Disclaimer: It's still illegal.

AN: Um, based on a comment I feel like I should clarify that this is my second Pretender fanfiction, but I have, however, written fanfiction for La Femme Nikita, (I run a fanfiction archive for LFN) so this isn't only my second attempt at fanfiction. Just wanted to clear that up=

Thank you for your comments and reviews. And thanks to Leochick for nominating "For A Genuis" in the Pretender FanFiction Awards ::blush:: =

Jarod's Suite

Jarod spent the rest of the night pacing, watching Miss Parker and thinking.

He spent his pacing time noting the various surveillance devices and planning on disabling them. He had known, of course, that Lyle would be monitoring him . . . them, even without the confirming telephone call.

Jarod looked again at Miss Parker, unwillingly intrigued. He had tried to sim her reactions in the past but had never succeeded.

Maybe he was too close to her.

Maybe it was because she was still a mystery to him. Didn't Sydney tell him that if he were lucky women would always be a mystery?

Maybe it was because her legs were so long and luscious.

Jarod swallowed a groan and closed his eyes to the sight of Miss Parker's left leg slipping out from under the sheet. He felt as though the image of her peach painted toenails was burned into his brain.

He sat down and shifted in his chair, aware, again, of the tightness in his loins. Being with her was a delightful agony.

He forced his mind back to the problem. Mainly, what was he going to do about this?

He could still escape. There were many ways out of the Centre, he literally had his pick, but he couldn't leave her behind, not like this. Maybe he couldn't leave her behind at all anymore.

Lyle had a moment of brilliance, one that Jarod was surprised hadn't occurred to the others by now, but then maybe Mr. Parker had put a stop to such thoughts before. How much protection did Miss Parker lose when her 'father' jumped out of that plane?

What to do? Obviously, he had to leave before they tried to get him back into Sim mode. He didn't doubt that they would have to run tests first, to find out what his 'contamination' by being outside had done to him, but that was only a stopgap. Still it gave him some time, some time to think.

Lyle's Office

Lyle shifted in his leather chair, bored. Jarod was turning out to be a real stick-in-the-mud. He scratched his chin and sighed. He supposed he shouldn't be too surprised after all. Wonderboy, as his sarcastic sibling had dubbed the Pretender, was so very conscious about other people's rights.

Lyle squirmed again, so much for executive comfort he thought sourly. He watched Jarod pace around the room and for the first time since his twisted little brain conceived this equally twisted scenario he experienced a moment of doubt. Had he underestimated the fact that Jarod was male? That he would have enough scruples to not be tempted? Tempted by the women he has loved all these years with the tenacity of a childhood ideal? Lyle tried to consider this point of view, that the object of his desire, his need, was a person on her own, granted unalienable rights, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't see it. They were all objects, just a means to an end. A form of pleasure, an exercise in delay and control. Lyle shrugged. It just wasn't possible. Jarod obviously needs time with his beauty to break down his petty moral reservations. Maybe some tweaking to the program?

Sydney's Home

Sydney brooded. Sydney fretted. Sydney worried. Not that you could tell from looking at him. Outwardly, he appeared the same unflappable, unruffled, slightly detached observer of others as always. But inside, inside he almost seethed with impatience and anxiety. He knew that something terrible had happened and quite recently too. Miss Parker's supposed transfer, Lyle's almost euphoric mood and Jarod's continued silence were all connected and he hated to think how. This being the Centre the possibilities for the twisted associations were limited only by the basest of imaginations. He felt a flutter in his heart as he thought of Jarod and/or Miss Parker at Lyle's mercy. At the moment he felt no shame for worrying more for Miss Parker than Jarod. For Lyle's capacity to cause irreparable damage to Miss Parker was much higher than what he would do to Jarod. It was never spoken of, of course, but Lyle's obscene preoccupation with his twin was something . . . unthinkable. If he were to somehow, in some way, have Miss Parker at his mercy . . . Sydney shuddered to think of the horrors that Lyle would gleefully inflict on Miss Parker. He had to find Jarod.