I was having some technical difficulties with this chapter, I believe they have been fixed. If there's still a problem let me kno, because I was unaware that there was a problem for almost a week. So, sorry about that... Hope you enjoy and thanks for all your reviews, you guys are great:) -Charlie

"Mr. Broots, I need to ask you a favor ." Sydney announced as he walked into the tech's office.

"Uh, okay." Broots answered uncomfortably. He was supposed to be looking for Betty and if Miss Parker found out he was doing anything else... Well, it would be bad, but he couldn't turn down Sydney, either. The bald man sighed. "What do you need?"

"Anything you can find on Tempus."

"Tempus?"

"What the hell's Tempus?" a female voice came out of the shadows, startling them both. Sydney and Broots looked up from the computer's screen to find Miss Parker standing in the entryway, arms crossed.

Sydney smiled like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He hadn't wanted to tell Miss Parker about Tempus until he knew what it meant. Maybe not even then.

"Well?" she demanded, anger marring her features.

It looked as if he didn't have much of a choice, though. "We don't know exactly, Miss Parker," Sydney started, "but Jarod seems to think it maybe some sort of project that the Centre has been working on."

Miss Parker felt like she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. Jarod... Too many emotions running at once through her mind and she suddenly didn't feel so well. Starting to sway, she reached out, grabbing Sydney's forearm to steady herself.

"Miss Parker, are you alright?" Sydney asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She snapped; very in character. She didn't let go of Sydney's arm, however. Noticing that she was tense, he waited a moment, watching her. Seeing her remain unsteady, he suggested, "Maybe you should sit down."

Ordinarily, she would have been disinclined to heed his advice, probably adding one of her best disparaging remark. This was, however, no ordinary moment. She knew she really needed to sit down, or fall. Parker held tightly to Sydney's arm as he guided her to a nearby couch. He eased himself onto the couch, alongside her.

Miss Parker took a few slow breaths, attempting to get her head to stop spinning, then quickly changed to subject to avoid questions she had no intention of answering. She directed her question toward Broots, knowing that he wouldn't have the gall to inquire about her personal matters. "So what exactly does Franken-boy wants to know?"

"He wants to know a-about Tempus."

"Right," she remembered, "and you mentioned his idea that it was some sort of project."

"Actually, Sydney said that."

Miss Parker glared at him.

"But yeah, th-that's what he said."

Sydney chimed in, "If it is a Centre Project, it's either top secret and/or relatively new, because I've never heard of it."

"Well, that narrows it down." Miss Parker retorted.

"Tempus is Latin for time." Broots offered.

Two heads slowly turned to face the technician.

Miss Parker was the first to speak. "Broots, I didn't know that you spoke Latin."

He shrugged, "I had to take a foreign language in high school."

"Time." Sydney stated, ponderously.

There was a moment of silence, filled with the three's contemplations. What would the Centre need time for. It couldn't possibly be good.

Broots wondered allowed, "Hey, you think Betty knew something about Tempus? You think that's why she was here?"

Miss Parker hadn't considered that, but, knowing the Centre, she wasn't willing to rule out the possibility. She decided to go through Betty's things once more with a new perspective in mind. "There's only one way to find out." Miss Parker declared as she stood up, letting go of Sydney's arm and briskly heading out of the office.

Sydney lightly touched the place on his arm, which now felt cool against thin air. He simply could not figure her out. The last time she'd openly allowed his comfort, her mother had just died. Now, he could not fathom why she was acting so strange. The past month or so she'd been acting more hostile than usual, hadn't been feeling well, and in the past few minutes she'd seemed almost needy, which was very unlike her.

"I still don't understand. Why would Miss Parker have sent you? If she knew where I was why didn't she just come herself?" Jarod had been grilling Betty for the past couple of days, suspicion and curiosity waging war within him. Ever since he'd watched the DSA, he couldn't help but ask question after question, in an endless succession. Betty was getting a little sick of it.

"Someone should revoke your MENSA card." She spat back at him.

Jarod cocked his head slightly to one side, reminding Betty of a puppy. She shook her head. "For the hundredth time… Miss Parker, clearly, couldn't drag the cavalry along to discuss her relationship problems. And she can't very well just disappear, it would look too suspicious. However, since the Centre is already looking for me it only makes sense that I would go missing, therefore, not suspicious."

Jarod thought contemplatively for a moment. How could she have found him without the Centre figuring out where he is? Or that she was with him for that matter. There had to be more to the story. "You still haven't told me why you…how did you say it? … tried to 'impersonate a Centre employee'."

Betty sighed. "It was just part of the plan."

"A plan for what?"

"Jarod, that's really a question you should ask Par- I mean, Miss Parker."

"You're evading the question."

Betty shrugged her shoulders. She could tell that Jarod was getting irritated with her, but she couldn't just come out and tell him the plan, it would all be revealed in Time. She looked at him sympathetically, "It's just not my place to answer that question right now."

Jarod couldn't quite put all the pieces together. It was becoming clear, though, that some of those pieces were missing and some just didn't fit. "Are you saying that Parker was in on this?"

'Stay as close to the truth as possible.' Betty reminded herself. "She helped me forge some paperwork."

Jarod was having a hard time believing her story. "Why?"

"Like I said, Jarod, these are all questions you should ask her, when you see her."

Jarod sighed heavily as he stopped pacing and slowly pulled up a chair, seating himself across from the sofa, where Betty was now propped up against.

She caught his eye. His expression looked forlorn. "I don't know if I can go back, Betty."

"What?! Why?!" she demanded angrily. She would have jumped up, if the piercing pain in her right shoulder hadn't prevented her from doing so. She was so ill equipped to play shrink.

He didn't even flinch when Betty fell back into the couch. He was looking down at his hands, which where clasped together, elbows resting on his knees. He spoke in a calm voice. "She asked me to leave. Maybe I don't know much about love, but I feel that you should give the person that you love whatever they want, no matter how much it hurts you. And the last time I saw her, she made it perfectly clear that she had no desire for me to be around any longer."

This was ludicrous! Betty knew she shouldn't be raising her voice at him, he was clearly upset, but how could he do this to her?

"Did you not watch that DSA? Parker made it plain as day that she had made the wrong choice, she wanted you to come home."

"I know, but-" he stopped.

"But what, Jarod?!"

He didn't answer.

Betty took in a breath, attempting to compose herself. This time she didn't yell at him, she advised him in a calm tone. "Go see her. Find out once and for all whether or not she wants to be with you."

He looked up, into her eyes, once more.

"You want to be with her, I can see it in your eyes." She stated. She could now also see, for the first time, that he was truly afraid that Miss Parker would not allow him back into her life.

He was not a very smart genius, after all.

"Trust me, Jarod. She wants you to go to her. She wants you to go home."

Hope flickered across his face.