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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or StoryAuthor's Chapter Notes:
I had an epiphany and I've decided to take this story somewhere I wasn't originally going. It's pretty much the same for now, but as you'll read in Day 34, we're alluding to something a lot bigger than initially planned. It would be safe to assume this takes place after Pretender 2001, but that IOTH never happened. Certain ideas will be borrowed from that movie, just done in a different way since we all know how that fiasco went. If you're confused, bare with me, all will be explained in time and I promise I won't forget that this started as a story about Jarod and Miss Parker's unique relationship.
Day 7
Jarod had been conscious for at least an hour, aware of the dead feeling in his arm, but completely ecstatic about it. Miss Parker, Miss Parker of all people, had snuggled herself into him so that her nose pressed against his side and the top of her head lay within the crook of his arm. He watched her breathing gently and smiled every time her nose twitched.
The sun was just rising, casting a peaceful glow over the room, when her eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes.
"Morning, Miss Parker."
She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, mumbling something into his shirt.
"Didn't quite catch that," he said in a raspy morning voice.
"I said," she pulled back. "That this cannot be happening."
"What?"
"This!" Miss Parker sat up, batting his hand away. "Us! Jarod, if any two people in the world should not be waking up like this, it's you and me. This is a disaster in the making."
"You're clearly not a morning person at all," Jarod muttered, raising one eyebrow. Her hair was messed and he liked how natural she appeared in the morning light.
She glared at him and threw back the covers. With determined steps she entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Jarod thought he heard her mumbling something about candle light, but he couldn't be sure.
-----
Miss Parker inhaled and exhaled dramatically. After relieving herself and brushing her teeth, she washed her face in the freezing cold water. She wasn't desperate enough to venture an icy shower yet though. Desperate for any distraction from the man on the other side of the door, she sat on the edge of the tub combing her fingers through her hair in a pathetic sort of attempt at brushing it. She had a brush in the room, but he was in there. He was always there.
Rapid knocks at the door, "I don't know what you're doing in there, but I really have to go if you wouldn't mind hurrying things along please."
God he was infuriating.
-----
When Jarod came out of the bathroom, Miss Parker was sitting on the bed, sucking apple juice from a Juicy Juice box. He grinned and sat down opposite her.
"This is difficult for you to get your mind around," he said plainly.
She nodded, straw between her lips.
"You've tried for so long to consider me your enemy, the one you cannot trust."
A more subtle nod. Parker removed the straw, holding the juice box in her lap, and closed her eyes.
Jarod grasped her chin gently, directing her face in his direction. She opened her eyes.
"I understand," he said. This time he was nodding reassuringly.
"I'm not running away," she said. "I just need you to-"
"I'll be patient. Don't worry. I'm not expecting anything. This is uncharted territory for me too you know." Jarod paused. "I'm scared, too."
"I'm not scared," she answered immediately.
Jarod cocked his head and replied calmly, "Okay, well, I am."
He was even confident in his fear. Why couldn't he just- but she didn't know what she wanted him to do. He had all the right answers to make her feel better, but here she was doing nothing for him as usual.
"I'm just confused. I don't know how to act." Have to throw the dog a bone every now and then.
Jarod's eyes lit up at the confession, "Neither do I! I-" he laughed a little. "I don't know why I'm so excited about our mutual confusion."
Parker also laughed, falling backward onto the bed with a flop. Jarod stopped to devote his attention to her actions, so far from her normal character.
"Stop staring at me before I give you a black eye."
But not too uncharacteristic.
-----
They both wore all the clothes they had brought with them and had blankets wrapped tightly around their shoulders. The room was getting unbearably cold and their only real relief was the strength of the sun's beams shining through the window. Jarod said that that meant the snow would melt and loosen, hopefully enough so that someone could fix the power and ultimately, the roads.
Miss Parker and Jarod lay side by side on the bed, talking. Hours passed and they hardly noticed. There was nothing else to do, with the possible exception of reading the Bible which lay in the nightstand in its obligatory way, and as Miss Parker had pointed out, their lives needed a lot more help than some religious pep talks could give them.
"You are blushing!" Parker nearly giggled, but being who she was, restrained of course.
Jarod shook his head, "No. I am not. My face it just gets redder sometimes."
"Like when you're embarrassed."
"Or.. hot.."
"Seriously? We're stuck in a blizzard and the best argument you've got is that you're hot?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Well why does it matter how many women I've been with?"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's almost as if you're ashamed."
"I'm not ashamed," Jarod said immediately with a huff. "I think it's intriguing that you want to know."
"Way to turn the tables, Jarod," Parker pointed a finger at him. "But I won't fall for your tricks like everybody else."
He grinned, "Okay. Well what qualifies?"
"Sex."
Jarod's eyes widened. "Isn't that personal?"
"Jarod. Come. On. This isn't junior high. Just spill it," Seeing his further reluctance she went on. "I thought we were being honest with each other here."
"Three."
"Three," she repeated. "Now was that so difficult?"
He shook his head, focusing his attention on the foot of the bed, "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How many?"
Parker stared at him with one of those open-mouthed smiles that precedes hysterics, "Funny."
-----
Darkness was approaching. Neither of them were looking forward to it, knowing what it would mean for the temperature. They'd fallen into a comfortable silence. Miss Parker's tongue was dry. She probably hadn't talked to someone this long since Tommy. Before that, well.
Jarod watched while she got up for some water. He'd missed her. The real her. He should probably tell her that, but things were going so well. She brought him some water, too. He hadn't asked. She brought it anyway.
"Thank you," he said.
"It's already getting colder," she said, ignoring his words and taking a sip herself. "Jarod, do you think my mother really wanted me to leave the Centre?"
Jarod looked at her in surprise, "Of course she did."
"See," Miss Parker scoot herself up to sit on her knees. "I think that could be the easy answer. Maybe she would have wanted me to stay and figure out how to end it once and for all. And well if she knew I was hunting you.."
There was an uncomfortable silence then as they made eye contact.
She went on, "I think she'd want me to keep doing that. Don't look at me like that. If I wasn't the one leading the pursuit then you know someone despicable and merciless like Lyle would be."
Jarod cleared his throat and averted his eyes, "To be honest with you, Miss Parker, I wish that anyone were chasing me besides you."
"Hey remember all those times I said 'Jarod, I'll shoot,' well anyone else would have." She crossed her arms.
He smiled, "Yeah I know. But don't you see? Putting you on my case was the smartest move the Centre ever made. I had two reasons to keep contact with the Centre, Sydney and you. If it were anybody else, I could have vanished, regardless of the consequences."
"Consequences?" she asked off-handedly, rubbing her temples.
"You know, for my hunters' shortcomings," Jarod said.
"No, you had to stay connected to the Centre to find out about your family. You knew that was the only way-"
"The few times I've made contact with my family, have been from my own research. They've never had anything to do with you or Sydney."
"But," Parker pursed her lips in frustration. "So basically what you're saying is that you only hung around so that Sydney and I wouldn't roast in the Centre fire?"
"I mean not at first. And then when I met Broots," Jarod raised his hands in defeat. "What's so bad about that?"
She sighed, "Nothing. It doesn't matter."
"Clearly it does."
"It doesn't, Jarod. Jesus Christ, you never give up do you?"
"I was just," he protested defensively. "Making an observation."
"Keep it mental next time, kay?" Miss Parker snipped.
Jarod sighed exasperatedly. It didn't take much for her to throw those walls back up again. The process had become natural to her, more natural than being herself. She was still massaging the sides of her forehead.
"Let me," he whispered, taking her hands in his and putting them in her lap. "Why do you always get these migraines right at this time of day?"
"I don't," she answered abruptly, then groaned. "Although Broots said the same thing."
Jarod grinned, "Maybe there's an ounce of truth to it, Miss Parker."
He lifted his arms and placed his thumbs at the top of her ears and the rest of his fingers at the top of her head, pressing slightly.
"Uh, Jarod," she gave him an uncertain glance.
"Shh, close your eyes."
So she did. Unexplainably really. Jarod was clearly using some witchcraft technique he'd learned in Tijuana, but if he could Houdini the earthquake between her ears away then she was willing to let him.
He moved his thumbs to the back of her neck, right under the base of her skull. She could already feel the tension being ameliorated.
"You learn this from some wandering Mexican gypsy?" she muttered groggily.
Jarod answered matter-of-factly, "No actually I was working in an Asian spa and the women there taught me Japanese acupuncture, called Shiatsu."
"Of course they did," she said with a slight smile.
"I thought I told you to be quiet," he said in a low tone.
"Sorry."
But the smile didn't vanish as he moved his fingers to her forehead, delicately moving between her eyes to the edges of her eyebrows. Parker sighed almost sweetly as he continued kneading. His eyes were focused on her lips though, and he found himself subconsciously leaning in, wanting desperately to be closer to them. But he stopped himself and released his hold on her face. Her eyes opened slowly. Jarod glanced at her and reached for her foot. She looked at him inquisitively.
"Trust me, it'll help."
So she did. It was easy to trust a man who could work such wonders with his bare hands. Her mind wandered to other types of wonders those hands could ignite, but she quickly halted that train of thought before it could bother leaving the station.
Jarod peeled away her two pairs of socks and took her left foot into his hands, carefully massaging it in the appropriate areas. He switched feet. After a moment, she commented that she felt warmer somehow.
"Not really surprising. I'm increasing your circulation."
Parker nodded. There were perks to rooming with the genius.
He stopped and moved closer to her, tucking away the strands of hair that he'd disheveled. His hands stayed along the sides of her head. "Better?"
She looked at him, cocking her head and gazing at him with her taunting blue eyes, "Yeah."
Jarod swallowed. Oh it was time to be brave, but the thought was terrifying. He could feel it though. He knew. And he knew that she knew. He leaned in and kissed her, just as she'd kissed him yesterday, only different. God only knew how long it really lasted, but Jarod could certainly assess that it was much longer than yesterday's, and much more intimate.
She'd seemed to regret their actions this morning. What the hell was going on with her? Was he playing on the weak migraine victim? No, Miss Parker was never weak. Those two words should never be in a sentence together. Why couldn't he stop thinking? She was most certainly not wrestling all of these thoughts in her head right now.
But Miss Parker was tossing even more ideas around in her previously throbbing head. The most prevalent one though, revolved around one word: Jarod. This is Jarod. This is not some guy I met in a bar, not Thomas, not anyone she could pretend never happened. There was one person in her life who she would never be able to escape and here she was kissing him, ardently.
He felt her hands on his shoulders, but it didn't register that she was pushing him down until Jarod was on his back. She was shivering and he shifted their bodies around until he could pull the covers up and over them both, heads too. Lying on her side, Parker placed sweet kisses along his jaw line, his chin, his cheek. The cheap cotton sheets were rough and grainy on the little skin that was exposed. They probably looked ridiculous in their many layers of clothes underneath the blankets.
"Still cold?" Jarod whispered into her ear.
"I'm always cold."
His hand snaked around her waist and pulled her tight into his chest like a teddy bear. Parker wound her free arm around until her hand was on his shoulder blade. She took a deep breath and smiled into his sweater, where he couldn't see.
Day 34
Sydney and Broots walked together down the hallway with the quick, determined pace of purpose.
"You should have about twelve minutes technically, but, you know," Broots gesticulated dramatically. "Someone might catch on before that so uh obviously you should try and get out as soon as you can. Listen, Syd. You're uh taking a really big risk here. I wouldn't-"
"I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about Jarod and Miss Parker right now." Sydney's gaze was in the distance as it always was, and Broots sighed, knowing he was incapable of changing the old man's mind.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Don't worry. Thank you, Broots," Sydney responded, entering the elevator.
Broots nodded as the doors closed and Sydney headed off for the lion pit.
-----
10:15, shift change. Sydney peered around a corner watching as one sweeper headed toward the end of the hall as he saw the next one approaching. The two stopped to confer reports, small talk if sweepers could even manage small talk, and that's when Sydney could make his move.
With surprising stealth, he slipped into the small alcove in front of the cell's room. He keyed in the four digit code, glancing back at the sweepers only once to see that he was still undetected. A small light blinked green and Sydney quickly slid inside.
The prisoner inside lay on the drab cot.
"Miss Parker, are you awake?"
She looked up in surprise. "Sydney. Shouldn't you be running sims with Jarod?"
Sydney ignored her mocking tone. "Not currently, no."
"Hmph," she answered contemptuously.
"Miss Par-"
She sat upright with pristine posture. "How could you even play that game with him anymore, huh? How? You're supposed to have something you might remember called ethics."
"I am just doing my job. We have been over this many times before," Sydney sat down beside her.
"Yeah back when you were basically holding up signposts rallying for Jarod's freedom. Nobody wanted him out in the world picking daisies and helping the blind cross streets more than you did. Yet here you are with your actions so very, very far from your words."
Sydney stared at the wall in front of them, but still he could feel her eyes burning into him with their laser precision.
"I know that the two of you are planning something, that there's something important that you're not telling me. Broots has the camera frozen for at least ten minutes. Your security is a lot more lax than Jarod's so-"
"Is it now?" she perked up. "That's interesting."
Sydney faltered slightly, "What I mean to say is that now is the perfect opportunity for you to tell me whatever it is so that I can help you both."
Miss Parker laughed slightly, giving her gray concrete surroundings a quick once over, "There's no way I could possibly crack that nutshell in ten minutes."
Sighing, Sydney went on. "You two have been through a lot recently, haven't you?"
"You could say that. Recently, not so recently, since the dawn of humanity. It's all the same."
The lines around his face tightened, "What will you do if you two escape?"
"When we escape," Miss Parker corrected. "My father told me the new Parker legacy begins with me. I finally understand why, and why so many other things have turned out the way they have."
Sydney was in full psychiatric mode now. "What things?"
"My mother for one. She understood better than anyone, the consequences of everything the Centre has been building toward. The simulations, the science projects, all the freaks they've swept out of the gutters, everything. Always striving for the next best thing. Human perfection is difficult to come by."
"Yes," Sydney said slowly, unsure how to react. "I suppose a pretender's pretty close though. That's why they can't let Jarod go."
"It's so much bigger than that," she whispered hauntedly. "Alex figured it out. He knew there was a reason the Centre wanted Jarod and not him."
"Why?"
Parker smiled, "That is the million dollar question isn't it?"
"And you know the answer," he coaxed.
"There's no simple answer for anything, but if you help us out of here, we'll tell you everything."
Sydney assessed her expression and decided she was telling the truth. He stood up, but he had so many other questions he wanted to ask her.
"Miss Parker, how do you know all of these things?"
She clasped her hands and stretched her arms until they were hanging between her knees, "We did what the Centre tried so desperately to prevent- We found Jarod's mother." Her voice dipped lower, more foreboding. "We read the scrolls."
Jarod had been conscious for at least an hour, aware of the dead feeling in his arm, but completely ecstatic about it. Miss Parker, Miss Parker of all people, had snuggled herself into him so that her nose pressed against his side and the top of her head lay within the crook of his arm. He watched her breathing gently and smiled every time her nose twitched.
The sun was just rising, casting a peaceful glow over the room, when her eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes.
"Morning, Miss Parker."
She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, mumbling something into his shirt.
"Didn't quite catch that," he said in a raspy morning voice.
"I said," she pulled back. "That this cannot be happening."
"What?"
"This!" Miss Parker sat up, batting his hand away. "Us! Jarod, if any two people in the world should not be waking up like this, it's you and me. This is a disaster in the making."
"You're clearly not a morning person at all," Jarod muttered, raising one eyebrow. Her hair was messed and he liked how natural she appeared in the morning light.
She glared at him and threw back the covers. With determined steps she entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Jarod thought he heard her mumbling something about candle light, but he couldn't be sure.
-----
Miss Parker inhaled and exhaled dramatically. After relieving herself and brushing her teeth, she washed her face in the freezing cold water. She wasn't desperate enough to venture an icy shower yet though. Desperate for any distraction from the man on the other side of the door, she sat on the edge of the tub combing her fingers through her hair in a pathetic sort of attempt at brushing it. She had a brush in the room, but he was in there. He was always there.
Rapid knocks at the door, "I don't know what you're doing in there, but I really have to go if you wouldn't mind hurrying things along please."
God he was infuriating.
-----
When Jarod came out of the bathroom, Miss Parker was sitting on the bed, sucking apple juice from a Juicy Juice box. He grinned and sat down opposite her.
"This is difficult for you to get your mind around," he said plainly.
She nodded, straw between her lips.
"You've tried for so long to consider me your enemy, the one you cannot trust."
A more subtle nod. Parker removed the straw, holding the juice box in her lap, and closed her eyes.
Jarod grasped her chin gently, directing her face in his direction. She opened her eyes.
"I understand," he said. This time he was nodding reassuringly.
"I'm not running away," she said. "I just need you to-"
"I'll be patient. Don't worry. I'm not expecting anything. This is uncharted territory for me too you know." Jarod paused. "I'm scared, too."
"I'm not scared," she answered immediately.
Jarod cocked his head and replied calmly, "Okay, well, I am."
He was even confident in his fear. Why couldn't he just- but she didn't know what she wanted him to do. He had all the right answers to make her feel better, but here she was doing nothing for him as usual.
"I'm just confused. I don't know how to act." Have to throw the dog a bone every now and then.
Jarod's eyes lit up at the confession, "Neither do I! I-" he laughed a little. "I don't know why I'm so excited about our mutual confusion."
Parker also laughed, falling backward onto the bed with a flop. Jarod stopped to devote his attention to her actions, so far from her normal character.
"Stop staring at me before I give you a black eye."
But not too uncharacteristic.
-----
They both wore all the clothes they had brought with them and had blankets wrapped tightly around their shoulders. The room was getting unbearably cold and their only real relief was the strength of the sun's beams shining through the window. Jarod said that that meant the snow would melt and loosen, hopefully enough so that someone could fix the power and ultimately, the roads.
Miss Parker and Jarod lay side by side on the bed, talking. Hours passed and they hardly noticed. There was nothing else to do, with the possible exception of reading the Bible which lay in the nightstand in its obligatory way, and as Miss Parker had pointed out, their lives needed a lot more help than some religious pep talks could give them.
"You are blushing!" Parker nearly giggled, but being who she was, restrained of course.
Jarod shook his head, "No. I am not. My face it just gets redder sometimes."
"Like when you're embarrassed."
"Or.. hot.."
"Seriously? We're stuck in a blizzard and the best argument you've got is that you're hot?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Well why does it matter how many women I've been with?"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's almost as if you're ashamed."
"I'm not ashamed," Jarod said immediately with a huff. "I think it's intriguing that you want to know."
"Way to turn the tables, Jarod," Parker pointed a finger at him. "But I won't fall for your tricks like everybody else."
He grinned, "Okay. Well what qualifies?"
"Sex."
Jarod's eyes widened. "Isn't that personal?"
"Jarod. Come. On. This isn't junior high. Just spill it," Seeing his further reluctance she went on. "I thought we were being honest with each other here."
"Three."
"Three," she repeated. "Now was that so difficult?"
He shook his head, focusing his attention on the foot of the bed, "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How many?"
Parker stared at him with one of those open-mouthed smiles that precedes hysterics, "Funny."
-----
Darkness was approaching. Neither of them were looking forward to it, knowing what it would mean for the temperature. They'd fallen into a comfortable silence. Miss Parker's tongue was dry. She probably hadn't talked to someone this long since Tommy. Before that, well.
Jarod watched while she got up for some water. He'd missed her. The real her. He should probably tell her that, but things were going so well. She brought him some water, too. He hadn't asked. She brought it anyway.
"Thank you," he said.
"It's already getting colder," she said, ignoring his words and taking a sip herself. "Jarod, do you think my mother really wanted me to leave the Centre?"
Jarod looked at her in surprise, "Of course she did."
"See," Miss Parker scoot herself up to sit on her knees. "I think that could be the easy answer. Maybe she would have wanted me to stay and figure out how to end it once and for all. And well if she knew I was hunting you.."
There was an uncomfortable silence then as they made eye contact.
She went on, "I think she'd want me to keep doing that. Don't look at me like that. If I wasn't the one leading the pursuit then you know someone despicable and merciless like Lyle would be."
Jarod cleared his throat and averted his eyes, "To be honest with you, Miss Parker, I wish that anyone were chasing me besides you."
"Hey remember all those times I said 'Jarod, I'll shoot,' well anyone else would have." She crossed her arms.
He smiled, "Yeah I know. But don't you see? Putting you on my case was the smartest move the Centre ever made. I had two reasons to keep contact with the Centre, Sydney and you. If it were anybody else, I could have vanished, regardless of the consequences."
"Consequences?" she asked off-handedly, rubbing her temples.
"You know, for my hunters' shortcomings," Jarod said.
"No, you had to stay connected to the Centre to find out about your family. You knew that was the only way-"
"The few times I've made contact with my family, have been from my own research. They've never had anything to do with you or Sydney."
"But," Parker pursed her lips in frustration. "So basically what you're saying is that you only hung around so that Sydney and I wouldn't roast in the Centre fire?"
"I mean not at first. And then when I met Broots," Jarod raised his hands in defeat. "What's so bad about that?"
She sighed, "Nothing. It doesn't matter."
"Clearly it does."
"It doesn't, Jarod. Jesus Christ, you never give up do you?"
"I was just," he protested defensively. "Making an observation."
"Keep it mental next time, kay?" Miss Parker snipped.
Jarod sighed exasperatedly. It didn't take much for her to throw those walls back up again. The process had become natural to her, more natural than being herself. She was still massaging the sides of her forehead.
"Let me," he whispered, taking her hands in his and putting them in her lap. "Why do you always get these migraines right at this time of day?"
"I don't," she answered abruptly, then groaned. "Although Broots said the same thing."
Jarod grinned, "Maybe there's an ounce of truth to it, Miss Parker."
He lifted his arms and placed his thumbs at the top of her ears and the rest of his fingers at the top of her head, pressing slightly.
"Uh, Jarod," she gave him an uncertain glance.
"Shh, close your eyes."
So she did. Unexplainably really. Jarod was clearly using some witchcraft technique he'd learned in Tijuana, but if he could Houdini the earthquake between her ears away then she was willing to let him.
He moved his thumbs to the back of her neck, right under the base of her skull. She could already feel the tension being ameliorated.
"You learn this from some wandering Mexican gypsy?" she muttered groggily.
Jarod answered matter-of-factly, "No actually I was working in an Asian spa and the women there taught me Japanese acupuncture, called Shiatsu."
"Of course they did," she said with a slight smile.
"I thought I told you to be quiet," he said in a low tone.
"Sorry."
But the smile didn't vanish as he moved his fingers to her forehead, delicately moving between her eyes to the edges of her eyebrows. Parker sighed almost sweetly as he continued kneading. His eyes were focused on her lips though, and he found himself subconsciously leaning in, wanting desperately to be closer to them. But he stopped himself and released his hold on her face. Her eyes opened slowly. Jarod glanced at her and reached for her foot. She looked at him inquisitively.
"Trust me, it'll help."
So she did. It was easy to trust a man who could work such wonders with his bare hands. Her mind wandered to other types of wonders those hands could ignite, but she quickly halted that train of thought before it could bother leaving the station.
Jarod peeled away her two pairs of socks and took her left foot into his hands, carefully massaging it in the appropriate areas. He switched feet. After a moment, she commented that she felt warmer somehow.
"Not really surprising. I'm increasing your circulation."
Parker nodded. There were perks to rooming with the genius.
He stopped and moved closer to her, tucking away the strands of hair that he'd disheveled. His hands stayed along the sides of her head. "Better?"
She looked at him, cocking her head and gazing at him with her taunting blue eyes, "Yeah."
Jarod swallowed. Oh it was time to be brave, but the thought was terrifying. He could feel it though. He knew. And he knew that she knew. He leaned in and kissed her, just as she'd kissed him yesterday, only different. God only knew how long it really lasted, but Jarod could certainly assess that it was much longer than yesterday's, and much more intimate.
She'd seemed to regret their actions this morning. What the hell was going on with her? Was he playing on the weak migraine victim? No, Miss Parker was never weak. Those two words should never be in a sentence together. Why couldn't he stop thinking? She was most certainly not wrestling all of these thoughts in her head right now.
But Miss Parker was tossing even more ideas around in her previously throbbing head. The most prevalent one though, revolved around one word: Jarod. This is Jarod. This is not some guy I met in a bar, not Thomas, not anyone she could pretend never happened. There was one person in her life who she would never be able to escape and here she was kissing him, ardently.
He felt her hands on his shoulders, but it didn't register that she was pushing him down until Jarod was on his back. She was shivering and he shifted their bodies around until he could pull the covers up and over them both, heads too. Lying on her side, Parker placed sweet kisses along his jaw line, his chin, his cheek. The cheap cotton sheets were rough and grainy on the little skin that was exposed. They probably looked ridiculous in their many layers of clothes underneath the blankets.
"Still cold?" Jarod whispered into her ear.
"I'm always cold."
His hand snaked around her waist and pulled her tight into his chest like a teddy bear. Parker wound her free arm around until her hand was on his shoulder blade. She took a deep breath and smiled into his sweater, where he couldn't see.
Day 34
Sydney and Broots walked together down the hallway with the quick, determined pace of purpose.
"You should have about twelve minutes technically, but, you know," Broots gesticulated dramatically. "Someone might catch on before that so uh obviously you should try and get out as soon as you can. Listen, Syd. You're uh taking a really big risk here. I wouldn't-"
"I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about Jarod and Miss Parker right now." Sydney's gaze was in the distance as it always was, and Broots sighed, knowing he was incapable of changing the old man's mind.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Don't worry. Thank you, Broots," Sydney responded, entering the elevator.
Broots nodded as the doors closed and Sydney headed off for the lion pit.
-----
10:15, shift change. Sydney peered around a corner watching as one sweeper headed toward the end of the hall as he saw the next one approaching. The two stopped to confer reports, small talk if sweepers could even manage small talk, and that's when Sydney could make his move.
With surprising stealth, he slipped into the small alcove in front of the cell's room. He keyed in the four digit code, glancing back at the sweepers only once to see that he was still undetected. A small light blinked green and Sydney quickly slid inside.
The prisoner inside lay on the drab cot.
"Miss Parker, are you awake?"
She looked up in surprise. "Sydney. Shouldn't you be running sims with Jarod?"
Sydney ignored her mocking tone. "Not currently, no."
"Hmph," she answered contemptuously.
"Miss Par-"
She sat upright with pristine posture. "How could you even play that game with him anymore, huh? How? You're supposed to have something you might remember called ethics."
"I am just doing my job. We have been over this many times before," Sydney sat down beside her.
"Yeah back when you were basically holding up signposts rallying for Jarod's freedom. Nobody wanted him out in the world picking daisies and helping the blind cross streets more than you did. Yet here you are with your actions so very, very far from your words."
Sydney stared at the wall in front of them, but still he could feel her eyes burning into him with their laser precision.
"I know that the two of you are planning something, that there's something important that you're not telling me. Broots has the camera frozen for at least ten minutes. Your security is a lot more lax than Jarod's so-"
"Is it now?" she perked up. "That's interesting."
Sydney faltered slightly, "What I mean to say is that now is the perfect opportunity for you to tell me whatever it is so that I can help you both."
Miss Parker laughed slightly, giving her gray concrete surroundings a quick once over, "There's no way I could possibly crack that nutshell in ten minutes."
Sighing, Sydney went on. "You two have been through a lot recently, haven't you?"
"You could say that. Recently, not so recently, since the dawn of humanity. It's all the same."
The lines around his face tightened, "What will you do if you two escape?"
"When we escape," Miss Parker corrected. "My father told me the new Parker legacy begins with me. I finally understand why, and why so many other things have turned out the way they have."
Sydney was in full psychiatric mode now. "What things?"
"My mother for one. She understood better than anyone, the consequences of everything the Centre has been building toward. The simulations, the science projects, all the freaks they've swept out of the gutters, everything. Always striving for the next best thing. Human perfection is difficult to come by."
"Yes," Sydney said slowly, unsure how to react. "I suppose a pretender's pretty close though. That's why they can't let Jarod go."
"It's so much bigger than that," she whispered hauntedly. "Alex figured it out. He knew there was a reason the Centre wanted Jarod and not him."
"Why?"
Parker smiled, "That is the million dollar question isn't it?"
"And you know the answer," he coaxed.
"There's no simple answer for anything, but if you help us out of here, we'll tell you everything."
Sydney assessed her expression and decided she was telling the truth. He stood up, but he had so many other questions he wanted to ask her.
"Miss Parker, how do you know all of these things?"
She clasped her hands and stretched her arms until they were hanging between her knees, "We did what the Centre tried so desperately to prevent- We found Jarod's mother." Her voice dipped lower, more foreboding. "We read the scrolls."
