Disclaimer: Don't own them, never will.
Authors note: This is co-written by Jaccione and myself, Onisius. I am sorry for such a long wait on this, butI have been in the middle of moving. Welcome all reviews, including flames.
Chapter five...
She stilled for a moment as the statement sunk into her mind. As rage hot as fire flooded through her veins, she swang the knife, bringing it across his chest repeatedly, slashing deep marks across him.
Jarod watched as she paused, afraid that he really had gone too far this time. He screamed as the knife hit him over and over. He writhed in a vain attempt to escape from the assault.
She just kept going, shredding his shirt as she made deeper cuts in his flesh. Tears were spilling down her face, and she was helpless to stop what she was doing.
"Parker!" He screamed at her. "Catherine!"
Parker froze at her mothers name and looked at Jarod with a wrinkled brow. "What?" She whispered in a thick voice. All anger gone for the moment.
Jarod knew that if he didn't get out of here soon, she was likely to kill him. "Parker please," He sobbed as he looked into her eyes. "Please stop." His chest was a burning agony.
She saw his tears, his pleas and backed up a little from him, sliding further down his body, still atop of him.
"Stop this please. I am sorry." He begged.
"No you're not." She whispered in a quiet voice.
"I am, I never meant..." He looked down at his chest. "Parker please. I have to stop the bleeding."
"You will live rat." Her anger returning. "I'm trained just like you are when it comes to these situations, and the bleeding is not life threatening."
Jarod closed his eyes and tried to think. He needed to be calm, he needed to calm her down. "Un-cuff me so I can at least have a look, and clean and bandage them please."
"Not a snowballs chance in hell. I learnt the last time I helped you. I'm not doing anything." And to prove her point, she straightened her back and shoulders, still straddling his lower waist and crossed her arms, knife still in hand and just looked at him.
"My feet are tied, I am not going anywhere." Then he looked at her confused. "Learnt what the last time you helped me?"
"You're only in it for you. You don't give a flying rats arse what happens to me."
"I have a bullet in my leg... what? How can you say that after all I have done for you?" His own anger returning now. "I even bought you a gift! What a fool I was."
"You're unbelievable. You're doing it again. Me, me, me." But she stilled at his last words, "A gift?" She asked suspicious but surprised.
"You people make it that way. I would be more than happy to be left alone. I haven't chosen any of this! Of course it's about me. You trying to catch me, trying to steal even more of my life! What the hell do you expect?"
The idea of his gift left her mind.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"We wouldn't be chasing you if you stayed in your hole!"
"That is not MY hole. You have no rights to keep me there. I deserve a life too."
"Did you ever wonder what that special school your mother sent you to was for?" She asked coldly, changing tactics.
Jarod froze as she spoke. He started to shake his head violently. "No,"
"Don't kid yourself wonder-boy. You know what it was for, and why you were sent there."
"I was ahead of my class mates." He would not listen to her.
"It was your first year of school you idiot. Grade two and you were four. I'm surprised you didn't work it out before."
"Work what out?" He knew where she was headed, but he refused to believe it. "She could not have known."
"I think you'll find that Mr Raines has a file on it somewhere hiding in his office. She signed it, and the contract clearly stated what would happen to you." She said ice cold.
"Our mothers were friends, they were trying to bring down the evil that was the Centre, even now, MY mother is still trying, and yours would be too if your father had not killed her." He knew she was lying, had to be lying. His mother would never do that. Never.
"And I hate to admit it, but it was my mother that told her about this great school." The hurt was evident in her voice.
"How can you be so heartless?" He whispered, "You can't know that."
"Yes I can! I saw the god damn file! Do you think I was happy about it? My mother was the one to first suggest the Centre to your mother!" She yelled, hurt and anger mixed into one.
Jarod shook his head in denial. It could not be true. "You are lying," He hissed at her.
"I wish I were." She whispered back sadly as she got off of him.
"My mother never would have sent me there. They stole me. I remember it."
"That was so she had a story to tell the police Jarod."
He shuddered as the memory of that night hit him. As Jarod lay there, his chest and leg throbbing, he would not accept what she was telling him. It simply could not be true. "No, it can't be true. Why are you doing this?" He pleaded with her to take it back.
"Do you think I wanted to tell you this?" She asked hurt. "I wanted to keep it from you, protect you from it. I know what it feels like to have the truth shoved into your face and you don't want to believe it. When you're not ready or willing to accept it but know its true. I wanted to keep that from you, even after you caused me that pain so many times." But as she remembered all the times he forced her to see the truth, her anger returned, "How does it feel to have the truth you're not willing to accept to be forced onto you?"
"She would not have," He whispered. "You made it up." He shook his head in denial, tears slipping out of his eyes.
"Why would I?" She asked as she climbed back onto him, still holding the knife.
"She never would have, no, they stole me. My parents searched for me. The Centre lied."
"It was MY mother that caused all of this, why would I make that up?"
Jarod didn't care about her or the knife anymore. The magnitude of the lie that she had told him cut him to his very soul.
She shook her head, "Why would I?"
"To hurt me!" He hissed at her. "For all those times..." He trailed off.
"For all the times what?" She growled
"Your mother was a good person, you can't expect me to believe she convinced my mother to give me to your 'father'?"
"She didn't. At the time she thought they were doing good work, that it would help you and that you would be better there. She thought your mother and father would see you." Her heart was heavy with guilt.
Jarod was devastated at the implications of what Parker was telling him. It simply could not be true.
"How does it feel?"
Jarod collapsed back onto the bed, all the strength gone from his limbs. Even had he not been tied, he would not have been able to move. "How long have you...?"
"For quite a while, almost three years now." She admitted.
"Three years?" He whispered. "How did you...?" He closed his eyes wishing she would take it back. Wishing she would tell him it was a cruel joke.
"Find out?" She asked.
He nodded, not trusting his voice to speak.
"I stumbled across it while searching Raines' office for something about my mother. About one of the truths you forced me to see."
"She can't have known... she never would have agreed... they knew the whole time?" He whispered, the pain in his heart blocking out the pain from his chest and his leg.
She nodded sadly, wishing she had never told him.
He looked at her, pleading with his eyes for her to tell him it wasn't true, that it was all some kind of mistake.
"I did lie about one thing, to hurt you." Her heart was filled with pain and guilt.
"What!" He screamed at her. "Get off me," His whole body tensed, trying to throw her weight off.
She brought the knife down across his chest quickly again, cutting deep into his already bloody chest.
Jarod screamed. "What? What lie?" He had to know.
"About her playing along with your kidnapping." She hissed, "But that doesn't matter now." She said coldly as she slowly cut another wound, her anger rising.
Jarod fought to control himself. He wanted to kill her.
"And if you shout at me again, that gag is going back in." She threatened looking at the tie and sock on the floor.
He looked at her, and said in a very low voice, "Why don't you just cut my heart out while you are there?"
"Don't like it do you?"
He closed his eyes and turned his head away from her. Unable to believe that she could lie to him about something so important. Never once had he ever lied to her, deliberately hurt her like this.
Her heart almost broke for him. "Jarod." She said and waited for him to look at her.
Jarod kept his eyes closed, his head turned away. He was struggling to get his raging emotions under control. He had already said too many things he regretted, things that he should not have said.
Grabbing his jaw, digging her fingers in, she yanked his head around to her. "Open your eyes Franken-boy."
Jarod looked at her as his head was yanked around. "Yes Miss Parker?" He asked in an inflectionless voice. Jarod forced the tears back. He did not know if any of what she had said was true. If she lied about one thing, perhaps she had lied about the rest. He needed to get out of here and find out. The need to escape was pressing on him with even more urgency now. If he allowed her to take him back, he might never find out.
Her fingers released their grip, and her eyes and voice softened. "They fought for you. Margaret tried to back out of the contract once mom started to see that they weren't a safe place for children. She tried to keep you safe. But they got to you anyway. I'm sorry I lied about that, I never even wanted to tell you. I tried to protect you from the truth, like you tried to protect me from their lies." She apologised sincerely to him.
Jarod looked at her for a long time, trying to determine if she was lying again to him. He had thought he had known her, known the type of woman that she was. He looked into her eyes, and he was no longer so sure. Finally he nodded. "Thankyou," He said in a soft voice.
"Jarod, do you understand that I didn't want to tell you? That the only reason it come out of my mouth was because I was angry?" She was desperate for him to understand she didn't want to hurt him this way.
"Yes, I understand." He said gently as he nodded. He also understood that she had lied to him to deliberately hurt. He tired to push that fact down. "We have both said things today that perhaps we should not have. Things said in anger."
She nodded and climbed off of him and walked into the bathroom, her shoulders slumped.
Jarod watched her back as she walked into the bathroom. He tried to assimilate this new knowledge, tried to see how it fit in with the jigsaw pieces that he already have. If nothing else, it gave him a new avenue to explore. He tested his bindings again while she was gone, but for the moment he was stuck fast. He was going to have to keep his temper and watch his mouth from now on. He had said things to her that he should not have and he regretted that immensely, but he could not let her take him in either.
Parker looked in the mirror, she not only felt exhausted, and she looked it as well. Grabbing a hand towel, she ran it under cold water and wrung it out. Sighing heavily, she knew she should have kept the little titbit to herself. Taking the towel with her, she walked out.
Jarod followed her movements as she entered into the room.
Parker climbed onto the bed, placing the towel on the other side of her and took hold of the knife once more.
He looked at the knife hoping that she wasn't going to cut him anymore. His chest was a dull throbbing agony. "Please Parker..." He started in a low voice.
Miss Parker quickly and efficiently stripped Jarod of his t-shirt, ignoring his plea. But she was happy that he kept his voice low as instructed.
Jarod grimaces as she cut his shirt from him. "I should not have said what I said. Please..."
Placing the knife down next to her, she looked at the damage she had done to his beautiful chest and ran her hand gently over the still bleeding wounds.
He flinched away from her gentle touch. Hissing in a breath as she ran her fingers over the fresh wounds.
Biting her lip, she blinked back her tears. She had let her anger go too far. She had never hurt him before, never like this.
Jarod watched her as she fought with her emotions. He was afraid to say anything at the moment in case he set her off again. He lay there, still and silent.
Picking up the towel, which apparently Jarod hadn't seen or he wouldn't have begged her, she started to carefully wipe the blood away, making sure her touch was gentle, but firm.
Jarod flinched each time she touched him, but he was grateful that she was tending to his current injuries, rather than inflicting new ones. He was desperately thirsty now, and he would need to use the bathroom soon. Two things that he was reluctant to bring up while she was being so calm and gentle. "Thankyou," He said in a very serious tone.
"I-I didn't mean to hurt you Jarod." She apologised uncharacteristically.
"I know," He said softly, not taking his eyes from her. "I know."
"I don't think you do." Her voice was thick with the tears she refused to flow.
"Maybe not Parker, maybe I should not have not done the things I have done, maybe I should have let things lie."
She gently wiped away the few tears still on his cheeks, surprising herself with the action.
Jarod almost pulled back his head as she reached for him. But she gently wiped away his tears, surprising him with this gentle action.
"You're the only person that cares about me. I know you never mean to hurt me when you tell me things about my family. I just get so mad that you always interfere. I never wanted to tell you about your mother, I wish I could find someway to prove that it is all fake. You are the last person I wanted to hurt." And she couldn't help the tears that escaped from her eyes. She was shocked that that came out, even more so that it was inside of her at all. She had never thought in a million years that she wouldn't want to hurt him.
Jarod looked at her in surprise at her admission. "People care about you Parker. And I never wanted to hurt you, please believe that. All my life I have been surrounded by lies. We both have. I just thought we deserved the truth, to live our lives, not the lives that they have chosen for us. We can't do that without the truth."
"Did you ever think that I didn't want to know the truth?"
"No," He said honestly. "How can you not. And surely, some of it must have been good?" He asked desperately. "Her ring? Her letters?" Some of what he had given her must have made her happy. She must have wanted some of it.
She smiled at those memories, but her smile soon disappeared as she moved to the end of the bed, throwing the knife across the room in anger, in hurt.
Jarod was pleased that he was making some progress, but then her mood abruptly changed. He was not sure if this current bout of anger was directed at him, or at the knife that she had just thrown. Was she angry at herself for what she had done?
She brought her knees up to her chest, glad she was wearing pants and placed her head on her knees and moaned.
Jarod watched her, unsure whether he should disturb her or not. He wished his hands were free so that he could reach out to her. It was so rare that he saw her vulnerable like this and he wanted to show her that he cared. But he was held fast and could not move. Also his need for some water was getting worse, between the screaming and the pain, his throat was dry and hoarse. He knew he had suffered some blood loss and his clinical detached side was telling him that he needed to eat and drink something soon.
She lifted her head back and looked up at the ceiling, placing her hand on her stomach and rubbing the pain. Their fighting was wreaking havoc on her ulcer.
He wished again that he could move. He lifted his head up and watched her as she rubbed her stomach. "You should have some milk." He stated.
"I'll be fine." She said, forcing herself not to snap like she always did when someone tried to tell her what to do.
"Please Parker," He appealed to her.
"I'll be fine!" She instead as her face wrinkled as the pain intensified a bit.
He knew she hated being told what to do. "A little bit of milk will help enormously. Or some yoghurt even. There might be some in the dessert cart." He said, nodding to the cart of goodies he had not yet had the chance to fully investigate.
Knowing he wouldn't leave it be, she growled at him in hatred and annoyance and climbed off the bed, trying not to hold her stomach and searched the cart.
Jarod relaxed a little as she moved away. Despite everything, he did not want to see her suffer.
What do you know, wonder boy was right, yet again. She grabbed some yoghurt from the ice it sat on and took a spoon and sat back on the bed and slowly ate a few mouthfuls, glaring at him the whole time, before putting it back down.
He thought about his childhood friend, wanting her back so desperately, wondering if it would ever be possible. He pasted his trademark grin on his face as she ate the yoghurt, glaring at him the whole time.
And once again, he was right. It did help her stomach to settle, but she wouldn't tell him that only a few mouthfuls of the stuff he told her to eat did actually help.
"You should try and eat all of it." He suggested to her, knowing that he was probably headed for a legendary acerbic remark for his troubles.
Picking up the tub of yoghurt and looking at it innocently she asked, "This?"
He nodded hesitantly, not liking the way she looked at him.
"How about instead of me eating it..." She started as she moved closer to him, watching him the whole time.
Jarod tried to back away from her, but managed only a few centimetres. "Parker," He warned.
Parker smiled brightly as she saw his reaction, but didn't stop her movements. She got to his head and looked at it once more.
Jarod shook his head.
Smiling a brighter smile, she turned the tub upside down and shook out its contents over his head, and smeared it over his face a little with her hand.
Jarod closed his eyes as the cold yoghurt was smeared in his hair and on his face. He shook his head from side to side, trying to avoid it. Finally he stilled his movements in defeat, his tongue darting out to try and taste some of it.
Biting back her laugh, she saw his tongue dart out. Gathering some on her fingers, she spread it over his lips before sucking her finger dry, watching his reaction closely. This was more fun the actually hurting him.
As much as he hated himself for it, he sucked in what little he could. He had not eaten since breakfast, apart from a few cherry chocolates. She was enjoying this. But now he had this gooey mess all over his face and eyes and he found that he couldn't open them as the yoghurt was all gunked in his eyelashes. "Parker please," He pleaded, keeping his eyes closed.
"What?" She asked innocently.
He fought with himself so that his voice was steady when he spoke. "Please, I need to wash this off me, I can't even open my eyes." He said as reasonably as he could.
She shrugged, not like he could see it.
He tried to wipe his face against his outstretched arms, trying also to maintain control of his fragile temper. He could not afford another outburst.
But he did have a point. She had spread it a little far down his face, and she didn't want it to get it into his eyes fully, she would have a problem on her hands then. Grabbing the bloody towel and finding a clean part, she carefully rubbed his eyes clean.
"Thankyou," He blinked experimentally, satisfied that he wasn't going to get any in his eyes. But he did not fail to notice that it was still all in his hair.
Parker nodded simply as she threw the towel aside. She wasn't acting like herself, but she was starting to feel like she didn't have to be the ice queen with Jarod, and that was scaring her immensely.
Jarod was glad that Parker seemed to be relaxing a little. She had notched it down from deadly and dangerous to just playful, but still dangerous. He could feel the yoghurt setting in his hair and the smell would soon become too much for him to bear. He needed to wash it out. "Miss Parker?" He asked hesitantly. Not at all sure how she was going to react.
Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and she just glared at him, waiting for him to go on.
Jarod was not encouraged by her look. He nodded over towards the bathroom door. "I need... can I..."
She shook her head no.
His shoulders slumped. "It's becoming a matter of some... ahhh.. .urgency," He said, as his face coloured with embarrassment.
"Hold it then." She warned.
"Parker," He groaned.
Even though she was starting to get a little 'softer' around him, she did not trust him. "You're only going to go if I hold your hand." She said patronising him.
"Deal," He could live with that.
She looked at him for a long time. He agreed too quickly.
"Parker please," He tried again. "I have a bullet in my leg, and ,well, I wont be running anywhere for a little while."
He did have a point, but he wasn't going anywhere unsupervised. She got off the bed and walked around to his feet and untied them, keeping her eye on him.
He sighed in relief as she untied his ankles. He flexed his uninjured leg, but kept the other one still. He watched her carefully.
She took the cuff key out from her bra. She may have smaller breasts, but it was still a good place to hide things.
Jarod's eyebrows rose and he smiled broadly as she retrieved the cuff key. It would certainly be interesting if he had to retrieve that in the near future.
"Eyes up wonder-boy or you're not going anywhere, and wipe that smile from your face." She warned, but her voice held a strange playfulness to it.
Jarod concealed his smile as he took his eyes from her. "Yes ma'am." He said in a playful tone.
She had to smile at that. His playfulness always annoyed her, but it was somewhat fun today.
Jarod waited to see what her next move was.
She went over to his arms, and leant over him, if he wanted to play with her, she would damn well play back. Thank god she wore one of her most expensive red lace bras today, and a very low-cut suit jacket.
Jarod copped an eyeful as she leaned over him. He tried very hard to keep the surprised smirk from his face. He was just itching to... he pushed the thought out of his mind... with some difficulty.
She looked down at him discreetly, and she hard to force her laugh not to escape. He was turning red!
Jarod squirmed uncomfortably, her perfume overpowering.
She took her time to undo the cuffs, making sure she had to lean further over him, closer to his face to undo the second bracelet. She quickly snapped the bracelets back around both wrists, as they were undone.
Jarod choked back a startled breath as she was almost in his face. He did not even notice that she had undone the cuffs and then re-attached them.
Slowly straightening back up, she fixed the jacket and stared at him.
Jarod could feel the blood pumping in his face, and somewhere else, and he hoped she didn't notice. He slowly brought down his arms, concentrating on the pain there from being held in such and unnatural position for so long.
She raked her eyes over his body and just raised an eyebrow at him as she noticed one part.
Finally, he got himself back under control and tried to pull himself into a sitting position. "Parker, I won't try anything," He raised his cuffed hands and rattled them beseechingly.
"You made a deal genius," She stated simply.
"You said you were going to hold my hand. I may need your help to get there."
"So I did. Do you think you can handle anymore close contact though?" She teased as she pulled him to his feet.
"I give you my word I won't try anything." He tried appealing to her. He really was going to have trouble getting there like this. He ignored her last comment.
She saw him blush even though he made no comment on her remark. Grabbing his elbow, she pulled him forward.
Jarod almost screamed out as his injured leg took his weight. He hobbled forward awkwardly, grimacing with each step.
They were going to have to take that bullet out shortly, before any infections could start. She helped him to the bathroom, and placed him in front of the toilet, standing next to him, not letting his elbow go.
"Some privacy?" He asked, but he did not hold out much hope.
"I said I'll hold your hand, so don't push your luck, I could very well decide to hold your hand."
Jarod closed his eyes, blushing furiously. He lowered his jeans, which were still undone from when she had looked at his wound.
She was tempted to let him know she had actually seen him naked, but kept her mouth shut. She kept a close eye on him, not his face or chest, a little lower, not being able to resist.
Finally, trying desperately to ignore her presence at his side, he relieved himself and sighed. But he had never been so embarrassed in his entire life.
"Hands." She said as she flushed the toilet for him.
He presented his hands to her, hoping to get out of the damn cuffs now. She had had her little bit of fun.
"Wash them genius!" She growled.
He limped over to the basin and washed his hands thoroughly. "My hair." He said.
She looked at his hair, then the running water. Grabbing his neck somewhat gently, she pushed his head down under the water and rubbed her hands through the thick substance, washing it clean.
"Thankyou," He groaned as his chest hit the side of the basin.
Letting go of the hair she was washing, she turned the taps off.
"Parker, I really need to get this bullet out."
She raised her eyebrows simply at him.
"Please?"
She bent down carefully and searched the cupboards before pulling out a handful of supplies and taking hold of his elbow again, hauling him back over to the bed.