Title - Saying the Words
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG
Category - JMPR
Summary - The BIG DAY has arrived.  How does a pretender deal 
with the reality of an event that just cannot be simmed?
Disclaimer - The characters aren't mine.  I'm just using them for 
my own entertainment purposes.

* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 31b
* * * * * * * * * *

Sydney takes a cool washcloth and gently wipes the sweat from 
Miss Parker's brow.  Her labor had gotten even more intense in 
the past half hour, yet she refused to take any drugs.  He was 
doing his best to try to help her, but he wasn't who she needed.  
She needed Jarod.

Just then, he hears a clamoring outside in the hallway, as if 
there was a collision. 

"Sorry," a familiar voice gasps, trying to catch his breath.  The 
door flies open and a disheveled looking Jarod comes running into 
the room.  Celia is right behind him.

"Hey," Miss Parker says with a tired smile and as much enthusiasm 
she can muster.  The contractions were leaving her exhausted.  
"You made it.  Both of you."  She reaches for Jarod and pulls him 
into her arms, hugging him tightly.

"Sorry I'm so late," Jarod apologizes, kissing her on her 
forehead.  "How are you doing?"

"She's progressing normally," Sydney tells him.  "The 
contractions have been pretty brutal, though."

"The last time the doctor checked her, she was dilated to almost 
8 centimeters," Celia says, flipping through her chart.  "Not 
much longer now."

"I'm so glad you're here," Miss Parker tells Celia.  "Where's the 
hubby?" she asks with a giggle.

"He's out with Debbie and Lisa showing them the gifts we brought 
back for them."

"Lisa!" Miss Parker gasps.  "Oh, Celia.  I was awful to her 
earlier.  I have to apologize."

"She told me about that," Celia laughs.  "She's not upset, so 
don't worry.  Right now, you have more important things to focus 
on."  Celia points to the monitor next to the bed that was 
starting to show activity.  "Contraction is coming."

The squiggly line starts to spike just moments before the pain 
registers with Miss Parker.  She grabs onto Jarod's hand, trying 
to brace herself.  Sydney decides to wait outside.  He's already 
seen more of this childbirth than he had planned.

"Jarod, help her with her breathing," Celia reminds the man 
gently.  "Don't let the pain overtake you, Mara."

She helps them through the next several contractions until the 
doctor returns to the room to check on Miss Parker again.

"Jarod, you made it," the doctor remarks as she lifts the sheet 
to see how much further her patient has progressed.  "Ooh, just 
in time it seems.  Mara, you're almost there.  I'm going to go 
scrub up and we can get started.  Is this your midwife?" She 
turns to Celia and offers her hand to the woman.

"I'm sorry," Jarod apologizes.  "Dr. Reston, this is our dear 
friend, Celia Broots."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Broots," the doctor smiles.  "Why don't 
you come with me to scrub up while I send the nurses in to get 
her prepped.  Dad, we'll have you scrub when we get back," she 
tells Jarod.  

He nods wordlessly, suddenly losing his ability to speak.  

"You okay, Dad?" Miss Parker asks him, noticing his shell shock 
at the mention of the word.  It really was amazing that they were 
about to be somebody's parents.

He nods again before changing his mind shaking it from side to 
side.  He wasn't alright.  Everything seemed upside down and 
backwards.  He was supposed to be supporting her.  He was 
supposed to be the calm one.  For some reason, he couldn't get a 
handle on things.

"This is really happening," he croaks in disbelief.  "We're about 
to have a baby."

"Yes.  We are," she smiles, caressing his cheek with her hand.

"Like . . . right now."

"Yes, Jarod," she giggles, placing her hand on her stomach.  
"Right now."

"But what if . . . "

"No what ifs," she says, holding a finger over his lips to quiet 
his doubts.  "Everything is going to be fine."  She replaces her 
finger with her lips, giving him a kiss of reassurance.

At that moment, he believed her.  And all of his fears melted 
away.  She just had to say a few simple words and suddenly his 
world was spinning on its axis again.

"You're going to be a great mother," he whispers hoarsely, tears 
starting to flow.  "You're so amazing and so beautiful right now.  
I love you so much."

"I love you, too," she replies, barely holding in her own tears.  
"And you're going to be a great father.  Sure it's going to be 
hard, but we can do it.  I know we can.  We'll get through it 
together."

"Just like always?"

"Just like always," she promises, grabbing onto his hand.  It was 
going to be a bumpy ride and she didn't plan on letting go of 
him.  Not ever.  He was her life line.  Her soulmate.  Without 
each other, they were lost.  But together, they managed to forge 
a path to the future and to all the happiness they could have 
ever hoped for.

* * * * * * * * * *

Broots stares nervously out the window at his arriving guests.  
It was the first time Jarod, Miss Parker and month old baby 
Charlie had attempted to travel with the 45 miles out to Broots 
and Celia's new home.  After his recovery and subsequent marriage 
to Celia, Broots found the courage to leave the Centre.  And 
although nothing bad has happened to him or his family, he had a 
feeling that at times they still kept an eye on him.  But 
whatever mysterious protection Jarod and Miss Parker is under 
seemed to have extended to him and Sydney as well.  He didn't 
understand it, but he didn't question it and he certainly didn't 
complain.  He and Celia moved out here with the Debbie and Lisa 
because of the nearby girls school in the area with an excellent 
reputation.

"What if this was a mistake?" he sighs to Celia, who has come 
from the kitchen to stand behind him.  "I should have told them 
as soon as I found out.  She's going to kill me."

The sounds echoes of laughter ring from the living room as the 
girls entertain Ms. Crandle, their teacher from school.

"You said you needed to be sure," Celia reminds him. "They'll 
understand."

"I hope you're right," he says skeptically.  "But it's too late 
now.  Here they come."

Before Miss Parker can ring the bell, Broots opens the door and 
welcomes her inside his home.  Jarod was still at the car, slowly 
and carefully unhooking the baby seat to avoid waking up the 
sleeping child.

"It's so good to see you, Mara," Celia squeals, excitedly hugging 
her friend.  They talked on the phone several times a day and saw 
each other at least once a week.  But they still acted like it's 
been years since their last reunion.  "You look great. That 
weight just melted off of you."

"Hey guys," Miss Parker smiles.  "Thanks for inviting us for 
dinner.  It was nice to get out of the house for awhile.  I 
didn't realize it was going to be a dinner party, though.  Who 
does that other car belong to?"

"One of the girls' teachers from school," Celia answers quickly, 
shooting her husband a furtive glare that Miss Parker doesn't 
miss.

"I get the feeling that it's something more than . . . " she 
starts to say, suspicious of their true motive, when she's 
interrupted by another woman's voice moving towards her.

"Celia, did you need any help with dinner?  I'd be glad to . . . 
" the woman stops in her path, her mouth falling wide open in 
shock.  Her eyes follow suit and she begins a desperate search 
for a way of escape.  Seeing that she's trapped, she pins a 
probing glare at Miss Parker, wondering what's going on.  "What's 
she doing here?"

"Ms. Crandle, let me explain," Broots says to the woman.

"Broots, you know who this is . . . right?" Miss Parker asks with 
a shaky voice, her shock starting to wear off.

"I had my suspicions.  Just let me explain," he requests again.  
This time, he's interrupted by a baby's cry and the front door 
opening.  They all turn around to see Jarod struggling with the 
door while attempting to put the pacifier in the baby's mouth.

"I thought we'd make it before he woke up, but . . . "  Jarod 
also stops, frozen in his tracks by the shock of the woman 
standing in front of him.  With the last of his coherent 
thoughts, he gently sets the baby carrier on the floor to avoid 
the risk of dropping the child from his suddenly unstable hands.  

"M - m - mom?" he is all he can manage to get past his 
restricting throat.

"Jarod," the woman gasps.  "It's you.  I can't believe it.  After 
all this time."  She doesn't waste another second before pulling 
him into her arms for the first time in more years than she can 
remember.

"Oh, Mom," he cries onto her shoulder.  "I've been looking for 
you.  But I couldn't find you.  I'm sorry I didn't find you."

"You had your own problems to deal with," she says, glaring once 
again in Miss Parker's direction.  "I thought *she* was one of 
the ones after you."

"You don't understand . . . " Miss Parker says, trying to defend 
herself.

"How could you do it?" Ms. Crandle/Jarod's mother asks her.  
"Your mother and I were friends.  I know what that place did to 
her.  How could you work for them?"

"It's not like that anymore, Mom," Jarod cuts in, grabbing Miss 
Parker's left hand and holding it up for his mother to see the 
rings.  "She's no longer my huntress.  Mara and I are married."

Miss Parker smiles uneasily at her skeptical mother-in-law.  
Clearly she was going to need a bit more convincing.  So she 
bends down and gets the one thing she knows this woman won't be 
able to resist.

"This is Charles Sydney Parker.  Our son.  But we call him 
Charlie."  She cradles her baby gently, unable to resist his 
sweet softness.  She gives him one last squeeze before offering 
him to his grandmother's arms.

The woman cuddles the bundle close to her, realizing now how 
wrong she was.

"I'm so sorry," she apologizes.  "I assumed . . ."

"I don't blame you," Miss Parker says.  "Chasing Jarod is what I 
was taught to do.  And it's what I did for many years.  But I 
eventually learned that *loving* him is what I was *born* to do.  
Hopefully, we'll have many more years for that."

"What about the Centre?" Jarod's mother asks nervously.

"Taken care of," Jarod explains.  "We don't have to worry about 
them anymore."

"This is like a dream come true," his mother starts to cry.  She 
gives the baby a kiss on the cheek before giving him back to Miss 
Parker.  "I've been alone for so long, missing my family, missing 
my babies.  But I've found you now, Jarod.  I had given up on 
ever seeing any of you ever again, but here you are."

"It's a miracle," Miss Parker sighs, her own tears starting to 
flow.  "But how did you end up here with Broots and Celia?"

"She teaches at the school the girls go to," he explains.  "I 
went for Parent's Night last week and almost had a heart attack 
when I saw her.  I did a little bit of snooping to make sure she 
was who I thought she was and then arranged this dinner for you 
all to meet."

"And speaking of dinner," Celia cuts in.  "I think it's ready.  
How about we all eat?"  She smiles and ushers everyone into the 
dining room.  

Jarod takes the seat between his wife and his mother.  He takes 
each other their hands and squeezes gently, just to make sure 
they were really there and that he wasn't dreaming.  It felt like 
a dream, only better.  Better than anything he could have ever 
imagined.  He had stopped searching for his family, content with 
the life he was building with Miss Parker and Charlie.  But they 
ended up finding him.  At least his mother did.  And he knew it 
was only a matter of time before the others were reunited.  
Everything seemed to be falling in place.  He had a wife he 
cherished.  A child he adored.  Great friends he loved.  And now 
he had his mother.  Everything before was perfect.  Now they were 
only better.  Miss Parker looks at him and he can see in her eyes 
that she feels it too.  She gives him a smile and then leans over 
for a quick kiss full of promise.  A promise that the best is yet 
to come.

The end . . . FINALLY ! ! ! 

Thanks so much for sticking with this.  I appreciate the support, 
the feedback, and the words of encouragement.