Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters or concepts of the Pretender
I'm just borrowing them for awhile. Laura and Kyle (Jr) are mine though.

Category: Alternate Universe. Crossover

Spoilers: For the Pretender 2001 movie.

Author's Note: When I was watching the Pretender2001 movie, the character of
Eddie really struck me. I'd always wondered if there were more and suddenly
here was one that was a good guy. So then, I wondered, what if his wife was
Jarod's sister. Not Emily obviously, since she escaped life at the Center.
I know we saw a picture of his wife and son but I'm going to go on the AU
concept here and say they look like they do in my head.


Shattered: Picking Up The Pieces
by M
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Compassionate brown eyes.

Supportive hands on her arms, holding her up.

A low, gentle, voice in her ear.

"I'm sorry, Laura, but Eddie……"

A sob escaped her.

Tears ran, unnoticed, down her cheeks.

Dead.

Eddie was dead.

"Laura……"

Jarod.

Jarod was speaking again. She had to listen. It was important.

"The Center's going to come looking into this. You can't stay here." Her
brother spoke slowly, trying to pierce through the haze of grief that
surrounded his sister. Never in the lifetime he'd known her had he ever seen
Laura like this.

But then, she'd never been a grieving widow, with a small child, before.

"The Center," She echoed hollowly, her eyes staring at him but not seeing.
Jarod felt a chill run down his spine as he wondered if, on any level, his
sister really comprehended his words. Pretenders were geniuses yes. But
they were human too.

Slowly speaking, as if taking care to choose her words, the slim redhead
continued. "They're not looking for me or Kyle."

"No, but they are looking for me." He reminded. "And if they come looking
for me and find you, find Kyle, they won't hesitate to take you both back to
the Center. You've got to take Kyle and go, Laura. You can't stay here
anymore. It's not safe. I won't let them take anyone else from us. They took
our brother, they can't have you - or your son."

Laura sniffled as she struggled to bring her chaotic emotions under her
control. She knew she had to get them under control. Jarod was right. It was
too dangerous now. She had to concentrate. She had to plan. It wasn't just
her anymore. There was a little boy's life hanging in the balance.

And the innocent people whom the Centre would use them to hurt. Kill.

She wouldn't let her son know what that felt. She couldn't.

The feeling of having blood on your hands, but having no idea how much ––
how many had died because of the things thought up in innocence. Her
intentions toward her work nothing but the best. Good intentions born of a
desire to help.The road to hell……

She wouldn't let her son experience that hell. Would not force him to live
with the guilt that she did. She would never ask him to. "Sweeper teams…"
Laura, feeling more secure in herself, voiced softly. "They'll be coming."

"If they aren't already here." Jarod nodded. "The Centre doesn't know you're
Eddie's wife yet. If you disappear from D.C. now, and I erase as much evidence
of your presence as I can, there's a very good chance they'll never know."

Still holding her upper arms, he leaned forward to brush a kiss across her
forehead before resting his against hers. "You need to take Kyle and leave……
tonight."

"What do I tell him?" Laura sighed. "I don't know how to tell him Jarod. It
was hard enough to explain that Daddy had been hurt and had to go to the
hospital to get better. Kyle's a Pretender too, Jarod. He knows how this
works. How our minds work. He wanted to know why I just didn't treat him
myself."

She paced away, running her hands through her long hair. "He knows that our
life isn't normal, he knows that Mommy and Daddy are way to smart to be
normal. That he's much too smart to be normal. He knows that the reason
we're so careful about who sees us and who knows us and what events we go
to……he knows the security we've surrounded ourselves with has nothing to do
with his father's job. He knows that some of it does……but the rest of it?"
She looked back. Her dark eyes pained. "I want him to have the childhood we
didn't Jarod. We lost the chance to have a normal family, to go to the cottage
in the summer, to go swimming with friends, to go sledding in the winter,
to go together to pick out a Christmas tree, getting up in the middle of the
night just to watch a thunder and lightening storm, to go to a baseball game
and eat a hot dog and spill drink on yourself……I want him to experience all
that. I wanted him to have a family...now…"

"He still has a family." Her elder brother reminded. "He has you and he has
me. And Dad and Emily."

"Who he's never met." Laura shot back. "He's never met his aunt or his
grandfather. He's only just met you……and we have no idea where the hell our
mother is. If she's still alive! No one should have to live like we do,
Jarod! I want my son to have a life that's halfway normal! Where the
words sweeper team, Centre, and Simulation have nothing to do with his life!"

"Then leave!" Taking in a steadying breath, the elder Pretender moved to
rest his hands on her shoulders. "Tell him what happened to his father. Tell
him that you want to take him on a vacation. That you want to take him
somewhere to spend time with him so you can grieve, to get over the loss.
Tell him you love him and that it's time to go away for a while……then, after
you've had your vacation, find a new home somewhere, preferably far away
from D.C. and settle in. Start again."

"Start again." The slim woman laughed bitterly, her normally healthy complexion
wan and her cheeks gaunt. "I don't know if I have that in me."

"You don't have a choice."

Taking her hand, he led her to the window and pointed out into the backyard.
Directing her attention to the little boy, who resembled both his father and
Jarod as both men had dark hair and equally dark eyes, the only sign that
he'd gotten his looks from his father and not his uncle were the dimples
that came out when he smiled. Eddie's smile had been one of the first things
that had drawn Laura. Outside of the fact they shared a background and
understood each other's secrets.

His smile.

It had captivated her.

Given her hope.

Now, as Jarod said, "He needs that start," Laura knew he was right.

Spotting his mother and uncle watching him, Kyle Ballinger looked up and
smiled, and like his father before him –– he gave his mother hope.

Finis