Broots sighed as he looked at the photograph of his daughter sitting on his desk. Gently, he lifted the photo and touched the glass adoringly. She had the same blond hair as her mother and the brightest green eyes he'd ever seen. Debbie was his life.

"Debbie's new school picture?" Miss Parker inquired, leaning over the tech for a better look.

Broots expected some sort of disinterest in Miss Parker's voice, as was common, but he was surprised to detect none. "Uh, yeah." He answered, lifting up the picture so she could get a better view.

"She's getting so big."

"I know!" He couldn't help the smile from touching his lips. "She started high school this year."

"She's absolutely beautiful, Broots." She sounded nothing if not sincere.

Miss Parker was genuinely amazed at how quickly little Debbie was growing up. For a moment, she fleeting wondered if her children were going to grow up so fast, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind; she couldn't afford to worry about that right now. Her attention returned to Debbie's picture.

The corners of her mouth turned upwards as she noticed that Debbie's hair was slightly tussled and her green eyes beamed up at the camera. She has her father's innocence, that's for sure, Miss Parker thought as she stepped away from the tech.

Innocence, she thought again, and immediately her thoughts flashed to another young blond.

"Miss Parker, was there something you needed?"

Broots' question brought her back to the present. "Oh, I uh, I just had an epiphany."

Then Miss Parker abruptly turned on her heels and exited the office, leaving the tech to ponder Miss Parker's continuously strange behavior.

Upon entering the hallway, she practically ran into Sydney.

"Oh good, Miss Parker, I was just looking for you."

"Not now, Syd."

"Miss Parker, we need to talk."

She looked him in eyes with one of her infamous glares. "I said not now, Sydney."

And breezed past him as he stepped aside, resigned to the fact that now was clearly not a good time to talk and wondering if such a time would ever come.

Miss Parker came flying into her home, startling Jarod who just happened to be walking by the door at that very moment.

"Where is she?" Parker growled before Jarod even had the chance to question her.

"Betty just went up stairs."

Parker continued to storm through the house and up the stairs.

"Debbie!" she called.

Debbie? Jarod wondered if he'd heard her correctly. "Parker?" he called after her.

She threw the door open to the upstairs study and found a young blonde sitting in a chair, reading.

All the young blond had to do was glance up at Parker and suddenly everything flooded back to her at once.

Parker was lying on the couch fighting off the constant nausea and a burning desire to trust the girl sitting across from her while she told Parker about losing her father as a teen and the nice family that took her in.

Over a month later, Parker was shoving a gun into her chest, while still finding the girl with child-like green eyes and her hair being thrown up haphazardly endearing while gaining her confession about Tempus.

Broots saying he felt as if Betty reminded him of Debbie.

Betty showing her the DSA of herself telling Jarod to trust Betty.

It was just too much to ignore.

Her anger at being fouled soon dissipated and Parker's eyes watered, a strange and unnamed emotion overtaking her senses as she stared at the young lady before her. Almost in a whisper, "Debbie Broots."

The girl in question didn't say anything. Setting down her book, she looked back up at Parker to reveal her own tearing eyes, proof that Parker wasn't the only one affected.

"We were the family that took you in." Miss Parker stated. It wasn't a question.

A tear slid down her cheek.

"You came back to save your dad." Parker didn't state it as a question, nor as an accusation; she of all people would have understood such strong motivation.

"No." Debbie answered firmly. She rose off the chair to be even with Parker - well sort of, Parker was a bit taller. "I came back to save your family. If there was a way to save him in the process, I'd love to be able to, but that's not why I came back." Her voice trembled.

Parker reached out and hugged the girl, surprising herself with the sudden expression of emotions.

"I just have one question," Jarod said, having observed the entire scene from the doorway, "if you're Debbie Broots, why do you go by Betty?" Parker pulled slightly back, curious herself.

"It's what I've been going by since my dad died, since- well, since I moved in with you guys."

Both Jarod and Parker looked confused. Jarod couldn't resist asking, "Why?"

"Betty!" a tiny brunette wadled over. The blonde looked down at the toddler and smiled, "Good morning, Kate." She said as she scooped her up.

Parker walked over, looking the Kate in the eye, "Can you say Deh-bee?" she asked her daughter, pronouncing Debbie's name phonetically.

"Beh-tee!" Kate repeated, trying her best to imitate her mother.

Betty just laughed. "I don't mind, really. It's kind of cute."

Betty shrugged, focusing back on the present.

"The girls couldn't say Debbie when they first started talking, so everyone started referring to me as Betty and eventually it just stuck."

Parker placed her hand on her little belly, suddenly knowing that she was going to like being a mother. A smile crept its way into her face. And as Jarod looked over at Parker, the smile on his face matched hers.

But reality suddenly hit Jarod again and he was worried for Parker's safety in that place. "You said you were going to tell us tonight why we can't get Parker out of the Centre yet."

Parker glared at Jarod, furious with him for ruining this moment for her, but he was right, this was something that needed to be dealt with.

Betty nodded. "Okay. Well, for starters we need someone inside the Centre. Someone has to keep tabs on what Lyle's doing." She turned to Parker, "I'm really sorry I blew my cover, the plan was for you to get out and I was to report to you, but now that's clearly not an option."

"And who made this plan?" Jarod asked.

"Parker and I did. She remembered that Mr. Parker had told her that he was giving a young girl a job as a favor to her father, who was a business associate of his or something, but the girl never showed. It turned out the girl had gone missing or something but we never found out exactly what happened to her because Parker left right after she found out that she was pregnant.

Anyhow, since I'm now on the Centre's hit list, there's no way I can just waltz in there and look up classified information. And it's not like you can go either Jarod because they would definitely recognize you too."

"But that still leaves the safety of Parker and our daughters in question. Is Tempus really all that important?"

Betty's whole demeanor changed. She suddenly reminded Jarod of Miss Parker when she was angry. "Tempus is everything. At this point, whether Parker stays or leaves, they're going to find out that she's pregnant. And those girls, Parker, and even you, Jarod, are not safe while Tempus is still in operation."

The sharp breath Parker took in at Jarod's name did not go unnoticed by Jarod.

A/N: I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I've worked really hard on it and have been back and forth with my beta over this one. I also have the next chapter almost completely finished, so hopefully I'll be able to post it very soon.

Thanks so much,
Charlie