Dedication: to Jasmine my love, who's beauty is only matchedby her wit.
 

The first day.
Blue Cove, Delaware.
Miss Parker's bedroom.
0200 hours.
 

Jarod smiled happily at the figure lying in the bed below him. She lookedvery innocent and peaceful when asleep, and he almost regretted the factthat what he was about to do would make her very pissed off at him. Almost.He almost regretted it. Smiling to himself, he threw some of her clothesinto a bag along with her cigarettes, gun and Pepto-Bismol. Then, aftermurmuring a quiet apology to her sleeping form, he slipped a hypodermicneedle into her arm. After all, he didn't want her to wake up and spoilthe game. With that, Jarod grabbed the bag, and the still sleeping MissParker wrapped in a blanket, and headed for his car.

****

Somewhere in Nevada.
Mulder's motel room.
1400 hours.

Scully lay on Mulder's bed, happily munching on a slice of Pizza. Theirlatest case had proved to be a wild goose chase, with a man that had wantedattention and fame, not genuine answers. Answers which Mulder would havebeen only all to happy to search for.

"You want some pizza?" asked Scully around a mouthful of peperoni.

"No thanks," replied Mulder, "I'm going to finish this report. Skinner'sgonna hate it when he finds out it was all a ruse."

"Well, it was you who dragged us down here in the first place, so don'tlay any of the blame on me." Said Scully, finishing off the last of herpizza before she continued, "I'm going to go to the store next door andget us a drink, be right back."

****

Same time.
Somewhere in Nevada.
Joe's Grocery's.

Jarod finished paying for the motel room, checked on Miss Parker thenwent to the shop to pick up some supplies. Cruising the shelves, he pickedup some aspirins (Parker would have a killer of a headache when she wokeup), some bottled water and some Pez, as well as an assortment of generalfood items. Walking to the counter, he watched as an attractive woman ina business suit paid for her bottle of coke then turned, staring curiouslyat the prone form of Miss Parker, asleep in his convertible. Jarod followedher gaze, then smiled at her.

"Is she O.K.?" asked Scully, concern written all over her face.

"She's fine," replied Jarod, still smiling, "she just, uh, didn't getmuch sleep last night ...we're on our honey moon." Jarod kept smiling,then, after winking suggestively at the now smiling woman, paid and left.

"Cute," muttered Scully, then left.

*****

Jarod's motel room.
 

"Miss Parker.... oh Miss Parker... time to wake up now....Jarod's escapedthe centre..." Jarod couldn't help but grin as Miss Parker, still halfasleep, swore violently and reached for her gun, only to find her handswere restricted by handcuffs.

"Jarod, why do I get the feeling that your behind this?" asked MissParker, without opening her eyes.

"Maybe because I'm the only one that would bother to tie you up thenwake you gently?" whispered Jarod right near her ear.

"Yeah... somehow I couldn't imagine someone from The Centre doing that.."she mumbled as she stretched slowly, pulling at the handcuffs before staringup at Jarod.

"So what is it this time, Wonderboy? I know you have to have some reasonin that twisted little head of yours for kidnapping me."

"I just thought we'd have a little chat," smiled Jarod as he reachedup and undid the cuffs that trapped both hands, only to snap one side backonto the headboard.

"Couldn't we have done that back at The Centre, with you safely underlock and key?" growled Miss Parker, rubbing her free wrist.

"Nice try Parker, I just thought it would be safer from my point ofview if you were the one under lock and key when we talked."

"Yeah, well, not for long ratboy," hissed Miss Parker, trying to situp, then groaned as her head protested, "got any thing for my headache?Or didn't the genius think ahead as far as some aspirin?"

Jarod chuckled, then reached into the bag on the floor beside him andpulled out the aspirin and bottled water he'd bought earlier.

"I guess I really am a genius then, aren't I?" he murmured, then wincedin sympathy as she closed her eyes in pain for a moment before swallowingthe pain killer. Miss Parker opened her eyes again, and looked around thesparsely furnished room for the first time.

"Quite the happy little campers then, aren't we?" she muttered, stilllooking around. Off to the left was a door she could only assume led tothe bathroom, next to the bed was a table with a phone on it, disconnectedto provide access for Jarod's modem, which lay next to his computer ona small table in the corner of the room. More importantly, though, thecase which contained the DSA's lay next to it. Miss Parker's eyes dartedfrom the case to Jarod, then back again, licking her lips as she thoughtout her options.

"Always got your mind on the job, don't you Parker?" Jarod asked a littlesadly.

Miss Parker ignored him, and went back to studying the room, when shenoticed a open bag sitting in the corner, filled with what looked likeher clothes. CLOTHES! Miss Parker looked down, angered to find herselfstill in her favourite black nightgown.

"Jarod! The least you could do was allow me the decency of some properclothes!" hollered Parker, even more infuriated by the sheepish grin onhis face.

"But Parker, you were out cold...I would have had to undress you todress you," said Jarod, putting on his best "don't blame me, I'm innocent"voice, "come on, here's some clothes, let me uncuff you and you can changein the bathroom. And Miss Parker, don't even try and thinking of escaping,there's no window's in there you can crawl out of." said Jarod, undoingthe cuffs, throwing her some clothes and leading her to the bathroom doorso he could stand guard outside. Miss Parker glared at him and slammedthe door shut behind her.

****

After, a while, Jarod was just about to go in and get her, decent ornot, when he heard a loud thump and a groan from the room. Concerned onlyfor her welfare, and fearing that she might still have been feeling theeffects of the drug he had injected, he didn't stop to think as he burstinto the room, prepared for the worst. Upon finding an empty room, he realizedhis mistake just as he felt a swift blow to the head. Falling back, hepulled out Parker's gun which he had shoved into the waist band of hispants, only to have that kicked out of his hands by a very angry Miss Parker.She lunged for the gun as he grabbed her around the waist, slowing herdown but not stopping her from grabbing the gun in one hand. He rolledher over, pinning her with is greater body weight, and reaching up withboth hands, trying to wrestle the gun from her hands as she tried to aimit at him.

*****

Mulder's motel room.

Mulder and Scully were just discussing who would be driving on the wayback to the closest airport the next day, even though Skinner didn't expectthem back for another week, when a shot rang out. Instantly they were bothon their feet, grabbing their guns and badges before racing next door,where the sound came from. Kicking open the door they both entered in automaticFBI mode, guns drawn and yelling for the occupants of the room to freeze.Scully recognized the man from the store, now crouched over the woman whohad been in the car, who was bleeding from the head. Scully also noticedthat it was not him who was holding the gun, but the unconscious womanon the floor.

"Good start to a honeymoon," muttered Scully, earning a questioningglance from Mulder,"all right freeze! FBI! Get up and away from your wifeand up against the wall!" yelled Scully. For a moment the voice didn'tregister in Jarod's brain, as he knelt in shock over Miss Parker, beggingfor her to wake up, to be all right, to say something demeaning to himwith an angry look on her face. When she moaned he couldn't help but pullher into his arms, rocking her against his body as he whispered endearment’sto her. It wasn't until Scully repeated herself for the third time thathe actually noticed that someone else was in the room.

Laying his precious burden gently on the floor, he slowly stood up,only then realising what had sounded so wrong about the words being yelledat him.

"Wife?" he asked in confusion, and only when he had cleared the tearsout of his eyes with his hands did he understand that one of the FBI agentsstanding there was the one in the store.

"Didn't think so...Mulder, can you take care of him? I'm going to lookat her head," said Scully, already kneeling down over Parker. Mulder foundhimself suddenly gunless and slammed against the wall as the extremelyenraged larger man fought his way to the still unconscious woman, pushingScully out of the way and scooping her up in his arms and carrying herto the bed, where he carefully lay her down.

"Don't touch her!" growled Jarod. His voice roused Parker, who moanedagain.

"Frankenboy?," Miss Parker giggled slightly," my hero..." she trailedoff before passing out again. Jarod stroked her hair away from her face,all the while whispering to her that everything was fine, nothing couldhurt her.

"Sir, I'm a doctor, please would you let me look at her?" Scully's voiceseemed to break Jarod out of his reverie and he looked at her blankly fora moment before comprehension dawned.

"What? A doctor...yes..I was one once..I'll help, just let me get myfirst aid kit out of the car.." mumbled Jarod making to rise. Mulder, whoby now had caught his breath and recovered his gun, raised it now.

"Not so fast, you're staying right here until we figure out what's goinghere" said Mulder. Jarod gave him a long stare before talking quietly.

"As long as you have her, I'm not going anywhere."

Mulder considered this for a long moment before looking at Scully. Shenodded, and Mulder indicated with his gun for Jarod to go. A few minuteslater he came jogging back in, kit in hand, and knelt on the bed next toScully.

"She'll be fine," murmured Scully, taking some swabs and iodine fromthe kit and cleaning the wound," the bullet only grazed her, but she'llwake up with a big headache."

"She already had one," replied Jarod, and at Scully's confused facecontinued," she'd been drugged..."

"That might explain that then," said Mulder, gesturing to a small bruiseon Parker's arm, "and I think you'd better explain. You obviously didn'tshoot her, and I seriously doubt she's suicidal, so what exactly happened?

"It's a long story" sighed Jarod, when a new voice intruded.

"Tell anyone anything, Lab rat, and I'll shoot you myself.

"Miss Parker, good to see you as your normal, cheerful self." Jarodmurmured, smiling down at her. She smiled back, then struggled to sit upas Mulder and Scully directed bewildered looks at each other at the contradictionspassing before them.

"Jarod...I don't suppose you happened to bring my Pepto-Bismol?"

"Way ahead of you there Parker," Jarod leaned down and rummaged in thebag next to the bed, then pulled out some items, handing her the medicine,which she took a gulp of, "and I thought ahead a bit as well. It's no Getwell card, but somehow I think you'll like this better." and with thatJarod handed her the pack of cigarettes he'd grabbed from her room anda lighter from his pocket. Miss Parker's eyes lit up.

"My hero Genius," she said then sighed contentedly as she lit up andinhaled, "heaven!"

"I hate to interrupt...but would somebody like to tell us what happenedhere? And why these were involved?" asked an exasperated Mulder, holdingup Parker's gun and Jarod's handcuffs. Miss Parker and Jarod looked ateach other, then looked back at the two FBI agents, then both shook theirheads.

"No way lawboy, classified information!" hissed Miss Parker, givinghim her iciest "holier-than-thou" look. Taken aback, Mulder looked imploringlyat Scully, who rolled her eyes at him.

"All right then," replied Scully, taking out her mobile phone, "I guesswe'll just have to call for some back up."

"NO!" yelled Jarod, thinking of The Centre's eyes everywhere.

"Awww too bad Jarod! Who's afraid of the big bad Centre?" Cooed MissParker, a smirk on her face.

"The Centre?" asked Mulder, perking up a bit, "you guys are involvedwith the Centre?" Jarod chuckled.

"You could say that. Looks like we found ourselves a believer Princess!"he said, nudging Parker with a look of pure delight on his face, much toher annoyance.

"I've heard so much about it, but I've never met anyone actively involvedwith it....that is, that wasn't dead at the time," said Mulder, lookingmore exited by the minute, "wait a minute...Parker...You're one of theeParker's?!? Scully we've run into something BIG!!"

"Mulder calm down and try to keep your hands out of your pants...whatexactly is The Centre?" questioned Scully.

"The Centre is a company that isn't meant to exist, doing things thatdon't exist. They have they're finger in every pie you've ever heard of.And it's number one client? The very government which I've been tryingto expose all these years!" Says Mulder excitedly, while Parker sits andfumes. Just her luck for Jarod to drag her right into the hands of someobsessed vigilante for the imaginary innocents. The only innocent she knewwas Jarod, and even he wasn't that innocent any more, thanks to that slutin Oregon, Nina or whatever her name was.

"Very good Mr. Mulder...perhaps you and I have a little more in commonthan I had first thought..." murmurs Jarod, keeping his eyes on Miss Parker'sdisgruntled expression.

"And what exactly do you have against the Centre?"

"You might say I have...a little bit...of a grudge against them." Jarodreached up to check if Parker's bandage was secure enough, only to havehis hand slapped away.

"OK boys enough chit chat, give me the handcuffs and give me back mygun, I'll take Monkeyboy here and that case," she said, nodding towardsthe DSA's, "and we'll be on our merry way, and you two can go back to playinghouse in your nice ordinary lives!"

Miss Parker was quite proud of her icy approach, even though she feltlike shit, until the two FBI agents started laughing. After deciding itmust all be Jarod's fault, she lit another cigarette and sat back to glareat the world in general.

"I'm sorry Miss Parker," said Scully in a tone that was nowhere nearsorry, "but you're in no condition to go anywhere. And I am certainly notgoing anywhere until I find out why you were shot, why there are handcuffshere that were obviously used on you from the looks of your wrists, andwhat this all has to do with the Centre!"

****
 
 
 

Feedback is nice but not entirely neccasary, I got lotsa feedback thelast time I did this<g>. kitty_amazon@yahoo.com
 

Part 2