The first inkling Parker got of the depth of Michael's abilities came early one morning as she was sterilising bottles. He was in his highchair, fussy and impatient to be released. He was also hungry and once he caught sight of the glass bottles let out a shout of indignation. Like every man worth his salt he preferred to have the nipple of a beautiful woman between his lips and not the manufactured alternative. Parker had begun expressing milk to allow Jarod take some of the night time feeds which were exhausting her. She hadnt had more than four hours uninterrupted sleep in months and she was really beginning to suffer. Tired and irritable Jarod felt like on occasion they had fallen back into their old roles as she sniped at him impatiently and threatened violence. A Prada suit and Manolo Blahniks and he would have been convinced she was going to handcuff him at any moment. Michael began kicking his legs furiously, yes he had Mommy's temper. She kept her back to him as she busied herself with boiling water when one of the bottles exploded on the table close to her. Shards of glass scattered across the floor and she grasped her neck in shock. The baby picking up on her distress began to cry and she crossed the floor in three quick strides to pick him up. She Shhed him softly and pulled out a chair from the table.

"Its ok little man" she soothed and he grabbed her shirt impatiently.

"Alright alright" she relented and pulled open the buttons in defeat. He was hiccuping now, his jaws red, drool slipping down his chin. He already had three teeth and had hurt her once or twice testing them out. She collapsed him onto his back and into her body, allowing him nurse. He stared at her wide eyed almost in apology as he settled into the feed.

"You have to let me get out this house at some point mister" she admonised gently before surveying the glass on the floor.

"Did you cut yourself?" JR had asked when he came in the back door and saw the damage. He avoided looking at Parker, his cheeks colouring somewhat.

"I can read your mind Sport. I was your age once" Jarod had warned him on more than one occasion when he observed JR staring. He had refused to apologise.

"Right back at ya Jarod. You want me to tell her what you think about that blue skirt?".

"She already knows" Jarod had growled smugly and the Major had told them both to 'knock it off'.

"Is there a clone of her somewhere for me?" JR had fired a departing shot at Jarod before hiding in his room.

"A bottle must have slipped off the table" Parker said as she turned her body and the baby slightly away from JR. She could read the kid's mind sometimes and was fully aware of the effect she had on the teenager. She found it hilarious that it annoyed Jarod so much.

"You need to talk to Syd about this I think" she had whispered when they were in bed one evening and Jarod had been complaining about JR.

"I'd rather not think about JR or Sdyney right now Melissa" he said using her name deliberately as he buried his nose in her navel, his thumbs slipping into the waistband of her underwear before slowly pulling them down her thighs.

JR had grabbed a sweeping brush and was sweeping the glass into a dustpan when Jarod and the Major appeared in the kitchen. Parker stood with the baby and went into the living room, Jarod following when he had slipped off his boots.

"Careful where you step Jarod, I haven't all the shards" JR murmoured.

"What happened?"

"One of Michael's bottles fell off the table"

Jarod approached the couch and bent to kiss Parker who had turned her face up to him expectantly. He smiled at this very domestic habit they had fallen into.

He stroked Michael's cheek, grazing her breast with his fingers in the process and she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm certainly in demand in this house" she quipped as she sat the boy up preparing to switch him to the other breast. He offered Jarod a gummy grin of victory before latching on.

"Why do I feel like he's teasing me?" Jarod said as he shrugged off his jacket and made to sit down.

"Don't you dare you stink" Parker warned sticking her hand out across the cushions "and those jeans are flithy, what did you do, wrestle those horses into the stables?".

Jarod sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He did stink. He had been gone since 5am and was exhausted and starving. He bit his lip and resisted the urge to complain.

She could sense his frustration though and admitted "Sometimes it feels like we're playing house and waiting for everything to blow up again."

There it was—the unspoken truth hanging between them. The weight of their past, of the lives they'd led before the ranch, before their son. It wasn't something either of them could escape, even in the quiet moments of domesticity. The Centre loomed large in both their minds, a shadow that hadn't fully lifted.

"I think...I think Michael is more powerful than we could ever have imagined Jarod" she whispered and she watched his eyes narrow and take in the baby who had stopped suckling at her nipple and had slipped exhausted into sleep.

"What do you mean?"

"I think he moved the bottle off the table. We both know he hates the bottle"

Jarod started hard at her not comprehending.

"I think..." she chose her words carefully before releasing a breath. She couldnt believe she was going to say this "I think he thought about getting rid of the bottle and it moved off the table".

Jarod laughed expecting her to follow and when she didnt he began shaking his head.

"You're not serious? You can't...you can't be serious".

"There have been other things too Jarod. Small things...I put them down to my imagination. Sleep deprivation".

"Like what?"

"Like I left the room to use the bathroom when he was doing tummy time this morning ...when I came back he had the Garfield toy. It had been on the couch".

"Telekenesis?" Jarod asked incredulously and Parker closed her eyes tightly.

"I don't know Jarod. I don't know what it is...but we have no idea what his abilities will be...how in the hell are we gonna cope with this when we have no idea what's in store?".

Jarod stared at the sleeping child then his mother.

"You know the CIA carried out experiments in the fifties around this kinda thing. I might try get my hands on the material...on their data. I'll talk to Sydney. See if the Centre conducted their own experiments around it".

When Parker placed Michael in his crib she smoothed her fingers against his cheek. He was already making moves to try and crawl when she placed him on the floor. He was willful, determined, strong. She woudl have no peace she decided until the Centre was finally destroyed. If Michael was as powerful as she suspected he was going to be they would do everything they could to find him. Or recreate him. This thought chilled her to the bone.

Jarod had eaten and was showered when she returned to the quiet calm of their room. As they settled in, brushing teeth and folding clothes, there was a kind of wonder in how ordinary it all felt. For people whose lives had been marked by secrets, surveillance, and stolen moments, this newfound normalcy seemed almost surreal.

She felt bad about scolding him earlier and reached out, dragging her fingernails down the v of his abdomen. She enjoyed his reaction.

"Sorry about earlier. I'm stressed and cranky" she whispered as she maintained eye contact and the slid the inside of her wrist against him. She smiled as he immediatly rose to half mast. He allowed her curl her fingers around him and stroke him to full attention before he grabbed her wrist gently.

"Lie down"

She did as she was told.

With a soft tug, he guided her to sit up, his fingers deftly working on the buttons of her blouse. Each pop echoed in the silence, and Parker felt her heart race as he revealed her skin to him.

"Turn over" he commanded and she grinned before flipping onto her stomach. She sighed in content as he unhooked her bra slowly, carefully, pulling the fabric away from her body and discarding it on the floor. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder blade. His tongue pressing against her flesh.

Jarod's touch was playful, tender, and utterly maddening in the most delicious way. His hands danced along her back with slow, deliberate strokes, his fingers finding pressure points and teasing every inch of her with an almost maddening precision. His fingers stepped into the notches of her spine slowly and she moaned in ran a reverent hand along her hip, tracing the curve of her waist, marveling at her toned legs, the long lines of muscle that had always captivated him. There was an intimacy in the way she lay there, open and trusting, that struck him to his core. He couldn't believe how far they had come. Parker felt the heat pooling low in her belly, a desperate ache that demanded to be satisfied. "Then don't make me wait," she warned, her voice shaking with a mix of anticipation and urgency. "I need you, Jarod."

As if her words were a spell, Jarod shifted his focus, his hands trailing down her sides, fingers tracing the delicate curves of her hips. He lingered, teasingly slow, before slipping his fingers beneath the waistband of her underwear, finding her slick and warm.

"God," he breathed, enjoying the ego boost it gave him when he found her so wet for him

She moaned and he felt the sound travel straight to his groin, her back arching further as his fingers found their rhythm, curling and teasing, coaxing her body into a frenzy.

The air thickened with their shared desire, and Jarod's movements became more urgent. He leaned down, capturing her mouth, deepening the kiss as his fingers continued their work, drawing her closer to the edge. Parker could feel the tension building within her, an electric current that surged with every thrust of his fingers.

"Please," she breathed, her voice trembling. "I need—"

He silenced her with another kiss, the intensity of it consuming them both. His free hand grasped her thigh, lifting it to rest against his hip as he positioned himself, teasing her with the promise of what was to come. She could feel the heat radiating off him, the solidness of his body pressing against hers, and it drove her wild.

"Let go, Parker," he urged softly, his voice a low rumble against her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "Let go for me."

And with that, he entered her in one fluid motion, their bodies colliding with a force that sent ripples of ecstasy coursing through her. The sensation was overwhelming, electric, like a live wire sparking to life. Parker gasped, her body arching instinctively to welcome him deeper, every nerve ending on fire with the connection they shared.

"Jarod," she breathed, the name a prayer on her lips as she felt him fill her completely. The world outside faded even further, the storm a distant echo against the onslaught of pleasure crashing over her.

"Oh fuckkkk," he drawled, his voice strained as he began to move, each thrust powerful and deliberate, sending waves of bliss radiating through her. It always made her smile when she heard Jarod swear. It was almost always reserved for the bedroom and it amused her no end.

Parker felt herself unraveling beneath him, her body responding to him with a hunger she had never known. She wrapped her legs tightly around him, urging him deeper, meeting him thrust for thrust as the storm raged outside. Each movement brought her closer to the precipice, an exquisite agony that ignited her very core.

"Don't stop," she gasped, the words tumbling from her lips as she chased that elusive peak. "I'm so close, Jarod. Don't you fucking stop."

He responded with a low growl, the sound reverberating in his chest as he quickened his pace, his focus solely on her pleasure. "Let go, baby. Let go.". It was 'baby' that did it and she rolled her eyes at herself afterwards. He had gotten into an annoying habit of grinning like an idiot when he made her come so easily and she warned him on several occasions that she was going to smack said grin off his face.

"Miss Parker" he had gaped in mock annoyance "You're actually angry with me for pleasuring you so completely".

"I appreciate the pleasure. Just don't look so pleased with yourself genius".