Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: Okay, all Pretender related stuff is the property of NBC's The Pretender. They are not mine! Although, other characters are mine.
Author's note: This is a [MAJOR] "What if" story so bare with me on this one, okay? I was so tempted to do it, so... I did! I had a lot fun writing it too. So here it is... enjoy!
Miss Parker sat in her office, fiddling with the papers lazily on her desk. Looking towards the clock on her office wall, she sighed heavily. She had just got done telling her father about one of her 'failures' on catching Jarod. Oh, how she hated doing that. The look on her father's face sent shivers rolling down her spine. Sighing again, she lifted a warily hand to her forehead, rubbing the aching flesh there.
"Damn head ache," she murmured to herself.
Just then, the ringing of her phone broke the silence, causing Miss Parker to jump in surprise. She reached over and yanked the phone up to her ear.
"What?" she snapped her usual.
"Would if there was no Centre?" she heard a male voice ask.
"Excuse me?" she asked. The voice was so unfamiliar. It sure as hell wasn't Sydney, Broots or Jarod.
"Would if there was no Centre?" the voice asked again.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked.
"Answer the question," the voice demanded.
What do you want?" she asked, getting up from her desk and looking over her shoulder out the window cautiously.
"Would if there was no Centre?" there was a pause for an answer. "Tell me! Would if there was no Centre?"
"Who are you damn it!"
"Would if there was no Centre?"
"I... I don't know. It would be different," Miss Parker finally answered, placing her hand on her forehead. The headache increased.
Different?" the voice asked. Miss Parker felt a leap in her chest, unsure if it was relief or fear. "Oh, it definitely would be different."
Then there was the dial tone. Miss Parker pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it in confusion. Slowly she replaced the phone to its cradle, looking around her office in suspicion.
She stepped out from behind her desk and walked over to the door of her office quickly, looking around carefully. Grabbing the handle of her large door, she pulled and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. "What the hell?" she asked as she pulled harder onto the handle. Hearing a squealing sound of nails giving way, the door swung open, causing her to wobble back. Catching her balance, she stepped out into the hall, her eyes widened in surprise. Everywhere she looked, she saw cobwebs and dust, and all the doors were nailed shut, like hers was. It was dead silent, no living thing in sight.
Until she heard someone shouting. No, it was two people shouting.
"Hello?" she heard them shout. Sydney, Broots... was it them? She took off down the hall in the general direction and turned the corner, bumping into someone with a thud.
"Sydney!" Miss Parker said in relief.
"Miss Parker! What happened here?" he asked, looking around. Miss Parker looked over his shoulder to see Broots standing there, looking around as well. She shook her head in confusion.
"I don't know Syd. You guys get the call as well?"
Sydney nodded. "Broots was in my office helping me out with a few things and then the phone rang..."
Miss Parker nodded, indicating he didn't need to say anymore.
"What do we do now?" Broots asked.
"Get out of here, I suppose," Sydney suggested. "C'mon."
They finally reached outside, after struggling through doors that were nailed shut and turned to look at their 'Centre' and saw that it just looked like an abandoned warehouse.
"Well I'll be," Broots muttered, staring up at the building.
"What in God's name is going on?" Miss Parker asked, turning to look at the busy street.
A teenage boy was coming their way, and Miss Parker stepped in his way. He looked up at her from under his baseball cap in surprise.
"Y-yes?" he asked nervously.
Tell me what you know about this place?" she demanded, no politeness in her voice. They kid looked at the warehouse and turned back to her.
"Uh... it's a warehouse that hasn't been used in years. It wasn't even working before I was born."
Miss Parker exchanged looks with Sydney.
"C-can I go now?" the boy asked cautiously. Miss Parker returned her gaze to him.
"Do you know him?" she asked, pulling out a picture of Jarod.
The kid looked at it. "Ah... yeah, he lives on the other side of town. I see him at the store sometimes."
"Really? And his name?" Miss Parker asked, looking back at Syd and Broots, making sure they are getting this.
"Ah... Jarod Gene I think," the boy said with a shrug.
"Gene," Miss Parker repeated, glancing down at the photo. She looked up at the kid again. "Where exactly does he live?"
"Don't know. Go to the other side of town and ask around there."
"C'mon Syd!" Miss Parker shouted over her shoulder, taking off down the sidewalk.
"Thank you for your help," Sydney said, nodding politely at the eenager. The kid nodded back as he watched the three walk away.
"Strange bunch," he muttered to himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Have you seen this man?" Miss Parker asked an elderly woman, walking out of a grocery store. She glanced at Parker then at the photo. She smiled.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Gene. Fine gentlemen he is. Takes real good care of his children."
"Children?" Sydney repeated questionably.
"Mmm, yes, both of them. They are real cuties at that," she said with a smile.
"Where does he live?" Miss Parker asked, putting the photo back into her pocket.
"He lives on Spring St., the big white, beautiful house. He and a couple family members and friends built it when his wife was pregnant..."
"Wife?" Miss Parker snapped.
The woman nodded. "Mmm, yes, with their first child, Chelsea. Real cutie she is..."
"Look, thank you for your help. We need to be going now," Miss Parker interrupted, after hearing enough. She walked past the woman, while Syd and Broots followed.
‘’That woman sounded nice," Broots said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Yeah real nice... and talkative!" Miss Parker said sarcastically.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Wow, what a house!" Broots said, looking up at the beautiful white house. "That woman was right! It is some house."
Miss Parker shot him a look, but couldn't help but admitted to herself that is was indeed a wonderful house. The paint looked freshly painted, the shudders were a light blue and there was a wood chipped flowerbed with blue and purple flowers carefully planted in a neat manner. There was a brick sidewalk, leading up to the front porch, in which they walked up to.
Sydney reached over and rang the doorbell. It let out a nice hum of bells, not too shabby.
After a few seconds, the door began to click open. As the door creaked open, all three looked ahead to see... nothing? All together, they looked downwards to see a little dark haired five-year-old, with pigtails coming out of the sides of her head and a teddy bear tucked under her little arm. She smiled up at them.
"Why hello there," Broots said with a smile, bending over and placing his hands on his thighs to support his weight. "And what is your name?"
She hid a little behind the door shyly. "Chelsea," she whispered.
"That is a pretty name Chelsea. My name is Broots and this is Sydney
and Miss..." he began, but the look Miss Parker gave him was enough to
stop him in the middle of his sentence.
Miss Parker turned to her. "Miss Parker," she replied. The little girl stared up at her for a moment.
"You not dat friendly, are you?" she asked, squeezing her teddy bear more.
Sydney couldn't hold back a smile and Miss Parker glanced at him and gave him a look that could cut a man in two. Sydney quickly wiped the smile from his lips.
Miss Parker let out a sigh of frustration and then went on. "Is your daddy home?" she asked. Chelsea shook her head, causing her short little pigtails to softly hit her cheeks.
"He is going to be home soon, though. The baby-sitter is here now," Chelsea explained.
"Baby-sitter?" Miss Parker asked, glancing at Sydney. "Well, where is your mom?"
Just then, sorrow filled the small child's eyes and she looked down to the ground.
"Mommy went to visit Grandpa," she simply said.
Miss Parker smiled. "Why look so sad about it?"
Chelsea shook her head while looking down at the ground. Miss Parker stared at her for a moment then decided to drop the subject.
"Chels, who is at the door?" they heard a female ask, coming to the door and opening it all the way. "Oh, hello," the woman said, noticing the three that stood on the porch.
"Hi. We are old friends of Jarod's and wanted to stop by to pay a visit," Miss Parker lied.
"Friends?" the woman asked.
"Yes, Friends."
The woman seemed to look them up and down for a moment then held the door open for them. "Well then, come in."
"Thank you very much," Sydney said with a smile. She nodded in response.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"So you know Jarod from school?" Kellie, the baby-sitter asked. Handing the cups of coffee to Sydney, Miss Parker and Broots, as they sat down on a beautiful blue couch.
"Yes, Broots and I graduated with him and Sydney was his professor," Miss Parker quickly explained, before Broots and Sydney could. Kellie nodded.
"Well, I guess he'll be really happy to see you then," Kellie said with a smile.
"Yes he will," Miss Parker said, glancing at Sydney. "So... you are a baby-sitter or...?"
"I'm a friend of his. We go way back. I lived in his neighborhood when we were young."
Miss Parker flashed Sydney a look of disbelief. Just then, Chelsea came trotting into the living room.
"Kellie, Cian got into the cookies again," she said quietly. Kellie smiled at the three that sat on the couch.
"Excuse me," she said, getting up from her chair and heading down the hall to the kitchen.
"I can't believe this," Sydney said happily, looking around the house. "Look how good Jarod has done for himself. A beautiful house, wonderful children..."
"Yeah, it has to be a trick of his or something. It is all too weird," Miss Parker snapped, setting her cup on the dark coffee table in front of them.
Just then, the sound of a car pulling into the paved driveway caught their attention. All three exchanged glances as a car door was opened and then closed and then footsteps on the brick walk to the porch.
"Daddy!" Chelsea shouted with joy, running past the doorway to the living room to the front door. Shortly after a little dark haired boy ran after too.
The front door opened and a cheerful call rang through the air. "Hey you!" Jarod's voice said happily.
All three leaped to their feet as Jarod came into the doorway of the living room. He carried Chelsea on his right hip and Cian on his left and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of strangers.
"Oh... ah, hello," he said awkwardly.
"Hi," all three said at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise.
Jarod and the three others seemed to stare at each other for a moment, before Kellie returned to the room.
"Jarod, these people say they are friends of yours... from school. You know them?" Kellie asked, as Jarod placed Chelsea and Cian on their
feet.
"Ah..." he began and glanced at Kellie for help. She nodded. "Yes?" he said in a questionable manner. He returned his gaze back at the three that stood in the middle of his living room. "I, ah think..."
"Um, hi. My name is Sydney Green. I was your professor in high school," Sydney said, finally breaking the awkward silence. Jarod gladly shook his hand.
"Um, sure. Ah, Professor Green," Jarod said, still not sure of who he was. Kellie shook her head and smiled, taking both kids by the hands and left the four to talk.
"And I'm Miss Parker," Miss Parker said.
"Ah... Broots," Broots said awkwardly. Jarod nodded in response.
"Please, have a seat," Jarod said, gesturing towards the couch. They did so. "So, um... high school huh?" Jarod said, starting conversation as
he sat down in a blue matching chair across the room.
They nodded. "You don't remember us, do you?" Sydney asked with a smile.
"Not a clue," Jarod admitted, smirking.
Sydney laughed. "It's okay. You aren't from your high school."
Miss Parker and Broots gave him a look of astonishment.
"Huh?" Jarod asked.
"We... ah," Sydney began, but was having trouble thinking of something.
"We are here for um, house keeping," Broots finished. Miss Parker and Sydney shot him a look.
"House keeping?" Jarod repeated.
"Uh yeah," Broots said. "Um, Miss Parker is here for baby-sitting and Syd and I are here to um, baby-sit the house."
"I have a baby-sitter and the house is just fine."
"Yeah Broots," Miss Parker said, shooting him a look of warning. "Besides he has his wife and his friend to help."
"Wife?" Jarod asked, feeling his stomach turn in pain. "My wife is dead."
All three snapped their attention to Jarod.
"I'm sorry," Sydney said quietly. Jarod shook his head sadly.
"Well, thanks for lying to me... then coming up with a silly idea that I need more help. I really would like you to leave now," Jarod said, getting up and walking to the front door, feeling the pain rising. Broots, Sydney and Miss Parker followed.
"Please, we didn't mean for this to happen. Look we want to help you out," Sydney said.
"I am not letting strangers into my house and to watch my kids while I am at work. Now please leave," Jarod said, opening the door and gesturing with his hand for them to leave.
"No, seriously. We had heard from neighbors that you desperately needed help with housework and baby-sitting and that your friend can't always be there. Please, give us a chance. Please?" Sydney pleaded with him.
"Well, Kellie is going to New York next week," Jarod said, more to himself than to them.
"Yeah, that's what we heard," Sydney lied.
Jarod stared at them as if considering the situation, trying to ignore the aching pain in his gut. "Fine, but one wrong move and I'll have every finger on your hands cut to the knuckles, got it?"
All the three nodded.
Jarod sighed. "Now, are you planning to work full time or part time?"
Broots and Miss Parker glanced at Sydney. "Um, full time," he replied. Both gave him a warning look.
"Okay, fine. I have two spare rooms already. You two... house cleaners can stay in one, and the baby-sitter may have the other," Jarod said, no politeness at all.
"Great," Sydney said with a smile.
"I'm not going to work tomorrow, so we can get to know each other then, alright? Are you planning to stay tonight, or you have another place to sleep?"
All three exchanged knowingly looks.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Well here they are. Someone can sleep on the couch," Jarod said, gesturing towards the couch that was in the corner of the quest room. Sydney and Broots smiled at him, but Jarod didn't return to the gesture. He walked out of the room and across the hall to the other spare room.
"This is a lovely room," Miss Parker said, as he walked in and handed her an extra blanket.
"Yeah, when my wife's mom visited, this is where she slept. My wife would always keep it spotless so she wouldn't have to hear her mom complain in the morning. But her mom always happened to find something out of place or dirty," he said with a smile, glancing around the room.
Miss Parker smiled back. "I don't think it is any of my business... but, ah, what happened to your wife?"
Jarod's eyes snapped up to her face and stared at her."You are right. It's not," he snapped. Miss Parker blinked a couple times in surprise.
Author's note: This is a [MAJOR] "What if" story so bare with me on this one, okay? I was so tempted to do it, so... I did! I had a lot fun writing it too. So here it is... enjoy!
Miss Parker sat in her office, fiddling with the papers lazily on her desk. Looking towards the clock on her office wall, she sighed heavily. She had just got done telling her father about one of her 'failures' on catching Jarod. Oh, how she hated doing that. The look on her father's face sent shivers rolling down her spine. Sighing again, she lifted a warily hand to her forehead, rubbing the aching flesh there.
"Damn head ache," she murmured to herself.
Just then, the ringing of her phone broke the silence, causing Miss Parker to jump in surprise. She reached over and yanked the phone up to her ear.
"What?" she snapped her usual.
"Would if there was no Centre?" she heard a male voice ask.
"Excuse me?" she asked. The voice was so unfamiliar. It sure as hell wasn't Sydney, Broots or Jarod.
"Would if there was no Centre?" the voice asked again.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked.
"Answer the question," the voice demanded.
What do you want?" she asked, getting up from her desk and looking over her shoulder out the window cautiously.
"Would if there was no Centre?" there was a pause for an answer. "Tell me! Would if there was no Centre?"
"Who are you damn it!"
"Would if there was no Centre?"
"I... I don't know. It would be different," Miss Parker finally answered, placing her hand on her forehead. The headache increased.
Different?" the voice asked. Miss Parker felt a leap in her chest, unsure if it was relief or fear. "Oh, it definitely would be different."
Then there was the dial tone. Miss Parker pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it in confusion. Slowly she replaced the phone to its cradle, looking around her office in suspicion.
She stepped out from behind her desk and walked over to the door of her office quickly, looking around carefully. Grabbing the handle of her large door, she pulled and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. "What the hell?" she asked as she pulled harder onto the handle. Hearing a squealing sound of nails giving way, the door swung open, causing her to wobble back. Catching her balance, she stepped out into the hall, her eyes widened in surprise. Everywhere she looked, she saw cobwebs and dust, and all the doors were nailed shut, like hers was. It was dead silent, no living thing in sight.
Until she heard someone shouting. No, it was two people shouting.
"Hello?" she heard them shout. Sydney, Broots... was it them? She took off down the hall in the general direction and turned the corner, bumping into someone with a thud.
"Sydney!" Miss Parker said in relief.
"Miss Parker! What happened here?" he asked, looking around. Miss Parker looked over his shoulder to see Broots standing there, looking around as well. She shook her head in confusion.
"I don't know Syd. You guys get the call as well?"
Sydney nodded. "Broots was in my office helping me out with a few things and then the phone rang..."
Miss Parker nodded, indicating he didn't need to say anymore.
"What do we do now?" Broots asked.
"Get out of here, I suppose," Sydney suggested. "C'mon."
They finally reached outside, after struggling through doors that were nailed shut and turned to look at their 'Centre' and saw that it just looked like an abandoned warehouse.
"Well I'll be," Broots muttered, staring up at the building.
"What in God's name is going on?" Miss Parker asked, turning to look at the busy street.
A teenage boy was coming their way, and Miss Parker stepped in his way. He looked up at her from under his baseball cap in surprise.
"Y-yes?" he asked nervously.
Tell me what you know about this place?" she demanded, no politeness in her voice. They kid looked at the warehouse and turned back to her.
"Uh... it's a warehouse that hasn't been used in years. It wasn't even working before I was born."
Miss Parker exchanged looks with Sydney.
"C-can I go now?" the boy asked cautiously. Miss Parker returned her gaze to him.
"Do you know him?" she asked, pulling out a picture of Jarod.
The kid looked at it. "Ah... yeah, he lives on the other side of town. I see him at the store sometimes."
"Really? And his name?" Miss Parker asked, looking back at Syd and Broots, making sure they are getting this.
"Ah... Jarod Gene I think," the boy said with a shrug.
"Gene," Miss Parker repeated, glancing down at the photo. She looked up at the kid again. "Where exactly does he live?"
"Don't know. Go to the other side of town and ask around there."
"C'mon Syd!" Miss Parker shouted over her shoulder, taking off down the sidewalk.
"Thank you for your help," Sydney said, nodding politely at the eenager. The kid nodded back as he watched the three walk away.
"Strange bunch," he muttered to himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Have you seen this man?" Miss Parker asked an elderly woman, walking out of a grocery store. She glanced at Parker then at the photo. She smiled.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Gene. Fine gentlemen he is. Takes real good care of his children."
"Children?" Sydney repeated questionably.
"Mmm, yes, both of them. They are real cuties at that," she said with a smile.
"Where does he live?" Miss Parker asked, putting the photo back into her pocket.
"He lives on Spring St., the big white, beautiful house. He and a couple family members and friends built it when his wife was pregnant..."
"Wife?" Miss Parker snapped.
The woman nodded. "Mmm, yes, with their first child, Chelsea. Real cutie she is..."
"Look, thank you for your help. We need to be going now," Miss Parker interrupted, after hearing enough. She walked past the woman, while Syd and Broots followed.
‘’That woman sounded nice," Broots said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Yeah real nice... and talkative!" Miss Parker said sarcastically.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Wow, what a house!" Broots said, looking up at the beautiful white house. "That woman was right! It is some house."
Miss Parker shot him a look, but couldn't help but admitted to herself that is was indeed a wonderful house. The paint looked freshly painted, the shudders were a light blue and there was a wood chipped flowerbed with blue and purple flowers carefully planted in a neat manner. There was a brick sidewalk, leading up to the front porch, in which they walked up to.
Sydney reached over and rang the doorbell. It let out a nice hum of bells, not too shabby.
After a few seconds, the door began to click open. As the door creaked open, all three looked ahead to see... nothing? All together, they looked downwards to see a little dark haired five-year-old, with pigtails coming out of the sides of her head and a teddy bear tucked under her little arm. She smiled up at them.
"Why hello there," Broots said with a smile, bending over and placing his hands on his thighs to support his weight. "And what is your name?"
She hid a little behind the door shyly. "Chelsea," she whispered.
"That is a pretty name Chelsea. My name is Broots and this is Sydney
and Miss..." he began, but the look Miss Parker gave him was enough to
stop him in the middle of his sentence.
Miss Parker turned to her. "Miss Parker," she replied. The little girl stared up at her for a moment.
"You not dat friendly, are you?" she asked, squeezing her teddy bear more.
Sydney couldn't hold back a smile and Miss Parker glanced at him and gave him a look that could cut a man in two. Sydney quickly wiped the smile from his lips.
Miss Parker let out a sigh of frustration and then went on. "Is your daddy home?" she asked. Chelsea shook her head, causing her short little pigtails to softly hit her cheeks.
"He is going to be home soon, though. The baby-sitter is here now," Chelsea explained.
"Baby-sitter?" Miss Parker asked, glancing at Sydney. "Well, where is your mom?"
Just then, sorrow filled the small child's eyes and she looked down to the ground.
"Mommy went to visit Grandpa," she simply said.
Miss Parker smiled. "Why look so sad about it?"
Chelsea shook her head while looking down at the ground. Miss Parker stared at her for a moment then decided to drop the subject.
"Chels, who is at the door?" they heard a female ask, coming to the door and opening it all the way. "Oh, hello," the woman said, noticing the three that stood on the porch.
"Hi. We are old friends of Jarod's and wanted to stop by to pay a visit," Miss Parker lied.
"Friends?" the woman asked.
"Yes, Friends."
The woman seemed to look them up and down for a moment then held the door open for them. "Well then, come in."
"Thank you very much," Sydney said with a smile. She nodded in response.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"So you know Jarod from school?" Kellie, the baby-sitter asked. Handing the cups of coffee to Sydney, Miss Parker and Broots, as they sat down on a beautiful blue couch.
"Yes, Broots and I graduated with him and Sydney was his professor," Miss Parker quickly explained, before Broots and Sydney could. Kellie nodded.
"Well, I guess he'll be really happy to see you then," Kellie said with a smile.
"Yes he will," Miss Parker said, glancing at Sydney. "So... you are a baby-sitter or...?"
"I'm a friend of his. We go way back. I lived in his neighborhood when we were young."
Miss Parker flashed Sydney a look of disbelief. Just then, Chelsea came trotting into the living room.
"Kellie, Cian got into the cookies again," she said quietly. Kellie smiled at the three that sat on the couch.
"Excuse me," she said, getting up from her chair and heading down the hall to the kitchen.
"I can't believe this," Sydney said happily, looking around the house. "Look how good Jarod has done for himself. A beautiful house, wonderful children..."
"Yeah, it has to be a trick of his or something. It is all too weird," Miss Parker snapped, setting her cup on the dark coffee table in front of them.
Just then, the sound of a car pulling into the paved driveway caught their attention. All three exchanged glances as a car door was opened and then closed and then footsteps on the brick walk to the porch.
"Daddy!" Chelsea shouted with joy, running past the doorway to the living room to the front door. Shortly after a little dark haired boy ran after too.
The front door opened and a cheerful call rang through the air. "Hey you!" Jarod's voice said happily.
All three leaped to their feet as Jarod came into the doorway of the living room. He carried Chelsea on his right hip and Cian on his left and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of strangers.
"Oh... ah, hello," he said awkwardly.
"Hi," all three said at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise.
Jarod and the three others seemed to stare at each other for a moment, before Kellie returned to the room.
"Jarod, these people say they are friends of yours... from school. You know them?" Kellie asked, as Jarod placed Chelsea and Cian on their
feet.
"Ah..." he began and glanced at Kellie for help. She nodded. "Yes?" he said in a questionable manner. He returned his gaze back at the three that stood in the middle of his living room. "I, ah think..."
"Um, hi. My name is Sydney Green. I was your professor in high school," Sydney said, finally breaking the awkward silence. Jarod gladly shook his hand.
"Um, sure. Ah, Professor Green," Jarod said, still not sure of who he was. Kellie shook her head and smiled, taking both kids by the hands and left the four to talk.
"And I'm Miss Parker," Miss Parker said.
"Ah... Broots," Broots said awkwardly. Jarod nodded in response.
"Please, have a seat," Jarod said, gesturing towards the couch. They did so. "So, um... high school huh?" Jarod said, starting conversation as
he sat down in a blue matching chair across the room.
They nodded. "You don't remember us, do you?" Sydney asked with a smile.
"Not a clue," Jarod admitted, smirking.
Sydney laughed. "It's okay. You aren't from your high school."
Miss Parker and Broots gave him a look of astonishment.
"Huh?" Jarod asked.
"We... ah," Sydney began, but was having trouble thinking of something.
"We are here for um, house keeping," Broots finished. Miss Parker and Sydney shot him a look.
"House keeping?" Jarod repeated.
"Uh yeah," Broots said. "Um, Miss Parker is here for baby-sitting and Syd and I are here to um, baby-sit the house."
"I have a baby-sitter and the house is just fine."
"Yeah Broots," Miss Parker said, shooting him a look of warning. "Besides he has his wife and his friend to help."
"Wife?" Jarod asked, feeling his stomach turn in pain. "My wife is dead."
All three snapped their attention to Jarod.
"I'm sorry," Sydney said quietly. Jarod shook his head sadly.
"Well, thanks for lying to me... then coming up with a silly idea that I need more help. I really would like you to leave now," Jarod said, getting up and walking to the front door, feeling the pain rising. Broots, Sydney and Miss Parker followed.
"Please, we didn't mean for this to happen. Look we want to help you out," Sydney said.
"I am not letting strangers into my house and to watch my kids while I am at work. Now please leave," Jarod said, opening the door and gesturing with his hand for them to leave.
"No, seriously. We had heard from neighbors that you desperately needed help with housework and baby-sitting and that your friend can't always be there. Please, give us a chance. Please?" Sydney pleaded with him.
"Well, Kellie is going to New York next week," Jarod said, more to himself than to them.
"Yeah, that's what we heard," Sydney lied.
Jarod stared at them as if considering the situation, trying to ignore the aching pain in his gut. "Fine, but one wrong move and I'll have every finger on your hands cut to the knuckles, got it?"
All the three nodded.
Jarod sighed. "Now, are you planning to work full time or part time?"
Broots and Miss Parker glanced at Sydney. "Um, full time," he replied. Both gave him a warning look.
"Okay, fine. I have two spare rooms already. You two... house cleaners can stay in one, and the baby-sitter may have the other," Jarod said, no politeness at all.
"Great," Sydney said with a smile.
"I'm not going to work tomorrow, so we can get to know each other then, alright? Are you planning to stay tonight, or you have another place to sleep?"
All three exchanged knowingly looks.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Well here they are. Someone can sleep on the couch," Jarod said, gesturing towards the couch that was in the corner of the quest room. Sydney and Broots smiled at him, but Jarod didn't return to the gesture. He walked out of the room and across the hall to the other spare room.
"This is a lovely room," Miss Parker said, as he walked in and handed her an extra blanket.
"Yeah, when my wife's mom visited, this is where she slept. My wife would always keep it spotless so she wouldn't have to hear her mom complain in the morning. But her mom always happened to find something out of place or dirty," he said with a smile, glancing around the room.
Miss Parker smiled back. "I don't think it is any of my business... but, ah, what happened to your wife?"
Jarod's eyes snapped up to her face and stared at her."You are right. It's not," he snapped. Miss Parker blinked a couple times in surprise.
