A/N: Okay, so I remember that last time I posted a chapter that I was gunna get another one up sooner and it ended up being the longest break between chapters yet, but this time, I've already almost finished the next chapter. Thank you so much to those of you who continue to read this story, it means a lot to me. -Charlie

"You're late this morning, Miss Parker." Sydney's tone had been lighthearted; it was more a statement than an accusation. His good mood was shaken, though, when Parker failed completely to reply or even acknowledge his presence. "Miss Parker?"

His voice penetrated the fog surrounding her, but his words didn't. 'What did he say?' she pondered for a moment, trying to make sense. Unable to come up with an immediate answer, she decided that she didn't really care. The colors were faded, the sounds muffled, the world slowed, but she didn't care… couldn't bring herself to care.

So, ignoring that he'd spoken at all, Parker bypassed the doctor and continued her way down the corridor. Sydney followed closely behind her and, not bothering to mask his worry, alternated between calling out "Miss Parker?" and "Are you alright?"

Parker seemed oblivious.

Something was very wrong. He had been suspicious for a while that something wasn't quite right; now he was sure. Anyone else would have brushed this attitude off as Miss Parker's disinterest in attempting to exercise social skills, but he could see otherwise. Having no response from her whatsoever increased his worry tenfold and, he seized the moment in which they were alone in the elevator to corner her. Firmly placing his hands on her upper arms, he turned her to face him. "Miss Parker, where have you been?" he demanded for what felt like the hundredth time.

This, literally, shook her out of her stupor. Glancing around helped dissipate the fog a bit more and she silently cursed herself for acting so careless. 'This is the Centre' she reminder self, there were eyes everywhere. She knew she had to be more careful here, more in control. The cost of a single mistake could be too high.

Still without answers, Sydney demanded once more, "Miss Parker!"

'Right.' She had to give him an answer, had to speak. She straightened herself and patted her hair, making sure no strand stood out of place. Her brain tried conjuring up a believable lie, but she eventually settled for the truth… partially. "I went for a drive." She said, visibly more composed.

She knew, particularly at this point, that she could not fool Sydney into believing she was alright, but she just couldn't tell him what was going on. She just couldn't.

Relieved that she'd just spoken and was not catatonic, he released his grasp of her arms. "Driving…" He repeated. He wasn't sure whether he bought her story, but he knew he couldn't question it; Parker lashed out when under pressure. He needed to keep her engaged for the time being, to see if he could extract as much information as he possibly could. "To clear you head?"

She rolled her eyes, fully back into Miss Parker mode. She wasn't willing to deal with any of his mind games. "No, Sydney, just for the thrill of watching the odometer increase."

Typical Miss Parker answer. She was struggling to compose herself, he knew. Why she needed to compose herself, he did not. "Miss Parker, I've known you since you were a little girl. I know when something's bothering you. I can't force you to tell me, but I need you to know that, you can rely on my. If there's ever, anything at all…"

She placed one hand upon her stomach, in an almost unconscious gesture. "God, Sydney, I know." And she did. No matter how twisted this situation was, Sydney could be ultimately trusted. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to tell Sydney everything, but it just wasn't right timing. Not yet. She looked into his eyes. "I know that. I just – I just–" She shook her head, breaking their gaze. "It's probably better you hear it from Jarod."

It was a copout, but she just had to escape.

The elevator doors opened announcing the arrival to their floor. Miss Parker stepped out. There was nothing more she could say. That was the truth. Sydney had been the closest thing to a father figure Jarod had ever experienced, so he should be the one to tell him. Besides, she lacked the words to make sense of it all.

Sydney stared at Miss Parker's retreating form, dumbfounded. Jarod? What would Jarod have to do with Miss Parker's strange behavior? He reached out an arm and stopped the elevator doors as they closed in his face, stepping out just in time to see her office door close.

Miss Parker shut the door of her office and fumbled her way through the room, stopping directly underneath the security camera, the only place in the office where she knew she couldn't be seen.

From out of her coat pocket, she pulled out a grainy photograph that the doctor had given her just a short while ago. She shouldn't have been carrying it, but keeping it close brought comfort. Parker lightly traced a shaky finger over the glossy finish of the paper, seeking lines.

'There are two heartbeats', the doctor had informed her. In response, she'd insulted the doctor, his glasses, and his competence, and then demanded a second opinion. Jarod had tried to mollify her, trying to explain to her that the doctor hadn't made a mistake, but was unable to convince the mother of his child- or, children. A pudgy bald doctor came in next; he was also insulted, and dismissed. The first doctor returned and with patience, retried.

Looking back, she hated the way she'd acted in the doctor's office. She'd never allowed herself to get that out of control before. Parker had been near hysterics! She could blame the hormones, of course, but she still felt like that was a pathetic excuse, particularly for someone in her line of work.

It had taken two doctors and Jarod's confirmation, to actually convince her that she was in fact, carrying twins. And she still found it unfathomable. How could there be two of them inside her? Logically, she knew it was possible; she herself had been a twin. Still…

Even though she'd assured Jarod that her ulcer hadn't been bothering her, he had expressed his concerns to the doctor. Fortunately, the doctor hadn't seemed too concerned, explaining that patients with ulcers often had little to no symptoms during pregnancy. Jarod, who should have known that already, had clearly seemed relieved after hearing that, and secretly, so did she.

Parker came back from her ponderings and tried once more to make out something of the picture she held in her hands. Though she still couldn't identify anything besides splotches of white and grey, she knew what was there: two hearts.

The doctor had informed her earlier today that she was nearly fourteen weeks. And that had scared her. She'd been lucky so far and it was barely noticeable as it was, but she was becoming increasingly aware of the tightness of the waistline of her skirts and pants and she knew without a doubt, her babies wouldn't be able to stay concealed for much longer.

He shouldn't be doing this. He knew that.

When he'd told Betty that he wouldn't go through her things, he meant it and it wasn't something he usually did, going back on his word. But the need to know suddenly overthrew the need to keep a promise. Betty was hiding things and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure her out. Worse, a feeling of dread washed over him every time he tried to dismiss it.

So, he needed to know.

Toying with the idea of time travel since Betty had mentioned it, he'd come up with some plausible theories as to what had been going on. He had, however, nothing that could prove any of it. It shouldn't be possible, after all. He tried to think back to times in his childhood when time travel sims had been mentioned, but they'd never actually had him work on any, because of the huge gaps in any of the theories in existence.

Even the Center had considered time travel as merely science fiction.

Jarod placed Betty's black bag containing all of her DSA's on the coffee table next to his own DSA player. He didn't like this at all, but he didn't know what else to do. He wouldn't be able to do anything until he had enough information to go by. And with Parker pregnant...

He randomly grabbed a few DSA's out of the bag.

Jarod was just hanging his coat on the hook inside the door as a little girl with dark brown locks, wearing white pajamas came sprinting into the room. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" she chanted as she held up a piece of construction paper, "Look what I did!"

His face lit up as he turned toward the source of the excitement. "Hey there, Katie bug." He knelt down next to the small child, engulfing her into an embrace with one arm. "What we've got here?" he asked as he lifted up the paper, furrowing his brow with serious concentration.

Her giggle warmed him instantly. "That's me!" she exclaimed as she used her index finger to point herself on the page. Then she shifted her finger over, "and that's Maggie," she moved her finger once again, "and that's mom!"

"It's wonderful, Katie." He chuckled to himself at the image of his family as stick figures. "That looks just like mom."

"This morning when you said that you missed us while you were at work, I decided to make a picture for you to take with you to work so then maybe you wouldn't miss us so much."

Jarod looked at his daughter for a moment. Sometimes she just blew him away. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Katie bug."

Her face looked hopeful, "So you like it?"

"Like it? Are you kidding? I love it!" He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "I will keep this picture forever."

Parker rolled over in bed, moaning softly at the pleasure of being able to sleep in on the weekend. Before she even opened her eyes she heard a small voice call, "Mommy?"

Smiling, she opened her eyes and looked straight into ice blue eyes that matched her own. "Morning, baby." She patted the open space in the bed next to her.

Without waiting for any further instructions, the small girl tip toed across the cool floor and climbed into the warm comforter beside her mother.

Parker wrapped her arm around her daughter, pulling her closer. She slowly took in the scent of the crisp morning air, the clean blankets surrounding them, and the scent of the shampoo she'd washed her daughter's hair with the night before.

"Mommy? Is Kate with Daddy?"

"Mhmhm. They went to go get us some breakfast. They didn't want to wake you because you were still sleeping."

"Oh."

Mother and daughter laid in silence for a few moments before, "Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

The little girl crinkled up her face. "You think Daddy's gunna bring donuts, again?"

Parker laughed quietly. "Oh Maggie," She kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Let's hope not."

A car door slammed. "They're home!" Maggie exclaimed, jumping out of the bed and rushing out of the room.

Parker shook her head and ran a hand through her hair as she sat up. She stepped over to her bedroom window, pulling the curtain. She spotted Jarod unbuckling Kate from her booster seat in their tan SUV as Maggie came running out. Parker couldn't help but smile, and although she couldn't hear their conversation, she knew Maggie was asking what they'd brought and apparently she was pleased with the answer.

As Jarod set Kate down, the girls ran together and threw their arms around one another. While the girls hugged, Jarod looked up and spotted his wife looking out the window. He grinned at her and waved. 'I love you', he mouthed from where he stood in the driveway.

She bit her lip, smiling like a school girl, and almost inaudibly, she whispered, "I love you, too."

"Uh-Oh!" Betty threw her arms up in the air.

Two little girls, with the same dark hair, stood next to each other in the kitchen chairs bent over a table that was cluttered with arts and craft supplies. The girl on the left pulled down her lower lip, revealing her bottom teeth, and opened her eyes wide. The one on the right threw up two arms, one with blue paint on it, the other with yellow paint on it, and spots of green on each where the paint had gotten mixed, and exclaimed, "Uh-Oh!" mimicking Betty.

Betty chuckled at the adorable little girls. She thought that certainly they were the two most adorable children in the entire world. Of course, she was probably biased, having been with these girls almost every day since they were born, but they were just so darn cute.

"We better get this mess cleaned up, before your mom gets home or she's gunna flip." She told them.

Betty walked around the table and methodically picked up one of the girls, placed her on the ground, then did the same with the next. Even though she knew she would have to clean up both of these girls and their mess, she couldn't help but smile as put her hands down and a sticky, painted hand was placed in each of her own.

"Just getting in?" Parker asked, peering over the rim of the thick brown glasses, in a low, teasing voice.

Betty blushed all the way to her roots and stopped in her tracks. Her forefinger pressed over her mouth, as she directed a "shhhhhh" pointedly at Parker; she looked around to see if anyone else had caught her.

Parker set down the paper she's been reading on the kitchen table she was currently sitting at. "Come," she insisted as she patted the table in front of an open chair, "I want details."

"After I get changed." Betty whispered. Still trying not to wake anyone else in the house, she turned to tip-toe to her bedroom.

"They're not here." Parker called after her. "Jarod took the girls to go get some breakfast. We have a few minutes." She smiled and patted the table once more.

Betty sighed, relieved, then rolled her eyes as she trudged over to the empty seat and plopped herself in it, allowing the strappy heels she'd been wearing the previous night to topple to the tile flooring loudly, no longer trying to be quiet.

"Well…."

Betty rolled her eyes again, but really she was dying to tell everything. She adjusted herself to her seat, preparing to convey every detail and clasped her hands together, "Well," she started energetically, "I was in the middle of dancing with some random guy, when he started making eyes at me."

"What did he look like?"

"Ohhh, he was tall, handsome, distinct jaw line, the most intense green eyes-"

"Then you slowly made your way across the dance floor, never loosing eye contact." She said with sarcastic certainty dripping from every word, at the same time Parker dramatically placed her hand over her heart with a mocking sigh.

Betty pretended to be mad, pursing her lips. "Hey. Who's telling the story here?"

Parker let out a slight chuckle, then sobered her expression, "Sorry, continue."

"Then I slowly made my way across the dance floor, never loosing eye contact." They shared a grin. "We danced all night. He brought me a few drinks," Betty's expression changed from excited to embarrassed, "one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was waking up in his bed." Betty buried her face in her hands, "Oh god."

"Your first one night stand," Parker smiled widely, feigning to wipe tears from her eyes, "I am so proud."

"Parker," Betty whined, "it's not funny. I left a note on a stickie, saying 'Thank You, I had a great time'."

This just made Parker laugh harder. Not even Betty's reproaching stare could make her stop. "Oh, c'mon. It's a little funny, you have to admit."

Betty just stared at her, clearly not amused.

Parker reached over the table, placing her hand on Betty's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "Don't worry honey, it was only your first time. You won't ever see him again."

Betty rolled her eyes, but smiled at Parker's sense of humor.

"Was it any good?" Betty chuckled at her friend's mischievous question, but refrained from answering.

Jarod didn't know what to think of the DSA's he'd just watched. They showed what seemed to be a happy family - his happy family - and he wanted more than anything for this to be real. Doubts lingered, though. It all seemed so impossible, that he was just having too much troubling believing everything Betty had said. Of course, the DSA's would normally be considered hard evidence; nothing spoke as loudly as pictures. But he still held onto his disbelief. None of these events had happened, so how could they be there, clear as day, for him to see? And if the events on these DSAs were going to play out in his future, if they were his future...

Why on earth would Betty have come back?

He didn't want to believe it, didn't want to even think about it. The answer was too obvious, though. Betty would never have risked traveling back in time – and surely that could bring about consequences not even he could properly predict -, if something hadn't gone terribly wrong.

As Jarod carefully placed the DSA's back into Betty's black bag, his hand brushed over a piece of paper, haphazardly pushed inside a pocket on the side of the bag. Having already crossed the line where boundaries were concerned, Jarod had no qualms about picking up the paper and unfolding it. A sharp breath was the only sound to be heard. There, on the construction paper in his hands, were the same stick figures he'd seen in the drawing on the DSA.

A/N: Once again, thank you to those of you who continue to read my story :) And thanks again to Mary, my beta, she does so much for me and this story. Please let me know what you think! -Charlie