Saturday night, the Eagle & Child Pub, Oxford
"So when are you done with Finals?" Parker asked, reaching over to steal one of Lukas's chips off his plate, flashing him a bright smile as she did so.
"Wednesday. Ethics, with Doherty. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. But we could go out for a drink on Thursday, after you're done?" Lukas grinned and shook his head at her chip-swiping. "You could stay over, if you like. Paul and Denis will have gone home already, they're both done with their exams by then."
"Hmmmm." Parker gave him a playful look. "Should I bring pajamas? Or can I borrow yours?"
"Oh, you can absolutely wear mine," Lukas said seriously. "I was planning on wearing my robes to bed every night over break in celebration of my victory over my Criminal Justice Final."
"You realize there are about five hundred innuendos I could make right here. Starting with the briefs and moving on." Parker smirked. "Hmmmm...." She was working on an even more clever comeback when she froze, staring across the bar. The back of a familiar head was attached to a familiar body, leaning against one corner. "I don't believe it."
"What?"
"No, don't--" Don't look, Parker had been about to say, but by then, of course, it was too late. Jarod had caught her eye, frozen, then shifted into smiling and heading across the pub to them.
"Parker? I didn't know this was where you were having your date." Jarod gave Lukas his wide, earnest, aw-shucks-I'm-just-a-harmless-dork smile, and Parker mentally beat her head against the table, being unable to do so in reality. "Hi, you must be Lukas. I'm Jay, I'm an old friend of Parker's."
"Lukas Silver. Please, sit down." Lukas gave Jarod a cordial smile, and pointed to one of the chairs, having no idea what he was in for. Parker brushed her hair back from her face to conceal the death-glare she was giving Jarod as he took Lukas up on the invitation. "Parker didn't mention that she had any friends visiting." He gave her a blandly inquiring look, one that she knew he'd practiced on the moot courts that semester, when he thought he'd caught a contradiction in the evidence.
Parker gave him an equally mild and bland look back. "Didn't I? Hunh. Well. He's staying in London this week, doing research. I haven't seen as much of him as I would have liked while he's been here."
Quit smirking, she tried to send to Jarod via telepathy. Pity that wasn't one of his skills. And he'd be catching hell now if only it were one of hers.
"I didn't want to interrupt Parker's Exam Week too much, but I couldn't resist seeing how she was doing her first semester at Oxford." Jarod tried to sneak a chip off Parker's plate, and she whapped the back of his hand for it. Grinning, he turned back to Lukas. "I'm only here a week, unfortunately, so staying in London was easier on her."
Parker gave him a look of disdain while Lukas dryly said, "Really. How thoughtful of you."
A purely predatory grin of amusement stole over Jarod's face. "Really. Anything to keep Parker happy." He grinned at her again. "And in the interests of that, I'll be going now. She's about ready to kill me for butting in."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" she drawled.
"The fingernail tapping. Always a giveaway." He nodded to Lukas as he got to his feet. "Nice talking to you. Maybe I'll run into you again later this week."
"Maybe. Enjoy your stay here at Oxford," Lukas said, nodding back.
"See you later, Parker." Jarod tipped her a wink before melting back into the crowd, and Parker examined her nails in lieu of throwing her drink at the back of his head.
"Seems like a nice enough bloke. Albeit a bit protective." Lukas took a pull on his beer, then casually asked, "How long did you two date?"
Parker narrowed her eyes at him, and resisted dumping her plate of chips in his lap.
Storming back up the pathway to her dorm, Parker was muttering under her breath when Jarod melted out of the shadows to pace her. "Date not go well?"
"You!" She stopped and poked a finger in his chest. "You did that on purpose. You crashed my date to mess with Lukas and then took off like, like, James Bund! What the hell is your problem?"
"Parker, calm down." Jarod made placating motions with his hands, backing up the path in front of her, boots crunching in the snow. If she pushed him just a liiiittle bit, he might fall on his ass. "I didn't intentionally crash your date. I just wanted to see what he looked like, and what he was like around you. I didn't mean for you to spot me."
"You were spying on me! How is that more okay?" She shoved at him with both hands, and he continued to retreat, this time with a warning glance that didn't do anything to cool her temper. "I specifically told you I didn't want you to meet him! I told you it was none of your business! Then you butted in, and I had to give Lukas a lot of half-truths about our relationship, and he knew I was lying about something, and damnit, Jarod, what were you trying to do?" She stopped in the middle of the path, panting from the cold and outrage, fighting the urge to punch him, just once, just so he'd get the message to back off.
"You're always going to be my business," Jarod snapped, crossing his arms. "How is caring about how you're doing, and who you're seeing, a bad thing? I wasn't trying to ruin your date, it just--"
"Happened," Parker finished for him, gesturing in defeat.
"You would have done the same thing." Jarod stuck out his jaw, leaning in a little bit when she didn't answer. "You would have done a background check on anyone who I was seeing if I wouldn't give you details, and you were worried. Then you would have checked them out personally."
And the hell of it was, she couldn't be sure he was wrong.
"You could have just asked." She pushed one hand through her hair. "You could have asked first. Instead of pumping my roommates for information and then sneaking around. I would have told you more about him, if you'd insisted."
Jarod uncrossed his arms, his posture relaxing as she calmed down. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I just... you don't have the best track record."
Which lit the fuse on her cooling temper again. "Careful, Jarod. Thin ice. Very, very thin ice."
"It's not like I'm wrong!" Jarod spread his arms in helplessness, and Parker batted at one, gritting her teeth. "You're always going to have to be extra-careful because of the Centre, in case some guy has an ulterior motive. And sometimes when it comes to men, you're not. You get impulsive, and just react--"
"Don't you dare lecture me on my dating choices," Parker seethed. "Or the risks I'm taking. I'm the one doing background checks on any guy I hook up with before anything happens. I'm the one who's checking her room for bugs because I'm actually staying somewhere long enough for them to be planted. I'm the one compartmentalizing her entire life so none of my friends here have the slightest suspicion about what I'm going to do for a living when I go to work for Daddy. You don't get to second-guess all that when you're not even here."
She stopped, gulped, watching the steam from their breath rise in the night air.
Jarod was giving her that look again, half-pity, half-exasperation, the one he always wore when they discussed her future plans for working covertly at the Centre.
"Then why do it?" He asked, his voice gentle.
"Which part? Date, or work for Daddy?" Parker said, keeping her tone flippant. She shoved her hands in her pockets, and turned down the pebble walkway for Dolphin Quad. "You know all my reasons. And you didn't expect me to turn into a nun, did you?"
"Hardly." Jarod snorted, then turned on his heel, matching his stride to hers. "But you wouldn't have to be so careful, if you weren't going to be an employee of the Centre. Especially the kind of employee you're going to be."
"Are you going to quit trying to find your parents?" Parker said abruptly. "Quit trying to fix people's lives whenever you can?"
"What kind of a... no. You know that."
"Then just stop questioning my choices. The work ones, and the romantic ones. I'm not interfering with your pursuits. You don't get to judge mine."
"Because you say so?"
"Exactly."
They were silent the rest of the way to the Quad, and Jarod leaned against the wall as she dug out her keys, frowning at his feet. "You could just date one guy," he suggested very tentatively, it seemed to her. "Someone you could trust to stick around. Handle what you're doing."
"Yeah, right." Parker snorted. "And I would do that why?"
Jarod gave her a surprised glance, then sardonically said, "It would definitely cut down on the background checks, don't you think?"
"Not. Worth it." The key finally turned, and she pushed the door to the Hall open, debated slamming it in his face, then shrugged angrily and held it for him. "I have too much to do. And you know that any guy I was really serious about would just be a hostage for the Centre."
Jarod ducked inside, following her up the stairs as she stomped up the flights to her suite. "Then I reserve the right to investigate any guy you get involved with. Just in case you miss something."
"You-- agh! Gah, there are no words for you!" Parker stopped on the stairs, turning around and blocking his way, eyes on the same level for once, with her a step above him. "Why the hell would I miss anything? Why the hell wouldn't I be as careful as possible?"
"I don't know. I don't pretend I know how your mind works in the romantic arena," Jarod retorted. "Because from what I can see, sometimes it just doesn't."
Which got him a glancing kick in the shin with a pointy-toed boot. "Ow!"
"You deserved that," Parker informed him, turning to stomp back up the stairs again. "'I don't pretend I know how your mind works'-- Pretend this, you jerk. Pretend that I don't give a damn about your opinion of who I date. Work from reality, that'll make it easier for you."
"Reality? Fine, let's talk reality. How long have you ever gone without dating someone?" Jarod demanded, limping slightly but still keeping up. "A month? A couple weeks? It's a weakness. Something about you that's predictable, that they can use. You want to avoid the Centre knowing too much about your life? You'll have to be alone sometimes."
"I can go months without dating," Parker snarled. "And have, damnit." Maybe two months was her upper limit the last few years. She'd never had the motivation to just stick it out alone. But she could if she had to. "And have. After Weiss. After you." Which was getting a little too close to the raw edge there, so she ducked her head, searching for the key to her suite. "I like men and cigarettes and alcohol, but I don't need any of them. Your interfering isn't going to make it easier."
"You got involved with Jack again, after I left. * And you grabbed onto that Russian this summer--"
"Casimir was a mistake, but that was over two months after Weiss was gone. And he'll come in handy someday, I think." Parker frowned at Jarod. "And I did not get involved with Jack. Not like that. ** I didn't date anyone until Seely, months after we broke up."
"You didn't--" Jarod paused, and clenched his jaw a moment, smirking to himself, not looking happy. "No. You didn't."
"Jarod?" Parker raised her eyebrows, wondering what was going on in his head. "What are you thinking?"
He gave her a piercing look, then smiled, one of his out-of-the-blue real smiles, not the smirking. "Nothing. Doesn't matter now."
"Right." Parker pushed the door to her suite open, and paused. "Look. I know you meant well. You always do. But--" How the hell to put this, without being harsh, or setting off another round of fighting. "What happens with my boyfriends, the guys I know, that's mine. At least for now. It's got nothing to do with the Centre, or you, or anyone else." She swallowed. "Sometimes it feels like the only thing that's completely mine. Do you understand that?"
He was silent, studying her, then finally nodded.
Parker relaxed, closing her eyes. "Then please, please don't spy on me like that again. I get why you worry, and I promise I'm careful. But for the sake of my sanity and your continued good health, do not push me. Okay?"
"Okay," Jarod whispered.
Parker dropped her head forward, and leaned it on the doorjamb. Wondered how close he'd stick to the letter of that promise, and then shook her head, letting it go. "Okay." She straightened. "Cocoa before you leave for your hotel?"
"Lukas won't mind?" He was teasing her this time, smirking a little bit, one arm going up automatically to defend himself. "He won't try to sue me for alienation of caffienation, or anything else?"
"Shut up." Parker pushed him into her suite, smirking. "Or I'll start asking about your love life."
[nfi, nfb, ooc = <3]
"Wednesday. Ethics, with Doherty. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. But we could go out for a drink on Thursday, after you're done?" Lukas grinned and shook his head at her chip-swiping. "You could stay over, if you like. Paul and Denis will have gone home already, they're both done with their exams by then."
"Hmmmm." Parker gave him a playful look. "Should I bring pajamas? Or can I borrow yours?"
"Oh, you can absolutely wear mine," Lukas said seriously. "I was planning on wearing my robes to bed every night over break in celebration of my victory over my Criminal Justice Final."
"You realize there are about five hundred innuendos I could make right here. Starting with the briefs and moving on." Parker smirked. "Hmmmm...." She was working on an even more clever comeback when she froze, staring across the bar. The back of a familiar head was attached to a familiar body, leaning against one corner. "I don't believe it."
"What?"
"No, don't--" Don't look, Parker had been about to say, but by then, of course, it was too late. Jarod had caught her eye, frozen, then shifted into smiling and heading across the pub to them.
"Parker? I didn't know this was where you were having your date." Jarod gave Lukas his wide, earnest, aw-shucks-I'm-just-a-harmless-dork smile, and Parker mentally beat her head against the table, being unable to do so in reality. "Hi, you must be Lukas. I'm Jay, I'm an old friend of Parker's."
"Lukas Silver. Please, sit down." Lukas gave Jarod a cordial smile, and pointed to one of the chairs, having no idea what he was in for. Parker brushed her hair back from her face to conceal the death-glare she was giving Jarod as he took Lukas up on the invitation. "Parker didn't mention that she had any friends visiting." He gave her a blandly inquiring look, one that she knew he'd practiced on the moot courts that semester, when he thought he'd caught a contradiction in the evidence.
Parker gave him an equally mild and bland look back. "Didn't I? Hunh. Well. He's staying in London this week, doing research. I haven't seen as much of him as I would have liked while he's been here."
Quit smirking, she tried to send to Jarod via telepathy. Pity that wasn't one of his skills. And he'd be catching hell now if only it were one of hers.
"I didn't want to interrupt Parker's Exam Week too much, but I couldn't resist seeing how she was doing her first semester at Oxford." Jarod tried to sneak a chip off Parker's plate, and she whapped the back of his hand for it. Grinning, he turned back to Lukas. "I'm only here a week, unfortunately, so staying in London was easier on her."
Parker gave him a look of disdain while Lukas dryly said, "Really. How thoughtful of you."
A purely predatory grin of amusement stole over Jarod's face. "Really. Anything to keep Parker happy." He grinned at her again. "And in the interests of that, I'll be going now. She's about ready to kill me for butting in."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" she drawled.
"The fingernail tapping. Always a giveaway." He nodded to Lukas as he got to his feet. "Nice talking to you. Maybe I'll run into you again later this week."
"Maybe. Enjoy your stay here at Oxford," Lukas said, nodding back.
"See you later, Parker." Jarod tipped her a wink before melting back into the crowd, and Parker examined her nails in lieu of throwing her drink at the back of his head.
"Seems like a nice enough bloke. Albeit a bit protective." Lukas took a pull on his beer, then casually asked, "How long did you two date?"
Parker narrowed her eyes at him, and resisted dumping her plate of chips in his lap.
Storming back up the pathway to her dorm, Parker was muttering under her breath when Jarod melted out of the shadows to pace her. "Date not go well?"
"You!" She stopped and poked a finger in his chest. "You did that on purpose. You crashed my date to mess with Lukas and then took off like, like, James Bund! What the hell is your problem?"
"Parker, calm down." Jarod made placating motions with his hands, backing up the path in front of her, boots crunching in the snow. If she pushed him just a liiiittle bit, he might fall on his ass. "I didn't intentionally crash your date. I just wanted to see what he looked like, and what he was like around you. I didn't mean for you to spot me."
"You were spying on me! How is that more okay?" She shoved at him with both hands, and he continued to retreat, this time with a warning glance that didn't do anything to cool her temper. "I specifically told you I didn't want you to meet him! I told you it was none of your business! Then you butted in, and I had to give Lukas a lot of half-truths about our relationship, and he knew I was lying about something, and damnit, Jarod, what were you trying to do?" She stopped in the middle of the path, panting from the cold and outrage, fighting the urge to punch him, just once, just so he'd get the message to back off.
"You're always going to be my business," Jarod snapped, crossing his arms. "How is caring about how you're doing, and who you're seeing, a bad thing? I wasn't trying to ruin your date, it just--"
"Happened," Parker finished for him, gesturing in defeat.
"You would have done the same thing." Jarod stuck out his jaw, leaning in a little bit when she didn't answer. "You would have done a background check on anyone who I was seeing if I wouldn't give you details, and you were worried. Then you would have checked them out personally."
And the hell of it was, she couldn't be sure he was wrong.
"You could have just asked." She pushed one hand through her hair. "You could have asked first. Instead of pumping my roommates for information and then sneaking around. I would have told you more about him, if you'd insisted."
Jarod uncrossed his arms, his posture relaxing as she calmed down. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I just... you don't have the best track record."
Which lit the fuse on her cooling temper again. "Careful, Jarod. Thin ice. Very, very thin ice."
"It's not like I'm wrong!" Jarod spread his arms in helplessness, and Parker batted at one, gritting her teeth. "You're always going to have to be extra-careful because of the Centre, in case some guy has an ulterior motive. And sometimes when it comes to men, you're not. You get impulsive, and just react--"
"Don't you dare lecture me on my dating choices," Parker seethed. "Or the risks I'm taking. I'm the one doing background checks on any guy I hook up with before anything happens. I'm the one who's checking her room for bugs because I'm actually staying somewhere long enough for them to be planted. I'm the one compartmentalizing her entire life so none of my friends here have the slightest suspicion about what I'm going to do for a living when I go to work for Daddy. You don't get to second-guess all that when you're not even here."
She stopped, gulped, watching the steam from their breath rise in the night air.
Jarod was giving her that look again, half-pity, half-exasperation, the one he always wore when they discussed her future plans for working covertly at the Centre.
"Then why do it?" He asked, his voice gentle.
"Which part? Date, or work for Daddy?" Parker said, keeping her tone flippant. She shoved her hands in her pockets, and turned down the pebble walkway for Dolphin Quad. "You know all my reasons. And you didn't expect me to turn into a nun, did you?"
"Hardly." Jarod snorted, then turned on his heel, matching his stride to hers. "But you wouldn't have to be so careful, if you weren't going to be an employee of the Centre. Especially the kind of employee you're going to be."
"Are you going to quit trying to find your parents?" Parker said abruptly. "Quit trying to fix people's lives whenever you can?"
"What kind of a... no. You know that."
"Then just stop questioning my choices. The work ones, and the romantic ones. I'm not interfering with your pursuits. You don't get to judge mine."
"Because you say so?"
"Exactly."
They were silent the rest of the way to the Quad, and Jarod leaned against the wall as she dug out her keys, frowning at his feet. "You could just date one guy," he suggested very tentatively, it seemed to her. "Someone you could trust to stick around. Handle what you're doing."
"Yeah, right." Parker snorted. "And I would do that why?"
Jarod gave her a surprised glance, then sardonically said, "It would definitely cut down on the background checks, don't you think?"
"Not. Worth it." The key finally turned, and she pushed the door to the Hall open, debated slamming it in his face, then shrugged angrily and held it for him. "I have too much to do. And you know that any guy I was really serious about would just be a hostage for the Centre."
Jarod ducked inside, following her up the stairs as she stomped up the flights to her suite. "Then I reserve the right to investigate any guy you get involved with. Just in case you miss something."
"You-- agh! Gah, there are no words for you!" Parker stopped on the stairs, turning around and blocking his way, eyes on the same level for once, with her a step above him. "Why the hell would I miss anything? Why the hell wouldn't I be as careful as possible?"
"I don't know. I don't pretend I know how your mind works in the romantic arena," Jarod retorted. "Because from what I can see, sometimes it just doesn't."
Which got him a glancing kick in the shin with a pointy-toed boot. "Ow!"
"You deserved that," Parker informed him, turning to stomp back up the stairs again. "'I don't pretend I know how your mind works'-- Pretend this, you jerk. Pretend that I don't give a damn about your opinion of who I date. Work from reality, that'll make it easier for you."
"Reality? Fine, let's talk reality. How long have you ever gone without dating someone?" Jarod demanded, limping slightly but still keeping up. "A month? A couple weeks? It's a weakness. Something about you that's predictable, that they can use. You want to avoid the Centre knowing too much about your life? You'll have to be alone sometimes."
"I can go months without dating," Parker snarled. "And have, damnit." Maybe two months was her upper limit the last few years. She'd never had the motivation to just stick it out alone. But she could if she had to. "And have. After Weiss. After you." Which was getting a little too close to the raw edge there, so she ducked her head, searching for the key to her suite. "I like men and cigarettes and alcohol, but I don't need any of them. Your interfering isn't going to make it easier."
"You got involved with Jack again, after I left. * And you grabbed onto that Russian this summer--"
"Casimir was a mistake, but that was over two months after Weiss was gone. And he'll come in handy someday, I think." Parker frowned at Jarod. "And I did not get involved with Jack. Not like that. ** I didn't date anyone until Seely, months after we broke up."
"You didn't--" Jarod paused, and clenched his jaw a moment, smirking to himself, not looking happy. "No. You didn't."
"Jarod?" Parker raised her eyebrows, wondering what was going on in his head. "What are you thinking?"
He gave her a piercing look, then smiled, one of his out-of-the-blue real smiles, not the smirking. "Nothing. Doesn't matter now."
"Right." Parker pushed the door to her suite open, and paused. "Look. I know you meant well. You always do. But--" How the hell to put this, without being harsh, or setting off another round of fighting. "What happens with my boyfriends, the guys I know, that's mine. At least for now. It's got nothing to do with the Centre, or you, or anyone else." She swallowed. "Sometimes it feels like the only thing that's completely mine. Do you understand that?"
He was silent, studying her, then finally nodded.
Parker relaxed, closing her eyes. "Then please, please don't spy on me like that again. I get why you worry, and I promise I'm careful. But for the sake of my sanity and your continued good health, do not push me. Okay?"
"Okay," Jarod whispered.
Parker dropped her head forward, and leaned it on the doorjamb. Wondered how close he'd stick to the letter of that promise, and then shook her head, letting it go. "Okay." She straightened. "Cocoa before you leave for your hotel?"
"Lukas won't mind?" He was teasing her this time, smirking a little bit, one arm going up automatically to defend himself. "He won't try to sue me for alienation of caffienation, or anything else?"
"Shut up." Parker pushed him into her suite, smirking. "Or I'll start asking about your love life."
[nfi, nfb, ooc = <3]