Please Note: The following story was written before "Jeraldo" aired in 
Australia and before I had heard any spoilers regarding the season 
final.Because of this there ARE holes in the  A plot if you relate it to 
theshow. Some of the info isnt all that factual now the the eps have 
aired(or now that I know about them) so sorry everyone! It is only a 
ficthough, so let your mind go and enjoy it anyhow!All Characters, 
Jarod, Miss Parker, Sydney, Jacob, Broots, Mr. Raines, and"The 
Pretender" are all property of NBC. 

The Things We Hide
By Nirvana Kliese 

The smoke filled office was lit dimly on the late night. Just the way the 
men liked it. Mr. Raine's cruel laugh was joined by that of another. 
The two men seemed to be laughing at a private joke, a joke no one 
knew about, a joke that would prove to be the death of anyone that 
found out. The second man smiled a cruel smile. "The cheque should 
be in the mail any day now." He said, his accent strong. "And I've 
sorted out Renee  since her little crying session yesterday. I explained 
to her that her parents died in a ship wreck when they went out to sea 
last week." The corners of his mouth turned up to form a heartless 
smile. Mr. Raines laughed raspily with his associate. "Yes, after all, it's 
almost the truth." He said, just as he had said about Jarod all those 
years ago. His oxygen tank squeaked behind him as he walked the 
man to the door. He turned to face him. "Good work, as always." He 
nodded his bald head. "I always enjoy our little  meetings Sydney." He 
wheezed. 

Sydney nodded. "As do I." He turned around to leave. Mr. Raines put 
his hand on his shoulder to stop him. "How is The Jarod Project 
coming?" He asked, his voice raspy. Sydney sighed. "I'm trying to 
make him trust me like he used to. But no matter what I've done, 
confession, tricked Miss Parker," They both smiled at the memory. 
"He seems to like his freedom all too much." Mr. Raines tightened his 
mouth. "We do however have his next location pinpointed?" Sydney 
nodded. "Yes we do." 

"Does Miss Parker or Mr. Broots know about it yet?" 

Sydney shook his head. "No, but I intend on putting it up somewhere 
on the internet where Mr.Broots will come across it, that way we'll find 
him, while still remaining inconspicuous." Mr. Raines nodded. "I 
always knew there was a reason I worked with you for all these years. 
Sydney smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have people to analyze." 
He closed the door quietly and walked out into the hallway. He took a 
deep breath. Now he had to be kindly again. Now he had to act 
trustworthy. Now he had to be scared of the people from the tower. 
He had to hide the truth. He smiled at private humor. That wasn't a 
problem though. He'd done it for years.

* * * * 

He walked down the hall and into the private office. He switched on 
the light and walked over to a computer monitor.  It was late, very late, 
but this was his job, this was his life. He began to type in the 
informationhe held, watching the hundreds of letters appear and 
disappear on the screen. He sneered. A lot like family. He missed 
Jacob, that was the truth,one of the few things in his life that was. He 
visited him every year because of that. He had no remorse though. He 
had done what had to be done. Besides if Jacob hadn't found out 
about Jarod it never would have had to happen. It was his fault. That 
was why he couldn't let him wake up, if he had he would have told 
someone, he would have fought to save his son. 

Sydney began to drift off into a memory, a memory of that fateful night.

* * * * 

"I can't believe you did this to me!! You bastard!" Jacob's eyes where 
red with rage at what he had found out. "How could you!? You said 
Jarod was killed that day."

"How would I have done that, I was in a different state."

"'The homicide squad is big Jacob.'" He quoted.

"You told us you investigated Jarods murder. How could you lie to 
me? How could you lie to my wife?!"

"The information you are quoting is none of your buisness. And the 
'facts' that you're referring to are false." Sydney hissed through 
clenched teeth.He held the steering wheel tightly. Cursing the fact 
that Jacob had found out what really happened to Jarod.

"It's none of my buisness that my son, who was everything to me, who 
I have been mourning for the last few years, is alive and living as a 
science experiment?!" He seemed to be barely restraining himself from 
murder. "You're my brother dammit!!" He cried tears streaming down 
his cheeks.Sydney sat quietly. "Who was it that told you these lies?" 
He asked calmly.Jacobs eyes widened. "No way. You're not getting 
that out of me."Sydney cursed silently. "Why don't you just have more 
children?"Jacob shook his head rage still filling his voice. "You know 
we can't do that and even if we could I love Jarod. So does my wife. I 
told you about him being the way he is because you were the one 
person in the world that my wife and I trusted. What harm would it do, 
you where ahomicide detective." He spoke the last words extra clear. 
 He and his wife where told they could never have children, so when 
Jarod came along they were more grateful than they had ever 
imagined, and when they found out about his special gift they loved their little miracle even more. Then one day they let Jarod go out on a 
trip with friends. Half way through the day they rang up hysterical they 
cried that Jarod had been grabbedby a few scruffy looking men and 
given an injection to stop his screamingbefore being pulled into a car 
and taken away. Jacob didn't want to know what had happened to 
him, it hurt too much. They said that they had called in the police and 
that they investigated. 

Jacob had called Sydney often and Sydney had comforted him until 
one day he informed him that Jarods body was found at the bottom of 
a nearby lake. He had rang the police but they had been told the 
same thing. He and his wife had given up.

Jacob turned to Sydney his voice broken with emotion. "I will bring the 
Center down Sydney." He whispered frightened to start crying 
again.Sydney closed his eyes for a moment. The words he was 
waiting to hear.This source had told him about the Center. Jacob had 
just added the final word to his death sentence. He knew what he 
had to do.He didn't mind doing it. Jacob was family, but things come 
and go.He gripped the steering wheel and veered off the road 
towards the large trees.

He slammed on the accellerator hitting one of them full force. He 
heardJacob's terror filled scream. He blacked out.

* * * * 

The monitor buzzed to signal that the message had been sent. He 
came outof the memory with a smile. He didn't care who died. Or who 
was hurt. The truth was he didn't care about anything. He was an 
actor. Every day of his life.

* * * * 

The phone beside his bed let out a shrill ring. He waited before he 
picked it up. "Hello?" He answered trying his best to sound tired. The 
truth was he hadn't slept. He was just sitting there waiting for the 
phone to ring. He heard Broots nervous voice on the other end. 
"Sydney, I think we found him." He said, excitement covering his lack 
of sleep. Sydney put on his calm voice. "Where is he?" He asked. 
"Canada." Broots smiled into the receiver. Proud of 'his' discovery. "I'll 
call Miss Parker." Sydney replied sounding excited at the new 
development.


* * * * 

Miss Parker had answered the phone with her usual cheer. He 
enjoyed watching Miss Parker suffer. He knew he was the reason for 
it. She had tried to findthe truth. In that way she was like Jarod. He 
had warned her "from a friend"to stay away from the truth. It was true, 
the truth was deadly. It was just a cover-up though. Mr. Raines had 
found out about Mrs. Parkersaving children a while ago. He took 
action but that wasn't the reasonfor her death, though they made it 
seem that way. It was true that she had died after her last session with 
Sydney. Noone suspected the real reason though. She had found out 
the truth, but not about the children. She had known that long before. 
The truth she had found out then was even more deadly.

* * * * 

Mrs. Parker walked into the room silently. Desperately trying to avoid 
eye contact with her 'doctor'. "Good Morning Mrs. Parker." Sydney 
smiled warmly.She didn't return his smile and sat down taking a deep 
breath.

"Is something wrong?" He asked keeping up the image he was paid
 to.The caring phychologist always. She bit her lip, her mind full of fear 
of what she was about to say. "I found out the truth." She 
whisperedher voice tense.

"About what?" Sydney asked his mind buzzing. Truth never meant 
anythinggood in this place.

"I wondered how Mr. Raines knew about the children." She struggled 
to keep her voice under control. "And how many I rescued."She 
stood up and began to pace. "I thought word of mouth got out of 
control.heck you can make yourself think whatever you want when 
you want to trust someone." She lost control of her emotions and tears 
began to streak her pale cheeks.Sydney took a deep breath. He 
didn't like the sound of this."I trusted you." She frowned at him 
through tears."What are you talking about?" Sydney asked trying to 
stay calm."I found out about Jarod." She nodded staying as calm as 
she could."And I found out about The Centers trusted Phychologist." 
She glared at him."Of all the people here I was afraid of I thought I 
could trust you to be who you seemed to be.""Noone is who they 
seem to be." he said trying to keep up his image."I'm going to take my 
daughter now. And I'm going to get out of here while I can. I'm going 
to go somewhere where there is someone who I can trust!"She 
slammed the door behind her hard.


He took a deep breath and pressed down the button on the intercom. 
He quickly relayed the story and rushed out of his office. He had a 
simulation to do.

Mrs. Parker grabbed her daughter by the hand, desperately trying not 
to give in to the fear that was taking a hold of her. Her daughter 
looked up at her innocently. "Mummy what's the matter? Where are 
we going?" She askedconfused.Mrs. Parker wiped the tears from her 
cheeks and pasted on the false smileshe knew so well. "We have to 
go out for a while sweetie. Come on to the elevator." She pulled her 
daughter onto the elevator quickly and tried to close the doors. All of a 
sudden a gunshot sounded loudly. Bouncing off the sides of the 
elevator. She tried to scream but couldn't. She started to feel dizzy, 
collapsing to the ground. Her daughter fell to the floor to be with her. 
"Mummy?!" She screamed. Terror filling her voice. Mrs. Parker tried to 
reply. Tried to tell her it was ok but couldn't. Things where getting 
darker by the minute. She heard one of the men call. "Quick! Get the 
kid out of here!" And in a way she was glad. Her daughter had 
already seen too much. She felt a sharp pain and vaguely heard the 
sound of another gunshot. It was all over. 

* * * * 

Miss Parker emerged from the elevator and waved her hand in front of 
Sydney's face. "Hey Syd, you look out of it."He brought himself back 
to the present. "I was lost in thought.""Yeah well find yourself again. 
Ready to be ruthless?" She asked coldly,drawing her gun. He tried to 
stop from smiling. Always.


The end.    

By the way please understand that I "like" Sydney! However a topic 
on the pretender list some time ago as to weather Sydney was a good 
guyor otherwise got me thinking...one persons relation to him was that 
he was a "psychopath in a nice suit" so I decided to write a fanfic 
using that idea. Personally I like him as a good guy but I thought this 
was an interesting storyline, even though most of Jeraldo kicked it's 
ideas sky high!

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