CHAPTER 10: LOST FAMILY WOES WRITTEN BY CLAIRE
Brandon, Prue and Phoebe were walking along the deck of the liner. They had set sail a half hour ago. And they were watching San Francisco fade into the distance. The ship was set up so that there were cabins facing the open seas. You could literally step out of the door of your cabin and see the sea immediately. Prue thought it was beautiful. They were coming up on their cabins when Prue recognized someone she met earlier.
"Hey isn't that that guy we had thrown off the liner earlier? What is he doi...no...he's spying on Brenda's cabin. "
Brandon walked up to the guy and punched him square in the face. Then grabbing him by the scruff of his jacket he pushed him hard against the wall of the cabin.
"What do you think you're doing back on this ship, and spying on my sister's room? Huh?"
"Oh. hey, hey, hey calm down , is that your sister hey sorry man."
"Yea you will, be. Bren' you in there?" Brandon shouted, knocking on the door, with his palm.
A flustered Brenda opened the door. She had heard the bang of the man's body against the wall and had hastily pushed Rick off and replaced her top. Walking out of the cabin, Rick behind her she took in the scene developing, first thing she noticed was the scruff from the restaurant.
"What....what is he doing here, I thought you said he was put ashore?" She said looking at Prue.
"He was, we saw the captain's mate kick him off ourselves. How did you get back onboard?" She asked the man.
"I snuck onboard when no one was looking, what, you saying you don't recognize me? How's the diner business lately sweet thing?" He said and it clicked.
"You? No....NO." Brenda screamed, ran back inside and slammed the door.
Prue looked at Brandon, who looked at the man he was holding down.
"Are you following my sister? Is that it? She picked you out of a line-up and now you want what? Payback? Well let me tell you chump, you either leave her alone, or I will personally see to it that you swim with the fishes you got that?"
"Wait, this is the guy who held her up, by gunpoint?" Prue asked.
"She told you about that?" Brandon asked.
"Leo mentioned it, she told him." Prue answered.
"Oh, yea well this jerk, is going straight to the captain, we'll see what he wants to do about him." Brandon said dragging him away.
"What a creep, poor Brenda." Phoebe said.
"I'll go check on her." Prue said.
"No, let me, ok?" Rick said placing his hand on Prue's shoulder.
"Ok." She said smiling as Rick opened the door and quietly closed it behind him.
"I hope this doesn't bring back too much pain for our sister Prue?" Phoebe said, linking arms with Prue and heading to their own cabins.
"Brenda?"
Rick asked, looking round he couldn't see her. Knocking on the cabin's bathroom door, he waited until he heard a sniff coming from beside the bed. Walking slowly towards the sound he found her sat up, knees tucked under her chin and tears falling down her face. His heart froze, she looked so vulnerable, like the first time he had ever laid eyes on her all those years ago. Kneeling down beside her, he opened his arms and she gladly fell into them.
"I'm sorry, you must think I'm a dreadful crybaby?" She whimpered.
"Not at all, you had a shock, its normal...so that was him then?" He said,
She nodded her head into his chest.
"Mama?"
Her sons voice interrupted and looking around Rick, she saw Scott was awake and stood up in his cot.
"Excuse me?" She said and stood up.
Rick watched as she walked over to her son and picked him up. Immediately Scotty picked her hair up in his hands and put it in his mouth. Rick's heart swelled at the image it burned into his heart. She walked over and sat down on the now messed up bed and hugged her son to her chest.
"He likes a cuddle when he wakes up." She explained unnecessarily to him.
"He's beautiful, just like his mamma." He replied.
She smiled, and then wiped her face so her child wouldn't see her tearstained cheeks. She held her son until he struggled to get down and she placed him on the floor, before standing up and rummaging through a bag. Pulling out countless numbers of toys, she placed them all around Scotty and he began playing happily .Rick watched him for a moment before looking back at Brenda, she was stood at the window of the cabin, her arms folded across her chest, looking out. Rick stood and walked over to her. He placed his arms around her waist and kissed her head.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"I will be. I have my sisters. I have my babies and Brandon. What more could a girl ask for.?"
"You could have me, if you wanted me." Rick asked as Brenda turned to face him.
"Rick, what we had happened a long time ago. We have both grown since, I'm not sure we should go there again."
"Don't you even want to think about it?" Rick begged.
She looked into his eyes and saw his heart reflected in them. He loved her but was she ready to be with him? Was she ready to be with anyone yet, so soon after Dylan's death? She didn't know the answer.
"Ok, let me think about it." She said smiling.
"I'll go, here is my number if you need to talk." He said handing her a slip of paper with a cell number on it.
Rick bent down and kissed her lips, so tenderly she almost lost her wits then but he pulled away and left her there her eye's still closed .When she opened them he wasn't there, she turned her head as the cabin door closed.
Brenda was tossing and turning in her bed that night. She was having that same dream again. The one were Dylan crashed and burned. This one was going differently though, instead of her watching Dylan die in the flames, she was watching herself. She was in the car and Dylan was stood still watching it burn. She was crying out to him to help, but he just stood expressionless. All of a sudden Dylan's face turned into Rick's and he rushed to help her out. A banging started, from where she didn't know. But just as Rick reached her the gunman reached an arm around her waist and pulled her back down. It was then that she woke, realizing she was being shaken. Opening her eye's she came face to face with Prue, Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Brandon. All with concerned looks on their face's.
"What...wh...why are you all here?"
"Brenda I know how you were after the robbery. I was on my way to see if you needed me to stay with you and I heard you screaming. You woke these guys up too, Leo orbed us in here, from Phoebe's room. Was it the same dream?"
"I woke you guys? Oh I am so sorry..ha...I seem to be saying that a lot these days. Yes Bran' it was the same....but it ended different. It was me that was burning."
"I know what that feels like." Phoebe mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
They all looked at her, Prue, Piper and Leo knowing what she meant but the Walshes not.
"I'll tell you about it later. What else happened was that all that was different?" Phoebe asked.
"It was strange. I was burning in the car and Dylan was just stood watching me, not trying to help. Then he turned into Rick and he tried getting me free, then that creep pulled me back into the car. It was so scary, Bran' She said burying her face in her hands.
Brandon sat closer and held her. He could feel her shaking again. He looked at everyone and silently they nodded at his unspoken plea and they left the cabin. They all returned to Phoebe's cabin and thought about what Brenda had told them. Ten minutes later, Brandon knocked on the door. Phoebe let him in.
"I held her to sleep. Poor woman's exhausted. Can we er.. talk?" He asked
Leo motioned to the armchair in the corner of the room, and Brandon sat down.
"I'm worried about this dream changing. Since Dylan's death it was always the same, never changed, and now this. What do you suppose it could mean?"
"I'm not sure but the Dylan stood watching her part could mean he was letting her go. That he can't help her anymore. He turned into Rick now because I think Dylan knows he loves her deeply. That he would make her happy, from what i've seen of him, he seems like a good guy, he might even take the family secret well. As for the creep, that clearly states that something is holding her back from being happy, which could be a feeling of guilt over liking Rick, when she has to look at Dylan every day in the faces of Nate and Scott." Leo said.
The other four adults in the room were looking at Leo open mouthed.
"Wow philosophical you." Piper grinned
"Hehe...it's just what I analyzed from what Brenda told us. It's my job to be the knowledgeable one isn't it?" He replied.
"Yeah as well as the bigheaded one." Prue said throwing a pillow at him, which he orbed back into her face.
"Hey, no fair, you have orb advantage." Prue said sticking her tongue out at him.
"Guys, could we get back to Brenda here?" Brandon interrupted.
"Sorry." Both Leo and Prue said together.
"You want me to talk to her? Twin to twin?" Prue asked.
"If you think it will work, look I'm going to go stay in her cabin with her, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Leo could you..." Brandon asked, and Leo stood and orbed him into the next cabin over.
"Brandon? Bran' wake up." Brenda said shaking her brother as he lay on the cabin's sofa.
"Bren'? What time is it?" Brandon asked rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
"A little after eight, the boys are ready and we are going for some breakfast, want to come?" She asked.
"Sure, just give me ten minutes so I can take a quick shower and brush my teeth, I'll be back soon, see you boys." Brandon said kissing Brenda on her forehead and then followed with the boys.
After he left Brenda pulled out some toys and gave them to the boys. She was just finishing up applying some lipstick when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in Brandon." She called thinking he had forgotten something.
The door opened but it wasn't Brandon that entered it was Prue. She walked in wearing a white vest top and cut off jeans, with a black leather handbag purse over her left shoulder.
"How are you this morning hun? Feeling better?"
"Oh hi Prue. Yea I'm fine, Brandon stayed here last night, my trusty protector." She said grinning, infecting Prue with her smile.
"Did you get any sleep? You were pretty worked up last night?" Prue asked concerned.
"Yea I have that dream on a regular basis. Ever since that day...." She said trailing of and looking out of the cabin window.
"I know what you mean, I had similar dreams after I lost Andy."Prue said, placing her hand on Brenda's shoulder.
Brenda looked at Prue, it was so uncanny that they had both lost the men they loved at almost the same time. Thinking about it, if anyone could help her stop the nightmares it would be Prue.
"Do you? I mean does it....will the dreams ever stop? Did they for you?"
"Not totally...there are still night's were I wake up in a sweat after having a particularly bad dream. The worst used to be when Andy would blame me for his death, I would wake up screaming, and Piper or Phoebe would have to calm me down. But over time and with a little help from my sister's I came to terms with the fact that Andy was just that sort of person to rush in a try to help. I made the mistake telling him about Phoebe's vision. I used to blame myself constantly, thinking if only I had kept my mouth shut and not warned him, he wouldn't have been sat in his car outside when the demon Rodriguez showed up. He might still be alive today and on this trip with me, instead of being ...well you know?"
Brenda watched as Prue told her piece. Andy to her sounded a lot like Dylan, so protective, her heart went out to her sister, and she leant over and hugged Prue tightly.
"He sounded so perfect, I'm sorry Prue. For you, for me, for my boys, it's just hard." She said and pulled back from the hug.
"I know, the pain of love lost never leaves our hearts, but it does fade. It will for you too. You want to see a picture of him? Of Andy?"
"Yea." Brenda said as Prue removed her purse from her shoulder.
Brenda watched as Prue rummaged through it and pulled out her money purse. Opening it up she turned it to Brenda. There she saw what could only have been Andy and Prue. Andy had on a brown leather jacket, and was hugging Prue who had on a red coat. Brenda took the purse of Prue to get a closer look, she studied Prue's face on the picture, and she could feel the love coming from this image. She knew Prue and Andy were very much in love when this was taken.
All the while Prue was watching Brenda study the picture. She knew Brenda was feeling something. She was curious as to what she could feel from a picture. Brenda looked up at her and handed her purse back to her.
"You two were very much in love when that was taken, but I sense something drove you apart, and you only reconciled shortly before his death." Brenda correctly pronounced.
"That is amazing...how did you...never mind....your right, we did date, and I did love him very much. But because of the ...'family business' I kept having to rush away from him to fight demons, and he never knew I was a witch. In the end he got fed up of my excuses and we decided to part. Not before I had cast a truth spell on him though to find out if he would take to my being a witch"
"And did he?" Brenda asked curious.
"No....he told me that he couldn't accept it. The spell ended and i ended it. It was awkward at first. We would cross paths on certain 'happenings' but it was always tense. Anyway a few weeks before his death, two Grimlock Demons kidnapped two boys from a park and that's when my powers were discovered by a reporter. I suspended the Demon and one of the boys in the air using my hands and he saw me. He went to Andy and told him. I don't think Andy believed him at first, but he visited me in my office. I wanted to tell him again seeing as the spell had already warn off, he had no memory of me telling him I was a witch. Anyway, we discovered were the boys were and went to save them. Phoebe and Piper were already there while i made some potions to vanquish the Demons. However when i tried to leave that stupid reporter had removed parts from my car. He forced me to tell him my secret, so i did and we went to save the boys. Somehow Andy found out and followed me, a Demon attacked him and I threw him with my powers. Andy didn't know what to do, but I think he believed the reporter from then on and my secret was out."
"Wow, what a way to find out, what happened to the reporter?" Brenda asked still curious.
"The Grimlock happened." Prue said slowly
"Ohhh." Brenda said catching on.
"Yea...I thought that now he knew he would think it over and we could start again, but it wasn't meant to be, he wanted a normal life. He dealt with death on a regular basis and i don't think he wanted demons dropping by for tea." Prue said her eye's filling up.
Brenda hugged her to her and Prue placed her head on her shoulder. There was a knock on the cabin door and Brandon popped his round the door.
"Oh hi Prue, you ready Bren'?"
"Yea, you coming for some breakfast Prue?"Brenda asked standing up.
"Yea I'll see you there in about five, I just have to get something from my cabin." She said standing up as well.
"Ok." Brandon and Brenda said together.
The three of them left Brenda's cabin and Prue said goodbye at hers, she watched as her brother and sister walked on with her nephews and opened her cabin door. Once inside she leaned against the cool wood and let the tears fall.