Chapter 23 – Countdown Part I

Hey everyone….i cannot apologize enough to all of you about leaving this for so long….i just kept putting it off and off and then what do you know months have gone by.

But like I have said before I will not abandon this story…even if no one is reading it anymore, which I wouldn't blame them to be honest.

Anyway this is the first chapter of two or three parts in the countdown to Chris dying, which is where we left at the end of the last chapter.

The hours are counting down to the event, 12, 11, 10 etc….showing what was happening before the event (Chris dying) I hope that makes sense :s

Anyway enjoy the chapter.

Previously - "Y….you h….have t….to…l….let me….g…..g….go," The Whitelighter insisted; making Parker close her eyes briefly against the fresh wave of tears that burned her eyes before she opened them and looked at her best friend with an open vulnerable expression. One that the adults, or even Chris, had seen before.

"I don't want to," Parker said in an innocent, yet broken, young voice as she gripped Chris even tighter to her body.

Twelve Hours Earlier

Phoebe slowly lay her daughter's sleeping form onto the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest before sitting by the side of her. Phoebe thought Parker looked so peaceful and innocent in that moment that she couldn't bear to leave her daughter's side. Letting her hand come up, Phoebe tenderly raked her fingers through Parker's hair; a bit surprised when she felt how silky and soft it was but mentally slapped herself and reminded herself that her Parker had silky soft hair too. Patty use to tease her older sister and say that she didn't have any hair. That she wore a wig of silk, making Parker usually tackle her little sister onto the ground wherever they were and proceed to tickle her till she had tears in her eyes. When that happened, Phoenix would jump on Parker's back and giggle while declaring she had to protect her twin from Parker's wrath.

Phoebe smiled sadly; Parker had always been able to get Phoenix to come out of her shell more than anyone. The younger twin was a very shy and quite girl who was peacemaker for all of her cousins. But when she was with Parker or Parker was involved in some kind of way, Phoenix's shyness seemed to ebb away; and she became a very playful and sometimes quite mischievous girl, who had a fiery wit when needed. Phoebe felt a lump forming in her throat as she continued to gaze and run her fingers through Parker's hair. Swallowing with difficulty, the middle Charmed One blinked away the tears that had started to gather in her eyes. This wasn't the time to fall apart.

"Mama," Parker called out in her sleep. The empath let a shaky smile spread across her lips as she cooed to her sleeping daughter. "Shhhh, Parks…..I'm right here….shhhh," Phoebe spoke soothingly and softly as she shifted closer to her fragile daughter and lifted the spiky haired firestarter's head into her lap. Her fingers never stopped the motion of running through Parker's hair. As soon as Parker's head hit Phoebe's lap, the spiky haired witch unconsciously cuddled into Phoebe's body closer, letting out a small sigh of content….At least that's what Phoebe could make out. The middle Charmed One closed her eyes briefly and basked in the emotion she could feel coming from her daughter before opening her eyes and looking towards the ceiling…..Maybe everything would work out.

Ten Hours Earlier

"Chris!" Piper said in surprise as she rounded the corner of the dining room into the living room to see him standing there with a cautious look on his face. "Hi….ummm, I'm sorry to just, you know barge in like this but I ummm…..Well, I was wondering if you've seen Parker?" The green eyed boy asked as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Piper stood there silently for a minute as she gazed at her boy…..She just realized how similar yet how different both her Chris's looked before she shook herself out of her gazing and answered. "I'm sorry I haven't seen Parker since yesterday….Can you not sense her?" she questioned with a little curiosity. Their Chris had always been able to sense their Parker no matter where she was; even if it was the underworld, which was something Brooke couldn't even do. The family had summarized that it was just another unique thing about the combination that was Parker and Chris.

Nine Hours Earlier

"Chris, we're getting nowhere. I know we keep putting up this front that we know what we're doing but let's face it….we don't. We might know a lot about magic and everything that falls under it but this…damn it. Chris, are you even listening to me?" Parker snapped a little angrily when she looked at her best friend, only to see him starring at the city below. "I'm listening, Parks, but I was also just…..enjoying the view. We don't have this view in our reality anymore," The whitelighter replied, never taking his eyes off the city. The firestarter huffed quietly before joining her cousin and looking down at the city with a somber expression on her face. "How do you say goodbye to something that you don't even remember?" Parker inquired softly. Her voice was barely above a whisper and was met with silence for a few minutes before Chris spoke up with a shaky voice. "I don't know."

Eight Hours Earlier

"Mom…can I sit with you?" The small voice of Melinda requested as she cautiously poked her head around her parents' bedroom door to see her mom sitting on the end of her bed while holding a picture frame in her hands. Her eyes slightly puffy and red and it didn't take Melinda even a second to know her mom had been crying. Her thoughts we cemented even further when she saw her mom quickly wipe her eyes before turning her head to the bedroom door and her daughter. "Of course sweetie, you don't even have to ask." Piper responded as she tried to keep the shakiness out of her voice but failed miserably. The youngest Halliwell/Wyatt walked slowly into her parents' bedroom, shutting the door behind her with a soft click before making her way to where her mom was sitting with her feet dragging across the wooden floor quietly.

As Melinda sat down next to her mom, she nearly reeled back when she saw what picture was in her mom's hands. It had only been taken last year…Parker was the one who had actually had taken it. It was at the park on one of their annual, family picnics. Wyatt had said something teasingly to her; and in the next second Chris had pounced on their brother, tackling him to the ground and proceeding to try and shove his face into the grass covered dirt below them. Everyone was laughing their heads off but nowhere near as much as Melinda, who had tears streaming down her eyes, and saying how they were both idiots. She remembered her laughter was quickly cut off however when Wyatt and Chris had grabbed her and pulled her down to join them on the grass. Then they both pinned her down and started to tickle her until she was gasping for breath and had more tears of laughter running down her cheeks. Melinda smiled; she remembered how Parker was quick to get up from her position in between Brooke's legs to grab the camera before turning it towards them and shouting for them to smile. All three of them had turned their heads to look at their cousin and smiled big cheesy grins, with Melinda flat on her back, Chris straddling her with his hands under her armpits, and Wyatt holding her arms above her head with one hand while the other was in the crook of her neck.

Their mom had loved it so much that as soon as they had gotten home that day, she had printed it out and placed it in a plain, wooden frame on her bedside table, where it had stayed for the past year. "That was a great day." Melinda stated as she leaned against her mom's side, with Piper wrapping an arm around her daughter and holding her tightly to her. "It was sweetie." Piper agreed with a small feeble smile on her lips as she starred down at the picture now in her lap.

"Do you think we'll have any days like that again?" Melinda asked hesitantly making Piper sigh.

"I hope so sweetie."

"I hope so."

Seven Hours Earlier

The Halliwell/Jenkins twins were curled up in Phoenix's bed together, with Patty holding her little sister tightly in her arms and Phoenix cuddled in closer to her twin. The seer burrowed her head into her sister's neck and closed her eyes tightly as a flash of white hot pain travelled through her body…..She missed Parker so much. Patty felt tears brimming in her eyes when she heard Nix's thoughts and couldn't stop the spasm that went through her own body when she felt the pain that her twin was feeling…..She wished she could take all her little sister's pain away.

Neither girl needed to say anything. They didn't need to when they could hear every thought that went through the other's head. They were in no state to try and block their twin. Something flashed in front of Patty's eyes, getting the older twin to lift her head so she was looking straight in front of her; and her eyes went wide with surprise when she saw Parker standing there with a confused expression on her face. Her eyes never left the two girls wrapped up tightly on the bed. "What are you doing here?" Patty asked a slight cold tone to her voice, which Parker ignored. Phoenix slowly lifted her head from where it was on her twin and turned to look at the older witch to see her looking like she didn't actually know what to say.

"I…I felt something….pain and sorrow and….other things….and the next thing I know I'm here…..did…did you summon me?" Parker asked curiously, hesitantly. Her eyes went wide with alarm when Phoenix let out a sob before burrowing back into her twin, who just held her tighter while she tried to blink away the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. "Our Parker could always….tell when we needed her…wherever she was….whatever she was doing, she would come to us when we needed her…without even realizing she was coming to us until she was actually there." Patty choked out as she swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat painfully. Parker took a small step back when she heard Patty's words; but when she went to project herself out of the room, she stopped at the sight of the two girls crying softly into each other and holding onto each other like their lives depended on it. Her heart started to beat harder inside her ribcage and she felt her eyes start to sting with the threat of tears starting to form.

The spiky haired witch really wanted nothing more than to project away from the scene, but for some reason she couldn't. It was like something was stopping her from going, like it had tied a rope around her waist and was physically pulling her towards the twins on the bed. She tried to fight it. Oh, how she tried to fight it; but it made no difference and within a minute, she was standing at the side of the bed. Then in the next second, she was lowering herself to sit on the bed. As soon as she touched the mattress, she had her arms full of two crying and shaking girls. Their arms were grabbing fistfuls of her t-shirt, balling it up, and holding on tightly as they pressed their faces to where her shoulders connected with her neck, drenching the firestarter's t-shirt with their tears. Swallowing nervously, Parker slowly wrapped her arms around them and held them tightly to her chest. Her nose was pressing against Phoenix's hair without her realizing as she started to rock slowly from side to side and try to soothe them. "Shhhh, it'll be ok…..Everything's going to be ok." Parker whispered tenderly….soothingly. This day was turning out to be a very emotional day. "It'll be ok."

Six Hours Earlier

Wyatt sat on his girlfriend's bed with his head in his hands as he let out a deep sigh. "Wy?" His girlfriend called out to him gently, making him lift his hands from his head to see his girlfriend standing right in front of him with a sorrowful look on her face. "I can't stand this Sam." The twice-blessed said as tears made their way to his eyes. He did nothing as they slid down his cheeks like trickles of water on car windows and dripped off his chin and onto his hands like the first drops of rain.

"Oh Wyatt." Sam murmured softly as she sat on her boyfriends lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head to her chest as she felt his strong muscular arms wrap around her waist and hold her firmly to him.

"I can't stand this."

Well there you go the first part of the countdown.

What did you think?

Till next time.