Disclaimer: “The Pretender” and its characters do not belong to me they belong to TNT and NBC and are being used without permission. Please don’t sue because I have no money.

Found

Jarod had been wandering around most of the morning still in shock about the death of Miss Parker. He still couldn’t believe that she was dead. His once childhood friend was gone. He had stopped his pretends because he couldn’t concentrate on what he was doing. All he could think about was the adventures inside the Centre and how she had cared for him. The sweet girl that was so carefree and loved to be around him before her mother was shot and killed the first time in front of her and before her daddy filled her head with lies about him.

He stopped in the park and sat down and watched the people go by, but not really looking at them. He then blinked and drew in a breath. He looked away and then looked again. There was a woman walking on the path in front of the bench. She was wearing a shirt, jeans and tennis shoes and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She hadn’t seen him yet. He stood up and stepped in front of her as she looked away from the fountain. She stopped just inches from him and looked into his face.

She couldn’t believe that she was in front of the man who she was trained to hunt and bring back, but couldn’t because she wasn’t part of it anymore. She had stopped in the same town as Jarod was and she couldn’t believe it. She had witnessed the devastation on his face when he found out that she had died. She wondered if she would tell him that she was there when he received the news.

“Jarod, what are you doing here?”

“I could say the same to you, Miss Parker. Of course how can you be here if you’re dead?”

“I can explain”

“Really?”

“Yes, I can. I’m sorry for what I did. I had to.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“Can we go somewhere to talk?”

“Of course because I would be so interested why you had to think of pretending you’re dead.”

They walked to another part of the park and sat down.

“I had enough of Daddy’s lies and of what the Centre was trying to make me into. I had to get out and I knew that if I brought you in they still wouldn’t let me go. I also couldn’t bring myself to bring you back. With every clue to my past that you uncovered I knew that my mother wouldn’t want me to do this. She would be so ashamed of how I turned my back on you and it made me look at myself and wonder what I wanted to do with my life. Did I want to be Daddy’s assassin and huntress and slowly have my life die around me, or I could pick myself up and decide to get out and live my life how I wanted and not how the Centre wanted.”

“And you couldn’t come to me to help you? You know that I would have. I would have done almost anything for you.”

“I know that Jarod, but I couldn’t involve you, Sydney, or Broots. Nobody could know that I was still alive.”

He looked at her, looked into her eyes and saw the truth there. She wanted to change her life. Turn a new leaf over and start over by herself. He was happy for her and proud of her. He didn’t like that she had left him out of the loop, but he understood why it had to be done. He was still on the run from the Centre, but he was glad that she would be safe from them.

“I’m happy for you, Miss Parker. I hope that you have a good life.”

“You’re not angry with me?”

“No, I’m not. I understand why you had to do what you had to do.”

She smiled to him. Not a smile that she would have given if she were still inside the Centre, not the ice queen smile, but a real smile. He smiled at her. He really was glad that she had a new life.

“Good luck in your life, Miss Parker.” He said as he stood up and turned to walk away.

“Good luck with yours too, Jarod. I hope that you find your family.”

He nodded and turned again to walk away.

The End