She cried. "It hurts."

"Shh." He placed her carefully on the couch and laid her out. She whimpered and rolled onto her side. "You better lie on your back until you’re breathing’s back to normal."

"I can’t lie on my back when I have a headache." She covered her eyes with one hand.

"OK." He touched her face and rubbed along her side, trying to calm her down.

After about half an hour, with Jarod’s gentle rubbing, she was asleep. Jarod got the afghan and covered her over. "That was bloody scary. I don’t know who was more afraid her or us." Lyle said quietly.

"I think she might have been scared more. She couldn’t breathe. She felt like she was suffocating." He said gently. "We’ll have to keep her quite till she’s better so this doesn’t happen again."

"Yeah." They all agreed.

"I shouldn’t have left the paper on the table." Broots said, trying to take the blame.

"It wasn’t you’re fault and it’s done now." Jarod said gently.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

PARKER MANOR:

6:40P.M.

Parker woke up and she couldn’t see Jarod anywhere. Lyle was sitting in the armchair next to the fire. "Where’s Jarod?" She asked as she sat up carefully. She didn’t have a headache but it still hurt to breathe.

"Outside with Sydney and Broots. I’ll get him." Lyle stood up.

"Don’t leave me!" She cried out. Lyle walked over to her and sat down.

"How are you feeling?" Lyle brushed a hand across her face.

"Hurting." She whimpered. Lyle gently pulled her forward and hugged her. She didn’t fight just let herself be pulled into the hug. It wouldn’t kill her to be nice to him, would it? No. After all he did spend a lot of nights with her when she was sick, didn’t he? Yes, and he wouldn’t have done that just to stab her in the back. She put her arms around his neck and held him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder.

Lyle was in his own thoughts. She still wouldn’t know if she could trust him. She doesn’t trust people quickly, you have to earn her trust, but he could wait as long as he had to.

Jarod came to the door quietly to see if she was awake, but when he saw the sibling bonding, he decided that he should leave them alone. He saw Sydney. "I would wait awhile to go in there. Lyle and Parker are hugging." Jarod smiled.

"She might start to mellow with him now." Sydney said as they walked back outside and sat on the porch step.

Parker pulled back from the hug. "I wanna walk around for a bit." She said to him. Lyle gently stroked her face and nodded.

"We could go and find Jarod and Sydney." Lyle stood up and helped her to stand.

They walked out the back door and Jarod had his back to them. She walked quietly up behind him and stroked his neck gently. Jarod looked up and saw her standing behind him. "Hey, you all right now?" He held her hands.

"Yeah." She sat down on his lap in the sun. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up into the sky. "I forgot how good it feels to be outside. That’s half the fun in chasing you." She smiled.

"So there’s pros and cons." He gently kissed her face. "You all right now?"

"I told you yes."

"I don’t mean about that." She stopped smiling and opened her eyes.

"No." She held his arms around her tighter. "I don’t think I’ll be all right till the slut is dead."

"OK, we’ve still got more answers to find." He kissed her temple.

"Can we find them now?" She asked.

"We will, but not yet. They’re all at The Centre and you’re not well enough to go back to work. We’ll have to wait, it will be a little strange if Broots is finding all the information for you and you’re at home sick. Can you wait?"

"Yeah, but not long." She nuzzled into his neck.

TBC…

Whatcha think? Good? Bad? Should I steal Miss Parker’s gun and shoot myself? Umm...Maybe not. You know the drill. Gimme, gimme, gimme feedback, I need it to survive.

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