Mother of Sentinels: The Parker Triptych III

By Indygodusk

Chapter 3: The Different Ending You were Looking For

Cranky at Jarod for waking her up at o'dark thirty, Miss Parker dragged her Guide (with very little resistance) into one more bonding session of glutting their senses on each other and cuddling in the shower. Then they pulled themselves out of their bonding fugue to separate long enough to wake up the others. Miss Parker would have liked nothing better than to have holed away somewhere with Jarod all to herself for the customary full week of bonding and honeymoon shenanigans, but they didn't have time for that with teenagers still missing.

They also had to explain last night's changes.

Sydney radiated pure delight, while Broots looked both shocked and amused by the turn of events. "So, um, should I call you Mrs. Parker now? Or Mrs. Jarod? Or something else?" Broots stuttered. At her flat look and Jarod's snort, he dropped his head with a little smile, "Never mind, Miss Parker."

Extending her senses, she easily found Gabe and Debbie's soft snores and slow heartbeats. It felt much easier after bonding. The kids were sleeping in a few more hours. Then the non-gifted adults would take them to the SG Center and hunker down. No matter how much she wanted Sydney, Broots, and especially Sam with her during the assault, protecting Debbie and Gabe came first. She wouldn't trust them to strangers.

As ready as they could be, Jim finally ushered them out into his car. Once they left, Jarod turned apologetically to Blair. "I hope last night doesn't make things awkward with people."

Blair waved away his words, "Hey, no, don't worry about it. It was great! Your love for each other is fierce and you were sharing that. No shame, man. I mean, I've never heard of a pair projecting so strongly that they knocked everyone into an orgy, but everyone was having a very good time last night, as you would have felt yourself if you hadn't been wrapped up in your Sentinel. Those uninterested in the shenanigans slipped out before it got too crazy. A few new pairs even bonded in your wake. In fact, you'll probably have an easier time getting people to follow your lead, since you kinda bonded everyone there, including the entire group from the National Sentinels in Law Enforcement Seminar, to you as the Alpha Pair at the same time you were bonding to each other. They know you're legit and in charge."

Then Blair turned in his seat to look at Parker. "You feel like a low-level Sentinel right now, just so you know. I am seriously impressed with your shielding. I have so many questions for you once this is all over."

"I'm sure we'll be happy to answer your questions," Jarod said, ignoring her mental snort at the word 'happy' to turn the conversation in a way sure to shake up the mood in the car, "especially since I have some questions for you too. You've known for years that they're training Sentinels and Guides wrong, and you have a lot of power of your own that you keep locked down tight. Shaman Sandburg, I think it's time Sentinel Ellison took over the SG Centers in the West and you revamped the country's training classes."

The car swerved slightly as a shocked Jim jerked the wheel and Blair went pale. Jarod just smiled calmly. "I have a lot of ideas of my own that I'd like to float your way. It's time for you to let the mistakes of the past go, let Alex go. Don't let her define you. Our people need you, Blair, they need Jim."

Jarod subtly leaned on Miss Parker's strength and she freely gave it. He projected sincerity and something sort of healing energy she'd never felt before into Jim's and Blair's minds. The curly-haired Guide chuckled wetly, barely stopping himself from touching Jarod, which Parker would have objected to so early into their bonding. She grounded herself on his scent and didn't want other people to muddy that. "Wow, I've mentally healed others but never had it done to myself. Thank you, Jarod."

Jarod gave him a small and sincere smile. "You're welcome. You have the heart our people need, Blair. Think on it." Seconds later, Jim pulled into the almost full parking lot. Despite the early hour and new leadership, the Pride and its' visitors had gathered as ordered. Blair and Jim hung back for a moment to talk about Jarod's suggestion, so Parker and Jarod went ahead together.

As they entered the noisy lobby, a hush fell over the room. Everyone stopped and turned to stare. Raising her brow, Miss Parker looked around coolly. "I'm Miss Parker, the new Director. This is my Guide, Jarod. You have ten minutes until five. Get your coffee now and get focused. We're not going to summer camp, we're going on a rescue mission. Remember that."

Done saying her piece, she went over to an empty chair by the bottom of the staircase, sat down, and crossed her long tanned legs. Jarod disappeared for a moment. He came back with a steaming cup and a piece of toast for her.

Smiling gratefully, she took a large sip and then froze. Swallowing hard, she looked down into the cup. "What is this? It's not coffee."

"It's an herbal rooibos tea. You drink too much coffee for your ulcer. You know what your doctor said," he scolded.

Scowling, she hissed, "Did you hack my medical files?"

Jarod just shrugged his shoulders and smiled, unrepentant. "You haven't been taking the vitamins he gave you either. Try the tea again. You'll like it as long as you don't expect it to be coffee."

"Oh really?" she bit out disdainfully.

"Be difficult later, enjoy your tea now," Jarod pressed.

Sighing heavily, she begrudgingly took another sip. It actually wasn't that bad. Jarod knew her tastes. She did worry what other changes he planned on making to her life and diet, but decided to leave that battle for another day.

Smiling with smug contentment, Jarod looked around the room. However, the mirth soon drained from his face. His spirit animal, a large raven, appeared on his shoulder. "The Pride needs more unity with all of the visiting Sentinels and Guides if we're going to pull this off," he murmured worriedly. "There are people here this morning who were missing last night too. They aren't as invested."

Placing her fingers on the back of his hand, she grounded herself. "What do you suggest? We could do another orgy," she added, just to see him smile.

"I can't think straight when you're naked. We can't have another orgy if you expect me to outwit the Centre today," Jarod's lips twitched as he turned his hand to intertwine their fingers. "I think we need a more spiritual type of group bonding."

"Sounds boring," she smirked, "but what do you need from me?"

Jarod nodded decisively. "I want all of our spirit animals manifested up on the second level. They can get to know each other up there while we work out things down here. It will strengthen and focus everyone's gifts. Hopefully they'll also pick up on the way the spirit animals all respond to Hattie and transfer that to you."

Calling on Hatshepsut, Miss Parker ran a fond hand down one red tentacle before sending her up the stairs. They both ignored the increase in noise from the people absent last night who were shocked to see an aquatic spirit animal. Jarod's raven followed.

"What's his name?" Miss Parker asked, admiring the iridescent sheen on the raven's feathers as he landed on the railing upstairs.

"Onisius, after the Greek god of retribution."

She quirked her lips, "A fitting name."

Blair and Jim drifted by, finally inside and on their way to the food tables. They paused to watch the red and black spirit animals lounging up on the balcony. Blair looked over at Jarod for a second of wordless communication, then nodded and sent his wolf bounding upstairs. Jim's black panther followed a second later. Soon a tiger, a dolphin, a bear, and some strange flying animal that looked part lizard and part mule joined them from the British contingent, followed by more and more animals as the Pride caught on and began manifesting their spirit animals and sending them up to join the zoological party.

"Is that better?" Parker asked quietly.

Jarod focused on the room for a second and then relaxed his shoulders. "Yes."

"Then go get yourself something to eat," she nagged.

Leaning forward, he kissed her cheek and paused, intimately breathing in the smell of her hair. Then he whispered in her ear, "I'm going to go get one of those pink donuts with rainbow sprinkles."

"Ugh," she wrinkled her nose, barely stifling a chuckle. She'd expected him to say something sweet, but more like a compliment and less like a pastry. "Make sure you use a napkin, you five year-old. I don't want you smudging any frosting on my Dior jacket."

"Enjoy your tea, wife," he grinned delightedly and strode away to the food table.

A few more groups of visitors from the surrounding hotels streamed in through the doors while she waited for the clock to tick over to five. Miss Parker didn't think much of it until she felt a spike of discomfort from Jarod. Standing up, she found him in the crowd with her gaze. Jarod had a flat look on his face and was stepping back from a man in a cheap suit trying to put his hand on Jarod's shoulder. Extending her senses with a scowl, she let her fingers hover near the handle of her concealed gun and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Come on, don't be like that. You're a strong Guide. I'm a strong Sentinel with an important position in the government. I think we should work together," the suit insisted.

"I'm not interested," Jarod said coldly, "and don't try to touch me again. I don't want someone else's scent contaminating mine in case my new Sentinel needs grounding."

The suit refused to give up, "Look, I think your new Sentinel probably isn't as powerful or as important as I am."

Guide Kaoru Wakuda, standing next to Jarod with a cup of tea, snorted in disbelief and gave Jarod a commiserating grimace.

Looking down his nose, the suit added, "I'm just saying that new bonds can be fragile. Maybe you're not as well matched as you think. I think you'd probably be more satisfied with me. In fact, I think you should come with me."

Jarod slapped his hand on the table and froze the suit into immobility with a deadly, arctic glare. "Words cannot express how little I care about what you think. Bodies and minds are much more fragile than my bond to my Sentinel, and much, much easier to break," Jarod hissed, causing the other man to blanch.

Forcing herself to let Jarod handle it instead of drawing her gun and shooting the suit in the throat, she sat back down and took a sip of her tea.

Jarod continued with deadly seriousness. "My Sentinel, and wife, satisfies me in every way possible. Bother me or any other Guide like this again, and I will make you regret it. And I'm not just saying that, I don't just think, I know."

Done saying his piece, Jarod took the pink sprinkled donut held out by Kaoru Wakuda and then stomped back through the crowd to her side. The suit followed Jarod with his eyes, glancing briefly at Parker's expensive outfit, the long legs exposed by her short skirt, her designer ankle boots, and her bold lipstick, before casting judgement and turning away in disgust without even meeting her murderous eyes. Pity. Men like that always underestimated her, to their eventual regret. She'd make sure to squash him later.

Placing a hand on Jarod's tense arm, she pulled him down to sit on the arm of her chair. He looked down with a wry little smile. "Sorry. I'll try not to get rainbow sprinkles on you."

"Do better than just try. This is Dior," she retorted, though in contrast to her hard voice, her hand ran gently up and down his back, scratching soothingly between his shoulder blades with red fingernails. Jarod quickly relaxed and began radiating contentment through their bond as he methodically devoured his pink donut with sprinkles.

A bonded pair of men stopped in front of them hesitantly. "Yes?" she finally raised one eyebrow.

"Miss Parker?" the taller of the men asked.

She raised her other brow impatiently. "What?"

"I- I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but I wanted to say thank you."

"For?" she sighed. It felt too early for this.

The other man spoke up. "Sorry, I'm Mark and this is Steve. What we wanted to thank you for, or maybe make you aware of, that is- well, both of us came Online after meeting you. You probably don't remember, but we met in a bar and had a one-night stand about ten years ago? You completely blew my mind and then disappeared." Mark shrugged sheepishly.

Miss Parker chuckled, "You're certainly handsome enough to be my type, but no, I'm sorry I don't remember it."

Mark gave a quick smile as Jarod scowled, adding, "You probably ruined me for other women, except I came Online the next day and then luckily found my Guide in Steve here. Steve repainted your house the year before and came Online right after too. We figured out the connection. We're not the only ones who came Online after meeting you, either. It's a bit of an unspoken secret around here amongst some of the locals. We just wanted to say thank you."

Blair popped up by their side. "Really? That's amazing!"

Shaking her head uncomfortably, Miss Parker said, "You don't need to thank me. I don't think I've really done anything."

"Hermione came online right after meeting you in London all those years ago," Jarod added, tipping his head to the side with a little grin.

"You admitted that you know all three of the kidnapped teenagers too," Blair pointed out excitedly. "And you have two very rare young Sentinels in your personal Pride. Let's test this theory."

Racing halfway up the staircase, deftly avoiding her clawing grab, Blair turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Attention, people!" Everyone quieted down and turned to the staircase. His Sentinel, Jim, sent her a commiserating look. She bit back a frustrated and embarrassed growl. Jarod slipped off her chair with a teasing smile.

"I have an important question for you all," Blair announced. "Raise your hand if, right before you came Online, you either met or interacted with Sentinel Parker," he gestured to her.

A few faces looked baffled, but then Mark and Steve raised their hands, followed by Hermione and a couple she recognized from her favorite cheese and wine store. Then more and more hands went up until almost a third of the room had their hands raised. Most of them were Sentinels and most looked familiar. She felt staggered.

"I guess that finally solves the mystery of how the Dover SG Center has so many people Online compared to the rest of the world," Blair said reverently. "I can't wait to figure out the why, though I'm sure it has something to do with Miss Parker's rare aquatic spirit animal, being female, and her status as the most powerful Alpha Sentinel Prime any of us have ever seen."

Crossing her arms, she sent him a sour look. "This isn't really relevant right now."

"She's right, Chief," Jim said with fondness. "It's after five. We should probably start the meeting now."

Shaking himself, Blair hopped back down the stairs to join his Sentinel. "Right, rescue now, research later."

Jarod squeezed her arm and then climbed up the stairs to take Blair's place. She surreptitiously checked her jacket for pink frosting, but thankfully he'd remembered to wipe his fingers. "We want to thank the local Pride and all of you visitors for coming this morning."

Before he could say anymore, the pushy Sentinel suit from before stepped out of the crowd, staring at Jarod with avarice and arrogance. "I heard a lot of stories this morning, stories about a big, strong Sentinel taking over the Pride last night, but all I see is a strong Guide with a middling Sentinel who flashes a lot of leg and is supposedly around when some people come Online. Is she planning on always using you as a mouthpiece?"

Jarod looked down at him like a bug he wanted to step on. "I'm starting to doubt your Sentinel status, as your senses are clearly defective. Get to the point or get out."

Puffing out his chest, the suit turned to Miss Parker. "I challenge you for leadership and for your Guide. I'm taking them both."

Angry shouting surged through the crowd. Hermione's Sentinel barely held her back from kicking the suit, though it looked like he worried more for her toes than the potential victim. "You can't just take a Guide! We aren't slaves or some fancy watch you can slip in your pocket!" Hermione yelled.

Unfolding herself from the chair with barely contained rage, Miss Parker didn't even bother calling Hattie down from the balcony. Curious spirit animals pressed up against the glass wall and hung over the balcony railing. The room went silent as she spoke. "After today, you aren't welcome back in our territory, no-name Sentinel with an off-the-rack, polyester suit."

"My name is-," he bit out, red-faced, but she immediately cut him off.

"I don't care. Your name could be Rumpelstiltskin, complete with gold-making ability, and I still wouldn't care about you." Thinning her shields, she unfurled her power like the snap of a packed parachute deploying at 12,000 feet and glared. The suit went white with horrified shock and dropped to his hands and knees, weak with fear.

Miss Parker's ankle boots clacked on the floor as she stalked forward and looked down her nose at the cowering Sentinel. "Jarod is mine. This place is mine. This Pride is mine. You came to find a Guide among us. You failed. These Guides are mine and you are not worthy. Leave and don't come back. If you do, I'll break you. Now go." She hadn't bothered putting an empathic push into her words, but nevertheless, the suit whimpered in fear. A dark stain darkened the crotch of his pants. He scrambled for the door on all fours and ran out.

Disgusted, she skewered the room with her gaze. "Jarod is not only one of the most powerful Guides on the planet, he's a genius and he's chosen to be my Guide. I will tolerate no more disrespect or interruptions from mouth-breathers. This is your only warning. I should be alone with my Guide enjoying my bonding week. Instead, I'm here. Next person to get on my nerves gets shot, I swear to God," she hissed, casting a threatening look over the crowd.

No one moved.

Grimly satisfied, she resumed her seat. "We're getting back my barista and the sushi twins today, so pay attention."

Jarod looked out over the crowd and smirked. "That's my Sentinel, people, and my wife." Sighing, Miss Parker had a feeling he was going to keep boasting about that for quite a while. "Now, the three teenagers were kidnapped by a corporation called The Centre in Blue Cove. They are extremely powerful, rich, and secretive. These aren't the first children they've kidnapped to experiment on. They took me when I was four and kept me for most of my life. Most of the other children they've taken over the years have died or gone insane. However, they're so rich and powerful that they've always gotten away with it."

Taking a deep breath, he vowed with utmost gravity, "Never again. Today, we are shutting them down. Miss Parker and I know the Centre. We will take an assault team in and retrieve the children. The rest of you will assemble at their front doors. We need this to be as public as possible. I want news helicopters, government trucks, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, food trucks, every alphabet agency and interest group you have access to, the whole works. All of us backing up morning traffic should get attention if nothing else. We'll do our best to pressure the Centre through numbers and exposure, but we are not leaving without those children." Jarod paused and looked around seriously. "If that means a fight, then we will unleash our righteous fury upon them and remind the world for generations to come why a Pride of Sentinels and Guides is a thing to be both feared and respected."

The room shook as the crowd roared in support. Jarod and Miss Parker shared fierce satisfaction across their bond. When the noise finally died down, Jarod continued. "Sentinel Jim Ellison has already given me a list of recommendations for the primary assault team and secondary teams A and B. If you aren't on those lists and feel like you should be, take it up with him. I have the rooms around the lobby labeled with skill sets and lists of needs. Assemble in the room you can do the most good in. We'll spend the next couple of hours hammering out details and calling in favors without warning our foes. Then we'll leave. People have probably noticed the extra activity here already. We don't want them getting wind of our plans and moving our kids. Any last questions?"

A female Guide hesitantly raised her hand, "Was Miss Parker kidnapped by the Centre too?"

"No, my father ran the place," Parker answered shortly.

"Oh," the woman winced. "Did you fall in love and then break Jarod out to be together?"

"Jarod broke himself out," she answered, owning her past unflinchingly and trying not to snort at the fairytale the woman was hoping to uncover. "I spent years chasing after him, trying to capture and bring him back into Centre control."

The woman froze with her mouth open, looking appalled and confused.

"But in the end," Jarod boasted, dropping a possessive arm around Parker's stiff waist, "I caught her instead, so we get to make our happily ever after together."

"You caught me?" Parker asked him incredulously, unable to stop herself from turning her head to take a deep breath of her Guide's scent.

"Well, you ran away from the Centre too, I tracked you down, and then we caught each other, but the marriage thing was all my idea. Like she said, I'm a genius," he boasted, tapping the ring on Miss Parker's finger. Yep, he was going to keep boasting about the marriage for months.

Rolling her eyes, she relaxed into the heat of her husband's body. "I'm going to regret saying that in public if you're not careful. Come on, we have an assault to plan." Over his shoulder, she saw Simon Banks enter the lobby, followed by the kids, Broots, Sydney, and finally Sam. The waved and then Broots and Sydney broke off to add their expertise to the planning while the rest disappeared into the kids rec room with its active white-noise generator and closed the door, just like they'd planned. No longer distracted with their safety, she focused on organizing her people for the rescue.

A few hours later, they finally had everything in place. This time, Miss Parker stood next to Jarod on the steps. Their spirit animals stood with them. Looking out over her people, she spoke. "Thank you for your hard work. We're going to back up traffic, so make sure to also use the alternate routes we assigned. Wait fifteen minutes and then start the first of the phone calls on your lists. Stay focused and don't get sloppy. This is risky, but the reward is huge."

"Good luck and thank you," Jarod said simply.

Looking out one last time, she tried to memorize their faces, just in case anyone didn't come back. Then she spoke. "Go." The crowd scattered in orderly but energized fashion. She and Jarod walked arm and arm out of the building, prepared to return to the Centre for hopefully the last time. At least they'd do it together.

On the sidewalk, they split up to start loading the cars. "Do you know why I placed you on the assault team?" Miss Parker quietly asked the woman standing next to her.

"I have to be there to destroy the sacrificial altar," Hermione replied with a quiet intensity that suddenly made her seem dangerous. "Draco, Harry, and I all came here knowing our part. Our mutual acquaintance, a certain Japanese Guide with a star-shaped scar on her chest, explained it to me. Of course," Hermione flashed a smile, "I would have come anyways to have the chance to meet family again."

"Thank you," Miss Parker smiled sincerely. Then she confessed, "I've thought of you over the years too. Most of my relatives are a horror show, so it's been comforting to think that there are normal Parkers in the world."

"Oh, I'm not normal," Hermione shrugged sheepishly, "but my family is definitely good. When this is over, you have to meet my mom. She's a dental surgeon who shares your killer fashion sense and inability to take crap from anybody. She'll love you."

"I look forward to it," Miss Parker shook her head, amused at herself for being excited to meet a dentist.

"Good," then Hermione tilted her head in thought. "I have to ask, have you noticed the family resemblance between Kaoru Wakuda and Kaoru Kamiya?"

At Miss Parker's cautious nod, Hermione continued, "She and Harry bonded last night in the wake of your, uh, wedding ceremony," they shared a smirk. "I haven't had a chance to really speak with her, but I don't think it's a coincidence that she's here right now. I think we need her to destroy the altar. The Malfoys, the Parkers, and the Kamiyas were there at its creation. They should all be there at its destruction. You can add her to the team with the excuse of Harry being her bondmate, but we need her. I can sense it."

"Alright," Miss Parker conceded, "but she better not be as annoying as Kamiya-Sensei or I might end up punching her." Snorting with amusement, Hermione returned to her Sentinel.

Walking over to Jarod, Miss Parker placed a hand on the small of his back and leaned against him. "Add Kaoru Wakuda to the primary assault team with Harry Potter."

Jarod frowned. "I know they bonded, but I'm not very comfortable having even Hermione on the primary assault team, much less Kaoru. None of our British friends even use guns."

Miss Parker raised her chin. "I know Hermione's your friend, but she and Kaoru both have to be there. I don't have the time or the privacy to explain why right now. Just trust me." She tried not to hold her breath as she waited for his response. Blind trust was a new and fragile thing between them.

"I do." Turning his head, Jarod kissed her temple. Parker felt the truth of his words flow through their bond, warming her from the inside. He sighed and stepped away.

"It's time," Jarod called. The two assault teams assembled. "I want the secondary assault team covering the lobby and the street outside as soon as we disappear down the elevator," Jarod reminded them. "Sentinel Harmon Rabb and Guide Sarah Mackenzie from JAG are in charge of the A-team on the street. Sentinel Cordell Walker and Guide Alex Cahill visiting from the Texas Rangers are in charge of the B-team in the lobby. If things get dicey, obey their orders. If you have to abandon us, Sentinel Walker will give the order and you will obey it!" Jarod cast a stern look around before finishing. "As a last reminder, the primary assault team will be Miss Parker and I, Ellison and Sandburg, Malfoy and Granger, Potter and Wakuda, and Gibbs and DiNozzo. Good luck, everyone. Let's go take back our people."

Once everyone got into the vans, the drive went quickly. Miss Parker had intended to use the time to mentally retreat to build up her ice queen mask, but Jarod's anxiety at returning to the Centre forced her to focus on him instead. They sat pressed against each other with their hands clasped, feeding reassurances and strength back and forth through their bond.

Only when they were about to drive into Blue Cove did she realize something. When she gave Jarod a suspicious look, he flicked a look at her from the corner of his eye. Then his mouth twitched. "You did that on purpose," she accused softly.

Squeezing her hand, Jarod sent her a soft look, "You don't need to retreat anymore. Caring about others can make you stronger, not weaker. Especially caring about me!" he grinned boyishly. "Use that, Miss Parker."

"I'm not always going to let you manipulate me for my own good, you know," she snapped, annoyed.

"But you do realize it's for your own good," Jarod smirked.

Shaking her head, she opened her mouth to argue more when Jim interrupted them, "We're almost there."

Immediately the car snapped into deadly focus. Everyone checked their weapons one last time. The activity in front of the Centre looked normal, so hopefully they were still ignorant of the typhoon of Sentinels and Guides heading their way. "Remember, everyone follow my lead," Miss Parker ordered. Then their cavalcade of cars drove up in front of the tall stone building and parked.

"Showtime," Sentinel Gibbs grunted from the backseat.

Stepping out of the car, Miss Parker took a deep breath. Then she steeled herself and strode forward with Jarod and the rest of the team at her heels. As planned, Sentinel Rabb and Guide Mackenzie swooped forward and propped open the double doors for her grand entrance."

Everyone in the lobby stared in incredulity as Miss Parker and her entourage marched inside. The guards at the security desk had phones pressed to their ears, but were staring at her with their mouths hanging open. Miss Parker gave them a haughty look. "I'm just here to retrieve a few of my things, then I'll leave."

"Miss- Miss Parker? And is that really Jarod?" stuttered Jerome the security guard, dropping his phone as he stood up from the security desk.

Billy, his partner, stood up as well and cleared his throat nervously. "I don't know what's going on, but Miss Parker… you can't bring all these people into the building without clearance from the tower. Those're the rules. I'm sorry," wincing, he pulled his gun and pointed it vaguely in her direction. She felt the team at her back tensing, but they followed her orders and kept their weapons holstered unless she signalled.

Meeting Billy's eyes, she let her presence swell in the lobby. For once, she felt grateful for Broots and his annoying babbling about coworkers. She was going to be diplomatic and avoid a fight if at all possible. People here were used to caving beneath her will. "Billy, your daughter is four years old and likes to dance, isn't that right?"

Starting, Billy looked over at his partner for a second before turning back to Miss Parker. His gun lowered slightly. "That's right," he said cautiously.

"My little brother, Gabriel, is the same age. Did you know that? A few weeks ago, he was playing at the park and accidentally zoned. When I got to the hospital, they told me he'd come Online as a Sentinel. That's why I disappeared. Mr. Lyle showed up at the hospital with sweepers and tried to take him. Mr. Raines wants to experiment on my little brother, so I took Gabe away to protect him. Wouldn't you do the same for your little girl to protect her from Lyle and Raines experimenting on her?"

Billy's gun dropped as his expression became disturbed and conflicted. Looking confused, Jerome spoke up. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here. We can't just let you come in and shoot one of the employees, even Mr. Lyle or Mr. Raines. It's our job."

Miss Parker switched her attention to him. "Haven't you been watching the local news about those missing Sentinels and Guides? When they couldn't get my brother, they grabbed three other Online children instead. Those missing children are locked up downstairs. I'm here to get those children back before they're hurt or killed, unless you plan on knowingly being a party to the murder of children? This isn't something you can pretend not to know about anymore."

Sweeping the lobby with a commanding look, she announced to the gathered Centre employees, "I am not leaving without those children. You can let me go downstairs to get them or you can be casualty statistics for the Centre. One way or another, my friends and I are not leaving without them." More vans and trucks pulled up outside the building and with her Sentinel hearing she detected approaching helicopters and police sirens.

"After today there might not be a Centre anymore. You have no control over that. The only thing you can control is if you're going to die trying to stop me from rescuing those helpless children. Their families are waiting for them to come home. So are your families."

"You know me and what I can do. I'm a Parker. I'm also a bitch, but I keep my word. You know Raines and Lyle. Choose your side." Then Miss Parker turned and marched for the elevator. Even knowing that Jarod and the others had her back, her shoulder blades still itched. However, thankfully no one shot her or even tried to stop her. The true villains worked on the lower levels and the top floors. Not here.

Pressing the elevator's call button, she turned back around to see Billy and Jerome placing their guns on the desk and stepping back against the wall with their hands raised in surrender. The other people in the lobby shot her nervous glances, but on meeting her steely-eyed stare, quickly followed the example of the security guards. Thank goodness for her reputation.

The second assault team swooped through the room and took over the situation. Giving Sentinel Walker a firm nod, Miss Parker ushered her team into the elevator and then pressed the button for SL-26, the lowest level available. The doors closed.

"The Tower's been warned but the elevators aren't locked down yet. That's a good sign," Jarod said as he knelt down, opening up the electronics panel and plugging in a mini-keyboard. The panel gave a low tone as it accepted the new destination of the secret sublevel 27.

Jarod turned to the group. "Things are going to be tricky from now on. Remember, the Americans with guns at the front and back with our internationals in the middle." Then the elevator touched down on SL-27 and the door opened.

"Let's go." Miss Parker took point with her gun raised. The repairs on the hallway were finished and the new doors were all shut. However, despite the new paint smell she could sense fresh traces of the teenagers beneath the fumes, a blend of coffee, soy, and something undefinable but familiar and hers. "I can sense them nearby," she said.

Hearing a sound, she held up a hand to stop the group. The Sentinels all dialed up their hearing. "Two men," Jim whispered.

"It's Raines and Lyle," Miss Parker breathed.

"Miss Parker is up to something," Mr. Lyle's voice insisted from around the corner. "I just got a phone call from my contact inside the Dover SG Center. He wouldn't give me many details, just wanted to ask a lot of inconvenient questions, but like most of us, the man simultaneously hates and has a hard-on for my dear sister. She showed up there yesterday."

"Does she know about our new acquisitions?" rasped Mr. Raines.

"Unclear, though I wouldn't be surprised," answered Lyle grudgingly.

"That sounds like our cue," Jarod breathed as she finished repeating the conversation.

Nodding, Miss Parker resumed her advance. Around the corner she saw two doors standing open. Then Lyle and Raines walked out of one, saw them, and stumbled to a halt. Unfortunately the hallway was too narrow for the entire team to fit. Nevertheless the odds were still overwhelmingly in their favor.

"Did you miss me?" Miss Parker smirked, aiming her gun at Raines's chest.

Lyle recovered quickly, flashing a charming smile. "Welcome back, sis. I see you captured Jarod."

"Yep, she did catch me," Jarod stepped up by her side, raising his gun to point it at Lyle, "in matrimony. We're married now." He flashed his wedding ring, though the hand holding his gun didn't waver.

Lyle's jaw slipped open in shock, then his expression hardened. "So the two of you came to get revenge? I knew you didn't really hate Jarod, but I didn't think you'd marry him just to get him into bed. I guess that's one way to really thumb your nose at the Centre. You realize that Daddy must be spinning in his grave?"

For once, the invocation of her father had no power over her. She shrugged. "I'm sure my mother will straighten him out. I'm not here to kill you, Lyle, as much as I would enjoy it."

"Then why are you here?" Raines asked, beady little eyes flicking across her group with calculation as he slunk behind Lyle.

"I want the kids you took," demanded Miss Parker. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kaoru fingering the chunky beads on her unusually long bracelet and chanting something under her breath, but she didn't have any attention to spare for the oddity.

"Why do you care?" Raines asked raspily. Then he looked over their group and took a quick breath of realization. He choked, losing a hacking cough. Regaining his breath, he grated out, "Did you finally come Online? Are you one of them now? A Sentinel?"

"But we both did the ritual…," Lyle trailed off with confusion.

"I faked it," she said blithely, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

Lyle's face mottled red with anger and betrayal. "You always did get off easy, unlike the rest of us," he seethed.

Raines nodded darkly. "Then there really is no need for you anymore, not even harvesting your tainted eggs."

Before she could suppress her rage enough to start exacting vengeance at the mere thought of him harvesting her eggs for genetic experimentation, Mr. Raines, faster than a striking snake, crooked his arm around Lyle's body. Before anyone could react he fired his gun. Then he dived into the nearby doorway.

Miss Parker immediately returned fire, but she realized that it would be too late. Because of her Sentinel eyesight, she could see the bullet speeding her way as her perception slowed time down. Her shot would only hit Raines's shoulder, but his would terminally smash through her face. There wasn't time to dodge.

She was dead.

However, something miraculous happened. Before the echo of the painfully loud gunshot even reached a crescendo, the air in front of her body shimmered. The bullet bounced off a nearly invisible shield in front of her nose and ricocheted off, hitting a pipe and then spinning out with just enough momentum to embed itself into the left chamber of Lyle's heart.

Someone else's shot hit him in the arm and another in the hip. The shots could have been fired by Jarod, Jim, or even Blair, she reasoned with a shield of flimsy dispassion to cover her shocked hysteria. Gibbs and Tony were stuck in the back with no clear shot. It couldn't have been them.

Suddenly time resumed its normal pace as Jarod smashed her into the wall with his body, a protective measure that would have come too late without the obviously magical intervention. There really were witches, just like Kamiya-Sensei had said. She'd been saved by magic.

Over Jarod's shoulder she saw Lyle look down in shock and betrayal as scarlet bloomed across his white shirt. Falling to his knees, he turned to look at Raines hiding in the open doorway. "You've killed me," Lyle coughed harshly, hunching over and dropping his head as red blood spattered down his chin and onto the floor.

Then he lifted his gun and, without looking, fired a round into the open room before collapsing onto the floor. Lyle convulsed in a bloody spasm. Then he released a rattling sigh and never inhaled. She heard his heart stutter to a stop. A small ache blossomed in her chest, more for the might-have-beens than for the monster her brother had been twisted into becoming. She put it aside for another day.

The hall became unnaturally quiet. "Parker," Jarod moaned, clenching her convulsively with too tight hands and checking her over frantically. "Andrea," he whispered achingly into her ear.

"I'm fine, Jarod. He didn't hit me. I'm fine," she soothed, barely keeping her voice from shaking as she clutched at him just as tightly.

She saw Kaoru staring at Lyle's dead body with both guilt and relief. Then Kaoru looked up. Miss Parker gave her a thankful nod. The Japanese woman's brow furrowed, but she bowed her head in acknowledgement.

Jarod eased back and took a quick breath. "We're so lucky," he breathed fiercely. Then he tightened his lips on more words and jerked away, stalking forward towards the open door in lieu of wallowing in his lingering terror. She followed at his heels, not wanting to think about it more either.

Kicking the gun away from Lyle's lax fingers, Jarod darted a quick look into the quiet room. Then he took a longer look and moved inside. Following, Miss Parker saw Jarod swoop down. The old man lay sprawled on the floor in a puddle of blood. Jarod pressed his fingers against Raines's throat. She'd only gotten his shoulder, but Lyle's bullet had severed his thoracic aorta. "Dead," Jarod announced, though she already knew it from the lack of vital sounds. She felt grim satisfaction.

Miss Parker suddenly heard someone retching in the hallway and smelled the unpleasant stench of vomit. She quickly dialed down her sense of smell. "It's okay, sweetheart," Harry coaxed.

"Don't worry about it, Wakuda-san," Guide DiNozzo soothed. "Everybody pukes with their first dead body."

When they came out into the hallway, Sentinel Gibbs harshly demanded, "Any sign of the kids in there?"

At their negative head shakes, Gibbs tightened his mouth and sighed. "I don't like messing with crime scenes, but we might want to move both bodies in there and close the door so the kids don't have to see them on the way out."

"Good idea," Blair said in support after a hard swallow.

Suddenly tired, Miss Parker nodded. Gibbs and Jim moved Lyle's limp body into the room with Raines. A blank-faced Malfoy closed the door. Only the blood and puke remained as evidence of the recent violence. She felt curious about the British trio's composure in the face of dead bodies, but her curiosity would have to wait. One day she'd have to ask why they looked like soldiers on just one more battlefield, disturbed, saddened, but unsurprised by the violence. She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer.

"Let's keep searching," Miss Parker snapped. The next few rooms held only equipment and empty tables. Then they came to a locked door. All she could hear from inside the room was a white-noise generator blocking her senses. She could have pushed past it, but why bother when she had a gun?

"I'm going to shoot off the lock. Step back," she ordered.

"Wait, I can open the lock safely," Harry insisted. "We don't want another ricochette."

Raising her brow, Miss Parker stepped back and gestured invitingly. Harry stepped up and turned, blocking their view with his body. Craning her neck, she saw him pull out a wooden wand. Then he said a nonsense word, something like, "Alohomora." After the magical shield which saved her life she should be more trusting, but she still felt a jolt of astonishment when the door clicked and swung open an inch.

"Good," she grunted, "now get back."

Obviously unhappy at being considered in need of protection, Harry nevertheless bit back his protest and returned to the middle of the group. However, he kept his wand out at his side. The others followed his lead and pulled out their wands. Keeping her gun raised, Miss Parker pushed open the door. After assessing the room for threats, she holstered her gun and strode inside.

A plexiglas wall divided the back of the room into a cage and the front into an experimental space. A teenaged boy and two girls huddled in the cage despondently. They started jumping up and down and shouting when they saw Miss Parker enter.

Hesitating at the electronic locking system on the cage, she let Jarod push her aside to work on it. It only took a few seconds before the door unlocked. Then the three teenagers came tumbling out. "Miss Parker!" they cried.

She realized too late that as the only familiar adult, they would target her. All three latched onto her with jubilant hugs and grateful tears. She was glad to have them back, but it quickly felt claustrophobic and disgustingly moist! Horrified, she cast a pleading look at Jarod, but he only laughed back at her.

"Okay, yes, that's enough," Miss Parker called loudly, patting whatever arms and backs she could reach. The three finally stepped back.

Looking them over, she asked, "Are any of you hurt?"

"No, just sick of this place," sniffled her favorite barista, now a Sentinel, wiping his wet face with the back of his hand.

Hiding her grimace, she continued. "Alright, here's the plan. We're here to rescue you, but we have to do one more thing before we leave to make sure they never hurt another Sentinel or Guide again." Everyone but the British trio looked at her in surprise. She'd kept this part secret in case they didn't get this far.

"Sushi twins, Barista boy, can you stay strong and hold it together for a little bit longer, or do I need to send you up now?" she asked seriously.

The girls looked at each other and then spoke as one, "The good of the Pride comes first." The two Guides looked back at her steadily.

Taking a deep breath, her barista firmed his lips. "We protect the tribe. Just tell us what to do, Alpha Sentinel Prime."

Nodding sharply with pride, she turned on her heel, "This way, everyone."

Marching to the end of the hall, she turned the corner and saw that the old-fashioned doorway was no longer concealed by a fake wall. It had been replaced with an industrial steel door. With her mental gifts Online, she and all the Guides could feel a miasma of evil oozing out of the room like rotting pus from an infected wound. Everyone recoiled.

Swallowing down her gorge, Miss Parker opened the door. The light from the hallway spilled inside, illuminating the ugly black altar made of volcanic rock. "That thing is evil," Blair choked out, leaning against his Sentinel as his face went a sickly white.

"Yes," Miss Parker agreed shakily.

"They used that to kill our spirit animals and suppress our people," Hermione said grimly. "That's why we came, to destroy it so it never happens again." Raising her wand, she advanced into the room with Draco and Harry at her back. Kaoru Wakuda followed a few steps behind Harry, unwrapping her long, beaded bracelet until it swayed from her fingers rhythmically.

"They tried to kill my Great-Grandmother on that altar," Kaoru hissed lowly. "They failed. A young Sentinel named Miss Parker gave her life to save her. My family has owed a debt ever since." Shocked, Miss Parker felt her eyes go wide.

Kaoru nodded in acknowledgement of their shared history and continued, "The altar was constructed using both the stolen life-force of Guides and Sentinels and the powers of magic. Only we who are both can destroy it. We will destroy it." Kaoru's Sentinel gave her a proud look and nodded firmly in agreement.

A beat of silence passed as the four spread out to surround the altar. The transparent shapes of their spirit animals appeared behind them: dolphin, tiger, bear, and some sort of dragon. Then Hermione cried, "May magic and justice guide us this day. Begin!"

The four began calling out strange magical words that sounded vaguely latin and oriental. Extraordinary lights shot from the wands and Kaoru's beads. They hit the altar with destructive booms that made the very air tremble.

However, the pitted volcanic altar seemed impervious. At first it merely absorbed the attacks. Then, almost imperceptibly, it began vibrating, stronger and stronger until it rattled along the floor as if trying to escape. Yet their spells still barely caused any damage.

Abruptly Kaoru screamed with righteous rage. Hair flapping in an invisible gale, she whirled her beads around above her head until they blurred, suddenly stopping them mid-swing to hover in the air pointed straight at the altar. A loud boom rattled the walls and released a cloud of dust into the air, making all of the Sentinels cough. Kaoru's power scythed across the room in a glittering blade of solid night sky, jarring against the altar stone with a discordant clang.

A crack appeared in the center stone of the altar. It widened from the base of an iron ring embedded to hold shackles. Then the stone split down the middle, the two halves toppling to the sides. Kaoru fell to her hands and knees panting, utterly spent.

Now that she'd broken through, the others increased their assault. Their spells crushed the now weakened altar into more and more pieces, until Malfoy snarled something harsh that crumbled the rocks into dust. Potter flicked his wand like a whip and the dust shot up into the air with a black belch, only to have Hermione conjure a sudden blizzard that blasted the room into white opacity. When the storm dissipated a few seconds later, it left behind drifts of snow that melting through the cracks of the floor tiles with little curls of steam that formed dancing rainbows in the room. Finally nothing remained in the room but the four wizards.

Miss Parker felt light and clean, as if a weight on her spirit was finally gone. She felt reborn. Tears sprang into her eyes.

"And so it is done. The altar is destroyed, the last of the trapped spirit animals are finally freed, and our Parker family is redeemed," Hermione pronounced with a relieved sigh.

Miss Parker took a deep breath in through her nose and blew it out through her mouth. Then she turned to her people in the hallway. "This altar and the magic used to destroy it must remain a secret. If anyone asks, we rescued our teens and immediately left. The magic never happened."

Everyone looked shaken. "I vow to keep this secret and never speak of it," Blair finally promised. The others quickly echoed him.

"Is there anything else we need to do here?" Jarod asked quietly. At Miss Parker and Hermione's negatives, he nodded. "Then let's get out of here."

Kaoru's Sentinel helped her stand up and kept his arm around her waist as they exited the room. Miss Parker closed and locked the door with finality. She held up the rear with Jarod as they walked.

With each minute that passed, Miss Parker began feeling a stronger and stronger urge from Hatshepsut. The mild tickling turned into a stronger and stronger itch. "I need to leave," she mumbled.

"We all do," Jarod wryly answered, distracted. "We're almost to the elevator. Then we can finally get out of the Centre for good."

They piled into the elevator, only to discover that someone in the tower had finally thought to turn it off. The buttons were still lit with power, luckily, just not working. Jarod crouched down and began hacking the panel. He got the doors to close. Then the elevator began rising with a jerk. It kept stopping every five floors or so, forcing Jarod to override the system again and again to keep it moving up.

Miss Parker's vision began getting hazy and her body weak. She tried not to be too obvious as she leaned against the wall. The need from her spirit animal, the tug to leave her body, got stronger. She tried to hide her distress from Jarod, not wanting to distract him.

"You feel like your mind is disappearing," Tony Dinozzo whispered on a breath so Jarod wouldn't notice. "Are you alright?" The elevator jerked to a stop again and Jarod muttered a curse.

Closing her eyes, Miss Parker shook her head just once. She felt her mind start to detach. Scared, she forced her heavy eyelids to open, focusing on Tony's green eyes. The Guide took her hand and squeezed. He felt like an anchor, trying to keep her from drifting away from shore. It helped, but not enough. She tightened her grip in desperation.

Silently Tony snagged Blair's sleeve, attracting his attention from where everyone else watched Jarod's battle with the elevator. Taking in the situation at a glance, Blair immediately came over and took Parker's other hand. Hermione looked up, paled, and followed him. Without any hesitation, she hugged Miss Parker around the waist. Hermione rested her cheek against Miss Parker's throat and supported some of her weight to keep her on her feet. It helped for the next few floors, but then the distress abruptly increased. Miss Parker failed to completely stifle her whimper.

Immediately Jarod's head snapped up. "What's wrong?" He bounded to his feet and reached for her. The elevator jerked to a stop again and Tony's grip slipped off her skin. Lacking his anchoring strength, Miss Parker's mind went black.

When she wrenched her eyes back open, every Guide in the elevator, including the sushi twins, were crowded around touching her bare skin. It didn't feel claustrophobic. It felt like the only thing keeping her from tumbling out of her body. She clutched their strength around herself like a security blanket.

Jarod cupped her face with terror in his eyes. Deep lines furrowed his brow and bracketed his mouth. "I can feel something pulling you away from us, from me," Jarod spoke lowly. "Stay with me, Sentinel. Don't leave."

"Just fix the damn elevator, Jarod," Miss Parker croaked. "I'll be fine."

They both knew it was a lie, but if he remained focused on her, they would all be stuck here. The Centre had them trapped. With no other option, Jarod leaned forward and placed a hard, possessive kiss on her lips. Then he twisted away with a tormented growl and threw himself down in front of the elevator panel.

Blair began directing the efforts of the other Guides, building on what Tony had started. The energy reorganized, forming a net around her spirit. It kept her bound inside her body despite the heavy pull. Time lost meaning as she strained to stay within their net and with her body.

The elevator jerked to a stop with a loud ding and this time the doors finally opened, revealing the main lobby. The Sentinels clumped in front of the doors, protecting Miss Parker and the massed Guides. The lobby had become crowded in their absence. Guns pointed in just about every direction.

"How do we get her out of here safely?" Jim whispered privately.

"And do we know what's wrong with her?" added Gibbs from the corner of his mouth as he looked out into the crowded lobby suspiciously.

Kaoru's eyes became unfocused as she lifted her head from Tony's shoulder, keeping her hand on Miss Parker's bare skin. "She's being pulled to the astral plane. Only she can do it and it must be done soon." Blinking, Kaoru suddenly focused intently on Miss Parker's face. "Trust in yourself."

At the eerie familiarity of Kaoru speaking her great-grandmother's words, Miss Parker's thoughts suddenly crystallized. She realized what was happening. She knew why.

Jarod reached over the gathering to cup her jaw. Their eyes met. Then his widened, "You know what's going on."

Miss Parker breathed in the scent of his skin and sighed. "I'm the Mother of Sentinels."

Everyone jerked, including every Sentinel in hearing distance, which meant pretty much all of them. They looked at her in awe. "I shouldn't know what that means, it's the first I've heard of it," Blair breathed, "but somehow, I instinctively do know. You need to go."

"No, she doesn't," Jarod bit out, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "There's no guarantee she can come back if she leaves."

"Well we can't just sit around in this elevator debating all day," Gibbs pointed out gruffly.

Miss Parker gave a half-smile. She liked the no-nonsense Sentinel. "He's right. I'm done being the damsel in distress. I'm walking out of here with my barista and sushi twins."

"We have names, you know," sighed one of the girls touching her arm. Miss Parker ignored her.

She kept her eyes locked on Jarod's mulish face. "My Guide can support me on one side while the rest of you keep tethering me remotely. I will walk out of the Centre on my own two feet. I can't have them seeing me weak or they'll attack, like sharks detecting blood in the water. Once everyone's free, we'll figure out the next step. I'm stubborn enough to do that."

Finally Jarod gave a begrudging nod. "Fine, but I want everyone going as fast as possible across the lobby and outside. We have our people out there, but so do they."

The Pride had descended with all of the influential resources at their disposal, but the Centre had also mobilized while they'd been downstairs. Their assault team still controlled the lobby, but just barely. Thankfully it looked like no one had opened fire yet. They'd all been waiting to see what happened with Miss Parker.

"On three," Miss Parker ordered breathily, "and keep the kids protected in the middle."

Jarod sidled between Hermione and Blair, slipping his hand around her waist and under her untucked shirt to slide along the bare skin of her back until he had a good grip. Then he counted it off, "One, two, three." He tucked her firmly against his side and completely supported her weight as the others let go. She staggered.

However, she was a Parker and Parker's weren't allowed to be weak. She'd lived that mantra for decades. Now was no time to stop. Digging her fingernails into her hands, she concentrated on the pinpricks of pain along with the sensory profile of her Guide. She would not be carried out like a sack of potatoes.

Parkers built this place and now a Parker would destroy it.

"Let's go," she ordered, spine straight and head held high. It took all her strength to keep one foot moving in front of the other, but she faked confidence as hard as she could as they moved through the Lobby. Her hearing disappeared into static and her vision went spotty, but she kept her chin up and her face stoic. She trusted Jarod to lead her where she needed to go. She trusted Jarod with everything.

Fresh air and bright light burst across her face. Sucking in a quick breath, she willed herself to stay conscious and kept following her Guide. Then Jarod wrapped both hands around her waist and lifted her up onto a bench inside a van, pulling her onto his lap and cradling her against his chest. Hands peeled back her clothes to reach bare skin as her Pride desperately tried to anchor her. Nevertheless, she knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Guide," she breathed, lifting her fingers weakly until they were taken and pressed against Jarod's wet cheek, kneading against his skin to memorize the texture one last time. She had to say one more thing before she went, just in case. "You're my… most important… missing piece, husband," she breathed. Then her spirit lost the fight and spun away from her body.

Miss Parker blinked and opened her eyes. She stood in the astral ocean with surf lapping up to her thighs and soaking the hem of her skirt. All the way to the horizon, the ocean glowed with spheres of light like a sky full of stars.

Kamiya-Sensei stood nearby, her unbound hair fluttering in the wind and catching in the long sleeves of her kimono. "Maybe I really was the prophesized Guiding Star," she mused softly, touching the star-shaped scar on her chest. It stood out starkly in the light cast from the ocean depths. "So many times I feared it wouldn't work, but you Parker women did it. You saved our people and redeemed your family."

Turning, she smiled proudly. "You've done so well. You just have the one last piece and our people will be restored."

"And after that, I'm sure you'll be pushing me to do something else," Miss Parker said sardonically, but the Japanese woman shook her head.

"This is it for me. The end. My life debt to the Parker women has been repaid by my great-grand-daughter. I've guided you to this point and the bakemono and the altar have both been destroyed. It's time for me to rejoin my Sentinel and the rest of my family. I've missed them." Kamiya-Sensei smiled wistfully.

Swallowing, Miss Parker found herself admitting, "As annoying as I've found you, I'll miss you when you're gone."

Kamiya-Sensei laughed. "I'll miss you too."

"What about me?" Hermione asked as she suddenly stepped out onto the beach.

"I'll miss both of you," Kamiya-Sensei grinned, "but I know we'll see each other again one day. I'll look forward to it."

Hermione's lip trembled. "Me too. Thank you for helping me."

Kamiya-Sensei put out her hand and her black bear appeared beneath her fingers. "I have one last thing to teach you two, something that saved my life a long, long time ago. Watch."

Turning to her spirit animal, she stepped forward and merged their spirits, until only the shape of the bear remained. Then the bear shimmered and she came out so the two stood side by side once more. "Don't forget," she cautioned as her long black hair danced in the rising wind.

Then she turned to Miss Parker and bowed. "Mother of Sentinels, it is time to give birth to your people. Go now, before the seeds of our future become too scattered to reform. Your heart is strong enough for all of us. Believe in yourself. I know we all do," Kamiya-Sensei encouraged warmly.

Stepping forward, Hermione gave Miss Parker a hug. "Good luck."

"You carry our hopes and our love with you," Kamiya-Sensei said, joining their embrace. "Be true to yourselves, my dear ones," she whispered emotionally.

Then the Japanese woman stepped back and began to glow. She became an almost blinding pillar of light. Squinting in the glare, they watched the light wing up into the sky with a blast of air. It merged with a rose-tinted cloud shaped like either a bird or a sword. Then both disappeared, leaving a flawless blue sky.

Turning to face the astral ocean, Miss Parker swallowed and nodded at the waiting Hatshepsut. She was ready. The octopus engulfed her in a warm embrace. Copying Kamiya-sensei, she shimmered and stretched until her body disappeared and they merged into one. It felt strange, but necessary. They wouldn't have the strength to complete their task otherwise.

Gliding their long arms through the water, they shot through the ocean to gather up their brood. Hermione merged with her dolphin to accompany them at first, but as they went deeper and deeper into the water to collect the scattered lights, the dolphin finally ran out of air and had to leave them. They didn't notice when she didn't come back.

Time passed strangely. They collected the light and formed it into eggs, incubating them beneath their tentacles until they matured. Then they released the eggs to the surface to hatch into new spirit animals. As soon as space opened, they gathered more of the seeds of light. Eventually, no more light could be found. Life on the floor of the astral ocean resumed its dark mystery.

Finally their last glowing egg matured. They came to the surface for the last release, feeling sentimental. Proudly they watching the infant spirit leave the water in a golden ball of light. It corkscrewed through the sky until suddenly the energy coalesced into a bright red bird with flame-like feathers, like the mythical phoenix.

Done with their task, they drifted, sinking back beneath the waves. They'd been together so long, they'd forgotten anything else. They'd forgotten how to think of anything but now, be anything other than we.

Time passed.

Until one day, a dolphin swam up and began chittering excitedly. They ignored it. The dolphin poked them with its nose. They tried to swim away, but it kept coming back.

Finally they gave in and let the dolphin push them up to the surface. In the sky above their heads flew a bird. It wasn't their final baby spirit animal, their special phoenix. It was a raven.

On seeing them, the raven went wild, flying in circles and cawing raucously. It was rather annoying actually, the way it wouldn't stop. What do you want? They wondered as the raven kept his insistent calling. What?! They felt like snapping.

Then they flickered for a moment into she. She remembered that this raven belonged to her husband and Guide. Her Jarod. But remembering was so hard. She fell back into they.

The dolphin in the water shimmered, becoming a dolphin and a woman, a dolphin and a woman named Hermione. The woman spoke demandingly, but they couldn't understand the sounds. Hermione merged and unmerged with her dolphin again. Then she gestured insistently.

They remembered. Their Jarod was waiting. It took several tries, but finally, painfully and slowly, they unmerged, becoming Hatshepsut and Miss Parker once again. It hurt. They felt so weak. Hermione and the dolphin kept them from sinking back beneath the waves. Jarod's raven flew loops above them cawing joyously.

"Welcome back," Hermione said in a voice choked with relief. "It's time to return home. Your Guide is waiting. Relax and let me do all the work." Trusting her spirit to her cousin, Miss Parker let Hermione open the door back to the physical world and pull them both through.

Gasping at the heaviness of having a human body again, Miss Parker opened her eyes. Jarod's too-thin face hovered above her, breaking into a relieved smile as she focused on him. "Welcome back, wife." Tears dripped off his face and across her lips. She licked them off, greedy for the taste of her Guide, even if only his tears. However, she was so tired. Sleep dragged her back down.

It took her weeks to recover. Her body had essentially been in a coma while her spirit roamed. Jarod hadn't been taking good care of himself while she'd been gone either. After a few scathing words on her part and a charge of hypocrisy she couldn't honestly refute, they both agreed to follow the special diet designed to fatten them up and regain their strength. Luckily, Jarod and the Pride spared no expense to keep her healthy both during the ordeal and after it.

A lot had changed while she'd been gone. Coupled with her lingering exhaustion, she found it a bit overwhelming at first, so it took her a while to gather up the energy for more curiosity. But then Jarod became overprotective and wouldn't tell her anything for fear she'd push too hard and relapse.

Miss Parker finally convinced Sam to smuggle her in a newspaper. For a few minutes she read in smug satisfaction. Then she noticed the date. "I slept for how long!?" she shrieked.

"Thirteen months," Jarod answered grumpily after rushing into the room and assessing the situation. He got upset at any mention of their separation. Miss Parker felt rather upset herself. Thirteen months! Their bad moods sparked an argument, but it quickly fizzled out and turned into snuggling on the bed. It took a good bit of cuddling and promises of never again and an extremely gentle and thorough session of lovemaking complete with sensory imprinting to restore their balance.

Finally she felt ready to take on everything. "Okay, what really happened while I was gone?" she asked from her position wrapped around her Guide with her ear resting on his bare chest.

Jarod's fingers combed adoringly through her hair. "Well, to start with, you succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The Sentinel and Guide population has skyrocketed around the world. Blair, Hermione, Kaoru, and a few other talented and trustworthy Guides, along with their Sentinels, have been helping me organize new SG Centers locally and internationally to support and train everyone. We had some problems initially, but things got easier since the American President's daughter, one of the British Princes, and a few other important people came Online and got vocal about needing training and support for the SG Centers. A few countries experienced riots and surges of prejudice, but luckily that mostly died down a few months ago. There's still a lot of work to do, but things are mostly stable."

Miss Parker sighed. "It would be too much to hope that everyone would be happy about the resurgence. What happened with the Centre? Please tell me it didn't weather the storm and come out on top." Since he couldn't see her face from where she'd tucked it against his skin, she allowed herself the weakness of closing her eyes as she braced herself for the news.

"The Centre is gone."

Rearing up, she examined his face incredulously. "Gone? The Centre is like a cockroach. I've always expected it to outlast even nuclear winter."

Jarod reached out and smoothed his thumb across her brow. Then he adjusted them so they could see each other's faces as they talked. "The media coverage of our assault went international. It sparked worldwide outrage. Just minutes before we marched out, everyone up to the Chief of Police and the Governor himself claimed that the Centre was innocent and that the Prides were over-reaching themselves and needed to be supressed. Things were getting ugly."

"Then we came bursting out of the doors, led by a gorgeous, commanding, and rare female Sentinel with our three kidnapped ducklings in tow. When word of your collapse leaked, people went crazy. You became a symbol of the resurgence of Prides across the world. Hackers bombarded the Centre servers and posted their ugly findings about the Centre's activities on the internet. Even the Triumvirate is now on the verge of collapse due to the efforts of the African Prides. The Governor and Police Chief had to resign. The Centre was forced to close and the staff scattered. I rescued as many files as I could. Sydney helped a taskforce relocate the patients. Angelo's in a nearby assisted living center. We have brunch every other Tuesday."

"Then a few months ago, a hate group tried to bomb our Dover SG Center, rightly blaming us for the final resurgence. They didn't succeed because our Sentinels caught them, but feelings ran very high for a while. I never officially confirmed who, but I'm pretty sure a group of our Pride members broke into a nearby military base and stole some ordinance to work out their emotions."

Eyes widening, Miss Parker demanded, "Please tell me they didn't go and kill a bunch of extremist nutjobs without an airtight alibi?"

Chuckling in surprise, Jarod answered, "Of course your first thought is their alibi, but no, luckily they didn't murder anyone. Instead, they broke through the police tape around the Centre, which had become the symbol of our oppression, and precisely placed over two dozen explosive charges on the structure. By the time the police got there, the explosion was over. The building is now a pile of rubble. The authorities don't have any firm suspects as the perpetrators luckily didn't leave any evidence. I've been careful to discourage too many questions. I did send a few people some very nice fruit baskets though, including a Guide who'd served as an ammunitions expert in the army." Miss Parker joined in his laughter, though if a few tears escaped their eyes, neither one mentioned it.

"So the Centre really is gone," Miss Parker shook her head incredulously. "Any other bombshells for me before I hear about them in the news?"

"Nothing that will show up in the papers, but I do have a few pieces of good news," Jarod grinned with excitement. "With the Centre gone and the two of us splashed all over the news, my family showed up!"

"Which ones?" she asked in surprise.

Jarod pressed his lips together as if about to burst and then breathed out, "All of them." His eyes looked incandescent. "Mom and Dad, Emily and my clone Gemini, who goes by Jack now, and even our half-brother Ethan. They're all here. Emily, Jack, and Ethan are all Online now too. Everyone has a big house just ten minutes from the SG Center."

"That's wonderful," she said, sincerely happy that Jarod finally got his family.

"It is," Jarod smiled. "They can't wait to talk to you either." She had mixed feelings about meeting his family, as there were bound to be hard feelings about her time working for the Centre, but decided to leave that discussion for another day.

Jarod continued, "Ethan came Online last, just a few weeks before you finally woke up. His spirit animal is this amazing fiery red bird I've never seen before. Sentinel Potter got very excited about it when he called to tell us that he and Kaoru Wakuda finally had their Honeymoon baby-"

"Wait, what?" she interrupted. "Harry and Kaoru had a baby? Already?"

"You were gone for thirteen months," Jarod glowered, unhappy again.

Miss Parker sighed, "It had to be done and I said I was sorry already, alright? So the baby?"

Swallowing down his displeasure, Jarod threaded his fingers with hers. "Right, the baby. So Kaoru moved to Britain with Harry and they got married. We were invited if you woke up, but since you didn't, I sent a card and a very nice gift. Last month, they called to tell us about the birth of their new baby boy, named Kenshin James Parker Potter."

"Parker?" she repeated faintly.

"They wanted to honor you," he swallowed hard, "just in case… well, and also because they met and bonded because of you."

"Because of us," she pointed out, trying not to cry, of all the ridiculous and sentimental things. It must be because she wasn't fully recovered yet. She had to change the subject before she embarrassed herself. "So what's so important about Ethan's spirit animal?"

Jarod gave her a knowing look, but changed the subject away from the baby. "Ethan came in while we were talking. He said he'd had a feeling that Harry would recognize his bird. Harry got excited and called it a phoenix, like a real magical one, and is pushing Ethan to get special magic tutoring either here in the states or overseas with Harry and Hermione. Supposedly something about being in the Centre for so long near that altar in the basement suppressed his magic, but its waking up now. My parents don't know about the magic thing, and you just barely woke up, so Ethan still hasn't decided. For now he's been enjoying family and figuring out how to be a Guide with his phoenix."

A contented feeling rose from her belly. "My brother got my phoenix."

"Hmm?" Jarod cocked his head in confusion.

She snuggled closer into his side. "The last spirit animal Hattie and I hatched was a phoenix. I knew he was special. I'm glad he chose Ethan." Then she looked over, "is that the last of the important news, or is there something more?"

"Besides the fact that we're going to be in charge of all the Prides as heads of the International SG Council now that you're awake? Everything else can keep," Jarod smirked.

"Wait, what?" she demanded, pulling back.

"Nope," Jarod abruptly rolled them in the bed until she was trapped beneath his arms. "Business time is over, time for fun." He nuzzled against her neck, bringing forth an undignified giggle from her throat.

"Jarod!" she wiggled to get away, stopped, and then wiggled with purpose to get closer to his body, wrapping one long leg around his waist to bring them closer.

"I've always loved your legs," he groaned. Then he ran his hand down its length and squeezed high on her thigh, laughing huskily as she shuddered. "Oh no, I think I might see a rash forming on your skin. Obviously you need to imprint on your Guide again, Sentinel Parker."

Sliding her hands down the hot, smooth skin of his back, she braced her forearms against his broad shoulders and arched up into his body. "Maybe I should consult with my husband about that first," she teased, nipping his ear.

Breathless, Jarod replied, "Oh, I'm sure he'll agree that you should always do what your Guide recommends."

"I don't know about always," her voice went high-pitched as Jarod's fingers went exploring and his mouth began sucking wet kisses down her neck and lower, "but in this instance, I'm sure you're right. After all, imprinting is very important for a healthy Sentinel-Guide Bond."

Then she abruptly rolled until she was on top and straddling Jarod. Gliding her fingers up his chest and across his arms, she leaned forward so she could thread their fingers together. Looking down at her Guide and husband, she couldn't keep the words at the top of her mind from sliding down to fly out her lips, "I love you."

Even if she hadn't meant to say it, Miss Parker still meant it honesty, with every fiber of her being. She did love him. She refused make the mistake of never saying it like she had with Thomas.

Jarod tipped his head back and relaxed beneath her body, meeting her eyes as he dropped all of his emotional and mental shields. She felt him surrender everything to her. Everything. "My love is yours, I'm yours."

Swallowing hard, she slid down until she completely covered his body. Keeping her eyes open, she delicately slipped her tongue into his mouth and memorized again how he reacted when they kissed: each taste, smell, sound, sight, and touch. Taking every precious bit of him, mental, emotional, and physical, she packed him up like a precious gift, enfolded him with the strength of her body and layers upon layers of diamond-hard shields to protect his mind.

Of course, Jarod couldn't help but give back what he received, buffering her senses, stabilizing her mind, and providing a rock-solid place to belong where she was known, valued, and fiercely protected. The beauty of their connection was indescribable, no matter how much she tried. But then, just like every other time, being with Jarod proved too overwhelming to stay analytical. Her eyes slipped closed as she lost herself in sensation.

Making love with Jarod would never grow old. Neither of them had to pretend to be anything but themselves. As they merged their bodies and minds, Miss Parker knew that together they would make their own story, their own happily ever after. Together, they would be magnificent.

THE END

AN: Thank you so much for joining me on my massive crossover Sentinel journey! Yay!

FYI my favorite Pretender stories are by the author Phenyx on the Pretender Centre fanfiction archive. My all-time favorite story of hers is, "A Not so Perfect World." Genius.

This is the third and last story in the Parker Triptych, a crossover series. Each story contains a female with the Parker family blood line (the Parker family is from The Pretender), the most ancient bloodline with Sentinel and Guide gifts in my world. I intend this trilogy to be a collection of stories that can be read either together or alone.

In the first story (The Guiding Star) set in Japan, we see the creation of a monster that will wipe Sentinels and Guides off the face of the Earth. (Rurouni Kenshin)

In the second story (Guide Resurgence) set in Britain, we see the monster destroyed by the descendants of those who created it. (Harry Potter)

In the third story (Mother of Sentinels) set in America, we see the restoration of Guides and Sentinels across the world. (The Pretender)