Legacy: The Past Returns

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: Prisoners

As she sat in the cell that Bianca and her father had shoved her into, Susan stared at the green energy that swirled around in front of her, enticing her to walk towards it and touch it. She was half-tempted to, but she had the feeling that it would probably be the last thing that she ever did. Maybe it was her precognition power or maybe it was just purely instinctual, but she didn't dare get up and touch the force field that prevented her from getting out.

"I hate being the damsel in distress," she grumbled as she stood up and started pacing across the cell, pushing a hand through her brown hair. "Why can't Brooke ever be the damsel in distress? Why is it always me?" She picked up a rock that lay in the cell and hurled it towards the energy field.

Susan jumped back in surprise at the energy field absorbed the rock and dissolved it into nothing. "Oh, gods," she muttered, taking a cautious, closer look at the energy field. Sure enough, there was nothing left to mark where it had been.

"You are sick, Peter Connelly," she muttered as she backed away from the energy field. "Definitely sick. I swear, every time that I think you and your kind come up with every evil, twisted thing that you can, you come up with something that is completely disgusting." She shook her head, sitting down on the bench again. "When I get out of here, I'm going to shove you in here, see how you like it."

Although she probably wouldn't. No, unfortunately, Susan's grace prevented her from doing such a thing. Even though Peter was her biological father and had been cruel to her mother, abandoned her and her twin, killed her mother and twin brother, and put her younger brother through torment for most of his life, she could do that to him. She still had enough integrity not to do that.

"I've got to find a way out of here," Susan grumbled as she glanced towards the energy field. "But how?" She kicked another rock towards the energy field, watching it dissolve. As it did so, she noticed that the energy field opened up for a few seconds while it dispersed. "Hmm . . ."

Susan stopped from analysing the energy field as it completely vanished and Bianca walked in with two demons, who were dragging her boyfriend into the cell. "Chris!" She jumped up and raced towards him as he was thrown unceremoniously onto the floor. Glaring up at Bianca, she demanded, "What have you done to him?"

"Please," Bianca scoffed, "I haven't done anything to him. Actually, it was one of the lesser demons who did it to him—while he was hanging around, looking for you, that is." She grinned. "I can't wait until his big brother finds out what happened to his baby brother. Should be fun."

Without another word, she walked out of the cell, followed by the two demons, and the energy field came back up with a wave of her hand. Susan shook her head, stroking Chris's hair gently.

"Chris?" she whispered softly and he groaned slightly at her touch. "Hey, can you hear me?" He gave another groan, but due to the timing, she guessed that this was her answer. "Okay, just try and rest for right now, okay?"

With a small sigh, she pulled his head into her lap, still stroking his hair while she thought about what Wyatt was going to do when he found out that Peter had both of them now. She winced slightly at the thought; she knew Wyatt well enough by now to know that he was probably going to break down the door and start vanquishing demons left and right, without a plan and with only Bobby for back up.

Her thoughts returned to her half-brother, torn between anger and frustration with him. How could he not tell her? Obviously, he knew who she was, because he wouldn't have tried so hard to protect her and to help them if he hadn't known.

"This isn't right," she muttered. "I'm his older sister; I'm supposed to protect him, not the other way around."

"Protect who?" Susan glanced down and saw Chris's green eyes opening slightly and he groaned, trying to sit up.

"Hey, take it easy," she instructed as he groaned and fell back against her. "Just take a deep breath and lay still for a second, will you? The last thing that we need is for you to pass out on me again, 'cause I kind of need you awake for this, Chris."

"You're funny," he said, smirking, but he obeyed. "Where are we, anyway? How'd you get away from Connelly and Bianca?"

Susan raised an eyebrow, letting out a slow breath. "Um . . . Chris, what's the last thing that you remember?" she wanted to know. He frowned, trying to remember, and then awareness filled into his eyes.

"You didn't get away," he said, glancing around them. "Aw, jeez. Wyatt's gonna have a cow."

"Most likely," Susan agreed, glancing towards the energy field that was their cell door again. She was pretty sure that she'd figured a way how to get out of there, but for that, they were going to need Wyatt. "I'm not sure who he's going to kill first: us for getting captured or Peter and Bianca." She paused, then glanced down at her boyfriend. "And speaking of Bianca, what were you thinking, going out with a girl like that?"

Chris sighed as he stayed where he was. "I don't know," he admitted. "Guess 'cause she was different. Wild, adventurous. She . . ." He shook his head and immediately groaned at the pain. "I'm sorry, Sue. I should have told you about her."

"Then why didn't you?" Susan demanded, hurt showing in her voice. "Chris, I meant what I said this morning. How long is going to take us to be honest with one another?" Her voice rose slightly with emotion. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris pushed himself into a sitting position so that he could look at her properly. Susan knew she had angry tears in her eyes, but she didn't care at the moment. She wanted answers.

"I didn't tell you," he said finally, "because I didn't see any point in bringing up the past. Bianca was a part of my life that came before you, but she is not nearly as important as the woman who is my life now." Susan stared at him and looked away.

"Did you love her?" she asked after a long moment, casting him a look. Chris sighed and looked away. "Please, Chris, just tell me the truth. I need to know," she added.

"Yeah," Chris agreed, pushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "You know, Sue, I'm not really sure of the answer myself. I don't think so, mostly because we found out who she really was and what she was up to before I let my heart go that far. Maybe I did love her, Susan, but she broke my heart," he told her. "And it remained broken until a very beautiful and very valiant witch came into my life last June."

Susan smiled slightly, looking down at her hands. "You should have told me," she told him. "The key ingredient in any relationship is trust, Chris. If you can't trust me with that kind of information, then how am I supposed to trust you?" Her point was valid and both of them knew it.

"I know." Chris hung his head. "I'm sorry, Susan. Don't be mad."

She shook her head. "I'm not mad," she said quietly. "Annoyed, yes, but not mad." Letting out a sigh, she shook her head. "This whole thing is so new to me, you know, and . . . I can't help but wonder what you see in me." Susan looked up and saw Chris's incredulous look. "Why are you wasting your time with me, when you could have any girl that you wanted?"

"Because the girl that I want is you, Susan," Chris insisted. "You are the one that I want to be with."

"But why?" Susan asked, desperation in her voice. She couldn't stop the words, because she needed to know the answer. She needed to know. "I need to know why, Chris!"

He let out a sigh. "Because you have shown more compassion than anyone that I've ever known," he said. "Because you have been so strong, even though you lost your entire family, you still managed to survive. Because you knew who Wyatt and I were when we met and you didn't treat us as though we were anything special. You saw us as who we really are and not just for who our parents are." Chris stared into her eyes and she didn't look away. "And because we're both going to get killed if we don't find a way out of here. But if you need me to tell you why I want to be with you, Sue, then I can go on all night," he said softly.

Susan smiled slightly at him. "You did pretty good," she said dryly. Chris chuckled as he pulled her into a kiss. She let herself get lost into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck while he wrapped his around her waist, neither one of them noticing that a certain phoenix witch was watching them nearby, a disgusted look on her face as she shimmered away.

When he pulled away from her, Chris smiled at her, stroking her cheek tenderly before getting unsteadily to his feet. Susan helped him as they stood up together. "All right, let's find a way out of—what is that?" he asked, suddenly noticing the green energy field.

"You're just now noticing that?" Susan asked him incredulously. Chris shot her an exasperated look and she shook her head. "It's some kind of energy field; it's supposed to keep us from getting away from here, I think."

"Great," Chris sighed as he walked towards it. "Well, let's find a way to break it down, shall we?"

"No, don't!" Susan grabbed him and pulled him away from the energy field. "Sorry," she said to his startled look. "Look, you don't want to touch that thing, Chris. Watch," she said, snatching up another rock and tossing it towards the energy field.

Chris let out a swear as the rock completely dissolved. "Okay, we need to get out of here, now," he said, shaking his head. "I don't want to be around them any more than I have to."

"Tell me about it," Susan sighed. "All right, I think I've got a way out of here, but unfortunately, we're gonna need Wyatt's help." She looked at Chris and he looked back at her before closing his eyes, calling telepathically for his older brother.

--

Bianca stormed into Connelly's office, glaring at him furiously. "You've failed," she snapped. He looked towards the assassin, a half-worried expression on his face. "I thought that you were certain that my coming back would cause a rift between Chris and that little witch of his. Instead, their relationship seems to be growing even stronger."

"That's not possible!" Peter protested, sitting down in his chair. "Or at least not probable," he muttered under his breath. Bianca glared at him, folding her arms across her chest. "Then we'll have to move up the plan. Imprison the twice blessed and my son, while I'll deal with the nymph girl. There's no way that they can get out of there, not while that spell to contain them in still in place. Besides, all we have to do is get rid of one. That will end the threat and right now, the nymph girl is in the weakest, with her being imprisoned in her own mind."

"Getting rid of one didn't exactly help the Source when he got rid of the eldest Charmed One, did it?" Bianca pointed out. "All it did was get rid of one and then another took her place. And the Charmed Ones became more powerful, didn't they, with their half-Whitelighter sister?"

Peter paused, glancing towards Bianca carefully as he poured her a drink, handing it to her. Bianca downed it one gulp. "So, then," he said conversationally, "what do you propose, Miss Malone?"

"Get rid of all of them," Bianca answered, "while we have them imprisoned. Susan Dawson is weak without her brother and best friend backing her up. Christopher isn't nearly as powerful as his brother is. Get rid of them and then Wyatt will be distraught after the death of a sibling and a friend. Easy to get rid of."

Peter nodded, considering the plan as he balanced the drink in his hand. "And what role, in this plan of yours, does my son play in this?" he inquired. "What becomes of him?"

"What interest do you really have in the boy?" Bianca asked smoothly. "Besides, I said 'get rid of all of them'. And he works for them, doesn't he?" she replied. "If he were to turn on you after they died, he could very well ruin everything we hope to achieve. Do you really want him to ruin it?"

A small chuckle emerged from Peter and he stood up, walking over to the window and staring out of it before looking back at Bianca. "Very well, then, Bianca," he said calmly. "You have my permission to succeed. But if you do not," he added warningly, "then I want you to make sure that they never find out about the prophecy."

"Of course," Bianca replied as she shimmered out. Peter nodded as he watched her go, leaving him to his thoughts.

"It will not be long before that girl joins her brother," he said quietly. "Both of them," he added with a small chuckle. He was glad for an excuse to get rid of the boy.

But Peter had no way of knowing that standing not too far away, hidden within the shadows, was his wife.

And she had overheard everything.