Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 7, 2009 21:35:57 GMT -5
Chapter Seven – Confronting the Past
Piper pushed open the hospital room where Wyatt was staying and entered, with Leo right behind her. She smiled at the sight of Kali sitting in the chair next to the bed. “Hi, Kali.”
Kali grinned. “Hello, Mrs. Halliwell, Mr. Wyatt. Did you hear?”
Piper nodded. “I heard Wyatt is getting feeling back in his legs. How are you doing, Wyatt?”
“Pretty good, I guess. My legs are a bit cramped, but after no feeling for a week, I’m just glad to feel anything.”
“Any idea what happened?”
Wyatt shook his head. “Sorry, Dad. Unless Kali sitting on my legs gave their feeling back I have no idea.”
Leo chuckled. “Doubtful.”
The door pushed open and a woman in a nurse’s uniform walked in pushing a cart. She looked surprised to see so many people, but she smiled. “It’s about time for everyone to leave so we can start those tests.”
Wyatt wrinkled up his nose.
She laughed. “They aren’t that bad, but I do need to give you a shot.”
Wyatt groaned. “No shots, please.”
“Sorry, not optional. I need you to roll your sleeve up.” She started pulling things off her cart, preparing to give him the shot.
“I’d probably better leave,” Kali commented as she stood.
The door pushed opened and all eyes turned to look as Bianca walked in.
Piper’s eyes widened as she recognized her. She waved her arms and Leo and Kali quit moving. “What exactly do you think you are doing here?” she asked in a shrill offensive voice.
Bianca ignored her, looking beyond her to the nurse getting ready to give Wyatt a shot. “Vera!”
Wyatt recognized the name from their phone conversation and realizing this must be Bianca, he raised his shield.
Piper whirled around and saw that the nurse was still moving. She saw Wyatt’s shield up and the scowl on Vera Delavan’s face.
Vera’s eyes met Bianca’s. She grabbed a scalpel off the cart and threw it end over end at Piper.
Piper’s eyes widened and she waved her hands, focusing on the scalpel. Since she was focusing on the scalpel, the rest of the room unfroze, but the scalpel froze a few inches from her face. Piper reached out and grabbed the scalpel, as Vera vanished from next to Wyatt.
Vera reappeared and made a grab for the scalpel, but it wasn’t there. She felt the blade against her neck and looked at Piper.
“I don’t make the same mistake twice,” Piper hissed. Before she could do anything else Vera vanished with black smoke swirling around her. Piper scowled and turned to look at Bianca. “Why are you here?”
Bianca frowned, not understanding the hostility. “I’m here because she was hired to see him and his brother dead.”
“Why does someone keep hiring people to come after us?” Wyatt said as he dropped his shield and pushed himself up.
Before anyone could respond, the door pushed open once more and Lawrence came in with his and Bianca’s daughter, Ashlyn, in his arms.
“Daddy stopped moving!” Ashlyn exclaimed as she grabbed for Bianca, laughter in her voice.
Bianca pulled her daughter into her arms. She turned to face Wyatt. “I assume you are Wyatt Halliwell.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry, but I have no answer for your question. I only know that someone did hire her.”
“Why are you here?” Piper repeated.
Bianca looked at her, really looked at her.
Behind her Lawrence stiffened. “What is your problem? My wife is trying to help here and you keep accusing her of something. Why don’t you just tell us what problem you have and get it behind us?”
Bianca gasped. “You!” She starred at Piper shocked. “You’re the one who tried to kill my mom.”
Lawrence did a double take. “She did what?”
“When I was a little girl, not much older than Ashlyn,” Bianca informed him softly. “She came over to our house with another woman and mom sent me out of the room. I didn’t listen. I kept the door opened a crack and watched. That woman blew my mom up.”
Lawrence groaned. “Was this before or after your mom moved you guys out of the community?”
Bianca frowned. After a moment, she said, “Before. I remember, because later that same day that woman came. The one I told you about. She was bordering on rude, demanding things from mom.” She frowned and looked up at Piper. “She looked like me, like I do now. Is that why you are annoyed to see me despite never having met me?”
“She didn’t look like you,” Piper informed her. “She was . . .”
Leo stopped her with a look. “No, Piper.”
Having figured out what his mom was going to say, Wyatt echoed the words, but not the meaning. “No, Mom.”
Piper looked at him, as if she had forgotten him.
“She wasn’t.”
“How would you know?” Piper returned, looking at Bianca wearily.
“It’s like Chris is always saying,” he told her. “That wasn’t me. That wasn’t him. And this. That wasn’t her. That’s all there is to it. She’s someone entirely else.”
“This is different.”
“Mom, I may not know a lot about what happened there, and I assume that’s what this is about, but I know that it was very different. No one from there is the same as who they became here. They just aren’t.”
“From where?” Bianca asked, confused.
Piper sighed. “Fine. I’ll give her a chance, but I’m not dropping my guard.”
“She’s here to see me,” Wyatt announced. “And before the real doctors come for these tests they want to do on me, I think I need to hear what she has to say. The threat is clearly real.”
Piper looked at Bianca and her family, taking in Lawrence and Ashlyn’s presence for the first time, and then over to her son with Kali hovering at the foot of the bed. Finally she looked at her husband at her side. She sighed. “All right, but I’m staying.”
Kali looked at Wyatt. “I’d stay too, but I’m afraid I really do have to go. I promised Mom that since I would be in town I would have dinner with her and I have to get going or I’ll be late.”
Wyatt reached up and gave her a hug. “It will be okay.”
She nodded. “I know. It’s just not how I’d hoped things would go.”
“Don’t hesitate to come over if you need to talk and don’t let me ever forget what your ring tone sounds like.”
Kali laughed at the reference to his not recognizing Chris’ ring tone earlier. “In his defense you share an apartment. He really doesn’t have a reason to call you most of the time.”
Wyatt chuckled. “Still, he doesn’t use that phone.”
“See you later.” She grinned as she headed toward the door. She stopped and offered Ashlyn a smile. “Hi, I’m Kali.”
Ashlyn ducked her head against her mom’s shoulder.
Kali smiled. She met Bianca’s eyes and without the slightest change in her tone she said, “You better be here to help.” And then she walked away.
Bianca watched her bewildered. She stepped all the way into the room and walked over to where she could lean against a wall. “Looks like when I’m done I want to know what this story is. For now though, I will tell you what I know about what’s going on.”