Jarod woke night about 1:00 am to find his wife never came to bed. He gets up to check on his kids. He finds his wife sitting on Catherine's bed. She is sitting there watching her sleep. The moonlight hits her face, Jarod walks up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. She puts her hand on his. She doesn't look at him.
"I was her age when my mother was killed." she says softly.
Jarod stands there and says, "Yeah, but she still has you."
"She's lucky. I guess." she answers.
"Luck has nothing to do with it." he answers.
Parker stands up. Jarod pulls her close to him. He hugs her. "I was worried about you."
"I'm sorry I was late. I just couldn't come home."
"You didn't go. Did you?" he asked.
"No, I haven't. I guess that is why I am having problems with it." she answers. She takes his hand and leads him out of her room. They walk back into their room.
Jarod says, "Why don't you sleep in her room tonight?" Parker looks at him funny. "You need her like you need your mother."
"Jarod, that sounds silly."
"No, it doesn't." He kisses her forhead. "It's okay." He walks her back toward Catherine's room. He tucks her in bed and bent down to kiss her good night. "I love you." he says.
"I love you too." she answers. Jarod walks out and watches her for a few minutes. She lays there on her side watching her daughter sleep. Catherine rolls over to find someone in the bed with her. She rubs her eyes. "Mommy." she says.
"Yes." Parker answers lowly.
"What are you doing in here?" she asked.
"I miss you." she answers.
"Oh." Catherine answers. She lays her head back down on the pillow. Parker wraps her arms around her and hold her tight. They fall asleep.
*********
The next morning Jarod comes in there. He wakes Catherine for school. As she gets ready Parker wakes to find her gone. "Catherine." she says.
Jarod hears her and comes in there. "She's getting ready for school. I was just coming to wake you." he says.
She looks at the clock. "I'm going to be late." She jumps from the bed and heads to their room to get ready.
"Relax. You have plenty of time." he answers as she dresses. She doesn't say anything else. "Why don't you spend some time with her today and talk.a It will do you both some good." he adds.
She looks at him. "Jarod, I'm late. Not now." she says as she gathers her things. She kisses them bye and leaves. She drops Catherine off on her way in to work.
**********
Parker is sitting at her desk. Broots enters. "Parker."
"What Broots? I'm busy." she answers.
"Well...I need to...uh...can I..."
"Spit it out, Broots. I don't have all day." she says as she looks up and can tell he is nervous about something.
"I was wondering if you could talk to Debbie for me."
"About waht?" she answers.
"Well, she has discovers boys." he says lowering his voice.
"Oh. Yeah. Sure I will talk to her." she answers. She could see a relief in his face. "I will pick her up after school." she said.
"Thanks." he answers. He leaves.
Her phone rings. "What?" she says angrily.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to check on you." the voice says on the other end.
"Oh, Jarod. I'm sorry. I am trying to finish up some paper work from this project. What do you want? Is everyone okay?"
"Everything is fine. I wanted to see if you would come home for lunch."
"I don't know. I'm busy."
"Okay, sorry to have bothered you." he says as he gets ready to hang up the phone.
"Wait." she says. She could tell the disappointment in his voice.
"What?"
"I would love to come home. I will see you then." she answers. He smiles and hangs up the phone.
*********
Noon, Parker goes home. "Jarod." she yells as she enters the house.
"I'm in here." he yells back.
She finds him in the living room. "Okay, I'm home. What did you want?"
"I wanted you to come home. I haven't seen you in a while." he answers. He kisses her.
**********
Parker returns to work after lunch. She heads down toward the vending machine. Sydney sees her and follows her.
"Parker, I see you made it back. How was lunch?"
"Fine."
"What are you doing?" he asked. As she was standing there in front of the machine looking in it.
"Trying to decide what I want."
"I thought you went home for lunch."
"I did. Now, I'm hungry." she says.
"oh. I see." he says. Parker gets a bag of chips and coke and walks back to her office. Sydney follow her back.
"Is there something I can do for you Syd?" she asked.
"Oh. No. I just wanted to see how you are doing."
"Don't tell me Jarod told you." she said as she went to her desk and sat down.
"Jarod...uh no. He didn't tell me anything. Why?" he asked confused.
She looks up at him and says, "Nothing. Nothing is bothering me."
"Parker, you have to let it go." he says.
"Syd, I can't." she answers.
"Are you still having the nightmares?"
"Not as often."
"Can I ask you something?"
She looked at him and rolled her eyes. "What?" she said hastin.
"Where you having them before you returned?"
"No." she answers softly.
"That is the problem." he said.
"I'm really busy here, Syd. Do you mind?" she said as she looked up at him. He knew it was time to go. He turned to walk out. "Parker, you know I am right." He left.
Parker went back to her work.
**********
Parker went to get Debbie after school. They had a nice long talk before she took her home. When she got home, Catherine met her at the door.
"Hi mommy." she said as she smiled. Parker looked down at her. She could see her mother's smile.
"Hi. Did you have a good day at school?"
"Yeah. I have something for you." she handed Parker a note.
Parker read the note and said, "Why do I need to see your teacher?"
"I'm not in trouble." she said.
"Then, what?" Parker asked.
"I get bored, mommy. I can't help it. I know all that stuff."
"Honey, I know you probably do but you need to pay attention in class."
"But..mommy."
"No buts about it." Parker answered.
"Mommy, what is bothering you?" she asked.
Parker just walked off leaving her standing there. Catherine followed her. "Mommy." she said.
Parker turned and faced her. "Come on." Parker took her hand.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"I will show you." she said as they got in the car. Parker drove up to a cematary. She took her daughter's hand and they walked up to a grave side. "Catherine, this is your grandmother. She died when I was your age."
Catherine looked up at her. Not saying a word. Parker continued, "I used to come here every year on the day she died. I would sit down and talk to her."
Catherine looked at the dated on the tomb stone. "That was yesterday." she said.
"Yeah." Parker said softly. A tear started to form in her eyes. She bent down to her daughter and said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her."
She hugged her mother. "It's okay. What happened to her?"
"She got killed." she answers.
"Oh." she answers softly. "Is this your dad?" she said as she pointed to the grave beside hers.
"Yes. You don't remember him. Do you?"
"A little. I remember he would come over and you would fight."
"I'm sorry about that."
"I'm glad we have someone like daddy." she says.
"Me too." she answers. "Come on. We better get home. Daddy will be wondering where we are." They walk off. Catherine takes her mother's hand.
**********
They arrive at home. "I was wondering where you two were. I called Broots and said you dropped Debbie off a while ago."
"I'm sorry. I had to talk to our daughter." she says. Parker goes into their room.
Jarod follows her. "Are you going to be okay?" he says.
She looks up at him and says, "Yes. Everything is going to be fine." She gives him a kiss.
**********
Later in the evening, Jarod finds Parker in Catherine's room again. He walks up to her. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Watching her sleep. Do you get Kyle and Sydney to bed?"
"Yeah." he answers.
"I'm sorry I didn't help." she replies.
"It's okay. You have to sort some things out right now." He takes her hand. "Come on, let's go to bed." He lends her out. They go into their room. They climb in bed. Jarod puts his arms around her. "I love you." he says. He kissed her lips.
"I love you too." she says. They fall asleep.
The End!