A shower of plaster came down on Jarod and his assailant, whose flailinghand had accidentally pulled the trigger. Jarod coughed and squinted throughthe powdery white cloud, searching for the black-clad man. The gunshot,however, had distracted him long enough for his attacker to move behindhim. With one swift kick to the back of his knees, Jarod fell to the hardwoodfloor. He spun around, only to come face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.Through the eye holes of the ski mask, Jarod could see the man's hazeleyes narrow with menacing pleasure, as his finger wrapped around the trigger...

The screeching of tires startled the man, who turned his head to glanceout the front window. Outside, Parker was jumping out of her car and runningtowards the door. Before Jarod could take advantage of the stranger's distraction,however, the man's attention was back on him.

The attacker raised his hand high above him, then brought the gun downwith a powerful thrust. Everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~

A thick, warm comforter was tucked around him. His head, which was nestledin a large cushy pillow, was throbbing. He felt a great sense of urgencycome over him, but why, he didn't know. His only, barely-solid thoughtwas that he should get back up, to fight someone...The idea, however, requiredtoo much concentration to hold onto, and he continually felt it slippingaway. Besides, he didn't want to get up. This felt safe, and the gentlehands that were doing something to his head gave him a kind of reassurance.

At first, Jarod thought these sensations were just another dream, butslowly, he became more aware of just how real everything was. Reluctantly,he opened his heavy eyelids, and was immediately welcomed back to the landof the conscious by the blinding light of a nearby lamp. A small groanescaped Jarod's lips as he tried to lift his head. It would seem that evenworse head pains had awakened with him.

"Shh," a gentle voice whispered. "I wouldn't move if I were you. You'vegot quite a nasty bump on your head. Just try to relax awhile." The voicewas familiar, but when Jarod tried to move his head towards its origin,a sharp shock of pain shot through his skull, emphasizing the "don't move"suggestion. He wasn't completely sure it was her until he actually sawParker's face, as she leaned over him to tend to patting his head witha nice cool towel. She finished up, then smiled at him and walked away.Jarod glanced around the room, and realized he was in Parker's bedroom.A moment later she returned, holding a cup of water and two medicationbottles.

"You need to take these," she said, holding up the bottles. "Here, letme help you up." Parker carefully slid a hand under his head, and helpedkeep it elevated while he popped the three pills she'd given him, and drankdown the water in two quick gulps. So much movement made him wince, andit was nice to lie his head back down on the pillow.

"What did you give me?"

"The two red pills were for pain," she explained as she straightenedthe comforter around him, "and the blue one will make you sleep." She satdown in a chair drawn up next to the bed, and turned off the lamp, leavingthem in the dark.

"Parker, is it a good idea to stay--"

"We don't have any choice," Parker interrupted. "I don't think you'vegot a concussion, but I didn't want to risk moving you. Now sleep. We'lldiscuss this whole thing in the morning." Jarod didn't need to ask her--heknew that Parker wouldn't be sleeping tonight. He didn't know whether tofeel honored or guilty that she was keeping watch over him.

~~~~~~~~~

Parker didn't leave that chair until about six the next morning. Shestood, stretched, picked her gun up from the bedside table, and went tomake coffee. She made a triple search of the house, but nothing seemedto be missing or out of place. In fact, if it weren't for the hole in herliving room ceiling, it would appear as if nothing at all had happened.

Jarod woke up at ten, just as Parker was bringing in a breakfast tray.He looked over the layout with appreciation, taking special note of theslightly burnt bacon. He grinned at her.

"Aw, honey, you cooked."

"I'm not exactly Betty Crocker," she admitted, "but I'd eat if I wereyou. You need the energy." Jarod reached for his glass of orange juice,and spotted two red capsules. He looked at her in dismay.

"I don't like the idea of taking so many drugs."

"Don't worry, they don't have any serious side effects. Besides, I'dtake advantage of them while you still can. With the way things are going,who knows when you'll have time to take some more."

"Good point," Jarod said, quickly downing the pills. "Now, while weeat, it'd probably be a good idea to go over our plans. Where do you thinkwe should go from here?"

"Well," Parker said between bites of toast, "I've called Sydney, andtold him that I had a lead on you, but that there was a chance you wouldstill be there, so I'd be going under an alias. I told him you were inthis small town in Oklahoma, helping out an orphanage."

"Good thinking," Jarod praised her. "Since it's a small town, groupsof people coming through would be noticed--"

"--While one business woman just stopping over for a night wouldn'tbe. Exactly. Good thing Syd agreed with me. Anyhow, I told him I'd callin three or four days, depending on how things went, so I'm Centre-free,for a little while at least."

"Well that takes care of the Centre. Now, what are we going to do aboutour lunatic friend?"

"Simple," Parker shrugged as she sipped her coffee. "We bait him. Makea very obvious trail for him to follow, then grab him when he's gottencareless."

"Yeah, but it could take quite awhile for him to get careless. I mean,stalkers can go for years without slipping up once."

"Which is exactly why we have to push all the right buttons."

"And which buttons would those be?"

"The ones with your adorable mug plastered all over them. Let's faceit, the guy doesn't like you. I say, we do a little pretend of our own,and catch this creep."

"And what kind of pretend do you propose?" Jarod grinned. He alreadyknew what she was going to say, but hearing her say it would just makeit all the better.

"A little romantic getaway; just you, me, and the open road."

"We'll have to be convincing," Jarod warned her.  He may have beenwrong, but Jarod could've sworn he saw a light blush bloom on Parker'scheeks.

"Of course," she said in her best bored-with-this-topic tone as shepicked up the tray and sauntered out. Jarod chuckled. This was certainlygoing to be one of his more interesting pretends.

~~~~~~~~~

While Jarod was inside giving the rabbits plenty of water and food,as well as clean cages, Parker was out at the car, packing a few bags intothe car. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was always someone behindher, but whenever she turned around, there was no one. Parker tried toignore it, sure that it was just this lunatic getting to her. Still, shecouldn't help the wave of relief that came over her as Jarod walked outthe door, locking it behind him and smiling at her as he got into the car.

"Ready?" Jarod asked as they drove away from the house. He had thiscrazy grin on his face, as he thought of the adventure they were embarkingon, and no matter what he did, the grin stuck. Parker looked over at himand smiled back. Jarod realized -not for the first time- just how wonderfula smile she had.

"You don't have to look so excited," Parker smiled, even though shehad to admit she was looking forward to this as much as he was. She wasn'tquite sure why, though. Probably just the promise of a vacation.

Back at the house, a man stretched around a corner and grabbed a couplemore zoomed-in shots with his camera of Parker in the car. As she turnedand smiled at Jarod, he got a perfect photo of her. He waited until theywere out of sight, before he walked down the road to where his car washidden. He got inside, and placed the camera down in the passenger's seat,next to a small pile of black and white photographs of Parker, in her home,at work, in town, hunting Jarod down in a dozen cities... A look of delightcame across his face, with his mouth twisting into a sickening grin. Hiseyes, however, were still as cold and calculating.

He reached up onto the dashboard, and took hold of a single red roseplaced there, the rose he'd left on her nightstand. It was already brownand withering; he should have taken better care of it, he thought sadly.Still, once Parker came to him, she would remind him of little things likethat. After all, didn't people in love always take care of each other likethis? He took the time to inhale its fragrance; the scent wasn't of a rose,but of a delicate perfume. It was the perfume Catherine Parker had alwaysworn, the perfume that Miss Parker kept a bottle of on her dresser. Hehad placed a drop of it on the rose, when he'd gone in the house earlier.That fool Jarod hadn't even heard him.

With a content sigh, he put the rose back on the dashboard, then retrievedsomething from the backseat. He looked at the black metal device in hishand, and smiled as he turned it on. He watched the tracking system, andwaited to see which way they were headed.

"Well," he said after he tossed the device into the passenger's seat,and was starting up the car, "it seems we're going south. Good, I coulduse a tan."

~~~~~~~~~

"So, where are we headed first?" Jarod asked as he fiddled with theradio dials.

"Must we really make a plan? I'd rather just drive, see where the roadstake us."

"I never knew you to be the adventurous type."

"Trust me, this is about as unpredictable as I get."

"I'll bet," Jarod smiled. He spotted a billboard mentioning a DairyQueen on the next exit. He turned to ask Parker, just to find she had alreadyswitched on the turning signal. "How'd you guess?"

"Come on. We are talking about you, after all."

"Good point." Jarod's smile widened as they approached the icecreamplace. "I'll get it," he volunteered, as they stepped out of the car, "whileyou find us a table. What do you want?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Aw, come on, Parker. This is supposed to be a vacation--well, sortof, so try loosening up a bit."

"Well..."

"I promise, one cone isn't going to lessen my opinion of your hard,suspicious attitude in the least." Parker allowed herself a grin like Jarod's.

"All right then, but just a small vanilla cone, got it?"

"Gotcha." Jarod walked over to the cashier and gave his order. Therewere only a few tables open; apparently this was a popular hangout forjunior high and high school kids. Two minutes later he returned, holdinga large chocolate cone in one hand, and a monstrous banana split in theother. He handed Parker the cone.

"Do the words "small" and "vanilla" ring any bells?" Parker asked asshe quickly began to lick the chocolate ice cream, which was on the vergeof dripping.

"Live a little. Besides, that's nothing compared to mine." As if toprove his point, he stuck the huge banana spit right under her face. "Checkit out: the three best toppings, plus nuts, whipped cream and a cherryon top."

"And I suppose you justify it all by the nutritional value of the banana,"Parker said as she pushed the plastic bowl away from her.

"Of course. Here, have a bite," Jarod offered, scooping plenty of icecream and toppings onto his red plastic spoon. He waved the spoon in frontof her, as she shook her head and tried to dodge it.

"Jarod, no. Really, thanks, but I--" Her face and the spoon collided.The tip of her nose and all of her upper lip were covered in the desert.For a moment, they both just sat there, both taken by surprise by whathad happened. Then, unable to fight the urge, Jarod burst out laughing.Parker could feel her cheeks getting red, but found herself more in a stateof playful vengefulness that anger.

"I'm sorry, Parker," Jarod continued to laugh as he reached over tothe napkin dispenser, "but you have to admit, that was pretty funny." Heheld out some napkins to her. "Here." Her nose was now dripping, and hecould feel another roll of laughter coming out of him, which he didn'tsee as such a problem, since Parker was grinning now, too. Parker, however,wasn't grinning at her own condition, but at the mess she knew she aboutto create.

Parker picked up her cone, and pressed it right into Jarod's face, twistingthe cone to make sure ice cream smeared as much as possible. Jarod's widenedin surprise, but it didn't take long for him to react.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that one," Jarod warned her. He took the icecreamdish up in one hand, and grinned at Parker.

"You wouldn't dare!" she laughed nervously, jumping up out of her seat.Jarod got up too, and slowly began to advance. Parker edged backward, grinningas much as Jarod but still not too crazy about the idea of having moreice cream plastered on her face. The teens all stopped talking and quietlyobserved the two, nudging each other as they watched the adults -both withice cream dripping from their noses and chins- walk down the aisle.

"Jarod, now, I'm serious," she said. "Come on, put the ice cream down."

"No way," Jarod said, and jumped before Parker could think. Her facewas now entirely covered with the makings of a banana split.

"I can't believe you--"

"Food fight!" some guy at the back of the room cried, cutting her off.Jarod and Parker shared a look of alarm and ducked simultaneously, justin time to avoid a pair of flying cones.

"That was close!" Parker laughed as she stood back up, right beforea milkshake flew into her face. Jarod laughed, but it was short lived,because the front of his shirt was soon covered in a strawberry sundae.Before they even realized what they were doing, the two were caught upin the action, grabbing sodas, ice cream and whatever else they could gettheir hands on, and throwing it at people they didn't even know.

When their arsenal ran out, and the last of the air-born sundaes hadlanded, everyone -except for the actual employees- was laughing as hardas they could, but no one was having a better time than Jarod and MissParker. Every time the laughter began to simmer, someone would catch someoneelse's eye, and burst out laughing again.

By the time Jarod and Parker finally left Dairy Queen, it was nearlysix. Though they had managed to clean up a little bit in the Dairy Queenrestrooms, they agreed that showers were definitely necessary, and thesooner the better. So it was decided that they'd stay here -the town'sname turned out to be Lancaster- for the night, and continue with their"romantic getaway" the next day. There was a Ramada only a few blocks away,where they chose to check in for the night. It was while Parker was parkingthe car that she realized something.

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed. "Jarod, what are we going to do aboutthe sleeping arrangements? I mean, it's going to take a few days to tickthis guy off enough for him to slip up, but until then, we don't know whenhe's watching. Hell, he could be right now and we wouldn't know it."

"You've got a good point," he agreed. "If he sees us getting tryingto be so romantic during the day, and every night we sleep in separatebeds, he's gonna know something's up."

"Okay, so I guess one bed is the solution," Parker said a little uncomfortably.

"Right," Jarod said, feeling uncomfortable as he noticed her own reaction."But...I mean, it's not as if...you know, we're going to take it any further."He looked at her curiously. "Right?"

"Absolutely," Parker agreed quickly. Maybe a little too quickly, shethought to herself. "I mean, I would never expect you to...and anyhow,it shouldn't be too hard to think of an excuse, right? I mean, we're goingto pretend that this getaway was to get far from all the hassles of ourlives, and with you being hurt yesterday and all...well, I mean, we'lljust act like we don't want to put any pressure on each other, okay?"

"Okay," Jarod agreed. He quickly got out of the car. "Come on, let'sgo get a room and get cleaned up. All that exercise back there left mestarving!" Parker was a little slower getting out of the car. She didn'tknow why, but that conversation had left her a little unsettled. And maybe...alittle disappointed. Jeez, she thought to herself as they walked to thedoors, get ahold of yourself. I mean, this is Jarod. Still, she felt alittle tug at her heart when he held the door open for her and smiled warmlyat her. She managed to smile back -I can't believe I nearly blushed, shethought- as she walked past him.

Once Parker had walked past him, Jarod let out a breath he didn't evenknow that he was holding. He had no idea what was going on with him. Parkerhad smiled at him as she walked by, and it took everything he had not tojust grin and laugh like an idiot. This is going to be a lot more of achallenge than I expected, he thought. This is an completely unfair testof my willpower.

They went to the front desk, and Parker requested a room. One bed, shespecified, and a balcony if possible. The clerk assured them that theirrequests were easy enough, and handed them a key to room 326. Parker andJarod headed over to the elevator, and when the doors slid open, Jarodslipped his hand into hers before they entered. Both smiled at each otheras Parker pushed the appropriate button.

The happy couple had caught the attention of many people sitting inthe lounge across from the elevator, and some murmured to each other howsweet they looked together. Even the clerk was impressed. He turned hiswarm smile from the elevator to his newest guest, a man dressed in darkcolors who had just walked around a corner close to where Parker had beenstanding.

"Don't you think they make a handsome couple?" the clerk couldn't resistasking.

The man snorted. "The lady was a looker, no question, but what she'sdoing with a guy like that is beyond me." The clerk's smile only faultedfor a second.

"So, how may I help you, sir?"

"I'd like a room for tonight," the man informed him. "And, if you don'tmind, there's a specific room I would prefer. I come through here everyyear on my way to a convention, you see, and it's a sort of tradition thatI stay at this hotel." The man smiled at the clerk, and though the smileappeared earnest, the clerk couldn't help thinking that there seemed tobe no warmth behind it. Still, repeat customers always earned a littlebit of special treatment.

"Of course, sir. And which would you like?"

"Room 328."

~~~~~~~~~

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Part 4