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: Hi! Sorry for the longer than usual gap between updates. I've been very busy over the last couple of weeks so I haven't had all that much free time to write. I also had major problems uploading this document as anyone who left a signed review will know. I've found a way round it thanks to Chrissy from crazyDFFgang. Thanks to everyone else who tried to help as well.
Anyway, with regard to this part : I wrote myself into a bit of a corner with it. It contains a lot of exposition, which disrupts the flow slightly and makes the overall chapter a touch uneventful. I did think of telling the first Emily's story in flashback, but it would have taken too long, so I've left it with Bella Hargreaves telling it to her daughter and Chris as written.
Never fear though, events speed up again in the next chapter…
Chapter 34
"I was half way through my first year at college when I met Emily Hargreaves – your Aunt," Bella began her story. "She was in my year and, although mortal, was fascinated by all things Wicca - so much so that she resorted to joining the Modern Witch Society."
"You were never a member?" Emily asked her Mom in disbelief.
Bella smiled at her daughter's open-mouthed incredulity. "No, but me and my friends decided to crash a meeting once for a bit of fun. Emily was there and… well, your Aunt was a smart cookie, she realised we were the genuine article even if non of the other members did. She sought me out the very next day. At first, I was a bit wary of her reason for befriending me, but Emily was such a genuine person, you couldn't help liking her."
"Sounds like someone I know," Chris said, throwing a warm, affectionate glance at his girlfriend.
Emily blushed, but Bella nodded in agreement. "Yes, Emily does have the same sort of infectious personality as her Aunt," she said. "Anyway, the two of us quickly became close friends; we had a lot in common and our personalities complemented each other well. Emily had a tendency to be a little bit wild on occasion and me a bit too serious, so together we found a happy medium."
"And what about Dad?" Emily asked, drawn into the story despite its tragic backdrop.
"Patience girl, I'm getting to that," her Mom playfully rebuked her. "Your Aunt invited me to stay with her and her family over the summer that year, and that was when I first met her cute-as-a-button older brother. David was in college out East somewhere – I forget where now. He'd decided to transfer closer to home though - I think the novelty of being as far as possible from his parent's influence had finally worn off. When I discovered he was going to be joining us in the Fall, I couldn't have been happier. I had developed a major crush within a few days of meeting him - I think he probably just thought of me as his sister's annoying friend back then though."
Emily giggled. She'd never heard the specifics of how her parents had met and fallen in love. Now she understood why – the story couldn't have been told without mentioning her namesake. "But he changed his mind," she said.
Bella smiled, her gaze soft with happy remembrance. "By the following summer, yes – that's when our relationship really started to take off. He and Emily were relatively close, being only eighteen months apart, so we often hung out together at college. In the run up to the holidays, your Dad and I had been getting closer – I suppose we were sort of dating in a way, although I don't remember him ever officially asking me out. Anyway, he kissed me for the first time that summer and things developed from there."
"And Aunt Emily was okay with her best friend dating her brother?"
Bella laughed. "Yeah, she was fine with it. Looking back, she was the one who pushed us together. I mean, she knew I liked him and she'd detested the majority of his previous girlfriends - according to her, he had the absolute worst taste in women. I guess she figured she'd select a suitable candidate herself when she learned he'd dumped his latest conquest. Leaving it to chance was far too risky in her opinion."
Emily smiled at her Mom's droll assessment of her Aunt's motives. "And did Dad know you were a witch from the beginning?"
Bella nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. He knew about his sister's magic fixation, and he was much more open-minded back then anyway, so it wasn't such a major deal telling him the truth."
"So what went wrong?" Emily asked softly.
"With your Dad and I, nothing – our relationship went from strength to strength. Your Aunt though…," Bella broke off and sighed. "Emily just didn't know when to stop. It was her greatest failing, I suppose, and her relationship with Richard only made things worse."
"In what way?"
"Well, as I said, your Aunt was completely fascinated with magic. I'd shown her a few things to satisfy her curiosity – simple potions, spells and the like, but I was always careful to shield her from the more potent stuff. Your Dad knew that – I think that's what kept us from falling apart when things got bad…"
Bella stopped and shook her head. "But I'm getting ahead of myself," she said, before returning to the main thread of her story.
"I wasn't particularly involved in the magical community at college, but I did brew potions for my Wiccan friends every once in a while. Richard was one such acquaintance. He showed up once when Emily was there and sparks flew. She was pretty and vivacious - him, handsome and moody – they were the perfect match in that sense. Trouble was he indulged her obsession, got her dabbling in things that she should have steered well clear of. He had no concept of her human mortality. He just didn't seem to get that, as a mortal, she didn't have that sixth sense of imminent danger that most witches have. …"
Bella trailed off and Emily was horrified to note the tears that had filled her mother's eyes. "You don't have to talk about this, Mom," she quickly said.
Bella shook her head. "No, you need to know," she said firmly. "You need to understand. Emily was my best friend, I tried to talk to her but she wasn't having any of it. She just thought I was being my normal, over-cautious self. Richard was exciting to her, you see, and his willingness to involve her in that part of his life only made him all the more attractive. I brought your Dad into it in the end. I thought that he might be able to talk some sense into her. I didn't like doing it, but the situation was getting out of control…"
Bella paused and swallowed a couple of times before digging deep and finding the courage to continue. "It only made things worse though. There was a huge row; she didn't speak to either of us for weeks. We made up in the end, but things were never the same between Emily and me after that. We were still friends, but I'd broken her trust and she couldn't forget that. She didn't confide in me as much as she used to."
"At the same time, she was getting more and more involved with Richard. He started taking her along on demon vanquishes. He and I had endless arguments about that; he just couldn't see why I had a problem with it. He wasn't completely devoid of responsibility however; he did keep her away from the more serious encounters."
"I would say Lazolom demons are pretty serious," Chris remarked sagely, speaking for the first time in a while.
He was slightly uncomfortable being witness to this conversation. It was a private family matter and wasn't really any of his concern. It was something that was causing Emily distress though, and he wanted to be there to support her, so he kept his seat and tried to remain as unobtrusive as possible.
Bella nodded. "Yes – which is why he insisted that she stay behind that time. That was after telling her all about it and making it sound like a huge adrenaline rush first though. As you can imagine, that was like a red flag to a bull to Emily - she waited until after he left and then followed him…"
"So how did Dad end up being there?" Emily asked.
"Because I realised what was going on," her Mom answered. "That afternoon your Aunt had been all excited about this important date she had with Richard that night. I didn't think anything of it until your Dad and I bumped into one of Richard's friends and he mentioned the vanquish. Alarm bells immediately went off in my head. I told David to stay behind, but he refused. She was his sister and he wasn't about to sit back and do nothing when she could be in danger..."
"You were too late though," Emily said, as her mother's narrative stalled, the painful emotions stirrred by reliving these tragic events overwhelming her once again.
Her eyes full to overflowing, Bella nodded. "Emily had been undefended," she continued in a shaky voice, "The others didn't know she was there. Although culpable in some way, I suppose Richard wasn't entirely to blame. He hadn't been dumb enough to take her along; he'd just failed to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation. They vanquished the demons, but nothing could save Emily at that point. It tore the Hargreaves family apart. Hers was a brutal murder and nobody was ever caught or held accountable for it. David couldn't tell his parents the truth so he distanced himself from them. Your Dad essentially lost his entire family that day."
"And he blamed Richard," Emily said, the cuts on her cheeks stinging with the tears that she'd shed for the Aunt that she'd never had the chance to know.
"Along with every other witch and magical being on the planet, yes," Bella said gravely. "Except for me that is," she added after a brief pause.
"Why though?" Emily enquired. "I mean, I would have expected him to blame you too."
"You'd think so, yes, but I don't think your Dad could bear to lose me as well," her mother explained quietly. "We loved each other so much and I was all he had left. When he begged me to turn my back on magic, I agreed without a second thought. I believed him worth the sacrifice, I still do in fact. Our marriage has been very happy for the most part. I have no regrets. If I could turn back time and make that choice again, I wouldn't choose any differently."
Not knowing what to say, Emily reached out and hugged her Mom. "I'm so sorry," she murmured.
Bella returned the embrace and then pulled back and looked her daugher in the eye. "Listen to me though, honey," she said, her expression calmly resolute. "However understandable your Dad's attitude is, you can't let it dictate how you live your life. I shouldn't have allowed his anger and grief to turn into this. We all compromised too much – your Uncle Michael and Aunt Leann included. They agreed to shield you from magic as you were growing up because they wanted you and Chloe to be close. None of us wanted another family ripped apart by Emily's death."
"I guess, given the circumstances, it's understandable that your husband would want to do everything possible to protect Emily from the same fate," Chris remarked.
Bella nodded. "What he doesn't understand is that this is not the same situation," she said. "Unlike her Aunt, Emily is a witch and she has inherited the bulk of my family's power. She has the ability to defend herself where the other Emily didn't. I'm not saying there isn't danger involved in the lifestyle that she's chosen to lead, but that's true of many vocations."
"Being with me does put her in additional danger though," Chris pointed out.
To his surprise, Bella shook her head. "No – I don't see it like that. If you ask me, she's in the safest place she could be. You and your family have the power to protect her where others could not. I might have chosen not to practise magic, but it would be unfair to expect the same from Emily. Magically speaking, we've stifled her all her life – with good reason maybe – but we've held her back all the same…"
"Mom – you can't blame yourself for this," Emily said.
"I don't," Bella assured her. "I let go of that guilt a long time ago. Your Aunt would have done what she wanted regardless of anything I said. I did my best to protect her; I know that. I have been avoiding the situation with your Dad for years though. I guess because it's always been in the background until recently. He needs to face up to things now however - for his own sake as well as yours. He's overcompensating with you because he feels he failed to protect the sister he loved so much. I think, deep down, he knows that."
"I get it now though, Mom," Emily said. "I can…"
"Not let this change anything," Bella cut in. "Knowing the truth will help you understand, but you're not doing him any favours if you let that stop you living your life the way you want to. Your Dad loves you; he'll work it out eventually. It's just going to take some time, patience and honesty from all of us. And besides, Emily'd be horrified if she thought her niece had turned her back on magic because of her."
"Mom!" Emily said, smiling through her tears.
"Well, it's true," Bella said. "I think it's about time we started remembering her with joy rather than sorrow. We named you after her for a reason, you know. She was a special person, whom we both loved, and I know she would have adored you."
"And she sure as hell wouldn't have stood for her brother trying to come between you and Chris," she continued, smiling warmly at the two of them. "Your Dad would be in for such a lecture if she were here now, I can tell you."
Emily laughed. "She sounds really cool."
"Yeah, probably too cool," her Mom said resignedly, "Although I suppose she would have grown up eventually given the chance."
"Please don't think too ill of your Dad though, sweetie," she went on, tenderly stroking her daughter's hair off her cut and bruised face. "I can't promise an immediate turnaround in his attitude, but I think now that the truth is out, things will change. I've spent over half my life with this man. He's not a bad person and he's absolutely devoted to his family. All he wants is for you to be happy and healthy, you know."
"Mom, I know," Emily said in a choked voice.
Bella bent and kissed her forehead. "You need to get some sleep," she said softly. "And I should go and find your Dad before he retreats back behind that wall of denial of his. Today's events have been a shock to the system for him. I think we've actually made some real progress for once. He was talking openly about your Aunt for the first time in a long while when we were up in the hospital canteen earlier."
"I hope my presence hasn't gotten in the way of that," Chris said apologetically.
Bella sighed. "I thought it had the potential to," she told him, "Which is why I asked Chloe if you would wait until morning before visiting."
"Oh," Chris said, looking instantly contrite. "She didn't really have a chance to tell me that. I just…" he broke off and looked over at Emily.
Bella smiled, talking about her past had reminded her what it was like to be newly in love, to be oblivious to everything other than the person you cared about. Chris could hardly be blamed for rushing to Emily's side in the way that he had.
"I don't think you did any real harm," she assured him. "In fact, you may have even helped things along a bit. David is not stupid, he'll have realised how ridiculous his outburst sounded by now. Emily is a grown woman; he can't force her to stay, or wrap her up in cotton wool for the rest of her life either."
"It's not how I would have liked for us to be introduced though," Chris said regretfully.
"No, I don't suppose it is," Bella said. "Just remember it's nothing personal. He just can't see beyond your magical roots. To him, you're another Richard, and therefore nothing but a danger to his little girl."
"But that's so unfair!" Emily burst out in frustration.
"Honey, I know," her Mom said. "And don't worry, I'll be telling him exactly that. I just don't want you to get your hopes up. Your Dad has a lot of issues to work through and I don't know whether he'll ever completely get over all of them. While I'm sure, in time, he'll learn to accept your relationship; he may never welcome it. You ought to be prepared for that."
Knowing this to be a possibility, Emily looked wistfully over at Chris and he instinctively reached out and took her hand, squeezing her fingers in silent empathy.
"I know I have no right to expect it," Bella continued quietly, "But I hope it's something that you can see your way to compromise over if it ever comes to that. I'm not saying it will – once your Dad's able to see past his inner demons, it might not even be an issue. But if it is…" She stopped and sighed.
"Mom," Emily said gently. "I'm not going to make any guarantees – it all depends on Dad's attitude - but I will try, I promise."
"That's all I ask," her Mom said heavily before forcibly shaking herself out of her melancholy. "But let's not be so pessimistic, hey?"
"No," her daughter agreed. "We should have more faith in Dad than that. Tell him I love him when you see him, okay? And that I'm sorry about Aunt Emily."
"I will," her Mom promised, "I'll try to persuade him to come and talk to you too, although it might be better for Chris not to be here when that happens. Let's just take this one step at a time."
Emily nodded.
"I'm going to stay here tonight though, if that's all right?" Chris said then. "If Emily's attack was some sort of warning to me, then she needs to be protected until I find out who's behind it."
"Which is why David is so very wrong to compare you to Richard," Bella said.
"What happened to him anyway?" Emily asked, suddenly realising that this part of the jigsaw puzzle was still missing.
"Your Aunt's death changed him. I don't think he saw her as 'the one' but he loved her in his own way. It taught him responsibility in a way nothing else could. I don't know where he is now, but something tells me that he's still trying to make up for encouraging her obsession in the way that he did. I think he'll have her death on his conscience for the rest of his life."
"Talk about learning a lesson the hard way," Emily remarked sadly.
Bella nodded. "I suppose," she agreed. "Although I'm afraid it's difficult for me to feel any real sympathy for him, not when he totally undermined everything that I tried to teach Emily about magic not being something to take lightly. Your Aunt had a reckless streak, granted, but she wasn't stupid. She was just naive. It was a classic case of 'cry wolf' – Richard had spent so long telling her that she was safe with him, that I was making a lot of fuss about nothing, that when it came to a really dangerous situation, she didn't take his warnings seriously enough and ended up walking blindly into her death."
Hearing the underlying bitterness in her Mom's tone, Emily simply nodded and didn't comment any further. She could never really know what had gone on between her parents, her Aunt and her boyfriend, so it wasn't for her to pass judgement now. Theirs was a tragic situation that had ricocheted throughout all their lives. They were all victims in a way, some more than others were maybe, but each had been irrecoverably altered by the first Emily's death.
Bella rose to her feet. "Get some rest," she instructed as she headed for the door. "I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure Mom. Good night."
Bella smiled at her daughter, nodded at Chris and then quietly left the room, leaving the young couple to ponder the implications of what they had just heard. They were silent for a while – Emily absorbing her tragic family history; Chris, his eyes focused on his girlfriend's face, waiting for her to give him an indication that she was ready to talk. Finally, she turned to look at him, the expression in her cobalt-blue eyes grave but also strangely relieved.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, reaching out and curling his fingers around hers.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Emily said in a hushed tone. "I know it was a tragic thing – my Aunt dying in those circumstances - but knowing the truth helps somehow. This past year and a half with my Dad – it was as if he was personally rejecting me, and that hurt so much. Now I know that he does love me, even if he has gotten everything twisted around inside his head."
Chris nodded. "So you think he can get past this?" he asked.
Emily sighed. "Mom obviously thinks so, and she knows him better than anyone so I have to trust in that."
"Me being around is not going to make things easy," Chris pointed out.
"I know," Emily said, "But that's just something we're going to have to deal with. Being with you is non-negotiable as far as I'm concerned."
"Nice to hear," Chris said with a smile before he leaned forward to kiss her.
"And that's why!" Emily said breathlessly when they broke apart.
Chris chuckled. "Careful or I'll think you only want me for one thing," he said, echoing her own comment from a few days before.
"And what's wrong with that?" his girlfriend asked teasingly.
Chris lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles, then sighed heavily, his expression turning uncharacteristically pensive.
"What's the matter?" Emily asked, quickly sensing his change in mood.
"This doesn't make any sense," he said worriedly.
Emily's brow furrowed in confusion. "What doesn't?" she asked.
"Why you were attacked," Chris explained. "Things have been pretty quiet on the demon front lately, and this was a direct warning to me - which is kind of odd."
"Why?"
"I'm not usually seen as a threat," Chris told her with a shrug of his shoulders. "Not in relation to Wyatt anyway."
"Maybe it has something to do with the wedding?" Emily suggested. "You've been helping Wyatt look into that, haven't you?"
Chris nodded. "Yes, but this doesn't match any of those demons's M.O," he said as he lightly touched her injured face with his fingertips.
"Maybe they hired others to do it for them. You know, like when that Mazesh demon went after me when I first moved to San Francisco."
Chris let out a short, derisive laugh. "What? Get someone else to do their dirty work when the whole point of disrupting the wedding is to make a name for themselves?"
"It's a possibility!" Emily protested.
"Maybe," Chris conceded with an incline of his head, "But an unlikely one. No, this is about something else. Trouble is, I have no idea what." He sighed. "Maybe your Dad's right. Maybe it's safer if you stay away from me."
"You don't think that," Emily said.
"Oh, I think it," Chris said gravely. "I'm just too selfish to walk away from something this good."
Emily glowed at the quietly given compliment. "You deserve love as much as the next person, Chris," she told him. "If you let them get away with these tactics, you let them win."
"But you'd be safe."
"Not necessarily," she disagreed. "I have spent a long time searching for some real purpose to my life. Coming to San Francisco, meeting and helping you and Wyatt has finally given me that. This is who I am, Chris. I would carry on with my magic regardless of whether we're together or not. Better with you than without you, I say."
Chris smiled, coaxed out of his bout of self-recrimination by her calm, matter-of-factness. "Well, I can't argue with that," he said.
Emily nodded in satisfaction. "Good," she said, and then yawned as a wave of weariness overtook her. It had been a long, trying day.
"You need to get some rest," Chris told her.
"So do you," Emily returned, "You're gonna end up with back-ache in that," she added, indicating the straight-backed chair he was sitting in.
"I'll be fine," he assured her.
"There's room enough for two," Emily said, patting the bed beside her in invitation.
"Hardly," Chris replied, eyeing the narrow hospital bed with scepticism.
Emily pouted. "You have no imagination," she accused, knowing exactly which buttons to press to get him to do what she wanted.
Never one to turn down a challenge, Chris reacted true-to-form. Tugging off his sneakers, he pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. "We need to spoon," he decided after a quick assessment of their dilemma. "Can you turn over?"
Smiling triumphantly to herself, Emily rolled over onto her side, wincing slightly as the movement tugged at the row of stitches closing up a claw wound just under her ribs. She felt the bed dip as Chris joined her and then the warmth of his body-heat spread across her back. Mindful of her injuries and the drip in the back of her hand, he carefully curled his body around hers, his left palm resting lightly against her belly and his right arm cushioning her head.
"See - I told you there was enough room for two," she murmured drowsily as his warm breath pleasantly tickled the back of her neck.
"Don't think I don't know that I've just been played," he responded in a low tone.
"Well, if you weren't so easy to manipulate…" she retorted, her eyes fluttering closed.
"I'm not," Chris said, lifting his head off the pillow to speak quietly in her ear. She could hear the smile in his voice. "I just let you get away with it."
He pressed his lips to the side of her neck before lying back down and closing his eyes. Emily was asleep within minutes, but it took Chris a lot longer to drift off. The difficult situation with her father he could handle, but the reason for this attack concerned him more than he cared to admit.
What had they meant? 'Tell Chris this is a warning.' A warning of what exactly?
OOOOOO
Kelsey's Bar, Oakenvale…
"Hey Tim," Bella greeted the bar's owner. "He here?"
"Over there," Tim told her, nodding towards a booth in the corner. "He said something about Emily being in the hospital – is she all right?"
Bella nodded. "Yeah, she'll be fine. It's nothing too serious. How many has he had?" she asked, returning to the subject of her husband. David wasn't a huge drinker, but he occasionally went over the top when he was feeling low.
"That's his first," Tim replied, his answer a welcome surprise. "He's been nursing it for at least an hour. Can I get you anything?"
Bella shook her head. "No, I'm fine thanks," she said and then made her way over to where her husband had sequestered himself. She slid into the seat opposite him and waited for him to acknowledge her presence.
"You told her?" David asked, keeping his eyes on the table.
"She needed to know. I was hoping that you'd be the one to explain, but it had gotten to the point where I couldn't stand by and watch her suffer anymore."
This got her husband's attention. "S-suffer?" he queried with a stutter, quickly raising his gaze to her face.
Bella nodded. "You've been so wrapped up in your own pain, David; you haven't been able to see what this has been doing to Emily. Disapproving of her using magic is one thing, but the way you've been treating her because of it… You're her father and you can hardly bring yourself to look at her, let alone speak to her."
"I just want to keep her safe," her husband insisted.
"I know," Bella said gently, "But this is not the way. You can't make her choices for her, David. She's not a little girl anymore. She's a grown woman who has to be allowed to find her own path in life."
"And look what that got my sister – a life ended before it even had the chance to properly begin."
"But she's not your sister, David. I hate to criticize, because you know I loved her, but your sister had a reckless streak as wide as a freeway. Our daughter is stubborn yes, wilful true, but she has a lot better sense of her own mortality. That, and she's a witch, a powerful one at that, given the way her powers have developed in such a short space of time."
"She couldn't protect herself today though, could she?" David retorted stubbornly.
"She wasn't doing so bad," Bella contradicted. "She got hurt because we were taken by surprise, but she quickly got her act together. You didn't miss how she TK'd that demon away from her, did you? I swear I've never managed to TK anything with that much force in my life. She mentioned that Chris had been teaching her how to focus her power more effectively, but I didn't realise that she'd improved that much."
"How can you be so accepting of this, Bella?"
"I may have turned my back on magic, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate all the good that can be achieved by it."
"That doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous."
"No, but then so are many other things in life. You minimise the risk by taking appropriate safety measures. For your sister, as a mortal, that should have meant steering clear of magic altogether. In our daughter's case, it means learning how to properly control her powers and defend herself. She's doing good things with her life, David. We should be proud of her."
"It doesn't concern you at all?" David pressed.
"Of course it does. She's my baby, but I know I can't stop her from doing this if it's what she really wants. I'm just glad that she's surrounded by people who won't put her in a situation that she can't handle. It gives me peace of mind."
"I take it that boy's still with her then?"
"Yes, 'that boy' is still with her. He wouldn't be very worthy of our girl if he let your little temper tantrum put him off, now would he?"
"I still don't like it, Bella."
"Well, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to learn to accept it," his wife told him harshly, "Because he's around to stay. Emily is reaching the stage where she wants more from her relationships. It's no longer about simply having fun. It's about finding someone to share the rest of her life with."
"And you think this boy is it?"
"I think it's very early days, so impossible to tell for sure, but Chris ticks all the right boxes if you ask me. It would be a mistake to try to come between them. Besides, he's a nice boy and they're clearly in love. Open your eyes, David, and you'll see how happy he makes her. Isn't that what you want for our daughter? For her to be happy?"
David sighed, all the resistance suddenly going out of him. "I'm fighting a losing battle here, aren't I?"
"You just need to approach the situation from a different angle that's all. You need to separate Emily your sister, from Emily your daughter - and Richard from every other male witch on the planet."
Bella reached across the table and took his hands in hers. "David, I love you. Emily loves you – she told me to tell you that by the way – but we can't go on like this. You need to talk to someone – you've been bottling up your grief for far too long. I can find someone suitable if you let me – someone who you can be open and honest with. You also need to make a proper effort with Emily. Nobody expects an overnight resolution, but you need to meet her halfway on this. I think, in some ways, it's the unknown that scares you the most anyway. You might find that the reality isn't as bad as you think."
Biting his bottom lip, David nodded. "It was just this afternoon – seeing her covered in blood like that…"
"I know, it took me straight back to that night too. But she's okay; she's going to be fine."
"She'll be scarred for life, Bella."
"No – I don't think so. Wyatt will heal her when she gets out of the hospital, I'm sure of it."
"He could have done that this afternoon, couldn't he?"
"Yes, but I don't think any real damage was done. It brought our family situation to a head and we really needed that."
"You have the patience of a saint, you know that?" David remarked wryly.
"Yeah well, I'm a sucker for punishment," Bella replied with a smile, feeling more positive than she had in months. It had been difficult stuck in the middle between her beloved husband and daughter.
"You promise you'll talk to someone?" she asked, needing to hear that commitment from his own lips.
Her husband nodded. "I promise."
"Oh and there's one more thing…"
"What's that?"
"'That boy' has a name. Use it."
David laughed despite himself. It had been the most difficult thing in the world to admit that he needed help, but now that he had, he felt like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The painful journey wasn't over yet, but the road ahead no longer seemed so daunting, or so lonely. He had hated being at odds with his wife and estranged from his daughter, but until today, he hadn't realised how his own behaviour had contributed to that. All he had been able to act upon was the desperate need to protect his little girl from harm.
"All right," he agreed. "But I'm still reserving judgement," he added with a hint of warning in his tone.
Bella threw him a warm, genuine smile. "Oh, I wouldn't expect anything less. You are her father after all. It's your job to make sure he comes up to scratch. Just give him a proper chance, okay? He deserves that."
David nodded. "I'll try," he said, although he didn't think it was going to be easy. This boy… sorry, Chris might very well be a pleasant enough young man, but he was still the reason that Emily had been attacked today; there was no getting away from that.
"Good," Bella said, sitting back and picking up her purse from the bench alongside her. "Now, I think it's about time we went home, don't you? It's been a long day."
OOOOOO
The following morning…
"Wow!" Chloe said, after Emily had finished bringing her up to date on their previously unknown family history. "I mean I knew there must be something, but I never expected anything like this. Poor Uncle David – no wonder he's so..."
She left her statement hanging but her cousin easily managed to fill in the rest. "I know," she said quietly. "Maybe now the truth is out, he can finally start to heal though. The way Mom tells it, it's been eating him up inside for years now and that can't be good."
Chloe looked over to where her fiancé and his younger brother were conversing in low tones on the other side of the room. "Did he really tell Chris he wanted him gone by today?" she asked.
Her cousin nodded. "Yeah, and that you weren't to contact me again if you went ahead and married Wyatt. He wasn't exactly rational at the time though, so I'm not taking it too seriously."
"So what will you do if he is serious?"
Emily sighed. "I'm trying not to think about that to be honest," she admitted. "I have to give Dad some leeway, given the circumstances, but…"
"You're not giving up Chris for anything," Chloe finished for her.
"No," Emily agreed with a soft smile. "Nor you, for that matter. I just hope that Dad can see his way to a compromise. I don't want to make things worse for Mom. She's kind of stuck in the middle right now and she doesn't deserve that."
Chloe was about to reply but a knock on the door interrupted her. The handle turned and Emily's parents entered. There was an awkward silence as the six occupants of the room registered each other's presence…
"Breakfast!" Chris suddenly said, his voice sounding loud in the still quiet of the room. "I'll umm, go… err, breakfast."
He stopped and looked appealingly at his brother, who quickly took the hint. "I might join you actually, seeing as someone," he looked affectionately at Chloe, "Made me orb here this morning without any."
"You had some toast," Chloe immediately retorted.
"Yeah, like that's going to sustain me until lunchtime," Wyatt replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm a growing boy, you know."
"You don't have to go," Emily said quietly as Chris bent to kiss her farewell.
"I think I should," he replied. "You need to talk to your Dad and I'll be in the way. I'll be back later okay? Call me if you need anything."
Emily nodded and stole another kiss from him before he straightened up and turned towards the door. There was an awkward moment as he passed her father but to her relief, her Dad didn't say anything. Instead, he silently acknowledged his daughter's boyfriend with a slight incline of his head, a gesture which Chris accepted with a brief nod before he left, closely followed by Wyatt and also Chloe, who had decided that it was probably best if she made herself scarce as well.
As the door closed behind them, Emily's stomach tightened in anxiety. She really didn't know what to expect. It was crazy; this was her father but it was as if he was a stranger somehow. A quick look at her Mom told her that her fears were generally unfounded though. She looked more relaxed than she had in weeks. She turned her gaze on her Dad then, her eyes hesitantly meeting his.
Her father's expression was no longer the shuttered one she'd come to expect in recent months. The emotional turmoil clearly showed on his face and he had a haunted look in his eyes that made her want to cry. She felt a wave of love and sympathy for him and instinctively lifted her arms. He leaned forward and hugged her, stroking her hair as she buried her face in his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice low and scratchy with emotion.
"Me too," she whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too, honey."
They held each other for a long moment and then broke apart. David looked like he was going to say something, but then faltered and instead glanced over at his wife. Pulling up a chair to the bedside, Bella sat down.
"Your Dad has agreed to talk to someone," she told Emily, who nodded.
"That's good."
David looked over at his daughter. "You're not going to change your mind, are you?" he asked in a resigned tone.
"David…," Bella warned.
"It's okay, Mom," Emily interrupted and then turned to address her father. "No Dad, you're right. I'm not going to change my mind. This is… it's part of me, you know. I make a difference – not as much as Wyatt and Chris obviously – but I help and I'm proud of that. It fulfils me in a way nothing else has."
"And this… Chris?"
"He's not the reason, Dad. I was experimenting with my magic before I met him. I just wasn't getting very far with it. I think I would have cracked it eventually though so it's not fair to blame him. This is my choice."
"You were attacked yesterday because of him though, Emily."
"That's not his fault. He's a good guy, Dad. He and his family… they've prevented so many deaths like Aunt Emily's. And he teaches at Magic School…"
"Magic School?"
"Yes, his Dad is the headmaster there. It's a school where magical children are taught how to use their powers responsibly. Chris teaches a mixture of first, second and third grade classes."
Emily sighed and looked her father directly in the eye. "I… I love him. Please give him a chance. Not all witches are the same, you know. You'd see that if you got to know him properly. I know it isn't easy for you, but you have to at least try to make an effort. It's not fair to punish him for Richard's mistakes."
"We discussed this last night, David," his wife reminded him.
"I know, it's just…," he broke off and sighed. "I know I have blinkers on," he said wearily, "But I've worn them for so long…"
"Dad," Emily cut in. "I understand how the circumstances of Aunt Emily's death must have affected you, and I know it's going to take time for you to come to terms with all of that. I just need you to accept that this is my life, to live how I want, and that Chris isn't responsible for everything bad that may – or may not - happen to me. We can work on you liking it – and him - later."
Her father was silent for a long moment. "All right," he said eventually. "I can do that."
"Good," Emily said with a smile. "I take it that means I'm allowed to get on the plane back to San Francisco when I get out of here then," she added cheekily.
Her Dad looked at her steadily for a second and then ruefully returned her smile. "All right so the ultimatum was a bit over the top," he admitted.
"No kidding!" Emily replied, a merry twinkle in her eye. The big wall of miscommunication between her and her father had finally come tumbling down so she felt comfortable enough to banter with him again.
David shook his head. "You're so like your Aunt sometimes," he said.
"And is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"It's a worrying thing."
"I'm not her, Dad. I'm me."
Her father nodded. "I know," he said in quiet reflection.
Emily reached out and squeezed his hand encouragingly. "We'll get through this," she assured him.
"I hope so," he replied.
"Well, I know so and so does Mom, don't you, Mom?"
Bella nodded. "Yep."
"And of course your mother's always right," David quipped, his mood buoyed by the same sense of relief that was currently unravelling the persistent knot of tension that had resided in his daughter's stomach for the past year and a half. "So we can't argue with that."
Emily laughed as her Mom cuffed her Dad upside the head. She knew they still had a long way to go, but she was confident that they would make it through. With any luck, her father and Chris might become friends yet…
To be continued…
A/N2: I didn't want to make Emily's Dad a complete villian, just someone who had a lot of emotional issues to deal with. Despite how it appears, he isn't immediately going to be fine with Chris btw, although it's probably not something I'm going to explore too much more with this story. I have a sequel planned so I might deal with it more then.
P.S. For anyone who has similar problems, I got around my uploading problem by creating a small .txt document with Notepad and uploading that instead. I then pasted the Chapter text from Word into the Edit/Preview window and saved it. It just wasn't (and still isn't) uploading Word documents at the moment.