"You are the most stubborn witch in the entire world!" Wyatt Matthew Halliwell yelled at the top of his lungs, storming down into the kitchen of the Halliwell manor with Chris in tow.
"Me!? Your the one too busy going out on a date than focusing on vanquishing this demon!" Chris retorted in a similarly heated voice.
"She's my girlfriend and I told you I would be home tonight to help you with your neurotic demon hunting!" Wyatt said, turning to stare back at Chris with fire in his eyes.
"Okay, boys. Time out!" Piper yelled, coming into the kitchen to check on the commotion. She placed her hands on her hips and stared angrily at her two grown sons.
"Would you two stop fighting just for one minute so we can have some peace and quiet around here?" Piper asked, clearly tired and unimpressed.
"Sorry, Mom, Chris was just leaving." Wyatt apologised, turning to Chris while crossing his arms over his chest.
"Me!? What the hell, Wyatt, you're such an asshole!" Chris returned, his voice rising with the irritation he was feeling.
"Hey! Enough with the language mister! You two, orb away before I blow you both up!" Piper said in her warning tone. Wyatt orbed away and Chris set his jaw in a grimace, clearly unimpressed by his "twice blessed" brother winning again. He orbed away as well, landing somewhere secluded in Golden Gate park to let off some steam. He didn't really hate his brother, in fact, he couldn't have asked for a more caring older brother than Wyatt. He just got on his nerves sometimes. Always the twice blessed, in every way, not just magic. The one who did well in school, the one who got all the girls and the one who always ended up being sensible and serious when it came to demon hunting when Wyatt always blew it off to be with his girlfriend. Okay, he may have been lying just a little. Wyatt did take his duty seriously, just as seriously as Chris did but the way he seemed to so effortlessly balance his life, to have everything right at once really pissed Chris off sometimes. He sat down under a large oak tree and let his mind drift...
Meanwhile, somewhere else in San Francisco Reese Lawson was feeling just as frustrated. Seated cross legged in the middle of her room, eyes closed and palms flat against her knees, she tried to concentrate. Tried to block out all her negative emotions, all the rage and sadness and let out a deep breath. Suddenly she felt the rage again bubble to the surface and her light bulb exploded over head and several books flew out from her book shelf, landing in a heap on the floor with a loud thud.
"Shit! That's the fifth time today!" Reese grumbled to herself, getting to her feet and tiptoeing over the mess of glass on the floor to replace the books in her book case and to sweep up the glass on her floor, piling it into the bin with several other broken bulbs. She sighed dramatically, knowing she had to get out of the house if only to steady her emotions. There was no way her powers were going to settle down unless she thought about something else and being in her father's cramped studio wasn't helping her any. Reese grabbed the blue pin stripe jacket from behind her door, pulling it over her white v-neck singlet and slipped on her black boots, tucking in the ends of her denim jeans before grabbing her keys and slipping out of her room, quickly sidling down the stairs and into the small living area, heading for the front door.
"Where are you going?" Reese froze, turning slowly to face her father as he butted out his cigarette in the ash tray by the sink and took a swig of his beer.
"Out." She replied bluntly, opening the front door and slamming it behind her. Reese tried to steady her breathing as much as humanly possible, knowing that the sudden levitation of inanimate objects wouldn't go unnoticed in the streets of San Francisco. She continued to wander along the busy streets, passing a happy couple, hands linked and an older lady walking her dog. They both took little notice as she passed by but if they had been able to read her emotions, they would have stopped dead in their tracks. Heartbreak, fear and pity. She was only twenty two but she had known she was a witch for many years when the pieces just started to come together and her experiences seemed to get stranger and stranger. Finally she had been sent a whitelighter to guide her and he had become one of her greatest friends. He was Sam, Paige Matthew's father, reformed from his grief and eager to help her embrace who she was and what she was destined for. She hadn't known who or what he was, only that he had helped her move on from her self esteem issues and her dark past. The oldest of one other sibling, Reese had been the victim of bullying her entire teenage life. Teased because of her weight, teased because she was different and she was victimised because of it. Everyone surmised she wasn't good enough and the rage built into a protective cage around herself. The first day she had known she was different, Greg, the one who taunted her the most, the dark evil in her life had pushed her over the edge. He had said one too many things, stripped her soul bare and scarred its shell. She had ran, ran away yet feeling a power pulling her, ripping her apart, wanting to get out. She ran til her legs felt like jelly and slumping in an alley, she let her emotions take over, sobbing and screaming until the earth shook with her power and her rage built into fury. She threw something, she couldn't remember what. But it exploded with the impact against the far wall of the alley and objects began to rise around her, a trash can here and a few broken bottles. Reese had thrown her arms out and they had shattered, chaos filling that one bubble of space in the world. Sam had come to her then in white and blue light and the concern she saw there was human, fatherly and she broke down her barriers and knew from that moment that nothing would be the same. Her brother had left San Francisco to work at a magazine in New York, a normal and dull life, eager to escape the family home as soon as he had been able to afford it. Her mother had passed away when she was six, the only nurturing figure she had had in her life and a very powerful witch. She had married her father just before Reese was born, love overtaking her common sense but when she began to realise the man that he truly was, it was too late and the following summer she had been murdered by Barbas, the demon of fear. Sam had been her neighbour, her confidant and her guardian angel. He had taught her everything she knew and helped her overcome her weight problems, with the help of her interest in martial arts and to find the confidence in herself that she needed to become who she really was. He taught her to trust in herself, trust her instincts and how to harness her phenomenal powers. She was telekinetic and could astral project, two powers that Prudence Halliwell had harboured as the oldest sibling of the Charmed Ones. She had known the Halliwell family since she was fifteen years old and they had helped her learn potions and spells and to overcome the fear of her powers. When she was seventeen though, Reese's father had put a stop to her regular visits to the Halliwell manor. She was young and scared and though her powers far exceeded the physical and mental hold her father had over her, she was too afraid to fight her own father and refused to use her powers against him. Since then she had been completely introvert, focusing all her attention on her growing strength as a witch and her martial arts, completely immersing herself in everything witchcraft, constantly hunting and vanquishing demons and lurking the underworld. Reese tripped slightly, stubbing the toe of her boot on the pavement, clearly not focusing where she was going. When she looked up though she realised she was standing outside the Halliwell manor, the stairs leading up to the front door looming before her.
"Stupid girl, they'll never forgive you for disappearing like that." Reese whispered, turning from admiring the familiar manor and shoving her hands deep inside her jacket pockets, only then looking up to see Wyatt Halliwell, a shocked and concerned look across his face at the estranged witch standing outside his home who had hadn't seen in four years.
"Ree?" He wondered outloud. She looked different than the last time he had seen her. Her hair was longer now, dark and wavy with streaks of blonde through it and her figure was curvaceous and toned, clearly her love for martial arts had really kept her in shape over the years. She was tall, though against Wyatt's tall stature she seemed small and frail and her shoulders were slumped in a manner that said she was in trouble. Wyatt didn't ask anything questions nor did he feel the anger well up in his gut that had happened so many times he had thought about her after she had disappeared but wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug and kissing her hair.
"God, Ree, we missed you so much." Wyatt mumbled into her hair, finally releasing her slightly so he could look down into her face, seeing her eyes glistening with tears.
"I know, hey, I'm really sorry. I just..." She began to explain, not really knowing what she would say or how she would explain her disappearance for the past four years.
"You don't have to explain, just come in with me. Mom will be beside herself when she sees you. I can tell she's missed having another girl in the house over the years." Wyatt said all at once, taking her hand softly in his own and stepping up the first two stairs.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Wy. I wouldn't blame them if they never wanted to see me again after what I did." Reese said in a small voice and Wyatt stepped back down the stairs to stand back in front of her.
"Then why don't you tell me?" He questioned in a concerned voice and Reese bit her lip before sighing deeply.
"Cliff notes version. Dad is an asshole." She replied, her eyes filling with a sudden raw anger that Wyatt had never seen before and it scared him.
"That's good enough for me. C'mon." Wyatt ordered with a small smile and Reese chuckled lightly at his sarcastic expression, already feeling welcome back into the Halliwell home. That was until she stepped in through the front door and came face to face with the person she had dreaded seeing the most.
"Reese? What the hell is she doing here?" Chris spat, not taking his furious green eyes off Reese. She had changed phenomenally since Chris had last seen her. Her hair was long and dark with wisps of blonde cascading across her shoulders and her body was no longer rounded but curvaceous and slender, her posture no longer slumped from years of teasing about her weight. Reese looked naturally beautiful in jeans and a singlet, her tailored coat sitting smoothly over her hips. Her eyes were just as warm and brown as he remembered, amber flecks dancing in their depths but the laughter in them had been gone for a long time. He watched her face fall at his spiteful words, watched as she wrinkled up her freckle spattered nose and she bit her lips, trying to hold back her emotions. It was what he knew she did when she was upset but didn't want to show it. Reese let go of Wyatt's hand and turned back around, hoping to make a quick exit back through the open door.
"I shouldn't have come here." She said in a small, meek voice and stepped across the threshold, only just catching Wyatt's voice drifting into the house.
"Mom, it's Reese, you have to stop her!" The urgency in his voice touched Reese deeply but it didn't stop the tight knot that had begun to form in her stomach as she remembered the steely look in Chris's eyes and the venom in his words. God, he hated her more than she had thought he would. She had left her best friend and hadn't told him why, left him wondering for four years. No wonder he had looked so betrayed. Reese continued down the stairs, tears springing into her eyes before she could stop herself but a tight yet gentle grip on her arm stopped her and she turned, instantly feeling herself encased in Piper's arm. Her familiar, comforting scent washed over her. Like freshly made cookies and perfume, it was like being home. Reese let her tears stop as she began to calm down and felt able to talk.
"Piper, I am so sorry. For everything. I shouldn't have left, I just didn't know what to do." Feeling safe and loved, her fears finally came crashing down and she couldn't stop herself from telling her everything.
"Dad forbid me from seeing you any more. I was too scared to fight him. I was walking and I just ended up here...God, I'm so sorry." Reese blurted out all at once and she felt Piper pull back from her slightly and was afraid she too would never be able to forgive her. But as Reese looked up into Piper's eyes she saw tears of happiness welling up and a smile was playing at the corners of her mouth.
"It's okay, sweety. We're just glad you're okay, we were all so worried for so long. Leo told us he could sense you but that you had blocked him from getting through. We didn't know what to think." Piper explained, grabbed hold of Reese's hands and squeezing them tightly before smiling again.
"It's so good to see you, Reese. You're all grown up." She added and at this Reese had to smile.
"Oh my god, it really is you!" Reese turned to see Melinda Halliwell skipping down the stairs toward her, an overexcited grin on her face, screaming in delight as she jumped at Reese, giving her long lost friend an over the top hug.
"Geez, Melinda, when did you get so big?" Reese said sarcastically, giving Melinda a warm kiss on the cheek.
"Just about the time I realised how much I kick ass!" The sixteen year old retorted, a pleased smirk across her face.
"Well, she certainly has her mother's wit!" Reese said to Piper and they both laughed.
"Come on, Reese. We'll get you settled back into your old guest room for the night. I think you need to get some rest." She said all at once, noticing the pale quality of Reese's face and the bags under her eyes.
"Thanks, Piper." Reese said simply, making her way into the Halliwell manor and up to her old room.