Disclaimer: Sigh…Sadly, I do not own the characters of The Pretender. I in no way wish to defame any of its affiliates nor NBC or TNT. I know very little about France and have never been there. My knowledge of the French language is limited. If there is a Claudette Hotel, I apologize for using its name. I do not mean to offend anyone who is French or the French police departments. I do not know anything about Harfleur, Le Havre, Honfleur, or the Normandy coastline, so if you go there, don't expect it to be the way I described it. I apologize to any museums in Le Havre, France, if there are any, and any morgues in Honfleur. I don't know much about Medical Examiners so, I apologize if I say something false. I don't know anything about pretty much anything medical, sorry. I don't have the rights to Cracker Jack or The Addams Family (Cousin It). I also don't own Moby Dick and am most definitely not a fan of Melville's work…though he probably wasn't a bad person. That's it. Read it now!

Summary: Clues to the past bring Ms. Parker and Jarod back together again. Very involved in IOTH, but you can understand it without having seen it. Ties up most story lines. Mostly from Ms. Parker's point of view. Chapters are short.

The Truth Is Waiting

By Bec-Bec

Chapter 20

Keeping Pace…Or not

The next day, Jarod and Ms. Parker set off to meet John. Ms. Parker was slightly apprehensive at the idea of seeing the dead body of the man she had called her father for over thirty years of her life. She wasn't sure how it would affect her and she did not want to repeat her breakdown of the previous day. Seeming frail was not something that she enjoyed…even if it did mean she got to have Jarod's arms around her…she did have her standards after all. Reluctantly, she had agreed to go with Jarod to visit John. She tried to prepare herself for whatever newest secret from the Centre they would find this time. Perhaps that Mr. Parker was not in fact her uncle, but even some completely unrelated stranger…or maybe that he was her grandfather. Who knew what was possible with the Centre. Apparently, John was a medical examiner who Jarod had helped in the past. John had been running searches through every morgue in France that came up with an unidentified body. He would look to match up information about Mr. Parker with the information of the John Doe. Finally, one of the John Does had matched up. That's why he had called Jarod the previous day. So, Ms. Parker and Jarod had set off to meet John at a morgue in Honfleur. Honfleur was a very short distance from Harfleur, they both border the Bay of the Seine. They arrived shortly after they had left the Claudette Hotel and were met outside by John.

"Bonjour Jarod, Mademoiselle Parker, follow," John said, "Morgue this way."

They proceeded into the building and through a very white, sterile hallway to a door near the back of the building. John pushed the door open and they followed closely behind him.

"Mr. Parker here," John said.

Ms. Parker glanced around and noticed how dark and damp the room was. A chill went down her spine. "How dreadfuly reminiscent of the freak show that is the Centre," she whispered.

John slid out the tray that Mr. Parker was layed out on. Ms. Parker turned an even paler shade than she usually was. The body was very darkly colored and looked as though it had been a snack to several large fish. "Do they know how it happened?"

"Drowned," John said.

Jarod watched Ms. Parker closely, then turned to John. "Is the equipment ready?"

"Jarod, what equipment? What are you going to do?"

"Find out the truth."

"My father's finally going to tell the truth, what a novelty," Ms. Parker half smiled then returned to her very blank look.

John rolled a highly complicated looking machine over to the tray. "This scan. See what's inside, outside."

Ms. Parker stepped a little closer to examine the machine. She found John kind of creepy, though he sort of reminded her of Angelo.

John ran the machine over the body and it scanned a complete X-ray and 3 dimensional, internal model into the computer.

Jarod watched the screen closely. "Odd."

"What?" Ms. Parker said, dreading the response. Odd and the Centre never meant anything good.

"Your father had a pacemaker."

"What? Daddy's heart was fine," she said as she walked up to the computer to get a better look.

"Exactly. It doesn't make sense why he'd have a pacemaker."

"Jarod, the Centre hasn't made sense since…actually, never."

Jarod nodded, "We're going to have to take it out and examine it."

"Are you sure that it's my father?"

"John checked fingerprints…it's really your father."

"Okay, but I can't watch. I'll go wait in the hall." She turned to walk out but Jarod caught up in one long stride.

"Are you okay?"

"Well, I was hoping my father would just become food for Moby Dick like any normal person who jumps out of an airplane into the ocean. But no, My father has to drown in an ocean in France and wash up on the shoreline," Ms. Parker said spitefully.

Jarod put his hand on the side of her face and turned her head towards his own, until their eyes met. "It'll be okay, Parker. The truth will set you free."

Ms. Parker stared back at him, then gently removed his hand from her face. "I know, it just pisses me off." She gave him a wry smile and walked out into the hallway.

Twenty minutes later, Jarod and John had removed the pacemaker. Jarod called for Ms. Parker to come back in and all three of them examined the small object.

"I still don't understand, his heart was fine. It had to be for all of those times he ran away from the Centre."

Jarod tried to supress a smile at Ms. Parker's usual dry humor. "Maybe it's just something made to look like a pacemaker. We'll have to open it and look inside."

John went and got a set of very small pointy tools. "Tools, open." He said, bringing the tools over to Jarod.

Jarod selected a long one with a flatish point at the end and popped the pacemaker open. Inside was a disc about the size of bottle cap.

"Jarod, what is it?"

"It looks like a very small computer disc."

"How can that be a computer disc? It's the size of the buttons on my suit."

"The Centre always was the cutting edge of technology."

"How do we find out what's on it?"

"I don't have the equipment necessary to read this kind of disc…but I know who does.

"Who?"

"The Centre of course."

"How are we going to get it from the Centre?"

"We're not."

"What!? Now that you've found it, I have to know what's on it. Now is not the time to worry about a homecoming Wonder Boy," Ms. Parker said angrily.

"You promised me a week without the Centre."

Ms. Parker sighed in frustration, "Well, what do you propose we do?

"Send it to Angelo. He can copy whatever's on it onto a larger disc for us to read."

"And how do we get it to Cousin It?"

"A box of Cracker Jack."

"Cracker Jack?" Ms. Parker didn't understand.

"CJ."

"Now I'm even more confused, who's CJ?"

"Angelo's name when he wants to tell me something without the Centre knowing it's him."

"So, we put the disc in a box of Cracker Jack and mail it off to Cousin- to CJ?"

"Exactly."

"How will he know what it is?"

"I'll send him an e-mail."

They both stood there for a moment.

"Well, Wonder Boy, what are you waiting for?" Ms. Parker said testily.

"Hmm… a kiss?" Jarod hinted.

Ms. Parker leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. She gave a devilish smile, "I never give rewards until the job's done."

Jarod chuckled and thanked John for his help. They left to hunt down a store which sold Cracker Jack.

Author's Note: Do they sell Cracker Jack in France? Someone tell me. Plus, is it too unrealistic that Mr. Parker has been hiding information inside of himself? I hope it wasn't too farfetched. Please Review!!!