I own the idea and Carly/Piper and Courtney...nuttin' else.
AN: I have no idea when I will be updating next as my schedule is going to get a lot harder in the upcoming weeks. I will try to post as soon as possible. Please, just bear with me...
i love drew88: Oh, I'm sure she will.
Neo Koneko-Chan: Well, Carly is pretty young and she has A LOT of issues. She may come to understand Bianca in the end, but it's going to take quite a bit work. Think of this like the Leo Chris situation only ten times more messed up.
piperleo4eva:Hee yeah, she's definetly worrying about the wrong thing.
Dominique1: Glad ta hear it! Well...you are half right... ;)
Angel Dranger: blushes ah, that's so nice of you to say.
Christine Marquez: Mostly cuz it's fun and I'm good at it. The truth will come out eventually.
Karone Evertree: No, she isn't. yeah, maybe that'll change...nah. Talk about a chip off the old block though, huh?
I have told you guys just how much You Rock!!! You keep me typing!
Chapter the seventh
Carly pulled away from her father's embrace roughly wiping away any tears that graced her cheeks. Her eyes turned down and away as she began to back away like some ashamed child who had been caught doing something she shouldn't have been. She shook her head swallowing. "You shouldn't have seen that. It was my fault." Her voice fell to a whisper. "It's always my fault."
"Maybe you asked for it, but that doesn't give Bianca the right to deliver." Chris smiled softly as he reached out to touch her face lightly. She jerked away from his touch as though his hands were made of acid. He didn't get it. Just a moment ago she was holding him like a life-preserver and now she was back to avoiding him. He sighed. "I know what you must be feeling right now. When I went back to the past, Leo threw me into the grandfather clock. I can't remember if that was before or after he trapped me the cage and attacked me with a sword."
His daughter's head lifted quickly. She frowned. "I never heard about that. You and Gran-" she caught herself and changed her wording. "You and Leo always seemed really close. I can't even picture you two fighting like that."
"Things change when you time-travel, Piper." He grinned noticing how she was still trying to deny who she was by referring to everyone like strangers. He had done the same thing. "And it's okay to let people know who you are. It'd make things a lot smoother with your mom."
"She's not my mother." Carly said coldly before she could catch herself.
Chris shook his head. "I felt the same way about Leo, and look where we are now. You said we are really close...heck, we are really close, which still shocks me sometimes. You and Bianca could have that. You just need to talk to her. Be honest. I know it's hard, but it is really for the best. Besides, she already loves you. I can see it in her eyes every time she is with mini-you."
"I don't want to talk about this right now. I have things to do." She just about orbed out when Chris grabbed her and held her in place. She glared at him. "You do that in the future too. It is really, really aggravating."
"Wait a minute." Chris frowned. "You orb. How is that possible? Dad would know of any other whitelighter witch couplings."
"My parents weren't real fond of the elders. They went behind their backs and no one was the wiser. Not even Leo." She wondered if he would he buy the lie. It would be so much easier if he did. Details would help, though. "Just the common whitelighter falling for his charge type deal."
Chris shook his head. "Why didn't they just petition the council? Dad defends those cases all the time, and they almost always win. Not that I really should be saying that...if your parents had done that I would never have gotten to be your dad, so forget what I just said."
"It's okay. My mom died when I was born, and I never met my dad. Leo only found out who he was years later." She was so good at lying that sometimes she scared herself. Ideas and stories just popped right out of her mouth so easily. Bianca hated liars. Chris had always said Courtney was the worst liar in history. Truth was he wasn't so hot at it either. Where did she get it from then? Huh. Weird.
"So...were you happy with us? You know, before the attack?"
Carly smirked. "Happy with who exactly? With you?" She saw him blush a little and smiled widely...people said she had her grandmother's smile. "The answer would be yes. I was very happy before all that happened...with you at least. I hadn't been happy with Bianca since I was about seven or eight. It's kind of complicated. You...I was never happier in the presence of anyone else. You always knew what to say...what to do." Now it was her turn to blush.
Chris' eyes lit up. "So, I'm not a horrible father?"
"No. I always loved you very much." She turned away to look out the window, unable to look at the father she had lost three years ago. Seeing him so young and vibrant...it physically hurt her. Her chest tightened to the point she almost couldn't breath. She would have done anything to see him again...longed just to hear his voice, and now that she could...it just made her miss the man she lost that much more.
Looking at his daughter standing in front of the window, her shoulders slumped her head tilted down just slightly, Chris knew his suspicions of his own fate were true. The Halliwell curse continued. He was going to die young. He was going to have to abandon his little girl. He wondered how long he had been dead in her future. How had he died? Had the Source killed him along with the others? "Loved. As in past tense. Wow. That's three generations of premature deaths now."
Carly closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry. If that helps at all. I'm sure it doesn't. I just...your grandma died when I was fourteen, so I know what it's like to-"
"-No you don't." Carly spun around tears flowing down her cheeks. "You have no idea. Grandma died because of a demon. That's expected. Every witch knows the chance of being killed by the enemy is there. Besides, you weren't home when it happened. You were at school. You never even had to see the blood spilt." She was trembling now...the memory was just too fresh in her mind.
The park was packed with people today. Everyone had come to see the monster destroyed. As they brought the horrid creature forward cheers went up through the crowd. People clapped and whistled as the freak was chained to what used to be used as a flag pole. Those lucky enough to be in the front of the crowd spit on the despicable monstrosity as he stood as calm as he could manage to be against the cold metal pole.
A large muscular man with fancy clothes and his wife with all the looks and diamonds a girl could want stood next to the living horror trying to calm the crowd down enough to give a little speech. The man with the pale face and pointy goatee smiled down at them. "People of San Francisco! Today we rid our fine city of one more of the threats known as witches! Unlike our ancestors in Salem we are facing a real threat; people with powers they will inevitably use to destroy or enslave the true human race. We know they will too. We have already seen how they use their powers for their own personal gain. They have murdered with them before and will continue to do so unless we hunt them down and stop them!"
"Kill the bastard!" Some man wearing jeans and a gray sweatshirt called from the back rows.
The prisoner rolled his eyes and turned his head away. He knew arguing would do no good. Not that he could because his mouth was bound and gagged. They were afraid he'd cast a spell on them. Not like that would have worked anyway. Nothing he did would save him. It would only condemn his family.
Taking a step forward the woman with the diamonds smiled turning toward the freak. "Make peace monster. It is your last chance."
"No!"
The scene shifted to the crowd as people were being shoved out of the way as a young teenager fought her way to the front. As soon as she had reached the husband and wife team she threw up her hands causing the entire area to freeze. She ran up to the prisoner who was yelling at her through the gag. She removed it and moved to pick the lock on his chain.
"Piper, get the hell out of here right now!"
"Dad, I'm not leaving without you so just forget it."
He frowned. "Someone might walk by and then they'll know you're a witch too. I will not let you die for me. Do you hear me? Go home. Now."
The girl shook her head tears blurring her vision so badly she can't even see enough to find the lock on the chains. "We can run away. You me, mom, and Uncle Wyatt. No one will ever find us."
"It wouldn't work. The world would be hunting for us. All of us. I couldn't let you live that way. Now just hurry up and put the gag back, orb home and be good for your mom."
"Dad...please...I'm alone without you. If you die..." She sobbed, "I'll want to too."
Chris would have shook her if he could have used his arms at all. Instead he just kept frowning. "Don't you ever say that. Never. Your life is too important."
"Because of some prophesy? Screw that."
"No." He shook his head, his eyes tearing up. "Because I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else. If you ever cared about me at all, you will go home where I know you'll be safe. Please."
Piper lowered her head sobbing even harder. "I love you more than anyone else too, Dad. I'm so sorry...this is all my fault."
"No. This isn't anyone's fault, honey." He sighed. "Don't blame anyone. They're just scared. Remember that and don't hurt them. Try to understand them. But at all cost...don't give them a reason to fear you. Now hurry up and go before the freeze wears off."
She nodded and replaced the gag with shaky hands crying the whole time. Then she orbed out, but only to a spot behind a tree so that she could still see...she owed her father that much...to not die alone. Bianca had locked herself in her room, and Wyatt was...well, she didn't know where he was. He sometimes left for days at a time. He'd done that since the day his family had been killed by the Source.
With the flick of her hands, the scene unfroze. The woman pulled out a controller and announced that the time had come to end the threat. She pushed the button, and Piper watched as her father went up in flames. The image went blurry as she fell sobbing to the ground with the sound of her father's pained cries piercing the air...
When Carly snapped out of the memory, she noticed Chris was holding her again. They were both on the floor, her head against his chest. He was stroking her hair and keeping her pressed against him as though protecting her from some external threat. His soft voice whispering for her to talk to him. To tell him what happened. That he would do what he could to change it for her.
She pulled her head up looking in his eyes. "I can't go through that again. I won't." She wiped away the tears, but more kept falling.
"Shh...okay. I'll help you. Just calm down. Everything will be fine, Piper."
"Uh, Chris, why are you calling our whitelighter from the future by our mom's name? Why are you both kind of teary? What's going on?"
Both father and daughter turned to the sound of Wyatt's voice. The younger brother turned to the teenager who was so shocked by her uncle's arrival that she had almost completely stopped crying. He wiped away any stray tears and winked at her. "Do you want to see a movie at the park?"
"I'd like that." She replied giving a half smile, knowing perfectly well what her father was up to.
Chris rose, took her hand to help her up, then led her out of the room and down the stairs. Wyatt folded his arms over his chest scowling at them as they walked away completely ignoring both him and his questions. He stuck his head out the door of the room. "Funny, Chris. Really. I'm laughing my head off right now." He shook his head. "Little jerk." He sighed then ran out after them. "Hey wait up you guys! I like movies too you know!"
tbc... at least he had a semi-cheery ending for once. Unless you're Wyatt of course....
