Title: "Stuck" (1/1)

Author: Karen Redling

Email: kar328@yahoo.com

Rating: PG(mild swearing--less than I did while writing this)

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: All the characters and the Centre are the property of MTM and NBC Television. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes, and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended.

Summary: What happens when one of our modern conveniences goes awry.

Author's Note: While watching Season 3's "Homefront", and seeing Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle team up against the arms dealer in the gym, I wondered what the two of them would be like if they got along.

Thanks to Kat for her help in formatting the above statements, as well as her words of encouragement. A special thanks to Gilly for her help, suggestions(I used all of them) and especially her hand holding.

Feedback is welcome.(I think)

Miss Parker was in a hurry. She was due at a retirement party for a Centre worker, retiring after 50 years of service. She of course had no interest in going, but her father had insisted. And she didn't want to anger Daddy.

The Centre was virtually deserted. A few security guards and janitors were scattered throughout the many sublevels, doing whatever menial things the little people did.

Miss Parker hurried to the elevator. The elevator that haunted her dreams at night and even sometimes during the day. Shaking off the memories, Miss Parker quickened her pace. A potential lead on Jarod's whereabouts had turned into yet another dead end, causing this needless delay. "Damn you Jarod," she muttered as she saw the elevator doors begin to close. "Hold it!" she yelled to the form inside. The doors receded and Miss Parker entered. Barely grunting her thanks, she turned and looked at her fellow passenger.

{{Damn}} she thought, as she saw a familiar smirk and a raised eyebrow. The size of the elevator suddenly felt smaller. And the air suddenly felt somewhat thick.

"In a hurry sis?," asked Lyle.

"Don't call me that," she threw back. The elevator doors closed and they were on the move.

"Hey, I'm not thrilled with the idea either," Lyle said. "I finally meet a beautiful woman who has all the qualities I admire; arrogance, ruthlessness and ambition, and I end up being related to her. And twins, of all things."

"Careful," she warned. "I have a gun. I shot you once before and I'll do it again." Hands raised, Lyle grinned and backed up a step.

"Whatever you say."

A grating noise and a screech brought the elevator to a grinding halt, knocking them both off balance. The lights dimmed. "What the hell!?" both said simultaneously. Righting themselves, they looked around. Miss Parker began to pound on all the elevator buttons. "Come on," she yelled, "Move dammit!"

"Forget it sis," said Lyle. "Doesn't look like we're going anywhere."

"Shut up," she spat at him. "I will not be stuck in an elevator with you." The walls closed in on her even further as Miss Parker felt her heart speed up. ((I can't be stuck here with him. We've never been alone together.}}

"I don't think you have much choice," said Lyle. "We might as well get comfy," he said with a grin. "Could be here a-l-l night." He sat in one corner, took off his jacket and loosened his tie. Patting the floor beside him, he just looked at her and raised one eyebrow. Lyle was mildly amused at watching his usually unflappable sister become undone in front of him. ((Sister, he thought. I still can't get used to that idea. What a waste.}}

Miss Parker turned back to the elevator doors and pounded furiously. "Someone help us!" she shouted. She hit the alarm button, but whatever caused the malfunction also affected the alarm. It was a weak sound at best.

"Don't break a nail, Parker," said Lyle with a chuckle. "No one can hear us. Looks like we're going to miss the party."

Although he was unhappy with this situation, his pride refused to let his discomfort show. Miss Parker whirled and faced Lyle. "You don't understand. I can't be stuck here. Not *here* and not with *you*." She continued to pound on the door, knowing it was useless, but unwilling to admit it. This was the stuff her nightmares were made of. In her mind, Miss Parker could hear the echo of the gunshots that killed her mother. {{Momma, no!!}} The images flashed before her. She saw the body of her mother laying in this very elevator, still clutching the present she had bought for her daughter. She remembered the color and the smell of the blood. So much blood. Everywhere.

Eventually she stopped pounding. Resting her face against the coolness of the steel doors, she took some deep breaths and willed her emotions back under control. Back to the icy demeanor that had been a part of her life for so long. She was no longer that ten year old girl. She went to the corner of the elevator opposite from Lyle and sat down. "Happy?" she asked, sarcasm evident.

"Well, it could be worse,"said Lyle. "Think about it. Either of us could have been stuck in here with Mr. Raines." Miss Parker glared at him, but she had to agree. Miss Parker had nothing but hatred for Mr. Raines. She was convinced he knew who killed her mother, if he himself had not played a role in it. His arrogance made her seethe with anger, and just his whole existence made her skin crawl. While she relished the chance to force a confession from him, the idea of being stuck in such a close proximity with him made her shudder.

Brother and sister sat in silence for a few minutes. "Tell me about her,"said Lyle in a quiet and serious voice.

"What?" said a startled Miss Parker, as she looked at this stranger, her brother.

"Our mother. I know this is where she died. I see the bullet hole in this wall everyday, but I know almost nothing about her. Our father won't answer my questions. Tell me about the woman who gave birth to me. To us," he corrected.

"I don't want to talk about her either," snapped Miss Parker. Lyle didn't press the issue and silence once again filled the room.

Images filled Miss Parker's mind. Images of the good times with her mother. Learning to play the piano, picnics under their favorite oak tree, shopping for new clothes, staying up late and watching old movies on television, and her favorite of all, just talking about everything under the sun, while they read "Little Women", the best book in the whole world. She had her mother for ten years. She knew the love and happiness that only a mother could give. She looked across at Lyle. He was denied that love, through no fault of his own. It could have easily been she who had been ripped from her mother's arms. A few bricks from the wall she had built around her crumbled, and she began to speak. And Lyle listened.

"Mom was ..mom. She was so beautiful. She had long dark hair like silk. She used to let me braid her hair after she did mine. I loved to feel it's softness. Of course, I could never braid as well as she did, but she never complained." Feeling a little shy, Miss Parker stole a glance at Lyle. He was listening, his face a little wistful. She continued.

"Mom was smart and funny. We spent so much time together. She taught me to play the piano. 'Fox Minuet in G' was her favorite and I played that at my first recital, especially for her. I didn't know it would be the only recital she would hear me play in..." Her voice trailed off. Taking a deep breath, she went on.

"She had a real love for life. She loved music and art. She had a little studio in the house and spent hours and hours in there. I never got tired of watching her paint. She would paint some beautiful scenery and make up stories for me about the people who lived there. I used to wish we could live in those paintings. Silly, huh?" Miss Parker looked at Lyle.

"No," was all he replied with.

"She was my mother but she was my best friend. I told her all my secrets and she never told any of them to Daddy." Miss Parker stopped at the mention of her father, thinking of her life without her mother. A life that was more of an existence only, all the childhood happiness and joy replaced by emptiness and stoicism. Emotions have no place in the cruel world, her father used to say. Keep them under control or people will know you are weak, he would tell her. She listened and she obeyed. All too well.

Continuing on, Miss Parker said, "Everything good in my life ended the day she died. For a long time I though she was weak and that she had committed suicide. I hated her because she left me. But Ja-," she hesitated,"I was later given proof that she was murdered, shot down in cold blood...right here." She looked at the bullet hole in the wall. Then she looked Lyle straight in the eye. "I will not rest until I find the person responsible and make him pay. And then I will plug up this damned hole and show the world what kind of daughter Catherine Parker raised.I'll make Momma proud," she said, reverting back to the childhood name she hadn't used in years. Miss Parker let out a sigh and leaned her head back against the wall. She took a deep breath and once again looked at Lyle. "Is that what you wanted to hear?", she asked quietly, suddenly exhausted.

"Yes... thank you," was his answer. "I envy you, you know," he said. "You got to spend some time with her."

"Well, what about the Bowmans?" Miss Parker asked. "I met them when Jarod sent me to your class reunion." She smirked at the memory of that hick event. "Your mother has problems,but...she seemed to have loved her little Bobby. I know your father.."

"Don't talk about my father," interrupted Lyle. "He's rotting away in jail where he belongs. He got what he deserved. That man made growing up a hell on earth. Did you see the shed? Do you know what he did to me? What he turned me into? He and.." Lyle stopped short and looked away from Miss Parker.

"He and who? Who was the man from the adoption agency your moth- Mrs. Bowman told me about? Was it someone from the Centre?" Miss Parker asked. {{I can't believe I feel pity for him-he killed his best friend, faked his own death and framed his father}}

Lyle looked at her and simply said,"Who do you think?"

"Raines," said Miss Parker quietly. She added, "What did he do to you? How did he turn Bobby Bowman into Mr. Lyle?"

Lyle looked down at the floor. "I'll spare you all the gory details. I may have faked my death and framed my father for it, but Raines was the one ultimately responsible for killing Bobby Bowman." He looked at Miss Parker. "Raines created Mr. Lyle...me," he said.

Miss Parker looked at him, saying nothing, but somehow understanding it was circumstance, not choice that made Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle who they were. {{Are}}, she corrected to herself.

"What do you think," she hesitated, then went on. "What do you think we would have been like if the Centre didn't exist? If there were no Pretenders, no sim labs, no SL-27, no Raines..." her voice trailed off.

Pondering that question, Lyle shrugged. "Who knows? Probably we'd each be married, living in the suburbs with our 2.5 children, working 9-5 and going to PTA meetings." They both laughed at this ludicrous thought. The laughter stopped. "Who knows?" Lyle said again rather quietly, staring at the wall in front of him, lost in thought. "Who knows?"

Miss Parker gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, can you see me as President of the PTA? Or at a bake sale?" This made them both smile, however fleetingly. "Who knows?" Miss Parker echoed Lyle's words. They both turned and stared at the bullet hole in the wall. The bullet that had ended a young woman's life and changed the lives of two children forever.

~~~~~~~~~Three Hours Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney and Broots pried open the elevator doors with a crowbar. They and Mr. Parker looked at the scene inside. There in one corner, sat Miss Parker and Lyle, both asleep. Miss Parker's head was on his shoulder, and Lyle had one arm wrapped protectively around his sister's shoulder.

"What the hell?" exploded Mr. Parker. Startled, the two awoke, looked at the confused trio and then at each other.

They pulled apart immediately. "Daddy!" Miss Parker said, and threw herself into her father's arms, hugging him. "Thank God you're here. We've been stuck in this hell and ... " she stopped unsure of what to say next. Not at all like the Miss Parker who entered the elevator several hours before.

"Yeah, hell," Lyle agreed and tried to sound like he meant it. "What took you so long?"

"No one knew where you were," said Sydney. "We searched your offices and many of the sub-levels until Broots finally realized this elevator wasn't working."

"Took you long enough," Miss Parker replied sarcastically. Broots just looked down and said nothing.

"Ok now, it's late. Come on son, I need to discuss our plans for the meeting tomorrow before we leave. Angel, get some sleep. You look terrible." Mr. Parker gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and turned toward the door. Lyle followed him silently. Miss Parker watched them go. At the door, Lyle turned and gave his sister a wink. Miss Parker tried to suppress a smile, but was unsuccessful. "What are you staring at?" she demanded of Broots and Sydney, who were looking at her in confusion.

"Nothing Parker," said Sydney who knew better than to pursue this topic. "Er, I ...er," Broots stammered and then fell silent.

"Good," she said and gave each of them a Miss Parker glare. "Let's get out of here. And get that damned elevator fixed first thing in the morning." She strode briskly to the door, the two men following.

"Ding," chimed the elevator, power suddenly restored. The doors closed, locking in new secrets along with those from long ago. The elevator continued on its journey....

The End