Letting Go

Spoilers: 5th season X-files, The Red and the Black/ 2nd season Pretender

Classification/Rating: crossover, PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. They belong to CC, 1013 and Fox. Jarod and Miss Parker don´t belong to me, either. You know that, blah blah blah.....

This is my first story, I started it a few months ago and it took me some time to finish. I´m from Germany and I just learned english in school so please be kind with my mistakes :)

Thanks to Susan. You know what you did.

Please don´t forget to e-mail me!
 

    "How did you get here?" Miss Parker asked Jarod, who was standing right before her. He was hidden, half in the dark and half in the light of her flashlight.

    "The same way I always come in and out.  Someone should check into the alarm system!" he grinned maliciously.

    "What do you want now?" she asked coldly walking dangerously a few steps towards him.

    She wasn´t as tall as he, but with her high heels they stood eye to eye.

    She was so close now he could fell her breath on his skin.

    "Why do you play with me all the time? Why do you give me only little pieces about my mother and the past?" Her eyes drilled into his.

    "I love puzzles. No - seriously. You lost your mother already and I found mine and lost her in the same minute. You tried to catch me, but also tried to save her life from those sweepers. You could have shot her or taken her prisoner, but you didn´t."

    "I only wanted - want - to catch you. Well, what do you really want now?"

    "I WANT to offer you a deal..." he said, with a very serious face - no soft smile on his lips this time. "I can free you from the Centre if you do me a favor."

    She didn´t know if her chin fell on the floor or if  it just felt like it. Who the hell did he think he was - her guardian *angel*?

    "Why should you free me? I´m not imprisoned here like you should be. And how can you know that I won´t bring you to your old room right now.?"

    "We were both prisoners here for a long time. You got a life ... till I escaped. Now your father controls you till you bring me back. But what then; do you honestly believe he´ll let you leave the Centre?"

    She opened her mouth to reply, but the ring of her cell-phone stopped her.

    "Daddy.....I have..." Jarod got a little nervous. He knew her,  but Daddy Parker would be very inopportune right now.

    She continued. "Yes, ....No, listen Daddy, I... No! I´m not going to Mr. Raines just because .... OK, but what I ......Daddy, you still there?.... Where I am? mhm, I´m on my way to Sydney. ...... Nothing important ....Mhm. Bye."

    Jarod gave her a questioning look and waited. "Why haven´t you..."

    "I did nothing for you. I just want to know a few things before I bring you back where you belong."

    "Oh. He does not know that you know about SL 27, does he?"
 
 
 

    In the same second they heard the noise of the elevator. Someone was coming down to SL 27 - someone with the security code for the entrance. They looked at each other a few seconds, turned, ran into the next room and closed the door behind them. Jarod stepped next to the huge filing cabinet and tried to push itagainst the door. But before he finished, bullets flew through the air and Miss Parker dragged him down onto the floor with her. It would have hit him staight trough the heart, but instead the bullet hit her in the back. She groaned, and Jarod dragged her with him over the floor to the next room and closed the massive steel door behind them.

    "It may take him a little time to follow us through this. We have no other choice but for you to come with me if you do not want to get killed." He helped her to stand up. What he saw then shook him. Blood ran down her back.

    "You´ve been shot...." How stupid, she knew this by herself.

    "I think so. It´s not as bad as it looks like," she finally said and tried to stand alone, but the pain was too much. She faltered and Jarod caught her around the waist. They could hear someone coming quickly towards them form behind.

    Jarod lifted her up in his arms and carried her to his (till now) secret escape. He had no chance to think about the fact that she was one of "the enemies"; she was as hunted as him and if he did not take her out of here, she would end like her mother: dead.

    When he reached a small hole in the wall he said, "You have to crawl through alone; it´s not big enough for me to carry you. Do you think you can do that?" <She is in shock and has lost a lot of blood,> he thought <if we don´t get out of here as soon as possible, she will fall in coma. >

    "I´ll try."

    She reached the other end and let herself fall on the ground.

    Jarod took a look at the wound through the blouse she wore and tried to stopet the bleeding by pressing his shirt onto it, but right at the moment he couldn´t do anything else for her.

    "Wait here. I'll try to stop him and then I'll bring us out - promise." Then, he ran back.
 
 
 
 

Scully´s residence
2 hours earlier
 
 

    "Hey Scully, look at this..." Mulder shouted through the whole apartment.

    Scully was sitting at her laptop and finishing their report, as usual. Mulder had all the spooky theories and she had to write them down SO that they could show it to Skinner without getting overworked in return.

    "Sculleeee...." he gave up studying the file an informer gave Scully a few days before. It said that there was an organization named The CENTRE, that kitnapped children, so called PRETENDERS, who were educated to work for them. This was too weird, even for him.

    "What?" she sounded a little bit irritated.

    "Come here. Leave the reports alone; we can finish them in the Bureau. There are a few good movies tonight. Do you wanna join me?" he asked, with a grin from ear to ear.

    "Mmh Mulder, as I remember, this is my apartment and my tv. Give me the remote. Now. I´m not going to watch these lousy movies you choose."

    "No, please, this is the Star Wars night on the sf-channel. Pleeease! I haven´t seen them for three months." Mulder made his best puppy-dog look and waited for her to look at him.

    Scully only rolled her eyes and gave up. She never could resist this look.

    "Sure - Fine - Whatever...." was the last she said before the orchestra blew the theme from STAR WARS out of the speakers.

    "Do you want some popcorn?" he asked as he rose and went to the kitchen.

    "Yeah, make yourself at home - that's what my lovely neighbour thinks. She asked me if you don´t have your own place because you always hang around here, even when I´m out  .....  and, bring some hot chocolate." This was going to be a long night -  why shouldn´t she enjoy it?
 
 
 

The Centre
SL 27

    The rooms all looked the same down here. This was the SIM-LAB where Raines *trained* his brother to be an assassin - and God knew what else they did there.

    Jarod waited behind a wall till someone entered the room. He caught them by the arm and swung them around, giving them one heavy hit, direct on the nose. The killer flew on the floor and then Jarod realized who it was : Brigitte.

    She tried to reach the gun but Jarod was faster. He told her to stand up and guided her to a single room.

    "They´ll kill you, Jarod. They are on their way here. Give up, and you´ll stay alive, my dear." She offered him a deal.

    He didn´t respond. He guided her to one of the test-chairs - *hell-chairs* would fit better - and there he tied her up.

    "You have no chance to escape, this time, and your little friend is wounded. Huh, I can see the blood-trail on the floor."

    "Shut up, or...." he shouted, and gave her a look that could kill.

    "Or what....?"

    "Or I will shoot you in the back and let you die here." he answered, cold as ice.
 
 

    He turned and ran as fast as he could back, but when he reached Miss Parker she looked more dead than alive. The wound had stooped bleeding, but only because she had already lost too much blood. If he had not bandaged her, well, she would have died already.

    He lifted her in his arms once more and carried her the rest of the way out.
 

End Part 1
 
 
 
 

Part 2

Scully´s residence
1 hour later

    Some knocks at the door made Mulder wake up and blink. He tried to sit up, but someone lay with   her head on his shoulder. He had his arm around her waist and hers on his heart.  At the next knocks she woke, too.

    "Are you waiting for somebody?" Mulder asked, a little sleepy while he rubbed his eyes.

    "Sure, at 4 am. Who is there?" she replied as she walked to the door. Mulder followed close behind her.

    "It´s Jarod. Please, open the door. Hurry," a male voice answered from outside.

    "Who is Jarod?" Mulder stepped next to Scully when she opened the door. Jarod was standing there with Miss Parker in his arms.

    "She was shot. I tried to .... the wound but I can´t ......" he blabbled.

    "Calm down." Scully guided him to the bedroom where he laid her gently down and looked for Scully to help him.

    "I´ll get the medical bag." Scully walked to her closet and took out the bag she used the last time to help Mulder.

    "Who are they?" Mulder did not know what to think of the two strangers.

    "I´m Jarod. I´m the one who gave Scully the information about the CENTRE last week," he replied without taking his eyes from the woman on the bed.

    While Jarod and Scully tried to take the bullet out and attended tho wound, Mulder went to the living-room and took a second look at the files from Jarod. <This woman must be Miss Parker> but she did not look like the picture in the file. She was one of the 8 children, a woman named Catheryn Parker, her mother, tried to rescue. She got killed before she did so.

    In the bedroom Scully eyed Jarod from the side. He looked really afraid.

    "She´ll be fine. It´s just a shot through the shoulder. Ask Mulder." who was now standing in the doorframe.

    "Oh yeah, It´s just like fun, you know, she" he pointed at Scully "was the one who shoot at me!"

    "I just tried to save your ass. Why haven´t you brought her to a hospital? That was stupid." Scully cut him off.

    "I couldn´t risk anybody finding her - I mean, us. She is, well, a friend of mine. I took her with me out of the CENTRE because someone wants to see us dead, both of us. She is Miss Parker."

    "*MRS. PARKER'S * daughter?" Mulder asked.

    "Exactly!"

    When she had bandaged her, Scully went out of the room with Mulder.

    "She´ll be fine in a few days. The bullet didn´t hurt something important." she told him.

    "You know how it goes. She needs a lot of rest. She lost a little bit too much blood."

    "Mmpf." was all Miss Parker could say when she tried to get up.

    "Don´t. Lay still. You were shot, do you remember?" Jarod´s softly spoke with his head near her ear. "You´re going to be fine. And they won´t find you here."

    "Where am I?" it was  a whisper that he could barely hear.

    "Scully is a friend of mine. She is a doctor, a "real" doctor. Now try to sleep." he gently brushed a strand of hair from her face.

    When Jarod went out of the room he took a last look at her, but she was already asleep.
 

    Scully and Mulder sat on the couch and looked questioningly over their shoulders to him.

    "Well," Mulder began, "you should tell us a little bit more..."

    Jarod finished his "little" nightmare story and went back to stay by Miss Parker. She was out of danger, but he did not want to leave her alone. He had had to stay alone after all the horrible simulations and he hated to stay alone.

    He sat on the edge of the bed and smiled as he saw that she slept well. Scully stood in the door with Mulder with his hand on her shoulders. They stood there a few moments just looking at the two.
 
 
 
 

    The next morning, when she felt Mulders arm around her , Scully woke up and thought the last night might be just a dream, but then she saw Jarod's jacket on the chair straight ahead of her. Mulder moved a little when she tried to stand up and did not loose his grip on her.

    "`Morning."

    "Don´t go. Nobody will miss us if we aren´t in the office at eight."

    "No, but I have to look at my patient."

    Right, they had company. He slept well, the first night without nightmares for a long time. He almost forgot that there were some strangers here.

    He went after Scully as she carefully opened the bedroom-door.

    Jarod sat in the chair next to the bed, his head on his arms, which lay on the bedside. Scully gently rubbed his shoulder to wake him. He almost jumped out of the chair.

    "Ohho, don´t do that to me unless you want me to have a heart-attack." He smirked.

    "Sorry." Scully lit the bedlamp and carefully removed the blanket from Miss Parker´s shoulder.

    "It looks much better than yesterday - I mean, last night."

    "Uhh, what... where, oh my head," was the first sound that came from Miss Parker when she woke up.

    Jarod went around the bed and knelt down that she could better see him.

    "Do you remember what happened to us?" he softly asked.

    "Someone tried to kill you ... and ME in SL 27, right?"

    "Yup. I brought you here. Scully is a doctor. She´s taking care of your wound."

    "Hi, I´m Dana Scully," she greeted her. "And you are Miss Parker, right? Mhm, I think you´ll be fine in a few days. There´s nothing more I can do for you at the moment. Jarod, if it´s true that you were followed  it´s better to bring you out of here. She needs one day till we can move her, but better sooner than later. Mulder and I were observed, too. We have made ... let´s say a few people watch what we do very carefully."

    Miss Parker closed her eyes and breathed hard.

    "Where can we hide?" Jarod only asked.

    "Mulder is just calling our boss and telling him we are taking two weeks off. He offered us the same a few days ago, so he will not wonder much. Then we´ll see ...."

    Mulder entred the bedroom with the phone in his hand. "Yes sir, mhm, no I don´t know where to go but Scully told me to visit a few friends from her Navy-neighbours and, well I don´t have any case to work on, so, I think I´ll take a week or two, too. ....  Yes sir, thanks. Bye."

    Scully arched an eyebrown at him. "And....?"

    "Everything is all right. Listen, you´ll like this. I have an old friend from Oxford. He lives in England, but he has a cabin in the Rockies. He offered me several times to take the chance for a trip there. I just talked to him and, guess where we go?" he grinned at the three of them.  "I´ll drive to my apartment and pack a few things together. I think Jarod could wear something of mine, they must fit," Mulder offered.

    "I don´t believe Miss Parker is my size. I´ll go and buy her something when you are back." Scully walked to the closet and began to pack some clothes of her own.
 
 
 
 

Later

    "Here, I brought you some fresh clothes." Scully lay several bags on the chair next to the bed. "When you need help, I´m outside."

    "Ok." Miss Parker had not spoken a full sentence since she was here.

    As Scully closed the door behind her, Miss Parker got up. Her shoulder didn´t hurt as much than yesterday, it almost felt numb. Good. She tipped the bags out and raised her eyebrows as she saw what Scully brought her.  Jeans ... stonewashed ...  sweatshirts ... and normal t-shirts and also some fresh underwear. Not exactly what she usually wore. But, better than nothing. Dressing was more difficult than she expected.
 
 

    Miss Parker opened the door a crack and looked outside, but Scully and Mulder were not there; only Jarod lay on the couch.

    "Where´s Scully?" She stepped half outside.

    "She´s out with Mulder. They have to do some things in the office before we leave. They said something about making backups of tapes or files, things like that. Why?" He sat up and turned towards her. She had only the blanket around her. His eyes widened and he looked shyly at the floor.

    "Make yourself useful and help me." She turned and went back to the bedroom.

    "Help what ...  oh," he said as he followed her.

    She let the blanket fall on the floor and stood (turned) with her back turned to him.

    She already wore the jeans but nothing else. He heard her put on her bra and moan as she tried to close it behind her back.

    Jarod walked slowly behind her and helped. He was glad she could not see his face because he was sure he looked like a tomato. His hands trembled but she didn´t notice.

    His fingers were soft and warm against her skin and a shiver ran down her spine. She closed her eyes and tried not to show how this affected her. <I must have had too much pain-killer> she thought.

    He could not help but stare at her for a moment. It had been a long time since he had been so close to someone.

    He shook his head. <Get a grip.>

    Then, he took the t-shirt from the bed and put it carefully over her head. He lifted her wounded arm in the side and then the other arm.

    She felt good under his touch and he was very gentle.

    Jarod let his hand linger longer on her back than necessary and waited for her to say something. Then, the phone rang. She looked at him, and he lifted his shoulders.

    They waited till the machine picked up.

    "Hi, Dana. I thought you would come over tonight. Don´t tell me Mulder dragged you out of town again. Call me back. Love you, mom."

    Jarod and Miss Parker began to breathe out again.

    "You didn´t tell me yet who shot at us." she turned around and pointed at the button of her 501, which were open.

    He begun to button up.  When his fingers connected with the flesh of her belly, she jerked. He kneeled down for better access and his breath on her skin didn´t make it easier.

    Jarod had to take control again over himself not to move his hand further over her soft skin. He sat back on the floor as he told her more.

    "I left her in one of the sim-labs. Someone must have known that you were there. She didn´t seemed very surprised to see me. Did you tell someone? Sydney or Broots?"

    "No, I haven´t met with them these days. They were both in the computer-room with some simulations."

    "But somehow..." he began, and searched her old clothes and combed them. "Perhaps, it has something to do with that." He took a small black button out of the wallet.  "It looks like it is damaged - if we are lucky." He carried it to the toilet and flushed.

    "Let´s hope it was demaged while we escaped."

    "I think so. If not, they were already here, weren´t they?"
 

End Part 2
 
 
 

Part 3
 

    When Mulder and Scully arrived back at her apartment, they packed the car and drove to the airport. Later, they took a rental car. Mulder and Scully sat in the front seat, and Jarod and Miss Parker slept in the back.

    "So...," Scully began. "Who is this friend of yours, anyway? You never told me about him."

    "Oh, we were roommates when I was at Oxford. He´s American, but stayed there and comes here only a few weeks in the year. We exchange e-mails, but not much more."

    "And you´re sure he knew who was calling when he said you could have his cabin?"

    "Hey, what do you mean....? I simply told him, I need...mmhh, I told him I know a woman and we could use a little time for ourselves." He kept his eyes on the road.

    "Aha, a few days... do I know the poor girl?" she teased, and they grinned at each other.

    "Well, what do you think, Mulder? About them?" she said, and pointed to the backseat.

    "I ... I don´t know. I read the files Jarod gave you again last night. You told me there was a file about her mother, too. What´s in there?"

    Miss Parker woke just at that time, and could hear Scully's answer.
 

    "It´s a different file than the police-one. I don´t know who wrote it, but it certainly proves that she was murdered. She didn´t suicide, which is the "official" story. And, there are details about the weapon and some suspects."

    That was too much for her. Miss Parker yelled and hit Jarod in the ribs.

    "You bastard, you knew it all the time and didn´t tell me!  You suspected *me* of hiding informations about your parents. How could you?"

    Jarod tried to save himself from her blows, but without much luck. She was very fast and he couldn´t just grab her because of her wounded shoulder.

    Mulder slowed down and parked the car. Scully spun out and opened the backseat-door. She grabbed her on the shoulder and shouted, "Stop, now! You´re going to hurt yourself. Calm down. Everything is all right."

    When the rage was gone, and Miss Parker felt her shoulder freed again, she gasped in pain.

    "I had the file with me in SL 27, but before I could give it to you - you know what happened." He tried to apologize.

    Scully pulled the sweater back a bit to look at her  "It has started to bleed again. Here, press." She took Jarod's hand and laid it on Miss Parker. She moaned, but didn´t say anything.

    "Can´t you give her anything for the pain?" he asked Scully, and stroked one strand of hair out of Miss Parkers face behind her ear. She pulled away first but then let him do IT <just because the hair in her face annoyed her, > she told herself. He let his hand linger a few moments on her neck before he pulled away as Scully answered him.

    "I already gave her enough for an elephant. I couldn´t risk to give her more.  Sorry."

    "It´s ok, I can stand it. I´ve suffered worse," Miss Parker said and gave Jarod one of her "looks".
 
 
 
 
 

Meanwhile
The Centre
 

    Sydney and Broots stood in a corner near the elevator as the paramedics carried Brigitte out.

    Broots whispered to him, "Who knew she was down there? no one would have found her in SL 27 otherwise."

    Sydney only nodded.

    "Do you think Miss Parker shot her? We don´t know where she is right now. Besides, I haven´t seen her the last two days..." Broots was, as usual, a little bit nervous.

    "She hasn´t said anything to me and Jarod hasn´t contacted me either."

    Then Mr. Parker came towards them after shortly talking with Brigitte.

    "Where is my daughter? Brigitte says that Jarod shot at her and my daughter. WHERE IS SHE?"

    "I can´t believe this. Jarod is no killer, and he would certainly never shoot at Miss Parker."

    "Her blood was everywhere on the floor. She is hurt." He seemed to lose his normal control.

    "Where exactly did they find Brigitte and your daughter's blood, anyway?" Sydney asked, as if he knew nothing.

    Mr. Parker turned on his heel and was gone without saying anything else.

    Sydney and Broots looked at each other and went back to the tech-room.
 
 
 
 
 

Somewhere on the road
 

    "Scully, may I borrow your cell-phone?" Jarod asked after a while. "I should inform Sydney that we are safe and all right - well, mostly."

    "Sure." She handed it to him.

    "Here is Sydney," he answered.

    "We are fine." Jarod said, then went to hang up.

    "Jarod wait! Where are you and Miss Parker? What happened?"

    "Let´s say, we´re taking a little break. Miss Parker is shot, but she is ok."

    "You did not shoot her, did you? And what about Brigitte, why did you shoot her?"

    "No! Brigitte came down to SL 27 and tried to kill me and Miss Parker. I beat her but Miss Parker got a bullet. I did nothing! How could you believe I could have?" Jarod was upset.

    "I never believed that, but Mr. Parker told us so."

    "Syd, find out who else was down there, and why they tried to kill Miss Parker," Jarod said, then hit the end-button.
 
 
 
 

    When they reached the little cabin it was almost dark outside. The area somehow looked like where the grandma lived in the movie "Dante´s Peak".

    "Wow, Mulder, this is beautiful. Look at the lake and ... it looks simply great!" Scully got out of the car and took a look at the surroundings.

    Mulder went to the trunk, and he and Scully took some of their luggage and went inside the cabin.

    Jarod lifted the sleeping Miss Parker in his arms. She murmered something he couldn´t understand and put her arms around his neck.

    <I hope she doesn´t wake up now because she´d kill me!> he thought.
 

    He entered the cabin and caught his breath. This was ... he was at a loss for words. As Scully said before, just beautiful.

    "You can bring her up, Jarod," Mulder said from the second floor. "Boys right, girls left, all right?" he asked.  "There are only two bedrooms and I think that will be the best choice."

    When Mulder and Scully had brought all the luggage inside, Jarod joined them in the kitchen.

    "She´s sleeping," he informed them. "How long can we stay here?"

    "As long as we have to. We can stay here as long as we want." Mulder handed him a cup of coffee.

    "Thanks." Jarod sat down, lost in thought.
 
 
 
 
 
 

    Two days later, Miss Parker felt much better. She was able to stand up and walk around instead of lying in bed and staring at the walls.

    For the first time since the fiasco in SL 27 she wanted a cigarette. She dressed and went upstairs.

    The cabin was so beautiful.  The sun was shining in through the windows and everything was warm and bright. The stairs to the second floor were bright and ended free in the living room. There was a huge fireplace with a large bearskin rug on the floor before it. There was also a table and a comfortable couch.

    Mulder and Scully were sitting at the kitchen table, Scully before the laptop and Mulder behind no fewer than 10 files. Papers, photos and reports were everywhere.

    "Hi." Mulder turned around and greeted her warmly.

    "Mhm." Miss Parker went around the table to the sink and eyed the area. >From the window she had a good look at the little lake outside and the wood behind.

    "I guess nobody has a cigarette for me?" That would be too good.

    "No, and I´m sure you won´t find a drugstore nearer than 20 miles." Mulder tried to hide a smile. He was lucky he was not a smoker.

    "Fine." Miss Parker walked slowly to the livingroom. "Where´s Wonder Boy?" Miss Parker sounded much colder than when she was injured.

    "Who?" It took Scully a second before she realized she meant Jarod. She gave Mulder a "Why does she call him that?"-look and said, "He´s outside by the lake."

    "He doesn´t talk much, does he?" Mulder asked her.

    "No," she said, and then she was gone.

    "Well, and I always thought Frohike was weird." Scully hit a key and saved the last report.

    "Yeah. Who´s the Ice Queen now?" he teased.

    Without warning a few of his sunflower-seeds hit him.

    "Hey, didn´t your mom tell you not to play with food?"

    "Sure, but she also told me to keep away from strangers and crazy people."

    "Mhm. Wait, what do you mean by crazy?" Mulder stood up slowly and dangerously.

    "You know, people that are a little bit, unnormal. Some believe in the existence of extraterrestrials or in little green, no grey men. I think I remember one, really."

    He tapped her on the shoulder, and when she slowly turned around he stood there with a glass of water in his hand above her head and a goofy grin on his face. "Go on. I´d like to hear more about this guy."

    She jumped up, circled the table and grabbed a glass of water from the sink, too.

    They looked at each other and grinned.

    "Mulder," she warned him, "don´t ruin the reports, I´m not going to write them again."

    "Me too." Then he advanced on her, forcing her towards the living room.

    "Mulder. No. I don´t have enough clothes here to change. No." He came closer to her.

    "You don´t have to wear ...." he started, but he came no further.

    Plitsch! and the water was in his face! Scully tried really hard not to laugh but it looked too funny. When she saw him blink his eyes, she did not know it was too late.  She ran outside, Mulder close behind her.
 
    "You´re going to pay for that!" He grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder. He grinned and walked towards the lake.

    "Mulder, you are not going to do what I think you are going to do!" She could not stop laughing. "Mulder no!"

    "Oh YES! You haven´t had a shower today, have you, Scully?" He walked on the little footbridge and tried to throw her in the lake, but somehow she gripped his t-shirt and they both fell with a big "splash" in the water.
 
 
 
 

Blue Cove, The Centre
The same time
 

    "Sydney, I don´t think this is a good idea." Broots stumbled nervously over some stuff on the floor of SL 27. "You know what happened to him when we brought him here last time."

    "Angelo," he said softly to him, "you could help us find out what happened to Jarod and Miss Parker down here."

    Angelo began to cross a few rooms till he reached the one where Miss Parker had met Jarod.

    "Jarod ... Miss Parker ... confused ...  Jarod ...." He ran to the next room. "Hurt ... badly hurt..."

    "Who is hurt, Angelo?" Sydney tried not to sound too concerned.

    "Miss Parker is hurt!" He sounded like a little kid whose dog was injured.

    "Who hurt her? Jarod?"

    "No! Jarod ... she wants to shoot him ... Jarod confused ..."

    "She? Who´s she, Angelo? Did Miss Parker try to shoot Jarod?" Sydney couldn´t believe this. He knew that they shared a special bond and that she couldn´t shoot him before.
 
    "Blond-head angry ..." Angelo run to another room.

    "Jarod afraid ... try to bring her out ... but blond-head ...Jarod now angry ... they fight ...... I decide who lives ..."
 
    "What? I thought Kyle is dead?" Broots was now completly irritated.

    "I think he is but Jarod was in rage and he thought of how Kyle was acting." Sydneys mind raced

    "So Jarod shot Brigitte?" Broots speculated.

    "There is ... there is another one ... he is ..." Angelo began.

    "Who is it, Angelo, who?"

    "She hurt my daughter, I´ll kill her." Angelo stammerd.

    "Mr. Parker? Could that be?" Broots' brain was racing now.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Cabin
 

    Meanwhile, Jarod and Miss Parker walked on the other side of the lake. She had caught up to him and now walked beside him. Neither of them knew what to say at the moment.

    When they heard and saw Mulder and Scully, Jarod smiled wistfully.

    "Sounds like fun, huh?"

    "Fun? What´s that?" Her voice sounded a little bit too sacastic, but she gave him a rare smile.

    "In the Centre.." he began but she stoped him.

    "Jarod, please, no Centre, no Syd or anything like that now. I´m not up to that yet."

    "But, is that the only thing that holds us back?"

    She gave him no answer to his question because they both knew that wasn´t true.
 
 
 
 

    "Great, Mulder, really great. You´re going to pay for THAT!" Scully said.  Then she grabbed Mulder by the shoulders, threw his leg with her foot under him, and before he knew what she was doing he was under water. He curled with his arms and tried to come up again.

    <She´s much stronger than she looks. I`ll have ot remember that> he told himself.

    She held him so skillfully that he couldn´t keep his balance and she could easily beat him.
 
 
 
 
 
 

    Jarod and Parker were now near them.

    "Wanna join them?" he teased.

    "No, not really." The temperature between them slowly rose from "frost" to "low warm".

    <That´s better than nothing,> they both thought.

    "Let´s sit down on the little rocks over there." She pointed to two small stones near the shore.

    They sat down side by side and Jarod turned towards her.

    "What are we, uhm, you going to do? I mean, when we leave here?"

    "I don´t know. I´ve had a lot of time to think these last days, but I didn´t get any answers. What about you? What will you do, when you find your parents?"

    "When you have an answer for yourself, could you please tell me? I have no idea." Then, they smiled at each other. Really smiled.

    "What about your father? Did he tell you more about the death of your mother?"

    She shook her head lightly and her eyes drifted towards the lake.

    "No, not since we were at he grave, you know, the anniversary of her... well..."

    "You saw me there, didn´t you?"

    "If I were to say yes, that would that mean I lost a chance to bring you back to the Centre." She paused. "This is weird. I can´t just forget that I´m the hunter and you are my hunted...."

    "I know what you mean. It´s the same for me. As I saw you walking after, I had to remind myself where we are and that there are no sweepers behind the trees." His lips formed a little smile.

    "At the moment, I don´t know what to believe. My father, the Centre and ...." She stopped when she felt her eyes fill with tears and turned away from him. He took her hand and gave it a little squeeze.

    "I´ve often thought about what it will be like, when I find my family. My mom, dad and my sister. Do you think we could live like a family after all these years? It´s hard to imagine."

    "We would make a great couple, huh. We could go together to therapy." She meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words were out, she realized how true they were.

    "Someday, we will have our own family. You just have to keep believing." He gave her hand another squeeze and pulled her up with him.

    "Let´s go back and try to find something to eat. You hungry?"
 

    "Yes, but let´s walk round the lake once more before it gets dark. It´s so lovely here. I was trapped in the house long enough!" Miss Parker slowly walked ahead.

    Miss Parker let go of his hand as it started to get too comfortable. This was  dangerous terretory and she knew that. It seemed like he liked it too, and that was enough for her to keep away a little.
 
 
 
 

    Meanwhile, Scully and Mulder fought a water battle, and it was obvious that Mulder had to try hard to breathe. Most of the time he was underwater. Finally he gave up.

    "Ok. Ok. I've drunk enough!"

    "What, you give up that easily? I didn´t even really get started... Ok, then say it."

    "No," he said, and she pushed him under once more.

    "Ok, I give up. You won."

    "Thanks. That´s what I wanted to hear." Then she released him and swam a few feet away.

    He looked really cute with his trousled hair and the clothes clinging to his, from what she could see, muscular body. He must have thought the same about her because he stared at her too. She was a little bit embarrassed because the t-shirt didn´t hide much now. <Luckily I wore a bra,> she thought.

    "We´re lucky that it´s so warm outside. The water is just right." Mulder swam behind her to the footbridge.

    She turned while swimming. "Yeah, but it would have been nicer to be in a bikini than in these clothes. It´ll be days till my shoes are dry again."

    "I agree, but you started, remember?"

    He was out of the water before her and offered a helping hand. He lifted her up easily and she was suddenly clasped to his chest.
 

    "Oups, you´re not as heavy as I thought." He grinned, and tried to apologize but could not admit that it wasn´t too uncomfortable for him.

    When he didn´t release she asked, seduced, "Are you coming on to me, G-man?"

    <That´s exactly what I am doing,> he thought, but said "Me?" and put on his best puppy-dog look.

    "What would you do if I said yes?" she said, and they walked back to the cabin.

    "Well, I surely wouldn´t jump on you, but...."

    "But what...?" She turned around and gave him an unexpected and quick kiss on the cheek and walked on.

    He wanted to say something but lost his voice. He opened his mouth a few times but nothing came out.

    Mulder hurried and got her on the balcony.

    "I ...." he started, but cut off when she turned and looked him straight in his eyes.

    "Mhm?"

    "I would say these vacations are good for you, heh?"

    "I would say that too. But the wet clothes are not as good for us. I don´t want to get sick."

    He looked up and down her body "Well, you could walk around like this more often but I don´t think the wooden floor would like it as much as me."

    "I´ll go change," she said and walked upstairs.

    Before she entered her room, he offered "Do you need a helping hand?"

    "In your dreams" she laughed, and shut the door behind her. But she really could use a helping hand. It was difficult to get the wet jeans off. She almost had to lay on the floor to get out of them.

End Part 3
 

Part 4

Outside
 

    "You didn´t say anything about the package I send you last week." Jarod stared in the sunset over the trees.

    "What package?"

    "You didn´t get it? A short time ago, I found some stuff from you and your mother in the house where my parents lived. Baby stuff and things like that. There was an armring with your bithday and your name An..."

    "Don´t!" she warned him.

    "Why, nobody´s around. No one would hear it."

    "Just don´t!" she said, and she sounded again like the hunter Parker.

    "Ok, as you wish. There were photos of you, too. I think your mom had found my parents already when she wanted to free me and the others from the Centre."

    "She.... she knew who your parents were? But how, and why..." Miss Parker was stunned.

    "I don´t know. Perhaps she found the parents of the other kids, too."

    "Do you think, I mean, do you believe they killed her because..." she began, and trailed off.  "Wait, if she knew who your parents were, why didn´t they do anything?"

    He smiled wryly. "That´s what I want to know, too. I...." he started, but he couldn´t say anything more. He breathed hard and went on. "Your mom must have met them and hid some private things because she know they were safe there."

    "That sounds logical. Well, as logical as something like that could sound."

    "Here." He pulled a photo out of his briefcase. "Lovely. I like that photo. That´s why I kept it by myself." he showed her a picture of a really sweet baby.

    "Is that me?" she asked and took it from his hand.

    "I think so."

    "I don´t know what to say." She said, and gave it back to him.

    "No, you should keep it," he said. She looked in his briefcase where a photo of his mom and Kyle was.

    "No, please keep it for me," she said, and gave it back to him. "And now enough sentimentality. Let´s go back and eat something. I´m starving."

    When they climbed the stairs to the balcony she smelled something good.

    "Great, food!"

    In the kitchen, Mulder was carefully taking a casserole out of the oven and Scully was standing and talking on her cell-phone

    "I can´t tell you where we are, mom. Let´s say it´s a vacation. Yes, Mulder´s here too. ....Yes, AD Skinner knows about .... he offered us some free time...... NO, mom, how could you...." Mulder looked at her and could see her blush. "No, mom, we´re not.... Ok, bye then."

    "I hate it when she talks to me like that." Scully put the phone back in her jeans. "She asked if we have "fun" together."

    "She´s just teasing. She knows me, doesn´t she?" Mulder put the meal on the table and saw Jarod and Miss Parker enter the kitchen.

    "You hungry? But I must warn you, Mulder cooked.." Scully asked, and gave him a smile.

    "Ha, ha." He grinned back. "I´m not that bad of a cook."

    "I must say it smells good." Jarod said, full innocent as though he didn´t get the little joke.

    This time Miss Parker couldn´t hide her grin.

    "Hey, you´re feeling better, huh? I saw you smile." Mulder teased.

    Miss Parker turned to Scully. "How do you endure him all day?"

    "Oh, it´s not that easy but I learned how to live with it." She leaned a little closer and whispered loud enough to be sure he could understand her, too.

    "I learned how to deal with him. Sometimes I just let him go, but other times he needs a strong kick in the ass. That´s why they sent me to him and it works."

    "Isn´t she lovely to me?" Mulder walked past Miss Parker and feigned a soft hit in Scully's ribcage. "Let´s eat before it goes cold."
 
 
 

    When they had finished and cleaned the kitchen, Mulder and Scully sat down in the living room and played a kind of card-game Jarod did not know. He and Parker watched the first few rounds and then played with them. It was poker.

    "You know the rules, Jarod?" Scully gave the cards.

    "I think so." he replied.

    "I´ll bet." Miss Parker held her cards and was surprised at what good ones she had.

    Neither of them won more or less and Jarod was not as good as Miss Parker suspected. She was about to ask him "What happened to wonder-boy?" when he sighed and said good-night for today. She was really tired herself and went with him.

    "´Night."

    "´Night" Mulder and Scully wanted to play on a while. Both had won four games and they wanted to find out who was better.
 
 
 

    When she opened her door, Jarod was standing beside her, leaning against the doorframe.

    "`Night" she said, and wanted to enter but felt his hand softly stroke her cheek.

    "Don´t!" she said, and pushed his hand away.

    "Why?" He sounded like a little kid whose toy you just took away.

    "It´s not that simple. Do you think, just because I haven´t  hissed at you or shot at you while we were here, I forgot everything that happened before?"

    "What happened before? Your father gave you only one choice. Bring me back or you could never leave the Centre, isn´t that the truth?"

    "I can´t forget who we are!"

    "Who are we?" He came more closer and stood only a few inches in front of her. "Tell me who I am. That´s what I've been searching for my whole life."

    She looked him in the eyes and for the first time for a long time she was the one that looked away first - very un-Parker like.

    When she looked up again she saw him staring at her. Her eyes, then her lips. <This is becoming dangerous,> her inner alarm system began to yell.

    She had never seen him looking at her like this before.

    "Jarod," she sighed.  She gathered all her courage together.  "I thank you for saving my life, but leave it that way."

    "Is this how you feel? We´re just taking a break from our "normal" lives?"

    <No, I don´t know right now what to think!> she thought. He was looking at her lips again. <Please, don´t let him kiss me right now. I don´t know what I´ll do then...>

    "Yes," she answered, and before he could do or say something she walked inside and shut the door in his face.
 
 

    "That was close," she whispered and leaned against the door and felt the first tears run down her check right where he had touched her a few minutes before.
 

    He was the only person that made her cry besides her mom and her dad, and she hated him for that. She hated to cry and to feel vulnerable.

    As she slowly sank to the floor, she heart him slam the front door and she cried even more.

    <Why can´t we be just like normal people?>
 
 

    Jarod hurried past Mulder and Scully through the living room outside.

    He was angry and sad at the same time. On the balcony he hit a beam hard with his fist but couldn´t feel the pain directly so he hit it again and again untill it hurt.

    He ran away, not knowing what to do.  "Why does everything have to end like this? Why do all the people that mean so much to me get hurt? Why do I hurt them?" his mind raced. The picture of his mother, crying at the cab and Kyle dyine in the van came like flashes in his mind.

    He ran twice around the lake, until his rage was gone - rage against himself. He slowed down when he reached the cabin. The light in the living room was still on. <They never go to bed, heh?>

    Then he saw a shadow on the roof besides. The cabin was built next to a little hill, so the roof connected with the gound beside it.

    Jarod walked around up the little hill and onto the roof where he sat down beside her. She looked silently up to the sky. It was clear, and the sky had more stars than he had ever seen. The moon was full and lit all the area.

    He could see that she had cried. Her eyes were wet and swollen but she still looked beautiful to him.

    "Sorry, I didn´t want to...." he started, but she cut him off, looking directly in his eyes.

    "You don´t have to be sorry. I´m the one who should be."

    "No more sorrows. Swear it. You have to hold your life in your own hands. You just did as your father said. Free yourself from his power!"

    "That´s not that easy...."

    "Yes it is. Look what I´ve done. I came out of the Centre not knowing what to expect. Sometimes it was and is scary but better to be free and make mistakes than be imprisoned forever. Please try it. If not for you, for the people who care about you."

    "I have no one who cares for me." She was getting angry. How dared he to talk to her like that?

    "Yes you have." He took her face in his hands. "Sydney cares a lot about you...and so do I. Perhaps just because we grew up together; but do you believe I would have helped you just because we knew each other as kids? I´m a Pretender: I know exactly how you feel, and it hurt me like it hurts you."

    She freed herself of him and stood up. "Stop that shit, Jarod. Leave me alone! You caused all my problems. If my mother hadn´t tried to save you, she could still be alive, I could live a normal life and everything could be ok!" she screamed, caught between rage and crying.

    That hit him like a shot right in the heart, and he turned to the wall and hit it like the beam before. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

    Miss Parker was scared as she saw him in such a fury. She had never seen him like this before and she began to regret the words she said to him.

    "Please stop. You´re hurting yourself." She was standing out of his reach.

    "Who cares?"

    "Me!" Then, she walked behind him and held his arm before he could hit the wall again. He crossed his arms before his chest and she embraced him from behind as he began to sob. She held him that way a long time, until he turned in the embrance and held her even tighter. He buried his face in her neck as she had as she soothed him by slowly rubbing his back.

    When he slowly pulled away, she looked at him with so much ... what was that in her eyes . ... sympathy .. or something else?
 
 

End part 4
 
 
 
 
 

Part 5
 

    He just stood there as she leaned forward and lightly touched her lips to his. Everything around him seemed to swim. His knees felt like pudding and he had forgotten how to breathe.  She pulled back to look at him and smiled. Then she touched his lips again, slowly moving her lips over his.

    But before he could repond to the kiss, someone came into her room and turned on the lights.

    "Parker, you here?" they heard Scully call..

    They jumped apart like teenagers who get caught on the sofa by the parents.
 
 
    "Yeah, we´re here outside." Miss Parker was the first to get out a word.

    Jarod blushed and turned away as Scully leaned out of the window.

    "I thought you were already sleeping, but I saw..." She stopped when she saw Jarod beside her. "Oh, sorry, I didn´t mean to disturb." Then she went back inside, walked back out of the room and turned off the lights.

    "I think that´s how it feels when you get caught by your parents?" He smiled at her but didn´t quite know what to expect, but she gave him a smile, a real smile with teeth, and then they laughed out loud.

    Scully must have gone to the boys' room, because they could see the others couple´s shadow on the ground.
 
 
 
 

    "Hi," she greeted Mulder.

    "Hi yourself. What´s up. Couldn´t live without me for more than two minutes?" he joked while he pulled off his shirt and went to the closet to search for his night-boxers.

    "Oh yes, sure. I planned to kick Jarod out and have you all for myself tonight. No, I just caught them on the rooftop and decided to leave them well enough alone for a while. It´s not really clear to me - I mean, their relationship."

    "Yeah, me either." He was half inside the little closet and rummaging inside. "Did they have something while he was at the Centre or what?"

    "I don´t know." Scully walked around in the room and wondered how the two men could have made such a mess in here in only a few days. Everywhere lay clothes, t-shirts, jeans, and boxers - which were definitely Mulder's. They had little green men printed on them.  She smiled at the thought of Mulder in these.

    "Great. You found them." he jumped almost on her, grabbed them, and disappeared into the bathroom that connected her room with his.

    Scully decided to lay down, just till he came out, and then go back to her room but before her head connected with the pillow she was already asleep.

    As Mulder left the bathroom, at first he thought that she was gone without saying goodnight but then he saw her lying in his bed. She slept so peacefully, he didn´t dare to wake her, so he walked to her, lay the blanket over her, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep well, Dana," he said, and went to the other bed and layed down. He was as tired as she, and slept within minutes.
 
 
 

    When Jarod entered his room, he saw Mulder lying in his bed and Scully in Mulder's. He didn´t want to wake them, so he walked back to the women's room.

    After the second knock, Parker opened the door in her pyjamas - well, they weren´t real pyjamas, just an x-large t-shirt from the FBI.

    "Jarod, I think you should really go back to your room and sleep now."

    The alarm siren in her head began to wail as she saw him standing again in front of her door.

    "That´s the problem. I don´t want to share a bed with Mulder, and Scully wouldn´t be very amused if she were to wake up next to me tomorrow."

    Parker raised an eyebrow at him. "I don´t understand..."

    "Mulder is sleeping in my bed, and Scully in Mulder's. That´s all. So I think I´ll have to sleep here tonight. I could also take the couch but, ....."

    "No, come in, it´s all right," she said, and closed the door behind him.

    Then he saw the problem. "Weren´t there two beds in here?" he couldn´t believe he didn´t saw this earlier.

    "Nope. There´s only this one." The bed was really big, a huge playground.

    And then she crawled under the sheets. <Lucky there are two pairs of sheets>, he thought, <or not so lucky.>

    When she had turned around, he stripped off his shirt and his jeans and crawled in beside her only in his boxers.  Well, they were all Mulders clothes, which showed in the boxers - printed with Buggs Bunny.
 
 
 
 
 

    When Jarod woke the next morning, he lay nearer to her than what was safe. He tried to move further without waking her, but she was already awake and smiled when she realized he was nervous.

    "`Morning, and mhm, ... sorry..," he greeted her with an uncomfortable smile.

    "´Morning. What for? I haven´t shot you. If you would have tried anything I hadn´t agreed to, you would be already be up with the Great Boss."

    "Who? Oh, I get it."

    "You have a really deep sleep for a man who always escaped me during one and a half years. Mulder and Scully already showered and went downstairs. Didn´t you hear anything?"

    "Mhm, no. Normaly I sleep lightly and wake by the at the slightest sound", but tonight I was really tired"

    Parker stood up and stood at the window. The lake in the morning was almost more beautiful than at sunset.

    "I can´t figure out why. You didn´t do anything last night." She couldn´t hold this back.

    "Well, actually, I ran two times around the lake before, oh...." Then he realized what she was talking about, and he felt a little bit uncomfortable, especially since she stood right in the sunlight, wearing only a thin t-shirt.  He couldn´t help but stare at her, and she saw him directly in the reflection in the window, and it pleased her. Then he realized that she observed him, too. He almost jumped out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom.

    This whole thing was beginning to please her.

    Scully sat at the kitchen table with a cup of strong coffee before her.

    "I´m glad you seem to be enjoying our little trip. It was a long way to get, wasn´t it? After, you know, Emily, I felt like something stood between us, and I couldn´t reach you anymore."

    "Mulder, you don´t have to...." she started, but he stopped her with his finger on her lips.

    "Please let me. It´s not easy for me to tell you this and I tried often but I just never had the courage. So, please listen.  After your cancer went into remission I thanked God. Yeah, you heard right. I gave up believing in Him when Sam disappeared, but when you got even worse every day I prayed to Him and ... it helped. We still don´t know how it worked - whether the chip or something else made you healthy again - but I began to believe in Him again. I don´t know what I would have done if you ....." he trailed off, took her hands in his, and went on.

    "I couldn´t have stood it. It was worse when Sam was gone, but I know how it is to lose you, and I would not have survived it a second time. Well, and after you were better, I thought things would change and they did. I mean, when we were in the wood and you sung to me. That was a highlight."

    "Oh, please, don´t remind me of that, and don´t ever tell this to anyone else - I beg you!"

    "That means I shoudn´t have told Frohike? He was so sad because he knew he would never have a chance anymore."

    "He never had a chance and no, you had better not have told him..."

    He put on his best puppy-dog look again because he know that always helped and went on.
"I was the happiest man in the world when you danced with me to 'Walking in Memphis'. And then Emily. I wanted to tell you earlier about what I found in the laboratory, you know. But how?  Should I simply tell you 'Yeah, and you can never have any children.' It hurt me as much as it hurt you."

    "Mulder, how could you? You can´t ever imagine how it feels....."

    "Yeah, because you never talk to me."

    "No. That´s not the point. You say it hurt you as much as it hurts me but how could you? ...."

    He came and knelt beside her. "I know because there is no other woman for whom I would wish wish as much as you to have a happy life. Children, a husband, chat with the neighbours, a small house.."

    "Cut the crap, Mulder. That´s not what I want. Not now and not very soon."

    "Then tell me what you want."

    "I .... I don´t know. But they took from me the chance to decide freely. That´s it. I never planned to get married and have children yet, but now I'll never have the choice..." Her hands began to tremble in his and her whole body too. "Don´t we deserve to be happy?"

    "Yes, we deserve to and we will, I promise you." He let go of her hands and took her in his arms. He still knelt on the floor, his head on her heart where he could hear it beat.

    "I was very happy, too."

    He didn´t understand right at first than she meant the dance.

    She softly stroked the back of his head and his neck. "But I´m scared. You were everything I had left. I don´t want to get separated from you just because they know we were....."

    "They know you are the most important thing in my life, and they can´t do anything against us. They tried, and it always failed."

    He pulled back and looked up into her blue eyes.

    Then they heard Jarod and Miss Parker coming down, and Mulder sat back on his seat.

    "And besides, you´ve been *Mrs. Spooky* since you entered my bureau the first time." he smiled warmly at her.
 
    Her lips formed an "I know".

    "This is just as good as a hotel. Every time we come by you've prepared the food. Great. I´m feeling really comfortable here." Miss Parker sat down across from Mulder. "But who´s *Mrs. Spooky*?"

    Scully and Mulder changed a look and laught.

    "He´s called *Spooky* because of his work with the x-files and me, you know, they just call me now *Mrs. Spooky*."

    "That sounds funny. I have to keep this in mind. What shall we do all day?" Jarod asked as he took some toast.

    "I give you a tip. Forget it. But to answer you question: I found an old boat next to the house. Why don´t we fix it and make a little jouney on the lake? We could try angling a few fishes." Mulder went to the stoven and took another cup of coffee.

    Jarod was prompt to answer. "When should we start?"

    "I don´t think we get to see them much today." Scully turned to Miss Parker.

    "Looks like that. I´m glad we get a break!" Miss Parker replied, and grinned when she saw the face Jarod made at Mulder.
 
 
 

    A few hours later, Jarod worked with Mulder outside on the boat. I wasn´t too damaged so they only had to stop up a few little holes. But it was not as easy as they thought AT first. They didn´t have the right tools to fix them.
 

    Meanwhile Miss Parker got bored inside and walked around to sit with Scully in the kitchen.

    "Hi."

    "Hey." Scully looked up from a magazine.

    "Do you have something to read for me, too?"

    "I don´t think you want to read that. Only a few medical magazines. Not quite interesting, but I have be be up-to-date." Scully laid the magazine down and looked out of the window.

    "How about a walk? I looked at the map of this area this morning and found that there must be a beautiful waterfall only a few miles from here."

    "Sure, why not? We don´t have anything to do anyway, have we?" Miss Parker stood up. "And I´m sure the two outside will be busy till tonight with this stupid boat."

    "Yeah, you´re right. But this time they can´t nerve us!" Scully put on her shoes and they went out.

    Jarod sat in the boat and Mulder knelt in front of him. Both had taken of their shirts which didn´t look so bad, the two women thought.

    Scully whispered something to Miss Parker and shouted to Jarod and Mulder. "Bye, Fred and Barney. We´re going to explore the area."

    "Bye," they both shouted back.

    "She looks much better than Betty, I must admit." Mulder murmered, and it was obvious where he was staring. The short jeans didn´t hide more than the short skirts she normally wore.

    Jarod looked at him, confused. "Who are Fred and Barney?"

    "You don´t know the Flintstones? Oh my. That´s a comic series. There were the two families: Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty with their children. It´s really funny. You should watch it when we get back to civilization. Well, Betty has dark hair and Wilma is a redhead. I guess I can call Scully Wilma but I don´t dare to call Parker Betty. She has a look like she could kill someone."

    Jarod got out of the boat and sat next to Mulder.  "She´s not as cruel as most people say. She just had a bad childhood and a really cruel father."

    "Welcome to the club," Mulder said sarcastically.

    "To which club?" Jarod didn´t get it.

    "That´s a phrase. I just meant, she´s not the only one with a bad childhood. My father gave away my little sister; I didn´t know till a year ago what happened to her.. . And you are an unlucky one, too, heh? By the way. What´s her first name? I don´t think I got it already."

    "You´d better not ask."

    "Why?"

    "I think the boat is ok now. We should try it on the water." Jarod acted as though he didn´t hear his question. He lifted the front of the boat and waited to Mulder to take the back, but Mulder stood there with his hands on his hips and waited.

    "Ok," Jarod gave in. "No one has called her by her first name since her mother was shot. Everyone in the Centre only called her Miss Parker and she doesn´t like to be called by her first name. Besides, not many poeple know it anyway."
 
    "Do you know?" Mulder lifted the back and they carried the boat to the water.

    "Yeah." More he didn´t say. That had to be enough, and Mulder let it be that way.

    When they let the boat in the water it seemed like they had repaired all of the holes, but when Mulder climbed inside, some repaired areas spun off and the water ran into the boat.

    "Shit." He slowly sank.

    "I guess we´ll have to make it better." Jarod watched as Mulder jumped out and helped him to pull the boat back onto the beach.
 
    "We´ll have to wait till it´s dry again. Let´s turn it around."

    Then they layed down next to the boat and let the sun burn them.
 
 
 
 

    Meanwhile, Scully and Parker climbed up a little hill.
 

    They had not talked much till now but Scully was curious and asked Parker, "I´m not sure if I got straight your relationship with Jarod."

    "That´s no surprise. There is no real relationship." Parker said behind her.

    "But yesterday..." Scully began.

    "That was,  I don´t know myself...." and Parker trailed off.

    "Jarod told Mulder and I that you were friends as kids in the Centre, and now you´re trying to bring him back there. Why? You should be glad that he´s free."

    "It´s not that easy, dear. Believe me." They could already hear the waterfall. It had to be straight behind the next hill.

    "But even your mother tried to free him and...."

    "That´s why she was murdered! He is the reason why she´s dead and I can´t leave the Centre."

    "But why don´t you just quit?" Scully didn´t understand her motives.

    "Because no one quits the Centre! You couldn´t understand that, but believe me, I know what I´m talking about. And my father would never let me leave."

    Then they reached the top of the hill and looked down on a huge water fall under before them. It was breathtaking.

    "It looks like you know each other ... well, you and Jarod. How, mhm, ... close were you before? No, excuse me, that´s really none of my business."

    Scully felt like she was just about to look through the keyhole.

    "No, it´s ok. I couldn´t talk about that to anybody before, and I feel like it has to come out now."

    Miss Parker and Scully sat down by the water and took off their shoes to hang their feet in the water.

    "When my mother was still alive, she allowed me to met with Jarod and some of the others - well, only with Jarod and Angelo. She thought it would be good if I had some friends there. We often met and played together. He showed me things he built and I offered him things he normally couldn´t get in there like sweets and things like that. Well, I couldn´t admit that I had a crush on him then. Then my mom was gone and my father kept me away from everyone. Only Sydney, Jarod's mentor, sometimes visited me. He brought me letters from Jarod and I gave him some for him. He knew how hard it was for both of us. We hadn´t had other friends and ... well, he managed that we could meet sometimes. The first few times, the tension between us was a little bit cold, but we soon felt comfortable with each other again.

    "Then I realized that I, I just couldn´t look him in the eyes because I knew we only had these rare times together and that was not enough for me. Also my father sent me to a private school and away from the Centre ... and Jarod.  I couldn´t even say good-bye to him."

    Scully sat there and listened to her sad story. She felt somehow sorry for her.

    Parker went on, "The next time we saw each other I was 18. We meet in a corridor as Sydney brought Jarod to a sim-lab. He looked so different, no longer like an innocent boy. He was a grown adult now.  But, they brought him away too soon - before I could talk to him.

    "The same week, I begged Sydney to arrange a meeting with him, and he did. I met him in his room. Sydney promised to turn off the security camaras.  Neither of us knew what to say. We just stood there and looked at each other. Then he began to walk slowly towards me and his voice was not much more than a whisper:

     - How dare you? You left me without a word and now you simply come back?

    At first I didn´t know how to react.

     - I was sent to a private school. I had no chance to tell you good-bye.

    I snapped at him. How could he be angry on me?

    - Go back where you come from and leave me alone. That´s what you do best.
he said. He stood now only inches in front of me.

    - Fine, I said.

    I stepped another foot toward him to show him he didn´t scare me.

    - Then go.

    He lightly pushed me away. I lifted my hand to hit him but he caught me and held my hand. The tension between us was more than I could bear.

    I tried to hit him with my free hand but he caught that, too. Then he put my arms down with his and stared at me. I'd never seen someone look like that. I did not know to be scared or aroused."
 
 

    She now smiled at the thoughts and continued, "And then it happened. We kissed. And not like the innocent sweet little kiss I gave him years before. Then one thing lead to another till someone came to his room and knocked.

    I hurried and gathered my things together when Syd whispered outside that he couldn´t keep the cameras off any longer.

    Well, because this was the Centre, and Syd doesn´t know everything, he couldn´t have known that there was another security-camera in there. You can imagine how my father reacted when he saw the tape. His little daughter with lab-rat no. 1."

    "I have a vague idea." Scully smiled sympathetically at her. "And what happened then?"

    "Well, daddy sent me the same day back to the private school and I didn´t hear from him for over two months. Time went by and I changed. I became what my father wants me to be because I loved him and couln´t stand to be ignored by him. I went to different schools and learned a lot of things. Later I became the security-chief of the Centre."

    "Did you meet again, I mean you and Jarod?" she curious a bit.

    "Yes we have but my father swore to me he would kill Jarod if we began something behind his back. And, I don´t say this often, but I was scared. I´m not afraid of many things but against my father I´m powerless."

    "So this means you want to leave him and the Centre?" Scully was not sure.

    "I, ... I don´t know if I dare to. You have no clue what´s happened over all these years. No one leaves the Centre alive! You don´t get it. Nobody who works for the Centre exists officially. Try to check my fingerprints. You´ll be surprised when you don´t find any match."

    "But the government ...." Scully began.

    " ... knows about that. They are one of our best clients. The government pays a lot for our sim-results. No Centre employee has ever been arrested for anything he did. Even if you kill someone, you can be sure your file will get lost and you will be out of prison before the cop that arrested you sits back at his desk."

    "Have you ever killed someone?"

    "No! But I know what I´m talking about."

    "Tell me more about the Centre. I've never heard of such an organization before."

    Then Miss Parker told Scully things she couldn´t believe at first. She had never thought that human beings could be so cruel.

    "And you think they still have children in there?"

    "I never saw them bring new kids down there but I can´t believe they gave up all those experiments. The people they use 'officially' are there by there own will but, .... I don´t trust anyone anymore. Not after all I´ve seen. But now enough of all that shit.

    Tell me more about you and Mr. FBI ... I saw some of your reports in the cabin. What exactly do you do at the FBI?"
 
    "Well, that´s what I ask myself sometimes. We work for a section that´s called the X-Files. These are cases no one wants to solve because they are all kind of spooky."

    "How long have you been working together? It seems like you know each other very well." Miss Parker sat back and let the sun shine in her face.

    "I was assigned to work with Mulder in March 1992. They sent me essentially to spy on him. I should have proven that all these cases were just a waste of time so that they could have shut down the x-files, but as soon as we began to know each other better, I realized that the government just wanted to shut him, now us, down because they have a lot to hide. We´ve seen things in the last couple of years I would have never dreamed about when I joined the FBI."

    "Par exemple?"

    "That the government tries to make people believe in aliens and UFOs to hide that they do experiments with human beings you couldn´t imagine."

    "I think I can."

    "Sorry, I meant <normal> people, people who find it easier to believe in little green men than in a government that treats them like lab rats." Her voice was now hard and she found it hard to keep calm.

    Miss Parker recognized her tension. "You sound like you , well you ...."

    "I was used for some tests, too. THEY took me for over three months, only to bring Mulder up from his search for the truth. In this time, they did things to me I can barely remember. I don´t know much, but they implanted a chip in my neck. I let the chip be removed and got cancer."

    Parker looked stunned.

    "You heard right. I had cancer and was almost dying. Only shortly before it was too late, Mulder broke into a government-building and stole a similar chip. After the chip was implanted again, the cancer went into remission. That was a few months ago." Scully hesitated for a moment and considered if she should tell her everything. She decided that it would be good if she let it all out to somebody.

    "I also learned that I had a child, Emily. I didn´t know about her until it was too late. She was killed by the same men who 'created' her." It was not as hard to tell this than she had expected, but now she felt really bad. Tears swelled in her eyes and Scully looked away.

    "I´m sorry. I really am."

    "You don´t have to be." Scully sighed.
 
 

    "What should we do now? We can´t say here forever, and sooner or later they´ll find us." Parker had been trying not to think about this since they arrived at the cabin.

    "That depends on you and Jarod. Mulder and I can´t do much. Let´s go back and see if they are not sunk already and talk with them."
 
 

    When they came back, they could see them from far away lying lazily near the boat in the sun.

    Scully shook her head. "So much for hard working."

    "That´s going to be a good sun-burn." Parker grinned at the thought. <Syd´s Wonder-boy isn´t that smart.>

    Scully pointed at the two pails next to the cabin and Parker got what she wanted. They filled them with water and tiptoed to the two sleeping beauties.

    When the men heard them coming towards them it was already too late, and the cool wetness was on them. Mulder screamed a little girls scream and jumped up.  Beside him, Jarod did the same.

    Jarod looked at Mulder and Mulder at Jarod and then they both looked at Scully and Parker.

    "This means war!" Mulder shouted, and they ran after the women, who were already running away and laughing.

    Parker was a bit faster than Scully, but also Jarod ran faster than Mulder. Scully ran left from the house and Parker right up to the hill but they didn´t get far before both got grabbed by Mulder and Jarod.
 
    Scully couldn´t stop laughing. "Mulder, don´t touch me. You´re wet all over."

    "Guess who that was," he said, and then grabbed her from behind and lifted her from the ground. She tried to free herself from his embrace but without success. He carried her again towards the lake and she knew exactly what he was going to do.

    Jarod had not so much luck with Parker. She was really fast. He couldn´t get her, and she ran on the other side again, down beneath the cabin and to the lake.

    On the footbridge, he was just about to jump in her direction when she made a quick move to the left and he fell in the water.

    "Well, I would say two points for me," she said, but she didn´t see Mulder carrying Scully. He just pushed her a little with his elbow and she joined Jarod in the water.

    "Oops" he said innocently and threw Scully in, but he should have known that she wouldn´t go without any protest. So she grabbed him by the arm and he fell with her.

    Parker almost fell on Jarod, who tried to jump out of the way. She was so angry. He would regret this soon. She was about to swim to Mulder when she saw Jarod in the corner of her eye. He shook his finger to say "no" and came towards her, reaching her within seconds. The next thing she saw was underwater. He actually dared to dunk her under, and she wanted revenge. But, as she came up again he was gone and Scully was before her.

    "I thought he was used to getting washed!" she said, and grinned.

    Jarod came up and caught his air. He was just about to jump after Parker when a helicopter showed over the trees.

    All four of them were paralysed with pure fear and they started up to the sky. The helicopter flew over them and away. None one of them could move or say anything for a long time, just stare at the sky. It was just the park ranger.  When the fear was gone they got out of the water and went back to the cabin.

    "I think this is the right moment to think about what we do now." Jarod stepped inside the living room, Mulder, Scully and Parker behind him.

    "You´re right. Next time it could be Raines or the one who tried to shoot us." Parker agreed.

    "Let´s get changed and meet again here." Mulder´s wet jeans weren´t very comfortable.
 
 
 

    Half an hour later they sat together around the livingroom table.

    "I want to call my father." Parker stood up and took Scully´s cell-phone.

    "Stop. Let me tinker with it first. You know Broots will try to check the line." He took the phone and connected it to the laptop.
 
    "What are you doing?" Parker snapped.

    "Just let me do it."

    "Ok, you are the genius."

    When he was finished he gave her the phone back. "Now you can call him."

    "Thank you very much." He knew it wasn´t meant like that.
 
 
    Mulder and Scully sat calmly on the couch the whole time and just watched them.
 

    "Daddy?" she began.

    "Angel, is that you?" she heard her father on the other end of the line.

    "Yes."

    "Where is Jarod?"

    "I disappeared without a word and the first thing you ask is where Jarod is?"

    "Sorry, Angel. Sure I want to know how you are."

    "I´m fine. Now. After someone tried to kill Me and ....., I mean me in the Centre."

    "What? Tell me where you are, so that we can bring you back, now."

    "Daddy, I  can´t..."

    "Tell me!"

    "Do you know who it was?"

    "Come back and we´ll find out."

    "No!"

    She heard him breathe in and out hard.

    "I know Jarod was there, too. He shot at you."

    "Don´t lie to me. You know he´s not guilty!"

    He had nothing to say to that.
 
    Parker hit the end-button and was about to throw the phone at the far wall when Jarod caught her arm and took the phone from her.

    He shook his head and put the phone back on the table.

    "He wasn´t even interested if I´m ok." Parker couldn´t believe that.

    Jarod was about to reply when the cell-phone rang. He looked at Parker and then to Mulder and Scully.

    "I thought they couldn´t follow the line." Parker said to Jarod who just shrugged one shoulder.

    Mulder came up and anwered the phone.

    "Agent Mulder?" came a male voice from the other end.

    "Yeah, AD Skinner?"

    "Isn´t this Agent Scully´s number?"

    "Oh, yes, she´s ...." Mulder didn´t know what to say.

    "I thought she´s taking a vacation." Skinner was irritated.
 
    "Mhm, right sir. We must have mixed up our phones. Guess she has mine now." Mulder tried to explain.

    "Agent Mulder, it´s none of my buissness with whom you go on vacation and I don´t want to know either. The reason I call you is, are you really on vacation, or are you in trouble again?"

    "Ah, no sir. Just relaxing. Why?" Mulder felt a little uncomfortable.

    "Because someone called me and asked a lot of questions about you and someone called Jarod and a woman, Miss Parker. Do you know them?"

    "Never heard of them."

    "Good, because if you had, you would be in big trouble. I have an order from very high to report directly if I hear something about them."
 
    "What have they done, sir?" Mulder asked like he didn´t know anything.

    "No one would tell me that, either. Just keep your eyes open and, Agent Mulder, don´t stay too long in one place - it could easily get boring." Then the line went dead.

    Scully stood straight behind him.

    "Skinner? What did he want?"

    "He told us to move. Someone is asking questions about us ......  and Jarod and Parker."

    "Who?" Scully asked.
 
    "He doesn´t know. I´ll call the Gunmen and ask them to check around. Perhaps they could find out something."

    "Let me call Sydney." Jarod came towards Mulder. "He can tell us what´s up at the Centre."

    "I don´t know ..."

    "Let him," Parker supported Jarod. "We have to know how far they are behind us."

    Mulder looked at Scully, and then gave Jarod the phone.

    He turned around and dailed Sydney's number.

    "This is Sydney," he answered.

    "What have you found out?"

    "Jarod, are you all right?"

    "I´m fine, we both are. What do you know?"

    "Well, it looks like ... is Miss Parker still with you?"

    "Yeah."

    "It looks like her dad shot Brigitte."

    "What? I, mhm, do you know if they know where we are?"

    "I can´t help you, because no one talks to me or Broots anymore."

    "Thanks, Sydney."

    "Jarod, wait. What are you going to do?"

    "Bye Sydney."
 

End Part 5
 
 
 
 

Part 6

The Centre
THE Tower
 
 

    Mr. Parker burst into the dark office deep inside the Centre.
 
    "Why do you want them dead?"

    The man behind the huge desk didn´t move. He was sitting completly in the shadow.

    The normally so calm Mr. Parker was enraged.

    "Damn YOU, answer me!"

    The man in the dark didn´t say anything.

    Then, he stood up and came around the desk.

    "I don´t have to explain anything to you! Now go back to your work and find them."

    Mr. Parker was just out of the door when he came back again.

    "You didn´t know Jarod was down there. You wanted only my daughter to be killed.  YOU didn´t know that your son was there, too, did you?"

    But the old man just sat back on his desk and didn´t respond.
 

    When Mr. Parker was gone, someone came around the corner and lit a cigarette.

    "Well," he began, "It looks like he has no clue where they are. But I do. It´s only a matter of time till we find them. And my dearest friends, too."

    The man in the dark suit leaned back.

    "Find them. And bring Miss Parker and my son back, dead or alive. With the other two you can do what you want."
 
 
 
 

The Cabin
 

    Later the evening, after Mulder called the Gunmen, they sat together in the kitchen and thought about what to do next.

    Jarod began. "Sydney and Broots can´t help us anymore, and we should keep them out. Who knows what they´ll do to them if they think they know anything."

    "The Gunmen checked a few unofficial channels and will call as soon as they find something." Mulder explained.

    "Let´s tell this right. They are close behind us, and it´s only a matter of time till they find out where we are," Miss Parker began. "And what, ... what should we, no, I, do?  I can´t go back to the Centre. I still don´t know who wants me dead or why. No one´s gonna believe Jarod kidnapped me and then let me go."

    Jarod stared at the ground. "You´re probably right." He paused for a long moment, and then went on.

    "Give me a little time. I´ll think about it. Just leave me alone for a few hours." Then he stood and disappeared through the door outside.

    "Well, then, we wait." Parker sat back in her chair.
 
 
 
 
 

Later

    Mulder was still in the kitchen, surfing the Internet. Scully and Parker sat on the couch in the living room. The fire in the hearth softly lit the room.

    "You are a doctor? You can do autopsies, right?"

    "Yeah, why?" Scully asked.

    "I was thinking. I can´t go back to the Centre and I don´t want to go back to my father. I never had a choice before but...."

    "What do you have in mind?"

    "I..." Parker began, but then Jarod came inside and began to babble.

    "Jarod, stop. If you don´t speak more slowly, we can´t understand you," Parker stopped him.

    Mulder came from the kitchen when he heard them talking so loudly.

    "Sit, and begin from the beginning." Parker stepped beside him and led him by the arm to the couch.

    He told them what he had planned, and as far as Mulder, Scully and Miss Parker could see, it was perfect.

    "So, it looks like we´ll have a hard day tomorrow. I think we had better get some sleep." Mulder stretched and went upstairs with Scully.

    Jarod looked to Parker, who sat beside him and smiled.

    "What?" he asked innocently.

    "Nothing, just..."

    "What?" he smiled at her.

    "What you had in mind... is exactly what I wanted to tell Scully when you came back."

    He raised his eyebrows. "You..."

    "Mhm!"

    "Maybe they did the wrong test with you in the Centre..."

    "Or my mother manipulated the results to ... to save me from ... you know ... what they did to you and the other kids."

    "Maybe..."

    Parker patted Jarods' knee. "Come on, we really need our rest."
 

End Part 6