Disclaimer: The characters are not my own, I'm only borrowing them to put them into situations of my own imagining.
Finding Family
Part Fifteen: Showdown
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.
Houston, Texas, Friday, 5 PM
Miss Parker followed Dr. White and her daughter, Amanda, into a large research lab. The normally bustling lab was quiet since it was the end of the day on a Friday, and the researchers had gone off to have their usual TGIF beers. Dr. White led them to a small room in one corner that was lined with shelves full of chemicals. Down against the floor was a small safe bolted to the back wall. She knelt in front of it and quickly dialed a combination to open the safe.
"We keep some particularly expensive and dangerous reagents in here," she explained as she reached into the back and withdrew a small, white envelope. "I put this in the back for safe keeping a long time ago." Dr. White stood and handed the envelope to Parker. "I never have been able to access the data on this disc. I hope you can find it useful."
Parker slid a long fingernail along the envelope seal and looked in at the small silver DSA disc reflecting light with little rainbows. She felt both a thrill and a dread of anticipation of seeing the images stored on the unique recording device. What information would she learn about Faith's death, or perhaps her mother's? But her thoughts were interrupted by Lyle's snide voice.
"Come a long way to see a doctor, haven't you, Sis?"
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Emily ran into the Clinical Research Building almost forgetting that she carried a small lead pig with the recently radioactively tagged sample in her hand. The bored guard at the door did not, "What are you bringing in here?" he demanded.
Emily forced herself to calm down and look the man in the eye, "I'm bringing this sample back as directed by Dr. White. I left with her less than an hour ago, remember?"
He stared at her face and really couldn't remember it, but he did remember the red hair, "Okay," he relaxed back into his boredom.
Emily strode down the hallway, stopping first in the lab to give the sample to the technician that had been assisting them, then to strip off her gloves and wash her hands.
Finally, she hurried on her mission to get Jarod, worry for her friend, Dr. White, spreading through her stomach like ice.
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Parker looked down at Dr. White's startled face and clenched her teeth. Turning slowly, she tried to slip the envelope and its disc into her coat pocket surreptitiously, simultaneously gesturing with her other hand to try to distract attention from her actions. "Who gave you permission to follow me again," she snarled back as she turned, then froze as a new voice answered.
"I did, Miss Parker. And weren't you ordered NOT to travel alone?" demanded Raines in his grating voice.
"Broots came with me," she defended herself.
"Where is your techno-dweeb?" asked Lyle looking around the room and settling on giving Amanda an appreciative and leering look.
The look didn't escape Parker's notice and she stepped between he and Amanda to protect the young woman. She purposefully ignored his question and went on the offense herself, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"We're following up on a reported sighting of Jarod," replied Raines as he stepped up to the door of the small chemical room, effectively trapping the three women inside. "Is this the Dr. White that has been abetting him?" he took a rattling breath and his eyes narrowed. Dr. White slowly stood up from her crouched position and stood defiantly with straight shoulders staring back at Raines. "Or should I say, Nurse Black," he growled.
"Dr. Raines," she acknowledged with ice in her own voice.
Lyle stared in surprise at the older woman as she faced them. No one ever stood up to Mr. Raines around the Centre. Perhaps this was the reason Raines had insisted on accompanying him on this trip. He looked over at Raines and was surprised at the look of anger which the bent man radiated.
"I'm not a young woman that you can easily intimidate any more, Doctor," stated Dr. White radiating her own anger. "I demand that you leave me and my family alone."
"You left under false pretenses and stole Centre property," accused Raines.
"You tried to have me killed!" she exclaimed.
"No one can leave the Centre with information like that," he hissed and then noticed Miss Parker shift on her feet, "without ascertaining their true loyalties first," he added. He was aware of her arrangement with her father, Mr. Parker, the Chairman of the Centre, that she would be allowed to leave once she returned their prize Pretender Jarod to the Centre. He didn't want her to know that he didn't plan to let that happen. If she was ordinary, then he wouldn't have disapproved of the plan, but he knew that there were more uses for her than her father wanted to allow. He smiled sickly at Parker, mentally gloating at the things that he would do once he had both the Pretender and her, with her latent Inner Sense, together. That's when he would seize power. But until then, he'd bide his time and slowly build his army of sweepers loyal only to him. He faced Parker and stared her down, "Just where do your loyalties lie, Miss Parker?" he asked threateningly, and held out his hand. "What did you put into your pocket?"
***********************
Emily found Jarod where she had left him, asleep on the small couch, his long legs hung over the side and onto a lamp table. She shook the foot closest to her and called his name, "Jarod, Jarod. Wake up."
Jarod snapped awake instantly, the tone in her voice told him more than any words she might have said. He swung his legs down and simultaneously pushed up with his good arm to a sitting position on the couch. He was relieved that his head stayed clear, but didn't push his luck and stand right away. "Tell me," he ordered.
"I saw some men. I recognized one from your videos. He was older, but it was definitely him."
"Sydney?" asked Jarod hopefully.
"No. You told me about him. I don't know this one's name. I just saw him in the background a few times."
"What did he look like?" demanded Jarod.
"Bald, stooped, pulling an oxygen tank behind him," she started.
"Raines," growled Jarod. "What is he doing here? He never chases after me? Unless, he's chasing after her…"
Emily misunderstood Jarod's concern, "He's after Dr. White. We have to help her!"
"Not we, I'm going to help."
"But, Jarod, I want to help too."
"I know, but you have children at home to worry about," he reminded her. "You can be a bigger help if you take care of them. Look, there are still a few things to finish here for the analysis right?" She nodded silently. "And someone has to come back tomorrow to develop the films and analyze the results right?" She nodded again. "Then that's what you're going to do, and I will check on Dr. White."
"But how will you get back to my house?" she persisted.
"I can hide in this hospital complex very easily," he smiled mischievously. "I will meet you tomorrow morning when you come back for the results, okay?"
"Okay," Emily mumbled looking unhappy, but resigned. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, "Just be careful."
He squeezed back and nodded, "Give me that lab coat. It will help me blend in better. I'll see you tomorrow morning at ten, okay?" Then he gingerly stood to his feet and nodded his head lightly with a pleased smile, "Hey, the dizziness is gone."
She took off the lab coat and handed it to him. Whereas it had hung to her calves, it now ended at his knees. As he pulled it on, his whole demeanor changed and he somehow looked so much more nerdy. Suddenly, she appreciated what it meant to be a Pretender, and she gasped lightly. He laid a hand on her shoulder and his warm brown eyes shone on her, "It'll be alright. I promise," and then he walked out of the room.
***********************
Parker glared back, mad at herself that she hadn't gotten away with hiding the envelope earlier. She was tempted to argue, but she glanced back behind Raines to where Lyle stood backup and Willie the sweeper even more obviously held a gun, ready to fire if ordered. She didn't think she was going to get to see the DSA, but she was at least going to use it to help Dr. White and her daughter Amanda. "You know this woman," she jerked her head toward Dr. White, "has never had the means to view this DSA," she patted her pocket. "I'll just take it home to Daddy, and make sure it's returned safely."
"Unacceptable," he rasped back.
"You agree to leave this woman and her family alone and I'll give it to you now," Parker offered knowing she had him.
"I could just take it," he threatened.
"We don't want to make a scene here in such a public place do we?" asked Parker in her saccharin voice.
Dr. White had watched the exchange and had an appreciation for the strength of character Parker had had to develop to survive in the Centre. "William, it has been over twenty years," she said getting his attention, "I have never acted against the Centre in all that time. I have only tried to live my own life and have a family of my own. Surely the data on that old computer disc is so old now the research has been superseded."
Her ignorance in thinking the DSA was a computer disc made Raines realize the danger of making too big a fuss over it. He could feel Lyle's growing suspicion behind his back and he could see Parker's desperation in her eyes even though she fought to hide it. They were both smart and ambitious and knew the scenes captured long ago were a source of power. A source of power over him. He drew a long breath of oxygen and shrugged, "You are accidental. We're really here to recapture the escaped Centre inmate, Jarod. What did you do to help him?"
"Nothing," Dr. White began.
"You were seen…" Raines interrupted.
"He came to help me," she interrupted in turn, stressing the word, 'me'. She looked over at Parker and quickly concluded she needed to protect her if only for the memory of her mother, Catherine Parker. "Jarod reunited me with my daughter. He reminded me that being with family is the most important thing," and she reached over and squeezed her daughter's hand.
Amanda smiled wanly over at her mother, still worried about how this confrontation was going to work out.
**********************
Jarod walked around the building to the entrance to the Basic Research Building just as a boisterous group of researchers were returning from their happy hour. He easily slid in among the group and passed into the building without raising the guard's attention and then rode up the elevator with some of them. "Excuse me," he asked a young man, "I'm coming over from Clinic, could you tell me which floor Dr. White has her office?"
"I don't know," the young man replied, "If you go back downstairs, there's a marquee by the elevators."
"Oh, don't bother," said another young man, "I work in her lab. We're on the fourth floor. I'll walk you to her office," he offered.
"Thanks," Jarod beamed at the young man. "Are you a graduate student?"
"Yes, only another 3 years of indentured servitude to go," he joked.
The elevator stopped at four and they got off, saying goodbye to the other young man who was continuing up to the sixth floor. The graduate student walked with Jarod to the cross hall and gestured to her office, "That's hers. You might need to leave a note or something. She gets around a lot since she's the lab manager. I gotta go, I have a gel that's about to finish," he apologized and walked quickly down the corridor.
Jarod stood outside the small office for only a moment, then he slid up against the wall and edged quietly up to the first lab door, peeking carefully around the corner. He checked back over his shoulder, and then repeated the process up to the next door. This time when he peeked in, he dropped to a crouch and listened intently. He wasn't really sure what he was going to do, but he knew he had the element of surprise in his favor.
************************
"So where is he now?" demanded Lyle, trying to get back in control of his quickly failing expedition.
Dr. White shrugged looking over at Parker, silently willing her to go along, "As I told her, he left around lunch time. Said it was best if I didn't know where he was going."
Parker nodded going along, pleased that Dr. White was astute enough not to tell Raines that she was the one to have reunited Dr. White and her daughter. She just hoped Amanda would keep her mouth shut. "It's Jarod's MO. Why he has such a thing for family, I'll never know," she said in disgust giving Lyle a glare. She pulled the envelope out of her pocket and waved toward the door with it, "So do we have a deal? Shall we go now and leave these two women alone with their reunion?"
Raines nodded and backed out of the door. Willie slipped his gun back into his holster and backed up. Lyle turned and realized that the security guard who had led them there had slipped away unnoticed. Just as well, Lyle thought smugly, now I can keep the 'reward'.
Miss Parker looked regally over at Amanda and her mother and gave the barest hint of a smile as she nodded goodbye to them. She took one large step towards Raines and stared directly at him as she slapped the envelope containing the DSA disc into his outstretched hand. Then she pushed between the other two men and strode out of the room with her long coat rippling behind her.
"Let's go," rasped Raines as he stuck the envelope in his pocket and took hold of the handle of his oxygen tank and he went squeaking off behind Miss Parker. Lyle gave the two women one of his most charming smiles and a slight bow, but the effect was ruined by his cold eyes. Then he and Willie trailed after Raines.
"Oh, mother!" Amanda finally spoke and burst into tears. Her mother pulled her into a hug and patted her back comfortingly as she took a long shuddering breath herself.
***********************
Jarod realized the group was breaking up and that Dr. White was being left unharmed. He wasn't sure exactly what happened, but he knew that Miss Parker had managed to save the day. He grinned with pride in her. He knew there was still warmth under her icy façade. He slunk back along the wall, quietly entered the first room he had looked in and folded himself around a dark corner under a desk to wait for his pursuers to leave. He listened as their footsteps echoed down the hallway, Miss Parker's distinctive heels clearly out of step with the rest of the men.
***********************
Parker silently fumed as she rode down the elevator with Raines, Lyle and Willie. She kept her arms crossed in front of her and her back straight exuding her subzero persona. They all stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall, Parker and Lyle now trailing Raines and his bodyguard. As usual, Lyle wouldn't leave her alone. "So, Parker, I thought you called in sick."
"The miracles of Theraflu," she quipped. "When I heard we had a lead on Jarod, I sacrificed my own health to do my job," she insisted for Raines' benefit. He was doing his best to ignore the two squabbling twins.
"What lead did you get?" asked Lyle suspiciously, afraid that one of his own men betrayed him.
She finally deigned to look his way, "From the 'garbage' as you called it, from Jarod's last lair. We concluded that he would be coming here. He was trying to help this family, and he needed medical help. It was logical. Sir," she sped up to walk by Raines, "Lyle may very well have scared Jarod away. I insist you order him to work on other projects and stop ruining the work that I was given…" She deliberately left the end of the sentence hanging so he would be forced to fill in the ending himself, 'by my father.' Effectively reminding him, that she still had one trump card over him.
"Very well, Miss Parker," Raines said in exasperation. "You are in charge of the recapture of Jarod. For the time being. Results are expected," he threatened.
By this time they had walked outside and stopped by the large town car parked in the handicap zone. The brewing storm seemed to match all of their tempers, as the wind swirled around them. Willie opened the rear door for Mr. Raines and helped lift his oxygen tank inside. Lyle opened the front passenger door and looked on as Miss Parker nodded obsequiously to the older man.
"Oh my," she exclaimed, "I've almost forgotten Broots!" She smiled wickedly at Lyle, and he knew she had never forgotten, but had conveniently sent them on their way. "I'll see you back at the Centre," she called almost gaily as she strode back into the hospital. Lyle climbed into the car granting her the victory, this time.
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Jarod walked into the lab cautiously and was pleased to see it empty except for Dr. White and Amanda. "Are you both alright?" he asked quietly.
"Jarod!" Amanda exclaimed and ran toward him, fresh tears flowing down her face.
"Shhhh!" both he and her mother scolded at the same time.
"I'm sorry," Amanda whispered as she threw her arms around his neck in a hug. "I've been so worried, especially Miss Parker said she shot you."
"Yeah, ow, she did," replied Jarod uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry," repeated Amanda as she let go, "You were right. You did help me find my mother. Thank you, Jarod."
"Yes, thank you. You were right. I'm not going to throw away this chance to be with the family I love," added Dr. White.
"Your welcome," Jarod said with embarrassment, "um, it sounds like Miss Parker had a hand in this miracle too."
"She is so amazing," Amanda gushed, "Well, she can be a little scary sometimes, but having seen these other creeps she has to deal with, I see why she's so tough, I mean…"
"Yes," interrupted Dr. White, "Dr. Raines was still mad at me after all these years, but she traded him a small disc for my freedom. I know she wanted to see what was on it herself, but she traded it for us. I just hope he honors his promise."
"Well, I can help you there," offered Jarod. "Let's go to your office and I'll set you up a secure email address so you can get a message to me if you need to."
************************
Parker rode back up the elevator to the fourth floor. She didn't have to. Really, she should be going to collect Broots and get out of town, but she wanted to make sure Amanda was alright. The young woman had gotten under her skin and she wanted to make sure that both she and her rediscovered mother were going to be alright. She turned the corner to walk to Dr. White's office and found the door closed leaving only a crack. She leaned against it and over the sound of a clicking keyboard, heard Amanda's voice describing how they had laid out the research papers on the floor of Jarod's apartment to find her mother. Thinking it would be uncomfortable to open the door as she was being praised, Parker knocked and called, "Amanda."
Immediately, the sound of typing stopped and Amanda opened the door partially, blocking the view inside as she replied in surprise, "Miss Parker! What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to make sure you were going to be alright. Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," said Amanda as Parker pushed the door open to reveal Dr. White standing by the second chair in front of her desk. Parker narrowed her eyes, and nowhere near the computer keyboard behind the desk she realized.
"Thank you again," Dr. White rushed forward to shake her hand. "My daughter was just telling me about your deductive skills in finding out my new name."
Parker inhaled deeply and felt the tension in the room. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt a thrill of adrenaline course through her. He was here.
"Jar-rod," she called out like an old game of hide and seek, holding her arms akimbo on her hips.
Slowly he rose from behind the desk, and stared expectantly at her, his eyes flicking only once to search behind her and to know that she was alone. "Miss Parker," he acknowledged in his rich deep voice, "temporary truce," he requested in their old manner from childhood.
She inclined her head slightly and he leaned back over the keyboard, blocking her view as he typed furiously. She took another step in the room to the desk and leaned over to grab a pen and scrawl a number on a post-it pad, "Here," she handed it to Dr. White. "Call me if you have any more problems with Raines. I'll try to make sure he honors our bargain."
Jarod stepped out from behind the desk and was now closer to the door than she was. "I'll be doing the same thing," he offered to Dr. White.
"Well, Wonderboy?" drawled Parker. "You run and I chase."
Jarod bolted for the door and raced down the corridor.
Parker took one step forward and found herself lying on the floor looking up at Amanda who had just tripped her. "I can't let you hurt him again," Amanda said forcefully.
Parker picked herself up and rubbed her bruised knee. She looked Amanda in the eye and finally understood the situation herself as she explained, "If I don't chase him, someone else will and they will hurt him when they catch him." And what she thought but didn't say was, and I'll be sure to never catch him.
So do you all want more? Or should I stop here?
