Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 28, 2008 17:59:57 GMT -5
Chapter Two – Nowhere to Go
Piper’s words seemed to break the ice, at least for one person. Vicki climbed out of the chair she shared with her sister and walked over to Piper. “Hello, Aunt Piper. I’m Vicki. My real name is Victoria Penelope Trudeau after Grandpa and Grams, but everyone calls me Vicki and,” she pointed at Chris, “he says that’s a mouthful.”
Piper smiled. “Yes, I supposed it is.”
Vicki gave her a curious look. “Do you think you’re anything like my other Aunt Piper?”
Piper looked over at Prue, unsure how to answer.
Prue walked over to her daughter. “Oh, sweetheart, she can’t be the same, not exactly, but there is so much that is.”
Vicki looked up and hugged her mother’s torso. “Are we staying, Mom?”
What I wouldn’t give to say yes, Prue thought as she considered what that would mean. A world without witch hunts. Yes, Pratt’s finally gone, but what he started may never end. A world where Piper, Paige, and even Phoebe are still alive. Phoebe. Wow, I miss her. A world where we haven’t lost so many friends, that we no longer even try to make new ones, where maybe we can even make some new ones. A world where . . . The thought was so strong, that she voiced it without realizing it. “Dad?”
Piper looked at her surprised. “What about him?”
“Is he alive?” Words she hadn’t even dreamt of saying in the more than thirteen years since he died. Here, was he alive?
Piper nodded.
It was at if a weight she hadn’t known she carried was lifted off her chest. “I’d like to see him. I don’t know if this will last, Piper, and I want to see him, alive.”
“Last I checked,” Piper began, still surprised.
Prue shook her head. “Last you checked it was a different reality than mine.”
“So you and Dad made up?” Piper asked, hopefully. It was one thing she knew her Dad regretted, that he had never truly made up with Prue before her death.
Prue’s shoulders slumped. “Somewhat, but it wasn’t until I lost him that I really got it. I miss him, Piper. It’s too late, far too late, but I miss him. He had started coming around a lot, especially after Pat was born, so I think we might have gotten back on good terms, but then he was dead and it was too late.”
“Pat?” Piper hadn’t heard the name since her arrival.
Prue looked over at the chair where Pat still sat. “My older daughter. We named her Patricia Phoebe after Mom and Phoebs, but we called her Pat since Mom was Patty.”
Pat got up from her chair. “Does this mean we get to meet Aunt Phoebe?”
No one seemed to notice as orbs formed in the doorway to the hallway. While, Piper, once more at a loss as to what to say, tried to think of something, the orbs turned into Kevin Sheppard, a very young looking elder. In fact, he hadn’t aged since he was fifteen, despite his unique position as a living whitelighter elder.
“I don’t know,” Piper admitted, “but I don’t know why not.”
“Unfortunately,” Kevin informed them, making his presence known, “I do.”
Everyone turned to look at him. Wyatt groaned in acknowledgement of yet another person in their small apartment living room.
Piper recognized him first. Her eyes widened as she realized that the “teenager” in front of her was about forty-years-old and an elder. “Kevin?”
Kevin grinned. It was the first time in the twenty-five years he had been an elder that he had been permitted to make contact with the Charmed Ones, the very ones who had given him this opportunity. He hadn’t even known them a day and they had changed his life. “Yes, it’s me.”
That confirmed, Piper thought about what he said. “Why can’t she meet Phoebe?”
Kevin’s face fell. He looked grim as he announced. “Because you have about twenty-four hours before they’re gone and Phoebe seems to have dropped off everyone’s radar.”
Piper’s disappointment was obvious as she stated what she believed to be obvious. “They have to return to their reality.”
Kevin shook his head. “No.” He was hesitant before he added, “They have nowhere to go.”
“Then, why can’t they . . ?” Piper began.
Melinda interrupted, terrified. “Nowhere to go! You mean I killed all of them?”
“No,” Kevin corrected. “You ended what never should have been. You, and they, don’t exist.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Melinda asked, upset, coming toward him.
Kevin looked down. He hated this. “I’m sorry.”
“Aren’t I?” Melinda repeated, yelling this time.
Kevin nodded. “Yes, but not for long.”
“So change it,” she directed. “Let us go back.”
“I can’t,” Kevin told her, a catch in his voice. “Melinda, your world, your reality, no longer exists. And you . . .you’re already fading away.”
Melinda poked him in the chest. “Does that feel like someone who’s not there?”
Kevin forced himself not grim. This wasn’t a time to be grinning, not even if her action made him want to laugh. He wasn’t happy, so smiling wasn’t what he even wanted to be doing. This family had helped him and now he was breaking their hearts. “Not yet. Kind of hurts, actually, but unless you find some way to keep it from happening, in twenty-four hours you will be gone.”