The Unexpected Guest
Chapter 11
Rated: PG
Spoilers: Season 4
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. You know the drill.
The Unexpected Guest
By Nicky
Chapter 11
"Miss Parker, are you crazy? They're predicting another foot of snow over the next few
hours. If we go to Philadelphia now,
we'd be snowed in for a few days," Broots complains.
"What is this about, Parker?" Sydney chimes
in. He could tell that she desperately
needed to get to Philadelphia. But he
couldn't figure out why.
"Lyle thinks that Jarod's in New Mexico. But my own sources say that he's in
Philadelphia," she explains.
"Where his last lair was. But we checked it out. No
sign of him. Why would he go
back?" Broots asks.
"Who knows. But
we should go there and check it out.
Lyle's up to something. For some
reason he wants us to be on the other side of the country as him. But this time his plan is going to
backfire. Because he won't find
Jarod. We can't let him find
Jarod," she says desperately, trying to hold back her tears.
"What's going on, Parker?" Sydney inquires. "You seemed determined to beat Lyle at
his own game."
"This isn't a game, Syd. Lyle is dangerous. And
unless we want to see Jarod back here dead, we need to find him first,"
she says solemnly.
Sydney looks at her one last time. She still hasn't told him
the whole truth, but he could tell that was as much of an explanation as he was
getting from her. Maybe later she would
open up to him and let him know what was really going on.
The three make plans for their trip and after stopping to
pick up Debbie, Broots' daughter, they head towards Philadelphia. Between the midday traffic and the bad
weather setting in, it takes them twice as long to get there. Miss Parker anxiously looks out the window
the whole time, nervously fumbling with a chain around her neck.
"What's that, Miss Parker? A new necklace?" Debbie asks when she notices Miss Parker
messing with the necklace.
"You know what, Debbie? You're the first person to notice it. I've had it for a couple of months now." She smiles to herself when she thinks back
to when Jarod presented it to her after their brief honeymoon. She wouldn't be able to wear her wedding
ring at the Centre, so instead, it hung on a long chain around her neck. She pulls the whole chain out and shows
Debbie the ring. The little girl's eyes
open wide.
"Wow, Miss Parker.
It's so pretty. It must be from
someone special," the girl says with a little giggle. She watches in awe as Miss Parker takes the
ring off the necklace and slips it on her ring finger.
"It is from someone special. But let's keep that our secret," she whispers to Debbie
before they both burst out in giggles.
"What's going on back there?" Broots asks, peeking
at the two ladies in the back seat of the rented Explorer.
"Nothing, Daddy," Debbie says with another
giggle. "Just girl stuff."
"That's right, Broots.
It's between me and Debbie," Miss Parker adds. "Besides, you should be paying
attention to the road. Our turn is
coming up. You're about to miss
it."
Broots turns his attention back to the road ahead and makes
the turn. He drives down the road
another 15 minutes before a lodge comes into view. The snow starts to fall harder and they barely make it inside
with all of the stuff before it gets really bad.
"This is it," Miss Parker says looking around the
place. "You guys stay here. I'm going to ask the desk clerk if they've
seen Jarod recently. With any luck,
he's still here because of the weather."
"Uh, Miss Parker.
You might also want to check on getting us some rooms. I don't think we'll be getting out of here
any time soon," Broots says. They
all turn to look out the door they just came in. The weather had gone from bad to worse in a matter of minutes.
Miss Parker goes to the front desk and looks over her
shoulder to make sure the others were out of hearing distance before she begins
to question the clerk.
"Excuse me," she says in a low voice. "I'm looking for this man. Have you seen him?" She shows the clerk a picture of her and
Jarod taken on their wedding day.
"Yeah, that's Jarod. He's around here someplace," the clerk replies. He takes the
picture in his hand and looks closer at it and then smiles at Miss Parker. "You must be Allie. He talks about you all the time. And that
baby sure is a cutie."
"Thanks," Miss Parker smiles proudly. "Do you think you can give me the key
to his room? He wasn't expecting me and
I couldn't get a call through because the phone lines were down."
The desk clerk says no problem and gives Miss Parker a spare
key to Jarod's room. He also gets also
gets another room for the others to stay in.
She thanks him again and goes back to where they were standing.
"Okay, I'm in room 114 and you guys are upstairs in
207. Let's go get settled and meet in
my room in about 20 minutes," she orders.
She doesn't give them a chance to respond before turning to walk down
the hall towards her room. She gets to
her door and waits until she sees them get on the elevator before going in.
"Jarod," she calls. "Honey, are you here?"
She takes her coat off and hangs it on the coat rack by the door. Just then, she feels a pair of arms wrap
around her waist. She feels a pair of
lips brush across the back of her neck.
"I'm here," he answers between kisses. "But what are you doing
here?" He gets worried and
suddenly turns her around to face him.
"Are you okay? Is
everything alright?"
"I'm fine. I
just missed you. And I was worried
about you. Lyle's up to something and I
don't know what. We have to be careful
of him, though. He's on his way to
Santa Fe to track you. And he didn't
want me with him," she explains.
"So, we all came up here to . . . "
"We? Who's with
you?" Jarod asks curiously.
"Sydney, Broots, and Debbie," she replies. "Like I said, I don't know what Lyle's
planning. But he's sure you're in New
Mexico. He's going to be pretty upset
when he doesn't find you there. I
didn't want them to be in any danger at the Centre when he gets back."
"That's good thinking.
And we're going to be snowed in for a few days. So that'll give us a little while to come up
with our own plan to take care of your brother." He puts his arms around her and holds her close. They're about to kiss when they hear Kara cry.
"We are going to have to teach that girl some lessons
on good timing," Jarod jokes.
"Why don't you go check on her.
I'll go and get us something to eat for when the others
arrive." He holds her for a few
more seconds and gives her a kiss before letting her go. "I missed you. I'm glad you're here," he says before
walking out the door.
Miss Parker goes to get the baby and brings her into the
front room with her. Instantly the
baby's face lights up when she sees Miss Parker.
"How's my little sweetie?" Miss Parker coos to the
baby. She's playing a little with her
when she hears a knock at the door.
Before she can say anything, she sees Debbie's head poke in.
"Miss Parker?" she asks tentatively.
"Come on in, Debbie.
I want you to meet somebody."
Debbie walks in and is shocked to see the baby on Miss
Parker's lap.
"She's part of that secret I was telling you about
earlier. Her name is Kara."
"Oh, she's so cute, Miss Parker. Can I hold her?" Debbie pleads.
"Actually, I was about to go change her diaper. But, you can come help if you want."
Debbie nods her head excitedly and the two head off into the
other room to change the diaper. Sydney
and Broots arrive a few minutes later and knock on the door. Miss Parker leaves Debbie in the back while
she lets them in.
"Hey you guys.
I'm not quite ready yet. Debbie
and I are working on something in the back.
Why don't you make yourselves at home and I'll be out in a
second." She flashes them a
carefree smile as she skips back to the room.
Broots and Sydney stand there shocked for a few moments,
wondering what was putting Miss Parker in such a good mood. And wanting to know if they could bottle it
and take it back to Blue Cove for use in the future.
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