Erikstrulove- That was kinda sad. I don't know why I like torturing my characters. Oh well everyone needs a hobby. And sorry no little pretenders running around the Centre belong to Sam. Now Amy on the other hand his a whole different story. Sadly not part of this story.

Mrs. Rhett Butler- I have successfully rendered my reader speechless, every writers dream.

CHAPTER 55

THE TRUTH

January 29, 2004

8:28am

Charlottesville, Virginia

Russell Family Home

"Your mother and I recently discovered who your birth father is." Sam spoke.

"It's Lyle." Jeremiah whispered, not meeting shocked looks from his parents or siblings.

"How long have you known?" Greg asked angrily.

"three years, almost four." Jeremiah answered, his voice cracking. He then reiterated story of how he met their mother, her death, and the learning that Lyle was their birth father.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" Melissa yelled startling Amy, who in turn began to cry. Jeremiah quickly began to rock Amy calming her down before he answered Melissa's question.

"I always intended on telling you two. At first I planned on waiting a few weeks after it happened, I needed time to digest it all. Then I decided to wait until we escaped. Once we were out Mom and Dad adopted us, I didn't want for them to know. I didn't want for any of the adults to know. I was afraid of how they would look at us, what they would see in us. Not to mention that I wanted for you two to be happy. I didn't want to burden you with the truth."

"You and Jake, always making decisions for the rest of us that aren't yours to make." Greg said, still cross.

"Gee, Greg what was I suppose to do? Ask if you and Lissa if you wanted your whole world to come crashing down around your ears." Jeremiah spoke in a soft yet angry voice. "That man, that monster, murdered our mother in cold blood and I saw it. I wish I had never witnessed it. I didn't think..."

"That's obvious." Melissa spat.

"I-I have to go." Jeremiah said suddenly, getting up from his spot on the bed and handing Amy to Jen. Amy began to cry, wanting her brother to hold her again. But Jeremiah quickly left the room ignoring the cries of his baby sister, as well as the pleas from his parents to come back.

He found himself, a few minutes later, high up top a tree in the middle of the woods with no recollection of how he got there. He could feel the wetness of tears streaming down his face as he cried silently. Hearing a twig snap below him he looked down. It was Alex with a coat in her hands.

"Can I come up?" She asked.

"Sure." Jeremiah said, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. A minute later Alex was sitting beside him handing Jeremiah his coat.

"I though that you might want this," Alex said.

"Thanks," Jeremiah replied as he carefully put on his winter coat.

"They're worried about you, you know. Greg and Lissa can't sense you. It really scared them, but I told them that you were okay."

"How'd you find me?"

"My nifty little empathic ability along with my pretender skills helped me track you." Alex answered as she laid her head on her cousin's shoulder. Jeremiah reached for her hand and the two of them were quiet for a while.

"What a pair, you and I, huh?" Jeremiah said breaking the silence "Our parents are the two most feared twins in Centre history and we're just like them. You proved last night that you inherited your Mom's short temper and right hook. And me...well I proved I've got the Parker genetic trait for keeping secrets from the ones I love."

"Number one, we aren't Parkers." Alex told him. "Number two, you did what you thought was right, Jer. I understand that and so does Greg and Lissa. They just need time to take it all in." Once again they were silent, and once again Jeremiah broke the silence.

"You know how come the six of us were kept hidden now, don't you? Why we were never told who we were? I bet the Triumvirate doesn't even know."

"We could have contested for control of the Centre. We may not be Parkers by blood, but I saw paper's Mr. Parker is Momma and Lyle's legal guardian. Hell, I bet those crazy Zulus would probably go for it too, us running the Centre if we made them enough money. 'Sides we make a great team, the six of us" Alex laughed bitterly.

"Would you if you could?" she asked him

"Run the Centre? I don't know. Lotsa bad memories. But there are some good ones to. I'd have to beat a lot of inner demons first." Jeremiah told her.

"So I take it, Greg and Lissa were angry with you?" Alex said changing the topic. She realized Jeremiah was not yet ready to voice his true fears. He needed more time, and Alex was willing to give it to him.

"Yeah they were mad, but most of it wasn't cause I didn't tell them about Lyle. I never told you but I met my mother once. She knew instantly who I was. She said she would always love me. That she would always be with me. And she is, I hear her voice now. I always have since the day I met her. Since the day I watched Lyle kill her." He said sadly. Alex gently squeezed her cousin's hand

"You're the only one out of the three of you with an inner-sense?"

"As far as I know." Jeremiah answered. Alex then watched as he struggled with his next words. "I'm scared. I don't want to become him. Sometimes when I look in the mirror I see him. The monster who branded you."

"You're nothing like him, Jer, for a lot of reasons. You know Will and I talked bout Lyle the other day. Will asked me if I forgave Lyle for what he did to me. I told him yes, which is partly true. I'm over it mostly; I still get pissed that he did it every now and then. But I'm not going to waste my life hating him. I was able to forgive him also because I understand what Lyle is and why he is who he is. When you understand that you might be able to forgive him."

"Not likely.' Jeremiah said.

"Then promise me you'll stop wasting your life hating him."

"I can't promise you that, but I'll try." Jeremiah told her.

Alex then decided a new approach. "Do you realize that this is the first time I've been in these woods since Willard kidnapped me, Air, and Andy? I was scared to come here for a long time even though I knew Willard was dead. I came to realize that the longer I remained frightened the longer Willard had control over me."

"That was real subtle, Alex." Jeremiah grinned

"Why thank you, Mr. Grey." Alex smiled.

"So let me get this straight. You're telling me I shouldn't fear turning into Lyle because as long as I do the Centre and Lyle will still have control over me?"

"Correct. Think about it, Jer. The Centre is famous for its mind games. They knew that, in time, you, Greg, and Lissa were bound to find out Lyle was your biological father. They also knew that it would screw the three of you up. Take Chris, for example. They told him that Dad killed his parents. If Dad and Grampa Charles never got Chris out he would have been screwed up for the rest of his life. Imagine growing up looking like your parent's killer."

Jeremiah just stared at his cousin.

"Oookaaay, bad example. Work with me here, I'm doing the best I can."

"If this is your best, quit while you're ahead 'cause you're digging yourself into a grave." Jeremiah said laughing. "I must admit though I don't mind looking a little like him."

"Why do you say that?" Alex asked

"Look at me, I'm handsome."

"Full of yourself is more like it. Although, you do look like Lyle with green eyes and red hair. You're an Irish version Lyle. So speaking of the devil, you gonna tell him?"

"I don't know," Jeremiah replied shrugging his shoulders. "He may not even care."

"Maybe he will, but there is only one way to find out."

"All right, enough talking about my problems for one day. Let's change the subject."

"Well, I don't know if you realized it but this tree here would be a great spot for a tree house." Alex said, and for the next twenty minutes the two cousins devised a plan to construct a two-story tree house that connected to another tree house by rope bridge.

January 29, 2004

12:32pm

Charlottesville, Virginia

Russell Family Home

"So you still pissed at me?" Alex asked Jake sometime later. Jake was raking out one of the stalls in an attempt to avoid his family.

"If you didn't agree with me Alex, you should have just said so." Jake said angrily tossing down the rake.

"I'll that that to be a yes." Alex said. "And by the way Jacob, I told you several times that I did not agree with you. I finally came to the conclusion that no amount of convincing would change your mind."

"I did what I did to protect them."

"Protect them from what Jake? The truth. The truth is the one thing we have sought for eight years and the one thing that the Centre constantly denied us. They had every right to know who their father was." Alex yelled. Jake lowered his head realizing that his cousin was right.

"I never told you about my birth mother did I?" Jake asked her a few moments latter.

"No." Alex replied

"Rach and I found out who she was when we were four..."

March 26, 1999

12:07pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Two four years olds lie crouched in an air vent that looks out at a secretary's

desk. The woman is a petite brunette, with cold gray eyes. She sits chewing a piece of gum as she shuffles through a pile of papers.

"You sure it her?" Rachael asks her brother.

"Positive. See, look at da picture." Jake tells his sister holding out an ID picture of the woman sitting at the desk.

"Now what?" Rachael whispers.

"Wait for her t' go t' lunch and we tell her den." Jake whispered back. "Look, she getting' up let's go."

The two toddlers crawl quickly through the ductwork. They stop outside of a vent that leads to the cafeteria. The woman enters the cafeteria as Jake and Rachael pry off the vent cover. The two children are holding hands as they nervously walk over to the isolated spot where the woman is sitting.

"Sylvia Burke?" Jake asks, his voice slightly shaking.

"Yeah kid, what do you want? I'm on my break." The woman says not bothering to look down as she reads a magazine

"We wan meet you." Rachael whispers as she desperately clings to her brother's hand. She is scared; already nothing is going how she imagined it.

"What'd ya want to meet me for?" Sylvia asks chewing away on her gum, still yet to look down at the children.

"You-you our mother." Jake says stuttering. Sylvia finally looks down at the twins.

"What are you doing here?" She hisses, making the twins jump back in fright. "I was told that I'd never have to see you two again."

"We wan to meet you. Mr. Lyle told us you dead and we didn't believe." Jake said, placing himself in front of his sister.

"You should have listened to Mr. Lyle. Now get the hell out of my sight. I know that neither of you are suppose to be here. I here that Mr. Lyle has a nasty temper, I wonder what he'd do if he knew you two were here."

"But you our mother." Rachael gasps from behind her brother.

"Lets get one thing clear, you little brat. All that you ever meant to me was a hefty pay check. I never wanted anything to do with you two and never will. Now go or I'll call a team of sweepers," She all but yells. Jake grabs his sister's hand and runs towards the vent. He lifts her in and then pulls him self in. Quickly they make their way back to their room.

Jake holds his sister as she sobs in his arms. He whispers to her that it will be okay. That they have each other and they have gone for years without a mother they don't need one now. He tells his sister that he loves her, as she falls asleep in his arms.

"You see." Jake told Alex "I didn't want that for them. I went through that feeling of disappointment. I didn't want for Greg, Jer, and Lissa to have to go through it too."

"You'll never stop will you?" Alex laughed sadly.

"Stop what?"

"Protecting us; looking out for all of us."

"For nine years it's all I've known. I don't mind, really. It's kinda gratifying. Besides someone has to do it. Our parents don't know all the tricks when it comes to us. I do."

"Just remember Jake, that you aren't always right and that sometimes we're capable of making decisions on our own." Alex told him

"I promise." Jake replied. "And I promise to never get in your way again. Damn Alex, you have a mean right hook. My eye is still throbbing."

"Sorry." Alex said laughing, not really meaning it. "So cousin," Alex began, suddenly serious. "Do you think that we could convince our dads to let us build a tree house? I mean we're going to need something to do after we bring the Centre down."

R and R please. I need feedback to survive my pitiful boring life. Feedback is what gets me through each day.

Well not really I do look forward to reruns of all of my favorite shows that have been canceled and the dream that one day there may be another Pretender movie.