Disclaimer: For all those who might actually read this, I do NOT own any characters related to Pretender or X-Files. The only ones that I do own are Merideth, Chet and the baby. Man, when I think of the millions that I could be making if Carter and those two guys at the restaurant hadn't stolen my ideas!!!!
Note: All right guys, I know I complained on Nicolette's discussion board about what I felt the 11-13-99 episode might do. However, when I watched the episode I found myself, the biggest 'shipper to ever walk the planet, hopping that Jarod wouldn't leave her. Hell, I even prayed that she wouldn't jump. But the fact remains that, Ooops, don't want to give it away for those who didn't see it. Ill tell more on the board. I, however, can not say the same for the X-Files premier. Okay, I admit I loved the ending, but how DARE Mulder fantasize about Fowley and not Scully! The near kiss at the end does make me feel a little better however and, you know, the fact that some serious Q's were answered. Oh, and let's not forget that Agent Fowley is dead! I nearly danced at the news. Morbid, I know, but hey, what did you expect? J
Anywho, I gotta through out the thanks to Shuyler for the 'cyber kick In the butt', and all the others out there who told me too essentially get my ass in gear. This piece of hard work is all thanks to the readers. Oh, and to warn you, some Q's are answered, but more are set forth. Just remember, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!!!
Title - Feelings of Indignation Part Three
Author - Ashlee
E-mail address - zyp959@hotmail.com
Rating - PG
Category - Adventure/ Alternate Universe / Pretender/X-Files Crossover
Series/Sequel - Part Three of Feelings of Indignation
Spoilers - N/A
Summary - When a girl is kidnapped by The Centre, Jarod and Miss Parker discover
that they have a bond deeper than either ever imagined
"Feelings of
Indignation"
Part 3
by Ashlee
Mr. Parker's Office
The Centre Blue Cove,
Delaware
2:35 p.m.
"What is it?" Lyle asked this time sounding nervous, as he should. Mr. Parker threw the file at him. After he finished reading his face too was unnaturally white. "Oh, my God." He whispered. He looked at his father. "She's JP2!"
"Damn right she's JP2!" Mr. Parker nearly yelled.
"But, but how? I thought that she was dead!" Lyle said in astonishment. From the files that he had on the JP projects, all but the latest had failed. Lyle looked up from the file to his father questioningly.
"We all thought that she was dead, that's what the official report was, but it would appear that we were wrong, now wouldn't it?" Parker said in a stressed and sarcastic voice. He was now pacing the floor, rubbing his head, not knowing what to do.
The smoking man still didn't show his face. In fact, both other occupants had nearly forgot he was there. That was until he spoke.
"I suggest that both of you get on it then. Must I remind you that if you do indeed fail, it's your asses that are on the line? That our organization will no longer have any way to protect you?" The man stepped out of the shadows, and both men caught sight of his wrinkled face and the cigarette that hung from his lips.
Lyle spoke first.
"Of course not. I'm going to get Broots right on it." Lyle turned and left the room. The nausea that he felt grew as he turned and walked out.
***
Northwest Airlines Flight 717
Somewhere over Lake Superior
2:40 p.m.
Scully slept in her seat next to Mulder as her partner scanned through a magazine. They had discovered their general destination about an hour ago as they sat at Bay City Airport in Lower Michigan. Their final destination was, well he wasn't exactly sure. All he knew was that Jarod was in Upper Michigan and that was were he and Scully would have to go too. The car that Jarod was in was still moving north when they bought the tickets, so he had decided to land at the Houghton County Airport. That way they were at the most northern point and could get to Jarod's final destination with out a big hassle. Now they just had to wait.
***
Jarod's House
Near Copper Harbor
Michigan
3:00 p.m.
"Well, here we are," Jarod said as he climbed out of the car. Chet exited the passenger side and stared at the house in silent amazement. Jarod looked over at his young friend. "So what do you think?"
"Wow." Was Chet's awe-struck response, the house was beyond words. It was the typical American dream house with class. It was a two story white house with a dark green trim that matched that of the pines that surrounded it. There were trees strategically placed through out the perfectly kept lawn, and the final touch was the background. The house was located about three hundred feet from the Lake Superior shoreline. It seemed to stretch on forever behind the house, and was the perfect backdrop.
"Wow," Chet breathed again, still in shock.
Jarod took another look around, a huge smile on his face. He turned to Chet.
"Yeah, I guess 'wow' just about covers it." He turned back to the car and opened the trunk. "Come on, we have work to do before Miss Parker and Merideth get here."
Chet tore his eyes from the house and grabbed his bags and headed in. 'If the outside scenery is any indication, the inside should be spectacular.' He shook his head and followed Jarod inside.
***
The Centre
SL - 3
3:05 p.m.
Lyle had been searching the Centre for either Sydney or Broots, but couldn't find hide nor hair of them. After twenty five minutes of searching he finally decided to approach the personnel secretary to see if they had left for the day. He pounded a fist on the table and gave the small woman a menacing glare.
"I want to know were Dr. Greene and Mr. Broots are." His voice was hard and demanding.
"Of course sir." She typed a few strokes and looked up at him. "I'm sorry Mr. Lyle, but it would appear that they left around two o'clock and have each scheduled a few weeks of paid vacation."
"WHAT!" he yelled. "That's impossible! They can't do that with out clearance from my father or me! Where did they say they were going?" He grabbed the monitor and turned towards him.
"It doesn't say." The woman said calmly.
"What the hell is going on!? That stupid bitch is behind this! I'll kill her if it's the last thing I do!!?" Lyle stormed off muttering incoherently.
***
Plane Over Lake Superior
3:08 p.m.
Merideth looked over at Miss Parker and the baby, both of which were sleeping, and stared. 'Who would have thought that you could be through so much in one day? Or, for that matter, change so much in one day?' She looked at Miss Parker again. She had changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She seemed so much more relaxed and, well, nice. She was even comfortable with the baby. It was almost scary to see a person change so much in a matter of hours. 'I guess babies will do that to you,' Merideth thought.
Merideth, in the past eight hours, had discovered that she had some kind of connection to Miss Parker. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it seemed as though they had an underlying understanding. Maybe it was a feeling of camaraderie for what they had both endured in the last twenty four hours, but it seemed to be more than that. Merideth just couldn?t explain it. She sighed in resignation and looked at her watch. Another hour until they landed. She looked over at Parker and the baby once more and cursed the fact that she couldn't sleep on planes.
***
Mr. Lyle's Office
3:10 p.m.
Mr. Lyle was looking on the Centre main frame for information about the JP2 project when there was a knock on his door.
"What?" he demanded as the man stuck his head in. Lyle immediately recognized him as Greg, the team leader that headed the search of his dear sister's house. "If this isn't good news I suggest that you put a bullet in your head and save me the trouble." Lyle said as he sat back down.
"We know where Miss Parker is headed."
That got Lyle's attention. He looked up at the man.
"Where?"
"A small town called Houghton, Michigan. One of the cleaners spotted it written on a piece of paper." Lyle stood with a look of pure evil in his eye.
"Get a team ready, we're leaving in ten minutes."
***
Sydney's Rental Car
Dover, Delaware
3:35 p.m.
After arranging for Angelo to be released into his care for an on-site sim Sydney had gone home and packed all his valuables and some clothes. He then went to pick up Broots and his daughter Debbie, who had also packed all their irreplaceable personal items, and set out to where they now were: Dover Airport.
"Hey, Sid, how are we going to find them?" Broots asked the questioned that had been burning in his mind since Sydney had told them that they were going to go find Miss Parker and Jarod. He said that they had to leave the Centre while the getting was good, but had refused to tell them why, saying that it wasn't his place to tell the story. He had also neglected to inform them how they were going to find them.
"There are two F.B.I agents, Mulder and Scully, that are following Jarod and Miss Parker and thanks to a little device that Jarod invented we will, in turn, be able to follow them."
"What's that?" Debbie interrupted, she had always been fascinated, and scared, by the Centre and what little she knew about Jarod and his work.
"The Global Positioning System. When Mulder and Scully first became partners the Director, who was a close friend of mine, decided that they would need to be watched, for their own safety, and asked me to secretly place a GPS chip in their badges. We did this without paper work, so that no one but us would know that these chips were in their badges and so that we were the only ones who knew the frequency."
"Oh, I get it!" Said Broots. "I just have to put in the frequency and 'Bingo!' we've got 'em!"
"Correct Broots. Now, how long will it take you to do that?"
"Give me five minutes." Broots said as he grabbed his computer and cell phone.
***
Lone Gunmen
Location: Unknown
3:45 p.m.
Langly, Byers and Frohike were sitting around each doing their own project, mainly hacking into government files, when there was a knock on the door.
"What the hell?" Frohike said, as he looked at the others shocked. They all knew that Mulder and Scully were out of town.
Langly cautiously approached the door as Byers surveyed the perimeter thanks to the security cameras they had placed all around the location. Byers shook his head, not seeing anyone. There was only a box that sat in front of the door. It wasn't big enough for anyone to fit in, so Langly grabbed it, shut the door and locked it. Frohike, in the mean time, had set up the mini x-ray machine that they used to scan all packages.
"Well, it's all clear." Langly said. "Let see what Santa sent us this year!" He cautiously ripped open the package.
"What the hell?" Frohike said. "Why the hell would anyone send us four laptops?"
"There's only one way to find out." Byers said as he grabbed one and booted it up. "Hey, there's only one file, but it takes up all the memory."
"Same here." Langly said as he positioned the built in mouse and clicked on the lone icon marked 'The Centre'.
"What the hell is going on here?" Frohike said, repeating the phrase again, as sub files galore popped up on the screen. "Look at these file names! Gemini Project, Pretender Project, Personnel History, Urgent Files, Project Prodigy, and New Genesis. What the hell is this stuff?"
"I have the same type of stuff on mine. What's with all this sim stuff?" Langly said as he opened one of the sub files labeled Jarod-Sim 1013. Slowly a picture appeared on the screen. On the bottom was written 'Jarod for Centre Use Only'. Byers and Frohike came to look when they saw the expression on Langly's face.
On the screen stood a boy of about thirteen. He was contained in a small cube, just large enough for him to stand in. He looked scared and frantic. He was looking around, presumably for means of escape. "Sydney, I can't! There's nothing I can do, no way to escape! I can't save them, I can't!" The boy yelled terrified by the thought.
"There is a way Jarod! You have to find it. Those people's lives depend on you finding the answer!"
Langly shut off the file. They all sat quietly for a while, still shocked by what they had just seen. Finally Byers broke the silence. "I suggest we find out what else is on these files and just what this 'Centre' is." Frohike and Langly nodded their agreement and they all got to work.
***
Houghton County Airport
Hancock, Michigan
3:40 p.m.
Mulder and Scully drudged off the small plane and into the small airport carrying their carry on bags. After getting the rest of their luggage they headed towards the lone car rental counter. While walking Scully asked,
"So where are we going?"
Mulder pulled out the GPS receiver and looked.
"Well, Jarod's about forty miles north of here near a place called Copper Harbor. I guess we go there and get a hotel room. We might as well get some rest and revise a plan to get Jarod to talk. Then we can confront him either later tonight or tomorrow."
"Sounds good, lets go."
After renting the car, a red Mercedes, Scully and Mulder set off on their one-hour trek to Copper Harbor and their room at the Brockway Inn.
***
Dover Airport
Dover, Delaware
3:41 p.m.
Broots hit some final keys and let out a quite triumphant yell.
"I found 'em!" He said turning to look at Sydney.
"Where are they?" Syd asked, turning away from Angelo.
"Houghton County Airport in Hancock. A little town in Upper Michigan."
"All right. You stay here with Debbie and Angelo while I convince some poor solo pilot to fly us there."
***
Houghton County Airport
Hancock, Michigan
4:00 p.m.
Miss Parker, the baby, and Merideth arrived at Houghton County Airport unaware that Mulder and Scully had stood there only twenty minutes before. Miss Parker left Merideth to collect the two suitcases they had coming while she rented a car. They should arrive at Jarod's house in about an hour and a half. Miss Parker looked at the directions, 'that is if we don't get lost,' she thought.
Agent Diana Fowley, coming off of the flight that had just landed, entered the small airport. She spotted a woman and a teenage girl, whom she assumed, was her daughter. They were holding some luggage and looking around. She walked towards the woman and the girl with her. She was hoping that she might be a resident or had been in the airport for a while. She walked up to the woman and tapped her on her shoulder.
"Excuse me." The woman turned around, holding a baby.
Miss Parker looked at Fowley and smiled.
"Yes."
Fowley pulled out a picture that she had taken from Mulder's home, one that she had planned to destroy before this whole fiasco, and showed it to the woman. She also pulled out her badge.
"Hi. I'm Agent Diana Fowley with the F.B.I; I?m looking for these Agents." She nodded her head indicating the picture where Agents Mulder and Scully stood, arms around each other and smiling. "They have mysteriously disappeared."
Miss Parker hid her shock. 'Why the hell was she looking for Mulder?' She asked herself, she shook herself and realized that something was really wrong here. There's was no way that she could trust this 'Fowley' woman, there was just something about her. She had a look in her eyes that reminded Miss Parker of Lyle. Parker gave Fowley her most reassuring smile.
"No, sorry. I haven't seen them." Which was true.
Merideth gave Miss Parker a look. She had a feeling there was more to this story then she was letting on, but kept quite. 'If Miss P. thinks there's a reason to keep quite, I had better play along.'
Fowley didn't notice anything and took the woman at face value.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Miss Parker smiled. As soon as Fowley left to ask another patron she grabbed Merideth, who was still holding both bags, and dragged her outside. When they were clear she pulled out her cell phone flipped it open and pulled the antenna out with her teeth. She hit the speed dial button.
***
Houghton County Airport
4:07 p.m.
Agent Fowley had just finished talking to the woman who was running the car rental counter. Fortunately she had recognized the two Agents, and was about to give her their registration information, and the hotel where they had had the clerk make reservations. Could her luck get any better? She smiled as she took the papers from the clerk and went to her own rental car. If she drove fast enough, maybe she could catch up to them before they got to the hotel. She climbed into the car. She smiled realizing that luck was indeed on her side today. As she pulled out of the parking lot she retrieved her cell phone and made a call. Mulder would be hers if it was the last thing she did.
***
Mulder and Scully's
rental car
Somewhere on US 41
headed towards Copper Harbor
4:10 p.m.
"Mulder, that's a bunch of BS. That kind of stuff never happens in real life." Scully said looking incredulously at Mulder.
"C'mon Scully." He said in a little, almost whiny voice. His voice went back to normal as he smiled. "You don't believe in love at first sight?" he looked over at her.
She stared back. "No. Love is based on more than physical attraction?"
"But you have to admit that it helps. So tell me Scully, what's your 'perfect guy?'"
Scully was about to answer when his phone rang. He silently cursed the damn thing, then took a hand off the wheel to answer.
"Mulder."
A calm voice, with just a touch of anxiousness, came over the line.
"Agent Mulder, where are you and your partner?"
"Um, who is this?" Scully gave him a questioning look; he just shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm the one who sent you those files, about the Centre. Look, will you just tell me where you are?"
"We're on US 41 headed towards Copper Harbor. Why?" Scully was staring at him now. Mulder was concentrating on keeping his eyes on the road; it was really curvy. He pulled off to the side deciding that he'd rather still be alive when this conversation ended.
"Do you know an Agent Fowley?" She pronounced the 'Fowl' with much the same distaste as Scully had earlier.
"Fowley? Yeah."
A look of disgust came over Scully's face.
"Unfortunately," Scully muttered.
"Well, she's just at Houghton County Airport, and she's looking for you guys."
Mulder looked shocked.
"She's here and looking for us? Why?" Another look of repugnance came over Scully's features.
"All she said was that you guys went AWOL."
"We're signed up for vacation time, why would she think we're missing?" Scully gave him one of her 'duh' looks, and it hit him. "This case! She knows that we won't give up. I bet that black-lunged-son-of-a-bitch is behind this!"
Scully rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and stared out the windshield. Fowley was in on the planning of this. 'All the way up to that demented, egotistical head of hers,' Scully thought irritated at Mulder's naiveté. Sometimes she wondered how she really measured up to his ex-partner. 'The stupid bitch.' Scully added.
"Thanks for the warning, uh, what's your name?"
"Miss Parker." With that Miss Parker ended the call.
"What the hell?" Mulder asked looking at the phone.
"What?"
"That was Miss Parker! Like, as in the Centre!"
As Mulder was talking a brown Ford Explorer drove past, then, after going down the road a couple hundred yards, did a U-turn and came back.
"You're kidding, right?"
"No, not at all. But I think it would be a good idea if we change hotels. If Fowley really is after us, that'll be the first place she'll look. We did put in on our car registration."
A well built, husky man exited the Explorer with what appeared to be a pistol in his hand. He slowly approached the car eyeing the two occupants. He approached cautiously, as not to make any sudden movements or noises.
***
Miss Parker's Rental Car
Houghton County Airport
4:15 p.m.
Miss Parker hung up the phone and looked at Merideth. Looking at her Miss Parker realized that she needn't explain anything, Merideth understood everything that was going on. They exchanged a brilliant smile. Merideth climbed into the passenger seat while Miss Parker placed the baby into the car seat. She climbed in the car and headed towards Jarod's house, with Merideth navigating.
***
Mulder and Scully's Rental Car
"I guess we should switch cars then too." Scully added, still shocked that so much had happened, even though it was a common occurrence that went right along with working on the X-Files
Scully turned to look at Mulder and spotted a man in the driver's side window. She opened her mouth to say something, to warn Mulder of the danger. Mulder, noticing her expression, gave her a strange, questioning look. He was about to ask if she was all right and she was about to inform him of the husky male behind him, but before either mouth could form the words the man pulled up the apparent pistol and shot Mulder through the open window. Scully's eyes grew wide in horror and she opened her mouth to scream, but she only got a half moan out before the man shot her and her world went black.
***
Jarod's House
Near Copper Harbor
5:00 p.m.
Chet and Jarod were upstairs putting the finishing touches on the baby's nursery.
"Hey Jarod," Jarod had insisted that Chet stop calling him Mr. J since they were now working together.
"Yeah." He said. He was up on a ladder putting up trim wallpaper with teddy bears on it. Chet was holding the ladder.
"Do you even know if the baby is a girl or boy? I mean, if it's a boy, we don't to taint the poor kid by painting the room pink."
Jarod stopped for a second thinking. There hadn't been a karyotype attached to the file, and Miss Parker hadn't said.
"No, no I don't. I guess I'll find out soon enough. Miss Parker is do here in thirty minutes."
Just then they heard a car come up the dirt road. Jarod looked at his watch, than smiled. "I forgot, Miss Parker doesn't follow the speed limit." Suddenly his stomach began to roll, and he felt a bit sick. He wasn't sure how Miss Parker was going to act towards him; after all she had been blaming him for all her problems the last three years. Not to mention, she was probably still pissed at him for leaving. 'If only she realized?' his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Chet's voice.
Chet was looking out the window as the two figures exited the car.
"Oh my God," he whispered in a shocked voice.
Jarod looked worried, and ran over to the window.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Don't you see it?" Chet was still whispering.
"See what!!" Jarod was getting more worried by the minute.
"You don't see it? Look at them! They look almost exactly the same!"
Jarod looked down at Miss Parker, who was now approaching the house with baby in her arms, and Merideth. His breath caught in his throat. He looked over at Chet.
"Oh god, you don't think that?"
Chet just nodded.
"But I think we should keep this between us until you can find out for sure."
They heard the downstairs door open and Chet peeked over at Jarod, who looked like he just might through up right then and there. Chet walked over and placed a hand on his back.
"Hey, you gonna be okay man?"
Jarod put a shaky hand on his stomach and smiled.
"Yeah, I think so. Just a little nervous. I just hope she'll forgive me."
"Forgive you?" Chet asked incredulously. "Don't get me wrong, but hasn't she been the one chasing after you for the last three years making your life a living hell?" Jarod lowered his head and shook it.
"There's just some, shall we say, unresolved issues. I'm just not sure how she'll react to me, you know, it's been a long time since we've acted like real friends. Almost three years, and she was so mad when it happened, but she just doesn't know, she doesn't understand?" Jarod wasn't making any sense, at least not to Chet.
"Look, why don't I give Mer the grand tour, and then we'll go to Houghton, get some dinner, catch a movie, and give you and dear Miss Parker can catch up and solve those 'unresolved' issues. Okay?"
Jarod smiled a little sadly and nodded.
"Thanks."
"No problem, glad to be of assistance. Look, I'll go greet the newcomers and leave you here to think."
Chet walked out the door and left Jarod to think about how to approach the problem at hand. He really didn't mind taking Merideth out; in fact he couldn't wait. He smiled at the prospect.
***
Downstairs
Miss Parker, the baby, and Merideth entered the house, still awe-struck from the outside view. Merideth looked around at the house and smiled as she turned to take in the whole view.
"This is soooooooo cool!!!" she said as she spotted the slide that came from the upper stories.
Parker smiled looking at the slide and the ladder next to it.
"This is definitely Jarod's kind of house."
Just then Chet came sliding down and landed on his feet with a great deal of grace.
"Hey Mer!" he walked over and gave her a hug. Miss Parker noticed that he held on a little longer than necessary and he had a look about him. After releasing Merideth he walked over to Miss Parker and the baby, who was once again asleep, and stuck out his hand.
"Hi, I'm Chet, and you must be the infamous Miss Parker."
Parker smiled as she repositioned the small child and took his hand.
"I must, mustn't I." She looked around the room. "So where's Jarod?"
Chet and Merideth exchanged a look. Could that be a hint of nervousness in her voice? No, not Miss Parker.
"Um, he's upstairs. You want me to show you?"
"No, you can just tell me."
"All right, you go up the stairs down the hall to the second floor, turn left and it's the third room on the right."
"Thanks." Miss Parker walked towards the stairs in almost a daze.
"Hey, Miss Parker, me and Merideth are going into town okay?"
"Yeah," was her quiet response.
Chet grabbed Merideth's hand and pulled her out the door. He explained the whole thing to her on their hour long ride into Houghton.
***
Upstairs
Miss Parker had climbed the stairs and was standing on the top trying to build up the courage to go to the room that Jarod occupied. She slowly started to walk were Chet had instructed her, but in the first room she spotted a computer and ducked in. She wanted to see if Sydney had left any news, and it was an excuse to put of her reunion with Jarod. She placed the baby on a blanket on the floor and turned on the computer. She clicked on the Internet icon and went to Hotmail. She opened up her account and saw that she had one message, with a two hundred k attachment from an anonymous sender. "What the hell?" She whispered as she clicked on the message. A Centre file popped up. She read through it and gulped.
"Oh my God. This is impossible." She looked at the door and yelled. "Jarod! Come here!"
Jarod, who was still in the other room trying to decide how to explain everything to Parker, sat up with a start when he heard he voice. After registering what she said, he got up and ran down the hall until he spotted her sitting at the computer.
"What is it? Are you all right." He spotted the baby on the floor. "Is the baby?"
Parker gave him a look, insulted by the innuendo that she would let any harm come to the infant.
"No, she's fine." Her voice was a little chilled and Jarod winced. "It's this file. Read it."
She stood up and pointed to it. She sat down next to her little girl as Jarod read. When he was done he sat back in the chair and spoke softly.
"So Chet and I were right."
"Excuse me?" Miss Parker asked, shocked.
Jarod turned to look at her, and couldn't hold back a small smile as he saw Parker holding the baby ever so carefully against her. He looked into her eyes.
"Chet pointed out that you and Merideth have a striking resemblance to one another when you first pulled up, and well, he put two and two together and came to the conclusion that Merideth might be a part of the Jarod/Parker experiments."
Miss Parker stood and read another part of the file. She pointed to the screen.
"But look here there's a death certificate." She hit the down arrow and read on. "Oh." She said as she read the file's conclusion.
Jarod looked shocked to. "Okay, just to make sure we both agree. This file is saying that Merideth was the second JP experiment. That a Lorrie Crane and her husband Steven Crane rescued the baby after Steven discovered some files stating that some potentially lethal experiments would be tried on her. So they had a friend, the person who sent this, make up a fake death certificate and plant it, along with an already dead baby, in order to fool The Powers That Be at the Centre." Jarod looked at her to find a response.
"Sounds about right to me."
Jarod sighed.
"That's what I was afraid of. So how are we going to tell her? I have a feeling that she?s not going to take very well to the idea that her whole life has been a lie."
"No one ever does." Parker whispered. She peered over at Jarod regaining her coolness. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. First I want to know who sent me this. Think you can find out?"
"Sure, but I think you should stay in here, we need to talk."
"All right, just let me put the baby down." Miss Parker started to walk out the door, but stopped and turned back around. "What should we name her?"
Jarod stood and walked over. He pulled the blanket away from the baby's face. "Is it a boy or girl?" He asked softly.
"A girl." Miss Parker said just as quietly
"Well, I think Catherine Mercedes is fitting don't you? Besides, isn't it tradition to pass on the mother's name?"
Parker smiled at Jarod and the baby.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Parker walked out to put the baby down.
***
Mulder's Room
Location: Unknown
5:20 p.m.
Mulder awoke only to find his world was a complete blur. He could hardly see anything. The one thing he could see, however, was the form of a woman standing above him. He licked his lips and tried to speak.
"Scully?" His voice cracked.
The woman glared at him.
"No, it's Diana, Fox. Agent Scully isn?t here."
A look of horror and panic came over his features.
"Where is she? Is she all right?" His dry mouth and throat managed to get the words out in a horse and crackling voice. He tried to get up, but discovered that he couldn't move. He looked at his wrists and feet and noticed that they were strapped down. "What the hell is going on?"
"Your precious Agent Scully," Fowley spit out, "is just fine, for now. And as for what's going on, well lets say that there is going to be some rehabilitation taking place. Yours, that is. You are going to forget about that miserable little piece of Hicksville trailer-trash you call a partner and refocus your energy on me."
Mulder stared up at her.
"Diana, in case you're forgetting, you're the one who dumped me."
"Well, it was a mistake, and just because I dump you doesn't mean that you're free to hook up with every red-headed bimbo you can."
Mulder felt like screaming at her. How dare she speak of Scully that way!? At least Scully was loyal and decent and didn't treat him like crap every time he did something stupid, which, even he admitted, was often. At least Scully respected him and his decisions; she didn't look down on him or make him feel insignificant. No, not at all. At least Scully treated him as her equal, not someone she could use and toss away when she got the urge to 'make a few adjustments' in her life. Unlike Agent Fowley here who left him on a whim. He felt like saying, 'Hey Diana, Scully could kick your ass any day, oh, not to mention that I would sell my soul to the devil before I would EVER willingly touch or talk to you again.' Instead he had to keep his cool. The more Diana trusted him, the better chance he had of rescuing Scully and getting the hell out of there.
"Diana, Scully and I are just friends, there's nothing romantic between us. I swear it."
Fowley looked into his eyes.
"I have to go have a chat with your dear Scully, so if you'll excuse me?."
Diana walked out the door before he could get a word in edge wise. He threw himself down on the pillow.
"Ahhh shit."
***
Jarod's House
5:25 p.m.
Miss Parker re-entered the room empty handed, another cold look on her face.
"Let's skip the small stuff and get right to the point, why the HELL did you leave me in that God-forsaken place alone?" Parker was staring straight at Jarod, nearly piercing him with her glare.
Jarod turned and looked into Parker's cold and distant eyes. Then he lowered his head.
"Parker you don't understand. I didn't leave you. They, they told me some things, things that weren't true?" He looked at Parker for reassurance, but was only greeted with an angry look. He sighed and decided to spit it out. "Your father told me you were dead." He spoke fast and kept his head down.
The frozen look in Parker?s eyes immediately melted into one of outrage.
"He did what!!?" She exploded.
Jarod quickly continued.
"I refused to do a sim because it dealt with terrorist attacks. When I refused they sent me off to the side so that they could talk with Sydney about my growing resistance to do simulations. They talked, thinking that I couldn't hear them. They said that our relationship was effecting my judgment, that it was because of my feelings for you that I was getting soft and compassionate. They, Raines and your father, said that they were going to have to put a stop to it once and for all. The next day they came and they, they" He stopped as an uncontrollable stream of tears fell down his face. He attempted to cover them with his hand and control his breathing. He failed miserably.
Miss Parker walked over to him and knelt down. She felt horrible about what happened, what her father had done to him, to them. She felt horribly guilty for blaming him all these years when it hadn't been his fault. She pulled him into a hug, and they sat there until Jarod regained some composure.
He sat back up.
"Raines came to my room the next morning and said that he had some tragic news, that you had been killed in a horrible accident that morning. I completely broke down; you were the only reason that I made it through those harrowing days, years. You alone were what kept me alive. When he told me you were dead, I knew that I had to leave if I wanted to survive. So I left, with out a second thought, only to discover that you were still alive. Oh, God, I was so happy! I couldn't believe it! But you, you were so angry and I couldn't understand it." He hung his head again.
Parker looked at him, his sorrowful eyes. The regret that he had believed them and let her down shone in them.
"Why didn't you tell me all this then?" She asked softly.
***
Scully's Room
Location: Unknown
Moments Before Diana Fowley Enters
Scully slowly opened her eyes and slowly took everything in. Mulder was no where in sight and the rest of the room was bare and dark. She attempted to sit up, only to discover that her wrists and ankles were strapped down.
"Ahhh shit."
Just then Fowley entered the room.
"Great." Scully said sarcastically before she could stop herself. "So Agent Fowley, how are you today?"
"Enough with the pleasantries Dana. We both hate each other; it doesn't take a genius to see it." Diana sat down on the bed near Scully's hip. "I want to ask you a question Dana."
"I don't see anyway to stop you, so go for it."
Diana leaned in close, a malicious sneer on her lips and a deadly look in her eye.
"What are you willing to sacrifice in order to survive Agent Scully?"
Well that's it guys, at least for now. But look on the
bright side, there were a few questions answered. Like why Jarod
left, who was calling Mulder, and what JP2 was. Yeah, I know, I
made up for the answers by adding more Q's, but that's
beside the point. I know, you're asking yourself,
"What's up with all these cliffhanger's
Ashlee?" Well, I need to keep you people reading my fic,
'cause if you didn't who would, right?