The Ties That Bind
Chapter Twenty-One
"He's having nightmares and I can't wake him up, mom." Piper perched on the couch frowning as Caden continued to babble after the only needed sentence was finished; apparently it was genetic.
"Why don't you go and get some sleep for awhile, honey? I'll stay with him awhile."
For all the good it'd done, she might as well have suggested that they all jump off a cliff and hand Wyatt to whatever evil was still out there.
"I'm not leaving him!" Caden said obstinately, very unawares of the dark circles that were entrenched around her eyes.
"I won't let him fade away, Cadey."
"Well… I know but…I'm not leaving him."
Eliciting a long sigh, Piper turned her attentions to Chris on the couch, and stroked the hair from his face, lingering to touch his cheek.
Unbidden, a song came to her mind, one other than 'Mamma's gonna buy' -that was Paige's own song. This one must've been on she heard at some point, there was no way she made it up, though for the minute she couldn't recollect where it was from.
Chris writhed beneath the tangled blanket as some other horror tormented his sleep. Wanting to bring him a peaceful slumber (it seemed the least she could do), she started to sing quietly,
"Someone holds me safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory."
Chris stilled beneath her touch, his breaths coming slower and his mother relaxed her over tensed muscles.
"See he's okay n-ow, oh."
Caden was fast asleep, knelt by her brother and head resting next to his arm.
"I've put Wyatt to bed, though I think Darryl and Shelia must think we're insane by now." Leo stood in the doorway, head leaning on the old wooden frame. How long had he been standing there? Watching them. Watching her? She missed him, of course she did -she loved him even -but, or was it and? Lately things had been exactly how they, she, said they couldn't. But he was spending more time with them now, them as a family. "Do you remember when we saw that movie? The one with that song?" he said quietly, starting to unfold Caden but realising he couldn't move her anywhere further without running the risk of her waking.
Piper shook her head, no, she didn't. "Do you?"
"It was a few years ago, we were supposed to go out with Phoebe, Cole, Prue and a guy she was dating, Sam, I think. You'd spend the previous day vanquishing and you were too tired to bother with the cinema. So you and I stayed in, and this animated move was the only thing on."
A smile graced Piper's lips as she crossed the room to prepared the second couch, "It rained really bad that night, didn't it? They all came back soaked!" A vague recollected flickered, being tired and warm, cosy in Leo's arms with popcorn and hot drinks. "I sang a song from that?"
Fluffing up a pillow and readying a spare blanket from the pile she'd bought down Leo took the signal and orbed Cadey over.
That bought a stir about her, one Piper put to rest with a caress and whispered reassurance.
"Anastasia. And apparently it works too…" Leo helped tuck in their little girl and Piper's stomach churned; from the pregnancy or recent events she didn't know… most likely both.
She cast a sideways gaze at Leo, still frozen mid-sentence, hand paused millimetres from Caden's face, yet not by magic for his chest still moved with slow breaths. He was staring at her like Piper stared at Chris and she knew, just knew on that instinctive level, what held his thoughts because they held hers too, ensnared them in a guilty grasp that formed the sharp edged lump lodged in her throat.
How could they have done that? How could they let so much happen?
And possibly hardest of all, how were they going to fix it this time? Events kept spinning out of control so fast they burned their hands.
"We will get through this, Leo," her voice strained on the words that had to fight their way up, "I'll keep saying that until we do… we have to."
Leo shook his blonde head and Piper saw the man her little boy upstairs was supposed to become,
"How could I have done that to him? Blame him -" Leo choked on his words, staring at the floor. Overcome with a need to comfort him, Piper relinquished her position on the couch and knelt before the struggling whitelighter as he tried to find a way to continue. "How could I not -how could I yell at him -b-blame him for that? He was just a boy and I -"
"Was an idiot, honey." Piper broke it to him gently, accompanying her words with one hand cupping his cheek, almost as if he were an upset child, but with a very different subtlety, "You were so busy being the perfect father to Wyatt you forgot how to care for Chris completely, and as good was forgot about the others…"
Leo shook his head dismally, and she wondered for the first time how heavily this weighed on him. As much as her death did on her?
They did not have time to feel sorry for themselves, however. And she was not going to let him; she was not going to put up with it, no. Not until they both could. Not until they both could grieve for the horrors of what was… what still could be.
"No, Leo!" she whispered as forcefully as she dared, considering who they were seated between, "Don't you dare wallow in self pity now, mister. Yes, future you screwed up in a big way, but newsflash: that's not happened yet. Forewarned, forearmed, right? Like you said, we will fix this -for Chris. To give him a proper childhood and a good family. We will watch Wyatt. And as soon as Chris is born you will take him Up There and you will spend time with just you and him, as well as all the time you have with just you and Wyatt. D'you get it?"
"Where are we, exactly?" he asked, changing the subject to an entirely different yet very much relevant one.
Pushing away the increasingly persistent exhaustion she sighed, she knew this was coming. Something had to be decided, but still… "We're in the living room, Leo."
"Piper."
"I know, Leo."
"We can't keep up like this. I can't keep this up; I need to know where we are. If you want this."
"That depends, there was a reason we split up. You left us."
"And I was very confused, I didn't know what I wanted. Well, I did, I do, but nearly every Elder had been murdered, Piper. I was just trying to do what I thought was right, to be where I could help people the most."
"What about your family, Leo?" Her voice broke mid-sentence.
"Aren't I allowed to make mistakes?"
"Making a mistake with us, with your children, is pretty hard to erase."
"Piper," he took her hands and held her gaze, "I want this more. I've talked to the other Elders… about giving up being an Elder and being a normal whitelighter again, but just for you and your sisters, and our kids and if they every have kids, their kids too."
Piper rose quickly, anger giving her speed, "Just when were you planning on telling me this, Leo? Huh?" Hot tears welled and fell down her cheeks; things were so close to being perfect something had to go wrong at some point.
"I only started to discuss it a few days ago -we've both been a little preoccupied, don't you think? I just need to know, if you'll have me back?" Leo stood as well, pleading with his eyes, "You're all I want; you're all I've ever wanted. I was just…"
"Being stupid?"
"Ye-ah, honey." Carefully, softly, he wiped the tears from her cheeks and smiled, one she did not mind returning.
"I think we're… we're good. At least, I won't kick you out."
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Author's Note: Two AS exams tomorrow... then work.... shoot me....
IMPORTANT
Anyway, for the final chapters I'm deciding on what the future COULD be like (I am evil and haven't decided myself yet...) but so far in the Evil Wyatt Timeline Piper and Leo have six kids. Should I give them a seventh in a (possible) Perfect Future as sort of a gift from TPTB? This 7th could either Ryan's twin, OR a triplet (lol) of the twins, or just another kid born between Caden and the twins. Since you're all so keen... i'll let you decide :)
Review Thank You's and Replies To:
lovedrew88:
end? the story? lol it's coming... PrueTrudeau:
ooo i hadn't thought of that -thinks of all the spin offs- TurNArounD: a bad future? jeez wasn't it bad enough already? i hadn't even considered that, but now.... more spin offs are coming into my braaaain!
Raya Sparrow: LMAO! Fall from your seat? i'm sorry hun! my dad was one of five, but that's as big as it gets in my life...
Sparkling Cherries: beeeeeeeeend to my wiiiiiiill beeeeend to my wiiiiiiiiill
IMPORTANT
Anyway, for the final chapters I'm deciding on what the future COULD be like (I am evil and haven't decided myself yet...) but so far in the Evil Wyatt Timeline Piper and Leo have six kids. Should I give them a seventh in a (possible) Perfect Future as sort of a gift from TPTB? This 7th could either Ryan's twin, OR a triplet (lol) of the twins, or just another kid born between Caden and the twins. Since you're all so keen... i'll let you decide :)
