A/N: Okay, I know it has been a while, and I thank you sincerely for your patience. I did take up working diligently on this story recently, however this has proven to be a very difficult chapter to get up. It has required lots and lots of editing, which I am eternally grateful for!

I really hope that you enjoy this chapter and that it was worth your wait! :)

-Charlie

PS: Thank you for the Tickle ;)

It was slowly approaching eight o'clock. Employees would begin to show up any minute. She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. She was tired. She'd slept for a while on the sofa in her office, but had woken up early due to a surge of the ever present nausea. So she'd gotten up and started working in an attempt to keep her mind occupied.

The lights in the hall flickered on, indicating that people were arriving. She then stood up, fighting off the dizziness, walked around her desk, closed the door to her office and returned to her paperwork in the half-lit room.

Several hours later, the door slowly creaked open. Although she still hadn't turned the lights fully on in her office, she could still tell by his silhouette who stood at her door.

"Miss Parker? Why is it so dark in here?" He flicked on the lights and she automatically squinted. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, I'm just blind."

Sydney brought his hand to his chin contemplatively, but before he could say anything, Broots walked in. "Morning, guys. What's going on?"

"We're having a party." Miss Parker spat back, without thinking. She was secretly grateful for his interruption. "What have you got for me Broots?"

"Um, I found some more monetary transactions from Mr. Lyle, indicating that he's purchased more machinery." He handed Miss Parker a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"Proof that he's up to something."

She began reading the contents. It was a memo from Mr. Lyle to Mr. Raines, basically telling him that he was ready to get started. "So he's getting his team of scientist ready to try and see the future." She said, mockingly.

"Team?" Broots asked, surprised. "I didn't read anything about a team of scientists." He reached over and grabbed the paper out of Miss Parker's hands.

Miss Parker rose from her seat, fighting off the nausea, and walked around the front of her desk to where Broots was standing.

"To see the future?" Sydney asked, incredulously.

"Tempus, time. It all makes sense." She snatched the paper back out of Broots hands, surprising him.

"But M-Miss Parker, this isn't a science fiction movie."

Miss Parker looked at them gravely. "I know, it's the Centre."

She sighed heavily and eased herself into the nearest chair. She was beginning to realize just how big of an impact his project could make on all of their lives.

Miss Parker followed Broots' meaningful glance across the office to where Betty's desk still sat. "Miss Parker?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you've ever- Well, what I mean is; Have you- Does- uh, nevermind."

"What Broots?" she asked impatiently.

"It's nothing."

"What is it?"

He looked sheepish.

"What would you like to say Mr. Broots?" Sydney asked, calmly.

He swallowed. "Uh, well, was there something familiar to you about Betty at all?"

She looked angry.

He swallowed again.

"Do you think that you may have known Betty before she came to the Centre?"

"I dunno…Maybe."

"Maybe? Maybe!" she leaned forward quickly, too quickly, and she felt the room around her slide around. She shut her eyes tightly and braced herself on the desk.

"Miss Parker, are you sure you're all right?" Sydney asked, concerned.

Eyes still closed, she gritted her teeth, "All of this time-"

Broots glanced at Sydney.

"Miss Parker-" Sydney started.

She opened her eyes. "All of this time, and you have never mentioned this before?" She honestly wasn't all that mad, however, since she didn't feel well, she looked much more angry, but she was okay with that.

"Well, I'm not certain, I can't even place her. If I did know her, she looked different."

"Different, how?"

"I don't know."

"Mr. Broots, did you know Betty from a previous job?" Sydney interjected.

He shook his head, "No."

"Through your ex-wife, perhaps?"

He sighed. "No."

"From something you've had to research through the Centre?" Miss Parker threw in.

Broots thought about this one, but after a while, he answered, frustrated. "No, that's not it either."

Miss Parker and Sydney both sighed.

"Okay, this is gunna sound a little out there, but you know when you've lost something, and you can't find it, and you keep looking in the same place because you swore it was there, but no matter how many times you look there, you can't find it?"

"Mhmm." Sydney urged.

"Well, I just keep thinking that somehow she knows Debbie."

"Your daughter?" he clarified.

Remembering the blonde girl that stayed with her, Miss Parker felt a surge of protectiveness. "What would she have to do with Debbie?"

Broots shrugged, "Miss Parker, I just can't place her."

"Well, she's a bit old to be one of Debbie's friends, but is she a sibling of a friend?" Sydney interrogated.

"No."

"Was she a teacher of Debbie's?

"No." Broots shook his head, for what felt like the thousandth time. "I just don't know, Sydney."

"Broots, think!?" Miss Parker demanded.

'This is ridiculous' she thought as she flew through the city streets, the scenery going by at high speed through the car window. She couldn't stay at work and she couldn't go home. Not just yet, anyhow. The scenery flew past the window almost as quickly as her thoughts were moving. She wasn't headed anywhere in particular.

Then, brakes were slammed before she was even aware that she'd hit the brakes. In a flurry of movement, she'd already pulled over the curb and jumped out. Parker didn't give her actions much thought as she walked firmly over to the park bench her car had almost flown past, stopped smoothly in front of it and confidently placed her hands on her hips. Seemingly all too composed for the situation.

The young woman looked up from her half eaten sandwich and offered an awkward smile. Miss Parker towered over Betty as she asked coolly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Eating lunch."

Miss Parker rolled her eyes, exasperated. As usual, she lacked the patience. "How do you know Broots?" A moment, then she corrected herself, "Other than from the Centre, that is."

"Uh…" Betty tapped her hand lightly against her mouth as she thought. She appeared to be thinking hard and then shrugged. "I give up. Where do I know Broots from?"

Miss Parker narrowed her eyes and jutted her index finger when she spoke. Betty had seemed all too innocent and Parker didn't trust it. At all. "You are constantly messing with me and I am so sick of your little games." She clenched her jaw for a moment and then forced herself to relax, appearing calmer, but only slightly. "Now, you're going to tell me why you're here."

Betty gulped. "Miss Parker—"

She cut off; Miss Parker was practically growling. It was in that moment that Betty discovered that she was very close to blowing this for the second time. She knew if she messed this up again, another opportunity may not present itself so soon and all her hard word would have been lost.

She had no choice now.

Setting down her lunch, she slowly reached for the briefcase, lying under the bench. Miss Parker immediately recognized the DSA player.

Betty looked around to make sure that there was no one within earshot and was glad to see that the park was quiet and nearly empty. Determined to see it through, Betty stood up and handed the player, along with a DSA, to Miss Parker. Betty was quick to stop away; unable and unwilling to watch that dreadful DSA again.

Miss Parker took it incredulously, while Betty began to pace in front of her. With caution and a little fear tingling at the pit of her stomach, Parker placed the DSA in the player and jumped slightly when her own face appeared on the screen.

Betty did not look, but the weary voice broke her heart all the same and her pacing increased in intensity.

"Jarod? It's me, Parker. I know that you're probably not too happy to hear from me right now, but there are some things I need to say, so please, just hear me out, okay?

"Remember when I told you that leaving together wasn't possible? Well, I was wrong. I was just so afraid… so afraid of loosing you. But I still lost you."

Although Betty did not look at the screen, she could clearly remember the grief-stricken face, the tears in her eyes, her head buried into her trembling hands. She remembered the agony that covered Jarod's face as he watched the same DSA less than one week ago and felt a tear slide down her own check when she heard that voice she recognized so well brake as she finished her apostrophe.

"Jarod, there are some things, things that have happened, things that only Tempus can help us with now. Please Jarod, just trust Betty… She's gonna help us.

"I miss you. And I know I don't say it enough, but… I love you."

After the screen went black, Miss Parker remained, stunned. Betty tried desperately to hide her own tears.

Her eyes still glued to the now black screen, "This is why Jarod came back?" Miss Parker demanded.

Betty looked down at the ground. She didn't know what to say and she still wasn't sure where this conversation was going. This hadn't been part of the plan, she was improvising now. If she blew this, there would be no one else to blame but herself.

"And here I thought he loved me."

"He does love you!" Betty shot back quickly.

Miss Parker sighed, "That's not even me on the screen."

"No, it's not. Not yet." Betty conceded with a sigh. "Tempus started out as a project to see the future, but … ya know Lyle, never willing to quit while he's ahead, the project eventually developed into, well, time traveling."

"Oh, come on Betty! Time traveling? "

"What?! It's not all that unrealistic anymore!"

"And what am I supposed to believe? That my future self makes this disk to con Jarod into coming back so I didn't have to raise this kid all by myself?"

"It was not a con! But it was plan B, plan A not including your father seeing me at the Centre. And besides, Jarod would have come back anyhow; it just would have taken him a couple more months."

"Then what's the rush?"

"Because it's time we don't have, Parker!"

Miss Parker seemed to be skeptical of Betty's answer. Actually, she was downright incredulous about this whole story. "Time we don't have?" She repeated back.

Betty looked down.

"But…if Jarod was going to come back anyway then why would we need…" The rest was lost in her throat, as a thought assaulted her so suddenly, Parker was caught off guard. No. She could feel her chest tighten in panic, "What's going to happen?"

"The Centre is going to catch up with him."

"And take him back to the Centre, and—"

"No." Betty had a hard time meeting Parker's intense blue eyes. When she spoke again, it was with a voice so low, it was barely a whisper. "He's not going to make it back to the Centre."

"Then…" the realization hit her. She didn't want to believe what Betty was telling her, it all sounded so surreal. And she couldn't allow herself to believe about Jarod's… It felt as if she'd been thrown against a brick wall. The DSA player slid out of her hands and crashed onto the concrete, but she barely heard the sound it made. As hard as she tried, oxygen refused to fill her lungs. "Jarod…Jarod…he dies." She gasped, between shock and disbelief.

Betty knelt down next to where Miss Parker was sitting, "Parker, look at me! You wanted to know why I'm here. That's why I'm here! I, with your help, am going to keep Jarod alive!"

When at first she didn't respond, Betty took Miss Parker's tear-filled face into her hands. Blue eyes so vacant, face so pale. "Do you hear me?!" Betty was forceful, yet controlled. "We are going to keep him alive!"

The words penetrated the fog that had threatened to consume her and Miss Parker nodded, a hand over her heart, as she tried to slow her breathing. She nodded slowly again, reassuring herself as well as Betty. Her eyes involuntarily slid closed and she let the tears flow freely down her face.

Just the thought…

Too much.

Betty pulled Miss Parker to her tightly and before she knew it, her own hot tears were streaming undeterred.

Just a short while later, Jarod was rambling on to Parker, repeating back all the details she'd given him about Tempus. He was making all sorts of connections that should have caught her attention. No matter how hard she tried, though, she just couldn't focus on his words. This afternoon's events kept replaying themselves over and over in her mind and were coming close to driving her crazy. She wanted to tell Jarod, but she knew she couldn't. Betty had made her promise and, knowing Jarod as she did, Betty's reasoning had made sense.

Too much sense.

"Being the hero that he is, knowing that he's going to die will not stop him."

Jarod had that concentrated look about him and was right in the middle of a sentence, when he suddenly stopped. Raising his eyes, the pretender caught sight of Parker, standing across the room. She was by the window, gazing out, with arms crossed over her chest and quite oblivious to the fact that Jarod had stopped talking. Without warning, the thought dawned on him… with everything going on, he hadn't told her he loved her.

"Parker, I missed you." He said softly, bringing her out of her reverie.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, smiling slightly. "You already said that." All too soon, though, her eyes returned to their unfocused gaze.

Walking across the room swiftly, he came up directly behind her and tenderly wrapped his arms around her lithe frame. She could feel her heart begin to race.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear.

She leaned over her shoulder and kissed him. But it was only a second before she realized what she was doing and Parker was quick to untangle herself from his arms. No time like the present.

She took a step back, eyes rooming around. Parker wanted to see his reaction, but, try as she might, she could bring her eyes to meet his. "Jarod, I – I'm pregnant."

With that last word, she finally met his gaze. There. It was out in the open, no taking it back. Nervous, she watched his expression change from confusion to shock. The normally composed pretender stumbled backwards a few steps until he allowed his unstable legs to give; he was unsure if they would have been able support him for much longer.

He sat, unmoving, for a long time and Parker had to wonder if he continued on breathing, still as he was. Finally, a question, "Have you seen a doctor?"

"Uh, no." she answered uneasily. Parker could understand his reaction. Was it good, bad?

"You should." He suggested.

She nodded. "Okay."

They both sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. An eternity, really. Finally, Parker broke the silence. Almost inaudibly, she said, "I don't want to go alone."

A big grin spread across Jarod's face. He stood up and took a few steps toward her. Closing the space between them, Parker soon found herself being pulled into a tight embrace, his soft breath on her ear whispering, "You don't have to."

She couldn't help the smile which graced her lips, as Parker allowed him to hold her.

Thank you so much for reading! I would love to hear your feedback, and I am going to try my very hardest to update sooner. Scout's honor!