Rating: R
Keywords: Jarod/Ms. Parker Romance.
Summary: Ms. Parker is at home sick, so Jarod decides
to help her out with a little TLC.

Disclaimer: The characters of this story belong to "The Pretender," a
protected trademark of MTM Television and NBC. They have been used
without permission for the purpose of fan fiction and not for any
type of compensation. The events are my invention and any resemblance
to real events are purely coincidental.

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Ms. Parker lied down on her bed, swearing never to move again. Her back hurt, her throat hurt, even frowning as the shrill sound of her cell phone ringing echoed around her room hurt.

She swore she wasn't going to pick it up; whoever was on the other end could just go and wait until she felt better. Too bad she hadn't expected whomever it was to be so tenacious. Five minutes after she'd given up on trying to block the sound by covering her ears with her pillow, she grabbed it from the night stand and growled, "This better be good!"

"Nice to hear from you, too," Jarod answered dryly from the other end of the line. "What's the matter? The stress of the job finally getting to you? You can always give up."

"Don't you have other people to annoy?" she asked hoarsely, a small groan escaping from her lips as their conversation began to take its toll on her already sore throat.

The condescending tone from earlier was quickly replaced with one of concern. "Are you all right?"

"Just peachy." Her answer was quickly followed by a sneeze. "My temperature is a hundred and one-" She looked at her thermometer and shook her head. "Make that a hundred and two, and I can't get any rest with people calling and annoying me all the time."

He ignored her snide comment and said, "You should be at the hospital."

Don't be stupid," she wheezed, momentarily taking the phone away from her face so that she could sneeze again. "I'll be fine."

He sounded unconvinced. "You don't sound fine."

"I will be if you leave me alone!" she snapped. "Go bother Syd for the rest of the week." She then hung up on him before he could say another word.

******

Jarod frowned as he placed the phone back in its cradle. Ms. Parker hadn't sounded well at all. He looked around his apartment for his latest pretend, his jaw clenching as his mind warred with his heart. Intellectually, he knew that he'd do more good helping the people of Manchester find the saboteur of the fourth of July parade, but his heart told him that taking care of his childhood friend was more important.

He absentmindedly pushed the open Jack-in-the-box beside his laptop, oblivious to the feel of it bumping against his thigh as he mulled over his latest quandary. There really wasn't a contest on which desire would win, but it made him feel somewhat better to know that he'd at least thought it over. He knew that if Sydney had been with him, the older man would have admonished him for wasting time; but he wasn't, and Jarod took his sweet time looking absently into space before packing his stuff.

He collected all the evidence he'd gathered so far and placed them in an envelope with the intent of dropping it at the PD on his way out of town.

He then scanned the newspaper for a situation that ended well and placed it in his red notebook. Hopefully, It would take Sydney awhile to realize that he wasn't involved with the recent capture of a cat burglar and thus give him more time with Ms. Parker.

Last but not least, he dropped some false hints for his next destination--the fake information on his latest pretend could only last so long--and dialed the Centre's number on his way out the door. He knew it would only take a minute before they traced his location.

******

Sydney picked up his phone after the second ring. "Hello?" Hearing nothing on the other end, he began to worry. "Jarod, is that you?"

Broots looked up from his computer at the sound of the Pretender's name. He shook his head before running a futile trace on the call, knowing that his chances of finding Jarod's location in this manner was slim to none.

Sydney began to pace up and down the office, his tailored suit somehow managing to keep it's straight, crisp lines despite all his movements. "Jarod?"

Broots watched his usually calm and collected co-worker with undisguised fascination; it was rare that the man let anything past his usually cool exterior. Only the sounds of his computer beeping as it traced the location brought his eyes away from the agitated man. "Uh, Sydney?"

"Yes, Broots?" he asked, the phone still held against his ear as he waited for whoever was on the other line to say something.

"I traced the call to an apartment in Manchester, Connecticut. It's Jarod."

******

It was dusk by the time Jarod reached Ms. Parker's cabin, with the sky an ominous dark gray from the incoming storm. He couldn't help but smile as a sudden hot summer breeze caressed his skin, bringing forth a promise of warm days made for drinking cool, tall glasses of lemonade instead of the cold and rainy weather that had shrouded the sun for the last couple of days.

He looked around to make sure she didn't have any visitors. Seeing only her car in the garage, he proceeded to stealthily make his way inside the house. As he opened the backdoor, he was greeted by a deafening silence, and he guessed that Ms. Parker was upstairs sleeping in her room. It was just as well; he had a couple of things to take care of before he could safely make his presence known.

******

Sydney walked into Jarod's last lair and wasn't surprised by the mess he found. Pez dispensers and empty packages of cookies laid side by side with copies of Faulkner's works. He was about to pick up the book Light in August when he heard Broots call out, "Hey, Sydney, check this out."

He walked over to find Broots pointing at a slip of paper with the name Dr. James H. Meredith scribbled hastily on it.

"You don't think Jarod's hurt, do you?" Broots asked. Even he couldn't stop himself from worrying at this point. What could Jarod possibly want with a doctor unless he's seriously hurt?

"I don't know." Sydney picked the paper and handed it to the younger man. "I don't see blood or medication anywhere to support that, but just to be safe, find out everything you can about this Dr. Meredith."

Broots nodded and headed for his laptop. Sydney watched him for a moment before putting his attention back into searching for more clues in the cluttered room.

******

Having made sure that the phones in the house were down and that the weapons scattered throughout the house were unloaded, Jarod decided that it was now safe to approach Ms. Parker.

He sneaked up to her room. He'd already committed to memory which door was hers, so there was no awkward moment wasted with him trying to figure out which one it was.

Jarod walked in and found her on the bed, her face flushed from her fever. Her dark her was in a disarray from hours spent lying down, and she was bundled up with more layers than an Eskimo, but she was still the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

He could still clearly remember the moment he'd first noticed her as a woman instead of simply the girl he'd played with as a child. He'd been seventeen then, and was following Sydney back to his room after completing a particularly tedious SIM. From the amount of activity, he'd guessed that it'd been early, but having spent most of his life underground without sunlight or a watch to inform him of the time, it made no difference to him and he was ready to get some much needed rest.

Jarod had just stepped into the elevator when he noticed a young woman around his age standing inside one of the labs at the end of the hall. His first thought was that she was pretty with her long, auburn hair and piercing sapphire eyes. She was bending over to pick something from the ground, and he felt an unfamiliar sensation within him stir at the sight of her long, bare legs.

He must have made too much noise because she suddenly turned around and looked directly at him. He felt his knees go weak at the spark of interest he saw there and had to grab onto the door to keep himself upright.

Sydney noticed the sudden change in his Pretender's behavior and frowned as he saw Jarod's source of distraction. He grabbed the boy's shoulders tightly and brought him closer so that the elevator door would finally close.

Jarod's instinctively struggled as he felt the psychiatrist's hands on him. He didn't want to lose sight of her, knowing that he might never see her again. He wanted to imprint her image in his mind so that he could convince himself later on that she was more than a figment of his imagination. Unfortunately for him, Sydney was stronger, and he was able to drag the Pretender from the door with little effort.

"Jarod, don't be foolish," he admonished. "Those kind of thoughts only lead to distraction and failure. That's why Pretenders are unable to fall in love."

Jarod came back to the present in a snap as the sounds of the bedclothes rustling alerted him that Ms. Parker was waking up. He touched her forehead and almost yelped at the amount of heat he felt there; he ran to the bathroom to get her a piece of wet cloth to help cool her down.

He saw her eyes flutter as he placed the washcloth on her forehead and felt his heart beat a little faster at the sight of the trusting look on her face. It was at times like these that he found himself silently asking Sydney the question that plagued him for years. Aren't able or aren't allowed to fall in love? As always there was no answer.

End Part (1/6)

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Author's Notes: Please send feedback to

Part 2