Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1 for the usual details
Author's note: "Non je ne regret rein" is an excellent song sung by the legendary Edith Piaf. Roughly translated it means: no regrets.

Time to Consider
Chapter 12

By Callisto

Lakeside Bed & Breakfast
Lake Catherine, VT

The morning after is usually difficult. Jarod looked forward to seeing her again, unfortunately his father had different plans. A few days had to pass before he could even make an attempt to see her. Jarod, though curious to meet Catherine Parker once again, avoided and faintly dreaded the inevitable meeting. For the first time in their lives, Jarod had a chance with Parker. It had been her father's interference and corrosive training that turned her away from him. In their original time frame, Mr. Parker had a tyrannical influence on his daughter. On this side of the looking glass, he surmised that Catherine commanded a softer if not similar influence over her daughter. The last thing Jarod wanted was Catherine's disapprobation. Though Parker was a middle-aged woman inside, he felt certain that all it would take would be a few reasonable sounding arguments from her mother and Parker's prior training would kick in and doom their budding relationship.

Watching the Inn, he found Ethan leaning against a low rough-hewn stone fence reading a comic book. Jarod walked up and squatted down. Ethan looked up and smiled happily at Jarod. He was thrilled to see the older boy but it was obvious where Jarod's true interest was rooted—in Maritza.

"Spiderman. Now that's an interesting choice of comic book hero. Have you read many of the stories?"

"A few."

"Ethan, do you sometimes find yourself identifying with Peter Parker? He can do so many wonderful things."

"Yeah, I wish I could do some of the stuff he does, like flying on webs but that's all make believe," the child replied laughingly.

"What about the way he knows when something is going to happen?" Jarod probed, wondering if this Ethan had his half-brother's inner-sense.

Ethan became still and stared hard at Jarod, who kept his expression studiously neutral. "You mean Spidy-sense? No, I can't do that. I mean it wouldn't always be as neat as it seems." Belatedly, the child realized he had said too much. "You're looking for my sister aren't you?" Ethan inquired quietly, abruptly changing the subject. Then nodding in the direction behind Jarod, he said, "She's in the garage, exercising."

"Exercising?" he inquired lightly.

By this time, Ethan had studiously returned to his magazine replying absently, "She's supposed to be practicing but today she's in the garage."

He slowly rose to his feet and said, "Thank you, Ethan. Enjoy the comic."

Jarod eagerly looked for her there and found the large front garage doors securely locked. He circled the structure until he found an open pedestrian door. The room he walked into had a long barre mounted to one wall. Stationed adjacent to the barre was a large freestanding mirror typically used by dancers and leaning against the barre while lifting a leg and arm simultaneously was Parker. She looked over at him impassively and continued with the exercise. Jarod stood a few feet away and watched until she finished.

"So this is what he meant by 'exercising'. I take it your mother wants you to continue studying ballet. How's it going?"

"Lousy. I haven't done these exercises in almost 20 years. I feel ancient even admitting to that. What do you want?"

Jarod's heart sank a few centimeters. Her tone sounded as though she didn't get the note he had left for her. It also made what he came to ask much harder. Since he had given himself a chance to think beyond his desire, it occurred to him that although she was an adult inside, her body wasn't. This brought other—considerations—to mind.

"I missed you," he said simply. Parker looked at him but remained silent. "I left a note in the clearing explaining that my father decided to take all of us on an extended camping trip. There was something I wanted to ask you…" he began haltingly. When he rehearsed this, her eyes weren't boring into him like twin, gray lasers.

"Got the note. What's the question?"

Her impatience was something far more familiar than the uncharted territory they had recently strayed into. Taking a deep breath, he dove for the deep end. "I've caught myself occasionally forgetting about my physical age and the other night was no exception. Are you all right? Is everything okay? I wasn't sure…" he asked as his worry began to show plainly and painfully in his eyes.

Parker's lips twitched into a small smile of understanding. "I'm fine and yes, I was. In our time, things were different. Anton was a gorgeous, worldly, well-spoken cad. I believe there isn't any question of our altering the timeline." She tilted her head to one side and stared at her lover speculatively, wondering if he would continue and try to explain how their liaison had been a horrific mistake.

Jarod continued looking uncomfortable as he gripped the barre next to her. He was about to correct her by stating if their lust had changed the timeline then they would be the last to know it but he wasn't in the mood to irritate her further and remained quiet. She allowed him several seconds of silence, before asking with a subtle touch of sarcasm, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"You sound angry. Do you regret what happened between us?"

"You didn't hurt me. Non je ne regret rein," she said quietly while continuing to stare at him.

Relief flooded his face but uncertainty remained in his eyes. His heart was committed but he wondered how far she would allow their relationship to continue unchallenged. There was so much he wanted to share with her but he had no idea how to broach the subject. For once, he was at a loss for words with her and he was fast running out of patience waiting for her to understand his meaning.

Parker resumed her barre exercises while keeping an eye on him. From the look on his face, he wanted more from her, he just didn't know how to ask without running the risk of being turned down. Abruptly she stopped and giving herself a short sigh of reproach, Parker walked over to Jarod and gently touched his shoulder. When he looked at her, she smoothed his short hair with deliberate movements and looked in his eyes. She was intrigued and suddenly if not thoroughly turned on by the expression on his face.

"I'm almost finished with the device we can use to contact the person who transported us here. When you're ready, we'll make our first attempt," Jarod stated quietly, then without waiting for a reply, he quickly leaned forward and kissed her fully. When she didn't pull away, Jarod took her head gently in his hands and continued kissing and tasting her.

Having him kiss her so hungrily was enjoyable; his ardor gratifying. She broke off his last kiss, then led him by the hand outside and around the back of the Inn. Jarod noticed Ethan had abandoned his spot against the stone fence as he followed her upstairs to their room. Jarod smiled at the thought that his changed relationship with Parker included sharing a lair with her. He watched her lightly bound up the stairs and for the first time noticed she was wearing a black leotard over white tights and some curious looking stockings that had the feet cut neatly away. Once inside, their horny eagerness didn't exactly allow time to disrobe neatly.

Some time later, spent but with the craving for more of him beginning to surface, Parker rolled onto her side to stare at Jarod who was busily reading something in his lap. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and was sitting on the floor next to the bed. He looked over at her absently and found her looking at him with contented passion. Giving her an intensely passionate look, he softened it by smiling in the same manner that he had in the garage—like an eager kid in a candy store. With his trademark focused smile still on his face, he leaned towards her and kissed her again.

"No one's ever looked at me the way you're doing now," she said quietly. 'Not even Tommy', she remarked to herself. Tommy had looked at her as a lover and friend but never with this level of intensity.

"I want to explore a relationship with you. I was beginning to lose hope that there would ever be anyone who could make me feel the way I do now."

"Our past will continue to get in the way. We're supposed to be enemies, remember?"

"I never wanted to be your enemy. We used to be friends and now I think we both deserve more."

"Can you forgive some of the things I did to you?" She inquired probingly.

"Can you forgive me as well?"

"Locking me up with Lyle twice, now that was a tough stunt to get over."

Nodding solemnly, he answered, "You needed to know about him—to hear his lies and then find out the truth behind them on your own. That was the only way I could think of to stop you from trusting him."

"It worked. Giving me the flu, now that was inspired."

"You burned the information about my family in Miami."

"Hindsight proves that wasn't my finest hour. I was still trusting the one person I couldn't help but trust. However, looking back, that info was probably a plant to get you to walk into a trap."

Jarod stared at her thoughtfully, then nodded slowly. The Centre had almost caught him, his mother and sister in Boston. Somehow they found out about the information Harriet Tashman had passed on to him. She was probably right. "I heard you didn't exactly appreciate my witch statue."

"Unlike me, it turned out she had no appreciation for a leisurely bath. I liked Igor better, he didn't snore. Unfortunately, he was about as brilliant as some of my colleagues."

Jarod laughed appreciatively. "When we're together like this, I know I've found the one intangible that I've been searching for. It's freeing. I'd realized early on that loneliness is its own cage that follows you no matter where you go."

"Tell me about it. It's different here; maybe it's our physical age. I'm not sure."

"You've changed since we've been here. You've been changing for sometime now, that's why your father had become so controlling. It's really been happening since you found out your mother didn't die in that elevator. Having the chance to be with her and talk to her again has had its effect on you."

She gave him a rakish smile that encouraged him to return it and lean forward for another kiss, which deepened as he eased himself next to her in bed. Once he allowed her to talk between kisses, she said, "You were saying you've found a way for us to communicate with the guy who sent us here?"

"Yes, I've converted a radio to match the harmonics…" he mumbled the rest into her neck, gratefully breathing in the scent of her hair and eliciting a deeply affectionate laugh out of her.

Pulling him away from her neck, she stared into his eyes and felt her heart swell in answer to his expression. It was the look in his eyes that made her, for the first time, not want to return to her own time. The grown-up version of Ethan and the friendship she shared with bumbling Broots and serious Sydney were her only reasons for returning. Somehow over the past month or so, she found every reason to stay and fewer and fewer reasons to leave. However, happiness was an emotion that, up to now, always came in small portions that immediately dissolved like Jarod's wax witch statue whenever a sense of permanency began to sneak in.

"The radio is finished. All we need to do is activate the transponder and see if our mad scientist is standing by to contact us." He had noticed the expression in her eyes and suppressed the urge to shout in triumph. "Hopefully we can get messages back to our loved ones."

"Messages? You don't think he'll be able to get us back to our own time?"

"You still want to go back? Why?" he asked with mounting anger.

"We don't belong here, Jarod. This is like a waking dream, nice at first but eventually it'll turn into a nightmare."

Frustrated energy propelled him to sit upright in bed. "There's nothing there for either of us. Why do you persist in reaching for a life that has brought you nothing but misery?"

"Wait a second, what do you think is here that won't wind up the same way? Well, okay maybe for you but for me? I'm expected to audition for a spot on the philharmonic, an audition that I'm in no way ready for. And that's despite the fact that my desire to be a lawyer is being put on the back burner."

"I was thinking of us. You can still do the audition; from what you're saying they won't take you anyway. Then you can go on to law school and become an attorney."

"You make it sound so easy. I don't think I could take the disappointed look on my mother's face. And what about us? How long did you think we were going to be able to stay together here?"

Jarod was bone-chillingly angry. He assumed they would stay together indefinitely. Apparently she had other ideas. For Jarod, it was as though he were allowed in the candy store and then told it was only window-shopping.

A sarcastic laugh and shake of the head came from her as the expression on his face answered her question. She clasped her hands and brought her knuckles to her mouth. Understanding had to exist between them if she had any hope of having him on their true side of the timeline.

"Jarod, here I'm seventeen years old. Seventeen. My mother is reasonable but not that understanding. She's very protective," Parker reasoned emphatically. Then warming to the subject she continued as the scenario played out in her imagination. "But suppose we do somehow work this out. How long will it take for you to want to start your pretends again?"

"What do you mean?" he said carefully, wondering if she had already guessed his intent.

"I may not be a genius but I'm definitely not a simpleton. You're going to want to go over your pretends and prevent some of the situations that occurred in our timeline from ever occurring here. Whiner cops being exposed as the thieving low-lifes they are, never getting the chance to kill an innocent security guard. A racist immigrant smuggler having charges stick before his greed decimates a family. A sickly teen being put mysteriously at the top of the organ donor list, so he can receive a heart first. Do I need to go on?"

"I can make a difference. We're both being given a chance to make people's lives better."

"What am I supposed to do while you're out helping the little guy? Hang around and wait for you to find someone else who shares your zeal? I've got baggage, Jarod. I know that. All my life, I've been the lowest priority for everyone closest to me. I'll be damned if I get placed at the bottom of your list too," she replied with uncompromising heat as she got out of bed and stormed into the bathroom.

Jarod looked up in shock. He hadn't thought of that and immediately felt like a heel for not considering her feelings. She was right and there wasn't an argument in his considerable arsenal that could prove otherwise. What she hadn't thought of while she ran the shower was that Jarod devoted his distraction-free concentration to the problem and almost immediately found a solution.