Disclaimer:  The characters are not my own, I'm only borrowing them to put them into situations of my own imagining.

Finding Family

Part Seven

Rating: PG

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.

Thank you kind reviewers for your words of encouragement.  I've tried to fix the time line as suggested.  Sorry, comes from having discovered this most excellent drama just before it got cancelled and watching most of the episodes out of order in reruns.  I wish they still had it on, but the rest of your efforts in fanfic have inspired me as well.  Somehow the characters keep talking and I type what I hear as fast as I can.  Hope you enjoy this next installment.

Duke University, Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday afternoon

Miss Parker found herself trailing behind Anna, the chemistry department secretary, to the chemistry lab where Jarod had been teaching for the last month.  She lugged her incredible find of his laptop computer.  She hadn't had time to search the hard drive to determine what information he had stored there, but she had figured out the password.  She still found it hard to believe that he had used her given name, her very private and generally unknown given name.  She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or angry with him.  In fact, she wasn't sure what she thought anymore.  She found herself trying to justify helping Jarod as a new tactic in catching him, but she was really motivated to find out more information about her own mother.

The secretary stopped and unlocked a door to a large laboratory and gestured inside, "Dr. Boyle stored a few things in here too since this was the only classroom that he taught in.  I'd really appreciate it if you would stay as the class arrives and get them started on today's lab.  Everyone is at a special noon seminar today.  As soon as the reception concludes, I'll make sure one of the grad students comes to take over the class."  The secretary looked shrewdly over at Parker and smiled wisely, "Don't spend your whole life cleaning up after him now."  She offered her hand and Parker shook it in surprise, "Good luck," the woman concluded and then walked back down the hall leaving Parker standing outside the classroom feeling a little dumbfounded.

Parker walked into the room, set down the stack of lab handouts on the first bench and looked around the room.  Tall, black lab bench stuck out from the walls on both sides of the room, with sinks and cabinets set between them against the walls.  The nearest wall to the hall had an array of bottled chemicals on shelves and balances ready for use on the counter below.  But across the room, up against the windows was a teacher's desk.  'Ah-ha, thought Parker, what other juicy tidbits have you left behind Jarod?'

She hefted the laptop to get a better grip on it and strode over to the desk.  Unlike the desk in the common room back in the departmental office, this desk was more like something Jarod would use.  It was messy.  There were stacks of scientific journals that had been checked out of the library, Xeroxes of papers, file folders lying every which way and most importantly, a pad of paper with notes in Jarod's neat square handwriting.  Parker set the laptop down in the chair and picked up the pad trying the decipher the chemical and medical jargon that he had written down.  The only word that made any sense to her was leukemia, the rest seemed to be about a regimen of medications.  She shook her head and thought, 'where's Sydney when you need him?'

Any further attempt to elucidate what Jarod had been researching was interrupted by the arrival of several students.  Three young men in jeans and t-shirts came boisterously into the lab and clustered by one of the lab benches.

"And then she said, I'll show you where to park your car," one bragged lifting his eyebrows with a smirk.  The other two laughed and leaned up against the table clearly ready to hear more of the first student's exploits, when his expression changed as he realized Parker was in the room.  "Well, hello there," he called out his voice now a bit deeper.

Parker straightened up from the desk and watched as the young man sauntered over to her.  He was fairly tall with blond hair and well developed muscles rippling under his one size too small tee-shirt.  He might have been good looking if he didn't remind of her brother Lyle crossed with one of Raines' muscle bound goons.  She took a breath and held it a moment as she reminded herself she was pretending to be a teacher in order to get her hands on all of Jarod's papers.  She pasted a stiff smile on her face and nodded at him.  He continued walking toward her with a big smile on his face, clearly appreciating her figure.

"My name's Troy.  Are you a new student?" he asked.

Parker shook her head stiffly, "No," she began but he interrupted her.

"Now that's a shame.  I would have been happy to help you mix up some new chemistry," he said suggestively.

"I'm the substitute teacher," she replied through gritted teeth hoping he would lay off on his pick up lines.  She was finding him immature and boorish, and trying not to lose her temper.

Troy was apparently too dense to get the hint, "You'll be much more fun to be teacher's pet with than Jarod."  He stepped right up to her reaching out to take her hand, as she clearly wasn't about to shake hands with him.

Parker snapped.  She smiled icily at him as she smoothly reached up, taking his hand and stepped seductively close to him.  "Don't you mean, Dr. Boyle?" she asked coyly.  Then in a flash she twirled, flipped him and had him laid out on his back with his right arm twisted causally in her hands and one foot on his neck.  "You really should learn your manners and show people the proper respect that they deserve," she told him.

One of the other students whistled appreciatively, but a look from Parker silenced him.  She glared at both daring them to say anything.

Finally, the one on the floor, Troy, gasped, "You must be Miss Parker!"

Startled, Parker looked down at him.  She clearly remembered that she had not given them her name.  Her eyes narrowed as she growled, "How do you know that?" and she gave his arm a little more twist.

He yelped out, "Jarod, I mean, Dr. Boyle mentioned someone like you with that name…"

Parker released him and stepped back smoothing her pants in an effort to control the adrenaline now flowing through her.  "Explain," Parker demanded.

Troy stood up rubbing his arm and a contrite expression on his face.  "One day we were joking around and I teased Jar-, Dr. Boyle, saying he needed a good woman to distract him from all his research," he nodded toward the piles on the desk.  "He said he already had all the woman he could handle.  I asked, was he married, then he got this sort of sad, far away look and said no, I keep Miss Parker as far away from me as I can."

Parker sensed a hesitation and knew there was more, "Go on," she threatened.

One of the other students cleared his throat, "Mr. Libido here asked him if you were pretty and could he have your phone number."

She looked over at the other two who were still standing by the lab table, "And he said," she prompted.

"He said you were as beautiful and cunning as a wild lioness on the hunt, and just as deadly."

Parker blinked.  For the second time that day she was surprised by Jarod's opinion of her and didn't know whether to be flattered or angry.

The interview was ended as several more students walked in chatting amicably among themselves.  They spotted the lab handouts on the table and picked some up before moving to another of the lab tables.  Troy moved back to the table with his friends and they too picked up some handouts and began reading over them.  Parker retreated back to the desk to gather her wits and calm down.  She stood with her back to the room staring out the window, but not even seeing the campus in the bright sunshine.  In her mind's eye, she was seeing a figure dressed in black pants and a black leather jacket running down a dark suburban street.  She felt the adrenaline flowing as she chased him, and the surprise she felt as a two dark sedans sped around the corner and screeched to a stop letting dark suited sweepers catapult out to join the chase.  She heard herself call out his name and then the sharp retort of the gun in her own hand as she lost her balance and fell slowly to the ground.  The smell of gunpowder coincided with the sight of him pitching forward and rolling as the bullet struck his shoulder.  Then she hit the ground herself and lost sight of him as everything went from slow motion to fast forward.  Somehow, he had disappeared right after she had shot him.  He was right.  She was deadly, and it was not something to be proud of.

A gentle touch on her shoulder caused her to spin reflexively in her hunter mode and she had to force herself to keep from slamming another student to the floor.  It was Amanda Blake with a bright smile on her face.

"Miss Parker, I can't believe you're really here.  You said you would be, but I didn't see how you could get in as a substitute teacher.  You and Jarod are both just amazingly talented people."  Amanda's smile faded to concern as she looked at Parker.  The look of guilt on Parker's face was quickly hidden as a curtain enclosed her emotions and she stiffened into the usual mask she wore.  "Are you alright?" Amanda asked.

Parker stared at Amanda with soulful eyes that turned from soft blue to steel as she drew a deep breath and nodded.  She stepped out into the room with complete poise and absolute control as she called the class to order.  "Good afternoon, class.  I am Miss Parker.  Dr. Boyle has been called away on urgent business and you will have new instructor next week."

"All right, is it a walk today then?" interrupted one of the students.

Parker silenced him with one of her withering glares.  "The instructions for today's lab are on the front bench," she gestured to the table nearest the door.  "I suggest you get busy."

The students quickly passed out handouts to those who had not picked one up already, and began getting out glassware and Bunsen burners to set up the experiment.  Fortunately, this was the second semester and they were adept at performing them.

Parker stood in the middle of the room exuding an air of total authority and the class worked quietly only murmuring softly to each other instead of their usual boisterous conversation.  After about ten minutes, Parker began to doubt herself again.  'What the hell am I doing here?' she demanded of herself silently.  'Daddy is right.  Emotions just get in the way of efficiency.  I just need to collect all those papers and get out of here.  I don't need to continue Jarod's stupid little game of teacher anymore.'  She moved back to the desk and began stacking all the files and papers, setting the journals from the library to the side. 

Amanda bravely walked up and called her name softly, "Miss Parker?"

Parker turned again but without the ferocity she had the first time, and looked expectantly at the girl to continue.

"I looked up in the attic like you asked and I found one file box that may have some information.  It was too late to read through it all but it is from 1969 and 1970 before she even met my Dad.  It looked like a bunch of science journals at first, until I found some photos and a journal.  I saw a photo that puzzled me.  How could you have known my mother?"  She held out an old black and white photo of a young Eleanor Black and a woman who was the mirror image of Parker.

"My mother before she died," breathed Parker as she took the photo with trembling hands.  "My mother did know your mother," she said with amazement to Amanda.  "You say there is more?"

"Yes, but I didn't read it.  It was too late, but I have it in the trunk of my car and I thought we could sort through it together after class today."

Parker nodded in agreement still staring at the photo.  This must have been the connection that Jarod had found.  But he saw it in the scientific papers he had collected on his desk.  What exactly had he found?  She was even more determined to collect the papers, but instead of just throwing them into a file box and taking them back to the Centre for analysis, she wanted to study them herself.  There was a good chance that they would disappear at the Centre if there were any negative implications to the Centre inherent in these papers.  Parker's desire for her father's approval was overshadowed by only one thing.  Her desire to find out the truth about her mother's death.  She had always been told it was suicide, but just last year Jarod had shown her evidence that her mother had been shot and murdered.  Maybe, just maybe, this woman, Eleanor Black knew the truth and if she was still alive she could tell it to Parker.  The uncharacteristic sense of guilt that had prompted her to help Amanda with this attempt at a pretend had turned into her personal crusade.  Parker was even more determined to help Amanda find her mother.