UNREQUITED

Summary: When Emily Hargreaves meets Wyatt and Chris Halliwell, she has no idea how complicated her life is about to become. Set in the changed future. It's about life, love and all of that…

Disclaimer: The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. The characters of Emily and Chloe do belong to me though, but they can be borrowed as long as I'm asked first.

Notes: Hello to one and all! New update for you. Note the time jump at the start of this chapter: it'll explain the shift in tone that occurs during this part.

Thanks for the reviews, replies to individual ones at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 21

Seven months later, Los Angeles…

Emily emerged from the subway into the bright sunlight, blinking rapidly as the yellow glare hit the back of her retinas. Once her vision had cleared, she continued on her way down the street, heading towards the small Italian restaurant that was her intended destination.

The previous seven months had been a rollercoaster ride of topsy-turvy emotions and experiences for her. Her first eight weeks in LA had easily been the most miserable of her life, but she had finally found peace within herself in the last couple of months. She'd even had a brief fling with a guy she'd met at her local grocery store, which had done wonders for her self-confidence. After much soul-searching, she was eventually ready to move on and put her unhappy experience with Chris behind her.

To her surprise, she found that she enjoyed her new job, which helped matters enormously. The promotion to Junior Office Manager offered much more of a challenge than her previous role, and helping to establish a successful new office had given her a real sense of personal achievement.

Wyatt had put her in touch with a small group of young witches he knew here in LA as well, so she'd been able to keep up her magical activities too. He also regularly orbed in himself when he needed a particularly potent potion brewing up, and her potion making skills had improved in leaps and bounds as a result. All in all her new life was going rather better than expected.

However, while she had stayed in constant touch with Chloe and Wyatt, she'd had virtually no contact with Chris at all. They had only come face-to-face once since she'd left for LA - during a brief, but memorable visit home three months ago.

Chloe had persuaded her to come to San Francisco to go shopping that day, rather than having Wyatt orb her to LA as was the norm. The two women had met Chris and Bianca coming out of Frankie's coffee shop, just as they were going in, and to say the situation had been awkward was an understatement. Emily hadn't visited San Francisco since and Chloe hadn't attempted to persuade her otherwise either. They had both decided that the situation was best left alone – at least until Bianca stopped viewing Emily as the ultimate femme fatale anyway.

Right now, courtesy of Wyatt's extraordinary taxi service, the two cousins were meeting for a gossipy lunch at one of Emily's favourite restaurants in LA. They'd not seen each other in over three weeks now, and consequently had a lot to catch up on, especially as Chloe had been unusually reticent on the phone recently.

Her cousin's taciturn behaviour had initially caused Emily some concern, but she hadn't been able to detect any real unhappiness in Chloe's voice when she'd spoken to her last night, so could only assume that she must have been tired or a bit under the weather before. Whatever the problem was, she'd find out soon enough anyway. So, on arriving at the restaurant, she pushed aside her disquiet and went to announce her presence to the maitre d'.

"Ahh yes, reservation in the name of Hargreaves – table for three."

Emily shook her head. "No, it should only be for two," she contradicted.

"A woman rang and changed that booking a few days ago," a young waitress told them as she walked past, a trio of plates balanced precariously on her arm. "I remember taking the call."

"Oh! Right... umm, I suppose that must have been my cousin." Emily said with a puzzled frown. "I guess she forgot to tell me about it."

"Do you want to wait for your companions before ordering?" the headwaiter enquired politely as he showed her to her table in the pleasant alfresco dining area.

Emily nodded. "Can you just bring me a glass of orange juice for now please?"

"Of course, madam."

For the next few minutes, Emily sat quietly perusing the menu and sipping at her drink, all the while wondering why Chloe had changed the booking without telling her. She assumed her cousin must be bringing Wyatt along, but why all the secrecy? None of it made any sense. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the arrival of her guests until they were standing right in front of her.

"Hey!" Chloe said brightly.

Emily quickly looked up and any worries she had about her cousin's state of mind immediately flew out the window. There was nothing wrong with Chloe, quite the opposite in fact - she was positively glowing. Emily's gaze shifted to Wyatt, who was standing alongside his girlfriend, a broad grin splitting his handsome face almost in two.

"Okay, so what's going on?" she demanded suspiciously as she rose to her feet to greet them. "What's with all the cloak and dagger stuff?"

Chloe exchanged a brief look with Wyatt and then thrust out her left hand with a dramatic flourish. It didn't take Emily long to spot the diamond sparkling on the third finger and she lifted her questioning gaze to her cousin's beaming face. Chloe nodded in confirmation, her eyes shining with happiness and Emily moved forward to give her a delighted hug.

"Oh my God! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you both."

"I hope you don't mind me gate-crashing your girly lunch," Wyatt said as she released Chloe and enthusiastically threw her arms around him.

Emily laughed. "I think you're forgiven just this once," she said as they sat down. "So, when did this happen?"

"Umm – two weeks ago," Chloe admitted contritely.

"WHAT?"

"I know, I know, but I wanted to tell you in person – only you were really busy at work, so this was the first time…"

"But Mom never said a word when she visited last week," Emily interrupted. "You have told your parents, haven't you?" she asked as an afterthought

"Of course we have, but I swore Aunt Bella and Uncle David to secrecy until I had a chance to tell you myself."

"So this is why you've been so quiet on the phone recently," Emily mused.

Wyatt laughed at that. "I think she was afraid to speak in case she let the cat out the bag," he said with a grin. "She's been absolutely itching to tell you."

"Chloe," Emily remonstrated teasingly. "You could have done, you know."

"I know but this way is so much better – I mean we can order champagne now."

"And you can show off the ring," Emily prompted, holding out her hand to get a better look.

Chloe willingly obliged and Emily carefully studied the ring on her cousin's finger. It consisted of a single square-cut diamond solitaire set into a delicate white-gold band. It was neither too small, nor too ostentatious. It was just perfect in fact. "It's beautiful," she declared. "Did you choose it?"

Her cousin shook her head. "No, Wyatt did. It's gorgeous isn't it?"

"I did have a little help from my Aunt Paige," Wyatt admitted. "I'm not that confident about my jewellery choosing ability. I definitely required a second opinion – well third if you count Chris, but he's worse at it than I am so…" he left his statement hanging.

"Why your Aunt Paige?" Emily asked curiously.

"Because Aunt Phoebe can't keep a secret to save her life. And Mom – well, you don't ask your mother to help choose your future wife's engagement ring, do you?"

Emily grinned. "Not as a rule, no. Although, I can't imagine your Mom being the mother-in-law from hell like some might be."

"You wanna bet?" Wyatt asked and then laughed when his fiancée punched him hard on the arm. "Only joking – she adores Chloe. I don't think we'll have much problem there."

"So have you set a date yet?"

"The 2nd of September."

Emily's eyes widened. "But that's only four months from now! Are you going to be able to organise everything in time?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You sound like Mom; she's on about getting me a wedding planner of all things. They'll be more than enough time, provided everyone does their bit. We don't want a huge wedding anyway and I certainly don't want some stranger organising it. I want that special personal touch - which is why I was hoping you'd take that transfer back to San Francisco when it comes up. I know they asked you to stay on in LA for an extra couple of months, but that time is nearly up now, isn't it?"

"Yes but…," Emily trailed off and stared at her cousin in consternation.

She hadn't really decided what she was going to do about transferring back to San Francisco to be honest. She was in half a mind to stay here in LA - she didn't hate it after all, and it seemed so much simpler than having to deal with the inevitable fallout back home. While she might be ready to move on with her life, that didn't mean that her feelings for Chris had completely disappeared; she was just better emotionally equipped to deal with them now.

"I don't know, Chloe. I hadn't…," she started to say and then stopped when a sudden thought occurred to her.

It wasn't as if she didn't want to share in her cousin's happiness. They'd been planning make believe weddings for each other ever since they were little girls. Now that it was finally time to organise the real thing, she wanted to be involved in the arrangements.

While Emily hesitated in confusion, Chloe threw a pointed look at Wyatt, who instantly took the hint and excused himself to go to the bathroom. "It's not going to be as bad as you think," Chloe said after he'd left.

"Chloe, it's not like I don't want to. It's just…"

"Chris and Bianca split up."

Emily's head snapped up and she stared at her cousin incredulously. "What? When?"

"About three weeks ago."

"But how? I thought you said things got better between them after I left."

"They did. No one was more shocked than I was when they broke up. It's not like me and Wyatt ever spent a lot of time with them as couple – it was always a bit awkward, you know – but they always seemed fine to me."

"Maybe it's just a temporary thing…"

Chloe shook her head. "No – Wyatt's convinced that it's over for good. And I met Bianca at the mall last week and she was talking that way too. I'm sorry, I wasn't quite sure how to tell you, and then Wyatt proposed and suddenly I was keeping two secrets from you. It all kind of spiralled out of control."

Still stunned by this unexpected development, Emily sat back in her chair. "Well, I can't come back now, can I?" she said.

"Why not?"

"How will it look?"

"It'll look like you've come back to help your cousin organise her wedding," Chloe said irritably. "Come on, Emily – everyone knows that this job offer came with the option of returning to San Francisco at some point. The only people that know there was more to it are you, me, Wyatt, Chris and Bianca."

"And probably half of Bianca's friends," Emily pointed out.

"Her best friend Sarah maybe, but no others if you ask me. From what I saw, she didn't like to admit that she and Chris had problems to anyone."

"It's still going to look bad."

"So what? What does it matter? You'd be a fool if you don't take your chance now."

"Chloe!"

"Emily, I know you – you might have found a way to deal with things, but your feelings haven't really gone away, have they?"

Unable to deny it, Emily shook her head.

"A nurse in the hospital after my accident said something to me that I've never forgotten," Chloe continued. "She told me that 'you have to take your chances in life, because you'll never know what you've missed out on if you don't.' I think that's good advice - it's what made me follow Wyatt to San Francisco and now look at us. All right, so you might get your heart broken again, but rather that than not taking the risk and always wondering what if."

"You make it sound so straightforward."

"Because it is. Look, I don't mean you should come back and immediately make a pass at him or anything – that would definitely be crass. But if you're hundreds of miles away here in LA, he's never going to look in your direction, is he? Just be around, Emily – be his friend again. Let things happen naturally. If they don't, then they don't, but at least you'll know."

Emily sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, Chloe. I've just got myself back on an even keel – I don't want to go through all that again."

"How long is it before you have to make a final decision about the transfer?"

"Four weeks."

"Then you don't have to make up your mind straightaway, do you? Take your time; think about it properly. We're having an engagement party next Saturday – see how you feel after that. Just promise me you won't dismiss the idea out of hand just because you're afraid of getting hurt again."

"All right, I'll think about it," Emily said, finally giving into her cousin's persuasion.

Chloe smiled encouragingly at her. "Good - now how about we order that champagne? We have something to celebrate, remember?"

Emily grinned back. "Well I'm not likely to forget when you're flashing that rock on your finger at every available opportunity, am I?" she said teasingly.

"Shut it you," Chloe said, slapping her cousin lightly on the back of the hand in playful censure. "It's my ring; I can show it off any time I want. Stop trying to spoil my fun."

Emily laughed and waved the waiter over so that they could order. Wyatt rejoined them at the table a few moments later.

"Sorry but if I hang around the bathroom much longer, I'm going to start getting funny looks," he said as he sat down.

Chloe rolled her eyes in exasperation. "As you can see, my fiancé hasn't quite learned the art of subtlety yet," she remarked to her cousin, and Emily giggled despite her underlying embarrassment.

Wyatt smiled at her, his blue eyes holding a hint of an apology, and Emily relaxed. There wasn't any point pretending that he didn't know what they'd been talking about – he'd given them the privacy that they needed and that was enough.

The rest of the celebratory lunch passed in an enjoyable mixture of laughter and animated conversation. Both Wyatt and Chloe were in buoyant, happy moods and Emily was struck by how in tune with each other they were. They could hardly keep their eyes off each other, she noted with a smile. The first flush of new love may have faded somewhat, but a stronger, deeper connection had developed in its wake, making their closeness plain for all to see.

Wyatt's intensely private nature did translate itself into how they behaved towards one another in public though. They were not undemonstrative, but they weren't all over each other either. The occasional handholding and the odd peck on the lips was about as far as they went.

Emily had noticed this about Wyatt before – while happy enough to show his feelings in front of his family and close friends, around strangers and people he didn't know so well, he was much more wary. Given his unwanted celebrity status, she thought that she could understand why. With his every move constantly scrutinised, he must sometimes feel like a bug under a microscope. Was it any wonder that he wanted to keep his private life away from all those prying eyes?

All too soon, the lunch was over and she was bidding the happy couple farewell. Emily didn't know why, but sharing in their joy over their engagement had made her realise how much she missed living in San Francisco. Her cousin had seemingly gone from being newly in love, to being ready to make a lifetime commitment in a blink of an eye. In reality though, seven long months had passed – it was just that Emily hadn't been around to witness them.

Here in LA, she was cut off from the people she cared about the most and, while she was not unhappy, she wasn't truly content either. The question was – could she handle being around Chris again? He may have split from Bianca, but that was no guarantee that he would look her way in spite of his parting words to her. And even if he did, how would she know whether his feelings were genuine or not? Being his rebound fling was definitely not on her wish list – it would be worse than the situation that had driven her away from San Francisco in the first place.

And yet she missed him – his friendship more than anything else strangely enough. She hadn't fully appreciated that part of their relationship until she'd left. It had been so overwhelmed by the gnawing ache of her unrequited feelings, that she'd been unable to value it for what it was. However, now that she could look at things in a more objective light, she could see that it had been the strongest tie between them.

As she wandered back down the street towards the subway station, Chloe's words from earlier came back to her…

'Just be around, Emily – be his friend again. Let things happen naturally. If they don't, then they don't, but at least you'll know.'

She would talk to Chris at Wyatt and Chloe's engagement party, she decided. Find out how the land lay between them before making a decision about returning. Her cousin was right - at least she'd know. And they might still be able to salvage a friendship out of all this mess, even if she did have to relinquish the hope of something more.

OOOOOO

LA, three days later…

Responding to an urgent phone call from her friend Samantha, Emily took the stairs two at a time and knocked sharply on the door of the first-floor apartment. Samantha's roommate, April answered it and Emily was quickly ushered inside.

"Emily – great you're here," Samantha said, waving her over to where she was standing at the kitchen counter, an open spell book in front of her and a confused expression on her pretty face. "I can't make any sense of this potion…"

"And we have a nest of Squatter Demons to vanquish," Samantha's older brother, Martin interjected from where he was sitting at the kitchen table with his best mate, Daniel and his girlfriend, Shelley.

These five were Emily's closest friends here in LA. Warm and friendly, they had quickly welcomed her into their little group after Wyatt had introduced them. Martin, Daniel and Shelley had all gone to Magic School with Wyatt, while Samantha had been in the same grade as Chris.

April, although a witch, had not attended Magic School, much to her obvious vexation. "My parents wanted me to go to a 'normal' school," she'd told Emily on the day that they'd first met. She had been close friends with Samantha for years however, and made up for her lack of magical education with brains and enthusiasm.

Emily felt a certain empathy with April, having not attended Magic School either; a happenstance that she had first assumed was due to her father's intolerant attitude towards her mother's magical heritage. Hearing her new friends reminisce about their school days did make her wonder why Chloe hadn't gone either though.

"Maybe your Aunt and Uncle didn't know about it," Shelley suggested when Emily voiced this thought one evening over dinner. "Not everyone does, you know. It's become much more well-known since Wyatt and Chris graduated, but it's still unheard of in some parts, even today."

Emily nodded, belatedly realising that she'd been in college the first time she'd heard mention of Magic School. Shelley must be right – Chloe would have surely said something if she'd known about it before then.

Back in the present, she pulled the spell-book towards her and skim read the ingredients and associated instructions. "Okay, it looks easy enough," she said, causing the others to break out in laughter. "What?"

"Oh yeah – it's easy," Daniel said sarcastically. "That's why we've been trying to decipher it for over an hour now."

Emily felt a little thrill of pride. She spent a lot of the time feeling distinctly inadequate magically, but this was something she could do. She remembered Leo saying that genuine potion-making was a skill that came from within, not one that was learnt, and that was certainly true in her case. What looked like complicated gobbledegook to others was clear as day to her, a twist of fate that was perfectly illustrated by this potion recipe.

Ignoring her friend's sly grins, Emily started weighing out the ingredients for the potion. "What are Squatter Demons anyway?" she asked as she worked.

"Exactly what they sound like," Martin replied. "Demons that squat."

"Which tells me like - nothing."

"They infest empty apartments," Martin clarified. "And cause all sorts of domestic problems for the tenants of any occupied apartments in the same block. Residents tend to call a plumber or pest control – not that it does them any good. A friend of mine at work was telling me about the problems he's been having with his landlord. It sounded familiar so I went to check it out – the nasty little critters were having a regular party in there."

"So you've dealt with them before?" Emily asked.

"Yeah – a few years ago."

"So why are you having trouble with the vanquishing potion then?"

"Umm – because Wyatt made it last time and I didn't pay attention," Martin replied with unashamed aplomb, as a sharp rap on the door echoed through the apartment.

Samantha went to answer it, and Emily nearly spilled a whole bottle of foul-smelling bat's bile down her front when she heard her friend's subsequent exclamation.

"Oh my god, Chris! I've not seen you for like - ever. Come in, come in."

The others got to their feet and went through into the other room to greet their old school friend. Emily stayed in the kitchen however, ostensibly hard at work on the potion, but in reality desperately trying to compose herself.

"So – what brings you to sunny LA?" she heard Daniel ask.

"Magic School business," Chris replied. "There's a young girl living here who would benefit from attending. Dad sent me on a PR trip to persuade her and her parents that it's a good idea. I thought that maybe one of the girls could come and meet them with me, so I won't appear so daunting."

"Yeah – cus you're a really scary guy," Shelley teased.

Despite her agitated confusion, Emily had to smile at that. Chris was one of the most genial people she knew. The thought that he could frighten anybody if he wasn't specifically trying to was simply ludicrous.

"With my surname, I might be to a five year old girl and her worried parents," Chris pointed out.

"Well, I'd love to help," Shelley replied, "But after we've dealt with the Squatter Demons, I've got to get back to work before my boss fires my ass."

"Me too," April said.

"And I'm supposed to be meeting Mom," Samantha finished. "I bet Emily'll go with you though – she's got the day off today."

There was a noticeable pause and then Chris asked hesitantly, "Emily?"

"Yeah – she's in the kitchen making the vanquishing potion. Come through and say hello."

"Okay Em – cool, calm, collected," Emily coached herself under her breath as she listened to the approaching footsteps. A few seconds later, she found herself face-to-face with Chris for the first time in months.

"Hi!" she said, somehow managing to produce a genuine smile of greeting despite her jitters.

"Hi!" Chris smiled back and Emily relaxed a little. 'Okay, first hurdle over,' she thought to herself. 'That wasn't too bad.'

"Did you hear all that?" Samantha asked, gesturing towards the other room. Emily nodded.

"So, you'll go along right?"

"Umm – yeah, I guess," Emily agreed reluctantly, unable to think of a legitimate reason why not.

"And when you're done, you've got to come back here for dinner so we can all catch up," Samantha ploughed on, completely oblivious to the frisson of tension in the room. "It's been ages. Bianca won't mind if we steal you away from her for one evening, will she?"

Emily froze in the act of adding a spoonful of Burdock root to her potion.

"Umm no, I don't think so," Chris replied, "Especially considering we split up last month."

A ripple of shocked surprise ran around the occupants of the room at that.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Samantha stuttered clumsily. "Geez! Me and my big mouth."

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know."

"Yes but… Are you okay?"

Chris sighed. "I've been better but yeah, I'm okay. It was…," he paused to think about it for a moment, "The right thing," he eventually concluded.

Samantha nodded dumbly, stunned into uncharacteristic silence by this unexpected revelation.

"A change of the super awkward subject might be in order," Chris prompted with a tight, ironic smile.

"Oh right, yeah," Samantha flustered, "So, umm... brilliant news about Wyatt and Chloe's engagement huh?"

Emily cringed, not entirely certain this was the best subject to bring up in front of someone who had just come out of a long-term relationship.

Chris's face however, split into a broad, genuine smile at the observation. "Yeah, it's great," he concurred.

"That's gotta upset the living arrangements," Daniel remarked with a mischievous wink.

"If you mean, am I getting kicked out?" Chris replied good-naturedly, "Then yeah – I'm afraid so."

"He didn't just tell you to leave?" Shelley exclaimed in wide-eyed shock.

Chris laughed and shook his head. "Me and Chloe are going to switch apartments," he explained. "She'll move in with Wyatt and I'll move downstairs to her place."

Emily's potion popped and she jumped back as it emitted a puff of bright orange smoke. Once the tangerine cloud had dissipated, she peered down into the small cauldron and was satisfied to note that the previously lumpy concoction was now a clear, yellow liquid.

"Okay, I think this is ready," she announced as she started syringing the potion into the waiting line of little glass bottles.

Once she was done, her friends grabbed a handful each, and then started to make preparations to leave.

"You need any help?" Chris asked.

"Nah – I think we've got it covered," Martin said. "You an' Emily go and do your school recruitment thing."

"Dinner here – seven-thirty," Samantha called back over her shoulder as she headed towards the door, with Shelley and April on her heels.

"They do know what happens when Squatter Demons are vanquished, don't they?" Chris leaned forward to ask Daniel and Martin.

The two men exchanged wide grins. "No and we weren't planning on telling them either," Daniel replied with a wicked glint in his eye.

"I'm guessing this isn't something I should be overhearing," Emily said, with one eyebrow raised towards the ceiling.

"Us boys gotta have some fun," Martin told her cryptically. "We'll let Chris explain to you exactly how much."

"Thanks," Chris's voice was loaded with a heavy amount of sarcasm.

"Don't mention it," Martin said airily. "We'll see you later."

As the door closed behind their friends, Emily turned to Chris. "So what does happen when Squatter Demons are vanquished?" she asked.

In answer, Chris turned over the page of her spell-book and silently pointed to the paragraph at the bottom.

"Be careful to stand well back," she read out loud, "Because a Squatter Demon will violently eject its entire stomach contents on vanquishing. Eew! That's so gross!"

"I assure you the reality is more disgusting than you could possibly imagine."

Emily laughed; she couldn't help it, in spite of the fate that was awaiting her three, unsuspecting friends. "Martin and Daniel are so dead."

Chris grinned. "Yeah well, they're braver than me, that's for sure."

Emily smiled back at him and then glanced away, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "Look, I know Samantha steamrollered you into this – I don't have to come with you if you don't want me to."

"Emily…"

"I know I made things difficult for you and Bianca, and I…"

"Emily!"

"W-what?"

"You are not responsible for what happened between Bianca and I, okay? And… and as for you and me – I… I missed… well, us and our talks."

"Me too," Emily confessed in a tiny whisper.

"I never wanted it to be this way, you know, but things were so messed up and something had to give."

Emily nodded – back then he had had to put Bianca first. It hurt, but she understood that he didn't have much of a choice. "And now?" she found the courage to ask.

Chris didn't answer straightaway and she almost stopped breathing as a result.

"Now… well things are definitely different," he said. "I want us to be friends again, only…"

He stopped and looked up, allowing Emily to read the rest of his answer in his steady gaze. 'Please don't ask for anything more from me right now,' his eyes seemed to say, and she let out her breath in a rush, realising something that she should have already known.

Chris wasn't going to play games with her and her fragile emotions; he just wasn't the type. He wouldn't offer anything more than friendship unless he was absolutely sure. And right now, he was trying to tell her that he wasn't - he was still adjusting to the breakdown of his relationship with Bianca and that was going to take some time to come to terms with.

But that was okay, because all she really wanted to know was whether he was happy for them to be part of each other's lives again. She'd done a lot of thinking over the past few days, and had quickly come to the conclusion that she could not go back to San Francisco if Chris was going to be all stilted and horribly polite around her. If she was ever going to be comfortable living back home again, she needed there to be some semblance of friendship between them at the very least.

"I want us to be friends again too," she said, quietly accepting the offered olive branch.

Chris acknowledged her unspoken understanding with a brief smile and a satisfied nod of his head. "Good," he said, climbing down from the stool that he'd been sitting on. "Shall we get going then?"

Inclining her head in agreement, Emily moved out from behind the kitchen counter and followed him through into the living room, feeling a wave of relief pass through her at having successfully navigated the emotional minefield of their first real conversation in months.

It buoyed her confidence and reinforced her newly established inner emotional strength. She was determined that, this time around, she would go into this with her eyes wide open and no false expectations weighing her down. If it happened, then it happened. If it didn't, then so be it - at least they'd always be friends…

To be continued…

Notes 2: Re: the time-jump – I realise it might have been a bit of a jolt, but I didn't want Wyatt and Chloe to get engaged after only a few weeks together, and I didn't want Chris and Bianca's break-up to be quick and easy either. Emily leaving was always meant to be the big turning point in this story. However, I am planning to fill in various missing blanks as the story goes on, so don't worry you will get to know some of the details, I promise! This is not the last we've heard of Bianca, I assure you...

Re:Charmed Clover – I'd not really considered a Chloe/Bianca scene but it would be quite fun. Maybe I'll add in a flashback!

Re: hazza123: The end of chapter 20 was the halfway point in my original story plan. However, I have a big tendency to slip in 'added extras' whilst I'm writing. This is because inspiration often doesn't strike until I'm in the thick of things. I've added a lot more than usual to the 1st half of this story so I imagine we're well over halfway now. I can't say for sure but I think it will be about 30-35 chapters long.

Re: Nubilina – nice to hear from you again. Hope your computer's all mended now.

Re: Victorious Light – I've really enjoyed writing the brother's relationship in this. I've explored their connection a lot more than I originally intended to because of that, and I think (hope!) the story has been better for it.

Re: Faith-charmer – glad you enjoyed that line in Chapter 16. I was particularly proud of that one :-)