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Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.
The Gift
part XIV
N.R. Levy / Shannon / Trisha
The mouth of hell -- His own body no longer part of him. His brain had severed all connection with reality. All gone. No knowledge, no memory, no pride, and no shame. No faith. He ceased to exist. Brigitte had made sure of it by filling him so full of experimental drugs. Lyle no longer cared. He was an empty shell. The dreams had ceased, and now had become reality. Mr. Parker had tried to find some relief for him but the combination of drugs that had been introduced into the man's body had caused irreparable damage.
Anyway rebuilding the Centre was top priority for Mr. Parker now. It had been over a year since Miss Parker had died along with her son. Jarod the pretender, had been killed due to an escape attempt and Sydney had been lost in the explosion that caused the Centre's mainframe to scramble itself for months. Mutumbo had been livid at the loss of Miss Parker and the little boy. He was also extremely annoyed that Brigitte had been allowed to get close to the pretender and drug him. It was that drug that caused the loss of the pretender, so Brigitte answered for her error. Not that Mr. Parker missed her. She had been a burden. The little girl that she had given birth to, however, was being raised at the Centre and was full of all the hatred and venom that his angel had not been.
Then again what had one expected from Catherine and Sydney's daughter.
He had known that she wasn't his just has he knew that Lyle wasn't his son. Lyle was nobody's son. He had tampered with the DNA test results only to ingratiate himself back into the good graces of the Centre. Angelo had been Miss Parker's true brother and he had been assumed lost in the explosion, too. Enough reminiscing about the past, Mr. Parker thought. Raines had informed him that the birth of the newest clone had been successful, granted they had many years to wait to utilize him. So it didn't hinder them from looking for other natural pretenders like Jarod. They bought off doctors and fertility specialists, searching for that rather special anomaly. To date nothing. He almost wondered if the line had died out with Jarod, Parker and Ryan. They had wanted to use the other embryos that Lyle had obtained but they had been lost during the explosion.
******
Parker looked at the two that had just placed the angel on the tree, and smiled. They had covered their tracks and spent the past year being a family. She loved ever minute of it. She had come to terms with Sydney being her father and that Nicholas was her half-brother. And of course, there was Angelo. That had been a shock, not only to her but to Sydney as well, but a welcomed shock. Angelo had caught a cold that turned into pneumonia and when Jarod had run the blood work the deception on Lyle's part had been revealed. Jarod's family had accepted her with open arms. And then there was Jarod. How does one describe the feelings of love that invaded her when she looked at him and their son? She had ignored his pleas and taken the ultimate chance with her life. Moving her hands to her abdomen, feeling the baby move. Each day was another day closer to the ultimate goal of giving him everything he ever wanted. The pregnancy wore her out and sapped her strength, yet true to her promise of secrecy, Parker didn't tell him. She was too weary and had no strength to care, so she made her way to the bedroom, were she turned off the light and barely stretched between the lace-edged sheets before she fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was starving, as well as relaxed until she noticed that she was wearing her favorite nightgown, which she hadn't been wearing when she'd fallen asleep.
She cursed, softly.
"Secrets," she muttered, pulling off the covers, "secrets everywhere. Secrets to keep the peace, one way or another, and if you don't want to keep a secret, you've got to keep that a secret."
"Something that we agreed not to do to each other, Morgana," the voice came from the figure that sat in the chair across from the bed. His voice was low and the tone gentle, but she could hear the anger that laced through that softness -- and she knew it was directed at her.
"You know." It was a statement more than a question. She was beginning to show, at least when she was naked, and there's no way he could not have noticed her rounding belly when he'd changed her into her nightgown.
"I have known....I've known for weeks. I can't believe you thought I wouldn't. I know your body better than I know my own, Morgana, and it's not like we haven't been together. I guess I was just waiting for you to tell me."
"I wanted to, Jarod, but I knew what you'd say."
"Well, I'm glad you know because I have no idea what to say."
He stood then and began pacing the room. Parker looked at him, her heart breaking because she could see the pain on his face, and she knew she had caused it.
"I never wanted to lie to you, but you didn't give me any choice."
"Who isn't giving who a choice here?"
"Damn it, Jarod, I want this baby. I'm sorry if that upsets you. I tried to explain to you why I needed this, why I had to do this, but you wouldn't listen."
"I don't want to lose you."
"And I don't want to be lost, Jarod, but I want to have this baby. I need to do this."
"Why? Or aren't Ryan and I enough for you?" The words erupted from him, his calm tone long since lost, and Parker found herself actually stepping back from the strength of his anger. The realization of how emotional he was seemed to hit Jarod suddenly, and he sank down onto the bed, his body suddenly exhausted.
Parker cautiously made her way to where he sat, easing herself down beside him. She felt a small sense of relief when he did not move away from her, and a deeper one when her outstretched hand was able to gently rest on his shoulder without him flinching from her touch.
"You and Ryan are my life, Jarod."
"Then why? What are we supposed to do if something happens to you? God, Parker, I fought so long for this, I can't lose it now."
He was keeping his face from her, but she knew he was crying. She could hear it in his voice, and she reached out to pull him into her arms. He did not fight her, and soon she was rocking him the way she did Ryan after a bad dream.
"I'm not going to leave you, Jarod. I know it. I know I can do this. They've taken so much from us, Jarod. I couldn't let them take this, too. I couldn't let them take away our right to have a child together, really together. Please, try and understand that."
He continued to cry and she continued to hold him. No one spoke any more for a long time, and finally, she felt him begin to pull away from her. She let him go, uncertain what was going to come next. She was relieved when he reached for her and pulled her into his arms, reversing their earlier positions.
"You cannot leave me. Do you understand me? You are going to do everything I tell you to do, even if you hate it."
Now Parker began to cry. She knew it had been wrong to deceive him, and he had a right to stay angry with her, but instead, he was doing what he always did -- standing by her no matter what.
"I'll do whatever you want, Jarod, I promise. I'll stay in this bed for the next five months if that's what it takes to get our baby here safely."
"Don't forget you said that."
Suddenly a fit of laughter struck them both, and they began to giggle through their tears. It was then that a tiny voice came from the door.
"Mommy?"
Parker pulled back from Jarod and wiped stray tears from her cheeks as she looked at the door. There stood their son, his eyes heavy with sleep, his hand wrapped around the blanket his grandmother had made for him.
"Hey, baby. What are you doing up?" She reached out her arms to him, and Ryan scurried over, happily climbing into her lap as they both relaxed in his daddy's arms.
"I thought I heard yelling."
Parker immediately felt worried. She and Jarod had never fought around their son, and she had not expected him to hear them. Thankfully Jarod was ready to handle the situation.
"Mommy and I were trying to figure out something very important, and we got a little loud. Nothing for you to worry about, I promise."
"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?"
Parker looked up at Jarod and saw him nod, and soon the three were settled back down in the bed. She briefly remembered that she had woken from hunger, but the emotional roller coaster she'd been on had dampened that feeling. She snuggled up to her son and husband, and felt herself drifting off to sleep again.
Jarod did not sleep. He kept watch over his family, his heart still filled with worry. He did not believe it would be as easy as she made it sound, but he was prepared to do whatever it took to get her through this, to get their new child into the world without he and Ryan losing her in the process.
****
Broots carefully weeded his way through the Centre's defenses. He and Jake had managed to hack into the mainframe. It was the only way to stay ahead of the evil twisted bastards that ran the place. It was a
survival mechanism that had been instilled in him by Miss Parker. Keep your enemies close, and how much closer can you keep them but by hacking in to the mainframe. It was Jake that discovered the latest memo handed down from the chairman. It was important that Jarod had this information. The Centre issued an alert to any and all, that a certain gene anomaly in the blood of any newborn would garner rather substantial monetary rewards to the hospital, doctor or clinic that found it. There was no way in hell the Centre would be allowed in his family's life, again.
"Jarod," Jake yelled up the staircase, waiting impatiently for a reply.
"What is it Jake?" Jarod peered down from the top of the stairs, Ryan standing next to him.
"Broots and I found something that you need to look at, it's rather important," he glanced down at the little boy. "Hey, Ryan can you go into the kitchen and see if grandma and Debbie are done with those
sandwiches we asked for?" He tousled the little boy's head as he and his father descended the stairs.
"Sure, Uncle Jake. I'm starving and mommy needs a glass of milk, anyway, right daddy?" he stated matter-of-factly.
"That's right. And you make sure she drinks all of it," Jarod smiled down at him.
The three men watched the four year old scamper off in the direction of the kitchen and heard him yelling about starving from hunger and the women laughing, heartily.
"So how is she, Jarod? It was a close call earlier, wasn't it?" Broots asked, concern on his features.
"I wish I knew what possessed that woman to get out of bed. She's due in two months and it’s been smooth sailing until now. I managed to get the contractions under control but one more stunt like that and this baby is going to arrive way too early. Jake, what did you want me to see?"
The young man motioned for Jarod to come over to the computer terminal and read the file for himself. He watched the older man's features contort in anger and his knuckles lose their color from gripping the
sides of the table tightly.
"Those sons of bitches," he muttered under his breath. "Any idea if the clinic I plan on using for the delivery is on the take, if it is I need to make other arrangements. . . ."
"I didn't think that there were other options, Jarod," the voice was that of Sydney, who had just entered the room with Nicholas and Emily behind him.
"Home delivery may be the only one available to us, Syd. That daughter of yours is pushing the envelope and my patience. I swear if I didn't love her and that baby," he shook his head, a smile on his face, albeit a weary one.
"I'll go up and talk to her." Sydney excused himself and headed upstairs as the younger men began to try and calculate the risks and benefits of various ideas regarding Parker's delivery.
He found his daughter -- God, it was so nice to be able to say and think that freely now -- sitting up in bed. She was leaning back with her eyes closed, and he could see that she'd been crying. His fatherly instinct immediately kicked in, and he rushed to her bedside.
"Morgana, what is it sweetheart?"
"What if he was right? What if I can't do this?" New tears began to pour out of her eyes, and Sydney understood instantly what was happening. He smiled and moved so that he was sitting beside her. He opened his arms to her and she leaned forward, letting him hold her with the same protectiveness with which she held Ryan.
"You can do anything, my beautiful girl. You're just tired. None of this has been much fun for you...keeping secrets, worrying about Jarod -- but it'll all be worth it, sweetheart, I promise. When you hold that sweet little girl, it'll all be worth it."
"I just -- I didn't mean to do anything. I just wanted to go check on Ryan, and what if I hurt her?"
"You didn't, but you will if you keep hurting yourself like this. Enough beating up on my girl, all right?"
He felt her nod against him, and he continued to hold her until he realized she had fallen asleep. Gently, he laid his daughter back against her pillows. She was so beautiful, but he could see that the pregnancy was taking its toll on her. She had not gained nearly enough weight, and she always seemed exhausted. He knew Jarod was taking the very best care of her, yet still, he understood why it was that Jarod had not wanted her to do this. The emotional as well as the physical strain on her was almost too great, yet he pushed the thought out of his head. Stubborn and determined was the best way to describe her.
Silently, he cast his eyes skyward and looked toward the heavens, and his thoughts fell on another woman who had undertaken a pregnancy her husband had not wanted.
"Catherine, please take care of her. She needs you now, more than ever."
part XIV
N.R. Levy / Shannon / Trisha
The mouth of hell -- His own body no longer part of him. His brain had severed all connection with reality. All gone. No knowledge, no memory, no pride, and no shame. No faith. He ceased to exist. Brigitte had made sure of it by filling him so full of experimental drugs. Lyle no longer cared. He was an empty shell. The dreams had ceased, and now had become reality. Mr. Parker had tried to find some relief for him but the combination of drugs that had been introduced into the man's body had caused irreparable damage.
Anyway rebuilding the Centre was top priority for Mr. Parker now. It had been over a year since Miss Parker had died along with her son. Jarod the pretender, had been killed due to an escape attempt and Sydney had been lost in the explosion that caused the Centre's mainframe to scramble itself for months. Mutumbo had been livid at the loss of Miss Parker and the little boy. He was also extremely annoyed that Brigitte had been allowed to get close to the pretender and drug him. It was that drug that caused the loss of the pretender, so Brigitte answered for her error. Not that Mr. Parker missed her. She had been a burden. The little girl that she had given birth to, however, was being raised at the Centre and was full of all the hatred and venom that his angel had not been.
Then again what had one expected from Catherine and Sydney's daughter.
He had known that she wasn't his just has he knew that Lyle wasn't his son. Lyle was nobody's son. He had tampered with the DNA test results only to ingratiate himself back into the good graces of the Centre. Angelo had been Miss Parker's true brother and he had been assumed lost in the explosion, too. Enough reminiscing about the past, Mr. Parker thought. Raines had informed him that the birth of the newest clone had been successful, granted they had many years to wait to utilize him. So it didn't hinder them from looking for other natural pretenders like Jarod. They bought off doctors and fertility specialists, searching for that rather special anomaly. To date nothing. He almost wondered if the line had died out with Jarod, Parker and Ryan. They had wanted to use the other embryos that Lyle had obtained but they had been lost during the explosion.
******
Parker looked at the two that had just placed the angel on the tree, and smiled. They had covered their tracks and spent the past year being a family. She loved ever minute of it. She had come to terms with Sydney being her father and that Nicholas was her half-brother. And of course, there was Angelo. That had been a shock, not only to her but to Sydney as well, but a welcomed shock. Angelo had caught a cold that turned into pneumonia and when Jarod had run the blood work the deception on Lyle's part had been revealed. Jarod's family had accepted her with open arms. And then there was Jarod. How does one describe the feelings of love that invaded her when she looked at him and their son? She had ignored his pleas and taken the ultimate chance with her life. Moving her hands to her abdomen, feeling the baby move. Each day was another day closer to the ultimate goal of giving him everything he ever wanted. The pregnancy wore her out and sapped her strength, yet true to her promise of secrecy, Parker didn't tell him. She was too weary and had no strength to care, so she made her way to the bedroom, were she turned off the light and barely stretched between the lace-edged sheets before she fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was starving, as well as relaxed until she noticed that she was wearing her favorite nightgown, which she hadn't been wearing when she'd fallen asleep.
She cursed, softly.
"Secrets," she muttered, pulling off the covers, "secrets everywhere. Secrets to keep the peace, one way or another, and if you don't want to keep a secret, you've got to keep that a secret."
"Something that we agreed not to do to each other, Morgana," the voice came from the figure that sat in the chair across from the bed. His voice was low and the tone gentle, but she could hear the anger that laced through that softness -- and she knew it was directed at her.
"You know." It was a statement more than a question. She was beginning to show, at least when she was naked, and there's no way he could not have noticed her rounding belly when he'd changed her into her nightgown.
"I have known....I've known for weeks. I can't believe you thought I wouldn't. I know your body better than I know my own, Morgana, and it's not like we haven't been together. I guess I was just waiting for you to tell me."
"I wanted to, Jarod, but I knew what you'd say."
"Well, I'm glad you know because I have no idea what to say."
He stood then and began pacing the room. Parker looked at him, her heart breaking because she could see the pain on his face, and she knew she had caused it.
"I never wanted to lie to you, but you didn't give me any choice."
"Who isn't giving who a choice here?"
"Damn it, Jarod, I want this baby. I'm sorry if that upsets you. I tried to explain to you why I needed this, why I had to do this, but you wouldn't listen."
"I don't want to lose you."
"And I don't want to be lost, Jarod, but I want to have this baby. I need to do this."
"Why? Or aren't Ryan and I enough for you?" The words erupted from him, his calm tone long since lost, and Parker found herself actually stepping back from the strength of his anger. The realization of how emotional he was seemed to hit Jarod suddenly, and he sank down onto the bed, his body suddenly exhausted.
Parker cautiously made her way to where he sat, easing herself down beside him. She felt a small sense of relief when he did not move away from her, and a deeper one when her outstretched hand was able to gently rest on his shoulder without him flinching from her touch.
"You and Ryan are my life, Jarod."
"Then why? What are we supposed to do if something happens to you? God, Parker, I fought so long for this, I can't lose it now."
He was keeping his face from her, but she knew he was crying. She could hear it in his voice, and she reached out to pull him into her arms. He did not fight her, and soon she was rocking him the way she did Ryan after a bad dream.
"I'm not going to leave you, Jarod. I know it. I know I can do this. They've taken so much from us, Jarod. I couldn't let them take this, too. I couldn't let them take away our right to have a child together, really together. Please, try and understand that."
He continued to cry and she continued to hold him. No one spoke any more for a long time, and finally, she felt him begin to pull away from her. She let him go, uncertain what was going to come next. She was relieved when he reached for her and pulled her into his arms, reversing their earlier positions.
"You cannot leave me. Do you understand me? You are going to do everything I tell you to do, even if you hate it."
Now Parker began to cry. She knew it had been wrong to deceive him, and he had a right to stay angry with her, but instead, he was doing what he always did -- standing by her no matter what.
"I'll do whatever you want, Jarod, I promise. I'll stay in this bed for the next five months if that's what it takes to get our baby here safely."
"Don't forget you said that."
Suddenly a fit of laughter struck them both, and they began to giggle through their tears. It was then that a tiny voice came from the door.
"Mommy?"
Parker pulled back from Jarod and wiped stray tears from her cheeks as she looked at the door. There stood their son, his eyes heavy with sleep, his hand wrapped around the blanket his grandmother had made for him.
"Hey, baby. What are you doing up?" She reached out her arms to him, and Ryan scurried over, happily climbing into her lap as they both relaxed in his daddy's arms.
"I thought I heard yelling."
Parker immediately felt worried. She and Jarod had never fought around their son, and she had not expected him to hear them. Thankfully Jarod was ready to handle the situation.
"Mommy and I were trying to figure out something very important, and we got a little loud. Nothing for you to worry about, I promise."
"Can I sleep in here with you tonight?"
Parker looked up at Jarod and saw him nod, and soon the three were settled back down in the bed. She briefly remembered that she had woken from hunger, but the emotional roller coaster she'd been on had dampened that feeling. She snuggled up to her son and husband, and felt herself drifting off to sleep again.
Jarod did not sleep. He kept watch over his family, his heart still filled with worry. He did not believe it would be as easy as she made it sound, but he was prepared to do whatever it took to get her through this, to get their new child into the world without he and Ryan losing her in the process.
****
Broots carefully weeded his way through the Centre's defenses. He and Jake had managed to hack into the mainframe. It was the only way to stay ahead of the evil twisted bastards that ran the place. It was a
survival mechanism that had been instilled in him by Miss Parker. Keep your enemies close, and how much closer can you keep them but by hacking in to the mainframe. It was Jake that discovered the latest memo handed down from the chairman. It was important that Jarod had this information. The Centre issued an alert to any and all, that a certain gene anomaly in the blood of any newborn would garner rather substantial monetary rewards to the hospital, doctor or clinic that found it. There was no way in hell the Centre would be allowed in his family's life, again.
"Jarod," Jake yelled up the staircase, waiting impatiently for a reply.
"What is it Jake?" Jarod peered down from the top of the stairs, Ryan standing next to him.
"Broots and I found something that you need to look at, it's rather important," he glanced down at the little boy. "Hey, Ryan can you go into the kitchen and see if grandma and Debbie are done with those
sandwiches we asked for?" He tousled the little boy's head as he and his father descended the stairs.
"Sure, Uncle Jake. I'm starving and mommy needs a glass of milk, anyway, right daddy?" he stated matter-of-factly.
"That's right. And you make sure she drinks all of it," Jarod smiled down at him.
The three men watched the four year old scamper off in the direction of the kitchen and heard him yelling about starving from hunger and the women laughing, heartily.
"So how is she, Jarod? It was a close call earlier, wasn't it?" Broots asked, concern on his features.
"I wish I knew what possessed that woman to get out of bed. She's due in two months and it’s been smooth sailing until now. I managed to get the contractions under control but one more stunt like that and this baby is going to arrive way too early. Jake, what did you want me to see?"
The young man motioned for Jarod to come over to the computer terminal and read the file for himself. He watched the older man's features contort in anger and his knuckles lose their color from gripping the
sides of the table tightly.
"Those sons of bitches," he muttered under his breath. "Any idea if the clinic I plan on using for the delivery is on the take, if it is I need to make other arrangements. . . ."
"I didn't think that there were other options, Jarod," the voice was that of Sydney, who had just entered the room with Nicholas and Emily behind him.
"Home delivery may be the only one available to us, Syd. That daughter of yours is pushing the envelope and my patience. I swear if I didn't love her and that baby," he shook his head, a smile on his face, albeit a weary one.
"I'll go up and talk to her." Sydney excused himself and headed upstairs as the younger men began to try and calculate the risks and benefits of various ideas regarding Parker's delivery.
He found his daughter -- God, it was so nice to be able to say and think that freely now -- sitting up in bed. She was leaning back with her eyes closed, and he could see that she'd been crying. His fatherly instinct immediately kicked in, and he rushed to her bedside.
"Morgana, what is it sweetheart?"
"What if he was right? What if I can't do this?" New tears began to pour out of her eyes, and Sydney understood instantly what was happening. He smiled and moved so that he was sitting beside her. He opened his arms to her and she leaned forward, letting him hold her with the same protectiveness with which she held Ryan.
"You can do anything, my beautiful girl. You're just tired. None of this has been much fun for you...keeping secrets, worrying about Jarod -- but it'll all be worth it, sweetheart, I promise. When you hold that sweet little girl, it'll all be worth it."
"I just -- I didn't mean to do anything. I just wanted to go check on Ryan, and what if I hurt her?"
"You didn't, but you will if you keep hurting yourself like this. Enough beating up on my girl, all right?"
He felt her nod against him, and he continued to hold her until he realized she had fallen asleep. Gently, he laid his daughter back against her pillows. She was so beautiful, but he could see that the pregnancy was taking its toll on her. She had not gained nearly enough weight, and she always seemed exhausted. He knew Jarod was taking the very best care of her, yet still, he understood why it was that Jarod had not wanted her to do this. The emotional as well as the physical strain on her was almost too great, yet he pushed the thought out of his head. Stubborn and determined was the best way to describe her.
Silently, he cast his eyes skyward and looked toward the heavens, and his thoughts fell on another woman who had undertaken a pregnancy her husband had not wanted.
"Catherine, please take care of her. She needs you now, more than ever."
