Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 30, 2008 23:17:14 GMT -5
Chapter Fifteen - What, Did a Spell Backfire?
Present day - 2005
Unlike his younger brother, Wyatt seemed unconcerned by the strange turn of events. “Wow!” He walked over to Piper and pulled her into a hug. “Mom, look at you! You look great!”
Piper took a step back and away from the very cheerful young man claiming to be her son. “Right. Okay.”
Paige stood next to her with a big, toothy, and fake grin pasted onto her face as she tried to make heads or tails of this young man.
Wyatt, knowing that he was himself, took the whole thing in stride. It was after all common for strange things to happen in his family and he had heard many more stories then they had. “Looks like you're as surprised to see me as I am to be back.”
Not knowing what else to say, Piper agreed. “Yeah.”
Paige isn’t as ready to accept him and asked, “Back from where?”
“The future.” Wyatt’s answer was said in a matter of fact voice, though it was anything but.
A worried look covered Piper’s face as she groaned realizing exactly what the implications of that might be. “Oh, no! No, no, no! We wanted to communicate with you . . . I mean the younger you, the two and a half year-old you.”
Paige nodded emphatically as her sister spoke.
Wyatt on the other hand didn’t mind that his presence make no logical sense or that it wasn’t what his mom and aunt had planned. “Well, if there's one thing you guys taught me, magic may work in mysterious ways, but it always works.”
Paige liked what he said and asks, “Where'd you hear that? That's nice.”
Wyatt looked at her in surprise. “I'm surprised to hear you ask. In the future you're always telling me that.” Of course, he realized that it is twenty-three years in the future, but she couldn’t have changed that much. She was still his aunt Paige.
Paige, however, was surprised at his response. “Oh! Well, that's the future me. I, me now, clearly doesn't have those kind of brilliant thoughts. Heh!”
Seeing it as not so important that Aunt Paige wasn’t to the point she would be in twenty-three years, Wyatt just went with it. “Right. Look, all I'm saying is if your spell brought me here, there's gotta be a good reason.”
His mom wasn’t as sure about the good reason. “Well, I don't know. Do you remember anything about what you were going through when you're were two-and-a-half?”
Wyatt couldn’t, but he was more fascinated with being here. “No, not really.”
Piper looked down a bit of awe on her face at what was going on, even as she tried to be logical and in control. “So then we're still looking for that reason.”
A growing smile on his face Wyatt quickly responded, “But still this is a fantastic opportunity that magic's brought us. I mean, for me to see the past, for you guys to learn about the future.” Wyatt turned around and started walking toward the door, wanted to see what was different from his own time.
Piper’s mouth formed an O as worry covered Paige’s brow. Piper quickly found her tongue. “Oh, no, no.”
Wyatt stopped and turned around.
Piper’s protest continued. “No, no, no. We don't want to know anything about the future. We don't want to risk changing it again.”
“Again?” Wyatt asked. Then he inwardly groaned as he realizes what she was talking about. Chris. Thinking of Chris he wondered what his little brother did when he just vanished before his eyes.
Paige didn’t know the thoughts going through Wyatt’s head, but she also didn’t want to explain about all that happened while Chris was there. She threw her hands up. “Ugh! Don't ask.”
Since he had figured out what they are talking about Wyatt didn’t mind changing the subject. “Okay. But until we find out why magic brought me back, we could at least try and enjoy the moment, right?”
Piper looked at him suspiciously. “How did you become such an optimist?”
Surprised Wyatt responded, “From you, mom.”
As he turned and stepped into the sitting room, the next stop of his exploration of the house in the past, Paige turned to Piper and in a scoffing tone said, “Hey!” She continued to tease Piper by saying, “You must've turned over a new leaf in the future.”
Piper denied the possibility. “Don't count on it.” Then, getting back to the subject of this older Wyatt’s presence she said, “So that doesn't help us with our Wyatt.”
Paige’s head bobbed down in a sigh. “No.”
From another part of the house they heard the front door opening and closing and then Phoebe’s voice, “Piper, you home?” Phoebe rushed into the house eager to share her findings with her sisters, unaware of what was going on. “Okay, the professor gave me some information that I think will be useful,” mid sentence she noticed Wyatt and asked, “Who is he?”
It was obvious to all that Wyatt has no notion of the concept of future consequences that his brother was always talking about as he rushed forward arms open wide to hug his aunt. “Aunt Phoebe, it's me! Wyatt!”
As Wyatt stepped forward to hug her Phoebe tries to comprehend what was going on. “Wy . . . what?”
While Wyatt did notice her hesitation he didn’t show it and grabbed her into a hug.
Phoebe, still trying to figure out what was going on, can only say, “Oh!” A smile did form on her lips.
“This is so amazing!” Wyatt told his stunned aunt.
Phoebe looked over to her left where her sisters where standing. “What, did a spell backfire?”
Both Piper and Paige shrugged as Paige easily agreed. “How'd you guess?”
That’s what Phoebe figured. “Yeah.”
Piper decided talking could come later since what Phoebe had to say might actually help them. “Yeah, well, you know.” Then, as if it had just occurred to her,
What did your professor say?”
“Well, she said that he probably was talking to an imaginary friend. I mean not,” she turned to look at the older Wyatt “. . . not you. You know, the other you when you were,” giving up she turned away from Wyatt and looked in the direction of her sisters, “. . . this is gonna be so confusing.
“You'll get used to it.” Not that Wyatt was used to it, but he loved being here, so he didn’t mind a little confusion. Now, if it had been Chris, but Wyatt ended that thought, because trying to figure out his little brother’s multi-timeline brain gave Wyatt a headache. He was glad it no longer did the same to Chris.
Phoebe looked at him with a little bit a gratitude that he got what on earth she was talking about.
Waving her hands, Paige tried to bring Phoebe’s theory to Wyatt. “Okay. Imaginary friends. Ring any bells for you?”
With a slight shake of his head, Wyatt denied the possibility. “Afraid not.”
Piper watched silently as Phoebe added to what her professor had said. “She also said that he's a little young for an imaginary friend. Again, not you, just . . .”
Not really wanting to go through that, again, and because he really did understand what she was saying, Wyatt stopped her with a nod of his head. “I got it.”
A big fake grin plastered to her face Phoebe turned away to look once more at her sisters. “Right.”
Paige heard the Elders' jingling and groaned. “Ugh! A te wa! Sorry.”
Phoebe looked at her confused. “What language is that?”
Wyatt recognized it instantly and remembered some stories about a certain charge. “Maori. Your New Zealand charge, right? I remember hearing about him.”
Paige agreed, but showed no signs of going to her charge. “Yes, well, he can wait, because I think this is a little bit more important.”
Wyatt disagreed, remembering things his aunt Paige had told him in the future. “I thought you said there was nothing more important than your charges?”
Phoebe gave Paige an amused look as Paige looked at Wyatt annoyed. “Look, mister, I'm pulling double duty here, okay? So no guilt from the future for me.”
Piper wasn’t interested in present or future at the moment. All she wanted was to figure out what was wrong with her young son and how, if any, his adult version could help them with that. “Okay, you know what? Can we focus on helping him, please?
Wyatt wasn’t done yet. “Look, all I'm saying is that someone always told me that whitelighters are the glue that keeps the magic world working.”
Phoebe looked at him in a bit of disbelief. “Oh, Paige told you that?”
Piper smiled and Paige glared at Phoebe.
“Don't be so surprised.” Paige told Phoebe. Then, of Wyatt she asked, “Do I ever have a life in the future?”
Wyatt smiled, but doesn’t answer her questions. For once he realized some things are best left for the future. “You should go, really. We'll figure this out.”
With no more protests left, Paige said, “A te wa,” and orbs out.
Wyatt looked at his mom, who smiled at him. “Okay. So you guys cast a spell to communicate with me, right? So let's go talk to me.” Wyatt turned around and headed up the stairs, leaving Piper and Phoebe exchanging wide-eyed looks.