Miss Parker lay on her bed when the phone rang. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, but the ringing made her head explode. She blindly grabbed for it and held it to her ear, waiting for whoever had called to make themselves known.

“Miss Parker?”

Of course, Jarod, who else could it be, Miss Parker groaned inwardly.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing,” he answered cheerily.

”Great, call back tomorrow.” She hung up.

Jarod was dumbstruck. Miss Parker had hung up on him. She hadn’t even answered with her usual, venomous ‘What?’ and she sounded tired, even a bit hoarse. Maybe she was ill. He thought about it for a while. He was curious. Was she all right? He wasn’t far from Delaware. He could go over there and treat her to a cold cloth and some cough medicine. Not that she would appreciate it much. Jarod thought about it some more and realized, that he was far from sleepy anyway. He had woken her and now he wanted to make it up to her by doing something nice.

***

When Jarod entered Miss Parker’s house, everything was quiet. He even dared to turn on the light. Everything was meticulous, not one tissue was lying around. A thought hit him. Maybe she’d just come back from a long night out. Oh God, he hoped she hadn’t brought her date back and that’s why she hadn’t wanted to talk to him. But he reasoned that Miss Parker would never bring a one-night stand back to her mother’s house, but rather go to a hotel or the guy’s place. Jarod realized he had done too much thinking about her dating habits.

Quietly he made his way into her bedroom. It was dark, but the curtains were open and some light came in through the windows. She was lying on her stomach, fully clothed. Now he was worried. He carefully sat on the bed and pushed her hair away from her face. He felt her forehead. She was rather cold and covered in a slight sheen of sweat. He had a bad feeling, something was not right. Jarod gently rolled her over and felt her pulse; it was rather fast and shallow. He turned on the bedside lamp and gently shook her.

“Parker?” he stroked her cheek. She was unusually pale and her lips were split. “Parker, are you okay? Wake up.”

She moaned and turned her head away from his touch. She got slightly agitated but didn’t wake up. Jarod tried again, louder this time, “Parker, wake up!”

“No! Stop!” she screamed and was instantly awake, sitting up and breathing heavily.

“Ssh, it’s okay, Miss Parker. It’s only me.”

She squinted at him, trying to get her bearings. With a groan she fell back onto the pillows, holding her head.

Jarod lightly touched her shoulder, “Parker, what happened? What’s wrong? Are you ill?”

She wouldn’t answer him and rolled onto her side, continuing to cradle her head.

“Parker, do you have a headache? Talk to me, I want to help you.”

He took her hands and pulled them away from her face, her eyes were tightly shut. That’s when he noticed slightly red areas around her temples. Then it hit him.

“Oh God, what did they do to you?” He franticly searched her arms and found what he was looking for, small puncture wounds.

He turned her back onto her back, “Parker, look at me. I need to know what they did to you so I can help you.”

“Light,” she moaned.

Of course, Jarod cursed himself, her eyes would be sensitive to light if her head hurt. But he needed to see her. He got up and took one of her shirts to cover the lamp and darken the room a little bit.

“Okay, it’s darker now. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Now, please look at me.”

She carefully opened her eyes. “Hurts.”

Jarod stroked her forehead. “Bastards,” he whispered to himself. “Tell me what happened and I’ll try to help you. But I need to know as much as possible.”

“Lyle called me down to one of the sub levels. Someone grabbed me… and…,” the pain was getting too much again, “… chloroform. I woke up strapped… to a chair.” Parker stopped and rolled to her side again, pressing her hands against her forehead.

Jarod went into the bathroom to get a cold cloth. He really wanted to give her something for the pain, but first he needed to know as much as possible, he didn’t want to harm her any more by giving her the wrong medication. He came back into the room with a wet washcloth.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead he asked, “Can you remember anything else?”

“They didn’t tell me anything, or asked me anything. They gave me some drugs and shocked me.”

“To the head?” Jarod asked incredulously. She nodded slightly.

“It was bearable at first, but they kept going on and on. I don’t know for how long. I lost consciousness after a while.”

“What’s the next thing you remember?”

“They dumped me back here, told me to take a week off.”

Jarod was shocked. Did her father know about her treatment? Lyle certainly did. He went to get the bag he brought. Luckily he had thought she was sick and had gotten some painkillers. They wouldn’t need the cough medicine though. But then a thought hit him, she had sounded hoarse on the phone. He hadn’t been able to tell just now, because she spoke only in the smallest of whispers.

“Does your throat hurt?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

It was probably the result from screaming. Jarod felt sick to his stomach. He thought about taking Parker with him right now, getting her as far away from the Center as possible. But she’d said she had a week off. They wouldn’t expect her back any time soon. He’d rather not move her too much right now. He could reevaluate later. He got a glass with water and helped her into a sitting position holding her against his chest and gave her some pills.

“Here, take this, it’ll help. It’ll make you sleepy, too. But sleep is the best thing for you at the moment. There’s not much else I can do right now. I’m sorry.”

”Not your fault,” she said weakly and swallowed the pills. He hugged her tightly for a moment, still in shock about what she had just told him. Jarod laid her back down and got her out of her shoes and jacket.

“What are you doing?” she asked sleepily.

“You’ll rest better without those. You should get out of your pants, too. Want to do it yourself?” He doubted she had the energy.

“Do it,” she groaned already half asleep.

He quickly pulled her pants off and put her under the covers. A quiet ‘thanks’ left her lips, when he stroked her cheek.

“Just sleep.”

***

Miss Parker woke a couple of hours later, it was already light. Jarod was sitting in a chair by her bed, observing her closely. He hadn’t slept at all. He was too worried about her. He’d watched for any sign that she might take a turn for the worse. She sat up and tried to get out of bed.

“Where do you think you are going?” Jarod asked disapprovingly.

”To the bathroom.”

“Oh… do you need some help?” he offered meekly.

”I’ll manage,” she held onto the walls and doorframes for support, squinting since her eyes were still sensitive to the light.

When she came out of the bathroom, Jarod was waiting by the door and took her arm, leading her wordlessly back to bed. She didn’t protest. He tucked her back in. Still no smart-ass comment.

“How’s your head?”

“Feels like a squashed pumpkin.”

“Looks a lot better though,” he grinned. Jarod got her to take some more pills. When he tried to get up from the bed she held onto his arm. He looked questioningly at her.

“Just go back to sleep. You’ll be okay,” he reassured her.

Did she want him to stay? Her eyes had already closed but she kept a tight grip on his arm.

“Do you want me to stay here?” he asked in a whisper. Miss Parker didn’t answer, she was probably already asleep. Jarod was tempted to stay with her, lying next to her. But she would probably shoot him, if he had misinterpreted her. He was a genius, but this was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Then, he reasoned, even if she tried to shoot him, in the condition she was in, she would probably miss her target. So he carefully lay down on her bed, a good foot away from her sleeping form. He took her hand off his arm and put it into his own hands. Jarod continued to simply look at her until sleep claimed him, too.

***

When he awoke, Parker was nowhere to be seen. He panicked for a second, before reasoning that she could simply be in the bathroom. He found her sitting at the kitchen table in her robe, her hair still wet from the shower, sipping on a glass of juice.

“Hey,” he said quietly, trying not to startle her.

“Hey,” she slowly turned towards him with a small smile. “Want some juice?”

“Sure.”

Parker started to get up.

“Stay put, I can get it. Do you want some breakfast? I make a good cook,” Jarod said, already making his way over to her fridge. Parker didn’t answer. She just stared into her glass.

He went to sit next to her. “Parker, are you okay? How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Her hands were trembling slightly. He took them in his hands, letting her know that he had noticed.

She smiled sheepishly. “Really, I am better, just exhausted and my muscles sometimes twitch. But it’s getting better, really.”

“Okay, I believe you. But promise to tell me, if it gets worse.”

“Didn’t you say something about breakfast?” she changed the topic.

“Yeah,” he started going through her fridge. “Well, I might be a genius, but even I can’t make a 4-star breakfast with only eggs and toast.”

”It’ll do.”

***

After they had finished breakfast, which had gone by mostly in silence, Jarod filled the sink with dish water. When he started collecting the dishes Parker asked, “Do you plan on staying here?” Her tone leaving no doubt that she disapproved of any such plans.

“I am planning on taking you with me. I am not leaving you here one more day!”

“Jarod-“

He turned around and grabbed her arms. “You can’t seriously want to stay here after all they’ve done to you!” he growled at her.

She winced in pain and he loosened his grip on her, thinking he had hurt her. “Sorry.”

Parker sagged against his chest holding her head. Her headache was back with a vengeance.

“Damn, hurts,” she managed to get out. Jarod led her to the nearest chair and sat her down, then raced to the bedroom to get the pain medicine.

When he came back and handed her the pills she pushed his hand away. “No, leave. You gotta leave!”

“Parker, calm down. I just want to help you.”

“No, you gotta leave. NOW!” She wasn’t holding her head anymore, she was just franticly looking at him.

“I’m not leaving you alone in this condition. No way.”

”No, you don’t understand. Somebody is coming. You gotta leave.” She was getting panicked and looked pleadingly at him. That’s when he heard a car in the driveway.

“Hide,” she said and pushed him towards the bedroom. He looked worriedly at her, but he had no choice but to hide.

Parker grabbed the two plates and cutlery and threw them into the dish water, quickly looking around that she hadn’t missed anything else that would give away her visitor.

There was a knock on the door.

***

Parker opened the door and saw Lyle smiling smugly at her. “How are you, sis?”

“You bastard, what did you do to me?” she attacked him and pushed him against the doorframe.

“Easy, I just came by to check on you.”

Parker let go of him and made her way to a drawer and pulled out her gun. “Don’t come near me, ever again. What did you do to me?”

Lyle backed against the door, holding up his hands. “We just wanted to do you a favor.”

“A favor?” Parker screamed. “You electrocuted me!” She pushed the gun into his face. Her hands were trembling slightly. The gun seemed so much heavier than usual.

“Now, calm down. You’ll be grateful, when you bring Jarod back thanks to what we did.”

”What. Did. You. Do?” she screamed at him, even though it made her head spin.

“Raines developed a method for helping you bring your talents to the surface. He was tired of waiting for it to happen naturally.”

“Talents?”

”Your gift, your mother’s gift. We know you have had certain… ‘feelings’ before. But they are rather useless, are they not? Have you had any visions yet?” He asked with interest.

“You bastard, get out! Now! Before I put a bullet in your head so you can have your own visions.”

Lyle slowly backed out the door. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Get some sleep. You look horrible. Relax for a couple of days. And then we’ll catch us some genius, sis.” He turned and made his way to his car.

Parker watched him, aiming her gun at her brother, until she couldn’t see him anymore. She slumped against the wall and slid to the porch floor.

Jarod, who had listened to the whole scene, was instantly at her side. “Parker? Parker, are you okay?”

Parker had her head on her knees and was sobbing. Jarod took the gun from her hand and picked her up, carrying her into the house. He settled her back into bed and simply stroked her hand waiting for her to calm down.

When she seemed more in control of her emotions again, he asked, “Are you okay? How’s the head?”

“I’ll live.”

He shortly considered if he should ask his next question now, but didn’t see what good waiting would do.

“Did you have a vision before Lyle came?”

She nodded. “I think so. Although, it was more… like a strong feeling. I just knew something was going to happen. I didn’t actually see anything.”

Parker looked at him forlornly. “How could they do that to me?”

“I’m sorry,” was all he could answer to that. If he had found a way to get her out of the Center before, she wouldn’t have had to endure this.

“Do you think my father knows?”

“I don’t know.”

She breathed in deeply, calming down some more.

“Get some more sleep.” He brushed his finger over her temple. “Do you need some more painkillers?”

”No.”

After feeling her forehead and checking her eyes, Jarod made himself comfortable in the armchair.

Parker followed his actions suspiciously. “You look like you could use some sleep, too.”

He just shrugged his shoulders.

“You know where the guest room is. Make yourself at home. Not that you haven’t already.”

“I’m fine right here.”

“You gonna watch me sleep?” It was more a rhetoric question, she already knew the answer. “You really are crazy.”

“We still don’t know what they did to you. How much damage was done, what kind of drugs they gave you,” Jarod said seriously.

”Hold it right there, genius. I am fine now. Get some sleep, you really look like you need it. And a shave. And a shower.”

“I get the message, Parker. But right now I am more concerned with my patient’s well-being.”

”Making house-calls, Dr. Jarod?” she teased.

“Only for my most stubborn patient.”

“I am your only patient.”

”You are not even paying.”

”You always work for free anyway.”

“Here’s some more free advice: Sleep!”

“Take your own advice, Jarod. I tried not to hurt your feelings – I really don’t know why, must be some after effects of the electroshocks – but you do look like hell.”

“Such language, Miss Parker.”

“Whatever.” She rolled over and turned her back to him.

Jarod settled deeper into the armchair.

When he still hadn’t moved after a couple of minutes, Parker said, “For heaven’s sake, get into bed. I can’t sleep with you sitting there and staring at me.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

”I’m not. But I can feel your eyes burning through my brain.”

“Do you need some more pills?”

Parker groaned, “No! Haven’t you come across Superman yet? Never mind.” She was simply too exhausted to get into a discussion about popular TV culture. Maybe those pills weren’t such a bad idea after all.

Jarod was confused. “So what exactly do you want me to do?”

“Get into bed, shut up and sleep.”

”You sure?”

”No, just do it.”

Jarod took off his shoes and lay down next to her. He was still tired after going almost 24 hours with just a couple of hours of sleep. But he was too worried somebody else would come by. The chances were slim, but still. When Parker’s breathing evened out, he relaxed a bit. The pleasant smell of her shampoo had a further calming effect on him. Carefully laying his arm over her waist, he relished the heat her body was giving off, assuring him that she was alive and hopefully on the mend. Jarod soon drifted off as well.

TBC