Resolutions - 2
Separations
by MMB
The electronic scream of the alarm broke viciously through Jarod's slumber, and he threw out a careless arm and took three swipes at the device to finally hit the snooze alarm. Beside him, Miss Parker stirred, sighed and rolled, snuggling down comfortably on his shoulder with eyes still closed. "Not yet," she complained in a sleepy whine.
"Nine more minutes," Jarod mumbled, putting his arms around her and holding her close. "Then we both gotta get up - you have to head home, and I have morning appointments, and we both need to take showers sometime before then..."
"Why are vacations always two days shorter than we need them to be?" she grumbled back, her arm crossing his waist and holding him back. "It isn't fair..."
Jarod buried his nose in her tumbled hair. "I have to admit that I miss you dreadfully when you're not with me," he murmured sadly and then kissed her forehead. "I'll miss you even more now that you've been here and made this place your own a little. And Ginger is really going to miss both you and Davy..."
"She'll miss Davy more," she responded quickly. "She still only just tolerates me."
"That's a big step for her. Look at it this way: at least she isn't running away from you like she did at first..."
Miss Parker sighed. "Yeah, I suppose..." She still hadn't been allowed to brush the little girl's hair - that was a task the child reserved solely for her official guardian.
Jarod lay still, holding his love close and carving the moment into his memory to keep him warm until he could rejoin her in Delaware. That was another thing that wasn't fair - that his family had two separate parts now, each living on opposite sides of the continent. At least, it seemed, the two halves were willing to speak to each other at long last.
From beyond their bedroom door, the two could hear the patter of scrambling feet down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. "I don't believe it - they're up already too," he said in a resigned tone.
"I'm surprised they aren't still dead to the world," she replied, snuggling in closer and hanging on just a little tighter. "They were still awake and giggling at midnight, you know..."
"We're going to have our hands full with them eventually, that's for sure," he agreed with a sleepy chuckle. "Quite a family we've got, Missy..."
"Mmm-hmm," she nodded agreement against his shoulder. "I've been thinking. My summerhouse only has the two bedrooms, you know, and we're going to need three when you come home to stay..."
"Yeah..." Jarod's fingertips began weaving lazy circles on her bare shoulders.
"So... my family's town house has been empty since Mr. Parker died," she pressed on quietly. "It has four bedrooms and is much more roomy."
"Are you sure?" he asked her gently. "I know some of the memories you have of that place..."
"We can start making new memories there, Jarod - good ones. It's time that I put some of those old ghosts to rest too now..."
"What about the summerhouse?" he pressed, his hand now swirling down her back. "Will you sell it?"
"I don't think so," she answered after thinking about it for a little while. "For one thing, your family will need a place to stay when they come to visit..."
"Granted that Mom can be convinced that Satan doesn't still live in Blue Cove under the alias of Dr. Sydney Green, that is," he commented in amusement.
"AND I have the ideal caretaker in mind for taking care of the place between times."
"Oh?"
"Yeah..." She smiled. "A certain Japanese gentleman needs to stay out of the public eye as much as possible for a prolonged period of time. Giving him a place to stay and enough funding to take care of his needs out of my personal funds rather than the Centre payroll would also solve any conflict problems with his former employers that might arise."
Jarod raised his chin, brushing her forehead with his beard, and looked down at her archly. "Do I know this guy?"
Miss Parker shook her head and kissed his chest. "Nope. But he's the Yakuza assassin that I have keeping Syd and Kevin safe while I'm here. I think I'm going to want him as a family retainer, rather than a Centre employee."
"Yakuza?" Jarod's hand found the side of her head and turned it to face him. "I thought we were going to cut all ties with them?"
"We have," she assured him with a placid look on her face. "He came to ME, looking for sanctuary FROM the Yakuza. I figured since he was the one who killed Raines, he at least deserved a chance."
OK, Jarod thought, killing Raines was a definite mark in the man's favor. Still... "What did he do to get them after him?" he asked sharply. "Will it put Sydney or any of you in any danger?"
She shook her head at him. "I don't think so. From what he said, he began to have doubts about the wisdom of the orders he was receiving - and just walked away from an assignment. You just don't do that when you're part of the Yakuza." She sighed. "But if push comes to pull, I'll pull strings and see if I can't talk his boss into selling his services to me permanently. I'll make it a sweet enough deal..."
That did make Jarod recoil. "This is a human being we're talking about, Missy..."
"Calm down!" she patted him on the stomach. "I know that! But Yakuza etiquette would require me to put the deal in those terms." She snuggled. "You forget, I'm more familiar with that particular facet of Japanese culture than you are."
The arm around her shoulder tightened possessively. "I swear, there are times..." At that moment, the alarm began screaming again. Jarod put up a slightly more controlled hand this time and turned the alarm off. "Our nine minutes are up."
"Tell me you just hit the snooze again."
"Up and at 'em, Tiger." Jarod squeezed her shoulders one last time and then rolled away from her to a sitting position. "I'll take first dibs on the bathroom - that means that you'll have access to it all you want for packing purposes and all that."
Miss Parker groaned in complaint as she rolled to her side of the bed and sat up. "Yeah, I suppose I'd better go check up on what the munchkins are getting into in your kitchen."
Jarod shot her a concerned look. "You know, it HAS been awfully quiet from that end of the house..."
She stared back at him in consternation and then grabbed her robe on the way out the door, with Jarod one step behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Deb?"
Miss Parker opened the bedroom door a little wider so she could peek through. Deb was still buried in the covers, only the lump in the bed showing that she was still there. She moved quietly to the side of the bed and then sat down where she could see just the ends of mussed blonde hair over the top of the bedspread. "Come on, Deb, it's time to get up."
There was a low moan from beneath the covers, and then the bedspread was pulled down slowly from within to expose very sleepy-looking blue eyes. "Already?"
"Sorry, sweetheart. If you're going to take a shower before leaving, and get anything of breakfast in you, you'll need to start moving."
"I'm not hungry," the girl announced in about as petulant a tone as Miss Parker had heard from her in years. "Can't you just let me sleep until it's almost time to go?"
Miss Parker smoothed some of the straggling hair away from the young woman's face. "Talk to me, Deb. What's going on here?"
"Nothing!" The blonde brows had pulled together in pique. "I'm just tired... Yesterday was a long, hard day."
"Nightmares?"
That brought the blue eyes open and looking sharply up into Miss Parker's face. "What do you mean?"
The older woman shook her head in amazement. "Come on, Deb. I'm not blind, and I'm not deaf. And besides, Miss Jackson told me that you said you had been having..."
"I told her what she wanted to hear - just to get her to stop asking me all those stupid questions," Deb insisted, her pique becoming open frustration. "Why is it that everybody wants me to tell them all about my nightmares, or what I'm thinking, or how I'm feeling..."
"We're concerned about you," Miss Parker replied, stung by the accusatory tone. "And those of us who know all of what you've been through KNOW that you aren't just going to be able to get over it in a day or two or three. We just want to help..."
"I don't WANT anybody's help!" Deb exploded, finally sitting straight up in bed. "Don't you get it? I just want to forget that this past week ever happened and get on with my life..."
"Sweetheart..." Miss Parker reached out to her again.
Deb swatted the hands away roughly. "Don't 'sweetheart' me. Just... leave me alone."
"Missy..." Jarod's voice made Miss Parker look back at him. Her face was wounded, just as he'd feared it would be. He'd been halfway expecting Deb's explosion sooner or later, and had hoped to interfere before Missy had gotten in the line of fire and been singed. "Let me..."
"Yes, 'Missy,' leave everything to Uncle Jarod the Shrink," Deb mocked caustically.
Jarod moved to next to Miss Parker and bend over her to help her rise from the bed. His arm about her was warm and comforting, and he kissed her cheek even as he escorted her to the door. "Go on. Take your shower now. I'll handle things here for a bit."
Miss Parker leaned into him a little, then walked the rest of the way down the hallway to their bedroom to make use of the private bath. The sudden virulence from Deb had come at her quite unexpectedly - and it hurt. She shook her head, wondering what she had done wrong or to deserve Deb flying at her in that manner.
Jarod deliberately left the door open and then moved back closer to Deb, who then flinched. "What?" she demanded defensively.
"Do you think that's going to accomplish anything?"
She nervously pulled the covers up and shrank back against the headboard. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know very well what I'm talking about. Do you think pushing people away when they show they care about you will make you feel better?"
Deb pouted. "Everybody's been HOVERING so much lately, nobody will give me any space..."
"Indeed." Jarod sounded thoroughly unconvinced, and parked himself at the very foot of the bed so as not to appear any more intimidating physically than necessary. "That's why nobody stopped you when you announced you were tired last night - why you were finally able to walk in here on your own power rather than have Sam carry you - right?"
"OK. Fine. You gave me some space," she admitted very reluctantly. "Happy?"
"Are you?"
She shot him a surprised glare. "God, if I'd wanted more therapy, I'd have stayed in Victorville!"
Jarod shrugged. "Too bad. Might as well get used to it - you know damned good and well that your grandfather isn't going to put up with your new attitude much more than I am. I can imagine that the fireworks from those fights are going to be rather spectacular - although I'd caution you not to ever get him REALLY mad at you. Trust me, you don't EVER..."
"If Grandpa's going to be like the rest of you, constantly hovering over me with ooey-gooey 'how are you, Deb?' or answering questions with questions..."
Jarod's eyes snapped, but he refrained from responding. Maybe a dose of Sydney the Inquisitor was what it would take, he decided stoically. "OK, so you've decided you're going to be mad at anybody who expresses the least amount of care or concern. From what I understand, Kevin has been beside himself with worry about you - I suppose you're going to be a total bitch with him too. You're going to want to push him away too, right?"
She opened her mouth to protest, but Jarod just kept talking. "What about your Dad? He's been cooped up in a hospital, not even able to think about coming to your help when you were found. He's going to want to know how his little girl is fairing - are you going to cut him off and push him away too? Will answering his questions be an intrusion into your privacy that sets you off into a tirade? Isn't he allowed to care anymore?"
Deb closed her eyes. She didn't want to hear this - but her adopted uncle simply wouldn't stop. "Then there's Davy. I'm betting that once you get home to Sydney's you'll do your damnedest to push him away the hardest - and you know why? Not only because you do NOT want him asking you if you're OK and showing that he cares, but because he's the one person who will remind you of what happened. Every time you look at Davy, you'll feel that animal's hands on you..."
"Stop it..." Deb's voice was shaky, and tears were finally swimming. "Stop it..."
"YOU stop it, Deb Broots," Jarod fired back at her. "Stop pretending that everything IS OK with you - because everybody around you can tell very easily that it ISN'T."
She was crying openly now, and Jarod moved very slowly and carefully up so that he could give her a shoulder to lean on. After a moment's hesitation, Deb settled her cheek on his shoulder, looking away from him. "I just want everything to be the way it was..."
"I know, I know," Jarod soothed, holding her very carefully and gently. "But that isn't going to happen, Deb - and the more miserable you make those around you because you're hurting, the more miserable YOU'RE going to be because that will make things just that much more different than it was."
"What am I going to do, Uncle Jarod?" she whimpered miserably. "I can't live like this..."
"It won't be like this forever, sweetheart. You have to be patient, and let Grandpa Sydney help you out when your feelings get to be too much for you to handle alone - or me, when I get back."
"But Grandpa... He'll think..."
Jarod shook his head. "No he won't. He loves you - you know that - and he'll do just about anything in his power to help you get through this." He softened his voice. "You're the apple of his eye, and one of the best things that ever happened to him."
"What if I get mad?"
He set her back so that he could look into her face. "You need to know that it's OK to get mad, Deb - but the important thing is that if you ARE going to get mad, get mad at the right thing or person. You were mad before, with Miss Parker, right?" She nodded unhappily. "Were you mad at her specifically?"
That made the girl stop and think. "No..." she admitted slowly.
"What WERE you mad at?"
The blue eyes looked up into his bleakly. "The way she treats me."
"And what is it about the way she treats you that makes you mad?"
She thought for a moment about how to put her emotion into words, and then a little longer debating the safety of actually telling him the truth. Then, deciding at this point that she had little to lose and wouldn't be around him that much longer anyway, she blurted out, "She treats me as if I were a poor little molested girl - so fragile, so helpless, so pathetic..."
"Alright," Jarod soothed, feeling as if she was finally making some progress. "What is it that you want her to do differently?"
"Not ask me all the time if I'm OK," she answered immediately and firmly.
"Fine. What else?"
Deb looked up into her uncle's face with an expression of wonder in her eyes. "Let me ask for help."
Jarod nodded. "That one's a two-way street, you know. I'd imagine she'd find it easier to wait for you to ask for help if she knew you actually WOULD ask when you need the help." His dark eyes peered directly into hers. "WILL you ask for help if you need it - even if it makes you feel uncomfortable?"
"I can do for myself," she retorted stubbornly.
"Deb," his tone became a warning. "You give a little to get a little here. And while you might be able to do for yourself more than you've been allowed lately, your foot still needs a little babying. You were limping pretty badly last night when I helped you down the hall, even though I understand you had Sam carrying you everywhere. So..."
She sighed deeply. "OK, OK, I'll ask for help when it really starts to hurt - if I know that she'll WAIT for me to ask, not just insist."
"You two will have to negotiate boundaries on that one, but I think you could come to a reasonable compromise. Anything else?"
Deb stared at him while she thought for a moment and then shook her head. He'd defused so much of what had been keeping her upset for days with a little straight talk. "Do you think she'll agree?"
"Depends," he said frankly. "You owe her a pretty big apology for your antics a little while ago."
Deb's face dropped. He was right, and she knew it. "I know."
"If I keep Davy and Ginger out of your path for a little while, will you go make things right with her - and talk to her about why you got angry?"
"She's probably mad at me now..." she mumbled, seeing for the first time how her own behavior had only managed to make things worse.
"I'll talk to her," Jarod promised, "if you will."
"OK."
"Atta-girl. Now..." he said, rising, "time to get up and come have some breakfast. Davy's already had his turn at the bathroom, so you can shower then eat, or eat first and then shower."
Deb threw back the covers, exposing the fact that she'd fallen asleep in her traveling clothes. "I think I'll shower first, then eat," she said quietly. "I'm going to have to figure out what I'm going to say..."
"There you go," Jarod commented, holding a hand out to her to help her to her feet.
Deb willingly put her hand in her uncle's. "Thanks, Uncle Jarod."
The tall Pretender bent and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Anytime, Deb."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Davy sat next to his new little sister on the carpet just inside the balcony doors, watching the seagulls swooping and fluttering over something caught in the rocks of the tide pool below. It was beautiful here - the ocean here was so different from the one close to his home, and yet, so similar. He didn't want to leave at all.
So much was here that he'd grown to love or enjoy - the view from his Daddy's living room, the way Uncle Nathan and Uncle Ethan picked on him, having his Daddy back again, and his sister. He glanced over at her, saw her gazing at him with a smile on her face, and smiled back. She cuddled her bandaged teddy bear closer and turned with a sigh to sit and watch the waves again.
He'd always wanted a little brother or sister - but he'd never thought he'd ever have anything resembling a REAL family until just this past summer. Now he had a Daddy AND a sister - but he was going to be leaving soon, and leaving them both behind.
Ginger may not have uttered a word to him yet, but they had enjoyed hours' worth of fun and laughter the previous night. Using their fingers like spider legs, they had had mock battles up the side of the bed where he had spread an extra set of blankets like a sleeping bag. When he'd gotten tired of reaching up, he'd climbed up onto the bed with her, and they'd played until they both were droopy-eyed, whereupon he had pulled his extra blanket up onto the bed and snuggled down next to Ginger to sleep.
"I wish you could come with us," he told her quietly. "You'd like Grandpa and Kevin and Sam. We have a park right across the street from Grandpa's and Kevin would take us over there anytime we wanted - we could play on the swings, or the slides..."
Ginger's eyes had grown large. Suddenly it was registering - she was losing the best friend she'd ever had. The Boy hadn't cared that she didn't want to talk - he'd played games that didn't need words with her and not tried to push her around like the other kids did. He even loved to sit and watch the water with her - something the Other Boy couldn't be bothered with. For the first time, she had someone close to her age to look up to - and now he was leaving?
Davy saw those huge, dark eyes begin to fill with tears. "Don't cry," he comforted, putting his arm around his little sister awkwardly. "Mommy said that as soon as Daddy has adopted you for real, you can come back and be with us forever and ever - and we can be a real family."
Ginger blinked, and a huge tear dropped to her cheek. This was even worse than being swept up and taken away from familiar surroundings to be placed with yet another bunch of strangers - or an empty room all alone. She felt Davy pat her shoulder, but the gesture gave her no comfort. She felt a sudden stab of terror. Was she going to lose Him too?
She leapt to her feet and ran back down the hallway toward His - Their - bedroom and skidded to a stop. There was an open suitcase on the bed - and her worst fears were confirmed. Jarod only barely turned from having tied his tie when he had little arms wrapped tightly around his legs and a grief-stricken child sobbing her heart out into his pantleg.
"Hey there!" Jarod stooped to haul his little girl up into his arms and cuddle her closely, and her thin arms wound around his neck tightly and clung. He looked down as Davy peeked around the corner of the door. "What happened?"
Davy shuffled into the room. "I think... I was talking about how I wished she could come along with us today, and..." He looked up into his father's face. "I don't think she'd figured out that we were leaving until just then..."
"Ah!" Jarod nodded and turned his attention to his little girl. "You're going to miss Davy, aren't you?" She nodded vehemently, then clung tighter. "What about Mommy? Are you going to miss her too?"
There was a hitch in the sobs, and Ginger pulled herself back a little so she could look into His face. Why would she miss Her if... The large dark eyes widened again. Oh.
"What? Did you think that I was leaving?" Jarod asked gently. She nodded in teary relief and then laid her head on his shoulder again. "I wouldn't do that to you, Sprite. It's Mommy and Davy who are going home. You're staying here with me."
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Davy said mournfully. "I didn't mean to..."
"Hush," Jarod soothed his son and extended a free arm out to the boy, who quickly came over and wrapped his arms around his father's waist. "You didn't do anything wrong." He backed up just enough so that he could sit on the bed. "C'mon," he invited Davy gently. "Group hug."
Davy eagerly clambered up onto the bed and onto his father's lap. Jarod held his children to him tightly, kissing first one dark head and then the other.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Miss Parker?" Deb's voice was small and unsure as she called for the attention of the tall brunette drinking coffee and staring out the kitchen window.
Miss Parker glanced at Deb and then gave Sam, who was sitting at the kitchen table drinking his own coffee, a knowing look. "I'll let you two ladies talk by yourselves," the ex-sweeper said in quick agreement as he rose and then made tracks for the living room. "'Scuse me, Short Stuff," he said, carefully pushing past Deb, who clung to the doorjamb.
Only then did wary grey eyes turn to look more directly at the girl in the doorway. "Yes?"
Deb cringed inside. She hadn't heard that particular tone of voice from Miss Parker since she had first met the woman years ago - it was frosty and defensive. She had told Jarod in the heat of her anger that she had wanted space from Miss Parker - well, this was Miss Parker giving her exactly what she'd wanted. She'd hurt someone who had been like a mother to her for years - and if she didn't do something quickly, space was all she would be getting from now on. Suddenly the hovering didn't seem quite so objectionable.
"I'm sorry," she said before she could give herself a reason to back away. "I didn't mean it."
"That's not how it sounded." Miss Parker said in a guarded voice.
"I know." Deb was miserable. How could she have done this? Miss Parker had even stayed in California, waiting for her to be released from the hospital, rather than go home and take care of business. "I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry." She couldn't meet that guarded grey gaze any longer. "I know you care, and you want to help. It's just... I don't know what I need right now - and it's making me do stupid things. Please..."
"Please what?" Miss Parker didn't feel like making this any easier on the girl at the moment. There were reasonable limits to which Deb's haywire emotions could be allowed to fly - limits which ended where they impacted the feelings of others around her - and the young woman needed to realize this. Once they got back to Delaware, she was going to be too busy with her Centre obligations to have Deb's emotional distress to trip over constantly - things were still precarious enough that any distraction could cause major problems.
Deb seriously contemplated making a mad dash back to the bed she'd slept in - or begging Uncle Jarod if he would let her stay here for a while. She wilted, not knowing what it was that she was asking for. All during the shower, all she could think of to say was that she was sorry - she had never considered that the apology wouldn't be enough this time. With a sigh of defeat, she started to leave. She didn't have the strength to face this now.
Miss Parker blinked in surprise. After Jarod had spoken to her and explained how the situation in the bedroom had been resolved, she hadn't expected that Deb would be so unable to handle a good scolding. "Deb," she called out, setting the coffee on the counter. "Other people have feelings too. You can't just lash out like that and not expect consequences."
"I know - I'm sorry." Deb didn't turn around. Her foot hurt, and Miss Parker's rejection felt like a kick in the stomach. "I don't know what else to say." She took a limping step in the direction of the hallway. She was fairly sure she was going to be sick - and she didn't know if she was going to make it to the bathroom on time.
"I'm sorry too," Miss Parker said from behind her, this time in a much more approachable tone. She put out a hand and caught at Deb's hand before she could get much further away and pulled the girl to a stop. "See how easy it is to hurt someone when you're angry?" Deb didn't answer, but tried to pull away. "Deb!" She pulled hard enough that the girl turned and showed that her face was almost transparently pale. "God, Deb! What's wrong?"
"I think..." Deb put her fingers to her lips, "I think I'm going to be sick..."
With Miss Parker's arm suddenly giving sturdy support, Deb found herself turned around and pulled into the kitchen and over to the sink. She managed to keep her stomach from rebelling completely until she was over the porcelain, and then bent to heave sour stomach juices into the sink. She leaned hard into the hand at her forehead that kept wayward tendrils of hair from being soiled, grateful for the support. She heaved several more times without bringing up anything more from her empty stomach, each ragged retch pulling her closer to actually crying until she was quivering inside and out. Miss Parker reached out and grabbed a paper towel and dampened it, then carefully wiped her face and chin before pulling her close.
"I'm here," she said softly and closed her eyes. She had meant to shake Deb up, not make her sick. "I'm here, sweetheart." The swiftness with which Deb's emotions were cycling from one extreme to the other was worrisome. She was going to have to have a long talk with Sydney when they got home, so that she could know better how to respond to what was going to be a long, hard journey for all of them. She didn't need to be causing this kind of reaction more than once!
Deb had started to lean. "I'm so sorry..."
"Hush." Miss Parker rocked her gently back and forth. "I know, Debbie. It's OK."
Deb wrapped her arms around Miss Parker and held on tightly, and slowly her trembling began to abate. She didn't want to push anybody away anymore - right now she needed somebody to actually be close enough to lean on and keep reminding her that life would be OK again eventually. The sound of the old diminutive was like a warm blanket around her heart. She hadn't been 'Debbie' for anybody for a very long time - at her own instigation. 'Deb' had sounded so much more grown-up. She didn't want to be 'Deb' anymore...
Miss Parker felt the young woman slowly calm, and finally smoothed her hair back away from her face and pushed her away a little bit. "Let me get you some water to rinse your mouth with," she told her gently, "OK?" Deb nodded mutely and watched as a glass was retrieved, filled with tepid water and then handed to her. "Don't swallow," Miss Parker cautioned as the young woman sipped and then spat. Once her mouth was clean, she set the glass on the counter.
"Come sit down," Miss Parker insisted softly, pulling her toward one of the kitchen chairs and then pushing her to sit down. She pulled out another chair and sat down too, very close.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," Deb whimpered miserably.
"I know you are, sweetheart. And I'm sorry I upset you so badly." Miss Parker let her fingers brush more of the long blonde strands away from eyes. "Jarod told me that you wanted to discuss some boundaries. I think maybe this would be a good time to do that."
"You're not mad?" The voice was very small and very frightened.
"No, Deb, I'm not mad. Not anymore."
The tears just wouldn't stop. Deb tried hard to regain some control, but just couldn't. Miss Parker sighed and pulled her back into a close embrace. Maybe right now WASN'T the time for negotiations - maybe right now she just needed to provide a shoulder and some comfort. Sydney had said that some assault victims tended to have violent mood swings, even into hysterics. Deb needed stability around her right now to give her careening emotions some sort of anchor.
Setting boundaries could wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
From the kitchen door, a set of very large, dark eyes watched the two women with wide-eyed astonishment. There had been no raised voices, but the strange lady was crying, and She was taking care of her. She wasn't mad, or talking harshly, She was just holding on and letting the strange lady cry on Her shoulder - cuddling her like He did when she was scared or sad. Ginger was confused. She wasn't like any of the other 'mommies' she'd ever had - and every time she thought she had seen all the ways in which She was different, She found some new way to confound her yet again. Thin arms cuddled a bandaged teddy bear just a little closer and toyed with the bandage thoughtfully.
Miss Parker looked up and saw that she had a small and very wary spectator. "Go get Daddy, please," she mouthed at the girl silently. Ginger's eyes widened, and she nodded before she vanished. Miss Parker wondered what her adoptive daughter-to-be was making of this topsy-turvy morning, then turned her attention back to her surrogate daughter.
Ginger trotted obediently to His bedroom again, where He was talking with The Boy. She waved her hand after catching his eye, gesturing for him to follow her.
Jarod frowned slightly. "What is it?"
Ginger pulled her fingers down her face as if they were tears, and Jarod was already nodding. "OK. You two kids stay with Sam in the living room for a bit, OK?"
Before she knew it, The Boy had her hand in his and was dragging her out into the living room, where that huge man was standing and sipping his hot drink while looking out over the ocean, and dragging her up close to him! "Hey there, Sam," Davy greeted his old friend.
"Hey there, Squirt," Sam smiled back, trying with his smile to make himself as unthreatening as possible to a very skittish little girl trying to drag her hand out of her big brother's grasp. "You ready to go home now?"
"Yeah, kinda..." Davy said truthfully. "I'm gonna miss Daddy and Grandma Maggie and Sammy, though... And my new sister."
"Yeah," the big man breathed out in sympathy. "Leaving folks we love behind kinda sucks sometimes." The sparkling eyes turned to the tiny girl. "Are you gonna miss your big brother too?"
Ginger froze. The Man was talking to her! She tipped her head to look way up in the air and turned petrified eyes to him, trying to understand the gentle humor in his gaze. How could someone so big and scary not roar with a big voice to scare all the kids? But The Man's voice was soft, like His, almost.
Sam very slowly dropped into a squat so that he wasn't so very tall to a tiny child. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Precious," he soothed at her in as gentle a voice as he knew how. "I'm a friend of your Daddy's and Mommy's - and that makes me your friend too. My name's Sam." He knew better than to put out his hand or make any overt gesture toward her at this point; he just squatted there, just a little taller than her eye level.
Ginger would have huddled back against The Boy, but he had left her side to wrap an arm around The Man's neck. "He gives the best tips, Ginger - really." Davy turned pleading eyes to his old friend. "Please?"
Sam's big hand came up and ruffled Davy's hair. "Not this time, Squirt. We don't want to scare your little sister anymore than she already is, now, do we?" He looked back over at the little girl with her huge, dark eyes. "Time enough for tips when we all feel more comfortable with each other."
Davy looked over at his new little sister with some surprise. "You're afraid of Sam?" he asked incredulously. "Sam's just like a great big teddy bear..."
Sam had to quash the chuckle when he saw the open expression of frank skepticism come over the girl's face. He could see that only her brother's proximity had made being dragged so close even thinkable. "I don't look much like a big teddy bear, do I?" he asked the child in gentle amusement.
Taking his question entirely seriously, Ginger shook her head slowly. "Have you been around other big guys like me before?" he asked then, and watched as she thought for a moment before nodding her head with a very wary expression in her eyes that made him wonder just who it was that had frightened her so badly. "But I'm not so big right now," he pointed out, with an index finger showing her that they were almost eye to eye. "Am I so scary when I'm down here?"
Ginger tipped her head and looked at The Man. She had to admit that his getting down and talking to her on her level was far less scary. Still, she could remember things that could happen when Big Men were allowed to get too close. Somberly she nodded and then watched his face fall in disappointment.
"Maybe as you get to know me better," he said gently, "you'll learn that I'm not going to hurt you at all. In fact," he rose slowly so that he was back to his full height, "when you finally come home to be with Davy and your Mom again, you'll find out that I'm around more to keep you safe. That's what I do," he said very frankly, looking deep into those dark pools of absorbent intelligence. "I keep people safe - especially your family."
The doorbell rang, and Davy darted away to answer it, leaving Ginger with Sam. The ex-sweeper could see that she was startled to be so easily abandoned, but then merely sipped at his coffee while watching her from the corner of his eye. The child was studying him closely, as if debating whether or not Davy's endorsement of his trustworthiness could be trusted. "It's OK, Precious," he told her finally. "Why don't you go see who's at the door?"
Ginger already knew, but took advantage of the obvious permission to leave to back away and turn to trot in the direction of her Grandma Maggie's voice. She knew she could trust Grandma...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You know, for so many years, I hoped that I'd never see your face again," Maggie told Miss Parker as they sat at the kitchen table together for the last time for a while. "Now, I'm finding that I'm hoping that I get to see your face again soon. I don't think I've ever seen my son so happy as he is when you're around."
"I'm hoping that you'll consider coming back to Delaware to visit - often," Miss Parker replied with the same tone of wistfulness. "Especially once Jarod and I have a date set."
"Do you have any idea?"
She chuckled. "Not yet. He still needs to finish up his business here - get the pink slip on Ginger - and then settle into his new position at the Centre. But..." she put out a hand across the table at the woman, "you can be sure that it won't be long after that. Probably within the next three months or so."
"Tell me," Margaret asked plaintively, "what is Davy's birthday?"
"November fourteenth," Miss Parker answered. "What about yours?"
"July second." Margaret chuckled. "We really should be writing this stuff down, you know..."
"I know." Grey eyes twinkled into the brilliant blue ones. "I'll get all the dates from either Jarod or Ethan - I'm assuming they DO know them?"
Margaret laughed out loud at that. "Spoken like someone with plenty of experience with the male proclivity to forgetfulness. Charles couldn't remember a date if I paid him - but his sons... They have no excuse."
Miss Parker joined the laughter. "My God, there IS a down-side to being a certified genius!" The laughter stopped, but the humor remained. "So I'll do an exchange of important dates by email - Jarod or Ethan can get you a copy."
"That sounds good." Margaret tipped her head. "How is your little friend doing - the one you waited around for?"
"She's having her moments," Miss Parker commented cryptically. "This whole situation has been very hard on her."
"I would imagine her family is anxious to have her back again."
"Her father is still in the hospital after the Centre fell on him, literally and figuratively. She'd been staying with Sydney until this happened."
"Sydney." Margaret's tone grew just a bit distant. "You know I remember meeting someone who looked just like him was when a team of Centre psychiatrists came to the preschool that Jarod was attending. That man was the one who told me that Jarod was a very special child." She fell silent, her mouth falling closed in a tight line. "I've often wondered if he knew then - and was part of the reason..."
"Maggie, Sydney was told that you and your husband were killed," Miss Parker felt the push to defend her surrogate father. "His understanding when he became Jarod's mentor was that Jarod was an orphan with no surviving family. The man you met - the man who did the initial intake on Jarod into the Centre - was Sydney's twin brother, Jacob. Jacob was the one who was at the preschool."
"So Sydney never did know..."
Miss Parker shook her head. "I remember the day he found out - he was horror-struck at what he'd become a part of."
"Then why," Maggie just had to know, "did he agree to become a part of the search team, if he knew that Jarod had been taken - stolen?"
"He didn't find that out until AFTER he had become a part of the search team - none of us knew at first." Miss Parker's voice grew stony. "None of us knew anything at first about ANYthing. I didn't know anything about my mother's death..." She shook herself of the memories of bad old times. "It was Jarod who, in the process of trying to find out who he was and where his family had gone, started uncovering things. He was the one that uncovered he lies surrounding my mother's suicide that wasn't. He found out about why the woman Sydney loved had left - and taken with her a son that Sydney then never knew existed. Every time he turned around, he'd found out something more about the way the Centre would stoop as low as it needed to blackmail or threaten people to force them to do what was wanted."
"But after..."
Miss Parker looked at her future mother-in-law with understanding. "You know how the Centre was, Maggie. By the time we were starting to find out things, it had become too dangerous for us to start refusing because of principles. Either that or..." Miss Parker's eyes grew distant and angry, "...we were promised things that the Centre never intended to deliver in the first place. We... I... was lied to in order to convince me to keep on, and when it started to look like I was getting ready to quit, they were willing to even kill..." Oh, Tommy, she thought with a sudden stab of sadness.
That took Margaret aback. She knew the Centre had been evil - but she'd never considered that some of the people she'd been demonizing all these years might have been as much victimized as she had been. Suddenly some of the things that Jarod had told her a long time ago started to make sense - and even more of his distress at her unwillingness to accept those people as those he cared about became understandable as well. But she was still curious. "What about Sydney?"
"His compliance with the Centre agenda had been the result of blackmail for years. The Centre convinced him that he'd been responsible for the car accident that put his brother Jacob into a coma. Then, a few years later, they convinced him he was responsible for the death of a co-worker in yet another car accident, and then created a story that the two of them had been having an affair at the time of the accident - and that Sydney had been drinking. If he didn't do as they said, they were willing to take Jarod away from him and get him thrown into jail." Miss Parker's gaze was direct and very frank. "Sydney cared about Jarod - a lot. AND he had an idea of what would happen to him if Raines..."
"Raines!" Margaret's expression grew downright furious at the mention of the name. "That bastard..."
"He was more than that," Miss Parker said sourly. "He was a monster. If he'd gotten his hands on Jarod... Well... You saw the shape Ethan was in..."
"God!"
"That's something I've been meaning to say to you." Miss Parker leaned across the table and put her hand on Margaret's arm. "Thank you for all you did for my brother. I'm glad..." She swallowed hard. "I'm glad you were willing to overlook how he came into the world and become his family anyway. He needed a loving family to help him - I'm glad he had yours..."
Margaret gazed gently into the face that reminded her so much of a friend she had known so many years ago and thought about the face of the man that she'd always considered the thief of her son's affections. While Jarod's treatment at the Centre had been anything but humane, Sydney HAD instilled a firm set of ethics in his protégé with which both she and Charles had agreed. She couldn't even begin to imagine what shape Jarod would have been in if Raines had wrested authority from Sydney.
She couldn't demonize these people anymore. Not when it was obvious that they were as fond of Jarod as he was of them.
"We've come a long ways, haven't we?" she asked, putting her hand over Miss Parker's.
"Yeah." Parker smiled back. "We have, haven't we?"
"I'm glad you came." Margaret thought she would never hear herself say those words, but now she meant them with all her heart. "I'm going to miss you."
The simple tone was almost more than Miss Parker was expecting. "Me too," she agreed in a small voice, clinging to the older woman's arm. "Me too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm going to miss you, Grandma," Davy said sorrowfully, wrapping his arms around Margaret's waist.
"I'm going to miss you too, Davy," Margaret whispered into the top of her grandson's head. "You're so grown up already - I'm afraid that the next time I see you, you'll be taller than me."
"Grandma..." Davy's tone clearly told her that he was certain that she was pulling his leg. "You're going to come back to Delaware for the wedding, aren't you?"
Margaret's gaze touched her future daughter-in-law's. "Oh, you never know. I might even come over before then."
Miss Parker leaned into her half-brother's hug. "I've missed you so. I'm glad..."
"I'm glad too, Missy," Ethan said. "I knew that we'd see each other again someday - I'm glad that day finally came." He squeezed her tightly. "You take good care of yourself now..."
"I will..." she answered, squeezing him back. "I'll see you at the wedding."
"With bells on..." he chuckled at her.
"I'd like to see that..." she chuckled back at him and then let him go so that he could say goodbye to his nephew. For her part, she turned to the little girl who still insisted on maintaining her distance from any larger group of people, cuddling her teddy bear close like a shield. She walked over to Ginger slowly and knelt in front of her.
"You know," she said softly, reaching out and touching the bandage that was still carefully wrapped around the bear's arm, "I think that his arm is pretty well healed. Do you want to help me check?"
Ginger's dark eyes studied her for a moment, and the she offered up her bear to Her for inspection. She took the bear into Her hands with great care and checked the shoulder where the dismembered arm had been reattached. Ginger's eyes flitted in concern back and forth from her beloved toy to Her face.
"I think we can take the bandage off now," Miss Parker announced with a gentle smile. "Here - why don't you hold him, and I'll take the bandage off." She handed the bear back to the little girl, who held him loosely and let Miss Parker's slim fingers untie the knot that had held the arm in a sling and then gently removed the handkerchief altogether. "How is he doing?" she asked the child, keeping a close eye on her face.
Ginger looked down at her bear, and then carefully examined the seam where the arm had been reattached in much the same way that She had. Finally she looked up into Her face and gave a satisfied nod.
"You take good care of him when I'm gone, won't you?" Miss Parker asked softly. Ginger's eyes grew soft and she nodded again. Miss Parker then addressed herself to the toy. "And you take care of her while I'm gone too, OK? She's an extra-special person, and I need her to have extra-special care." The grey eyes flitted to gaze into the dark ones. "He says he'll take good care of you for me. Is that OK with you?"
Ginger nodded again, contentedly. She and her toy would surely take very good care of one another.
Miss Parker reached out a very cautious hand and smoothed the little girl's hair. "Then I will see you later," she said, wishing she dared try to give the child a hug. Ginger's dark eyes looked into hers seriously as she nodded again. Miss Parker reminded herself briskly that she should be grateful that the little girl wasn't running away from her anymore and contented herself with smoothing back the dark hair one more time before getting to her feet. She could see that Deb had said her farewells and was already heading out to the limousine with Sam, and Davy was not far behind. Jarod had followed them out to say his good-byes outside. It was time for her to bid her love farewell for another indeterminate stretch of time...
Ginger had watched the quick wash of emotions behind Her eyes as she had straightened. She knew She was leaving - and suddenly she wasn't sure that was such a good thing. Yes, that meant that she would still be here in His house with Grandma Maggie but... She looked around her. The Boy was already gone - he'd already given her a tight hug and a sloppy kiss on the side of her face. She looked back at Her again, considering. Having Her in the house had been quite an experience - She had taken care of her toy, never once raised her voice or hand... It was going to be hard to imagine the house without Her and The Boy. They had seemed like they belonged, and fitted into her life almost before she'd realized it.
Miss Parker was about to follow Sam and Deb and Davy and Jarod out to the limousine when she felt a small hand insinuate itself into hers. Startled, she looked down and found herself captured by two dark pools of bottomless emotion. "What?" she asked gently.
Ginger decided. She lifted her arms up to Her, asking to be picked up.
Miss Parker caught her breath, and then bent and carefully lifted her soon-to-be daughter up into her arms. "Oh, Sprite," she whispered softly and very gently held the girl close to her heart. "I will miss you too, baby."
Ginger wrapped her arms around Her neck and snuggled down. Yes, She was as soft and smelled almost as nice as Grandma Maggie.
Miss Parker deposited one tiny kiss after another against the child's cheek as she carried her out the door with her to the side of the limousine, where Jarod was just bending down to let his son clamber inside. He straightened, caught sight of his love with their new daughter in her arms, and smiled widely at the way Ginger was snuggling and clinging. "I see you found somebody else to hug," he said softly, smoothing his little girl's hair back. "I was thinking you were taking a little longer in there than I'd thought you'd need..."
"She found me," Miss Parker said, still not quite sure how it had happened. She moved into Jarod's arms and leaned her head against his shoulder in much the same way Ginger had leaned into her. "God I'll miss you two."
"We'll be coming to join you as soon as we can," he assured her, a hand at her cheek lifting her face so he could bring her lips to his. "I promise."
The kiss was gentle and filled with longing already. Miss Parker sighed as they parted, then looked down into the face of the child in her arms. "Go to Daddy now," she directed, and Jarod held out his arms as she shifted Ginger from her embrace to his. "You take good care of Daddy for me, won't you?" she asked with eyes bright with unshed tears.
Ginger wound her arms tightly around His neck and nodded firmly. "Bye-bye Sprite." She looked into Jarod's face again. "I love you," she told him softly.
"God I love you too," he replied and kissed her again. "Better go now, or you'll never see Delaware again."
She kissed him one more time, then gave Ginger one more quick kiss on the cheek before ducking into the back of the limousine and closing the door. The window quickly lowered so that those left standing could see those seated within. "Take good care," she called out as the limo began to back down the drive.
"I will," he called back and waved to her. Her hand came out the window in a return gesture, and even Sam behind the wheel gave the Pretender and his little girl a quick wave before aiming the large vehicle back in the direction of the freeway and the waiting airport.
Jarod felt Ginger snuggle down onto the shoulder of his sports jacket with what almost sounded like a sad sigh. "They're gone," he told her. "We're going to miss them a lot, aren't we?"
She nodded and sniffled. The house was going to be awfully quiet and empty without The Boy and Her. She clung to Him very tightly.
"Are you going to be OK with Grandma Maggie today, or do you want to come in and help Cindy fold papers again?" He asked as he carried her back into the house.
She looked over at Grandma Maggie and pointed. Folding papers had been fun at first, but it was starting to get a little old. With Grandma Maggie, she got stories read to her as well as the opportunity to play with the rest of her toys or color.
"Do you mind?" Jarod asked his mother quickly, wishing he'd conferred with her first.
"Not at all," Margaret held out her arms to take the little girl from her son. "I was thinking I'd make cookies today for everybody - I could use the help. I'll tell Em that I'm over here today rather than at her house, in case she wants me to watch Sammy for her for a bit."
"Thanks, Mom." Jarod leaned in to drop a kiss on Margaret's cheek. "I'm going to have to run or I'll be late..."
"I'll drive us in today," Ethan spoke up, moving toward the door. "It'll save gas."
"Sounds good to me," Jarod agreed quickly. He really didn't feel like driving in alone if he didn't have to.
"Go on, then," Margaret urged him.
"Be good for Grandma," he told Ginger, dropping a kiss on her cheek as well. Ginger lifted her head and gave him a cheek-smacker back before snuggling back down with her grandmother. Jarod smiled at her and turned away with a sigh.
Both Margaret and Ginger watched him reclaim his briefcase from next to the coat rack and head out the door behind Ethan after giving them both another quick wave goodbye.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Miss Parker stood up from her seat and moved toward the back of the jet, leaving a sleeping Deb tucked under a blue blanket from the overhead compartments and Davy staring out the window at the tops of clouds and glimpses of the ground far below. Sam had his head leaned back against the forward bulkhead, dozing - but knowing him as well as she did, she knew he wasn't asleep. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and pushed the buttons for a preprogrammed number.
The phone on the other end rang twice, then was picked up in mid-ring. "This is Sydney."
"Hi. We're on our way home." She sat down in a seat near the window and looked out at the white nothingness that surrounded them.
Sydney's brows rose at the resigned tone in her voice. "Are you all right?" he inquired gently.
"I thought it was hard when Jarod left," she mused aloud, running a finger down the thick plastic of the porthole. "I think it was even worse when I was the one who walked away this time."
The old psychiatrist let the papers he'd been reading sag back to his chest as he shifted once more to get into a slightly more comfortable position. "You miss him," he stated the obvious.
"More than ever now," she admitted. "Not to mention I'll miss Ethan and Emily..."
"You and Jarod's sister get along well?" Sydney was surprised. When she got home, it sounded as if he'd have to get a complete run-down on what he'd genuinely feared would be nothing but heartache for her. If instead of combat, she had walked in and traded old animosities for new friendships and respect...
"We're a lot alike," Miss Parker said with a soft smile. "Independent, self-sufficient, we both have children, we're both under-impressed by being surrounded by geniuses..."
Sydney chuckled. "I'll bet." He paused. "How's Deb doing?"
"We had a rough morning - she's sleeping right now."
"Rough how?"
Miss Parker sighed. "She blew up at me over nothing - and I... I guess I overestimated her ability to handle criticism..." She settled back against her seat. "She got so upset, she made herself physically ill. I felt horrible..."
"I can imagine - but you can't beat yourself up too badly for this, Parker. At best, let this be a lesson in how you're going to have to be ready to just let Deb be emotional at you without letting her emotions affect you. She has some powerful emotions that will have to have the freedom to be expressed before she can begin to deal with them. This is going to be hard for all of us for a while." He watched his sore leg move past the comfort point heading toward his new movement arc setting and grimaced.
"Is it going to be this way all the time now?" She was worried. "It's going to tear Broots apart if she tears into him the way she tore into me for just asking if she was OK..."
"That's what triggered it?"
"She said she was tired of everybody 'hovering'..."
"Uh-huh." Sydney nodded. "She wants to put the entire thing behind her and forget it, and she feels nobody's cooperating with her. That's to be expected."
"Well, it sure caught me by surprise, and it's going to blow her father out of the water."
"I stopped by to talk to him yesterday after my therapy," Sydney told her. "He's not getting out of the hospital anytime soon. He has at least another two weeks in the complete body cast before they can even start physical therapy on him. Hopefully by the time he IS ready to come home, Deb will have worked a lot of her emotions through and will be more stable again." He gritted his teeth as his leg hit the new limit of its arc and held it for an agonized moment before easing back in the other direction. "How's Davy?"
"Jarod said he'd be calling you to talk about him," she answered. "He's doing better than Deb, but he's different now - shier, tends to assume responsibility for things going wrong too easily..."
"He's been through something traumatic, Parker. And he evidently took the lead in getting them out of a horrifying situation. For a little while, he became the responsible party. It might be impossible for him to completely return to being an innocent little boy again."
Something Sydney said sparked a memory, and Miss Parker folded her brows. "He told me that you had been teaching him how to use his mind. What did he mean?"
Sydney felt his heart skip a beat. "It was just a game we'd play when I'd watch him for you sometimes," he hedged carefully. "We'd play 'what if' games a lot - about situations that he'd sometimes bring home from school."
"You weren't..." No, she couldn't imagine that her beloved foster father would have been dabbling at training another Pretender... Could he?
"Parker," he soothed gently, trying to allay her fears and suspicions, "when you get home, I'll be glad to tell you everything you want to know about the mind games I've been playing with Davy. Right now, however, isn't the time." No, he wouldn't be glad to tell her anything about the training he'd needed to give Davy - NEEDED, not just begun on a whim. But the time had come for him to let her in on one of the biggest secrets he'd been holding, and then weather the storm that was sure to follow.
Miss Parker closed her eyes. She had enough of a connection with him that she could feel the disquiet her questions were causing within him. "When I get home, then," she compromised. She shook herself and touched the one last question she had. "Heard anything from the Centre lately?"
"Nope," Sydney shook his head, deliberately deciding that Tyler's call had been personal rather than business. "It's been a strange week, being so completely out of the loop of Centre activities after all these years."
"I can imagine," she responded distractedly. What WAS it that he didn't want to tell her over the phone about Davy? "I think I'm going to see about taking a cat-nap myself now. I'll see you in about eight hours."
Sydney could hear the distraction and almost distrust in her voice, and his heart sank. After all these years, to have her suspicions of him triggered again so suddenly cut him to the quick. "Have a good flight, ma petite," he told her unhappily. "It will be good to have you home again."
"Later, Syd."
She disconnected the call and slipped the phone into her pocket. Her fingers touched the photograph that she'd slipped into that pocket just that morning, and she pulled it out and stared at it. Staring back at her were the faces of Jarod, Davy, Ginger and herself, all smiling for Ethan's digital camera from their spot in front of Jarod's picture window in the living room. They looked so happy.
She slipped the picture carefully back into her pocket and leaned her head back against the headrest of her seat before closing her eyes. Something told her that it would be a while before any of them would be that happy again.
Feedback, please: mbumpus_99@hotmail.com
Separations
by MMB
The electronic scream of the alarm broke viciously through Jarod's slumber, and he threw out a careless arm and took three swipes at the device to finally hit the snooze alarm. Beside him, Miss Parker stirred, sighed and rolled, snuggling down comfortably on his shoulder with eyes still closed. "Not yet," she complained in a sleepy whine.
"Nine more minutes," Jarod mumbled, putting his arms around her and holding her close. "Then we both gotta get up - you have to head home, and I have morning appointments, and we both need to take showers sometime before then..."
"Why are vacations always two days shorter than we need them to be?" she grumbled back, her arm crossing his waist and holding him back. "It isn't fair..."
Jarod buried his nose in her tumbled hair. "I have to admit that I miss you dreadfully when you're not with me," he murmured sadly and then kissed her forehead. "I'll miss you even more now that you've been here and made this place your own a little. And Ginger is really going to miss both you and Davy..."
"She'll miss Davy more," she responded quickly. "She still only just tolerates me."
"That's a big step for her. Look at it this way: at least she isn't running away from you like she did at first..."
Miss Parker sighed. "Yeah, I suppose..." She still hadn't been allowed to brush the little girl's hair - that was a task the child reserved solely for her official guardian.
Jarod lay still, holding his love close and carving the moment into his memory to keep him warm until he could rejoin her in Delaware. That was another thing that wasn't fair - that his family had two separate parts now, each living on opposite sides of the continent. At least, it seemed, the two halves were willing to speak to each other at long last.
From beyond their bedroom door, the two could hear the patter of scrambling feet down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. "I don't believe it - they're up already too," he said in a resigned tone.
"I'm surprised they aren't still dead to the world," she replied, snuggling in closer and hanging on just a little tighter. "They were still awake and giggling at midnight, you know..."
"We're going to have our hands full with them eventually, that's for sure," he agreed with a sleepy chuckle. "Quite a family we've got, Missy..."
"Mmm-hmm," she nodded agreement against his shoulder. "I've been thinking. My summerhouse only has the two bedrooms, you know, and we're going to need three when you come home to stay..."
"Yeah..." Jarod's fingertips began weaving lazy circles on her bare shoulders.
"So... my family's town house has been empty since Mr. Parker died," she pressed on quietly. "It has four bedrooms and is much more roomy."
"Are you sure?" he asked her gently. "I know some of the memories you have of that place..."
"We can start making new memories there, Jarod - good ones. It's time that I put some of those old ghosts to rest too now..."
"What about the summerhouse?" he pressed, his hand now swirling down her back. "Will you sell it?"
"I don't think so," she answered after thinking about it for a little while. "For one thing, your family will need a place to stay when they come to visit..."
"Granted that Mom can be convinced that Satan doesn't still live in Blue Cove under the alias of Dr. Sydney Green, that is," he commented in amusement.
"AND I have the ideal caretaker in mind for taking care of the place between times."
"Oh?"
"Yeah..." She smiled. "A certain Japanese gentleman needs to stay out of the public eye as much as possible for a prolonged period of time. Giving him a place to stay and enough funding to take care of his needs out of my personal funds rather than the Centre payroll would also solve any conflict problems with his former employers that might arise."
Jarod raised his chin, brushing her forehead with his beard, and looked down at her archly. "Do I know this guy?"
Miss Parker shook her head and kissed his chest. "Nope. But he's the Yakuza assassin that I have keeping Syd and Kevin safe while I'm here. I think I'm going to want him as a family retainer, rather than a Centre employee."
"Yakuza?" Jarod's hand found the side of her head and turned it to face him. "I thought we were going to cut all ties with them?"
"We have," she assured him with a placid look on her face. "He came to ME, looking for sanctuary FROM the Yakuza. I figured since he was the one who killed Raines, he at least deserved a chance."
OK, Jarod thought, killing Raines was a definite mark in the man's favor. Still... "What did he do to get them after him?" he asked sharply. "Will it put Sydney or any of you in any danger?"
She shook her head at him. "I don't think so. From what he said, he began to have doubts about the wisdom of the orders he was receiving - and just walked away from an assignment. You just don't do that when you're part of the Yakuza." She sighed. "But if push comes to pull, I'll pull strings and see if I can't talk his boss into selling his services to me permanently. I'll make it a sweet enough deal..."
That did make Jarod recoil. "This is a human being we're talking about, Missy..."
"Calm down!" she patted him on the stomach. "I know that! But Yakuza etiquette would require me to put the deal in those terms." She snuggled. "You forget, I'm more familiar with that particular facet of Japanese culture than you are."
The arm around her shoulder tightened possessively. "I swear, there are times..." At that moment, the alarm began screaming again. Jarod put up a slightly more controlled hand this time and turned the alarm off. "Our nine minutes are up."
"Tell me you just hit the snooze again."
"Up and at 'em, Tiger." Jarod squeezed her shoulders one last time and then rolled away from her to a sitting position. "I'll take first dibs on the bathroom - that means that you'll have access to it all you want for packing purposes and all that."
Miss Parker groaned in complaint as she rolled to her side of the bed and sat up. "Yeah, I suppose I'd better go check up on what the munchkins are getting into in your kitchen."
Jarod shot her a concerned look. "You know, it HAS been awfully quiet from that end of the house..."
She stared back at him in consternation and then grabbed her robe on the way out the door, with Jarod one step behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Deb?"
Miss Parker opened the bedroom door a little wider so she could peek through. Deb was still buried in the covers, only the lump in the bed showing that she was still there. She moved quietly to the side of the bed and then sat down where she could see just the ends of mussed blonde hair over the top of the bedspread. "Come on, Deb, it's time to get up."
There was a low moan from beneath the covers, and then the bedspread was pulled down slowly from within to expose very sleepy-looking blue eyes. "Already?"
"Sorry, sweetheart. If you're going to take a shower before leaving, and get anything of breakfast in you, you'll need to start moving."
"I'm not hungry," the girl announced in about as petulant a tone as Miss Parker had heard from her in years. "Can't you just let me sleep until it's almost time to go?"
Miss Parker smoothed some of the straggling hair away from the young woman's face. "Talk to me, Deb. What's going on here?"
"Nothing!" The blonde brows had pulled together in pique. "I'm just tired... Yesterday was a long, hard day."
"Nightmares?"
That brought the blue eyes open and looking sharply up into Miss Parker's face. "What do you mean?"
The older woman shook her head in amazement. "Come on, Deb. I'm not blind, and I'm not deaf. And besides, Miss Jackson told me that you said you had been having..."
"I told her what she wanted to hear - just to get her to stop asking me all those stupid questions," Deb insisted, her pique becoming open frustration. "Why is it that everybody wants me to tell them all about my nightmares, or what I'm thinking, or how I'm feeling..."
"We're concerned about you," Miss Parker replied, stung by the accusatory tone. "And those of us who know all of what you've been through KNOW that you aren't just going to be able to get over it in a day or two or three. We just want to help..."
"I don't WANT anybody's help!" Deb exploded, finally sitting straight up in bed. "Don't you get it? I just want to forget that this past week ever happened and get on with my life..."
"Sweetheart..." Miss Parker reached out to her again.
Deb swatted the hands away roughly. "Don't 'sweetheart' me. Just... leave me alone."
"Missy..." Jarod's voice made Miss Parker look back at him. Her face was wounded, just as he'd feared it would be. He'd been halfway expecting Deb's explosion sooner or later, and had hoped to interfere before Missy had gotten in the line of fire and been singed. "Let me..."
"Yes, 'Missy,' leave everything to Uncle Jarod the Shrink," Deb mocked caustically.
Jarod moved to next to Miss Parker and bend over her to help her rise from the bed. His arm about her was warm and comforting, and he kissed her cheek even as he escorted her to the door. "Go on. Take your shower now. I'll handle things here for a bit."
Miss Parker leaned into him a little, then walked the rest of the way down the hallway to their bedroom to make use of the private bath. The sudden virulence from Deb had come at her quite unexpectedly - and it hurt. She shook her head, wondering what she had done wrong or to deserve Deb flying at her in that manner.
Jarod deliberately left the door open and then moved back closer to Deb, who then flinched. "What?" she demanded defensively.
"Do you think that's going to accomplish anything?"
She nervously pulled the covers up and shrank back against the headboard. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know very well what I'm talking about. Do you think pushing people away when they show they care about you will make you feel better?"
Deb pouted. "Everybody's been HOVERING so much lately, nobody will give me any space..."
"Indeed." Jarod sounded thoroughly unconvinced, and parked himself at the very foot of the bed so as not to appear any more intimidating physically than necessary. "That's why nobody stopped you when you announced you were tired last night - why you were finally able to walk in here on your own power rather than have Sam carry you - right?"
"OK. Fine. You gave me some space," she admitted very reluctantly. "Happy?"
"Are you?"
She shot him a surprised glare. "God, if I'd wanted more therapy, I'd have stayed in Victorville!"
Jarod shrugged. "Too bad. Might as well get used to it - you know damned good and well that your grandfather isn't going to put up with your new attitude much more than I am. I can imagine that the fireworks from those fights are going to be rather spectacular - although I'd caution you not to ever get him REALLY mad at you. Trust me, you don't EVER..."
"If Grandpa's going to be like the rest of you, constantly hovering over me with ooey-gooey 'how are you, Deb?' or answering questions with questions..."
Jarod's eyes snapped, but he refrained from responding. Maybe a dose of Sydney the Inquisitor was what it would take, he decided stoically. "OK, so you've decided you're going to be mad at anybody who expresses the least amount of care or concern. From what I understand, Kevin has been beside himself with worry about you - I suppose you're going to be a total bitch with him too. You're going to want to push him away too, right?"
She opened her mouth to protest, but Jarod just kept talking. "What about your Dad? He's been cooped up in a hospital, not even able to think about coming to your help when you were found. He's going to want to know how his little girl is fairing - are you going to cut him off and push him away too? Will answering his questions be an intrusion into your privacy that sets you off into a tirade? Isn't he allowed to care anymore?"
Deb closed her eyes. She didn't want to hear this - but her adopted uncle simply wouldn't stop. "Then there's Davy. I'm betting that once you get home to Sydney's you'll do your damnedest to push him away the hardest - and you know why? Not only because you do NOT want him asking you if you're OK and showing that he cares, but because he's the one person who will remind you of what happened. Every time you look at Davy, you'll feel that animal's hands on you..."
"Stop it..." Deb's voice was shaky, and tears were finally swimming. "Stop it..."
"YOU stop it, Deb Broots," Jarod fired back at her. "Stop pretending that everything IS OK with you - because everybody around you can tell very easily that it ISN'T."
She was crying openly now, and Jarod moved very slowly and carefully up so that he could give her a shoulder to lean on. After a moment's hesitation, Deb settled her cheek on his shoulder, looking away from him. "I just want everything to be the way it was..."
"I know, I know," Jarod soothed, holding her very carefully and gently. "But that isn't going to happen, Deb - and the more miserable you make those around you because you're hurting, the more miserable YOU'RE going to be because that will make things just that much more different than it was."
"What am I going to do, Uncle Jarod?" she whimpered miserably. "I can't live like this..."
"It won't be like this forever, sweetheart. You have to be patient, and let Grandpa Sydney help you out when your feelings get to be too much for you to handle alone - or me, when I get back."
"But Grandpa... He'll think..."
Jarod shook his head. "No he won't. He loves you - you know that - and he'll do just about anything in his power to help you get through this." He softened his voice. "You're the apple of his eye, and one of the best things that ever happened to him."
"What if I get mad?"
He set her back so that he could look into her face. "You need to know that it's OK to get mad, Deb - but the important thing is that if you ARE going to get mad, get mad at the right thing or person. You were mad before, with Miss Parker, right?" She nodded unhappily. "Were you mad at her specifically?"
That made the girl stop and think. "No..." she admitted slowly.
"What WERE you mad at?"
The blue eyes looked up into his bleakly. "The way she treats me."
"And what is it about the way she treats you that makes you mad?"
She thought for a moment about how to put her emotion into words, and then a little longer debating the safety of actually telling him the truth. Then, deciding at this point that she had little to lose and wouldn't be around him that much longer anyway, she blurted out, "She treats me as if I were a poor little molested girl - so fragile, so helpless, so pathetic..."
"Alright," Jarod soothed, feeling as if she was finally making some progress. "What is it that you want her to do differently?"
"Not ask me all the time if I'm OK," she answered immediately and firmly.
"Fine. What else?"
Deb looked up into her uncle's face with an expression of wonder in her eyes. "Let me ask for help."
Jarod nodded. "That one's a two-way street, you know. I'd imagine she'd find it easier to wait for you to ask for help if she knew you actually WOULD ask when you need the help." His dark eyes peered directly into hers. "WILL you ask for help if you need it - even if it makes you feel uncomfortable?"
"I can do for myself," she retorted stubbornly.
"Deb," his tone became a warning. "You give a little to get a little here. And while you might be able to do for yourself more than you've been allowed lately, your foot still needs a little babying. You were limping pretty badly last night when I helped you down the hall, even though I understand you had Sam carrying you everywhere. So..."
She sighed deeply. "OK, OK, I'll ask for help when it really starts to hurt - if I know that she'll WAIT for me to ask, not just insist."
"You two will have to negotiate boundaries on that one, but I think you could come to a reasonable compromise. Anything else?"
Deb stared at him while she thought for a moment and then shook her head. He'd defused so much of what had been keeping her upset for days with a little straight talk. "Do you think she'll agree?"
"Depends," he said frankly. "You owe her a pretty big apology for your antics a little while ago."
Deb's face dropped. He was right, and she knew it. "I know."
"If I keep Davy and Ginger out of your path for a little while, will you go make things right with her - and talk to her about why you got angry?"
"She's probably mad at me now..." she mumbled, seeing for the first time how her own behavior had only managed to make things worse.
"I'll talk to her," Jarod promised, "if you will."
"OK."
"Atta-girl. Now..." he said, rising, "time to get up and come have some breakfast. Davy's already had his turn at the bathroom, so you can shower then eat, or eat first and then shower."
Deb threw back the covers, exposing the fact that she'd fallen asleep in her traveling clothes. "I think I'll shower first, then eat," she said quietly. "I'm going to have to figure out what I'm going to say..."
"There you go," Jarod commented, holding a hand out to her to help her to her feet.
Deb willingly put her hand in her uncle's. "Thanks, Uncle Jarod."
The tall Pretender bent and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Anytime, Deb."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Davy sat next to his new little sister on the carpet just inside the balcony doors, watching the seagulls swooping and fluttering over something caught in the rocks of the tide pool below. It was beautiful here - the ocean here was so different from the one close to his home, and yet, so similar. He didn't want to leave at all.
So much was here that he'd grown to love or enjoy - the view from his Daddy's living room, the way Uncle Nathan and Uncle Ethan picked on him, having his Daddy back again, and his sister. He glanced over at her, saw her gazing at him with a smile on her face, and smiled back. She cuddled her bandaged teddy bear closer and turned with a sigh to sit and watch the waves again.
He'd always wanted a little brother or sister - but he'd never thought he'd ever have anything resembling a REAL family until just this past summer. Now he had a Daddy AND a sister - but he was going to be leaving soon, and leaving them both behind.
Ginger may not have uttered a word to him yet, but they had enjoyed hours' worth of fun and laughter the previous night. Using their fingers like spider legs, they had had mock battles up the side of the bed where he had spread an extra set of blankets like a sleeping bag. When he'd gotten tired of reaching up, he'd climbed up onto the bed with her, and they'd played until they both were droopy-eyed, whereupon he had pulled his extra blanket up onto the bed and snuggled down next to Ginger to sleep.
"I wish you could come with us," he told her quietly. "You'd like Grandpa and Kevin and Sam. We have a park right across the street from Grandpa's and Kevin would take us over there anytime we wanted - we could play on the swings, or the slides..."
Ginger's eyes had grown large. Suddenly it was registering - she was losing the best friend she'd ever had. The Boy hadn't cared that she didn't want to talk - he'd played games that didn't need words with her and not tried to push her around like the other kids did. He even loved to sit and watch the water with her - something the Other Boy couldn't be bothered with. For the first time, she had someone close to her age to look up to - and now he was leaving?
Davy saw those huge, dark eyes begin to fill with tears. "Don't cry," he comforted, putting his arm around his little sister awkwardly. "Mommy said that as soon as Daddy has adopted you for real, you can come back and be with us forever and ever - and we can be a real family."
Ginger blinked, and a huge tear dropped to her cheek. This was even worse than being swept up and taken away from familiar surroundings to be placed with yet another bunch of strangers - or an empty room all alone. She felt Davy pat her shoulder, but the gesture gave her no comfort. She felt a sudden stab of terror. Was she going to lose Him too?
She leapt to her feet and ran back down the hallway toward His - Their - bedroom and skidded to a stop. There was an open suitcase on the bed - and her worst fears were confirmed. Jarod only barely turned from having tied his tie when he had little arms wrapped tightly around his legs and a grief-stricken child sobbing her heart out into his pantleg.
"Hey there!" Jarod stooped to haul his little girl up into his arms and cuddle her closely, and her thin arms wound around his neck tightly and clung. He looked down as Davy peeked around the corner of the door. "What happened?"
Davy shuffled into the room. "I think... I was talking about how I wished she could come along with us today, and..." He looked up into his father's face. "I don't think she'd figured out that we were leaving until just then..."
"Ah!" Jarod nodded and turned his attention to his little girl. "You're going to miss Davy, aren't you?" She nodded vehemently, then clung tighter. "What about Mommy? Are you going to miss her too?"
There was a hitch in the sobs, and Ginger pulled herself back a little so she could look into His face. Why would she miss Her if... The large dark eyes widened again. Oh.
"What? Did you think that I was leaving?" Jarod asked gently. She nodded in teary relief and then laid her head on his shoulder again. "I wouldn't do that to you, Sprite. It's Mommy and Davy who are going home. You're staying here with me."
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Davy said mournfully. "I didn't mean to..."
"Hush," Jarod soothed his son and extended a free arm out to the boy, who quickly came over and wrapped his arms around his father's waist. "You didn't do anything wrong." He backed up just enough so that he could sit on the bed. "C'mon," he invited Davy gently. "Group hug."
Davy eagerly clambered up onto the bed and onto his father's lap. Jarod held his children to him tightly, kissing first one dark head and then the other.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Miss Parker?" Deb's voice was small and unsure as she called for the attention of the tall brunette drinking coffee and staring out the kitchen window.
Miss Parker glanced at Deb and then gave Sam, who was sitting at the kitchen table drinking his own coffee, a knowing look. "I'll let you two ladies talk by yourselves," the ex-sweeper said in quick agreement as he rose and then made tracks for the living room. "'Scuse me, Short Stuff," he said, carefully pushing past Deb, who clung to the doorjamb.
Only then did wary grey eyes turn to look more directly at the girl in the doorway. "Yes?"
Deb cringed inside. She hadn't heard that particular tone of voice from Miss Parker since she had first met the woman years ago - it was frosty and defensive. She had told Jarod in the heat of her anger that she had wanted space from Miss Parker - well, this was Miss Parker giving her exactly what she'd wanted. She'd hurt someone who had been like a mother to her for years - and if she didn't do something quickly, space was all she would be getting from now on. Suddenly the hovering didn't seem quite so objectionable.
"I'm sorry," she said before she could give herself a reason to back away. "I didn't mean it."
"That's not how it sounded." Miss Parker said in a guarded voice.
"I know." Deb was miserable. How could she have done this? Miss Parker had even stayed in California, waiting for her to be released from the hospital, rather than go home and take care of business. "I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry." She couldn't meet that guarded grey gaze any longer. "I know you care, and you want to help. It's just... I don't know what I need right now - and it's making me do stupid things. Please..."
"Please what?" Miss Parker didn't feel like making this any easier on the girl at the moment. There were reasonable limits to which Deb's haywire emotions could be allowed to fly - limits which ended where they impacted the feelings of others around her - and the young woman needed to realize this. Once they got back to Delaware, she was going to be too busy with her Centre obligations to have Deb's emotional distress to trip over constantly - things were still precarious enough that any distraction could cause major problems.
Deb seriously contemplated making a mad dash back to the bed she'd slept in - or begging Uncle Jarod if he would let her stay here for a while. She wilted, not knowing what it was that she was asking for. All during the shower, all she could think of to say was that she was sorry - she had never considered that the apology wouldn't be enough this time. With a sigh of defeat, she started to leave. She didn't have the strength to face this now.
Miss Parker blinked in surprise. After Jarod had spoken to her and explained how the situation in the bedroom had been resolved, she hadn't expected that Deb would be so unable to handle a good scolding. "Deb," she called out, setting the coffee on the counter. "Other people have feelings too. You can't just lash out like that and not expect consequences."
"I know - I'm sorry." Deb didn't turn around. Her foot hurt, and Miss Parker's rejection felt like a kick in the stomach. "I don't know what else to say." She took a limping step in the direction of the hallway. She was fairly sure she was going to be sick - and she didn't know if she was going to make it to the bathroom on time.
"I'm sorry too," Miss Parker said from behind her, this time in a much more approachable tone. She put out a hand and caught at Deb's hand before she could get much further away and pulled the girl to a stop. "See how easy it is to hurt someone when you're angry?" Deb didn't answer, but tried to pull away. "Deb!" She pulled hard enough that the girl turned and showed that her face was almost transparently pale. "God, Deb! What's wrong?"
"I think..." Deb put her fingers to her lips, "I think I'm going to be sick..."
With Miss Parker's arm suddenly giving sturdy support, Deb found herself turned around and pulled into the kitchen and over to the sink. She managed to keep her stomach from rebelling completely until she was over the porcelain, and then bent to heave sour stomach juices into the sink. She leaned hard into the hand at her forehead that kept wayward tendrils of hair from being soiled, grateful for the support. She heaved several more times without bringing up anything more from her empty stomach, each ragged retch pulling her closer to actually crying until she was quivering inside and out. Miss Parker reached out and grabbed a paper towel and dampened it, then carefully wiped her face and chin before pulling her close.
"I'm here," she said softly and closed her eyes. She had meant to shake Deb up, not make her sick. "I'm here, sweetheart." The swiftness with which Deb's emotions were cycling from one extreme to the other was worrisome. She was going to have to have a long talk with Sydney when they got home, so that she could know better how to respond to what was going to be a long, hard journey for all of them. She didn't need to be causing this kind of reaction more than once!
Deb had started to lean. "I'm so sorry..."
"Hush." Miss Parker rocked her gently back and forth. "I know, Debbie. It's OK."
Deb wrapped her arms around Miss Parker and held on tightly, and slowly her trembling began to abate. She didn't want to push anybody away anymore - right now she needed somebody to actually be close enough to lean on and keep reminding her that life would be OK again eventually. The sound of the old diminutive was like a warm blanket around her heart. She hadn't been 'Debbie' for anybody for a very long time - at her own instigation. 'Deb' had sounded so much more grown-up. She didn't want to be 'Deb' anymore...
Miss Parker felt the young woman slowly calm, and finally smoothed her hair back away from her face and pushed her away a little bit. "Let me get you some water to rinse your mouth with," she told her gently, "OK?" Deb nodded mutely and watched as a glass was retrieved, filled with tepid water and then handed to her. "Don't swallow," Miss Parker cautioned as the young woman sipped and then spat. Once her mouth was clean, she set the glass on the counter.
"Come sit down," Miss Parker insisted softly, pulling her toward one of the kitchen chairs and then pushing her to sit down. She pulled out another chair and sat down too, very close.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," Deb whimpered miserably.
"I know you are, sweetheart. And I'm sorry I upset you so badly." Miss Parker let her fingers brush more of the long blonde strands away from eyes. "Jarod told me that you wanted to discuss some boundaries. I think maybe this would be a good time to do that."
"You're not mad?" The voice was very small and very frightened.
"No, Deb, I'm not mad. Not anymore."
The tears just wouldn't stop. Deb tried hard to regain some control, but just couldn't. Miss Parker sighed and pulled her back into a close embrace. Maybe right now WASN'T the time for negotiations - maybe right now she just needed to provide a shoulder and some comfort. Sydney had said that some assault victims tended to have violent mood swings, even into hysterics. Deb needed stability around her right now to give her careening emotions some sort of anchor.
Setting boundaries could wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
From the kitchen door, a set of very large, dark eyes watched the two women with wide-eyed astonishment. There had been no raised voices, but the strange lady was crying, and She was taking care of her. She wasn't mad, or talking harshly, She was just holding on and letting the strange lady cry on Her shoulder - cuddling her like He did when she was scared or sad. Ginger was confused. She wasn't like any of the other 'mommies' she'd ever had - and every time she thought she had seen all the ways in which She was different, She found some new way to confound her yet again. Thin arms cuddled a bandaged teddy bear just a little closer and toyed with the bandage thoughtfully.
Miss Parker looked up and saw that she had a small and very wary spectator. "Go get Daddy, please," she mouthed at the girl silently. Ginger's eyes widened, and she nodded before she vanished. Miss Parker wondered what her adoptive daughter-to-be was making of this topsy-turvy morning, then turned her attention back to her surrogate daughter.
Ginger trotted obediently to His bedroom again, where He was talking with The Boy. She waved her hand after catching his eye, gesturing for him to follow her.
Jarod frowned slightly. "What is it?"
Ginger pulled her fingers down her face as if they were tears, and Jarod was already nodding. "OK. You two kids stay with Sam in the living room for a bit, OK?"
Before she knew it, The Boy had her hand in his and was dragging her out into the living room, where that huge man was standing and sipping his hot drink while looking out over the ocean, and dragging her up close to him! "Hey there, Sam," Davy greeted his old friend.
"Hey there, Squirt," Sam smiled back, trying with his smile to make himself as unthreatening as possible to a very skittish little girl trying to drag her hand out of her big brother's grasp. "You ready to go home now?"
"Yeah, kinda..." Davy said truthfully. "I'm gonna miss Daddy and Grandma Maggie and Sammy, though... And my new sister."
"Yeah," the big man breathed out in sympathy. "Leaving folks we love behind kinda sucks sometimes." The sparkling eyes turned to the tiny girl. "Are you gonna miss your big brother too?"
Ginger froze. The Man was talking to her! She tipped her head to look way up in the air and turned petrified eyes to him, trying to understand the gentle humor in his gaze. How could someone so big and scary not roar with a big voice to scare all the kids? But The Man's voice was soft, like His, almost.
Sam very slowly dropped into a squat so that he wasn't so very tall to a tiny child. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Precious," he soothed at her in as gentle a voice as he knew how. "I'm a friend of your Daddy's and Mommy's - and that makes me your friend too. My name's Sam." He knew better than to put out his hand or make any overt gesture toward her at this point; he just squatted there, just a little taller than her eye level.
Ginger would have huddled back against The Boy, but he had left her side to wrap an arm around The Man's neck. "He gives the best tips, Ginger - really." Davy turned pleading eyes to his old friend. "Please?"
Sam's big hand came up and ruffled Davy's hair. "Not this time, Squirt. We don't want to scare your little sister anymore than she already is, now, do we?" He looked back over at the little girl with her huge, dark eyes. "Time enough for tips when we all feel more comfortable with each other."
Davy looked over at his new little sister with some surprise. "You're afraid of Sam?" he asked incredulously. "Sam's just like a great big teddy bear..."
Sam had to quash the chuckle when he saw the open expression of frank skepticism come over the girl's face. He could see that only her brother's proximity had made being dragged so close even thinkable. "I don't look much like a big teddy bear, do I?" he asked the child in gentle amusement.
Taking his question entirely seriously, Ginger shook her head slowly. "Have you been around other big guys like me before?" he asked then, and watched as she thought for a moment before nodding her head with a very wary expression in her eyes that made him wonder just who it was that had frightened her so badly. "But I'm not so big right now," he pointed out, with an index finger showing her that they were almost eye to eye. "Am I so scary when I'm down here?"
Ginger tipped her head and looked at The Man. She had to admit that his getting down and talking to her on her level was far less scary. Still, she could remember things that could happen when Big Men were allowed to get too close. Somberly she nodded and then watched his face fall in disappointment.
"Maybe as you get to know me better," he said gently, "you'll learn that I'm not going to hurt you at all. In fact," he rose slowly so that he was back to his full height, "when you finally come home to be with Davy and your Mom again, you'll find out that I'm around more to keep you safe. That's what I do," he said very frankly, looking deep into those dark pools of absorbent intelligence. "I keep people safe - especially your family."
The doorbell rang, and Davy darted away to answer it, leaving Ginger with Sam. The ex-sweeper could see that she was startled to be so easily abandoned, but then merely sipped at his coffee while watching her from the corner of his eye. The child was studying him closely, as if debating whether or not Davy's endorsement of his trustworthiness could be trusted. "It's OK, Precious," he told her finally. "Why don't you go see who's at the door?"
Ginger already knew, but took advantage of the obvious permission to leave to back away and turn to trot in the direction of her Grandma Maggie's voice. She knew she could trust Grandma...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You know, for so many years, I hoped that I'd never see your face again," Maggie told Miss Parker as they sat at the kitchen table together for the last time for a while. "Now, I'm finding that I'm hoping that I get to see your face again soon. I don't think I've ever seen my son so happy as he is when you're around."
"I'm hoping that you'll consider coming back to Delaware to visit - often," Miss Parker replied with the same tone of wistfulness. "Especially once Jarod and I have a date set."
"Do you have any idea?"
She chuckled. "Not yet. He still needs to finish up his business here - get the pink slip on Ginger - and then settle into his new position at the Centre. But..." she put out a hand across the table at the woman, "you can be sure that it won't be long after that. Probably within the next three months or so."
"Tell me," Margaret asked plaintively, "what is Davy's birthday?"
"November fourteenth," Miss Parker answered. "What about yours?"
"July second." Margaret chuckled. "We really should be writing this stuff down, you know..."
"I know." Grey eyes twinkled into the brilliant blue ones. "I'll get all the dates from either Jarod or Ethan - I'm assuming they DO know them?"
Margaret laughed out loud at that. "Spoken like someone with plenty of experience with the male proclivity to forgetfulness. Charles couldn't remember a date if I paid him - but his sons... They have no excuse."
Miss Parker joined the laughter. "My God, there IS a down-side to being a certified genius!" The laughter stopped, but the humor remained. "So I'll do an exchange of important dates by email - Jarod or Ethan can get you a copy."
"That sounds good." Margaret tipped her head. "How is your little friend doing - the one you waited around for?"
"She's having her moments," Miss Parker commented cryptically. "This whole situation has been very hard on her."
"I would imagine her family is anxious to have her back again."
"Her father is still in the hospital after the Centre fell on him, literally and figuratively. She'd been staying with Sydney until this happened."
"Sydney." Margaret's tone grew just a bit distant. "You know I remember meeting someone who looked just like him was when a team of Centre psychiatrists came to the preschool that Jarod was attending. That man was the one who told me that Jarod was a very special child." She fell silent, her mouth falling closed in a tight line. "I've often wondered if he knew then - and was part of the reason..."
"Maggie, Sydney was told that you and your husband were killed," Miss Parker felt the push to defend her surrogate father. "His understanding when he became Jarod's mentor was that Jarod was an orphan with no surviving family. The man you met - the man who did the initial intake on Jarod into the Centre - was Sydney's twin brother, Jacob. Jacob was the one who was at the preschool."
"So Sydney never did know..."
Miss Parker shook her head. "I remember the day he found out - he was horror-struck at what he'd become a part of."
"Then why," Maggie just had to know, "did he agree to become a part of the search team, if he knew that Jarod had been taken - stolen?"
"He didn't find that out until AFTER he had become a part of the search team - none of us knew at first." Miss Parker's voice grew stony. "None of us knew anything at first about ANYthing. I didn't know anything about my mother's death..." She shook herself of the memories of bad old times. "It was Jarod who, in the process of trying to find out who he was and where his family had gone, started uncovering things. He was the one that uncovered he lies surrounding my mother's suicide that wasn't. He found out about why the woman Sydney loved had left - and taken with her a son that Sydney then never knew existed. Every time he turned around, he'd found out something more about the way the Centre would stoop as low as it needed to blackmail or threaten people to force them to do what was wanted."
"But after..."
Miss Parker looked at her future mother-in-law with understanding. "You know how the Centre was, Maggie. By the time we were starting to find out things, it had become too dangerous for us to start refusing because of principles. Either that or..." Miss Parker's eyes grew distant and angry, "...we were promised things that the Centre never intended to deliver in the first place. We... I... was lied to in order to convince me to keep on, and when it started to look like I was getting ready to quit, they were willing to even kill..." Oh, Tommy, she thought with a sudden stab of sadness.
That took Margaret aback. She knew the Centre had been evil - but she'd never considered that some of the people she'd been demonizing all these years might have been as much victimized as she had been. Suddenly some of the things that Jarod had told her a long time ago started to make sense - and even more of his distress at her unwillingness to accept those people as those he cared about became understandable as well. But she was still curious. "What about Sydney?"
"His compliance with the Centre agenda had been the result of blackmail for years. The Centre convinced him that he'd been responsible for the car accident that put his brother Jacob into a coma. Then, a few years later, they convinced him he was responsible for the death of a co-worker in yet another car accident, and then created a story that the two of them had been having an affair at the time of the accident - and that Sydney had been drinking. If he didn't do as they said, they were willing to take Jarod away from him and get him thrown into jail." Miss Parker's gaze was direct and very frank. "Sydney cared about Jarod - a lot. AND he had an idea of what would happen to him if Raines..."
"Raines!" Margaret's expression grew downright furious at the mention of the name. "That bastard..."
"He was more than that," Miss Parker said sourly. "He was a monster. If he'd gotten his hands on Jarod... Well... You saw the shape Ethan was in..."
"God!"
"That's something I've been meaning to say to you." Miss Parker leaned across the table and put her hand on Margaret's arm. "Thank you for all you did for my brother. I'm glad..." She swallowed hard. "I'm glad you were willing to overlook how he came into the world and become his family anyway. He needed a loving family to help him - I'm glad he had yours..."
Margaret gazed gently into the face that reminded her so much of a friend she had known so many years ago and thought about the face of the man that she'd always considered the thief of her son's affections. While Jarod's treatment at the Centre had been anything but humane, Sydney HAD instilled a firm set of ethics in his protégé with which both she and Charles had agreed. She couldn't even begin to imagine what shape Jarod would have been in if Raines had wrested authority from Sydney.
She couldn't demonize these people anymore. Not when it was obvious that they were as fond of Jarod as he was of them.
"We've come a long ways, haven't we?" she asked, putting her hand over Miss Parker's.
"Yeah." Parker smiled back. "We have, haven't we?"
"I'm glad you came." Margaret thought she would never hear herself say those words, but now she meant them with all her heart. "I'm going to miss you."
The simple tone was almost more than Miss Parker was expecting. "Me too," she agreed in a small voice, clinging to the older woman's arm. "Me too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm going to miss you, Grandma," Davy said sorrowfully, wrapping his arms around Margaret's waist.
"I'm going to miss you too, Davy," Margaret whispered into the top of her grandson's head. "You're so grown up already - I'm afraid that the next time I see you, you'll be taller than me."
"Grandma..." Davy's tone clearly told her that he was certain that she was pulling his leg. "You're going to come back to Delaware for the wedding, aren't you?"
Margaret's gaze touched her future daughter-in-law's. "Oh, you never know. I might even come over before then."
Miss Parker leaned into her half-brother's hug. "I've missed you so. I'm glad..."
"I'm glad too, Missy," Ethan said. "I knew that we'd see each other again someday - I'm glad that day finally came." He squeezed her tightly. "You take good care of yourself now..."
"I will..." she answered, squeezing him back. "I'll see you at the wedding."
"With bells on..." he chuckled at her.
"I'd like to see that..." she chuckled back at him and then let him go so that he could say goodbye to his nephew. For her part, she turned to the little girl who still insisted on maintaining her distance from any larger group of people, cuddling her teddy bear close like a shield. She walked over to Ginger slowly and knelt in front of her.
"You know," she said softly, reaching out and touching the bandage that was still carefully wrapped around the bear's arm, "I think that his arm is pretty well healed. Do you want to help me check?"
Ginger's dark eyes studied her for a moment, and the she offered up her bear to Her for inspection. She took the bear into Her hands with great care and checked the shoulder where the dismembered arm had been reattached. Ginger's eyes flitted in concern back and forth from her beloved toy to Her face.
"I think we can take the bandage off now," Miss Parker announced with a gentle smile. "Here - why don't you hold him, and I'll take the bandage off." She handed the bear back to the little girl, who held him loosely and let Miss Parker's slim fingers untie the knot that had held the arm in a sling and then gently removed the handkerchief altogether. "How is he doing?" she asked the child, keeping a close eye on her face.
Ginger looked down at her bear, and then carefully examined the seam where the arm had been reattached in much the same way that She had. Finally she looked up into Her face and gave a satisfied nod.
"You take good care of him when I'm gone, won't you?" Miss Parker asked softly. Ginger's eyes grew soft and she nodded again. Miss Parker then addressed herself to the toy. "And you take care of her while I'm gone too, OK? She's an extra-special person, and I need her to have extra-special care." The grey eyes flitted to gaze into the dark ones. "He says he'll take good care of you for me. Is that OK with you?"
Ginger nodded again, contentedly. She and her toy would surely take very good care of one another.
Miss Parker reached out a very cautious hand and smoothed the little girl's hair. "Then I will see you later," she said, wishing she dared try to give the child a hug. Ginger's dark eyes looked into hers seriously as she nodded again. Miss Parker reminded herself briskly that she should be grateful that the little girl wasn't running away from her anymore and contented herself with smoothing back the dark hair one more time before getting to her feet. She could see that Deb had said her farewells and was already heading out to the limousine with Sam, and Davy was not far behind. Jarod had followed them out to say his good-byes outside. It was time for her to bid her love farewell for another indeterminate stretch of time...
Ginger had watched the quick wash of emotions behind Her eyes as she had straightened. She knew She was leaving - and suddenly she wasn't sure that was such a good thing. Yes, that meant that she would still be here in His house with Grandma Maggie but... She looked around her. The Boy was already gone - he'd already given her a tight hug and a sloppy kiss on the side of her face. She looked back at Her again, considering. Having Her in the house had been quite an experience - She had taken care of her toy, never once raised her voice or hand... It was going to be hard to imagine the house without Her and The Boy. They had seemed like they belonged, and fitted into her life almost before she'd realized it.
Miss Parker was about to follow Sam and Deb and Davy and Jarod out to the limousine when she felt a small hand insinuate itself into hers. Startled, she looked down and found herself captured by two dark pools of bottomless emotion. "What?" she asked gently.
Ginger decided. She lifted her arms up to Her, asking to be picked up.
Miss Parker caught her breath, and then bent and carefully lifted her soon-to-be daughter up into her arms. "Oh, Sprite," she whispered softly and very gently held the girl close to her heart. "I will miss you too, baby."
Ginger wrapped her arms around Her neck and snuggled down. Yes, She was as soft and smelled almost as nice as Grandma Maggie.
Miss Parker deposited one tiny kiss after another against the child's cheek as she carried her out the door with her to the side of the limousine, where Jarod was just bending down to let his son clamber inside. He straightened, caught sight of his love with their new daughter in her arms, and smiled widely at the way Ginger was snuggling and clinging. "I see you found somebody else to hug," he said softly, smoothing his little girl's hair back. "I was thinking you were taking a little longer in there than I'd thought you'd need..."
"She found me," Miss Parker said, still not quite sure how it had happened. She moved into Jarod's arms and leaned her head against his shoulder in much the same way Ginger had leaned into her. "God I'll miss you two."
"We'll be coming to join you as soon as we can," he assured her, a hand at her cheek lifting her face so he could bring her lips to his. "I promise."
The kiss was gentle and filled with longing already. Miss Parker sighed as they parted, then looked down into the face of the child in her arms. "Go to Daddy now," she directed, and Jarod held out his arms as she shifted Ginger from her embrace to his. "You take good care of Daddy for me, won't you?" she asked with eyes bright with unshed tears.
Ginger wound her arms tightly around His neck and nodded firmly. "Bye-bye Sprite." She looked into Jarod's face again. "I love you," she told him softly.
"God I love you too," he replied and kissed her again. "Better go now, or you'll never see Delaware again."
She kissed him one more time, then gave Ginger one more quick kiss on the cheek before ducking into the back of the limousine and closing the door. The window quickly lowered so that those left standing could see those seated within. "Take good care," she called out as the limo began to back down the drive.
"I will," he called back and waved to her. Her hand came out the window in a return gesture, and even Sam behind the wheel gave the Pretender and his little girl a quick wave before aiming the large vehicle back in the direction of the freeway and the waiting airport.
Jarod felt Ginger snuggle down onto the shoulder of his sports jacket with what almost sounded like a sad sigh. "They're gone," he told her. "We're going to miss them a lot, aren't we?"
She nodded and sniffled. The house was going to be awfully quiet and empty without The Boy and Her. She clung to Him very tightly.
"Are you going to be OK with Grandma Maggie today, or do you want to come in and help Cindy fold papers again?" He asked as he carried her back into the house.
She looked over at Grandma Maggie and pointed. Folding papers had been fun at first, but it was starting to get a little old. With Grandma Maggie, she got stories read to her as well as the opportunity to play with the rest of her toys or color.
"Do you mind?" Jarod asked his mother quickly, wishing he'd conferred with her first.
"Not at all," Margaret held out her arms to take the little girl from her son. "I was thinking I'd make cookies today for everybody - I could use the help. I'll tell Em that I'm over here today rather than at her house, in case she wants me to watch Sammy for her for a bit."
"Thanks, Mom." Jarod leaned in to drop a kiss on Margaret's cheek. "I'm going to have to run or I'll be late..."
"I'll drive us in today," Ethan spoke up, moving toward the door. "It'll save gas."
"Sounds good to me," Jarod agreed quickly. He really didn't feel like driving in alone if he didn't have to.
"Go on, then," Margaret urged him.
"Be good for Grandma," he told Ginger, dropping a kiss on her cheek as well. Ginger lifted her head and gave him a cheek-smacker back before snuggling back down with her grandmother. Jarod smiled at her and turned away with a sigh.
Both Margaret and Ginger watched him reclaim his briefcase from next to the coat rack and head out the door behind Ethan after giving them both another quick wave goodbye.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Miss Parker stood up from her seat and moved toward the back of the jet, leaving a sleeping Deb tucked under a blue blanket from the overhead compartments and Davy staring out the window at the tops of clouds and glimpses of the ground far below. Sam had his head leaned back against the forward bulkhead, dozing - but knowing him as well as she did, she knew he wasn't asleep. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and pushed the buttons for a preprogrammed number.
The phone on the other end rang twice, then was picked up in mid-ring. "This is Sydney."
"Hi. We're on our way home." She sat down in a seat near the window and looked out at the white nothingness that surrounded them.
Sydney's brows rose at the resigned tone in her voice. "Are you all right?" he inquired gently.
"I thought it was hard when Jarod left," she mused aloud, running a finger down the thick plastic of the porthole. "I think it was even worse when I was the one who walked away this time."
The old psychiatrist let the papers he'd been reading sag back to his chest as he shifted once more to get into a slightly more comfortable position. "You miss him," he stated the obvious.
"More than ever now," she admitted. "Not to mention I'll miss Ethan and Emily..."
"You and Jarod's sister get along well?" Sydney was surprised. When she got home, it sounded as if he'd have to get a complete run-down on what he'd genuinely feared would be nothing but heartache for her. If instead of combat, she had walked in and traded old animosities for new friendships and respect...
"We're a lot alike," Miss Parker said with a soft smile. "Independent, self-sufficient, we both have children, we're both under-impressed by being surrounded by geniuses..."
Sydney chuckled. "I'll bet." He paused. "How's Deb doing?"
"We had a rough morning - she's sleeping right now."
"Rough how?"
Miss Parker sighed. "She blew up at me over nothing - and I... I guess I overestimated her ability to handle criticism..." She settled back against her seat. "She got so upset, she made herself physically ill. I felt horrible..."
"I can imagine - but you can't beat yourself up too badly for this, Parker. At best, let this be a lesson in how you're going to have to be ready to just let Deb be emotional at you without letting her emotions affect you. She has some powerful emotions that will have to have the freedom to be expressed before she can begin to deal with them. This is going to be hard for all of us for a while." He watched his sore leg move past the comfort point heading toward his new movement arc setting and grimaced.
"Is it going to be this way all the time now?" She was worried. "It's going to tear Broots apart if she tears into him the way she tore into me for just asking if she was OK..."
"That's what triggered it?"
"She said she was tired of everybody 'hovering'..."
"Uh-huh." Sydney nodded. "She wants to put the entire thing behind her and forget it, and she feels nobody's cooperating with her. That's to be expected."
"Well, it sure caught me by surprise, and it's going to blow her father out of the water."
"I stopped by to talk to him yesterday after my therapy," Sydney told her. "He's not getting out of the hospital anytime soon. He has at least another two weeks in the complete body cast before they can even start physical therapy on him. Hopefully by the time he IS ready to come home, Deb will have worked a lot of her emotions through and will be more stable again." He gritted his teeth as his leg hit the new limit of its arc and held it for an agonized moment before easing back in the other direction. "How's Davy?"
"Jarod said he'd be calling you to talk about him," she answered. "He's doing better than Deb, but he's different now - shier, tends to assume responsibility for things going wrong too easily..."
"He's been through something traumatic, Parker. And he evidently took the lead in getting them out of a horrifying situation. For a little while, he became the responsible party. It might be impossible for him to completely return to being an innocent little boy again."
Something Sydney said sparked a memory, and Miss Parker folded her brows. "He told me that you had been teaching him how to use his mind. What did he mean?"
Sydney felt his heart skip a beat. "It was just a game we'd play when I'd watch him for you sometimes," he hedged carefully. "We'd play 'what if' games a lot - about situations that he'd sometimes bring home from school."
"You weren't..." No, she couldn't imagine that her beloved foster father would have been dabbling at training another Pretender... Could he?
"Parker," he soothed gently, trying to allay her fears and suspicions, "when you get home, I'll be glad to tell you everything you want to know about the mind games I've been playing with Davy. Right now, however, isn't the time." No, he wouldn't be glad to tell her anything about the training he'd needed to give Davy - NEEDED, not just begun on a whim. But the time had come for him to let her in on one of the biggest secrets he'd been holding, and then weather the storm that was sure to follow.
Miss Parker closed her eyes. She had enough of a connection with him that she could feel the disquiet her questions were causing within him. "When I get home, then," she compromised. She shook herself and touched the one last question she had. "Heard anything from the Centre lately?"
"Nope," Sydney shook his head, deliberately deciding that Tyler's call had been personal rather than business. "It's been a strange week, being so completely out of the loop of Centre activities after all these years."
"I can imagine," she responded distractedly. What WAS it that he didn't want to tell her over the phone about Davy? "I think I'm going to see about taking a cat-nap myself now. I'll see you in about eight hours."
Sydney could hear the distraction and almost distrust in her voice, and his heart sank. After all these years, to have her suspicions of him triggered again so suddenly cut him to the quick. "Have a good flight, ma petite," he told her unhappily. "It will be good to have you home again."
"Later, Syd."
She disconnected the call and slipped the phone into her pocket. Her fingers touched the photograph that she'd slipped into that pocket just that morning, and she pulled it out and stared at it. Staring back at her were the faces of Jarod, Davy, Ginger and herself, all smiling for Ethan's digital camera from their spot in front of Jarod's picture window in the living room. They looked so happy.
She slipped the picture carefully back into her pocket and leaned her head back against the headrest of her seat before closing her eyes. Something told her that it would be a while before any of them would be that happy again.
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