Disclaimer: I own basically nothing, so will you just let me pretend?
Ch. 7:
Leo paced the floor while Phoebe scryed and Paige lay on the couch.
"Owww!" she moaned.
"Feeling any better?" Leo asked.
"No, I'm pretty sure 'ow' signifies that I am not, in fact, feeling any better." Paige groused.
She sat up, rubbing her forehead with her hand.
"Oh, I am getting tired of this whole soul separating from my body thing." She complained. "It's getting to be a disturbing pattern."
"It was pretty close, too." Leo told her. "Your souls were getting ready to move on."
"Move on to where exactly?" Paige asked slyly.
"Nice try." Leo said, shaking his head with a smile.
"I cannot believe Piper." Phoebe complained. "Did you see that look in her eyes?"
"Hey, at least it looked like she was having fun for once." Paige said.
"Find her yet?" Leo asked.
"No, nothing." Phoebe replied.
"Well, keep trying." Leo told her. "Just like last time, they can't do anything till they resurface."
"Yeah, unless Mordaunt wants her to help him rule the underworld." Paige said.
"There's got to be another way to get her out of this." Phoebe said.
"Sure wish we knew who King Arthur is." Paige said.
Phoebe got a look on her face.
"What?" Paige asked warily.
"Why did Meredith have such a violent reaction to the sword?" Phoebe asked.
"Because her daughter was killed with a sword." Paige replied.
"What if it wasn't just a sword." Phoebe said. "What if it was that sword."
"You think her husband is the true master of the sword?" Paige asked.
"One way to find out." Phoebe answered. "Chris? Meredith? We need to talk to you!"
There was a moment of waiting, but then Chris appeared in a flash of orbs and Meredith stepped out of the shadows.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked.
"Piper pulled the sword from the stone and now it's turning her evil." Paige summed up.
"Piper pulled the sword?" Meredith demanded. "But she's not meant to control it."
"Who is?" Phoebe asked.
"Don't answer that." Leo ordered. "You can't reveal future information."
"Why?" Meredith asked. "The answer's fairly obvious."
"What do you mean?" Paige asked.
"Who's the strongest magical being currently on Earth?" Chris asked.
They all turned to look at Wyatt in his playpen.
"No…" Paige said.
"It's Wyatt." Phoebe said. "Oh, my God, it has to be."
Paige glanced back at Meredith.
"We thought your husband might have been the one." She told her. "That maybe that's why you reacted like that to the sword."
Meredith looked away.
"But you just said it was Wyatt." Phoebe protested.
Meredith exchanged a look with Chris before taking a deep breath.
"My husband eventually controlled the sword." She said cagily. "It was the weapon he used to murder my daughter."
"But how?" Phoebe asked.
Leo suddenly collapsed, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain.
"What-what's the matter?" Phoebe asked, worried.
"It's Piper." Leo said, wincing. "She's hurt."
Phoebe's crystal hit the map.
"Harding Park." She said. "Let's go."
Phoebe stood up and Paige got to her feet.
"I got Wyatt." Paige said.
"Chris, go with them." Meredith said.
"No, I should stay here and help protect Wyatt." He protested.
"I have the more powerful offensive power." Meredith disagreed. "Go. They may need your whitelighter powers." She turned to Leo. "Don't even try to fight me on this."
Leo hesitated before nodding. He, Phoebe, and Chris orbed away as Meredith and Paige walked over to Wyatt's playpen.
"Don't worry…" Mordaunt said as he laid Piper on the ground. "It'll all be over soon. Once they come for you, I'll go for him."
Piper didn't respond. Mordaunt heard the orbs and whirlwinded away.
"Hurry!" Phoebe urged as they ran towards Piper. "Hurry, hurry!"
Leo kneeled next to her and Chris went down on the other side of her.
"It's alright, Piper, we're here." he told her softly. "You're gonna be okay."
Leo put his hands over her and they began to glow. A second later, Piper sat up with a gasp.
"Where's Wyatt?" she demanded.
Mordaunt approached the playpen and looked inside.
"My apologies, King Wyatt." He said. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."
He raised Excalibur and brought it down viciously on the small form in the pen. He raised the sword again to find a teddy bear skewered on the end.
"What?" he demanded furiously.
He threw the bear to ground as Paige and Wyatt orbed into the room, Meredith stepping out of the shadows a second later.
"Oh, and that's his favorite teddy bear." Paige said.
Mordaunt spun around and held the sword out in front of him. A second later, a ring of tall fire sprung up around him, forcing him back.
"I wouldn't threaten us, if I were you." Meredith said, her voice strained with the exertion of holding the ring in place.
A second later, Leo, Phoebe, Piper, and Chris orbed into the room.
"Sweetie." Piper said as she reached for her son.
Paige immediately handed him to his mother.
"Bet you didn't expect this when you got up this morning." Piper said when her son was in her arms.
"But I've still got Excalibur!" Mordaunt growled, still flinching away from the fire.
Chris went to Meredith's side and wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her up.
"Not for long." Phoebe replied.
"Go for it, Wyatt." Leo whispered.
Wyatt looked at Leo and everyone looked at Wyatt. Finally, the sword lifted away from Mordaunt and as it came to Wyatt, Meredith let the ring die, sagging into Chris's side and hiding her face in his chest.
Wyatt put his hand down and Excalibur zoomed towards Mordaunt, impaling him through the chest. As the sword began to glow gold, Mordaunt started to smoke. Finally, he exploded and vanished.
Excalibur landed tip down in the floor.
"Okay, sweetie, that's very, very good." Piper said warily as she walked towards the sword. "But we need to put this away so you don't put an eye out…at least until you're 18."
She pulled the sword from the floor and carried it back to the boulder, where it slipped back in easily. There it sat, glowing gently.
"How are you?" Paige asked her.
"Oh, fine." Piper replied. "Think you can orb this into the attic?"
"Absolutely." Paige replied.
She waved her hand and at the same moment, Meredith pushed Chris. Both the stone and the man orbed away.
"Away from any furniture?" Piper asked.
"It's alright!" Chris yelled from the attic. "I got it in time!"
He orbed back down.
"Thank you, Chris." Piper told him. "That's one less thing on my list."
The others laughed.
Piper handed Wyatt to Leo and walked up to Meredith, who was once again leaning heavily on Chris.
"You protected Wyatt." She told the young woman. "You and Paige."
She hugged the woman tightly.
"I know there's more that you're not telling us." Piper whispered. "But thank you."
Meredith hesitated a moment before hugging her back.
Finally, Piper pulled away, smiling gently, and turned back to Wyatt. She smiled as he reached out to her and pulled him into her arms.
Phoebe was sitting in her office that evening after everyone had left, typing on her computer. She looked up as Paige appeared at her door, dressed in a nice black dress.
"Hey." She said. "I just, uh, finished the last of the filing."
"Great." Phoebe said. "Thanks."
"Is that tomorrow's copy?" Paige asked.
"Uh, yeah." Phoebe replied. "I'm just doing some last-minute changes. This woman right here is worried that her mother might be marrying the wrong guy."
"Really?" Paige asked, stepping into the office.
"Yeah." Phoebe said. "She thinks he might be the devil incarnate."
"Didn't we vanquish the devil incarnate?" Paige asked slyly.
Phoebe laughed.
"I told her that unless she has absolute proof, she should probably butt out and let her sister live her own life." She told her sister.
"I thought this was about a mother." Paige said.
"Yeah, well, you know what I mean." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, I think I do." Paige said, smiling softly. "It's funny. This is the first job I've gotten without a reason. I just have to learn to take my own advice."
"Yeah, well, don't stop worrying about me too much." Paige told her.
"Okay." Phoebe replied.
Richard walked through the bullpen to Phoebe's office.
"Hey." He said. "Sorry to interrupt. You ready to go?"
He leaned in and kissed Paige on the cheek.
"Yeah." Paige said.
"Um, we're going out." Richard told Phoebe. "Do you want to join?"
"I'd love to, actually, but, uh, I'm gonna take a rain check." Phoebe told them. "It's been a long day."
"Okay." Paige replied. "Good night."
Paige turned and walked with Richard towards the front door.
"Hey, Paige?" Phoebe called after her. "You're fired."
"Actually, I quit." Paige replied.
Phoebe smiled as her sister left.
Piper sat in the Attic looking at the sword with Wyatt. Meredith sat beside them.
"Your husband killed your daughter with Excalibur." Piper said softly.
"Yeah." Meredith replied.
"How?" Piper asked.
"I can't answer that." Meredith told her. "Not yet. If it helps, I hope that one day I can."
"I'm sorry about your daughter." Piper told her. "I don't even want to think about how hard that must be. I'm not even sure I could get out of bed."
"I tell myself, what I'm doing here, I'm saving her." Meredith whispered. "And Chris is helping."
"Good." Piper replied.
Meredith got up and walked out.
"Listen," Piper said to Wyatt, "I want you to promise me that before we take that thing out of storage, that you're gonna play lots of football and baseball and have lots of normal toys, and maybe we'll even get a dog. What do you think?"
Leo walked into the attic and settled down next to them.
"How we doing?" he asked.
"Uh, His Highness seemed content." Piper replied.
"What about you?" Leo asked.
"I'm doing all right." She replied. "At least I have my priorities straight now. I was so busy doing stuff, and all I really wanted to do was hang out with him."
"Well, you should have more time for that now." Leo replied.
Piper looked at him.
"I fixed the washer." Leo told her.
"You did?" Piper asked.
"And the sink and the cable and the toilet." Leo continued.
"Wow." Piper said, impressed. "I forgot how handy you were to have around the house."
She smiled at him and he returned it.
"Pretty strange, huh?" Leo asked, looking at Wyatt.
"Kind of scary, actually." Piper replied.
"Why?" Leo asked, laughing.
"Well, we've seen what he can do without the sword." Piper said. "I can't begin to imagine what he could do with it. And, think of how powerful he is. How powerful does Meredith's husband have to be to take it from him?"
"I don't know." Leo admitted. "But whatever is meant to be will be. And we'll deal with the rest."
"Doesn't make it any less scary, though." Piper said. "But that's tomorrow's problem. I'll worry about it then."
Piper stood up and picked up Wyatt, Leo following them to his feet.
"Okey-dokey." Piper said.
The three walked out, leaving the sword gleaming in the corner.
A/N: The Sword and the City is done. Tell me what you thought.
Abbey