Disclaimer: I just checked… I still don't own Chris and Wyatt Halliwell or Charmed. I'm not making any money writing this. I'm just making a bit of free entertainment for myself and others that may be interested in reading it.

Author's Note: I'm not completely satisfied with how this turned out yet… there's so much that I want to tweak it and make it better. Ya'll can tell me what you think, but anyway, here's the next installment. One more chapter to go after this one.

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Destined: The Charmed Sons

Episode 1.1, Pilot: The Crucible

Chapter Six

The phone started ringing again and Wyatt got ready to go answer it. Chris shook his head, "It's probably Mom, calling us back. Let the machine get it. I want to know what this business is about a new power. Is that the reason you decided to try to get yourself killed?"

Wyatt sat back down on the couch, "Yes and no."

Chris didn't exactly like that response and crossed his arms over his chest. He was still on the floor from where Wyatt had shoved him, but sitting up now and keeping his older brother fixed with his emerald stare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I left because you were right about me not wanting to clean up, but I also wanted to look into the lead D.J. got without bothering you. While we were doing that--"

"He saw Andrea again," D.J. chimed in. At a look from Wyatt, the half-manticore leaned back against the couch again, made a zipper motion across his lips, and then mimed placing a lock there and throwing an imaginary key over his shoulder.

"While we were doing that, I got a premonition in the church where the witch was killed and--"

Now it was Chris's turn to interrupt, "Wait, you saw Andrea Payton today? As in Andrea the only girl you have ever cleaned your room for out of your own free will ever Andrea?"

"Yes, Chris," Wyatt said, "As I was saying, while we were in the church, I got a premonit--"

"Andrea that somehow managed to render you incapable of coherent speech more times than I can count Andrea? We're talking about the girl that walks through walls and had you on cloud nine for almost two years to the point that you didn't date anyone else Andrea?" Chris inquired from the floor. His earlier worried anger at Wyatt nearly getting himself killed had been pushed to the back of his mind. "Andrea that broke u--"

Wyatt ground his teeth together, "YES! Okay, yes, Chris. I saw Andrea today and she gave me her number again. I thought you wanted to hear this?"

Chris smiled and leaned back on his palms, "Just making sure. By all means, continue…"

Sometimes, Wyatt really wanted to smack his little brother. "I can't decide who you're more like. Mom or Aunt Paige. Are you finished now? Okay then, I was saying that in the middle of the premonition, something changed. The first part was like they've always been. Hazy black and white flashes of images, but then all of a sudden, I felt like I was actually there. Color, sound, everything almost like I somehow astral projected myself into the future. It was weird…"

Chris frowned, his brow creasing as he looked up at his brother, getting a read off of him as he described the experience. "So… your power advanced…"

Wyatt nodded, and unthinkingly rubbed his neck. Chris and D.J. probably both thought that the gesture had something to do with getting hit by the dart, but Wyatt was thinking about the axe. Weird and frightening rolled into one. "I'd say. I saw the murder happen - told that to Andy."

Chris smirked. Wyatt ignored him and continued, "What I didn't tell the cops was that I'd seen a courthouse set up for a ritual of some kind, because I wanted to investigate it with D.J. We searched a bunch of them, finally found the right one… I got another of the weird premonitions…"

"Future Projections," Chris said.

"What?" Wyatt asked.

"Future Projections," his younger brother repeated, "You really should've listened to Dad more in those History of Magic lectures he was always giving us. If what you say you're doing is what I think you're doing, the correct term is 'Future Projection' not 'weird premonition'."

Wyatt sighed, seeing that now that his brother had decided he had the upper hand from saving his rear, Chris wasn't going to let it go. He might not be on the verge of throwing objects around the room telekinetically anymore, but he was still making sure Wyatt knew he'd messed up in his own smart-ass way. Wyatt folded his arms over his broad chest and gave Chris another 'You done?' expression.

"I got another of the weird premonitions," Wyatt said, enunciating it purposefully. He was satisfied at the frustrated sigh that came from his brother and then he continued, "when I picked up some papers that had foreign writing on them. I was going to show them to D.J. to see if he could make anything of it, when I saw in the vision someone opening the door and shooting some darts at us. One hit D.J. Then when I came out of it, the door did open. I shoved D.J. out of the way… and shortly after I was out cold and waking up here on the couch."

D.J. was still being quiet and behaving just as if he had locked his lips and thrown away the key. Arms over his chest, listening to the Halliwell brothers.

Chris pushed himself up off the floor and looked at Wyatt, "And that was it? Nothing else?"

"That's it," Wyatt said.

Chris must have caught the note in his voice that said he was trying to hide something. Or it could have been something through the brotherly bond they shared that just let the younger sibling know there was something being left out. Wyatt saw the skeptical raising of Chris's eyebrows and the searching tilt of his head. "Really?"

Wyatt hesitated and now D.J. was sitting straighter and looking at him to see what he was holding back too. "In the first premonition… I saw a big guy, the same one that killed the other witches, with an axe standing over me. I…" Wyatt hesitated as both Chris and D.J. were giving him intense green-eyed stares, "…I felt the axe strike home."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hit the break. Rewind!" D.J. burst out, breaking his vow of silence as he jumped off of the couch to look at Wyatt, "You felt yourself being beheaded and you took us on a mad hunt all over Salem to look for the place that it happened? Are you NUTS?!"

Chris was wondering the same thing as he looked at his brother, boggling over the idiocy of that behavior. His teeth ground together and his temper started to rise again. Horror mingled with fury, but it was the anger that won out for now. The television fell over with a loud boom and the crash of breaking glass with its screen. D.J. darted a glance to it, but other than giving a small jump, Wyatt ignored it, jabbing a finger at the half-manticore.

Wyatt immediately went on the defensive, getting to his feet as well, "Hey now! I was trying to find it so that we could go to stop any other witches from being killed!"

"Yeah, by getting yourself killed!" D.J. blurted, then his eyes went wide behind his glasses, "You knew that nut job with the axe might be there! I would never have let you go there if I'd know that Wyatt! Do you have any idea how close I was to having that psycho ruin my boyish good looks trying to get to you? Do you? Because you were out cold, so I don't think you're really getting the severity of the situation we were in."

All three of them were on their feet now. D.J. and Wyatt glaring at each other. Chris was silent. Too silent. Some of the books on the bookshelves began shifting while Chris clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides.

"Maybe you think you're invincible T.B. but I know for a fact that I am not unbreakable! Are you trying to compete with your little brother for the Reckless Witch award this year? Cause, ya know, if you are you're doing a great job!"

"I saved you from getting shot!" Wyatt shouted back.

"Yeah, only to get shot yourself so that I had to drag your heavy ass into a storeroom and get cornered by lunatics out to kill you!"

Several books flew off the bookshelf, their pages flapping as they flew past D.J. and Wyatt's heads. The couch that was no longer being used for sitting, lifted off the floor and dropped back down onto the floor with a booming thud that had both Wyatt and D.J. fall absolutely silent after flinching. Two sets of eyes looked at Chris.

"If the two of you are finished sniping at each other, we have work to do," Chris barked. He crossed over to the phone, picked it up and carried it over to thrust at Wyatt, "You Daredevil, are going to call the cops and tell them the location of this place you went to so that they can investigate it."

"You want me to call Andy?" Wyatt asked in disbelief.

"You do have her number don't you?" Chris inquired back, heat tingeing his words.

Wyatt sighed and pulled the piece of paper from his back pocket and took the phone from Chris. It was more like he was snatching it out of his younger brother's hands, his blue eyes narrowed, "Why can't we look into this together and not get the cops involved?"

"Because, Wyatt. This isn't a demon problem this is a human one. Let the cops handle it. We don't do serial murderers…"

"We do when their victims are witches," Wyatt retorted.

The dishes in the kitchen began to clatter loudly in the cabinets.

D.J. shrunk back again as the two brothers started yet again bickering with one another. He really didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Not when televisions and couches could become projectiles. D.J. couldn't stop the thought of thankfulness that Chris wasn't a firestarter.

Chris shook his head, "Not when you could wind up being one of them!"

"Is that what this is about?" Wyatt asked incredulously.

"That's exactly what this is about Wyatt!" Chris shouted, the remaining living room lamp flew of its end table, just missing Wyatt's head.

Wyatt watched the lamp smash into the ground and then moved over to Chris, squaring off to his full height as he glared down at him. "I'm the big brother, Chris, I'm supposed to protect you not the other way around."

"I don't know, I think I remember Mom telling us to watch out for each other when you decided to move out here," Chris said, "And after today, I think she was right. What have you been doing the last two years, Wy? Running headlong into danger without thinking about it? This isn't like you!"

D.J. swallowed hard and took a few more steps back from the brothers. The dishes in the kitchen were clattering louder within the cabinets. Chris and Wyatt didn't seem to notice that all Chris's hard work cleaning up the apartment earlier was being sent to ruin. Wyatt had his fists balled up at his side staring his little brother down.

"I thought we were done fighting about this, I apologized!" Wyatt said, "TWICE!"

Chris raked his hands through his hair, and blew out a frustrated breath, "That was before I realized that you'd had a premonition of yourself dying!" The words were out, snapped, and Chris's anger dissipated like a pricked bubble. The thought of his brother nearly being beheaded… fear knifed its way back in harshly and the clattering of dishes stopped abruptly. Chris's fear and worry about Wyatt had won out and extinguished the anger.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry again, but I'm not going to let this go. We don't know that this isn't demonic, even if D.J. said earlier that the Underworld thinks that it isn't," Wyatt said quietly, "There was a girl in the first vision that burst into flames. I'm thinking Warlock."

"At least call Andy for help," Chris said, deflated, "Let her know what we're doing so that the cops will be able to back us up? If you don't want to call her, I will…"

Wyatt handed Chris the phone and the slip of paper with Detective Payton's number. Chris rolled his eyes and dialed it, waiting for the ring. It rang twice and a man's voice answered the other end. Chris frowned, "Um, is Andrea Payton there?"

"The Detective is a little bit tied up right now, but messages are being accepted," the voice said, "May I ask who is calling?"

Chris's brow furrowed and both Wyatt and D.J. tried to lean towards the phone simultaneously to hear. "Chris Halliwell," he said.

"Mr. Halliwell. Would you please tell your brother that the Detective is fine and that he should know where he can reach her."

The young witchlighter frowned as he heard the 'click' and then the dial tone. "Does her secretary always take her messages so oddly?"

"Andy doesn't have a secretary," D.J. says, "What did they say?"

"Well, they said to tell Wy that Andy was fine and that he'd know where he could reach her," Chris said, putting the phone down.

Wyatt scratched his hand through his blonde hair, "Until today I haven't spoken to her in three years. If anyone would know where to look for her, it would be D.J. Not me. He's been keeping in touch with her and kind of forgot to mention it to me until this morning."

D.J. shrugged, "The police department on Margin Street and there's this coffee shop on Derby Street that she goes to that I met her at once last year."

"No, the guy specifically said that Wy would know where to find her," Chris said.

"That's just ridiculous. She's probably just got that partner of hers yanking my chain to have a little fun with me because I haven't talked to her since my Freshmen year at San Francisco St---" Wyatt cut off, "---she's there."

Chris raised an eyebrow at his brother, the last of his temper dissipating into confusion, "Andy wants you to meet her at SFU?"

"For someone so smart, you sure can be dumb some times Chris. Not there… there. They've got her," Wyatt said, grabbing his brother's hand. He started to grab D.J.'s hand, but the shaggy-haired man pulled it away from his grasp.

"No, way… I'll shimmer," the half-manticore said.

"We need to go now D.J. We don't have time for you to get your sea legs back," Wyatt said. He reached for D.J. but as he did the other man rippled into nothingness, shimmering away.

D.J. shimmered back a second later, "You were out for a while Wyatt. I've got my sea legs back already. Let's go. I don't want to be caught unable to get out of there if I need to." D.J. shimmered away again.

A second later, the two witchlighters followed in a funnel of white light.

---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------

Samara Hayley unlocked her door and stuck her head out into the third floor hallway. What on earth was that racket coming from next door? There was another loud and final sounding thud, a short moment later another crash, and the sound of raised voices. The honey-eyed woman blinked, looking at the door to apartment 3A with bewildered curiosity and growing concern.

She frowned when everything went completely silent again. "I've heard of sibling rivalry, but this takes the cake," Samara said, slipping out of her apartment.

She walked over to the Halliwell's apartment and rapped her knuckles against the door, "Chris, it's Samara from next door. I don't mean to be a nosy neighbor, but I heard a bunch of noise and I was just wondering if everything was okay."

When there was no response she knocked again, concern knitting her brow. "Chris?"

"Sammy girl, what are you doing?" she whispered under her breath, "It's none of your business. None of your bloody business. The boy hardly even knows you. Quit being a busy body."

Wrinkling her nose at the door to the Halliwell's apartment, she just hoped that her decision not to try harder to intervene didn't result in her reading about a body in the paper tomorrow. "They're brothers. They won't kill each other," she muttered to herself as she walked back to her own apartment. She and her older brother got into arguments all the time growing up. Never quite so loud, but then that was probably just the difference between a younger sister and an older brother fighting and two brothers. She certainly hoped that they wouldn't kill each other.

Samara sighed, walked back to the Halliwell's door and knocked again, "Chris? Are you and your brother okay?" Of course they were okay. They just didn't want their nosy new neighbor butting into their problems. Samara drew back from the door and ran her hands through her hair; "You just met the guy this morning, Samara. It's not time to play Good Samaritan yet, you hardly know each other. Maybe they're just redecorating." She rationalized, "He did tell you that his parents were coming over."

That caused the woman to blush slightly and she called to the door, "Sorry! Just hope everything's all right. I'm going back to my apartment now…"

That was exactly what she did. With one last imploring look at the Halliwell's apartment, she closed her door. A second later came the sounds of her locks clicking.

---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------

"Five-foot-six, long blonde hair, very slender… she… she was wearing a gray sweater and blue jeans when I last saw her," a woman was saying into the phone as she sat in a stark office room, "She may have been with a young man. Six feet, dark hair…"

The door into the office opened and the large man entered, still carrying the hafted axe in his hand, "It's time." When he saw her on the phone, he grabbed it from her hand and hung it up. He grabbed her wrist and tightened his grip on it so that she squirmed when she looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"I was calling the police. Abigail is missing," the woman said.

"She's not missing. She's dead," the man said, releasing her wrist roughly.

"What?!" the woman asked, horrified, "When? How?"

"Last night," he said, "I killed her."

"You what?!" she shrieked, wide eyed.

"I killed her. She betrayed us for that boy. That witch. They were going to try to stop this together, did you realize that? She was going to stop us. Our own daughter. Our traitorous daughter."

"You… you didn't… she didn't… she…"

"I did what had to be done," he said hotly, "I came to tell you it's time. Call the police back and tell them it was a false alarm. She just got in. You're sorry that you bothered them. Then pull yourself together and get down stairs. The last link will be here soon."

He slammed the door behind him when he left the office.

---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------

Chris grabbed Wyatt's shoulder and pulled him back from the door he was about to open. The dark-haired witch whispered at him, "Thinking before acting, Wyatt… can we come up with a plan before we barge in there? Preferably one that doesn't end in you becoming some sort of human sacrifice."

D.J. was standing behind the two of them in a small, darkened office on the main floor of the courthouse. It had just started to rain outside, drizzling spatter falling from the sky as the front began to come in. D.J. frowned out the window.

Wyatt turned and looked at his brother, "I suppose you have some sort of plan?"

Chris shook his head, "No, but give me a chance to think about it before you do something rash and put all of our heads on the chopping block." Just saying that made Chris wince and he saw the flash of emotion in Wyatt's eyes too that spoke of apology. "Okay, poor choice of words. Where do you think they're keeping her?"

"Basement," Wyatt said simply, "Look Chris, I don't have time for you to run every possible scenario. I may still have some issues with Andy that I need to work out, but it's my fault that she's involved in this in the first place."

"How do you figure that?" Chris asked, "She's a cop, Wy, she was already involved, investigating the murders…"

"Yeah, but these guys wouldn't have connected her to me if they hadn't seen us together this morning," Wyatt said, resting his hand on the doorknob, he looks over his shoulder towards the third member of their party, "D.J. what's so fascinating outside?"

"Just a squad car that pulled up in the parking lot. It's the only one out there and the officers are just sitting in it. Not sure that it means anything. This is a courthouse, they may just be doing a routine stop to make sure nothing is amiss," D.J. said finally turning away, "Or they're having a doughnut break."

Chris is standing, one hand still on Wyatt's arm, but he's silent now with his brow knitted together in thought. "Okay, if they have Andy in the basement and they're expecting you to go after her… We know this is obviously a trap. How about we spring it?"

Wyatt blinked, looking at his brother in disbelief, "What?"

"I second that 'what'," D.J. added, looking over his shoulder at Chris and trying to figure out what was going on in that dark-haired head of his.

"Well, they're expecting you to fall for it. They know you know it's a trap. They know you're probably not alone, so they're probably prepared," Chris said, the wheels turning now. Unfortunately neither Wyatt nor D.J. were following whatever scheme it was that the younger witch was envisioning.

"Chris… I thought you said yo--"

"Don't worry, Wy," Chris said with a roughish grin, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Just then a woman's scream ripped through the building from the basement, causing all three young men's eyes to go wide. D.J. rushed to the window to see if the cops had heard. They had to have heard that. But they both still sat in their seats in the squad car as though the sound hadn't left the building. Chris looked towards D.J. and the window too, releasing Wyatt's arm.

"Wyatt!" Chris hissed as he heard the door close, "…shit… I wasn't finished…"

"Uh, Chris…" D.J. said, "We've got company…"

---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------

Wyatt was running down the hallway with his thoughts racing. He knew he was running into a trap with Andrea as the bait and he didn't care. He'd gotten her into this mess. He also knew he was potentially running straight towards his own death. Chris was going to be furious, especially when he realized that Wyatt had telekinetically locked the door. He was waiting for the chiming sound that would be Chris orbing in front of him, irritated at this uncharacteristic rash behavior he was displaying. He was surprised when it didn't happen, but Wyatt didn't have time to worry about that. It probably had to do with his little brother's Master Plan. Wyatt would just focus on Andy.

He jerked the basement door open and then caught himself. He was being rash. Drawing a centering breath, Wyatt closed the door behind him gently and began a cautious and creeping descent down the stairs and into a short hallway. There were three doors, but only one was the set of double doors that could be leading into the room he'd been in with D.J. earlier. Hesitating halfway down the stairs, Wyatt cautiously looked up and down the dim hall. There was no one there.

Another scream came from beyond the double-doors, ripping through the hallway. "Andy," Wyatt breathed under his breath. Then, a creak from the step behind him. Wyatt started to turn and felt someone's hands shove against his back that sent the Twice Blessed witch in a head over heals tumble down the last several stairs. He grunted as he hit the concrete ground at the bottom, the wind knocked from his lungs and winced.

A tall slender man was walking down the steps, buttoning black robes over a gray business suit. It was the man that had told them earlier that the place was closed. Wyatt pushed himself up onto his palms, trying to shake the stars out of his head. The business man, pulled a Venetian mask down over his face as he reached the bottom step.

The last thing Wyatt saw was a booted foot headed towards his face and he had a thought of, not again, before blackness sent his golden-haired head dropping against the ground.

---------------------------Fade to Black------------------------

When Wyatt opened his eyes again, his head was pounding. He blinked his eyes and groaned softly as his hazy vision gradually began to come into focus. He was staring up at the ceiling of a dimly lit room, a very familiar ceiling. Wyatt jerked immediately, trying to get up, but quickly found out what he already knew. His arms and legs had been bound spread eagle to stakes in the floor.

Orb. Orb! He commanded himself, shutting his eyes. He felt himself start to dematerialize and then cried out loudly at the electric shock that pulsed through him and caused him to drop back still. Some sort of crystal cage like those he and his brother used on demons. He opened his eyes and panted. Craning his head to the side he looked around the room, only lit by flickering candle light. Chris, he thought furiously. Where was his little brother? Wyatt grimaced. The necklaces weren't at the points around him yet. That had to be a good thing, right? It meant he still had some time left.

Wyatt called out, quietly, "Chris…" It didn't matter if it was a quietly spoken word, his brother should still hear him. Wyatt heard soft sounds coming from behind him and he arched his neck back so that he could look towards them. He grimaced when he saw.

Andrea was tethered to one of the two large altar tables, tears running down her face while she looked towards him, "…They're coming back Wyatt… I can't get out of the ropes. I don't know what they did, but I can't get out of the ropes. I've tried, they keep shocking the hell out of me."

"I'm really sorry about this Andy…"

"Yeah, well, what's new?" Andrea tossed at him, leaning her dark haired head back against the altar.

The door leading into the chamber opened and Wyatt lifted his head as much as he could to watch the shadowed figures file in and take places in front of the benches that lined the back of the room. Five moved to the front of the room wearing colored robes. One red, one blue, one green, one white, one gray, and each of the five carried pendants dangling on chains in their upward facing palms. The last figure to enter the room was a large man that Wyatt recognized from his premonitions. "…damn it Chris, where the hell are you?" Wyatt whispered under his breath as he struggled against the bonds holding him down again.

One by one the figures in the colored robes placed their necklaces before taking their places at the front of the room.

"…Wyatt, what's going on? Wyatt?!" Andrea asked sharply, she sucked in a breath when she saw the man with the axe her eyes going wide. She tried to get out of her own ties and the pulse that shocked through her left her breathless, "Wyatt…"

"Where is the brother? You were supposed to bring him." the man with the axe asked. The figure in the red robes shook its head and ran a finger across its throat.

"WHAT?!" Wyatt shouted, trying to orb free of his bonds again and the Twice Blessed Witch screamed as the shock pulsed through him and brought him right back into position.

The man with the axe narrowed his eyes at the red robed figure; "We will discuss the matter of your impatience later. We have the one we need to complete the circle."

He drug the axe along the ground, moving to the place that Wyatt had seen him in the vision and Wyatt's heart started hammering against his ribs. Chris wasn't dead. Chris couldn't be dead. He… he would know… he would… wouldn't he? Wyatt locked his jaw and looked up at the man hefting the axe over his head.

"Terra. Aria. Fuoco. Acqua. Spirito. Anima potente della strega angelic," the man intoned. "L'potenza magica viene a coloro che attende."

"L'potenza magica viene a coloro che attende," the congregation gathered around repeated.

Andrea had her head turned so that she was looking at Wyatt, but when the large man began to bring the axe down she had to turn her head away with a scream. Wyatt didn't move, glaring up at his would-be killer in defiance.

And suddenly the axe was no longer descending towards his head. Instead the large man was hurtling through the air across the room to smack against the wall. Wyatt blinked in shocked surprise and craned his neck towards the figure that had done it. A grin flashed over his features as his little brother flung off one of the black robes and tossed the porcelain mask he'd been wearing aside. He had to duck as the two figures that had been standing next to him both swung at him at the same time and he sent them flying back against several of their brethren.

He rushed towards Wyatt and began untying the ropes securing him as the rest of the masked cult guys broke into motion. "Had you worried there for a minute, didn't I?" Chris asked his brother.

"…no," Wyatt lied, rubbing his wrists, "Chris lookout!" Wyatt shouted, shoving his brother to the side as a dart went sailing at the younger Halliwell's head.

Chris narrowed his eyes and waved his arm, sending the guy and the gun flying backwards. The figures with the colored robes were making a move towards Andrea while Chris continued to hastily attempt untying Wyatt.

"Where's D.J.?" Wyatt asked.

Chris looked up towards the robed figures moving towards Andrea, "Cover your ears, Wy."

"What?" Wyatt asked.

"Just do it!"

The Twice Blessed Witch did as he was told and Chris covered his ears too. As soon as the two brothers had clapped their hands over their ears a shrill, ear piercing call reverberated through the room causing all the robed and masked figures to drop to the ground in pain from the sound. The red robed figure was the only one that didn't drop. Unfortunately for Andrea, tethered as she was, she couldn't cover her ears and she ended up hollering for it.

The red robed figure flung his mask to the side, still screaming in the high-pitched manticore call that had the would-be murderers writhing on the ground now. D.J. finally cut it off and grabbed hold of Andrea, untying her ropes and hastily shimmering out with her so that she could recover from nearly having her eardrums burst.

Chris lowered his hands from his ears and finished untying his brother, then orbed out with Wyatt in tow.

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Author's Note: You know you're just dying to click that button at the bottom down there to write me a review. Just like I'm dying to know what you think.