Title: Bound part 3

Disclaimer: They're not mine. They're still Craig and Steve's. Even though I'd be waaaaaay nicer to them then they've been. Whatever happened to posting a post IOTH "what would have been" on your website lads? What ever happened to the website?

Note: This is part three, which is almost offensively short but I needed to write this little piece to move it along a bit. So don't throw too many sticks. Throw biscuits instead.

-CrazyA

...she was going to be a mother.

Time had passed her by before she'd be conscious of its presence. It had been nearly two hours since he'd appeared in front of her. Parker swiped at her face again, determined to banish any trace of her tears before going to speak to him. She needed as much of her veneer as possible. This wasn't a time for weakness.

She knew he wouldn't have slept. He probably hadn't even sat down.

She didn't knock before entering, it was her home and she wouldn't ask for permission to move within it. Jarod was standing by the window. He seemed lost in thought, the first rays of light were creeping across the floor, but he remained in the shadows, invisible to any prying eyes, too far from the light for it to illuminate him. She stalled for a moment, considering the sight before her and it occurred to her that this was his life. Out in the world, looking at the light, but still unable to really bask in it. She shook it off, she couldn't dwell on that now.

"Come back in a week." Her voice was tight, her tone a manifestation of her attempt to hold herself together. His eyes narrowed as he regarded her, barely a step inside the door frame.

"You can't stay here and I can't leave tonight. A week should be enough time to get everything ready."

"A week could be the difference between you leaving from here and you being liberated from the Centre" Her gaze turned to steel at the implication that she'd need to be rescued, her mouth pressed into a hard line. She wasn't about to have the few decisions she was still in command of questioned by his need to act as her protector.

"My terms Jarod"

This was the test. They faced each other, the open space of the room dividing them, she'd drawn her line in the sand, her arms folded in front of her, head held high with determination. He relaxed his own stance, conceding to her choice.

"Your terms." He said the words slowly, as the comprehension of her words unspoken permeated his brain. She noted the change in his demeanor and in that instant she found their usual game of reading between the lines reprehensible. Parker tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear as she looked anywhere but his face, uncharacteristically self conscious as she spoke, but then again, lately, she had begun to think that the last 25 years of her life had been uncharacteristic.

"I've spent nearly six years of my life chasing you, trying to keep you from your family and drag your ass back to the Centre." She spoke quietly but with the weight of many sleepless nights thoughts behind it. "I realised a long time ago, I think, even before Carthis that that was just a default position. I don't want you back there. What I said about wanting you to find your mother, I meant it. I want you to put your family back together, to rebuild what was destroyed." She unconscioulsy being to rub her neck, her other hand tightening around her waist "This, this wasn't stolen from you, it's not part of the family that you're searching for. But it is your family and I don't want to be a part of anything that keeps you from it anymore. This isn't how I wanted to become a mother, I honestly don't know if I ever thought I'd be one. The choice was taken out of my hands, but it's the last one that will be."

She looked up as she finished speaking. Somewhere between its beginning and end Jarod had left the vacinity of the window and come to stand by her. He reached for her hand that had stilled on her neck and she flashed to the two of them in the limo on the airstrip. He gently pried it from its resting spot and took it in its own. She squeezed his hand in recognition of the memory. This time she didn't snatch it back.

"One week." He made no comment on what she had said and she was agonizingly grateful for it, they were words that had needed a voice and somewhere within her she had found it, but for right now she needed him not to respond. He knew and understood that, as he knew and understood her like no other.

She nodded resolutely.

"Alright. But if I have to bust you out of there, I get to pick the name."

She withdrew her hand from his and moved down the hall in the direction of her own room as she muttered "Here that kid, your Daddy's a comedian."

To him she threw "Get moving Wonder Boy the sun's coming up. Or I'll be the one busting you out."