Eventually, she managed to get a third of the food tray down. Dr. Lockhart would have preferred to keep both mother and baby under observation for a little longer, but she was adamant on going home. Samuel and Wyatt both thought going home to their children might make her snap right back out of her funk. Samuel, her father, knew Wyatt would take the utmost care of her, no matter what. Reluctantly, Dr. Lockhart signed the release papers, stressing that if there was anything wrong, he brought her right back.
By the time they orbed back at the manor, their children were well asleep. They stood at the threshold of the nursery just watching them in their slumber. Wyatt had asked Paige and Henry to go home for the night, after thanking them about a hundred times, so they could stay in his old room for the night.
Wyatt lied next to Sam wide awake pulling her as close as he could manage without crushing her every bone. He sighed at the warmth of her skin making contact with his own. Somehow, she had never been more beautiful, nor he had ever loved her more.
Sam held his hand to her chest, cradling it over her heart. Her eyes closed, afraid to sleep at all. She could drift away from him again unaware and she was not gonna risk it. She took deep breaths taking in his scent, reassuring herself she was truly back to his side.
Next day, Piper told Leo they would take the kids to the Solarium and she would lie on an armchair just looking at them. She was done being locked up in a room and Leo agreed a bit of sun was probably the best for her. Paige had let them know Wyatt was coming home, but they agreed on giving them a little space to settle in, convinced they would wanna stay at least for a couple days.
Around midday, Wyatt came into the Solarium apparently alone.
"Afternoon, mom, dad" his smile had significantly changed since yesterday afternoon. It was clear to see the effect of them together. Leo held Melinda nearby, enough for Piper to hold her close without her actually supporting her weight. Angie crawled around the room trying to reach the toys her brother and sister kept throwing about. Meghan was busy collecting plastic balls in her basket only to pour them out again sending them everywhere in the room. Julian was concentrated on his stack up buckets. "Where's Chris?"
"He left very early, but said he'd be back by lunchtime" said Piper. "What's up? Where's…?" Wyatt put a finger to his lips beaming, letting her know it was a surprise for the kids. He squatted down and they all giggled at the sight of their daddy.
"I got a surprise for you guys" he told them lovingly, caressing every other tiny head. Sam stepped in timidly, taking them in as she laid eyes on her beautiful children. She was trembling all the way, Wyatt noticed and held out his hand to her.
"It's alright. Come on" he encouraged her. The kids immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to their mother, who got down to her knees with the help of Wyatt, to be able to hug them as tightly as she could. She kissed them repeatedly, as if it was the first time she had held her very own children. Angie was whining cause her brother and sister had managed to reach their mother way faster than her. They all chuckled and Wyatt went to get her, but she beat him to the punch and aeroported to her mother's arms. Sam, wide eyed, turned to Wyatt who shrugged his shoulders. She held onto her baby girl and squeezed them all as close as she could manage with her fourth child sticking out in the middle. Wyatt squatted back down to hug his kids and his wife. Meghan ran to get the basket for her mother, so she could hold it while she collected the plastic balls. Julian had his tiny head against his mother's shoulder with no intentions of ever letting go. Angie kept caressing her face in awe and smiled at her, in a way it had to be impossible for a human to do.
Piper and Leo held onto Melinda smiling themselves, thanking the universe for this little moment of very deserved bliss for them all. They had done the ultimate sacrifice. They had sacrificed one of their children to save the world, for the greater good. Wyatt still hadn't told them anything, so for them this was still a feat to see through. Little did they know, everything they had seen after Piper's attack was merely the aftermath of a bitter battle already taken place.
As days went by, things came slowly back to normal. Piper healed right on schedule and felt ready to take on the world, but Samuel, orbed in and out by Chris every other day to check on her, insisted she took it easy.
Paige and Henry were still checking in with Piper and Leo often. She was back to guiding her kids into the whitelighter business and Henry had his hands full as usual. Crime, non-supernatural kind, didn't seem to want a break. The demonic attacks had been almost non-existent and the cousins took care of everything, led on and off by Chris.
Whenever he wasn't doing his witch duty, Chris spent more and more time with Bianca. It was as if she was seeing everything for the first time. Hard to tell she had been living amongst humans at all at times. Chris felt very lucky to be the one to see her enjoy things she never had before. There were moments when he would get lost in her eyes, her smile. They'd been postponing officially letting his parents know they were dating, but of course all his cousins were fully aware and keeping it to themselves. Bianca had even helped them take care of business from time to time which made Chris' heart burst with joy.
Phoebe and Coop had told Piper about their eldest daughter Bianca. She had almost summoned her butt on the spot, but they talked her out of it by telling her how she had been calling to check in every couple days. Bianca was truly very much in love and her father had to remind Phoebe of this every time she called them; otherwise, she herself would have gone to get her back kicking and screaming. It wasn't easy for her, but her column kept her distracted on and off, as a constant reminder of how people, including her own daughter, needed to follow their hearts to find true happiness.
Wyatt and Sam had gone back to a semi normal routine. As the doctor had foreseen, the baby was increasingly active and it just wore her right out… or so she kept saying. Wyatt still had a hard time getting her to eat enough, and even when tending to the kids, there were moments where he would need to call her name out loud or make physical contact so she returned from wherever her mind had taken her to. Sam would smile and keep doing what she had been doing before she drifted away. Wyatt always sat by her side, as if that would prevent her mind to wonder away from home. He was trying really hard and he could tell she was too, but he had to admit it was exhausting. Something had broken and apparently neither of them had any idea on how to mend it just yet.
One day, as dawn approached, Wyatt lied awake in bed next to Sam, who had finally fallen peacefully asleep. Things were pretty much like they had been when she was still in the hospital, which was undoubtedly taking a toll on him. He could hardly stand straight at times, but he didn't care, as long as he had his family back by his side. Any night she actually managed to doze off out of sheer exhaustion, not a hard thing to feel during the second trimester, she would wake up disoriented or plain hysterical. "Shhh… everything's OK" he would reassure her, over and over, holding onto her till she stopped shivering. He was thankful that at least for one night, she had been spared of whatever was tormenting her in her sleep.
They had decided that they wouldn't be able to hide what happened from the rest of the family for much longer. They kept telling Piper, future Wyatt was patrolling the underworld; they constantly told the clan, the scarce random attacks they dealt with had nothing to do with Elak; but it was getting harder and harder to do as weeks went by.
So, they'd agreed on getting them all together and tell them what happened. Wyatt would take the lead and Chris would fill in the blanks for everybody. Sam was in no condition to face this, she could hardly hold Meghan and not cry for the next few hours; Wyatt asked her to stay home, afraid how it could affect her if she talked about it in front of everybody. She had apologized for hours for not being strong enough and Wyatt kept telling her she had already done way much more than she should have on her own. "I'll take care of this" he had ended the discussion, pressing his forehead to hers. Chris suggested Bianca stayed with her as to not leave her on her own with the kids, in case of an emergency. She agreed, glad she could help.