27 by TLM

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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you for being so patient with me and as always, thank you for all your reviews! I know this wait was ridiculous and you probably have forgotten everything that's happened before this chaper. So just run on back and refresh your memory real quick and you should be good to go! Hopefully, the next chapter will come to be after a more appropriate, less obscene length of time. Why oh why did I ever think two days to a chapter was a good idea???


Day 11

Jarod hadn't slept, but that was hardly anything new. He spent all night replaying the brief phone call he had just shared with his mother, the first time he could remember hearing her voice. The more he thought about it, the more cynical he grew. Maybe the woman on the phone hadn't even been his mother at all, he couldn't see her and he hadn't heard her speak since he was four years old, how would he ever know? Then reason would kick in and remind him that Tina would know and she had confirmed that it was indeed Margaret before he even had the phone.

It was her. And she was coming.

The thought turned his stomach so violently that he could feel it in his veins, the anticipation literally throbbing with his pulse. How does one prepare to meet their mother after forty years apart?

The sun was rising when Miss Parker woke and headed downstairs. Jarod was lying on the sofa wringing his hands together, his gaze fixated on an imaginary spot on the ceiling. She could nearly hear the wheels turning in his head from the staircase.

Repeating the actions from the morning before, she sat down on the edge of the sofa where she could. Jarod made no response to her sitting there at all.

Miss Parker cocked her head curiously, "No good morning? No 'Miss Parker, how are you?' 'Did you sleep well?' 'Let's go walk around in the snow and ruin another leather jacket?' Nothing?"

Jarod broke his stare down with the ceiling and looked at her, "I can't believe I couldn't talk to her."

"Oh for Christ's sake, Jarod, get over yourself and every imperfect thing you've ever done. Your mother's coming and everything is going to be fine because if there is one love in the world that is unconditional, it's a mother's. So quit your moping and be grateful that you finally get to experience how that feels."

"She's not here yet," he said.

"Well excuse me then, I forgot that she probably won't even show. I forgot that your mother might find something better to do than to reunite with her long lost son, or that she might run into a bit of trouble and decide the whole ordeal isn't going to be worth the hassle." Parker paused and took a deep breath, "Do you seriously think there's a damn thing that's going to stop her now that she knows where you are after all these years of searching? Can you think of one good reason for her to not get here as fast as she absolutely can?"

Jarod stared at her and eventually began nodding, "Thank you."

"Okay then," she said, standing up. "How about you go make yourself useful and cook some breakfast for the rest of us who haven't been holed up in an emotional black hole for the past twelve hours."

——-

Breakfast was good. Jarod was a swell chef, something that shouldn't have surprised Miss Parker at all. What she thought should have surprised someone was that she actually ate breakfast. Meals had rarely been a priority in her life, especially before 9AM, but she didn't have anything better to do.

She found herself in an awkward position, doing nothing. It was even more stressful than she could have imagined it would be. There was nothing to be done except to wait for Jarod's mother to make her spectacular appearance. Parker could tell that Jarod was feeling equally restless. He would pop some grapes into his mouth out of a bowl Tina had put on the coffee table, mess around on the computer doing God knows what, stare out the window longingly like a grounded teenager on prom night, have some more grapes—- the man was going to OD on grapes, pace around, repeat process, etc etc.

And all the while Parker just watched him. It was strange how much had happened recently and all so quickly. It made the nothingness of these days feel even longer. Lunch passed. Dinner passed. The entire day was just quiet followed by silence followed by quiet. Tina and Rick, who were clearly well accustomed to the 'sit on your couch, read a paper, eat some grapes' lifestyle, seemed to find a great deal of amusement in watching Jarod and Miss Parker twiddle their thumbs and bash their heads against the walls in bored despair all day.

"Play with me," Parker said mundanely, dropping a pack of playing cards on the table in front of Jarod, who was swallowing his eighty sixth grape of the hour.

Jarod grinned and raised one brow in that obscenely genius manner of his, "You know I worked in a casino on more than one occasion right?"

"I was actually more interested in finding out if you were better than Sydney in the Go Fish department," she said, sitting down in the chair across from him.

"Go Fish?" he repeated, putting the emphasis on the 'go' instead of the 'fish' because he was Jarod and why wouldn't he?

"Yes, Go Fish," she mocked. "It's horribly dull and mindless so I thought it would fit nicely with the theme of the day."

"Mindless, huh? That wouldn't have anything to do with why you chose such a game to play with me, would it?" Jarod responded smugly. "You know some people say I'm quite smart."

Parker tilted her head and stared at him with her wildly blue eyes. "Shall we play a game more up to your intellectual standards then?"

"Poker fan?"

"Oh I crashed a few games in college," she said, shuffling the deck expertly.

Jarod appeared amused, "Okay. Well, we have no chips."

"I've never played for chips."

"Then what did you play for?" Jarod asked like the sweet, naive little pretender he was.

"Usually clothes."

His eyes widened as she snapped the cards through another shuffle. "You mean the ones you were wearing?"

"That's generally how strip poker goes," Parker said

"You're even more terrifying than I thought, Miss Parker."

She laughed, much to Jarod's own delight. He always thought her level of femininity went up dramatically the instant she showed any sign of amusement. Maybe it wasn't femininity, maybe it was humanity, maybe it was emotion.

"Come on," she said, standing abruptly and throwing the cards down. "Prepare to be petrified."

Jarod didn't move, he just stared at her completely confused. She didn't seem to care though and went upstairs as if her meaning had been perfectly clear.

He followed her.

The second he got upstairs, he saw her bedroom door close. Now he was really confused. He knocked softly on the door.

"Uh, Miss Parker? I thought you wanted me to fol—"

The door opened and she pulled him into the room by the neck of his black T-shirt. Jarod heard the door close behind him and felt himself being pressed against it. Suddenly it dawned on him that he had walked into an ambush. Some genius.

Parker began kissing his neck in all the right places that Jarod hadn't realized were the right places until she showed him. She pushed herself against him aggressively and pulled his lips into a passionate kiss. It was absolutely intoxicating and Jarod found his eyes closing as his long-time hunter sent sizzles through all his senses. He hardly even realized that she had pulled his shirt off until she ran her fingernails down his bare chest with feline stealth.

"Parker," he mumbled against her mouth. "What are you doing?"

He cried out in surprise as she bit down on his bottom lip abruptly, and not nicely.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?"

Jarod let her have her way for another blissful thirty seconds before he began rationalizing again. He looked up at the ceiling panting slightly, his mouth free from Parker access.

"I mean why now? What happened?"

"For Christ's sake, Jarod," Parker took a step back and crossed her arms. He could have sworn she would kill him then and there. "I'm bored. Do you need a reason for everything?"

"You're bored," he repeated dumbly.

"B-O-R-E-D, bored, yes. The prairie life doesn't particularly suit me, so I thought what better way to kill some time."

Jarod laughed nervously and not because anything was at all funny. "After everything we've been through in our lives, you want to sleep with me, right now, because you're bored."

"Well I don't anymore," she snarled, running her fingers through her hair and readjusting her top. "You just blew your chance, wonder boy."

"No I didn't," he grinned. "You still want to. I can see it in your eyes."

Parker cocked her head as she did so often, "Dream on, lab rat."

"Do you think a little name-calling is going to dissuade me?" Jarod shrugged his shoulders, taking a step toward her. She looked intrigued. He liked intriguing her.

"I think I always get what I want," she said slowly, her hands on her hips authoritatively.

He covered her hands with his own, locking her hips into his grasp, "What do you want, Miss Parker?"

She wasn't going to say anything. Jarod knew that. He pulled her close and nuzzled his face between her neck and shoulder, gently kissing her soft skin. Her arms relaxed to her side but he wouldn't let go of her wrists. He wrapped his arms around her so that her own arms crisscrossed behind her back.

"Parker, Parker, Parker," he murmured against her neck. "You've been torturing me for decades."

That was true. As for Miss Parker, well she certainly wasn't bored anymore. Jarod was shifting his attention to her lips. They'd never kissed like this and it was surreal. He was pushing her backwards toward the bed. She couldn't believe it, the man was actually taking some initiative. They flopped onto the bed, with a slight squeak of old mattress springs.

Jarod delicately pulled her sweater over her head. Maybe he was just as bored as she was. He ran a hand over her bare stomach and kissed her hard on the mouth. Parker tangled her fingers into his dark hair and held on tight.

She was unzipping his jeans when the door opened.

"Oh my!"

Jarod and Parker ceased their actions and looked behind them, into the face of Jarod's mother.

——-

Five minutes later, fully dressed and through with their stumbling and cursing, Jarod and Miss Parker made their way downstairs. Tina and Margaret were sitting on the sofa with their backs to the staircase. Just the glimpse of his mother's golden red hair made him stop in his steps. Parker pushed him gently from behind and he moved.

The two women stopped chatting as soon as Jarod walked around to the front of the sofa. Margaret smiled up at him with tears in her eyes. Suddenly he leaned down and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up to him off of the sofa like a rag doll. She managed to slip her arms around his waist and the two clung to each other, tears streaming down both their faces without shame. Even Tina had a lone tear trickling down her face, her hands in a prayer lock against her lips.

Parker stood quietly to the side, hugging her arms against her chest. She watched Jarod stroke his mother's hair soothingly and she sobbing into his chest. A million thoughts raced through Parker's mind all at once. This reunion was what she had prevented for so many years. The utter joy on both their faces was what she had mercilessly denied them both this entire time. Then she thought of her own mother and all the good she had done and how precious every moment with her had meant, and still meant. As a grown woman, she still clung to those memories and Parker knew they had saved her on more than one occasion.

So she cried, softly and discretely, but she cried. Some of her tears were for the regret and some were out of happiness. Jarod finally looked up at her and tried to suppress the extra emotion he felt in seeing her own reaction, but he accidentally let out a small laugh of a sob anyway.

The unspoken reconnection seemed to go on forever. Finally, Margaret pulled back and placed both her hands on either side of his face.


"I can't believe you're real," she said hoarsely.


Jarod shook his head. "I can't believe you're real. And I can't believe that the first time my mother met me I was..."


Margaret laughed and attempted to wipe away her tears. "Speaking of which, who is this young lady you're clearly so fond of?"


She turned around for the first time and caught sight of Parker, who was sniffing and wiping her own face. Margaret's laughter ceased and she walked toward Parker slowly, as if she were in a trance. She took her hands into her own and Parker returned her intense stare with her own sadder one.


"My Lord," Margaret uttered. "I never thought I'd get the chance to meet you, Miss Parker."

Parker tilted her head imploringly, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for—"

"Not a word of it," she said sharply. "There will be none of that. Nobody in the world showed me more kindness than your mother did and judging by the effect you clearly have on my son and by the pain I see in your eyes, I know you've inherited that same spirit."

Then Margaret hugged her, as sweetly and tenderly as she had her own child.




Day 38


"Broots, I need your help."

The balding tech groaned and looked up at Sydney timidly, "Can I ask what kind of help?"

"Not here," Sydney shook his head.

"Oh great," Broots' voice went higher and nearly into a whisper. "That's the worst kind of help, Syd. In case you haven't noticed, everyone around here has been really pissed off the last few days."

"It's for Jarod," he met Broots' worried gaze, "and Miss Parker."

Sydney almost smiled as Broots' demeanor softened at the mention of Miss Parker. It was obvious he missed her. She probably served as some sort of protection for the poor man who had somehow landed himself in the most terrifying technical job he could have found.

He didn't even wait for Broots to respond, "Meet me in the atrium in an hour."

——-

Jarod lay staring up at the ceiling as he had been for the past few hours. He was disappointed they had taken Miss Parker away, but he hadn't expected the Centre to let them be together for long. In a way though it was almost easier to be apart. He didn't have to look at her bruises or keep himself from talking to her about things that could not be overheard. Then again, he wasn't there to interfere if someone tried to give her more bruises or to tell her things he would love for them to overhear.

He hadn't seen Sydney all day. He was beginning to wonder if even the Centre was going to drop the whole act with the simulations. That would be a difficult one for them to explain. Sydney would be completely baffled. Just like Jarod had been. He closed his eyes, remembering that fateful day. And if ever a day in his life had been, that was most certainly the one. He could just picture Parker's face.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see he was staring into another pair. At first he was just surprised but when the face grinned widely, he realized who it was. Who else would be crawling around in the air vent?

"Shhh," Angelo whispered just loud enough for Jarod to hear.

Jarod gave a barely perceptible nod and watched him out of the corner of his eye. Angelo held up a small, shiny disc—a DSA. He moved it around wildly, letting the light refract all over Jarod's room, and then put the disc down, slipping it into the bottom grate. He gave Jarod another wild grin and then stomped off, his steps echoing through the metal maze.

Jarod wanted to go to the vent immediately and protect the DSA, but he knew it would be more likely found if he did that. He had no better place to hide it and obviously no player to watch it on.

So he closed his eyes and tried to pretend he'd dreamt it all.

Well, maybe not all of it.

——-

Sydney and Broots were walking through the atrium. The birds were chirping and one might almost be convinced that they were in a normal place, a city park perhaps. Then Broots swore he saw a chimpanzee rustling through some branches before disappearing. Sydney didn't deny the possibility.

"What I need you to do is to locate any new subject transfers into the Centre ever since Jarod and Miss Parker were brought in," Sydney said smoothly.

"But Syd, they're bringing people in all the time for this psycho reason or that freaky experiment. You might want to narrow down your spectrum."

"We're looking for anyone dear to Jarod. His family, most likely. I think that's why he's been cooperating and hasn't tried to escape. He thinks someone else was captured when he was."

Broots figured Sydney's request would have something to do with Jarod, but he still wasn't exactly thrilled about it. Anything connected to Jarod was especially dangerous territory in the Centre.

"And if I find anyone?" he asked hesitantly.

"Find out where they are being held and let me know as soon as you can."

Broots sighed, "I'll do my best, Syd."

"You're a good friend," he replied.

A bird squawked loudly and Broots felt himself jump about thirteen feet.

——-

Miss Parker absolutely detested being paraded around the Centre with a hood over her head as if she couldn't tell exactly where she was the instant Lyle's goons pulled it off. This occasion was no different, except that she was completely shocked at where she stood. She was in her father's office. Well, Mr Parker's office.

"Surprised to be here, Angel?" Mr Parker said, rising from his leather office chair.

"What the hell do you want now?"

Mr Parker waved toward the sweepers and shook his head. They stepped back, blocking the doors but no longer grasping Miss Parker's arms.

"Sweetheart, you're the one who wanted to see me."

"Don't call me that," Miss Parker snipped. "You wouldn't bring me here if you didn't want something out of it. Don't pretend you're doing a fatherly favor for me. I wouldn't expect those to start now."

"Now now, don't get all worked up over nothing," Mr Parker said in his especially condescending way.

Miss Parker's eyes widened dramatically. She shouldn't have been surprised anymore by his disgusting insensitivity, but she couldn't help it. Years of habit were difficult to break.

"You just listen now. What I'm about to say is important. It's clear that Jarod's finally warped your mind to his benefit as I always feared he would. For God's sake I warned you about him, Angel!" Mr Parker took a deep breath, his white mustache twitching tensely. "But I don't think you're completely lost. You're a Parker damn it. You're stronger than this."

"You're not even my real fa—"

"I said enough!" his voice boomed fiercely. "This is your last chance. Tell me everything that happened in Armenia and we can put this mess behind us."

Miss Parker shook her head hopelessly, sickened that she could have ever fallen for his lies. "You were right to warn me about Jarod. Even you knew that he was the only one who could save me, who would save me. It's just a shame that he's the only one left who even bothered."

She could almost see lightning flashing in his cold blue eyes.

"You're making a huge mistake, Angel."

Miss Parker crossed her arms and stared back at Mr Parker fiercely. She spoke slowly and clearly, "I'm just sorry it took me so damn long to see through you and your bullshit."

"In that case," Mr Parker gestured to the guards who approached her dutifully. One of them pulled out a syringe and thrust it into her thigh. She cried out in surprise as he injected her with Centre mystery drug.

It didn't take long for her to begin feeling incredibly woozy. Her vision was blurring and she could faintly feel herself falling to her knees. The last thing she heard were Mr Parker's words, which she would have sworn came from under water.

"It's a shame, Angel. You were such an incredible asset for the company."

Miss Parker fell lifelessly to the cold, tile floor.

 










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