CHAPTER 22: LOSING HOPE
Phoebe was looking through the Book of Shadows for what felt like the hundredth time since Piper and Paige were taken. She still couldn't find anything on Memorex that she hadn't seen already. But who pulled him away? Was the real question burning in Phoebe's mind while she was looking for something, anything. Leo entered the attic with Wyatt in his arms. "Hey Pheebs, find anything?"
"No! Nothing! I'm so sick of this crap! I bet you they know who's behind all this shit and just won't tell us!" pausing for breath and looking up at the ceiling, she added, "Piper always was the smarter one, she was right to hate you people all her wiccan life! You took Leo away, twice, my sisters are in fucking hell and all you can do is send someone back with a cryptic message? You people are useless and I hate you all!"
"Ummm…..Phoebe maybe you should stop yelling at them now. After all, they did let me come back to Piper and Wyatt, and all of you."
"They took you away in the first place you jackass! Ooh, sorry I didn't mean that. I'm just PISSED OFF!" Phoebe yelled the last two words up at the ceiling, making sure to get her point across. Turning her head back to Leo she continued on as if she never screamed and ranted at the ceiling. "So can Darryl watch the kids?"
"No, but his wife can. So how are the girls?"
"I don't know, don't you have them, after all they are your kids?"
"Yeah but I had to call Darryl, and you saw me leave the room. YOU LEFT THEM ALONE WHEN MY WIFE AND SISTER ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF BEING KIDNAPPED?! HOW COULD YOU?"
"Wow, okay didn't think you ever got mad, well don't just stand there, run!" Leo and Phoebe both sprinted out of the attic, down the stairs, around the corner, and into the kitchen. When Leo looked in the playpen, he sunk back into the chair. Phoebe just walked cautiously over to the playpen, crying. She looked inside, "Thank God you guys are okay!" she gushed, picking both of her nieces up. She was crying out of sheer joy, partly because she could never live with herself if she was the reason her nieces were kidnapped or killed. Leo regained composure and placed Wyatt down on the floor. He took Prudence from Phoebe and hugged her tight. "I'm never leaving you alone again. Never never never. I promise." He turned to Phoebe who was still holding Ma, he stroked his youngest daughter's hair and added, "you either. I love you guys. All of you." He added, picking up his son and looking at Phoebe. He started to apologize to Phoebe for yelling like he did. "No, don't. You had every right to be mad. I was mad at myself. I shouldn't have said what I said either. Now let's go drop the kids off at Darryl's place and get orbing."
Leo nodded his head and walked into the hallway to pick up the diaper bags. Wyatt had his own blue one and Prudence and May shared a big pink one. Phoebe slung both bags over her shoulders and grabbed Leo's hand. Since he was carrying both Wyatt and Prudence, it was hard for him to grab Phoebe's hand but he managed. Soon they were rematerializing on Darryl's front porch. "Leo, what if someone saw us?"
"They didn't alright. I made sure no one was around before I orbed, now knock." Phoebe knocked on Darryl's door with her foot since she was carrying two diaper bags and her niece. Darryl's wife came to the door and welcomed them in. "Hi, sorry to drop and run but we really gotta go. Phoebe and I might be gone for a couple hours, we really don't know how long. Now all their stuff is in the bags, Wyatt's is the blue one and the girls share the pink one. Are you sure you don't mind doing this? I mean I know you have kids too it must be really hard."
"Leo, it's fine. Michael is looking forward to it. He hasn't really seen Wyatt since his birthday. Now go save Piper and Paige." Replied Sheila, ushering them out the front door. Phoebe spoke once they were out the front door. "Oh Leo, I forgot the vanquishing spell, orb home first."
"Phoebe, it's already 6:00, we really gotta go down there already."
"Wow, I didn't realize it had been that long well we need the spell if we're gonna get them back."
"Fine, come on." Leo grabbed Phoebe's hand, clearly annoyed, and orbed them out and into the attic of the manor. Phoebe grabbed the three copies of the spell that were resting on the Book of Shadows. She hurried back over to Leo and they orbed out. They rematerialized in the depths of the underworld. Leo closed his eyes and tried to sense his wife and sister-in-law. He always had no problem sensing Piper and Paige was almost always easy to sense but he couldn't find either of them. "No go. Damn it, why can't I sense Piper? I've never had any problem before."
"Oh Leo, I'm sure there's just a block on the chamber they're in. He wouldn't kidnap them just to kill them. Let's go home and we can look in the Book for all the blocks and stuff and then I'll write a spell to bring them home. Come on, you can't lose hope now, we're almost there." Reluctantly, Leo reached for Phoebe's hand and orbed them to Sheila to pick up the kids. "Wow, it's dark out! We were only gone for like 20 minutes." Exclaimed Phoebe, knocking on the door.
"Time moves differently down there too." Leo muttered, losing hope by the minute. Sheila opened the door before Phoebe could scold Leo for giving up hope. "Hi guys. How'd it go?" she asked.
"Well, we didn't find them but there's still hope. Ummm…..how long have we been gone for?"
"It's 10:00 here Phoebe. Why? Where were you?"
"Umm….long story but Leo's not really doing too well so we're just gonna grab the kids and go. We'll call you guys and explain everything when we get Piper and Paige back. I'm sorry about all this."
"Don't mention it. Michael had a blast, Wyatt knocked him out. Wyatt didn't want to sleep but he eventually crashed on the couch. He's been there for about an hour. The girls are in Janet's old crib. They fell asleep about three hours ago." Leo finally spoke up, "thanks so much Sheila. We really appreciate this. I'll have Piper call you when everything settles down."
"No problem Leo." Replied Sheila, leading Phoebe and Leo into the living room to where Wyatt was sleeping. Leo stayed with Wyatt while Sheila and Phoebe went to get Prudence and May. Phoebe came back in carrying both girls in her arms, Sheila had the diaper bags slung over her shoulders. She handed them to Leo who was sitting by the couch, not wanting to disturb his son. "If you don't mind we're just gonna orb out. It's kinda like disappearing and reappearing somewhere else."
"You don't have to explain, Darryl told me all about it. Sorry but it was too hard for him to keep it inside."
"Don't worry about it. It actually makes it easier when the people close to us know we're witches. Thanks again Sheila." Phoebe walked over to Leo who was now holding Wyatt's hand. Phoebe put her elbow on Leo's shoulder since she didn't have a free hand. Leo waved goodbye and in a second everyone was back at the manor. Leo orbed them into his bedroom so that Wyatt was on the bed. Phoebe started to walk into the nursery, but Leo stopped her. "No, they can sleep in here tonight. I wanna be with my family."
"Okay, I'll just put them on either side of Wyatt. Now go to sleep, I'll sit on the other side of the bed so that no one rolls off and I'll keep watch while I write the spell."
"Thanks Phoebe, you've been really great throughout this. Wake me up in a couple of hours and I'll keep watch." Was the last thing Leo said before falling asleep. Phoebe grabbed a pen and paper from Piper's nightstand, she started to write a summoning spell for Paige and Piper but fell asleep in less than an hour. Leo and Phoebe were both asleep, as were all three children with no one to stand guard.