A special thanks to Swedish Mystery for lending her expertise with all the Swedish bits, which I would not have been able to write without her.

Chapter 10

Stockholm, Sweden

Amir led Leo through the metallic arch that read Rinkeby Torg and into the town centre. It was a suburb of Stockholm that Leo was not familiar with. Now that he thought about it, there wasn't much about Stockholm that he was familiar with. Everywhere he went he felt like a complete stranger. He looked around him. Most of the architecture was very socialist in style, a result of the 'Million Programme,' a housing project implemented in the 1960s to ensure affordable housing for everyone. Although the project was well intended, it had left behind an aftermath of ugly concrete buildings that spoiled the cityscape. Leo was aware that Rinkeby had a very large immigrant population from what his friend Amir had told him. He looked at the diversity of people scattered about the square and concluded that this could just as well be a suburb of any larger Swedish city. Considering where he had been staying before though, he might as well have been dropped on another planet.

"Did you know that in an area of one square kilometre more than 100 languages are spoken here?" Amir remarked, as if sensing what Leo was thinking.

Leo shook his head. Some women who were gathered in front of a textiles stand and who appeared to be in their thirties caught his attention. Two of the women were wearing dark coloured Khimars, robes that covered their head and their bodies, and one of the women also had a veil covering her face. A third woman with a slightly paler complexion than the other two wore western clothing. They spoke to each other in their native tongue as they handled the various fabrics in front of them, but the two children beside the women in western clothing spoke a form of Swedish to each other that wasn't quite Swedish and Leo couldn't make out what they were saying.

Several youths suddenly tore past Leo and Amir, one of them shouting "Yalla bre, aina kommer, çok loco!" to another boy lagging behind. Leo furrowed his brows in confusion.

Amir chuckled softly and put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "That my friend is known as Rinkeby Swedish. The wealth of cultures here in Rinkeby is reflected in the Swedish spoken by its inhabitants. There's a richness of loanwords that came from the languages of first generation immigrants here, mostly Turkish, but also Arabic, Kurdish, Greek, Persian, even Latin American Spanish, and several more. That boy was shouting 'Hurry up, the police are coming, they're completely crazy!' Even rap and hip hop has had an influence." Amir grinned.

"Oh." Leo looked around, but couldn't see any policemen and the boys had long since disappeared. He followed Amir as they continued to walk through the square and down a narrow side street. They stopped in front of a slightly run down concrete block of flats that looked exactly like all the other concrete blocks of flats on the street and Leo waited as Amir dropped the box he was carrying to unlock the main entrance door. He grabbed the box and entered the building. Leo followed. They went up what seemed like endless flights of stairs to him, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the stairwell, until they had reached the top floor. Keys jangled in Amir's hand once again as he unlocked the door to his flat and stepped aside to allow Leo to enter.

"Well, it's not much, but it's home," Amir said, juggling the cardboard box under one arm, while using the other to shut the door behind him. Amir led him down the narrow hallway and gestured towards a door on the left. "This is your room Erik. I hope it is not too small for you."

Leo walked into the room and looked around as he placed his suitcase on the floor. There was a single bed, a nightstand, a wardrobe and a small table with a chair by the window. There were even a couple of bookshelves mounted to the wall above the bed. It had everything he needed. "No, it's perfect. Thanks."

"Phoebe?" Prue stuck her head through her sister's open bedroom door, but it was empty. Prue then went up to the attic, taking the steps two at a time and opened the door, but there was no Phoebe to be found there either. Shutting the door behind her, she went back down the stairs, along the hallway and ran down the staircase leading to the ground floor. She walked through the foyer and into the living room and then the parlour. "Phoebe!"

"You're making a lot of racket for an Elder. And why are you walking all over the manor when you can orb?" Piper remarked as she came out from the kitchen. "And Phoebe is in the attic," she added.

"No she's not. I just checked." Prue countered.

"Oh? Well, that's where she said she was headed. She wanted to check something in the Book of Shadows I think."

Prue raised a cynical eyebrow. "Really?" A sudden realisation hit her and her jaw dropped. "Oh! She better not have done what I think she did or I am so going to kick her ass!"

"What?" Piper questioned. "Why would you-?"

Prue disappeared in a swirl of blue light before Piper could finish her sentence. "Oh sure, now you orb." She rolled her eyes and headed for the staircase.

Having jogged up the stairs, Piper was out of breath by the time she got to the attic, but the room was empty. "Prue? Phoebe?" she questioned cautiously as she made her way to the Book of Shadows, her eyes widening when she saw the spell that the book was turned to. "Uh oh."

Just then she saw a glow in front of her. She watched as the orbs turned corporeal and took on the forms of a fuming Elder supporting an unconscious witch.

"Phoebe!" Piper hurried over to Prue's side and helped her lay her injured sister gently on the floor. Prue pulled out the athame embedded in Phoebe's chest and tossed it aside, muttering numerous expletives under her breath.

Piper was astonished by her sister's bad language. "Prue! That's not very becoming of an Elder."

"At this point I don't really care," Prue muttered, letting her glowing hands linger over the wound on Phoebe's blood - soaked chest.

"You could show a little more sensitivity. Your sister is hurt for crying out loud!" Piper shouted in disbelief.

"I'm aware of that Piper – which is why I'm healing her so I can kill her myself!" The Elder's voice rose significantly as she uttered the last word.

Piper was speechless. She hadn't seen her big sister this angry since the whole Roger fiasco. She watched anxiously as her raging sister continued to apply her healing touch to Phoebe's wound. It was taking far too long for Piper's liking.

Eventually, the wound healed, Phoebe groaned and her eyelids fluttered open. She was momentarily disorientated until her vision cleared and she saw Prue's angry face above her. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block out her sister's fiery stare.

"You idiot." Prue's words were seething with rage.

"What?" Phoebe queried incredulously.

"Hey, are you okay Phoebe?" Piper interjected quickly, helping her sister to sit up.

"I - I'm okay, I think," Phoebe answered, still uncertain as to whether or not she had heard Prue correctly.

"You heard me. You're an idiot, Phoebe. You've regressed back to that reckless girl with no sense of vision who ran off to New York years ago."

Piper spoke up for her younger sister who was still too out of it to speak for herself. "Prue, that's not true and you know it! How could you-"

"Piper, this has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it," Prue hissed.

"Don't you EVER call me an idiot again Prue!" Phoebe had finally found her voice and she was now standing in front of her big sister.

Both sisters glared at each other in silence for a moment, their anger building.

"Well that's what you are for going off half cocked on your own. How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? I'm getting so sick of it Phoebe! Do you have a death wish? Do you want Piper to lose TWO sisters? Is that it?"

"How DARE you insinuate that I'm reckless! I had a plan and I thought it would work this time." Phoebe defended herself.

Prue raised an eyebrow. "What? A plan to get yourself killed?"

"I don't need to listen to this crap." Phoebe retorted, the tone of her voice reflecting her disgust. She turned her back to Prue and headed for the attic door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going missy?" Prue let her anger control her. She flung her hand out, firing a lightning bolt in the direction of her fleeing sister.

"Prue no!" Piper screamed.

Phoebe turned slightly, but didn't react fast enough to get out of the way of the bolt and she squealed as it hit the back of her right shoulder, the force of it sending her crashing into the slightly open door, slamming it shut.

Prue blanched. "Oh my god what have I done?"

Rinkeby, Stockholm, Sweden

"It's not much of a view," Amir remarked, watching as Leo wandered over to the living room window.

"It's alright," he commented quietly as he looked out at the shadows of concrete blocks that outlined the twilight sky.

"Are you okay?" Amir asked with concern as he rose from his spot on the couch to pick up an empty pizza box from the floor. He wandered into the kitchen and seeing that the trash can was full and would need to be emptied, he placed the box on the counter for the moment.

"I'm fine," Leo answered. Leaning his hands on the window ledge, he continued to gaze absently at the red sky.

Amir cleared his throat softly and tidied the kitchen a little. Bringing out two glasses of Coke with ice, he offered one to Leo.

"I'm sorry, I can't offer you beer. I don't drink."

Leo turned to face Amir and took a glass from him. "That's okay, thanks."

He leaned against the window ledge as he swallowed a mouthful of the ice cold liquid as Amir flopped down on the couch.

Amir pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his shirt pocket. "I did, however, pick up this bad habit, unfortunately." He took a cigarette and tossed the pack over to Leo, who caught it with one hand.

"No, thank you. I don't smoke. At least I don't think I smoke." Leo tossed the pack back to his friend, who put it back in his shirt pocket.

Amir placed his cigarette between his lips and lit up. He took a drag letting out a puff of smoke and a sigh of satisfaction at the same time.

Leo took a few more gulps of his Coke and decided to break the awkward silence that had ensued between the two of them. "So, how long have you lived here?"

Amir inhaled again, letting the smoke come out of his nose. "I've been living in this flat for four years now, but I originally came here with my mother when I was thirteen. See the photo on the window ledge?"

Leo turned around and picked up the picture frame he hadn't noticed before and studied it. It was a family photo taken outside a large house. Amir stood beside his parents as a young boy, and a somewhat older boy growing into manhood, stood along side him with an arm around his shoulder. The family was smiling.

"Who is that standing beside you?" Leo inquired.

Amir flicked ashes into the ashtray on the side table next to the couch and inhaled deeply from his cigarette. He didn't exhale. "That was my older brother. The photo was taken when we first moved into the house that my father built in my native Iran. Six months later my brother was killed, shot by Iranian revolutionary guards. He was only seventeen."

Leo thought he could see dampness in his friend's eyes.

"We were persecuted for our religious beliefs as Baha'is. We watched as the family next door to us was taken into custody. Then several days later they arrested my father and shot my brother dead when he tried to intervene," Amir continued.

"My father was a professor at a Baha'i open university. Baha'is were excluded from high schools and universities in Iran, so they established their own educational institutions. They falsely accused him and several of his colleagues of having established a secret organisation to teach against Islam. They sentenced him to ten years in prison. My mother decided to flee Iran to save me. She paid 1,200 dollars to Kurdish smugglers to guide us across the heavily mined frontier into Turkey after a perilous four day trek through the snow clad mountains that separate the two countries. We lived in Turkey for a while until we were resettled here in Sweden."

"What happened to your Dad? Did you ever see him again?" Leo asked.

Amir shook his head. "We found out from a friend that he died in prison, but to this day we don't know how."

"That must have been very hard for you."

"It was especially hard for my mother. She developed a heart ailment and died five years ago. I don't think she ever stopped grieving."

Amir took another drag of his cigarette and lowered his head, staring blankly at the carpet as he blew out smoke through his nose.

Leo thought he heard a soft sniffling sound. "Amir, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."

"You didn't." Amir spoke quietly, shaking his head. "They never go away."

Leo tossed and turned in bed and eventually resigned himself to staring wide eyed at the ceiling, casting occasional glances out the window. Noticing that the time read 1:14am on his alarm clock, he sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he could not clear his head of all the thoughts running through it.

Although his situation paled in his eyes in comparison to what Amir had been through, he couldn't help but see similarities between them. The life that Amir had known and loved had been ripped away from him, his family torn apart. Leo's life and memories had been taken from him by way of his amnesia and condemned him to living in a world that was as strange to him as it was to Amir. They were two lost souls who had no idea where they belonged. He rolled over on his side and scrunched up the pillow. Lying in a strange bed in a new room for the first time brought him no comfort.

Leo wondered as he often did, if there were people, loved ones, out there somewhere, missing him and wondering if he was still alive. And then his thoughts wandered back to his encounter with the beautiful brown haired woman in the café who had appeared out of nowhere, and disappeared into thin air. He hoped every day that she might walk into the café again. He could not get the image of her face out of his mind and saw it as clearly as the day he had first seen her.

Just as he was finally beginning to drift off to sleep, Leo's eyes registered a flash of light through closed lids that shot open to reveal his room bathed in bright blue light. He sat bolt upright in shock. He looked on with awe as the glowing orbs danced at his bedside and gasped as they corporealised into the form of a small boy. The child reached out with his right arm towards the bed, palm up, wiggling his little fingers at Leo and spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Daddy?"