"Uh, help me out here. Last time I knew he was a six-foot Whitelighter."
Neurotic
Disclaimer: Charmed does not belong to me.
Summary: His name is not Chris Perry. It's Christopher. Christopher Halliwell.
Delay Warning One: No more "Neurotic" until Thursday. I'm very aware this is a three day break, but if you have issues, raise them with my conductor.
Chapter the Thirty-eighth
"Blank Slate"
They looked up at the door. Paige was a little unnerved suddenly, and she couldn't shake off the feeling. She shared a look with Dan, who was looking just as antsy.
"I'll go first," Paige said quietly, even though she was the one with reserves about this course of action. Dan nodded, and Paige moved to the door, pushing it open with more confidence than she felt.
"Eddie-" Paige started, but stopped in shock when she realised Eddie wasn't sat behind the desk.
Johnny the Gent was.
"Sorry to disappoint you, toots," Johnny drawled lethargically.
Dan managed to pull the gun out, but it was a little too late. Johnny had already cocked his gun directly at Paige's head. Dan swallowed.
"Drop it," Johnny instructed him slowly.
Dan dropped the gun. "Where's Eddie?"
Johnny shrugged. "I sent him out to look for the two of you. I heard you got away from the cops. Too bad you're not gonna get away from me." Before they had time to register the meaning of his words, Johnny casually squeezed the trigger, shooting Dan straight in the chest.
Dan fell to the ground with a muffled cry of pain.
"Dan!"
"Forget about him, Sweetheart," Johnny said, smirking at Paige. "His number's up." Johnny got to his feet, smoothly walking around the desk.
Paige tried not to look too much at Dan's prone body. There was so much blood. Her heart clenched and felt like it had dropped to the pit of her stomach. "Please," she said, locking gazes with Johnny and trying to reason with him, "we just want to get out of here, that's all, I swear." She looked up at the ceiling. "Help?"
"Well, I'm sorry," Johnny said, "but, uh, but if I want to get the Flacon out of Eddie, I can't leave any loose ends hangin' about."
Paige felt herself getting desperate. Where was the last minute clue? The just-in-the-nick-of-time piece of information?
Piper, Phoebe, if THIS is the time you picked to take a toilet break, I'm not a happy bunny. She looked down at Dan, hating the blood that was staining the carpet a darker grey. And this isn't right, it isn't fair, he's here because of us, he shouldn't have to die, and even- even if he was meant to-to-to die, then it shouldn't be here in black-and-white, in the pages of a dumb-ass novel!
"Now listen. In a couple of minutes it's gonna be over for your friend over there, but you- you're a knockout." Johnny held up his gun again. "Please don't make me waste a bullet on you."
Paige was about to answer when the door opened, and Eddie walked hesitantly into the office, his eyes darkening upon noticing Dan lying bleeding on the ground.
"What's going on here?" Eddie demanded, his eyes blazing like fire.
Maybe he has got some backbone after all... Paige realised slowly, flickering another glance at Dan. Her heart felt like it was breaking. Please, please let us out of here okay? I couldn't bear it if he died...
"Eddie," Johnny said smoothly, "I didn't expect you so soon. They, uh, they came looking to get even, for you settin' 'em up."
"That's not true!" Paige instantly defended. "He killed my friend in cold blood, just like he killed your brother!"
"Wha-" Eddie looked completely floored. "What are you talking about?"
Johnny was swift to reassure Eddie, but he was starting to look a little panicked. "Don't listen to her, Eddie. You know the cops killed your brother. You know that."
"That's not true." Paige stood, hands akimbo, projecting a bravado that she did not feel. "You didn't see it, did you Eddie? It's just a story that Johnny's been telling you. Don't you see? He's been playing you from day one. He tried to force your brother into giving him the Falcon, but he wouldn't give it up, so now he's trying to charm you out of it."
"That's it," Johnny said, cocking his gun, "say goodnight, Gracie." Johnny moved to fire his gun, but there was a shot before he squeezed the trigger. Johnny yelped and dropped the gun, holding his hand as if it had been burnt. He looked down at Dan, who was weakly grasping the gun, in shock.
"What the hell?"
Paige exhaled hard, relieved. "I could really use a flashback right about now," she muttered. When nothing happened, she sighed. Her sisters really must have picked a really bad time for a toilet break. She went for a different tact. "Eddie, I have a confession to make."
"Yeah?" Eddie was trembling.
"I-I was there the day your brother was killed," Paige said, her eyes downcast. Dan was flashing a sleepy what the hell? expression at her, and Johnny was looking a little perterbed.
"Okay, now you're definitely lying," Johnny hissed.
"I want to hear her out," Eddie said, somewhat unsteadily.
"I saw Johnny shoot Dan, Eddie," Paige said, her voice trembling. "I've been too scared to come forward to the cops, but you know how powerful Johnny is. He'd ha' killed me if I had." She begged Eddie with her eyes to believe her. "Johnny told Dan that he knew Dan had the Falcon, Dan wouldn't tell Johnny, so Johnny declared that he'd get the Falcon from you, one way or another, and shot Dan twice. Called him a sucker, too."
Eddie swallowed hard, and looked edgily at Johnny.
Johnny looked definitely spooked. "You're not gonna believe some broad over me? Some broad you barely know? Hell, she hardly sounds innocent to me! If she'd really seen that, she should have come forward and tried to help your brother, don't you think?"
The word innocent struck something deep inside Paige. Something on Eddie's face reminded her of our own childhood, of what Dan had told her of his own childhood. Dan was right, Eddie is an innocent... "Eddie," she said, fighting to keep her voice steady, "you have to stop punishing yourself. This is not your fault. Your brother would not want you to live this way as if you were in some kind of prison. He would have wanted you to grow up, to live your life, to become part of the real world."
In the background, sounds of sirens grew louder.
"Cops," Johnny snarled, "okay, that's it!" He lurched forwards and grabbed Paige, putting his hands around her neck. She struggled. "You give me the Falcon now or I will snap her pretty little neck."
"Don't!" Paige gasped. "It's your only way out!"
"I'll do it!" Eddie yelled. Johnny stopped squeezing so hard, but Paige still couldn't get loose. "All right, all right, don't hurt her. I'll give it to you."
"This had better not be a trick, kid," Johnny said, eyeballing Eddie viciously.
"It's not," Eddie said. "I should have done this a long time ago." Eddie walked past them and headed over to the wall. Removing the picture frame to reveal a safe, Eddie quickly unlocked it and pulled out the Burmese Falcon.
"Where did you find it?" Johnny demanded, yanking Paige with him to glance closer at the Falcon. Outside the sirens halted, and the sound of car doors slamming open and closed rose into the air.
"Doesn't matter," Eddie said morosely. "All that matters is that no one else dies because of it. Let her go."
"Give it to me," Johnny commanded, his eyes wild. "I gotta go."
"You can't," Paige said desperately. "This isn't the way the story is supposed to end."
"Trust me," Eddie said, and he sounded so tired and looked so small and fragile that Paige's heart went out to him. "It is."
"Give it to me!" Johnny barked.
With a look of triumph tinged with an open regret, Eddie lifted the Falcon high above his head. Amidst Johnny's desperate "no, no, no, no, no!" Eddie smashed the Falcon down on the floor. A blinding white light appeared in a whirlwind, engulfing the whole room, and then Johnny was gone, the room was gone, the black and white was gone, and Paige, Dan and Eddie were in the manor's attic.
"Oh, my god!" Paige dropped to her knees at Dan's side, watching the blood gush out of his wound in horror. His face was contorted in pain. She brought her hands up, and willed with all her strength for her healing power to kick in. She felt a brief flash of triumph as a golden glow fell from her hands onto Dan, but it wasn't enough, it was only for a second, and it only lessened the blood flow. Paige started to call for Chris, then remembered he couldn't heal. "LEO! LEO!"
Moments later, Leo orbed into the attic. He was wearing his gold robes and looked serene, but when he looked down at Dan, his expression slid into the realms of worry. Leo bent down and healed Dan.
"Hey, we're in colour," Dan said blearily.
Tears in her eyes, Paige smiled down at him. "Don't try and move," she instructed him. She looked up at Leo. "Thanks."
Leo nodded. His face was drawn. "Where have you been? Piper's been worried sick."
"I was-" Paige opened her mouth, slightly gob-smacked. "Didn't they see us being sucked into the book?"
Leo blinked at her. "Book?"
"Yes!" Paige said, incredulous. "That book-" She turned to gesture at where the book had been, but it wasn't there. She frowned and turned back to Leo. "The book we came out of! Eddie will tell you, won't you-" She turned to find Eddie, but he wasn't there either. She frowned, hopelessly lost. "But he was just there!"
"He was," Dan affirmed. "His name was Eddie Mullen."
"Leo," Paige said softly. "How long have we been gone?"
"About three weeks." Leo looked at her, troubled. "I don't know whether I should be the one to tell you this..."
"What?" Instantly Paige was worried. Dan managed to get up into a sitting position, and he took her hand in his. She felt comforted by the gesture, but a sudden sickness had taken hold of her. Leo looked suddenly so much older all of a sudden.
"Uh- Just over two weeks ago, Phoebe-" Leo's voice cracked.
Paige felt the floor shift beneath her. "Phoebe what?" She demanded, although her heart already supplied the answer for her. She felt as if the world had slipped from beneath her. "Phoebe what, Leo?"
"She's dead." Leo breathed the answer rather than said it, but had he shouted it, Paige couldn't have heard it any clearer. She stared at him in horror.
"Dead? But, that's not, I would have known-" Her speech was fragmentary, but she knew she couldn't break down. "How's Piper-how's she taking it?"
"She's managing," Leo said softly. "Chris has been a great help, he and Paul have taken over running P3 for her. Cole's been trying to help, but he's a nervous wreck too, and-"
"Wait a minute, Cole?" Indignation and confusion welled up, overpowering the grief she felt for a moment. "Cole Cole? Demon Cole? Source of all evil Cole? Phoebe's ex-demon husband Cole?"
"Yeah," Leo said, blinking, obviously confused at her outburst. "Cole Turner."
"But he- he's dead!" Paige felt even more perplexed when Leo burst out laughing.
"Dead, yeah- He might find that amusing, actually," Leo said, shaking his head. Paige looked at Dan, who shrugged as if to say I don't ever have a clue what Leo goes on about.
"Is Piper downstairs?" Paige eventually demanded.
Leo closed his eyes and then opened them. "Yes."
"Fine." Paige got to her feet, and stormed past Leo.
Running down the stairs, Paige began to run through all the possibilities. Had Eddie ending the plot flung them into some alternate reality? If so, meeting with Piper should confirm it, and then she could look for a spell to get into her reality... Cole was alive, and Phoebe was dead? Maybe this was an alternate reality where Phoebe couldn't vanquish Cole, and maybe killed herself instead? But from what Leo said, it sounded as if they were on close terms with Cole, and Paige couldn't picture them being real close to Cole if he caused Phoebe's death...
"Piper?"
Hurrying into the sitting room, Paige saw Piper sat on the couch. Even though Piper was now heavily, heavily pregnant (which Paige was quite relieved to see – one point scored against the alternate reality theory) she looked so small against the couch.
"Paige!" Piper turned her face to Paige, a small smile breaking through her sombre expression. Paige dropped down to Piper's feet, her hand on Piper's knees, her eyes beseeching Piper's for confirmation.
"Is it true? Is Phoebe-"
At the mention of Phoebe's name, Piper flinched. She lowered her eyes, and nodded.
"Oh, god. Oh god, oh god..." Paige's mind fluttered wildly through a thousand different scenarios. "Uh, did Chris' or Paul's memories change?" She asked. "You know, with their whole pasts changing like this..."
Piper looked up at her confusedly.
"They mentioned that Phoebe had a child," Paige said, hoping to prompt Piper's brain into working. "Just a thought..."
"Phoebe didn't have a child," Piper said slowly, looking at Paige as if she were completely insane. "Paige, where have you been for the last three weeks?"
"In a book," Paige said impatiently. "Well, I'll just call Chris myself... is he at the club or out on one of his demon quests?"
"Demon quests?" Piper looked confused. "Why would Chris be out on a demon quest?"
"Oh, I don't know," Paige said, a little sarcastically, but she blamed the edge on just finding out Phoebe was dead. It still hadn't completely sunk in yet. "Maybe because ina week's time?- yeah, it'll be a week's time something's going to happen to turn Wyatt evil."
Piper looked at her now in complete bafflement. "Paige, did you hit your head?"
Suddenly suspicious, Paige looked at her. "No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm damn sure!" Paige exploded. "Why?"
"Then who's Wyatt?"
"Who's Wyatt?" Paige glanced at her in disbelief. "Your first born child?"
"I'm carrying my first born child!" Piper looked suddenly angry. "Who the hell are you? 'cause you're not my sister! LEO! LEO!"
"What?" Paige got to her feet and stumbled backwards, holding her hands up protectively.
Leo hurried down the stairs, Dan in tow.
"What?" Leo said.
"This isn't our Paige," Piper said, her voice law in warning, her hands extended as if to use her power on Paige.
"Wait a minute!" Paige exclaimed.
"She said that I already had a baby called Wyatt who would be turned evil!" Piper said in disbelief.
"But that's prepostorous!" Leo moved edgily closer to Piper. "Could she be from the future? Chris and Paul came from the future, but that was to warn us about the Titans..."
"But-" Paige started.
"Get out. Get out! You're not my sister, so stop parading around as if you are! Don't you think I've lost enough in the last couple of weeks to have you parading this shit around me? Get out!"
Paige stared in absolute horror as Piper exploded at her. She did the only thing that occurred to her, that managed to filter through her brain. Grabbing Dan, her mind whirling in horror, she did as Piper shouted and left.
T-15
