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Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The characters of the Pretender don't belong to me. No infringement is intended & I'm not making any money from this.
A/N: Thanks to Rose for letting me ask all sorts of stupid legal questions & patiently answering them all *hugs* And thanks to Nancy for letting me bounce ideas back and forth & for betaing. Your necked Jarod-clone is waiting for you at the Mousey's house *g*
The Baby Series
When The Past Comes Knocking
Melanie-Anne
At the end of the first week of their married life, there came a knock on the door of the Scott's house. Miranda, having been busy in the kitchen, opened the door looking every part the suburban housewife.
"Good afternoon, Miss Parker. It's such a pleasure to see you again."
Miranda tried to shut the door but the newcomer stuck his foot in the way.
"That's hardly the welcome I was expecting."
"What do you want, Cox? Are you on the run now? You don't seriously expect me to hide you. For all I care-"
"My name is Burke, Miss Parker. Special Agent Andrew Burke."
"You work for the FBI?"
He nodded.
"How did you find me?" Miranda asked, praying that Jarod would return from work soon even though she knew he only finished at five.
"I have my ways. You see, the president is very concerned about the Centre. Finding all those involved has been given top priority."
"So what do you want with me?"
"Justice. I want to see that everyone who had anything to do with the things that went on there is punished for their crimes. That means you, Miss Parker."
"And what exactly would my crimes be?"
"You devoted your life to hunting down an innocent man."
Just then Tommy started crying from his bedroom upstairs and Burke smiled.
"Kidnapping, for one thing."
"He's my son," Miranda said.
"You don't deserve to be his mother. He belongs with-"
"How dare you!"
"I'm almost sorry to do this." Burke moved inside and two burly agents who had previously been unseen stepped into the house.
"Cox, you don't know what you're doing-"
"It's Burke, Miss Parker. And I know exactly what I'm doing. You will stand trial for your crimes and you will be punished for them."
"It's Mrs. Scott, Agent Burke," Miranda said coldly.
"Does your husband know of your history?"
"Yes!"
"That's too bad-"
"Get out of my house!"
One of the other agents went upstairs in search of Tommy who was still crying.
"Are you going to make me do this the hard way, Miss Parker?"
"You don't get it. You traced me here, how can you not know I'm married to Jarod?"
"Nice try." He grabbed her arm and pulled her outside.
"Are you blind as well as stupid? I'm pregnant!"
Unfortunately, James arrived at the exact moment that Burke was leading his sister down the driveway. Tommy, in the arms of the agent, was screaming loudly. He knew that things were not right and he was scared.
James still carried his gun with him – old habits die hard – and he pulled it out.
"Cox!" He yelled. "Let her go!"
Burke nodded to the agent who wasn't holding Tommy and he drew his weapon. Miranda, thinking only of her son, shouted, "Don't shoot!"
In his rush to reach his sister, James stumbled and accidentally let off a shot. The agent reacted instinctively and fired back.
Miranda broke away from Burke and ran to her brother's side. He'd been hit in the shoulder.
"S-Sorry, Sis. It was an accident."
She pressed her hand down on his wound. "You didn't hit anyone. Just relax, you're going to be okay."
"Hurts like a bitch."
"Yeah, I know."
"What's going on?"
"I'll explain later. Just try and stay still, okay?" She glared at Burke. "Well, are you going to call an ambulance or what?"
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the clinic where Jarod worked. Tommy had only stopped crying when Miranda had been allowed to hold him. She had insisted on accompanying James to the clinic, a streak of the old Miss Parker coming through.
Jarod was on duty in the emergency room. Burke's step faltered when he saw him in his white coat, staring at the new arrivals.
"Andi? What's-"
"Darling, you remember Special Agent Burke from the FBI. He and his friends decided to pop 'round for a visit."
Miranda rarely used terms of endearment, a fact Jarod was well aware of and he wondered how this would play out.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
Miranda nodded. "James-"
"-Is in good hands. Luke is a good doctor. He'll be fine."
"Okay."
"What do you want from us, Agent Burke?" Jarod asked.
"I had no idea you two were…together. Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle are to stand trial with the Triumvirate. With Raines and Mr. Parker dead-"
"How did my father die?" Miranda interrupted.
"It was a heart attack."
"A heart attack," she repeated weakly. Jarod wrapped his arm around her waist as if that could shield her from her pain.
"This isn't the place to discuss this," Burke said. "Clearly things are more complicated than we expected."
"Oh, is it an inconvenience that Jarod and I are married?" Miranda asked, her voice rising. "That upsets your clear definition of right and wrong, huh?"
"Andi, calm down."
Grimly, she bit her lip to prevent herself from saying anything that could make the situation worse. Tommy was wriggling around in her arms and she handed him to Jarod.
"Look," Jarod said, "You obviously weren't prepared for things to be as they are-"
"Aren't you interested in seeing justice done? After all your crusading to right the wrongs done to others, don't you want to see the Centre destroyed?"
"I do. But not at Andi's expense. She's as much a victim as I am."
Burke snorted. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you?"
"You didn't grow up there. You don't know what it was like."
"Save it for the jury."
"You're not taking her anywhere."
Burke could hear the determination in Jarod's voice and knew he wouldn't budge. "Fine," he said. "Agent Davies will spend the next couple of days as your houseguest, just to make sure you don't try anything stupid like run away. Agent Conroy will keep watch over Lyle."
Jarod looked at Miranda. The stress of the day had exhausted her. She nodded.
"Fine," Jarod said. "Andi, I'm going to go see how he's doing, okay?"
Miranda nodded again and took Tommy from his father. A few minutes later she groaned, suddenly realizing something.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Agent Davies asked. He had a pregnant wife back in DC and was concerned for the woman he had been told was heartless and ruthlessly evil. What he saw was very different.
"I have to call someone," Miranda said.
"Who?" Burke asked suspiciously.
Miranda ignored him, sweet-talking a male desk attendant into letting her use the phone.
"Emily? It's Miranda…no, not exactly…there was an, uh, incident just now and James got himself shot…no, I'm sure he's fine. He's in surgery right now…yes, I'm in the emergency room…I'm sure he'd like that…okay…bye."
"Who was that?" Burke asked.
"My sister-in-law."
"And who's James?"
"My brother. You remember, the one Dudley-Do-Right shot."
Burke fell silent.
"Andi, he's fine. The bullet's been removed and they're busy stitching him up. There's some tissue damage but nothing permanent." Jarod took his wife's hand and sat down next to her.
Davies smiled when he saw the small gesture. He was fast changing his initial opinion of Miranda.
Emily ran through the clinic's door, looking around wildly. She spied Jarod and ran towards the group.
"Where is he?" she asked. "What happened?"
"He's being sewn back together as we speak," Jarod said.
Emily's eyes widened. "Wha-?"
"He's fine," Miranda assured, shaking her head at Jarod for his poor choice of words.
"Can I see him?"
"In a minute."
Once Miranda and Emily had seen for themselves that James was indeed going to be fine, Jarod insisted that Miranda returned home. She had agreed unhappily when he mentioned Sara's well-being.
*
"Am I supposed to feed you as well?" Miranda asked.
Davies shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat of the car.
"I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I have a headache and I'd kill for a cup of coffee right now."
"You're not exactly what I was expecting," Davies said.
"I'm sure," Miranda smiled. "What did they tell you? That I'm a cold, calculating bitch?"
"Uh, something like that," he mumbled.
Miranda touched her belly. "That was me a long time ago. It's a time in my life I'm not particularly proud of."
"Everyone makes mistakes. Uh, how far along are you?" He gestured to her stomach.
"Nine weeks."
"Really? My wife's six weeks along," Davies said proudly.
"Congratulations. How long have you been married?"
"Eighteen months. And you?"
"A week."
Davies masked his gasp of surprise as a cough. Miranda chuckled, guessing correctly what he was thinking.
"Sara – this baby – wasn't conceived naturally. My…father impregnated me with Jarod's sperm when Tommy vanished."
"Your father?"
Miranda nodded, then stared out the window. Davies shook his head in disbelief. Despite the reports he'd read, he still found it difficult to believe things like that had actually happened.
*
Later that night Miranda, Jarod, Burke, Davies and Emily sat around the dining room table.
"Four months?" Miranda asked. "Why that long? The paper said six weeks."
"Apparently there wasn't enough evidence. The lawyers filed for continuances," Burke said.
"How much longer will the trial itself last?" Emily asked.
"I don't know. A couple of weeks, maybe months."
"So what happens in the mean time?" Jarod asked. "Is Agent Davies going to be staying here for the next four months?"
"I've discussed the, uh, situation with my SAC. We will be keeping an eye on you. Lyle is going to have to come with us, though. We weren't expecting you here, Jarod, or your entire family. It's a tremendous help in speeding things up."
"We were planning on attending the trial anyway, just thought you should know," Miranda said.
"You said you're taking James," Emily said. "What did you mean by that?"
"He's going to remain in custody until the trial begins."
"For four months? That's insane!"
"He killed-"
"He's a different person now!" Emily insisted. "He's not going to run."
Miranda covered Emily's hand with her own. "He'll be okay. Four months isn't all that long."
"You're just saying that because it's not you!"
"Jarod and I have both been…confined before and I'd rather it had been at a federal prison than the Centre."
"Four months," Emily repeated to herself. "It's still a long time."
"James is strong, Em."
"Okay, but I don't understand one thing. Why is he in custody and not Miranda? Not that I want Miranda in custody, I'm just confused."
"Well, Miranda's never killed anyone," Burke said. "We know Lyle, er, James killed Raines. Miranda's also married to Jarod and pregnant with his child. She will still have to face whatever charges are later brought against her."
"We're all going to testify on James' behalf," Jarod said. "I spoke to Mom and Dad earlier today and they're fine with that."
"So why the long wait until the trial starts? Surely you could try the charges you already have while still looking for evidence?" Emily asked.
Burke exchanged a glance with Davies before answering. "The files on the mainframe are encrypted. We have some people willing to testify against the Centre but we need the hard evidence contained in the computers. So far no one has been able to decode the information."
Jarod nodded thoughtfully. "Well, Broots and Angelo could probably help you out with that. Nobody knows more about computers than the two of them."
"That's all good and well, but we don't know where they are."
"Umm, well…I could help you with that."
Miranda stood, announcing her decision to go to bed. She bade the agents a very cool 'Good Night.' Emily returned to her room soon afterwards and Jarod showed Burke out. Davies was shown to the room Lyle had been staying in.
When Jarod climbed into bed, Miranda rolled to face the window.
"Andi, what's wrong?"
"'Broots and Angelo could probably help.' 'I'll help you find them.' Damn it, Jarod, you know what's on that mainframe will get him convicted."
"Aw, don't be mad. They won't be able to pin anything on him."
"No, not until you and Broots and Angelo get those files open!" Miranda snapped irritably.
Jarod was not to be deterred. He snaked his arms around her and shifted until he was pressed against her back. "I hacked into the mainframe shortly before we found out the Centre had fallen. I wanted to see whether they were still looking for us. There were directives to bring you and Tommy back alive. The rest of us were expendable."
"How does that help my brother?"
"I couldn't find any reports on him. Nothing to prove that he'd done anything. There's no mention of Kyle's death there either."
"You looked? Why?"
"For you. Because I love you and because I do believe that he has changed."
Miranda turned around and embraced him. "Thank you. But Burke knows. He was there for a while. What if he kept his own records?"
"Without the official documentation from the computer system they'll be worth nothing."
Miranda sighed happily. "I'm sorry I was so mad at you."
"It'll be okay," Jarod promised. "Trust me."
***
A/N: Thanks to Rose for letting me ask all sorts of stupid legal questions & patiently answering them all *hugs* And thanks to Nancy for letting me bounce ideas back and forth & for betaing. Your necked Jarod-clone is waiting for you at the Mousey's house *g*
The Baby Series
When The Past Comes Knocking
Melanie-Anne
At the end of the first week of their married life, there came a knock on the door of the Scott's house. Miranda, having been busy in the kitchen, opened the door looking every part the suburban housewife.
"Good afternoon, Miss Parker. It's such a pleasure to see you again."
Miranda tried to shut the door but the newcomer stuck his foot in the way.
"That's hardly the welcome I was expecting."
"What do you want, Cox? Are you on the run now? You don't seriously expect me to hide you. For all I care-"
"My name is Burke, Miss Parker. Special Agent Andrew Burke."
"You work for the FBI?"
He nodded.
"How did you find me?" Miranda asked, praying that Jarod would return from work soon even though she knew he only finished at five.
"I have my ways. You see, the president is very concerned about the Centre. Finding all those involved has been given top priority."
"So what do you want with me?"
"Justice. I want to see that everyone who had anything to do with the things that went on there is punished for their crimes. That means you, Miss Parker."
"And what exactly would my crimes be?"
"You devoted your life to hunting down an innocent man."
Just then Tommy started crying from his bedroom upstairs and Burke smiled.
"Kidnapping, for one thing."
"He's my son," Miranda said.
"You don't deserve to be his mother. He belongs with-"
"How dare you!"
"I'm almost sorry to do this." Burke moved inside and two burly agents who had previously been unseen stepped into the house.
"Cox, you don't know what you're doing-"
"It's Burke, Miss Parker. And I know exactly what I'm doing. You will stand trial for your crimes and you will be punished for them."
"It's Mrs. Scott, Agent Burke," Miranda said coldly.
"Does your husband know of your history?"
"Yes!"
"That's too bad-"
"Get out of my house!"
One of the other agents went upstairs in search of Tommy who was still crying.
"Are you going to make me do this the hard way, Miss Parker?"
"You don't get it. You traced me here, how can you not know I'm married to Jarod?"
"Nice try." He grabbed her arm and pulled her outside.
"Are you blind as well as stupid? I'm pregnant!"
Unfortunately, James arrived at the exact moment that Burke was leading his sister down the driveway. Tommy, in the arms of the agent, was screaming loudly. He knew that things were not right and he was scared.
James still carried his gun with him – old habits die hard – and he pulled it out.
"Cox!" He yelled. "Let her go!"
Burke nodded to the agent who wasn't holding Tommy and he drew his weapon. Miranda, thinking only of her son, shouted, "Don't shoot!"
In his rush to reach his sister, James stumbled and accidentally let off a shot. The agent reacted instinctively and fired back.
Miranda broke away from Burke and ran to her brother's side. He'd been hit in the shoulder.
"S-Sorry, Sis. It was an accident."
She pressed her hand down on his wound. "You didn't hit anyone. Just relax, you're going to be okay."
"Hurts like a bitch."
"Yeah, I know."
"What's going on?"
"I'll explain later. Just try and stay still, okay?" She glared at Burke. "Well, are you going to call an ambulance or what?"
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the clinic where Jarod worked. Tommy had only stopped crying when Miranda had been allowed to hold him. She had insisted on accompanying James to the clinic, a streak of the old Miss Parker coming through.
Jarod was on duty in the emergency room. Burke's step faltered when he saw him in his white coat, staring at the new arrivals.
"Andi? What's-"
"Darling, you remember Special Agent Burke from the FBI. He and his friends decided to pop 'round for a visit."
Miranda rarely used terms of endearment, a fact Jarod was well aware of and he wondered how this would play out.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
Miranda nodded. "James-"
"-Is in good hands. Luke is a good doctor. He'll be fine."
"Okay."
"What do you want from us, Agent Burke?" Jarod asked.
"I had no idea you two were…together. Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle are to stand trial with the Triumvirate. With Raines and Mr. Parker dead-"
"How did my father die?" Miranda interrupted.
"It was a heart attack."
"A heart attack," she repeated weakly. Jarod wrapped his arm around her waist as if that could shield her from her pain.
"This isn't the place to discuss this," Burke said. "Clearly things are more complicated than we expected."
"Oh, is it an inconvenience that Jarod and I are married?" Miranda asked, her voice rising. "That upsets your clear definition of right and wrong, huh?"
"Andi, calm down."
Grimly, she bit her lip to prevent herself from saying anything that could make the situation worse. Tommy was wriggling around in her arms and she handed him to Jarod.
"Look," Jarod said, "You obviously weren't prepared for things to be as they are-"
"Aren't you interested in seeing justice done? After all your crusading to right the wrongs done to others, don't you want to see the Centre destroyed?"
"I do. But not at Andi's expense. She's as much a victim as I am."
Burke snorted. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you?"
"You didn't grow up there. You don't know what it was like."
"Save it for the jury."
"You're not taking her anywhere."
Burke could hear the determination in Jarod's voice and knew he wouldn't budge. "Fine," he said. "Agent Davies will spend the next couple of days as your houseguest, just to make sure you don't try anything stupid like run away. Agent Conroy will keep watch over Lyle."
Jarod looked at Miranda. The stress of the day had exhausted her. She nodded.
"Fine," Jarod said. "Andi, I'm going to go see how he's doing, okay?"
Miranda nodded again and took Tommy from his father. A few minutes later she groaned, suddenly realizing something.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Agent Davies asked. He had a pregnant wife back in DC and was concerned for the woman he had been told was heartless and ruthlessly evil. What he saw was very different.
"I have to call someone," Miranda said.
"Who?" Burke asked suspiciously.
Miranda ignored him, sweet-talking a male desk attendant into letting her use the phone.
"Emily? It's Miranda…no, not exactly…there was an, uh, incident just now and James got himself shot…no, I'm sure he's fine. He's in surgery right now…yes, I'm in the emergency room…I'm sure he'd like that…okay…bye."
"Who was that?" Burke asked.
"My sister-in-law."
"And who's James?"
"My brother. You remember, the one Dudley-Do-Right shot."
Burke fell silent.
"Andi, he's fine. The bullet's been removed and they're busy stitching him up. There's some tissue damage but nothing permanent." Jarod took his wife's hand and sat down next to her.
Davies smiled when he saw the small gesture. He was fast changing his initial opinion of Miranda.
Emily ran through the clinic's door, looking around wildly. She spied Jarod and ran towards the group.
"Where is he?" she asked. "What happened?"
"He's being sewn back together as we speak," Jarod said.
Emily's eyes widened. "Wha-?"
"He's fine," Miranda assured, shaking her head at Jarod for his poor choice of words.
"Can I see him?"
"In a minute."
Once Miranda and Emily had seen for themselves that James was indeed going to be fine, Jarod insisted that Miranda returned home. She had agreed unhappily when he mentioned Sara's well-being.
*
"Am I supposed to feed you as well?" Miranda asked.
Davies shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat of the car.
"I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I have a headache and I'd kill for a cup of coffee right now."
"You're not exactly what I was expecting," Davies said.
"I'm sure," Miranda smiled. "What did they tell you? That I'm a cold, calculating bitch?"
"Uh, something like that," he mumbled.
Miranda touched her belly. "That was me a long time ago. It's a time in my life I'm not particularly proud of."
"Everyone makes mistakes. Uh, how far along are you?" He gestured to her stomach.
"Nine weeks."
"Really? My wife's six weeks along," Davies said proudly.
"Congratulations. How long have you been married?"
"Eighteen months. And you?"
"A week."
Davies masked his gasp of surprise as a cough. Miranda chuckled, guessing correctly what he was thinking.
"Sara – this baby – wasn't conceived naturally. My…father impregnated me with Jarod's sperm when Tommy vanished."
"Your father?"
Miranda nodded, then stared out the window. Davies shook his head in disbelief. Despite the reports he'd read, he still found it difficult to believe things like that had actually happened.
*
Later that night Miranda, Jarod, Burke, Davies and Emily sat around the dining room table.
"Four months?" Miranda asked. "Why that long? The paper said six weeks."
"Apparently there wasn't enough evidence. The lawyers filed for continuances," Burke said.
"How much longer will the trial itself last?" Emily asked.
"I don't know. A couple of weeks, maybe months."
"So what happens in the mean time?" Jarod asked. "Is Agent Davies going to be staying here for the next four months?"
"I've discussed the, uh, situation with my SAC. We will be keeping an eye on you. Lyle is going to have to come with us, though. We weren't expecting you here, Jarod, or your entire family. It's a tremendous help in speeding things up."
"We were planning on attending the trial anyway, just thought you should know," Miranda said.
"You said you're taking James," Emily said. "What did you mean by that?"
"He's going to remain in custody until the trial begins."
"For four months? That's insane!"
"He killed-"
"He's a different person now!" Emily insisted. "He's not going to run."
Miranda covered Emily's hand with her own. "He'll be okay. Four months isn't all that long."
"You're just saying that because it's not you!"
"Jarod and I have both been…confined before and I'd rather it had been at a federal prison than the Centre."
"Four months," Emily repeated to herself. "It's still a long time."
"James is strong, Em."
"Okay, but I don't understand one thing. Why is he in custody and not Miranda? Not that I want Miranda in custody, I'm just confused."
"Well, Miranda's never killed anyone," Burke said. "We know Lyle, er, James killed Raines. Miranda's also married to Jarod and pregnant with his child. She will still have to face whatever charges are later brought against her."
"We're all going to testify on James' behalf," Jarod said. "I spoke to Mom and Dad earlier today and they're fine with that."
"So why the long wait until the trial starts? Surely you could try the charges you already have while still looking for evidence?" Emily asked.
Burke exchanged a glance with Davies before answering. "The files on the mainframe are encrypted. We have some people willing to testify against the Centre but we need the hard evidence contained in the computers. So far no one has been able to decode the information."
Jarod nodded thoughtfully. "Well, Broots and Angelo could probably help you out with that. Nobody knows more about computers than the two of them."
"That's all good and well, but we don't know where they are."
"Umm, well…I could help you with that."
Miranda stood, announcing her decision to go to bed. She bade the agents a very cool 'Good Night.' Emily returned to her room soon afterwards and Jarod showed Burke out. Davies was shown to the room Lyle had been staying in.
When Jarod climbed into bed, Miranda rolled to face the window.
"Andi, what's wrong?"
"'Broots and Angelo could probably help.' 'I'll help you find them.' Damn it, Jarod, you know what's on that mainframe will get him convicted."
"Aw, don't be mad. They won't be able to pin anything on him."
"No, not until you and Broots and Angelo get those files open!" Miranda snapped irritably.
Jarod was not to be deterred. He snaked his arms around her and shifted until he was pressed against her back. "I hacked into the mainframe shortly before we found out the Centre had fallen. I wanted to see whether they were still looking for us. There were directives to bring you and Tommy back alive. The rest of us were expendable."
"How does that help my brother?"
"I couldn't find any reports on him. Nothing to prove that he'd done anything. There's no mention of Kyle's death there either."
"You looked? Why?"
"For you. Because I love you and because I do believe that he has changed."
Miranda turned around and embraced him. "Thank you. But Burke knows. He was there for a while. What if he kept his own records?"
"Without the official documentation from the computer system they'll be worth nothing."
Miranda sighed happily. "I'm sorry I was so mad at you."
"It'll be okay," Jarod promised. "Trust me."
***
