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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: I don't own "The Pretender" or any of ist characters. Thanx for not suing! ~Oriana
~~~~~~~~~
Paper Snowflakes
Part IV
by Orinana
Jarod woke up early the next morning, too early in fact, and was only barely aware of his surroundings, or at least the soft arm comfortably wrapped around his chest, the hand coming to rest on the pillow, near his face. He'd smiled tiredly, not even giving the situation a second thought, and taken the hand in his before drifting back off to sleep.
Nearly an hour later, but still rather early, the door to Jarod's bedroom slowly slid open, just enough for a small face to poke through to study the results of last night's work. Grinning like the Chesire Cat, and quite pleased with her handiwork, Samantha removed her head and carefully closed the door.
It was the soft click of the door shutting that brought Miss Parker -always a light sleeper- out of her slumber. The first half second after opening her eyes Parker spent taking in the sight of her arm secured around Jarod, and oddly nice feel of his slow, warm breaths on her hand. The other half of that second was used to actually grasp the fact that it was Jarod, that her father would disown her if he should come upon this unique situation, and other Parker-appropriate reactions. And the next 30 seconds were spent slipping her hand from Jarod's, cautiously so as not to wake him -though his tight grasp proved him unwilling to let go, she noted wryly- and sneaking out the door, finding time to mouth 'Oh my god' a good few times.
~~~~~~~~~
"Why not seize the pleasure at once?
How often happiness is destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"
-Jane Austen
Back in her room, Parker changed into jeans and a navy blue cashmere sweater, checked the ceiling quickly for any signs of a leak, then headed downstairs to a cup of coffee and a couple of bangs of her head against the table. After all, she berated herself as the coffee machine went to work, there was a reason she'd slept as far from Jarod as a bed could possibly allow. Was it that she didn't trust herself? Of course not. When you worked at the Centre, the only person you could trust was yourself. So what was it? The situation, Parker decided, as she poured steaming black liquid into a mug and added creamer. She was too relaxed in this setting, though, she pointed out to herself for reassurance, she had agreed to play a part, for Samantha's sake. Still, she shouldn't have let her guard down too much.
"I'm a Parker," she muttered as she carried her coffee out to the dining room table. "It's not like a cold floor would've killed me."
"Hi," came a voice from her side. Parker looked over at the young girl and smiled.
"Hi yourself. Sleep well?"
"Mm-hmm." Sam took a seat and looked at her innocently. "Did you have a good night's rest?"
Parker nearly choked on her coffee, but kept her poker face in place. "Yeah, not too bad," she shrugged nonchalantly. A brief look of disappointment came and went on Samantha's face, too fast for Parker, absorbed with her own thoughts, to notice.
"So," Sam spoke up after a few moments of silence, "what're we gonna do today?"
"Well, I don't think Jarod or I have any pressing engagements, so you've got us all to yourself. Would you like to make a game plan?" Samantha wrinkled her nose in response. This lady was still too work-oriented. Parker laughed. "I'll take that as a no. What would you like to do?"
Sam gave a look of consideration, then replied, "I'd like to decorate the house. And," she added hopefully, "if the snow isn't too bad outside later on, could we maybe play outside?" Parker glanced up, at the large windows at the far end of the living room, and sighed. She'd checked on the weather on her way into the kitchen, and the rapid snowfall and blustery wind hadn't done much to lift her mood.
"We'll see."
"I'm gonna go change," she said, squirming down from her seat and heading to the staircase.
"OK." Samantha stopped, then turned around to face Miss Parker.
"Um, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"I know this isn't how you usually are--" Parker's eyes shot up from her cup. "--around people. Jarod says that it's because you have to be really serious where you work. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you're just being you." Sam leaned her head forward a little, placed a hand to the side of her mouth, and added in a hushed voice, "And I think Jarod likes it, too." Another innocent smile, and she bounded off up the stairs, leaving Parker to stare in disbelief.
~~~~~~~~~
After breakfast (this time safely prepared by Jarod, in one attempt), the rest of the morning was spent decking the halls. Everything from paper chains to pine cones was utilized, and by noon the entire cabin was festive enough for even the worst scrooge -and yes, even Miss Parker- to appreciate. At first, Parker had done her best to avoid Jarod as much as possible, but soon realized that he remembered nothing of their nighttime cuddling, as it were. Nothing more than the usual grins and teasing only natural when someone like Parker unexpectedly crawls into your bed.
After lunch (again whipped up by Jarod), the girls volunteered to put away the dishes while he went outside to see if it was calm enough for Sam to play for a little while. He crunched around for a moment in the frosty air, seeing with dismay that the snow had now all but covered the tires of his car. Thankfully he'd had the presence of mind to keep a good layer of salt (courtesy of the garage) along the sidewalk leading to the house, or they'd have been stuck in the house for goodness only knew how long. He turned to go back inside, ready to tell Sam that she could play, since the snow was back down to the lazy fat flakes untouched by hurried winds, when a thought came to him. Jarod grinned as he reached down into the snow. Payback.
Parker heard the front door open, and looked up from where she stood reaching for one last cup, just in time to see the snowball coming right at her. The instinct to duck came one second too late, and though her face was saved a temporary freeze, the snowball made direct contact with the top of her head, covering dark hair with a layer of snow, which slowly fell off, only to slide under her sweater and down her neck.
Jarod and Sam burst out laughing, but his grin quickly disappeared as he realized that Parker was advancing with that look of a tiger about to pounce on its prey. With a humored shout of alarm, he ran outside, tripping on a random patch of ice that had escaped the salt, and sailing a few feet through the air into a snowdrift. As his head popped out, she started laughing, but as he jumped up she ran -thankful for the shoes she'd put on earlier- into the snow to avoid him. Samantha joined in the chase too, and soon it was a giant snowball fight, everybody running from each other, scooping up balls of powdery snow and throwing it at whomever they had the clearest shot at.
In the end, there was no clear victor, just three extremely tired people sitting down in the snow to catch their breath. With a sigh, Samantha made an imprint in the snow with her hand, and thought came to her. "Jarod, do you know how to make snow angels?"
He and Parker exchanged a small smile, eyes acknowledging some shared thought, before he broke the moment to answer Sam. "As a matter of fact, I do. Miss Parker was the one that taught me." Her eyes got wide, and Samantha stuck this little piece of knowledge away for use later on.
"Tell me about it?" she asked.
"Another story for another day," Parker smiled. She plopped back into the snow, and spread her arms and legs out, brushing them back and forth to create a snow angel. Jarod and Samantha did likewise, both in silence. As she continued to grow the angel's wings with her arms, Parker stared up into the cloudy December sky, and the flakes falling down towards her. Already, the flakes were coming closer together, and a small breeze was whistling through the empty tree branches.
"We should probably go inside," Jarod echoed her thoughts. They stood, all careful not to ruin their angels, and headed into the cabin, brushing snow from their pants and arms.
~~~~~~~~~
"So, did you have a good time today?" Jarod asked as he tucked the covers in around Samantha.
She nodded. "It was fun. And I can't wait for tomorrow--Christmas Eve."
"That's right. Are you excited?"
"Yep."
"Good. We've got a lot to do to get ready for Santa."
"I really like it when Miss Parker plays with us," Sam said suddenly. "She's great."
"She sure is. Anyhow, you should get some rest, so sleep well. We'll see you in the morning." He headed over to the door and flicked off the light, but was only half way out the door when Sam whispered his name. "Yeah?" he replied, moving back to her bedside.
Smiling, she leaned close, and whispered into his ear, "I know your secret."
"My secret?" he whispered back.
"Uh-huh. About Miss Parker."
Jarod bunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Miss Parker?"
"You know, that you like her."
"Of course I like her," Jarod smiled patiently.
"No, I mean really, really like her." His eyes widened in sudden realization.
"You mean, love Miss Parker."
"Right," Sam nodded happily. "But don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."
Jarod didn't reply, merely secured the covers more around the small child and walked out, making sure to leave the door cracked behind him.
Parker looked up as he stepped off the stairs and smiled. "She asleep?"
"What? Oh, yeah." She raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't comment. "So, what's on for tonight?"
"Well, we've got the gift taken care of. Now all that's left is the stocking stuffers. But I can't think of a single--hey!"
Jarod's head jerked up. "What?"
"What am I saying? I'm snowed in with the Pez Master himself. Jarod, you can't tell me there's no junk food in that car of yours."
He slapped his head. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course there is--Twinkies, Pez and HoHos. Oh, wait, no, nix the HoHos," he realized sheepishly.
"Why?"
"Well, we sorta ate the whole box on our way up here."
"Did she ever see the Twinkies or Pez?"
"Nope."
"Great. Well, that's a partial stocking. Now, I was thinking that maybe--" Parker's sentence was cut off by a short, high-pitched buzz, ending in mid-darkness, the only illumination coming from the stairway light and fireplace. They groaned in unison, but Jarod was surprised to hear her groan turn to laughter. He turned to her.
"Oh, come on," she chuckled, "like you don't find this funny." Her giggles were contagious, and it wasn't long before he was laughing right along with her. As their chuckles simmered down, they hunted around in search of a light bulb, eventually finding one in a cupboard in the kitchen. Now came the task of inserting it.
"No problem," Jarod insisted. "I'll just climb up on a chair, and switch the old one with the new one."
"I don't know," she replied dutifully. "If you fell, it doesn't seem very likely that I could catch you without breaking my back. Why don't I replace the bulb, and you stand by, just in case." Before he could answer, she was on her way to the dining room to grab a chair.
A few minutes later, Miss Parker was on the chair, on the tips of her toes, struggling to keep her balance while unscrewing the old light bulb.
"Careful!" Jarod laughed, amused at the sight. "Okay, got it?"
"Yep." She knelt down and they exchanged bulbs. Reaching back up, she tilted a bit side to side as she struggled with the light. Biting her lower lip, Parker reached her arm just a little higher, determined to get the bulb in. A tip a bit too much to the left for his liking sent Jarod's hands to her waist by instinct, but he stopped himself before contact was made, knowing how help of any kind annoyed her. Still, his hands hovered close to her body. Giggles arose again in Parker's throat as she glared at the empty socket.
Her eyebrows knotted with concentration, Miss Parker tried to lift herself up on her toes just a little further. Her blues eyes widened in surprise, however, as gravity suddenly seemed to turn against her. Only Jarod's quick hands kept her from a face-to-face confrontation with the floor.
They stood, his hands comfortably set onto her waist, looking up at the still-empty socket and laughing. Slowly, however, as their sights turned back down to each other, they both became aware of their actual position. Brown eyes met blue, and the laughter melted away.
"Umm..." Parker murmured, slipping out of his grasp.
"Oh, yeah," Jarod smiled uneasily, moving his hands to his sides. "Sorry about that."
"Oh, no, really. I mean, if you hadn't caught me, I'd be flat on the floor right now," she laughed uncomfortably. They looked away, and Parker sighed.
"You know, we can fix that in the morning," Jarod spoke up. "It's late. We'll find something tomorrow to fill the rest of her stocking."
"Yeah," Parker agreed, "all right." They headed towards the stairs simultaneously, reaching them at the same time.
"Oh, uh, after you."
"Thanks," she muttered. Silently moving up the stairs and to their separate rooms across the hall from each other, they both paused and turned.
"Um, 'night."
"Yeah, you too," Parker said, then hurried into her room. Inside, she changed into a nightgown, then thought to check the bed. No wet spot. She raised an eyebrow at this, but chose not to question it. Enough problems already.
~~~~~~~~~
Over in his room, Jarod stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed, sure that sleep would make everything far more clear to him. It was as he was drifting away that Jarod suddenly realized he'd never denied what Samantha had said earlier.
~~~~~~~~~
Part IV
by Orinana
Jarod woke up early the next morning, too early in fact, and was only barely aware of his surroundings, or at least the soft arm comfortably wrapped around his chest, the hand coming to rest on the pillow, near his face. He'd smiled tiredly, not even giving the situation a second thought, and taken the hand in his before drifting back off to sleep.
Nearly an hour later, but still rather early, the door to Jarod's bedroom slowly slid open, just enough for a small face to poke through to study the results of last night's work. Grinning like the Chesire Cat, and quite pleased with her handiwork, Samantha removed her head and carefully closed the door.
It was the soft click of the door shutting that brought Miss Parker -always a light sleeper- out of her slumber. The first half second after opening her eyes Parker spent taking in the sight of her arm secured around Jarod, and oddly nice feel of his slow, warm breaths on her hand. The other half of that second was used to actually grasp the fact that it was Jarod, that her father would disown her if he should come upon this unique situation, and other Parker-appropriate reactions. And the next 30 seconds were spent slipping her hand from Jarod's, cautiously so as not to wake him -though his tight grasp proved him unwilling to let go, she noted wryly- and sneaking out the door, finding time to mouth 'Oh my god' a good few times.
~~~~~~~~~
"Why not seize the pleasure at once?
How often happiness is destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"
-Jane Austen
Back in her room, Parker changed into jeans and a navy blue cashmere sweater, checked the ceiling quickly for any signs of a leak, then headed downstairs to a cup of coffee and a couple of bangs of her head against the table. After all, she berated herself as the coffee machine went to work, there was a reason she'd slept as far from Jarod as a bed could possibly allow. Was it that she didn't trust herself? Of course not. When you worked at the Centre, the only person you could trust was yourself. So what was it? The situation, Parker decided, as she poured steaming black liquid into a mug and added creamer. She was too relaxed in this setting, though, she pointed out to herself for reassurance, she had agreed to play a part, for Samantha's sake. Still, she shouldn't have let her guard down too much.
"I'm a Parker," she muttered as she carried her coffee out to the dining room table. "It's not like a cold floor would've killed me."
"Hi," came a voice from her side. Parker looked over at the young girl and smiled.
"Hi yourself. Sleep well?"
"Mm-hmm." Sam took a seat and looked at her innocently. "Did you have a good night's rest?"
Parker nearly choked on her coffee, but kept her poker face in place. "Yeah, not too bad," she shrugged nonchalantly. A brief look of disappointment came and went on Samantha's face, too fast for Parker, absorbed with her own thoughts, to notice.
"So," Sam spoke up after a few moments of silence, "what're we gonna do today?"
"Well, I don't think Jarod or I have any pressing engagements, so you've got us all to yourself. Would you like to make a game plan?" Samantha wrinkled her nose in response. This lady was still too work-oriented. Parker laughed. "I'll take that as a no. What would you like to do?"
Sam gave a look of consideration, then replied, "I'd like to decorate the house. And," she added hopefully, "if the snow isn't too bad outside later on, could we maybe play outside?" Parker glanced up, at the large windows at the far end of the living room, and sighed. She'd checked on the weather on her way into the kitchen, and the rapid snowfall and blustery wind hadn't done much to lift her mood.
"We'll see."
"I'm gonna go change," she said, squirming down from her seat and heading to the staircase.
"OK." Samantha stopped, then turned around to face Miss Parker.
"Um, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"I know this isn't how you usually are--" Parker's eyes shot up from her cup. "--around people. Jarod says that it's because you have to be really serious where you work. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you're just being you." Sam leaned her head forward a little, placed a hand to the side of her mouth, and added in a hushed voice, "And I think Jarod likes it, too." Another innocent smile, and she bounded off up the stairs, leaving Parker to stare in disbelief.
~~~~~~~~~
After breakfast (this time safely prepared by Jarod, in one attempt), the rest of the morning was spent decking the halls. Everything from paper chains to pine cones was utilized, and by noon the entire cabin was festive enough for even the worst scrooge -and yes, even Miss Parker- to appreciate. At first, Parker had done her best to avoid Jarod as much as possible, but soon realized that he remembered nothing of their nighttime cuddling, as it were. Nothing more than the usual grins and teasing only natural when someone like Parker unexpectedly crawls into your bed.
After lunch (again whipped up by Jarod), the girls volunteered to put away the dishes while he went outside to see if it was calm enough for Sam to play for a little while. He crunched around for a moment in the frosty air, seeing with dismay that the snow had now all but covered the tires of his car. Thankfully he'd had the presence of mind to keep a good layer of salt (courtesy of the garage) along the sidewalk leading to the house, or they'd have been stuck in the house for goodness only knew how long. He turned to go back inside, ready to tell Sam that she could play, since the snow was back down to the lazy fat flakes untouched by hurried winds, when a thought came to him. Jarod grinned as he reached down into the snow. Payback.
Parker heard the front door open, and looked up from where she stood reaching for one last cup, just in time to see the snowball coming right at her. The instinct to duck came one second too late, and though her face was saved a temporary freeze, the snowball made direct contact with the top of her head, covering dark hair with a layer of snow, which slowly fell off, only to slide under her sweater and down her neck.
Jarod and Sam burst out laughing, but his grin quickly disappeared as he realized that Parker was advancing with that look of a tiger about to pounce on its prey. With a humored shout of alarm, he ran outside, tripping on a random patch of ice that had escaped the salt, and sailing a few feet through the air into a snowdrift. As his head popped out, she started laughing, but as he jumped up she ran -thankful for the shoes she'd put on earlier- into the snow to avoid him. Samantha joined in the chase too, and soon it was a giant snowball fight, everybody running from each other, scooping up balls of powdery snow and throwing it at whomever they had the clearest shot at.
In the end, there was no clear victor, just three extremely tired people sitting down in the snow to catch their breath. With a sigh, Samantha made an imprint in the snow with her hand, and thought came to her. "Jarod, do you know how to make snow angels?"
He and Parker exchanged a small smile, eyes acknowledging some shared thought, before he broke the moment to answer Sam. "As a matter of fact, I do. Miss Parker was the one that taught me." Her eyes got wide, and Samantha stuck this little piece of knowledge away for use later on.
"Tell me about it?" she asked.
"Another story for another day," Parker smiled. She plopped back into the snow, and spread her arms and legs out, brushing them back and forth to create a snow angel. Jarod and Samantha did likewise, both in silence. As she continued to grow the angel's wings with her arms, Parker stared up into the cloudy December sky, and the flakes falling down towards her. Already, the flakes were coming closer together, and a small breeze was whistling through the empty tree branches.
"We should probably go inside," Jarod echoed her thoughts. They stood, all careful not to ruin their angels, and headed into the cabin, brushing snow from their pants and arms.
~~~~~~~~~
"So, did you have a good time today?" Jarod asked as he tucked the covers in around Samantha.
She nodded. "It was fun. And I can't wait for tomorrow--Christmas Eve."
"That's right. Are you excited?"
"Yep."
"Good. We've got a lot to do to get ready for Santa."
"I really like it when Miss Parker plays with us," Sam said suddenly. "She's great."
"She sure is. Anyhow, you should get some rest, so sleep well. We'll see you in the morning." He headed over to the door and flicked off the light, but was only half way out the door when Sam whispered his name. "Yeah?" he replied, moving back to her bedside.
Smiling, she leaned close, and whispered into his ear, "I know your secret."
"My secret?" he whispered back.
"Uh-huh. About Miss Parker."
Jarod bunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Miss Parker?"
"You know, that you like her."
"Of course I like her," Jarod smiled patiently.
"No, I mean really, really like her." His eyes widened in sudden realization.
"You mean, love Miss Parker."
"Right," Sam nodded happily. "But don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."
Jarod didn't reply, merely secured the covers more around the small child and walked out, making sure to leave the door cracked behind him.
Parker looked up as he stepped off the stairs and smiled. "She asleep?"
"What? Oh, yeah." She raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't comment. "So, what's on for tonight?"
"Well, we've got the gift taken care of. Now all that's left is the stocking stuffers. But I can't think of a single--hey!"
Jarod's head jerked up. "What?"
"What am I saying? I'm snowed in with the Pez Master himself. Jarod, you can't tell me there's no junk food in that car of yours."
He slapped his head. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course there is--Twinkies, Pez and HoHos. Oh, wait, no, nix the HoHos," he realized sheepishly.
"Why?"
"Well, we sorta ate the whole box on our way up here."
"Did she ever see the Twinkies or Pez?"
"Nope."
"Great. Well, that's a partial stocking. Now, I was thinking that maybe--" Parker's sentence was cut off by a short, high-pitched buzz, ending in mid-darkness, the only illumination coming from the stairway light and fireplace. They groaned in unison, but Jarod was surprised to hear her groan turn to laughter. He turned to her.
"Oh, come on," she chuckled, "like you don't find this funny." Her giggles were contagious, and it wasn't long before he was laughing right along with her. As their chuckles simmered down, they hunted around in search of a light bulb, eventually finding one in a cupboard in the kitchen. Now came the task of inserting it.
"No problem," Jarod insisted. "I'll just climb up on a chair, and switch the old one with the new one."
"I don't know," she replied dutifully. "If you fell, it doesn't seem very likely that I could catch you without breaking my back. Why don't I replace the bulb, and you stand by, just in case." Before he could answer, she was on her way to the dining room to grab a chair.
A few minutes later, Miss Parker was on the chair, on the tips of her toes, struggling to keep her balance while unscrewing the old light bulb.
"Careful!" Jarod laughed, amused at the sight. "Okay, got it?"
"Yep." She knelt down and they exchanged bulbs. Reaching back up, she tilted a bit side to side as she struggled with the light. Biting her lower lip, Parker reached her arm just a little higher, determined to get the bulb in. A tip a bit too much to the left for his liking sent Jarod's hands to her waist by instinct, but he stopped himself before contact was made, knowing how help of any kind annoyed her. Still, his hands hovered close to her body. Giggles arose again in Parker's throat as she glared at the empty socket.
Her eyebrows knotted with concentration, Miss Parker tried to lift herself up on her toes just a little further. Her blues eyes widened in surprise, however, as gravity suddenly seemed to turn against her. Only Jarod's quick hands kept her from a face-to-face confrontation with the floor.
They stood, his hands comfortably set onto her waist, looking up at the still-empty socket and laughing. Slowly, however, as their sights turned back down to each other, they both became aware of their actual position. Brown eyes met blue, and the laughter melted away.
"Umm..." Parker murmured, slipping out of his grasp.
"Oh, yeah," Jarod smiled uneasily, moving his hands to his sides. "Sorry about that."
"Oh, no, really. I mean, if you hadn't caught me, I'd be flat on the floor right now," she laughed uncomfortably. They looked away, and Parker sighed.
"You know, we can fix that in the morning," Jarod spoke up. "It's late. We'll find something tomorrow to fill the rest of her stocking."
"Yeah," Parker agreed, "all right." They headed towards the stairs simultaneously, reaching them at the same time.
"Oh, uh, after you."
"Thanks," she muttered. Silently moving up the stairs and to their separate rooms across the hall from each other, they both paused and turned.
"Um, 'night."
"Yeah, you too," Parker said, then hurried into her room. Inside, she changed into a nightgown, then thought to check the bed. No wet spot. She raised an eyebrow at this, but chose not to question it. Enough problems already.
~~~~~~~~~
Over in his room, Jarod stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed, sure that sleep would make everything far more clear to him. It was as he was drifting away that Jarod suddenly realized he'd never denied what Samantha had said earlier.
