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A Charmed Story - Part Five:
20 Weddings And A Funeral?
Chapter 1

"Mom? Are you ok?"
Piper heard Chris's voice in the lounge and frowend... 'Could that even be possible?' She left the broken dish on the table, and licking the injured finger and sucking the blood, she made her way towards her son's voice.
"Mom! I heard you cry in pain, are you ok?" Chris was in the middle of the room, holding Bianca's hand and looking up as if he was trying to sense his mother.
His countenance was pale and worried as he walked to her. She rolled her eyes and showed him the finger: "Chris, sweety, you need to calm down! I'm ok! We're all ok! You need to relax, for God's Sake, you're in your honeymoon!" She seemed to be really irritated, maybe feeling a bit guilty for being the cause of Chris's continuous interruptions of his deserved break. Bianca sighed and smiled at her, understandingly.
"I'm sorry, mom... After all that stuff of the Sorix order, and Zankou... and the premonitions you... or actually my little self, was having."
Bianca went to his side, and took his hand again, reassuringly: "Honey, Piper is right... You need to take it easy. They're grown-ups and know how to defend themselves. You know... You cannot be saving the world over and over again!" Chris sighed, and lowered his eyes.
"The Sorix are dead, the temple in ruins... The prophecy, forgotten. Zankou, vanquished. And the rest of the Underworld, funnily enough, seems to be oblivious of us! So just relax, young man..." Piper's voice sounded strong and determined, but she caressed her son's cheek lovingly. She just didn't want him to be again the neurotic whitelighter they had had in the past. She wanted to see him enjoy life as any young man would have done in his place! But after Zankou's attacks and the order of Sorix problem, he had turned a bit jumpy again.
"By the way..." she frowned, noticing for the first time their appearance, "weren't you in Hawaii?" Chris and Bianca looked at each other embarrased. Who should speak?
Piper smiled with a mocking grimace on her face, as she contemplated the sight. Chris was wearing a couple of shorts and trainers... nice, up to that point. But then, instead of the typical flowery shirt, which would have also been funny to see, he was wearing a long multicoloured t-shirt with the drawing of Aladdin on it. And to top it all, never better said, his head was covered by a funny hat which ended in a couple of huge Mickey Mouse's ears. Chris realised that he had forgotten to take it away, and he did at that very moment, blushing. Bianca also chuckled. She had another pair of ears, but hers were Pluto's. And her t-shirt was pink, with a huge drawing of Jazmine, Aladdin's fiancé.
"Mom, this has an explanation..." Chris started, as Piper paced around them, holding back a laugh.
The backs of the shirts read: "We're just married." Then, Chris's shirt added: "I am Jazmine-Bianca's husband." And Bianca's: "I am Aladdin-Chris's wife." With a big "FOREVER" and "EVER AFTER" below.
"Wow...!" Piper finished her pacing and looked in her son's eyes, amused, "that's romantic, man! I always knew that Leo should have taken me to Disney World too, in our honeymoon!"
Chris was now red as a tomato, and Bianca burst out laughing. "Chris's dream..." she shortly explained, then shrugged, "since he was a little child... his dream was going to Disney World... But he didn't want you to know since you'd laugh at him."
Chris took his eyes away, more embarrased than ever: "Ok... Maybe we should go again..."
"No, wait!" Piper stopped them. "Do you mean you never went to Disney World?" Chris shook his head. "Until now?"
"I didn't have the time, mom... you know." Piper nodded, sadly. "Then I was too old, I guess."
"Honey, you're never old for Disney World..." Bianca intervened, pressing his shoulder.
Piper smiled: "Yeah! I remember the last time I was there, there were plenty of adult people... including grandpas and grannies, having even more fun than little kids!" Chris smiled back at her.
"You should have told us. That was an easy dream to fulfill."
He nodded. "Well, it was easy this way... We just orbed there from Hawaii..."
"And now here," Bianca winked.
"You orbed?" Piper asked, spooked, "but you could have been exposed..."
This time Chris grinned widely and cockily: "No, if you know where to orb exactly. We did a couple of orbings around there..."
Bianca chuckled at the remembrance: "Yeah... The haunted mansion. It was so... romantic!"
"Really?" Piper raised her eyebrow, surprised: "Disney World... and the Haunted mansion, romantic? Maybe if you had said Mickey's and Minnie's little houses..."
"No, actually the mansion was perfect! We orbed straight to the dance hall, where all those ghosts are dancing through the air and up and down, and crossing through the pictures on the walls... We just danced there too, and it was so cute! I guess people thought it was part of the ride, too."
Piper smiled. They were now looking at each other the way they had during their wedding, as if no one else was there to spoil anything. They were right... Seen that way, it was romantic.
"We should take Wyatt there, don't you think so, Bianca?" he asked.
She noded, but suggested: "Maybe next time... Now we should go for another dance... Or maybe we should look for a comfortable place in those little houses of Mickey and Minnie?" They chuckled.
Piper was about to say something, when she saw it. "Hey..." she whispered, "did you make friends with the actors of the ride?"
Chris frowned staring at her: "But the ride doesn't have any actor. They're all holograms and pictures and those things..."
"Then who's that?" she asked again, pointing at their backs.
Chris and Bianca turned to see what was in that direction, and when they saw it, they became speechless. There was a young woman standing with a very sad face, looking at them and crying. She was dressed with a bride dress... With THE bride dress of the ride! The girl was quite... transparent so to say.
The three people in the room were astonished. Chris's hand loosened to let go off the hat with Mickey's ears on it.
"I need your help," she muttered.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole was squinting against the sun. He had already hit the golfball and was now following him with the eyes.
"Good hit," Victor remarked acknowledging.
Cole grinned: "I know."
"You should have told me that you are good in that..." his future-father-in-law laughed.
"Sorry," Cole answered grinning, "But don't worry, I'm not better than you, I think."
Now, both men laughed while they were going back to their little golf-car.
Cole sighed when he put his bag inside: "Who would have ever thought that we would play golf together."
"I definitely never did it!" Victor replied smiling.
"It's really funny how things are changing sometimes... and how fast." the tall dark haired man said thoughtful.
Victor nodded: "Yeah, that's true."
There was a little break of silence, but a good and friendly one.
"I'm really happy that Chris and Bianca finally got what they wanted... I'm sure they are sitting now in the loversride, with some freaky mice-ears on their heads and bill and coo like teenagers," Cole said after a while.
Victor looked at him frowning: "Disney World? I thought they'd celebrate their honeymoon in Hawaii?"
Cole began to laugh: "Yeah... They are in Hawaii! But Chris told me that after the first two days, which he planed to spend in the bedroom completly, he wanted to orb to Disney World. He said that was a big dream of him, or of them actually."
Victor now laughed, too.
After they calmed down a little, the grey haired man asked: "You're really good friends, aren't you? I mean, you're talking about everything."
Cole nodded smiling: "He said I had been his best friend, in his time... same as you."
Victor nodded: "He told me about that... well... I wish we would know us a little better, even if he already knows much about me..."
Cole smiled: "You will, believe me... Look, when I met him the first time I felt like you... It was crazy in a way. He knew everything about me...it was really weird... And he trusted me from the very beginning... That time I wouldn't have trust myself, you know..." Victor nodded. "But then..." he went on, "then I got to know him better and I realised that this friendship was true... that it was real... He's someone that you can count on, that you can trust, whatever happens."
Victor nodded again. Then, he asked smiling: "Do you think he plays golf, too?"
Both men started to laugh again. They were jumping into the car and were about to drive closer to the hole. But then, some bluish lights appeared in front of Cole, when little Wyatt orbed right on his lap.
"Gosh, boy, you should not scare me that way!" Cole yelled. Both men had been really scared for a moment. "What are you doing here?"
"Unke Co... tale..." Cole sighed while Victor laughed.
"Sometimes you really freak me, little worrior," Cole answered with an angry look. But then, he began to laugh too.
Victor took out his mobilephone: "I think I'm gonna call Piper to tell her where her son is..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige was walking along the endless corridors of the magic school, with her uniform on and looking inmpatient. 'Blah blah blah...' she thought, rolling her eyes without Phoebe's notice.
Her sister was almost running behind her, trying to keep up with her speed, and talking and talking without stop.
"... Well, you know what I mean, Paige? I mean that this is the end of 'Ask Phoebe'! C'est finis! Au revoir, arrivedercci, antio, adiós!"
"Phoebe, honey..." But she couldn't go on, because her sister wouldn't stop babblering.
"No, you don't understand, huh? Because... I don't have more answers! And if Phoebe doesn't have answers... What's the aim of 'Ask Phoebe'?"
They kept walking as she spoke. "A couple of days ago, I received a letter from a young Jewish girl, whose boyfriend, whom she loved a lot, has asked her to marry... The problem was that he's a Muslim, AND, even if they love each other, it seems their families are against!"
Paige turned and asked eagerly: "So what?"
"What? I answered her! I adviced her to marry him! I said 'If you're sure that you love him, marry him'."
Paige raised her eyebrow. "So? What's the problem?" she asked, starting to walk again.
Phoebe had recovered some air, and this time she was able to keep by her side as she talked: "The problem is that! I told them to marry. That was my only advice, Paige. That has been the only piece of advice I've been giving during the last few weeks. Nothing... creative, literary... Nothing original. I just said every single person who asked me, that he or she should marry."
Paige rolled her eyes again: "If their questions are about marriages, you just said what they wanted to hear!"
"No, Paige..."
They arrived at her office. Paige took seat and got a pile of papers from the drawer, while Phoebe kept pacing in front of the desk, ignoring the tons of exams that her sister had to correct.
"I told you... you don't understand... I mean that THAT is the only piece of advice I was able to give to EVERYONE. Yeah... look."
Paige looked at her, tiredly.
"Last week, a man in his fourties wrote to me, and told me that he had a problem with his best friend... Well, it seems his best friend was homosexual, you know... and now, he was in love with my reader. The thing is, my reader is NOT homosexual. But he's his best friend, and he didn't know how to tell him... Ok... Guess what."
This time, Paige looked at her amused: "You said to him that he should marry his best friend?"
Phoebe opened her eyes in awe: "Oh, no, Paige, puaj! How can you think that? No..."
"So you were original... I can't see the point, Phoebe, and I DO have tons of work here..."
"No, listen. I..." She stopped pacing to stare at her: "I told him that he should marry his girlfriend so that his friend could see that he wasn't homosexual. And I also told him to help him find a boyfriend..."
"Oh..." Paige was speechless, and didn't really have the time to go on with that chit-chatting.
"I don't know what's going on, Paige... I have the word 'MARRY' written in my brain, and I can't think about other solutions for these poor readers..."
Paige chuckled. Her sister looked really down, but it was funny, man!
"Can I give you a piece of advice, Phoebe?" she asked.
The girl nodded with enthusiasm, so Paige just grinned and said: "MARRY him!"
"Oh!" Phoebe frowned frustrated: "You're not being funny, girl, you're teasing me! Oh... I hate you!"
"And I have a lot of work to do, Phoebe... And I DO love you."
At that moment, Leo orbed inside the office: "Hey! "
"Hey, Leo..." the two Charmed Ones said.
He was worried about something. "Have you seen Wyatt?"
"Isn't he here in the school?" Paige frowned. Leo shook his head.
"And can't you sense him?" Phoebe asked.
Leo shook his head again: "He has learnt to block me from sensing him... This is really frustrating and worrying, you know?"
"Ok, calm down... I think I know where he is..." Phoebe smiled.
"Where?"
"Where he goes when he's bored… Cole or daddy."
Leo nodded. Then, Piper's voice sounded in his head. "Leo?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Piper, Bianca and Chris had remained mute for some minutes, looking at the presence in shock. Then, Piper had approached the girl and paced around her, amazed at the sight.
"Is this a joke, Chris?" Bianca whispered.
The boy shook his head slowly, without taking his eyes from the girl in the bride dress.
"I... I saw you in the ride..." the bride sobbed. "You weren't like the others... And you're not part of the mechanism, either..."
Chris half-smiled: "Thanks, that's a compliment." This gained him a hit from Bianca on his chest.
"I need you..."
Suddenly the cellphone rang, and Piper turned to it: "Ok… just don't move. I'll be right back." Then she gave a 'don't-take-your-eyes-from-her' look to Chris and Bianca, and picked up the phone. She didn't talk for a long time.
"It was grandpa. Wyatt had escaped from the magic school and orbed to them," she explained. Then she called Leo.
Seconds later, her husband was there, with the two sisters by his side.
"What's wrong honey?" He didn't want to ask about Wyatt, not to worry her if that wasn't the problem, but then he saw the bride, and Chris and Bianca in their weird clothes looking at the guest open-mouthed, and he just said: "Wow!"
"A long story... And, Leo... Wyatt's with Cole and dad," explained Piper.
Phoebe and Paige approached the girl too. "Hey..." asked Paige teasingly, "any of your readers, honey?"
Leo turned to his wife: "Should I pick him up, or...?"
"Yeah, I think so," she nodded, "I mean, both of them like him very much, but today the two men are working on their friendship, so..." Leo nodded and orbed away. Then, Piper turned to the woman. "Ok... you said you needed our help... well... Do you need the help of those two," she pointed at Chris and Bianca, "or is our help enough?"
The girl seemed a little confused: "Well... I mean... I don't..."
"That's enough," Piper interrupted her. Then she looked into Chris's eyes: "I know you won't like what I'm gonna say now... but, we will take care of the girl, and you two will go back to your honeymoon, alright?"
"But mom!" Chris complained. Bianca didn't want to leave, either.
"That's an order!" Piper added. "Or should Leo send you back when he returns?"
"Yeah, your mom is right! You're married, that's something you have to celebrate," Phoebe added with a bright smile. Paige rolled her eyes again.
Chris and Bianca sighed. "But you will call us if you need help!" the Elder-witch said.
"Yeah, yeah..." Piper nodded. Then the couple orbed away.
"And now, back to you again..." Piper said, looking at the girl.

°°°°°°°°°°

Cole and Victor were lying on the grass, a little aside from the hole they were playing on now, when Leo orbed to them. Wyatt was lying in the middle and was being tickled by the two men. He laughed happily.
Leo smiled at that sight: "Are you sure that I shall take him with me?"
The two men grinned but then nodded. "I don't think the others here like it when we're blocking their games..." Victor explained.
"Maybe in another moment and place... but here?" Cole added.
Leo nodded. Then he took little Wyatt on his arms. The men, still lying on the grass, were waving goodbye, while Leo and the boy orbed away.
Cole sighed.
"What's wrong?" Victor asked.
"Nothing..."
Victor smiled, noticing that dreamy look on his friend's face: "I see... you want to have your own child, with Phoebe."
Cole laughed: "Yeah, that's true... but... not now... Look... I'm a fulltime babysitter as you could see... and in 4 or 6 month... there will two more babies waiting for uncle Cole... So, no time for my own kids at this moment." Victor laughed imagining Cole with three kids around him.
"But..." Cole went on, "you know... I don't know what to do with her... Phoebe I mean!"
The other frowned: "What do you mean exactly?"
Cole sighed again: "Yesterday I bought a ring for her..."
Victor rose, looking at him surprised: "You will ask her if she wants to marry you?"
"Yeah..." he nodded, "but..."
"But what?"
"But I'm not sure if I should do that... I mean... now..." he made a little break. Then he sighed again and went on: "You know, our last try wasn't that good... and... it's been not so long since I'm back... I just don't know if she's ready for that... I don't want to put her under pressure, you know?"
Victor nodded: "That's a difficult question..."
At that moment, a man dressed in a uniform went closer to them.
"Sir, I must remind you that this place is for playing golf, not for taking a rest," he said strict but friendly.
Victor and Cole appologized, stood up, and then went on with their game.

°°°°°°°°°°

When Leo returned to the manor, the sisters were in the living-room. The girl sat on the sofa, sobbing. The others were watching her.
"And?" Leo asked and put Wyatt in the playpen, "any other information about our guest?"
The three sisters turned to him with a shocked look in their eyes.
"Well..." Phoebe started. "I got that she," she pointed to the girl, "comes from a haunted mansion, and..."
"THE Haunted Mansion, Phoebe. Don't forget it. She comes from... Disney World!" Paige remarked, still bewildered.
Leo opened his eyes widely in surprise, and looked at Piper questioningly. But his wife didn't notice, because she was staring at the sobbing bride, sitting on the sofa, with a sad expression on her face. She finally went to her and sat down, taking her hand softly. She shivered. It was cold... very cold.
Leo looked at his little son instinctively, worried that the girl was some kind of threat for him. But actually she didn't look like anything like that at all.
Paige took seat on an armchair and leaning heavily on its back, sighed, resigned: "I guess, I'll have to finish all my work in another moment!"
Leo approached the girls and staring at the guest, he asked: "So what are you exactly? A ghost?"
She sobbed and sighed, and then took a deep breath: "Nnn... Not exactly..."
Piper caressed her hair, trying to comfort her, and smiled, looking at Leo: "She said she's a bride. Her bride groom disappeared on the ceremony right in front of her, before she ended up at that ride herself."
Leo raised an eyebrow: "I think I'm lost... Do you mean... she was abandoned and ran away just to end up in that ride, with those clothes?" He couldn't believe it... If that was the way he thought, she didn't need the Charmed Ones, but a mental institution!
Phoebe looked at Paige out of the corner of her eyes and whispered: "I'm just wondering if the next guest will come from the ride ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' or something."
Paige grinned naughtingly: "If that means that we'll have Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom here...good!"
"Yeah..." she sighed, "as long as they don't come from the Alien thingy... That's freaky!"
This short conversation gained them an angry look from Piper, who was trying to explain Leo everything, since the girl was too distressed to repeat it all over again.
"No, Leo... That's the thing. She didn't run away, nor did the bridegroom. She just found herself alone in front of the altar, and when she realised, she had become part of the ride. The last thing she remembers is that she was gonna get married. Then, she was a... well, this..." she showed the palms of her hands in a gesture of lack of words.
"A hologram. I'm a hologram... At least that's what everyone said."
"What?" Leo didn't know what to say. "Is this a joke?"
"No, man.. this isn't a joke, and this girl is really freaked out, ok?" Piper answered angrily, pressing the girl's hands between hers.
"But you can touch her. If she were a hologram she'd only be an image..."
The girl nodded, and a little more calmed, she started to talk again: "Yes, I was a hologram. An image, I mean... I've been imprisoned in that ride for a while, I don't know how long exactly. But then, this couple that left a moment ago appeared... At first I thought they had had the same problem, I don't know... some kind of curse, perhaps. But no, they seemed so happy! I just wondered what they were... But I couldn't do anything, I couldn't talk to them, attract their attention..."
Leo and Piper nodded as she went on. "Then, they were dancing and having fun... and I guessed they didn't even realise, but the girl was covered by a light, a golden light, that touched me and... gave me this body. I mean, it gave me 'tact', consistence. I didn't know what it was, nor why I was again something similar to a person, but I didn't stop to think. They were starting to disappear, when I was trying to touch them, and moments later I was here... I hid until I decided to show up... and the rest, you already know."
Piper nodded, and asked: "And I suppose that you want our help to discover why you got there, how, where is your family, your fiancé...?"
The girl nodded too, a bit nervously: "I'm just afraid that I may turn a hologram again... That's why I wanted you to know as soon as possible."
"Stop, stop," Leo said frowning, "a golden light? What kind of light?"
The girl shrugged: "I don't know. It was just all around her." Leo frowned a little more.
"Honey, what are you thinking about?" Piper asked
Leo sighed: "The only magical golden light I know is the one that we use to heal..."
"But Bianca can't heal," Phoebe remarked...
"But she's pregnant," Piper explained, then turned to Leo, "that's what you meant, right? Leo nodded.
"Ok," Paige went on, "But we already know that Hope can heal... or at least heal her mother.
Leo nodded again: "But... that was more than just healing her mother..."
Piper put her hand on his arm and looked at him with a smile: "Don't worry honey..."
"I don't worry," Leo replied, "I'm just wondering what that child will be able to do, as a child of a witch, an Elder AND a Phoenix."
"I don't want to disturb your discussions," the girl suddenly said. When the others turned back to her, she went on: "Well... you are witches? And what is an Elder?"
Paige smiled: "Ok, guys... your turn... I'll go to Darryl, maybe she's officially missing..." the others nodded. Then Paige turned to the girl again: "By the way, what's your name?"
"Jessica, Jessica Daniels," she whispered. Paige nodded and orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris and Bianca left the Haunted Mansion. They crossed the way and went to a little snack bar.
"Two Cokes!" Chris ordered. Then, he turned around to look Bianca in her eyes. "I love you Mrs. Halliwell!" he added.
She smiled: "I love you too, Mr. Halliwell!" Both were chuckling a little.
Then, they got their drinks and sat down. They sat there and drunk in complete silence.
"What's bothering you?" Bianca asked after a while.
Chris smiled: "Nothing."
"How many times need I tell you that you're a real bad liar."
He laughed: "Yeah, I know..." Then, there was silence again.
"It's that girl, right?" Bianca asked then. Chris nodded. She sighed: "Ok... So I think you need something to cool down..."
Chris looked at her frowning. But she didn't care about that. She stood up, took his hand and dragged him forward. They went to another ride... a Water Ride. And a few minutes later they sat inside one of this wodden boats, driving down a little hill and getting completly wet!

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige was pacing around in Darryl's office. After she had told him what was going on at the manor, he had left her to search for some information. Meanwhile, she should wait.
Suddenly, a young man entered the office making Paige feel a little scared in surprise for a moment.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that there was someone here," he apologized.
Paige looked at him without uttering a single word. He had short dark hair, deep blue eyes and a wonderful shy smile.
Paige then smiled, too. "Never mind," she finally said.
Then he took a folder from Darryl's desk: "Ehmm... could you tell Darryl that I have to bring this file to detective Mason?"
"Sure," she answered, "but who are you?"
"Oh, eh..." he blushed and smiled, "I'm Kyle Turner, I...
"TURNER!" they heard an angry voice from outside. The man just smiled and left the office.
Paige looked at him as he walked out. "Very cute," she whispered to herself.
Then Darryl returned "What was the name?" he asked after he had closed the door.
"Jessica Daniels," Paige repeated.
Darryl sat down with a folder in his hand. "That's crazy," he muttered.
"What?" asked the witch, picking up the folder. She looked at the photo. 'That is the girl,' she thought. She smiled.
"Look at her brithday," he remarked.
Paige did so. "Oh my God!" she exclimed. What she read there was September 12th, 1966.
Darryl nodded: "And bride and groom are missing since 1985!"

(Chapter 1 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)