2- Sunday in the Park with Chris
"So what now?" Dean asked his brother, who was sitting in the backseat of the Impala, doing his best to keep Christopher entertained. What could have been a one day drive, the way Dean speeds, had turned into a three day affair. Sam had insisted they stop at night so the kid could sleep in a real bed instead of the car. While seeing the two share a bed had been touching, Dean was not all that thrilled to be in a hotel room with his brother, a three-year-old, and Cas, who creepily sat in a chair all night because he doesn't sleep. He had gotten used to his own room, his own bed, and being away from all of that was making him cranky.
"I'm not sure. I guess we could take him to the hospital he was checked into, maybe see if we can get some information on him there," Sam suggested.
"They aren't going to tell us anything."
"Not even if we go federal?"
"I suppose that's an option," Dean said, dreading the idea of putting on a suit in the eighty degree weather California was currently undergoing.
"Park," Chris said suddenly.
"What buddy?" Sam asked, wondering if he had really heard Chris utter a word that wasn't 'mama'.
"Park," Chris said again, his 'r' sounding more like a 'w' as he pointed toward a clearing across the street from where they had stopped to gas up the car.
"You want to go to the park?" Sam asked him before he scooped the child up and started for the clearing.
"Oh no you don't!" Dean yelled, stopping Sam in his tracks. "We do not have time for this. The park is not happening."
"Come on, Dean. We don't really have any leads as to where this kid belongs. Maybe he recognizes the park, or better yet maybe someone will come by and recognize him. What do we have to lose?"
After a little more give and take, Dean found himself laying under a tree in the park, staring at the sky while Sam and Cas busied themselves by playing with Christopher. After about a half an hour the kid had finally worn both himself and Sam out, and his brother sprawled out on the grass, leaning up against the tree. Christopher toddled over and sat down on Sam's lap, like they were old friends, and started to fiddle around with the grass by his feet. Cas on the other hand, was not completely exhausted, and opted to stand.
"He's an energetic one, that's for sure," Dean said.
"No kidding," Sam chuckled, still breathing pretty heavily.
There was silence for a few moments which allowed Sam to catch his breath before he said, "So, I've been meaning to ask… How have you been feeling lately?"
Dean cocked his head to the side, "How have I been feeling lately?"
"Yeah, you know, with the Mark and all. You seem better, more… in control. Do you feel better?"
"Uh, yeah I guess so. I mean, I haven't had the urge to kill anyone recently, but the more you keep talking, the more that could change."
"Dean, I'm serious. You really do seem to be doing better, but you're good at hiding these things. Just be honest."
Dean nodded, "Okay, honestly most of the time I feel like crap. This Mark, it's not like it only makes me lust for blood. It just puts me in a generally bad mood, clouds the things that are good, makes them seem… not as good. I don't know. It's like, I know I'm me, but I don't feel like me."
"That sounds hard," Sam said, brushing Christopher's hair back from his eyes.
"You really like that little guy, don't you?"
Sam smiled a little, "I have to keep reminding myself that he isn't mine. That eventually I'm going to have to give him back to whomever he belongs to. But, don't change the subject."
"There's not much more to say, Sammy. I'm not one hundred percent okay, and I know that. But, I'm working on it, and I'm living with it."
"I just want you to know that I'm here for you. You can talk about it whenever you need to."
"I too am here for you, Dean," Castiel added. "I hope that is a comfort to you."
"That's a great comfort, Cas. Thanks," Dean replied sarcastically.
That was really all he needed, an angel and his kid brother going all chick-flick on him. Dean knew that they were just trying to be supportive, but he wasn't blind. He had seen Sam look at the Mark before, when he thought Dean wasn't looking. Dean knew that the fact that he could do nothing to get rid of it made Sam impossibly mad, furious even, and he couldn't help but wonder if Sam was mad at him too, for taking the mark on in the first place.
"I'll be fine Sammy. We just need to keep on keepin' on. Eventually we'll get this thing off of my arm. But, first thing's first, we need to get that kid off of yours."
"Try again!"
"Piper, I have scryed for hours. I have scryed until I was sure my wrist was going to fall off. Sweetie, we need to try a locator spell," Phoebe told her sister, throwing her crystal on a string aside.
"I really don't want to risk the personal gain, Phoebe! Just try one more time. Do it over the map of the city this time."
"But he could have orbed anywhere—"
"Phoebe, he's been gone for almost four days. If someone wanted to bring him back, they'd be here by now, so just do it. Call it a mother's intuition."
Phoebe sighed, picked up the crystal once again, and began to swing it over a map of the city of San Francisco. Piper paced back and forth across the attic floor, willing her intuition to be right. With each spin of the crystal she lost more and more hope. Where was her son? Why hadn't he come back to her?
"Oh my god," Phoebe murmured suddenly.
Piper's head spun around to see that the tip of the crystal had finally landed on the map. She felt relief flood through every bone in her body as she yelled for Paige to come upstairs.
"What's up?" Paige asked, walking swiftly into the room with Wyatt on her hip.
"I found Chris!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, where is he?" Piper asked, looking down at the map for the first time.
"It looks like he's in the park, not too far from here," Paige answered, a quizzical look on her face.
"Well, goddammit let's orb!" Piper yelled, ready to have her son safely in her arms. "Phoebe, can you stay with Wyatt?"
"Are you sure?" the middle Halliwell asked. "You might need the power of three, we have no idea what has happened to Chris in these last couple of days, or who he's been with."
"If we get into trouble we'll just orb back," Piper replied. "I haven't even told Leo that Chris has been missing, so if I call him down here things are going to have to be pretty serious."
"Alright," Phoebe said, taking Wyatt's hand as Paige put him down. "Go get my littlest nephew back."
Piper grabbed Paige's hand, and prepared herself for the experience that was orbing. It had never been Piper's favorite thing, but after marrying a whitelighter she had gotten used to it. Orbing sort of felt like someone had taken ahold of your belly button, and as you disappeared they started to pull it outward but when you reappeared they shoved it immediately back inward. It was rough the first time around, and the millionth time too, but if it meant Piper could save an innocent, or in this case her own son, faster, then the sensation was worth it.
As she and Paige materialized in the park Piper immediately spotted Chris. He was sitting near a tree with three men. One of them was standing up, it seemed for no particular reason. He had dark hair and tan skin, and was wearing a trench coat, a style Piper thought was a little hot for California in July. Another one of them was laying down in the grass, clad in flannel and denim. His sleeves were rolled up to reveal a red tattoo on his right forearm of a strange symbol, a perpetual scowl was plastered on his face. And the last man, the one holding her son, was large. He had long brown hair, and eyes like a puppy might have, all droopy and sweet. For such a big human, he held Chris delicately, as if he was afraid he might break if held too tight.
Piper wasn't sure who they were, or how to approach them. She hadn't expected her son's kidnappers to seem so… normal, or nice. It took her off guard. But, she did know that she wanted her son back. So, she started toward them, hoping she could improvise in the moment.
Chris saw her first, and pointed at her, saying "Mama". The man with the long hair looked up, and seemed surprised that there was actually someone walking toward them.
"Chris!" Piper yelled, no longer able to control her relief in seeing him there safe. She ran to him, and scooped him up in her arms, pretty sure she was never going to let go of him again.
"You must be Christopher's mom. We've been hearing a lot about you," said the guy with the tattoo.
"Is that so?" Piper asked, cradling Chris so he was facing away from his captors.
"We're really glad you found us," long-haired guy told her. "We weren't sure how to go about finding you..."
"Excuse me?" Piper asked. "You were trying to find me?"
"Um, yeah. To return your kid," tattoo guy replied, a little bit of bite in his voice.
Piper's eyebrows shot up, "So you aren't some kind of evil, demon-y, crazies trying to steal my son?"
"Hey lady, would we have brought the kid all the way from Kansas if we wanted to keep him away from you?" tattoo guy asked, clearly irritated now.
"Dean, chill," long-hair said. Tattoo guy, or Dean, Piper supposed, huffed and walked off, trench-coat man on his heels.
"Your friend, he—he said Kansas. What was my son doing in Kansas?"
"Honestly we aren't completely sure of that ourselves. He kind of just materialized in the middle of the road near a gas station. Thankfully I was there, and no one else really saw him. That kind of thing could raise a lot of questions, you know?"
Piper nodded, unsure of what to say next. How much did these guys really know about what they were dealing with? This man seemed completely unfazed by the fact that Chris could orb, but why?
"I'm Sam, Sam Winchester, and that big ball of joy was my brother Dean, the other one was Castiel, a friend of ours."
Piper sighed, still not completely sure what to do, "I'm uh… I'm Piper Halliwell, and that's my sister Paige, over there by the bushes."
Sam looked over, noticing the redhead for the first time, and waved a quiet hello. Paige waved back nervously, and then decided to make her way over.
"Hey there Piper, what's goin' on?" Paige asked, clearly not sure why Piper wasn't blowing, what she considered to be the hulking demon in front of her, to bits.
"Paige, this is Sam. He is returning Chris to us."
Sensing Piper's unsure tone Paige looked Sam over, "Oh, he is, is he?"
Sam laughed nervously, "Is there something wrong? Was I not supposed to bring him back?"
Piper exchanged a look with her sister, but before she could answer him, Dean walked back over and interrupted her.
"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you…"
"Piper," she informed him.
"Piper. We just had a long drive over, and I'm apparently not the best with kids right now. But, the last thing I really want to do is piss off a family of whitelighters, no matter how fluffy and good you people are supposed to be, so I apologize."
Paige and Piper looked at one another again, this time exchanging a look of confusion.
"Uh, excuse me, hi I'm Paige," the younger Halliwell interjected. "Did you just refer to us as a family of whitelighters?"
"That's what you are isn't it?" Dean replied.
"You know what whitelighters are?" Piper asked.
"Uh, yeah. We're hunters."
"You're what?" Piper asked.
"Hunters, of the supernatural variety."
"Hunters… okay. So you hunt what, exactly?"
Dean shrugged, "Any evil sons of bitches we find lying around. Demons, vengeful spirits, vampires, witches, djinn, dragons, you name it, we've hunted it."
Paige's eyes bugged out of her head, "Did you say witches?"
"Friggin' witches," Dean muttered.
Sam put a hand up, "We hunt what's evil, and what's hurting people. That's all."
"And what about you?" Piper asked Castiel. "You're awfully quiet. Do you hunt witches too?"
"I sometimes assist the brothers in their hunting duties, yes. But first and foremost I am an Angel of the Lord, kin to whitelighters like yourselves."
"You're an angel," Paige said, not believing her ears.
"Yes, Castiel, or Cas as the Winchesters have come to call me."
As her sister continued to talk to these peculiar men, Piper was deep in thought on what to do about them. On the one hand, in their time they may have killed hundreds of her sister witches. Dean seemed like he wasn't the biggest fan of her kind. But, on the other hand Sam said that they've only killed evil beings, and that didn't apply to her and her sisters. They had brought Chris back to her under the pretense that her family was a family of whitelighters, but if they had known that her son was half-witch, would they have done the same thing?
"That's a great little guy you've got there," Sam said to her, as Paige continued to grill Castiel about heaven and whether or not there was a shopping mall there.
"Oh, yeah? I think we'll keep him," she said, ruffling his hair.
"He hasn't said another word besides 'mom' the entire time he's been with us. I'm just really glad we found you."
Piper heard Sam saying these words to her, but there was a sadness in his voice that suggested he didn't fully mean them.
"He has a way of making people become attached to him, doesn't he?" she asked with a knowing smile.
Sam made eye contact with her for a split second before looking back at Chris. Chris stared back up at him, and then surprised Piper by stretching his little arms out to the man. Immediately Sam looked uncomfortable, and admittedly Piper also didn't want to let her son go again. But, she was also curious to see what Chris would do with the person that, a few minutes ago, Piper would have thought to be her son's captor, not his friend.
"Go ahead," she urged Sam.
"You're sure. I know you just got him back."
"He seems to trust you, and that isn't a recommendation I take lightly."
Sam took Chris into his arms, and almost instantly a huge smile spread across her son's face. Piper knew then that if Chris trusted him, he must be a good person. Whitelighters had an instinct about certain people. The true test would be in taking him the manor and seeing how Wyatt responded to the brothers and their angelic friend with his force field. The thought gave Piper an idea.
"Why don't you guys come to our house?" Piper suggested, pulling Paige out of her conversation with the angel.
"Wait, what?" she asked.
"Yeah, I mean, clearly Chris likes you Sam, and you all had such a long drive getting him back to us. I'm a cook, and I'd really love to make you a meal, as a thank you."
"Piper, are you sure…" Paige said through gritted teeth.
"Of course. I'm sure Phoebe, our other sister," she explained to the boys, "Would love to thank you as well."
"There's another one of you?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, actually there used to be four of us."
"What happened to all of the dudes in your family tree?"
"Halliwells tend to have female children, that's just our way. At least until my children were born."
"Children?" Sam questioned. "You have more than one?"
"I have one more, Chris's older brother Wyatt. I'd love for you to come and meet him too."
Dean and Sam looked at each other, and despite Sam's size, Piper could tell immediately that Dean was the older brother. The way Sam looked at him was not for communication, but for confirmation. It was a look that Piper had seen on her own sisters' faces many times. Sam was silently pleading with Dean, whose scowl was still fixed on his face. He seemed so closed off, so angry and defensive, even toward his brother.
So, Piper was especially taken aback when Dean turned to her and asked, "Would it be too much to request some pie?"
Piper smiled, "Of course not. How does key lime sound?"
Dean responded with a simple, almost shy nod, prompting Paige to ask if they wanted orb back to the manor.
"Personally," Castiel chimed in, "I would like to try orbing, if you don't mind."
"A chance to have your wings back, eh Cas?" Dean asked, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
"Something like that."
"Okay, one for orbing," Paige announced, "Any other takers?"
"Not me," Dean said. "I'll stick to driving."
Piper looked over to the vintage muscle car that Dean was clearly very proud of, and tried not to imagine her son in the backseat of it, without a car seat. The thought made her slightly nauseous.
"Sam?" Paige asked.
"Yeah, I'll give it a go. Come on Dean. Baby will be fine while we're gone."
"I don't trust hippies, Sam, especially with my baby, and this town is full of 'em," Dean replied gruffly.
"You call your car, Baby?" Paige giggled.
Dean turned an unflattering shade of red before agreeing to orb along with the rest of them.
"I've never moved this many people at one time. I'm not sure I can do it."
"Give it a try, Paige. I'm sure when Chris realizes what you're doing he'll help you."
"Don't you orb, Piper?" Dean asked.
"No, I'm actually not a whitelighter. My husband is one, which accounts for my children being half-whitelighter."
"But, how is Paige—"
"She's our half-sister. Her father was a whitelighter, making her the only other one in the family besides my boys."
"I was not aware that whitelighters are allowed to mate with mortals," Castiel said.
"It's pretty frowned upon to tell you the truth. We Halliwells are just a bunch of rule breakers. You ready Paige?" Piper asked, trying to shake these guys' questions until she knew more about them.
"Okay, hands everyone," the youngest Halliwell sister requested, taking Castiel's hand on one side, and grabbing Sam's arm on the other, so he could continue to hold Chris while they orbed. Piper gingerly took Sam's hand, and then Dean's, starting to wonder if this was a good idea after all. They'd been tricked into trusting evil beings before.
"It's going to feel like someone is pulling on your stomach. It's hard the first time, just do your best to keep your balance."
With no more time to spare, Piper felt that all too familiar tug at her belly button, and hoped she was making the right decision.
Phoebe Halliwell paced back and forth over the attic floor, hoping her sisters were doing alright without her help. They had been gone for what seemed like too long, but in reality had only been about ten minutes. Her nerves had gotten the best of her before, and it was taking everything she had not to call for Leo in that moment.
"Aunt Phoebe," Wyatt said.
"Yes, honey?" she said, ceasing her pacing to look up at her five-year-old nephew.
"Do you think there is something in the Book of Shadows that will help bring Chris home faster?"
Phoebe's heart lurched, "Oh sweetie," she said, rushing to Wyatt's side, "Your Mommy and Auntie Paige are working so hard to bring your brother home, and I am sure they will be back really, really soon."
"I wanna help."
"I know, but we know where Chris is now, so unfortunately there isn't much left to do besides wait."
Just as she said that, a shimmer of blue light dropped through the ceiling and her sisters appeared, holding hands with three other men, one of whom was holding Chris in his arms. Phoebe took a few steps toward Wyatt, not sure if this was a possession situation. If it was, she would need him to orb them out of there as soon as possible, something she wasn't entirely sure he could do yet. His powers had been progressing, but he wasn't doing much more than orbing himself yet.
"Hey guys," she tried.
"Hey Phoebs," Piper replied, taking Chris back from the very tall, very muscular, but somehow still the sweet looking one of the bunch. "Look who we brought home!"
Phoebe hesitated, but then remembered that if his mother was possessed, Chris would know, and he would not go anywhere near her. Relief flooded every part of her, and she rushed toward her nephew.
"Hi sweetheart," she said in a baby voice, and then kissed him ten or twenty times. "I missed you so much!"
"Mommy?" Wyatt asked from behind his aunt.
"Hi, baby, I'm back," Piper replied, hugging her oldest son. "And so is your brother, safe and sound."
Piper placed Chris down on the floor next to his brother, and the two of them immediately hugged one another. There had always been a strong bond between them, and Phoebe could never see that changing. In fact, Wyatt had probably been more worried about Chris than any of them had been for the last few days.
"Where did you go, dude?" Wyatt asked suddenly in his adorable little voice.
Chris surprised them all by pointing toward the tall man, and answering with a name, "Sam."
"Who's Sam?" Wyatt asked, eying the men suspiciously.
"I am, it's very nice to meet you Wyatt," the man said, stepping forward and pushing his long hair out of his eyes. They were nice eyes, Phoebe thought for a moment, brown, soft, and understanding. Remarkably, Wyatt kept his force field down, following Chris's example, and trusting these men. She let that pass over her as she shook his hand, and introduced herself.
"This is Castiel," Sam told her, as she shook the hand of the stoic figure next to him. His dark hair and blue eyes were a drastic combination, though his attire was disheveled, despite what seemed to be his best efforts.
"And, this is my brother, Dean."
As Phoebe turned to shake the hand of Sam's brother, she was momentarily stunned by the sight of him. First of all, he was gorgeous, all green-eyed, and square-jawed. There was a softness to his face, the vulnerability of a man who cared for others, but when she reached out empathically there was a firm wall built up in front of his emotions, like one who had seen far too much hurt in his life, and been powerless to stop it. Phoebe had felt this in the emotions of another once before, and it wasn't anything she wanted to relive.
"Phoebe," she told him curtly, shaking his hand quickly before letting go and dropping her eyes to the floor. She could feel his eyes still on her, confused as to why he had gotten such a cold greeting, while his brother and their friend had received a warm welcome from her. Suddenly, with his eyes on her, she felt very self-conscious and began to regret the crop top and short-shorts she had picked out that morning.
"Uhhh… well, now that I know your names, why are you in my attic?"
"Phoebe, Sam, Dean, and Cas brought Chris back to us," Piper told her.
"You're kidding."
"No, they really did. And, Chris has really taken to Sam, so I thought I would invite them back to the manor and make them some dinner."
"And they were just chill with orbing here?" Phoebe asked through gritted teeth.
"They're… hunters. They know all about demons, whitelighters, vampires, and all of that good stuff. They hunt the bad ones, apparently."
"So they know what we are?" Phoebe asked.
Piper didn't answer, instead Dean tookk a few steps forward, "What do you mean, 'what you are'?"
"You brought them here and you didn't tell them?" Phoebe said, doing the opposite, and taking a few steps backward.
"I tried to tell her it was a bad idea," Paige chimed in. "I mean they're great for bringing Chris back… but they hunt for our kind."
"Hang on, I know you all have whitelighters in the family, but there's more?" Sam asked.
"What are you?" Dean demanded.
"We're… The Charmed Ones," Piper answered.
Dean shrugged, "Is that supposed to mean something to us?"
"Wait," Castiel interjected, "The Charmed Ones… I have heard of you. Dean, Sam, I am surprised you haven't after all of the reading you've done at the Men of Letter's Headquarters."
"Men of what?" Paige asked.
"Don't change the subject," Dean growled. "What does being a Charmed One mean?"
Paige looked uncomfortable, so Phoebe took it upon herself to answer Dean. For the first time she looked him straight in the eye, and without her voice wavering once, she told him the truth, not sure how he would react.
"It means," she said, "That we're witches."
End Notes:
Ah! What a cliff hanger! Please tell me what you think! How are my characters? Did they all react to each other the way you thought, or did it surprise you? Thank you again for reading! I'll update soon!
xoxo AryaUnderfoot11