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A Not so Perfect World


Driving


By Phenyx




Jarod sat in the passenger seat staring blankly out the windshield as Parker drove. She had taken him from the hospital with nothing but the clothes on his back. Parker knew that with no identification, she'd not be allowed to put Jarod on a plane. So rather than return to the airport, Parker pointed the car east and kept on driving.


Parker figured that they would need to stop for the night somewhere in Kentucky. She didn't think she could manage driving straight through the night. It was fine. They were in no hurry. They could take their time and still reach Blue Cove sometime tomorrow evening.


For the next hour, Parker chattered aimlessly while she drove. She didn't say anything of importance. She commented repeatedly on the weather and how lovely the autumn leaves were. She rambled on about nothing, shear nonsense. She talked about anything in an effort to get Jarod to respond in some way.


Parker may as well have been talking to a brick. Jarod just stared out the window. He hadn't said a word since they had fled from the hospital. Parker wasn't sure he even realized where he was.


With a heavy sigh, Parker stopped talking to her mute companion and turned on the radio in resignation. For several moments she spun the dial, looking for a decent station. When she found a modern upbeat song, she glanced at Jarod to see if he would react in any way.


Jarod showed no change at all. Parker sighed again and drove down the highway.


Sometime later, the music began to crackle and hiss with static as they reached the edges of the station's broadcast area. Parker snapped off the tuner, plunging the car into an uncomfortable silence.


An informational sign on the side of the road caught Parker's eye. She realized suddenly that she'd had nothing to eat today. The coffee served to her during her airplane flight this morning hadn't been very satisfying.


She signaled a lane change and headed toward the next exit ramp. "I'm hungry." She declared. "What about you?" she asked her silent passenger.


"Always." Jarod's response startled her and Parker glanced quickly toward him.


Jarod had his forehead pressed against the window as he stared out the side. Parker couldn't see his face. For a moment, she thought she had imagined his reply.


"Jarod?" Parker asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"


"No." Jarod huffed gently. "I'm a long way from okay." He turned and looked at her sadly.


Parker heaved a sigh of relief. "At least you're no longer catatonic. You scared the shit out of me, Jarod. I thought you'd finally blown a fuse."


"I'm not completely mad, Parker." Jarod said tonelessly. "Not yet, anyway. I'm just missing a couple of marbles. Not carrying a full deck. A few fries short of a happy meal." He giggled suddenly.


Parker shot him a concerned look. "Jarod." She ordered. "Get a grip. This kind of talk is not engendering confidence on my part here."


"Sorry." He replied meekly.


Parker pulled up to the drive-thru menu of a popular restaurant. "How hungry are you?" she asked.


"Starved." Jarod said simply.


Parker ordered a chicken sandwich for herself and two huge bacon cheeseburgers for Jarod. She also bought large drinks, French fries and two of the chocolate flavored ice cream treats that this establishment was known for.


After collecting their food at the window, Parker parked the car in the lot and they ate at a nearby picnic table.


Jarod inhaled his first burger and was working on the second when he abruptly asked, "Do my folks know where I am?"


Parker sipped her drink and answered cautiously. "They know that you are with me." She replied. "Beyond that, they haven't a clue. You don't remember what happened earlier?"


Jarod put his sandwich down for a moment and looked at Parker intently. "I remember running across a parking lot." He paused. "Was that today?"


Parker nodded.


Jarod sighed and rubbed his fingertips across his forehead. "I haven't really been able to sleep much lately." He explained. "The sleep deprivation causes me to forget things, and I get confused easily."


"The heavy sedation they had given you doesn't help you remember things either." Parker added.


"Yeah." Jarod smirked. "But who needs drugs when a few days without sleep can achieve the same paranoia and delusions?"


Parker raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "A few days? Jarod I know for a fact that you can go for more than one hundred hours without sleep and barely crack a yawn."


Years of Centre training had taught the pretender how to perform for several days without rest. Parker wondered again how far Jarod had been pushing the extremes of his own physical limits.


"How long has it been, Jarod?" Parker asked. "When was the last time you slept?"


"What month is this?" Jarod wisecracked. He shrugged, knowing that Parker wouldn't be satisfied until he answered her. "I fell asleep for almost an hour last night."


Parker chewed thoughtfully on a fry. "You had the dream again. Hence the 'rough night' and the need for sedation." She shook her head angrily, "Morons." She growled.


"Parker," Jarod frowned. "You can't blame the doctors. I don't know what I'm doing while I'm unconscious. I've hurt people. One orderly has a broken shoulder because he tried to calm me down. You could be in danger if I should fall asleep."


"Nonsense." Parker argued.


"I'm very serious, Parker. I could hurt you and not even realize I've done it." Jarod stared at her honestly.


Parker smiled at him reassuringly. "Eat your lunch, Jarod. Don't worry about it."


"But Miss Parker." Jarod pleaded.


"Stop it." Parker ordered. "You are not going to hurt me, Jarod. You would never harm me. Besides, I can take care of myself. I won't let you hurt me."


"I'm a lot bigger than you are, Parker." Jarod whispered as he picked at his food.


"I can still kick your ass, wonder-boy." Parker glared. "And don't you forget it."


Jarod managed a weak smile. Parker had always been a closely matched rival. In his currently dazed state, Jarod would be no match for her. Parker was right. She could kick his ass without even breaking a nail.


The two of them ate their sandwiches in silence for several minutes.


Finally Jarod asked, "Where are we headed?"


"Blue Cove." Parker answered. "I came out here today so that I could take you back to visit Sydney."


Jarod frowned with concern. "Is he all right?"


"He misses you, you idiot." Parker scolded. "He hasn't heard a word from you in months."


"Once I was in the hospital and I stopped sleeping entirely, it was difficult to write a sensible letter. I knew that Sydney would realize something was wrong." Jarod shrugged. "I didn't want him to be worried about me."


"Well he thinks that you don't need him anymore." Parker griped. "He believes that you have your real family now and that you just want to forget about anything connected to The Centre."


Jarod stared at her in shock. "Sydney can't possibly think that I would abandon him like that!"


Parker shrugged. "Well no one bothered to tell us that you weren't well. So it was easy to believe that you'd just gotten too busy to spare any time for Sydney."


Jarod sighed dejectedly. "How is he dealing with prison life?" He asked curiously. "Is he adjusting okay?"


"Not really." Parker answered. "But that's no longer a problem. He was released this week."


Jarod looked at her in surprise. "Really?"


She nodded. "He's on parole for two years so he won't be able to leave the state without special permission, but otherwise he's a free man."


"That's really great." Jarod smiled. "Sydney must be thrilled."


Parker sighed. "You'd think so. But the entire experience has really worn on him. He's gotten old, Jarod." She reached over and patted Jarod's hand. "But I have a feeling that seeing you again will do him a world of good. Maybe it will do you both some good."


"Maybe." Jarod agreed cautiously.


They finished their food and went in to the restaurant to discard the trash and use the restrooms. Ten minutes later Parker had filled the gas tank at a nearby station and they were back on the highway headed east.


Jarod slouched in the passenger seat, his head leaning against the cushioned back, and watched Parker for a while as she drove. They talked about things that they had never had the chance to talk about before. He discussed books he had read recently. Parker told him about a movie she had seen with Debbie last month.


The two talked about their favorite music. Jarod learned that Parker's favorite color was pink. He told her that his was violet. Jarod even told her why he liked that color so much. Parker told him about her recent vacation in France.


"He did not really say that!" Jarod laughed. Parker was telling him about one of the men she had spent time with briefly while in Marseilles.


Parker smiled slyly. "Swear to God." She vowed. "Admittedly, he wasn't very bright."


"Obviously." Jarod chuckled.


Parker shrugged. "But where he lacked in the brains department, he more than made up for in other areas." She purred.


"Other areas?" Jarod asked, his brows rising.


"Hmm." Parker hummed. "All the areas that matter. And he pounded it to me like a jack hammer."


"Whoa!" Jarod exclaimed. "Now that's a mental image I do not need burned on my fragile brain."


Parker laughed.


"Too late." Jarod sighed dramatically, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. "The picture is there. I can't get it out now."


Parker shrugged seductively. "Then I suggest you enjoy the show, Lab-rat."


Jarod gaped at Parker in shock. "I have definitely gone off the deep end." He moaned. "I am no longer in touch with reality. I just imagined that you, Miss Parker, made a sexually suggestive remark to me, Franken-rat. I have gone completely mad."


Parker called up her most indignant glare and retorted. "You are definitely crazy, Jarod. I would never make such a remark. I am the epitome of prudish chastity." She declared regally.


Jarod stared at her wide-eyed for a heartbeat before he broke out in peals of delighted laughter.


Parker smirked at this reaction. "What?" She cried playfully with a totally innocent look on her face.


Jarod cackled even harder. "Parker, please." He guffawed. "Please don't mess with a crazy man's head. I'm living in my own delusions. I can't deal with yours." He gasped for air between laughing. "Chastity. Prudish chastity!" He wailed gleefully. "Oh my God, Parker. You're killing me."


Parker smiled. The way she saw it, if Jarod could joke about his sanity then he must still be sane.


As his fit of laughter subsided, Jarod sighed. "That felt good. My side hurts now, but it felt really good."


"Quit your whining." Parker groused lightheartedly.


Jarod snuggled further down in his seat and leaned his head against the window. "You know, someone who didn't know us better might think we were friends right now."


The sun was beginning to set behind them so Parker leaned forward and turned on the headlights. She didn't respond to Jarod's comment.


"Are we friends now, Miss Parker?" he asked cautiously.


Parker didn't answer for a long time. Jarod had just about given up on getting any response from her when she finally said, "There's too much history between us, Jarod."


Jarod nodded sadly and quickly shifted so that he could stare out the window.


"A friend is someone you take to lunch. Someone who joins you at the movies or buys you a couple of beers." Parker said softly. She glanced at him in the darkening car. Her voice dropped to little more than a whisper as she went on. "There is more to this than that."


"There is something between us." Jarod urged softly.


Parker could see Jarod looking at her, his big brown eyes filled with a need that she recognized. It was the same look she had seen on his face in the limo after their adventure on Carthis. Parker had crushed his attempts to forge some kind of relationship then. This meant so much to him. Hell, it meant so much to her.


Parker sighed and with one word, she lost an inner struggle that she'd been fighting for years.


"Yes." She said softly.


Jarod smiled and breathed deeply, as though he'd been holding his breath. He shivered then and wrapped his arms around himself.


Parker frowned. She was wearing an autumn suit and hadn't noticed how the temperature had dropped when the sun had set. Jarod was wearing only a white t-shirt, blue jeans and ugly slip-on canvas shoes. He tried to hide the fact that he was shivering. Parker turned on the heater and reached into the back seat where she had tossed her raincoat when she had first rented the car.


Pulling the beige garment into the front, Parker draped it over Jarod and tucked the cloth around the one shoulder she could reach.


"Better?" She asked.


Jarod nodded and blinked at her silently for several minutes. "I didn't realize you could be so maternal." He said with a smile.


Parker shrugged. "Well, I did kidnap you. I suppose that makes me responsible for your welfare for the time being."


"Kidnapping across state lines is a federal offense." Jarod mumbled inanely.


With a glance, Parker could see that Jarod was fighting hard to stay awake but he was losing the battle. It was obvious that he was simply exhausted. Jarod's eyelids drooped heavily and his breathing grew deeper. She turned the radio on softly, found a classical music station and let the slumber take him.


An hour later, Parker caught herself yawning. The highway stretched before her like a black ribbon unfolding in the headlights. She would need to find a motel soon and get some rest but Parker didn't want to stop the car. Jarod was sleeping so peacefully she was afraid to wake him. So she kept driving.


Without warning, Jarod abruptly started to scream. The sudden noise startled Parker and the car swerved across two lanes. Luckily there was little traffic on the road around them. A horn honked loudly to the left as Parker yanked on the steering wheel and maneuvered the car onto the berm.


Jarod's voice reverberated through the enclosed vehicle. His entire body convulsed as he thrashed against the seat belt. Parker slammed the car into park. She grabbed Jarod's shoulder and tried to wake him.


The moment she touched him, Jarod's eyes flew open. Sightlessly staring at something Parker could not see, he frantically tried to escape.


"Help me!" He screamed over and over and over. Wide eyed with terror, Jarod began to pound on the window with flailing fists as he struggled desperately against an invisible foe.


Fearing the he would break the glass and cut himself to shreds, Parker quickly released both seat belts. She sprang from the car, ran to the other side and pulled the passenger door open. Jarod fell to the ground, a shivering pile of misery at her feet.


Parker grabbed his shoulders and shoved him into a seated position with his back pressed against the car.


"Help me!" he cried wretchedly.


Rather than try to shake him awake and risk a violent defensive reaction from Jarod, Parker instead took his face tenderly in her palms. She spoke calmly and gently. "I'll help you, Jarod. I'm here to help you."


Parker didn't know if he could hear her or not. She wasn't sure what she was doing. She wondered for the first time, if taking Jarod from the hospital had been the right thing to do. The past few hours had given Parker a false sense of security. Jarod had seemed fine. But now Parker began to understand what his parent's had been trying to tell her.


Her inner sense had told her that Jarod needed to get out of that hospital. Parker's actions had been purely instinctive. She decided to continue to let her intuition guide her.


"I'm here to help you." Parker repeated firmly as she caressed his cheeks.


With a gasp and a last spasmodic flinch, Jarod blinked awake and saw Parker sitting in front of him. "Parker?" he breathed. "What happened?" his voice rose fearfully.


"You're okay." Parker soothed. "Everything is fine."


"Where am I?" Jarod stammered. "Why is it so dark?"


Parker remembered that Major Charles had said Jarod always woke from the nightmares feeling disoriented and confused.


"You're okay." She repeated. Parker pulled her frightened companion into her arms and murmured, "Everything is fine." She could feel Jarod's body trembling against her own. His breathing came in deep ragged gasps.


"I had the dream again." Jarod moaned with sudden clarity.


Parker nodded. "Can you remember anything?"


Jarod squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment, desperately trying to recall some fragment of the nightmare. "No. Nothing." He huffed in defeat.


Parker sighed. "That's okay." She rubbed Jarod's back in a soothing circular motion. After a few minutes, Jarod's breathing calmed and the trembling ceased. "Let's get the hell out of here."


Jarod nodded.


They got back into the car and Parker carefully eased it back onto the highway. They drove in silence for another thirty minutes before Parker's adrenaline began to wear off and she yawned again.


"I'm going to find a place to stop for the night." Parker said.


"I could drive for a while." Jarod volunteered. "Trust me, I will not be sleeping anymore tonight."


Parker shook her head. "No. You haven't had enough rest. I can't in good conscience let you get behind the wheel."


Twenty minutes later, Parker opened the door to their motel room. There was one double bed in the center of the room, a bureau, two chairs and a television set. Evidently, there was a harvest festival of some kind going on in the county this weekend and these simple accommodations were the last ones available in the place.


Jarod followed Parker into the room, carrying her luggage in one hand. He tossed the suitcase onto the bed and plopped his body into one of the chairs. Jarod grabbed the remote control and began flicking his way through the television stations.


"Do you want anything to eat? I could probably get something from room service." Parker asked.


"No. I'll be fine." Jarod answered. He dangled one leg over the arm of the chair nonchalantly. "I'll just watch the news. Find out what is going on in the world."


"If you want to lie down," Parker said. "I won't mind."


"Like I said, Parker. I won't be sleeping again tonight." Jarod sighed.


Parker stood beside the chair. Jarod looked up at her with a look of such weariness and resignation that Parker felt her heart would break. She cautiously ran one hand through Jarod's hair in an intimate caress. His hair was as soft and silky as she remembered it. Parker swallowed guiltily when she realized that she did remember. She remembered the last time she had run her hands through these strands. Parker sighed and pushed the old memory away for the time being.


"We'll get through this, Jarod." She whispered. "You must believe that."


He closed his eyes and nodded sadly. "You had better get some rest." He said neutrally.


Parker kicked off her shoes, removed her suit jacket and crawled into bed without bothering to shed any of her other clothes. As she drifted off to sleep, Jarod flipped through the television channels looking for something to watch.









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