Recap: Miss Parker struggled to make of herself someone her mother would be proud of, while Jarod struggled to find her. Behind the scenes a shadowy corporation born from the remnants of the Centre slowly made progress in establishing itself, bringing danger back into the lives of everyone. Specifically, Miss Parker reaches out to old friends and old enemies to attempt a pre-emptive strike against her enemies, only to have it backfire on her.

Chapter Six

Lake Catherine, Maine

Jarod saw his fears realized as his eyes alit upon poor Ben as he lay on the bathroom floor.

The adrenaline of Jarod's rush across the country, not even abated during the seeming agonizingly-long plane ride, left his body in a rush of shock. His hands shook as he stood there gripping the doorframe of the bathroom as he stared at the prone figure of someone he considered a friend and more importantly, an ally.

When that prone body, supposed to be dead, suddenly moved and startled Jarod he could only gaze down in shock. "Ben?"

With a surprised smile Ben rolled over to grin up at Jarod. "Jarod! Long time, no see. While you're here could you hand me that wrench? The sink is leaking again," Ben explained as he gestured to the open cabinet door next to him. In his rush and subsequent shock Jarod had failed to notice the toolbox beside Ben.

"Uh, yeah," Jarod replied as he kneeled beside the older man, studying his face as he did so. Finding the right tool he started to hand it to Ben, before giving in to his urges and wrapping him in a tight hug. "When I walked in, I thought for a minute..." Jarod's voice trailed off but the emotions were clear in his voice.

Ben smiled slightly and pat Jarod on the shoulder. "I may be older, young man, but I'm not 'old', or anywhere near ready to depart this world. At least not yet."

"No, it's not that," Jarod replied as he leaned back, gripping Ben's arms as he continued to speak. "There's something going on, Ben. I need to find Miss Parker."

Ben sighed deeply and set the wrench aside. Grasping the counter edge tightly he pulled himself up until he stood above Jarod who remained kneeling. "She told me you'd ask that."

Jarod frowned heavily and stood. "Parker?"

"Yes Miss Parker. The last time I saw her was five months ago, Jarod. I tried to convince her to stay here but she wouldn't hear of it. She said there was something she had to do and she didn't want any of the repercussions to land here with me," Ben explained as he moved into the bedroom, his eyes sliding around the room before landing on the photo frame on the bedside table. With surprisingly spry steps Ben moved across the room and picked it up, gazing at it for a few seconds before turning and gesturing for Jarod to take it. "I knew she was planning something dangerous and that'd you'd be worried. She told me not to tell you anything."

Jarod twisted his lips in a half-smile, not surprised that she'd bidden Ben to keep quiet. "Are you going to listen to her?"

Ben smiled. "No. I'll never keep quiet when someone I love is in danger again. I learned that lesson the hard way."

Jarod smiled happily, his entire face lighting up as he realized that this might just be his "big break" in chasing Parker. He looked down at the photo in his hand and his face froze as he realized what he was staring at. At first he almost thought it was Catherine Parker, but he'd know that smile and dimple anywhere. They were rarely seen, but as a child he'd had the pleasure of witnessing them whenever Parker had smiled. More often in their adult relationship her smiles were self-deprecating or bitter, and never deep enough to reveal the small dimple in her right cheek.

Her hair was the longest he'd ever seen it in the photo, falling like a dark ink waterfall down her back. The wind was blowing some strands across her face and one hand was raised to try and push them behind her ear. She was laughing, her head turned slightly from the camera. She was sitting on a wooden pasture fence, the sun making her skin gleam gold in the photo.

Jarod had never seen her look so beautiful.

"When was this taken?" He asked as he forced his fingers to relax the death-grip they'd formed on the delicate frame.

Ben was surprised by the sudden change in conversation but flowed with it. "Just before she left. There was a fair in town and I convinced her to come with me. We drank beer and ate cotton candy and rode rides for hours. I was sad that she leaving and I asked if she'd mind a picture. She didn't, so..." His voice trailed off as the rest was understood. "Is something wrong, Jarod?"

He shook his head and forced his gaze up and met Ben's. "Did you ever feel like you're seeing someone for the first time even though you've seen them almost every day for years?"

Ben smiled at the bemused tone of Jarod's voice. "Yes, I did. Every time I saw Catherine."

Jarod didn't want to think on how the two situations mirrored one another.

Denver, Colorado

"Well that was one of the worst suggestions of all time."

Miss Parker grimaced into the mirror of the interrogation room and press the cut on her temple gently, trying to determine whether or not she'd need stitches. She nodded slightly to the statement the only other occupant of the room had made and decided quickly that she'd rather deal with a slight scar than the hassle of going to a hospital. "I told you to let me try beating him into answering my questions, but no, you wanted to try bribery."

She turned and glared at the attractive man on the other side of the room. He grinned at her slightly before sighing and gesturing to the chair that sat at the table in the middle of the room. "You look tired, why don't you sit down?"

"If I wanted to sit down, I'd be sitting," Parker replied matter-of-factly. She arched her eyebrow as she watched him fidget. "How long are you planning on keeping me here? Now that I don't mind the company, old friends are always joys to be around." Her voice was perfectly monotone, but through experience he knew that she was not pleased.

"Listen, Miss Parker, part of a government building blew up. The incendiary was provided by you, and even though your method of interrogation was approved by the higher-ups, there are still some questions."

Parker bit her bottom lip and slowly pushed away from the wall. Walking carefully, her right leg was heavily bruised on one side and painful to put weight on, she reached for the chair at the table and sat down. "I don't have time to sit around while your public relations department spins the story." Parker smiled softly and a little flirtatiously. "James, can't you do a little magic and get me out of here?"

Agent James Rollins smiled at the familiar expression but quickly stifled it as he remembered that his superiors were watching through the two-sided mirror on the opposite wall. "Due process can take time Miss Parker."

"What's with all this "Miss Parker" business, James?" Parker asked as she smiled broadly. She ignored the fact that the recent explosion had left her smelling like smoke and covered in soot and focused on the FBI agent who spent four months watching and protecting her during the investigation and subsequent federal trials of Raines and Lyle. "I thought we were friends," she added in a low voice, making it clear that the term 'friends' meant more than it would normally.

James stifled the grin that tugged at his lips but shook his head. "I was asked to keep you company because of our past association, however this is a professional courtesy, not a personal one."

Parker licked her lips and shrugged. "We could make it personal. How have you been?" As James tried to think of the most innocuous answer he could give, Parker was thinking about her dalliance with him and how it'd affected her at the time.

Though she'd like to imagine that she and James had had a 'relationship' that if not for her past job, and his current one, could have been taken deeper into something meaningful, she knew it wasn't true. He was definitely her physical type, a tall brunet with dark eyes and pronounced features, but personality-wise she always found him rather bland. During the few months she'd spent in a classified location waiting for her turn to testify before the grand jury, and later at the actual trials of her biological father and twin brother, she had indulged in a sexual relationship with James Rollins. He was attractive and she'd been lonely, and combined with long hours spent alone two attractive adults ended up doing what was natural.

He had no claim on her heart, however. Only two men in her life had ever truly known her heart, and one of them was dead and buried, a casualty of the Centre.

Parker wasn't oblivious enough to her own feelings to lie to herself, thus she knew that the other man who had a claim on her heart was a casualty of the Centre, also, though he was still alive and well. Perhaps not as much a casualty as he was a victim.

"I'm healthy and promoted, so you could say I'm well. I'd ask how you are," James replied slowly, before gesturing to her appearance, "but I can see for myself."

Parker smirked and shrugged. "Prison is Hell. Usually not so literally, but..." she added slyly before turning serious once more. "Were there any casualties?"

"No," he shook his head, and explained. "For some reason that part of the prison was barely staffed today. Only two guards on duty, both of whom were at their posts and far enough away to not have any injuries."

Parker's smile faded as she pondered that odd coincidence. "How convenient, don't you think?"

James's face froze as that very thought occurred to him. "Very convenient."

Parker nodded slowly and she moved her gaze from his brown eyes to her dirty hands. She picked at her nails as she tried to tactfully get to her point. "Do you remember what I told you the last time I saw you?"

James pushed away from the wall and pulled out the chair across from her, sitting down slowly before replying. "It was a week after the trials ended. You'd just finished filling out paperwork at the Bureau, and we were standing on the front steps. I asked you if you'd ever given any thought to staying D.C. With me."

Parker wouldn't look at him, couldn't look at him, because she knew that while he had no claim on her heart, that didn't mean she had none on his. The emotional turmoil she'd left him in wasn't what she wanted to relive, it was the words she'd said to him as she'd left that she wanted him to remember. "Do you remember why I told you I couldn't stay, if I even wanted to?"

His brow furrowed as he thought, his eyes glazing over as he turned his thoughts back to that moment. "I asked why you couldn't stay, now that the trials are finally over and you can start living again. I asked why couldn't start living again with me. You said..." James was trying but he really couldn't remember her words past the slight pain he'd felt as his lover made it clear she was leaving and wasn't going to look back.

"I said 'It's not over.' I hate to be the one to point this out to you and your superiors, but it's not. I knew it then, I know it now. The powers-that-be and the press may like to point fingers and choose scapegoats, but this was organized on an entirely different level than they'll ever be able to put together." Her voice sounded weary as she explained, mostly because she'd been through this hell of cover-ups before, and knew she'd go through it again.

"The Centre is destroyed, Miss Parker. Its two heaviest hitters are behind bars," James argued, crossing his arms as he studied her calm face.

"No, one of its heavy players is behind bars, the other is dead now," Parker pointed out glibly, before she continued. "Let's say there were other players, players who are starting to shake things up. Could I count on some official back-up if it comes to that?"

James's eyes widened. "If it comes to what? Are you trying to say that-"

"I'm not trying to say anything," Parker cut in quickly, flicking her eyes to the side as if to remind him that they had company. "Except that Raines' death today was not my fault and that I shouldn't be here." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and mirroring his position across from her. "When I first came here asking to see Raines, you suggested I try bribery to get him to answer my questions. Why'd you think that would work?"

James shrugged. "His lawyer regularly offers him cigarettes. Since it's been several weeks since the lawyer had been here, I thought he would be craving. I wanted to help you."

Parker smiled slightly. "It's not your fault, either. I should have realized something was up. Raines quit smoking years ago. In a way, I guess it is my fault. I've...grown soft."

James grinned. "Soft is one thing you are not."

Parker's thoughts suddenly narrowed in on something he'd said. "Raines' lawyer has been visiting him here? For how long?"

"Every week, every Tuesday for the past year. We couldn't deny his lawyer access to him," James explained, startling as he realized what she was asking. "You think his lawyer helped him plan this?"

"I think maybe the investigators will want to speak with that lawyer," Parker replied noncommittally. She pursed her lips and her eyes danced with amusement. She loved it when she wasn't the one in the dark struggling to catch up.

As if cued by the conversation, the only door to the room opened suddenly and a smartly suited gentleman stepped in quietly. "Miss Parker?"

"Well, that certainly isn't him," Parker quipped sardonically as she turned to the newcomer with a quirked eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"After reviewing the circumstances," the suit glanced at James, "you're free to leave. We ask that you remain in the city, however, in case of further questions."

Parker nodded and smiled as she stood, knowing that she had absolutely no intention of doing that.

"What is she planning?" Jarod asked over coffee as he and Ben settled down at the kitchen table.

"It's complicated, Jarod," Ben started, sighing deeply again and leaning heavily onto the table. "I don't know much, just some broad strokes of the entire situation. She knew, Jarod, she always knew that it wasn't over. She knew that just because the Centre was 'dead' it wouldn't stop. The plots, and the experiments, those are perpetuated by people, not by a place. Just putting some of them behind bars wasn't going to cut it, and she knew it."

Jarod nodded slowly, focusing his eyes on the patterns in the wood table under his hands. In his grand quest to 'take down the Centre' he supposed that somewhere underneath his passionate drive and stubbornness that he'd known that. That just taking down the institution itself and the financial backers would not truly destroy the malevolent plots propagated within.

Ben continued speaking in his low but calming voice, somehow comforting Jarod despite the conversation that was occurring. "She told me that there were only certain projects that remained salvageable after the dissemination of Centre resources. It made it easier for her to set up a watch-dog like surveillance. The projects that were most likely to be restarted would be too widespread to truly be hidden."

"Which projects?" Jarod asked unsteadily as he stood to pace, his hands clenched as anger began to churn in his stomach. He should have seen this coming, he knew. Jarod had fallen into the trap of an everyday life. Willful oblivion mixed with domestic tranquility had left Miss Parker the only one preparing for the inevitable.

"She didn't tell me," Ben said slowly as he studied Jarod's face, every emotion sliding across the rugged features as clear to him as the sun in the sky. Anger, guilt, shame; emotions that any man in this situation would be feeling. "It's not your fault, Jarod."

"I'm the 'boy genius', yet I didn't see this coming," Jarod said sharply as he leaned over the sink, his stormy gaze unfocused as he gazed out over the back yard.

"You didn't want to, Jarod. You wanted it to be over. In her own way, Parker didn't want it to be over. She didn't want to be left at loose ends, nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. She returned to the only thing she knew, Jarod. Suspicions, plotting, pre-emptive strikes; she was raised at the Centre. In her mind I think she's still there. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Jarod nodded slowly and forced his volatile emotions away from the surface of his mind, struggling to achieve some sense of peace, only to settle for anticipatory calm. "She needs me," he said quietly, not so much to Ben as to himself. Turning quickly Jarod returned to the table, sitting and gazing intently at his friend. "Do you know anything else? Anything she'd let slip? Anything you...might've found out some other way?"

"Angelo was involved at one point. Not invited, but involved anyways. She was irritated with it, but I got the feeling she appreciated what he'd done nonetheless," Ben explained as he wrapped his thin fingers around the warm coffee mug Jarod had prepared for him.

"Angelo?" Jarod replied with very little surprise. "Of course he'd know something about it; he can be very uncanny about things like this." Unspoken, Jarod realized that the same thing could be said of his brother Ethan. Jarod ducked his head a bit as his thoughts wandered to his brother, a brother that had chosen to go to Miss Parker alone, knowing how worried Jarod had become. Idly, Jarod began to speak aloud as his thought slowly started to wind down the natural path. "Angelo...an old project renewed..." Jarod's eyes suddenly focused and he stood, already reaching for his jacket and the cell phone kept in the inner pocket. "I need to make a call."

Jarod hurried out the door, clearly wanting privacy, and Ben could only watch and shrug. If Jarod had more questions, then Ben would be ready. Ben had his own problems to think about in the meantime. For instance, he wasn't sure how, or even whether he should, tell Jarod that Miss Parker was most likely on her way back to Lake Catherine.

"Ethan?" Parker called as she opened his hotel door, disconcerted to find it slightly open when she arrived. She reached for her gun automatically before sighing heavily to find herself empty-handed. Even she was not allowed in Federal buildings with a weapon, at least not anymore.

"The door was open because I was expecting you, Miss Parker," Ethan said quietly from the open bathroom, ducking his head out to smile at her slightly. "Jarod calls it a 'parlor trick'."

"I call it irritating," she replied with a sneer. "You scared me."

Ethan nodded slightly, gesturing to the disposable razor in his hand and the shaving cream that covered half his face. "I'll be finished in a few minutes."

Parker smiled and brushed some soot from her singed suit lapel. "Take your time; I need to get cleaned up too."

Ethan smiled slightly at her before returning to the bathroom, his voice echoing out to her despite the quiet way he spoke. "It wasn't your fault, Miss Parker."

"I know that," she replied immediately. "Stop reading me, Ethan. I'm not feeling guilty, at least not about that." She moved to the door to stare at him balefully. "No Inner Sense, right now, okay? Just...you and me."

Ethan paused to glance at her in surprise. "It's not really something I can turn off, but...I'll give it a try."

Parker breathed deeply before she started to speak, forcing herself to say the words slowly, the better to let them sink into her own consciousness. "In all my years with the Centre, I never killed anyone. I was one of few with that distinction there, but it was a point of pride for me. Even when Tommy-" Her eyes filled suddenly and she froze in a whisper of breathlessness. She clenched her teeth to force the sudden melancholy away and started again. "Even when Tommy died, I wasn't guilty. I was angry, vengeful, but not guilty. Now, with Raines doing what he did, the only thing I feel guilty about is my own lack of guilt."

"You needn't feel guilty, Parker, it wasn't your fault," Ethan pointed out as he finished shaving and slowly wiped the small whispers of foam from his face with a hot towel.

"If I wasn't so predictable, if my enemies hadn't been able to read my intentions, Raines would still be alive. Normal people would feel guilty; all I can feel is happy that this world is rid of him," Parker replied quickly, the words flowing out of her. "What does that say about me?" She asked in a sudden quiet tone, turning her eyes to the floor. "What does your Inner Sense say that means about me?"

Ethan turned from the mirror and faced his sister, who was clearly feeling a little lost after the events of the morning. "I don't need them to tell me something I already know." He reached for her hands, pulling her to his side so that she was staring into the mirror with him. "You don't feel guilty because you know Raines has finally gotten the punishment he deserves. You don't feel guilty because Tommy loved you, and despite who killed him, he died for love. Most importantly, you don't feel guilty because you are, and always have, done what you had to. No one can find fault with you for that."

Parker nodded slowly, and made an effort to smile at him. "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed." She turned to him and placed her hand on his cheek. "Wear something comfortable. We'll be driving for a while."

She was almost out the door when Ethan called to her. "Miss Parker?"

She paused with her hand on the door knob. "Yes?"

"We can't avoid him forever."

Parker nodded and sighed. "How long do we have?"

"Another few days at the most."

Parker continued to nod and turned to face Ethan where he stood silently in the bathroom doorway. "You never call me by my name."

"I know it," he replied slowly, his eyes crinkled with amusement as he smiled at her. "Jarod didn't tell me."

"You just knew," Parker finished for him. "How long?"

"I always knew. In my head, though, it got confused. I'm sure you can understand why," he replied with a slight blush.

"Everyone got a little confused when I was little, so I became little Miss Parker." She smiled slightly as she stared into the distance, her thoughts drifting back to her childhood. "I think maybe...one day I'd like to be her again. That girl that came before Miss Parker."

Ethan smiled confidently. "You will."

"Is that a fact?" She asked with a big smile as she opened the door behind her and turned to leave.

"Call it...brother's intuition."

Jarod paced the porch heavily as he waited for his call to connect. As the ringing tone suddenly was interrupted, he rushed to fill the line before the person on the other end could get a word in. "Tell me you're not involved. Tell me that you know nothing about what is going on. I need you to tell me that. I need you to be the man I think you are."

"Jarod?"

"Sydney, please. Tell me."

Sorry for any mistakes or OOC-ness in this chapter. Please review with any critique and I will attempt to fix it.