Endeavoring

December 25, 2000

10 weeks to go.

Christmas Day.

'Merry Christmas, Jarod.' The thought flowed in before Jarod was properly awake and he immediately recognized the source.

'Merry Christmas, Sydney. How are you doing?'

'Fine. Are you okay?'

Jarod restrained the comment that was about to appear in his mind and stopped himself from glancing around the room.

'Jarod?'

'I'm here. I was just...thinking about something.'

'Important?'

'You could say that.'

'Can I help?'

The Pretender sighed, wishing that it were that simple. 'Thanks, but no.'

'Jarod, where are you? Steve won't tell us and you know that, with the current situation, you know that there's no risk from Miss Parker.'

'Omaha.'

'And we're in Charleston. It's a shame we can't see you, today of all days.'

'You can see me.' Jarod projected an image of himself that Sydney had seen so often - the image on the photo that Miss Parker carried around as identification.

'Can't you do better than that?'

Jarod grinned. He sent an image of himself with Zoe in the hot tub as he had seen it in the mirrors that had lined the room’s walls.

'Okay, enough!' Sydney shut his eyes and shook his head to dispel the picture. 'I really didn't need to see that, you now.'

'I thought you'd enjoy it. It's the closest thing to a present I can give you. No, wait, I can give you a better one.'

Jarod conjured up his favorite image of Jacob and pushed it to the forefront of his mind. He heard the rapid and audible intake of Sydney's breath as the image appeared and he saw the tears Sydney mentally began to shed at the sight. Jarod filled his mind with other images of Sydney's parents and family, finishing with pictures of Michelle and Nicholas. Sydney's eyes overflowed with tears and Jarod turned his head away.

December 25, 2000

"Parker. Christmas"

"Is it?" The woman yawned and pulled herself up in bed. She stared at the empath, whose face bore an expressing akin to a child who has hidden the car-keys when you have an early appointment. "What is it, Angelo?" She leant forward. "What's the matter?"

Angelo, still wearing the same expression, placed a hand on her wrist. Suddenly, her mind was full of images and feelings which were not her own. Instead they seemed somewhat distant, as though belonging to someone else. Then, slowly, the abstract manifested itself into something more definite. She could hear voices.

'Thank you, Jarod.'

'You're welcome, Sydney.'

"Sydney, what the hell is going on?" The voice came crashing into the stillness and caused both Sydney and Jarod to jump.

"P...Parker?" Sydney appeared in the doorway to her room, slightly out of breath. "Good morning. Merry Christmas."

'Are you going to tell her?' Jarod's voice asked.

'Do you want me to?' Sydney looked at Miss Parker's face. 'Come to think of it, I think she may know already?'

'Angelo?' Jarod's voice could be heard by everyone. 'What are you doing?'

'I believe the phrase is 'letting the cat out of the bag' '. Sydney grinned as he heard the words echoing in his mind. He had heard Angelo and Jarod 'speaking' earlier and wasn't surprised by the perfect grammar that the empath displayed. Miss Parker, however, glared at him suspiciously.

"All right, who's going to be the first man to tell me what's going on?"

December 25, 2000

'Merry Christmas, Jarod,' a female voice soothed in his mind as he stared out between the bars at the gray sky.

'Is everything okay?'

'Fine. A little boring, but fine.'

'Have you heard anything else from the Centre?'

'Jarod, it's Christmas. Not even the Centre works then. At least, I hope they don't.'

'It's out of your hands now.'

The woman smiled gently. 'It was never really in my hands. My position has only been superficial for years, as you know.'

'Oh, you've had some clout.'

'Not for a while.'

'I know. They blamed you for my disappearance - and the fact that I've hardly been seen since.'

'Still, if I had the chance, I wouldn't have changed a thing.'

'Really? Nothing?'

'If I had changed even one thing, I wouldn't have had the chance to be a mother - or to get to know you and all of the other children at the Centre. That was worth just about everything.'

'I hope you'll feel that way later. This isn't over by a long shot and your part in the whole thing is probably one of the most difficult.'

'I know. But this was never going to be easy anyway,' the woman offered.

'Just as long as you keep that in mind,' Jarod responded, before his lips curled into a smile. 'Well, that and a few other things as well.'

Part 22

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