Angst
A W.i.t.c.h. Fanfiction by: A J
Disclaimer: Don't own; don't sue. The O.C.'s Steph and Gen are mine, as is the plot.
Summary: Zenith was NOT the end of the story, even if it WAS the end of W.i.t.c.h. …
Chapter 21
Dean awoke with a start at Susan's hysterical scream. She was sitting bolt upright next to him, her hand outstretched before her, and the most agonized look he'd seen yet on her face.
"What is it, Sue?" he asked, sitting up warily.
"I … I thought I heard Will … calling for me …" she whispered, and crumpled in on herself before him. Dean wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed. It turned ragged quickly as her as-yet-unrecovered throat protested the fresh abuse.
"Aunt Sue? You okay?" Stephanie asked from the doorway.
"Stephanie? When did you get here?" Susan croaked, looking confused.
"Uh, last night, right after school, Aunt Sue. You picked me up from the Davidsons'."
Susan shook her head a couple times, trying to defrag thoughts she couldn't get to make sense. She knew something horrible had happened last night … Then her eyes fell on the priceless portrait of Will that Elyon (the magic PRINCESS!) had given her in the wee hours of the morning, and it all came slamming home again.
"D … Dean?" she moaned.
"I'm right here," he answered instantly. "What do you need?"
"I need Will back!" she cried. "I need her here in my arms! Not out saving the universe! She's my little girl, Dean, not some magical superhero! She should be worrying about her grades, and first dates, and her favorite television shows, not stopping the superdimensional freak-of-the-week from breaking the rules of reality!" Her voice broke again, and Stephanie ('Bless her,' Dean thought.) disappeared only to bring her grieving godmother a fresh cold glass of water … or so he thought.
Susan took a large gulp of the innocently-clear liquid, only to gasp and nearly drop the glass. Her eyes watered. "Whe … where … did you …find vodka?" she finally managed to gasp out, glaring woefully up at her inherited extra child.
"When nobody came back last night, and dinner cooled down, I went looking for something to put it away in. I found that in the cupboard with the cooking oil, second try." Stephanie smiled back sheepishly. "I didn't think you'd throw it down like that, or I'd have warned ya. Honest, I figure the smell alone would have told you what it was …"
"Ah … all due respect kiddo, but I don't think her sense of smell's up to par, right now …" Dean said, as he gently took the lethal cupful from Sue's shaking grip. He nodded significantly at the tumbler of water still on the nightstand, and Stephanie handed it mutely to Susan instead, blushing.
"Sorry about that … force of habit, I guess," Steph said. She took the offending cup back from him and perched it on the nearby dresser. "it kinda became a habit with my parents … After one of their marathon rows, I'd just kinda hand 'em each a big shot of something and send 'em off to separate rooms to sleep it off. It was honestly quieter listening to them snore than shout, after a while …"
"Stephanie?" Dean questioned. He'd heard all level of horror stories of dysfunctional home-life from students over the years, but … the old adage 'too close to home' came to mind as he remembered his own father, and the quiet social alcoholism that had ushered Donald Collins to his early grave.
"Hey, no worries here, Teach. The stuff makes me run the other way. I've seen it in action too often in Fadden Hills. On the upside," Stephanie added with a self-deprecating smile. "I'd make one heck of a bartender. I can tell to the ounce when someone's gotten to their limit … and how to get their keys from 'em, too." Sue and Dean looked at each other, frankly aghast, then he sighed, and Susan gulped down the rest of her tepid water, preparing to yell some more.
She never got the chance, however. A knock at the apartment door got all of them out of Susan's back bedroom. Stumbling to answer it, she couldn't help wondering if this was fresh news or not, and whether it was good, bad, or other. Sue wasn't sure if she could handle any of the above at the moment, as wrung-out as she felt.
Dean got to the door first. Opening it as far as the chain Stephanie had redone would allow, he peeked out. A pair of hazel eyes that matched his blinked back, and a sadly familiar redhead smiled tentatively.
"Dean, right? Hi, it's Cassidy. We – Matt, Caleb, Peter, Nigel, and I – we … wanted to see if there was anything we could do for Susan. Can … can we come in?"
"Sure … Just a sec." Dean shut the door long enough to fumble the chain off, and invited the five young adults in.
Stephanie did a double-take as Cassidy walked through the door, thinking for a second that Will had managed to come back despite the ominous messages last night on the net and the insider news Dean Collins had let her in on that morning. Then she noted the different shade of red to the other girl's hair and her freckles, and Stephanie almost sobbed in echo of her adoptive aunt Susan. The bereft woman was still leaning against her as well as the living-room wall.
Dean did his best to introduce the new arrivals to Stephanie and Susan. Will's mom only knew two of the four boys as names really. Matt and Nigel had been Will and Taranee's dates for a 'Battle of the Bands' earlier that year. She did remember that they'd both been at the Galemore to help look, though. Caleb she had met at the Silver Dragon, and Cassidy and Peter were all-too-familiar after last night. Sue traded a shared look of pain with the Cooks' older boy.
Stephanie did her best to remember names as the introductions flew past, but beyond recalling later that Peter was Taranee's brother, and the girl's name was Cassie, she quickly retreated from the heated conversation that immediately swallowed the group. Then the quiet auburn-haired boy came over to the armchair she had hidden in.
"What do you want ..?" Steph asked leadingly, glancing up from the muted news she had on, with the closed captions running.
"Nigel," he growled, holding out a hand. Kor remembered that that was how people greeted each other.
"I'm Stephanie," she replied haltingly, and took his hand. Both of them hurriedly let go at the strong static jolt they got. Kor fled back to the kitchen, while Steph tried to settle back into watching HNN again. But between the sudden dizzying headache that overtook her, and Heatherfield Network News focusing solely on the collapse of the prominent downtown office building, she just clicked the TV off in distress and lay her head back.
Her hand brushed against the cold lump of the Heart of Candracar under her shirt. Except it wasn't cold anymore; it was tingling under her touch, and warming up in a hurry. She glanced down, and saw that it was starting to glow as well again. With a furtive glance at the others over the breakfast counter, she took off for her half-room, hand firmly over the now brilliant gem in an effort to hide its light.
Matt looked up as the blonde girl disappeared from the living room just when Kor stepped back to his side. "Who's she, again?" he asked, a strange feeling in his gut.
"Stephanie." Dean and 'Nigel' both replied distractedly. Susan was still asking them of the possibility that Will and the other girls might have taken refuge on some other dimension, since after all …
"… they are infinite, right?"
Cassidy hung her head for a moment. "The Oracle believes they are somewhere near, reachable even, if only we can figure out where, and how, to look. We've got somebody … two somebodies, actually, looking for clues at the Galemore right now. Our other hope is finding the Heart of Candracar, which the Council says Will left with someone she trusts …" Cassidy looked hopefully at Susan Vandom, but the young mother just shook her head.
"If Will had given me that damned necklace last night, believe you me, I'd have handed it over first thing ... I don't want anything more to do with this. If you find it, and it helps find Will, fine. But don't expect me to jump for joy over the cursed thing's recovery." She folded her arms over her chest.
"Sue …"
"Missus Vandom," Matt started to plead at the same time as Dean. She held a hand up to stop them.
"I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, it's over. Tell me Wil's back, or don't tell me anything about any of it at all. Will is missing in action, and I … I … oh, God …" Sue broke down into fresh tears as she thought of everything else she'd have to do to cover her daughter's mysterious disappearance, starting with her ex-husband and Sheffield Institute. Especially if it took longer than the upcoming Christmas holiday break to find her and the other girls … 'Christmas,' she thought with dismay. Her little girl might not be there for Christmas …
She turned hopeless, haunted eyes up at Dean, and he wordlessly wrapped his arms around her again. Cassidy broke into fresh tears as well at Susan's renewed sobs.
Stephanie came back out, her slim frame engulfed in an oversized, shapeless black sweatshirt and her most pre-distressed pair of jeans. One look at her freshly-crying godmother, and she bustled into the kitchen. She was back a minute later with a steaming cup she handed to Sue.
Susan took the cup cautiously, and gave it a wary sniff.
"It's just coffee, honest," her new daughter swore, hands raised. At the hopeful looks of Dean and Cassidy, she snickered. "The rest of you'll have to wait a few minutes, that was the last in the thermal jug." She gave Susan a reassuring smile, and went back into the kitchen.
"It's just coffee?" Cassidy asked Dean quietly, as Susan took a careful sip, then sighed.
"Long story," he replied. "Look, you're all going back to the Galemore to keep looking, right? Count me in. It's the least I can do …"
"Count us in, Teach," Steph amended. She had come back out of the kitchen. "If you're willing to wait five, we can take the coffee, too."
"How did you become so domestic?" Sue couldn't help but ask.
"Ya know how they say 'Take care of your kids, 'cause someday they'll be taking care of you'? Sure wish somebody would have warned me my turn would come early," Steph blurted, inadvertently reminding Sue and Dean of their interrupted conversation from earlier. "Alright, I'm gonna go find my boots. B R B." She fled back to her room again.
"You … inherited her?" Caleb asked, still confused about the circumstances.
"That's really oversimplifying, but basically … yeah," Susan sighed. "I was named Stephanie's Godmother in Rick ans Jane's will, which means when they died, I became her mom, legally."
"So now she's Will's sister?" 'Nigel' asked Matt quietly.
"Huh, yeah … I guess so.' Matt gave his fellow Regent a faint nod.
"Good. I like her. She takes good care of mm … Missus Vandom." Matt blanched. Kor had nearly called Susan 'Mom'.
Cassidy had caught it as well. "I'll get the coffee." As she turned into the kitchen alcove, she gave Susan a warm smile. "Are you coming to search, as well?"
"For Will, and the others, yes," Sue said, looking at Peter and then Caleb, who she knew hyper Hay Lin considered an honorary brother. "The rest of you can waste your time on the Heart of Candlejar …"
"Candracar," Cassidy corrected automatically. Susan just gave her a withering glare. Cass held her hands up in surrender, and went for the coffee.
The others were too busy watching the byplay between the two women to see the shocked look on Stephanie's face at the last thing Cassidy had said.