Any Other Name
A Charmed Fanfiction
She'd not only been dying, she'd been dead.
The monitors had flatlined; her sisters had sobbed hysterically. Crushed by his own grief, Dan had clenched his eyes shut, as if that could somehow block out Phoebe's frantic screams and Prue's choked moans.
Piper.
The woman he loved. Young and vibrant one moment, with all their plans ahead... She'd gotten better! How could she be lying there dead now?
"Wait," rasped Prue, sniffing.
The doctor's eyes strayed to the monitor, following her gaze. No longer was the line flat; brainwaves moved up and down.
Dan was beside himself, flooded with relief and joy.
Piper let out a long gasp, chest rising upwards as she flared back to life.
"This is incredible." Doctor Williamson was amazed. This was even more miraculous than her rapid recovery before!
Dan didn't care about that – at least not whatever caused it. All he could think of was how close he'd come to losing her – how he had lost her – and now...
Now...
She spoke.
"Leo," she said, and he imagined she said it tenderly.
Her sisters rushed her, tumbling over her in their hurry to give her all their kisses and hugs. Prue grasped her hand and kissed her white knuckles red while Phoebe stroked her hair.
Dan took a step away from the bed, dazed and – though it disgusted him he could feel so at this moment – unhappy.
It wasn't that Piper hadn't said his name, much as he would have wanted her to. She could have said any name – one of her sister's names, that of a dead relative – and the miracle wouldn't have been marred for Dan.
But she'd said Leo.
Any other name in the world would have been understandable.
Any other name he could explain away.
Any other name wouldn't have left him feeling like he'd been kicked in the chest, the wind knocked out of him.
It was his hopes and dreams crashing around Dan all over again. Irrationally, he felt as if she'd lost her a second time today.
Why couldn't she have said any other name?