Disclaimer: Pretender = not mine. The characters aren't mine, the actors aren't mine, the title isn't mine, the sets aren't mine, the production companies aren't mine, anything having to do with the show is not mine. Sigh…tell me if there's something else that I don't own because I'm feeling really sad and that will just be the final nail in the coffin. Maybe someday, I'll buy the show and then it really will be mine…someday. I don't own Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho Cherrio, or Clue either. I'm not so interseted in buying them either…sorry.
Summary: Jarod decides to end the chase, but he and Ms. Parker end up locked inside of a warehouse and…well, there's some arguing, some anger, and maybe something more.
Trapped In A Box
By Bec-Bec
Chapter 5
Colonel Mustard in the Library with A Wrench
"Syd, did you hear that?" Broots sounded panicky.
"What, now, Broots?" Sydney sounded frustrated. Broots had been jumpy for the last five minutes, as they searched the walls of the hallway.
"It was a whirring noise, sort of like something flew past, but not something big, something small like a butterfly, only it would have to be scarier than a butterfly, like a-a killer bee or something."
"Broots, bees buzz. Now, did you see something fly by you?"
"No."
"Then there was nothing there."
"But…"
Sydney cut Broots off, "Broots, it's just your fear of enclosed places, combined with worry about Ms. Parker and too many late night movies, that's creating this delusion in you. There's nothing here-" Suddenly, a section of the wall that Sydney was searching pushed back and he stumbled forward slightly.
"Nothing but hidden doors, crazy mazes, and God knows what else," Broots ended Syd's sentence.
The flashlights revealed another corridor with a sharp turn about 50 feet down in the right direction. The left side was a dead end.
"Syd, this just got even creepier," Broots answered as the lights in the hallway they were in turned off and lights in the new corridor flashed on.
"Someone's playing a game with us, Broots," Sydney said, "Sending us around in a maze, it sounds an awful lot like something Jarod would cook up."
"Couldn't he have just asked to play Chutes and Ladders?" Broots said fretfully, "I wouldn't have turned him down. Maybe even Hi Ho Cherrio, but this is more like Clue, and I don't want to find out that someone's been murdered…especially if it was by Raines, masquerading as Colonel Mustard in the Library with a wrench."
"Broots, you know as well as I that Jarod never concocts these plots without having very good reasons. We'll just have to play along for now," Sydney walked down the hallway and around the corner, with Broots following closely.
"Syd, don't you think we should leave a trail of bread crumbs or something?"
"Good, idea Broots, we'll mark it with a pen though." Sydney walked back to the newly opened door and kneeled down to draw an arrow on the ground. His pen wouldn't work on the cold concrete. "Broots, do you have a marker or something?"
"Here," Broots handed him a pink highlighter that he carried around because he often needed to highlight words in files that he was working on for Ms. Parker.
Sydney drew a large arrow and Broots grimaced as the concrete tore at the soft felt tip of the highlighter. Now, he'd have to buy a new one.
Sydney stood back up, handed Broots his highlighter, and went back around the corner.
Broots shook his head at the sight of the mangled tip on his highlighter, recapped it, and followed after Sydney. Sydney seemed a bit too eager to go on Jarod's latest expedition. Though, Broots had to admit that he was far less frightened knowing that Jarod was the likely culprit of their captivity. Jarod would never hurt them…right? But, what had happened to Sam?
****
Earlier, at the Centre
Lyle stared at the report on his desk. Apparently, his sister had gone gallivanting off with her team of misfit sidekicks on another one of Jarod's insane clues. He honestly didn't know why anybody at the Centre put up with Jarod's game of setting out bait for them. If he were in charge, he wouldn't go about the chase the same way at all. But then, he was sure Parker's emotional side was getting in the way of her judgement.
He could tell there was more to her pursuit of Jarod than she was telling, that something personal drove her to seek him out. Jarod had some sort of power over her, perhaps it was because of her mother's death or just because she felt he was really the only family she had.
Honestly, he didn't really care why she chased after the pretender, so long as she failed to bring him back. Then, he would have more power at the Centre, because he would bring Jarod back himself. That was the whole plan: for him to win this little game, become Raines main confidante, gain power, and eventually over take the old wheeze bag to run the Centre himself.
There was, every now and then, the faintest whisper of a voice in the back of his head which told him that power and greed would lead to his demise, but he never paid any attention to it. Who wanted to be good and noble when being wicked and power driven was so much more fun?
He closed the file and left his office to go home where he had a lovely young woman named Kuan Yin waiting for him. They had been dating for two weeks now. Normally, by this time, he would have had her locked in the closet and starving. However, he felt a special attachment to her, unlike the Asian women he usually seduced and then tortured. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about her drew him in and he found he actually liked her…I wouldn't go as far as to say he loved her because, he didn't really know what love was. But, perhaps, this was the beginning of his turning point. Perhaps there was still hope for him. Perhaps…
As Lyle entered the lobby, a rather large sweeper came running up to him.
"Mr. Lyle, sir, we've just received a call from Sam."
"Who's Sam?" Lyle asked blandly, annoyed that he was being kept from going home.
"Ms. Parker's head sweeper."
Lyle vaguely remembered the man, "Yes, and what did Sam say?" Lyle stated impatiently.
"He's in Wyoming and he has no idea how he got there."
"How could he not know how he got there?" Lyle was becoming more infuriated with this man who was stalling him from going home and spoke with a violent undertone.
"He said he woke up at the airport and he's being held in security."
Lyle stalked toward the door yelling back to the sweeper, "Have someone pick him up, I'll speak with him in the morning."
He wasn't about to let some ignorant sweeper who was probably drunk or high or both keep him from breaking his date with Kuan Yin. He'd deal with whatever was going on in the morning.
Little did he know that Sam's sudden reappearance in Wyoming was all part of a huge plan, taking place right underneath his nose. A huge plan which would change the lives of everyone who worked for the Centre.
****
Back in Los Angeles, Inside of the Warehouse
Ms. Parker woke up around five in the morning and accidentally woke Jarod up as she attempted to lean over him and the side of the bed to read the time off of his watch on the floor.
It was interesting, but they were aware of the slightest movement of each other. It was almost like they were so in tune with each other that one knew exactly where the other was without even thinking about it.
Ms. Parker didn't notice she had woken Jarod until she leaned back into the bed and saw his eyes staring at her through the darkness.
A skylight above the stairwell was allowing moonlight to filter into the room and now that dawn was beginning to break, the room was faintly brighter.
Neither spoke. A huge grin began to grow across Jarod's face and Ms. Parker couldn't help but smile back.
"You're beautiful in the early morning," Jarod said softly.
"Oh, as opposed to every other part of the day?" Ms. Parker answered softly.
"No. You're beautiful for the whole day. It's just more wonderful in the morning when I wake up and find out that I haven't only dreamed you up. When I can see that you aren't an illusion but that you're really here."
Ms. Parker crawled up toward him so she stared right down into his eyes, "I'm right here." She lowered her mouth to his and kissed him gently. Her lips felt faintly swollen from all of the kissing they had done in the last 24 hours, but it was a nice feeling to her.
Jarod suddenly spun her around so that she was pinned beneath him. His hands were grasped around her hips but they slowly slid up, pulling the Mighty Mouse T-shirt up with them.
Ms. Parker raised her arms up so he could slide the shirt all of the way off. The shirt flew effortlessly through the air, re-covering the watch on the floor.
Ms. Parker moaned a little when Jarod slank back and kissed in a little circle around her bellybutton.
The next things to go were the pajama pants and Jarod's boxers. They, however, landed farther away, dropping onto Jarod's duffel bag and DSA case. We'll just say it was because of renewed strength in the morning, despite only 4 ½ hours of sleep.
A little while later, as the sun began to stream into the room more, small crescent marks were visible on Jarod's back and several small red spots were forming along Ms. Parker's neck and collarbone. Small tokens of affection from their early morning activities.
"Mmm, can we wake up this way every morning?" Ms. Parker breathed out slowly.
"I should certainly hope so." Jarod answered as he traced over all of Ms. Parker's face with his forefinger, memorizing every feature of it and locking it away with his fondest memories, of which there were few. When he reached her lips, she kissed the finger as it slid over her skin. The finger slid down her chin and neck and then circled around the red spots. "Sorry about those."
"Don't be, because then I'll have to be sorry about these," she fingered the little marks on his back that her finger nails had left, "And I'm not really sorry."
Her fingers moved up his back and around his neck until she held his chin in both of her hands. Her thumb traced over his lips. He kissed it and then raised his own hand to pull all of the fingertips of her hand to his lips. He kissed them tenderly and was about to drop her hand from his when he noticed the little pink scratches on them.
"Parker, what are these scratches from?"
"Oh, it was stupid really," Parker avoided answering.
"Well, it looks pretty painful. What happened?" His eyes filled with concern.
"I was sort of upset when I read your note and I broke a glass. I swept it up with my hands."
"Why?"
Ms. Parker turned her head to the side a little and focused on the small spot of light the skylight was making on the floor, "It seems a lifetime ago, Jarod, when I was so angry. So full of hatred…and then there was your note. Everything came pouring out all at once. I was numb in the morning. I wasn't thinking. I didn't know what I was going to do except that I had to stop lying to you and myself…I had to admit that if you ended the chase, I'd never see you again…that it meant goodbye. You know I hate goodbyes."
Jarod could see all of the ghosts from the past lingering in the back of her mind, almost haunting him in the beauty of her eyes. He turned her face back towards his and held his hand out to her, "Hello."
Ms. Parker smiled at how easily he could make her feel better with the simple kindness of his soul, she shook his hand, "Hello."
Jarod got up from the bed and walked over to his duffel bag, pulling out some new clothes. He put on a pair of black boxers and walked back to the bed, handing some clothes to Ms. Parker.
This shirt was blue and had PEZ spelt out across it in little candy shaped splotches of paint. "Pez Head," Ms. Parker mocked him lightly.
Jarod just smiled, "I thought you'd like that."
She pulled it on, followed by a pair of red satin boxers. "Only because you're my Pez Head. Personally, I hate those little candies."
Jarod's face was full of surprise, "Ms. Parker, you hate Pez?"
"Yes."
"How's that possible?"
"I just don't like them, sorry."
Jarod just sighed and shook his head, "It's your loss." Then, he perked back up, "Okay, Pez Head, what do you want for breakfast?"
"Jarod, you can't call me Pez Head, that's your name."
"But, I don't have any nickname for you."
"Yes you do, you've got Parker."
"That doesn't count."
"Fine. Call me… Jarod, just call me Parker, please. I'll make sure no one else drops the Ms. and then it's just your name for me."
Jarod twisted his mouth, considering it, "Okay, but you have to promise, because you're the only one who calls me Pez Head."
"I promise." She walked over to him as she spoke.
"Good." He pulled her to him and hugged her close. Pulling back, he spoke again, "Hey, Parker, we're still locked in this building with no idea why."
Ms. Parker frowned a little, "You're right. I guess we should actually try to find out why this time. We'll just have to keep some distance between us to avoid any… temptations."
"Right." Jarod let go of her and backed away to set up his laptop, plugging it into the phone line.
"Okay, I'll sit over here on the bed, and you sit there at that desk with your laptop."
As the laptop booted up, Jarod cast a glance at Parker. She had been watching him and turned her eyes away when she saw him watching her. He brought his eyes back to the computer, and she turned her eyes back on him. They kept avoiding looking in each other's eyes until Jarod couldn't pay attention to the computer any more and caught Ms. Parker's eyes coming back to him to see if he was watching her.
"Parker, this is ridiculous. I'm sure that we can at least sit next to each other."
"Oh, okay." She walked over and pulled up a chair next to him.
Jarod turned his attention back to the computer and began hacking into the Centre's files.
Ms. Parker was staring hard at his profile and Jarod glimpsed her through the corner of his eye. She turned her gaze to the computer, then, back to Jarod, who was now staring at her face forward.
"Maybe we could share a chair?" Ms. Parker suggested.
"Sure," Jarod pulled his chair back from the desk and Ms. Parker sat in his lap, facing the screen. His arms slid around her to the keyboard as he rested his chin on her shoulder to look at the screen.
He pulled up all of the recent orders and memos that the Centre had released, and began to read over them.
Ms. Parker turned a little in his lap so that she could see more of him and less of the screen. His lips brushed her cheek as she turned. They stared at each other. It was impossible to tell who initiated the kiss first because they both leaned in. They enjoyed the lip lock for two solid minutes before Jarod pulled back.
"Okay, this isn't working."
"Yes, but…" Ms. Parker replied.
"But…" Jarod echoed. He picked her up in his arms and carried her towards the bed. He dropped her gently on the bed and was just leaning over when the computer gave out a little bing bong noise.
"E-mail," they said at the same time.
Author's Note: Okay, am I slipping into R-rated territory? Warn me if I need to up the rating on this fic. By the way, CJP matching up with Catherine Jameson Parker is just a coincidence…I think…oh the possibilities. Kuan Yin is a bit of foreshadowing. I don't know if it's true, but in the movie Yours Mine and Ours they say that Kuan Yin is a goddess who is the symbol of fertility and she casts her powers on all who gaze upon her. Do you see where I'm going with this?(No, not a J and Ms. P baby, too many fics deal with that, think Lyle…) I'm not sure how it's going to work into the story, but I hate having so many people play ultimate evil, and there's still a chance for Lyle, right? It's just a thought, but mostly, I wanna know what you think! I love reviews you guys so keep sending them and thanks to everyone who already sent one. Help me figure out what the latest big evil plan is and how it's gonna affect everyone…plus any additional comments. Don't be afraid to tell me if my writing is lacking in a certain area or if the story's not going in a direction that you like. Luv Ya All!!! Buh Bye!