Title - High Price of Freedom
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG to PG-13 (for some violence)
Category - JMPR, Pretender/Profiler Crossover
Summary - The ramifications of a past mistake come back to haunt Jarod and could be the key to the freedom Miss Parker's searching for. But is the high price worth it in the end?
Disclaimer - Most of these characters don't belong to me. Just using them for a bit. No harm intended.
* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 1
* * * * * * * * * *
Miss Parker gently pushes open the doors of the Centre Nursery,
smiling briefly at the nurse inside. The nurse nods back and
finishes the notes she's making before leaving Miss Parker alone.
This was their daily ritual. Miss Parker would arrive mid-
morning to see her baby brother and the nurse would find
something else that needed her attention in order to give Miss
Parker some time alone with the child.
"Oh, Miss Parker," the nurse said suddenly just as she got to the
door. "I may be popping in and out during this visit. We got in
some new babies just this morning. They're having a tough time
adjusting."
"Babies?" Miss Parker asks, a knot growing in her stomach. It
was bad enough she had to grow up here. It was even worse that
her little brother had to be here. She can't imagine what they
would need small infants for.
"Yes, Ma'am. Six month old twins," the nurse tells her.
"We'll try to keep it down." She smiles an uneasy smile at the
nurse as she finally leaves.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Miss Parker leaves her
baby brother by a pile of blocks that he eagerly starts chewing
on. She walks over and peeks into the crib holding the Centre's
newest acquisitions. Two angelic sleeping faces lay below, a
little boy and a little girl. Her hand finds it's way inside the
crib on it's own somehow and she gently strokes a finger along
the little boy's cheek. She can't resist running her fingers
through his reddish brown curls, smiling as the soft silkiness
tickles her hand. Looking back at his face, she notices his big
brown eyes are now wide open, staring at her inquisitively. For
a moment, it seems like he can't decide on whether he wants to
laugh or cry and his eyes start to tear up a little. But instead
of a wail, he lets out a contented sigh as his little pudgy hand
grabs onto Miss Parker's finger. Before she can even think about
it, she has the little boy in her arms and out of the crib. She
makes her way over to the rocking chair and sits with him.
"Baby," her little brother says in his garbled toddler language.
Having lost interest in his blocks, he walked over to his big
sister and the foreign creature in his place on her lap.
"That's right, Tyler," she says to her brother. "It's a baby.
You wanna say hi?"
"Hi Baby," Tyler says.
"Hi Tyler," Miss Parker says from behind the baby's head, making
it seem like he was talking to her brother. Both the baby and
Tyler start to giggle. Their laughs make her smile.
"Momma silly," Tyler laughs, sobering Miss Parker's mood. He was
doing that all the time now, calling her 'Momma'. For the past
18 months, she's been the only mother he's ever known, so she can
understand his confusion. But as much as she would love to be
his mother, she wasn't. And having him call her that just hurts
her all the more.
"No Tyler, Lanie. Can you say that? La-nie." She figured she'd
teach him to call her Lanie, since Mary Elainna was probably too
hard for a baby. That's the nickname Jarod used to call her.
"Not Momma. Lanie," she tries again pointing to herself as she
says it. But she sees that his attention is already elsewhere.
"Look, Momma. 'Nutter baby," Tyler calls excitedly when he
notices the other baby in the crib.
"I know it's another baby, Tyler. But she's asleep. We have to
be quiet," she whispers.
"Sleepy Momma," Tyler says with a yawn.
Miss Parker looks at her watch and realizes it's close to his
naptime. So she goes to lay the baby back in the crib so that
she can rock her brother to sleep. Just when she walks away from
the crib, the baby lets out a loud cry, his face instantly
getting red from the effort.
"What happened?" the nurse asks, slightly out of breath having
run back into the nursery after hearing the child scream. She
picks up the baby and tries to calm him down with no success.
"He started crying when I put him back in the crib," Miss Parker
explains over the child's cries.
"Like I said, they were having trouble adjusting," the nurse says
accusingly, staring at with Miss Parker with a not so nice look
in her eyes. "I don't think he appreciated being bothered."
"I didn't bother him," Miss Parker responds in an equally icy
tone. "He didn't start crying until after I put him down." She
walks over to the nurse and holds her arms out for the baby, who
eagerly reaches for her. He stops crying once he's back in Miss
Parker's arms.
"I guess he just likes you," the nurse reluctantly admits. "He
hasn't been going to strangers. You're the first. Let me know
if you have anymore trouble," she mumbles before making her way
back out of the nursery.
Miss Parker rolls her eyes at the woman's retreating form before
a tugging at her skirt gets her attention. Tyler's still
standing there, still looking very sleepy. She grabs his hand
and walks over to the rocking chair. She holds the baby on one
side of her lap and allows Tyler to climb up on the other side.
Before long, both little boys were sleeping peacefully. Unable
to move, Miss Parker just stays there, enjoying the brief feeling
of motherhood.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jarod throws his stuff in a chair next to the door of yet another
hotel room. He's done more travelling in the past few weeks than
usual. Nothing seems to be capturing his attention like before.
He goes from town to town investigating what initially seems like
worthwhile cases, only for them to turn out to be nothing.
Really, it was more like he was suffering the effects of burnout
and was in need of a vacation. Atlanta, Georgia was just the
place to do that. It wasn't hugely populated, but large enough
for him to get easily lost. And that's what he needed to be for
a few days - lost.
He flips the TV on to be background noise as he unpacked his
meager belongings. Several years on the run and he hasn't
accumulated many personal belongings. Just a few things that he
likes to keep close made the move with him from city to city. He
takes his toiletry kit into the bathroom, and adjusts the volume
on the TV to hear the news while he's unpacking his shaving kit.
" . . . and there has finally been an arrest in the Burke
kidnapping case," the anchor starts. The name catches Jarod's
attention and he leaves the shaving kit in the sink to watch the
news report. "After weeks of insisting she had nothing to do
with the disappearance of 6 month old twins Madison and Ryan,
Special Agent Rachel Burke has finally confessed that she in fact
did murder her children. . . ."
The rest of the news report goes by unheard by Jarod. Twins.
Rachel Burke has 6 month old twins. Thinking back to the time he
spent with the FBI profiler, he realizes it's a distinct
possibility that those twins are his as well. The timing was
just about right. He tunes back into the TV to find out more
details of the story, but sees that they've moved on to something
else. He turns on his computer and promptly connects to the
local police department and finds the case.
Two weeks ago, Rachel Burke reported her twins missing. After
days of searching, police uncovered evidence containing the
children's blood. They concluded that the children were more
than likely dead, seeing as how no ransom demands had been made.
Throughout the entire investigation, Rachel denied any wrongdoing
on her part. A few days ago, however, that changed. She was
rushed to the hospital, an apparent suicide attempt. Along with
the suicide note, there was a journal with details of how she
killed the children. The police has the journal now as evidence.
Jarod shuts off the computer to avoid risk of being detected
snooping around the police database. He thinks over the evidence
and realizes that something wasn't quite right with the
situation. According to the police report, she hasn't actually
confessed. They just have a journal and a note supposedly written
by her. The Rachel he knew wouldn't kill herself. And she
wouldn't kill her children. Of that he's sure. Chances are if
he figured out that the children could be his, then it's possible
someone else may have figured it out as well. Possibly someone
at the Centre. He had to talk to Rachel as soon as possible. He
grabs his jacket and heads to the hospital.
Northside Hospital
Atlanta, GA
Jarod peeks his head into the door to Rachel's room. She appears
to be sleeping, but he sees that she isn't when she turns her
head in his direction when he enters.
"Hi," he says quietly, shyly looking around the room to avoid
making immediate eye contact with her.
"What are you doing here, Jarod?" she asks. "The last time I saw
you was after that night. You were gone the next morning. How
could you do that to me?"
"I know you're angry . . . " he starts.
"Angry? Actually, I was angry for awhile. For a long time. I
was hurt. I was confused. But then I got over it. I had to,"
she says sadly.
"Because of them? The babies?" he asks as delicately as he can.
But the question still brings tears to her eyes and she's unable
to speak for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry," she says, wiping away her tears. "They were my
life. I can't believe they're gone. That I'm responsible for .
. . "
"No, Rachel. I don't believe that," he tells her. "There's no
way you were responsible for what happened to them. You couldn't
do that."
"I didn't think so either, Jarod. But I was so tired all the
time. And so cranky. They're a handful," she admits. "There
were times when I didn't know why I was even trying to raise two
kids on my own."
"Because their deadbeat father left you pregnant," he says
guiltily. "Rachel, I'm sorry. If I had known . . . "
"But you didn't know, did you? You didn't stick around long
enough to find out. Besides, sorry's not going to bring them
back, Jarod," she cries. She wasn't ready to forgive him. She
couldn't forgive him. Even though he didn't know she was
pregnant, that still doesn't make the situation any easier.
"Do you really think they're gone? That you . . . "
"Killed my babies?" she asks point blank. "Of course not. But
the journal was pretty clear and explicit. And it looks like my
handwriting."
"But do you remember writing it? Or the suicide note?" he asks
her. "Do you remember trying to kill yourself, Rachel? Or the
kids?"
"You think this could be a setup?" she asks grabbing onto the
glimmer of hope he was offering. "That somebody else is
responsible? But who? Why?"
"Rachel, do you know the reason why I can never stay for very
long? Why I disappear at the drop of a hat? Why you can't find
anything about my past? That's because I don't really have one.
I promised when we first met to tell you about myself. It's past
time you knew the truth."
"What is it, Jarod? You're scaring me."
"There's this place called the Centre. They stole me when I was
just a boy because I have special abilities. I'm what they call
a pretender. A genius with the ability to do anything and become
anyone. Up until a few years ago, I was held there against my
will and was made to perform simulations of certain situations,
the results of which they sold to the highest bidder. More often
than not, the results of those simulations were used to hurt
other people. When I found that out, I left. I ran away.
They've been trying to get me back ever since."
"How is it even possible for a place like that to even exist?"
she wonders aloud. "Why couldn't the government . . ."
"The government? I hate to tell you this, but that same
government you work for is one of the Centre's best clients,
Rachel. Believe me, these people will do anything to get what
they want. And if they can't have me, I'm sure my children will
be acceptable."
"You think they have Maddie and Ryan?"
"Those are their names?" he asks quietly, tears starting to form
in his eyes. "Maddie and Ryan," he repeats, letting the names
roll off of his tongue before his mood darkens even more. "I
don't even have a last name to give them."
"Jarod, this is all so unbelievable," she says. "You grew up in
a place like that? And you're constantly on the run now?"
"It was a terrible place to be, Rachel. And I won't allow our
children to grow up the way that I did. I'm getting them out of
there. I swear." He grabs her hand and holds up up to his lips,
placing a gentle kiss on the back. She didn't deserve to be put
in the middle of his war with the Centre. It was his
responsibility to get her and the children out of it, even if it
meant giving up the one thing that he valued the most - his
freedom.
To be continued . . .
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG to PG-13 (for some violence)
Category - JMPR, Pretender/Profiler Crossover
Summary - The ramifications of a past mistake come back to haunt Jarod and could be the key to the freedom Miss Parker's searching for. But is the high price worth it in the end?
Disclaimer - Most of these characters don't belong to me. Just using them for a bit. No harm intended.
* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 1
* * * * * * * * * *
Miss Parker gently pushes open the doors of the Centre Nursery,
smiling briefly at the nurse inside. The nurse nods back and
finishes the notes she's making before leaving Miss Parker alone.
This was their daily ritual. Miss Parker would arrive mid-
morning to see her baby brother and the nurse would find
something else that needed her attention in order to give Miss
Parker some time alone with the child.
"Oh, Miss Parker," the nurse said suddenly just as she got to the
door. "I may be popping in and out during this visit. We got in
some new babies just this morning. They're having a tough time
adjusting."
"Babies?" Miss Parker asks, a knot growing in her stomach. It
was bad enough she had to grow up here. It was even worse that
her little brother had to be here. She can't imagine what they
would need small infants for.
"Yes, Ma'am. Six month old twins," the nurse tells her.
"We'll try to keep it down." She smiles an uneasy smile at the
nurse as she finally leaves.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Miss Parker leaves her
baby brother by a pile of blocks that he eagerly starts chewing
on. She walks over and peeks into the crib holding the Centre's
newest acquisitions. Two angelic sleeping faces lay below, a
little boy and a little girl. Her hand finds it's way inside the
crib on it's own somehow and she gently strokes a finger along
the little boy's cheek. She can't resist running her fingers
through his reddish brown curls, smiling as the soft silkiness
tickles her hand. Looking back at his face, she notices his big
brown eyes are now wide open, staring at her inquisitively. For
a moment, it seems like he can't decide on whether he wants to
laugh or cry and his eyes start to tear up a little. But instead
of a wail, he lets out a contented sigh as his little pudgy hand
grabs onto Miss Parker's finger. Before she can even think about
it, she has the little boy in her arms and out of the crib. She
makes her way over to the rocking chair and sits with him.
"Baby," her little brother says in his garbled toddler language.
Having lost interest in his blocks, he walked over to his big
sister and the foreign creature in his place on her lap.
"That's right, Tyler," she says to her brother. "It's a baby.
You wanna say hi?"
"Hi Baby," Tyler says.
"Hi Tyler," Miss Parker says from behind the baby's head, making
it seem like he was talking to her brother. Both the baby and
Tyler start to giggle. Their laughs make her smile.
"Momma silly," Tyler laughs, sobering Miss Parker's mood. He was
doing that all the time now, calling her 'Momma'. For the past
18 months, she's been the only mother he's ever known, so she can
understand his confusion. But as much as she would love to be
his mother, she wasn't. And having him call her that just hurts
her all the more.
"No Tyler, Lanie. Can you say that? La-nie." She figured she'd
teach him to call her Lanie, since Mary Elainna was probably too
hard for a baby. That's the nickname Jarod used to call her.
"Not Momma. Lanie," she tries again pointing to herself as she
says it. But she sees that his attention is already elsewhere.
"Look, Momma. 'Nutter baby," Tyler calls excitedly when he
notices the other baby in the crib.
"I know it's another baby, Tyler. But she's asleep. We have to
be quiet," she whispers.
"Sleepy Momma," Tyler says with a yawn.
Miss Parker looks at her watch and realizes it's close to his
naptime. So she goes to lay the baby back in the crib so that
she can rock her brother to sleep. Just when she walks away from
the crib, the baby lets out a loud cry, his face instantly
getting red from the effort.
"What happened?" the nurse asks, slightly out of breath having
run back into the nursery after hearing the child scream. She
picks up the baby and tries to calm him down with no success.
"He started crying when I put him back in the crib," Miss Parker
explains over the child's cries.
"Like I said, they were having trouble adjusting," the nurse says
accusingly, staring at with Miss Parker with a not so nice look
in her eyes. "I don't think he appreciated being bothered."
"I didn't bother him," Miss Parker responds in an equally icy
tone. "He didn't start crying until after I put him down." She
walks over to the nurse and holds her arms out for the baby, who
eagerly reaches for her. He stops crying once he's back in Miss
Parker's arms.
"I guess he just likes you," the nurse reluctantly admits. "He
hasn't been going to strangers. You're the first. Let me know
if you have anymore trouble," she mumbles before making her way
back out of the nursery.
Miss Parker rolls her eyes at the woman's retreating form before
a tugging at her skirt gets her attention. Tyler's still
standing there, still looking very sleepy. She grabs his hand
and walks over to the rocking chair. She holds the baby on one
side of her lap and allows Tyler to climb up on the other side.
Before long, both little boys were sleeping peacefully. Unable
to move, Miss Parker just stays there, enjoying the brief feeling
of motherhood.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jarod throws his stuff in a chair next to the door of yet another
hotel room. He's done more travelling in the past few weeks than
usual. Nothing seems to be capturing his attention like before.
He goes from town to town investigating what initially seems like
worthwhile cases, only for them to turn out to be nothing.
Really, it was more like he was suffering the effects of burnout
and was in need of a vacation. Atlanta, Georgia was just the
place to do that. It wasn't hugely populated, but large enough
for him to get easily lost. And that's what he needed to be for
a few days - lost.
He flips the TV on to be background noise as he unpacked his
meager belongings. Several years on the run and he hasn't
accumulated many personal belongings. Just a few things that he
likes to keep close made the move with him from city to city. He
takes his toiletry kit into the bathroom, and adjusts the volume
on the TV to hear the news while he's unpacking his shaving kit.
" . . . and there has finally been an arrest in the Burke
kidnapping case," the anchor starts. The name catches Jarod's
attention and he leaves the shaving kit in the sink to watch the
news report. "After weeks of insisting she had nothing to do
with the disappearance of 6 month old twins Madison and Ryan,
Special Agent Rachel Burke has finally confessed that she in fact
did murder her children. . . ."
The rest of the news report goes by unheard by Jarod. Twins.
Rachel Burke has 6 month old twins. Thinking back to the time he
spent with the FBI profiler, he realizes it's a distinct
possibility that those twins are his as well. The timing was
just about right. He tunes back into the TV to find out more
details of the story, but sees that they've moved on to something
else. He turns on his computer and promptly connects to the
local police department and finds the case.
Two weeks ago, Rachel Burke reported her twins missing. After
days of searching, police uncovered evidence containing the
children's blood. They concluded that the children were more
than likely dead, seeing as how no ransom demands had been made.
Throughout the entire investigation, Rachel denied any wrongdoing
on her part. A few days ago, however, that changed. She was
rushed to the hospital, an apparent suicide attempt. Along with
the suicide note, there was a journal with details of how she
killed the children. The police has the journal now as evidence.
Jarod shuts off the computer to avoid risk of being detected
snooping around the police database. He thinks over the evidence
and realizes that something wasn't quite right with the
situation. According to the police report, she hasn't actually
confessed. They just have a journal and a note supposedly written
by her. The Rachel he knew wouldn't kill herself. And she
wouldn't kill her children. Of that he's sure. Chances are if
he figured out that the children could be his, then it's possible
someone else may have figured it out as well. Possibly someone
at the Centre. He had to talk to Rachel as soon as possible. He
grabs his jacket and heads to the hospital.
Northside Hospital
Atlanta, GA
Jarod peeks his head into the door to Rachel's room. She appears
to be sleeping, but he sees that she isn't when she turns her
head in his direction when he enters.
"Hi," he says quietly, shyly looking around the room to avoid
making immediate eye contact with her.
"What are you doing here, Jarod?" she asks. "The last time I saw
you was after that night. You were gone the next morning. How
could you do that to me?"
"I know you're angry . . . " he starts.
"Angry? Actually, I was angry for awhile. For a long time. I
was hurt. I was confused. But then I got over it. I had to,"
she says sadly.
"Because of them? The babies?" he asks as delicately as he can.
But the question still brings tears to her eyes and she's unable
to speak for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry," she says, wiping away her tears. "They were my
life. I can't believe they're gone. That I'm responsible for .
. . "
"No, Rachel. I don't believe that," he tells her. "There's no
way you were responsible for what happened to them. You couldn't
do that."
"I didn't think so either, Jarod. But I was so tired all the
time. And so cranky. They're a handful," she admits. "There
were times when I didn't know why I was even trying to raise two
kids on my own."
"Because their deadbeat father left you pregnant," he says
guiltily. "Rachel, I'm sorry. If I had known . . . "
"But you didn't know, did you? You didn't stick around long
enough to find out. Besides, sorry's not going to bring them
back, Jarod," she cries. She wasn't ready to forgive him. She
couldn't forgive him. Even though he didn't know she was
pregnant, that still doesn't make the situation any easier.
"Do you really think they're gone? That you . . . "
"Killed my babies?" she asks point blank. "Of course not. But
the journal was pretty clear and explicit. And it looks like my
handwriting."
"But do you remember writing it? Or the suicide note?" he asks
her. "Do you remember trying to kill yourself, Rachel? Or the
kids?"
"You think this could be a setup?" she asks grabbing onto the
glimmer of hope he was offering. "That somebody else is
responsible? But who? Why?"
"Rachel, do you know the reason why I can never stay for very
long? Why I disappear at the drop of a hat? Why you can't find
anything about my past? That's because I don't really have one.
I promised when we first met to tell you about myself. It's past
time you knew the truth."
"What is it, Jarod? You're scaring me."
"There's this place called the Centre. They stole me when I was
just a boy because I have special abilities. I'm what they call
a pretender. A genius with the ability to do anything and become
anyone. Up until a few years ago, I was held there against my
will and was made to perform simulations of certain situations,
the results of which they sold to the highest bidder. More often
than not, the results of those simulations were used to hurt
other people. When I found that out, I left. I ran away.
They've been trying to get me back ever since."
"How is it even possible for a place like that to even exist?"
she wonders aloud. "Why couldn't the government . . ."
"The government? I hate to tell you this, but that same
government you work for is one of the Centre's best clients,
Rachel. Believe me, these people will do anything to get what
they want. And if they can't have me, I'm sure my children will
be acceptable."
"You think they have Maddie and Ryan?"
"Those are their names?" he asks quietly, tears starting to form
in his eyes. "Maddie and Ryan," he repeats, letting the names
roll off of his tongue before his mood darkens even more. "I
don't even have a last name to give them."
"Jarod, this is all so unbelievable," she says. "You grew up in
a place like that? And you're constantly on the run now?"
"It was a terrible place to be, Rachel. And I won't allow our
children to grow up the way that I did. I'm getting them out of
there. I swear." He grabs her hand and holds up up to his lips,
placing a gentle kiss on the back. She didn't deserve to be put
in the middle of his war with the Centre. It was his
responsibility to get her and the children out of it, even if it
meant giving up the one thing that he valued the most - his
freedom.
To be continued . . .