Title: Towers Author: maestra

Chapter 18: Pocket Full of Stars

Evening was falling on the city that never sleeps as Jarod took his Halliburton, his briefcase and duffel bag to the door of Tara's apartment. Though he had tried to argue against it, she had done so much for him already, Tara had insisted on seeing him to the airport. He pushed the sleeves up on his black turtleneck sweater and went back to the room he had stayed in to double check for anything he might have left behind.

He could hear Tara in her bedroom getting ready to go, the low murmur of a local radio station in the background. Suddenly he heard a thud and then a bang as Tara's bedroom door was flung open.

"Jarod!", she yelled, he could hear the panic in her voice as she raced down the hall towards his room.

"Here," he said as he lunged toward the door to meet her half way.

"Jarod, someone has sent anthrax in the mail to a news anchor here! What is this world coming too?" She asked worry and frustration in her voice as she launched herself into his arms.

Jarod's heart turned over in his chest for just a moment, he could feel her fear. It was so palatable he could almost taste it. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close for a moment. Tara stood there in his arms, head against his shoulder, trembling as soft sobs shook her and the stress of the last week finally took its toll. "You're ok," Tara he soothed her with his voice and ran his hand over her long blonde hair, "go ahead, let it out Tara."

It was all the encouragement she needed. And she could not hold back the tears. A couple minutes later Tara pulled away, her tears having made tracks down her cheeks and leaving a tell tale trail. Jarod smiled softly at her, "It's going to be ok Tara. You're going to get through this."

"I'm frightened Jarod," she confessed to him as she wiped her tears away.

"I know," he hushed as he hugged her again. "And I would like to stay here with you and keep you safe. But I can't. If I stay it puts you in more danger from the Centre. And that is a danger I can do something about!"

"Will you look into who the sick person is who has done this? Are you going to hunt him or her down?" Tara asked wanting some sort of retribution for the residents of New York City who had already suffered enough.

"I can't Tara, not now. The Centre knows I was here in New York City. They'll expect me to do that now, to get involved with the search for whoever did it. I have to throw them off the trail. Perhaps in the future I can come back to the investigation, but I have to put some distance between me and the big city for awhile."

She slowly nodded her understanding. He had already overstayed his welcome as far as he was concerned she knew. She couldn't begrudge him wanting to stay free of the hellhole he was raised in. He'd been free for 5 years and still he had frequent nightmares about the place and the things that happened there.

"I understand Jarod," she murmured just above a whisper as she pulled away. "Really I do. I'll go finish getting ready." She padded down the hall in her bare feet and robe. "I'll be ten minutes tops," she reassured him just before she entered her bedroom and closed the door again.

Jarod crossed the room to her desk, looked up a telephone number in the phone book beneath it and then quickly dialed the number.

True to her word, Tara exited her room just a few minutes later. Her long blonde hair done up in a French twist, tendrils escaping the style and brushing her cheek. Her powder blue twin set, offset her sparkling blue eyes and her straight navy skirt reached demurely almost to her ankles. Navy heels and a set of pearl stud earrings and necklace set off her classic ensemble.

"Wow," Jarod smiled as she walked towards him. "You clean up well."

"Gee, thanks Bro," she laughed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean."

"No, it's alright," she interrupted him. "It's true, it is the first time you've really seen me somewhat dressed up. But, well, I sort of felt it was a special occasion. It is after all, our last few hours together before you leave. I wanted to make them memorable."

Jarod smiled, "How could they be anything but? By the way, I hate to say it, but I have changed my plans. I have decided to take the train instead. I hope that doesn't upset your plans to much."

"It is not a problem. Now," she smiled back as someone knocked at the door, "I ordered Chinese take out for our dinner. Why don't you go ahead and sit down in the dining room. Let's eat before we go."

Jarod entered the dining room to see she had set the table while he'd been in the shower.

Tara paid the delivery man and brought the bags of food to the table and removed the Chinese takeout from it's bag.

"General Tso's chicken, Potstickers, Shrimp fried rice, Chicken Chow Mien, Vegetable Egg Rolls," she took out the containers and piled them in front of Jarod's chair, then handing him a pair of chopsticks with a grin. "Oh and fortune cookies!" She piled the handful of them in the middle of the table.

"Looks like you ordered enough to feed a small army."

"No, Jarod, you know how oriental food is, you'll be hungry again in an hour." Tara handed him the egg rolls and chuckled as she went into the kitchen for some bowls and spoons for serving the delectable dishes. She came back and emptied the cartons into the dishes for easier serving, sticking a spoon in and passing them to Jarod first.

"Here is some General Tso's Chicken, or perhaps you would prefer Chicken Chow Mien? Do you like Moo Shu Pork? Or there is Potstickers and Shrimp Fried Rice." Her voice trailed off as Jarod looked into each container trying to decide. The microwave beeped and she steped back into the kitchen for a moment returning with cups of Jasmine tea for both of them. Tara sat down at her place setting and took up the bowl of shrimp fried rice nearby and spooned some onto her plate. Before she turned to the next dish she located the remote to her stereo and with the flick of a button the sounds of Japanese instruments filled the air.

A little smirk graced Jarod's lips and a light danced in his eyes, but he said nothing about her choice of music to accompany their dinner. They ate in relative silence for a time, enjoying just being together.

When they were done Jarod helped Tara clear away the meal throwing out the takeout containers they had finished and stashing others, barely touched in the refrigerator.

Jarod was bringing his dish into the kitchen with a couple of fortune cookies in his hand, "Hey we forgot to eat our fortune cookies."

"Oh now we can't have that it is the perfect topper to an oriental meal," Tara claimed as she approached him. He dropped one of the cookies into her open palm and proceeded to tear the wrapper of his cookie open.

Tara did the same. And then broke the cookie in half, retrieving the slip of paper which contained her fortune inside.

Jarod quickly did the same, opening up his fortune and then reading it aloud, "You will have many loves in your life, but only one true love."

Tara laughed lightly, "Oh how appropriate. Look out Miss Parker!"

"What does yours say?"

"The next year will bring you much joy and happiness," she scoffed.

"Well, you never know," Jarod replied with a kind smile and a little hug for his friend.

She looked up at him and nodded, she was no fortune teller, but stranger things had been known to happen. Perhaps there was a chance for a happy future for Jarod with Miss Parker. And though it would shock her to her very toes, perhaps there was someone out there somewhere who was meant for only her. If only she knew where to find him.

"Well," Jarod sighed, "We should get going."

"I know, I just don't want to see you leave," she confessed.

"Then don't come into the station," he replied, "It is probably for the best anyway."

She nodded again then pulled away, "Ok let's go." She grabbed her purse and Jarod grabbed his things. She tossed the few remaining fortune cookies into her purse and followed Jarod out the door carefully locking it behind them.

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Miss Parker closed her suitcase, then answered the persistent knocking at her hotel door.

"What?" she snapped at Broots, when she opened the door. Taking out her annoyance with Jarod on the mild-mannered computer technician.

"Miss Parker, I just found a Jarod Banks flying out of JFK tonight, on the same flight to Dover, we're scheduled on!" Broots blurted out excitedly.

"Is the limo waiting to take us to the airport?" Miss Parker asked while gathering her cosmetics together.

"I'll go check," Broots volunteered quickly as she saw her throw some sort of beauty equipment that looked like a cross between a clamp and some scissors into her cosmetic case. He vaguely remembered his ex-wife using one. 'I think it's an eye lash curler,' he thought, 'though it looks more like a torture device to me.' He grimaced at the thought then hurried out of her room and down to the lobby.

A few minutes later Broots stood outside assisting the driver with his luggage and waiting for Miss Parker and Sydney to join him at the limo.

***************** *************************************** **********

Tara sat next to Jarod as the cab slipped silently through the night on it's way to Penn Station. She hated to see Jarod leave. But the one thing she could make perfectly clear to him, is that whenever he needed her, she would be there for him.

"I want you to remember, that whenever you need me, all you have to do is call Jarod. You're my brother-of-the heart, and I love you. If you need me, I will be there. I don't know how I could have made it through this past week without you."

Jarod hugged Tara with a small sad smile upon his lips, "It is hard to leave you. But I know I am never going to forget you Tara. You brought me comfort and joy when all around us was sadness. Your warm and generous nature has touched many, and I am so fortunate to have known you."

Tara's checks responded to his declaration with a big blush and this time the smile twinkled in his eyes.

Changing the subject as she pulled away, she took the remaining fortune cookies from her pocket and handed two more to Jarod.

In silence they opened them.

"Yeah, right." Tara read hers aloud with a chuckle to Jarod, ""Love is just around the corner."

Jarod then cracked his open pulling the fortune from inside and reading it aloud to Tara, "Someone is thinking about you."

"Always," Tara smiled. "When you are out there and you feel alone in the world Jarod, I want you to look up into the night sky and remember that when you're lonely at night. That I am gazing at the same stars as you. And if you are in the city, well maybe it will be the same tiny pocketful of stars we have here," she sighed as she looked up and out her window. The cab turned the corner and though Jarod never realized it, it drove past the hotel where Miss Parker, Broots and Sydney stayed. Broots, totally unaware of the fact the Pretender was passing only yards from him in the night.

Tara broke open her last cookie and removed the fortune. "Your luck is about to change," she read aloud, then looking at Jarod, she said in reply, "Oh, I think it already has."

They both chuckled, reveling in these last moments of being together.

Jarod broke his last one open and the fortune tumbled out, he picked it up and read it aloud to Tara. "There is an old friend who misses you. Call."

He looked at Tara and she just nodded, then whispered, "Parker."

They pulled up to Penn Station and the driver removed Jarod's luggage from the trunk as Tara hugged Jarod goodbye.

"I hate goodbyes," she confessed. "I once saw a family put their grandmother on an airplane and they were hugging and tears were running down their faces. And I could tell it was hard for them to part with her. But when the last hug was given and she turned around to go, one of them called out to her, 'See you Tuesday!' So that is what I am going to say to you Jarod, because you are dear to my heart and I don't want to say goodbye. See you Tuesday, Jarod."

He chuckled lightly as he listened to her story, then replied with a big hug of his own. "See you Tuesday my sister of the heart." He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Then turned and without a backward glance walked into Penn Station.

To Be Continued.