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 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.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 25

Infiltrating the Museum

Harfleur, France

By 9:00, Ms. Parker and Jarod were dressed in their police uniforms and out on the street. They decided to postpone discussing what had happened so that they wouldn't be distracted during the job at hand. They caught a cab and stopped a block away from the museum in Le Havre. The cab driver didn't understand why cops needed to take a cab, but Jarod quickly explained that they were trying to go undercover. The plan was to climb up to the roof of the building next to the museum and then cross over to the rooftop of the museum. Jarod had seen a roof access door on the blueprint and decided it was the most discreet way to enter the building. If they got caught, they would explain that they were checking the museum's security systen and it was not doing well. Their cop identities were still in the computer database, so the cover worked. When they got to the roof, Ms. Parker began feeling a little jittery.

"Jarod, are you sure about this?"

"Ms. Parker what are your thoughts on the Centre?"

"What!?" Jarod's question had been completely out of nowhere, she didn't understand what he was getting at.

"Just answer."

"Okay. I think the Centre is a madhouse. A freakshow where Frankensteins do evil doctor work. Besides its being hell, worse than hell, and, oh yah, heel run by the devil, Raines."

Jarod smiled at Ms. Parker's little rant, "Exactly. I've broken into the Centre several times. If I can survive that, you can survive breaking into an art museum where the only thing that can attack you is a framed piece of paper with some paint on it. Now, come on."

"Maybe I'm afraid of artwork."

"You're not," he replied as the lock on the access door clicked open after he entered the access code that his little key card computer had given him. He disappeared into the dark building.

"Great," Ms. Parker mumbled to herself, "I'm running around in the dark with Rat Boy." Then she smiled, after all, Rat Boy was cute…and she loved him.

Ms. Parker followed closely behind Jarod as they wound through the dark empty galleries of the top floor. Apparently, they did not contain an exhibit at the moment and so, were not being watched closely by security. Jarod turned to Ms. Parker and grabbed out for her hand.

"What's that for?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to hold your hand."

Ms. Parker smiled and joked with him, "I'm not two years old, I know not to touch the exhibits."

Jarod just smiled back.

Jarod had figured that the scrolls would be in an office on the third floor. The building had four floors, but the blueprints had shown a small group of rooms on the third floor which seemed to be offices. They would have to use the main stairwell to go down to the next floor. The third floor would be patrolled and the lights would be on, this made it more difficult for them to get to the offices without being seen. They walked down the stairs close to the wall and stopped outside the archway which lead into the first gallery on the third floor. Jarod peaked around the corner to locate where the surveilence cameras were.

"There are two cameras in the first room of the gallery. One on the east side of the North wall, facing in the southwest direction, and one on the west side of the North wall, facing southeast."

"Jarod, I don't have a compass with me and I have no idea which way is North and which is South, just tell me how we're gonna get in and back out."

"It's simple, really. I can't believe they'd set it up this way, but if we stay along the Northern wall, the cameras won't catch us."

"Where's the North wall?"

"It's the blank wall on the opposite side of this wall we're leaning against."

"I guess they figured that they didn't need to keep surveilence on it if it didn't have any artwork on it."

"No, it's too easy, there has to be another camera in the room."

"Where?"

"They probably hid it on one of the statues."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"Let them see us."

"What!?" Ms. Parker barely controlled the volume of her voice and Jarod was forced to clap a hand over her mouth.

"Shh…I SIMmed this, we'll just play along like we're with the police department and we're checking their security system. Remember? That was the plan if we got caught."

Ms. Parker pulled Jarod's hand off of her mouth, "Next time you shush me, you better have a damn good reason."

"You were too loud."

"Well, what's the point of being quiet if you're gonna let them find us?"

Jarod sighed, "Just, follow me."

Ms. Parker didn't understand why he'd sighed instead of arguing with her like usual, but they were about to slip into French cop mode, so she didn't bother asking. They crept along the North wall, waiting to hear if an alarm would go off. Remarkably, no alarm went off.

"They really do have bad security."

Since they hadn't gotten caught, Ms. Parker asked why Jarod had sighed.

"Jarod, why did you sigh before?"

"Because, Parker, despite everything you've said and done, it still seems like you don't trust me."

"Oh, but Jarod, I do trust you. I trust you with my life. I just don't like having people thrust their hands over my mouth…unless I ask them too."

"Fine, I believe you." Jarod smiled awkwardly and Ms. Parker picked up on his little joke.

"Lab Rat! You just wanted me to say I trusted you."

"Yes." Jarod chuckled softly, "Now, shhh, we're still trying to not get caught."

"Someday, Jarod, I'm going to get you back for all of this."

"I look forward too it," Jarod replied barely concealing a huge grin.

"I'm sure you do." Ms. Parker said sarcastically before grabbing his hand.

"What's that for?"

"Nothing, I just felt like holding your hand."

They smiled at each other.

Jarod looked into the next room of the gallery. There was a guard standing between its entrance and a third room of the gallery. Behind the guard, Jarod could see two thick mahogany doors. He assumed the offices must be behind them, but how would they get through the two rooms and past the guard?

"There's a guard standing between the next room and a third room. I can see doors on the wall of the third room. The offices must be behind them."

"Well, how do we get past the guard?"

"Actually, this should be easy. He's not just a guard for the museum, he's a guard for the police."

"And… What's the plan?

"You go in there and tell him that you're here to take over his shift."

"Why me? I don't know enough French. It'll never work."

"You're a woman Parker."

"And? Why does that equal my going in there?"

"You're a beautiful woman, and he's a man."

"Thanks for the compliment, but no."

"Parker, come on. Just be your normal self, like at the Centre. He'll be intimidated enough to leave without asking any questions."

"Fine, but you are really going to have to make this up to me later."

"Absolutely." Jarod smiled at her

"Wipe that grin off your face, Lab Rat, and shove it up your ass"

"Parker! What was that for?"

"Just getting into character," Ms. Parker laughed at the shocked look on his face.

"Honestly, I don't know how you do it."

"What? Act like the Ice Queen? It's easy. I just think of Raines and all of the anger boils right up."

"Raines," Jarod said spitefully.

"See how easy it is?"

Jarod nodded in response.

"Now, I need to know what to say in French."

"Just walk up to him, say 'L'heure de partir,' that means time to go, and stand in position. I'm sure he won't say a word, he'll be too shocked."

"L'heure de partir."

"Exactly."

"This better work."

Ms. Parker let go of Jarod's hand and pushed her hair behind her ears. Then, she crossed her arms in front of her and walked out into the gallery. The guard turned around when he heard footsteps and his mouth froze in a half opened position.

"L'heure de partir," she said saucily and then took up a position between the two rooms. As expected, the man was dumbfounded and walked off in a daze through the third room and back out to the main stairwell. As soon as he was gone, Jarod slipped out of his hiding place.

"How did you know that would work?" Ms. Parker asked.

"Because, Parker, everyone who doesn't know you and receives that glare of yours feels ready to die."

Ms. Parker glared at him, "Are you ready to die?"

"I said people who don't know you," Jarod chuckled, "And, besides, you already put a dagger through my heart."

"I should hope so," Ms. Parker replied hotly. She took his hand in hers again, "Now, come on."

Jarod turned the knob and they stepped into a dimly lit corridor with a white tile floor. There were four doors, two on each side of the hallway.

"And behind door number 1 is…" Ms. Parker whispered.

"I have no idea which door it's behind."

Ms. Parker pointed to the furthest door on the left, "It's that one."

"How do you know?"

"I just do, it's…"

"The Inner Sense," they both said at the same time.

Jarod slipped the computer card in the lock, and, once it had deciphered the lock numbers, he punched in the code and pushed the door open.

The room was dark and Ms. Parker flipped the light switch on the wall. The scrolls were resting on a table in the center of the room underneath a pale light. This was the only light in the room. Ms. Parker figured they were trying to keep the paper from rotting under direct light. After all, the scrolls were…well, ancient.

They started with the first of the two rolls of parchment. They unrolled it and began to look over it.

Author's Note: Just assume that there were no surveilence cameras in the room where the guard was, I didn't feel like writing them out of another surveilence situation.

The next few chapters are going to deal with the scrolls, hopefully. It's very hard to write something God would have written, if the scrolls are in fact the word of God…sigh. Remember, we don't know much so I've made up an extremely large amount of information. I hope none of it sounds too contrived or farfetched. Definitely give me feedback!