Well, here it is, "Their Cross To Bear" The third in my series. I hope you're going to enjoy this as much as you have the other stories, and if you're just beginning to read, there's a summary of the first two in my profile, along with pictures of all the characters. I will be adding a short summary for this story in time.
Replies –
Ravenix – Well, I don't know how long with series is going to run for, probably until I feel it's the right time to end it. I dunno. And I thought Thor would a surprise! I'm glad you liked it, and you'll need to wait and see about Emma ;) Thanks for taking the time to review!
Princess Pinky – Lol, yeah. Pam really should know better than to try and run away without a goodbye. And thanks, I try to make the descriptions as real as possible, as they're usually important to the scene. I thought a pentacle would be a good thing to do because it's a little bit of 'real' magic if you know what I mean. And oh yes, you'll be seeing more of Lorna and Emma. ;)
Fanmania – Thanks, and yeah I figured that the Paige/Aidan chapter would be most people's favourite. Lol.
ColePhoebe4eva – Thanks! I had to do something great to finish the story, didn't I? Lol, I'm glad you liked it!
Prince Halliwell – Oh, Phoebe will definitely feel the worst about being made to forget about Connor. Heh, you actually won't have to wait that long for Emma :P and you'll find out about Piper story progresses.
Chyp – Thanks, and your welcome, lol.
Phoebe turner – Yeah, the entire world was made to forget about him, but that won't last… hopefully. Thanks for reviewing!
Lindsay – That's okay, school's been hell for me too. Thanks for taking the time to review!
Character's Ages and Powers:
Piper Halliwell Wyatt – 36 - Temporal Stasis, Molecular Acceleration, Imperviousness, Intangibility, Invisibility, Geokinesis
Phoebe Halliwell Mulwray – 34 – Clairvoyance, Levitation, Empathy, Telepathy, Telempathy, Psionic Blasts
Paige Matthews – 32 – Orbing, Telekinetic Orbing, Healing, Telekinesis, Astral Projection, MDS (Multi-Dimensional Sight).
Brennan Mulwray –36 – Electrokinesis, Jet Propulsion, Electrical Field Generation.
Leo Wyatt – Age Unknown – Orbing, Electrokinesis, Healing, Self-Healing, Levitating, Various Divine Abilities.
Emma DeLauro – 31 – Unknown
Pamela Walker – 20 – Advanced Telekinesis, Molecular Acceleration, Cryokinesis, Clairvoyance, Possession, Astral Pulsation.
Wyatt Matthew Halliwell – 8 – Orbing, Thought Projection, Healing, Telekinetic Orbing, Full Extent Of Powers Unknown.
Christopher Perry Halliwell – 6 – Orbing, Telekinesis, Molecular Acceleration.
Connor Halliwell Mulwray – 3 years 6 months – Electrical Field Generation, Electrokinesis, Full Extent Of Powers Unknown.
Melinda Parker Matthews – 2 years 9 months – Orbing, Telekinetic Orbing, Orb Shield Generation.
Emma Parker Matthews – 2 years 9 months – Splashing, Telekinetic Splashing, Water Shield Generation.
Lorna Thorughway – 2 years 3 months – Full Extent Of Powers Unknown.
Here Once More…
Phoebe stared blankly out towards the dark and dank street she lived on. Her view was being impaired by the drops of water that would occasionally drip down the glass from the lashings of rain that the window had had to endure over the past two weeks. This weather was strange, as they were supposed to be on the brink of summer, so that fact that it had been depressingly wet for the past few weeks was starting to make people panic about global warming, which Phoebe thought was completely moronic. The weather is unpredictable, they just couldn't handle it.
It had been around a year since Brennan had first left with Doctors Without Borders. Phoebe had seen him a total of six times during the twelve months, and it was usually for around two weeks at a time. It may have been enough for some people, but for Phoebe, who had to come home to this big empty house every night, it wasn't. She couldn't even remember why they had gone for much a big house when it was just the two of them, they had tried to have children, but to no avail. Phoebe figured it was probably better this way, as it would have been hard to cope with a child without Brennan here.
Her eyes wondered along the sidewalk on the other side of the road before something caught her attention. There was a small figure sitting on the curb. Phoebe squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look. From she could tell, the small boy seemed to be hugging his knees, his facial features were completely covered by the messy black hair that stuck to his scalp in the rain. Anger began to make her heart pound faster, what kind of sick parent would leave their child outside on a day like this?
In an instant, she had flung on her jacket and had grabbed a thick blanket from the towel closet upstairs. She opened the front door, rain bouncing off the brick path that led through the front lawn and into the house. Having a quick look around, Phoebe crossed the road, a pang of sympathy hitting her heart when she saw the boy was rocking back and forth.
"Hey, sweetie. Where are your Mommy and Daddy?" She asked kindly, kneeling down and going to put the blanket over the boy's shoulders. But as soon as the blanket was about to make contact, the child just vanished, letting the baby blue cover fall to the wet sidewalk. "What the…" She was about to inspect further, when she noticed Mrs. Hunter staring at her from across the street, reluctantly walking the dog her son had dumped on her while he took his family to Cuba for a vacation. He had wanted to get away from the rain apparently, and being one of best lawyers in the city, he could easily just up and go at any time.
Phoebe made a smile to the woman who had just saw her seemingly talk to herself, before stuffing the blanket under her arm and walking hurriedly back to the house, thoroughly confused by the situation and not hearing the small whimper in the wind.
"Mommy…"
Pamela groaned, hitting her head off the apartment door as she closed it. "I hate men." She announced to her roommate Jordann, who was sitting on the couch, flicking through channels on the television while licking what was left of mint ice cream off her fingers. The hare feral turned out, moving a strand of her blonde-brown hair from her eyes as she smirked at Pamela smacking her head off the door.
"I take it you had a bad date?" She asked, leaping over the back of the sofa and folding her arms as her friend turned around. Jordann lent on the back of the couch, ready for the rant that was undoubtedly about to erupt.
"My date?" She repeated with a wry chuckle, "Ugh, he got way too busy with his hands, so I pulled the cramps card and sent him packing. I swear to God, the men in this damn city must be in heat at this time of year. My ass got pinched three times on the way out of my Media Ethics lecture yesterday, I'm sure one of them was even the professor!"
"Good thing he doesn't teach Ethics in the Work Place, then he'd be really bad at his job." Jordann quipped, walking across to the open plan kitchen with an empty carton of ice cream in her head. She put her foot down on the pedal; making the trash can lid flip up and allow her to drop the rubbish in.
"Cram it, Jord." Pamela snapped, before throwing her purse to the sofa and sighing, "Listen, that last thing I want to do on a Friday night is sit and do one of many essays I have due next week…" She droned bitterly, before her face brightened, "Why don't we just do what we always do every time one of us has a bad date?"
"Do tequila shots on the roof and bitch about the gaping maw of ass that is our love lives?" Jordann inquired with a frown, cocking her head and reminding Pamela of her Aunt Piper with that one movement.
"Actually, I was thinking we could eat everything in sight and watch horrific re-runs of 'Beverly Hills 90210', but your idea is better and involves me dulling the pain of this evening through alcohol…" Her face fell all of a sudden, "But didn't we drain every drop at the end of year party at the start of the summer?"
"Aw… crap, we did." Jordann said in an equally saddened tone, before perking up, "Okay, I'll nip to the store across the street and get some. I'll meet you on the roof." She grabbed a ten dollar bill from a glass bowl on the counter that was filled with a considerable amount of money. Both the young women contributed to this amount so that they could pay for groceries, rent, and various bills.
"Alright, I'm gonna get out of this outfit. It reeks of perv." Pamela announced as she walked down the hallway that led to the rest of the spacious apartment.
She opened the door to her room, which was bathed in a soft inviting glow as a dim light shone on her nightstand. Luckily for Pamela, she had managed to get the bedroom that was at the front of building, granting her a spectacular view of the beautiful city that she had lived within the past year, which, at this point in time, was an intricate maze of moving lights, broken only by the white, blue and red lights that shone proudly on the Empire State Building..
She never would have been able to get such a nice place to stay if it hadn't been for Cassy, as this apartment was actually part of the mutant underground. It had been initially designed for younger mutants that needed to be close to schools to get their education, but Adam realized that most of the mutants that Genomex created were now in their twenties or thirties and had no need to be close to the university. There were a few who did need protection, however. Jordann was a prime example, as her mother had passed her powers onto her; Pamela just took up room that would be wasted if she didn't live there.
Silently, the weary witch grabbed her pajamas from a drawer and began to change, offering a small smile to the picture of her little cousins that stood upon her chest of drawers, Wyatt, Chris, the twins, and Lorna, each of whom had grown immensely since the picture had been taken. Little did Pamela know that there was one missing, one that had been missing for a long time, one that should have been in that photo, and that one precious life was something she didn't even realize was gone
"Aw… Dammit…" Piper cursed lowly, staring up at the dark storm cloud filled sky and grimacing. She let out a more colourful curse word as the brown paper bag fell from her grasp as she tried to open out her umbrella, silently wishing she had asked for plastic bags.
Luckily, the tiles underneath the shop's outer canopy weren't wet from the rain, so Piper was able to retrieve the various items that had fallen from the bag without them being damaged or dirty. Letting out a yelp, the witch threw out her hands, freezing the rude man who had been standing behind her in the queue. He was about to lay a footprint into one of the roots of ginger that Piper had purchased. She shot her hand out, grabbing the beige ingredient and shoving it back into the paper bag.
Once she had recovered everything, Piper went back to opening her umbrella, shaking it vigorously on the tiled entrance and soaking the floor as water flew from the material. She swung the umbrella merrily onto her shoulder and walked off, unfreezing the man and not hearing him yelp with pain as he slipped and fell on the wet tiles that she had created.
Piper huffed as her cell phone began to ring shrilly and vibrate within her jacket, tickling her abdomen and making her smile. The juggling commenced yet again, as she held the handle of her umbrella within the crook between her neck and shoulder before delving into her pocket and yanking out her cell phone. "What?" She snapped rudely into the receiver, trying to make sure her umbrella didn't get caught in the next gust of wind.
"It's always such a pleasure talking to you, I wonder why I don't call you more often." Paige sassily retorted on the other end of the line, knowing exactly how to get under her eldest sister's skin.
"Hold that thought." Piper replied, planting the paper bag on the soaking hood of her car, not caring that the items at the bottom of the bag were probably ruined now. She quickly closed her umbrella and threw it into the back seat as soon as she opened the door, before grabbing the grocery bag and stuffing it onto the passenger seat before finally getting herself into the vehicle.
"Can I talk now?" Paige's amplified voice came through the phone after Piper had placed it in the hands free device.
"Fire away!" Piper said enthusiastically, reaching into the back seat for her purse and pulling down the mirror from the roof. She decided to check her make-up while her younger sister talked, as Piper didn't feel confident driving on a wet day while trying to concentrate on a conversation with Paige at the same time.
"I was calling to ask if there's anything you want us to bring to tonight's little gathering." Paige replied. There was a crackling noise before the witchlighter's muffled voice could be heard; she had obviously covered the receiver, "Melinda! Don't you dare draw on that sofa!" She ordered, making Piper smile at the thought of nieces causing trouble again.
"Um…" Piper pulled out a lipstick from her purse, twisting it up and applying it in front of the mirror. "Wine." She finally replied, "Wine is always a good thing, and I don't think we have any in house, so…"
"Okay then, wine- Emma! Put that down!" Paige snapped to her other daughter, before a muffled smash was heard along with a bark of irritation from Sandy, who, as always, was just looking to get some sleep. "Ugh! Do the terrible twos ever end? I swear to God, these little demons run circles around the Elvin nanny, around me… Aidan is the only one they actually behave for…"
"Honey, it'll all die down in a couple of months, trust me. Wyatt and Chris didn't really grow out of it until they were three! And you remember what a hell that was a live with. Mel and Emma are just very energetic." Piper explained in a sweetly patronizing tone, she wasn't the only one who knew how to annoy a sibling. "I'm just glad I won't have to go through it again."
There was a snort of laughter on the other end of the line, "Uh, s'cuse me, but are you forgetting about that little two year old redhead that happens to be in your care? Once Lorna starts up, I'll be the one who's laughing!"
Piper pursed her lips before grinning inanely with maternal pride, "I don't think so. Lorna's a little angel and you know it. The only time she was a complete nightmare was when Emma…" The witch trailed off, tucking the lipstick back in her purse. Even after eighteen months of it happening, it was still hard to talk about the demise of their friend.
"Well, I guess this is one thing that Phoebe doesn't have to endure. Makes you think that she's lucky, huh?" Paige made a pathetic attempt to change the subject.
This was a topic that saddened Piper even more, "To be honest, I think that she would love everything about being a mom, even the stuff that's made us want to orb our kids down to Purgatory for the day just to get some peace."
"At least we can be thankful that Brennan didn't get her pregnant then leave for months on end. Can you imagine the wreck that she would have been if he had done that?" The youngest Charmed One said with a hint of disgust. At first, she had supported Brennan's to join Doctors Without Borders, but as she noticed the decline in her sister's happiness, her support slowly began to wane.
Piper grinned at that remark, shaking her head and grabbing her car keys off the dashboard. She had thrown them up there as soon as entering the vehicle, "How quickly you forget, Missy Paige. You were in the very same position you just described, once upon a time, and did you see Phoebe treating Aidan like crap when he came back? In fact, the only one that did treat him like crap was you."
"With good reason, I-," Mischievous giggles were heard, before one of the twins shouted "Det doggy!" An angry sigh from Paige made the phone line crackle before she replied, "Ugh, Piper, I gotta go. Emma just splashed Sandy out onto the balcony in the pouring rain. I'll see you tonight."
"Okay." Piper replied with a smirk, "Good luck!" She hollered, before hanging up and turning her keys in the ignition, still smiling as she drove off when the sudden image of Paige having to wash Sandy entered her mind.
Pamela took in a relieved breath as she stepped out onto the roof. She was immediately met with the sounds of sirens, car honks, and just the sound of regular traffic on a busy New York Friday. The view from here was even better than the one she got from her bedroom. This was one of the many reasons Pamela loved to live in Manhattan, there was always something now to spot, a new restaurant, a new club, a new department store, a new billboard in Time Square, it was an ever-changing city.
She had lived here for a few years as a child when she was with the Walkers. Her time with them and her time with her blood family were probably the two happiest periods of her life, the times where she had felt safe and had not felt the need to always be watching her back. It was no way for someone to have to grow up, to have to fend for themselves on the streets half the time and spending the rest of the time robbing people just for some change.
The witch walked up the small staircase that led to a large silver funnel which was situated on a platform. Nor Pamela or Jordann had bothered to figure out what it was, they just assumed it was part of the air duct system and left it at that. Pamela's ears twitched, she could hear something. It sounded like the gentle strumming of someone playing a guitar. She walked around the funnel, the music getting louder as she did, before she found the source of the sound.
Pamela couldn't see his face. Whoever this man was he was crouched over the acoustic guitar, watching and making sure that his fingers were plucking the right strings. But it wasn't just the fact that he had his head bowed, shaggy brown hair hung over his eyes, concealing most of his appearance from the young woman that was watching him. Pamela was mesmerized by the calming music he was creating, and was slightly disappointed when it came to an end.
"It's rude to stare, you know." A deep voice said with an amused tone from under the thick mane of hair. The man looked up, and immediately Pamela was taken aback by the striking blue of his eyes, they almost seemed to glow under the curtain of hair. She could only imagine how bright they would if his hair wasn't in the way.
"Oh… I wasn't… I mean… I was just…" Pamela stuttered, her mouth opening and closing rapidly as for once she was speechless, "Alright, I have no alibi." She smiled, earning a boyish grin from the man as he went back to his guitar, "You play beautifully…" She added hoarsely, sitting down and attempting to hide the fact that she was in her pajamas.
"Thanks." He replied, deciding to just let his fingers glide across the strings instead of creating music, "You play an instrument?"
Pamela sneered to herself as she hesitated with an answer, "Um… I used to play the piano when I was a little girl. My foster mom would teach me every Sunday morning. But I gave it up."
"Shame on you." He replied, shaking his head in a manner of mock shame before going back to plucking at the strings of his guitar, running a hand through his shaggy hair and giving Pamela a glimpse of his eyes without any barriers in front of him. She had been right, they were so striking that she knew that he was the kind of person that was hard to keep eye contact with.
Pamela tapped her fingers off her knee, bowing her head in sorrow, "Well, after my foster mom died, I just didn't have the motivation or will to seek out other ways to learn, so…" She caught a look from him that swelled with regret about his previous comment, "It's okay, you didn't know. And you're right, I should've kept playing. It would have done my foster mom proud."
"What was her name?" The mystery man asked, now doing everything possible to avoid eye contact until the uncomfortable period caused by his callous had passed, "Did she play the piano for a living?"
Pamela frowned, curious, "Um… Yeah, she did, her name was Joanne Walker. How did you know she played the piano for a living?"
He smiled, "Because when I was little, around… seven or eight, my dad, who was a big hotshot business man at the time, he's retired now…" He quickly added in before going back to his story, "Anyway, he was always dragging me and my brother around the world, although New York was where we usually ended up staying. We would always stay in the same hotel, I think it's been demolished now, and in the hotel, there was this woman who would play the piano beautifully in the bar. She would always buy me and my brother a soda when we came down for lunch… And she told us to call her Jojo; she was a sort of motherly figure since my mom died when giving birth to me…"
The young woman smiled, memories of her deceased foster mother coming into her mind, "She would tell me and my foster brother to call her Jojo. I think it was because, although she loved us like her own, she wanted us to know that we came from somewhere else…"
He smiled back as Pamela shared that information, "I guess she did that with me for the same reason…"
The two sat in silence for a few moments, before Pamela suddenly let out a laugh, grinning, "Oh God, I'm Pamela by the way." She introduced herself, holding out her hand. The man grinned in return, taking her hand and opening his mouth, about to reveal his name, before Jordann's voice suddenly cut through the air sharply.
"Pam! You up here?"
"Yeah! I'm with-," She turned back to the man to ask his name. But before she had been moved her head back around, a gust of wind blew her hair into her eyes and by the time she had cleared her sight, he was, inexplicably, gone. "No one…" She finished her sentence, looking around wildly.
Jordann came around the funnel, grinning widely as she held a tall bottle of tequila and two shot glasses, "Ten bucks says that we'll be so hammered by the end of this little session that we'll fall down the stairs back into the building!" She said cheerfully, before noticing Pamela swirl her head around back and forth, "Are you having a stroke or something?"
The young woman swirled her head around, glaring at the hare feral, "No." She replied flatly, "There was a guy here… I was having…" She laughed wryly, "One of the nicest conversations I've had with a guy in ages…"
Jordann merely raised an eyebrow in response, "Um… Honey, when you start to hallucinate guys and have full blown conversations with them, it's time to get laid." She said in a condescending tone before plopping to the ground and twisting open the bottle, "You wanna go first? I've got lemons!" She announced, holding up a bag of lemon slices and holding up a shaker of salt.
Pamela sighed, finally giving up and holding out her shot glass, "Fill'er up!" She commanded, her mind beginning to wonder back to trying to figure out where her mystery man had gone, as she certainly hadn't dreamt him up like Jordann had suggested. She wasn't that desperate.
Well, she hoped she wasn't.
"Okay…" Paige began as she walked slowly into the kitchen, carrying quite a large stack of plates and bowls, "I think that's all of them, unless the guys took their desserts into the front room to watch the baseball highlights." She set the china down on the counter, wiping her hands together and sighing, "My God, we're pigs, how can four people go through so much food? Maybe it's a good thing Phoebe couldn't make it after all; there would have been nothing for her to eat."
"Actually, I predicted she'd pull a stunt like this…" Piper said smugly as she ran hot water into the sink, filling it so she could begin the clean up, "I've got some food in the oven that I can reheat for when she shows up, which should be any minute,"
The youngest Charmed One raised an eyebrow at her older sister as she jumped up to sit on the counter, grabbing a towel and drying off any wet dishes Piper handed to her, "You lost me at the word 'stunt'. What are you talking about?"
"Haven't you noticed that she's always found some sort of excuse to get out of anything that involves us all meeting as a family?" Piper asked quizzically, passing Paige a dish and looking out the window, where rain was still pelting against the glass in a vicious manner.
Her younger sister's brow creased in thought, "Um… Actually, yeah, like when she didn't show up at Wyatt's eighth birthday a few months ago. Well, she came when it was only me and you left."
"Exactly." Piper replied, "I mean, you remember the sadness you felt when you had to go back to that big apartment all alone when you were pregnant. I think that Phoebe's feeling the same thing."
"I don't think she's feeling anything right now… She's just empty." Paige answered bleakly, catching a glimpse of headlights from the window as a car came up the driveway slightly, "Hmm… Speak of the psionic." She smirked, moving the net curtain slightly just in time to see Phoebe running up the drive and head for the back door. As the middle Charmed One opened the door, a gust of wind blew through the room from the opening, disturbing a few of the pictures that Lorna had had been drawing at the table and making them flap about in the air.
"Phew! Sorry!" Phoebe replied meekly, closing the door and entering the kitchen. Piper noticed a flicker of relief on her sister's face when she saw both of her siblings. The eldest Halliwell immediately knew that Phoebe was glad to not be in the presence of two happy couples.
"You missed dinner." Piper greeted, drying her hands quickly with a towel and proceeding to try and catch Lorna's drawings, which were still flapping around. "But…" Her hand shot out, grabbing a picture that was supposed to be of her, Leo and the kids, and stuck it to the refrigerator with a smile, "… I've got some leftovers that I can heat up for you if you want."
Phoebe whipped her scarf off, draping it over a chair at the table before smiling, "Oh no, I'm fine. I'm really sorry for being late, deadlines and all!" She grinned kindly, not aware that her wisdom teeth were clearly exposed as she did. "Oh, you missed one." Phoebe announced, kneeling down and retrieving a picture from the ground, "Who are these people supposed to be?"
Piper quickly glanced at crayon drawing that her sister was holding up, "Um… That is you and Brennan, by the looks of the hair." She replied, pointing at the scribbles of black and brown crayon above the stick figures' heads.
Phoebe turned it back around as she could look at it, frowning at the third figure in the drawing, "Who's the kid standing in between us?" She asked casually, turning it to Piper once again, who merely shrugged.
"Dunno." Piper shrugged, not really paying attention anymore as she covered any leftovers in foil and shoved them into the refrigerator, "Maybe Lorna has some hopes for you and Brennan." She joked, smiling.
At this, the middle Charmed One let out a laugh, "Yeah, well, with my husband living in Pakistan almost all year round, my chances of having any kids are not so good." She sat down slowly at the table, looking at the picture, "Besides, this kid looks like a boy, and I didn't see a boy in my vision three years ago."
"Mommy!"
Phoebe suddenly felt her chest tighten with a heart wrenching pain, causing her to gasp in pain as a tidal wave of sorrow and fear crashed into her. But it wasn't her own; she was feeling someone else's emotions through her powers. It was so strong, so familiar that it almost reduced Phoebe to tears instantly as blood pounded in her ears from the intensity of the experience. She was grateful when the searing heat in her chest resided, but she was also angry at herself for not being able to bear it longer, as she had been so close to figuring out whatever had passed through her…
"Are you okay?" Paige immediately asked, jumping down from the counter to rush to her sister's aid. Piper sat down next to her little sister, taking her hand and trying to catch her eyes as they just looked down at the floor, trying to process what she had just experienced.
"Pheebs…?" The eldest Charmed One murmured, squeezing her sibling's hand reassuringly. Phoebe's head suddenly shot up, she flashed a grin at both of her sisters, tapping Piper's hand with her free one and making her smile widen even further before standing up, dragging Piper up with her and looking around.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Phoebe cautiously turned the doorknob, wincing at the groan the old door made as she slowly pushed it open. Remembering to step over the very first floorboard in the room as it was creaky; she took quite a large step in, avoiding the creaky wood beneath her feet. This had been her room for six years before joining Mutant X after all; she knew all the creaks and noises that went on within its walls.
It had changed drastically to how the middle Charmed One had once lived in it however, as it had stopped being a shrine to Emma's memory shortly after they vanquished Satanos, allowing room for belongings that Lorna could make her own memories with. The walls, once covered with extremely dated wallpaper, had now been painted with a fresh, clean looking lilac. Instead of the large oak dresser that Phoebe had once used to store everything she needed, there was a smaller white dresser. Paige had painted on its doors, painting half of a cartoon sun on one door, and painting half of a cartoon moon on the other.
This was just one sign of Lorna's peculiar maturity. She had packed away her toys into large storage boxes under her bed before going to sleep, which, for a child of two and three months, was a miracle all on itself. There was only one toy that Phoebe could see lying out. She assumed that it couldn't fit under the bed, as this doll house seemed to be quite large and yet again, was neat and tidy. Phoebe smiled, apart from the unnerving tidiness it was just a normal little girl's room.
She almost regretted what she was about to do, as she remembered the crankiness of Wyatt when Piper had woken him up during the night to take his temperature as a small child when he had the flu. He had nearly howled the house down, but something told the psionic that Lorna wasn't that kind of child.
Sitting down on the edge of the small bed, Phoebe was entranced by the spinning light on kiddy nightstand. It set a warm glow across the room, as the piece of plastic that spun around the bulb projected star shapes on lilac walls. It was just the sort of thing Phoebe expected from her sister to give Lorna on a miserable, stormy night like this. The nightlight would be sure calm down any child, since the stars, although surrounded by darkness, shine brightly in the sky, fighting away the inky black shadows that most children were afraid of.
Phoebe gently laid her hand on a slumbering Lorna's shoulder, hesitating for a few seconds before, as gently as she could, shaking the little redhead out of her sleep. Her tranquil green eyes fluttered open, balling one of her tiny fists and rubbing one of her eyes innocently. Lorna's bleary gaze set upon the woman that had become like an aunt to her.
"Hey, Lorny…" Phoebe whispered delicately, smiling at the little girl who had now sat up in her bed crossed her legs, narrowing her eyes at the middle Charmed One curiously.
"Auntie Pheeb, watcha doin' hewe? Pipew says that I shood be sleepin'." The little girl asked. Lorna was unbelievably intelligent for her age. She had picked up walking quickly, before moving onto learning words. It was only a few months after her first word that the tiny psionic has forming full coherent sentences.
Phoebe responded by tapping Lorna gently on the nose and smiling, "This is just our little secret, okay? And you have to go back to sleep straight after this, promise?" She asked firmly, staring into Lorna's eyes before earning a vigorous nod in response.
"Kay! Pwomise!"
The middle Charmed One grinned, before reaching into her back pocket and unfolding the piece of paper, revealing that it was the drawing of her, Brennan and the mystery child, "Honey… See the kid in the picture? Who is that?" She asked calmly, pointing to the smallest of the three stick figures.
Lorna's eyes widened in surprise before she giggled, "Dat's Connow, silly!" She shot Phoebe a grin, confusing her anymore, "He your and Bwennan's!" She added another detail. The middle Halliwell narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the picture, turning it back around and not understanding.
"Lorna, I don't… I don't have a son. I don't have any kids." Phoebe said slowly, laying a hand on the redhead's small knee and giving her a sympathetic smile as if she had just crushed the child's belief in everything good in her life.
But this was returned in an equally patronizing manner when Lorna shot Phoebe a knowing smile that showed wisdom far beyond her years, "G'night!" She said enthusiastically, shuffling back under the covers while giggling. "Silly Auntie Pheeb…" Lorna muttered to herself, pulling her "My Little Pony" covers up around her and closing her eyes.
"Um… Yeah… Good night, sweetie…" The Charmed One replied softly but uncertainly, stroking the little girl's auburn locks until Lorna slowly and peacefully drifted off to sleep. "You're so special…" Phoebe whispered, pressing a button on the nightlight and lowering the harshness of the glow before getting up and heading out of the door, glancing one more time at the little redhead as she closed it exited.
Lorna's eyes flashed open as soon as Phoebe had gone. She pushed back her covers and put her hand against her left temple. Her tiny forehead creased in thought before her head shone with an unearthly white, stretching her abilities as far as they would go and throwing her deep red hair away from her face in a psychic wind.
Connor would be returned before midnight, and she would make sure of it.
Piper walked slowly into the attic with her arms folded and sighed at the sight. Phoebe had once again ducked the company or her and Paige, retreating to the top floor of the house and preferring to spend her time in the house with the Book of Shadows. It was at times like this that Piper, more than anything in the world, wanted to do something to cure her sister's loneliness and return her to her true self.
Phoebe placed both hands on smooth midnight blue cover of the tome that had begun everything all those years ago, a reassuring rush of power going through her as she made contact with the book. The metallic triquetra gleamed proudly in the centre of the front, a symbol of sisterly strength and the Power of Three. Unaware of her older sister's presence, Phoebe began to open the Book of Shadows, the spine creaking slightly as she did. It wasn't used to being opened, as they hadn't needed to touch it in a year.
"Don't let me down…" The psionic Charmed One whispered to no one in particular as she began flicking through the pages slowly and gently, wanting it to be only time that would ever damage this beautiful artifact. Inaudible whisperings suddenly entered Phoebe's mind as she telempathically connected with the book, continuing to turn the pages at a delicate rate before stopping at one. Smiling, she grabbed one of the velvety black tassels that hung from the top of the spine, markers for pages, and slid it onto the page before closing the book, "Thank you…" She whispered, running her hand quickly across the silver Wiccan symbol in the centre before stuffing it under her arm and heading for the door, before she noticed Piper standing there.
"Uh… Hi, I was just coming to get you and Paige." Phoebe began, walking back to the altar and opening the Book of Shadows at where she had just marked. "Could you go get her, please? We have some work to do." She announced, grabbing a pad and pen from the side of the altar and using the information on the page to form a spell.
"What kind of work?"
"The kind that lets me find out what's been missing in my life for the past year!" She snapped, "Paige!" Phoebe yelled into the air, hoping that the whitelighter side of her younger sister would allow her to hear her call, or she could just hear her from the kitchen.
Orbs swarmed into a tall cloud of light, disappearing and leaving Paige in their place as she materialized. Her eyes darted around the room, thinking that the urgent call for her presence had meant a demon attack. She frowned at her sisters, who were in the middle of a heated glance, "Any reason for the shrieking?" The witchlighter snapped at both of them.
"We're casting a spell." Phoebe replied.
"No, we're not!" Piper threw back, her eyes widening to emphasize her order. She refused to let Phoebe ruin the year long break they had had from magic and all the baggage that came along with being witches.
"Don't you want to me to happy?"
The eldest witch rolled her eyes, stomping her foot off the floor impatiently; "Don't you dare play that card with me, Missy. It didn't work when I caught you sneaking out the house in the eighth grade and it won't work now." Her head spun to the left, glaring at her baby sister, "Aren't you going to back me up on this?"
"Uh… Sure, as long as you tell me what I'm supposed to be yelling at her for…" Paige answered uncertainly, not even why there was such tension between her two siblings.
"Piper, it won't work if there's nothing to find so I really don't see what your big problem is!" Phoebe spat back, ripping a piece of paper from the pad roughly in frustration before walking around the Book of Shadows and folding her arms defensively.
"Because it is still magic! It is usage of our powers, something that we've been trying to limit! And if demons think we're using magic, they might think that it's some sort of preparation for a vanquishing spree!" Piper countered, "And I don't want to bring that same unnecessary danger into our lives again!"
"I think you're being a little over dramatic! Paige just orbed in, she used her powers, and you were telling me about the jerk you froze in Chinatown today. That's two times…" Phoebe held up two fingers, "… That you guys have used your powers today, and I don't see any demons!"
"But you want us to use the Power of Three. That is some serious magic."
"Look, I can reword this so I can do this alone, or you can help me… You guys, I'm doing this whether I have your support or not, so…" She ripped two more pages from the pad, handing one each to Piper and Paige and giving them a few seconds to process what was on the paper, "Will you help me?"
The eldest and youngest both shared a look. Neither of them wanted to do this, this was an unneeded risk. Even if the spell didn't work, their magic could still be detected and if the demons were to attack them, it would ruin the perfect normality of the lives that Piper and Paige had been living for the past year. But they realized that, while they had been living their dreams, Phoebe had been left in the dust, living in a large house all by herself and being unable to stand her own sisters happiness because she was so miserable.
Paige sighed, changing her stance slightly and pushing Piper into place so that the three of them were standing as the corners of a triangle, "Let's do this…" She murmured reluctantly, happy to see a grin shine on Phoebe's face before shooting a glare at her eldest sibling, "Piper…"
Piper didn't respond at all, just quickly catching Paige's glance before taking a deep breath, signifying that she was ready to begin chanting the spell. Her sisters followed suit, the three of them speaking with uneasy tones, "A faded memory, now a withering haze, It haunts us now, through all our days, Take us now, through the endless space, And return what was lost to its rightful place…"
An odd sensation rushed through the three witches, making them feel as if their insides were being churned around. Their temples were throbbing, along with their throats, as they all seemed to be suppressing the urge to vomit at that moment. Suddenly, their view of what was in front of them went extremely out of focus, and when it came back, all three had changed.
Nothing in the room seemed to have changed however; the storm was still raging outside, the rain making a racket on the stain glass window and the wind causing the antique panes to rattle loudly in their place. None of them had bothered to notice if there was any differences in the items in the attic.
"Your hair is down." Phoebe immediately pointed out to Piper, who had had her dark glossy locks whipped up in a knot a few seconds ago. Her hair was now cascading down her back, looking a lot fuller than it had a moment earlier.
The eldest witch frowned, curiously reaching around the back of her head and feeling for the mound of hair that was no longer there. She felt around for a few seconds before looking down at her figure and her sisters, "… And we're wearing different clothes…" Piper realized, as the three of them were now dressed comfortably instead of the smart clothes they had worn for dinner.
They were all suddenly shocked out of their thoughts by a child's laugh. Phoebe looked past her sisters and immediately her face turned so pale that both Piper and Paige were frightened by the sudden gaunt expression of their sibling. Her hazel brown eyes bulged out of their eye sockets, adding to the unnerving appearance even more before her jaw finally unclenched and her body began to shake violently. Slowly, she walked past her sisters, letting out a heart wrenching sob as she staggered forward.
Connor sat in the centre of the pentacle that had been drawn expertly by Paige to protect him, smiling innocently as he ran a toy train back and forth on the wooden floorboards and none the wiser of the guilt and love that had just shattered his mother to pieces. He looked up underneath the curtain of jet black hair, shooting a grin at Phoebe before going back to his trains, watching them carefully with beady blue eyes as they darted back and forth, following the path of the train.
Phoebe suddenly let out a pathetic choke of pain as everything went black. She felt as if every fiber of her being had been torn from her and ripped to pieces slowly and painfully. Her rapidly darkening sight suddenly went lopsided as she fell to the floor, the thud of her body on the ground being the last thing she heard before everything was devoured by darkness.
"Son of a bitch…" Phoebe growled as she paced the perimeter of the pentacle, holding Connor as close as she could without causing him any discomfort, "I don't care if he is a God, I'm going to rip him a new one the next time I see him… Just you wait and see, he's going to rue the day he tried to take my son away from me."
Paige looked up from the Book of Shadows, calmly setting down the pen in her hand, "I take it this means that your memories have come back?" She asked with a cautious tone, perfectly aware of the rage pulsing from her sister at this moment in time, "Honey, you can't feel guilty; we were all made to forget. We know about it now and can do something about it, but you need to keep a cool head, okay?"
Phoebe shot a searing glare at her sister. "Paige, put yourself in my shoes. If one of the twins had been taken from you for a year and you had spent that year in an emotional gutter, would you be so calm, cool and collected?" The witchlighter remained silent, pursing her lips as she picked up her pen again, "Yeah, I thought so."
"Well, we were transported to exactly two hours before Connor was taken, so that means we have…" She looked at the old dusty clock in the attic, peering so she could make out the numbers behind the dirt, "Around one hour. So do you want to just pace and swear, or do you want to help us make use of the future knowledge and time that we have?"
Phoebe halted her pacing movements and turned to her little sister. She kept a neutral expression before letting a small smile through, "You're right. And I'm sorry for flying off the handle at you, it's just-,"
"I know." Paige finished, giving her sister a sincere sympathetic look, "You have every right to be upset. And you were right as well; I would be just as crazy if the same thing happened with my kids… Just try and keep it together, okay? If not for me or Piper, but for my little nephew." She nodded to Connor, "He can tell that you're stressed to the max, you know. Kids are very perceptive to emotions."
The middle Charmed One stared into her son's eyes as he balanced on her hip. She had to make this right; she had to get the year of her life and his life back. Once they saved Connor, they could return to their time with altered memories of what should have been. Happiness, birthday parties, everything would be set right once Connor was saved, "I love you, sweetie." She said lovingly, kissing his cheek and tapping his nose. "So, what can I help you with?" Phoebe asked her younger sister brightly, going to walk towards the Book of Shadows.
"Ah ah ah!" Paige screeched sharply, holding out her hand in a stopping gesture, "You can leave the pentacle, but unless you want to give Thor an easy road to Connor, he needs to stay in it." She warned, lowering her head once she was certain Phoebe wasn't going to take another step with Connor.
Sighing sadly, Phoebe carefully placed her son on the floor, allowing him access to his toys again as she walked over to Paige, who had resigned herself to shaking the pen back and forth in between her two fingers. It was a nervous habit of the youngest Charmed One, to fidget. "Okay, what are struggling with?"
The witchlighter shrugged, "I've basically drained any info I can out of the entry… I'm working on a Power of Three vanquish. It might be the best thing we have; it could slow him down at least."
"Let me see…" Phoebe requested, looking over her sister's shoulder and onto Thor's entry in the book. There was something they were missing. The spell had sent them back to this specific time for a reason, so the solution to save Connor could be found. Phoebe knew that it was something so obvious that they were just skimming over, but what was it? "Magni…" She whispered, looking over the bottom part of the entry before smiling.
"Okay, these…" Piper walked in, holding up three vials of crimson potion, "… Are the strongest hand grenade potions that I could make. I followed your recipe to the letter." She set them down on the table as Paige stood from her stool, allowing Phoebe to take it.
"Did you make the binding field one?"
She shook her head, "We didn't have all the ingredients and I don't think any stores would be open at this time of night. Besides, we're dealing with a God, I doubt even witchcraft at its best would be enough. We've learned that the hard way…" Piper managed to smile, "But maybe we can save Connor and avoid me having to blast holes in my floor like the last time."
"Witchcraft isn't the way to get rid of Thor. At least not ours anyway," Phoebe suddenly announced, picking up the Book of Shadows and holding it out in her arms as she walked towards her sisters, "I have a plan that might work. But Paige, I need to you to whip up something pretty quickly for me."
"Name it." The witchlighter responded immediately.
"I will…" She walked back into the pentacle, kneeling down next to Connor and setting the book down open on the floor. "… Right after I make sure Connor knows who the bad guy is…"
Phoebe slowly walked around in circles within the intricate chalk outline of the protection pentacle, holding Connor close as she bit her thumb nail anxiously. It wouldn't be long now, if everything was going the same as it had before, the thunder God would be here any minute. She pulled her hand away from her mouth, it was shaking, Anyone who saw her right now would have thought she was about to go into a full blown seizure, but Phoebe knew that any mother in her position would be going through the same thing, possibly even worse.
Then it began, a thick wind blew through the attic, disturbing the pad of paper that they had been using to write spells with and knocking it off the dresser. The pages of the Book of Shadows turned rapidly before the midnight blue cover closed over, as if trying to protect itself from what was coming. There was a rumble of thunder that went through the floor, sending a shiver up Phoebe's spine before she jumped in shock at the pillar of blinding lightning that was now buzzing and crackling loudly just outside the pentacle perimeter.
Thor's hulking figure slowly formed, the golden armour glistening pristinely and the hilt of his massive hammer still sat on the floor. His long blonde hair flew around the small storm that he had created with his arrival and he beamed warmly at Phoebe. "Greetings, once again." He began walking towards the two of them, but as soon as he came anywhere near the pentacle's boundaries, the ancient symbol glowed angrily and the air rippled around him, repelling the divine being and throwing him across the room. He hit one of the dressers, crushing it immediately under his superior weight and reducing it instantly to a pile of wood shavings.
Enraged, Thor's expression changed to a frightening one as he got back to his feet, holding out his hand and summoned his hammer back to his palm, as it had been knocked from his grasp when he was thrown across the room. He swung his weapon back, about to shatter the force field that was preventing him from getting access to his magical son, until Phoebe shot him a triumphant smirk before both she and Connor vanished in a plume of crimson light. The misty redness hovered in the air for a moment, before flying towards a smoking pot on the table and disappearing into the thick smoke. An astral simulation.
The God's nostrils flared as his eyes began to spark with electricity out of sheer fury. They had dared to try and trick him? She was only supposed to look after his son until he could materialize in the mortal realm, and now she was trying to take him away? He wouldn't allow it; they were just humans, with the minuscule addition of being witches. They were no match for him.
Silently, a plume of black clouds enveloped him before Thor disappeared in a violent flash of lightning. He knew where they were, and it would be where they would meet their end.
The three sisters turned away from the harsh light of the lightning bolt that had just ignited in the middle of Phoebe's living room, burning a hole in the carpet and leaving little flames in its place. Thor appeared, his eyes shining brightly with the voltage that had now devoured his eyes in his rage. His golden armour seemed to have dulled during his fall in the attic, or perhaps it was being affected by the God's fury.
"Give him to me… And I promise I will make it as painless as possible." He sneered, raising his free arm as a coil of electricity danced around it, flowing towards his hand as he prepared to fire the destructive blast at the Charmed Ones.
"I'm giving you nothing." Phoebe spat back. Connor's forehead creased in concentration as he sat in his mother's arms. A dome of electrical energy suddenly spread out from his body, covering and protecting his three guardians in the field of electrical power. The two year old looked at the tall figure through the shield of shimmering energy, sticking out his tongue cheekily.
"Go for it, Connor." Paige murmured to her nephew, smiling knowingly at Thor before turning her attention to the toddler in her sister's arms.
Smiling mischievously, Connor narrowed his eyes at the enemy. Thor frowned, before he was suddenly struck in the side of his face by an object of unbelievable weight. He flew across the living room, crashing into the stairwell and bringing the entire structure down on himself in a series of loud crashes. Sharp cracks were heard as the wood came apart, falling on the God. It didn't last for long, as the shafts of wood suddenly flew outwards. Any pieces that would have injured the Charmed Ones were incinerated on contact with the humming electrical shield that Connor had set around them.
Thor stood from the wreckage, his eyes darting around to see what had had the power to hit him with such force. He raised his hand to his cheek, realizing that blood was seeping from the purple injury on his skin. His eyes widened when he saw his hammer hovering the air. He hadn't ordered it to do that. There was only one other being in the entire world that would have the power to control his hammer, and that being was residing in his mother's arms.
The two year old squinted again. The large hammer flew horizontally and collided with Thor's chest, delivering a serious dent to his once perfect armour and hurling him through the wall behind the staircase he had destroyed, throwing him into the dining room, and wrecking the glass table in the middle.
Thor attempted to sit up, his nose bleeding badly and a few bones underneath his armour broken. The three witches stepped through the hole that had been created by his crashing through the structure and stood over him. Connor took control of the Godly weapon again, making it streak towards Thor's head and stop centimeters away from obliterating him completely.
"Leave, never come after me or my son again, or I swear to God…" Phoebe's gaze flickered to Connor as she spoke, "He'll kill you…" She growled menacingly, being backed up by the glares of her siblings who would have happily killed the God.
Thor weighed up his options. He wouldn't be able to get an attack in without being slaughtered by the hammer, which was still hovering over him, ready to crush his skull the second he resisted. Locking eyes with his son by magic, he saw the humanity in him; he would never be the divine being that he was meant to be. Silently, Thor accepted his fate, a quick flash of lightning enveloping him and taking him back to his realm, hammer and all.
Before any of them could say a word, a tornado of white lights engulfed the three witches, taking them out of their past selves and returning them to their time with new memories. The past had been changed, so events had been changed, therefore making the year they had just lived completely different, filling it with memories of happy times as a family, Phoebe living and raising her son. No one would ever remember what had happened before the past had been changed for the better.
Apart from a little two year old psionic, whose premature wisdom had saved her family.
Katrina walked through the endless inky black sky. Stars shone all around her, glittering like diamonds against black velvet. The Higher Realm was a beautiful place, but this part of it was always breathtaking. This was the path that destiny had walked, a place so special and sacred that only a selected few were allowed entrance. The redhead had been given admission for one reason, and it was because of that reason she was now here.
She reached a certain indistinguishable point within the star spangled area, staring upwards slightly as a smile spread across her lips. She had been regenerating for a year and a half after living a life on the mortal realm for three decades, she would be ready to enter her final destiny and become reborn. There was a gentle humming sound as something formed from the spectacular view, something spherical and when it had fully formed, Katrina's smile widened.
Within the turquoise field of energy, a figure was curled up in the centre. Whoever she was, she was sleeping like a baby, her back rising and falling with breathes. That was the only sign of life as the woman was staying completely still in the fetal position. Her auburn hair had grown in length even more from the last time Katrina had seen her, it now floated up so high that it was almost touching the top of the energy field.
"Awaken." Katrina ordered firmly to the figure in the centre, her face now one of resolute concentration as she kept her eyes trained on the redheaded woman in the sphere. She kept a firm expression even when more signs of life began to show, revealing that he woman was indeed coming out of her eighteen month slumber.
Her nose twitched.
Her fingers flexed.
Her toes curled.
Her eyes flashed open.
She was awake.
Chapter 2 "Halloween P3" Should be up soon!