Disclaimer: The characters are not my own, I'm only borrowing them to put them into situations of my own imagining.
Finding Family
Part Five
By Dr. Scott
Rating: G
Category: S
Timeline: Sometime in the middle of the series
Spoilers: None
Keywords: MPJF, JOF
Summary: Miss Parker accidentally shoots Jarod, which forces her to confront her feelings towards him. Meanwhile, a seriously injured Jarod has to learn to trust someone to help him and finds out a little about his family history.
Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday 9:30 AM
Parker slid her long legs out of bed and surveyed the small apartment in the morning light. She hadn't troubled herself to search it last night when she had arrived back late from her shopping expedition. As usual, Jarod left a mess of newspapers, books, toys, and pez dispensers strewn around the room. She shook her head. How could someone with such a brilliant mind live in such a pigsty?
She picked up the three shopping bags she had purchased the night before and unceremoniously dumped them out on top of the bed. She shook out a pair of navy slacks and a white cotton blouse from one, and a pair of "sensible" shoes from the other. They were also navy, closed-toe and with the new style of block heel, somewhat lower than her favorite three inch stiletto heels. And a collection of toiletries and makeup from the third. Walking over to the table strew with papers, she hoped to find some scissors to cut off the tags. Instead she was distracted by a file folder half hidden by a partially unfolded map. Inside was a syllabus with titles of chemistry labs outlined by date and then a stack of handouts. One set was turned sideways and flipping to the front, she realized it was for today's lab. Then suddenly she realized the map she had pushed aside had a red line tracing the route from this street in Raleigh, out of town on Highway 70 to Durham and then to Duke University. Was it something he had prepared for himself? Or had he left this for her?
Since she didn't find any scissors, she returned to the clothes and pulled the tags until they snapped off. There was a small tear in the blouse but hopefully she would only be wearing it once this afternoon to look the part of a student teacher. Shrugging she put on the clothes that fit well, but more loosely than she usually wore her clothes. She liked to were tight clothes that accentuated the curves of her body. She knew she looked good and she liked the feeling of power it gave her over many men.
Walking into the small bathroom she washed her face and started applying mascara. The cap rolled off the counter and she leaned over to pick it up and froze. There in the trash was a blood soaked t-shirt and numerous wrappers from sterile gauze pads. She swallowed hard realizing the pain Jarod must be going through. How was it possible that she had shot him? It had been totally accidental that the gun had gone off when Willie the sweeper had bumped her in his haste to catch Jarod. Suddenly, she felt the need to check in with Sydney. Jarod would call him and tell him if he was all right.
The Centre, Delaware, 9:15 AM
Sydney sat wearily in his desk chair, keeping a vigil on his office phone. He had his mobile phone laid out on the desk as well. He had only dozed all night long, constantly hoping that Jarod would check in soon. His relationship was like a teacher and like a father. In his old age, with even his twin brother, Jacob, gone, Sydney felt like Jarod was his only family. It was a source of constant regret that he had played such an instrumental part in keeping the boy at the Centre and in training him to do all the things that he could do. Now that Jarod had run away, there was really no point of his remaining at the Centre. He knew Jarod was too smart ever to get caught and the only reason they had ever gotten close was because Jarod had left them clues. But he couldn't retire and just walk away. He was afraid he would never see Jarod again. Sydney hoped that by staying he could help protect Jarod from the powers of the Centre and perhaps even help Jarod find out information about his real family. Sydney felt he owed it to his surrogate son.
The door opened and the last person Sydney felt like seeing breezed into his office. "Good morning, Sydney," Lyle said in a chipper voice. He was dressed in a freshly pressed suit, looking well refreshed. "Did you sleep well?"
Sydney narrowed his eyes a bit. Lyle obviously knew he had not left the Centre. He briefly wondered how a man like Mr. Lyle could ever sleep at all after all the terrible things he had done over the years. "Can I help you?" Sydney replied diplomatically changing the topic.
"Actually, I'm looking for my dear sister. Have you seen her?" asked Lyle sarcastically.
"She and Broots went back to North Carolina to follow up on some other leads," replied Sydney.
"I thought my father ordered you to stay together."
"No, he told Miss Parker not to go after Jarod alone. She is not alone," corrected Sydney.
Then with his perfect bad timing, Broots walked in the door. "Oh, excuse me. I'll come back later," he mumbled trying to beat a hasty retreat.
Mr. Lyle spun on his heel quickly and held a hand on the door preventing Broots from leaving. "Back from your trip so soon? Where's Miss Parker?"
"Um, I left her…" Broots started and then noticed the strangled look Sydney was giving him over Lyle's shoulder, "at her house. She isn't feeling well today and is taking some time off," he finished. Ordinarily, Broots preferred omission to outright lying, but he knew the evil Lyle was capable of and he wasn't about to let Lyle get anything over Miss Parker.
Lyle detected the lie but erroneously attributed it to other reasons. He smiled wolfishly and turned back to look at Sydney who was slumping back after having sat straight up in his silent communication with Broots. "She's as soft on that lab rat as you are, Sydney, isn't she? I saw the look on her face on that street. She's probably brooding guiltily at home. I guess I inherited all the fortitude and determination to do whatever it takes to get the job done." He smiled smugly at them, "You'll let me know if either of them contact you, won't you?"
Sydney merely nodded yes, and Lyle swept out of the office letting the door close loudly behind him.
Broots rushed up to Sydney's side at the desk and spoke in a low voice so anyone trying to listen would not be able to hear. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Sydney. I left Miss Parker back in North Carolina. She's going to finish Jarod's pretend there and help a college student find her mother."
"What?" asked Sydney incredulous that Miss Parker would help Jarod.
"The mother we're looking for, this woman, may have worked here at the Centre twenty years ago. Sydney, do you remember anyone named Eleanor Black?"
Sydney frowned and closed his eyes briefly. "Hmm," he mused, "The name sounds familiar, maybe a nurse I once worked with. I'm not sure."
"Why all the secrecy about Miss Parker?" Broots continued.
"Mr. Parker ordered her not to go after Jarod by herself yesterday," answered Sydney.
"I don't think she's after Jarod on this one. This has to do with her mother," replied Broots.
Sydney nodded with understanding. Miss Parker had only been a girl when her mother had died. At first it had been called a suicide, and now it looked more like a murder. She had taken the loss hard then, and it haunted her even now.
The ringing of the phone startled Sydney. He had waited so long for it to ring and now found himself completely distracted when it did. He snatched up the desk phone, answering with his usual, "Sydney." Hoping as he did that it was Jarod.
"Any word yet, Sydney" asked Miss Parker from the other end of the line.
"Oh, it's you," replied Sydney.
"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "Have you heard from Jarod yet?" she asked directly.
Sydney was struck by the tone in her voice. She really wanted to know. "No, he hasn't called me yet," he answered sadly.
"I'm working some leads here from Jarod's last pretend that I think may lead to some information about my mother. Cover for me there and help Broots if you can. I'll call back later this afternoon and check in with you on any developments," instructed Miss Parker.
"All right," he replied wearily.
"And Syd," she paused, "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I really appreciate your help."
"Miss Parker," he replied in surprise, "It's okay. We've got the bases covered here already. Hope you have a good rest at home and get over that illness Lyle thinks you have," he clued her in.
"Thanks, Sydney, I'll talk to you later," and she hung up.
Sydney looked up at Broots. "Well, lets get started searching the Centre's records about the mysterious Eleanor Black. Use my computer. I can stand to have some distraction from waiting for the phone to ring."
Broots nodded and brought another chair around the desk to the computer and cracked his knuckles with a grin. "That's what I'm good at."
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 11 AM
Miss Parker stood at the base of the steps leading up into Dalton Hall. She had made the twenty mile drive between towns easily in the late morning traffic and had quickly found a visitor parking place. From her own days at college she knew the person to see was the departmental secretary. The department chair was far too busy to worry about teacher's schedules. She needed to talk to the person with the real power.
"Excuse me," she called to a couple of students walking down the stairs. "Where's the departmental office?"
"It's on the second floor, right across from the elevator," answered one student.
"Is Babs still the secretary," Parker fished.
"Who? The secretary is Anna Potosky," answered the other.
"Thanks," Parker smiled brilliantly at them, nodded and stepped quickly up the stairs before they could ask her any questions.
She strode confidently to the elevators set in the middle of the building and pushed the up button. But as the elevator doors opened, she found herself with butterflies in her stomach and it wasn't a feeling she was accustomed to. Ordinarily she would enter a site where Jarod had been with a team of sweepers. The intimidating power she could project with a squad of obviously powerful men in dark suits behind her was one of her favorite parts of her job. She ordered complete strangers around and 99% of the time they did what ever she told them to do. But now she needed a different strategy. In fact, she needed to use the one Jarod was so very good at, impersonating a role so well that other people didn't even suspect you weren't who you pretended to be. She stepped in the elevator and pushed two to go up. As the doors closed, she closed her eyes and tried to settle her nerves.
She had been identified as a potential pretender as a child, hadn't she, Parker argued with herself. Jarod had found eight red files, not just seven as they had originally thought. Her name had been on that eighth file. It was clear that her mother had hidden the file to protect her when she had been a toddler. What would her mother advise her to do now?
The thought of her mother filled her with calm and she could almost hear her voice saying, "Trust your instincts. Feel what they feel."
Parker opened her eyes startled. She could almost swear she had heard her mother's voice. She suddenly recalled her conversation with Amanda Blake from the night before. "Jarod's heart is so kind and he is so empathetic; it's like he knows how you feel even before you do," Amanda had said. Empathy was the key to pretending. Parker shook her head. She had spent most of her life closing off her feelings. How did she open up to the feelings of total strangers? Well, she'd trust her feelings she decided and as the doors opened, she stepped out filled with confidence again.
Across the hall was a set of glass doors with Chemistry Department stenciled plainly on them. Through the doors she could see an older woman sitting at a large desk with a credenza to one side the filing cabinets stacked behind against the wall. The woman had hair dyed just a tad too black, and her age lines skillfully camouflaged under makeup. As Parker pushed open the doors, she marveled that the woman's long, red painted fingernails didn't slow her typing. "How may I help you?" the woman asked with a slight New Jersey accent.
"Are you Ms. Potosky? Anna Potosky?" Parker asked.
"Yes," the woman answered slowly.
Parker could feel the woman's uncertainty. She was clearly used to being in charge, but not accustomed to having strangers looking for her and not one of the chemistry professors.
"Jarod sent me," Parker began.
"Dr. Boyle isn't here yet. He has a lab in about two hours," Anna Potosky interrupted.
"No, you don't understand. He didn't send for me. He sent me to cover the class."
Anna turned her full attention to study Parker suspiciously. "You aren't a university associate. I can't fill out any paperwork for you in two hours, let alone get it approved."
Parker began to worry. She really wanted to get past this woman and into Jarod's office to search for any clues to Amanda's mother's disappearance, her own mother's death and possibly even where he might have run away to this time. How could she get this woman on her side? Then it occurred to her that she had to take this woman into her confidence or at least one version of the truth to succeed. Parker glanced over her shoulder and leaned over the desk to give an air of secrecy. "Is there somewhere we can talk more privately?"
Anna was clearly intrigued. Part of her sense of power was knowing things that ordinary people didn't and this conversation seemed to be leading to some interesting things. "Dr. Lennarz is out of his office for a lunch seminar. We can go in there," she offered standing up and leading the way to a door on the left. She opened the door to a large office with two windows overlooking the campus. Set under the windows were two comfortable reading chairs and a small coffee table scattered with science journals.
"My name is Miss Parker," Parker introduced herself holding her hand out to shake hands. "I'm an old friend of Dr. Boyle's." She quickly recalled the name the secretary had given. "You know how Jarod is—never wants to let anyone down."
Anna gestured to the chairs, sitting in one herself without saying anything, waiting for Parker to continue. So Parker settled herself in the chair carefully folding her long legs to the side and not in a dominant crossed position with her foot swinging out. "He asked me to come pick up a few things for him and to make sure this file of lesson plans was passed on to the right person."
"Are you implying that this is not a temporary absence? queried Anna.
"Yes, I'm afraid you are going to have to find a new chemistry lab instructor," replied Parker, offering the file of lab handouts.
"Why didn't he bring this himself?"
Parker could sense the woman's impatience growing and knew she had to draw her in with a story of some kind. Again she made a show of looking out the door and dropping her voice to a whisper said, "When 'They' call him back to work for them, he has to go right away," and gave the secretary a knowing look.
"Military research?" Anna breathed.
Parker shrugged, "It's very secret. He has a very special way of thinking."
Anna nodded wisely. "I could tell right away he was special. I've seen lots of them come and go, and have met my share of Nobel laureates. He was pretending to be dumber than he was." Parker started a little at the word "pretending" and tried to hide it by shifting her position in the chair. A fact that did not escape Anna's notice. "So he called you to come take over teaching?"
"Well, really to clean out his office," Parker said hoping to get out of the interview soon, "but if you're unable to find someone today, I am willing to help you out," she added seeing the doubt growing in the older woman's face. "I've cleaned up behind Jarod so many times the last few years I've lost count."
Anna could sense the real truth behind this statement and looked shrewdly at Parker, "You've been chasing after him, haven't you?" And Parker startled again. "You know you never catch a man by chasing him, you have to let him chase you," Anna advised.
"You misunderstand," Parker rushed to say, "We're not romantically involved…"
"…Anymore," finished Anna. "When did he leave you?"
"I left him first!" blurted Parker and then blushed. She was losing it in front of this woman, and needed to put a clamp down on her feelings that she had just started to access during this pretend. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable and irrationally angry at Jarod for his success at pretending.
Parker stood and straightened her blouse where it tucked into the slacks, assuming her more normal command pose, "Would you please show me to his office so I can retrieve his things," she asked politely but icily.
Anna nodded her head slowly. She could sense there was more to this story than the young woman was telling her, but what she had heard made sense given what she had observed in the last few weeks in Jarod Boyle's behavior. She had seen him casually correct a set of chemistry equations that had been left in the coffee room that she knew others in the department had been stumped over for weeks. He had only Xeroxed handouts for the first month of school, like he knew he wouldn't finish the term. "Well, if he's leaving me scrambling for a last minute substitute, then it's only fair I let you take care of sending his things on to him," Anna shrugged and stood up also, "Come on, I'll show you his cubicle and then I need to find a graduate student to cover that class."
After a short walk down the hall, Anna led Parker to a small office filled with four desks and gestured to the least cluttered one in the corner. "There you are. He travels pretty light doesn't he?" she observed.
Parker stared in amazement at the desk. There were two chemistry texts leaned up against the wall, a neat stack of graded papers with a calculator sitting on top of them on one side of the desk and Jarod's laptop computer right in the middle. "Thank you," she said turning to the woman and giving her a genuine, delighted smile. "That computer is just what I was looking for. Do you mind if I sit here awhile and check if he left me any further instructions," she added to allay any suspicions.
Anna regarded her briefly and gestured to the chair. "It will be quiet in here until after lunch. I need to go find a substitute now. It would be nice if you were available this afternoon, in case I'm not able to find someone."
Parker was suddenly anxious to stay on this woman's good side and nodded agreeably falling back to her original line, "Of course, that's what he asked me to do right?"
"I'll check back with you later then," said the secretary as she left.
Parker stepped over to the desk and cautiously raised the lid on the laptop almost afraid it would explode or something. She turned it on and found herself holding her breath as it booted up. This was a great find! Who knows what information Jarod had stored in this computer about the Centre, about her family, and even about himself. She found herself day dreaming about the praise her father would give her for having retrieved the computer. After he scolded her for having missed catching Jarod again she admitted.
The screen in front of her settled down with a data box and a cursor blinking in the center of it. 'Enter Password' it blinked continuously at her. Oh, bother, she thought, this isn't going to be easy. Where's Broots when you need him?
