Darkness Series
Part 12: Lighting The Way

Jarod settled himself comfortably into the chair behind his new desk and looked around the office, taking in the various furnishings and items that were standard for a medical practitioner. Grinning wickedly, he also looked at the numerous, for once genuine, certificates that hung on his wall. He had passed all the exams with ease, and now actually had the qualifications that he had so often pretended to claim. Suppressing a laugh, Jarod lifted his head as his new secretary activated the intercom.

"Yes, Julia?"

"Dr. Crawford, your wife would like to see you."

"Send her in."

The door opened almost immediately and Nicole walked in, closing it behind her.

"Well, Dr. Crawford..."

He laughed. "All right, enough already. I only hope you can remember when you have to be nice to people about your boss."

"Oh, I'll remember. It's a difficult name for me to forget."

"I can imagine it would be, Mrs. Dr. Crawford."

"And when do you see your first patient?"

He glanced at the clock on the wall. "In a little under an hour."

"And are you nervous?"

Jarod looked at her indignantly. "When have you ever known me to be nervous?"

"Hmm." She came around to his side of the desk and pretended to think for a few seconds as she straightened his tie. "When you told me you loved me for the first time, when you were asking me to marry you, when you were waiting for me to arrive at the church... need I go on?"

Her husband wrapped an arm around her waist, placing a gentle finger on her lips. "I'd much rather you didn't. You've said enough and more than enough."

She grinned. "I really stopped by to ask when you'll be home tonight."

"Just a sec. I'll find out." He activated the intercom. "Julia?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What time is my last patient today?"

"18:00, Dr. Crawford."

"Thank-you." He turned back to his wife. "So once I've finished there and cleared up, I ought to be home around seven-ish. I hope."

She lifted an eyebrow. "I'm glad you added that rider. Seven-ish, huh? Well, we'll see."

"Come by when you leave. If I'm done, we can go home together." He kissed her gently. "See you later."

* * *

Jarod had almost finished writing the details about the patient he had just seen when his intercom was activated.

"Dr. Crawford?"

"Yes, Julia?"

"You have another patient to see. He made a late appointment on a referral from Dr. Hutchinson. I'm still filling out his card."

"That's fine. I can get it from you later. Send him in."

He heard the door open as he was about to write the last words of the report and spoke without looking up.

"Please sit down. I won't be a minute."

Hearing a gasp, Jarod lifted his head slightly, looking over his glasses, and his shocked gaze met the even more amazed eyes of the man who stood just inside the closed door.

"Jarod?"

"Sydney?!" He took off the glasses and stood up. "What are you...?"

"I could ask you the same question," the other man replied in caustic tones.

"Sit down." Jarod returned to his seat as Sydney took the one opposite.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Jarod grinned. "I just haven't stopped moving yet."

Taking note of the expression on the other man's face, Jarod became serious, folding his hands on the desk. "Jarod Hamilton is dead and has been for quite a while now. Jarod Crawford is alive, well and running a large hospital in Montana."

"But... why?!"

"It's a long story," he sighed, activating the intercom. "Julia, is this my last patient for today?"

"Yes, Dr. Crawford."

"Good. You can go home whenever you're finished. Just leave the keys so I can lock the office."

"No problem. Good night, sir."

"Good night. See you tomorrow."

Jarod turned off the machine, looking over at the older man. "Did you come because you realized it was me, or because you actually wanted to consult me?"

Sydney looked faintly amused. "I was intending to consult a doctor."

"You are." Jarod waved at the certificates on the wall behind him, trying to suppress a laugh.

"No, I meant a real doctor," insisted the psychiatrist.

"Again, you are, and I really am one now." Jarod grinned at the look on Sydney's face. "Can I see the referral please?"

He opened the envelope and read the two pages it contained before looking up again.

"Do you want me to run the tests you were sent here for?"

"I suppose you'd better."

Jarod raised an amused eyebrow. "Should I assume that you aren't here of your own accord?"

"Michelle's been talking me into it for a while," the older man admitted somewhat reluctantly.

The surgeon was about to speak again when there was a knock at the door.

"Yes?"

"Jarod, I wanted to ask if you were ready to go..." She peered around the door. "Oh, I'm sorry Dr. Crawford. I didn't realize you had a patient with you."

"No problem, Nicole. Come in. Recognize a familiar face?"

She walked into the room, her eyes widening as she saw and instantly recognized the man sitting opposite her husband. "Sydney! What are you doing here?"

"Dr. Austen?" He stared at her. "So you knew all along...?"

"I don't like making up things like that," she admitted. "But it seemed like the best thing to do, under the circumstances."

"What...?"

Jarod broke through the question. "I think this discussion would be better in a more comfortable environment, like at home. Sydney, are you at a hotel?"

"A few blocks away, yes," he responded.

"And is Michelle...?"

"No, I came on my own."

Jarod thought for a second and then looked at his wife. "Nicole, what say you get the guest room ready for company and make us some coffee or, even better, dinner? We'll be there in about half an hour."

She smiled and turned, walking to the door. "I'll be waiting."

Jarod turned back to Sydney as the door closed behind her, picking up a number of slips. "These are the test orders for tomorrow morning. They don't normally do appointments on Saturdays, but I'll get them to make an exception for you. If you'll just give me a moment..."

Jarod called the radiology department and made the arrangements, writing times on the slips and then hanging up. Passing them over, he watched the other man take them, curiosity evident in his eyes. An amused look in his own, Jarod spoke.

"What is it, Sydney?"

"Are you... married?"

He held up his left hand, showing the gold band. "For almost six months, yes."

"To Dr. Austen?"

"Is it that obvious?" He grinned and stood up. "Come on, let's get your things. I won't have you in a hotel while you're a patient of mine."

* * *

Jarod glanced over as he drove the Mercedes out of the parking lot. "You know, it's something of a surprise to see you like this."

"Likewise," the older man stated flatly.

"But why here? I mean, why come to me?"

"Dr. Hutchinson recommended you. And once I'd seen your name - your first name I mean - then I couldn't help but come. Of course, it was also the same hospital where you..." Sydney stopped abruptly and stared out through the windscreen.

"You never really got over my 'death', did you?"

"No," Sydney admitted quietly. "Not when the only way I found out about it was a phone call and an autopsy report. I always imagined that, if it happened, I'd know more than just that, or at least be able to see a body." He looked at the driver. "That report was very convincing."

"It was genuine, Sydney. If Lyle or anyone had come snooping, they would have found the death certificate, location where the ashes were scattered - everything. As I said before, Jarod Hamilton really is dead. Nicole arranged it, with the help of a few friends here."

"But why didn't you...?"

"I couldn't see at the time."

"Figuratively speaking, of course," Sydney finished for him.

"Literally speaking. I really was inside the building that the report said collapsed on me. Instead of just falling, though, a bomb went off inside it. The injuries that I sustained in the explosion left me completely blind."

Sydney sat in stunned silence as Jarod continued.

"I told Nicole about the Centre and she came up with the idea, organized it and put it into effect. I was there when she made the phone call to you."

"And did you... have any other injuries?"

"Broken leg. I made it worse by falling on it, which is why I still have a slight limp, even this much later."

"Yes, I noticed that."

* * *

"We're here!" Jarod opened the door of the house and ushered Sydney in, closing it after them to shut out the chilly air of the spring night as Charlie bounced up, trying to lick Jarod's face.

"At last. I was beginning to think that you were never coming." Nicole walked over to kiss him as he gently pushed the dog away and placed the other man's bags down inside the front door. "To most people, half an hour means thirty minutes, Jarod, not sixty."

"I'm sorry, but we had some fun getting the hotel to reduce the amount Sydney had to pay." Jarod took off his jacket and hung it up before helping Sydney with his. "At least we had difficulties until the owner's wife reminded him of a certain Dr. Nicole Crawford treating their daughter two months ago." He chuckled. "Funnily enough, it suddenly became free after that."

"And then you insisted on paying something anyway, didn't you?" Nicole retorted knowingly.

Jarod laughed. "Well, it could be possible." He followed his wife down the hall. "Is dinner ready?"

She eyed him. "You couldn't be hungry, by any chance?"

"I was operating all through lunch-time."

"Pity. You missed the greatest chocolate mousse in the cafeteria today."

Jarod grinned as he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of wine, eyeing the small glass bowls that sat there. "Better than mine?"

"Well, that's a toss-up." She opened the oven as Jarod got out the plates. "I'll let you know after dessert."

* * *

As Jarod sat down, he glanced up at Sydney, sitting opposite, and found himself being examined.

"What? What is it?"

"For someone dead," came the sardonic response, "you don't look too bad."

"And I feel even better," Jarod laughed. "It's not everybody who can die and then get married as a result of it."

Nicole smiled. "Keep talking like that and Sydney might start to think you actually like me."

"Hmm," Jarod looked thoughtful. "He'd have to know me pretty well to get that idea." He looked at the other man. "And he probably does, by now."

"Hey, he's had two years to forget you."

Jarod eyed the black shadows under the eyes and the new, deeper lines on the older man's face, speaking more soberly. "Somehow I don't think that's happened, has it?"

"No," Sydney responded softly. "No, I could never do that."

Nicole broke the silence that followed this. "Are we actually going to eat or did I waste my culinary abilities tonight?"

"I'd never want that to happen." Jarod retorted, laughing. "Your expert teacher taught you too well for me to even consider it."

* * *

Sydney looked at his hands and then up again, fixing his eyes on the man opposite and feeling a wave of emotion rise as he looked at him. "Even once you knew the Centre was destroyed, why didn't you get in touch?"

"Because I thought that you would all have had time to get used to the idea that I was dead and I didn't feel like seeing it all start over again, the way I was scared it would," Jarod replied evenly. "Particularly not with a wife to look after."

Sydney nodded as he sat on the sofa, looking over at where Jarod was curled up on the window seat, his right hand slowly turning the ring on his left.

"But you've been in contact with your family?"

"They turned up two weeks before the wedding. I haven't seen any of them for nearly a week now, but we speak on the phone almost daily."

"And are you happy?" The question was quietly asked and Jarod looked up at the expression on the older man's face, responding honestly.

"Yes, Sydney, I am. I'm very happy."

There was clearly audible pain in the reply. "I'm glad for you, Jarod."

Jarod sighed. "Sydney, after the accident happened and everything settled down, I honestly didn't want you to see me like that. I ended up with a compound fracture and at least for the first couple of weeks was almost totally dependent on other people because of that and my blindness. I didn't really think you'd want to see me like that either. Then, once everything healed and I could finally see again, I got a new job, got married and my life was so settled that I could only think yours was as well, particularly with the Centre gone." Jarod looked narrowly at Sydney, noting the pain in his eyes and something glistening there also. "Obviously I was wrong."

"Not completely. I had another chance with Michelle, but... somehow... I couldn't get the thoughts of - of you out of my mind. I just wanted the chance to say goodbye, Jarod." The tears were more obvious now. "And even that was denied to me."

"No, Sydney." Jarod stood up and came over to sit beside him, speaking quietly. "No, it wasn't. It might have seemed like it once, but I'm still here and while I'm not sure that 'goodbye' is the most appropriate word for you to use just yet, there are plenty of other things that you can say to me."

* * *

"Jarod?" Nicole looked up as he walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of their bed with a deep sigh. "Is everything all right?"

He nodded slowly, absent-mindedly patting Charlie, who lay on the end of the bed. "I can't believe it, that's all. After so long..."

"I know." She paused as he turned to face her. "But aren't you happy?"

"I would be if I wasn't so worried."

"About?"

"Finding him, only to have to face the possibility of losing him again so soon." Jarod stared at the floor.

"You don't know that," she reminded him. "You won't, until you get the tests back."

"But it looks so much like it, Nicole." For a minute he paused before looking at her, and there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. "All right, don't say it. I'll wait for the results." He lay down next to her, slipping an arm around behind her neck, holding her close to him.

"Good," Nicole smiled. "I'm glad to hear it." She kissed him. "And no matter what they are, we may have found an even better reason for buying that new double bed."

He looked down at her, one eyebrow raised. "What are you suggesting?"

"This house is really almost too big for just the two of us now..."

"Nicole!"

"Well?" She looked up at him, a hint of amusement in her eyes. "You don't really think he'd mind, do you?"

* * *

When the alarm rang, he rolled over and turned it off before it woke her. Getting up, he dressed quickly and, followed by Charlie, walked down the hall, knocking softly on the door of the guest room.

"Sydney? Are you awake?"

"Come in, Jarod."

He pushed open the door, peeping around it to find Sydney sitting in a chair, gazing thoughtfully out of the window. With a smile, Jarod walked in.

"You were allowed to use the bed, Sydney. In fact you were ordered to do so. That's why I didn't leave you in the living room all night."

"I did." The older man looked up with an answering smile. "But I was awake early and didn't know what time you would get up."

Jarod looked at his watch. "I sleep a little later on Saturdays. And today I haven't got any surgery scheduled." He grinned. "It'll make a nice change."

There was a light of amusement in Sydney's eye as he stood up. "I never thought I'd see the day where you were actually settled - occupation, family and all."

"I always like surprises." Jarod laughed softly and led the way downstairs. "How are you feeling?"

"Now you really sound like a doctor."

The younger man grinned. "Well, you ought to know." Opening the cupboard in the kitchen, he pulled out the toaster. "Hungry?"

"More than I have been for a long time."

Jarod looked up at him, eyes traveling over the older man's face, noting all the changes from the night before. "Did you sleep better too?"

Sydney nodded. "I wish I could work cures as thoroughly and quickly as you do."

Jarod's face became serious. "Well, let's wait and see about that, shall we?"

* * *

Placing the jug back on the table, Jarod looked up as his wife came in. "Did you happen to forget that you aren't working today?"

"I just thought I'd come down and keep you company." She kissed him and sat down as Sydney watched silently.

"Will you be late?"

"I shouldn't be. I have a few appointments this morning and a few patients that I want to check up on - but with any luck I'll be home by mid-afternoon."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed," she smiled. "Are you taking Sydney in with you?"

"For now, yes, but when everything's finished, I'll get Ann to drop him back here on the way home after her shift."

Nicole laughed. "Did you memorize her work schedule as well as mine?"

"Only so that I could know if I needed her help with something," he told her with a grin.

"You always take advantage of her."

"I can tell how sympathetic you are." Jarod laughed and drained his mug before glancing at Sydney and getting up. "I'll see you later. Have a good day."

* * *

"Dr. Crawford? Dr. Stevens is here."

"Thanks, Julia. Send her in."

"Something you wanted, Mystery Man?"

Jarod looked over and caught the amusement in Sydney's eye before turning, his face wearing a stern expression.

"Where's your respect for your boss in front of my patient, Stevens?"

Ann glanced over at the other occupant of the office before looking back. "If I'd known you had a patient with you, I might have been more respectful."

"I bet you 'might' have been." He laughed. "Are you finished for the day? Or to be more accurate, the night."

"Thankfully. Can I do anything for you?"

"Now that you ask, yes. This is Sydney. Sydney, this is Dr. Ann Stevens."

"Ah!" She shook the man's hand before glancing at Jarod. "So I don't need to be respectful at all, not about a corpse."

"Oh, very funny." He narrowed his eyes. "I may retract that dinner invitation for next week if you're not careful."

"I'll be good! I wouldn't want to miss that for anything!"

"I'm glad to hear it." Jarod grinned. "And to make definitely sure of that fact, I'm now positive that you'll have no objection to dropping Sydney off at our house on your way home."

"And what makes you think that it was on my way?"

"Because I know you know Nicole's at home and I have no doubt, as Roger's working today, that you were going to stop in there and have a chat. So it's very much on your way."

She pursed her lips in an attempt to hide her smile and then, as Sydney got up, went towards the door ahead of him.

"I know that I've said before, but you really are too smart for your own good. You do know that by now, don't you?"

He got to his feet indignantly. "Unless you want your next pay-check reduced, Doctor Stevens, I'd be seriously considering leaving right now, if I were you."

"No, please, Mr. Boss, sir! Not that! Anything but that!"

She laughed and shut the door behind her as Jarod grinned, reseating himself behind his desk.

* * *

"Hello? Anyone home?"

"In the living room, Jarod."

He walked through the doorway and dropped a bundle of folders onto the table before going over to kiss his wife as she sat on the sofa, Charlie curled up at her feet.

"So what did the lady of leisure spend the day doing while her husband was working hard to earn the pittance that we live on?"

She laughed. "Learning all sorts of things about the aforementioned husband."

Jarod groaned and rolled his eyes, looking over at where Sydney was sitting, a book in his hands and an amused look on his face.

"What did you tell her?"

"Just about everything, from 1963 onwards," the older man admitted. "She asked."

"Great." He gave her a mock glare. "First you weasel all sorts of things out of my parents and now you do the same from the person who was substituting for them all the time in between! I'll never be able to keep a secret from you again!"

"And is that such a bad thing?" she protested, raising an eyebrow, and Jarod grinned.

"That depends. You've liked my secrets before."

"Well, there's one I want to know the answer to now."

He leaned against the table. "And that is?"

"The results of the tests that Sydney did this morning. I assume you put a rush on the results."

"Of course."

Jarod's tones became serious and he plucked a folder out of the pile, reaching into his pocket for his reading glasses. He flipped through the few pages of results and notes before taking off his glasses and glancing at Sydney, an expression of relief on his face. "It's not cancer."

The older man's brow furrowed, immensely relieved but also concerned. "What is it then?"

Jarod tapped the side of his head. "All up here. There wasn't a single abnormality detected."

"What are you saying, Jarod?"

"I'm saying, having talked to Dr. Hutchinson and got a complete history of it, that this all probably stems from my 'death'." He sighed and looked up again, his eyes full of compassion. "I'm so very sorry, Sydney. I honestly didn't realize it would all affect you like this. If I'd known, I promise that I would have got in touch with you earlier."

Nicole looked up. "Are you sure you've done everything?"

He handed her the folder. "Can you suggest anything else?"

She scanned rapidly through the list. "Nothing that would be any more valuable than what you've done already."

"That's what I thought," her husband agreed.

"So I'm cracking up?" the older man put in.

"Hey, you're the psychiatrist. You should be telling me that." Jarod smiled faintly. "I don't say that. At a guess, it's subconscious sympathy. The only time you didn't report any symptoms was during the time Dad said you were all destroying the Centre. I assume then that you felt you were doing something more beneficial and so it faded, only to come back when it was over."

Nicole looked at him in amusement. "You should be a psychiatrist, too."

"Maybe tomorrow." He smiled. "Sydney, in most cases I'd put the patient in touch with somebody at the hospital, and I will if you think it will help."

"But you wouldn't recommend it."

"To be honest, I don't think you need it. You've only improved since you stood in the doorway of my office yesterday, particularly after our discussion last night, and, totally immodest though this sounds, I can't help feeling that the sight of me alive is probably your best medicine."

"Ah, so modesty is in your dictionary after all."

Jarod grinned at his wife. "You were the one who said it wasn't. And it was on our honeymoon, if I recall correctly."

"And you just didn't disagree. I know."

"You always do."

"So what does the great head doctor of St. Luke's Hospital recommend?" Sydney queried with a touch of sarcasm.

Jarod laughed. "Some time here with the 'great head doctor', if you like. Not that I guarantee you'll see much of me. I seem to be rather busy these days."

"Running a hospital will do that to a person," his wife offered.

"So will being married." He grinned, standing up. "I may as well prepare the bread for tomorrow's breakfast now rather than later." Jarod looked down at his wife. "Did you get the new bed we had delivered today and for which you stayed at home and learned all my innermost, darkest secrets, actually made yet?"

"No, Doctor." She assumed the tones of a scared student nurse. "You see, I've been busy with a rush of patients this morning, and having to operate this afternoon, and then my husband wanted me home for dinner tonight, and..."

Jarod rolled his eyes, watching as his wife left the room, laughing, and his lips twitched as he led the way into the kitchen. "You just can't get any good help these days."

* * *

As he kneaded the dough, Jarod glanced at Sydney, who leaned against a bench. "Michelle said she'd be here around midday tomorrow when I spoke to her on the phone this afternoon."

Sydney nodded. "I'm looking forward to it." He paused. "Are you planning to tell anybody else that you're alive?"

"Like who?"

"Miss Parker."

Jarod's hands stopped moving. "Oh, come on, Sydney. Why would I?"

"Because I think she'd like to know."

"So I just call her up and say 'Guess what? Your whole basis for turning against the Centre and helping to destroy it was wrong!'?"

"That would be one way to put it," the older man agreed.

"I don't think she could cope with a shock like that, not after all this time. Besides, surely she's put that part of her life behind her by now?"

"Have you?"

"A long time ago." He looked up as Nicole came into the kitchen. "But I had help."

"I don't think Miss Parker would say the same."

"What are you suggesting? A Centre reunion?"

Sydney nodded silently.

"And when am I supposed to actually see all these people?"

Nicole laughed. "You couldn't fit them in between the operation that ends at 9:20 and the one that starts at 9:25 on Monday morning?"

"That'd be about the only time that I could find, unless we book the restaurant again, the way Ann did for our engagement, and take another day off work. It might look bad, though, both of us away from our desks at once."

Sydney smiled. "I'd suggest that the two of you are above suspicion by now."

Jarod leaned down, whispering loudly in his wife's ear. "Do you think he suspects something?"

"Now why would he do that?" She kissed him. "We're behaving exactly the same way everybody else does."

Jarod laughed before looking up to see the expression on Sydney's face and he threw his hands in the air in a gesture of defeat. "All right! I'll think about it!"

Nicole stared at Sydney, a look of amazement on her face. "Does that mean you can actually get him to do things he doesn't really want to?"

"Sometimes," the older man admitted, trying not to laugh.

"Wow." She paused. "Teach me the secret?"

Sydney smiled, watching as Jarod washed the kneaded dough from his fingers and then covered the large bowl.

"Well, maybe..."

* * *

"Are we taking your car or mine?"

"To?"

Nicole laughed as she walked into the room, her bag and his jacket and tie in her hand. "Dinner, remember?"

"I thought that wasn't until Wednesday, and here, meaning that we wouldn't need to take a car."

"Not that dinner! Tonight's dinner, which is now a 'medical' dinner because Roger can't make it. I told you about that yesterday morning. Remember now?"

"Oh, that dinner." He got up and put the folder he had been reading down on the table. "And did you extend the reservation?"

"For Sydney? Of course." She walked over and slipped the tie around his neck, knotting it quickly and then kissing him before handing him the jacket. "But, if we don't get moving, the boss might be late."

Jarod laughed as he pulled it on. "Well, that wouldn't really matter, would it? It's not like I'd have to apologize to anybody for my tardiness." He grinned at his wife. "Besides, it'd give Ann a taste of her own medicine." Nicole laughed and Jarod looked down at Sydney, who was watching the exchange silently but with amusement on his face. "Ready?"

"If you're sure..."

"Of course I'm sure." Jarod smiled. "We've got a lot to celebrate, haven't we?"

* * *

"Finally! The late Drs. Crawford, mourned by all who knew them!"

Jarod laughed. "Watch yourself, Stevens. That warning from earlier still holds good, I promise." He turned to the red-haired surgeon, who, an expression of curiosity in his green eyes, stood up. "Phil, this is Sydney. Nicole told you about him. Sydney, this is Dr. Phillip Barnard."

"That's a familiar name," the psychiatrist remarked quietly, shaking the other man's hand.

"I can imagine it would be." Jarod's face became momentarily sober as he took a seat beside his wife, Sydney sitting on his other side, as Phil returned to his chair and suddenly laughed.

"I can't believe that I almost forgot to mention this. I had a patient come to consult me today that those staff members of St. Luke's Hospital present, with the possible sole exception of our highly revered chief, might know." Phil Barnard grinned over the table at Jarod, who laughed. "He was one of Peter's old patients. Oh, and one of yours too, Nic."

"Really, Phil?" Nicole queried. "And who might that be?"

"Does the word 'bull' mean anything to anybody?"

Ann laughed. "Not really? I wouldn't have thought he'd have been willing to show his face around here."

"Well, he did look a little..."

Jarod glanced up from the wine menu, his eyes twinkling. "You're not going to say 'sheepish' are you, Phil? Or will we be waiting until the cows come home for you to come up with some other alternative?"

His wife groaned. "Jarod, that's terrible!"

"Hey, you were the one who was glad I had a sense of humor when you first found out about it."

"I can't believe you actually married him, Nic! Not when he makes puns like that!"

"She only married me for my money, Ann. I always knew that."

"And your running ability and your vision," Ann snorted, picking up her glass, as Jarod laughed.

"And let's not forget my dress sense." He glanced at his wife, his face serious, but Sydney could hear the amusement in his voice and smiled. "I saw a great leather jacket in a shop today..."

"If it was black, forget it," his wife told him firmly.

Jarod tried to look innocent. "Is there any other color?"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Save it for your mid-life crisis."

"With my work and your friends, I should have hit that months ago."

"I'll take that as a personal reference, shall I, Mystery Man?"

Jarod grinned as he picked up the bottle that had been placed in front of him and filled his wife's glass, Sydney's and his own. "Your choice, Stevens."

"That reminds me, Crawford. I never reported your wife to the board for having dinner with one of her patients and having him stay at her house. Should I do so now?"

"You can try if you like. I don't know how far you'll get." Jarod laughed. "Not unless she's done it more than once, anyway."

* * *

"You've changed, Jarod."

"Wouldn't you expect that, Sydney?" He looked up from the mug he had just filled to see the look on the older man's face. "My circumstances have changed and I've always been good at adapting myself to those. You taught me how to do that."

"But not to the extent that you seem to have done."

Jarod picked up the breadbasket and took one of the rolls out of it. "Many things have contributed to the change, Sydney, not the least of which is the fact that I'm not constantly having to look over my shoulder anymore. You're one of those people who made that happen. So, before you say or even feel it, you did play a role in my change."

Nicole raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was only my mind that you could read."

He smiled and reached over to gently squeeze her hand. "I would have told you earlier but I didn't want you to be jealous."

"Of Sydney? I couldn't be." She smiled at the older man. "Not after all the things he told me about you."

Jarod rolled his eyes. "I thought you already knew a lot about me."

"Well, he only gave me facts to prove what I already suspected."

"Oh, really?" He rested his head on his hands and looked at her. "And should I bother to ask what suspicions?"

"Not unless you want to hear a blank refusal."

"No, I thought not." He glanced at Sydney before looking back at her. "And now I suppose you'll learn how to get me to do things I don't really want to do and then I'll be totally at your mercy."

"You were totally at my mercy for months and I didn't do all that much to you then, did I? Apart, of course, from providing a sharp corner of a bathtub and a conveniently placed towel."

"Well, I don't know." His eyes twinkled at her, although his face remained serious. "You took away a pretty important part of me in exchange for that."

"If you're going to say something about your heart," she told him firmly, "then I definitely won't give you the satisfaction of asking."

"Aw, gee," he complained. "You take away all my fun. If this is what comes from knowing me..."

"You're pretty easy to get to know, Jarod."

He glanced at Sydney in surprise. "I thought you said I'd changed."

"You have, but not to that extent." He smiled as he saw Jarod raise an eyebrow. "However, if you don't believe me, Dr. Crawford, we can always get a second opinion."

* * *

Jarod sat on the sofa, staring at the phone with his head resting on his hands.

"You haven't stared that blankly since you couldn't see," his wife told him.

"I haven't had to call somebody and tell them I'm not dead before."

"You might not have to."

He looked up at her. "What are you talking about, Nicole?"

She nodded her head at something behind him and Jarod turned to see a familiar figure standing there. Slowly he got to his feet.

"Hello, Parker."

"Jarod?" She stared at him in disbelief. "You're alive? So Ethan was right..."

"Sydney didn't tell you?"

"He just said I should come here. Your... Dr. Austen let me in."

"You mean my wife, I suppose." A faint smile fluttered across his face. "I don't know why so many people find that concept hard to grasp."

"It... it's kind of unexpected."

"So, I would imagine, is the fact that I'm not dead."

"That goes without saying." Miss Parker retorted crisply, having managed to recover a little of her self-possession by this time. "You created a very convincing autopsy. Even Lyle was taken in."

"That was a genuine autopsy, Miss Parker. And Jarod Hamilton is genuinely dead. Fortunately for my wife, though, Jarod Crawford isn't."

"Miss Parker, would you like to sit down?" Nicole cut into the conversation at this point. "And can I get you something to drink?"

"Something hot." Jarod glanced out of the window at the teeming spring rain and then back to his wife. "And ask Sydney if he'll come here, would you please?"

She nodded and left the room. Jarod waved Miss Parker to a seat and took one opposite her. As Sydney entered the room and seated himself on the sofa of his new home, the former Pretender looked over at his former huntress, a hint of a smile on his face.

"So, Miss Parker, what's been happening in your life?"