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Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: I don't own "The Pretender" or any of ist characters. Thanx for not suing! ~Oriana
Kiss Me
The Joy of Sprinkler Systems 1/1
Oriana Lemke
Jarod paced nervously, fiddled with his dinner jacket, paced, and fiddled some more. As a waiter came by with champagne and wine, Jarod grabbed one of the long-stemmed glasses, downed it, then grabbed another. He was keeping such an intent lookout at the entrance that a few people had begun to slowly inch away from him, and he'd checked his watch so much that his wrist had grown sore.
Jarod was just a tad nervous.
Catherine and Kyle, however, were the complete wrecks. It's not like there had been any signs, a slow rise in Jarod's attention towards Parker. No, he'd simply waken up this morning, and decided that today was the day he'd tell Parker he loved her.
The day, however, had not gone as planned. His nerves had choked him the first time he saw her that morning; he absentmindedly left his coffee in the freezer and a shoe in his top left desk drawer, and managed to trip twice when he passed her in a corridor. He'd finally given up and gone home, with the promise to see her that night at the hospital's banquet.
And so now he stood, with a tight stomach and dry mouth, half wishing that she'd get here, half begging his legs to carry him far, far away. Catherine and Kyle merely paced, bumped into each other, and paced again.
And then she appeared in the doorway, dressed in an elegant black dress, her hair done up in a French twist, and Jarod suddenly had to remind himself to breathe. He took a few forced inhales, then walked as confidently as he could to her, and offered his arm. After that, it became a lot easier. They went around the large, richly decorated dining room, greeting friends and colleagues the same they had a hundred times before at a hundred other events. In fact, he let himself fall into the habitual routine so much, that as they sat at their table chatting before dinner, he let his mind wander.
"I love you."
That caught his attention. His head snapped up, he stared at her in shock. "What?!"
She gave him a confused look. "Olive juice. I said, these appetizers taste like they've been drenched in olive juice."
"Oh." He gave a weak laugh.
"Are you...okay?"
"Me? Yeah, sure, fine, never better." He looked down, realized he was twisting his cloth napkin until it was practically tearing, and tossed it onto the table. "Why, uh, do you ask?"
She gave him another peculiar look. "Oh, I don't know. Could be the fact that your face is paling by the second, or that you're sweating profusely. Or maybe my first hint was when you asked the waiter for a 'vodka IV drip, stat.' "
He blinked. "I didn't."
"You did. So, mind telling me what's going on?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, really. Absolutely nothing at all."
"Right..." She shook her head, then let the conversation dropped as the waiters began serving their table.
~~~~~~~~~
Jarod was scheduled to present that night's speaker. Everything had become such a blur by that point, however, that he wasn't even aware it was time to go up until Parker was practically lifting him from his chair. Then, numbly, he walked up on stage, positioned himself behind the podium, and pulled his cue cards from his pocket.
Looking up, he froze, as over two hundred faces looked back expectantly. They were all obviously waiting for him to introduce the speaker, but the only thing Jarod's mind would concentrate on was a smell in the air. He sniffed, frowned, sniffed again, then smiled as he finally placed the scent: perfume. Parker's favorite perfume, that he'd given her for Christmas.
The audience continued to wait. Jarod, remembering quite suddenly that he was up here for a purpose, shuffled his cards, coughed, and began. "Our guest tonight, Dr. Colin Baker, is well known and well respected in the medical field..." They were giving him their full attention, clearly, but Jarod still couldn't help but feel that this somehow sounded wrong. This isn't what he wanted to say right now.
At the back of the room, Catherine hid her eyes, Kyle groaned. Things were not looking promising.
His brow bunched as he considered the situation, then with a light shrug, merely tossed the cards behind him. Hell or high water, he was gonna say, and say it now. Looking straight at Parker, who was watching him with obvious concern, he said in a clear voice, "There's another great doctor here tonight as well. She's dedicated her life to helping children, and has selflessly given of herself since joining this hospital nearly two years ago in hopes of bettering every aspect of it. Her name is Dr. Parker--" He kept his eyes steadily locked on hers. "--and I love her."
A consecutive gasp, then low murmuring hummed throughout the dining room. Parker could only sit, absolutely frozen. Jarod stepped down without another word, and another man took his place, desperately trying to get the show back on track. Oblivious to this, Jarod just walked determinedly to her, took her hand and led her into the coat room. They stood, silent, looking at each other expectantly.
Finally, unable to take it anymore, he blurted out, "Not to rush you or anything, but I've just put eleven years of friendship on the line."
She continued to stare at him.
"Listen...I understand if you don't know what to say. Hell, I more than understand. I mean, you saw the way I was behaving today." He was just rambling on aimlessly now. He knew it, but needed something to fill the silence. "I was acting like a complete idiot. I even managed to--"
"Me too."
"--lose my shoe. I found it later in my--" He froze, processed what he'd heard. "What?"
"I love you too," she whispered. She smiled, and continued on, her voice growing stronger with the realization. "I always have. I don't know how, but even before I met you, I had you pictured in my mind, down to the very last detail."
He let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "Parker..."
"I love the way you make children laugh, even when they're in pain. I love that you can cook absolutely anything, and still be patient with me, despite the fact that I'll never be able to make even toast without destroying an appliance. I love how you know the exact moment to appear at my door with icecream and a shoulder to cry on. I love the way you make me stronger, the way you see me through even the most difficult cases. I love knowing that when I look at your smile, I'll find more warmth and humor and promise of safety there than anywhere else in the world." She laughed. "I love the fact that you wear Loony Toons boxers."
He laughed, they hugged, and after a moment of happy hesitance, kissed. Nearby, Catherine and Kyle began to high-five and whoop in excitement.
~~~~~~~~~
They returned to the dining room a little over half an hour later. Dessert was just being served; the speaker was done, and so when they re-entered, everyone's attention was turned to them. Parker blushed, Jarod grinned, and they took their seats, holding hands the entire time.
It was then that the idea struck Jarod. Given his achievement just earlier, his head was in the clouds, and as he watched Parker chat with the woman next to her, he began to see no reason not to go all the way. He considered; no ring, but she'd understand. And he couldn't exactly do it at the table, he had to do it right, on one knee. Carried on the impulse, he braced himself for the lunge he was about to take, and pushed his chair back to stand.
A waiter, however, had the unfortunate luck of standing right behind him, bearing a silver dish of flaming cherries jubilee. As the chair made contact with him, the poor waiter immediately lost his balance, especially under the heavy weight of the food. The dish went flying, landed on a nearby table, and set the tablecloth on fire.
The attention of everyone in the room turned from the happy couple to the shrieking older socialite wives whose table now had a centerpiece of flames. The excellent fire alarm system acted at this moment, dousing the entire room with water from the sprinkler system. As per customary fire behavior, everyone tried to hurry at once to the doors, and the servers caught in the traffic began to drop their dessert trays, and the assorted cakes and such they held, to the floor.
At this point, the entire room was chaos. Everyone was shouting, milling around, completely soaked. One person would slip on a spilled bread pudding, and like a domino effect an entire line of people would fall.
Parker and Jarod, however, stood right where they were. Parker was laughing, holding her hands out, like she was playing in the rain, while Jarod's brain was hard at work on the debate: do it, don't do it, do it, don't do it. His mouth opened without him consciously knowing it, and he was surprised to hear the words coming from his own mouth, "Parker, I need to say something." As he spoke, he'd cupped her hands in his own to keep them warm, a natural instinct he hadn't even thought about.
She was shivering a bit, but grinning just the same. "Yeah?"
He took a deep breath, wiped his hair back. "This isn't exactly how I pictured this happening; but during a romantic picnic, on a mountain, in a coffeshop--knowing us, this is how it'd turn out anyway, no matter where I did it."
"Did what?"
"Asked you to be my wife." Feet away, Catherine and Kyle gaped, blinked, comprehended, and began to jump up and down, hugging each other and screaming happily.
She stopped shivering; her smile weakened, but stayed. "I...I don't know what to say."
"It's okay. We have all the time in the world. You know I'd never push something like this on you, and I'd never try to tell you what to say--Wait a minute, what the hell am I talking about?! Say yes, Parker." She continued to stare into his chocolate eyes. "I know this probably isn't the best timing, and I know there isn't a ring, and I know that right now all you want is to go home and dry off--"
"Jarod!" she laughed, pulling a hand away and brushing his cheek lovingly.
"Yes?"
"What do you think I'm going to say? There's only one option." His face broke into a huge grin, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer. "Now shut up and kiss me." He was only too happy to oblige.
The Joy of Sprinkler Systems 1/1
Oriana Lemke
Jarod paced nervously, fiddled with his dinner jacket, paced, and fiddled some more. As a waiter came by with champagne and wine, Jarod grabbed one of the long-stemmed glasses, downed it, then grabbed another. He was keeping such an intent lookout at the entrance that a few people had begun to slowly inch away from him, and he'd checked his watch so much that his wrist had grown sore.
Jarod was just a tad nervous.
Catherine and Kyle, however, were the complete wrecks. It's not like there had been any signs, a slow rise in Jarod's attention towards Parker. No, he'd simply waken up this morning, and decided that today was the day he'd tell Parker he loved her.
The day, however, had not gone as planned. His nerves had choked him the first time he saw her that morning; he absentmindedly left his coffee in the freezer and a shoe in his top left desk drawer, and managed to trip twice when he passed her in a corridor. He'd finally given up and gone home, with the promise to see her that night at the hospital's banquet.
And so now he stood, with a tight stomach and dry mouth, half wishing that she'd get here, half begging his legs to carry him far, far away. Catherine and Kyle merely paced, bumped into each other, and paced again.
And then she appeared in the doorway, dressed in an elegant black dress, her hair done up in a French twist, and Jarod suddenly had to remind himself to breathe. He took a few forced inhales, then walked as confidently as he could to her, and offered his arm. After that, it became a lot easier. They went around the large, richly decorated dining room, greeting friends and colleagues the same they had a hundred times before at a hundred other events. In fact, he let himself fall into the habitual routine so much, that as they sat at their table chatting before dinner, he let his mind wander.
"I love you."
That caught his attention. His head snapped up, he stared at her in shock. "What?!"
She gave him a confused look. "Olive juice. I said, these appetizers taste like they've been drenched in olive juice."
"Oh." He gave a weak laugh.
"Are you...okay?"
"Me? Yeah, sure, fine, never better." He looked down, realized he was twisting his cloth napkin until it was practically tearing, and tossed it onto the table. "Why, uh, do you ask?"
She gave him another peculiar look. "Oh, I don't know. Could be the fact that your face is paling by the second, or that you're sweating profusely. Or maybe my first hint was when you asked the waiter for a 'vodka IV drip, stat.' "
He blinked. "I didn't."
"You did. So, mind telling me what's going on?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, really. Absolutely nothing at all."
"Right..." She shook her head, then let the conversation dropped as the waiters began serving their table.
~~~~~~~~~
Jarod was scheduled to present that night's speaker. Everything had become such a blur by that point, however, that he wasn't even aware it was time to go up until Parker was practically lifting him from his chair. Then, numbly, he walked up on stage, positioned himself behind the podium, and pulled his cue cards from his pocket.
Looking up, he froze, as over two hundred faces looked back expectantly. They were all obviously waiting for him to introduce the speaker, but the only thing Jarod's mind would concentrate on was a smell in the air. He sniffed, frowned, sniffed again, then smiled as he finally placed the scent: perfume. Parker's favorite perfume, that he'd given her for Christmas.
The audience continued to wait. Jarod, remembering quite suddenly that he was up here for a purpose, shuffled his cards, coughed, and began. "Our guest tonight, Dr. Colin Baker, is well known and well respected in the medical field..." They were giving him their full attention, clearly, but Jarod still couldn't help but feel that this somehow sounded wrong. This isn't what he wanted to say right now.
At the back of the room, Catherine hid her eyes, Kyle groaned. Things were not looking promising.
His brow bunched as he considered the situation, then with a light shrug, merely tossed the cards behind him. Hell or high water, he was gonna say, and say it now. Looking straight at Parker, who was watching him with obvious concern, he said in a clear voice, "There's another great doctor here tonight as well. She's dedicated her life to helping children, and has selflessly given of herself since joining this hospital nearly two years ago in hopes of bettering every aspect of it. Her name is Dr. Parker--" He kept his eyes steadily locked on hers. "--and I love her."
A consecutive gasp, then low murmuring hummed throughout the dining room. Parker could only sit, absolutely frozen. Jarod stepped down without another word, and another man took his place, desperately trying to get the show back on track. Oblivious to this, Jarod just walked determinedly to her, took her hand and led her into the coat room. They stood, silent, looking at each other expectantly.
Finally, unable to take it anymore, he blurted out, "Not to rush you or anything, but I've just put eleven years of friendship on the line."
She continued to stare at him.
"Listen...I understand if you don't know what to say. Hell, I more than understand. I mean, you saw the way I was behaving today." He was just rambling on aimlessly now. He knew it, but needed something to fill the silence. "I was acting like a complete idiot. I even managed to--"
"Me too."
"--lose my shoe. I found it later in my--" He froze, processed what he'd heard. "What?"
"I love you too," she whispered. She smiled, and continued on, her voice growing stronger with the realization. "I always have. I don't know how, but even before I met you, I had you pictured in my mind, down to the very last detail."
He let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "Parker..."
"I love the way you make children laugh, even when they're in pain. I love that you can cook absolutely anything, and still be patient with me, despite the fact that I'll never be able to make even toast without destroying an appliance. I love how you know the exact moment to appear at my door with icecream and a shoulder to cry on. I love the way you make me stronger, the way you see me through even the most difficult cases. I love knowing that when I look at your smile, I'll find more warmth and humor and promise of safety there than anywhere else in the world." She laughed. "I love the fact that you wear Loony Toons boxers."
He laughed, they hugged, and after a moment of happy hesitance, kissed. Nearby, Catherine and Kyle began to high-five and whoop in excitement.
~~~~~~~~~
They returned to the dining room a little over half an hour later. Dessert was just being served; the speaker was done, and so when they re-entered, everyone's attention was turned to them. Parker blushed, Jarod grinned, and they took their seats, holding hands the entire time.
It was then that the idea struck Jarod. Given his achievement just earlier, his head was in the clouds, and as he watched Parker chat with the woman next to her, he began to see no reason not to go all the way. He considered; no ring, but she'd understand. And he couldn't exactly do it at the table, he had to do it right, on one knee. Carried on the impulse, he braced himself for the lunge he was about to take, and pushed his chair back to stand.
A waiter, however, had the unfortunate luck of standing right behind him, bearing a silver dish of flaming cherries jubilee. As the chair made contact with him, the poor waiter immediately lost his balance, especially under the heavy weight of the food. The dish went flying, landed on a nearby table, and set the tablecloth on fire.
The attention of everyone in the room turned from the happy couple to the shrieking older socialite wives whose table now had a centerpiece of flames. The excellent fire alarm system acted at this moment, dousing the entire room with water from the sprinkler system. As per customary fire behavior, everyone tried to hurry at once to the doors, and the servers caught in the traffic began to drop their dessert trays, and the assorted cakes and such they held, to the floor.
At this point, the entire room was chaos. Everyone was shouting, milling around, completely soaked. One person would slip on a spilled bread pudding, and like a domino effect an entire line of people would fall.
Parker and Jarod, however, stood right where they were. Parker was laughing, holding her hands out, like she was playing in the rain, while Jarod's brain was hard at work on the debate: do it, don't do it, do it, don't do it. His mouth opened without him consciously knowing it, and he was surprised to hear the words coming from his own mouth, "Parker, I need to say something." As he spoke, he'd cupped her hands in his own to keep them warm, a natural instinct he hadn't even thought about.
She was shivering a bit, but grinning just the same. "Yeah?"
He took a deep breath, wiped his hair back. "This isn't exactly how I pictured this happening; but during a romantic picnic, on a mountain, in a coffeshop--knowing us, this is how it'd turn out anyway, no matter where I did it."
"Did what?"
"Asked you to be my wife." Feet away, Catherine and Kyle gaped, blinked, comprehended, and began to jump up and down, hugging each other and screaming happily.
She stopped shivering; her smile weakened, but stayed. "I...I don't know what to say."
"It's okay. We have all the time in the world. You know I'd never push something like this on you, and I'd never try to tell you what to say--Wait a minute, what the hell am I talking about?! Say yes, Parker." She continued to stare into his chocolate eyes. "I know this probably isn't the best timing, and I know there isn't a ring, and I know that right now all you want is to go home and dry off--"
"Jarod!" she laughed, pulling a hand away and brushing his cheek lovingly.
"Yes?"
"What do you think I'm going to say? There's only one option." His face broke into a huge grin, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer. "Now shut up and kiss me." He was only too happy to oblige.
