Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Characters you are familiar with, only the ones you aren't familiar with. etc... If you pinch this, i will send Evil Wyatt after you and we all know that's not a good idea! =L
A/N: Who's the worst updater in the World? I am! I know it's been forever since I've updated Guardians and for that I'm so very sorry! My computer died and I mean, really died. The hard drive was completely wiped meaning that everything I had ever done has vanished! =( I've slowly come to accept the fact that I'm not going to get any of my FanFic stuff back which means I'm gonna have to rewrite all of the chapters I had already done for Guardians and right now I can't be bothered! My muse is so upset that she's just decided to hit star bucks for a break and I'm still waiting for her to get back into the swing of Guardians. However, I have found that I've been able to write other stories in the mean time so I thought I'd post this as a way of saying I'm super sorry for not updating!
Anyway, this is inspired by the cute brother-sister relationship I think Wyatt and Melinda would have and a song that I just couldn't get out of my head. I do hope you enjoy! =D
Summary: Wyatt tends to worry far more than he should, however it appears that this time he's gone a little too far. With some 'guidance' from the other Halliwells will Wyatt and Mel be able to make amends?
The Worries of A Brother
'Lord knows that I've failed you time and again…'
'MEL NO!'
It was in that moment, that Melinda Halliwell realised her brother was upset. He wasn't upset that he had gotten hurt, he wasn't upset that the demons had gotten close to him, no it was something else. Something that Melinda couldn't quite put her finger on. Melinda could remember wincing as her older cousin tried to keep her on the spot as her other brother raced over to where the eldest of the Next Generation had fallen. Letti's arms tightened around her middle as Chris called out for some help as he pulled the golden haired head into his lap. Melinda could hear Wyatt mumbling something as he kept looking in her direction, but she couldn't understand a word he was saying.
The echo of the vanquish taking place was a loud one, it jarred right through her causing a shudder to course through her body. Seeing that her brother had yet to rise from where he had fallen caused panic to course through every fibre of her being. She had done this, she had created this stupid mess. At once, she was shoved into the grasp of her youngest cousin, Gracie, seeing as she could orb them out of the mess.
The look that had graced Letti's face as she ordered the group to get their butts back to the manor had caused Melinda to shudder, she had never seen her cousin so angry. With Skye, Charlie, Gracie and Adrianna surrounding her, the blue lights gathered as the five witches left the underworld and arrived back at the manor.
She wished, as she hugged her knees to her chest, that she could push the frightening images from her mind.
Thankfully, although the situation had seemed grim, it had turned out alright in the end and now she and her family were back at the Halliwell Manor resting. Melinda found herself sitting outside the door of her eldest brother's bedroom, back resting against it. The youngest Halliwell-Wyatt sibling was quite certain that if someone came down the stairs she would have been scolded after all, she had been banished downstairs. At the current moment in time, Melinda could have cared less what anyone thought of her because she wasn't planning on leaving any time soon.
The young girl had been kept from seeing her older brother, she had been kept from assisting the others as they dealt with the clean up after the rather messy vanquish and quite frankly, Melinda was rather fed up with the whole situation. She wanted to apologise to Wyatt as well, for he had been quite angry with her after he had been healed up and sent off to his room to rest. Melinda wasn't quite sure why he was so angry with her, after all she had brought along help, if she hadn't Wyatt might very well not have been there. The Darklighter poison could have very well finished him off.
Replaying the scene in her head, she found herself growing even more puzzled by the events she had witnessed, Wyatt had looked so horribly disappointed in her it nearly caused her to burst into tears. The others had stood with lowered heads and allowed him to speak to her in such a way that frightened her. That moment alone was enough to make Melinda think she had done something terrible. Then when she'd been so very politely banished downstairs, Letti had taken Wyatt by the arm and dragged him off upstairs leaving Henry Jr and Chris in charge downstairs.
For being one of the three future Charmed Ones, who was meant to help to protect innocents along side her brothers, Melinda felt rather alone. Being the youngest of the three meant she was babied with no end, she was always given jobs that were less important- if she was even allowed to help- let out of group talks, vanquishes, the lest was endless. A sour look covered Melinda's face when she realised she was being rather selfish for thinking like that, but she couldn't help it. The whole day had caused her to become annoyed and frustrated and without her mother around to calm her down, she was screwed.
Piper Halliwell, along with her husband, sisters and brother-in-laws were currently off on a short vacation. They were in the countryside somewhere for the long weekend, leaving Wyatt in charge of everything that went on in the Halliwell family. The voice of reason and stability was currently out of the country and Melinda found herself feeling even more alone.
Hearing the handle being turned, Melinda quickly sprung to her feet and turned round, meeting the eyes of her older cousin Penelope as she exited the room with a rather sullen look on her face. Melinda looked at her confused, she hadn't seen Penelope go into Wyatt's room with Letti earlier on. Then again, Prue and Andy's eldest daughter had plenty of other ways to go in and out of Wyatt's room and most of them didn't include a door or a window. Seeing the normally happy young girl look so distressed caused Melinda to bight her lip, hard.
"Is everything okay?" Melinda asked.
Penelope let out a small sigh as she took in the sight of her younger cousin. "Depends what you mean by alright sweetie," She said with a sad smile. "Everything's going to be okay if that's what you're asking. Wy just took a bit of a beating earlier on and is still recovering from it,"
Melinda frowned deeply, it was clear that Penelope had been their to witness the blunt force of Letti's temper. For being Phoebe and Coop's eldest daughter, Letti shouldn't have had a temper like she did. Instead of taking after her mother and father's rather laid-back outlook on life and punishment- it was no secret that Phoebe and Coop's daughters had them wrapped around their little fingers- she took after her second eldest Aunt, Piper. Letti had the same, very strong desire to protect her family, she had a mix of Piper and Prue about her as well as a large helping of Phoebe's attitudes. Being the eldest girl in the generation came with certain responsibilities and Melinda supposed that growing up along side Wyatt and Chris as one of their partners-in-crime had caused Letti to take on such an attitude. There would be times when she yelled at some one, placing her hands on her hips and everyone would think she was Piper's daughter, not Phoebe's. However, Phoebe Halliwell was known for having quite the temper when it popped out. Then again, that wasn't very often.
For all the things she didn't like about Letti when she took on her motherly attitude and told them what was what, Melinda was glad that her cousin had been graced with the uncanny ability to knock sense into their stubborn relatives' heads. It was no secret that the Halliwells had the stubborn gene.
"Great," Melinda said rather sarcastically. "What did Letti say to him?"
Penelope sighed. "It's complicated Mellie and, I think it would be best if you heard it from Wy,"
"What?" Melinda asked confused. "What's wrong?"
Penelope shook her head. "I'm not sure yet, but something's not sitting very well with him at the moment and Letti just pointed that out and he looked upset to say the very least," Melinda said nothing as she tried to figure out what Letti had said to her brother to upset him. "Maybe you should go see him?" Penelope suggested lightly. "Everyone knows a smile from his baby sister can brighten the darkest of his moods,"
Ignoring the teasing hint in her voice and the smile, Melinda shook her head. "I can't. Wyatt was so angry with me earlier, I don't wanna make it worse,"
Penelope took a hold of Melinda's hand and gripped it softly. "Mellie, do you know why he was so upset?" She asked gently. When Melinda shook her head, she couldn't help but frown as she sighed once again. "Well, you need to figure that out sweetie otherwise you two will just argue until your blue in the face and we certainly don't need that right now,"
"How am I meant to understand?" Melinda asked confused.
"Think of his actions," Penelope answered with a grin on her face. "Maybe you'll be enlightened," Melinda watched Penelope leave to go downstairs, not liking how cryptic her voice had sounded. "Don't worry Mel!" Penelope called as she disappeared from sight. "You'll figure it out eventually,"
Confused to say the least, Melinda turned to look back at Wyatt's bedroom door. She almost convinced herself to go in but after breathing out a rather sad sigh, she walked over to sit on the chair she had pulled out of her bedroom. Curling up in the chair she sat watching Wyatt's door, the back of her head pressing against the wall opposite from her brother's room while she contemplated Penelope's cryptic words.
Slipping his hands into the pockets of his grey skinny jeans, Chris reached the last of the stairs with a tired yawn. It had been a very long day and the worst part of it was, it was far from over. Creeping across the second floor landing, he made his way towards Wyatt's bedroom. He knew that his brother would have been in a foul mood, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out. He wouldn't have been surprised if Wyatt had yelled at him to get out as soon as the door opened, he was just in one of those moods.
Maybe, Chris mused, his and Letti's words had been simply too harsh. He had glanced over at Penelope a few times and noticed the look she had been wearing on her face, it had been pretty close to a grimace. However harsh they had been, Wyatt needed to know the truth. It was something that had to be done. Over the last little while he had noticed that Wyatt had been distancing himself from their baby sister, keeping himself busy and keeping her away from anything demon related. At first, Chris had thought it would pass, but after a while he had begun to notice it more and more. Wyatt was rude towards Melinda and he wouldn't stand for it any longer.
At first Chris had thought the two of them had fallen out, so he had tried to spread himself between his Wiccan duties, school, both Mortal and Magic and his siblings equally. It meant that he could spend the same amount of time with Wyatt and Melinda, bettering his chances of finding out what was going on. However, the information he had gathered was useless. Melinda said she hadn't fallen out with Wyatt and Wyatt hadn't mentioned Melinda at all. It was rather troubling. Sometimes he hated being the middle child, it meant that he was the one who had to make sure that his brother and sister didn't kill each other.
So when Chris reached Wyatt's room, he was more than surprised to see Melinda curled up in the chair that sat opposite Wyatt's bedroom door. Taking his hands out of his pockets, Chris approached his sister slowly and calmly, trying to wipe the surprise from his face.
"Mel," He said softly. "what are you doing here? I thought you were gonna watch a movie with the girls,"
Melinda shook her head. "I was going to but, I couldn't," She replied. "every time I tried to leave I felt guilty,"
Squatting down so he could look into her eyes, Chris took a hold of Melinda's hands as they rested in her lap. "So you decided to sit out here instead," He asked confused. "instead of going in and talking with Wy?"
Melinda nodded her head. "I didn't know what to do,"
Chris sighed. "I know Mellie, I feel pretty much the same way as you. I wish I knew what to do but I don't. I don't have anything that I can say that'll make it better," Chris reached out and brushed Melinda's bangs back off her forehead.
"Maybe we should listen to Henry and go in there and knock some sense into his thick head," Melinda smiled.
Chris laughed at the sixteen year old girl before him, she was far too wise for her own good. "I don't think violence will do us any favours," He smiled. "tell you what though, we could always use Henry Jr's technique if Wyatt hasn't gotten a grip by dinner,"
"Are you going to check on him?" Melinda asked.
Chris nodded his head. "Someone needs to make sure he's not drowning in self-pity," He smiled. "Do you wanna come with?"
Melinda shook her head remorsefully, looking at her brother with say yet admiring eyes. "I want to," She told Chris. "but I don't think I've got the courage to. I'm no good with words,"
"Mellie," Chris said as he crouched down to his baby sister's eyelevel again. "If you had any more courage you'd burst! You've got all the Halliwell courage plus a bucket load more,"
Melinda smiled a little at her brother. "Chris," She said softly as he looked at her. "did I do something to piss Wy off?"
"Huh?"
Melinda shrugged. "You said it yourself, Wyatt was acting funny around me. I just figured I had done something to upset him. He avoids me like Darklighter poison now and, Penelope said I had to 'think about his actions' and the only conclusion I can draw up from that is that he hates me,"
"Where is this coming from Mel?" Chris asked worriedly.
Melinda sniffed sadly as the tears began to gather in his eyes. "He does hate me, doesn't he?"
"What? No!" Chris said quickly, shaking his head. "No I didn't mean it like that, I'm just surprised. How long have you felt like this baby girl?" Melinda simply shrugged as the tears continued to fall. "Oh Mellie," Chris said sadly as he stroked her cheek, brushing the tears away. "Wyatt does not hate you, he loves you more than you'll ever know,"
"Why is he so angry with me then?" Melinda cried as tears spilled onto her cheeks. "What did I do?"
Chris had to bite back his initial response,
You grew up.
Calming himself he took a deep breath before he leaned forward and pulled Melinda into a hug. "Nothing," He said softly as he held onto her tightly. "you've done nothing wrong baby girl, don't you dare think otherwise. I promise I'll talk to Wy and find out what's going on," Pulling back, Chris smiled at her sadly. "Why don't you head downstairs, I'm pretty sure the others are fighting over what takeout to have tonight,"
"Chris," Melinda looked up at him sadly. "please don't fight with Wy,"
Chris nodded his head as he watched his little sister get up from the chair without another word and head off downstairs.
Lying on his back, with a hot water bottle covering his aching right shoulder, Wyatt looked up at the ceiling with a sunken expression on his face. Today had been a horrible day, too may things had gone wrong and it had been far too close for comfort on more than once occasion. Wyatt wasn't sure what the worst part of the day had been, the fact he had nearly lost his life, the fact his family had been involved in the incident or the fact Letti and Chris had completely soiled his already crappy mood with words that were simply far too wise for their own good. So wise in fact, he had chosen to ignore them completely because he was simply too afraid to believe the truth behind them.
Hearing the door open, Wyatt frowned, who'd walk into his room without knocking? Everyone minus his mother and father. Seeing Chris appear in the doorway caused Wyatt to groan, this was only getting better and better. Not only was he too sore to put on a clean shirt, never mind actually get up out of his bed, his dear brother was coming to torture him some more.
"The Leprechauns hope you make a quick recovery," Chris said simply as he closed the door over behind him. "we also have their thanks for helping today,"
Wyatt nodded his head. "Lovely,"
"Junior and I also added the finishing touches to the protection spell and Penny answered the rents' call to let them know we're all okay," Chris informed his brother as he moved to stand at the right side of the bed. "She lied through her teeth but hopefully, Aunt Prue won't have picked up on it,"
"Wonderful," Wyatt said rather sarcastically. "so everything's taken care of then?"
"Yup," Chris replied. He paused a moment before continuing. "Oh, silly me. How could I forget? There was one other thing," Chris said causing Wyatt to turn and look at him. "I had a chat with a sobbing girl who seems to think that she is hated by her big brother," Chris frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "that's the one thing I can't seem to take care of," He noticed the confused look on Wyatt's face. "I thought I'd better come and ask for your help, seeing as how you're the Twice-Blessed and said brother.
Wyatt frowned at Chris. "What?" He asked confused as he pushed himself upwards into a sitting position, trying his hardest not to groan in pain as it shot through his shoulder.
Chris frowned at his brother. "Mel thinks you hate her," She replied simply. "She thinks she's done something to upset you and-" He said, his voice rising with every passing moment. "she's too afraid to come in here and see if you're alright!"
Wyatt blinked in shock as he looked at Chris. "What?" He repeated for the lack of a better word. There were simply now words that could help him describe the confusion he was feeling or the sudden wash of guilt that covered him. "W-why?" He stuttered.
"Why?" Chris asked. "Oh I dunno, your stand-off behaviour. Your comments. Think about it carefully Wy, when was the last time you actually spent time with Mel? Just the two of you?"
Wyatt thought back hard and quickly, surely it hadn't been that long. There had been the time they went to play basketball together, two weeks ago, no. He paused. That had been interrupted because his charge was in trouble. There was the family trip to the beach, but that wasn't just the two of them. Helping her with her math homework…nope, interrupted by a demon…Wyatt frowned, perhaps it had been longer than he thought.
Seeing the troubled look on his brother's face, Chris sighed sadly before sitting down on the side of the bed. "I know you mean well and you have the best intentions at heart but Wy, keeping Mel away from every bad thing that goes on here," Chris slung an arm around his shoulders, minding the injured one. "is only pushing her away. I know you want to protect us, keep us safe, but you have to realise that Mel isn't the same little girl who couldn't sleep through the night without her stuffed dog by her side. She's growing up, I mean she's sixteen Wy. Old enough to take part in vanquishes. And I know, it's much faster than any of us would like, but she's growing up all the same," Chris sighed again. "She's Charmed Wy, even if we don't like it. We can't change it,"
"If you're suggesting I let Mel rush headfirst into a demon fight with us," Wyatt said looking at Chris with his soul piercing blue eyes. "you're wasting your time Chrissy,"
Chris shook his head. "I'm not suggesting that at all. Maybe you could just let her help out more, with the, you know, less life-threatening tasks,"
Wyatt let out a sad sigh, Chris was right. Melinda was growing up much faster than he would have liked. Soon there would come a time when he wouldn't be able to stop her from doing anything she wanted, soon she'd spread her wings and fly. Still, he couldn't be blamed for wanting to keep her away from the evil that haunted their lives. If Wyatt had his way, he would have made sure that no one in his family saw it or had to fight it. However, the others had other ideas. Chris was always at his side, even when they faced down death and the others were right along with them, watching their backs. Melinda had turned sixteen meaning that she had his mother and aunts' consent to fight, it was the rule. You had to be sixteen before you got to help with the vanquishes.
Wyatt looked at Chris as he chewed on his lip, could he do that? Could he allow Melinda to be a part of everything that went on? Especially the bad? The Twice-Blessed wasn't so sure. Of course it was as much of Melinda's birth right to be a part of it all as much as it was his but, Melinda was his baby sister. Their baby girl.
"I don't want to her to see how horrible the world can really be, I don't want her to loose her innocence," Wyatt whispered sadly. "It's hard enough letting you go out and fight in something that could actually kill you. She's not even a whitelighter, she can't heal herself if she-"
Chris smiled sadly, tears springing to his eyes. His brother was far too kind-hearted and selfless for his own good. "-Unfortunately," Chris cut in. "that's something everyone has to deal with when they grow up. Besides, you got over me fighting the demons, eventually,"
Wyatt shook his head as he pulled Chris against him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "No, I didn't," He said sadly as tears gathered in his own eyes. "I'll never get over it. I don't know if I can do this Chris," Wyatt whispered.
Chris hugged him back tightly. "Of course you can Wy," he said with a sad smile as his tears broke free. "I'll be with you, complaining, every step of the way. Just because I'm in here, trying to get you to see sense doesn't mean I'm okay with Mellie fighting either. If I could, I would stop her. I've just learned to accept that I can't,"
"You're like Dad that way," Wyatt voiced quietly. "You just accept it and then focus all of your energy making sure it goes alright,"
Chris smiled a little. "It'll be okay Wy. I have every ounce of faith in you, I always have. You can do this,"
"H-how can you be so sure?" Wyatt asked.
"Because I'm never wrong when it comes to placing my faith in people," Chris replied with a smart smirk. At once, Wyatt knew he was right. For when Christopher Perry Halliwell put his faith in a person, it never disappeared, no matter how terrible things got.
Stepping out into the dimming light, Wyatt found it was much darker than he had originally thought. After fighting for a good fifteen minutes to get a shirt on over his shoulder, he had given up and used his magic, personal gain be damned. Informed by his brother, who had been sent by Letti, that dinner would arrive within the hour, Wyatt had set out in search of his baby sister. After fighting with himself for much time, after his overly-emotional hug with Chris, thinking about everything that had been said to him, Wyatt realised he had done something quite terrible and stupid. As much as he wanted to protect Melinda, he certainly didn't want to do it at the cost of her thinking he hated her or worse, the cost of her hating him. Some saw it as a blessing, others a curse, the way Wyatt felt about his siblings, his family, was something no one could really describe. There were no words that would sum up the way the young witchlighter felt about his family. No story that would be passed on through generation after generation of Halliwell would ever be able to capture the true love Wyatt felt towards the two people who had filled his life with such hope and brilliance or the cousins who had proved that everyday was a new adventure.
And love them he did, a whole lot.
People had noticed that Wyatt was willing to do anything if it ment his siblings would be spared from harm or just kept happy. Having a strong family unit made it easier for the Halliwells to face the bad things that some people only saw in the horror movies. However, with one fatal blow, it could destroy everything in a second. For friend and foe alike had discovered that the Twice-Blessed's one fatal weakness was the power his family had over him. He was willing to do anything for them, including die. Wyatt would much rather he was the one who died from the fatal blow, instead of a sibling or a cousin for he knew that they would be able to live a life without him. Eventually. He however, could see no life without his family and in a way, that made it easier for him to face death. Watching a loved one die was his greatest fear, and even though he had already witnessed it before, Wyatt vowed that he would never let someone get that close again. So far, he had been doing alright. Until today.
Taking the arrow in the shoulder hadn't been what had scared him, nor had facing the darklighter pretty much by himself. No, what had scared him was the look he saw on his relatives' faces after he hit the ground. Chris, with his catlike reflexes had sprung into action not a moment later and charged headlong into the danger just to reach him, even though an arrow could kill him in an instant too. The darklighter hadn't the chance of shooting another arrow, because Wyatt's heart stilled a little seeing that Chris had run forward with his hands poised, his fingers flexing blowing up anything evil within his reach. The others had taken to throwing the vanquishing potions, Henry and Letti launching demons to and fro with their telekinesis. Everything had become a blur around him as Chris reached him, falling to his knees to inspect the wound. His family had been far too close to the danger.
Through the blur and the slight kayos that was normal for a demon fight, Wyatt's blue eyes found themselves locking on Melinda. His little sister, who was no more than sixteen years old, was on the battle ground a good bit away from him. Her hand reaching for the potion in her pocket. Wyatt knew it was the transporting potion, once it hit the floor it would transport her over to him. It had taken most of Wyatt's strength to call out to her and when he did, it came out as a roar. He hadn't ment to sound quite so harsh or angry but, he was petrified. Scared out of his wits that something would happen to Melinda and when he saw her try to run towards him after Chris called for help, his heart nearly gave out.
Before he could shout out to her again, Letti had secured her. The eldest cupid was trying her best to keep Melinda from running into the danger, in the split second that Letti had wrapped her arms around Melinda, Wyatt felt his heart slow as he took his eyes off of his baby sister and cousin. He looked upwards as Chris told him to brace himself, for when Jenny yanked out the arrow, it was going to hurt.
Of course, it had hurt. A hell of a lot.
Wyatt subconsciously rubbed his shoulder as he walked across the green grass to where his sister was sitting on the tree seat, back to the manor watching the sky changing colour. Before Wyatt had even fully reached the swinging seat, he saw Melinda turn round and look at him for a moment before turning back round to look up at the sky. Sighing a little to himself, Peter walked over and sat down on the free side of the hanging seat.
Wyatt didn't say anything, instead he simply sat beside Melinda looking up at the sky as it changed from it's glorious blue to navy, passing through shades of pink and red as it went. It was peaceful outside in the garden, everyone else was inside the house. After a short while, Wyatt felt the need to break the silence. Hating the sound of the voice as he did so, it sounded so harsh and blunt in the still night air.
"How long have you been out here?" Wyatt asked Melinda.
The youngest Charmed One-to-be simply shrugged her shoulders, not answering her brother verbally. That alone caused Wyatt to sigh sadly, when had Melinda ever been this silent? The answer was simple, never. Silent was not a word that would ever be used to describe her. She always had something to say. Even in her sleep, Melinda was silent, her steady breaths often lulled her older brother off to sleep when he watched over her in the night.
"I've always found it amazing," Wyatt spoke again. "how the sky can change to so many different colours,"
Melinda nodded herself. "I like coming out here to watch the sun go down," she replied quietly.
Wyatt smiled a little. "It's been a while since you and I did this, hasn't it," It wasn't a question, it was more of a statement. One that made his heart clench when Melinda's gaze dropped to her hands as they rested in her lap. "you know," Wyatt said softly. "I remember the first time I took you up to the Golden Gate Bridge to see it. We stayed up all through the night just so we could see the sunrise. You were so fascinated to see it after watching it set,"
"That was amazing," Melinda replied softly. "Not many people can watch it from the top of the bridge,"
Wyatt nodded his head. "Very true," He looked at Melinda and smiled sadly at her. "Mel," She turned her head to look at him slowly. "do you honestly think I could hate you?"
"I don't know," Melinda said softly. "I kept telling myself that you didn't. that you were just too busy to spend time with me but then today, with the demons, and Penelope telling me I had to understand your actions," The young teenager paused. "I just thought I had done something to upset you,"
Wyatt moved slightly closer to Melinda, turning to face her. "You did do something to upset me," He replied causing Melinda to look at him with worried and tearful eyes. "Today," He continued. "you were so ready to rush over to me after I had fallen and I panicked,"
"W-why?" Melinda asked tearfully.
"Because," Wyatt said with a sad smile. "you're my baby sister and I was afraid you'd get hurt. I know you don't have whitelighter powers but an arrow could still kill you Mel and there you were, ready to run straight into a Darklighter to get to me. That's why I got upset with you and it wasn't even your fault really, it was mine," Wyatt reached forward and took a hold of Melinda's much smaller hands in his. "You Miss Halliwell, mean the world to me and Chris, and I would never be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to you. That incident with the tree was a wake up call for me, after it, I knew I had to do everything in my power to keep you safe. Especially after you got hurt on my watch."
Melinda looked up at her brother confused. "That wasn't even a magical incident and, it wasn't your fault I fell out of the tree," She told him.
"Maybe not," Wyatt replied. "but I should have been watching you more carefully. I should have watched you like a hawk and I didn't. Knowing that you could get hurt so easily, without the help of magic, frightened me and I guess the fear never went away. When you turned sixteen I knew that you would be allowed to face more dangerous things and it freaked me out Mel, really,"
Melinda pondered over her brother's words for a moment, thinking back to what Penelope had said to earlier. She had to understand his actions, understand why he had gotten so upset with her, why he had pushed her away. A small gasp escaped Melinda's lips as the spark ignited above her head and she found herself covered by a think blanket of realisation.
"You mean," Melinda said eyeing him so seriously, Wyatt was a little frightened of her. "that you shipping me off somewhere when something important came up, ignoring me and keeping me at home while you went off to vanquish, why you yelled at me was because you were afraid?" Melinda asked in shock.
Wyatt sighed nodding his head. "Yes," he replied simply. "I was afraid that you'd get hurt, I was afraid that you'd see something that would make you loose all your innocence and wonder. I wish I could see the world through your eyes Mel. You always see the best in people, the best outcome in the darkest of situations and I feared that if I let you see the bad things, you'd loose that, that you'd suddenly see the world for something else. Something less pleasant,"
Melinda couldn't help it when the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Seeing her cry caused Wyatt to worry even more than he already was. "Mellie, please don't cry," Wyatt begged. "I know I went about it all the wrong way and I am so sorry for making you so upset but I was only doing what I thought was best for you. I could never ever hate you,"
"You asswipe!" Melinda cried launching herself forward, attaching herself to Wyatt's aching body. Her arms wrapped around his middle and her head came to rest on the left side of his chest, as she remembered that his right shoulder was still sore.
Wyatt nearly fell out of the seat in surprise. The shout Melinda had yelled was something he had expected Chris to say, not his darling little sister. It was clear that the two of them had been spending simply far too much time with each other.
"You," Melinda continued. "really do worry far too much for your own good. Seeing bad things isn't ever going to make me loose my faith Wy. Mom always taught me that Magic is a gift and I chose to see it for exactly that, even if things go bad. If we didn't have magic we couldn't help the people we help now. Seeing the bad things is only going to remind me that I have the power to make a difference,"
Wyatt sighed as he wrapped his arms around Melinda tightly. "I know that, now," He replied with a sigh. "And, I promise to be a much better brother from now on," Melinda's face lit up into a brilliant grin. "I feel crappy for pushing you away Mellie, I hope you know I never ment to do it," Melinda nodded her head. "Even though I can't promise that I'll be okay with you fighting demons, I can promise that I'll try and stay calm about it,"
Melinda laughed. "It's alright Wy, we know how hard it is for you. I just wish you didn't take all the weight by yourself, that's what you have us for,"
Wyatt smiled. "I know, old habits die hard Mel,"
"So does this mean I'll be able to help you more often?" She asked excitedly. "And you'll stop giving yourself stomach ulcers from worrying,"
"I'm not that bad!" Wyatt protested.
"Uh, yes you are," Melinda replied. "but, it makes you a good brother. So can I help?"
"Um…" Seeing the look Melinda was giving him, Wyatt chuckled. "I think we'll be able to work something out,"
"Yay!" Melinda clapped her hands together excitedly before hugging Wyatt tightly again. "I love you Wy,"
"I love you too Mellie," He said placing a kiss on Melinda's forehead.
"Chris!" Hearing his name being hissed, the witchlighter in question turned his eyes away from his brother and sister to find Adrianna standing with a frown on her face, holding the phone out to him. "Aunt Piper doesn't believe a word I'm saying,"
Biting back his laugh, Chris took the phone from his youngest cousin and held it against his ear. "Hey Mom,"
'Don't you 'Hey Mom' me, Christopher Perry,' Piper Halliwell's agitated voice came through the phone causing Chris to wince. 'What's going on there? I left three messages earlier on and no one called me back. I was close to getting your Aunt Paige to orb over and check on the lot of you,'
Crap! Chris thought, with all of the drama he had forgotten to call his mother back after finding her worried messages on the answering machine. "Not a lot to be honest Mom," Chris answered.
'I wasn't born yesterday Chris, how stupid do you think I am?'
"I don't think you're stupid Mom!" Chris answered quickly. "Honestly, nothing is going on. Everyone is fine, everything is fine,"
'Really?' Piper sounded sceptical. 'What about Wy and Mel, how are they?'
Chris grinned looking back out the window, watching as the two of them sat swinging on the tree seat. "I can honestly say Mom, they are perfectly fine,"
'…But, you and me are alright.'
There we go, a pointless little story that allowed me to exercise my muse, sorry for the rubbish-ness of it all. =/
Hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter of Guardians soon, I really want to get back into it. I guess we'll just need to wait and see lol!
Dx