Disclaimer:I do not own Charmed. I own seasons one through seven on DVD and three Charmed books, but I do not own the rights to the actual television show.
Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter, and sorry for the wait. I meant to have this up last Wednesday, but it just didn't work out that way. Enjoy.
"Okay, well then I just have one question." Piper asked, she wasn't quite sure if she really wanted to know the answer.
"By all means, ask away." The man gave a cryptic smile. Piper couldn't tell whether this flustered or angered her. "Why'd you do it?" she asked in a mousy voice, barely audible.
"I truly believed it was for the greater good. And I'm stubborn enough to believe that even in death!"
"You're a smug bastard, Gideon. You murdered my son!"
"Hmm, so the realization finally hits!" Gideon replied with a smirk.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Piper asked, angry and bewildered.
"Oh nothing." He paused, as if trying to find the appropriate words. "It's just that you're finally admitting he's gone. You're no longer in denial about him 'being' with you. The truth is you're worried that as he grows he'll have changed, and it'll be all on your shoulders." Gideon replied chillingly.
Piper didn't have the time or the patience to deal with this; she had two children to tend to and a club to run. What Piper was refusing to admit to herself was that on top of not having the time or patience to deal with this, she didn't feel she had the heart to. Gideon may as well have been reading her mind, because even though she'd never admit it to a soul outside her own, she feared exactly that. She sighed before attempting to storm up the stairs in search of her own way out. It was then that she placed her foot on the first step only to be propelled backwards.
"Oops, seems I should've warned you about that. For the duration of your stay in the void, you will be forced to stay on this level of the house. You see, because your body's stuck here, your soul is too. That means no going upstairs, no leaving the manor, and you're left with absolutely no way to contact those in the living realm." Gideon answered before she even had the chance to ask. "Besides, why would you want to run from our conversation unless I'd struck a nerve?" Gideon taunted. Piper knew he knew it was true, but she wasn't going to him the satisfaction. She remained silent. "Admit it, Piper, the Chris you knew is no longer here." He said. It vexed Piper even more that he seemed to have a resounding echo.
"He is still here, dammit! And you know what? You're right, he will change, he'll be happier!" Piper screamed at the top of her lungs, and had her voice been any higher pitched, only dogs would have been able to hear.
"Oh, I don't know, yes he'll grow up with a father this time around, but you Ms. Piper Halliwell should know better than anyone, you cannot fight Death. Or have you forgotten that the Chris you knew 'had to live with knowing that something happens to you' as you so delicately put it?" Gideon countered.
"No, I haven't forgotten, but we will fight this. He changed a lot, enough to have changed that as well." Piper sighed, approaching this difficult subject with logic.
"Ah, you Halliwell women have always been feisty, but let me point out, you'd have to know when to change it in order to change anything at all." Gideon announced in a 'Holier than thou' voice, as if to say he were all knowing.
"You know, don't you." Piper said, it was a statement rather than a question. "You know when and what happened, and supposedly will happen?" Piper prodded, who knows, maybe Gideon could be of use to her.
"Yes, but I'm not at liberty to tell you that." This information caused Piper to grimace.
"Let's just change the subject." Piper snapped.
"By all means, but what, pray tell, did you have in mind?" Gideon asked in a smooth voice you wouldn't have believed he'd just been torturing her with had you only just started to listen.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe you telling me how to get the hell out of this damn void!" Piper answered, an action she followed with an exasperated sigh.
"I'm afraid that's up to you." Gideon said effortlessly. He was there to guide, not dictate. Piper had to find her own way out.
"I said it to Chris and I'll say it to you, cut the cryptic crap!" Piper was beyond infuriated by now. I mean, she knew her purpose was to bitch, but enough was enough!
"I know what you're thinking and trust me, I'd love for this to end as much as yourself, but until you're meant to finish, you won't. It's as simple as that." Gideon managed to get out in between sighs of boredom.
"Well that's just great!" Piper sighed and plopped down on the couch. "I can't believe we can't leave this floor. Never before did I ever think I'd need a change of scenery this badly!"