The Dark Years
Part Two: Prophecies and Knowledge
Origional Post Date: April 16th, 2004
I just realized this chapter didn't have a post date! Shame on Me!
Author's notes: Ok, this is literally all I have, but it's been awhile, so I've decided to give it all to you. I hope you all like it, it's very long, but it all seems to fit together, and I think it would be mean, and not of the best quality if I didn't keep it together.
Reader Responses:
Going through the archive vaults, and so I might have already replied to these, since there are some for other parts of the ABC series, but I'll do them anyway!
pokes around in archives... jeesh! There are lots of reviews for One of a Kind, guess I should update, lol!
TNG: Bluie: I think I've already done this, but yes, Spike's human, lol!
removes flag
Bluie again, only this time for this story: If you've read them once, then you shouldn't have to read them again. If anyone should reread them, I should. There are twists and turns in there I might have forgot. My muse overloads me with ideas and problems, I'll be lucky if I get half of them fixed! And tell me about it, if I had five, six more hours, I could get every thing done AND not be so tired!
BAShipper: I'm always hard on myself, which guarantees that I try my best. I'm glad you liked it, and we'll be answering your question soon.
After my muse gives me the answer, that is!
And that's it for reviews! Now I can post! YAYAY!!!
And for any that care, I've thrown in a new power I couldn't have before, since they were only babies, hehehe!
Oh, I forgot to mention, if anybody who's reading this read Is Daddy an Angel, and liked it, then be looking for Stolen Innocence, started by a challenge from GidgetGirl! It's a great story, if I am allowed to say so myself! Lol.
The next morning, they didn't rush off to school early to score the very back seats. Instead, they cooked breakfast for everyone, a massive amount of eggs, cooking for eight people.
"What do you want?" Piper asked after she saw the piles of egg and home fries on the table.
"It's more like what'd they do?" Phoebe came in right behind her.
"We just want to spend time with our family. We appreciate all that you've done for us." Melinda said sincerely.
"What'd you do?" Paige said, coming up behind her two older sisters, "Are you failing any classes?"
"No." Grace said, sounding, as usual, as if she was about to cry. The information about their parents the night before, and now the suspicion rolling off them in waves was almost too much for the thirteen year old. Both Faith and Melinda took a hold of one of her hands, giving her strength. "We found out about mom." Grace finally whispered.
"Oh, honey." Now she felt the pity from her aunts.
"Stop! Stop pitying us! All I get from you, all the time is pity! When we go to the store, everyone looks at us, and whispers, and they pity us too! Everyone knew but us, and I can't take it anymore!" Grace cried.
"Oh, baby. I understand." Phoebe went over and hugged her nephew's youngest daughter, by three minutes. "It drove me crazy when I first became empathic. We could...There's this spell, that we could do, so you couldn't read us, or your sisters."
"But even we pick it up. We feel how everyone treats us, and we didn't understand why."
"We had a right to know," Melinda accused, "They're our parents, and you let us go on living without any idea of what happened! We didn't understand why everyone would whisper behind our backs, and shy away from us. Even in school, where half the kids live there, it's unusual for kids to live with their Grandmother. Everyone has parents to go home to for breaks. And they talk about us, behind our backs."
"If I had known..." Piper started.
"But you never asked!" Melinda cried in outrage.
"Can we just sit down and eat? We're going to be late for school otherwise." Faith said, trying to keep the betrayal from her voice. She was close to tears herself. The three girls had always been curious about their parentage, but she wouldn't learn about them at the cost of her family's harmony.
They sat in silence while Faith served everyone. It was just the six girls, since Uncle Jason hadn't gotten up yet. Halfway through the meal, Grace put her fork down, "Aunt Piper, you're daddy's mom, right? So why do we call you Aunt Piper, and Not Grammy Piper?"
"I thought that maybe it would ease the pain. Joyce was like a daughter to me, and loosing her hurt me more than I ever thought it would, that's your mother, but your dad...he decided to leave. It was his choice, and that hurt more than anything."
Dad's alive? Faith almost shrieked, and her two sisters looked at her sharply.
I guess so. But what happened to mom? Grace asked her two sisters silently.
Ask! You're the only one they'll answer questions for. You're the youngest, and you have the face. Faith thought this funny, since they were identical triplets.
Only by three minutes. Grace pouted, but she turned back to her grandmother.
"C-Could we call you Gram? And you Grampa?" she turned to Leo, who had come down sometime earlier.
She sighed, "Yes, it hasn't worked. I'll always remember his betrayal, of you three."
"Our mom died when I was two," Aunt Phoebe elaborated, "And dad left soon after, leaving Grams to take care of us and raise us. Wyatt had always been close to his Grandfather. We had thought he would have learned..."
"I-Is mom dead? What happened to her?"
"We don't know. No one can find her, anywhere. She's just disappeared."
"So, she might be still alive?" Faith asked.
"Don't get your hopes up, girls. We've spent so much time and energy searching for her, and we haven't found anything. We don't even know what route she took for patrol."
I-I feel like I can feel her. I don't think she's dead Grace looked at her two older sisters.
"C-Could we see him?" Faith asked, "O-Our dad."
"Oh, uh..."
"Sweetie, I don't think that's such a good idea." Phoebe started.
"I. Want. To. See. My. Dad!" Melinda said slowly. Both Faith and Grace moved their chairs away from their sister, feeling an oncoming outburst.
"Sweetie, he's not exactly in his right mind. Being up there can do that-"
"I don't care. He's still my father, and I want to see him."
"I can see if I can get him down here. We've tried before, but for you three, I'll try again." Leo stood up. He orbed up, and even before he was gone, the three girls were out of their chairs and rushing towards the kitchen.
Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked at each other, then followed. The three girls were sitting on the floor; Grace held a bowl of water between her knees. As the sisters watched, Grace muttered over the bowl, and Melinda dropped one of Leo's good watches into the bowl. Faith held each of her sister's shoulders, strengthening the link between them.
"He-"Piper started to protest, she had bought that watch, after all, but Phoebe stopped her.
The water in the bowl clouded over, and the three adults leaned over to see over the younger girls' shoulders.
"Leo, you shouldn't be up here." A tan robed man stopped him.
"Enyos, I have to. His girls need a father."
"They need a mother."
"W-we haven't totally given up. One of the sisters scry for her once a week, sometimes more. But with no clues, what options do we have?"
"They should spend their time teaching the girls. You know the prophecy."
"Bu-I thought it was wrong...it said The Child. They are triplets."
"And only one shall. Prophecies are fickle things, Leo. They do not tell the whole story, merely the cliff notes. Be brief. He wishes to suffer in solitude." Leo was about to argue, but the Elder turned away. Leo walked to the doors, and pulled them open.
"What do you want?" the lone figure asked as he closed the doors.
"Its not what I want, its what your family needs."
"I have no family."
"Yes, you do! You have three gorgeous daughters that need you, because you are their father!"
"No one needs me. I couldn't even save her, heed the warnings, what use am I to anyone?" his voice was flat, dead, with no emotion. It hurt Leo just to look at him.
"Wyatt, please. Those three girls need a father."
"I'm no father. To them, or anyone."
A tear fell into the bowl, and the water clouded over, obscuring the picture, and ending the spell. Grace upset the bowl as she, followed closely by her two sisters, rushed out of the room, grabbing a lunch as they pushed by.
Leo orbed in a few minutes later, as the three women just stared at the bowl. They hadn't heard any of it, but just Wyatt's appearance had depressed them. And by the girl's reactions, they knew he wasn't coming.
"I tried. I'm sorry. Where are the girls?"
"They went to school, they saw, Leo. Grace did some sort of scrying, and they saw it all."
"Oh no." he hung his head. "Should we go after them?"
"No. If a girl runs from home, to school, then she doesn't want her aunts around. Trust me on this one." Paige said.
"I feel bad for them. We could always hang onto that shrivel of hope, you know? But they.... he's never coming back."
Melinda slid into the seat in the front row, center, without a sound, or even acknowledgement that her usual seat had been taken. The teacher, seeing the unshed tears clinging vainly to her eyes, took pity on the usual bossy, outspoken, strong willed girl.
"What prophecy do you think they were talking about?" Faith asked.
"I don't know. They probably won't tell us. Even Spike."
"We have to get her back." Grace whispered.
"No one knows what happened, Grace, if they can't find her, how can we?"
"She's our mother! We can't give up. She's not dead. I know it."
"We'll do what we can, Grace, don't worry."
"We're going to have to study extra hard." Faith warned her two sisters, mostly Melinda.
"Then I'd better do my homework, shouldn't I?" Melinda asked, digging into her bag.
"Aunt Phoebe, are you busy?" she knocked on her Aunt's door.
"No, baby, come on in."
"I-I'm sorry about this morning. We never meant to hurt any of you. You're the only family we know." She sat on the edge of the bed.
"No, you and your sisters were right. You deserved to know. I'm sorry it took us so long to realize that."
"I-I want to learn to use my powers better. I have a feeling that's what daddy would have wanted."
"He only wants what's best for you. And he thinks that by staying away from you, that is the best thing he can do."
"He's wrong. C-Could you teach me?"
"Of course, we'll start tomorrow, ok?"
"Thanks."
A-Gram? Can I talk to you about something?" She stood in the doorway to her grandmother's room, where she was folding clothes.
"Always. What's up?"
"S-seeing dad like that, it made me realize just how important it is for me to know how to use my powers. And we share most powers, could you teach me to use mine better?"
"Of course, Faith. I have to start supper soon, but what about after school and homework, tomorrow?"
"Ok." She smiled.
"Great. I'm really glad you asked me."
"I love you gram." She hugged her grandmother.
"I love you too, Faith."
"Aunt Paige?" She stood at the kitchen door.
"Yeah, Mel?" Paige looked up from her tea.
"I know I haven't been the best niece, or the best student. I was wondering...could you help me? I really want to learn to use my powers better. Grace and Faith are going to eventually pass me by, and..." she didn't know how to voice her fears.
"Sure, I'll help you. Though Leo would be the better one to go to, but I'm delightedly surprised that you asked. I wasn't always the upstanding citizen when I was your age, you know. It took loosing my adoptive parents to make me shape up my act. For the longest time, I was way behind Piper and Phoebe, they had been at it so much longer, I just wanted to fit in."
"But you're so good! You know how to use your powers really well."
"It takes a lot of hard work." Paige warned.
"That's ok. Everything in this world generally is." Paige had to laugh at that.
The three girls met on the stairs, and headed into the solarium.
"Grampa?" All three said at once. He started, and the vase he was moving dropped. Faith froze it without thinking, and Melinda orbed it back to their grandfather.
"Sorry." Grace mumbled.
"Girls, what can I help you with?"
"We want to learn about our powers." Grace told him.
"Gram, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Phoebe are going to help us with our individual powers, but you're the only one who can heal. And your Grams whitelighter."
"Aunt Paige can help us all with our orbing, but we still need your help." Faith told him.
"Will you help us?"
"Sure, how about after supper for half an hour or so, starting tomorrow?" The three girls nodded, thanked him, and left.
A massive improvement was seen in the three girls' schoolwork over the next couple of weeks, and at the end of the term, all three made honor role, Faith high honors. Friday night, they went to their grandmother's house, to eat supper with her and their real aunts.
Grace helped in the kitchen, while Faith and Melinda took turns playing with Joshua, their one and a half year old cousin.
"I'm so proud of you girls. I never imagined that all three of you would be geniuses." Buffy said, as Grace set out plates.
"We had initiative." Grace said absently.
"What do you mean?"
"We...learned about Joyce. And Wyatt. I-I'm really sorry, Gram." She said, her throat closing up in that familiar way. Buffy set down her serving spoon.
"What else did you learn?"
"About why you and Grampa split up." She said quietly.
"That had nothing to do with you." She hastened to tell her granddaughter.
"No, but it had something to do with Mom. Both of you are hurting, really bad. And it's not just because of Mom."
"After she disappeared, I just couldn't deal. I shut down. And I know you're never supposed to have favorites among your kids, but your mother was my first little girl, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that anything would happen to her. She was the strong one." She ran a hand through her graying hair. "Your grandfather had been having a midlife crisis before that, and it all came to a head not soon after she was gone. Everyone deals with things differently, and we couldn't handle the way the other dealed." She fell into thoughtful silence, so Grace let her think, almost overwhelmed with the pain she felt from her grandmother.
Later on, they all sat at the table, talking animatedly about school, and this and that. But Grace could still feel the undercurrent of pain and grief. And from the way her two sisters held their shoulders, she could tell they felt it too. Many times people would smile, but it never reached their eyes, even Uncle Spike, who was holding Joshua on his lap.
"Um...I have something for you girls. I started it a long time ago, and just got around to finishing it." Buffy got up from the table, and came back a few minutes later, with a large book. "I know it's not as nice as your grandmother's, but I wanted you to have the knowledge, in case you ever needed it." She set it in front of the three girls, and they poured through it.
"Gram! This is awesome!" Faith exclaimed, looking at the detailed information, a few entries accompanied by drawings, that she knew were her grandfather's. As the book went on, there were fewer and fewer drawings.
The three girls got up and hugged their grandmother. "We'll cherish it forever!" Grace told her.
"There's room in there to, to add things."
"Thanks!" They hugged their grandmother once more, then rushed back to pour over the book once more, Amanda and Andrea joining them. They all had a laugh at the picture of Spike in the book, who protested at ever looking as he was portrayed.
Part Two: Prophecies and Knowledge
Origional Post Date: April 16th, 2004
I just realized this chapter didn't have a post date! Shame on Me!
Author's notes: Ok, this is literally all I have, but it's been awhile, so I've decided to give it all to you. I hope you all like it, it's very long, but it all seems to fit together, and I think it would be mean, and not of the best quality if I didn't keep it together.
Reader Responses:
Going through the archive vaults, and so I might have already replied to these, since there are some for other parts of the ABC series, but I'll do them anyway!
pokes around in archives... jeesh! There are lots of reviews for One of a Kind, guess I should update, lol!
TNG: Bluie: I think I've already done this, but yes, Spike's human, lol!
removes flag
Bluie again, only this time for this story: If you've read them once, then you shouldn't have to read them again. If anyone should reread them, I should. There are twists and turns in there I might have forgot. My muse overloads me with ideas and problems, I'll be lucky if I get half of them fixed! And tell me about it, if I had five, six more hours, I could get every thing done AND not be so tired!
BAShipper: I'm always hard on myself, which guarantees that I try my best. I'm glad you liked it, and we'll be answering your question soon.
After my muse gives me the answer, that is!
And that's it for reviews! Now I can post! YAYAY!!!
And for any that care, I've thrown in a new power I couldn't have before, since they were only babies, hehehe!
Oh, I forgot to mention, if anybody who's reading this read Is Daddy an Angel, and liked it, then be looking for Stolen Innocence, started by a challenge from GidgetGirl! It's a great story, if I am allowed to say so myself! Lol.
The next morning, they didn't rush off to school early to score the very back seats. Instead, they cooked breakfast for everyone, a massive amount of eggs, cooking for eight people.
"What do you want?" Piper asked after she saw the piles of egg and home fries on the table.
"It's more like what'd they do?" Phoebe came in right behind her.
"We just want to spend time with our family. We appreciate all that you've done for us." Melinda said sincerely.
"What'd you do?" Paige said, coming up behind her two older sisters, "Are you failing any classes?"
"No." Grace said, sounding, as usual, as if she was about to cry. The information about their parents the night before, and now the suspicion rolling off them in waves was almost too much for the thirteen year old. Both Faith and Melinda took a hold of one of her hands, giving her strength. "We found out about mom." Grace finally whispered.
"Oh, honey." Now she felt the pity from her aunts.
"Stop! Stop pitying us! All I get from you, all the time is pity! When we go to the store, everyone looks at us, and whispers, and they pity us too! Everyone knew but us, and I can't take it anymore!" Grace cried.
"Oh, baby. I understand." Phoebe went over and hugged her nephew's youngest daughter, by three minutes. "It drove me crazy when I first became empathic. We could...There's this spell, that we could do, so you couldn't read us, or your sisters."
"But even we pick it up. We feel how everyone treats us, and we didn't understand why."
"We had a right to know," Melinda accused, "They're our parents, and you let us go on living without any idea of what happened! We didn't understand why everyone would whisper behind our backs, and shy away from us. Even in school, where half the kids live there, it's unusual for kids to live with their Grandmother. Everyone has parents to go home to for breaks. And they talk about us, behind our backs."
"If I had known..." Piper started.
"But you never asked!" Melinda cried in outrage.
"Can we just sit down and eat? We're going to be late for school otherwise." Faith said, trying to keep the betrayal from her voice. She was close to tears herself. The three girls had always been curious about their parentage, but she wouldn't learn about them at the cost of her family's harmony.
They sat in silence while Faith served everyone. It was just the six girls, since Uncle Jason hadn't gotten up yet. Halfway through the meal, Grace put her fork down, "Aunt Piper, you're daddy's mom, right? So why do we call you Aunt Piper, and Not Grammy Piper?"
"I thought that maybe it would ease the pain. Joyce was like a daughter to me, and loosing her hurt me more than I ever thought it would, that's your mother, but your dad...he decided to leave. It was his choice, and that hurt more than anything."
Dad's alive? Faith almost shrieked, and her two sisters looked at her sharply.
I guess so. But what happened to mom? Grace asked her two sisters silently.
Ask! You're the only one they'll answer questions for. You're the youngest, and you have the face. Faith thought this funny, since they were identical triplets.
Only by three minutes. Grace pouted, but she turned back to her grandmother.
"C-Could we call you Gram? And you Grampa?" she turned to Leo, who had come down sometime earlier.
She sighed, "Yes, it hasn't worked. I'll always remember his betrayal, of you three."
"Our mom died when I was two," Aunt Phoebe elaborated, "And dad left soon after, leaving Grams to take care of us and raise us. Wyatt had always been close to his Grandfather. We had thought he would have learned..."
"I-Is mom dead? What happened to her?"
"We don't know. No one can find her, anywhere. She's just disappeared."
"So, she might be still alive?" Faith asked.
"Don't get your hopes up, girls. We've spent so much time and energy searching for her, and we haven't found anything. We don't even know what route she took for patrol."
I-I feel like I can feel her. I don't think she's dead Grace looked at her two older sisters.
"C-Could we see him?" Faith asked, "O-Our dad."
"Oh, uh..."
"Sweetie, I don't think that's such a good idea." Phoebe started.
"I. Want. To. See. My. Dad!" Melinda said slowly. Both Faith and Grace moved their chairs away from their sister, feeling an oncoming outburst.
"Sweetie, he's not exactly in his right mind. Being up there can do that-"
"I don't care. He's still my father, and I want to see him."
"I can see if I can get him down here. We've tried before, but for you three, I'll try again." Leo stood up. He orbed up, and even before he was gone, the three girls were out of their chairs and rushing towards the kitchen.
Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked at each other, then followed. The three girls were sitting on the floor; Grace held a bowl of water between her knees. As the sisters watched, Grace muttered over the bowl, and Melinda dropped one of Leo's good watches into the bowl. Faith held each of her sister's shoulders, strengthening the link between them.
"He-"Piper started to protest, she had bought that watch, after all, but Phoebe stopped her.
The water in the bowl clouded over, and the three adults leaned over to see over the younger girls' shoulders.
"Leo, you shouldn't be up here." A tan robed man stopped him.
"Enyos, I have to. His girls need a father."
"They need a mother."
"W-we haven't totally given up. One of the sisters scry for her once a week, sometimes more. But with no clues, what options do we have?"
"They should spend their time teaching the girls. You know the prophecy."
"Bu-I thought it was wrong...it said The Child. They are triplets."
"And only one shall. Prophecies are fickle things, Leo. They do not tell the whole story, merely the cliff notes. Be brief. He wishes to suffer in solitude." Leo was about to argue, but the Elder turned away. Leo walked to the doors, and pulled them open.
"What do you want?" the lone figure asked as he closed the doors.
"Its not what I want, its what your family needs."
"I have no family."
"Yes, you do! You have three gorgeous daughters that need you, because you are their father!"
"No one needs me. I couldn't even save her, heed the warnings, what use am I to anyone?" his voice was flat, dead, with no emotion. It hurt Leo just to look at him.
"Wyatt, please. Those three girls need a father."
"I'm no father. To them, or anyone."
A tear fell into the bowl, and the water clouded over, obscuring the picture, and ending the spell. Grace upset the bowl as she, followed closely by her two sisters, rushed out of the room, grabbing a lunch as they pushed by.
Leo orbed in a few minutes later, as the three women just stared at the bowl. They hadn't heard any of it, but just Wyatt's appearance had depressed them. And by the girl's reactions, they knew he wasn't coming.
"I tried. I'm sorry. Where are the girls?"
"They went to school, they saw, Leo. Grace did some sort of scrying, and they saw it all."
"Oh no." he hung his head. "Should we go after them?"
"No. If a girl runs from home, to school, then she doesn't want her aunts around. Trust me on this one." Paige said.
"I feel bad for them. We could always hang onto that shrivel of hope, you know? But they.... he's never coming back."
Melinda slid into the seat in the front row, center, without a sound, or even acknowledgement that her usual seat had been taken. The teacher, seeing the unshed tears clinging vainly to her eyes, took pity on the usual bossy, outspoken, strong willed girl.
"What prophecy do you think they were talking about?" Faith asked.
"I don't know. They probably won't tell us. Even Spike."
"We have to get her back." Grace whispered.
"No one knows what happened, Grace, if they can't find her, how can we?"
"She's our mother! We can't give up. She's not dead. I know it."
"We'll do what we can, Grace, don't worry."
"We're going to have to study extra hard." Faith warned her two sisters, mostly Melinda.
"Then I'd better do my homework, shouldn't I?" Melinda asked, digging into her bag.
"Aunt Phoebe, are you busy?" she knocked on her Aunt's door.
"No, baby, come on in."
"I-I'm sorry about this morning. We never meant to hurt any of you. You're the only family we know." She sat on the edge of the bed.
"No, you and your sisters were right. You deserved to know. I'm sorry it took us so long to realize that."
"I-I want to learn to use my powers better. I have a feeling that's what daddy would have wanted."
"He only wants what's best for you. And he thinks that by staying away from you, that is the best thing he can do."
"He's wrong. C-Could you teach me?"
"Of course, we'll start tomorrow, ok?"
"Thanks."
A-Gram? Can I talk to you about something?" She stood in the doorway to her grandmother's room, where she was folding clothes.
"Always. What's up?"
"S-seeing dad like that, it made me realize just how important it is for me to know how to use my powers. And we share most powers, could you teach me to use mine better?"
"Of course, Faith. I have to start supper soon, but what about after school and homework, tomorrow?"
"Ok." She smiled.
"Great. I'm really glad you asked me."
"I love you gram." She hugged her grandmother.
"I love you too, Faith."
"Aunt Paige?" She stood at the kitchen door.
"Yeah, Mel?" Paige looked up from her tea.
"I know I haven't been the best niece, or the best student. I was wondering...could you help me? I really want to learn to use my powers better. Grace and Faith are going to eventually pass me by, and..." she didn't know how to voice her fears.
"Sure, I'll help you. Though Leo would be the better one to go to, but I'm delightedly surprised that you asked. I wasn't always the upstanding citizen when I was your age, you know. It took loosing my adoptive parents to make me shape up my act. For the longest time, I was way behind Piper and Phoebe, they had been at it so much longer, I just wanted to fit in."
"But you're so good! You know how to use your powers really well."
"It takes a lot of hard work." Paige warned.
"That's ok. Everything in this world generally is." Paige had to laugh at that.
The three girls met on the stairs, and headed into the solarium.
"Grampa?" All three said at once. He started, and the vase he was moving dropped. Faith froze it without thinking, and Melinda orbed it back to their grandfather.
"Sorry." Grace mumbled.
"Girls, what can I help you with?"
"We want to learn about our powers." Grace told him.
"Gram, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Phoebe are going to help us with our individual powers, but you're the only one who can heal. And your Grams whitelighter."
"Aunt Paige can help us all with our orbing, but we still need your help." Faith told him.
"Will you help us?"
"Sure, how about after supper for half an hour or so, starting tomorrow?" The three girls nodded, thanked him, and left.
A massive improvement was seen in the three girls' schoolwork over the next couple of weeks, and at the end of the term, all three made honor role, Faith high honors. Friday night, they went to their grandmother's house, to eat supper with her and their real aunts.
Grace helped in the kitchen, while Faith and Melinda took turns playing with Joshua, their one and a half year old cousin.
"I'm so proud of you girls. I never imagined that all three of you would be geniuses." Buffy said, as Grace set out plates.
"We had initiative." Grace said absently.
"What do you mean?"
"We...learned about Joyce. And Wyatt. I-I'm really sorry, Gram." She said, her throat closing up in that familiar way. Buffy set down her serving spoon.
"What else did you learn?"
"About why you and Grampa split up." She said quietly.
"That had nothing to do with you." She hastened to tell her granddaughter.
"No, but it had something to do with Mom. Both of you are hurting, really bad. And it's not just because of Mom."
"After she disappeared, I just couldn't deal. I shut down. And I know you're never supposed to have favorites among your kids, but your mother was my first little girl, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that anything would happen to her. She was the strong one." She ran a hand through her graying hair. "Your grandfather had been having a midlife crisis before that, and it all came to a head not soon after she was gone. Everyone deals with things differently, and we couldn't handle the way the other dealed." She fell into thoughtful silence, so Grace let her think, almost overwhelmed with the pain she felt from her grandmother.
Later on, they all sat at the table, talking animatedly about school, and this and that. But Grace could still feel the undercurrent of pain and grief. And from the way her two sisters held their shoulders, she could tell they felt it too. Many times people would smile, but it never reached their eyes, even Uncle Spike, who was holding Joshua on his lap.
"Um...I have something for you girls. I started it a long time ago, and just got around to finishing it." Buffy got up from the table, and came back a few minutes later, with a large book. "I know it's not as nice as your grandmother's, but I wanted you to have the knowledge, in case you ever needed it." She set it in front of the three girls, and they poured through it.
"Gram! This is awesome!" Faith exclaimed, looking at the detailed information, a few entries accompanied by drawings, that she knew were her grandfather's. As the book went on, there were fewer and fewer drawings.
The three girls got up and hugged their grandmother. "We'll cherish it forever!" Grace told her.
"There's room in there to, to add things."
"Thanks!" They hugged their grandmother once more, then rushed back to pour over the book once more, Amanda and Andrea joining them. They all had a laugh at the picture of Spike in the book, who protested at ever looking as he was portrayed.