Legacy: Power Thrust

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Seven: Moments that Pass By Too Quickly

Susan followed Patty into the Matthews-Mitchell apartment, well aware of the annoyed, resentful looks that were being thrown her way. Obviously, the youngest of Paige's kids wasn't too happy with her; a price that she'd paid when she had chosen Ethan over Chris.

"Well . . . you wanted to talk. So talk," Patty said flatly as she sat down at the table, opening the fridge and sorting through the various foods that were in there. Clearly, this wasn't going to be one of those nice, comfortable talks, judging from Patty's tone.

"I want to talk to you about Bobby," Susan said gently. Patty paused briefly, so fast that Susan half-thought that she imagined it, but then the younger girl shrugged carelessly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her tone civil but as cold as ice. Susan gave her a sharp look as she sat down at the kitchen table. After a minute, Patty followed her direction, looking at the elder witchlighter indifferently.

"Yes, you do," Susan told her. "And for the record, I think that it's really great that you two are together. I think you'd be really good for Bobby. He needs somebody to fall back on, someone outside of family that he can share stuff with." She smiled at Patty, who's stony looked didn't fade.

"Yeah, well I thought you'd be good for Chris."

With a small sigh, Susan laid her hands on the table. "Patty," she said, "things with Chris . . . they were good, okay? I liked spending time with him and I care about him. In a different world, in a different life, then maybe things would've worked out differently. Maybe not, I don't know. The thing is that as much as I cared about him, I wasn't in love with him. Because I gave my heart away a long time ago. And I tried to convince myself that I didn't, tried to force myself to move on, that I was ready to move on when I wasn't. Because I never could be. Because I always was in love with Ethan and I always will be."

"Well, maybe you should have considered that before you moved into my cousin's heart and then successfully gave him the second broken heart that he's had since high school!"

Shaking her head, Susan gave the younger girl an exasperated sigh. "I wish that I had. I was so messed up back then, Patty. My mom was dead, my twin brother was dead, the love of my life left me so that I wouldn't be in danger, I was in a new town, with demons coming after me, the Underworld was starting to unite together again . . . I don't know if I was even capable of making a sound decision back then."

Patty had gone very still. "You've got a twin?"

Susan nodded. "A brother," she answered quietly. "His name was Ryan. Ryan James Dawson. And he was murdered by our father last March." Patty's face went white at her words. "Along with my mother and I was the sole survivor of the attack and only because Bobby saved my life."

"I'm sorry," Patty whispered, looking as though she might faint. Susan understood instantly why she'd asked; until that moment, she'd forgotten that Sam, Patty's sister, was also her twin.

"So am I. Sorry that he'll never be able to do all the things he planned, or marry the girl of his dreams, or see our little brother grow up to be quite an astounding man. And I think you know that he's already well on his way to accomplishing that." Patty smiled, looking down. "Look, I get that you're angry with me. I deserve it. I'm not saying that I don't or that you can't be as mad at me as you want. I've already told Chris this. But the problem is that you're putting blame on Bobby where you should be putting it on me."

"He didn't tell me about it," Patty snapped, tears flashing in her eyes. "How could he not tell me about it?"

"Well, it was kind of a long day. And besides that, you two have this sort of Romeo and Juliet thing, so it's not like he can pick up the phone and call you without someone at his house knowing about it. Plus, he left long before I actually broke things off with Chris and got together with Ethan, so he couldn't have exactly known what had happened. He might've suspected what went down after he left." Patty sighed. "I really think that you two need to work things out. Fight to make this relationship work, because you'll regret it in the long run if you don't."

"What does it matter?" Patty asked, shaking her head. "We can't do anything that a normal couple can do. We can't go to dances or out on dates or walk to class together. Just band and school and . . . just brief times when we can see each other . . ."

"Moments that pass by too quickly," Susan supplied with a sad smile. "I know. Patty, listen to me. What if you did break things off with Bobby, got together with some guy that you can be with, and then just when things are starting to get good, Bobby waltzed back into your life. And then . . . suddenly all the reasons why you two couldn't be together were gone. All the barriers were lifted and he came back into your life and into your heart. Do you really think that you could just continue to go back with your new boyfriend, when you and Bobby never really had the chance to have a normal relationship?"

Looking away from Susan, Patty sighed. "I don't know. Probably not. I . . . I can't really say, but . . . I really like him. I'd . . . I'd probably choose him, even though I'd feel really bad about it."

"That's the way that I feel. I love Ethan, more than I will ever love anything in this life, but that doesn't mean I don't feel guilty about the way that I treated Chris. It doesn't make up for it and I can't apologise for it, because no words in the world are enough for how sorry I am." Susan paused. "Patty, I can't force you to stay with Bobby, but I know that you really care about my brother and I know that he cares about you. He told me . . . what was it, now? Oh, yes. . . . 'She's the one thing in my scary, messed up world that makes sense to me.'" A smile blossomed across Patty's face as she said that. "And he said that he didn't feel the darkness when he was with you. He needs that, Patty. He needs not to feel the darkness that he's with every day. And it's not right to blame him for something he can't control. Even if he had told me to stay with Chris, I probably wouldn't have listened. And I really don't think that it's Chris's and my relationship not working out that was the cause for this. Was it?" she added, eyeing the younger girl pointedly.

"No, it's . . . it's everything!" Patty blurted out, startled that she was saying this to her cousin's ex. "It's not having a normal relationship, like I said! We can't do anything that a normal couple does! I look around at the others at our school, just do ordinary things, like holding hands and walking each other to class and making plans after school and I can't help but think that we're never going to be able to do any of that stuff. We're not normal and we're never going to be. We just . . . we live in a world that nobody else knows exists. And we have to keep this a secret because of his father. Your father," she added.

Susan's eyes had grown cold. "My father," she said flatly, "will always be the evil monster that abandoned me and killed my family. And you and I know that Bobby lies within the darkness, but is not part of it. But sometimes, the darkness strikes even the purest. He's needs you to stay afloat. And you need him," she added, "because without him, your life will mean nothing. Besides," she said dryly, "normal is vastly overrated."

Patty let out a soft laugh before looking up at the witchlighter helplessly. "What do I do?"

"Run," Susan advised.

--

Bobby sat on a bench in the middle of the park, watching the happy couples that were walking by, his heart paining as he watched them, the longing for the one girl that had ever touched his heart increasing with every second.

A lone tear fell from his eye and he brushed it away impatiently, refusing to resort to waterworks just because the girl that he was in love with didn't care about him the same way. He'd thought that she had, but maybe this was just the proof that she was trying to find a way out, the proof that he really did belong in the darkness, despite what his sister told him.

Maybe it was just time that he stopped pretending to be something that he wasn't. He was so sick of fighting . . .

But no, he couldn't do that. Even if he wanted, he couldn't force his sister to lose yet another brother. Susan had already lost Ryan to death, he couldn't condemn her to losing him to evil. She already had been through so much and besides . . . he couldn't follow down that path. He'd already seen what it did.

But that didn't mean that he didn't feel the darkness weighing down upon him sometimes. And Patty was the one thing that made it worth it, made it feel like the darkness didn't weigh so much. She came in and lifted the weight right off of him like it was nothing and tossed it aside.

"Bobby!"

Looking around, Bobby stared as he saw Patty running towards him, her hair windblown and her chest heaving as though she had run a long way. A small smile crossed his face as he saw her, standing up as Patty came to a stop right next to him.

"Patty, what are you doing here?" he whispered, wondering what was going on. Had something happened?

"You were right," Patty blurted out. "I was blaming you for stuff that really isn't your fault. And Susan isn't really the heartless creature that I was making her out to be. She really is a good person, she just was lost. I get that now. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything."

Bobby couldn't help but laugh as his arms went around her. "I'm sorry, too," he admitted. "I should've said something about what happened when Susan went missing. Next time, I promise I'll call or e-mail you or something."

"Shh." Patty placed a finger against his lips. "Stop talking," she ordered. "You talk too much."

"Your wish is my command," Bobby whispered as he buried his head into her shoulder, holding her close. He could feel her tears against his shoulder, making him hold on to her tighter and for once, he didn't care what happened. All of his father's demons, his mother, even his father himself could've been standing right next to them and he wouldn't have noticed or cared.

"Will your dad notice if you don't come home tonight?" Patty whispered, looking up at him. Bobby raised his eyebrows, but shook his head. "Good. There's someplace I want to show you. Take my hand," she said, holding her palm up. He slipped his fingers into hers. "Do you trust me?"

"I trust you."

Patty smiled at him as she orbed them away, vanishing in the swirl of white lights and Bobby suddenly found himself at a lake that looked like a camp. "Where are we?"

Sitting down on the docks, Patty swung her legs over the edge, motioning Bobby to join her. "This is where my grandmother was killed by a demon," she answered quietly. "I come here sometimes, just to think. The only time that anybody's here is when camp's in session, so when we want to be along, we can come here. This can be our spot." She looked up at him hopefully. "I mean . . . if you want it to be."

Bobby was just staring at her, wondering how he could've been so lucky as to have such a wonderful girl in his life. "Has anybody ever told you how amazing you are?"

Grinning at him, Patty navigated herself into his arms, leaning her head back into the base of his neck. "Not recently," she acknowledged.

"You're amazing."

"And it's always good to hear it, especially from you," Patty sighed as she curled up in his arms. Bobby wrapped his arms around her, leaning his chin on top of her shoulders. "I don't care what happens. I want to be with you. I've made my decision. I know what I want."

"And what's that?" Bobby asked, his tone light, teasing. She gave him a playful smile in reply.

"You," she answered, tilting her head back. "Now . . . kiss me."

Obligingly, Bobby bent his head down and kissed her, knowing full well that their love could destroy their lives and the lives of those they loved forever. But he also knew that he couldn't stay away from her anymore. He didn't have that strength.

He just prayed that their love would not bring forth the end of the world as they knew it.

--Fade to Black--

End Credits

Guest Stars:

Alexis Bledel as Patty Matthews-Mitchell

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell

Jack Devonport as Peter Connelly

Robert Pattinson as Ethan Hale

Kiera Knightly as Cassandra Hale

and Brittney Snow as Hannah Williams