Disclaimer:
These characters aren't mine. Well, some of them are. But the important ones
are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm
not making any money out of this . . . . Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.
"Do you want to tell her, or shall I?"
Jarod growls.
"Married?
You two are married? He's the
father of your baby?" Lyle questions Miss Parker unbelievingly. He's even more shocked to see her smile and
nod her head to confirm Jarod's story.
Jarod steps closer and shoves the gun in Lyle's
chest. Lyle takes a step back and holds
his hands up in the air.
"That sounded more like questions to me. Not an explanation. Now start talking," Jarod threatens.
"What is he talking about, Lyle?" Miss Parker
asks, wondering what Jarod was so serious about.
"Dad arranged for your attack in Boise,"
he starts slowly, not wanting to give her too much of a shock.
"I already knew that," she says quietly,
still disgusted at her father's actions.
"What you may not know is that he wants me to
finish the job," Lyle continues.
"He sent me to kill you."
He lowers his head so that he won't see the disappointment in her eyes
as he continued. "When we were at
the hotel, we were able to talk and be honest with each other. And I was finally able to connect with
you. I could see things through your
eyes. Feel the things you felt. I knew you loved Jarod, even when you didn't
admit it. I was jealous that you could
love him, but not me even though I was your own flesh and blood. And it made me angry to see what those
feeling were doing to you. I had myself
convinced that Jarod was to blame for anything bad that happened to you."
"Lyle, I made that mistake myself," she
admits. "But Jarod's good for
me. I love him and he loves me. And it's always been that way for longer
than either of us can remember. All
these years, he's been trying to get me to see that."
"I saw you heading down a road to
disaster. And I wanted to protect
you. I knew that loving Jarod would get
you nowhere. Look at what happened to
our mother. Feelings get you
killed. And I didn't want that to
happen. To protect you, I only saw one
thing I could do - sever your ties to Jarod."
"You went to Dad, didn't you? What did you tell him? Did you tell him about how I was going to
betray the Centre? Did you tell him
about what I confided in you about?" she yells angrily.
"Do you see now why I was getting
worried?" he yells back.
"People don't even think about betraying the Centre without meeting
with an unfortunate and usually painful accident. I didn't tell Dad about your plans. But I did go to him. I
told him that you were hindering the hunt for Jarod. And I tried to convince him that it would be in the Centre's best
interest to transfer you. To another
office, another city, another country.
It didn't matter. As long as you
were away from Jarod. Before he got you
killed. I thought it would be best if
you and Imani were away from it all."
"So, how did you get from supposedly trying to
protect her from being here to kill her?" Jarod asks sarcastically.
"I guess my father had his own ideas for
getting her away from the chase. That's
when he ordered me to kill her."
"He told you I was at the hospital," she
realizes. She was wondering how Lyle
and the sweepers tracked her down at the hospital. It was information her father could have easily gotten. He probably had spies at the hospital.
"But he didn't tell me about the baby,"
Lyle tells her. "I didn't go to
the hospital to kill you. And finding
out about the baby pretty much sealed it.
I knew that like it or not, I was going to have to get you away from
that place. Even if that meant getting
help from Jarod. I knew he'd be able to
protect you."
Miss Parker seems like she believes Lyle's
story. Jarod's not so sure. To be on the safe side, he checks Lyle for a
weapon, but realizes he doesn't have one.
"No gun?" Jarod asks him.
"I told you.
I didn't intend on killing my sister.
Please believe me, Parker. I
didn't come here to hurt you," he swears.
"Maybe you should wait until later to try to
convince us. Because right now that's
the least of our worries. We got bigger
things to think about. Like what we're
going to do when whoever your father sent to make sure you did 'your job' shows
up and does 'his job'." Jarod
tells them, looking out the front window for any sign of company.
"He sent someone?"
"Right after you left. He called for someone to make sure you did
what you were supposed to do. If not,
he'd take care of the both of you."
"I'm not surprised," Lyle remarks.
"That makes one of us," a voice from the
front doorway says suddenly, startling the whole group. "Look at what we have here. The chairman's son with a very alive chairman's
daughter. And they're both conspiring
with the escaped pretender. Jarod,
fancy meeting you here."
"Willie," Lyle growls. "It figures he'd send you."
"Shut up," Willie yells. "Get over there. All of you."
"I don't think so," Jarod says to him. He stands in front of Miss Parker as a
shield and directs his gun away from Lyle and puts it on Willie. "As you see, we both have guns. And believe me when I say if you use
yours, I won't hesitate to use
mine. You'll be dead before I let you
hurt her."
"Is that so?" Willie sneers, taking the safety off the gun and pointing it
directly towards Jarod.
Both men stand gun to gun and stare at each other
for a seemingly endless moment. Yet,
neither of them seem able to pull the trigger, but only Jarod knows the reason
why. No matter what this man has done, he can't bring himself to kill his
brother. He can't go back on his
promise to Miss Dee not to hurt him.
Willie tries to shoot him, but something won't let
him pull the trigger. Something he sees
in Jarod's eyes. He's shaken to his
core when he realizes that he sees himself.
He gets the feeling that shooting Jarod would be like shooting himself.
"That's more than enough," a voice sounds
sternly from the stairway. "Put the guns away."
"Mama?" Willie gasps when he sees Miss
Dee. He's distracted just long enough
for Lyle to take his gun away.
"I said to put the guns away," Miss Dee
says again, staring at Jarod and Lyle and visually scolding them for their
disobedience.
"Yes ma'am," they both say in unison,
knowing better than to cross the older woman.
Jarod takes both the guns and removes the clips before putting them on
the coffee table.
"How are you doing, Victoria?" she asks,
focusing her attention on Miss Parker.
"Better," she says. "Is Imani . . . "
"She's upstairs, worried sick about you. Why don't you go on up there with her. I need to speak with your brother and my two
boys," she smiles as Miss Parker climbs the stairs to Imani's room before
turning a serious face back to the men.
"You don't have anything to say to your
mother?" she asks Willie. Half in
anger and half in sadness. But she also
felt incredibly relieved to see that he was alive and well. She holds her arm out and he goes willingly
into them.
"I'm sorry, Mama," he whispers.
"I don't want to hear that right now," she
cries. "I'm just glad you're
alright." She continues to hold
hug him, making up for years of lost time with her foster son.
"Does someone want to explain to me what's
going on here?" Lyle asks.
"Aren't you . . ."
"Deidre Nelson. I met you about a year ago when you decided to invade my
house," she reminds him.
"Lucky for me your sister and that nice older man showed up to
reign you in."
"She raised Willie. And she's Imani's grandmother," Jarod explains.
"Who's Imani?" Willie wants to know.
"That's me," a little voice chimes. Everyone looks up and sees Imani bouncing
down the stairs. "Uncle
Lyle!" She runs to the man and he
opens his arms in time to catch her.
"Hey there, Munchkin. How's my favorite niece?" he asks, giving her a little hug
before setting her down quickly. A
warning glare from Jarod chills him from across the room.
"Yeah, right.
I'm your only niece," she giggles.
She runs over to Jarod and he picks her up. "Daddy, who's that?" she says quietly, pointing to
Willie.
"Daddy?" Lyle and Willie say in unison.
"It's a long story," Jarod simply
says. "Where's your mom,
Princess?"
"She's in the kitchen fixing us a snack."
"Why don't you go get that snack with Granny
and tell your mom we need to talk to her," Jarod tells the girl. Imani jumps down from his arms and runs into
the kitchen, with Miss Dee a few steps behind her.
Jarod gets the guns from the table and loads them
again. When Miss Parker joins them, he
gives her one of the guns and he keeps the other.
"This is to make sure I have everyone's
complete cooperation," he starts.
Miss Parker has changed into some more comfortable clothes. The clingy tank top molds to her stomach and
he can see a small bulge that all her other clothes normally concealed. The bulge just reminded him that their time
was running out with each passing day.
He would not let another child of his have anything to do with the
Centre.
"And if you don't have our cooperation?"
Willie asks. "What then? You kill us."
"Don't push me, Willie," Jarod warns. "Whatever goes on between Lyle and Miss
Parker is going to stay between them.
But, your life is in my hands."
"So you are going to kill me," Willie
challenges. He backs off when Jarod
storms across the room, stands eye to eye with him and menacingly waves the gun
in his face. For a few moments, Willie
sees a look in Jarod's eye and just knew he was a goner. But the look is replaced with something
else. Something he can't put a finger
on or decipher.
"I've seen that woman cry for you every day for
the past five years," Jarod says,
pointing towards the kitchen where Miss Dee was with Imani. "She knows all about what you have
done. The kind of person you have
become. And she blames herself for not
being a good mother to you. I refuse to
let you out of that guilt the easy way by killing you. And I won't put her through the hurt of
losing you again. You won't die by my
hands. Circumstances beyond either of our
controls have bound us together forever, Willie."
"What kinds of circumstances?" Willie
wants to know, suddenly very curious.
"You're asking too many questions. Now's the time for you to listen,"
Jarod orders before turning his attention back to the rest of the group. "The two of you have a decision to
make. We all are alike in one simple
way: the Centre holds the keys to our past.
And possibly our future. Either
you help us find those secrets once and for all. Or you go down with everyone else there. It's your choice."
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