Disclaimer: As always, the Pretender doesn't belong to me.

Author's Note: This story takes place after my story Helpless. To understand why Parker and Jarod are together, you must read Helpless first.

The First Pretend:

The Blackhills's Asylum

Prologue

The Centre

Sunday, 4:46 p.m.

Mr. Lyle sat at his desk in his office. In his hands, he held a picture of his twin sister: Miss Parker, his father: Mr. Parker, and himself. He sighed and set the picture down, face up, on the desk. Miss Parker and Mr. Parker were both dead now and he was alone. Well, that was not true.

Technically, Mr. Raines, the man that now ran the Centre, was his real father. Even with that knowledge, he still felt alone. Raines didn't treat him as a son, which was something he wanted a father that really cared about him. Dwelling on the past won't help you now. He told himself.

Lyle stood and walked out of his office. He went to the elevator and pressed the down button. As he waited, he looked around. Other workers walked through the halls; talking in quiet conversational tones. The elevator doors opened with a ding and he stepped into the elevator and hit the close button.

When the elevator doors opened again, he stepped out of it and walked down the hall. He walked to an office and opened the door and went inside. From where he stood, he could hear the voices of the Centre's main techie and psychologist. They were talking about something irrelevant to their work at the Centre. He went up behind the men.

"Sydney, Broots." He said not bothering to greet them politely, "Has Jarod popped up somewhere yet."

"N-no, Mr. L-Lyle." Stammered Broots, "Not at all."

"That's very odd." Stated the man, "Jarod is a good doer. There's got to be a million people on this earth that need help."

"Perhaps he's in mourning still." Supplied Sydney, "He was close to Parker. When his brother was presumed dead, Jarod went into mourning for a while."

"Hmm." Lyle grunted, "Well, if anything shows up…"

"We'll let you know immediately." Syd filled in.

Without saying another word, the man left the office.

*

"I kind of feel sorry for the guy." Broots said as they watched Lyle leave.

"He's lost the only people he knew as family." Said Sydney.

They both turned back to Broots's computer. The techie turned the monitor back on. On the screen was an e-mail from Jarod and the very alive Miss Parker. They were both fine and Parker was now at full strength and like a brand new woman. A free woman was more like it. The couple were working on their first pretend together.

After they read through the e-mail, Broots deleted it off his computer completely. When he was done, he turned to Sydney.

"Do you think we could leave the Centre? I mean since Parker's gone, we don't have any real reason to stay." He said.

"There is no real way to leave the Centre. I mean, look at Jarod. He escaped but the Centre still hunts him. You will always be connected to the Centre no matter what." Answered Sydney after a minute of thought, "The only real way to leave this place is to die…to really die."

Broots sighed. "What a grim life we lead."