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Chapter Text

Faulkner Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
10/02/01

The doors to the ER at Faulkner Hospital swung open to carry in, along with the heavy waves of icy snow flakes, the victims of a car accident. One medic held the IV plastic bag up, while his colleague pressed a compression on the deep wound on the brunette woman's stomach – her blood effervescing and soaking through the cloth. The first one barked to the emergency staff: "Car accident. Three badly injured."

Before he could continue a doctor in his early forties rushed to the patient. When he saw the pale features of the woman brought in, his dark brown curls fell into his face hiding the shock his eyes reflected.

Moments past, his hand firmly clasping hers, his orbs kept looked on her closed lids, hiding the bright blue, her eyes normally had. The doctor, whose name tag read Archer, was startled by the voice of the young nurse pressing a new cloth on the wound. "Dr. Archer! … Jarod?"

Coming to his senses once again Jarod let go of his patient's hand his gaze travelled immediately to the gaping gash. "Molly, I need at least three bags of B negative blood." He took over the pressing on the injury and rolled the woman into the next surgery room. The nurse, Molly, stood startled, wondering whence the doctor knew the blood type, and watched the doors swung shut.

-

The sounds of sirens on the driveway were almost swallowed by the howl of the snow storm that blew over Boston. His eyes watched the flakes threw against the window pane, remembering the last storm he was caught in nearly one month before. Only this one isn't half as bad as the one on Carthis was.

His fingers were still grasping the almost lifeless hand of the brunette. He sat there for more than five hours, allowing to break the physical contact to her only for the briefest of moments and only to check, her still high temperature and pulse. The hours before he had fought for her life – stitching her inner organs up as good as the heavy bleeding allowed. Now he was waiting for her to wake up.

He remembered her arrival at the hospital that afternoon; he was surprised to see her at all – since he wasn't about to leave any traces this time. He wanted to vanish for some time – he was cautious to don't leave any hints at his last hideouts. But somehow she had found him, but instead of chasing him with her gun through the long hallways of the hospital, she was brought in near death.

Suddenly her hand gave his a little squeeze and a moan escaped her lips. Jarod moved closer and sat on the bed next to her injured leg, taking her hand between his larger ones. "Hey."

Her eyes flew open, full of panic looking around in the sterile room – she tried to move her body forward, but was stopped by him. He gently held her shoulders. "Clam down, Parker."

Her blurry blue orbs looked up to the man in front of her, adjusting to the dim light, making out the features of her childhood friend – her current prey. Processing his words, his worried expression, she finally relaxed against the pillows. A light 'Jarod?' rang from her pale lips.

He withdrew his hands from her body and stroke with his fingertips gently over her cheek. "You had a really bad car accident. A van crashed into the driver site of your car. You are lucky you wasn't the one sitting at the steering wheel."

"W-wher…"

"Faulkner Hospital. The one I had my last pretend."

"Did you - stitch me up?" She wasn't sure if she liked the idea to have a surgery by a wannabe doctor, that escaped the same insane firm, she worked for. On the other hand he was a genius and perfect at what he does.

He simply nodded and added when he saw her slightly frustrated features. "Or would you have preferred Dr. Langly, who uses to forget the scalpel in his patients." He raised his brows.

"I hope you locked that guy up."

Jarod reached for the glass of water standing on the nightstand and helped her to take small sips. "My work here was done when the ambulance brought you in."

"Only me?" Not that it really bothered her what'd happened to the sweepers, Raines – no, her father - had assigned her.

"No, also the sweeper that was on the right backseat. He's a floor above. – The other two were immediately dead."

A moment passed and he stood the glass back. "I thought you would like a room for yourself…. How have you found me? I wanted to stay off The Centre radar."

She almost smiled a little self-confident. "Call it a feeling."

"Bad feeling." He looked into her eyes.

"Yeah." Miss Parker tried to sit up, but gave up her attempt, when a searing pain rushed through her stomach. She painted heavily to ease the feeling. After a beat she looked up to meet the worried eyes of the pretender. "How bad is it?"

"You are going to be fine now. Nothing more than a slight scar will be left. I tried my best that not much will be left." He than moved his attention to her IV and checked the tube.

"I know you for too long now, Jarod, for not noticing when you are hiding something from me." A small flame of anger flashed in her body, when he didn't continue. "I'm a big girl now. I can handle the truth."

"Ironic that it is you again asking me for the truth of your life."

"Jar-"

He wanted to protect her, to help her as he always had done. But he knew her stubbornness, so he interrupted her arguing. "When you were brought in, you were nearly bleeding to death. I had to give you four blood infusions. And during th-" His voice cracked and he wasn't aware that his hands searched for hers once more. "you … your heart stopped… from the loss of blood pressure." He swallowed hard, not looking at her, his long bangs hanging into his face. "I had to reanimate you. "

Miss Parker was like frozen. She didn't feel his fingers stroking her cheek again; not hearing him call her name. The minutes passed by until she finally reached her hand out to her cheek and covered his hand with hers. „You could have let me die. Would have made your life much easier."

His voice was barely a whisper. "Maybe. …But I refused to believe that that would be the different ending to our story." He faced her and she could see his eyes were glittering with tears, that he fought to hold back.

"Jarod…"

He pulled his hand away. "I will send The Centre some hint that you had followed me to Chicago, so you'll have time to recover. Tomorrow I'll call Sydney and tell him where you are. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"You are leaving." It was more a statement than a question. A part of her didn't want him to leave; the part that had caused the moment of weakness at Carthis.

"You are going to be fine now." He bent forward and gently brushed a kiss on her forehead. "I will call you tomorrow after I've talked to Sydney." Jarod stood up with a final squeeze of her hand and walked to the door. Before he closed it, he heard her say 'Thank you'.

-

The phone on her nightstand rang and she took the receiver. "What?"

"I assume, you are feeling better, Parker." Jarod had to smile hearing her custom greeting.

"Like a truck had crushed me."

"It was a mini-van."

"Smart ass. Think you are funny. Stop joking and come to the point."

Jarod was glad to see that Miss Parker was fine and back to her usual self. He couldn't resist on teasing her – at least a little. "Maybe I'm just calling to hear your lovely voice. I missed to hear it since that incident on Carthis."

The brunette spoke slow and pronounced every word as if it was a sentence on its own. "There was no incident." Remembering the warming fire from the fireplace behind them, his sparkling chocolate eyes watching her with that understanding and care she hadn't seen in anyone else' eyes before. Not even in the man's she had thought her father as long as she could remember. And the longing that flickered in his dark orbs when their faces drew closer and their lips were about to… suddenly Miss Parker snapped out of her reverie. „Why are you always there for me? Helping me during the most difficult moments of my life?" She had asked him that one back on the Island of the Haunted.

Jarod leaned backing in his chair in front of his desk. "Cuz I remember a little girl, that got lost a long time ago, like that boy she used to care about. She is just about to wake up from that lie, she calls life."

"What if she doesn't want to wake up anymore, Jarod."

"The truth about our lives is out there. The truth our mothers tried to find thirty years ago."

Miss Parker leant back into her pillows, already knowing his respond. „You are not giving up?"

„Neither do you…. As Ocee'd said, on Carthis, my journey – our journey had just begun. The truth is out there – even with the scrolls destroyed."

"You are still looking for that different ending?" Her voice was almost melancholic.

"There are still many secrets hidden and well locked up in the depths of The Centre. ... Are you going to pass your father's legacy on to your children?" With that he disconnected the call, while his attention was centred on his laptop's monitor, showing a confidential file from one of The Centre's many secret research facilities.

Chapter Text

The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
11/30/01 - Friday

Two months had past since her car accident in Boston and since that time she hadn't heard anything from the pretender. No hints, no annoying mails, no midnight calls. Not even a get-well-present. He had really vanished from The Centre radar this time.

A part of her hoped that this state wouldn't last for good – not only because of the pressure her new father performed on her for not finding Jarod. Some little voice inside her was worried about his whereabouts. On the other hand, this voice told her that it was just fine that he was out there without The Centre on his heels. And this little voice was not her Inner Sense.

Neither she had heard anything from her little brother Ethan. It gnawed on her that the last notice she had from him was months old. After all he was her only normal family left.

She shook her head, telling herself that that wasn't true. Her gaze travelled to the photos on her desk – the one of her mother holding a baby Miss Parker; the next one of Miss Parker as a grown woman together with the man she'd thought her father for so long; and finally the third picture of herself holding Baby Parker. After all she had her baby brother, if it was what he really was to her. She lifted the framed image and traced his little features with her index finger. She wondered if he was her cousin, Mr.Parker's only real child; or if he was indeed her little brother, what meant that Raines had his genes in play – once more.

She couldn't help, but pushed those depressing thoughts away. At the moment it didn't matter, who their father was – the only thing that made her feel better, was the knowledge that this little guy was a Parker and with that the only normal family she had at the moment- even if it was a lie.

Ever since Mr.Parker's supposed death some miles in front of the North African coast, she had taken care of the youngest Parker. Not that she had claimed custody or anything alike – but once a week, every Sunday, she took the almost 19 months old boy home with her and spent some time with the toddler. Only two things made her feel miserable; one was the circumstance that the little guy spent his whole time at the Centre's nursery since his father's death. And two was the fact that she as the oldest Parker heir didn't even know her baby brother's first name. 'Ironic… he doesn't know my first name either.'

Since the envelope with all her brother's papers was at a place out of her knowledge and she didn't know how to address him – instead of baby brother – she came to the conclusion that he needed a real name. So she secretly christened him Tommy some weeks ago.

She placed the photo back on her desk and gazed back at the sheet of paper in front of her computer keyboard. It was an almost three year old Centre memo. Some weeks before she had made Broots dig in her father's office. She didn't know, what she wanted him to find there – she just had the feeling there would be a hint for the truth. Broots had found the paper in a carton in Mr. Parker's old office, Dr. Raines' new one. Because of Raines' moving in at that time, he wasn't sure if it was one of her father's boxes or of Raines'.

The short message read that 12-072463-03 should be delivered on 03-01-99 to a facility called Seronon. They had found out that Seronon was a virology research facility in San Josè, California, with ties to The Centre. And what 12-072463-03 meant, knew Miss Parker for sure: it was an ID-code for one of the Red Files – for her Red File.

The only thing that didn't make any sense was the fact that she, 12-072463-03, was still at The Centre. But maybe, it was only a part from her that was delivered then. Two days before the order was executed, she was in hospital because of her ulcer.

Now she was eager to find out, what exactly The Centre had stolen from her and on what purpose. Sydney and Broots would cover for her and buy her the needed time; Broots would take Baby Parker for the usual No-Centre-Sunday, telling Raines the upcoming Monday that Miss Parker had brought the child I the evening and told him that she'd have finally a cue on Jarod. Sydney would inform the devil doctor, that said hint was somewhere in Arizona. That should give her enough time for her visit of Seronon.

Chapter Text

San Josè, California

12/01/01 – Saturday - Evening

The light of a television flickered in a small, dark cottage in the outskirts of San Josè. The news reporter stood in front of a former large building that was now surrounded by debris and ambulance cars. People rushed in the background, the viewer was informed that the number of victims had increased - deaths a gas explosion had caused.

Jarod watched the news about that disaster with mixed feelings – as always he felt deep compassion for the victims and their families. Normally the pretender would have tried to help the victims and the local authorities, but unfortunately he had important business in that city area.

He cast a last look at the ID-numbers of the files, he had memorized earlier and took his black leather jacket. Then he left the hut and went to his rental car.

-

Miss Parker had already planned to make some minor stops on her way to San Josè – she didn't want to leave any direct traces to her destination – not that she had intended to leave any hint behind at all. But as for an abandoned suitcase at the airport's departure terminal, all flights were frozen and she had to rent a car in Whitney, Nevada, which was her last destination by plane. She had no time left for waiting.

For the last hours she drove directly to the industrial area of the northern outskirts. It was already 1am on Sunday morning and she sipped on her nths coffee. About one mile away from the Seronon facility, she parked her vehicle in a small clearing and decided to walk the rest in the shelter of the night.

When she approached, the grounds were fenced in, but she could detect a small gap in the fence. Cautiously she slipped through it and neared the back of the complex. There, as Broots had shown her on a map before, was a delivery entrance with a security panel. He had found out that the security system was based on his program code for the Centre's security software and so he was able to give her a key-card with a program, that would allow her to open all doors and to be unseen by the cameras in the building.

Cautiously she neared the panel next to the delivering entrance, ready to use her card, only to find the door unlocked and the camera set on loop. Frowning and her gun drawn, she slipped through the door and turned her flashlight on to eye the dark hallway. The corridor was long with doors to offices on each side and a lab-entrance on the far end. Miss Parker was about to go to this lab, when her eyes caught a staircase that led down. The brunette looked down and saw a sign with 'SL-01' next to another door. Curious about that familiar appellation she decided to descend and begin her search at the highest sub-level number.

When she past by the floor entrance at SL-04 the door was labelled with 'Restricted Area' and its security panel was also been hacked. She opened the door with her gloved hand and entered the floor.

On the opposite side of the stairs were storage rooms, with cages full of rabbits, rats and other animals, on the right there was a long dark hallway, she decided to follow. From time to time there was a door on one of the sides, with more lab pets. When Miss Parker heard footsteps sneak up behind the next corner, she stopped half a metre before the bend, her weapon drawn and aimed at whoever it was that disturbed her research. Some seconds passed before the person rounded the corner and abruptly stopped, when he faced the muzzle of the brunette's gun.

She had missed those chocolate eyes staring at her – not that she had missed the shock and surprise that were evident in those dark orbs at the moment.

Silence hung over them before Jarod's astonishment disappeared. "Don't tell me you had a feeling again."

"Not everything is about you, wonderboy." Miss Parker didn't know why, but she slowly lowered her gun and stepped closer to the pretender. "Broots found a Centre memo concerning my Red File-code. Why are you here, Jarod?"

A faint smirk appeared on his features, his eyes lighting up. "Then you aren't giving up either to find the truth."

Miss Parker let out an annoyed snort. She wasn't in the mood for his mind games. "Happy to be right again!"

"Just happy to see your beautiful face again." Passion blazed in his eyes for a moment, but disappeared as he turned his back at her and went towards a lab.

She decided to ignore his comment and followed him. "Where are you going? – Why are you here? What answers are here? … Jarod?"

By the time they had arrived at the closed sliding doors of a huge lab, he turned around to respond. "I'm not sure myself, but we'll know soon. The only thing I know for sure is that this facility is manipulating human DNA. The virology research is just cover up."

"And they have my DNA." Miss Parker's voice was only a whisper and Jarod's expression told her that he already knew. "What else do you know? Tell me!"

"I have never left you in the dark, Miss Parker. I always shared the information I had with you." Jarod had already worked at the key-card-scanner and was about to take care for the cameras, when Miss Parker slid a key card through the scanner. Astonished he looked up to her, a smirk plastered over her face.

"Broots wrote a little program for me."

"Almost sounds, he did voluntarily." Jarod took out of his black duffle bag a iron bar and turned to the brunette. "Help me to open the door and you'll get your answers."

Without hesitation Miss Parker stepped to the sliding doors and put her fingers in the small slot between the two doors, as did Jarod. Together they opened them enough that the pretender could lay the bar between the doors, so they wouldn't slide back together.

Parker was the first to enter the lab through the small gap. She heard the pretender follow her and she used her flashlight to give them more insight into the lab's equipment. The room hold a counter in the middle with cupboards above it, tables with computers in a far corner, a sideboard on the longest wall and two big refrigerators in another corner.

Jarod approached the computers, while Parker went to the fridges. "You can't boot them, genius. They would know."

"But I can take the HDDs." He answered flatly and concentrated on opening the pcs. He slid one part of the casing back and plugged the HDD out off the two cables. Then he did the same with the other three computers.

Parker opened the door to the first fridge. On the first of the four shelves were cell cultures, on the second and third blood samples and on the last one fluids labelled with 'meiosis1' and 'meiosis 2' and 'Evolution'.

The other refrigerator held almost the same content, except for the sperm and ovum samples that was also labelled, as everything else, with numbers. This shelf and the one with the blood were marked with 'NuGenesis'. Parker decided to take a closer look at the sample numbers and ascertained that one of the numbers was a date and the other one a code. All the NuGenesis-samples weren't older than three months, so she examined the rest of the blood.

-

Jarod was already at his last computer when Miss Parker finally found a sample beginning with 12-072463, just it ended with 01 and not 03. She took the one and looked at the date, that read 22-10-89. Next to the sample she found another two with the same code, only with other dates – 30-05-75 and 04-02-81. After some more minutes she found two objects with her Red-File code on them. But when Parker looked on the dates, she was totally confused. Neither of the two samples was labelled 01-03-99; they were both much older – 13-09-87 and 08-09-92. 'The yearly routine check ups.'

The brunette took all five blood samples and went to Jarod, who was finished with his HDD-theft. "Does the number 12-072463-01 say something to you?"

Jarod's face showed a little surprise. "That's my Red-File code."

"As I thought."

He looked at his blood in the glass for a moment before he held the small bag out to her. Hesitating a little she put all samples to the HDDs and watched the pretender close the bag's zipper. "What else was in the fridge?"

"Cell cultures, sperm, ovum and fluids labelled with two different meiosis states and 'Evolution'. But nothing with our codes. Some samples were assigned to NuGenesis."

Jarod simply nodded and went to the door at the other end of the lab. It wasn't locked and he entered the storage room. Jarod's eyes fell immediately on the file-containers on the opposite wall. He approached them and broke the locks open. He found Parker's and his file in the one container and the other file-code he was looking for in another container.

By the time he had opened the first container Parker had stepped into the room. Other than him, her gaze firstly fell on the long rows of shelves – or more precise their content. A gasp escaped her lips when she saw the huge glass bottles filled with human embryos in different evolving states, all with mutations and dysplasias. Similar pictures from Donoterase flashed before her inner eyes. Disgusted she turned away and walked over to Jarod. When she came to a stop next to him, he was reading in a file, but he put it in his bag as soon as he noticed her. On her questioning gaze he said: "Our answers." Then he went back to the door.

"Then let me have a look at them."

"No. The guards will make their round in less than a quarter hour. And when they do, I don't wanna be here anymore." Before he left the room, he faced her one last time. "I assume Daddy doesn't know anything about your little trip and if it should stay that way, you better come with me."

-

Jarod was glad that Miss Parker was here with him, without any intention of catching him. For one – he had missed her- and two – it would make things easier, when she was with him finding some parts of the puzzle they called their lives. But he wasn't sure, if she was ready for those answers in his bag yet.

Before he left the lab he approached the refrigerators, opened them and threw all their contents on the floor, blending blood, cells, sperm and glass with each other. Then he turned around and stepped towards the sliding doors. When he was outside the lab he looked back inside and saw the brunette staring at the heap in front of the fridges. "C'mon, Parker. We don't have much time." Her gaze travelled towards him and when it rested on his features, he lifted his brows, signalling her to come.

Slowly she moved to the door and the pretender helped her over the iron bar, which he removed from the doors afterwards. Then he led them back to the staircase and walked up.

-

They had almost reached the delivery entrance, when they heard voices approaching. Jarod stopped in his tracks, signalling Parker to do the same. Concentrating on the sounds, he decided the guards were in the next corridor at the far end and were walking their way. Casting a last gaze in that direction, he grasped Miss Parker's arm and pulled her slowly toward the door, they'd both used to enter the building.

The pretender opened the iron door, causing the hinges to squeak. Stillness. The moment of complete silence followed a panicked look of Jarod back into the hallway where two armed guards came running. "Freeze!" one of them shouted. But Miss Parker shoved Jarod through the exit and both ran to the gap in the fence. Jarod held the wire to the left, while the brunette climbed through the opening. Then he handed her the bag and followed. The guards had already reached the delivery entrance and rushed over to the fence, their guns ready.

Miss Parker watched their hunters approach, thanking the starless night for its darkness. As she waited for Jarod to pass through the gap, she turned her head to him. "I hope you have an escape plan ready to hand, wonder boy."

"Of course. It's called running."

Sighing frustrated she followed him, her grip strengthened around the bag's strap. Suddenly the thunder of shoots drowned out the clapping of her heels on the asphalt. A sharp pain rushed through her right shoulder and her legs gave away. She fell forward, softened her impact on the hard subsoil with her left hand

As Jarod heard a scream from behind, he immediately turned towards Parker, who laid on the ground holding her shoulder. "Parker!" Hardly a second past until Jarod was next to her and helped her up to her feet, taking the bag from her. He was relieved that she wasn't unconscious and he dragged her up the little hill that encircled the half of the facility area.

Parker kept running into the woods that extended 200 metres from the research complex. Her legs felt like pudding and she had to muster all her strength to keep going and not to faint. She looked at her injured shoulder, the blood seeping through her brown lather coat, then her eyes travelled down to her numb hand, that still held firmly her Smith'n Wesson. Jarod must have noticed that and he took the weapon – holding it in the same hand as the bag - while his arm slung closer around her waist, supporting her.

As soon as they arrived at his car, Jarod helped Parker in the passenger seat. When he closed the door, he looked up toward the facility and saw the guards'd already passed the hill and were only moments away from them. He run to the driver site of the vehicle, threw the bag and gun at the backseat and jumped behind the steering wheel. The car speeded away just as the guards reached the woods.

-

Jarod pulled in the driveway to the small cottage – his current lair. He was worried about Miss Parker. She was conscious, but very pale and what troubled him the most was that she stood silent the entire drive. An unusual behaviour of the Ice Queen.

Gently he helped her out of the car and to the entrance. He saw her astonished features, when she entered his recent home. "You brought me to your lair!"

"Yeah. Where else?" He led her to his bed. "Sit down."

Her eyes met his and he was sure to see the flame of stubbornness blazing in those blue orbs. "No. I'm fine. It stopped bleeding"

"You are not. I want to have a look at your injury, Parker." Reluctant she followed his order and watched him fetch a first aid kit.

The brunette hissed, once he removed her coat. She shot him the glare of death, when he dared to pull her sweater up and her hands caught his.

"Parker." He demanded, lifting his brows.

She hesitated a moment before she pulled her hands away. "Don't get the wrong thoughts, lab rat."

"What thoughts?" he asked with feign innocence and sat down in front of her. He resisted the desire to have a closer look at her upper body that was now only cover by her black bra. Jarod turned the lamp on the nightstand on and examined the wound. "No bullet. It's a grazing shot… but a huge flesh wound. I'll have to stitch it up." Knowing exactly what to do he first cleaned the injury, injected Miss Parker a pain killer and then stitched her up.

Miss Parker decided to stare at something else than her shoulder and her view fell to the photos on the couch table. After some minutes of silence she began to feel uncomfortable and looked at Jarod's concentrated, yet relaxed face. "Have you seen your family again?"

"No. Not since that subway incident." He answered shortly and bandaged the suture.

Parker closed the eyes for a moment. "I miss him, Jarod. I want to know if he's all right."

Jarod knew she was talking about their mutual brother Ethan. "I'm sure he is." When he was done with his work, his brown eyes met hers. "I miss him, too. … I miss them all."

Unconsciously she enclosed his hand in hers and her gaze travelled back to the pictures. "I know." As she noticed a woman other than Magaret on one of the photos, she immediately let go of his hands. Unsure if she wanted it to know, she asked. "Who is that woman?"

Jarod followed her gaze, startled by the sudden loss of physical contact. Realising which person she meant he walked to the table and picked the said picture up. He went back to her and sat down next to her. "That's Emily. My sister." His heart jumped, when he registered the relief on her face.

"Have you seen her at all?"

"Twice. She was the one, who told me and Dad about Ethan." Jarod laid the damaged image on the nightstand and handed her one of his shirts and helped her to get dress.

Silently they sat next to each other, their shoulders touching lightly.

"Why did you vanish? Why now?" Miss Parker's voice was just a whisper and she turned her head towards him, meeting his intense gaze.

"Maybe I thought, there wasn't anything left at The Centre that was worth looking back." Jarod looked deep in her blue eyes, noticing desire and lust in them. His face drew closer – as did hers - and he breathed the rest of his respond. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Maybe." Rang from her lips, a beat later those lips had touched his.

This first kiss was light and innocent, like the one they had shared as children so many years ago. Miss Parker lifted her uninjured hand to his face, touching his warm cheek. Sliding her fingers through his long dark locks, she relaxed completely against his touch.

Jarod's heart beat wildly in his chest. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her body closer to him. The kiss continued until the need of breath, parted the two. "Why can't it always be like this?" Jarod looked deep into her eyes, hoping for the right answer.

"'Cuz you run, I chase." Her gaze broke away from his face.

Jarod got annoyed about her change of heart. He knew she wanted this like he did. She was just too afraid and much too stubborn to make the first step. "I don't want this anymore. … No I never wanted it to be like this. I just want a normal life. To be free. I know you also want this."

Snorting, Miss Parker turned away. She didn't like it when he told her about her feelings. "Don't be ridiculous!"

Jarod considered his next words, giving it one last try. His voice sounded determineded and a little angry. "It's up to you to give us a chance, Parker. - This might be your last turning point. Don't give it away." A little softer he added. "Not like this."

Hard headed she starred at the wooden floor and stayed silent.

After a while just watching her, Jarod whispered. "I'm going to vanish. This time for good."

Shocked Parker turned to face the pretender. She could see it in his eyes that he wasn't joking. "What? Why now?"

"Once I have what I'm searching for, it will be better to stay as far away from The Centre radar as possible." Jarod had decided it was time for her to know about Seronon's secrets.

"And what exactly is it you are looking for?" Parker followed his gaze to the black bag that contained the answers they'd stolen tonight.

Jarod looked back into his hands that lay folded in his lap and took a deep breath. "Some years before I escaped, The Tower wanted me to do a sim about artificial Recombination on human DNA. I should develop a method that would allow any type of cells to run through the meioses phase and become fertilizes able haploid cells." He stood up and approached the bag. Slowly he retrieved the files and opened one of them. Then he turned to Parker, who listened carefully, expecting the worst. "I enabled The Centre to create a human being out of someone's cells."

"Someone's!" Suddenly Parker shivered, knowing what he would say next. Reluctantly she looked in the file he was holding out to her. She recognized the Red File IDs next to a baby's photo, while hearing Jarod's pressed voice. "Ours." Slowly she reached for the sheets of paper, starring like hypnotized at the two IDs – hers and Jarods. She couldn't believe that the Centre had done this to her, that the Tower, her father, could be able to do this to her – to anybody. But there were definitive her and Jarod's IDs black on white on that paper.

Parker kept starring on the letters for a moment, feeling that Jarod had sat down next to her, her gaze travelled to the little chubby face on the photo. Unconsciously she asked "The file doesn't say the child's sex." Jarod didn't answer her, just watched her. The brunette's eyes fell at the word under the image. 'Evolution' "The codename. I saw the word 'Evolution' on some of the samples and cell cultures at Seronon." Suddenly Parker looked up and met the pretender's gaze. "What if there are more?"

"Then I will take them all. I'm not going to leave any of my children in the Centre's hands. No matter how they were conceived." Jarod watched Parker looking back at the child's picture, emotions clouding her eyes. Unsure what to do, he moved closer and slipped his arm around her shoulders – embracing her.

This action caused Miss Parker to shove his arm away and to slide half a metre away from him. Anger and disappointment blazed in her eyes. "Is it because of the child, we might have, that you think we could be a happy family, with the big house and white picket fences!"

First startled by her new rejection, he began to grasp, what she really feared. "No!" He took a deep breath and let it slowly out, before he continued. "You were my first love, back then, when we were kids. And now I fell in love with you for a second time. …It's more that these feelings for you have never really stopped."

Miss Parker was totally stunned "You are saying, you love me!"

Jarod sighed. "I hoped you'd have figured that out at Carthis." Gently he took her hands in his. "I know, who you are, Parker. I know your tough side that just wants to protect the little girl deep inside, who cares for her beloved ones. I know that you yearn for a loving family, a shoulder to rely on, someone who knows the truth about your job and family and for whom those doesn't matter." Looking into her blue eyes. "I love you, Parker."

Miss Parker kept starring amazed about that sincere confession. After a while she lifted her hand to his chin-long hair, toying with his dark strands. "How long are you going to let your hair grow?"

Jarod watched her face, uncertain what to expect. Until two minutes ago, he was sure, she felt the same for him, but now after his declaration, fear nagged at him. "You don't like it!"

"I like the hair of my man shorter than mine." Her eyes travelled from his strands to his face.

"Your man!" Jarod began to smile and saw how a bright smile formed on Parker's beautiful face. She bent forward and kissed him passionately, her arms slung around his neck and her fingers ran through his mane.

Jarod's heart glowed for joy, after five years and at least two direct rejections she finally knew his feelings and returned them. He knew how hart it is for her to say those three little words, he yearned to hear, but he knew better than to push her. And calling him 'her man' was her way of saying it.

The passionate kiss lasted long and when their lips finally parted for an inch, Jarod began kissing his way up to her earlobe. "I wanna see you more often. … Every day." He whispered into her ear.

These words remembered the Ice Queen, in whose arms she lay at the moment. She felt helpless – torn between her duty and her feelings for her prey. "You know. We can't have the hunt for the truth and a relationship at the same time. Not with The Centre…"

Jarod silenced her with another loving kiss. "We are good in hiding and pretending. We could give it a try."

Parker considered this and answered between kisses. "At least for a while…. Until we have the child."

A warm smile appeared on Jarod's face. "Our child."

Suddenly a deep buzz startled Miss Parker and she yanked away from her pretender's lips. She looked confused through the room, locating the source of the disturbing noise on the nightstand. Annoyed Parker freed herself from Jarod's embrace and beat on the alarm clock with her fist. "You get up at 4.30 in the morning!" Wide eyed she shot a glare at the man, she loved.

"The early bird catches the worm." Jarod replied with a smirk.

"Oh, you learned some idioms out here."

"Yup. And I had no reason to stay longer in bed… until now." And evil grin crept on his features and he raised his brows. His eyes travelled down her body and he stood up.

"You think, you would get me that easily, wonderboy?" she teased him.

Jarod approached her and kissed her passionately on her swollen lips, she immediately gave in to this new burning kiss – way too fast for her stubbornness.

Suddenly Jarod broke away and took her hands in his, planting a kiss on each of her palms. "We will have enough time, Parker, once you and the child are save – far away from the Centre." He met her startled face. "I'm not gonna leave you behind." Jarod fetched her coat and gun and brought them over to her. "But now, it's better to pretend that you don't know anything about Seronon's researches. I need you inside the Centre, to be my eyes there."

Parker sighed and run her hand through her hazelnut colored hair. "It isn't like I can just disappear like this. It would have bad consequences for Sydney, Broots, Angelo and Tommy."

Confusion appeared on the pretender's face and he raised an eyebrow. "Tommy?"

"My baby brother. I secretly named him Tommy. - You didn't know?" Miss Parker was surprised about his lack of knowledge. Normally he would even know the color of her blouse, when he phoned her.

"No, I didn't. Tommy - it's a nice gesture to give him that name." He smiled at her, one of those warm and true smiles, that told her trusting Jarod was the only right thing she could do.

He helped her slip into her coat, gave her a bag for her torn sweater and opened the door. "I'll drive you to your car. When you reach Vegas before nine, you can get the flight to Chicago."

For a moment she looked at him complete amazed. He knew her route. Shaking her head slightly, she followed him to his car, a smile on her face. "I stopped wondering about you years ago."