Disclaimers:

“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.

“Shine” doesn’t belong to the song belong to Plain White T’s and whoever their record label is and its being used without permission. Please don’t sue because I have no money.

Author’s note: Another song fic. I was listening to this song and thought it might be a good song for a song fic. Tell me what you think.

Shine

You know it tears me up inside
to see the feelings that you hide
Hide inside that empty bottle
I wish you saw how great you were
I wish you saw what life was worth
You wouldn't have to hide your problems
And I don't care what you might think
I think you've had too much to drink
Can't even talk when you're this way

Jarod walked into the house that was Miss Parker’s house for most of her life. He would sometimes come here just to see how she was doing, or to leave her a present. He liked to see that Miss Parker was doing okay with her life after the Centre. They had shut it down and he was happy about that, but he often thought about what Miss Parker was going through now that it was over. That she didn’t have to run after him anymore and be happy with her life. That is all he wanted for her is to be happy with who she was. He loved her and he wanted her to be happy. There had been times that he saw her be happy. One of those times was when they were on the Island. He saw it in her eyes that she had wanted to kiss him just like he wanted to kiss her, but then Ocee interrupted them. After that she reverted back to their roles of huntress and hunted.

He made his way to the living room and saw the bottle on the coffee table and he shook his head and sighed.

Run away, run away
But that won't make it any better
Run away, run away
And make tomorrow harder to live than today

There's so much out there you could miss
there's so much life out there to live
If you would just believe in yourself
You know you're better than all of this
you know you've got so much to give
But you're so afraid to give of yourself

Why couldn’t see that she was special? To him and those around her. She was special to Sydney and he thought of her as a daughter that he never had. She meant a lot to Broots and his daughter Debbie. She stood up for Broots when he was in trouble with the Centre and he knew that she loved his daughter because she was sort of like her at that age. Her mother was gone from her life and all she had was her father. She helped the little girl when Broots needed a babysitter and brought her clothes and gave her the gift that her mother gave her all those years ago. She even helped Broots when he was in trouble with the Centre by getting Debbie and shielding her from her father’s job. Why couldn’t she see that she had love to give. Look at Thomas and the love she gave to him, but then the Centre killed him because they wouldn’t let go of their own.

There's a bright light shining inside you
it shines out through your eyes
Don't drown it away, don't be afraid, don't hide
Let it shine

You say you're looking for happiness
but when it comes, you run away from it
You tell yourself you don't deserve it
There's not much more that I can do now the rest is up to you
Until you love yourself, you'll never change
You'll keep on running
Until you deal with today

“Is that you Jarod?”

“Yes.”

He walked up to the table and picked up the empty bottle and looked at her.

“Don’t give me that look Jarod.”

“Why are you running from life, Miss Parker?”

“Who’s the one that’s running?”

“I’m not the one running anymore Miss Parker. You are. When life gets hard for you, you run away from it and go straight to the bottle. Don’t do that Miss Parker.”

“Why not?”

“Because you need to live life, experience happiness, experience everything life has to offer you.”

“Why can’t you see that there’s people that care for you? There’s Sydney, Broots, his daughter and me. You have so much love to give to everyone. I saw it when you interact with Debbie when she comes over. You had the same look when we were on the Island. I know that you think that you don’t deserve happiness, but everyone needs happiness in their life.”

“Don’t go there Jarod.”

“I can’t talk to you like this, Miss Parker. When you find out that there’s so much more to life than that bottle and that there’s a world out there to explore. You have so much to give in this world. Please remember that.” He said as he turned to walk out of the house.

The End.