But It Felt So Real

Lee sat on the Attic floor, facing the window, thumbing through the book of Shadows, looking for an entry on The Hollow.

Wyatt's voice sounded timid and unsure. "Mind if I come in."

Though he sounded less than thrilled, Lee answered: "Nope." without turning around.

Wyatt was careful to act as far from threatening as possible. "Doing a little light reading?"

Lee managed to sound civil, though his voice was a bit shy of friendly. "It ain't the Hardy Boys, but it'll have to do."

"Oh, I uh, I brought you some 'lightening cake'." said Wyatt, as he sat down next to Lee on the floor. He made certain to keep enough distance between his brother and himself, simply out of respect for Lee's right to be unwelcoming.

"Thanks." Lee said sincerely, taking the glowing blue plate from Wyatt's hands. "I'd forgotten about it."

"Steve made you a knife and fork to go along with the plate." Wyatt said, reaching into his pockets and producing two glowing pieces of 'orbware'. "He said to be careful with the fork 'cause it might tickle."

Lee smiled at the gesture. "Only Steve." he remarked, grateful for his brother's thoughtfulness.

"He just wanted you to know he was thinkin' about ya." Wyatt said comfortingly.

Lee took the knife and fork from Wyatt's hands. "You didn't bring any for yourself?" The young man sounded genuinely concerned.

Wyatt was nearly dumbfounded. "Lee, you're amazing. I've just earned a Universe-wide "Mister Asshole" award, and here you are, concerned about me because I don't have anything to eat. How do you do it?"

It took Lee no time at all to respond "Well, let's say that your body is a house."

"Okay."

"Don't hire such a crummy house sitter next time you go on vacation." Lee sounded for too civil, considering what he'd been put through that evening.

"I knew I should've checked that guy's references. There was just something about him that didn't seem quite right." Wyatt smiled, unable to believe he could be forgiven so easily. "And, I promise none of you will ever have to worry about that happening again. Lesson learned."

Lee cut his slice of cake in half and pushed the plate in front of Wyatt, offering him the other half. "What happened after I left?"

Wyatt said matter-of-factly: "Rory basically kicked my ass without throwing a single punch."

"Good." Lee replied in a cordial voice.

"Not that I don't deserve that, but you could try to look a little surprised, you know?"

Lee grinned mischievously. "I'm a terrible liar."

Wyatt sighed with rolling eyes. "Guess I deserve that too." He sat for a moment and let Lee casually bob his head in agreement, as Wyatt tried to find the guts to say what he wanted to say.

"Lee, I need you to do me a favor." Wyatt said hesitantly. "I know... I'm the last person that should be asking you for a favor right now... But, I'm hoping to exploit your benevolent nature."

Lee frowned, though humorously, in Wyatt's direction. "Did your fight with Rory involve a swift kick to the head? You want me to find all that yucky stuff again? No way."

"That's just it, it's not there anymore." Wyatt eagerly responded. "I promise."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Trust me." Wyatt said direly.

"Wyatt, why do you want me to..."

"Because it's the only way I know to earn back your trust." Wyatt confessed. "I need you to know that I, me, here, now, do not believe a word of whatever it was that my throat said down there."

"Your throat?"

"I know, there's no excuse." Wyatt admitted. "I'm not trying to excuse it; I'm trying to explain it. Trust me, I still take the blame."

Lee eyed his older brother, sincere consideration in his eyes.

Wyatt prepared to be rejected, but: "Please?"

Lee sighed with uncertainty, but ultimately decided to trust his brother. "Okay." he said, followed by Wyatt's taking Lee's hands and placing them on his own head. "How far back do you want me to go?" Lee asked.

"As far back as you need." Wyatt responded determinedly. "Whatever it takes. Go prenatal if you need to."

Closing his eyes and summoning his concentration, Lee sorted through the vast array of Wyatt's conscious thoughts, making his way to the deeper levels, where the darker pieces would be hiding.

Lee let out a tiny, goofy laugh.

"What?" Wyatt asked, pretending to be offended.

"I can hear the Ocean."

"You goober!" exclaimed Wyatt, poking Lee in the stomach.

"You're right; they're gone." Lee said, recovering from the tickling. "But how is it pos-?"

"Courtesy of Rory Peyton Halliwell: 'Professional Curse Remover'." Wyatt jested. Since Lee seemed happy with the humor in his response, Wyatt decided he would be as well. "What are you doing with the Book of Shadows?" he asked, looking to see which page Lee had settled on.

Lee's face lit up. "Ooh, it's this dream I had while I dozed off on the couch!" He sounded just as excited as he does when he's in one of his guess-what-I-did-in-school-today moods. "It seemed so real. I dreamed that we were a TV show!"

"Really?" Wyatt's eyebrows furrowed. "How odd."

"But they got the plot tooootally wrong." Lee asserted. "There was this Billie girl. She wore way too much makeup! And she had this evil sister named... I think it was Chrissie or Christina... or something like that. Man, did that girl have anger issues. And there was this thing called the Hollow that blew the house up. And Dad wasn't a Whitelighter anymore... and..."

"Huh." Wyatt accidentally interrupted, assuming Lee must've heard about the Hollow from their parents. "The Hollow really does exist." he said, though he clearly was not buying that Lee's dream was a premonition of some sort.

"I thought so!" Lee said, pleased with correct assumption. "That's what I was looking for in the Book of Shadows."

"Were we in this dream?"

"Well, you and Chris were." Lee's face shown of disapproval and confusion. "And it was like Chris had forgotten to shave for a few days of something."

"Probably trying to look older." Wyatt suspected.

"Maybe." Lee replied. He frowned slightly. "You were there too. Your hair was too short though; I didn't like it."

Wyatt smiled and tried not to sound patronizing. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Anyway," Lee continued. "you two came back because somebody stole the powers of the little you, so the you that you are now didn't have 'em in the future. It was a mess."

Lee skimmed through his memories of the dream for a quick moment. "Oh! And, Grams was there!"

"Grams? As in the Grams?"

"Yup." Lee affirmed. "She had reddish hair, but that Clairol shade #37 didn't fool me for a second. 'Bottle job,' as Aunt Phoebe says."

"I believe you." said Wyatt bemusedly.

Lee scrunched his face. "And when you and Chris came back, Mom didn't act happy to see you two at all. It was just like, 'Why the heck are two here and when are you leaving?"

"It had to be a dream." Wyatt insisted. "That doesn't sound right at all."

"But it felt so real." Lee pleaded. "JUST like a TV show. With commercials and everything. Aunt Lorelai was even dancing in one of them. And the letters CW kept flashing on the screen for some reason. And Clark was there."

"You mean, Clark Kent?" Wyatt asked.

"Yeah, and Sammy... and Dean... and..."

"Lee, you know, you sure have a big imagination."