fandomhighdorms | Gun Range, Tuesday evening

Jack had been summoned. And so he was here. But having to face Parker? On the gun range? When he had, despite what he'd said to Jarod, played her? Really didn't seem like a good idea.

If she shoots you, at least you made up with Cedric and Sam before you got killed. The thought made him grimace, and he leaned against the wall and waited for her to arrive.

Parker came out from the area by the weapons locker, and studied him carefully, keeping in mind what Isabel had said. "You up for this?" she asked, keeping her voice neutral.

"If you want me to?" he replied, studying her while trying not to. Trying to figure out just how angry she was. Kind of wishing she'd just yell at him and get it over with. "Then yeah, I am"

"Good. Take this. And these." Parker gave him a 9mm and ear and eye protection, then turned and walked toward one of the alleys. "We'll talk after you've shot the round, okay?"

Jack accepted them wordlessly, and got ready to shoot, fumbling a bit as he tried to watch her out of the corner of his eye. A quick mental shake, and he made himself focus, on the gun and the target. But his concentration was off, and as he started to shoot he could feel that it wasn't working.

He kept firing, emptying the clip, wondering if Sam would take over teaching him if Parker was ready to wash her hands of him completely. When he was finished, he carefully set the gun down and scraped his nail across the ridges in the grip, waiting for Parker.

"Jesus, Jack." Parker sighed and hit the return button, then took off her ear protection. "I'm not going to kill you. Even though you deserve it, at least a little." She looked at the target, then held it out for him; the bullets had hit everywhere, no kind of order at all. "This is what happens when people get upset while handling guns. Now. Aren't you glad I had the safety on, all of Sunday morning?"

"Yes?" he said, tilting his head a little so he could watch her out of the corner of his eye. "I'd hate for you to have shot me accidentally."

"Trust me, if I were going to shoot you, it would've been on purpose." She tilted the goggles up on her head, and reached out, putting a hand around his neck so it rested on his nape. "Sam and Ced gave you a hard time, didn't they?"

"Yeah. They did. I deserved it though." Jack pulled his safety gear off and dropped it on the bench, pressing back into her hand. "It was rough, Parker. It wasn't supposed to be like that."

"So I guessed." Parker squeezed his neck for a second, then gave it a little shake without letting go. "You idiot." She shook her head a moment, then asked, very quietly, "Why did you have to play me, damnit?"

He hadn't thought anything could hurt worse than Sunday morning, but this was coming close. "I'm sorry, Parker." It was almost a whisper. "I didn't know what else to do."

Parker was quiet, watching him, then conversationally said, "I know you trust me. And I know you know I could've helped. So that leaves option three, you thought you could handle it on your own." She took a step closer and squeezed his neck again. "Put me in the same place. What would you do, if I'd pulled that stunt? Hmm? And gotten Sam to help me? Or Cedric?"

"You'd never do that. You're not that stupid," Jack said with absolute certainty. "But it wasn't just that I thought I could handle it myself. You know I have a very highly developed sense of self-preservation." He finally lifted his head and looked directly at her, meeting her eyes. "Do you really think I would have gone running into potential danger alone if there wasn't a good reason?" He stopped and hastily added, "Or what I thought was a good reason."

"Let's hear it. I want to know why you lied to me, made me think you already *knew* who you were meeting, and then put me in a position to tell three people who care about you how dumb you'd been."

Parker wanted - deserved - explanations, not apologies, so he wouldn't, not yet. "There were two reasons," he said carefully. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt, just to help me, and..." Jack stopped, was silent for several long minutes while he tried to figure out how to explain it so she'd understand.

"You know how much not knowing about those six weeks was eating at me," he finally said. "I think you're the only one who did. And you know the sort of things I'm capable of, like no one else does." Walking away from her, he took a seat on a bench and leaned against the wall, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. "I knew - and I was wrong as it turns out - that whatever I'd done was pretty bad. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, I had a chance to find out. But it was my chance. Whatever I found out was going to be just for me. I didn't want anyone - not even you - to know. And that meant going alone."

"I get the first one. I know it's something I can't argue about, you either believe me, or you don't, so just understand that you get a bye on 'protecting' me just this once, Jack. But I don't *ever* want you to do it again." Parker shook her head. "Dumb. Sweet, yes. But ohh, dumb. But like I said, this time, this first time, you get a bye."

She walked over to sit beside him on the bench, not touching him except for one foot that she bumped against his, idly, like a metronome. "And you found out I was right. You didn't do anything." She raised her eyebrows at him. "I get wanting to know. For yourself. I don't get...." She closed her eyes. "I don't get playing me like that. I would've stayed back, Jack. Out of the way, so you could be private. Just followed, or, called for back-up, or...." She bit her lower lip. "I don't want to have to doubt you. I never did before. And the hell of it is, I don't now," she said in frustration. "When I should. When I should be questioning everything you say. Damnit, damnit..."

"I wasn't trying to protect you." He didn't know if this was going to make sense, but he had to try. "If anything, I was trying to protect myself." He grinned, but it was stark and cold. "Selfish, no matter what I'm doing," he said flatly. "I don't think I could have handled any of you getting hurt for my sake. Didn't want to risk what I had by letting anyone see what I was willing to do. Because you were right about the six weeks, Parker. But you know there's more than that in my past, things I do remember."

Jack watched her foot, half-mesmerised by the movement. "And I don't know. Maybe you should be. I can promise I'm not going to lie to you again, can tell you it hurt to do it, it hurt to say those things about Sam and Cedric. But how do you know?" A smile came and went, but it was still cold. "How do you know I'm not playing you right now? How do you know I haven't been all along?" He twisted his head to stare at her, face deliberately blank. "Because I could, you know that."

"Same thing. People who were important to you, yourself. The lines blur." She looked up. "Yes, I know. And I know the reasons why, too. Or at least some of them. Nothing you've done..." Parker looked away, and then very carefully said, "Nothing you've done to other people, to help yourself, will ever top Michael and what he did to me. Things you do when you're desperate aren't the same as actions done in cold blood. Even if they're for 'noble causes.'"

She looked at his face for a long minute, then said, "So maybe that's why I trust you, because I gave you all these chances to screw me over, just a little, when I was expecting it, when it would've just been one more thing to lick my wounds over, and you didn't take any of them. And I remember you with CJ, when no one else does, aside from her." Her lips quirked a little. "So in a very tiny way I know you better than you know yourself. You could be playing me." She closed her eyes, and said, "But damnit, Jack. In my life, you are one of the simple things. This weekend doesn't change that."

"And I'm not, Parker." Jack's face changed completely, and he turned towards her, eyes earnest and he held his hands out, palms up, fingers wide. "I'm not. I wouldn't have lied to you, except I didn't know what else to do. And I'm sorry. But," and he smiled, a genuine smile, open and almost confused, "the lines blur. I meant what I said to Sam, the four of you, you're more important to me than me. And I don't know how or why, but it's true. Anyone else would have been conned into going first, and reporting back, while I sat safe and warm in my dorm room. Probably with two or three people for company."

Shaking his head, he dropped his hands to rest on his knees, and watched her in silence. Considering the rest of what she had said. "Tell me about Michael."

Parker cocked an eyebrow. "You may have gotten a phone out of Jarod, but he wouldn't have gone first. He would've watched your back, if you'd asked, though." She closed her eyes, and rubbed at the space between her eyebrows. "And I am going to believe you with the caveat, that oh look, you didn't do that. You didn't find any of your other playmates and talk them into going first. Not saying you couldn't. Or wouldn't. But the incentive would have to be even higher than this weekend, for you to use and dupe someone like that again. Think about that."

And when he mentioned Michael, she winced. "Jack--" And oh look, she's blushing. Not a happy color, either.

"Yeah, I guess I could have. I didn't think of it, though." He grimaced and waved a hand in dismissal. "Jarod's yours. And as long as he's yours, he gets the same level of consideration that you do. Which is why all I asked him for was a phone," he said, staring at her flushed face.

"Parker?" Jack could no more have kept his hands to himself than he could have sprouted wings and flown, so he scooted closer and rested a hand on her knee. "Was it that bad?"

"Good. So do me a favor, and don't make me hurt you for anything like that ever in the future." She took a deep breath. "Jarod would win. I'm sorry, Jack. But he would."

Parker looked away, and said in a flat voice, "Michael was humiliating. It still is. I got played from day one, and I set myself up for it. That's the part that kills me."

"I believe you. I'm not stupid, and under that sweet exterior is something a little bit scary. It wouldn't be easy, though." Expressionless, Jack stared at nothing for a minute, then pulled himself back and smiled as gently as he could. "Not that it matters. It's never going to come up. Tell me what happened."

Parker decided that there had better never *ever* be a Jack vs. Jarod face-off, because she really didn't need to be picking up the body parts that would be left over. Jarod would win, but it would so not be pretty.

"I picked him out." Her voice was full of self-disgust. "That first weekend. I wanted a perfect boyfriend, and he looked like I ordered him from Christie's. Smart. Quiet. French. Handsome. Reserved." She worried at her lower lip. "I met Rob Gordon the same day. Thirty-five. Owned a record store here in town, it's closed now. Sexy, a little pretentious. Pretty much turned into a puppy the second I stole his cigarette." She swallowed. "Rob for sex. Michael for everything else. That was the plan. That's how I made it easy for him."

"Parker..." Jack sighed and slumped back against the wall, picturing it far too easily. "He was perfect, everything someone would want. Because that's what he made himself into, right? And you wanted him for more than just sex. You were looking for, what, a companion? A friend? A lover? Someone who'd look good with you, but someone you could trust," he decided. The hand on her knee tightened gently and he asked quietly, "What did he want you for?"

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