The Unexpected Guest

Chapter 16

Rated: PG

Spoilers: Season 4

Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. You know the drill.

 

 

The Unexpected Guest

By Nicky

 

Chapter 16

 

 

 

A dark day.  The thick clouds overhead, hiding the sun.  They soon open up and pour down a torrential shower.  But he just stands there.  The tears on his face the only wetness he notices.  A single rose falls from his hand and lands on grave.  The grave burying his heart.  A heart he only recently realized existed.  A heart that didn't beat until she touched it. 

 

"Parker," Lyle cries suddenly, sitting up from the disturbing images flashing through his mind.  The dreams were getting worse.  Because now, the pain belongs to him.  He's the one in mourning.  Because she's the one who's gone.  He knows now that he couldn't bear to feel the kind of pain he was feeling in that dream.  The pain of losing her.  Of losing the only good thing about his life.  They just found each other.  And he didn't want to lose her.  He couldn't lose her.  Or else, he'd lose himself.

 

His movements from sitting up are too quick and he ends up sending a bolt of pain shooting through his body.  His head ached where he hit it against the wall.  And his shoulder throbbed where the bullet struck.  He slowly lays his head back down and tries to look around.  He sees that he isn't at the apartment building anymore.  And then it all comes back to him.  How he woke up and weakly made his way over to Miss Parker's house.  But the last thing he remembers is passing out at the door.  She must have found him, he hopes to himself.  And brought him in and fixed him up.  How else could he explain how he got in this room with his wounds cleaned and bandaged?

 

He slowly and painfully makes his way to his feet, holding on to a chair next to the bed for support.  He feels a wave of dizziness come over him and waits a moment until the room stops spinning before he continues out the door.  He suddenly had a renewed hope that she was alive and well and waiting in the other room for him.

 

The house is quiet as he's walking through.  He comes to another door at the end of the hallway and peeks his head in to see if Miss Parker is in there.  What he finds instead is a nursery.  Decorated in light pinks and yellows.  Cute little bunnies danced around the walls and stuffed ducks lay in a rocking chair in the corner.  Small diapers and clothes filled the drawers and a light, powdery scent hung in the air.  In the midst of it all was a little girl, lying in a crib.  She was sucking her thumb, but gave a slobbery smile at the new face staring down at her.  He couldn't resist going closer, her big, round blue eyes drawing him in.  Her smile was infectious and he too soon found himself grinning back at her.  He was standing right by the crib now, entranced by the little angel laying before him.  He reaches out his hand to grab the outstretched hand she was offering him when he hears the familiar click of a gun being pointed in his direction.  He turns around slowly and finds himself face to face with Jarod.

 

"Get away from her," he growls.  "Get away from my daughter."

 

Lyle stares at him in shock for a moment, trying to process and understand what's going on.  But the gun pointed at him gives him all the understanding he needed at that moment.  He moves away from the crib, being careful not to make sudden movements around the man with the itchy trigger finger.

 

"You've got 10 seconds to explain what you're doing here," Jarod threatens.  "Why did I find you bleeding to death on the front steps?"

 

"I honestly don't know.  I'd been shot. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up here today," Lyle explains.  "But, what are you doing here?  In my sister's house?  Guarding a baby you're calling your daughter?  Are you the one who bandaged me?  Where's my sister?" Lyle asks frantically when he realizes Miss Parker wasn't at the house.  She wasn't the one who found him and bandaged him.  She was still missing.

 

"Wrong answer.  I'm the one with the gun.  I'm the one who gets to ask the questions," Jarod says, waving the gun around to make sure Lyle knows who's in charge.  "Why were you shot?"

 

"I was trying to protect my sister," he says quietly.  He notices the panicked look in Jarod's eyes and suddenly realizes there's more going on with Jarod and Miss Parker than anyone realizes.  His father was right about the bond between the two.  But he could never have guessed how deep the bond was.

 

"Protect her?"  Jarod asks, his voice starting to betray his false bravado.  "Where is she, Lyle?"

 

The two men stare each other down, trying to figure each other out.  Trying to see what the other's intentions were regarding Miss Parker.  Lyle looked at Jarod and it almost broke his newly developed heart at what he saw.  He saw a man agonizing over the loss of the woman he loved.  Jarod was more surprised at what he saw when he looked at Lyle.  He saw that Lyle was truly worried about his sister.  But most of all, they both saw in each other someone they could trust for the moment.  They saw that they HAD to trust each other.  For her sake.

 

"I don't know where she is," Lyle replies finally.  He notices that the news is devastating to Jarod.  And at that moment, he knew for a fact what Jarod felt for his sister.  "You love her, don't you?"

 

"Yes," admits Jarod.  He didn't see any reason to lie to Lyle about it.  Because for some reason, he could see that Lyle felt the same way.  "And so do you.  Don't you?"

 

"That took me by surprise, too," Lyle says with a little smile.  "It all happened so fast.  She can really get under you skin and before you know it, she's stolen your heart."

 

"Tell me about it," Jarod says, smiling as well.  His mind goes back the day Miss Parker stole his heart.  The day she gave him his first kiss.  But his brief happy memory turns back to solemn gloom in an instant.  "Please tell me what happened to her."

 

"We had a plan to trap you using her as bait.  My father thought that the two of you had some sort of bond from childhood.  He figured that if you thought Parker was in danger, you'd come to her rescue and then we'd have you.  So, I arranged to have her kidnapped, but believe me when I say that I didn't intend for her to be harmed in any way.  My father had other ideas, though.  He's obsessed with getting you back.  And he's not going to let anything stand in his way.  Even his own children.  That's how I ended up with this bullet." 

 

He looks up at Jarod and sees that the man is getting angrier with each minute.  But he has to finish the story.  He has to get it all out. 

 

"Anyway, I made the plans for her to be kidnapped and held in this apartment until you tried to rescue her.  But something happened that day that I didn't expect.  We were both exhausted and I guess our guard was down.  But somehow, we ended up showing our real selves to each other.  And somehow it suddenly felt like we've been together all our lives.  I finally saw her as my sister.  And I realized that I couldn't  let anything happen to her.  But by then, it was too late.  I tried to stop the kidnapping, but I couldn't.  She'd already been taken.  So, I did the next best thing.   I went to set her free.  And that's when I realized this whole thing was bigger than either of us.  I wasn't in control.  My father was the one in charge.  And he wasn't about to let me ruin his plans.  So, he shot me and left me for dead," Lyle sighs, finally understanding the man that his father is.  Finally understanding the man that he himself so recently existed as.  Finally understanding the horrors of the place known as the Centre.

 

"Here," Jarod says angrily, shoving his hands towards Lyle.  "If all he wants is me, then take me in.  He can have me.  Just don't let him hurt her."

 

"I can't," Lyle tells him.  "It would kill her if she knew I traded your freedom for hers.  She loves you, Jarod.  I could always see that, but I didn't really realize it until now.  And she can't lose you like that.  I've seen her dreams.  And I know what it would do to her if anything happened to you.  I'm not going to let that happen."

 

"But at least she would be safe," Jarod rationalizes.

 

"No.  She wouldn't be safe," Lyle shudders, thinking of the horrible man he calls his father.  "My father made it perfectly clear that we were useless to him.  He shot me with the intentions of killing me.  And he'll do the same to her as soon as he has you.  I'm sure of it."

 

"Then what do we do?" Jarod whispers, falling down on the couch in shock.  For once not knowing the answer to a question.  The most important question of his life.

 

"I don't know.  But we have to get her out.  And then make sure something like this  never happens again," Lyle concludes.  "And if that means destroying the Centre, so be it."

 

 

Previous Chapter           HOME               Next Chapter