Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 21:00:47 GMT -5
Chapter Two – How Far Can You Freeze?
A few minutes later Piper and Leo were standing outside their car, a shiny white sports car. Leo pulled opened the door on the passenger side and opened up the glove compartment. He pulled out a small cell phone and pushed a button. “Wyatt Halliwell, please.”
Piper looked up in surprise. “Why are you calling Wyatt?”
“Something I need to talk to him about,” Leo told her vaguely. “It will only take a minute or two.” Times up, Son. If your mom doesn’t know by tonight I’m telling her. No more secrets.
Wyatt Halliwell was pacing his office. Little did he know almost thirty years before his Aunt Prue had paced that very office waiting for its then current occupant, Prue’s fiancé at the time, Roger Bentley. If he had known, he might have appreciated the irony. Had Prue lived, she certainly would have. Wyatt heard his cell phone ring and picked it up. He flipped it on and put it up to his ear. “Wyatt, here.
“Wyatt, this is Dad,” the voice on the other end informed him.
Wyatt’s face came to attention and he stopped pacing. “Did you . . . something odd happened here a few minutes ago.”
Leo groaned as he realized the likely implications of his son’s words. “Don’t tell me you were affected, too.”
Still confused, Wyatt asked. “Affected by what exactly? Everything stopped moving here.”
Leo glanced over at Piper who was seated in the driver’s seat of the car, watching him suspiciously. “Your mom felt something watching us, so she tried to freeze them. Thing is, she froze everything. Are you saying it reached all the way to you?”
Leo’s head was turned, so he didn’t catch the sharp intake of breath as his wife absorbed her husband’s side of the conversation.
Wyatt of course heard nothing except his father’s question. “Must be. Did you figure out who was watching you and why?”
“Not yet.” Leo shook his head, even though his son couldn’t see it. “Your mom blew him up se he couldn’t report back. Listen, I was going to take your mom out, but this seems to take precedence. Can you meet us at the manor? And call Chris.”
Wyatt frowned as he glanced at the clock. “Can it wait, say half an hour? I get off them and I’d rather not take off early, if I don’t have to. I have the feeling that from here on out I’m going to get off early on a regular basis, so will it be all right?” If it wasn’t he’d leave. There was no question there. Family came first. “I’ll orb to the manor and get my car later, so I shouldn’t be too far behind you.”
Leo considered the request and the normal traffic for San Francisco. Wyatt was right that if he orbed home in half an hour, he wouldn’t be too far behind his parents. “I suppose that would be fine. With the demon vanquished we shouldn’t have to worry too much, but we don’t know what he was and he was spying for a reason.
Wyatt grinned. He couldn’t imagine anyone, even a demon, being stupid enough to spy on his mother. It simply didn’t work. “Understood. I’ll call Chris as soon as you hang up and I’ll go straight to the manor after work.”
“I told you it wouldn’t work to hide. . .” Leo began, his way of warning his son that he was about to be double busted.
Wyatt chuckled as he finished his dad’s sentence. “. . . Things from Mom, I know. Oh, well. At least she had one extra week without worrying about demons. See you at home, Dad.”
“By Wyatt. See you there . . .” Leo trailed off realizing as he heard a click on the other end. He hung up and climbed into the passenger side of the car.
As he buckled up, Piper looked at him. “I take it we aren’t going to have a relaxing afternoon.”
“Probably not,” Leo admitted.
“And our sons are involved somehow.”
“This is what they wanted, Piper,” Leo admitted. He wasn’t going to lie to his wife. He disliked hiding this from her enough as it was.
“They want to fight demons?” Piper asked skeptically.
Leo nodded. “If someone must, then yes, they would prefer it to be them. You taught them how, Piper.”
“We were at peace then,” Piper reminded him, as that somehow justified her thoughts. As if that should mean he sons should learn how to fight, but never use the skills.
“Everyone knew it couldn’t last forever,” Leo reminded her gently. “Be glad they had you to teach them.”
Piper sighed. “We’re headed home then?”
Leo nodded. “Wyatt says he’ll be there in half and hour and he’ll take care of calling Chris.”
“Oh, well. It was good while it lasted.” Piper turned on the car and began to put it in gear. She stopped and looked at Leo. “Do you think this power advancement will stay?”
“I hope not,” Leo informed her. “Wyatt said things froze where he was, too.”
“What?!” Piper looked at her husband stunned. “That’s miles from here.”
“Exactly,” Leo told her, his point made.
Piper put the car in gear, backed out of her parking space, changes gears, again, and drove out of the parking lot.