Disclaimer: I don't own the Pretender…despite any delusions my current Pez high has given me. Would you like a Pez? The characters are not mine and I'm not making any money out of spending hours of my day obsessing over them. In the event that you feel like suing me for using the characters, I will merely plead insanity due to overconsumption of Pez. So again, I ask, would you like a Pez?

Second Disclaimer: I liked my first one so much, I though I'd write another…not really. The bolded and italicized lines are from William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury." Those of you who know of the book will understand the lack of grammar in the passage I've borrowed. If you are unacquainted with it, my apologies for its confusing nature. My copy of the book is the Vintage International version, if the text is wrong in any way I blame it on them…

Summary: Lyle frames Ms. Parker for murder and guess who comes along as the local sheriff, that's right, Jarod. Will Parker finally allow him to free her from her prison, both literally and figuratively? Post IOTH.

Behind Bars

By Bec-Bec

The Sixth Little Chapter

All Stable Things Had Become Shadowy, Paradoxical

Sydney sat in his office trying, unsuccessfully, to divert his attention from the passing time. He was becoming worried. When the clock rounded on ten a.m. his apprehension grew. Eventually his surreptitious glances turned into full on staring. Combined with the uncomfortable silence in the room, the chorus of ticks and tocks echoed tauntingly in the dead air. The Centre had never made him feel quite so uneasy before.

Generally, Sydney was accustomed to the lonely silence, but something about this silence hinted at an underlying malice. The enmity floating in the air swept through to every nerve ending in his body, tensing his muscles. Something was going on and it wasn't something pleasant.

It was unusual for either Broots or Ms. Parker to be running this late. If something were delaying either of them, they would have called by now to explain their truancy.

Though their presence would hardly be missed by the rest of the Centre's employees, they generally had the decency to inform Sydney that they would not be coming in. Without that common civility, he was led to believe that something horrible had become of them, which was not a farfetched idea, considering where they worked.

In truth, neither Broots nor Ms. Parker had much reason to come to the Centre. Jarod's lack of communication had left them little to work on.  And, while Sydney's attentions had turned to his other projects and experiments, Ms. Parker and Broots had no alternative pursuits to occupy their time. Most of their working hours were spent keeping tabs on Lyle's activities. But, regardless of the current deficiency of leads to work on, they should have realized Sydney would worry about their well being if they forgot to notify him of their absence.

Their oversight caused anxiety to grip his thoughts. The likelihood of their imperilment was far greater than their suddenly having forgotten to inform him that they would not be arriving today. Nevertheless, he didn't want to jump to conclusions before he was entirely sure they were not coming.

Staring at the clock, for what seemed the millionth time, Sydney watched as another minute moved by slowly and then collapsed upon itself, allowing yet another minute to begin. Eventually, he attempted to focus his attention back on the work scattered across his desk. However, his concentration was not employed there for long as his thoughts again began to argue that something was wrong.

There was something out of place. This sudden lack of activity and discomforting stillness had a deadly undertone.

Silence was always a forced entity at the Centre, and generally one caused by brutal coercion. Sydney could only recall one other time the Centre had been this hushed…after the apparent "death" of Catherine Parker.

There had been calamity and disorder for a few minutes immediately following the gunshots, but within the hour, a choking silence had fallen on the building. Young Ms. Parker's screams had been calmed, Jarod had been returned to his room, sweepers had removed the lifeless body, and Mr. Parker had retreated to his office. All that was left was a distressing, fraudulent calm. That same false tranquility had settled on the Centre now as well.

Catatonia seemed to have fallen throughout the building, not just in Sydney's office and the SIM lab. It had rendered the Centre momentarily paralyzed in the wake of some dreadful occurrence, or as foreshadowing of some terrible thing yet to come.

The sudden onslaught of suffocating air left Sydney in limbo. He was in a place of oblivion where his conscience and his mind were waging war.

There were feelings inside of him which argued that something was very, very wrong and that if he didn't do anything about it, someone he cared for would ultimately be in great danger. But, equally strong were the feelings which had kept him inactive in the past.

Standing against the Centre was dangerous and would result in the same fate that Catherine and Jacob had met…death.

But death wasn't what scared him, it was the fact that, if the Centre put out a termination order on him, he could no longer help Jarod, Ms. Parker, Broots, and Angelo in the same manner as he had for the last few years. His quiet and undetected protection of their welfare would be removed and the Centre might do something dire and ultimately murderous to each of them.

He would sacrifice his soul to the devil before he would allow any of them to receive another fatal blow to their lives. They'd already lost so much; there was no way he could facilitate the further destruction of what little they had left. However, always arguing back were thoughts that his inactivity could also lead to further pain for them.

If he did not fight against the Centre's control of his life, and allowed himself to be submissive, he would be an accessory to all of the terrible things they had done and would continue to do. He would be permitting them to harm people when he knew he had it in his power to help stop them. In that act, he would be doing his family the greatest injustice of all.

Though he would willingly give up his freedom for theirs, he could not do so at the cost of more innocent blood. Jarod had spent his time outside of the Centre saving lives and, as much as Sydney would like to live blindly, in order to save the Pretender's own life, he could not counteract Jarod's work by adding more sins to both of their consciences. Jarod would never forgive Sydney if his own life were held above others. Which brought Sydney back to his current situation.

In staying silent to protect Ms. Parker and Broots, he may actually be causing more harm to come to them. If they were in danger, he needed to act, and his present indecision needed to be resolved. This silent acquiescence and inactivity would accomplish nothing but their further endangerment.

The continual ticking of the clock made Sydney painfully aware of how much time was passing while he remained in a state of inertia. He was caught in a still void of uncertainty where inaction was as dangerous as action and time moved by in loud jeering clicks.

The dreadful silence seemed to mix with his thoughts and memories, swirling into the emptiness, accented with the passing time. Together, they all stirred up his duties- to the Centre, to Broots, to Ms. Parker, to Jarod…to himself- and threatened to strangle him as they all contradicted each other.

It was frightfully reminiscent of the ramblings of a neurotic character in a Faulkner story that had been haunted by the scent of honeysuckle and the damp smell of twilight when he tried to sleep. Sydney stared wearily around his office and the SIM lab outside as the passage he had paralleled with his state of mind reverberated through his thoughts "…I seemed to be lying neither asleep nor awake looking down a long corridor of gray half light where all stable things had become shadowy paradoxical all I had done shadows all I had felt suffered taking visible form antic and perverse mocking without relevance inherent themselves with the denial of the significance they should have affirmed thinking I was I was not who was not was not who."

Sydney sighed deeply, held precariously between becoming part of the silence itself and breaking its iron grip on the room…the Centre…his life. He was teetering on the edge, between the passive muteness he'd fallen back on in the past and a chance for the retribution he'd been searching for; between madness and sanity.

The room continued its deceptive tranquility, seeming to know more than it wanted to tell and yet, there was an easily apparent bitter anger and rage, just below the surface, waiting to strike and prove that Sydney would do nothing to stop it. Sydney was grasped within its midst as an endless dance of images from the past and present, and possible future, flitted before him. All he'd had before; all he'd lost; all he had to regain. His childhood; Jarod, Ms. Parker and Angelo's childhoods; his adulthood; their adulthood; what he'd suffered; what they'd suffered; what he'd lost; what they'd lost.

The emotions welling up inside of him, as his thoughts bombarded him, were as choking as the silence they permeated.

As every new second resonated through the air, it was accompanied by a memory, shaking Sydney to his core and making him lean farther toward opposition and away from any slender thread of loyalty still tying him to the Centre. The fight was growing inside of him, building beneath his chest and spurring his heartbeat. It felt like an epic moment as his resolve grew and his heavy breathing broke the silence, standing against the clock and its endless stream of time past.

It was almost as if a fever he hadn't known he had suddenly broke and the fever dreams could end. The odd mixtures of memories, blurred and twisted by hallucinations, stopped parading around, trying to provoke him into action. Their work was completed and they could leave him in peace now that he was determined to do as they willed him.

A gentle calm fell over Sydney. His office no longer felt stifling and oppressive but hollow and small. The mere act of decision within his soul made the rest of the Centre seem less imposing. It was still dangerous, yes, but its grip had been loosened- barely, but loosened none the less. It no longer had the power to restrain Sydney in the manner it had before.

He sat, motionless, marveling at how quiet the clock's ticks seemed now. His heart quieted down as well, as though it knew it had finally won the eternal battle over his mind. He was leaving. But not until he discovered what had become of Ms. Parker and Broots.

Even with his mind decided upon departing the Centre, his heart still bore the weight of worry. He needed to find them and make sure they were safe before he could begin any plans to escape. He had to rescue them from whatever the Centre had done to them…and there was only one person he could trust to help him do so…

He needed Jarod.

****

Ms. Parker sank back in the car seat as soon as she saw the road sign announcing their departure from Blue Cove. Some part of her hadn't really believed that she and Jarod could leave without something going wrong and preventing them from escaping the cursed little town. Cynicism was a way of life when the Centre was involved and had often claimed Ms. Parker's thoughts.

After having the people closest to her snatched away, and all remnants of a normal life corrupted, it was to be expected that she was often filled with pessimism. Yet, here she was, crossing the barrier between Centre prisoner and Centre fugitive, taking a piece of the freedom they'd stolen from her…taking back control of her life.

The muscles in her back released some of their tension as the sign loomed close and then passed by. She would have gotten out and shot bullet holes at the damn thing if she weren't so tired, instead she just stared at it defiantly, jeering it with every atom of her being. Blue Cove, the Centre, and the Triumvirate could all go to hell. She and Jarod would make the rules from now on

Finally relaxing, she leaned her head against the car window and stared out pensively.

Jarod studied Ms. Parker through the corner of his eye. He was not often allowed such a quiet and close view of her.

He could see the carefree, inquisitive little girl he'd grown up with, and, at the same time, the stunning, but troubled, intelligent woman she'd become. It was amazing to him how the two parts of her personality had been at war with each other for so long but still managed to slip into a beautiful harmony when she allowed them to.

Sitting there with her head pressed against the window, deep in thought, Ms. Parker was the most exquisite creature he'd ever seen. Passionate and intimidating, yet inviting at the same time.

As his huntress, her tenacity mixed with her sharp, quick nature had made her a closely matched opponent. She had often been a lot closer than she'd thought she was, missing him by mere minutes. Though her skills as a pretender were untrained, she was cunning and had proven so on various occasions.

On the other side of the coin was his best friend. Enthusiastic and always curious, just like him, but with a slightly reckless edge. If there was a small possibility of danger, she was often more likely to chase after whatever she was searching for. She strove to achieve what she wanted and rarely failed. She was strong and bold, but tender, underneath her layers of carefully placed walls of frost.

Jarod had often wondered how she managed to maintain two such conflicting natures. True, her grown up, abrasive temperament was called upon far more often than her gentle, precocious one, but that little girl was always there, inside of her. Today, he had gotten his fullest glimpse of her in a long time. His best friend was still there; she had just been placed on ice, for a time, so that she was protected from getting hurt.

Ms. Parker was a beautiful blend of lights and darks that complimented each other, fusing, to create the astounding woman she was. In Jarod's mind, there was nothing that could make her more striking than she already was.

A soft yawn escaped Ms. Parker's lips and Jarod's mouth curled into a soft grin.

"It's okay to sleep, you know. Believe me, sleep deprivation is highly overrated," Jarod said gently.

Ms. Parker laughed lightly as she looked up at Jarod. "Spoken from an expert to and expert." She turned back to window and spoke softly. "I can't even remember the last time I had a decent night's sleep. There's always something interrupting, the phone, Lyle, the Centre, nightmares, insomnia…everything. Just when I think I'm finally going to get some rest, things shift and even the smallest bit of stability in my life is thrown off kilter."

"I know," Jarod sighed with complete understanding. He continued reassuringly, "But, there's nothing to interrupt you here and you should really get some sleep."

Ms. Parker was silent for a moment. "I doubt sleep would make me any less tired. It's not the type of exhaustion that a few hours of sleep suddenly alleviates."

Again, Jarod sighed with empathy. "I know. It's the type of tired that plagues you, works it's way right through your bones to your very core. However, if you don't give your body the recuperation it needs at the end of the day, it will only get worse. Your immune system will weaken and you could get very ill."

Ms. Parker scoffed. "Thank you for your brilliant diagnosis, Dr. Jarod, but I already knew that." Softening her voice again, Ms. Parker continued, "I appreciate your concern, Jarod, but I won't be able to sleep until there's a little more distance between us and the Centre."

Jarod nodded, she watched the reflection on the glass of the window.

"Just promise me you'll consider your health. The lack of sleep isn't good for your ulcer either," Jarod stated informally. "You should lay off of coffee and alcohol until your body has recovered and try not to skip any meals."

Ms. Parker grimaced. "Thanks for the nutritional advice, I'll keep it in mind."

Jarod narrowed his eyes as he glanced at her for a moment, trying to read whether she was serious or not. He turned his eyes back to the road before saying anything. "I'm glad you're keeping it under advisement."

A road sign alerted Ms. Parker to the fact that they were now exiting the Dover city limits. More of the tension eased its way out of her body.

Jarod noticed how Ms. Parker's stance softened some more but not completely. "You're worried."

"I'm sure Lyle will realize that I'm not in jail anymore, soon, and he'll have sweepers all over Delaware, if he doesn't already, " Ms. Parker said scornfully. "The slimy bastard will be seeking my head on a platter. Pardon me for feeling troubled by that fact."

"Lyle can't kill you, Parker. I don't think he even wants to. If he were seeking your death, he wouldn't have bothered framing you for murder. He just wanted you out of the way," Jarod reasoned.

"You think our twisted little sociopath wouldn't suddenly change his mind? There is no right and wrong in his world. To him, killing me is the same as slicing up a potato. Lyle's a wild card, an unpredictable element. Your profiling wouldn't hold on him" Ms. Parker reasoned back.

Jarod shook his head. "Lyle follows certain patterns and there are set steps he takes when he's out to murder, or even just to torture. It's one of his faults. He likes things neat and orderly. He's not about to suddenly drop that need for organization. He has an obsessive compulsive approach to his murdering techniques and that limits what he can and cannot do."

Ms. Parker was silent for a moment and then laughed bitterly. "Obsessive compulsive, murdering, cannibalistic, sociopaths. I'm surprised he and Cox, aren't brothers. But, then again, you never know with the Centre." She shuddered at the thought of having yet another crazed blood relative.

Jarod watched her quietly out of one eye. "You're still worried."

"It's habit, Jarod. Can you honestly tell me that you're not worried as well?" Ms. Parker questioned.

"No," Jarod answered. "We've spent our lives being watched, tracked, followed; it's natural that we'd be skeptical to think we're not still under those circumstances, especially when chances are the circumstances are still the same. However, I don't think that you should allow that worry to keep you from getting some rest. You can't stay awake and alert forever, Parker. Trust me, you can sleep safely here."

Ms. Parker let out a long weary sigh. "If I try to sleep will you let me be?"

"Yes."

"No phone calls?" Ms. Parker questioned with a serious face, as she raised an eyebrow.

"No phone calls." Jarod stated firmly with a half smile. "Now get some shut eye."

"If something happens, Jarod, I'm blaming it on you," Ms. Parker said pointedly.

Jarod chuckled. "I would expect nothing less."

"Good," Ms.Parker hissed. Tilting the seat back a little, she closed her eyes. "And don't do anything stupid."

Jarod just smiled, as Ms. Parker willed the thoughts parading in her head to slow down or go away. Eventually the car lulled her into sleep.

As they passed the Delaware state-line into Pennsylvania, she was still slumbering silently, and Jarod smiled softly at her. The huntress and the little girl were at peace with one another.

Author's Note: Sydney's character is not my forte, so, constructive criticisms on how to portray his character would be readily appreciated. I'm glad that his portion of the text in the last chapter was so well received. "The Sound and the Fury" was included mostly because I am a literature junkie and I enjoy randomly dropping in sections of text from novels, you'll have to forgive me for that. Thanks for reading. Love Ya!