Turn Around by Chris
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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer see part 1
This part is for Gables. Thanks for your help!!
Turn Around Part 6/?
by: Chris
Rated: PG
Somewhere in Germany
12/29/2000, 5.27 p.m.
"Jarod, are you sure that's the right way? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Yes, I'm sure. I've been here before."
"You've been living here?"
"No, just one day."
"I don't know how to survive this", Parker sighed, "No warm shower, no central heating."
"We still have a bath-tub", Jarod grinned.
"A bath-tub? With cold water?"
"We have a fire and we can boil water to fill the tub."
"OK, leave this discussion for later."
The car drove through the silent dark forest. There were nothing but trees outside, not even a normal road, only gravel. And then the forest faded away and Parker saw the house. The moon was reflecting on the lake's surface, the little house even looked cozy. Jarod stopped the car and got outside. His boots crunched on the gravel. Parker got out as well and inhaled the fresh air.
"It's fairly cold."
"Uuuh. We have to make a fire first so the cabin will be warm, then we take our bags inside."
Both stared at the moon and then went inside. They didn't see the huge clouds building on the horizon nor did they hear the distant thunder.
Jarod switched on the lights.
"What about the generator? Is it working constantly?"
"No, but there's a certain storage capacity for at least one night. We'll switch in on tomorrow."
Their conversation came to an abrupt end when - in-between their sentences - low thunder began to roll.
"What was that? It is much too cold for a thunderstorm."
"It's never too cold. There can be electrical charges in warm and cold air."
"I know, but in the common mind it's too cold."
"OK. I'll light the fire and you bring the bags inside."
Parker went outside to fetch the bags from the car. When she came back inside Jarod was sitting in front of the fire.
"It's kinda windy outside, Jarod. Does this house have shutters?"
"Yes, but wooden ones that have to be closed from the outside. I'll close them. Can you look after the fire?"
"There are still some bags in the car."
"I'll get them."
Jarod left the cabin and Parker placed the bags she had been holding on the sofa. She sat down in front of the fire and enjoyed its warmth. She put a few logs on it and the flames grew larger. They illuminated the whole room that much that she didn't notice that the lights went off.
"Why did you switch off the lights?" Jarod asked when he came back in.
"I didn't switch them off", Parker protested.
"But they're out."
"The fire was so bright, I didn't notice. What about the generator?"
"I have to have a closer look but not now. It's too windy and it's dark outside. I'll have to do it tomorrow. There should be some candles in the cupboard."
"This is going to become an adventure tour", Parker sighed, "Did you bring the last bags?"
Jarod nodded and pointed towards the door. Parker looked around the room and stopped when she saw the hi-fi tower in one corner. A little smile played around her lips. She opened one of her bags and took out some CDs. Suddenly she started swearing.
"What's the matter?" Jarod asked.
"My fav CD's gone. I must have left it back home."
"What CD?"
"Tina Turner. You've been here before, what about a tour of the house?"
"Such a sudden change of topic? You want a tour of the house without lights?"
"I've got a flashlight in my bag ."
She dug out the torch and gave it to Jarod. He went over to the kitchen.
"Small but fine, our kitchen. Over there is the door to the outside toilet."
"What, the toilet isn't inside the house? Oh my, where am I?"
"Don't worry, we still have a potty. Let's go upstairs. You already know the living room, over there are the stairs."
They climbed up the steep stairs to a kind of balcony over the living room.
"This is the bedroom."
It had only a French sized bed and a chair in it. One small window gave a free view over the lake and the forests. The room was illuminated by flash from the outside and Parker shrieked in surprise. Jarod smiled.
"Stop that silly smile", Parker barked.
"Sorry, but this is too funny. A woman like you, and then she's afraid of a thunderstorm."
"I'm not afraid."
She sat down on the bed. and looked around the sparely illuminated room. The fire was reflecting on the ceiling and gave the room a warm light.
"Let's go to bed. I'm tired. As I said, the sofa's all yours."
"Yes, ma'am. Don't you want to finish the tour first?"
"There's another room?"
Jarod nodded.
"The bathroom", Jarod grinned.
"Bathroom?"
"Come on, I'll show you."
They went down the stairs and Jarod opened a small door under the stairs. He switched on the lights and stepped back.
"You're an idiot", Parker hissed, "Why are the lights working here?"
"I switched the others off. I wanted to annoy you a little bit. And it obviously worked. There's the shower and our toilet."
"A toilet? A shower? Don't tell me there's even warm water?"
"No, the cold water thing was the whole truth."
"So, where's the bath-tub?"
"Still standing outside. We have to pull it inside if we want to use it. Now that you've seen the house, you can go to bed. Try to think what you want to do the day after tomorrow."
"The day after tomorrow? What is so special about that?"
"It's the 31st of December. The last day of 1999. The day before the world collapses."
"Haha, funny. What can we do?"
"Stay in our little cabin, staring at each other or sitting in ones corner. What ever you wish."
"Can we go into a city? I need people around me."
"Sorry, no. We can go shopping tomorrow and have wonderful night out here."
"So, what choice do I have? Let's go shopping tomorrow and have a wonderful night out here. Wonderful, really wonderful", she said sarcastically.
"Oh come on, am I such a bad company?"
"No, but I can think of better ways to spend a special night and I can't think of something better to do. Any other suggestions?"
"No, not yet. Maybe I can find another thing. Wait and see. Well, tomorrow we can go shopping so we have to make a list what we need. You prepare what you need, I prepare what I need. You know, I don't know if it's safe for you to leave the house more often. The Centre has spies everywhere, so when they find out that you have already found me you get in trouble."
"You mean, make a list for the things I need, say, for the next few weeks?"
"Bingo."
She let herself fall onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Jarod sat down in the chair and looked at her. They listened to the raging storm outside until Parker fell asleep. Jarod smiled and got up. He covered her with the blanket and went down the stairs. He left the lights off and sat in front of the fire. His eyes fell on his suitcase. The DSAs. He hoped Parker hadn't seen them. He opened the case and pushed one of the small disks inside.
The night went by and Jarod watched one DSA after the other. He didn't seem to realize that Parker was standing at the top of the stairs, watching him. Even when she came down the stairs to stand behind him he didn't move.
"Jarod?" she whispered, "Don't you want to go to sleep? It's 4.30 am."
"Uuuh? I didn't hear you coming down."
"Jarod, go to sleep. You can't change things in looking at your DSAs. Mind if I join you?"
Jarod was surprised that she simply sat down beside him on the floor and wrapped herself in a blanket from the couch. He flipped another disk inside, not knowing what was on it. When it started to play he wanted to switch it off immediately but Parker grabbed his hand and stared at the screen. The one he had seen so often, the one where Catherine Parker had been killed. Parker's grip on his hand increased and he heard her breath harden. He turned his head and saw tears filling her eyes. He said nothing until the scene was finished.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
"No", she answered and got up. She climbed up the stairs and he heard her falling onto the bed. Then there was dead silence. He considered getting up and following her but decided against it.
Ansbach/Germany
12/30/1999, noon
Jarod was walking around the stores, buying all the things they might need during the next weeks. Parker had stayed in the cabin. She felt sick and preferred to stay in bed. Reluctantly Jarod had left her alone but she had been right, he had to do the shopping otherwise they would starve to death. So he used the time to have a look at a music store. He had planned to buy a Tina Turner CD for Parker, so to say as a belated Christmas gift. He found what he had wanted. Another thought came to his mind. He went to the classics and searched for something special for New Years eve. He had to spend a night with Parker and he wanted to impress her a little bit. He had bought champagne and something special to eat. All that missed now was a special kind of music.
Back at the cabin
12/30/1999, 3.54 p.m.
Jarod opened the door and entered the house. Everything was quiet it seemed as if nobody were at home. He put the bags onto the sofa and went up the stairs to Parker's bedroom. She was lying on her bed, her eyes closed, breathing heavily. He put his hand on her forehead. Somehow he had expected it to be hot but it was cold and beads of sweat covered her forehead. She moaned and turned around.
"Parker?"
Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him.
"Are you alright?"
"Where am I?"
"In the cabin. Is everything alright?"
She looked around and seemed to orient herself. She looked at the ceiling and sighed heavily.
"That DSA last night gave me bad dreams, nothing more. I'm fine. How long have you been gone?"
"I've been gone for nearly five hours. Did you sleep the whole time?"
Parker shrugged her shoulders.
"I think so. Did you get all the things you wanted?"
Jarod nodded and got up from her bed. He shot her an inconspicuous glance and went down the stairs. Somehow she smelled like alcohol. Jarod worried if she couldn't cope with being alone. Parker slowly got up. Her head seemed to be spinning around, she felt as if she were drunk. What the hell did she do before she had fallen asleep? She couldn't even remember having gone to bed after Jarod had left. She looked around the small room and saw a bottle lying on the floor next to her bed. She picked it up and looked at it. Whiskey. Where did that come from? She knew she'd had a bottle in one of her bags, but a new one. Slowly she went over to the bag and looked inside. The bottle was gone.
"Jarod?" she called.
"What?" came his voice from the kitchen.
"Come up here, there's something wrong."
Jarod jumped up and ran up the stairs.
"What's wrong?"
"I've had a whiskey bottle in my bag. Now the bottle's gone and instead I find a nearly empty bottle lying next to my bed and I feel as if I'm drunk."
"Well, you drank it, I can't think of another explanation."
"But I can't remember that I did so."
She scratched her arm and then looked at it.
"Jarod, what's that?" she asked, pointing towards a stitch on her arm. He took her arm and looked at it closely.
"That looks like someone has pricked you with a needle. Are you an addict?"
"No", she protested, "How can you think something like that? Yesterday that thing wasn't there."
"OK, sorry. It wasn't me either."
"Do you think the Centre has found us and want to tell us something?"
"You mean by trying to kill you? No, I don't think so, they would have wanted us both - alive."
"So, what now?"
"We stay here, at least for the next two days, that's how long I need to get the two of us a new identity."
"What about your friend? How are you gonna tell him we're leaving again?"
"I hate to do this but I won't tell him."
She shrugged her shoulder, "I don't care, do whatever you think best."
"I hate to do this but the cabin itself has to disappear so he won't be searching for us."
"Blow up the house? Not the fine English way, but effective."
"Thanks. Get dressed and then come down to the kitchen, we have to talk about everything."
She nodded and Jarod went down the stairs and into the kitchen. He looked out of the window and something seemed to be different than the evening before. He opened the door and looked outside. He found a ladder leaning at the house, directly under Parker's window. Parker entered the kitchen.
"What are you doing? Close the door, it's terribly cold."
"Come out here."
Reluctantly she stepped out in the cold and was surprised to find everything covered with snow. Not much but enough to make the world look different.
"What?"
"What do you see?"
"Snow. And it's cold."
"The ladder. It wasn't there when I left the house earlier. Did you do any climbing exercise?"
"Hey, that's my window! No, I didn't do anything. Are there any footprints in the snow? Anything that indicates a visitor? I hate living with the thought that a ghost did that to me."
Abruptly she turned around and ran to the bathroom. Jarod looked confused. Slowly he followed her inside and closed the door behind him. Inside the bathroom he could hear her retching.
"Parker?"
"Go away!"
The cabin/ somewhere in Germany
12/31/1999, 11.30 p.m.
Parker was sitting on the sofa and stared into the fire. She had gotten used to the fire and its low light so she had switched off the lights. Her eyes were half-closed and she stared into nothingness. She had wanted to tell Jarod that she really hadn't drunken the whiskey but he didn't believe it. He was still convinced that she was trying to test him. She really had no idea how it all had happened but somehow she knew that deep in her mind she had to know what had happened. She wanted to be alone, to have the silence she needed to find those lost memories. And she did NOT want Jarod play counselor or psychiatrist to help her. She had to find it all on her own.
Jarod was sitting in the kitchen, with the lights on, working with his laptop. He had no intention of joining Parker in the living room for she had unmistakably told him that she wanted to be alone. She had drunken half a bottle of whiskey and wanted him to believe that someone else had made her drink it while she had been sleeping. The little mark on her arm was conspicuous but he didn't want to think about it at the moment. Maybe if he left her alone for a while she would try to explain him what really happened.
At the same time they both stared out of the window, their thoughts wandering back to the Centre. Miss Parker thought of her daddy and what he would possibly be doing right now. Jarod thought of his family and Sydney. Suddenly he no longer wanted to be alone and decided to join Miss Parker even if she wanted to be alone. He sent the last e-mail via his satellite link to Sydney. He had encrypted the message so only Sydney would understand it and had asked him what he should do with Parker. He still wasn't convinced that she was really trying to escape the Centre but he played her game. He switched off his laptop and then got up. He switched off the lights and stepped into the living room.
"Parker?"
"What?"
"I didn't want to be sitting in the kitchen all by myself, staring at my computer screen. Hope you don't mind company."
"In fact, I do."
"Oh come on, it's nearly midnight, we should be cheering, being happy. Instead we're sitting in each ones corner glaring at each other like animals on the hunt."
"Sometimes I'm really thinking of killing you. You're getting on my nerves."
"Parker, don't be silly. I know you're angry about this morning, but that's over. I have apologized and you should accept that apology."
"No, I can't accept it. You always make me look like a fool. You don't believe what I say, no matter WHAT I say."
"I can't believe this. I told you I was sorry."
"But I don't believe it, you're not sincere with me--. No, we don't talk about this now."
"Alright, if we don't talk about this, then stop pouting!"
"I am NOT pouting."
"Stop it! Parker, it's nearly midnight, don't you think we should start with the champagne?"
"Champagne? You bought champagne? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't ask."
This part is for Gables. Thanks for your help!!
Turn Around Part 6/?
by: Chris
Rated: PG
Somewhere in Germany
12/29/2000, 5.27 p.m.
"Jarod, are you sure that's the right way? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"Yes, I'm sure. I've been here before."
"You've been living here?"
"No, just one day."
"I don't know how to survive this", Parker sighed, "No warm shower, no central heating."
"We still have a bath-tub", Jarod grinned.
"A bath-tub? With cold water?"
"We have a fire and we can boil water to fill the tub."
"OK, leave this discussion for later."
The car drove through the silent dark forest. There were nothing but trees outside, not even a normal road, only gravel. And then the forest faded away and Parker saw the house. The moon was reflecting on the lake's surface, the little house even looked cozy. Jarod stopped the car and got outside. His boots crunched on the gravel. Parker got out as well and inhaled the fresh air.
"It's fairly cold."
"Uuuh. We have to make a fire first so the cabin will be warm, then we take our bags inside."
Both stared at the moon and then went inside. They didn't see the huge clouds building on the horizon nor did they hear the distant thunder.
Jarod switched on the lights.
"What about the generator? Is it working constantly?"
"No, but there's a certain storage capacity for at least one night. We'll switch in on tomorrow."
Their conversation came to an abrupt end when - in-between their sentences - low thunder began to roll.
"What was that? It is much too cold for a thunderstorm."
"It's never too cold. There can be electrical charges in warm and cold air."
"I know, but in the common mind it's too cold."
"OK. I'll light the fire and you bring the bags inside."
Parker went outside to fetch the bags from the car. When she came back inside Jarod was sitting in front of the fire.
"It's kinda windy outside, Jarod. Does this house have shutters?"
"Yes, but wooden ones that have to be closed from the outside. I'll close them. Can you look after the fire?"
"There are still some bags in the car."
"I'll get them."
Jarod left the cabin and Parker placed the bags she had been holding on the sofa. She sat down in front of the fire and enjoyed its warmth. She put a few logs on it and the flames grew larger. They illuminated the whole room that much that she didn't notice that the lights went off.
"Why did you switch off the lights?" Jarod asked when he came back in.
"I didn't switch them off", Parker protested.
"But they're out."
"The fire was so bright, I didn't notice. What about the generator?"
"I have to have a closer look but not now. It's too windy and it's dark outside. I'll have to do it tomorrow. There should be some candles in the cupboard."
"This is going to become an adventure tour", Parker sighed, "Did you bring the last bags?"
Jarod nodded and pointed towards the door. Parker looked around the room and stopped when she saw the hi-fi tower in one corner. A little smile played around her lips. She opened one of her bags and took out some CDs. Suddenly she started swearing.
"What's the matter?" Jarod asked.
"My fav CD's gone. I must have left it back home."
"What CD?"
"Tina Turner. You've been here before, what about a tour of the house?"
"Such a sudden change of topic? You want a tour of the house without lights?"
"I've got a flashlight in my bag ."
She dug out the torch and gave it to Jarod. He went over to the kitchen.
"Small but fine, our kitchen. Over there is the door to the outside toilet."
"What, the toilet isn't inside the house? Oh my, where am I?"
"Don't worry, we still have a potty. Let's go upstairs. You already know the living room, over there are the stairs."
They climbed up the steep stairs to a kind of balcony over the living room.
"This is the bedroom."
It had only a French sized bed and a chair in it. One small window gave a free view over the lake and the forests. The room was illuminated by flash from the outside and Parker shrieked in surprise. Jarod smiled.
"Stop that silly smile", Parker barked.
"Sorry, but this is too funny. A woman like you, and then she's afraid of a thunderstorm."
"I'm not afraid."
She sat down on the bed. and looked around the sparely illuminated room. The fire was reflecting on the ceiling and gave the room a warm light.
"Let's go to bed. I'm tired. As I said, the sofa's all yours."
"Yes, ma'am. Don't you want to finish the tour first?"
"There's another room?"
Jarod nodded.
"The bathroom", Jarod grinned.
"Bathroom?"
"Come on, I'll show you."
They went down the stairs and Jarod opened a small door under the stairs. He switched on the lights and stepped back.
"You're an idiot", Parker hissed, "Why are the lights working here?"
"I switched the others off. I wanted to annoy you a little bit. And it obviously worked. There's the shower and our toilet."
"A toilet? A shower? Don't tell me there's even warm water?"
"No, the cold water thing was the whole truth."
"So, where's the bath-tub?"
"Still standing outside. We have to pull it inside if we want to use it. Now that you've seen the house, you can go to bed. Try to think what you want to do the day after tomorrow."
"The day after tomorrow? What is so special about that?"
"It's the 31st of December. The last day of 1999. The day before the world collapses."
"Haha, funny. What can we do?"
"Stay in our little cabin, staring at each other or sitting in ones corner. What ever you wish."
"Can we go into a city? I need people around me."
"Sorry, no. We can go shopping tomorrow and have wonderful night out here."
"So, what choice do I have? Let's go shopping tomorrow and have a wonderful night out here. Wonderful, really wonderful", she said sarcastically.
"Oh come on, am I such a bad company?"
"No, but I can think of better ways to spend a special night and I can't think of something better to do. Any other suggestions?"
"No, not yet. Maybe I can find another thing. Wait and see. Well, tomorrow we can go shopping so we have to make a list what we need. You prepare what you need, I prepare what I need. You know, I don't know if it's safe for you to leave the house more often. The Centre has spies everywhere, so when they find out that you have already found me you get in trouble."
"You mean, make a list for the things I need, say, for the next few weeks?"
"Bingo."
She let herself fall onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Jarod sat down in the chair and looked at her. They listened to the raging storm outside until Parker fell asleep. Jarod smiled and got up. He covered her with the blanket and went down the stairs. He left the lights off and sat in front of the fire. His eyes fell on his suitcase. The DSAs. He hoped Parker hadn't seen them. He opened the case and pushed one of the small disks inside.
The night went by and Jarod watched one DSA after the other. He didn't seem to realize that Parker was standing at the top of the stairs, watching him. Even when she came down the stairs to stand behind him he didn't move.
"Jarod?" she whispered, "Don't you want to go to sleep? It's 4.30 am."
"Uuuh? I didn't hear you coming down."
"Jarod, go to sleep. You can't change things in looking at your DSAs. Mind if I join you?"
Jarod was surprised that she simply sat down beside him on the floor and wrapped herself in a blanket from the couch. He flipped another disk inside, not knowing what was on it. When it started to play he wanted to switch it off immediately but Parker grabbed his hand and stared at the screen. The one he had seen so often, the one where Catherine Parker had been killed. Parker's grip on his hand increased and he heard her breath harden. He turned his head and saw tears filling her eyes. He said nothing until the scene was finished.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
"No", she answered and got up. She climbed up the stairs and he heard her falling onto the bed. Then there was dead silence. He considered getting up and following her but decided against it.
Ansbach/Germany
12/30/1999, noon
Jarod was walking around the stores, buying all the things they might need during the next weeks. Parker had stayed in the cabin. She felt sick and preferred to stay in bed. Reluctantly Jarod had left her alone but she had been right, he had to do the shopping otherwise they would starve to death. So he used the time to have a look at a music store. He had planned to buy a Tina Turner CD for Parker, so to say as a belated Christmas gift. He found what he had wanted. Another thought came to his mind. He went to the classics and searched for something special for New Years eve. He had to spend a night with Parker and he wanted to impress her a little bit. He had bought champagne and something special to eat. All that missed now was a special kind of music.
Back at the cabin
12/30/1999, 3.54 p.m.
Jarod opened the door and entered the house. Everything was quiet it seemed as if nobody were at home. He put the bags onto the sofa and went up the stairs to Parker's bedroom. She was lying on her bed, her eyes closed, breathing heavily. He put his hand on her forehead. Somehow he had expected it to be hot but it was cold and beads of sweat covered her forehead. She moaned and turned around.
"Parker?"
Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him.
"Are you alright?"
"Where am I?"
"In the cabin. Is everything alright?"
She looked around and seemed to orient herself. She looked at the ceiling and sighed heavily.
"That DSA last night gave me bad dreams, nothing more. I'm fine. How long have you been gone?"
"I've been gone for nearly five hours. Did you sleep the whole time?"
Parker shrugged her shoulders.
"I think so. Did you get all the things you wanted?"
Jarod nodded and got up from her bed. He shot her an inconspicuous glance and went down the stairs. Somehow she smelled like alcohol. Jarod worried if she couldn't cope with being alone. Parker slowly got up. Her head seemed to be spinning around, she felt as if she were drunk. What the hell did she do before she had fallen asleep? She couldn't even remember having gone to bed after Jarod had left. She looked around the small room and saw a bottle lying on the floor next to her bed. She picked it up and looked at it. Whiskey. Where did that come from? She knew she'd had a bottle in one of her bags, but a new one. Slowly she went over to the bag and looked inside. The bottle was gone.
"Jarod?" she called.
"What?" came his voice from the kitchen.
"Come up here, there's something wrong."
Jarod jumped up and ran up the stairs.
"What's wrong?"
"I've had a whiskey bottle in my bag. Now the bottle's gone and instead I find a nearly empty bottle lying next to my bed and I feel as if I'm drunk."
"Well, you drank it, I can't think of another explanation."
"But I can't remember that I did so."
She scratched her arm and then looked at it.
"Jarod, what's that?" she asked, pointing towards a stitch on her arm. He took her arm and looked at it closely.
"That looks like someone has pricked you with a needle. Are you an addict?"
"No", she protested, "How can you think something like that? Yesterday that thing wasn't there."
"OK, sorry. It wasn't me either."
"Do you think the Centre has found us and want to tell us something?"
"You mean by trying to kill you? No, I don't think so, they would have wanted us both - alive."
"So, what now?"
"We stay here, at least for the next two days, that's how long I need to get the two of us a new identity."
"What about your friend? How are you gonna tell him we're leaving again?"
"I hate to do this but I won't tell him."
She shrugged her shoulder, "I don't care, do whatever you think best."
"I hate to do this but the cabin itself has to disappear so he won't be searching for us."
"Blow up the house? Not the fine English way, but effective."
"Thanks. Get dressed and then come down to the kitchen, we have to talk about everything."
She nodded and Jarod went down the stairs and into the kitchen. He looked out of the window and something seemed to be different than the evening before. He opened the door and looked outside. He found a ladder leaning at the house, directly under Parker's window. Parker entered the kitchen.
"What are you doing? Close the door, it's terribly cold."
"Come out here."
Reluctantly she stepped out in the cold and was surprised to find everything covered with snow. Not much but enough to make the world look different.
"What?"
"What do you see?"
"Snow. And it's cold."
"The ladder. It wasn't there when I left the house earlier. Did you do any climbing exercise?"
"Hey, that's my window! No, I didn't do anything. Are there any footprints in the snow? Anything that indicates a visitor? I hate living with the thought that a ghost did that to me."
Abruptly she turned around and ran to the bathroom. Jarod looked confused. Slowly he followed her inside and closed the door behind him. Inside the bathroom he could hear her retching.
"Parker?"
"Go away!"
The cabin/ somewhere in Germany
12/31/1999, 11.30 p.m.
Parker was sitting on the sofa and stared into the fire. She had gotten used to the fire and its low light so she had switched off the lights. Her eyes were half-closed and she stared into nothingness. She had wanted to tell Jarod that she really hadn't drunken the whiskey but he didn't believe it. He was still convinced that she was trying to test him. She really had no idea how it all had happened but somehow she knew that deep in her mind she had to know what had happened. She wanted to be alone, to have the silence she needed to find those lost memories. And she did NOT want Jarod play counselor or psychiatrist to help her. She had to find it all on her own.
Jarod was sitting in the kitchen, with the lights on, working with his laptop. He had no intention of joining Parker in the living room for she had unmistakably told him that she wanted to be alone. She had drunken half a bottle of whiskey and wanted him to believe that someone else had made her drink it while she had been sleeping. The little mark on her arm was conspicuous but he didn't want to think about it at the moment. Maybe if he left her alone for a while she would try to explain him what really happened.
At the same time they both stared out of the window, their thoughts wandering back to the Centre. Miss Parker thought of her daddy and what he would possibly be doing right now. Jarod thought of his family and Sydney. Suddenly he no longer wanted to be alone and decided to join Miss Parker even if she wanted to be alone. He sent the last e-mail via his satellite link to Sydney. He had encrypted the message so only Sydney would understand it and had asked him what he should do with Parker. He still wasn't convinced that she was really trying to escape the Centre but he played her game. He switched off his laptop and then got up. He switched off the lights and stepped into the living room.
"Parker?"
"What?"
"I didn't want to be sitting in the kitchen all by myself, staring at my computer screen. Hope you don't mind company."
"In fact, I do."
"Oh come on, it's nearly midnight, we should be cheering, being happy. Instead we're sitting in each ones corner glaring at each other like animals on the hunt."
"Sometimes I'm really thinking of killing you. You're getting on my nerves."
"Parker, don't be silly. I know you're angry about this morning, but that's over. I have apologized and you should accept that apology."
"No, I can't accept it. You always make me look like a fool. You don't believe what I say, no matter WHAT I say."
"I can't believe this. I told you I was sorry."
"But I don't believe it, you're not sincere with me--. No, we don't talk about this now."
"Alright, if we don't talk about this, then stop pouting!"
"I am NOT pouting."
"Stop it! Parker, it's nearly midnight, don't you think we should start with the champagne?"
"Champagne? You bought champagne? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't ask."
