Charmed: Heritage - 113 – The Power of Influence

[StoryGirl83]

Nov 20, 2016 7:31:38 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Hehe, so interesting that someone takes Piper for her past life. Brian seems to know the Manor well at that time, and of course Paige is curious here. Yeah, what will they do with all these kids who are out of their time? They need someone who can send them back or send them into their much earned afterlife.

If you look back, Brian was actually mentioned before he arrived in the story (as was Katherine). Both have a connection to the family's past. I found it amusing to have Brian a native of San Francisco know Piper's past life and the manor.

---

Chapter Twenty – Choices to Make

While Piper, Paige, and Leo tried to figure out what to do with the five time displaced children, Wyatt and Chris bid their cousins good-bye. Ladybug said that it was just too much in a day for her little sister and admitted that she was exceedingly glad that Hope hadn’t come into her powers, even if Hope wanted them so desperately.

“As long as she doesn’t have them,” Ladybug commented with a sigh, “she’s off their radar. Once she comes into her powers the demonic world is going to start paying attention to her, just as it does with all the rest of us.”

“Be careful,” Wyatt cautioned her.

Ladybug nodded. She leaned in close to him and in a whispered tone so her sisters couldn’t hear her she said, “I don’t know if I’ll ever see my parents again. This isn’t like them. And I will do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to my sisters.” She gave him an ironic smile before adding, “Of course it would help if I didn’t let something happen to me either or how can I possibly protect them.”

Wyatt chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”

Cilly leaned over and planted a kiss on Wyatt’s cheek. “Don’t worry so much, Wy. We’re all safe now and you are safe from my matchmaking for present.”

Wyatt looked at her questioningly. “I wasn’t thinking about matchmaking. Why’d you bring it up?”

“Because I want to see you smile,” she informed him. “I know you miss her and I don’t really know how to deal with that.”

“How about don’t?” he suggested.

“For now, I’ll leave it be,” she agreed. “But be happy.”

“I am happy,” he informed her. “There are some things that I would rather not be, but I won’t let them keep me from being happy.” He gave her the grin she wanted and kissed her on the forehead. “Be safe, Pricilla Venus.”

She rolled her eyes at him and in pink and white hearts she vanished from sight.

Ladybug hugged Hope close and seconds later they too had disappeared in pink hearts.

Behind Wyatt the phone rang, startling him. He turned around and picked it up “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Ava,” Ava informed him on the other end. “I just got three new guests a few minutes ago. Can I assume that it’s safe to return?”

Wyatt smiled. “Yes. Yes, it’s safe.”

“In that case I will be back over in a few minutes with,” she paused a moment before continuing, “six people in tow. I have some things for you. I was going to just give them to your parents, but since you’re over there, I figure I will just give them to you.”

“I’ll see you then,” Wyatt said. He finished off the conversation, bidding her good bye and returned to the room where his family stood around trying to figure out what to do with the five children. The twins had fallen asleep on the couch. Charity had declared it the softest thing she had ever touched. Faith had shaken her head and yawned, completely exhausted. The second she had put her head down she had fallen sound asleep. Brian was trying hard not to nod off completely in one of the arm chairs. Katherine was at that moment in the living room, watching the cars go by with eyes as big as saucers. Charles seemed to be the self appointed guardian of the five children. He watched the adults with guarded eyes.

“Ava is on her way over with the Westcotts,” Wyatt informed everyone as he entered the room. He looked at the twins asleep on the couch and smiled. “Should we put them in beds?”

Piper shook her head. “I don’t want to wake them. I think they need the sleep.”

“They do,” Charles agreed. “They haven’t slept in four hundred years. It’s one of the ways he tortured us.” He shuddered. “You were saying you thought maybe you could find Brian’s family. We’re not going to be separated and no one is going to be left alive that remembers him, so unless they are willing to take us all in, you’ll have to find another solution.”

Paige frowned. “Well, my husband and I are licensed for emergency foster care, so we could take you guys in for a few days or weeks until we find a better solution.”

“What’s foster care?” Charles asked confused.

Paige sighed. “Never mind. Forget that part of it. My husband and I can take you in for a while. We only have three bedrooms and five people live in them, but we can make room for five more. I’m sure Hank wouldn’t mind having a couple of guys his age to spend time with. And the twins would love having another set of twins around.”

“And Katherine?” Brian asked.

The doorbell rang and Wyatt exited the room, again.

As he left he heard Paige respond, “We can fit five people in their room. It will be like a giant slumber party.” She shook her head. “And those girls will not be getting much sleep. Janice will want to know all about where and when you five come from.”

Wyatt pulled open the door and found Ava and the six Westcott. Tyler was hugging Leah in his arms and had Piper by the hand. Miranda carried the sleepy Halli whose arms hung loosely around her mom’s neck. Behind them walked Matthew Westcott, Tyler’s oldest at fourteen, and Ava.

Ava held out a manila envelope. “I talk to Curtis Darrin and I’m fairly certain this is all the info he had on your visit to the hospital other than very general stuff like admittance. I watched him destroy any blood samples he had. You were right that he kept some back.”

Wyatt exhaled sharply. “You’re sure?”

Ava nodded. “I believe so. He didn’t look too happy, but I’m pretty sure I got to him.”

“You didn’t explain why, did you?”

Ava shook her head. “That would have just made things worse. Curtis didn’t need to know those things.”

“May we come back in?” Tyler requested.

Wyatt chuckled. “Sorry about that. Yeah, let’s join everyone.” He took the envelope from Ava and led the way back into the sitting room.

Matthew stopped at the door way and looked at the different people in it. His eyes stopped on Paige and he smiled. He walked over to her and held out his hand. “Paige Matthews, to the rescue again.”

Paige laughed. “I hardly think talking to your class was a rescue.”

Matthew shrugged. “Who else can say that they brought a Charmed One to show and tell?” he returned with a laugh. “And for bonus points say that they were named for a Charmed One. I never thought it was cool that I was named after a woman until then.”

Paige laughed harder. “Well, I’m glad you thought so.”

“What class is this?” Miranda asked.

“Who are the children?” Ava asked before anyone could answer Miranda, looking down at the sleeping twins. Realizing she’d interrupted Miranda she turned around and gave her and an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. Continue.”

Miranda shook her head. “It can wait, but your question . . . Who are these children? Our children were returned to us. Why weren’t they returned to their parents?”

“Because my parents have been dead since some time in the nineteenth century,” Charles informed her. “The twins’ parents were killed in 1627 by the same demon that captured all of us. Shall I continue?”

“You have no parents,” Ava repeated concerned. “But what will become of you?”

“Actually, we were just discussing that,” Piper admitted. “Paige was saying that if Henry is okay with it, she could take them in for a few weeks, but that’s not a permanent solution.”

“I have an empty house,” Ava volunteered.

All the adults and some of the children turned to look at her. “What are you saying?” Piper asked.

Ava looked at the children. “My house is so empty with Kali away in school. It was always kind of big for two people anyway, but Kali,” she laughed. “She didn’t want to move away from her new friends, so once we moved there we weren’t moving out.” She glanced in the general direction of her house across the street. “We have four bedrooms. One of them is Kali’s, but I image we could make it work. How many children are there?”

“Five,” Leo said as he led Katherine back into the room. “There are the two boys and three girls.”

Ava nodded. “Well, if the boys are willing to share a room and two of the girls, I imagine I could talk Kali into sharing her room. She’s only in it some of the time anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Piper asked.

Ava nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. Tyler said that it’s magical children that were disappearing, so I imagine these children all have magical powers of some sort. Are they all witches?”

“Fiona was an empath,” Katherine volunteered, softly, “but I hadn’t actually come into my powers. Thou would feel a bit sad too if thou’s younger sister had come into her powers and thou hadn’t.”

“Does she always talk like that?” Matthew asked Charles.

Charles nodded. “I have learned to accept that it’s just part of Katherine. It’s only that one word though.”

Ava looked at Charles. “What about you? Are you a witch?”

He nodded. He held out his hand.

Curious, Ava took it in hers.

Charles heaved in a breath and closed his hand around hers.

“Whoa!” Ava exclaimed. “That’s cold!”

Charles held up his other hand and shook his head.

Ava stared at him startled and asked, “How did you warm your hand up so fast?”

“It’s not just my hand,” he informed her as he dropped both hands to his sides. “I can control the temperature around me for several feet.” He sighed. “Or I used to be able to?” He chuckled. “It’s interesting how fast someone will drop their hold on you when you start to burn them just with a touch or they get frost bitten just being close to you.” He sighed. “Didn’t work with James Thomas. He learns your tricks and powers and blocks them. He can’t do it for long, but he can do it long enough to take off with someone. Or he could.” He looked at Piper. “Thank you for making that potion.”

“Do you really want us to come live with you?” Brian asked.

Ava smiled at him. “I would be honored.” She turned to Paige. “You still have contacts with social services, right?”

“Paige nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll get on it in the morning.”

“Well, I’m not going to wait until the morning to give these kids a home. It sounds like they have been in sore need of one for a very long time.” She looked at the children and sighed. “Well, I only have four beds including Kali’s and mine. Mines’ big, so I can share it with one of the girls.”

“I don’t care about sharing, if it’s needed,” Charles admitted. “I . . . I used to share a bed with my brother, Joshua.”

Ava smiled and shook her head. “I think perhaps Katherine can share my bed and the two little ladies on the couch can share Kali’s bed. The two beds in the guest rooms are smaller.”

“Their names are Faith and Charity,” Brian offered.

“Thank you,” Ava replied looking at him. “And what’s yours?”

“Brian Scott,” he informed her before asking curiously, “And yours?”

“Dr. Ava Nicolae,” she responded automatically.

“Doctor, huh?” Brian replied intrigued. “What kind of doctor?”

“I’m a surgeon.” Ava looked at Piper, Paige, and Leo. “And objections?”

Piper shook her head. “They need some place to stay and I don’t think I’m ready to raise more children. Are you?”

Ava nodded. “I think we can do this, don’t you?” she asked the three older children.

Charles looked at Brian and Katherine before he answered Ava. “We are willing to try. Thank you.” He yawned.

“Why don’t we get these kids over to your house and into beds,” Paige suggested. “Wyatt and Chris can orb the twins over there, because I don’t think we should risk waking them.”

Wyatt and Chris looked at her surprised. “What about you?” Chris asked.

Paige walked over to Miranda and took Halli out of her arms. “I have some other kids to deal with.”

Halli giggled as Paige tickled her.

Wyatt chuckled and walked toward the couch. Noticing that Chris wasn’t following him he turned around. “Coming?”

Chris looked at the kids uncertain. “I don’t want to wake them.”

“They haven’t slept in four centuries,” Wyatt retorted as he gently picked Charity up off the couch. “I don’t think they’re going to wake up for a very long time no matter what you do,” he gave Paige a look and added, “which is why we are walking across the street. Orbing them is the one thing I can think of that might wake them, since it has a tendency to disorient people not used to it.” Cradling Charity close to his body, Wyatt headed toward the door.

Chris carefully picked up Faith, but looked rather awkward trying to carry her.

Charles watched him amused for a few seconds and headed over to him. He held out his arms and slipped them under Faith. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”

Chris sighed. “Thanks.”

As soon as Faith was safely in Charles’ arms he turned to look at Ava. “Lead the way, please.”

---

They started getting into the conversation about transporting the kids across the street and I started seeing dizzy people who had never been orbed before. Didn't happen every time, but enough that I saw no reason not to use that as a reason for them to walk. Besides. They use magic way too much for stuff they don't need it for.

[Chrisaholic]

Cool, that Ava is able to take all kids in. And that they sleep now is also understandable. Hope they can find a good home.

[StoryGirl83]

Nov 24, 2016 11:29:20 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Cool, that Ava is able to take all kids in. And that they sleep now is also understandable. Hope they can find a good home.

Oh, Ava's keeping them. Kali's getting instant siblings. The kids want to stay together and even though one of them (Brian) still has family, he still wants to stay with them.

This next chapter is fun. At the end of the last story a little girl disappeared, one of the first victims of this. This chapter tells what happened to her.

---

Chapter Twenty-One – Emily, the Spy

Flashback
with Brie, Reina, and Aaron Lloyd

Wyatt wasn’t back yet when the phone rang. Piper excused herself to go get it. “Hello?”

“Mrs. Halliwell, is Chris there?” Emily’s voice asked on the other end of the phone.

Piper frowned. “Aren’t you at work?”

“Yes,” Emily answered easily.

Piper’s frown deepened. Why was one of her employees calling her son while at work? “At my restaurant?”

“Yes,” Emily agreed again. “Drinka said it was okay for me to call.”

Piper sighed. “Fine. I’ll find him.” She put the phone down on the small entry table and headed back into the sitting room.

Chris was sitting on the couch trying to be polite to the two older Westcott girls. Leah was seated on the couch next to him, looking up at him questioningly.

Piper smiled. “Chris, Emily is on the phone for you.”

“Emily is?”

Piper nodded. “She wants to talk to you.”

Chris disengaged himself from the two girls and headed into the foray where he grabbed the phone. “Emily?”

“Hey, Chris,” she greeted. “I saw something a little bit ago that I thought might interest you.”

Chris blinked. “Um. Okay?”

Emily laughed. “There is a group in here. One of the men in the group came in looking like he’d just lost his best friend, but for whatever reason decided to come to this dinner anyway. About five minutes ago a woman entered the restaurant with a little girl. Drinka led them into the main room and took them over to the table with those men.”

“You’ve lost me completely, Emily,” Chris admitted. “Is there a point to this story?”

“When that man saw the little girl his face almost literally lit up,” Emily continued as if he hadn’t said anything. “Apparently the little girl was his daughter and she’d gone missing last night. He was up the whole night trying to find her and through the day. He had this business dinner and his sister, the woman, insisted that he attend, because apparently his boss wouldn’t have cared about his missing daughter. He came, but he was miserable.”

“I still don’t understand why you are telling me this, Emily,” Chris persisted.

“As they were headed out I heard them talking.”

---

“Aaron, Raina is fine,” Brie Lloyd insisted. “Right now what she needs is sleep.” As if to illustrate her point, Raina Lloyd snuggled up closer to Brie and yawned.

“Brie, she is not all right,” Aaron Lloyd insisted just as stubbornly. “My daughter needs me after this. I don’t even care about my job anymore.”

“I think you’d better. I don’t think your boss is going to accept ‘my daughter was kidnapped by a de . . .’”

Aaron slapped his hand over her mouth. “Brie you can’t just say things like that.”

“Why not?” Brie wanted to know. “No one is listening.” She nearly walked into Drinka Deguilio.

Drinka looked at her curiously. “I take it, everything went well.”

Aaron gave his sister a look.

Brie looked back at him sheepishly.

Drinka smiled. “Never mind all that. Subterfuge never set well with me.”

“Whatever are you talking about?” Brie asked.

Drinka just shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Go home with your daughter, sir. I believe I can smooth things over with your business associates.”

Aaron frowned. “Who are you?”

“Let’s just say that I believe there is always a place for a little magic in peoples’ lives,” Drinka stated. “You daughter is very lucky. From what I understand thousands of children have not been so lucky.”

Aaron gulped. “Do you know what happened to my daughter?”

Drinka shook her head. “No, but I have a very good guess. I know some people.”

Aaron frowned at her, but just sighed. “Brie, hand Raina over. We’re going home, now. If you want to come, you can, but I’m not letting her out of my sight for a while.”

Drinka watched them leave and looked around the corner to where Emily was eavesdropping. “You hear enough?” she asked disapprovingly.

Emily shook her head. “That made no sense, but I think they were talking about something . . . never mind.”

Drinka shook her head. “Well, you didn’t hear anything worth repeating, so don’t.”

Emily nodded slowly and stopped. “I thought maybe she started to say demon.” She forced the last word out of her mouth, remembering that Chris had said Drinka knew about all that.

Drinka nodded. “She probably did. As I said, not worth repeating.”

“Not even to Chris?”

Drinka frowned. “What’s this about Chris?”

“That’s why he had to leave, isn’t it?” Emily asked, putting the pieces together. “He had something to do with getting this girl back to her father.”

“Perhaps,” Drinka agreed.

“May I call him?”

“Why?”

“To tell him about that little girl. If he had something to do with this, he’ll want to know that she’s all right.”

Drinka sighed and nodded. “Yes, go ahead, but not a word to anyone else. Understand?”

Emily nodded. “I understand.”

---

“That’s why I called,” Emily informed Chris. “Was that why you left work, because of that little girl going missing?”

“Not specifically her, but . . .” Chris stopped. “Look, I know you mean well, but you really need to stay as far away from this as possible. What we do is dangerous.”

“Yes, I know. You’ve already told me, but what difference could a phone call make.”

Chris groaned. “Thank you for telling me, Emily. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

Emily sighed. “Sure. Bye, Chris.”

Chris hung up the phone and stared at the wall opposite him. Was she trying to be involved in the world of magic? Didn’t she understand how dangerous it was? Maybe he should have just given her some brief explanation and made her leave when she’d come asking for explanations. Or better still, maybe he should have dusted her memory. Too late, now.

---

Emily's getting herself more involved than Chris would like. Do you think that will end up causing trouble for her or them?

[Chrisaholic]

I don't think it's good for her but that's only her decision in the end, no matter what the others may say finally. Oh yes, she's good at recognizing when magic can be involved here.

[StoryGirl83]

Nov 30, 2016 11:12:25 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

I don't think it's good for her but that's only her decision in the end, no matter what the others may say finally. Oh yes, she's good at recognizing when magic can be involved here.

The results of her interest in the supernatural world is going to be something that she is going to have to deal with in time. It's definitely going to be important to her character's story arc. I won't say how it's going to affect things as that would be a bit spoilerish. I just wanted to see what you thought on the matter.

This next one was fun. I like board games. It seemed like after all that, they needed to wind down a bit.

---

Chapter Twenty-Two – Not Antique

When Wyatt finally returned Chris had already said his good-byes and had headed back to their apartment. Wyatt gave his mom a quick kiss and orbed back into the apartment’s living room. Seeing no sigh of his brother, he headed into the hall and knocked on Chris’ closed door. “Everything okay?”

Chris pulled opened the door and nodded. “I’ve just been wondering if I made the right decision last week.”

Wyatt waited silently for more.

“Emily called,” Chris explained. “Apparently she saw something she thought was unusual and decided to find out if she could if magic had anything do with it.”

“Did it?”

Chris nodded. “This isn’t her fight.”

“Perhaps not,” Wyatt agreed. “And we all told you not to cast that spell.”

“But we know she won’t betray us,” Chris argued.

“We know that at that point in time she had no intention of doing so,” Wyatt reminded him. “We don’t know her and we don’t know how time will change her.”

Chris shook his head. “No, I’m pretty sure she’s safe. I just don’t want her sticking her nose in this and getting it cut off.”

“You warned her,” Wyatt reminded him.

Chris sighed. “Yeah, I did. Why did she have to be so curious?”

“Perhaps it’s her nature,” Wyatt suggested. “She’ll probably be safe as long as she doesn’t actually start trying to stop demons.”

Chris smiled a little. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. And why would she go after demons? She’d lose.”

Wyatt grinned back. “Come on, we’ve had a long day and I’d like to play some sort of game. Interested?”

Chris shrugged. “I might be persuaded. What did you have in mind?”

Wyatt considered this. “I was thinking we should go down to the store and see if we could find a likely board game.”

“Board game!” Chris exclaimed amused. “And where do you intend to find one of those? An antique shop?”

Wyatt snorted. “I will have you know that board games are not antiques. Kali and I spotted a brand new one just a few months ago when she dragged me around the stores to help her with her Christmas shopping.”

Chris shook his head laughing. “Lead the way then. This I have to see. A new board game. Please.”

---

The story is winding down. There are two more chapters, one leading to the events of the next three stories, and one that gives some closure to one of the time displaced witches. Apparently, it wasn't enough closure, so after a request for more, I wrote another piece to that.

The next story is essentially a three part story, although the first story is supposed to be stand alone it really goes straight into the next one and so I tend to consider them a three part story instead of one story followed by a two part story.

As I said, the next part is more leading into the events of the next one, hinting at what's to come. Up until now you've only met one of my warlock, Steve's, friends, the darklighter who was killed at the beginning of the series. Now, you're going to get to know a bit more about the coven he's part of. Enjoy.

[Chrisaholic]

Though curious what game the boys will be playing then. I play Monopoly but only online, and so far I've always won. lol We'll see how it turns out with Emily and magic.

[StoryGirl83]

Nov 30, 2016 11:42:34 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Though curious what game the boys will be playing then. I play Monopoly but only online, and so far I've always won. lol We'll see how it turns out with Emily and magic.

Sorry, I didn't make a decision on that. I like Monopoly, but my favorite is "The Game of Life." I'd pick that they played Careers in honor of the fact that apparently that's one of my sister's favorite games and we don't play it enough, but that game they would have to find in an antique store (or eBay) as it doesn't appear to have any editions made this century. If you want to imagine they are playing Monopoly, go ahead. I probably won't go with that, but unless I have some reason to actually show them playing a game, you can imagine whatever game you want.

---

Chapter Twenty-Three – Accusations and New Plans

and three demons

“It failed,” Steve exclaimed annoyed as he paced around his underworld lair. He’d left the girls with Brianna and Max and come here to sulk over the downfall of his plan while he waited for his next to begin to take shape. There was always another plan. “How could it have failed?”

“I told you it was a bad plan,” his friend, Dathe Renoir, another warlock, announced.

Steve glared at him. “No one asked you. Why are you here anyway?”

“Dam’s daughter is missing,” Dathe announced. “Twelve-year-old girls don’t just go missing.”

“They do when they are half darklighter,” Steve argued. “I’m sure Esther will turn up.”

“I’m not,” Dathe countered. “Further, I am beginning to believe your niece has a hand in this.”

“No,” Steve stated flat out.

“She’s friends with CT Bennett,” Dathe argued. “We know he’s been involved in things like this.”

“We don’t know that,” Steve shook his head. “It’s probably just a spiteful rumor.”

“The underworld doesn’t need rumors, spiteful or otherwise, to go after that guy,” Dathe informed him. “He’s just too powerful and he seems to side with good.”

“Perhaps he seems to,” Steve conceded, “but you haven’t seen him when the Charmed Ones are brought up. He despises them. How can anyone good despise them?”

“I suppose you are ready to welcome him into your family?” Dathe asked sarcastically.

“Hardly,” Steve returned. “He may or may not be on our side, but he’s dangerous, so thankfully that’s not an issue.”

“He took Esther, Steve,” Dathe insisted before he blinked out.

Steve shook his head. “You can enter now.”

What looked like three middle aged businessman entered the room. “Interesting friend you have,” one of them commented.

Steve shrugged. “That is irrelevant here. You read my message?”

The demon nodded. “Sounds like you want to retry a failed plan and leave us to get vanquished for our troubles.”

“I’m not asking you to confront them directly,” Steve argued. “I have a plan, but I need the brothers separated when it happens.”

“You tried to get rid of their orbing,” stated the second demon. “They got it back. You also tried to mess with their memories. That, too, failed. Why should this plan be any different?”

“Maybe it’s not,” Steve admitted, “but if this is the plan that will take them out, we need to follow it through. We need to find out. If we don’t destroy this family, eventually they will destroy us.”

“I suppose you can see the future,” the third demon snorted. “Are you a seer, an oracle?”

Steve ignored the remark. “Will you are least listen to my idea?”

The three demons looked at each other. When they looked back at him, they nodded as one.

Steve sneered at this. “In that case, this is my plan.”

---

Sometimes I think the only smart thing Steve does is not attack the boys directly.

The next "chapter" is about one of the kids from the past. Which one do you think it is?

[Chrisaholic]

Mmh, so Steve will still attack the boys though now separated. Might work better, depending on the boys' powers and all. Which kid? Maybe the one who recognized Piper as Mrs. Johnson. lol

[StoryGirl83]

Dec 2, 2016 10:49:45 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Mmh, so Steve will still attack the boys though now separated. Might work better, depending on the boys' powers and all. Which kid? Maybe the one who recognized Piper as Mrs. Johnson. lol

There will definitely be adverse affects.

Yep, that would be the kid. Here's the first part of that ending.

---

Chapter Twenty-Four – Good-Bye and Hello

A dozen colorful flowers lay dying on the cold, hard stone of the grave in front of Brian. Brian brushed his hand against the granite and traced the letters etched into it.

Geoffrey Chandler Scott

March 23, 1918 – July 15, 2000

As Brian’s finger’s reached the last letter he heard a click and a piece of stone slid away revealing a small TV screen. Brian stared at it startled.

For a moment the screen was blank, but then he turned into an image of a man in his seventies or eighties. There was something familiar about the man.

“Hello, Brian,” the man on the screen greeted.

Brian gasped and scrambled away.

“I was kind of hoping to say this to you in person, but it was never going to happen,” the man informed him. “I know that this must have come as a complete shock to you, but if you are listening to this that means that whatever Daniel did to enchant this actually worked and it means that someone succeeded in rescuing you before it was too late.”

Brian gaped at the image.

“In case you haven’t figured it out, Big Brother, I’m Geoff.”

Brian stared stunned at the aged version of his younger brother. Geoff had barely been nine the last time he’d seen him. Now he was so much older. He looked at the dates on the stone and did some quick calculating. Geoff had been eighty-two when he died.

“Ethan says I must be patient and in time we will have a chance to see you once more,” Geoff informed the camera. He let out a sound of disbelief. “I don’t think he quite understands how long one hundred years is. Though I suppose to Ethan it doesn’t matter. He will be here waiting, confident that you will be back and he will do it even if it takes more than one hundred years. I will not. I am dying and I am well aware of it.”

Brian gulped. Was there any chance that Ethan was still alive? It didn’t seem possible.

“I am not so young, though Ethan has over a year on me,” Geoff confided with a small laugh. “Lauren’s dead long ago and you never even met her. She was our sister. Mom was pregnant when you disappeared, but Lauren died very young. She was only twenty-three. And there’s someone else you’ve never met. Depending on how long it took you to be rescued, he may yet be alive. Let me tell you mom was stunned when she learned she was pregnant with Daniel fifteen years after Lauren was born. Our little brother is a character. I hope you get to meet him. Right now he’s only in his late fifties, really just a young man.”

Brian stared at Geoff’s image. Another brother? Could he be alive? It seemed more likely than Ethan being alive.

“I miss you so much, Big Brother,” Geoff informed him, “but I’ve learned to deal with the pain of your loss. However, I will know when you show up, again, so you had better summon me. If you don’t know how, find someone who does, someone from our family if you can or from one of the witch families we knew. I love you, Brian.”

The screen flickered and Brian cried out as if he’d just lost Geoff all over again. It was Geoff’s grave. He was dead, but for a moment he’d gotten to see his little brother alive.

The screen changed again and this time it showed a younger man, one in his fifties from the look of it. “Hello, Brian. You don’t know me, but I’m your youngest brother. My name is Daniel. There are two copies of this video,” Daniel informed him. “If this is the one you are watching then, most likely I am alive. I suppose it’s possible my daughter ignored my instructions, but most likely I am alive. And that means I get to meet you if you are willing. Please be willing. I’m going to give you a phone number to call in just a moment, so if you have something to write on get it out. I have this phone on me at all times, so unless I’m asleep I will answer. You are literally the only one with this number. Please call me, Brian. If you don’t have something to write on, this will replay every time you touch Geoff’s grave as soon as you stop contact. I was very careful with my enchantment. Call me.”

Brian had brought nothing to write on, but he found a pen in his pocket from a game he’d played with Katherine a few days before. He wrote the numbers down on his hand and as soon as they stopped and the stone moved back into place he took off running. He had a brother to meet.

The End

---

Technically that is the end of the story, but the next scene is kind of like the extended or deleted scenes on a DVD. I will add it when I have time to start posting the next story.

[Chrisaholic]

Oho, completely interesting news for Brian! Never met a younger sister and then now off to meet a new younger brother. Can I say that is kind of a headache just to think about it. lol
Can't wait for this "extension"!

[StoryGirl83]

Dec 2, 2016 12:46:14 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oho, completely interesting news for Brian! Never met a younger sister and then now off to meet a new younger brother. Can I say that is kind of a headache just to think about it. lol
Can't wait for this "extension"!

It is a bit of a headache, yes, but people do live that long and if anyone could figure out how to make sure it happened, it would be someone with magic on their side.

Here's the rest of that including the author's notes I wrote for it at the time I wrote it.

---

Extended Scenes

A/N – By request I wrote an additional set of scenes that went deeper into Brian’s story of finding out what happened to his brothers. In the final chapter of this story Brian found his brother, Geoff’s, gravestone, with some surprises. In these scenes you will find out about his sister’s gravestone, which he looked for after leaving Geoff’s grave and learn what he finds out about his other two brothers, Ethan (born in 1916, so 111 if alive) and Daniel (born in 1943, so 84 if alive). This set of scenes is “official”.

Brian stared at the phone. It looked nothing like the phones they had when he was a little boy and still lived with his parents and his brothers. He didn't remember ever actually using the phone at home. That phone had been for important business his dad conducted or for when his ma had wanted to call one of her friends who had moved away. When he or Ethan had wanted to talk to someone they had just walked down the street, a block or two, or maybe a mile, always depending on who it was, and had visited with that person. Geoff had usually tagged along with whichever of his brothers was going somewhere.

And now Geoff was dead, long dead. And Ethan, who knew about Ethan. Brian looked at the number had written on his hand. Daniel. He'd be eighty-four if Brian had figured it right, but he might be alive. He'd said he'd given his daughter instructions on what to do if he died. And a sister, Lauren, whom had died so long ago that moss had grown over her gravestone when he'd found it. It had been a bit tricky. She was not Lauren Scott. Instead the gravestone had read:

Lauren Scott McGuffey
Beloved Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother
January 12, 1928- July 15, 1951
Anna McGuffey
Our Angel

The grave next to it had read:

Marcus James McGuffey
Beloved Son, Husband, Father
August 11, 1924 – October 29, 1991

Two people he had never known, he had thought then, but he did. He remembered Marcus McGuffey, Marky really, the only child of the neighbors' two doors down. The little boy had toddled after Ethan, latching onto Brian's brother as if Ethan was the greatest thing he'd ever seen. Mrs. McGuffey was frequently at their door trying to locate her toddler when he had wandered out of the front yard while she was gardening.

And now like so many others, that little toddler was long dead, the husband of the sister Brian had never met, the father of a little girl who probably never made it past her first minute. There had been no message with Lauren's grave, but then Lauren had probably not expected to die when she did. He wished he had known her, his little sister. So much time lost, so little chance that anything was left. One hundred years was a very long time. He couldn't believe that Ethan had survived that. He wasn't even sure Daniel could have survived that, but not Ethan. Thinking that was to put too much hope on finding someone who knew him and knew him well.

"You've been staring at that phone for almost half an hour," Ava commented from behind him. "Is it really that strange?"

Brian turned around to look at her. He smiled as he shook his head held up his hand.

Ava took his hand in hers and gently turned it so she could read the number. "Someone gave you their phone number?"

He nodded. "My brother, sort of."

Ava looked at him surprised. "You have a living brother?"

"Maybe." He sighed. "That's the problem. It was listed in a message on a gravestone almost thirty years old."

"You were in a cemetery?"

He nodded. "My family is from this area, so I thought I'd pay my respects if I could find them. Except when I found Geoff's grave there was a message from Daniel asking me to call this number." He looked up at her with barely held excitement. "I didn't even know there was a Daniel and now I'm supposed to call him. And Geoff said Ethan intended to stay alive, but he was only a couple of years younger than me, so he couldn't be. Could he?"

Ava took his hand and turned it so that the numbers faced him. "Only one way to find out."
Brian sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." He reached out and grabbed the phone in his hand. As he dialed, Ava smiled.

"I'll leave you alone for now," she told him. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."

He nodded barely noticing her words as he pushed the numbers on the phone.

---

"Rummy!" Elaina Scott yelled and she tossed her last cards on the table.

Her husband, John, groaned as he looked at her. "We can hear you, Lain."

Elaina wiggled her fingers against the edge of her ear. "What's that? Can't hear you."

A roar of laughter emitted from the end of the table. John's cousin, Bent Franklyn, was whispering something to their second cousin Eleanor Summers. The laughter did not come from them. It came from their great-uncle, Daniel Scott.

"Dad!" Daniel's daughter, Michelle Peters, protested. "Did you really do that to Aunt Lauren?"

Daniel grinned. "Well, I was only seven and Doris was getting all that attention."

Michelle laughed. "You were jealous of a newborn."

"You should have seen his reaction to Rachel's birth," the raspy voice of Daniel's older brother, Ethan Scott, commented catching the attention of all.

Eleanor, the younger of Rachel's two daughters, cast an amused look at Daniel. "You messed with my mom, too?"

"I was six!" Daniel protested indignant. "Ethan wasn't exactly an angel you know."

"Yes, but Grandpapa didn't start this conversation," Eleanor argued. "So let's hear about what you did to Mom."

It was Daniel heard a phone ringing. "Saved by the bell," he teased as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone, slid it open and put it to his ear. He frowned when he heard the phone ringing, again.

"What day is it?" Ethan asked, his voice sounding a mixture of fear and hope.

Elaina glanced down at her watch. "April 12th, why?"

"Brian," Daniel mumbled as he pulled out the second cell phone from his pocket.

"No," John protested. "Dad's not here."

"Oh, my word," Michelle gasped as she understood what was going on.

"Hello?" Daniel whispered into the phone as he got it to his ear.

"Hello," Brian's voice said from the other side. "I'm trying to reach Daniel Scott."

"Brian?"

"Yes," Brian agreed. "Is this Daniel?"

A look of awe covered Daniel's face, the wrinkles on his face more pronounced as he smiled. "I can't believe I'm actually talking to you. You sound so young."

"I am young," Brian agreed. At least he was physically. "When I found that message on Geoff's grave, I couldn't believe it. I didn't think there would be anyone left who would even know my name."

"Hard to forget that," Daniel chuckled. "Geoff's son is named for you. Besides Ethan and Geoff had all sorts of stories they liked to tell Lauren and me."

"I found her grave, too," Brian commented. "There was another name listed on the grave."

"Yeah," Daniel looked over at his own daughter. "Lauren died giving birth to her and she didn't make it either."

"How did Marky take that?"

"Marky?" Daniel barked out, amused.

"Give me the phone," Ethan rasped.

"Oh, give me a chance, Ethe," Daniel protested. "I've never even met him."

Ethan drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and his head slumped over.

---

Brian heard the commotion on the other end of the phone, but it quickly lost his attention as a glittering of air formed into a young boy he knew all too well. Tears threatened his eyes and he dropped the phone and ran over to give his little brother a hug. "Ethan!"

Ethan's astral projection hugged him tight. They stood there unmoving for over a minute.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Brian forced out, looking at his little brother. "But shouldn't you be older?"

"I am older, you nutcase," Ethan informed him. "But my body is so old and tired and you'd never recognize me. I wanted you to recognize me."

"But how?" Brian stared at him.

"One hundred years is a long time to practice a power," Ethan teased. "You might want to grab that phone and assure Daniel that I am alive and well. He was started to get on my nerves, should have let me talk to you."

Brian grinned, his eyes suspiciously shiny. "I can't believe you are still alive."

"I had to be," Ethan informed him. "My brother was coming back and he needed me."

Brian laughed. "I missed you so much, Ethe." He pulled Ethan into another hug.

When they pulled apart, Ethan looked at him. "Hard to believe you look so young still. Geoff and I had guesses on that, but there was this girl, Caitlyn Ellis, you remember her?"

Brian had to think a long time before he nodded his head. "I saw her there, but not after the demon was injured."

Ethan nodded. "She said she ran into some kids that had been there a long time, twin girls dressed like pilgrims."

Brian laughed and dragged Ethan into another room. He pointed across the room at the Faith and Charity, dressed nothing like pilgrims. "That's who she met," he whispered, not wanting to involve the girls in his reunion. He pulled Ethan back into the other room and grabbed up the phone. "Sorry, Daniel. Ethan's with me."

On the other end, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. "Tell that moron not to scare us like that."

"You had to know he was using his power," Brian protested. "Even I knew that."

"Any chance you can come here?" Daniel asked. "Everyone here wants to meet you."

Brian looked over at Ethan. "Who's everyone?"

"Ethan's granddaughter, Eleanor, Geoff's grandsons, John and Bent, John's wife, Elaina, and my daughter, Michelle," Daniel replied, understanding Brian's need for information. "We meet every week at Eleanor's to play games."

"Always at her house?" Brian asked confused.

Daniel nodded, not thinking about the fact that Brian couldn't see him. "Ethan lives with her and her husband."

"I see," Brian looked at his little brother amused. "You live with your granddaughter?"

Ethan shrugged. "When you see my body, you'll understand. I can't walk, Brian. My legs are too brittle, my muscles simply don't work. I lost my wife, my kids. My son never married. Rachel's older daughter only married a few years ago. When I had my accident, Eleanor and her husband offered to take me in." He gave Brian a wry grin. "I never quite got over it."

"Accident?"

"Nothing much to talk about," Ethan protested.

"You brought it up," he was quickly reminded.

Ethan sighed. "Tell, Daniel you'll find a way to get over there and then I'll explain."

Brian picked up the phone. "Hey, Daniel. I'll find a way over to Eleanor's house in a little bit. Ethan can give me the address. Right now, Ethan and I need to talk, okay?"

Daniel sighed. "Of course. Always Ethan."

"I want to know you," Brian informed him, "but right now, I need to know how Ethan's life has been."

That Daniel could understand. It was just that he had waited so long to meet Brian and now he was so close. "Call me when you are on your way. You have the number."

Brian laughed. "Yes, I do."

After they had hung up, Brian turned to Ethan. "Okay, what happened?"

"It was back when Geoff died," Ethan announced. "You can't tell from his grave, but he was killed by a demon. We both figured the best way to stay young was to fight demons." He chuckled. "The reasoning behind that, of course, was that if we were injured we could be healed, and healing might heal away some age, too."

Brian bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"It was absurd, of course," Ethan laughed, "but it was what we thought. We both wanted so desperately to be here one hundred years from then, now, this year. We knew you had to be able to escape this year. We were going to make sure of it, but in the end, it's a good thing someone else found a way, because we never did." Ethan shook his head sadly. "We were so sure of ourselves back then."

Brian sighed. "So how did you lose your ability to walk?"

"Geoff was sick," Ethan informed him. "It seems like such a long time ago."

"Almost thirty years," Brian reminded him. "I saw his grave."

"He hadn't started to feel the physical effects of it yet, but the doctors told him there was nothing they could do. Six years later they found a cure, but that was much too late for Geoff."

Brian gulped.

"It didn't matter though," Ethan admitted. "Geoff didn't die of the disease. He died fighting a demon. And it was my fault."

Brian stared at Ethan stunned. "But how?"

"Ever since I learned to fight in astral form, I tend to do that," Ethan told him. "It allows me to be more limber and less vulnerable. Except this time, something happened, an earthquake actually, and I fell over. It was a very localized earthquake, directed pretty much at where I was, but it was enough to break me out of my astral form and leave Geoff alone. By the time I managed to get back, he was dead."

"Did you get him?" Brian asked, his eyes shining with unshed tears, again.

Ethan nodded quickly, anger on his face as he remembered. "Oh, yeah. I got him. He killed my brother. I wasn't letting him get away with that." He drew in a breath. "You want to know the worst part."

Brian looked at him silently, not sure how to answer.

"When I managed to summon him much later, he was glad it ended the way it did." Ethan sighed. "See there was this girl. She was ten. The demon had targeted her and he would have killed her, but he lost interest once he killed Geoff. He only cared about killing someone. Geoff told me he was old; he'd lived his life. That girl was so young, with so much in front of her. It was worth his life, to him, to see her live. I didn't want that ending. I wanted them both to live, but sometimes, you just don't get what you want."

Brian put his arms around his little brother and tears, unshed for years began to pour from Ethan's eyes. They were two brothers, mourning the brother they had both loved and lost.

---

A/N - If it's unclear, the earthquake was caused by a demon and Ethan's legs were crushed in it. Their whitelighter did try to heal them, but was forbidden by the elders, hope to convince Ethan to quite fighting demons, mostly due to his age. It didn't work. At this point if a whitelighter tried to heal them, he or she would be successful, but Ethan has never thought to ask, again.

If anyone is interested Ethan only had the two children he mentioned, James (not mentioned by name) and Rachel. Both are dead. He only had two granddaughters, Wanda and Eleanor. Eleanor had children and grandchildren. Wanda is somewhat recently married with no kids, but she does have step kids.

Geoff also had two children. His son he named Brian after his missing brother. Geoff's Brian is still alive and the oldest amongst his generation (thus why Ethan's son is named James). His daughter's name is Josie. Brian's two kids are John (who with his wife is in this scene) and Kimberley. Kimberley would have been of age with Prue and Andy and may have attended school with them, since she's from the same area. Josie had two daughters, MacKenzie and Erica, and two sons, Charles and Bent (who's in this scene and has the full first name of Benton). The six cousins have various kids and grandkids. Josie has been dead for many years.

Lauren had several miscarriage in her young life, before she finally gave birth to a daughter that lived. Doris did not stay in contact with her family growing up, since her father left the area shortly after the birth of a stillborn daughter, named Anna (as mentioned on the tomb), and death of his wife. He was buried with his wife when he died, but it was not until that point that Doris got in contact with her mother's family. She was forty-one at the time and built a relationship with them, but not a close one. She has since died.

Finally, Daniel, younger than his nephew, Brian, and very close in age to most of his other nieces and nephews, he had three children. His oldest, Charlene, was the one he entrusted with the changing the video's if he died. He also had a son, Kevin, and another daughter, Michelle (seen in this scene.)

When trying to do the scene at Eleanor's house I tried to make sure I knew what all the relationships were, so I ended up with a partial family tree for the Scotts. I hope you enjoyed the extra pieces to this story.

If you'd like to see what happens next just click here and enjoy.

[Chrisaholic]

So Brian is reunited with his family. One little wonder here. I'm sure his decision has already been made.

[StoryGirl83]

Dec 3, 2016 14:43:04 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

So Brian is reunited with his family. One little wonder here. I'm sure his decision has already been made.

His decision was indeed made up a long time ago, but he's definitely going to stay in contact with his family now that he knows they are still about. Who knows how much more time his brothers have.