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The Ties That Bind
Chapter Twenty-Two

For sometime there was nothing. Blissful nothing. So much so that the actual absence of colour and sound and of everything wasn't overwhelmingly obvious, simply because there was nothing -no memories included. And with no memories, there was no guilt. No crushingly breathtakingly painful guilt.
But since there was nothing, all these thoughts were not thoughts, just a vague awareness.
Unfortunately, all things have an end.

The invasions of soft voices began what would be the final avalanche. At first they were softly spoken, barely heard murmurs, gradually getting louder and more difficult to ignore, to the point where it was impossible and he wanted to he wanted nothingness he wanted silence he wanted no memories of guilt he wanted the comforting solace it offered.

Yet it was ripped away. By the ones he loved the most.
A curse wrapped in a blessing.
Would that be his fate?
To forever have either love, or peace? Peace or love- would you rather burn alive? -Never both at the same time? Never in his memory had the two coincided simultaneously.

"…and mom's gone to the supermarket with Leo to get some groceries and so they told me to stay with you until you woke up but I wasn't going to leave you anyway and when you wake up Aunty Paige told me to tell you to drink this potion and to not let you whine your way out of it. Anyway so they've all been gone for a bit now and it's weird being in here 'specially when it's all quiet and everything. Mom keeps asking questions about our powers but I don't know what you want to do about that so I haven't told her anything and Leo is being really good he's always making sure you're okay and stays with you and he and mom are being gross a lot and little Wyatt isn't too bad he's kind of cute actually but it's weird 'cause I've never been bigger than him before. And Aunty Phoeb -"

"You're babbling, Pippa." he rasped past a parched throat, "Sssh."

"Chris! You're awake! Want some water?" she asked, holding a glass of the liquid to within his grasp. "How long have you been listenin'?"

"Since around groceries."

"Chris!" she whined, "That was ages ago! You let me go on for ages."

"It's so much fun, Cadey."
And, he knew. It would be family -love, and the peace would always be a memory, unattainable, just out of his reach, forever - would you rather burn alive? - brushing the very tips of his wanting fingers.
He must've been staring in to space, for soon she was eying him warily.

"You okay, Perry?"

"Hmm."

"Hmm yes, or hmm, I still want to throw myself off a cliff?"

He knew that would come up. It was impossible to avoid, but now? He'd been awake for less than five minutes, barely a minute even. And his interrogator was his eleven-year-old sister, who shouldn't even know what suicide was. "Can we not talk about that?"

"Mom's gonna make you if I don't. And Aunty Paige says drink this or die."

"What is it?" The 'drink' in question was a dull potion, murky brown crossed with red and a colourful dash of pink.

"Something to make you feel better. Drink."

"Yes ma'am."

"You better believe it. Go on then. Down it like a beer."

Oh she does not! "CADEN! What do you know about beer?"

"If you drink that, I'll tell you."

Mistake there, showing weakness. To anybody. Especially siblings.
So he downed it.
Like he would a beer.
But it was nothing like a beer.
He gagged.

"That's disgusting! What was in it? And spill, kiddo. You're eleven -what's with the downing of beer reference?"

"Dunno. And Ryan used to have drinking contests with Jules, but he always lost, like, every time."

"He what? When was that? He knows he's not supposed to drink in front of the kids!"

"I'm not a kid!"

"Caden."

"Technically we both still are. He's nineteen. I'm eleven. You used to have to be twenty-one, right?"

"Don't you get technical with me."
For some reason, this made her smile.
It made him feel better too. Something else had changed.
What was in that potion?

"But Jules and Ryan told me it was good for you."

"They would."

"Ssssh."

He rolled his eyes. That was her way of ending a debate. Any debate, actually, since she was seven. Stubborn, came to mind, reminiscent of Mel's way of always having the last word. And when was Paige getting home? She'd tell him what was in that potion if he had to lock her in the stone shield to get it out of her.
As if they were reading his thoughts, the missing relatives walked through the front door; Leo and Piper together, followed closely by a blushing Paige glued to her phone.
"Where was Paige?" he whispered.

She winked conspiratorially, "At Uncle Richards."

Leo was the first to notice, almost dropping the bags of shopping in his arms as his quick check-over lead to a double check of surprise.
"Chris! Buddy! You're awake!"

"Ye-ah, listen, do you know what was in that potion Paige made?"

"Sure," Leo set down the groceries on the floor and shrugged, "It's an antidote."

"Antidote? To what?"

Cadey flicked him on the temple with a snort, "The potion Kalister forced down your throat probably, dumbo."

"No name calling, Caden." Leo warned, "Paige found another bottle of it in Kalister's jacket and spent the last couple of days making this. Feel any different?"

Chris nodded slowly. He did feel different. He didn't feel like he did on the cliff. He felt… normal, well, as normal as he ever felt. The guilt was still there (did it ever fully leave him? Would it ever?) but it no longer overshadowed everything he saw, everything he heard and said, casting black thoughts in place of every light one… he remembered.

"…Chris? Chris daddy's gone now Chris? Chris he's gone Ryan an' Mel an' Nathan an' Jules made him g'way Chris. Chris? Perry he's gone now Perry. Perry? Perry he's gone, Mel kicked him in the place you're not supposed to Chris. Chris Ryan used bad words an' so did Mel an' Leo left so it's okay Chris? Chris? Perry? Chris you're scarin' me an' say something Chris? Perry you don't look good, you look like Bren did so mommy made him soup. Leo's gone now, Perry? Chris please stop it now 's'not funny no more Chris. Chris? Chris he's -"

"It's past your bedtime, Cadey."
Sitting right next to him, she was obviously tired and had been woken up. Most probably by the shouting match he'd just lost to Leo.

"The screaming woke us up."

"It did? Well, I guess we'll have to put you back to bed then, won't we?" He gave her a smile, only a small one; the best he could manage, and picked her up.

"The twins an' Danny have gone alweady. Mel said I should sit wit' you 'cause you'd listen to me 'ventually. Ryan is wit' the twins 'cause Leo was scwary. We don' wan' him back."

Chris nodded to Mel and Jules, sitting with their siblings, and placed Cadey into the other half of the bed she shared with he and Ryan since she wouldn't sleep through the night any other way now. "Why are you calling him Leo? You know mom doesn't like that."

"He's not daddy no more. He's mean. He lied an' he shouted nasty things. Don' need Leo."

"No?" He raised his eyebrows at the independent statement that came from his dependent little sister. He didn't believe that for a minute.

Throwing her short arms around his neck she kissed him on the cheek, temporarily overcoming her disgust with all things 'Boy', "Nope, jus' you. I love you 'cause you're my bruva. An' I love Ry an' Ben and Bren' an' Mel an' Nate an' Evie an' Jules an' Imy an' Danny."

"No one else?"

She shook her head venomously, "No one else."

And more, all the ones he treasured and kept safe were back again...

The crowd was wild. The cheerleaders jumped and clapped and waved their pompoms madly, leading the crowd into epic proportions of clamour. Ten seconds left on the clock. The scores were even in the final moments of the state-wide final. Clarkson with the ball. Passes to Duber. Duber to Halliwell. Halliwell…him!
Dribbling the ball he dodged left and right, right again and left and left and he could see a shot! Three seconds left on the buzzer. There was just enough time. If he missed, they lost. If he scored, they won and they'd go to the nationals.
Halliwell with the ball, he shoots…. He scores!
Swish swish!

"You're remembering things, aren't you?" Caden asked, "Stuff Kalister wouldn't let you see."

"Hmmhmm." Chris sat up for what felt like the first time in days (how long had it been?), "Leo where can we get a basketball?"

Completely thrown, the Elder blinked blankly for a moment and opened his mouth like a goldfish stuck on repeat several times before he came back to himself. "I could probably find you one easy enough, why?"

"It's been about ten years since I played. Think I could knock you flat?"

-

Author's Note: My my! It's been ages! Sorry about that... i will update again by the end of the week to make up! Screw my art exam! -mopes- have i only got two readers now? -pokes the lurkers-

Review Thank You's and Replies To:

Sparkling Cherries: one vote for a spin-off, ay? lol.. i dunno what's going on either, i think it was because Piper was getting all mushy about Leo tucking in their kid and that their other kid was unconscious and tried to kill himself...

TurNArounD: eeeewie... leo... eeeeewie. i never thought of it like that. cause boooooiy is he old!

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 :)