Coming To Terms
Miss Parker stared down at the sheet in her hand,
numbly, unbelievingly. She should be angry - mad like hell. But she wasn't.
Somehow she'd expected something like this.
"Angel?"
Her father's voice interrupted her musings. Slowly she looked up, meeting his
gaze. After a few instants he averted his eyes, unable to look at her.
"I'm sorry, Angel", he said lowly. "There was nothing I could do
to..."
"Don't", she retorted sharply, icily. "If that's what the Tower
wants, I'll do it. There's nothing more to be said about it."
She put the paper down with a deliberate movement, placing it in front of her
father. Then she turned around and left, ignoring Lyle and Brigitte, whose
pregnancy was visible by now.
***
The fan was slowly humming, as Miss Parker lay restless in her bed. It was hot
in her bedroom, much too hot to sleep. For hours she'd turned from side to side,
and now she felt completely drained.
With a sigh she turned to her right side, then back to the left. Finally, she
gave up, left the bed and padded over to the window. She drew back the curtains,
then tossed the window wide open. For a long moment she just stood there,
bathing in the cool moonlight and looking out, unseeingly. All her thoughts were
focused upon the next day, filling her with fear and tension.
After a while she turned to get back to her bed.
"Sleepless, Miss Parker?" a dark voice questioned, sounding slightly
amused. She froze until she spotted the dark frame she'd half expected to see.
"Trying to give me a heart attack, huh, Jarod?" she gave back in a
mixture of surprise and anger. Without waiting for his answer she went back to
bed, slowly lying down.
"Hm, I don't remember you being easily frightened", Jarod said,
lending his voice a thoughtful tone.
"This is not a good time. Why don't you just leave right now, and I'll
forget that you've been here?"
"Why, aren't you going to drag me right back to the Centre?"
This time the astonishment in his voice seemed to be genuine.
"No. No, Jarod, I'm not. I'm far too tired to do anything but sleep - or
just lie her, for that one."
"Now, no need to be grouchy", Jarod teased. Miss Parker really wished
he wouldn't sound so damn cheerful.
"Save it, whizz kid", she snapped in a weak try to find back to her
usual harshness.
"Oh, you've done better."
She sighed. "Alright, what's it gonna take for you to leave? Do I really
have to call a sweeper team?"
In the twilight she could see him come closer to the bed.
"Why are you so touchy tonight?"
She had enough. "Because it's in the middle of the night, because I haven't
slept one wink yet and because I'll have to go through a T-board tomorrow",
she hissed in exasperation.
Even in the dim light she could see him frown.
"A T-board?"
"Now don't act so surprised. With you having escaped again and me being
responsible for bringing you in this was inevitable. Of course the Tower is more
than annoyed, and of course they'll hold someone responsible. Unfortunately that
someone is me."
"But your father promised you..."
"Yeah, right. Give me a break, Jarod. There's little left of his power, and
he definitely won't use it to protect his daughter. Since when do you trust his
word, anyway? I thought that was my part. You're supposed to remind me of how
little his word is worth."
"What you're gonna do?"
Jarod's calm question caught her cold. She didn't know; at least not for sure.
The memory of the last T-board she'd gone through still was far too vivid.
Though she hated to admit it, she was afraid. There was no one who could protect
her from the Tower. And there was no way to tell what they were going to do to
her...
"I don't know", she answered equally calm.
"You could run away", Jarod offered, only half in jest.
"Mhm, I thought of that", Miss Parker admitted, a bit to her own
surprise. "But they'd probably find me." She smiled into the darkness,
then tried to find a more comfortable position, groaning when her aching muscles
protested. Her lying awake had left traces.
"Sore muscles, huh?" her visitor asked, more sympathetically than
she'd expected.
"Are you just here to gloat?"
Jarod chuckled. "No. In fact I'm here for a different reason."
"And that would be?
"I wanted to talk to you. About Brigitte."
Miss Parker groaned again. "Oh, no. Not her. Whatever you found out about
her - I don't wanna know. Not tonight. I can't take it."
"No news about her. I just thought you might want to talk about the
child."
She sat up, looking at him, trying to read his expression.
"Well, I'm going to be a big sister. Or rather an aunt. What's there to
talk about?"
Jarod sighed. "You just can't help it, can you? Always the cool,
unflappable Miss Parker. You can't allow anyone to see what you feel."
"So that I get hurt again? No way, Jarod. You should know me well enough to
know that."
"Yes, I do know you", he replied very softly, causing her to close her
eyes briefly.
"I'm not in the mood to talk, Jarod. I need to get some sleep, or that
T-board will be much worse than I can imagine right now."
"You won't sleep. Not as tense as you are."
"Thanks for the diagnosis, doctor Schweitzer. I don't know about you, but
I'll try to sleep now."
Ready to put her plan into practice she turned to her left side, turning her
back on Jarod. Her sore muscles caused her to utter a low groan.
"Let me help you, Parker."
"Leave me alone, Jarod."
"Come on, Parker. Don't be such a grouch. What are you afraid of?"
She snorted with contempt. Damn, he really knew how to get at her.
"Nice try." After just a moment, she went on. "Alright. But one
wrong touch..."
"I know, I know. Just relax."
It was astonishingly easy to do just that. Miss Parker turned on her stomach,
closed her eyes and began to enjoy his massaging the tension out of her body.
After a while, already half asleep, she had to voice a question that kept
spinning in her mind.
"Why are you here, Jarod?" she mumbled. "Why are you doing that
for me?"
He brought his lips close to her ear, his hands never stopping to release the
tension in her body.
"You know why, Parker", he whispered.
Yes. Yes, she knew. Smiling, she finally fell asleep, feeling more secure than
she had in a long time.
***
Sydney looked up when he heard rather than saw Miss Parker rush past him.
"Miss Parker?"
He hadn't seen her since the morning, and his feeling told him that something
was wrong. Jarod's mentor rose to follow her into her office. To his surprise he
caught up with her before she'd reached her room.
"Miss Parker!"
The sight of her shocked him. Her face was pale, and she pressed her left arm
close to her body. She ignored him and entered her office, impatiently opening
one of the drawers and rummaging through it with her right hand. The left arm
hang limply by her side.
"Are you alright?" He knew that she wasn't, but he couldn't think of
anything else to say. Miss Parker looked up to throw him a quick glance, then
returned her attention to her search.
"Damnit, where are they?" Her voice almost broke. She slammed the
drawer shut and drew a deep breath. The noise had woken Broots' interest. The
technician entered Miss Parker's office, a worried expression on his face. He
swallowed hard when he saw her.
"Are you okay, Miss Parker?"
With a sigh she let herself fall into her armchair.
"No, I'm not. Oh God, this hurts", she moaned, causing Sydney to
frown.
"What were you searching for?" he asked. She looked up to him, pain
evident in her eyes.
"Pain killers. I've got some in one of my drawers, but I can't find
them."
Sydney nodded and opened another drawer, continuing her search for her.
"What happened to you?" Broots wanted to know.
"T-board", was her only answer. Syd's head snapped up.
"What?"
"The Tower had a few questions, and I was to answer them."
She shrugged her shoulders, wincing with pain at the sudden movement.
Clenching his teeth, Sydney resumed his search, eventually finding what she'd
been searching for. He motioned at Broots to get her some water, then handed her
the glass and two pills.
"Thanks", she said, after swallowing the pills and some of the water.
"May I?" Sydney asked, pointing at her arm. She made a face but
allowed him to examine it. Very carefully he looked over it. Even without
touching it he was pretty sure that the arm had been broken. "What
happened?"
"They broke my arm. Right at the beginning of the interrogation. Just to
let me know that they could." There was bitterness in her voice, but also a
spark of anger. Syd was sure that soon enough the spark would become a raging
fire. "At least they were kind enough to take my good arm."
"Miss Parker, you have to let your arm be taken care of. Why don't you go
down to the infirmary and..."
"No way, Syd. I definitely won't let any of the Centre's freak doctors
touch me. No offense intended."
"Then let me take you to a hospital, okay? You need medical treatment, the
sooner the better."
She rose from her chair.
"Sam can take me there."
Sydney stepped closer to her.
"No. I'll do that." His determination was evident in his voice, and
after a few seconds Miss Parker smiled slightly, cocking her head.
"Fine, then let's go. The sooner I get out of here the better."
They left the Centre and got on their way to the hospital in Blue Cove. None of
them spoke a word, until Sydney had enough and broke the silence.
"Are you alright?"
Miss Parker turned her head to look at him.
"Mhm."
Sydney concentrated on the street, but his professional experience told him
everything he needed to know. He just had to listen carefully to what she said
and especially how she said it.
"How come the Tower didn't want to ask Broots and me some questions?"
he wanted to know.
"Because I'm the one who's responsible. I'm the one who's supposed to bring
Jarod in. Besides, I told them that none of you had any information worth
knowing."
Her strange tone made him look at her, just for an instant, but long enough to
notice that something was wrong. She wasn't at ease, and something told him that
it had nothing to do with her broken arm. He fell silent for a while, then,
suddenly, a realization hit him.
"Your broken arm... that wasn't the only treatment they gave you, was
it?"
He heard her sigh. "No. You know the procedure. This time they could do
without the lie detector. They injected me with..."
"A truth serum?" Sydney guessed. "I wish I'd never known
that."
"And I wish you hadn't asked me so I wouldn't have had to tell you",
Miss Parker replied. She paused for a moment. "You're not going to take
advantage of your knowledge, are you?"
"Of course not", he answered, though he couldn't help but think of all
the things he might find out now. It surely was a big temptation.
"Glad to hear that. I hope the stuff will wear off anytime soon."
"You probably don't happen to know what exactly they gave you..."
"No. They didn't tell me. And I don't really care. All I want is to get
home, where I can be on my own for some time."
"Mhm, I guess so. Just try to relax. It won't be much longer till we reach
the hospital."
Sydney shot her another short glance, trying to ignore all the questions that
demanded his attention. He knew that he simply couldn't ask her, but this was
too good a chance to let it pass by. After all, he only wanted to help her.
"Miss Parker, I...", he said, but then thought better of it and shook
his head. No, he couldn't do it.
"What is it, Syd?" she asked. The softness of her tone made him
realize just how much the T-board had gotten to her.
"Nothing, Miss Parker. I'm... I'm sorry."
He knew she was looking at him, but he didn't return her gaze. There was too
much she would read in his eyes if he did.
They finally reached the hospital, and Sydney felt almost relieved. As long as
there were other people around he wasn't tempted to make her tell him some
truths - no matter how much he wanted to hear them.
***
It was almost an hour later when Sydney parked the car in front of Miss Parkers
Haus.
"Thanks, Syd. Do you want to come in?"
"Sure."
He followed her inside. Her arm was in plaster, and though the examination
hadn't shown any reason to worry, she still looked awfully pale.
...
Main
© 2001 by Miss Bit