I'm in love with her.

It came as a shock to him to say it aloud even though he'd always loved her. Until that morning, he really had no idea how far he'd fallen, but as they say: still waters run deep.

He stood and stared after drying from his bath and watched as she brushed her lovely hair. Keeping hidden from her sight, Jarod followed quietly when she stood in her dress and with sake in hand, walked up the steps and out onto the roof to look out at the red tiled roofs of traditional Japanese houses that lined the street.

"What are you thinking?" He finally asked, unable to keep his distance from her a second longer.

"I'm thinking about your parents." She said softly, so softly that he almost hadn't heard her.

"Don't. We have to think about ourselves now. And everything else will work itself out."

"What if it doesn't?" She asked.

Jarod smiled. "What if it does?"

"I don't know."

Jarod advanced, slipped his arms around her waist and then attempted to gently spin her towards him. Parker was rigid, unwilling to turn around.

"Parker?"

"I don't even want to imagine what it feels like to- to" She stammered and then sobbed.

"To what?" Jarod was clueless.

"To have a child taken away, to wonder for even a second where my child is, my god, let alone thirty years, to wonder if your child is cold or hurt or hungry, or sad or even alive!" Parker cried. "How does she do it? How has she survived all this t- time not-" And the words were choked off by her sobs.

Where the hell did this come from? The woman chased him for five years and now, here she was having an emotional breakdown for a woman she'd only met once, and only briefly. Apparently, she'd had some time to ponder and place blame... on herself.

"Now you listen to me, Parker." Jarod said and cupped her face and made her look at him, really look at him. "That is not your fault."

It was heartbreaking really to her face dampened with tears, but it also made his heart soar that this woman was crying for him, for his mother. She was truly repentant and he knew that she loved him, just as he loved her.

"How? How did she not lay down and die? How?"

"My mother did it the same way we all do, Parker. Hope. The hope that she will find me around the next corner, just as your mother hoped she would rescue you and me and all of the children, the hope of a better life, a brighter future, just as you hoped that one day you'd be free of the Centre. And now, you are."

"Oh, god. You're really no help at all!" She pushed him away but he wasn't going anywhere, and neither was she until Jarod found out what the hell was really wrong with her.

"What is this all about?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired." She began to walk, but became stiff and then winced. "I'm so tired."

"What?"

"I'm so tired. I- I'm going to lie down."

"You slept straight through last night, and you took several naps during the day as well, so don't lie, don't tell me you are tired. And don't walk away from me, not until you tell me what's wrong. You're in pain. Tell me."

Parker was adamant, and insisted that nothing was wrong, but Jarod knew better. He watched closely for the next several days, was vigilant and finally, six nights later, while Jarod pretended to sleep, Parker revealed her secret.

Jarod felt the bed shift, and peeked beneath closed eyelids as she studied his face in the moonlight. And then she rose to relieve her full bladder in the loo but almost immediately, she groaned and pressed her hands to her lower back.

"What's wrong with your back?" He asked softly, and Parker went still.

"I think I pulled something when we boarded the train in"

Jarod sat up fully and interrupted.

"That was several weeks ago. Tell me the truth, Parker."

"I have to" She moved towards the loo.

"How long do you think you can hide something like this from me?"

"Something like what?"

"You're exhausted, you sleep nine hours straight and a total of five additional hours in naps, you're emotionally high strung, even more so than usual."

"No, I'm.."

"And you're experiencing back pain.

"I'm not so young anymore."

"And you're late."

"Hold that thought." She said and slammed closed the door and finally relieved herself.

When she returned, the conversation resumed.

"You're late."

"For?"

"That's not what I mean and you damn well know it." Jarod said. "We've been together for sixteen and a half weeks. Did you think I didn't notice when you avoided having sex with me for five consecutive days? Five consecutive days each month? Oh, you thought I didn't know about that, well I do; I read all of the biology manuals, Parker, I have in depth knowledge about the female body; I've been a midwife."

Parker seemed appalled.

"And a gynecologist and obstetrician."

"Oh, god." She groaned. "Will you shut up?"

"And that's another thing. You're terribly irritable. You don't want me to talk, you don't even want me around, but I seem to serve a purpose considering that you want to have sex every day, sometimes twice a day, and we have. Everyday this month, every single day last month, without the inconvenient five day interruption. When were you going to tell me?"

"I'm late." She stated angrily and not matter of factly, but in a voice she'd generally use to convey what she really wanted to say to him and what she really wanted to say was: there, I told you. Happy? Now drop it! She would never say that to him now, and she didn't want to argue or injure him but he was correct: she was irritable, and it irritated her that he knew her so well.

"No. When were you going to tell me that you're pregnant?"

"I can't be pregnant."

"Oh? Have you had a medical procedure to prevent pregnancy? Because even though we used condoms, they aren't 100% effective."

"No. I haven't. But I can't- I can't be pregnant. The condoms had to be effective."

"Obviously, they were not."

"Oh-" She worried her bottom lip frantically between her teeth. "Oh, god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Jarod. I know this is the last thing you need, that either of us need."

"No, don't be sorry, please-"

"This is a bad idea, it is, isn't it? The timing- maybe if we weren't on the run.."

"Don't." He interrupted. "Please don't complete that thought. I know where you're going with this and there are circumstances in which I can be sympathetic and even in favor but... this isn't one of those circumstances." He placed his palm protectively over her abdomen and then he knelt to kiss her belly. Her breath caught when he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "This is our baby, Parker. Ours. We made this child and it was no mistake.

Parker felt her knees weaken suddenly as she was overwhelmed by many emotions and fears. She joined him on the floor. "But the Centre-" She became panicked and began sobbing. "Oh, god, the Centre- Jarod, they will take the baby, they will find us and they will take our child and that life will be worse..." Parker shivered and then inhaled a shaky breath. "It would be kinder to do... something... now, than to allow our child to be taken.. oh, god" She sobbed. "I don't know what to do.. I can't, I can't even consider" She couldn't consider terminating their child. "We can't run forever, I won't be able to and then the Centre.."

"No." He assured her, even though he was in no position to, and then pulled her into his arms. He knew damn well that she wouldn't terminate a child conceived out of love and consensual sex. She couldn't even say the words terminate or abortion. She was terrified and not thinking clearly.

"I won't let them do that to you, I won't let them take our child. I promise you. Stop." He kissed her hair, and then her face. "Stop this. Please. Take a breath and just relax, okay? This isn't good for the baby, and hysterics aren't exactly your style."

"I know." She wiped away her tears, but then more fell. "I don't know what's wrong with me!" She sobbed.

"Hormones." He smiled. "It's perfectly normal, Parker, and it will pass. In a few weeks, I promise that you will feel more rational."

"But then I'll be fat."

"No, you'll just be pregnant." Jarod whispered but Parker was already sobbing again. "Shh, lie down and I'll rub your back."

The moment they reached the bed, Parker was all over him.

"This isn't what I had in mind." Jarod chuckled when she disrobed and then shifted to lie spread eagle before him. "I intend to give you a back rub."

"It's not my back that needs rubbing." She said huskily and arched her hips upwards.

"Mmmmm, it's going to be an incredible eight months." He dipped his head low and pulled a nipple into his mouth and suckled his way south. She cried out and as he lapped at her clitoris and licked into her folds and brought her to orgasm again and again.