Everybody did their best to fill each other in. As some doubts were cleared, some were replaced by new ones.
Phoebe and Paige arrived shortly after breakfast with gifts for the birthday girls.
"Everybody still has their throats intact, that's a good sign" said Paige putting some gifts on a table.
"It's more than that…" Phoebe said with the biggest smile. "The whole house feels…" she hugged a seriously weirded out Paige.
"OK. Don't you start twirling on me" Paige walked out to the car to bring some more boxes.
"Everything alright down here?" asked Chris coming back downstairs with Bianca, she shifted uncomfortably when facing the family after having met their potential future son.
"Yeah, we're just organizing the gifts. Where's everybody? They sort of scattered" chuckled Phoebe.
"Hope it wasn't us" joked Paige setting some more boxes nearby.
"Wow, those are…" said Bianca at the recently placed stack of gift boxes.
"A bit much, I know, but there's a lot of us so do the math" laughed Phoebe still high on the happiness around.
"Want a hand?" said Chris coming to pick a box to shake it, trying to guess what was inside it.
"Hey, I'll take… that" said Phoebe slightly discouraged. "Umh… you can go to my car and check if Paige got' em all. Bianca, can you give me hand?"
"Sure" she said hesitantly. As soon as both Paige and Chris were well out of earshot, Phoebe turned to Bianca "Something wrong?"
"I don't know. You tell me" she paused. "What are you so anxious about?"
"Empath, right… umh… I just don't know if I can do this. The whole family life thing. It's very different from my old life"
"Just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad. Look, I know you guys recently started dating and seeing your son from another dimension is like a truck load of pressure on you, but… you don't need to meet anybody's expectations here. Concentrate on how much you care for Chris and let things flow from there. Could turn out to be pretty awesome" Phoebe grabbed Bianca's arm affectionately feeling the anxiety coming from her easing slowly down.
"Wyatt called to check in. They got the cake, on their way back now" said Paige ending a call on her cell.
"Our… interdimensional children are with them" Chris tried to be silly about it to keep it casual. Bianca simpered at him as he did, very much appreciating his efforts. "I'll tell mom and dad, they were still getting the kids ready for when the guests arrived. When will that be by the way?" Chris asked his aunts.
"I need to go pick up Coop and the girls" they all eyed her. "Yes, even my Bianca (she smiled at Bianca) and her boyfriend. Meeting us there. So, I'll get going as soon as it's all set here. How bout your end Paige?"
"I think the kids will orb in with their dad around 2?" she said hesitantly.
"I thought I asked you"
"Well, Henry was making some calls trying to get the afternoon off so it might be a little later than that, not really sure" Chris smirked. Bianca couldn't help but stare at his beautiful face. Maybe the family thing could work for them. She was more than willing to give it a try, if it was by his side; however terrified she felt about the whole deal.
MEANWHILE, WYATT AND SAM…
"Thanks for making an unplanned stop for me" said Sarah holding a gift bag on her lap even closer.
"Well, I must admit I was a little biased by the fact you wanted to get your sister a gift" Wyatt told her, glancing at her on the rear-view mirror. Sam's smile couldn't have been brighter at that moment. He took one look at her happiness and felt blessed. He took her hand and pulled it closer to his lips, gently kissing it without taking his eyes off the road for more than a second.
"Which you paid for" said Evan who had been eyeing the cake resting on the back of the car.
"I didn't see you objecting to us buying that candy bar, mister" teased Wyatt.
"Thanks, uncle Wyatt" said Evan slightly embarrassed as he took the last bite.
"Knock it off, you two" Sam told them, burping next and putting a hand to her chest, pouting.
"You alright?" asked Wyatt.
"Yeah, just a little nauseous"
"I think we still have one of those preggie things in the glove compartment" Wyatt meant to reach over to her side and spare her the search, but the light had just turned green. Sam opened the compartment and started rummaging through papers.
"I don't see any" she said defeated.
"There's a raspberry one left in the back" said Sarah from the back seat, without even bothering to look that way.
"How do you know?" smiled Sam incredulously still shuffling stuff around. To her surprise, she found it after she took the papers out instead. Both Sam and Wyatt stared at their impossible daughter on the mirror.
"Cool, huh?" said Evan still showing traces of chocolate on the edges of his mouth.
"Oh, zip it, you" she told him playfully. "It's easy really" she explained. "I sort of felt it around there. Comes with the territory"
"Territory?"
"Aether manipulation, mom"
"I guess in your reality you got our first borns' gifts" Wyatt tried to find the logic in her words, remembering how Julian would develop something similar, if not the same, from what she was describing. Everybody kept smiling, trying to avoid confusion setting camp in their heads again by pretending talking about interdimensional children's gifts were the most natural conversation ever.
"Do the twins also astral project?" asked Sarah excitedly.
"Not that we kn…"
"Meghan does… or will… in time" said Sam looking out the window away from her husband. She hadn't shared every detail of her battle with their daughter just yet. Talking about the matter was still too painful for either of them, so they kept the mention of any of it to a bare minimum. Wyatt thought it would be the best choice at least till the baby came. He wouldn't want to do anything that could send her straight back to the hospital. Wyatt held onto his wife's hand tightly in his.
Sarah could tell she had accidentally hit a nerve, so she exchanged looks with Evan and kept silent for the next few minutes. "Can I ask you guys something?" she said after a while.
"Sure, honey. What is it?" asked Sam trying to turn her head to see her daughter through her peripheral vision laying her head back against the head rest.
"Did you ever consider… binding my powers… well… theirs?" she tried to make a reasonably logical question. Wyatt and Sam's mind landed back on Meghan.
"Yes" Wyatt confessed. "We talked about it, but… we came to understand that our abilities are a big part of who we are" he turned his head from his wife to her daughter in the back. "And we didn't feel like we had any right to take them away from you"
"Did we do that in your reality?" asked Sam seeing her reflection in the mirror. "To any of you?"
"You tried" Sarah came clean visibly upset to talk about it even as she brought it up.
"Tried?" Wyatt was curious.
"Didn't work" said Sarah a tone of disappointment in her voice. "I made you think it had… but…"
"Why would you keep that from us?" said Sam curious about something else entirely.
"I just thought that's what you wanted for me, so I thought it would be easier to just go along with it" silence followed her words.
"Well, I can tell you this. No matter what reality we're in, we must have had a pretty solid reason to even attempt to do that. Especially if you're feeling this way about it" Sarah was choking up to hear those words coming from her mother.
"I never really told you… I guess I should have" she reached for her mother and father's hands.
"Were you too strong to be bound by us?" Wyatt was back to curious.
"I guess so. Why you ask?"
"Well, I don't believe we would have tried to bind them at all, if we didn't think you'd be somehow safer without them. Like if we thought they might be too much to handle in the first place" said Wyatt.
"That would be the only thing that couldn't possibly change no matter where we exist"
"What's that, mom?"
"We would consider anything, if we thought it was the best way to keep you safe" Sam's throat was tightening as she said those words, Meghan's face hauntingly clear in her mind. "Even from yourselves" she said in a darker tone.
"What's going on ahead?" said Evan desperate to break the tension rising inside the car. Things had gotten a bit too serious for his liking. He tried peeking through the windshield, but then stuck half his body out the window to get a better look. The car had come to a complete halt.
"Get back inside this car, young man" Wyatt instructed, unbuckling his seat belt. "I'll see what's going on" he gave Sam a quick peck on the lips before opening the driver's door.
"We'll go with" said Evan opening his door.
"You stay put" said Sam blowing the car door back shut. Her tone resolute which was crystal clear as it was combined with a sharp imposing look.
"I'll go with him" said Sarah before leaving the car to follow her father to Evan's discontent.
"No matter what reality I'm in. Apparently, I'll always stay behind" he sulked crossing his arms.
"Don't get snappy with me, young man" Sam warned him lovingly.
"Sorry, Aunt Sam" he apologized.
"Gum?" Sam offered him a stick trying to improve his mood. He managed a smile and took it.