Cure For What Ails Us -- Part two

Jarod produced the tea and they sat down at the kitchen table. It was quiet, very quiet in the room while outside the storm raged.

"In answering your earlier question, I've never been more certain."

"Either you're crazy or we both are," she said stifling a yawn.

"Right now, I'm going to be practical, time for bed," he smiled, amused at the slightly flustered look on her face," You are going to get some rest. I have work to do."

He got up from the kitchen table and left her staring into the bottom of her tea cup, she felt restless and strangely unsure of herself, thinking about Jarod and the task at hand. Yet she was too tired to think, her eyes grew heavy, so she rested her head on the table and darkeness engulfed her. Gone for barely a minute, Jarod returned knowing he would find Parker asleep. Gently he eased the tea cup from her hand, lifted her into his arms. He laid her down on the four poster bed and pulled up the comforter to cover her. Glancing in to the portable crib, he readjusted the cashmere blanket around his son, brushed his thumb across his cheek, and switched off the light and made his way back to the living room where his computer was located, as well as the monitor that Parker had brought with her.

******

BACK IN BLUE COVE

Lyle had spent more time than anyone imagined studying the people he worked with everyday. He knew, for example, how much sugar Broots put in his coffee and how long Sydney allowed his tea bag to seep before he removed it from the cup. The most important thing he'd learned was that the teasing and bantering often heard in the Sim Lab where Parker, Sydney and Broots regularly met was nothing more than a smokescreen for the feelings of those three people. They loved each other very much -- in a way, they were their own little family, and he knew that the two men would do anything to help his sister. That meant that all he had to do now was wait and watch.....they would make a move toward her, and he would find her, and then everything would be his.

Lyle's phone rang. He listened, his face twisting into a frown. As he terminated the call, Sydney and Broots emerged from the sim room, talking about the new state of the art satellite communications system the Centre was installing. The look on Lyle's face caused Sydney to stop.

"Is anything wrong Lyle? he was alarmed but refused to show it.

"I have some news to share with you. Both of you." Lyle started to smile. "Your precious lab-rat is dead, Syd. He's lying in a morgue in Los Angeles with two bullets in his back. Now it's only a matter of time before we find my sister and the baby, boys. With no outside help, she's lost."

He laughed out loud and walked away.

Sydney's mobile sounded on the way to his office.

"How did you . . . ?"

"A friend owed me a favor. It was time to collect. Just stick to the plan. It'll work. It's up to you guys now, and Syd, be careful. Lyle won't give up that easy. He's tencious as a pitbull." Jarod switched off the phone.

He sets the phone on the desk next to him and begins to work again. Just then, a sound rings through the baby monitor and Jarod's down the hall in a flash, answering the call of his son. As he tips lightly into the room to avoid waking up Miss Parker, he can see that the little fussy baby was kicking furiously at his blanket. Huge tears streaming down his little red chubby face. Jarod picks up the baby and cradles him gently in his arms. A huge smile spreads across his face as he's filled with the first true surge of joy over his new status as a father. Before when Miss Parker introduced baby Benjamin to him, he was pretty much in shock. But now that he's gotten used to the idea, he's euphorically ecstatic. Happy that he has a son. And that she's his mother.

"What's wrong?" Jarod asks soothingly, trying to calm the little boy down. "Is the storm bothering you? Why don't you come with me. And we can let Mommy sleep."

"Mommy's already awake," she mutters sleepily from across the room.

"I'm sorry," Jarod apologizes quickly, afraid he had upset her. "I was just. . . "

"You're so good with him," she says sweetly and he can see that she's not mad. She turns over on her back and looks at him with utter amazement. "I mean, I waltz in here and shove a baby in your arms saying that he's your son. And you barely even flinch. You've turned into the perfect father in a matter of minutes. How is it so easy for you?"

"A few years ago I watched as someone tried to throw away a baby," Jarod said softly," I pulled him out of the dumpster."

He took a seat on the edge of the baby, with Benjamin cuddling into the crook of his arm.

"Is the son of a. . . . still breathing?" her eyes narrowed.

"Let's just say that his career ended up in the garbage," Jarod replied, as he handed Benjamin to Parker," He's wet, let me get him a diaper."

"You still didn't answer my question?"

"Easy, it has nothing to do with easy, Parker," he resumed his position," It has to do with love. Mine for him, your's for him. There you go, all done."

"I'll rock him back to sleep," Parker said, not looking Jarod in the eyes," How's the plans coming?"

"Let's just say that Lyle now thinks that I'm dead. And that you will resurface once you discover that your only hope for help is no longer available."

"What about Sydney and Broots? This news will devastate Syd."

"Already taken care of, now give me my son, so that you can rest. I would like to spend a little time with him before. . . ."

"Before he's separated from us, again."

"Not for long Parker, not for long," Jarod took the baby, and nestled him in the crook of his arm, as he pulled the comforter up around Parker," Sleep, we have a long day tomorrow. Parker nodded, her hand coming up to cover a yawn.

******

Blue Cove, Delaware

Lyle entered his father's office and found that his father was not alone. Mr. Cox, resident rodent was in attendance. Lyle handed his father the manilla folder that he had picked up from his pretty Asian secretary. He watched as his father scanned the material presented to him and then he handed the folder to Cox. Cox ignored the medical mumbo-jumbo and spread out the morgue photos, staring at them intently.

"Centre operative?" he asked, not looking up.

"No, saves us a few dollars, doesn't it," Lyle chuckled, silenced swiftly by Cox's glare from his ice cold eyes.

"Did the Centre claim the body?" he continued.

"Major Charles beat them to it?" Lyle muttered, " How he found out about it is beyond me? I suppose being in the company of labrat junior helps, sometimes."

"Damn it. If Major Charles managed to located Jarod's body before the Centre sweepers did, what happens if he finds your sister? I want her and that baby found. Send new orders to the sweepers in the field that the bounty on Jarod is null and void and that any one that finds your sister and that baby will be rewarded," Mr. Parker looked up at his son.

"It shouldn't be to hard now. She has no one to turn too. Shall I tell the surveillance team in Maine to stay there? It's been a week and she's made no attempt to contact him, she obviously realizes that he won't be much help."

"That's true, but leave the team in place a little longer," Cox said, glancing down at the chairman," What about Sydney and Mr. Broots?"

"What about them? Timid little church mice, nothing to worry about. I have that covered," Lyle responded and then excused himself.

"It's a pity that we didn't recover his body?" Cox said after Lyle left.

"Agreed, so we need that baby," Mr. Parker replied.

"She won't relinquish him to us, now that she knows the truth about him."

"That's why I ordered Lyle to kill her, once found."

"So with both of them out of the way there is no one to stop you from raising the baby, is there?"

"And groom him to fulfill his destiny as the head of the Centre and eventually the triumvirate."

"Mr. Lyle may object to that?"

"Then I'll remind him of all the screw-ups that he's made."

"Lyle has a following here, I'd be careful."

"His following is minimal compared to my daughter's. She's the one that could jeopardize this whole project. I want her found and eliminated."

"I understand, sir. If you don't mind, I will see that Mr. Lyle has followed your orders."

"And if he hasn't, Mr. Cox, you will." the chairman smiled. Meanwhile neither of them, caught sight of the pair of eyes that watched the scenerio that was occuring in the chairman's office. The eyes belonged to the Centre ferret, the one that knew every secret and could find information that should remain buried. Quickly, the ferret scurried away, for he had work to do, important work. Parker woke in a panic, and her eyes darted around the room. He wasn't there? Where was he? Old fear rose up in her....it was never a good thing when she felt like this, something was definitely wrong. Swallowing down the growing unease inside of her, Parker rose up from the bed and suddenly remembered where she was and why she was there. Had she been that out of it that she'd forgotten? Apparently so, she told herself. He wasn't there, but he was safe. For now, they both where. Reassured, she stretched and made her way through the house in search of the little boy she'd been looking for, knowing she would find him either sleeping or playing with his daddy. Yes, for now, they were safe, but then why couldn't she shake this feeling that something was very, very not right?

******

She made her way to the living room, although early morning, the sky was still covered with dark gray clouds. An ominous way to start the day, she thought. Stopping when she reached the living room, she felt a smile tugged at her lips, even though she still could not shake the feeling of imminent danger. It amused her, there sprawled on the couch was a sleeping Jarod and nestled on his chest was the little boy she was seeking, also asleep. His tiny hand had a tight grip on the neckline of Jarod shirt, while the other seemed to circle his neck. She was going to have a rather difficult time removing him, for Jarod's arms were wrapped tightly around his son, so instead Parker took a seat on the chair next to the two slumbering figures and instead she picked up the folder that sat on the low coffee table in front of her. Her hands started to shake and rage roiled up as she read the first page, 'Bad Man kill daughter' . Parker know understood that feeling that had nagged at her all morning. There was no other way but to destroy them before they destroyed her.

"I didn't mean for you to see that," Jarod whispers, struggling a little to sit up slowly so as not to wake the baby. He finally manages to reach a sitting position without so much as a whimper from the child.

"I didn't mean to wake you," she says with rage still marring her strained voice. "You need your rest too." She looks down at the folder in her hand, but the images are all blurred through her tears. Tears that she refuses to let him see.

He looks down at the baby in his arms, gently wiping at an invisible spot on his chin. Just something to make him look preoccupied. He knew she was crying and wanted to give her a moment with the tears. She couldn't hold them in. She'd drowned if she tried. And as hard as things seemed now, they were only going to get harder for them.

"My father. He's determined to get Benjamin," she finally says after forcing her silent sobs to stop. "And to make him an orphan . . . just like he made me. A baby shouldn't live without his mother."

"And a mother shouldn't live without her child," Jarod says gently, placing his hand under her chin to tilt her head up. He uses his thumb to wipe away a few stray tears remaining on her cheek and gives her a warm smile. "I'm not going to let my son live without you."

"But how can you be sure?" Her big blue eyes fill again with tears, that she desperately tries to hold back. "I'm the one they want dead, Jarod. What if the only way to protect him is for me to . . . ."

"Is for you to what?" he asks with a sharpness that surprises them both. He knows he's not going to like what she has to say.

"If I go back," she says softly.

"No way, no how. Sorry that is not an option," Jarod's voice starts to get a little louder, that his son starts to wiggle and squirm," You and Benjamin are not going back, got it."

"I never said that I would take Benjamin with me," she replied, her eyes taking in her little boy," The way I see it, Cox, Lyle, and Mr. Parker think that you're dead, so . . . ."

"Do you really think that I could just take him away from you and disapear?"

"If that's what it takes to keep him safe. Yes!"

" And you could live like that. Not knowing."

"I'd now he was safe and loved. That's all that matters, isn't it?" she looks into dark chocolate eyes.

"No that's not all that matters. Do you think that if you go back, you can kiss and makeup for taking the baby. Mr. Parker will hand you over to Raines or Cox and then what," Jarod retorts, anger creeping into his voice," Forget it Parker. Just forget." He suddenly shifts his son up to his shoulder, who as since awakened due to the unbearable tension between his parents," We stick to the plan."

"But. . . ."

"No buts, now go get your son's things. We'll eat than go. We have to meet Sydney and Broots tonight. " He watches her start to leave when suddenly he reaches for her hand pulling her back toward them.

"You've lost too much already. Think about how it felt to grow up without your mother, just remember that when you start to think that Benjamin would be better off without you. You are your mother's daughter, don't forget it, not ever!"

******

Blue Cove, Delaware

Lyle stormed into his father's office, anger flashing in his ice blue eyes, as the sought out the man behind the formidable desk.

"How dare you doubt me, sending Cox to checkup on me," he shouted as the door behind him hadn't even closed behind him, sweepers averting their eyes," Just because your precious Angel betrayed you, dosen't mean that I will."

He placed his hands on the sides of the desk, his knuckles on his ungloved hand, white from gripping the glass top tightly. Mr. Parker slowly rose to his feet and leaned himself across his desk, his face mere inches from Lyle's, blue eyes staring into blue eyes. His lip twitched, peeling back to show small white teeth, and then, without warning, he cracked his hand across his son's face, leaving the impression of his fingers clearly outlined against the young man's skin.

"Never question my reasons," he hissed, "never doubt me. It was your stupidity that allowed your sister to discover the truth about the parentage of that baby. I fear for the survival of this family when I am gone."

Rubbing his face, Lyle sank down into the black leather chair, surprise written on his face.

"How did you. . . . ?"

The older man walked across the room to a framed picture that hung on the wall and swung the painting toward him, revealing a small safe located behind it. Swiftly punching in a series of numbers, the small door hissing open. Mr. Parker reached inside and extracted a manilla folder; then returned to his chair and tossed the file on the glass desk top.

"Go ahead open it."

The young man stared at the folder, biting his lower lip until almost bloodless, his hands nervously tapping the arms of the chair.

"I said open it!" Mr. Parker commanded.

With a shaky hand, Lyle reached for and took up the folder, and opened to find one of his old medical reports inside. Grimacing as he read the highlighted words, sterile due to the contracting of mumps as an adolescent.

"I thought I told you to remove all medical references to that from the archives. Why did I bother to go to all the trouble to let her think that you had an affair with Brigette? So she would think that you fathered that child."

Lyle's heart had gone beyond mere pounding: now it threatened to detonate inside him. There were unusual pulses beating all through his body, opening and closing with the sharpness of mechanical claws.

"I did. . . "Lyle vehemently begain to protest, then stopped when he saw Cox enter the room, thin-lips compressed tightly.

He took a deeo breath that seemed to grab into the very pit of his stomach. He shivered.

******

As he packed the black suburban, Jarod shivered from the icy-cold fingers of the probing wind that was blowing in from the water. It was times like these going against the Centre, Jarod sometimes wondered why it was that an intelligent thirty-eight year old man, couldn't seem to break the ties he had to that godforsaken place. Perhaps he wasn't as intelligent as he thought, maybe, there was some kind of short-circut in the wires in his brain, some form of synaptic f***-up, caused by them. Jarod was pondering this, when he noticed that she walked out onto the porch with the baby in her arms, that's when he realized why he didn't break the ties.

"Are we ready?" her voice broke through, interrupting his thoughts,"Jarod."

"All you have to do is strap him into the carseat," he watched as she slowly descended the stairs, avoiding that squeaky second one. Smiling, he walked around and opened the door for her. She strapped Benjamin into the car seat and then took her place up front in the passenger seat. She watched as Jarod climbed into the driver's side and started the engine. A quick scan of the area, proved that they were alone, not a soul or machine in sight.

"Ready, Parker?" he asked turning to look into her eyes, an expression of worry still haunting her," If not just say the word, you can stay with Benjamin and I'll understand."

"No, I'm ready," her voice strong, she turned around and looked into the back of the suburban," This is for him as much as me."

He pulled the suburban out of the graveled driveway and onto the black pavement and turned north.

******

Blue Cove, Delaware

Lyle started to relax, hoping that he would get a chance to explain how he might have overlooked that particular file. Too late, he saw his father's face grow livid and noticed a sudden tensing in his neck muscles. He was considering leaving, when he felt a pair of vise-like hands grip his shoulders and push him down into his chair.

"Leaving so soon," Cox's voice bellowed in rage.

Lyle gasped for breath, feeling the shock of the impact in every bone in his body. "Please," was all he could manage to force himself to say, wheezing as he tried to fill his lungs with air. His vision begain to swim as tiny red dots began to multiplying in front of his eyes. He thought he said "please" before his world dropped out from under him. Lyle awoke, his head aching. He touched the back of his head gingerly, where a small knot was beginning to form. His vision slowly came back into focus, he was laying on a bed in a small cell. Swiveling his legs around so that he could sit sideways on the bed, resting his feet on the floor. Renewal wing.

The suburban cruised the highway slowly, blending in with the early morning traffic. No light could penetrate the tinted glass, protecting the occupants inside. All was quiet. Glancing at his passenger, her silence hardly characteristic behavior. He'd heard the pain in her voice, the fear, and yet here she was with him. The question that plagued him, was for how long?

"Parker, are you alright?"

Parker nodded, a pained smile slowly spread across her lips. She ran her fingers through her shoulder-length dark hair, and then rubbed her temples.

Each muscle in her entire body seemed to be a reservoir of tension and unfortunately she didn't have time for an appointment with her masseur.

The whimpering started slowly. The telltale sign that they were not alone, Benjamin was waking from his slumber.

"He's going to be hungry," she said softly, her eyes gliding down her jaw, trying to work out the tension, unsuccessfully.

"Then we'll stop, stretch our legs, feed Benjamin and ourselves," Jarod said.

"Is it safe to stop?"

"Of couse."

******

Blue Cove, Delaware

Sydney's desk phone rang. Vexed over the interruption, he depressed the intercom button.

"Yes?"

"Sydney, could you come to my office," the voice was that of Mr. Parker's," and bring Mr. Broots with you."

That quickly changed his attitude. He glanced across the room, where he heard a sharp intake of breath from Broots.

"Syd, what. . . why does he want to see us," Broots' heart lurched in his chest.

"Relax, Broots. I've been waiting for Mr. Parker to call. He'll be sending us on wild goose chase regarding Miss Parker."

"Courtesy of you know who," Broots said as a nervous smile twitched at his lips.

"We need to leave here and what better way then with the Chairman's blessing and permission."

"What if he sends someone, like Cox to follow us?" Broots whispered as the two men stepped onto the elevator.

"Cox and Raines are too busy arguing over who gets to torment Lyle," Syd replied.

"So it's true, Mr. Parker incarcerated him on Renewal wing all because he missed that medical file from college when he assumed the identity of Jan Hooper."

"Rather sloppy of him, wasn't it?"

The elevator doors hissed open and the two men stepped out of the metal box and headed for the office they had been summoned too. A sharp rap on the door ellicted a curt "enter", which the two did.

"Sydney, Mr. Broots, seems that my daughter was tracked to a hotel in New York City. I want you to go there now, here's the name of the hotel."

"Of course, Mr. Parker," a sly smile on Sydney's face. Jarod pulls into a rest area off of the main highway. Miss Parker leans over her seat to unfasten Benjamin from his car seat while Jarod walks around to the other side of the car to open the door for them both.

"Thanks," she whispers while holding her son tightly and stepping out of the car.

"Why don't you let me take him," Jarod offers.

"We'll go get a table and you can go get washed up or something."

She smiles as she puts the baby into Jarod's arms. It amazed her sometimes how perceptive he was. He could almost always sense what she needed, although she'd never admit that to him. She follows him into the nearly empty diner and as Jarod heads to a table, she breaks away and goes to the restrooms. A few minutes later, she hears the door to the bathroom open and her heart stops for a minute, afraid that someone had caught up with them already. But her paranoid fears are relieved when two local women begin to speak to each other.

"Did you see that guy? Talk about good looking," gushes the first woman.

"Oh, I know. Definitely the hottest thing to come through here in a while," the second one agrees. "And that baby he has is so adorable."

The fear Miss Parker held earlier quickly turns into a feeling just as equally passionate, but far more dangerous...jealousy. At least, more dangerous for the two women talking about Jarod like he was some piece of meat.

"You think he's married? He has the baby, but I didn't see a ring."

"Married or not. I don't care. He's fine. Besides, what kind of woman would let a guy who looks like that out on his own anyway?" Miss Parker walks from the stall and glares at the two women, an inexplicable anger rising up in her chest.

"The kind of woman who'd do ANYTHING to keep what belonged to her," she growls at them, even more surprised at her possessiveness than they were. She shoots them one more warning glare before washing her hands and walking out of the door. The two women can do no more than stand there frozen, their mouths open in shock. Miss Parker continues towards the table where Jarod was with the baby and was less than surprised to see that the had an audience of adoring waitresses crowded around them. She had to clear her throat to get their attention, causing them all to jump back from the table. She leans down and pries the baby from Jarod, chilling him with the look in her eyes. "Whenever you manage to tear yourself away from your little harem, I'll be in the car with our son."

Writers: Shannon
Michele
Niceole
Trish
Nicky
Shannon
Michele
Trish
Niceole
Shannon
Nicky
Trish
Michele
Trish
Shannon
Michele
Trish
Nicky

Part 3