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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 2, 2016 17:26:36 GMT -5
Charmed: Heritage
Episode 1X11 – Phoenix Witch Prologue – Preparing For Battle Thursday, March 11, 2027 It was early afternoon on a foggy day in downtown Oakland, California. Lawrence Holbrooke had planned to take his wife and young daughter to see the newest blockbuster for kids, a movie about butterflies of all things. Those plans had been unceremoniously canceled when his wife had walked into the living room five minutes before announcing she had a job. For most people that didn’t mean dropping everything, but with Bianca, her jobs were usually a matter of life and death. And so Lawrence found himself on the back porch watching as his wife dug through a chest of weapons and other dangerous “toys”. “Does this have to be tonight, Bianca?” Bianca stopped and looked up. The look on her face was a mixture of affection and amusement as she replied, “You know as well as I that they are very good at what they do, Lawrence. I can’t afford to risk it. Do you want to join me?” Lawrence smiled down at his wife. “Exactly where are we going, Bianca?” “A little restaurant in San Francisco called The Manor. A little fancy for Ashlyn, but I don’t anticipate any immediate problems, so if you want we can make it a family dinner.” She gave him a flirty grin. “I hear the food is delicious.” Lawrence shook his head, smiling. “If you don’t anticipate any immediate problems, then why can’t it wait until tomorrow?” “I expect the attack will be tonight, when they are asleep. Vera is good. I’ve lost innocents to her before. I don’t particularly wish to chance that without giving them at least a warning and help if they want it.” Lawrence nodded. “All right then. I’ll go get Ashlyn ready while you finish with your . . .” he waved his hand at the chest, “ . . . whatever that is.” Bianca laughed. “You’d think that after all these years you would understand what this stuff was.” He shrugged. “Perhaps I think it is better if I don’t. Will ten minutes be enough?” “You can get Ashlyn ready in ten minutes? I’m impressed.” He just smiled. “Ten minutes.” She nodded. “Ten minutes.” She blew him a kiss as he headed toward the back door. When he was out of sight she went back to digging through her chest.
If you haven't read the previous episode, click here and enjoy. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 2, 2016 17:50:10 GMT -5
Oh my. For Chris is a mega deja vu in order with his former fiancée in a different timeline! Headache alert!!  |
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 2, 2016 22:03:12 GMT -5
Oh my. For Chris is a mega deja vu in order with his former fiancée in a different timeline! Headache alert!! Definitely. This episode is going to be trying on him and since Wyatt is still hospitalized, he csn't really get help there, not much anyway.
Chapter One – Visiting Chris Halliwell had been sitting by the hospital bed for over an hour. It was almost time for him to leave and go to work. His brother had been in bed for six days, one day longer than he had worked for their mother. “You going to just sit there?” Wyatt Halliwell asked as he pushed himself up against the pillows, revealing that he was awake. “I just wanted to check on you.” “Then, why didn’t you wake me?” Wyatt wanted to know. “You need your rest if you are going to heal.” Wyatt scowled. “Good old Aunt Paige, refusing to help me until I’d rested for an unspecified amount of time to be chosen at her discretion.” Chris laughed. “It’s not funny,” Wyatt snapped. “I can’t walk. I can’t even move the lower half of my body. What if I were attacked? What if you were?” Chris sobered up. “If you were attacked, you’d still have your powers. Provided you could see them, you’d probably be fine. As for me . . .” Chris shrugged. “I’ve already survived an attack without your help.” Wyatt had heard about that, but it didn’t sit any better with him now than it had two days before. “You don’t need me.” “Never think it,” Chris protested. “So what happened?” Chris hadn’t mentioned it before, and he wanted to know his little brother’s perspective. “Never mind about that,” Chris frowned. “I’ll tell you about it when you get better, if you’d like.” Wyatt scowled. “You mean when Aunt Paige or Hank decided to . . .” “No,” Chris interrupted, standing and walking over to his brothers bed. He stabbed a finger at Wyatt’s stomach opposite where a tiny knife had nearly severed his brother’s spinal cord. It had at first looked like a tiny nick, which was bad enough, but it soon revealed itself to be almost completely cut through. “You will heal with or without their help. You will be able to walk, again. You will. You have to.” Chris groaned and threw himself into the chair, ignoring the stab of pain that racked him as he hit his own ribs wrong. “Why is it so hard?” Wyatt raised an eyebrow at his little brother. “ You think you have it hard? I’m the one who can’t walk.” Chris was unable to hide the wince as he started to get up, again. Wyatt frowned. “Chris?” “It’s nothing.” “What’s nothing?” Chris sighed. “Bruised ribs. Nothing more.” “Aunt Paige.” Chris snorted. “I swear she wants to teach me some sort of lesson. She forbid Hank to help either.” Wyatt raised his eyebrow, again. “Interesting. She has no say over what I do, so get over here and I’ll fix it before you head to work.” “But . . .” “Don’t argue,” Wyatt warned,” unless you want to be in pain, And we both know you have to leave soon.” Chris sighed and pushed himself up, ignoring the pain in his ribs. He walked over to the bed where his brother could reach him. “It’s not fair that you can heal me, but not yourself.” “I’ve learned to live with it,” Wyatt informed him as he looked at the closed hospital door. Assured that it was closed he lifted his hands and started to bring them toward his brother. He stopped short and frowned. “Which side?” “Right side,” Chris replied without hesitation. His voice was hesitant as he added. “I was thrown into a wall.” Wyatt nodded as he held his hands against the right side of his brother’s rib cage. As a warm golden glow emanated from his hands he replied in a matter of fact voice, “I know.” The relief from pain was such that Chris almost missed it. When it registered he looked at his brother startled. “You know?” “Ladybug mentioned it.” “Ladybug?” Chris scowled. “I should have known I couldn’t trust her.” “She’s eminently trustworthy,” Wyatt argued. “She was picking my brain for ideas on where her parents might be since officially they should have been back yesterday.” “Any ideas?” Chris asked, moving away, stretching his arms, testing his ribs. “And thanks.” Wyatt grinned. “No problem and no, no ideas Ladybug and her sisters hadn’t already checked, but it felt good to be needed even in this state.” “You are needed,” Chris informed him. “Don’t ever think you aren’t. I’ll go over there as soon as I have a chance, offer help if I can.” “You do that,” his brother agreed. “Do that, but also get off to work before you’re late.” “I work for Mom.” “So? That just means messing up is that much worse. Besides you said Mom, Drinka, and Callie were all off.” “When did I say that?” “Yesterday. You’re in charge tonight, little brother.” Chris laughed and nabbed his coat off the back of the chair he’d been using. “Bye, Wyatt.” “Bye,” Wyatt returned as Chris exited the room. When his brother was gone, Wyatt settled back into his bed, bored. And as he did, his toes wiggled. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 3, 2016 6:15:59 GMT -5
Ah, there's hope and a nice brotherly moment. *sighs*
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 3, 2016 8:06:13 GMT -5
Ah, there's hope and a nice brotherly moment. *sighs* Yes, indeed. I enjoy writing those two together and the toe wiggling is going to be fun later in the story. You'll know what I mean when we get to that point.
Chapter Two – Managing About an hour and a half later, Chris was standing by the stove in The Manor’s kitchen, cooking. As predicted, the crew was rather young. New mother, Chelsea Michaels, was the only employee older than he was, and it was Chelsea’s first day back after maternity leave. Emily Colson walked into the kitchen from the dining room looking annoyed. In a mocking falsetto voice she said, “You’d think she could remember that I get the same thing every time I am here.” Chris watched with interest as she changed her voice to an equally mocking deep voice and said, “Be patient. She’s so young, and you know youths these days.” In her normal she exclaimed, “Arrgg! I could just scream. I’ve never seen that woman before in my life and she assumes that I should know her order before she speaks. And it’s not even on the menu.” “You all right?” Chris asked, amused. Emily looked up as if seeing him for the first time. She heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She scowled. “Customers!” Chris looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist. He shook it as if not sure the time was accurate and put it to his ear, as if listening for a tick to show that it was working. He dropped his wrist and looked at Emily, who was watching him, fascinated. “It sure didn’t take long for you to get jaded.” “Tell you what,” Emily replied with a shrug. “I’ll cook and you wait on customers.” “Not a chance,” Chris shook his head. “Mom told me to cook. I’m staying here.” “Coward,” she shot back. When he grinned, she sighed and handed over her order. “I have another table to wait on. A couple with a toddler.” Chris grimaced and closed his eyes. “Has the toddler behaved so far?” Emily nodded. “More so than Mrs. Why-don’t-you-know-my-order.” Chris grinned harder at the weird moniker. “Tell me if there are any problems I need to handle.” “And I can cook?” Emily asked, hopefully. Chris rolled his eyes, laughter filling them. “From what I heard you didn’t even have something ready to prepare for your interview.” “I didn’t know I was supposed to have something for an interview here,” she shot back. He eyed her speculatively. After a moment he smiled. “How about I talk to my mom and see if she’ll give you a trial in the kitchen?” “Seriously?” “Yeah, no problem.” Chris tried not to laugh at the look of hope on her face. “But not tonight.” “A girl can dream can’t she?” She winked at him. Chris shook his head, laughing. “Let me see if I can’t resolve this problem in the dining room.” “Thank you so much.” “You’re going to have to toughen up,” he warned her. “People aren’t always happy. Sometimes it has nothing to do with you, but you still get the brunt of it.” She sighed. “Yeah, I know, but I sure would like to avoid this confrontation.” Chris sighed. “Fine. Watch the stove. Don’t let anything burn.” “Done.” He just shook his head as he headed into the main dining room. It didn’t take much detective work to figure out which couple Emily had been complaining about, even if he had forgotten to ask. The woman was a middle aged woman with graying blond hair and a perpetual scowl on her face. The man was slightly less annoyed, but seemed almost nervous as he sipped on his water. Chris walked over to them with a smile on his face. “Hello, my name is Chris. I understand you are having some sort of trouble.” “That waitress didn’t know my order,” she woman scowled at him. “I told her to just get the cook and she would know what I wanted. Where is the cook?” “Ma’am, tonight, I am the one in the kitchen.” The woman frowned. “But where is Mrs. Halliwell.” “She’s on a date,” Chris informed her. “A date?” The frown deepened. “Why is she not eating here? Does she not like what her restaurant cooks?” “She cooked something up at home and went with my dad to the hospital where my brother is convalescing.” “Your brother?” The frown just kept getting deeper. “Your dad? Is she related to you?” Chris nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. She’s my mom. I can cook just about anything she can, but I’m afraid I must have misplaced any notes about your meal, so you will have to tell me so I can make it.” The irony in his voice was lost on the customer, but at least she seemed to brighten up. “Well, of course I can do that, seeing as you are new to the kitchen. Mrs. Halliwell’s son? Isn’t that a wonder?” Chris barely suppressed a groan, but he wrote on Emily’s notepad as the customer’s told him their orders. As Emily had suspected, the order was not on the menu. When he finished taking the order he started back for the kitchen, where he fully intended to remain the rest of the night. He was about half way there when he stopped short. He froze still and heaved in a huge breath. Memories from the other time line clamored through his head so fast he barely had time to process them. Once he was able to control his breathing he slowly turned. His mind hadn’t played tricks on him. Or rather part of it had, the part that contained those other memories, but the part that identified the woman seated at one of the tables ten feet to his left had not tricked him. It was her.It was Bianca. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 7, 2016 9:37:16 GMT -5
Oh my. Chris saw her now and all that trouble with that one customer! Wonder how it goes on.
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 7, 2016 13:03:06 GMT -5
Oh my. Chris saw her now and all that trouble with that one customer! Wonder how it goes on. Yep. He is not in a good place right now, because the two timelines he remembers are colliding, again and this time they are doing so in the person of Bianca.
Chapter Three – First Encounters of the Familiar Kind Chris didn’t know how to respond. She was sitting at the table with a dark haired man and a dark haired toddler. This was probably the table Emily had mentioned in the kitchen. Not that is mattered. She was there. She also didn’t know him. And she was married if the man and the toddler where any indication. He cursed the demon who had fixed his memories, so that he remembered everything. He cursed the elder who had stabbed him. He cursed anyone who had anything to do with why he had two sets of memories, including his other self. He breathed in hard. It shouldn’t matter. She was nothing to him. She was someone to the other Chris, the ones whose memories he had inherited. Just as with everyone else, she wasn’t even the same person. Oh, she looked like her . . . sort of . . . but over two decades of her life were potentially that of someone entirely else. She wasn’t the Bianca the other Chris had known. It should not matter that she was here. She was a stranger to him and he was even more of a stranger to her. He at least knew of a time when they weren’t. She didn’t. And like so many others that Chris had known, she had been one who had not survived. It would do no good to approach her. Having decided it was best to just try and pretend he hadn’t seen Bianca, Chris headed toward the kitchen. He didn’t see Bianca lean over and whisper something to her husband and then stand up. He was almost to the door when something told him to turn around. He did and there she was with her hand raised to try and get his attention. “Oh.” Unsure what to say and even more unsure why she had approached him, he waited. “I heard you say your name was Chris.” He nodded. “Christopher Halliwell?” He nodded, again. “I’m Bianca Holbrooke,” she informed him. “I need to talk to you.” “I can’t imagine what about,” he mused aloud, more focused on how uncomfortable he was than on anything else in that moment. A thought came to mind and he gave her an apologetic look. “Is everything all right with your food?” “It’s not about the food,” she informed him, sounding slightly annoyed. She glanced around at the busy dining room and shook her head. “Look, this is important. And I can’t talk to you here.” “I can’t leave here,” Chris protested. “I’m the only chef working tonight and I’m in charge.” “You and your brother are being targeted,” she whispered. “You can’t just ignore that.” She sighed before he could respond. “Fine, tell me how to reach your brother and I’ll talk to him.” He frowned. “Targeted? By whom?” She glanced around. “I can’t talk to you here.” “And I can’t leave,” Chris insisted. He sighed and dug his hand into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and hoped that unlike the last time he tried to use it, this time it would work. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 8, 2016 12:16:56 GMT -5
Hehe, so Bianca knows that the bros Halliwell are targeted and Chris hopefully reaches his brother in hope he can talk to her, when he won't and can't.
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 8, 2016 16:54:54 GMT -5
Hehe, so Bianca knows that the bros Halliwell are targeted and Chris hopefully reaches his brother in hope he can talk to her, when he won't and can't. She knows they're being targeting, but only in a limited sense. She doesn't know who is behind them being targeted. She only knows who is being sent after them next. This next chapter is a long time in coming, but not in the way you might think.
Chapter Four – Broken Hearts and Painful Recoveries Kali Nicolae sat at the foot of Wyatt’s hospital bed. She had been prattling on and on ever since she had arrived almost an hour before, but she never seemed to get to the point. Wyatt just watched her, letting her talk. Somehow the migration patterns of birds seemed like a distress call when coming from Kali. The usual sparkle in her eyes was very much absent and Wyatt just didn’t know what to say or how to find out what was wrong. So he listened. Kali sighed and looked down the hospital bed at him. “What do I do?” Wyatt looked at her surprised. “Well, that depends. Do about what?” Kali frowned and glanced at the ceiling. After a moment she looked at him, again. “I didn’t tell you, did I?” “Don’t think so, Sweetheart.” She heaved in a breath. “Gary and I broke up.” “Oh.” He looked at her surprised. “Didn’t work out? How come?” “What is it ever? Magic.” She sighed. “Except for a change it wasn’t my magic, but his.” “I thought we took care of that,” Wyatt commented concerned. “Is he forming fireballs, again?” Kali shook her head hard. “No, no. I’m not expressing this very well. You remember his sister, Arie?” “The freaky calm preteen?” Wyatt grinned a bit. “Yeah, I remember her. Some sort of Cryokinetic like Janice, I believe.” “Your cousin Janice?” He nodded. Kali considered this. “Why didn’t I get informed that another one of your cousins came into their power?” “Um. . . I don’t know. How many of them do you know about?” Kali gave him a suspicious look. “How many of them have come into their powers?” “Ladybug, Cilly, Alanna, and Janice. Technically, though, only Cilly came into her powers. The rest of them had them from the moment magic returned.” “So Hope and Hank haven’t.” “And . . .” He frowned, thinking. Finally, he said, “Pat and Vicki lost their powers.” “Who and who?” She glared at him. “What kind of secrets are you keeping from me, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell?” “I’ve been busy,” Wyatt protested. “It hasn’t even been a month yet.” “Well, who are they?” “Aunt Prue’s.” Kali looked at him in pure disbelief. “Your Aunt Prue is dead, Wyatt. Dead people don’t have kids.” “My Aunt Prue was dead, Kal. That changed last month.” Kali pulled the pillow out from behind Wyatt’s back, before he could react and started smacking him with it. “You do not forget to tell me when you get your dead aunt back. You do not do that, Wyatt.” Wyatt threw his hands in front of his face and protested. “Injured guy here. Quit it.” Kali glared at him, but she stopped. Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess I better mention Melinda, too, though I’m beginning to wonder if she wasn’t a mirage. I haven’t seen her since that day.” Kali looked at him, curious. “Who’s Melinda?” “My sister,” he informed her, sounding as if he was testing the word. “In fact if anyone asks, she’s my twin sister.” “Your twin!” Kali looked at him startled. He nodded. “More or less. We share the same birthday and the same parents. We just never shared the same womb.” “I don’t think that qualifies you as twins.” “It’s going to have to. We can’t explain where she really came from.” “Which is?” Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t know what these walls might hear.” Kali laughed at him. “That’s a bit too suspicious. These walls don’t have listening devices.” She sat back on the end of the bed with a bounce. “Hey!” Wyatt exclaimed, startled. “That hurts.” Kali looked at him surprised. “What hurts?” Wyatt’s eyes grew wide, but he didn’t say anything. Kali got up off the bed. “Wyatt? What’s going on?” “My legs,” Wyatt stuttered. “I . . . I . . . . I can feel them.” Kali twirled around and looked down at the bed, then back at him, stunned. “You can? Just like that?” “I don’t know,” Wyatt stared down at his legs. “I can’t move them, but I can feel them.” An unfamiliar melody interrupted their conversation. Wyatt frowned and looked around. “Do you hear that?” Kali looked down at the cell on the nightstand by the window. “I think it’s your cell phone.” “Not yours?” She shook her head. “But who is it?” Kali shrugged and picked it up. “I guess if you want to know, you’ll have to answer it.” Wyatt took the offered cell phone and flipped it open. “Hello?”
Chris and his phone.  |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 9, 2016 9:27:26 GMT -5
Progress is made and Kali is very curious here. Just getting a headache again just by thinking about it. lol Wonder though how Wyatt will react to the news.  |
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 9, 2016 10:46:29 GMT -5
Progress is made and Kali is very curious here. Just getting a headache again just by thinking about it. lol Wonder though how Wyatt will react to the news. Kali is always curious. It's in her nature. As to Wyatt, more on that, now.
Chapter Five – Random Revelations Chris breathed a sigh of relief as Wyatt answered. “Hey, Wy. It’s me. I need you to talk to someone.” He looked at Bianca, not sure how to introduce her. “Let’s just say I think she’s on our side.” “Does she have a name?” Wyatt asked, distracted as Kali looked down at him. “What?” “Should I get a doctor?” Wyatt shook his head hard. “Not yet.” “Doctor?” Chris asked from the other end. “Er.” Wyatt scowled at Kali. “Is that Kali?” “Yeah, she came to visit me.” “Tell, her hi from me, but first why did she say something about the doctor?” “Nothing bad,” Wyatt assured him. “Don’t worry about it. What’s going on?” Chris looked at Bianca and then past her to the couple that had frustrated Emily. He sighed. “You will tell me, but I have to get back to work. The woman I’m giving the phone to is named Bianca Do . . . Holbrooke.” I can’t believe I started to say her maiden name. I can’t believe she’s married.As it was, Bianca was giving him a curious look. Chris gave her a nervous smile and shoved his cell into her hand. “My brother’s on the other end. Give the phone to one of the staff when you are done talking. I’ll be in the kitchen.” Bianca took the phone from him, giving him a slightly confused look. She’d caught the slip and she was going to find out what it meant. How could he possibly know her maiden name? “Hello?” “Sorry,” she said to the voice on the other end. “This is Bianca Holbrooke,” she informed him as she walked toward the entry hall. She stopped long enough to shake her head at Lawrence’s unvoiced question. “I take it that this is Wyatt Halliwell?” she asked as she stepped into the hall and past the teenage hostess, Becky Davis. Once she was out of Becky’s hearing range she stopped. “Yes, this is Wyatt.” He scowled at Kali as she lifted the blanket at the end of the bed and started poking his feet with her fingers. “Knock that off.” “What?” Bianca asked startled. “Not you.” “You can feel that?” Kali asked. “We’ve established that,” Wyatt reminded her. “Now, stop.” “Are you okay?” Bianca asked, concerned. “More or less,” Wyatt informed her glaring Kali down as she backed away from the bed, smile firmly in place. “The not walking thing kind of bites.” “The what?” Bianca asked, startled. No one mentioned he was lame.“Nothing, nothing,” Wyatt waved Kali away. “Look. Why did my brother want me to talk to you?” Bianca sighed. “Have you ever heard of a Phoenix?” “It’s a bird, right?” She closed her eyes. Why didn’t anyone ever warn their children about evil Phoenix? “Not quite what I mean.” “In that case what?” “Let’s just say most of them specialize in making sure people don’t walk away unless they want them to.” “Cryptic,” Wyatt commented. “Would you at least mind telling me if they are bipedal?” Bianca blinked and then started chuckling. “Right. Sorry. They are magical humans, either witch or warlock.” “Okay and why are you telling me about them?” “Simple,” she informed him. “One of them has been hired to see you and your brother dead.” “Hired,” he groaned. He’d been hearing that word a lot lately. He sighed. “And who are you?” “I’m one of them,” she admitted. “It’s something your born into, but for me my life took a very different twist than most, so I’m here to protect you.” Wyatt was silent for a moment. He sighed. “And why should I trust you?” “Because I’m very good at what I do, but Vera is better and you need to know what you are up against.” |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 9, 2016 13:29:20 GMT -5
At least, we've got a name and we'll see when Vera attacks again and which brother. Mmh, Bianca heard Chris' slip. This could be interesting though. |
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 9, 2016 15:50:18 GMT -5
At least, we've got a name and we'll see when Vera attacks again and which brother. Mmh, Bianca heard Chris' slip. This could be interesting though. I think I forgot to do something with the slip, but this won't be the only episode she appears in, so maybe she'll remember the next time they encounter each other.
Chapter Six – Testing Qualms Piper Halliwell had been to San Francisco Memorial every day for almost a week visiting her son. Usually she was with her husband, Leo Wyatt. It was a new and very unwelcome experience to have a child in the hospital. Growing up, their boys had gotten into scrapes like any other child, but never anything warranting a hospital stay. Piper had her own reasons for avoiding hospitals and half of them involved the very dead uncle of the very alive doctor who had cornered her once more. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Halliwell,” Dr. Curtis Williamson Darrin said, standing in her way, “but there has been a new development in your son’s case and we are going to have to run some tests. You can talk to him for a few minutes, but then everyone must leave.” “What happened?” Piper asked, half terrified. Dr. Darrin must have seen the look in her eyes, because he was quick to assure her. “Nothing bad. No, this is actually good. Your son has gained some feeling in his legs. We are hoping that this is only a sign of what’s to come. Nerves don’t normally grow back, so if that’s what is happening your son is very lucky in deed. We’ll have to . . .” “No tests,” Piper stopped him. Dr. Darrin frowned. “Why? We need to find out what the extent of this recovery is.” “Fine. Do what is needed to get my son the care he needs, but I will not let you make him a guinea pig.” And I won’t let you turn out like your uncle. I won’t. And he was so much like his uncle, that if he made it his quest to see what was allowing Wyatt to heal, he might just end up like his uncle. Dead. And that she would not allow. His frown remained as he considered her. “I will take that under advisement, but any decisions will have to be your son’s. He’s an adult and fully conscious.” “He will tell you exactly what I am,” she informed him. “No tests beyond what is needed for his care.” “Why don’t I let you go see your son before we get those tests started? I won’t do anything without your son’s consent unless it is needed.” Piper nodded. “Thank you.” “What did he want?” Leo asked as he came up behind her. She looked back at him. “That bad finding a parking spot?” Leo nodded. “Is everything all right with Wyatt?” “Quite all right,” she agreed. “He’s miraculously started regrowing nerves or something like that.” Leo’s eyes widened. “That’s not normal.” “Nope.” Piper shook her head. “Still I’m glad. And if this is natural. . .” “That’s unlikely.” “But if it is.” “If it is or if it isn’t, I will be glad if he walks, again,” Leo commented. And when it came down to it, that was the most important thing to Piper, too. Except making sure that this did not become the downfall of another man who only wanted to do good and help people.
In case you can't tell, I really wanted to mirror the situation with his uncle. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 10, 2016 7:42:54 GMT -5
Yeah, so it definitely looks like. Hopefully it works this time. Let's hope it does!!
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 10, 2016 7:57:54 GMT -5
Yeah, so it definitely looks like. Hopefully it works this time. Let's hope it does!! She's going to do everything she can to make sure that he doesn't get to that point. The potentially ironic part here is that if his uncle hadn't done what he did, he wouldn't ever be here, because one thing Dr. Curtis Williamson did while he was using the sisters' powers was save the lives of both his sister and brother-in-law. I can't recall at the moment if his sister was pregnant or if that was something I made up, but he definitely wasn't born. This one was fun. Let me know what you think of Piper and Bianca's reactions to each other.
Chapter Seven – Confronting the Past Piper pushed open the hospital room where Wyatt was staying and entered, with Leo right behind her. She smiled at the sight of Kali sitting in the chair next to the bed. “Hi, Kali.” Kali grinned. “Hello, Mrs. Halliwell, Mr. Wyatt. Did you hear?” Piper nodded. “I heard Wyatt is getting feeling back in his legs. How are you doing, Wyatt?” “Pretty good, I guess. My legs are a bit cramped, but after no feeling for a week, I’m just glad to feel anything.” “Any idea what happened?” Wyatt shook his head. “Sorry, Dad. Unless Kali sitting on my legs gave their feeling back I have no idea.” Leo chuckled. “Doubtful.” The door pushed open and a woman in a nurse’s uniform walked in pushing a cart. She looked surprised to see so many people, but she smiled. “It’s about time for everyone to leave so we can start those tests.” Wyatt wrinkled up his nose. She laughed. “They aren’t that bad, but I do need to give you a shot.” Wyatt groaned. “No shots, please.” “Sorry, not optional. I need you to roll your sleeve up.” She started pulling things off her cart, preparing to give him the shot. “I’d probably better leave,” Kali commented as she stood. The door pushed opened and all eyes turned to look as Bianca walked in. Piper’s eyes widened as she recognized her. She waved her arms and Leo and Kali quit moving. “What exactly do you think you are doing here?” she asked in a shrill offensive voice. Bianca ignored her, looking beyond her to the nurse getting ready to give Wyatt a shot. “Vera!” Wyatt recognized the name from their phone conversation and realizing this must be Bianca, he raised his shield. Piper whirled around and saw that the nurse was still moving. She saw Wyatt’s shield up and the scowl on Vera Delavan’s face. Vera’s eyes met Bianca’s. She grabbed a scalpel off the cart and threw it end over end at Piper. Piper’s eyes widened and she waved her hands, focusing on the scalpel. Since she was focusing on the scalpel, the rest of the room unfroze, but the scalpel froze a few inches from her face. Piper reached out and grabbed the scalpel, as Vera vanished from next to Wyatt. Vera reappeared and made a grab for the scalpel, but it wasn’t there. She felt the blade against her neck and looked at Piper. “I don’t make the same mistake twice,” Piper hissed. Before she could do anything else Vera vanished with black smoke swirling around her. Piper scowled and turned to look at Bianca. “Why are you here?” Bianca frowned, not understanding the hostility. “I’m here because she was hired to see him and his brother dead.” “Why does someone keep hiring people to come after us?” Wyatt said as he dropped his shield and pushed himself up. Before anyone could respond, the door pushed open once more and Lawrence came in with his and Bianca’s daughter, Ashlyn, in his arms. “Daddy stopped moving!” Ashlyn exclaimed as she grabbed for Bianca, laughter in her voice. Bianca pulled her daughter into her arms. She turned to face Wyatt. “I assume you are Wyatt Halliwell.” He nodded. “I’m sorry, but I have no answer for your question. I only know that someone did hire her.” “Why are you here?” Piper repeated. Bianca looked at her, really looked at her. Behind her Lawrence stiffened. “What is your problem? My wife is trying to help here and you keep accusing her of something. Why don’t you just tell us what problem you have and get it behind us?” Bianca gasped. “You!” She starred at Piper shocked. “You’re the one who tried to kill my mom.” Lawrence did a double take. “She did what?” “When I was a little girl, not much older than Ashlyn,” Bianca informed him softly. “She came over to our house with another woman and mom sent me out of the room. I didn’t listen. I kept the door opened a crack and watched. That woman blew my mom up.” Lawrence groaned. “Was this before or after your mom moved you guys out of the community?” Bianca frowned. After a moment, she said, “Before. I remember, because later that same day that woman came. The one I told you about. She was bordering on rude, demanding things from mom.” She frowned and looked up at Piper. “She looked like me, like I do now. Is that why you are annoyed to see me despite never having met me?” “She didn’t look like you,” Piper informed her. “She was . . .” Leo stopped her with a look. “No, Piper.” Having figured out what his mom was going to say, Wyatt echoed the words, but not the meaning. “No, Mom.” Piper looked at him, as if she had forgotten him. “She wasn’t.” “How would you know?” Piper returned, looking at Bianca wearily. “It’s like Chris is always saying,” he told her. “That wasn’t me. That wasn’t him. And this. That wasn’t her. That’s all there is to it. She’s someone entirely else.” “This is different.” “Mom, I may not know a lot about what happened there, and I assume that’s what this is about, but I know that it was very different. No one from there is the same as who they became here. They just aren’t.” “From where?” Bianca asked, confused. Piper sighed. “Fine. I’ll give her a chance, but I’m not dropping my guard.” “She’s here to see me,” Wyatt announced. “And before the real doctors come for these tests they want to do on me, I think I need to hear what she has to say. The threat is clearly real.” Piper looked at Bianca and her family, taking in Lawrence and Ashlyn’s presence for the first time, and then over to her son with Kali hovering at the foot of the bed. Finally she looked at her husband at her side. She sighed. “All right, but I’m staying.” Kali looked at Wyatt. “I’d stay too, but I’m afraid I really do have to go. I promised Mom that since I would be in town I would have dinner with her and I have to get going or I’ll be late.” Wyatt reached up and gave her a hug. “It will be okay.” She nodded. “I know. It’s just not how I’d hoped things would go.” “Don’t hesitate to come over if you need to talk and don’t let me ever forget what your ring tone sounds like.” Kali laughed at the reference to his not recognizing Chris’ ring tone earlier. “In his defense you share an apartment. He really doesn’t have a reason to call you most of the time.” Wyatt chuckled. “Still, he doesn’t use that phone.” “See you later.” She grinned as she headed toward the door. She stopped and offered Ashlyn a smile. “Hi, I’m Kali.” Ashlyn ducked her head against her mom’s shoulder. Kali smiled. She met Bianca’s eyes and without the slightest change in her tone she said, “You better be here to help.” And then she walked away. Bianca watched her bewildered. She stepped all the way into the room and walked over to where she could lean against a wall. “Looks like when I’m done I want to know what this story is. For now though, I will tell you what I know about what’s going on.” |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 10, 2016 16:08:20 GMT -5
Oha, very protective Piper and she seemed to have learned from earlier mistakes, obviously. Yeah, and it's hard to differ between different persons, from old and new realities. |
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 10, 2016 18:08:40 GMT -5
Oha, very protective Piper and she seemed to have learned from earlier mistakes, obviously. Yeah, and it's hard to differ between different persons, from old and new realities. That would give you a headache trying to keep track of who from which timeline did what. Poor Chris.
Chapter Eight – What She Said “That woman you hold so much in scorn, whoever she was had a profound effect on my mom,” Bianca began. “I don’t know what you know about Phoenix, but for the most part they are assassins.” Piper scowled. Bianca sighed and continued. “My mom was no different, though I never saw her kill anyone, not for years and even then it was only once. I understand she slowed down when I was born and when we lost my father, she stopped, for a while at least. She finally decided that he wasn’t coming back and changing for him would do no good. Then, you guys showed up, followed by that woman. We moved a week later.” “How come?” Wyatt asked from his bed. Bianca frowned. “I’m not really sure. She said she needed time to think. She went back to what she’d done before, accepting contracts and killing people.” She shuddered. Lawrence put his arms around her. She nodded. “Eventually I found out. And one day when I was eleven I asked her about it. She froze in her tracks and looked at me.” Piper started to say something, but Leo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She sighed. “She stared at me as if she wasn’t even seeing me. She sank down onto the couch and stared into the distance as if remembering something.
Lynn Donchi stared at her young daughter, remembering the words that the future version of her daughter had said when she’d asked if there wasn’t anything she could do to help. Yeah. Someday when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don’t lie to me. Don’t tell me you don’t feel a thing. Lynn never knew what become of that young woman. She only knew that she never saw her, again. Now, the question had come and she didn’t know how to handle it.
“What does it feel like to kill, Mommy?”
Lynn looked at her startled. “Where did that come from, Bianca?”
“I saw you, Mommy,” Bianca told her. “That man. He looked surprised.”
Lynn hugged her daughter against her chest. “Bianca, honey. You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Bianca looked up with sad eyes. “It’s bad isn’t it?”
“It’s what I do, sweetie,” Lynn told her.
“Was he a bad man?”
Lynn started to shake her head. She stopped and sighed. “Bianca, you don’t want to go there.”
“Nina said I’m supposed to follow in your footsteps.”
“You can do whatever you want.”
They were words no Phoenix child ever heard.
“You can make your own choices.”
“Did Daddy choose?”
Lynn’s eyes slid shut. “I don’t know. Sweetheart, I don’t know what your daddy did. He just left.”
“Was it because you killed someone?”
“This is a very grown-up conversation we are having.”
“I need to know, Mommy. If I’m supposed to do what you do, I need to know.”Don’t tell me you don’t feel a thing. Lynn shook her head. “You don’t need to know. You don’t need to have anything to do with what I do. I don’t want you to.”
“Then tell me, Mommy,” Bianca insisted. “If you don’t want me to, why do you?”
“Because it’s what I do,” Lynn told her. “It’s what I was brought up to do, since I was younger than you.”
“Then, why shouldn’t I?” Bianca asked. It didn’t seem all that strange that they were calmly discussing why her mom had killed a man in cold blood. It somehow seemed normal.
“Because, every time I killed someone a piece of me died, until there is nothing left.” Lynn informed her, collapsing onto the couch, pulling her preteen daughter with her. “Because every time you look at someone who bares even the remotest resemblance to someone you killed you see them again and you see them go down and you feel sick to your stomach.”
Bianca stared at her, her eyes confused. “Then, why, Mommy? Why do it? Why not stop?”
“Because it’s all I know.”
Bianca remembered the hopelessness in her mother’s voice as she said that. She looked up at Piper. “When I asked why she didn’t lie, why she didn’t try glorify it or make it better, all she told me was that she promised when I asked she wouldn’t lie.” Lawrence hugged his arms tight around his wife and daughter. “I told myself, I would never get in that situation, but I soon learned for me, there had to be more. I wasn’t in a position to ignore the call to kill, so I didn’t.” She looked Piper in the eyes as she added, “I learned to stop them.” |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 11, 2016 9:07:27 GMT -5
Oha, very emotional for Bianca and that she'd tell this Piper. I'm impressed, I think. But it explains a lot. |
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Post by StoryGirl83 on Jul 11, 2016 10:37:49 GMT -5
Oha, very emotional for Bianca and that she'd tell this Piper. I'm impressed, I think. But it explains a lot. Well, she just summed up the flashback, but I wanted readers to get a better idea of what happened, so that's why I included it. Still, absolutely a huge deal for Bianca to share this.
Chapter Nine – Blood in the Kitchen Ever since Bianca and her family had left Chris hadn’t been able to drop a feeling of unease. He didn’t know how many times he had almost picked up the phone to call his mom and ask if there was anyone who could come in for him. He wanted to know what was going on, why she wanted to talk to him and Wyatt. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that Callie wouldn’t run a shift and Drinka wouldn't cook, which meant the only person he could really call was his mom and she needed to be with Wyatt more than he did. He let out a breath and forced his attention back to the stove where he was finishing a meal. He glanced toward the door wondering when it would open letting someone in. All night Ty, Emily, Chelsea, and the rest of the waiting staff had been in and out of the kitchen with orders. It seemed that the time was slowing down with every minute that ticked by. If he didn’t know better he would think that someone had cast a spell on the clock or something. And while in his world that wasn’t impossible, it was also ridiculous. Why would anyone cast a spell on a clock? “Dreaming, Mr. Chef?” an amused voice asked from behind him. Chris turned around and cast a sheepish look at Emily. “Sorry, just worried about my brother.” “He’ll get better,” she told him confidently. “You’ll see.” He gave her a half smile. “I wish I had your confidence. It’s been almost a week with no sign of recovery. And frankly the doctors seem less hopeful with every day.” Emily shrugged. “That’s doctors for you, always giving you the worst case scenario in case something goes wrong. Besides I thought you said he was doing better.” “Well, that’s pretty easy to do,” Chris retorted. “He is no longer bleeding to death.” Emily’s eyes widened and her lips twitched. “Oh. Well, that’s good to know. It would be highly uncomfortable to be bleeding to death for almost a week.” Chris stared at her, unsure what to think. Unbidden, a tiny chuckle escaped his lips. “Okay, point taken.” “No other signs of improvement?” Nothing bad. Don’t worry about it.Wyatt’s words earlier forced their way to the front of his thoughts. “I don’t know. He said something earlier and I think that’s bugging me. I don’t know what he meant.” Emily looked at him thoughtfully. After several seconds, she spoke. “Look, there are no new customers in the dining room, so after you finish those up for me, I’ll take them out and you’ll have a chance to breath. Why don’t you use that to call your brother and find out exactly what he did mean?” Chris looked at her oddly. “You seem pretty clear headed. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I usually think pretty clearly.” He took one of the pans off the stove and grabbing a plate, started transferring the contents to it. Emily just shrugged. “Hey, if this was one of my brothers I doubt I’d be thinking too clearly either. Since it just so happens that my brothers are both safe and sound at the moment, I’m not too stressed. You on the other hand have a lot on your mind.” She grabbed a platter and started placing the plates on it. When she finished she grinned at him and headed out of the room without a word. Chris let out a huge breath and carried the pans over to the sink, wondering how to broach the question with his brother. Why wasn’t this easy? Behind him a figure shimmered into the room. She eyed all the knives in the room and grabbed one into her gloved hand, pushing her athemé back into its sheath. Without a sound she crept up behind Chris, who was pulling out his cell phone. Still without a sound she lifted the knife and stabbed. At the last second something alerted Chris and he whirled around, not about to orb when for all he knew it was Emily. The movement avoided the worst of it, but the knife still stabbed deep into his side, cutting a deep gash into him. He squashed down the scream of pain that wanted to escape his mouth and focused on Vera. Even though she had injured him, she was annoyed that she hadn’t hit anything vital. She stabbed at him, again. Holding his side, as blood seeped steadily out, Chris barely avoided the knife. As more blood poured out of him he was beginning to feel the effects in other places besides his side. His head was spinning, but not so much so that he missed the sound of the swinging doors from the dining room being pushed open. Ignoring his pain, he waved his hand at the door forcing it into the face of the person trying to enter. Thankful that the door distracted his attacker, too, he ignored the explanation from the dining hall that appeared to belong to Ty. He figured he had only a few seconds before Ty tried the door, again. That wasn’t enough time to fight off his attacker. He had to end this attack before someone innocent got hurt. With his free hand he felt behind him for some sort of weapon. There was no way he’d be able to focus enough to use his powers. Sure enough the door swung open and Ty started in, mumbling as he went, “Who knew that doors attacked people . . .” He spotted Chris trying to fend off Vera and he went white as a sheet. Vera sent Ty and annoyed look and Chris took his opportunity. He slammed a pot he’d grabbed right into her head. She went down hard, but she wasn’t knocked out. She glared at him and out of the view of the stunned Ty, she shimmered out. Chris forced himself to stay conscious. He was not going to the hospital and the only way to prevent that was to stay conscious and convince Ty he didn’t need to. “Where is she?” Ty asked as he came around the counter to look at Chris worried. Seeing the blood on the floor, he grimaced. “Who?” Chris asked, not because he didn’t know, but because he wanted to know what Ty knew. “The woman attacking you,” Ty responded, looking around. “Where is she?” “I don’t know,” Chris replied, honestly. He knew how she had vanished, but not where she was. It was then that Ty finally realized where the blood on the floor was coming from. “Oh my word! She got you?” “I’ll be okay,” Chris tried to assure him. “I think there are gauze pads in my mom’s office. Get those please.” Ty hesitated, but one last glance at Chris’ side and he ran into Piper’s office.
“Who wrote it?” Chris asked, peering over his father’s shoulder.
Leo looked at the bottom of the page. “No name. Try calling Josias, Chris.”
“Huh?” Chris looked at his father confused. “Why?”
“If he’s still a whitelighter, he might be able to tell us something.”
“So?” Chris still didn’t get it. “He’s not my whitelighter. He wouldn’t hear me.”
Leo smiled slightly. “You’re half elder.”
Chris stared at his father blankly. “You want me to try and elder jingle a whitelighter?”
Leo nodded.
Chris had been stunned when it had worked. And now maybe he needed it to work again. I guess I need a whitelighter, but who to call? I only know a handful of them and I already know I can’t call Hank and Aunt Paige ignores the elders. And I doubt Josias would be very happy to hear from me.Chris’ train of thought was interrupted by Ty’s return. He approached Chris and asked, “Want some help with that?” Chris shook his head and reached out his clean hand for the gauze. “What I want is for you to let the guests know that due to an incident in the kitchen we will not be serving anything else tonight. And don’t let the staff in here.” “What about the police?” “Don’t call them.” “But why? She injured you.” “Please, Ty. Just tell the girls that I was injured and while I will be all right we are going to close early.” “But is it true?” Ty persisted, not liking this one bit. “Will you be all right?” I will be if I can get help soon, Chris thought as he nodded. He held out his free hand for the gauze, and then changed his mind. “Just put the gauze on the counter there, and I will take care of binding this wound.” “Don’t be ridiculous,” Ty told him with a frown. “You need help with that.” “What I need is for you to keep the rest of the staff out of here, especially Emily and Becky.” “Becky would never leave her post so far as to enter the kitchen.” “Well, Emily then. I know Chelsea can handle blood, but . . .” “Their age is not a hindrance you know,” Ty insisted. “Perhaps not, but it doesn’t mean they should be exposed to it if it can be avoided, and I seem to bleed a lot.” Ty stared at him for several seconds, but it was the sound of footsteps that decided it for him. He ran toward the door, dropping the unopened package of gauze on the floor in front of Chris, and pushed it open. “Sorry, Chelsea, kitchen’s closed.” Chris didn’t hear Chelsea’s answer, but watched momentarily as Ty took charge of the dining room from the kitchen door. As soon as the door swung shut before him he closed his eyes and focused on the power he hadn’t wanted when he discovered it almost two months before. He focused his thoughts on finding a certain whitelighter and then called her name. “Mikelle!” Mikelle Zealand orbed in seconds later. She took in the scene and looked at Chris. “Should I ask?” “Heal first, please,” Chris requested, “and just me, not my clothes or clean up the blood. Just me.” Mikelle raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.” Chris glared at her. “Mikelle.” Mikelle got down on her knees next to him and held her hands over his wound. They glowed gold and the gaping wound in his side healed up. “Any more strange requests?” “Someone saw my wound,” Chris offered by way of explanation. Mikelle nodded as if that explained everything. “Mortal?” Chris nodded. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to dust them?” she asked curious. Chris frowned, at first trying to figure out what she was talking about and then realizing just frowning deeper. “Dust? As in memory dust?” Mikelle nodded. Chris stopped and gave it fair consideration and then shook his head. “No, I can’t use that as an easy fix. Besides it can be dangerous. You never know how much they will forget and what. What if I used too much? No, that needs to be a last resort only.” Mikelle nodded. The smile on her face was a little suspicious. “All right. I will be on my way then.” “Mikelle?” “Hmm?” “How are my aunt and her family adjusting?” Mikelle smiled. “If you mean Prue, Andy, and the girls, they are doing good, but they’d be doing better if they got phone calls from more than just Ben and your mom.” Chris chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” “Be careful,” she warned before orbing out. He looked down at the gauze on the floor where it had dropped and frowned. And it stays on how? Magically? He got to his feet and sighed as he walked toward his mom’s office after some medical tape to keep the gauze in place.
Just so it is clear, Mikelle is not their whitelighter. She just happens to be a whitelighter that they know and Chris can call any whitelighter he chooses, so he chooses her. |
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Post by Chrisaholic on Jul 11, 2016 14:33:03 GMT -5
Oha, that was close for Chris but unfortunately, someone had to see it! At least, as half Elder Chris can summon a whitelighter. Interesting power, by the way. How would Piper react to this news? His family completely. Not good! Wonder what will happen now.
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