Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
*Disclaimer: I don't own "The Pretender" or any of its characters. Thanx for not suing! ~Oriana
1) Paper Snowflakes (the original, isn't a sequel)
2) To Dance In An English Garden
3) A Night To Remember
4) The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
5) Life In A Heartbeart
6) With Me (the last in the series)
~~~~~~~~~
The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
Part VI
by Orinana
The Centre test results had never mentioned anything about hallucinations. The convulsions, the spasms of pain and the horrible chills, were things Parker was prepared for. But in a way, the delusions she was beginning to experience were worse than the pain. At first it was only misty shadows appearing momentarily in the corners of the room, and urgent whispers barely audible to her. Soon, however, solid forms began to appear, nearer and nearer to her. Her mother, Tommy, even Faith, all just out of reach, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying.
Daddy was the only one to come right up to her. His face was stern, and he was shaking his head. Slowly, words began to form. "Disappointment...a failure...Don't be this weak, you're a Parker...Not my angel anymore...not my daughter..."
Along with her screams, choked sobs of misery began to form, as Parker realized that her last hour of life would be spent facing her ghosts.
~~~~~~~~~
Broots and Sydney were so fixated on the bedroom door, they nearly had strokes when the apartment door banged open and Jarod appeared before them.
He barely saw them, and certainly didn't say anything, just made a beeline for the bedroom. It took both men to keep him back.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded. "Let me go! I have to get to her!"
"Quiet!" Sydney ordered in a loud voice.
Jarod looked at him searchingly, his heart still pounding, and continued to struggle against their grasp. "I know something's wrong--listen to her! You have to let me help!"
"No."
"But--"
"I said no!" Syd barked. "You cannot go in there."
There was a finality to his determination that made Jarod stop. He looked searchingly back and forth at the two. "What's happened?"
"We'll talk about this outside," was all Sydney would say, trying to steer him to the door.
"I'm not leaving her," Jarod said in disbelief.
"It's not your choice." Still clutching him tightly, all three walked out into the hallway. The screams and sobs continued.
Pacing back and forth, Jarod couldn't tear his eyes from the door. This couldn't be happening. She'd been fine earlier, hadn't she? Maybe a little upset, but...
"We don't have time for all the details," said Sydney, "so here's the basics. At the ball--" Jarod froze. "--Parker was injected with LS49." And the world spun. Only Broots, who still held his arm, kept him from falling to the ground. LS49...
A thousand things to say, but only one important enough to spend precious seconds asking now. "How long?"
"You hear her screams--she's already entered stage three."
"It shouldn't be affecting her this quickly. LS49 takes 72 hours to..." He gulped. "...to kill." His mind went to work, calculating explanations. "For it to be this accelerated, Crawford must've pumped an entire syringe full of the stuff into her." Sydney didn't reply, and he looked at him in disbelief. "How can you leave her alone like that?"
"It's the way she wants it." Jarod nodded. Of course it was--she was too damn stubborn to admit needing anybody, even now. And of course Syd would do as she asked. It was her dying wish.
They stood in the hall for a few minutes, all silent. Broots continued to wince at every scream; he wasn't getting used to the sound, and he didn't want to. As for Jarod, it was as if everything had shut down. Over. Everything, all over. And he hadn't even realized it. It wasn't possible...
Jarod's head shot up as his mind, hard at work, finally came upon the solution. Both eyed him warily, not sure how exactly he was handling this. "Okay..." he started slowly. "Okay." He turned, and ran to the elevator.
"Where are you going?"
"I have an idea." The elevator doors slid open, and he rushed inside. Turning to face them, he ordered, "Go in there. Keep her awake, do you hear me? Once she loses consciousness, it's over."
"Jarod--"
"Keep her awake!" The doors slid shut. Alone in the small space, he leaned against the wall for support, his legs growing weak. "It's not over," he whispered determinedly. "I won't let it be."
~~~~~~~~~
The nearest 24-hour drugstore was 15 minutes from the building. Jarod made it there in nine. He rushed inside, not even slowing as he grabbed the nearest shopping basket. The bored looking clerk at the front register looked at the hasty man in mild surprise, then returned his attention to his magazine.
Up and down the medicine aisles, Jarod barely registered his actions as he grabbed several pills and medications off the shelves, shoving them into the basket. Without wasting another moment, he raced to the front, practically throwing the items onto the checkout counter.
Walking to the register, the clerk began scanning the items, quickly hurrying up as he saw the urgency in Jarod's eyes. "C-comes to 76.81, p-please," he stuttered. Jarod pulled a hundred from his pocket, impatiently tossed it on the counter and grabbed the basket of items, and ran out, not willing to waste time waiting for them to be bagged.
In his car, he threw the bag into the passenger's side seat and started the engine. "Hang on, Parker. Please, just hang on."
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney slowly opened the bedroom door, Broots staying a few footsteps behind. The former took in the sobbing writhing form on the cot, and muttered, "Jarod had better know what the hell he's doing."
On the bed, Parker wasn't aware of their presence at first. The ghosts had disappeared, but she could still hear them everywhere, and despite her expectations, the pain had actually managed to get worse. Slowly, she realized they were standing there, watching her. "Make it stop...Please, Syd...I want it to be over."
"Shhh...I know, I know," he soothed, sitting down beside her.
She'd been crying for a while now, but new tears began to well up in her eyes. At this point, even her voice was weak. "I'm scared."
"It's okay," he assured her. "You're allowed to be frightened."
"I lied Syd..."
"Shhh...you don't have to say anything."
She ignored him. "I lied. I've spent my whole life alone...I don't wanna die that way too."
"You're not alone," he said firmly. "We're right here."
Everything was beginning to blur together. "I'm so tired, Syd..."
"No, Parker, don't."
"I don't wanna fight it anymore..." Her eyelids began to shut.
"No!" He gave her as firm a shake as he dared. Her eyes flew open at the pain, but barely stayed unclosed.
"Please, Syd," she whimpered. "Let me sleep..."
"Damn it, I said no! Stay with us, do you hear me? Nobody is dying today."
~~~~~~~~~
Julia sat in the kitchen, holding a cup of cocoa to warm her hands, and looked out the window with a sigh. Wherever Jarod was at this insane hour, she had no doubt one of those three had something to do with it.
The door to the penthouse swung open with an echoing bang, and Julia let out a small shriek of surprise. A split second later Jarod appeared in the kitchen, clutching a shopping basket in one hand.
She looked at him quizzically. "Where have you--"
"Where's your nurse's bag?" he demanded, looking around the kitchen wildly.
"What?"
"Your nurse's bag!"
Startled, she pointed to the bedroom. "On top of the dresser, but--" He ran into the bedroom without another word, and ran back past her a moment later, bag in hand. He paused only long enough to grab a glass from the kitchen counter, then continued on. Confused, she finally stood and followed him, but the elevator doors had just slid shut as she reached them.
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney and Broots were both at it now, taking turns shaking and shouting, trying desperately to keep her awake. And Parker, exhausted and in pain beyond imagination, continued to cry and beg weakly for them to let her sleep.
Both men looked to the door in relief as they heard the pounding footsteps. The door flew open and Jarod appeared. "Is she awake?"
Broots nodded. "Barely."
Parker heard the voice, and saw the dim figure. "What's he doing here? Syd, you promised..."
Ignoring the stung he felt at realizing that she'd specifically asked for him not to know, Jarod went to work, dumping his purchases on the floor. Combing through the items, he impatiently ripped apart the cardboard boxes and plastic seals. Broots and Sydney watched silently, completely perplexed, as Jarod broke open several different tablets, pouring the powder they held into the cup. Undoing the top of the bottle of water he'd gotten, he carefully poured a small amount into the cup, his calculation of the amount practically visible in his eyes. Pulling a few things from the bag, he first chose a small vial, breaking the seal and pouring its contents in as well. Finally, after mixing everything together with a Q-tip, he grabbed the final necessity: a syringe. Tearing off the protective plastic wrap, he plunged the tip in, and drew up a large quantity of the concoction.
Standing, he walked over to Parker, and placed a comforting hand over her own moist one. Then, keeping his eyes half-focused on her, he held up the syringe.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
He didn't answer, only said, "Everything's going to be fine. I'll make it okay--I promise." Still staring into her blue eyes, now a glazed over, with his own brown ones, he pushed the needle into her skin, and injected the mixture. A few long seconds passed, before Parker suddenly relaxed, her eyes drooping shut and her muscles untensing.
"What did you--" Jarod cut him off with the wave of a hand, then gently placed two fingers to her neck.
He waited a moment, then smiled, relieved. "There's a pulse."
Broots looked at him suspiciously. "Why wouldn't there be?"
Even replying, he didn't take his eyes off Parker. "There wasn't time to measure everything exactly. I just had to hope that the amounts listed on the boxes were right. Too little, she'd still be awake. But too much, and..."
"What are you talking about?" Sydney demanded.
Reluctantly, Jarod moved away from Parker, and turned to face the other two. "I remembered, when I'd been doing the work for LS49 at the Centre, coming across a certain formula. It wasn't a cure, but the drug put the patient into a sort of comatose state. The body all but shuts down--"
"What?"
"--allowing for up a lifespan up to a week longer."
"You mean to tell us you purposely put Miss Parker into a coma?!" Angry, it took everything Sydney had not to lunge at the pretender. "Why do it? Why prolong the inevitable?"
"I just bought us a week!" Jarod snapped.
"You worked on this project for nearly a year, and you didn't find a cure then."
"Then, Miss Parker's life wasn't the one on the line."
Syd grew quiet. "So what do we do now?" asked Broots.
"Her body will begin to react to the induced state in about three or four days. Then, we'll have to start injecting her more and more often to keep the coma going. That's pretty much our cut-off point. The LS49 will overtake her body between five and seven days from now. To wake her up and be able to insure there's no brain damage, we can't risk more than two more injections. All in all, I'd say we have five days, max." Broots gulped, nodded.
The apartment door opened. All three men froze momentarily, then turned as Julia appeared in the still-open bedroom door. She paled as she took in the sight before her, her eyes scanning the entire picture, lingering momentarily on Parker, then again on the mess on the floor.
"W-what's going on?" She looked to him for an explanation. "Jarod?"
He walked up to her. "I'll explain, but on the way."
"On the way where?"
"There's an errand we need to run."
1) Paper Snowflakes (the original, isn't a sequel)
2) To Dance In An English Garden
3) A Night To Remember
4) The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
5) Life In A Heartbeart
6) With Me (the last in the series)
~~~~~~~~~
Part VI
by Orinana
The Centre test results had never mentioned anything about hallucinations. The convulsions, the spasms of pain and the horrible chills, were things Parker was prepared for. But in a way, the delusions she was beginning to experience were worse than the pain. At first it was only misty shadows appearing momentarily in the corners of the room, and urgent whispers barely audible to her. Soon, however, solid forms began to appear, nearer and nearer to her. Her mother, Tommy, even Faith, all just out of reach, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying.
Daddy was the only one to come right up to her. His face was stern, and he was shaking his head. Slowly, words began to form. "Disappointment...a failure...Don't be this weak, you're a Parker...Not my angel anymore...not my daughter..."
Along with her screams, choked sobs of misery began to form, as Parker realized that her last hour of life would be spent facing her ghosts.
~~~~~~~~~
Broots and Sydney were so fixated on the bedroom door, they nearly had strokes when the apartment door banged open and Jarod appeared before them.
He barely saw them, and certainly didn't say anything, just made a beeline for the bedroom. It took both men to keep him back.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded. "Let me go! I have to get to her!"
"Quiet!" Sydney ordered in a loud voice.
Jarod looked at him searchingly, his heart still pounding, and continued to struggle against their grasp. "I know something's wrong--listen to her! You have to let me help!"
"No."
"But--"
"I said no!" Syd barked. "You cannot go in there."
There was a finality to his determination that made Jarod stop. He looked searchingly back and forth at the two. "What's happened?"
"We'll talk about this outside," was all Sydney would say, trying to steer him to the door.
"I'm not leaving her," Jarod said in disbelief.
"It's not your choice." Still clutching him tightly, all three walked out into the hallway. The screams and sobs continued.
Pacing back and forth, Jarod couldn't tear his eyes from the door. This couldn't be happening. She'd been fine earlier, hadn't she? Maybe a little upset, but...
"We don't have time for all the details," said Sydney, "so here's the basics. At the ball--" Jarod froze. "--Parker was injected with LS49." And the world spun. Only Broots, who still held his arm, kept him from falling to the ground. LS49...
A thousand things to say, but only one important enough to spend precious seconds asking now. "How long?"
"You hear her screams--she's already entered stage three."
"It shouldn't be affecting her this quickly. LS49 takes 72 hours to..." He gulped. "...to kill." His mind went to work, calculating explanations. "For it to be this accelerated, Crawford must've pumped an entire syringe full of the stuff into her." Sydney didn't reply, and he looked at him in disbelief. "How can you leave her alone like that?"
"It's the way she wants it." Jarod nodded. Of course it was--she was too damn stubborn to admit needing anybody, even now. And of course Syd would do as she asked. It was her dying wish.
They stood in the hall for a few minutes, all silent. Broots continued to wince at every scream; he wasn't getting used to the sound, and he didn't want to. As for Jarod, it was as if everything had shut down. Over. Everything, all over. And he hadn't even realized it. It wasn't possible...
Jarod's head shot up as his mind, hard at work, finally came upon the solution. Both eyed him warily, not sure how exactly he was handling this. "Okay..." he started slowly. "Okay." He turned, and ran to the elevator.
"Where are you going?"
"I have an idea." The elevator doors slid open, and he rushed inside. Turning to face them, he ordered, "Go in there. Keep her awake, do you hear me? Once she loses consciousness, it's over."
"Jarod--"
"Keep her awake!" The doors slid shut. Alone in the small space, he leaned against the wall for support, his legs growing weak. "It's not over," he whispered determinedly. "I won't let it be."
~~~~~~~~~
The nearest 24-hour drugstore was 15 minutes from the building. Jarod made it there in nine. He rushed inside, not even slowing as he grabbed the nearest shopping basket. The bored looking clerk at the front register looked at the hasty man in mild surprise, then returned his attention to his magazine.
Up and down the medicine aisles, Jarod barely registered his actions as he grabbed several pills and medications off the shelves, shoving them into the basket. Without wasting another moment, he raced to the front, practically throwing the items onto the checkout counter.
Walking to the register, the clerk began scanning the items, quickly hurrying up as he saw the urgency in Jarod's eyes. "C-comes to 76.81, p-please," he stuttered. Jarod pulled a hundred from his pocket, impatiently tossed it on the counter and grabbed the basket of items, and ran out, not willing to waste time waiting for them to be bagged.
In his car, he threw the bag into the passenger's side seat and started the engine. "Hang on, Parker. Please, just hang on."
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney slowly opened the bedroom door, Broots staying a few footsteps behind. The former took in the sobbing writhing form on the cot, and muttered, "Jarod had better know what the hell he's doing."
On the bed, Parker wasn't aware of their presence at first. The ghosts had disappeared, but she could still hear them everywhere, and despite her expectations, the pain had actually managed to get worse. Slowly, she realized they were standing there, watching her. "Make it stop...Please, Syd...I want it to be over."
"Shhh...I know, I know," he soothed, sitting down beside her.
She'd been crying for a while now, but new tears began to well up in her eyes. At this point, even her voice was weak. "I'm scared."
"It's okay," he assured her. "You're allowed to be frightened."
"I lied Syd..."
"Shhh...you don't have to say anything."
She ignored him. "I lied. I've spent my whole life alone...I don't wanna die that way too."
"You're not alone," he said firmly. "We're right here."
Everything was beginning to blur together. "I'm so tired, Syd..."
"No, Parker, don't."
"I don't wanna fight it anymore..." Her eyelids began to shut.
"No!" He gave her as firm a shake as he dared. Her eyes flew open at the pain, but barely stayed unclosed.
"Please, Syd," she whimpered. "Let me sleep..."
"Damn it, I said no! Stay with us, do you hear me? Nobody is dying today."
~~~~~~~~~
Julia sat in the kitchen, holding a cup of cocoa to warm her hands, and looked out the window with a sigh. Wherever Jarod was at this insane hour, she had no doubt one of those three had something to do with it.
The door to the penthouse swung open with an echoing bang, and Julia let out a small shriek of surprise. A split second later Jarod appeared in the kitchen, clutching a shopping basket in one hand.
She looked at him quizzically. "Where have you--"
"Where's your nurse's bag?" he demanded, looking around the kitchen wildly.
"What?"
"Your nurse's bag!"
Startled, she pointed to the bedroom. "On top of the dresser, but--" He ran into the bedroom without another word, and ran back past her a moment later, bag in hand. He paused only long enough to grab a glass from the kitchen counter, then continued on. Confused, she finally stood and followed him, but the elevator doors had just slid shut as she reached them.
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney and Broots were both at it now, taking turns shaking and shouting, trying desperately to keep her awake. And Parker, exhausted and in pain beyond imagination, continued to cry and beg weakly for them to let her sleep.
Both men looked to the door in relief as they heard the pounding footsteps. The door flew open and Jarod appeared. "Is she awake?"
Broots nodded. "Barely."
Parker heard the voice, and saw the dim figure. "What's he doing here? Syd, you promised..."
Ignoring the stung he felt at realizing that she'd specifically asked for him not to know, Jarod went to work, dumping his purchases on the floor. Combing through the items, he impatiently ripped apart the cardboard boxes and plastic seals. Broots and Sydney watched silently, completely perplexed, as Jarod broke open several different tablets, pouring the powder they held into the cup. Undoing the top of the bottle of water he'd gotten, he carefully poured a small amount into the cup, his calculation of the amount practically visible in his eyes. Pulling a few things from the bag, he first chose a small vial, breaking the seal and pouring its contents in as well. Finally, after mixing everything together with a Q-tip, he grabbed the final necessity: a syringe. Tearing off the protective plastic wrap, he plunged the tip in, and drew up a large quantity of the concoction.
Standing, he walked over to Parker, and placed a comforting hand over her own moist one. Then, keeping his eyes half-focused on her, he held up the syringe.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
He didn't answer, only said, "Everything's going to be fine. I'll make it okay--I promise." Still staring into her blue eyes, now a glazed over, with his own brown ones, he pushed the needle into her skin, and injected the mixture. A few long seconds passed, before Parker suddenly relaxed, her eyes drooping shut and her muscles untensing.
"What did you--" Jarod cut him off with the wave of a hand, then gently placed two fingers to her neck.
He waited a moment, then smiled, relieved. "There's a pulse."
Broots looked at him suspiciously. "Why wouldn't there be?"
Even replying, he didn't take his eyes off Parker. "There wasn't time to measure everything exactly. I just had to hope that the amounts listed on the boxes were right. Too little, she'd still be awake. But too much, and..."
"What are you talking about?" Sydney demanded.
Reluctantly, Jarod moved away from Parker, and turned to face the other two. "I remembered, when I'd been doing the work for LS49 at the Centre, coming across a certain formula. It wasn't a cure, but the drug put the patient into a sort of comatose state. The body all but shuts down--"
"What?"
"--allowing for up a lifespan up to a week longer."
"You mean to tell us you purposely put Miss Parker into a coma?!" Angry, it took everything Sydney had not to lunge at the pretender. "Why do it? Why prolong the inevitable?"
"I just bought us a week!" Jarod snapped.
"You worked on this project for nearly a year, and you didn't find a cure then."
"Then, Miss Parker's life wasn't the one on the line."
Syd grew quiet. "So what do we do now?" asked Broots.
"Her body will begin to react to the induced state in about three or four days. Then, we'll have to start injecting her more and more often to keep the coma going. That's pretty much our cut-off point. The LS49 will overtake her body between five and seven days from now. To wake her up and be able to insure there's no brain damage, we can't risk more than two more injections. All in all, I'd say we have five days, max." Broots gulped, nodded.
The apartment door opened. All three men froze momentarily, then turned as Julia appeared in the still-open bedroom door. She paled as she took in the sight before her, her eyes scanning the entire picture, lingering momentarily on Parker, then again on the mess on the floor.
"W-what's going on?" She looked to him for an explanation. "Jarod?"
He walked up to her. "I'll explain, but on the way."
"On the way where?"
"There's an errand we need to run."
