After finishing their dinner, they slowly made their way to a motel. It was not the greatest, but Parker was becoming accustomed to shoddy, run-down dives very much like it.

"I have wanted to ask you something for a long time. How can you walk in those?" Jarod asked, gesturing to her heels.

"You get used to everything." she replied, boredly. "I could ask you why you always wear black clothes?"

"Because I don't have anything else. At least at the moment."

"Why didn't you have clothing with you when I caught you? You had your laptop, and the DSA's, but no clothes with you."

"I didn't think that I would be out for long and I left them in my room."

Jarod and Parker entered the lobby of the motel and searched for anyone behind the counter. Parker shouted loudly, and a man shuffled out of the back room. He looked to be around fifty and looked terrible. He sported three days worth of growth, a Hawaiian-print shirt that looked like it could stand on its own, mismatched striped polyester pants completed the ensemble, and he smelled like a distillery.

"What can I do for such a lovely lady?" he asked, attempting to be suave as me smiled crookedly at her.

"You could give us a room." she said slowly, trying to keep her temper in check as he leaned over the counter and she caught a whiff of him.

"Sure, how long will you be staying?" he asked, eyeing her.

"One night. How much?" Jarod interjected.

"Thirty dollars cash." he replied briskly, handing them the registry.

Jarod registered them as Mr. and Mrs. Ford, and Parker pulled thirty dollars from her pocket and laid it on the counter, unwilling to touch Mr. Smelly's hands.

Once outside, she turned to Jarod and replied, "God, did you smell him? If I lit a cigarette in there, everything would have gone up in flames!"

"I noticed." he said and smirked, handing her the keys and took the DSA's from the car.

"Hey Jarod? You always were so clever with your choice in names. Why 'Mr. and Mrs. Ford?'" she asked curiously.

"That's simple. You know, Dr. Kimble. I saw the movie and Harrison Ford plays Dr. Kimble. To name us Kimble would be too obvious, but Ford is..."

"O.K., I got it." she said, cutting him off. "I could really use a change of clothes." she said, trying to smooth her suit and brush the dust off.

"Me too. Shall I get us some?" he asked, scanning their surroundings.

"How do you wanna do that? Are you a magician?"

"No, look at the couple next to us. Maybe they could sell us something. Shall I try and ask?"

"Go. I'll wait inside." she conceded, and unlocked the door and slipped into the room.

Jarod returned a few moments later, carrying a black bag.

"How did you manage that?" she asked in wonder.

"I told them we were robbed." he said, flashing her a boyish grin.

"And they gave you what?

He sat the bag down, pulled everything out of the bag, and sat it on the bed.

"Let's see. This is for you. Jeans and a T-shirt. And for me, the same. They were so kind. See? They even gave me a toilet bag! They said towels should be in the bathroom."

"Good." she said, grabbing her things and heading straight to the bathroom. Minutes later, he heard the shower running.

* * * * *

"I'm feeling much better." she sang when she entered the room again, happy with the comfortable jeans and T-shirt. She was lucky that the clothes fit her. "Your turn."

Jarod grabbed his things and replied, "Guess there's no chance you saved me some warm water, huh?"

"If you're lucky." she teased and flashed him a grin.

Jarod showered and changed quickly, and returned to the room. He showed her the things he discovered through his father's friend.

"What's this?" Parker asked, snatching on somethings between the papers from his hands.

"Oh, that's from my father. It's a fighter cross." he murmured, taking it slowly from her hands.

"It looks old."

"That's the only thing I have from him."

"I guess we're a lot alike. I don't' have much from my mom, either. But luckily I knew her." she said softly, and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"That means if we find your father, we may find my mother’s murderer?" she asked, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"I can’t believe this. Why would he kill her? I mean, what where his motives?" Jarod mumbled, staring at the cross in his hand.

"That’s what we have to find out." Miss Parker said, slowly taking the cross from his hands. She stood and began packing together their things. "We’d better get moving before they find us, huh?"

Jarod closed his eyes and tried to focus. He could run a sim, couldn’t he? Sydney had always warned him that he could get serious brain damage if he could not come back to reality. He was too close to the whole story, the whole truth to give up now. But he had no other choice, had he?

These thoughts swarmed through his mind the entire day, while they were back on the road. He was lost in his own thoughts, oblivious to the rapidly passing scenery, the soft buzz of the radio as they left the broadcasting area, and the heavy silence that had fallen between Parker and himself. Parker had sensed that there was something on Jarod’s mind, and for the first time since the chase began, she wished that he would talk to her. She was becoming carsick because of the pensive silence that had fallen between them.

"Jarod?" Parker asked softly, daring to break the silence.

"What?" he asked, sounding as if he had just woke.

"Are you O.K.? You seem like you’re a million miles away."

"I was thinking. We both want to finally find our answers, right?"

The look on his face made Parker feel strange. She wondered what was going through his mind and replied, "Yeah…"

"I’ll explain it when we find a place to stay for a few days, O.K.?" he said, smiling slightly. "How far are we from Detroit?"

"O.K., Jarod. We’re about and hour away from Detroit. Why?"

"Later, O.K.?"

* * * * *

They made it to Detroit in less than an hour, and Parker drove around aimlessly, letting Jarod sleep while she wondered what he was planning. He obviously planned to include her in his little plot, and she really hated being in the dark. Patience was not in her vocabulary, and she was growing more and more irritable with her situation and with Jarod. She glanced over at Jarod and found him still sound asleep, his head thrown back, his mouth slightly open. She had to smile, and found herself wishing she had a camera to capture this moment. For the first time, she felt like they were simply two normal people, taking a little trip on America’s interstate system. But she knew better, and did not allow herself to continue the fantasy.

"Are we there yet?" Jarod asked, sitting up slowly.

"Well, we’re in Detroit. I’ve been driving around, waiting for you to wake up." she replied coolly.

"Why didn’t you wake me?" Jarod asked, becoming more alert.

"Because, I know you don’t sleep much, so I figured that you needed to get rest whenever and wherever you can." Parker admitted, wondering why the hell she was being so nice.

"Thanks, Parker." He replied gratefully, smiling at her. "Let’s find a place to crash."

"You mean you don’t have that worked out all ready?" Parker replied, a touch of mockery in her tone.

"Actually, yes I do. In fact, we aren’t far from it." Jarod said, and gave her the directions to their new lair.

She parked the car and they got out, grabbing their meager belongings. Jarod led her into the old factory, and they took the freight elevator up. The elevator stopped at the top floor, and he led her into a large, renovated studio apartment. Parker looked around the large room; there was a small couch, a chair, a large kitchen area, and a huge king-size bed almost in the middle of the room. In the back corner of the room was a spacious bathroom, with a claw-footed bathtub, a clear shower curtain with puppies on it, and multi-colored décor.

"Where are we? Looks like someone lives here." Parker said, and slowly walked around the meagerly furnished apartment.

"It belongs to a friend of mine. He’s an artist. He’s in Europe for the next two months, so we have enough time."

"Enough time for what?" she queried suspiciously.

"Let’s go shopping first." Jarod said smoothly, and gently pushed her toward the elevator.

Parker turned around and grabbed him roughly by the collar and shouted, "Damnit, don’t play with me! What do you have in mind? Do I have to remind you yet again that I’m the one who’s letting you stay free?"

Jarod gently took her hands and pried her fingers off of his collar, and replied, "No, you don’t." he said, smiling boyishly at her. Then the easy grin died on his lips. He took her by the hand and led her toward the couch, gently making her sit down, seating himself before her on the glass-topped coffee table. He looked at her for a moment, not sure how he could tell her the truth. He was not sure that she would go for it.

"We’ll do a sim of that tonight." He said and waited for her reaction.

"What do you mean we?" she demanded, cocking her head, looking at him with her icy blue eyes.

He had trouble not getting lost in those beautiful eyes, but focused and went on, "I mean we’ll do a sim together. You are a Pretender too, so I’ll teach you a few things."

"Jarod! I’m not a pretender!" she shouted.

"Parker, yes you are. You have the bloodlines, you have the gift. You haven’t been trained and the gift isn’t harnessed, but you do have it. You are a brilliant woman, Parker."

"What the hell do you know?" she challenged. "How do you know what my IQ is?"

"How many times am I going to have to tell you? I know everything I need to know about you, Parker. I can always find out anything I want to know." He said, without a trace of the usual smugness.

Parker began breathing hard and looked at the ground. She put a shaking hand to her forehead and waited for her mind to process the information he was giving her. She waited a moment before speaking, trying to get her emotions under control before replying, "Why haven’t you done this alone before? Why do you need me?"

"Maybe because I was afraid of what I might discover." He said, laughing mirthlessly. "And because I didn’t want to do it alone. You have no idea what it is like to run a sim and live through something so cruel and sad. I had to so often at the Centre, and no one was ever there to comfort me when I needed someone."

Parker sensed how much this revelation was affecting him. She had those same feelings herself more often than she cared to admit, however she was unable to deal with them. She hesitated before taking his hands into her own and tried to ease his tension, to let him know that she understood. She had never been good with feelings, especially her own, any feelings other than anger and hate. The gesture seemed to be enough, because he looked up at her and smiled. He took her hand and pulled her to her feet and out the door.

* * * * *

When they returned to the apartment, both carried several large bags of clothing, food, and other necessities. Jarod sat down several food bags down in the kitchen, and began putting food away.

"Jarod, I have to admit, I have never had so much fun shopping." Parker said happily, carrying her bags over to the bed and sat them down.

At the shopping center, they had helped each other pick out clothing. There was nothing wrong with their usual tastes, but Jarod enjoyed watching her dress, and it was not hard for her to watch him. Not that she would admit it…

While Jarod finished unpacking the groceries in the kitchen, Parker began unpacking and putting the clothing in the closet and dresser. She enjoyed putting their clothing away, it made her feel as if she belonged in a small way. She did enjoy the way Jarod had looked at her while she modeled clothing for him. She also actually liked some of the clothes he suggested she purchase. She walked over to the closet and looked at their clothing hanging in the closet. She had never seen someone else’s clothing hanging beside her own, and it was a curiously comfortable feeling. She tried to shake the feeling off, and wandered back to the other end of the room to the kitchen. She found him leaning on the counter drinking a cup of coffee, with a plate of sandwiches on the counter beside him.

"Hungry?" he asked, nodding his head toward the plate.

"Not really." She said, taking a mug out of the cabinet, and pouring herself a cup a coffee.

"You should eat something, you know. You look thin."

"Who are you pretending to me now, my nanny?" she snapped, glaring at him over the rim of her mug. "And no one had ever complained about my weight so far."

"I just meant it’s good for you to eat something once in awhile, instead of smoking all of the time. It can also be strenuous to do a sim. You should trust me on this." He replied and gave her a knowing look.

"Fine." She conceded grudgingly and took one of the sandwiches he offered her.

Parker took a bite out of the sandwich, and nearly fainted. The sandwich tasted so good that she had to close her eyes for a moment. She opened them and found Jarod looking at her curiously. She just smiled coyly at him, and hopped up onto the counter beside him. They sat there like that for a moment, neither sure what to say, or if anything should be said at all. Both in their own worlds, they sat on the counter, side by side, and ate in silence.

* * * * *