Chapter 20
Catherine Parker looked at Major Charles. He looked back at her.
'Are you sure?' he asked. Catherine Parker nodded. Sydney and Jarod looked at one another. Jarod felt like saying something sarcastic, but, something in him sensed, that his father, and Mallory's mother, needed to tell this story in their own way. And he was willing to listen, although he could not imagine feeling any differently when it was all said and done.
Major Charles turned and walked down a hallway. He stopped at door that was open. Jarod leaned to his right, almost bumping into Sydney. Jarod and Sydney watched as Major Charles turned on a light to what appeared to be some sort of downstairs bathroom. He emerged quickly, carrying a container. He did not turn off the light, but walked towards them.
Jarod and Sydney looked at one another again. Major Charles was carrying a container of baby wipes. He handed them to Catherine Parker, who's hand shook as she took them from him. Jarod and Sydney watched her.
Catherine Parker, then removed a babywipe, and began rubbing it on her face. Slowly, her face changed from an older version of Mallory, to a woman almost unrecognizable. For on her face, and neck as well, was an odd shaped assortment of...of what looked to be the number 8!
Sydney slowly got up and moved towards her. Catherine looked him in the eye.
'May I?' he asked, gently touching her face, to inspect the red shaped rashes. Jarod blinked, wondering if it was his imagination that the rashes seemed to appear to be 8's or was it just the pattern itself?
Jarod stood up as well. Surely, this woman was not about to tell him that a little acne had kept her away from her family for all of this time?
But then, something about her face, made him move closer as well. This was more than just some sort of skin disease. Jarod sat on her other side. He then looked at Sydney. Sydney stopped touching her face.
'I've never seen anything like this.' he murmured.
'I think that was the point.' Catherine Parker replied, as tears slipped down her face. Jarod's eyes met his father's.
'What happened?' Jarod asked. Major Charles nodded to Catherine. She spoke, but her voice was low.
'I don't know if Sydney told you what I told him, about Mallory having a sister, and the agreement I struck with Raines?'
Jarod nodded. He had many questions, but decided to be quiet for now. He was in shock. For the Catherine Parker he remembered, had skin that was soft to look at, and probably touch. And in every photograph he had ever seen of her, along with the memories he held in his mind, she just brimmed with a gentle kind of beauty.
The woman that sat before him now, was a mere shadow of that person.
'Well,' she continued, 'I never had any intention of keeping that deal. And somehow, Raines and the Triumvirate knew this.'
'The Triumvirate?' Sydney asked. 'They were involved with this?'
'When have they not?' Catherine said bitterly. 'They knew that I was rescuing children...they knew about Ethan...they were the ones that had my daughter...Melanie.'
'Mallory's twin?' Jarod asked, still unable to believe that Lyle was not his wife's twin. Granted, it was more than fine with him, that that scumbag was not his brother-in-law, but still, it was a bit unsettling. All of the lies, and from the last people on this earth, that he would've thought would have lied to him.
Catherine nodded, then turned to reach for one of the photographs, sitting on a table behind the couch. Jarod suddenly saw the pictures, and wondered how he could've missed them? On almost every Pretend he had ever done, if the person he was helping had photographs of family, Jarod was almost always drawn to them.
He noted that there were many pictures of Catherine Parker, his father and Brian. Jarod wondered if these pictures were positioned here purposely, as if to send a message to him that Brian should stay?
Catherine handed a silver framed photograph to Jarod. He blinked. The woman in the picture, was standing against a tree, in an almost seductive like pose. She definitely looked like Mallory, only, she had blonde hair. Jarod looked at Catherine questioningly.
Catherine Parker smiled.
'Melanie decided years ago that blondes have more fun. She lives in New York.'
Jarod did not hand the picture back to his mother-in-law right away, as he continued to stare at the lost twin. How would his wife look with blonde hair? As he stared at the sister-in-law he had never met, he decided that he would prefer Mallory with dark hair. There was something about Melanie's eyes...they were not as prominent, or as startling, under a head full of blonde hair.
Jarod handed the photograph to Sydney, who stared at it as well. This confirmed the existence of the twin.
'Raines had given Melanie to the Triumvirate?' Sydney asked.
Catherine Parker nodded again.
'Yes...I figured I would go to Africa, get my daughter back, then come back and figure out a way to get Mallory, and be with Ethan. By then, I had made contact with Major Charles again. We both wanted to find our baby...and rescue you, Jarod.'
Jarod stood up.
'That's what you say...'
Major Charles stood up.
'It's true, son! I never wanted anything else! After what your mother did...'
'Shut up!' Jarod snapped. 'I don't want to hear your lies about my mother selling Kyle and me to the Centre! She would've never done that! Never!'
Catherine reached up and touched Major Charles's hand. He squeezed it, but turned away, hurt. Catherine continued.
'When I went to Africa, and was reunited with my daughter, I stayed overnight in a hotel, owned by the Triumvirate. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by something. I didn't realize until later on, that it had to have been a prick.'
'A prick?' Jarod asked.
Catherine Parker rolled up her shirt sleeve. Jarod and Sydney looked, while Major Charles let go of her hand, and turned away again. On her right arm, was the same 8 shaped pattern, only smaller.
'This is where I was injected, with whatever it is that did this to my face and neck...and shot my immune system. I can't tell you how many illnesses I've had over the years...debilitating illnesses. Having Brian here...knowing that the Centre has been destroyed...this has been the best I have felt in a long while. I have been in and out of hospitals for years, under many aliases...if it had not been for Major Charles's love and support...he practically helped me raise Melanie...and my poor little girl...she needed psychiatric help after her time in Africa. The Triumvirate had tried to make her into a Pretender as well.'
Jarod put a hand up, then shook his head sadly at Catherine Parker.
'I'm sorry for what Melanie went through. But was it your vanity, that kept you away from Mallory all of these years?' Jarod asked bitterly. He was sorry to be so nasty, but this story just was not cutting it with him! Why didn't Catherine Parker come forward as soon as she heard the Centre had been taken down? Jarod would've never known she was alive, if it had not been for his mother's dying words.
Major Charles gave his son a particularly vicious look. Sydney watched him.
'Did you just hear what she said, Jarod? She said she's been in and out of hospitals for years! Our dream was to rescue Mallory, Ethan, Kyle and you! I wanted to be reunited with Emily...but Catherine was always having one health crisis or another! And Melanie had to be provided for! Jarod, Catherine is not just some...some...passing fancy or girlfriend! She is my wife!'
Sydney sucked in a breath! Jarod gave both Catherine Parker and his father a hard stare.
'You're married? Funny, I don't remember you saying that you divorced my mother! And I do believe Mr. Parker assumed he was a widower!'
Catherine stood up and walked over to Jarod.
'Jarod, I know this isn't easy for you to hear. And I can't tell you how much it hurts me to see you looking at me the way you are now. I knew you were a beautiful, sensitive child, from the moment I first met you. And I was determined to rescue you. But I never knew who I could trust. And unfortunately, I trusted in Raines.'
'Was Raines Mallory's father?'
Horror leapt into Catherine's eyes!
'Jarod...Good Lord! Why would you ask me such a horrible thing?'
Sydney stepped in. He walked over to Jarod and put a hand on his shoulder. Jarod turned and sat down on the couch opposite the one Catherine Parker had been sitting on.
'Catherine, we found proof that Mr. Parker and Raines were brothers. Mallory had always had doubts, with good reason, that your husband was her father. We took a sample of Mr. Parker's DNA, and hers...there didn't seem to be any possibility that he could've been her father.'
Jarod's mind went back to the night Mr. Parker jumped from the plane. He still remembered Mallory's question to him. Was he her father? His answer had been, 'I love you as my daughter, that's all that matters.'. Mr. Parker had not thought Mallory was his daughter either. Jarod looked at Catherine Parker, to hear what she was going to say. To see if he could read her face, when she answered. Her face, lost in a sea of scars.
'Where did you get the DNA, Sydney? Please! We all know what the Centre was like! And truth was not something that ever existed there! I know nothing about Raines being my husband's brother and I definitely never conceived a child with that monster! I can't believe you'd think that, Sydney!'
Sydney could see that Catherine was getting worked up, a little too worked up. She began to have breathing problems. Major Charles hurried over to her. Jarod stood up.
'Let me get your oxygen!' Major Charles suggested tightly, avoiding eye contact with Jarod.
But she waved him off.
'No. We have to finish this.' she said, looking at Jarod. Jarod folded his arms.
'Alright, I see you're in poor health. And you obviously were not up to the task of trying to find and reunite the children the two of you had between you, because of her health problems, and the daughter you did have with you. I take it you never found out what was injected into you?'
Catherine swallowed, shaking her head. Major Charles had his arm around her. He spoke.
'I can't tell you how many specialists we've been to....how many close calls we've had. Melanie, more than once, thought she was going to lose her mother.'
'Jarod,' Catherine said, 'I would've given up years ago, if it hadn't been for the hope of seeing my children again.'
But Jarod was not even close to being convinced. Maybe it was because he had been lied to so much.
'So, what made you decide to start looking for me?' he asked Major Charles.
'I knew you had escaped. I knew now we had a chance...a better one than we would've had, than trying to break into the Centre...at our ages, and in Catherine's condition.'
Jarod looked at Catherine Parker.
'So, once you heard about the Centre trials and such, when were you going to tell us that you were alive? Or were you ever? I mean, my father here never volunteered it. If my mother had not whispered it to me, before she died, I would've never even guessed it.'
Catherine stared at him with woeful eyes.
'You sound so...so angry, Jarod. That is not a word I would've ever associated with you.'
Jarod just decided to say what he felt. He shook his head at her.
'While the two of you went about your merry way, FREE, I was left at that house of horrors, to perform simulations that hurt people. Your daughter was sent away by that unfeeling SOB you were married to, only to return as a woman that had learned to lock away her feelings...done out of necessity because she was lonely. That was what her childhood had become without you, lonely. And me? I was under this misconception, that you had died, trying to save me. But you really just ran off. You gave up on both Mallory and me.'
'To have Ethan!' Catherine cried out in frustration. She then calmed herself and took a deep breath.
'Jarod, I know you resent what your father and I have together...because it disrupts the dream you always had of reuniting your parents. And I could relate to Margaret, I really could. Because in many ways, when I made that deal with Raines, I sold out Mallory and Ethan as well.'
'My mother didn't sell my brother and I! And I don't want to hear that ever again! Tell me, Dad, does Emily know about your 'ghost' girlfriend here?'
Major Charles just shook his head no. Jarod nodded, then looked at Sydney,who watched him worriedly.
Jarod had had enough.
'I've heard all I need to hear.' he said. Jarod then looked at his father.
'Give me this Lindsey's address.'
Major Charles and Catherine looked at one another. Then, Major Charles looked at Jarod.
'Why?'
'You know why. I'm taking my son back to Delaware tonight.'
Sydney tried to interrupt.
'Jarod, I really think...'
'Sydney, thank you for accompanying me on this 'trip', but I don't need to hear anymore.'
Jarod then looked at Catherine Parker.
'I am sorry for what you are going through...for what you've been through. But, I now have a wife, son and little girl. And Mallory and I are determined to give them some semblance of a normal life...the same life that we were both denied. If I continue to allow my son to live here with you, he will just be living a lie. And those days are over!'
Catherine stood up.
'Jarod, please! We are the only parents he's ever known!'
'Then he'll have to get to know some new ones! Dad! The address?!'
Major Charles walked over to Jarod.
'I think the least you can do is call Mallory...'
Jarod shook his head.
'No. I've decided there is no need for her to know about the two of you.'
Catherine's mouth dropped open!
'I want my daughter to know I'm alive, Jarod!'
'Because you've been caught! I know your daughter much better than you know her! The girl that you left has never really returned. She would never understand this...and it would kill her to know that a twin...someone that looked just like her, got the love and attention you denied her!'
'I was sick!' Catherine almost screamed.
'And she wouldn't of cared! All she wanted was you!' Jarod yelled back. He looked at his father again.
'Get me the address now!' he demanded, feeling as if he was about to lose control. Sydney stepped in between Jarod and Major Charles. He then looked at Catherine.
'Please, Catherine. Would you pack up Brian's things?'
Catherine looked from Sydney to Major Charles. Major Charles looked back at her and nodded. Catherine hung her head briefly, before looking at the three of them again.
'Please, just give me some time to put my make-up back on? Brian has never seen me without it.'
It was on the tip of Jarod's tongue to tell her, that Brian would not see her again anyway. He planned on driving over to this house and leaving with Brian. But, reality began to permeate his senses. He knew he would have to allow Brian to say goodbye to Major Charles and Catherine.
Jarod nodded to Catherine. Major Charles looked at her.
'You put your make-up back on, honey. I'll get Brian's things together.'
Jarod turned away from his father. The hurt in the older man's eyes, was not something he could deal with right now. Only Sydney remained behind.
'Are you sure you want to do this, Jarod?' he asked.
Jarod turned to look at him.
'Take my son home? Reunite my family? Yes, Sydney, I'm sure.'
'That's not what I meant, and you know it. You could be doing irreparable harm to your marriage, keeping this knowledge about your wife's mother, from her.'
'You don't think I know that? Sydney, Mallory has never fully recovered from her father's betrayal of her about Brian. I don't believe she could handle this. And Sydney, I'm telling you, that part about Raines not being Mallory's father....I still feel as if part of the truth is missing. Until both of them can be upfront, they need to keep away...from both Mallory and me.' Jarod said quietly.
****
Sidney Bristow slowly replaced her gun in her holster, as she entered Jarod and Mallory's house. She had driven over there like a bat out of hell, when Mallory had said there was an intruder inside the house. The last thing she wanted, was for Jarod to return home and find his wife and baby daughter slaughtered.
But Sidney did find Mallory sitting in a chair, staring off into space, while Abigail kicked around in her playpen. Sidney smiled at the baby, before easing into Mallory's line of vision. Mallory jumped when she saw her, then stood up.
'Sidney? What are you doing here?'
'Are you kidding? After our phone call...'
Mallory waved her off.
'It was just Lyle.'
Sidney's eyes widened, and she sat on the couch.
'Just Lyle?'
Mallory shook her head with disgust.
'Yes. I found him in Jarod's study. He gave some half assed excuse for being there, claimed that my little brother's new nanny was not going to be murdered by him, made vague threats to audit Jarod and I until the twelfth of never, and left me a DSA to watch.'
'A DSA?' Sidney asked. She could see that despite her bravado, Mallory was shaken by something.
'Let me ask you something: do you ever wonder if your life would've been different, or better, if your mother had stuck around?'
Sidney did not answer right away, and Mallory immediately felt insensitive.
'I'm sorry. I know Irina Derevko is a sore subject for you. Forget I said anything.'
'No, no. It's alright. I don't know how to answer that. I mean, I thought my mother was dead, for most of my life. Then, to find out that she left me, and granted, she was running for her life when she did it...Mallory, my father was an assignment. I was the by product of it...I honestly think I was better off without her.'
Mallory reached out and touched Sidney's hand.
'I'm sorry. I really am. I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Lyle had left me the DSA of Brian's birth and subsequent kidnapping. I found myself wondering if my mother had lived, would she have been able to protect Brian and me?'
'Probably.' Sidney asked gently. She had not realized that Mallory had not watched all of those DSA's already. But then again, if it was her, she didn't know if she would ever be able to...ever.
'I guess I can take some comfort in knowing that my mother did love me...and that if she hadn't been murdered, would've done everything she could, to make sure that my son didn't end up like Jarod.'
'I'm sorry Lyle left that DSA.' Sidney said softly.
'Oh, well, that's Lyle for you. I just want to work on getting Bobby out of his clutches...and making Brian feel welcome.'
Sidney cocked her head.
'Brian is coming to live here?'
Mallory smiled. Sidney did not think she had ever seen a smile on her so wide!
'Yes. Jarod went to go pick him up from Alaska. By tonight, my son will be living with his real parents, under this roof.' she said.
Catherine Parker looked at Major Charles. He looked back at her.
'Are you sure?' he asked. Catherine Parker nodded. Sydney and Jarod looked at one another. Jarod felt like saying something sarcastic, but, something in him sensed, that his father, and Mallory's mother, needed to tell this story in their own way. And he was willing to listen, although he could not imagine feeling any differently when it was all said and done.
Major Charles turned and walked down a hallway. He stopped at door that was open. Jarod leaned to his right, almost bumping into Sydney. Jarod and Sydney watched as Major Charles turned on a light to what appeared to be some sort of downstairs bathroom. He emerged quickly, carrying a container. He did not turn off the light, but walked towards them.
Jarod and Sydney looked at one another again. Major Charles was carrying a container of baby wipes. He handed them to Catherine Parker, who's hand shook as she took them from him. Jarod and Sydney watched her.
Catherine Parker, then removed a babywipe, and began rubbing it on her face. Slowly, her face changed from an older version of Mallory, to a woman almost unrecognizable. For on her face, and neck as well, was an odd shaped assortment of...of what looked to be the number 8!
Sydney slowly got up and moved towards her. Catherine looked him in the eye.
'May I?' he asked, gently touching her face, to inspect the red shaped rashes. Jarod blinked, wondering if it was his imagination that the rashes seemed to appear to be 8's or was it just the pattern itself?
Jarod stood up as well. Surely, this woman was not about to tell him that a little acne had kept her away from her family for all of this time?
But then, something about her face, made him move closer as well. This was more than just some sort of skin disease. Jarod sat on her other side. He then looked at Sydney. Sydney stopped touching her face.
'I've never seen anything like this.' he murmured.
'I think that was the point.' Catherine Parker replied, as tears slipped down her face. Jarod's eyes met his father's.
'What happened?' Jarod asked. Major Charles nodded to Catherine. She spoke, but her voice was low.
'I don't know if Sydney told you what I told him, about Mallory having a sister, and the agreement I struck with Raines?'
Jarod nodded. He had many questions, but decided to be quiet for now. He was in shock. For the Catherine Parker he remembered, had skin that was soft to look at, and probably touch. And in every photograph he had ever seen of her, along with the memories he held in his mind, she just brimmed with a gentle kind of beauty.
The woman that sat before him now, was a mere shadow of that person.
'Well,' she continued, 'I never had any intention of keeping that deal. And somehow, Raines and the Triumvirate knew this.'
'The Triumvirate?' Sydney asked. 'They were involved with this?'
'When have they not?' Catherine said bitterly. 'They knew that I was rescuing children...they knew about Ethan...they were the ones that had my daughter...Melanie.'
'Mallory's twin?' Jarod asked, still unable to believe that Lyle was not his wife's twin. Granted, it was more than fine with him, that that scumbag was not his brother-in-law, but still, it was a bit unsettling. All of the lies, and from the last people on this earth, that he would've thought would have lied to him.
Catherine nodded, then turned to reach for one of the photographs, sitting on a table behind the couch. Jarod suddenly saw the pictures, and wondered how he could've missed them? On almost every Pretend he had ever done, if the person he was helping had photographs of family, Jarod was almost always drawn to them.
He noted that there were many pictures of Catherine Parker, his father and Brian. Jarod wondered if these pictures were positioned here purposely, as if to send a message to him that Brian should stay?
Catherine handed a silver framed photograph to Jarod. He blinked. The woman in the picture, was standing against a tree, in an almost seductive like pose. She definitely looked like Mallory, only, she had blonde hair. Jarod looked at Catherine questioningly.
Catherine Parker smiled.
'Melanie decided years ago that blondes have more fun. She lives in New York.'
Jarod did not hand the picture back to his mother-in-law right away, as he continued to stare at the lost twin. How would his wife look with blonde hair? As he stared at the sister-in-law he had never met, he decided that he would prefer Mallory with dark hair. There was something about Melanie's eyes...they were not as prominent, or as startling, under a head full of blonde hair.
Jarod handed the photograph to Sydney, who stared at it as well. This confirmed the existence of the twin.
'Raines had given Melanie to the Triumvirate?' Sydney asked.
Catherine Parker nodded again.
'Yes...I figured I would go to Africa, get my daughter back, then come back and figure out a way to get Mallory, and be with Ethan. By then, I had made contact with Major Charles again. We both wanted to find our baby...and rescue you, Jarod.'
Jarod stood up.
'That's what you say...'
Major Charles stood up.
'It's true, son! I never wanted anything else! After what your mother did...'
'Shut up!' Jarod snapped. 'I don't want to hear your lies about my mother selling Kyle and me to the Centre! She would've never done that! Never!'
Catherine reached up and touched Major Charles's hand. He squeezed it, but turned away, hurt. Catherine continued.
'When I went to Africa, and was reunited with my daughter, I stayed overnight in a hotel, owned by the Triumvirate. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by something. I didn't realize until later on, that it had to have been a prick.'
'A prick?' Jarod asked.
Catherine Parker rolled up her shirt sleeve. Jarod and Sydney looked, while Major Charles let go of her hand, and turned away again. On her right arm, was the same 8 shaped pattern, only smaller.
'This is where I was injected, with whatever it is that did this to my face and neck...and shot my immune system. I can't tell you how many illnesses I've had over the years...debilitating illnesses. Having Brian here...knowing that the Centre has been destroyed...this has been the best I have felt in a long while. I have been in and out of hospitals for years, under many aliases...if it had not been for Major Charles's love and support...he practically helped me raise Melanie...and my poor little girl...she needed psychiatric help after her time in Africa. The Triumvirate had tried to make her into a Pretender as well.'
Jarod put a hand up, then shook his head sadly at Catherine Parker.
'I'm sorry for what Melanie went through. But was it your vanity, that kept you away from Mallory all of these years?' Jarod asked bitterly. He was sorry to be so nasty, but this story just was not cutting it with him! Why didn't Catherine Parker come forward as soon as she heard the Centre had been taken down? Jarod would've never known she was alive, if it had not been for his mother's dying words.
Major Charles gave his son a particularly vicious look. Sydney watched him.
'Did you just hear what she said, Jarod? She said she's been in and out of hospitals for years! Our dream was to rescue Mallory, Ethan, Kyle and you! I wanted to be reunited with Emily...but Catherine was always having one health crisis or another! And Melanie had to be provided for! Jarod, Catherine is not just some...some...passing fancy or girlfriend! She is my wife!'
Sydney sucked in a breath! Jarod gave both Catherine Parker and his father a hard stare.
'You're married? Funny, I don't remember you saying that you divorced my mother! And I do believe Mr. Parker assumed he was a widower!'
Catherine stood up and walked over to Jarod.
'Jarod, I know this isn't easy for you to hear. And I can't tell you how much it hurts me to see you looking at me the way you are now. I knew you were a beautiful, sensitive child, from the moment I first met you. And I was determined to rescue you. But I never knew who I could trust. And unfortunately, I trusted in Raines.'
'Was Raines Mallory's father?'
Horror leapt into Catherine's eyes!
'Jarod...Good Lord! Why would you ask me such a horrible thing?'
Sydney stepped in. He walked over to Jarod and put a hand on his shoulder. Jarod turned and sat down on the couch opposite the one Catherine Parker had been sitting on.
'Catherine, we found proof that Mr. Parker and Raines were brothers. Mallory had always had doubts, with good reason, that your husband was her father. We took a sample of Mr. Parker's DNA, and hers...there didn't seem to be any possibility that he could've been her father.'
Jarod's mind went back to the night Mr. Parker jumped from the plane. He still remembered Mallory's question to him. Was he her father? His answer had been, 'I love you as my daughter, that's all that matters.'. Mr. Parker had not thought Mallory was his daughter either. Jarod looked at Catherine Parker, to hear what she was going to say. To see if he could read her face, when she answered. Her face, lost in a sea of scars.
'Where did you get the DNA, Sydney? Please! We all know what the Centre was like! And truth was not something that ever existed there! I know nothing about Raines being my husband's brother and I definitely never conceived a child with that monster! I can't believe you'd think that, Sydney!'
Sydney could see that Catherine was getting worked up, a little too worked up. She began to have breathing problems. Major Charles hurried over to her. Jarod stood up.
'Let me get your oxygen!' Major Charles suggested tightly, avoiding eye contact with Jarod.
But she waved him off.
'No. We have to finish this.' she said, looking at Jarod. Jarod folded his arms.
'Alright, I see you're in poor health. And you obviously were not up to the task of trying to find and reunite the children the two of you had between you, because of her health problems, and the daughter you did have with you. I take it you never found out what was injected into you?'
Catherine swallowed, shaking her head. Major Charles had his arm around her. He spoke.
'I can't tell you how many specialists we've been to....how many close calls we've had. Melanie, more than once, thought she was going to lose her mother.'
'Jarod,' Catherine said, 'I would've given up years ago, if it hadn't been for the hope of seeing my children again.'
But Jarod was not even close to being convinced. Maybe it was because he had been lied to so much.
'So, what made you decide to start looking for me?' he asked Major Charles.
'I knew you had escaped. I knew now we had a chance...a better one than we would've had, than trying to break into the Centre...at our ages, and in Catherine's condition.'
Jarod looked at Catherine Parker.
'So, once you heard about the Centre trials and such, when were you going to tell us that you were alive? Or were you ever? I mean, my father here never volunteered it. If my mother had not whispered it to me, before she died, I would've never even guessed it.'
Catherine stared at him with woeful eyes.
'You sound so...so angry, Jarod. That is not a word I would've ever associated with you.'
Jarod just decided to say what he felt. He shook his head at her.
'While the two of you went about your merry way, FREE, I was left at that house of horrors, to perform simulations that hurt people. Your daughter was sent away by that unfeeling SOB you were married to, only to return as a woman that had learned to lock away her feelings...done out of necessity because she was lonely. That was what her childhood had become without you, lonely. And me? I was under this misconception, that you had died, trying to save me. But you really just ran off. You gave up on both Mallory and me.'
'To have Ethan!' Catherine cried out in frustration. She then calmed herself and took a deep breath.
'Jarod, I know you resent what your father and I have together...because it disrupts the dream you always had of reuniting your parents. And I could relate to Margaret, I really could. Because in many ways, when I made that deal with Raines, I sold out Mallory and Ethan as well.'
'My mother didn't sell my brother and I! And I don't want to hear that ever again! Tell me, Dad, does Emily know about your 'ghost' girlfriend here?'
Major Charles just shook his head no. Jarod nodded, then looked at Sydney,who watched him worriedly.
Jarod had had enough.
'I've heard all I need to hear.' he said. Jarod then looked at his father.
'Give me this Lindsey's address.'
Major Charles and Catherine looked at one another. Then, Major Charles looked at Jarod.
'Why?'
'You know why. I'm taking my son back to Delaware tonight.'
Sydney tried to interrupt.
'Jarod, I really think...'
'Sydney, thank you for accompanying me on this 'trip', but I don't need to hear anymore.'
Jarod then looked at Catherine Parker.
'I am sorry for what you are going through...for what you've been through. But, I now have a wife, son and little girl. And Mallory and I are determined to give them some semblance of a normal life...the same life that we were both denied. If I continue to allow my son to live here with you, he will just be living a lie. And those days are over!'
Catherine stood up.
'Jarod, please! We are the only parents he's ever known!'
'Then he'll have to get to know some new ones! Dad! The address?!'
Major Charles walked over to Jarod.
'I think the least you can do is call Mallory...'
Jarod shook his head.
'No. I've decided there is no need for her to know about the two of you.'
Catherine's mouth dropped open!
'I want my daughter to know I'm alive, Jarod!'
'Because you've been caught! I know your daughter much better than you know her! The girl that you left has never really returned. She would never understand this...and it would kill her to know that a twin...someone that looked just like her, got the love and attention you denied her!'
'I was sick!' Catherine almost screamed.
'And she wouldn't of cared! All she wanted was you!' Jarod yelled back. He looked at his father again.
'Get me the address now!' he demanded, feeling as if he was about to lose control. Sydney stepped in between Jarod and Major Charles. He then looked at Catherine.
'Please, Catherine. Would you pack up Brian's things?'
Catherine looked from Sydney to Major Charles. Major Charles looked back at her and nodded. Catherine hung her head briefly, before looking at the three of them again.
'Please, just give me some time to put my make-up back on? Brian has never seen me without it.'
It was on the tip of Jarod's tongue to tell her, that Brian would not see her again anyway. He planned on driving over to this house and leaving with Brian. But, reality began to permeate his senses. He knew he would have to allow Brian to say goodbye to Major Charles and Catherine.
Jarod nodded to Catherine. Major Charles looked at her.
'You put your make-up back on, honey. I'll get Brian's things together.'
Jarod turned away from his father. The hurt in the older man's eyes, was not something he could deal with right now. Only Sydney remained behind.
'Are you sure you want to do this, Jarod?' he asked.
Jarod turned to look at him.
'Take my son home? Reunite my family? Yes, Sydney, I'm sure.'
'That's not what I meant, and you know it. You could be doing irreparable harm to your marriage, keeping this knowledge about your wife's mother, from her.'
'You don't think I know that? Sydney, Mallory has never fully recovered from her father's betrayal of her about Brian. I don't believe she could handle this. And Sydney, I'm telling you, that part about Raines not being Mallory's father....I still feel as if part of the truth is missing. Until both of them can be upfront, they need to keep away...from both Mallory and me.' Jarod said quietly.
****
Sidney Bristow slowly replaced her gun in her holster, as she entered Jarod and Mallory's house. She had driven over there like a bat out of hell, when Mallory had said there was an intruder inside the house. The last thing she wanted, was for Jarod to return home and find his wife and baby daughter slaughtered.
But Sidney did find Mallory sitting in a chair, staring off into space, while Abigail kicked around in her playpen. Sidney smiled at the baby, before easing into Mallory's line of vision. Mallory jumped when she saw her, then stood up.
'Sidney? What are you doing here?'
'Are you kidding? After our phone call...'
Mallory waved her off.
'It was just Lyle.'
Sidney's eyes widened, and she sat on the couch.
'Just Lyle?'
Mallory shook her head with disgust.
'Yes. I found him in Jarod's study. He gave some half assed excuse for being there, claimed that my little brother's new nanny was not going to be murdered by him, made vague threats to audit Jarod and I until the twelfth of never, and left me a DSA to watch.'
'A DSA?' Sidney asked. She could see that despite her bravado, Mallory was shaken by something.
'Let me ask you something: do you ever wonder if your life would've been different, or better, if your mother had stuck around?'
Sidney did not answer right away, and Mallory immediately felt insensitive.
'I'm sorry. I know Irina Derevko is a sore subject for you. Forget I said anything.'
'No, no. It's alright. I don't know how to answer that. I mean, I thought my mother was dead, for most of my life. Then, to find out that she left me, and granted, she was running for her life when she did it...Mallory, my father was an assignment. I was the by product of it...I honestly think I was better off without her.'
Mallory reached out and touched Sidney's hand.
'I'm sorry. I really am. I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Lyle had left me the DSA of Brian's birth and subsequent kidnapping. I found myself wondering if my mother had lived, would she have been able to protect Brian and me?'
'Probably.' Sidney asked gently. She had not realized that Mallory had not watched all of those DSA's already. But then again, if it was her, she didn't know if she would ever be able to...ever.
'I guess I can take some comfort in knowing that my mother did love me...and that if she hadn't been murdered, would've done everything she could, to make sure that my son didn't end up like Jarod.'
'I'm sorry Lyle left that DSA.' Sidney said softly.
'Oh, well, that's Lyle for you. I just want to work on getting Bobby out of his clutches...and making Brian feel welcome.'
Sidney cocked her head.
'Brian is coming to live here?'
Mallory smiled. Sidney did not think she had ever seen a smile on her so wide!
'Yes. Jarod went to go pick him up from Alaska. By tonight, my son will be living with his real parents, under this roof.' she said.