The Ties That Bind
Chapter Twenty-Three
Piper watched Chris and Cadey playing in the backyard and at Wyatt in his highchair. For a week nothing awful had happened.
Seven whole days.
Of course Chris was still hell bent on his crusade to keep Wyatt good, and Leo was still an Elder. But for the minute at least (and she still could not bring herself to extend that to the next hour) her entire family was under one roof: Leo, standing behind her with his hands around her belly, Paige in the living room chatting with Richard, and Phoebe in her bedroom getting ready for a date with Jason.
Finally the two had reconciled.
Was it too good to be true?
Baby Chris, due in five months, kicked.
Well is that a yes or a no, little guy? She thought with a smile.
"The Elders are still debating my request," Leo started, like he was reading her mind, "Gideon is being strangely obstinate, I don't understand him…"
"What's he doing, honey?"
"It's not what he's doing, it's what he's saying. He's adamant that I remain an Elder, that I return again for good."
"Again."
"Yah. Again."
"You know, if you want to…"
Leo cut her off with a spin and a kiss.
"I don't want to. I want to be with you and our family. That's all I've ever wanted, Piper; you know that."
"But you love being an Elder so much…"
The expected jingle rang through the air, persistent. The final trial to decide Leo's fate. They'd had a week to prepare, but it wasn't enough.
"You don't have to worry about me changing my mind ever again, Piper, lets just leave it at that."
Caden screamed as Chris tickled her to the floor and Piper still her racing heart with the reassurance that they were not screams of terror, or pain.
"We still haven't saved the future." Leo continued.
"We've saved Chris for now though," she sighed, "I just have no idea how to keep them all that way Leo. I mean, this is the first time Chris has stayed for any length of time all week! How can I, how can we keep him safe if we don't know where he is?"
"He's doing what he came here to do, honey, you know -"
All too familiar jingles floated to their ears again, causing Leo to tense, "They've called the trial. I have to go."
"Come home soon, okay?"
Outside, the games had stopped. Chris and Caden stood in the doorway, gazing unhappily at their father.
"Can we talk to you for a minute? Before you go?" Caden asked.
"In the garden?" Chris added.
"Okay sweetie." Kissing Piper gently he walked out into the garden, shutting the door soundly and leaving Piper behind to worry about their family, and for once, not where their relationship was going.
Leo took in their serious, worried expressions; so contrasting to the laughter he'd heard not a minute earlier, and sobered considerably. "What's wrong?"
"We want you to know something before you go to the Trial -"
"Because we might not see you again -"
"And we think you should know -"
"Just tell me."
"In our future, you die too."
"When?
"Two months before I came to the past. Wyatt decided he'd had enough of you. We think you were the last whitelighter too."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Extra incentive?"
"Sorta like, please don't get yourself killed?"
"And because, if you do stay an Elder, you'll be safer."
"But I won't be a dad to you and your brothers. I will be home as soon as I can, do you hear me? I will come home to you, and your mom, and Wyatt, even if I have to clip my wings to do it. Okay? I promise."
-
"Pizza is so good."
"Eat with your mouth closed then."
"You do it."
"I'm a guy."
"So?"
"Yuck. Thanks Cadey."
"Shuddup." Pulling over the remote without any hands, and ignoring Chris' rolling eyes as she did so, Caden started channel flicking. Since Piper was taking a nap and Wyatt had been in bed asleep for many hours, Chris was in charge of taking care of Caden. That meant giving in to her pleas of staying up 'just five more minutes' and take-out pizza. Plain. Because she didn't like pepperoni, he didn't like mushrooms and neither of them liked pineapple, so it was just so much easier.
Last time he checked Phoebe and Paige were in the attic, still trying to guess at the spell Kalister used on him to lock in the emotions he felt in the past.
Minutes blended into hours as the marathon of some old, though not old in the past as they were now he supposed, continued. Friends. Three women and three men and a coffee shop, basically.
Somebody screamed in the attic, and it was closely followed by another and panicked shouts.
Chris and Cadey jumped up in one movement and orbed to the source in the next.
"Oh my God! Who are they?" Phoebe and Paige were knelt over two limp, pale bodies sprawled awkwardly over the hardwood floor, desperately trying to revive them.
Both future-children froze.
"Chris that's -"
"I know who they are. It's okay. It's okay. Pheeb's and Paige will fix this -"
"Where's Leo?" Paige cried over the body of the girl and boy.
She knew who it was.
They'd all seen his memories.
There was no mistake.
"LEO!"
Jules and Ryan.
Dead.
"He's Up There, no one can reach him." Piper said, resting her hands on each of their shoulders, "Wyatt?"
"Who else?" Chris spat bitterly, never taking his eyes off the bodies of his last brother and cousin.
"There's a note," said Phoebe, letting Paige go reluctantly and unpinning the perfectly folded paper, "It says 'Two down and one to go. The Resistance got boring, I warned you. Wyatt'."
"One to go? Who does he mean?"
"Cadey." He replied distractedly, "He'll never kill me. He just wants to set me on edge."
"He's doing a pretty could job."
-
Author's Note: As promised, the second update of the week! -prod's the lurkers harder-
Review Thank You's and Replies To:
Sparkling Cherries: lol! your reviews make me laugh :)
ilovedrew88: heheheh yeh the babbling thing i got from the sister's. I can be genetic LOL!
IMPORTANT
Okay, the kid between Caden and the twins has DRAWN with Ryan's twin. So... feel free to vote again... LOL... i just need three people to vote! or even one i suppose, because i'll add them to the tally i already have (2 each!)
