Next day, Piper was released and safely orbed back to the manor by Chris. She came home to balloons and applause which had the littlest ones ecstatic. For them, a room filled with balloons was the next best thing to having a nice nap with your favorite blankie to hug. Piper asked them all to stay, but Paige and Henry were the only ones that did in the end. Chris had insisted she needed to take it easy and they all agreed on that. There would be time to celebrate properly once she recovered. They were all so grateful she was back home alive and doing well. So, after cautious hugs left and right, she was taken to her room and was not allowed to tuck the kids in, to her disappointment, after kissing them goodnight.

Chris tried healing her wounds. He hadn't been able to heal her stab wounds, but he might as well have a go at the surgery wounds, but it didn't work. Probably still effect of the cursed dagger used on her. Piper was all smiles and altogether thankful she was back at home, to her family, her husband, her children, her grandchildren; however, she couldn't help but worry about her eldest son still sleeping by a hospital bed, hoping against hope his bride would come back to him.

AT OB…

Dr. Lockhart checked Sam's vitals one more time for the chart. Wyatt sat there rubbing his eyes, barely able to sit upright.

"You should go get some sleep"

"I'm fine" he said even though the doctor came in and out of focus at this point.

"She's doing fine. Go check on your kids, eat something and come right back" she suggested, finally catching Wyatt's attention.

"How do you know I have kids?"

"Besides the fact you told me this is not your first child?" she pointed on the obvious.

"Right" Wyatt's mind was as fuzzy as his eyesight by now.

"Samuel told me" Wyatt turned to her as he realized it hadn't been entirely his own doing. "We've been… dating for a few months now" Wyatt smiled, glad his father-in-law had found someone to share life with. "He talks about good and evil… angels…" she stared at Sam. "Didn't tell me his daughter was married to one though" Wyatt stared at her unsure what was coming next. "You're safe" she reassured him and walked away.

Wyatt smiled in spite of himself. There were good people out there. As time went by, it was harder and harder to believe; especially after having seen the future where so many would side with evil. He turned to his beloved and sighed.

"I'm afraid if I leave even for just a moment, you could wake up and I won't be here… after what you had to go through… I want you to know I'm always right by your side…" he caressed her face. "I shouldn't have left you behind that day. I should have been there" he kept thinking that if he had been by her side, she wouldn't have drifted away to wherever she was now. "I want you to know… we won't give up, ever… we'll rewrite history over and over again if we have to. We will save her one way or another, my love. I promise you that." Sam whimpered. "Shhh, it's OK. It's OK. I'll be here when you're ready… All my life they've told me how powerful I was to become and yet I couldn't keep evil from getting into my daughter's heart" he said remembering their trip to his own future mind. "I am to blame, not you… evil has always wanted me and… it finally found a way to get to me" he held onto her hand tightly.

Chris orbed in with a sandwich in one hand. "Hey…"

"Mom's all settled in?"

"Yeah, she just wouldn't go to sleep without knowing you had something to eat" he handed him the sandwich. Wyatt got up and took it, he stumbled for a second to his side holding himself steady on the bed. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just need to get some coffee" he walked out of the room glancing one last time at his wife and the monitor beeping beside her.

"When's the last time you got some shut eye?" Chris asked as Wyatt clumsily poured coffee into a paper cup.

"I'm alright"

"Not what I asked" he worried about him. "Go home and check on the kids. I'll stay for a while" Wyatt was about to argue when he stumbled to his side again, this time reaching for the wall for balance.

"What if she wakes up for five minutes and I'm not here?"

"If she wakes up even for a second, I'll call you in every possible way a person slash whitelighter can be called upon. Hell, I'll scream your name at the top of my lungs standing on the roof; I'll orb your butt right back if I have to. Please, take a break… shower… you don't want her to wake up to a stinky husband, do ya?" he smiled making his brother chuckle weakly. "Go on. It would do her no good to have you dropping unconscious out of exhaustion next to her"

"Alright" Wyatt put his hand on Chris' shoulder and gave him an appreciative squeeze. He knew he was right. It wouldn't do anybody any good that he got sick too. Not now. So, he reluctantly agreed to go home, check on the kids, eat something, shower and come right back. He went to kiss Sam goodbye, placed a loving hand on his unborn child and orbed back home, leaving Chris on watch.

IN SAM'S HEAD…

As she laid on the muddy ground, her face felt pleasantly cold. Raindrops still falling heavy on the surface of the water. She could feel them falling heavy on her too, but she didn't care. She would just… blend with it all and never feel anything ever again…

Unexpectedly, somebody was holding her body up enough to rest her head on their legs, gently wiping the soaked hair out of her face. At first, she couldn't make out who it was, nor really cared, the clouds made everything so dark around; but then a familiar voice made her feel warmth seeping slowly back into her bones.

"Shh, it's OK" Piper told her sweetly, rocking the top of her body on her crossed legs, sitting right behind her. "It'll be alright" Piper smiled at her and the rain slowly died away again.

"Mom…?" she held her hand and took it to her chest as if protecting it. "I'm so sorry" she whimpered.

"I know" She said as the thunder died away unnoticed. "Not your fault. Not Meghan's fault either"

"I should have…" she said between sobs.

"You are… every single day. You are protecting them from evil. There's no way you could have known something like this would happen, that something would get so close to her, to us… to me"

"If something happens to you… if you don't pull through…"

"It won't be your doing" Piper continued sweeping her hair away from her face. "nor Meghan's. Not really… she's barely two… not responsible for what her twisted future self did or will do. I'll understand" Sam kept crying unable to let go off her guilt.

"Will the rest?"

"We're all very aware of what evil can and has done to our family. How it almost took Phoebe, how it almost took Wyatt too… we're fighters, this is what we do… we find the way… one way or another…" Silence was almost complete. The sky had gone quiet as if afraid of Piper's voice; the only sound came from the gentle waterfall just beyond. "We don't give up on each other" she smiled wiping her tears away now. "This is not on you"

"I'm her mother" Sam sat up in front of Piper. "Hard not to see it that way" her presence gave her strength, even as her heart broke over and over again at the thought of her daughter dead by her hand or of any of the horrible things she would do in the future if they didn't successfully change it somehow.

"There's gotta be a reason it was all meant to happen this way"

"What possible reason could there be to justify me killing my own daughter?"

"You know there wasn't any other choice"

"Wasn't there?" Piper stared at Sam's eyes and held her hands tightly.

"Things seldom happen exactly how we want them to… just because it had to be done, doesn't meant it was all for nothing…"

"I can't stop feeling it was something I did. All of it"

"How could it be? There is nothing you or Wyatt could ever teach my granddaughter to justify her stabbing me. That wasn't your hand on the dagger" she smiled wisely. "This…was not… on you"

"I failed my baby…"

"How so? If at all, you gave her a chance of a do over. We still have a chance to prevent that terrible future you saw"

"What if we can't? what if she grows up and… nothing's changed?"

"Then it won't be up to you to decide what happens. You'll play your part till the very end, that I know. I've seen it over and over again. Sometimes… things aren't meant to be the way we wish them to be…" she sighed. "But that doesn't mean we won't keep trying to make it right" A ray of sunshine broke between the clouds blinding Sam for a second. She rubbed her eyes for a moment, letting go of Piper's hands. When she turned to face her once again, she was gone. She could feel her hair and her clothes had dried in time unaware. She went over to the water and tried to see her own reflection, but there was none.

Clouds above were still dark but started to let the sunshine peek through here and there. She could see the trees and even the clouds staring back at her from the crystal clear surface of the water, but she simply… wasn't there.