Please don't hate. I've finally managed to find a moment to work on my stories. I'm so sorry it has taken so long for an update, but it's the same old story...school. I graduated from one college only to start another. I won't be able to make any promises about when the next update will be, but just know that I have not forgotten about this story. I hope I still have a few readers out there. :)

Part 13

"Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation."

-C. Everett Koop-

Parker stood in the bedroom of Jarod's latest abode watching her little brother sleep. Jarod was probably in the living room waiting for her to come out, but she wasn't sure if she felt like talking. Things had just gotten a hundred times more complicated now that she had Daniel with her and the Centre would be sure to double their efforts at finding them. Heaving an exhausted sigh, she made her way to the door to get her conversation with Jarod over with.

"Where are we?" she asked him as she moved to join him on the couch, the only couch in the room.

"Still in Delaware," he answered. "They probably figured we'd be long gone from here by now." Parker nodded but didn't say anything else. "I meant what I said at your father's house," he began. She finally looked at him, but she still remained silent. "I wasn't walking out on you that night. My intentions were to spend the night in the RV, and then I decided to get rid of it. By the time I got back you were gone." He stared at her, desperate for her to tell him that she forgave him. He was confused when she smiled and then broke out into a short laugh.

"Jarod, you do realize that we must be the most screwed up two people in the world," she said. "How is this all going to work?" she asked sobering up. "How are we to possibly live with each other if we're going to be at each other's throat every time we disagree? If Daniel is going to be with us, he doesn't need to see that. I can only imagine what he's already been exposed to at the hands of the Centre, but he's going to need to be around something healthy, something normal." She laughed again, bitterly, and reclined back against the couch. "That's exactly what we're not."

"Does that mean you want us all to be together?" he asked cautiously.

Parker looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's what I want," she answered. "But you can't get mad at me because I still happen to love my evil father who might be the devil himself," she joked dryly.

Jarod gave a cautious smile and surprised her when he leaned in to give her a kiss. She returned it wholeheartedly, glad that their conversation had gone much better than she expected. Jarod wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he didn't want to push his luck. Instead, he pulled back and looked at her, hoping she could see it in his eyes.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe we should think about telling Sydney and Broots that you're alive," he said. "Now that we have Daniel, we need to know what's going on at the Centre."

Parker sighed and closed her eyes. "I was hoping we would be able to leave them out of it this time, especially, Broots," she said. The Centre games were only getting more dangerous as time went on and Broots had Debbie to live for.

"They may have already told Sydney and Broots that you're alive. If you made contact with the Centre, it would be through the two of them and they'd want to know."

"Let's just rest for now," she said as she stretched her long body onto the couch. Jarod pulled her boots off, then his own, and stretched out beside her. "We can let Daniel sleep a little longer and then we should probably get out of here."

"So much for the bounty hunting business," he commented as he wrapped his frame around hers.

Parker shrugged. "It was just something to do to pass the time. Now that we have Daniel, I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Jarod listened as her breathing eventually evened out. Parker, and now Daniel, had come along to give him an instant family and he was going to do whatever it took to keep them safe. He had embarked on hundreds of pretends, but the role of father had never been one of them. This was the real thing and he was scared out of his mind.

For some reason, Parker had expected Daniel to be quiet and shy. Surely, his time at the Centre would have dulled the exuberance that most children his age emitted, but she couldn't have been more wrong. They had been on the road for hours now and he hadn't stopped asking questions. It turned out to be a good thing though because he was able to tell them about his time at the Centre. It turned out that he was being trained as a Pretender, but they hadn't gotten very far, which Parker and Jarod were glad for. Having the skills of a pretender wasn't so bad, but the means by which the Centre gave them to you was. The only thing that seemed to sadden the boy was when they discussed Mr. Parker.

"Was your father nice to you?" Parker asked. She was half turned in her seat so she could see him in the back. Daniel's face fell after she'd asked him the question.

"He told me not to call him that. I asked him once if he was my daddy and he told me to call him Mr. Parker only," he told them.

Parker and Jarod exchanged glances. If Daniel was indeed her father's and Brigitte's son then why would he deny him?

"Did you make any friends inside the Centre?" Jarod asked the little boy. He knew he wouldn't have made it in the Centre as long as he did if it hadn't been for friends like Miss Parker and Angelo.

"Angelo!" Daniel said, his face bright once again. "He always told me you would come for me one day."

Parker smiled at the boy, a deep surge of fierce protectiveness coming over her. She would die before she let the Centre get their hands on him again.

The trio was now making their way through the Buckeye state, but Jarod knew they would need to find someplace to stop for a while. They couldn't live on the road forever and they needed to get some things for Daniel. The boy was still wearing his pajamas. He had an idea of where they could stay for a while, but he wasn't sure Parker was going to like it.

"No."

"You haven't even heard me out."

"I don't need to. I know it's a bad idea. The last thing I need is to be around a bunch of people who'd like to see me dead."

"That's not true."

Parker gave Jarod a pointed look and then turned to check on Daniel who was in the car eating a sandwich. They had stopped at a gas station when Jarod decided to drop his bomb on her.

"Parker, it might be the best thing for him. To be around people who love him."

"We love him! That's good enough," she said looking away, her tone brooking no room for argument. "I'm his family and I'm not going to leave him for anyone else to take care of. There's been enough of that over the years."

Jarod grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. "I would never ask you to leave him. I just think we need to lay low for a while. We don't have to stay for long. We can't anyway. Just a few days wile we get a plan together," he said gently.

Parker stared at him and after a moment gave him a tight lipped, "Fine." Moving past him, she walked around to the driver's side and got in. Jarod gave a silent thank you and hurriedly climbed into the passenger side as she started the car.

Jarod and Daniel sat outside the women's dressing room waiting for Parker to come out. The first stop had been the little boy's department and Daniel was wearing a fresh pair of boy's beige Dockers and a navy blue turtle neck with a red sweater over it.

"I never wore clothes like these before. At the Centre, I always wore a gray uniform and when I went home with Mr. Parker I wore plain, white pajamas," Daniel told Jarod.

"Why did Mr. Parker allow you to go home with him?" Jarod asked. It was completely against the Centre's way of doing things. As far as he knew, their philosophy had always been that the less their subjects were exposed to the outside world the better.

"Well," the little boy began sheepishly, "He never actually told me, but I overheard him talking to Mr. Raines once. He said that maybe if I spent a little time away from the Centre I wouldn't wonder so much about what was beyond it."

The Centre was trying to adapt, Jarod thought. Things obviously didn't work out too well with him or his clone and now they thought that giving Daniel a small amount of freedom, if you could call it that, would keep him from getting too curious. "The night Parker found you in the kitchen…" Jarod began. Daniel had a guilty look on his face again and Jarod vowed to make the little boy understand that he had nothing to be ashamed of. He remembered all of the times he had been berated for doing the things that came normal to any human being. He remember going through an old newspaper once and coming across the comics section. He was laughing at a Peanuts comic strip when Dr. Raines caught him and snatched it away.

"The nanny usually locks my bedroom door at night, but she must have forgotten. I always listen for it after she closes the door, but I didn't hear it that time. I waited for a while and then I got up to try the door and it opened," Daniel explained. "I was still hungry, so I went down to the kitchen. I had read about peanut butter and jelly once in a magazine I found in the nanny's purse."

Jarod smiled, glad to see that the boy had a bit of a rebellious streak in him. The Centre hadn't been able to take away his curiosity.

"How do I look?" Parker asked. She was dressed in black pants, a grey, button down shirt, and a black leather jacket.

"Great, as usual," Jarod commented as he gave her a slow once over.

"You look pretty, Parker," Daniel said. He smiled when Parker tapped him under the chin with her index finger.

"Thanks, kid." She winked at him and went back into the dressing room to get the rest of her things.

After their trip to the shopping center was complete, the trio checked into a hotel to get some rest before they completed the last leg of their trip to see Jarod's family. Parker was stressed just thinking about it. Unlocking the door to their room, she ushered Daniel inside and dropped their bags onto one of the two beds. Jarod was still at the front desk taking care of some things. Looking around, she had to admit that the hotel was actually decent.

"Parker, is this our new home?" Daniel asked.

"No, sweetie," she said smiling. "We're just going to spend the night here and then tomorrow we're going to see Jarod's family."

"Oh." He studied her for a moment as they sat on the bed waiting for Jarod. "You don't want to go, do you?"

Parker looked at him with a raised brow. "What makes you think that?"

"I can just tell," he said. They were interrupted by Jarod finally entering the room.

"We're all paid for," he said smiling as he ruffled Daniel's hair. He plopped down on the bed with them and sighed. "I'm hungry."

"Me, too," Daniel said.

"Well, I'm going to take a bath," Parker said standing. "You two can order room service." She dug through her bags.

"Let's see," Jarod said rifling through the nightstand drawer for a menu. "Have you ever had ice cream, Daniel?" Parker shook her head and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

To be continued…