Between the Frozen Peas and TV Dinners Dreams Can Come True
By Katescats
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pretender characters.
Jarod was sitting at the dining room table staring out one of the large windows of his sixth floor apartment, a place he had bought a little into his second year of freedom.
A place where he could come and rest from doing his many pretends or to just drop off the Center's radar--like he was now after his latest stay at the center.
He sighed as he looked out the window. It was dark and still raining. It had been raining for the last four days. He liked the rain but this was too much.
Rain, rain go away, come again another day, he thought and then wondered where he had heard that before. "So much for sunny California," he said.
Jarod then looked around his apartment. It had an open floor plan with the living room dining room and a small kitchen combined. It had two bedrooms, one and a half baths, and two other smaller rooms. It had come unfurnished. But that didn't matter because it was in a good location for quick get away (it was close to the highway) and had a very nice view of a park.
He already had brought some furniture for his apartment like a 54 inch TV, two bedroom sets (so when he found any of his family they could came here too). A sofa bed and two lounge chairs and a dining room set. New stove, a refrigerate with ice and water dispenser, a microwave and a coffee maker.
Jarod sighed and turned back to his computer which was on the table and checked his e-mail again, looking for any word from his father and the boy. It had been over a month since they escaped and two weeks since he had escaped his trip to Africa.
"Damn it!" he yelled, still nothing on any of the e-mail addresses he and his dad had set up. He got up and started to pace the room.
Where could they be? Were they alive? Had the Center recaptured them? Did one of them die like Lyle had told him, or did they make it to Canada ? And what about Mom and Emily, where were they? So many question and no answers.
Jarod yawned and looked up at the clock on the living room wall, it was near midnight.
Damn, he thought, another week gone with no word on any of them. Going back over to the table he closed his computer and then walked into the master bedroom. He wasn't really that tired, he thought as he laid down on the bed. Closing his eyes he fell into a deep sleep.
He was standing in a large fog-filled room when someone started to call his name.
"Jarod……..Jarod, can you hear me? Jarod……Are you there?" asked the voice.
Jarod knew that voice, it was his mother's voice. He looked all around him but couldn't see her though the fog.
"Mom….. Mom, where are you? I can't see you … please answer me!" he yelled.
"Jarod……Jarod, my love, you'll see me soon. I love you, Jarod."
"Mom… wait, what do you mean? Please tell me, Mom!" he yelled but no answer came.
Jarod opened his eyes, sat up, leaned against the headboard, and pulled his knees to his chest and cried.
Some time later Jarod ran his hands though his hair and sighed. It was the same dream he had had for the last four nights. What could it mean? he thought. Just then his stomach rumbled. He sighed, got up and walk out to the kitchen opening the refrigerate door and moaned. There was nothing in it but two bottles of water.
Damn he had forgotten to go to the store. Checking the clock, it was 1 am. Luckily he knew where a 24 hour grocery was located, so he got his coat and left to go shopping.
Mary (a.k.a Margaret, Jarod's mother) had just finished restocking some of the many cans of food and had gone back to the storeroom to get more things to restock. This was to be her last night working at this job. She had already been here too long and her inner sense was telling her it was time to go. She knew that the Center would soon track her here. She sighed and went back to work.
Jarod drove the 5 blocks to the grocery, pulled into the parking lot and went inside. He said hi to the ladies by the cash registers, got a cart and began to shop.
Margaret finished restocking and went back up to the front of the store where the others were laughing and carrying on about something.
"He is sooooo good looking and hot," said Ann as Margaret came up to them.
"And a nice ass, too," said Nina.
Margaret sighed… the young people these days.
"What do you think, Mary?" Nina asked.
"About what?" Margaret answered.
"Oh, that's right you didn't see him come in, you were in the back," Nina said. "Let me tell you about him."
Margaret sighed, here we go she thought as Nina started to tell her about the man.
"He's my dream man: tall, gorgeous, sexy; has a little mole under the right eye. All dressed in black. He acts like he's new to the world. Like a little kid in a man body," she said.
This got Margaret's attention. Can't be, she thought.
"He came in a week ago when I still was on days and bought over 100.00 of junk food alone. He had every kind of candy, cakes, ice cream…said he couldn't decide which ones to try, so he took them all," she laughed.
"Nina, does your dream man have a name?" Margaret asked.
"Yes, it's Jarod …Jarod Freeman," Nina answered.
OH MY GOD! thought Margaret, it's him; my son is here!
"Mary, are you all right?" asked Nina.
"What? Oh, yes, better than I been in a long time," she answered. "I have to go restock some more things," she added and left them staring after her.
Margaret quickly made her way though the store trying to find him. She had had a dream for the last three nights that she would find him soon and now… She looked down row after row and then she saw him. He was near the freezers looking at ice cream.
Oh, God, it's him: my baby boy, Jarod, she sighed then laughed and cried all at the same time. Then getting some control she slowly made her way over to him. She had to smile as she saw the things he had in his shopping cart.
In his cart he had three kinds cola, a gallon of milk, a squeeze bottle of Hershey's Chocolate syrup, potato chips, Ranch dips, Cheese Whiz, two dozen doughnuts, three or four kinds of lunch meat, a loaf of white bread, four TV dinners, two cans of chili, two large frozen pizzas and four pints of ice cream in different flavors; and he was looking at another flavor to add to the shopping cart.
Jarod was trying to pick the next flavor of ice cream, when he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. Seeing it was just one of the ladies that worked here he turned back to the ice cream.
He was concentrating on trying to pick the next flavor of ice cream so he didn't see she was actually moving over to where he stood until he heard someone say: "You know, you're just like your father when it come to picking out ice cream. He could never just pick one flavor either."
Jarod stopped what he was doing as these words hit home "like your father" ….your father….your… no, it can't be, he thought. Taking a deep breath he said, "Mom," his voice was just a whisper.
"Yes, Jarod, it's me."
The pretender slowly turned, it was her. "MOM!" Jarod yelled and ran into her open arms. They laughed they cried and held each other for some time.
"Jarod, you can put me down now," she said.
"Don't want to," he whispered.
Margaret sighed; she didn't want to let go of him either but she said again, "Let me down, son, so I can see you better. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
Jarod did not want to let go but did as his mother asked. "Ok," he said and let her down. But he did not let go of her.
Margaret smiled as she looked up at his face and remembered the last time she had seen him--standing on the sidewalk so near and yet so far. She hated the Center even more for stopping them from meeting that day.
Jarod couldn't believe it. She was here; his mother was standing right there in front of him. He closed and opened his eyes and she was still there. It wasn't a dream. Then he thought about the dream he had been having.
Jarod had so many questions to ask her, but before he could speak over the intercom came: "Will Mary White please come to the front desk, there is someone here to see her."
"Jarod….no one knows I'm here," she cried. The Center had found her she thought. She had stayed too long and now they were both were in danger. "Jarod, we have to go out the back door. This way," and she started to leave.
Jarod was about to follow when they heard: "Mary, there's a May Star here to see you. Please come to the front desk."
Margaret stopped and a big smile spread across her face. "Emily… Jarod, it's your sister Emily" she said and started to go to the front desk.
What? Did he just hear his mother say his sister Emily was here? This was a dream come true first his mother and now his sister Emily. A big grin was on his face as he ran with his mom to see his little sister.
At the front desk there was a lot of laughing, hugging, crying, and questions. And a lot of staring from the ladies at the registers.
Margaret saw Nina and the others watching, and said that she was taking her break now and she, Jarod and Emily went into the back to the lunchroom.
Once in the lunchroom and away from everyone they all started to talk at once.
"Wait, one at a time. Emily, how did you know where to find me?" Margaret asked.
"Mom, I do have your inner sense, you know, and I'm here because the voices told me to come and then there was that dream I keep having."
"You too?" Jarod and Margaret said together.
After awhile and much debate it was decided the Margaret and Emily would stay at Jarod's apartment.
Later Nina came back to the lunchroom to see if everything was ok.
"Oh, yes," Margaret said and then introduced Nina to her son and daughter. Nina knew that Mary/Margaret had been looking for her family.
"Oh, God! He's your son?" said Nina. "Mary, what I said before…"
"It's all right, Nina, and you're right," Margaret winked.
Jarod was curious about what that was all about and would have to remember to ask his mother later.
After Margaret got off work and before they left for Jarod's place she insisted that she shop for some real food not just junk food.
Back at Jarod's apartment and after putting away all the groceries the three sat and talked for hours about anything and everything. Jarod got some of the answers to his questions. Like his last name was Russel, and he was born March 21 in a small town in Virginia.
It was after 5:00 am when they all went to bed. Margaret in master bedroom, Emily in the small bedroom and Jarod on the sofa bed, although he really didn't sleep much as his mind kept on replaying what had happened.
Jarod was the first one up and made the coffee. He was sitting at the table trying to find a way to tell them about Kyle and his clone.
Emily was the next up. As she came out the bedroom she saw her big brother and smiled. she walked over to were he sat deep in thought.
"A penny for your thoughts," she said.
"What?" he said as he looked up at her.
"You look like you had something on your mind."
"I…." he stopped.
"Jarod, what is it?" she asked.
"It's about Kyle… about what happened to him."
"Oh …I know what happened to him, Jarod, and so does Mom."
"What? How?"
"Dad told me when we found each other sometime after it happened. And I told Mom later when we got back together," she answered.
"Losing the two of you to the Center was hard on her and Dad. But knowing that you and Kyle had found each other even for just a short time helped," she said trying not to cry.
"She knows that he saved your life and that you and he helped save the sheriff's wife, and that after he was killed, a young boy can now live a long life with his heart. And that makes her happy he was her son." Emily sighed and kissed Jarod on the forehead.
Just then Margaret came out of her bedroom. "Good morning," she said and smiled when she saw that there was coffee in the pot. "Who wants breakfast?" she asked.
They all ate a big meal of bacon, eggs, pancakes, milk (Jarod had chocolate milk) and coffee.
It was later in the day when Margaret, after looking around the apartment, decided that it needed a good cleaning. So she started to look for things to clean the apartment with and finding none asked, "Jarod, where are your cleaning supplies?"
"My what?"
"The cleaning supplies, you know to clean you apartment with."
"I have a broom, I think."
Margaret gave her son a you-got-to-be-kidding look.
So they all went shopping. And soon the apartment was clean.
Margaret inner sense had been right as the next day Nina called Mary/Margaret's cell phone and said that some men had come to the grocery looking for her.
It had been two weeks since Jarod's mother and sister had come to stay with him. So he was a little curious one day when he saw his mother and sister sitting at the dining room table making a list.
"And what are you two up to?" he asked.
"We think it's time to make this place more of a home," his mother answered.
"Ok," he said, "and you're going to do this how?"
They both smiled. "We're going shopping!" they said.
"WHAT"?
Jarod quickly learn two thing as they shopped: 1. Never get in the way of women shopping; and 2. Have lots of money. Good thing he had a big bank account with money he had taken from the Center, for all the things they said they needed and more.
With everything from pots and pans to throw rugs to a stackable washer drier to things he never knew about like knickknacks and others things to make a house a home, Jarod was glad he had done a pretend as a moving man. And soon the apartment looked and felt more like a home.
Jarod still had had no luck with contacting his father so Emily tried one of her e-mail addresses, and by the end of that day Jarod finally made contact with his father and the boy who had taken the name of Adam.
Jarod was sitting at the dining table deep in thought reading the e-mail again when Margaret came up behind him and saw what he was reading on the computer.
"And who is this boy Adam?" Margaret asked.
Jarod sighed. He did not know how to tell his mother or sister about his clone.
"Mom, Emily, we need to talk."
Margaret was mad as hell when she learned the details of how Adam had come to be; of how the Center had played god and had made a copy of Jarod.
She had lost one son to the Center. But now she had another. No matter how he had come into this world, she knew she would love Adam like her own.
Later Jarod set up a video link so that they all could talk to each other. And so that his mom and dad could get reacquainted.
So for one month Jarod had a real family and everything was good.
Time to say good buy
But all good thing must come to a end. They knew that they couldn't stay together forever. It would be too dangerous with the Center still after them. So they soon parted ways. Emily left first.
"You take care of yourself, young lady," Jarod told her. "Try to keep in touch; you have my e-mail address and a key to the apartment?" he asked her.
Jarod had given his mother and sister spare keys so if they needed a place to hide, he knew they would be safe.
"Yes, big brother, I have them," she said trying not to cry.
Just then the last call for her train was announced. Jarod pulled her into his arms, kissed her on the top of her head. "Be safe, little sister," he said
"You too, big brother," she cried. "Mom, I'll see you soon!" It had been decided that they would leave on separate trains and meet up later in case The Center was still around.
Emily gave her mother one last big hug before she boarded the train; one last wave and she was gone.
"Your train leaves in an hour. Do you want to get something to drink?" Jarod asked.
"Yes, that would be nice," she said though her tears, still looking down the track that Emily had just left on.
They slowly walked away from the tracks and over to where a small shop was. Jarod ordered two cups of coffee and they sat at a table in silence.
"It's not fair," said Jarod
"I know, Jarod, but we did have this time, and someday The Center will be gone and then we will all be together, you'll see, one day soon," she said.
They sat just enjoying each other's company for a while, then her train was called. They got up and made their way over to the train.
"Well, I guess this is.. " she started.
"No, Mom. Let's just say 'see you soon,' ok?" he asked with tears in his eyes.
"Ok," she said as they hugged one last time before she climbed onto the train.
" I love you, Jarod!" she cried as the train began to move away.
" I love you too, Mom! Be safe!" he called back.
And then the train was gone, and he was alone once more.
Jarod made his way back to his apartment. By then it was close to 2 am. Looking around his now empty apartment, yes, he thought, it was time for him to leave too. Time to get back out into the world.
He looked at the clock and then smiled. Picking up his cell phone he pushed the numbers and waited one…two…three rings and then.
"WHAT?"
"Hello, Miss Parker," he said.
"Jarod, what the hell do you want?"
"Just called to tell you that the game is on, if you're up to it," he said and then hung up before she could answer.
Miss Parker smiled. Yes, Jarod. You run, I chase.
The End