Parker could feel her chest tightening and her breath becoming shallow as the memory lingered in her mind. She looked down at the distraught man in her arms, and felt hatred. Letting go of the burden she was holding, Miss Parker stood, reeling from what had been in her mind all along. She turned toward the sink and splashed cold water on her face. How could Sydney have beaten her mother? Parker shook her head, not knowing what was real and what was not. She looked down at the injured man, and felt only confusion. Realizing something had happened, Sydney pulled himself off the floor to look at Miss Parker. Her face read anger and hurt.

"Parker? Parker, what is it?"

"I......I remember now, Sydney."

"What do you remember?"

"A darkened room 25 years ago, my mother crying, and beaten; you apologizing for it, and a crushed bouquet of white mums and roses." Her eyes filled with moisture as she accused him. "Why Sydney? Why would you do that to her? She trusted you, and you betrayed her."

Slowly Sydney stood, holding onto the nearest wall for support. "No, Parker. I never betrayed your mother."

"Jarod told me to listen to the inner sense, that it would lead me in the right direction. It was you. You put the flowers at her grave this morning. Still feeling guilty over what you did?"

He reached for her. "Miss Parker--"

"--No. Stay away from me, Sydney. I remember now."

"But only fragments. Do you remember only me and your mother in the room?"

She looked indignant. "Yes. There was just the two of you."

Sydney shook his head. "No. We were not alone."

Parker pulled the nine millimeter from its holster under her jacket and pointed it at Sydney. "I don't want to hear any more of your lies, Sydney. You were having an affair with my mother, weren't you? I remember seeing other white bouquets every now and again... my father found out about it, and you tried to silence my mother. Finally I understand why you were always around my mother, and why my father hated you so much."

"Parker, are you listening to what you're saying?" The young woman's tears streaked her cheeks, but she kept the weapon trained at Sydney's chest. "Does any of that sound like something I would do? Think, Parker, think." He paused for a long moment. "If you honestly believe me capable of such actions, then you'd better pull the trigger...."

He watched as her finger twitched near the metal, edging ever closer to pressing on it.....

---------------------------

Jarod enhanced the image of the man in Sydney's office, and when it finally became clear enough to recognize, it was of no surprise to the pretender. The question that remained was what Mr. Parker intended to do with the file and the DSA. Jarod could only guess at the contents, but if it was what he expected, Miss Parker's knowledge of it would destroy both Sydney and her. But Jarod frowned; surely the information contained in the files would also expose Mr. Parker's role in all of it. And if Jarod was right, Mr. Parker was the mastermind behind the entire sordid mess. Why would Parker open himself up to such a thing? Jarod's eyes narrowed in thought; Mr. Parker wouldn't; he would however, doctor the files, pin it all on a convenient scapegoat, then give it to not only the triumvirate but also Miss Parker. It would be the one sure and quick way for Mr. Parker to rid himself of Sydney once and for all.

Jarod began typing an email; an encoded message to the one person inside the Centre who could still move about undetected, and above all, could be trusted implicitly. He only hoped Angelo would be able to locate the items and retrieve them before they wound up in the wrong hands.

-----------------------

Tears streamed down Miss Parker's face as she grew ever closer to killing the man standing before her. He said nothing, but never moved his chestnut eyes from her grey ones. Her mouth trembled in fear and anger, and he hand wavered ever so slightly.

"Say something, Sydney."

"What would you have me say, Miss Parker? That I slept with your mother? Is that what you really believe?"

"Did you?"

"No."

"But the two of you were together a lot. I remember that Sydney."

"Yes. We were working together; and that is all we were doing, Parker."

"But the flowers....the visits to the house when my father wasn't there. I remember it now, Sydney, and it all makes sense."

He looked away, then back into her eyes. "Yes, I brought her flowers, and I was at the house with her when your father was away. But it wasn't how it appeared."

"Bullshit."

He shrugged, resigned to whatever would happen now. "Your mother wanted to leave him. She had planned to take you and get out of the country, but she wanted to make it look as though there was another man. She figured if Mr. Parker believed that, he would be able to save face by blaming it on someone else, and he might not come after the two of you."

"That doesn't make sense. He would have killed you if he believed you were having an affair with her."

"He had no idea it was me. Your mother planned all of it very carefully so that he would suspect that there was someone, but that he would be unable to prove anything."

"Why would she want to take me away? She loved Daddy, I know she did."

"Yes she did. But she loved you more."

"He was no threat to me."

Sydney stared deeply into the raining sea of grey. "Wasn't he? You say you remember things now.... do you remember how he used to beat her--"

"--No! No, you're lying. He never hit my mother."

"Parker, it's there in your mind, but you're blocking it out, the same way that you blocked out that night from your memory. He gave you permission to go to Megan Finnegan's house to have dinner that day because he wanted you out of the house. It was Mr. Parker who beat your mother that night because he had uncovered her plans, and my duplicity. I was forced at gunpoint to watch the beating, and he left the house just before you arrived so that you wouldn't find him there, just your mother and I. You haven't remembered it Parker, because you wanted to protect yourself from this, and no one can blame you for that; but Parker, it's coming up now for a reason. You need to know that you cannot trust him."

Parker's voice was becoming agitated, "Shut-up Sydney. Just shut-up."

"Catherine was afraid that he might do something horrible to you."

Her voice rose in pitch and distress, "That's not true! My father loves me. Damn you Sydney, why are you doing this?"

"Because I don't want to see you hurt, Parker. Don't you understand that?"

"Oh please, you don't give a shit, Sydney. It's always been about Jarod for you. I have always come in a distant fifth behind Jarod, the Centre, Angelo, my mother, and your countless secrets and lies."

"That isn't true, Parker. You have always been important to me; you are a part of me, don't you know that?"

"Another lie. Just like your lies about Daddy beating my mother. And he has never laid a hand on me Sydney, and you know it. My mother wasn't afraid he was going to beat me."

"I never said she was."

"But you--"

"--I said she was afraid he would do something horrible to you. There are worse things than physical distress, Miss Parker. To take away a person's independence, her identity of self; it is far easier to destroy a human being through psychological means than physical ones."

The disgust in her voice was clear, "And you'd know wouldn't you?"

He moved closer to her, and shoved the gun in her hand to his chest. "Want to pull the trigger, Parker? Think it will solve everything? Go ahead." They stared at each other for a long moment before Sydney continued. "But you'd better ask me the one thing you still want to know first."

She glared at him. "There is nothing I want to know from you."

He smiled slightly. "Miss Parker, since you were a little girl, whenever you have lied to me, I have always known. Now is no different."

Her voice wavered, "Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you love her?"

His chestnut eyes softened, glistening slightly as they stared into her hard grey ones. "Yes. I loved your mother from the first moment I met her, she was one of my dearest friends for many years. But that's not what you want to know." She stared obstinately at him, so he continued. "What you want to know is whether or not I was in love with her."

Parker swallowed hard, gripping the handle of the nine millimeter tightly. "Well, were you?"

"Yes. Every day that I knew her." Parker's finger began to press slightly on the trigger. "But feeling something and acting upon it are two very different things, Miss Parker. A man cannot help how he feels, only what he does about it. I could no more change the way I felt for your mother than I can change how I feel about you. But I swear to you on my brother's grave, Miss Parker, my love was neither consummated nor reciprocated. Your mother didn't love me, she loved Mr. Parker. The best I could be was her true and loyal friend, and that I did in the only way I knew how; I did as she asked of me, and I always kept her confidences."

Tears streamed down Parker's face as she recognized the truth. But he hadn't come completely clean with her. The gun pressed harder into Sydney's chest.

"You haven't told me all of it. What horrible thing was she trying to save me from?"

"I've told you everything that I'm going to, Miss Parker. There's nothing left for you to do but kill me."

But they both knew that Catherine Parker's little girl couldn't pull the trigger. Slowly Sydney reached for the weapon and gently removed it from her hand, pulling her into him as he did so. Parker curled into the embrace, allowing him to wrap his arms tightly around her as she wept into his chest. After a few moments she looked up into his wet eyes and spoke softly.

"You know who hit you, and why, don't you?" He nodded, so she continued, "Tell me."

"No, little one. This doesn't concern you. I will take care of it, and you will be safe once and for all."

Sydney kissed the top of her head, and gently broke away from her. He steadied himself, and put the gun he had taken from her in the waistband of his pants, then slid into his jacket. It was then that Parker realized his intent.

"Sydney, what do you think you're doing?"

"What I should have done thirty years ago."

She grabbed a hold of him. "Sydney, whomever and whatever you think you're protecting me from, there has to be another way. You can't just go into the Centre firing a gun, they'll kill you."

He took her by the arms. "I have no intention of using the gun, Parker; but when cutting a deal with the devil, one sometimes needs a little firepower of one's own."

He broke away and Parker grabbed him again. "Sydney, you're not being rational. You're suffering from a concussion, and you're not thinking straight. Please, just stay here with me for now. Please."

He lifted a hand and stroked her face, smiling down at her. "My sweet little Miss Parker. When you were a very little girl you used to come to my office every afternoon--"

"--to see what you were working on with Jarod--"

"--To steal a piece of chocolate, and don't think I didn't know it! I never told you, Parker, but I looked forward to those visits more than you looked forward to the candy. I still keep chocolate in the top right hand drawer of my desk...."

"But you don't eat chocolate anymore."

"No, but you do, Parker. And every afternoon since you came back from Corporate I had hoped that you'd come for a piece of it."

Fresh tears streamed down her face. "Oh Sydney.....why didn't you say something?"

"I never wanted to influence your choices, Miss Parker. You are your own person, and no matter what happens in life, you must remember that, do you understand?" She looked at him blankly and he shook her slightly. "Do you understand?"

"Yes...."

"Good girl." He kissed her forehead, then her cheek. "If you're as smart as I think you are, Miss Parker, you'll leave the Centre. You'll leave now, tonight, and you won't ever look back."

He tried to pull away then, but she held onto his sleeves. "Syd...why does this sound like good-bye?"

"You remember what I told you."

He kissed her once again, and impulsively she grabbed him around the neck, hugging him tightly. Sydney could feel her tears raining down upon him, and deep inside, he knew she would be all right. He gently pried her arms from around him, and without looking back, he left as quickly as he could make his injured body move.