Author's Note: LJP asked "does this come from any episode or is it purely ff?" I tend to assume everyone has seen all the episodes of The Pretender because, well, I have and I'm writing for my own entertainment for the most part. So, for those readers who may not have the background, I will explain.
Yes, some of this story's plot comes from the tP episodes. Sydney and his brother Jacob were involved in a car crash on August 2nd, 1967. According to the series, this accident caused Jacob to lapse into a 30-year coma. During the episode "Jarod's Honor", information is found that suggests that the car crash may not have been an accident. It is also tP cannon that Sydney has a son named Nicholas.
That is where the actual episode information ends. The twin swap is fanfic as is the character Ravenhurst.
Sydney has always freaked me out a bit. I mean, what kind of lunatic keeps a child locked up for three decades even if it is "for his best interests". It always struck me as odd that Sydney could be so nurturing in one episode and in the next, he's cold-bloodedly contemplating murder. (He did attempt to kill Raines. He set a bomb in the sublevels. He plotted with Lyle to get out of Renewal wing. And he kept Catherine Parker's faked suicide a secret for decades.) It all made me wonder what else he was hiding.
But, that is not to say that Jacob taking Sydney's place was an original idea of my own. A plot involving a twin taking the other's place is an ages-old, hackneyed cliché. In all probability, if The Pretender had aired for a few more seasons, Steve and Craig would have gone there too.
Enough rambling. Let's get on with the tale.
Burden of Truth pt5
By Phenyx 06/03/2005
"You can let go now," Miss Parker said with a sniffle. "I won't hurt him."
Jarod hesitated for a moment, tensing as though he wanted to defy her wishes. Then he abruptly dropped his arms from around Miss Parker's waist and ended their brief embrace. He took a step backward, increasing the distance between them, and cleared his throat.
Miss Parker chose to ignore Jarod's embarrassment. She wiped her tear-damp cheeks on her sleeve and disregarded Jarod's awkward fidgeting. He seemed unsure of what to do with his hands. Within minutes, he had run through a half dozen positions, finally ending with his arms wrapped around his chest as he hugged himself.
Straightening regally, Miss Parker glared at the gray-haired man before her and demanded, "Well?" She took a step forward. "You said you could explain."
"Perhaps now is not the best time," he answered as he cast a meaningful look in Nicholas' direction.
"Now," Jarod said. "Nicholas ought to know. He deserves to know why he was raised by another father."
The older man shook his head. "But the knowledge could place him in great danger."
Jarod looked pointedly around the barren room. "It appears to be too late to prevent that."
With a sigh, the psychiatrist gazed from one expectant face to the next. Nodding in resignation he took a deep breath and began. "There is no name for the job I held then. I was a finder of things, many kinds of things."
Jarod shivered. A bolt of ice ran down his spine as he remembered another man who had referred to himself in the same way. Mr. White had said that he was a finder of things, with missing families as his niche. The mere thought that a beloved mentor had held that same position made Jarod's blood run cold.
"It was little things at first," the older man went on. "Petty illegalities done for the greater good. I could convince myself that the things I did weren't wrong, as long as they were done for the right reasons."
"A skill you've excelled at over the years," Miss Parker interjected.
"Perhaps," he agreed. "Extortion, espionage and political manipulation were all in my resume. But my specialty was in acquiring test subjects. Children mostly. In those days it was simple. A well-dressed couple with enough cash could walk into an over crowded orphanage and leave the same day with a child in tow. In certain poverty-stricken areas of the country one could buy a child from its parents."
"My god." The whispered gasp came from Nicholas.
Without pause, the narrative continued. "It seemed as though we were taking these children from poor environments and relocating them to a better place. The rooms I had seen were all colorful areas with plenty of toys and educational opportunities. Children played in the corridors.
It was several years before I discovered that these rooms were only for display. Clients were paraded through these rooms to see how delightful and well behaved the children were. Potential customers were never shown the other accommodations."
Miss Parker cast a furtive glance at Jarod. She remembered her own reaction to the separate rooms Jarod had occupied at The Centre. The first, the "display" area, had been quite nice. Colorful, well furnished and carpeted, the area had been full of books and assorted trinkets. Parker later learned that Jarod had never been permitted to touch anything in that room except the computer.
"By the time they had changed the rules on me, I was in too deep to escape."
"Changed the rules?" Miss Parker asked with a frown.
"The criteria were narrowed. Rather than just finding any child, I was sent after very specific targets. I became a stalker. An abductor."
"It was you," Jarod whispered. "All these years, it was you."
"Yes," was the solemn reply. "I was the one who brought you to The Centre."
Miss Parker watched Jarod's reactions cautiously. There was no telling how the pretender would react to this news. She expected rage, shock or bitter tears. But Jarod showed none of these. Instead, he seemed bewildered and lost. He was subdued, abnormally quiet in a way that worried her.
"I did try to leave," the older man vowed. "But my brother had been snared by The Centre as well. They were using him to keep me in line. During the next couple of years, things disintegrated even further. I voiced my objections, as did a few others. Your mother, Miss Parker, was among them."
"It got her killed," Miss Parker pointed out.
"Not until a few years later. I never held the influence that Catherine did. Her position as the chairman's wife protected her for a time. I, however, quickly became more of a hindrance than an asset. I told my brother that we needed to leave, that we were in danger. But he wouldn't go. Couldn't leave the project he said."
"Me," Jarod said with a nod.
"You." The older man smiled sadly. "He never understood what he had. To him it was research, nothing more. I envied him. I envied his ability to remain blind to the evil around him. I begrudged him the hours he spent concerned with nothing but this single incredible boy."
"So when the chance presented itself," Miss Parker said. "You stole the life that should have been your brother's."
"What was I to do? I believed that my brother had fallen victim to a Centre contract, a contract on my life, not his. If The Centre had realized that I had survived, someone else would have finished the job. And who would have taken care of my invalid twin, then?" With a gentle sigh, the accented voice softened. "Stepping into my brother's shoes was so easy. The life he had led was so much simpler."
Miss Parker scoffed. "It was easier to delude yourself again. You allowed yourself to believe it was for the greater good."
"Did you kill them?" Nicholas asked quietly. "Ravenhurst's wife and child?"
"My conscience carries a heavy burden," was all the psychiatrist would say.
Nicholas frowned. "Are you really my father? Or are you just an uncle?" he wondered aloud.
The older man crossed the room. "You are my son," he promised, grasping Nicholas by the arms. "I met your mother half a decade after the car crash. By then, I had begun to forget that I had ever been anyone else."
"What should I call you?" Nicholas asked with a confused shaking of his head.
"I am Sydney," was the reply. "The man I was, the man Jacob was, has been gone for a very long time." He turned to gaze solemnly at Jarod. "Somewhere along the way, I lost that person. In pretending to be my brother for so many years, I succeeded in becoming him."
"A pretend only swallows you whole if you allow it to, Sydney," Jarod said with quiet conviction.
Shrugging the older man answered. "I allowed it. I welcomed it."
His dark brown eyes filled with moisture as Jarod shook his head in denial. "You weren't pretending," he said. "You were lying to us."
"That is semantics, Jarod." Sydney gazed at his protégé sadly. "There really isn't any difference."
"Yes there is!" Jarod cried. His voice rose in anger as he continued. "Lying is dishonest. You lied about who you are. If I don't know who you are, how am I to define myself? You made me!"
A long moment passed in silence. Nicholas looked from one face to another as he processed this information and he began to connect the pieces. "Those children. What happened to the children acquired as test subjects?" No one spoke so he answered the question himself. "Jarod, you were one of those children. Weren't you?"
Jarod shrugged in response.
"How long?" Nicholas asked. "How long did they keep you there?"
"A long time," Jarod admitted. "Sydney raised me, trained me to do many things for The Centre."
"And you, Miss Parker," Nicholas went on. "Were you another of The Centre's children?"
Parker's response was sharp. "The Centre doesn't own me," she snapped.
"But it does own me?" Jarod asked bitterly. He shook his head.
Viciously stabbing her finger against Jarod's chest Miss Parker snarled, "It is where you belong. And I will take you back."
"I am not chattel!" Jarod yelled at her. "I won't go back there. Not ever. You'll have to kill me first."
"That can be arranged," Miss Parker hissed.
"Miss Parker," Sydney cried in a scolding tone. "Jarod. Please, our situation is dire enough without having the two of you at one another's throats. We need to work together if we are to survive."
Jarod scoffed. "Survival precludes working together," he snarled. "Our goals are mutually exclusive."
"What do you mean?" Nicholas asked.
"My survival is at stake every day of my life." Jarod laughed bitterly. "It is a constant battle for freedom. Their jobs," he jerked his head toward Miss Parker and Sydney. "Are to deny me that right."
"Your freedom will become a mute point. We'll all be dead and past caring," Miss Parker said with a grimace. "If we don't figure out a way to get out of here."
"I'm working on it," Jarod replied in exasperation. Groaning with frustration, Jarod turned and stomped to the far corner of the room. Like a petulant child he dropped to the floor and sat with his back against the wall.
Nicholas cautiously approached, easing down to sit beside Jarod as if the tall man were a wild thing that could turn on him without warning. After several minutes had passed with no attack, Nicholas spoke. "Ravenhurst will be back soon. What are we going to do?"
Jarod sighed. "We wait for an opportunity," he said.
"What if the opportunity does not come before one of us gets shot?" Nicholas asked.
"Those who are left will take it."
Nicholas stared at Jarod. The frankness of the other man astounded him. Jarod was sitting there, calmly discussing the possibility that someone was about to die.
Jarod understood the younger man's concern. "Survival, Nicholas," Jarod said. "We are extremely adept at it. You will need to learn very quickly." Jarod sighed as he watched Nicholas' eyes grow wide with trepidation. "Don't worry," he went on. "Sydney won't let Ravenhurst harm you."
Nicholas shot a glance at Miss Parker.
Jarod noticed the look and shook his head. "And I won't allow harm to come to her," he vowed. He kept his voice low so that only Nicholas could hear.
This comment took Nicholas by surprise. "But I thought," he began. "I mean, the two of you were just…I don't understand."
"Neither do I," Jarod admitted. The self-depreciating tone in his voice was dripping with irony. "Neither do I. But she is the one truth I still have in my life. And I will do whatever it takes to protect what I believe in."
End part 5.