CHAPTER 21

Can't Find My Way Home

Molly stared out the kitchen window at the rain pouring from the ominous clouds. Leaning her head on the palm of her hand, she watched the drops run down the glass pane, splintering off into infinite paths before splashing in a puddle on the outside sill. As she watched all the different paths form, she wondered where her path was taking her, and if she would ever be able to go back.

Was Chris staring out his window right now? Was he seeing the same storm she was, watching the streaks falling from the sky? Was he thinking of her as she thought of him?

"Mornin'."

The novice whitelighter turned toward the sound of Andy's voice. She was mildly surprised to find him already dressed for the day in a white dress shirt and black slacks. He seemed to have been up for a while, which was strange considering she'd been certain she was the first one up.

Dropping a bag onto the kitchen table, Andy gestured for her to peak inside. "Breakfast."

"Not hungry," Molly murmured softly, returning her gaze to the grey sky. In an effort to be civil she half-heartedly asked, "Is Prue still sleeping?"

"Nah. She's always the first one up and the last one down. She went to take some photos of the storm. Should be back any second now."

The man took a seat at the table across from her, opening the bag and pulling out a freshly made bear claw. He took a big bite, letting out a moan of pleasure, eyeing his charge for a reaction. When she didn't so much as blink, he plopped the pastry onto the table and folded his arms over his chest. "You can't fight it. Trust me. I tried like hell. You wanna know what helps?"

The hazel eyes flicked over to him.

"Orbing," he grinned.

"Orbing?"

Prue came bustling into the kitchen, tossing an umbrella into the corner. She smiled warmly at the young girl while reaching to take down a mug and fill it with coffee. "How you feeling this morning?"

Molly shrugged. "Okay. Andy said something about orbing."

Prue raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Oh did he?"

The former detective shrugged. "She needs to know how to do it eventually, and I thought it might cheer her up. Am I wrong?"

Prue wrinkled her nose, smiling. "No. No, I don't think you were. So," she turned to Molly, "you know what orbing is?"

"Sure, Chris and Wyatt used to orb me all the time."

"Did they, now?" The former Charmed One raised her brows, mildly surprised. "Things certainly have changed. Back when I was still living at the manor, the Elders forbade it. The only one of us that got to orb was Piper, but that was just because she was Leo's wife."

"I think it changed since Paige is half-whitelighter."

"Right. Paige."

Andy noticed the look in his lover's eyes and quickly rose from his spot at the table, clapping his hands together. "So. . .orbing. You're not hungry, so we might as well get started, right? We'll do it in the livingroom."

Molly followed the man into the larger space, watching as Prue came up behind snatching pillows and tossing them on the floor. When there were no pillows left, the woman pulled the cushions from the sofa and piled them on the floor as well. As the older woman noticed the younger's curious look, she explained, "Just in case."

"We'll start with orbing in place," Andy said.

Their charge took a seat on the pillows, waiting for instructions. What she didn't know was that Prue had slipped behind her and was slowly sneaking up on her. Once the other woman had gotten right up behind her, Prue yelled, "Go."

Startled at the loud noise, Molly spontaneously went up in a shower of lights only to immediately reappear in the same spot only slightly off-balance causing her to fall backward into the pillows.

"That was how it feels to orb," Prue explained. "It's now a part of you. Inside of you. So, what did you feel?"

"Warm at first, then freezing cold and sort of. . .lightheaded? It was completely different than my times with the boys."

Andy grinned. "That's because the energy needed to orb is coming from you now. The magical energy is inside of you and right before you orb, it builds up, making you a little warmer. Once all that energy is dispelled in the actual orb, you get cold. Make sense?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so what you need to do now, is focus on locating the magic. It'll feel like a warmth radiating from within you. Grab onto it, feel it building and building and building," Prue instructed. "Do you feel it?"

Molly nodded.

"Now, we're just focusing on orbing in place right now, so you don't need to think of a specific place just yet. Just release the magic in one big burst."

The young woman felt the cold sweep through her, but as fast as it came on was as fast as it ended, and she ended up face first in the carpet.

"You were thinking of a place weren't you?" Andy guessed. "That's why your orb wasn't in place– it was forward. You don't know how to go from one place to another though, so you weren't going to get too far."

Molly flushed slightly. She'd been thinking of Chris, of getting back home.

"Trust us, the time for big jumps will come. For now, learn the basics," Prue advised.

Yes, she would learn the basics. She would master them. If she could master what they taught her about orbing there was nothing to keep her from where her heart lay. Once she was able to orb, she'd have a way home.

000

Wyatt sifted through the newspaper, skimming through the sports page before pulling out the funnies and tossing the rest onto the kitchen table. He chuckled at an amusing strip before taking a sip of his coffee. Just as he was about to set his cup back on the table, he spotted Chris plodding into the kitchen, fully dressed in a black t-shirt, a white long sleeved tee underneath, and khaki cargo pants.

"Hey, what are you doing up?"

Chris snatched an apple from the bowl on the counter. "I have to go to school."

"School?"

"Yeah, it's that one brick building with all the books, depressed teens and alcoholic adults who wished they would have majored in accounting during college instead of education."

Wyatt rolled his eyes, smiling at his little brother's trademark sarcasm. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Can't stay here," Chris answered, sinking his teeth into the juicy granny smith and ripping off a chunk.

"Do you think it's really a good idea to go to school, though? With everything that you've just been through, staying home might be the better plan. Especially since by now, everyone is going to know, and they're going to talk."

"So, what am I supposed to do, Wyatt? Stay here and count the raindrops? I'd go crazy. Besides, aren't you supposed to be back at college today? What are you even doing here?"

Wyatt shrugged. "Thought you might need me here."

"I appreciate the thought, Wy, but I'm fine. I just need to keep busy."

Leo rushed into the kitchen, his magic school robes billowing out behind him. He grabbed a mug from the cupboard, racing to the coffee pot and filling it up. He glanced over at his youngest son. "Chris, buddy, what are you doing up?"

"Going to school, and before you say it, Wyatt already gave me the big speech about how I should stay home and mourn for my dead girlfriend because apparently wallowing here is healthier than getting back to my life."

The father frowned, moving to put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Chris, you don't always have to be strong. Especially not after losing someone you loved so much."

"I need to keep busy, Dad. Period. So, can we please skip over the heartfelt moment, and just get on with our lives already?"

Leo looked momentarily hurt before glancing over at his older son. He shot the blond young man a silent plea to watch out for his sibling as it was clear Chris would have none of it from his parents right now. For whatever reason, Chris had always felt more comfortable being open with his brother.

Wyatt gave a subtle nod.

"If you need me, anytime at all, you just orb to me, and I will drop whatever I'm doing, got it?" Leo questioned his youngest.

Chris rewarded him with a weak smile. "Got it."

As their father rushed off, Chris shook his head. "Guess he's late again."

"Who in this family isn't always running late?"

The brunet smiled softly. "Yeah. No kidding."

A thought suddenly struck him. "Hey, Wy, where's Case?"

"Took the bus early this morning. Said she had some sort of project to finish up."

Finishing up his apple, Chris tossed the core into the garbage and started heading out. He was stopped in his tracks by his brother's voice calling for him to wait a moment. He turned to look back at his sibling, who was now standing behind him. "What?"

"What Dad said...it's true. You don't have to always be strong, Chris. You're allowed to feel the pain."

"No, I can't," Chris answered softly. "Because if I let myself...I'll go down a path I won't be able to come back from."

"I'd always bring you back. You're my baby brother. Who else would put up with my lame jokes and help me kick demon butt? I can't let anything happen to you."

"Thanks, Wy."

"So, you'll call if you need me?"

"Yeah."

The Twice Blessed ran a hand through his blond locks, awkwardly. "And, Chris, I mean, you know that I. . .well, you know."

Chris smiled, nodding slightly. "Yeah. Me too."

000

A pop quiz in his literature class, a lecture on post-colonial Africa in his histio-sociology class, a lab experiment with picks-her-nose Nelly Timmons who kept staring at him with mouth agape, and a Spanish test over subjunctive form. Chris was officially ready to slam his locker door into his head until he just blacked out.

Shoving his morning books into his locker, Chris wondered why it was when Casey spoke Spanish it was sexy and beautiful, but when the teacher did it was the sound of nails on a chalkboard combined with a crying baby. Perhaps it was because A. Mr. Bleeker was a balding man in his sixties and B. The guy was a jerk who often was heard talking about how much he missed corporal punishment.

Shutting his locker, Chris nearly jumped when he found Kip standing right on the other side of the door. He let out a breath. "Hey."

"Dude, I need words with you. Right now."

"Okay, what's up?"

"It's about Molly."

Chris sucked in his lips, nodding, waiting for the questions he was sure Kip had as well as the less than helpful words of sympathy everyone was always so quick to toss out.

"I ran into her at the park yesterday."

The witchlighter's eyes snapped up. "What?"

"Yeah. Which, you know, would be perfectly normally aside from the fact I just discovered she's dead."

Chris pulled Kip out of the hall, shooting nervous smiles in the directions of all confused on lookers. Once they were in the men's room, he made sure the place was empty before excitedly questioning, "Did she look okay?"

"Uh, Chris, buddy, pal, which part of dead did you not quite catch? The 'd' or the 'ead'?"

"Kip, answer the question. How was she?"

"Well, as far as dead chicks go, she looked fine. Said to give you a message, which I thought was weird until I read the paper this morning and discovered I was playing medium."

Chris ran a hand through his shaggy chestnut locks, a smile forming. "So she said she was okay? Really?"

"Yeah, and to tell you something about her uncle Andy and his girlfriend...it started with a 'P'. It was kind of a strange name. Old I think"

"Uncle Andy?" Chris shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. She didn't have any uncles. Needless to say any named Andy. It must be the whitelighter training her. But why would she tell me the name? Unless...unless I would know it. Andy...Andy...what whitelighter would I know by that name?"

"Prue," Kip exclaimed. "That was it. Whew, took me a while, but I remembered."

"Holy shit. Prue? Are you serious?"

"If I was going to lie to you about this do you really think that'd be the detail I would choose to lie about?"

Chris shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe this. Do you have any idea what this means?"

"You socialize with entirely too many dead people?"

"My Aunt was named Prue. She dated a detective named Andy. Tru... Trufax... True..."

"Trudeau, now I remember. The guy's name was Trudeau."

"The detective that saved my Mom and her sisters. She's with them. My Aunt and the detective are whitelighters. This is incredible."

Kip leaned against one of the sinks, folding his arms over his chest. "She said to tell you she loves you a lot and always will too, Man. Now, that I get what that was about, almost makes me teary. To think, you guys have been torn apart like this...makes me want to kick some Elder ass. I'm sure Jess would help."

"No," Chris firmly shook his head. "The only one going to kick some Elder ass is going to be me. Starting now."

As his friend orbed out of the bathroom, Kip saw a scrawny freshman walk into the room, the younger teen's eyes going wide at what he thought he saw. The telepath rolled his eyes, forcing the thought, I just smoked crack. That's where the pretty lights came from. Yummy crack. Better go find more now.

The freshman's face crinkled in confusion. He opened his mouth as though to ask the witch something when he just shook his head, turned around and left instead.

Kip smirked. "I'm an evil Jedi."

Meanwhile, Chris found himself up in the heavens, having far less fun than his comrade.

"I mean it. Where are they?"

Sandra, long accustomed to Halliwell temper tantrums, smiled patiently. "Christopher, you know we can't tell you that."

"And why do I know that? More importantly, why should I care? I know how much it killed my mom that she couldn't see my Aunt Prue again. This whole time you have been keeping Prue from us– from my mom and aunts-- when you could have ended their grieving years ago. Now, now you want to tell me that you refuse to tell me where she is? Where Molly is?"

Kevin, a younger elder stepped forward, his face more sympathetic to the young witchlighter's plight. "Chris, I understand you love Molly. That you want to be with her. It's perfectly natural, and you have every right to be furious at us for keeping you two apart right now. However, there are things at work here, which you do not understand."

"So enlighten me."

Kevin shared a look with Sandra before carefully answering, "You both have different destinies for the moment. However, you will see her again. This is something we can promise you."

"I will?" Chris looked between the two Elders. When they both nodded, he pressed, "When?"

"We can't tell you that."

"This is crap," the young man exclaimed. "You can't do this to people. You can't play with our lives like this. I love her, okay? I love her, and I want her back right now. You hear me? Until you give me Molly back, I'll make sure no one in my family does anything for you people."

Kevin let out a breath. "I think we need someone better suited to deal with this."

Sandra nodded before closing her eyes and bending her head forward to call for the one person that might be able to talk the young Halliwell down from his hurt and rage.

"Chris?"

The witchlighter turned toward the source of the unfamiliar voice. His lips parted in baited breath as his eyes set sight on a woman he'd only ever seen in photos. After swallowing down the initial shock, he asked softly, "Aunt Prue?"

The dark haired woman smiled softly. "We need to talk."

000

Casey glanced through the cafeteria looking for Chris. Through the sea of students she was able to spot all sorts of different groups. The drama kids were in the left back corner, laughing and singing a tune from the musical. Jocks and cheerleaders were front left. The girls were giggling while two linebackers had a milk chugging contest. Over on the opposite side, the rich guys were actually associating with a few of the nerds in a virtual reality drive off using the digi-glasses and hand held controllers. Meanwhile, the rich girls were gabbing about the latest school gossip, in which Casey heard Molly's name come up a few times. Last but not least, the druggies and would be gang-bangers were in the right back corner by the windows playing poker.

No sign of Chris anywhere though.

Sighing, the young witch turned around and headed for the library. She was half-way there when she caught a shadow moving behind her and slightly to the left. She paused, glancing out her periphery in time to see the shadow also stop.

She was officially being followed.

Casey took a breath along with a sharp right. Keeping her pace natural, she made sure to keep the shadow in sight at all times as she made her way to the back of the school. She pushed open the large back doors that lead to the parking lot then stepped quickly off to the left side, waiting for her stalker to come through.

A minute passed. Then five.

No one came out after her.

The young woman rested her head against the cool brick wall. "Great. I'm going crazy."

She couldn't have known that the shadow figure had actually followed her out of the school and was now watching her, invisible to the eye. His own green pair never left her face. Too much was riding on his vigilance. He would never let her out of his sight again.

tbc. . .