Title - Saying the Words
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG
Category - JMPR
Summary - Jarod and Miss Parker are finally together in a new 
town with new names and making new friends.  So how come they 
keep on finding the same old trouble?
Disclaimer - The characters aren't mine.  I'm just using them for 
my own entertainment purposes.

* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 27
* * * * * * * * * *

The drive was silent, Miss Parker spending most of it staring out 
the window.  Once again, she was delegated to the passenger side 
of the car.  She really was starting to get annoyed with people 
thinking she couldn't drive anymore.  At least, she would be 
annoyed if she didn't realize they were probably right.  She was 
tired of fighting the steering wheel for a comfortable position 
to drive in.

"Is he worth all this?  Your life?  Your baby's?" Broots asks 
silently.

"Jarod?  Of course he is," she snaps at him, not believing he 
could say such a thing.  "We may not have made this baby the old 
fashioned way, but he's ours.  We love him and we love each 
other."  

"Oh," he sighs.  "I didn't mean to offend you, Miss Parker.  It's 
just the last time I saw you, loving was the last word you would 
have used to describe the relationship between you and Jarod.  A 
lot has changed."

"I'm sorry, Broots," she apologizes, suddenly realizing the 
confusion.  "I've spent almost 8 months with Jarod, falling more 
and more in love with him each day, feeling his child grow inside 
of me.  And even now, I can barely comprehend how much I love 
him.  So I understand what you're thinking.  But Jarod is my 
life.  I wouldn't be able to make it without him.  You know how 
I've been these past few years while we were searching for him."

"I always thought that was from intense hatred," Broots laughs.  
"But, they say it's a thin line between love and hate.  I guess 
yours and Jarod's line was more like a dot."

"Funny," she says sarcastically, but joining in his laughter 
anyway.  "But speaking of love, what's going on with you and a 
certain curly haired blond I left you with this afternoon?  You 
two were looking pretty cozy on my couch."

"Celia?" he asks, his smile growing when he mentions her name.  
"She's nice."

"Nice?" Miss Parker repeats, sounding somewhat disappointed.  
"That's all?"

"And she's pretty," he adds nonchalantly, secretly amused at how 
his vague descriptions were driving her crazy. He could 
elaborate.  There were an abundance of words he could use to 
describe his afternoon with Celia.   He could say how funny and 
smart and amazing and beautiful he thinks Celia is, but he 
figures he'll leave that for later.  At least a few more days.  
He knows how women talk.  The second he'd say any of those words, 
Miss Parker would run straight to Celia and tell her.  He's known 
her for just a few hours. It was too soon for . . . dare he say . 
. . feelings.  He'd hate to scare Celia off after one meeting.  
He could tell she was special.

"Nice and pretty, huh?  Well, at least you don't need a modem to 
interact with this one," she teases him.  She looks back out the 
window, seeing the sign for Cedar Springs.  

"We're almost there," he tells her, obviously seeing the sign for 
himself.

She lets out a shaky breath and nods.  Praying desperately they 
find Jarod alive.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lynn looks into the room at her prisoner, anxiously pacing the 
floor.  From time to 
time, he stops at the door, trying to find a weakness in it, a 
possible way out.  But 
seeing as how this facility used to be a mental hospital, there 
was no getting out.  
Not until she wanted him too.  It was almost a shame that a good 
man like him 
would have to spend the rest of his life locked away.  Lyle had 
called her back earlier 
that day, agreeing to her terms.  He should be meeting her soon 
for the transfer.  
Then she could get herself a new life and never look back on 
Bristol, Michigan.  And 
Jarod would belong to them . . . whoever they were.  She didn't 
really care.  She just 
wanted her money.

Lynn decides to give him one last chance.  If he knew his fate 
with Lyle, maybe he 
wouldn't be so resistant to her advances.  This was quite 
possibly his last opportunity 
to . . . she feels a shiver all throughout her body just thinking 
about what she 
wanted to do to him.

"Oh Jarod," she calls playfully into the room.  "I've got some 
good news and some 
bad news for you."  She can see that Jarod has stopped his pacing 
and, though he 
remained silent, was seemingly interested in what she had to say.  
She took that as 
a sign to continue.

"The good news is that you'll be getting out of here soon."

"And the bad news?" he asks cautiously.  

"The bad news," she laughs.  "Yes, the bad news.  Well, Jarod.  
The bad news is that 
although you may be getting out of here, but it'll be on a one 
way trip.  And this trip 
doesn't include a stop over to visit with your little wife."  

She ignores the mix of anger and fear that crosses his face and 
makes her final offer 
to him.

"So I have two choices for you.  You can sit here and wait for 
them to pick you up 
and face living the rest of your life in a . . . frustrated 
state," she says with a grin.  
"Or, I can do something to help you out.  Think of it as one last 
fling."

"Never," he snaps, surprising her with his abruptness.  "I'll 
never touch you."

"Suit yourself," she says nonchalantly, trying to hide her 
injured pride.  "They'll be 
here soon enough, anyway.  Then you'll be out of my hair for 
good.  Halfway across 
the country in the quaint little town of Blue Cove, Delaware."

"The Centre?" he gasps.  "You giving me to the Centre?"  He 
starts to feel a little 
dizzy.  He wondered how this woman connected to the Centre.  And 
he wondered 
how much she knew about the situation.  Was Miss Parker in 
trouble as well?  He had 
to get out of there.  There was no way he could go back.  And 
there was no way he 
could let Miss Parker and the baby go either.

"Give?  Don't be silly," she giggles.  "My friend is paying me 
quite handsomely for 
you."

"Whatever the money, Lynn, I can top it.  Just let me out of 
here," he offers her.  "I'll 
give you anything."

"Anything?" She opens the door and walks inside, intrigued at his 
desperation.  She 
just may have some fun with him after all.  "You know what I want 
from you, Jarod.  
I didn't think you were . . . up to paying the price."  She 
laughs at his reaction to 
her innuendo.

"Lynn, you can't send me to that place," he pleads with her 
hoping to persuade her to let him go.  "I have money too.  I'll 
give you double what they were going to give you."

"Tempting, Jarod.  But it's not only about the money.  You hurt 
my pride.  No man has ever turned me down.  You can get another 
chance to rectify that."

"Your pride?" he asks her in disbelief.  "You have no pride, 
Lynn.  And if you did, I couldn't give it back to you.  You gave 
that up a long time ago, laying on your back and throwing it out 
to anyone who'll take it."

"Well, you don't have to be so nasty about it," she says, rolling 
her eyes.  A sound from down the hall brings the smile back to 
her face.  "It doesn't matter anyway.  They're here for you."

"No," he yells, running from his side of the room towards the 
door.  But she's a bit faster than him, and is able to make it 
outside the room first, slamming the door in his face.  "No," he 
yells again, banging his hands on the door before finally sliding 
down to his knees, wailing in anguish.

She looks through the panel, almost feeling sorry for the man.  
He obviously didn't want to go to the Centre.  And she didn't 
understand why.  But, that wasn't her concern.  She just cared 
about the money.  The footsteps from down the hall get closer and 
her heart starts to beat faster in anticipation.  She was about 
to have more money than she could dream of.  And she could 
finally live that life she never thought she would.

"As you can hear, he's in there.  And he's not too excited about 
going with you," she says without even looking behind her.

"Oh, I think he'll be more than happy to go with me," she hears a 
voice say. But it's not Lyle's voice.  She slowly turns around to 
see who was behind her. 

"Mara," she gasps.  Not so much at Jarod's wife standing in front 
of her.  But because of the big gun she had pointing in her face.

"Step away from the door, Lynn, and give me the keys," Miss 
Parker orders in a cool, icy voice.  She didn't feel like wasting 
any time on this woman.  

Lynn only partially complies with her orders, throwing the keys 
on the floor where she knows the pregnant woman would have a hard 
time getting them. 

"That wasn't very nice," Miss Parker says, narrowing her eyes at 
the woman.  She brings the gun up and shoots at Lynn, just barely 
missing her with the bullet, but not with her intentions.  She 
can tell by the look on Lynn's face that the woman knew she 
wasn't to be trifled with anymore.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Broots scramble to get 
the keys and then go to the door, trying to figure out which one 
opened the lock.

"Jarod?" Broots calls through the thick door.  He finds the panel 
and slides it open so that Jarod can hear him better.  "Are you 
okay?  Me and Miss Parker are here to get you out."

"Broots?  Don't worry about me.  Just get Mara out of here.  The 
Centre's coming," Jarod says quickly, knowing there wasn't much 
time left.

"The Centre?" Broots asks in a panic.  His hands start to shake 
and he drops the keys on the floor.

"Yes, they'll be here any second.  You've got to get her out of 
here.  They can't get her or the baby.  Please, Broots," he begs.

"No, Broots," Miss Parker yells.  "Get the keys and get that door 
open.  Now!"

"But Miss Parker . . . "

"I'm not leaving.  Not without him," she insists.

"That makes two of us."

Miss Parker spins around and finds herself face to face with her 
other half.  The worst half.  And he had a gun to match her own.

"Lyle," she growls.  "I should have known you were behind this."

"Sis, you don't seem happy to see me," he grins that cocky grin 
at her.

"Sis? This is your sister?" Lynn asks incredulously.

"Twins," Miss Parker answered her.  "We had the unfortunate 
displeasure of sharing a womb.  What are you doing here, Lyle?  
How did you find us?"

"You didn't think you could keep that baby from me, did you?" 
Lyle laughs.  "And Mr. Broots.  I guess you and Debbie got lost 
on the way to her dance camp.  So, where's Sydney?  You three 
tend to stick together.  You're more faithful to each other than 
to the Centre."

"That's right, Lyle.  And you aren't going to get any of us to go 
back there."  Miss Parker grabs Lynn and uses her as a shield 
while pointing the gun towards Lyle's head.  "Broots, hurry with 
that lock.  Get Jarod out of there now."

His nervous hands finally finds the right key, releasing the 
lock.  For a split second, Miss Parker looks towards the door, 
waiting anxiously for it to open and Jarod to walk out.  But a 
split second was all the time Lyle needed to make his move.

"Miss Parker!  Watch out!" Broots yells, just as a shot rings 
out.  The bullet catches a surprised Lynn, right between the 
eyes.  Her dead weight becomes a burden and Miss Parker lets her 
drop to the floor.  With no more shield, Lyle takes aim again at 
his sister.

"No," Broots yells again, throwing himself towards the woman.  

Miss Parker feels a pain somewhere.  She can't tell where.  And 
just before the darkness takes over, she can hear another shot go 
off.  She hears another body fall.  And then . . . nothing.

To be continued . . .