Oh, wow. The writing. I think I know where the story is going and then it doesn't go there and it probably shouldn't go there but I so so so do want it to go there but I think she should be afraid of Jarod and she shouldn't trust Jarod and she should tell Nicholas the truth but she can't admit the truth to herself. Once it is said out loud she can never be with Jarod at all and if she does go and be with Jarod after saying that truth she will feel shame because he raped her and society will either not believe he raped her "if he raped her she would never be with him and couldn't love him" because society doesn't understand how nuanced it all is and how emotions don't just die because someone hurt someone else or society will pity her and I think for Parker especially it would be hard to admit that something like that ever happened to her. It ends her appearance of bad-ass-ness if that happened to her and she still let him live. She's in a corner and she put herself there and we do this ourselves in real life. I have so many thoughts and questions and comments on this. This is a conversation I'd love to see in a lecture sitting, a big discussion. I'm forever intrigued Mirage.

I read your chapter end notes and was like, no, I can't predict the rest. I thought I could for a minute but then no. You're unpredictable Mirage.

Gotta say that I love love love love love that Jarod caught MP with another man this way. He needs to burn with envy and regret.

Gotta give you some applause for this gem among so many thousand other gems you've written...

"Because the fire doesn't care who it burns.
And pain is fickle.
Pain has no memory"

I love that!

We see typical Miss Parker and the typical distrust, only it's justified now and I can feel her frustration at being told to let go of anger and all the political correct bullshit that victims are told but at least Ethan told her she didn't have to forget or forgive. I think Ethan would understand that and know that she now has the control to either forgive or not. I don't know why people can't let victims be angry if they want to be.

Miss Parker the mom overhearing her daughter's prayers. That was brutal. Parents are often overheard by their children saying thing and children turn around and repeat it. I think children are little observers absorbing things even the parents don't communicate. They pick up on it.

Jarod a priest was a oh my God out loud moment for me. So many predators hide in the church. I gotta say I still love the part when he stops her and tells her she doesn't hate him. His words are so like Jarod that I will forever see this story as season five of the Pretender. "If you can't find your answers, it's not because they aren't here," Jarod explained. "It's because you're asking the wrong questions."

I can't even!

I love it too much Mirage.

I love Dorothy Parker, too! Your author notes seriously rule.

I like how Miss Parker isn't the perfect mom/woman in like any of your stories. She's good and bad and complex and you keep it real. She's a promiscous mom sometimes and a dishonest mom sometimes. She is in your stories what I'd expect Miss Parker to be. Complicated. Yes, there is growth and charactere development but at the core we humans and characters included don't really change that much I don't think. You nailed it. Again. I do shy away from nonconsent... sorry rape. I remember you writing somewhere that it's either consent or rape and you're right. It's easier and more politically correct to say nonconsent than rape. Something about the word rape sets teeth on edge. You write the crime with the respect and decency victims deserve. It can't be easy to write it but I think it's important that someone does and I'm glad you show how even Miss Parker can be a victim and victim is not a dirty word and that even the so called nice guys can be the perpetrator and how society has failed so many people. I've tried to write about the topic but I always get stuck and stop. I'm glad you accomplished what I couldn't and I'm glad the rape wasn't something swept under the rug, that even though she consented to sex... well like Jarod told Ethan, they were "making love" and then they "weren't." She went away and refused to see him and healed herself and he is actually remorseful in this.  I think they would get caught up in the back and forth, the vitriol, and I think it could go this far. I did go ahead and read all of this in the past few days since logging in and reviewing. There are so many points I want to talk about here. This is really a profound piece of fiction and I'm glad you wrote and completed it.

What is so terrifying is that this could happen...and how insightful this all is. I'm supposed to the zoom meeting thing but I don't want to go rn.

Binging hard rn. Had to back up to review. This is too plausible.

Decided to hop aboard. I'm intrigued.

Oh my god!!!! The first chapter and I'm already hooked.

oooh.

I had to ask.

It's pretty bad. It's still professionally polished. You're a hell of a writer. This is plausible given the history and animosity at times. He raped her. She said not so" and definitely wanted him to stop being rough and then wanted him to stop. Taking a really deep breath here. I'm going to continue this because I'm addicted. You really are honest about rape in  your writing and I'm glad to see that she's not eager to patch it all over with him. I've seen stories like that and just wanted to throw up. You're keeping it real and plausible. I love your writing voice and how perfectly you keep them in character. I wish I had time to read all of this now.

I unfairly reviewed and judged you when I first read this one and Forces of Nature and I'm going to do better. I owe you a enormous apology Mirage.

Jarod IS dark. Jarod is DARKNESS. He acts really immature and in the beginning when I was watching the serie I thought he's a child boy playing games. That became my permanent opinion of him no matter what he did or said and everything he did was excused as "it's ok it's all ok he's a child that is too immature." The French equivalent I guess to American's "Boys will be boys" when trump said he grabbed women by the pussy. You know how some people excused him over there no matter what he does. Everyone in the whole knows that his voters think he can do no wrong while he does so many wrongs. Maybe you live in a nice country and don't have to hear about the unpleasantness but France knows trump is a joke.

I was so wrong to judge you and it's so hard to know how wrong I was. I was watching again the serie and when Jarod is a gigolo he went too far with that woman that hired him for sex. She changed her mind and was shocked by his hostel. She was scared and disappointed. She tried to leave. She fled to the bed to get her things but he was there and on top of her. Jarod didn't have to take things that far with her.  I notice more and more little things that I ignored because I love Jarod. I guess I would vote for him no matter what. I know better know. This all could happen. It's plausible and especially with Sydney gone and that twisted game he plays with Miss Parker can elevate to danger. To sleep with the woman who chased him and pretended to be cruel for her Daddy's approval but she wasn't cruel and even if he knew it was all facade and he did it still had to hurt that she chose her Daddy first and not him. It would feel that she succeeded in capturing him and he would want it but still not want it and the feelings can get confused. He can be very dangerous. I've done studying to learn more about the minds of these people.

You weren't making Jarod bad just to make Jarod bad or because you don't like him. This is a possible eventual outcome to a high tension relationship where there are feelings of attraction and memories of childhood fondness all confused within anger, fear, pain, shame on his part for letting her catch him and if he's really in love with her shame for falling in love with a woman that acted so much like she hated him and some of the things she did to him.

Accept my apology. Please never stop writing.

Ok, so I've been away a while and, honestly, did not know if I would ever return to this gloriously warped little corner of the Internet that was once the source of entertainment and fun for me. But all it took was serrendipitously catching a few minutes of an episode, and not even one I particularly enjoy (from Season 4, blech) to realize that, sagging under the weight of life as a responsible adult, what I really needed was to reacquaint myself with my Inner Miss Parker (seriously, there should be a self-help book written about this). So, I wandered back here and killed the better part of an afternoon of my staycation reading this and all I can say is... Damn, Girl!

Ok, now that I've collected myself: How do I love this? Let me count the ways!

1) Back in the day, when I roamed these virtual walls, my white-hot hatred for Zoe was well known and, yet, you actually managed to make me feel sorry for her. I applaud you.

2) I've always found bespeckled Jarod to be particularly hot. Parker slapping his glasses askew before angry hot sex ensues... in a church... (I realize it's a whole new church with Pope Francis at the helm but... seriously?;-) Just, wow.

3) I've always been Team Parker, with Jarod interesting me inasmuch as I believe she wants him, but I really enjoyed this exploration of his truly sociopathic nature. I think this rings true with most of it taking place after the death of Sydney, who so often functioned as Jarod's superego.

4) You just knocked this one out of the park, my dear.

Thank you!

G.

Sequel. This was the first story I read of yours. I read it last night and it is brilliant. I want more!

You went a totally different way than I thought you would and made the past, the Centre, all fit....and I had doubts that it would come together. You nailed it. There were some graphic scenes that bothered me in this fic and in Forces of nature because the way you write is descriptive and you do flesh out Michael and Andrea perfectly...it's like watching them when I read your stories. Keep writing please.