Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 21, 2013 23:19:15 GMT -5
Chapter Thirty-Four - Reunion
A man in a SWAT uniform exited the manor. Seeing Darryl he walked over. While Darryl was debating about leaving, the man spoke up. “I know you. You’re SFPD. Right?” He frowned, thinking. “Inspector . . . Morris, I think. Correct?”
Darryl nodded. “You are?”
“Agent Joshua Cates,” was the firm, friendly reply. “You wouldn’t remember me, I guess. I dated Alyse for a while.”
The name was unfamiliar to Darryl even as he repeated it. “Alyse?”
“Sorry,” Cates was quick to reply. “Inspector Sheridan, your partner this last year or so.” He frowned. “Or was it this last year? You look different. Older, I think.” He paused, inspecting Darryl, thinking about what he had seen in the last several minutes. “Rodriguez and Morales didn’t look like people who only just died.” There was another pause as another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for him. “I saw Lydia in there.” He looked at Darryl, his brow furrowed. “How long has it been?”
“Seven years,” Darryl informed him, seeing no need to keep it from him.
With raised eyebrows, Cates stated all too calmly. “And I’ve slept through it all. I guess Alyse was right. There is something strange about this house.” Something still didn’t quite add up. “But then I did see Lydia, so that’s kind of a given.”
“Who’s Lydia?” Darryl asked, figuring that was a safe question.
“She’s a whi . . .” Cates stopped and looked at Darryl. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
Darryl was stunned. Cates may not have finished what he was saying, but Darryl had a pretty good guess as to what he had been about to say. “Did you just start to say. . ?” He couldn’t risk finishing that question. If he was wrong . . .
Cates was not so worried. A big grin grew on his face as he asked, “You know about them, don’t you?”
“Know about who?” Darryl was not giving anything away until he knew for sure what this guy knew.
“Er,” Cates seemed at a loss. “Well, this kid I know is . . . I guess I could say he’s under Lydia’s protection. She’s training him or something. But I guess he’s not a kid anymore, now is he. I wonder if he’s got his teaching degree yet. Great kid, wants to teach elementary school. So do you know about that,?”
Darryl was silent for several seconds as he processed that. Still nothing in there said a whole lot. From what he’d learned over the years, the “kid” was probably a future whitelighter. It was possible he was a witch, but Darryl didn’t think so. “I know that the “they” I am thinking about it not weird. They’re just people who help other people.”
Cates looked disappointed at that. “Oh. Well, then. I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Could be,” Darryl replied, noncommittally.
Cates shrugged and headed toward the sidewalk. He was half way down the driveway when a voice broke into Darryl’s thoughts.
“He seemed like a nice guy.”
Startled, Darryl turned around. “Prue!”
“Hi,” Prue offered him a friendly smile. “Are you coming around back? I’d stay out of inside, of course. The rest of his squad is still in there.”
“Andy said . . .” Darryl began, trailing off, unsure what to say.
Prue gulped. “Yeah. Andy.” Curious she asked, “Why didn’t you want to talk to him? He seemed to know something about magic.”
Darryl shook his head. “I don’t think he really does, just vague ideas and hearsay from Sheridan. Besides, I don’t know him. What if he wanted to expose you like she did?”
“Then, let him try,” Prue shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Except for the fact that you were dead,” Darryl retorted.
Prue laughed at that. “Except for that. He won’t find anything though.” She nodded her head toward the back of the house. “Come on. Follow me around back. Say “hi” to my sisters. And head on home to Sheila and the boys.”
“You never met Sheila, did you?” he asked, thinking.
“No,” Prue shook her head, blithely. “Are you coming?”
Darryl stared at the front door for a long time. “Is it safe?”
Prue nodded. “It’s safe. The demon’s gone, both the one who killed Sheridan and the one who killed all the rest.” She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Darryl looked at her surprised. “For what?”
“All the innocents who died,” she stated sadly. “I’m not saying there was a whole lot I could have done, but surely I could have done something. I couldn’t stop the demon without killing Christy, too and most of the time I couldn’t have even done that, but surely there was something.”
“I did know about all the people dying here,” Darryl informed her. “I tried to keep people away and most listened, but if we’re going to play the ‘what if’ game, I imagine I could have found some additional way to stop them, but I didn’t. You probably had your hands full and were doing the best you could.”
Prue nodded. “Yeah, but I still feel really bad about it.” She sighed. “And now I don’t even have powers to use.”
Darryl looked at her surprised.
“It was part of the deal,” she told him. “My powers for my life. Not that I had a whole lot of use for them with the other options. You see I kind of made a giant mess of my afterlife, so they had to kick me out.”
Darryl stared at her. “You got kicked out of being dead?”
“Weird isn’t it,” she commented with a slight laugh. “The funniest part is, I wanted to stay dead.”
Darryl didn’t know what to say.
She nibbled on her lip and shrugged. “What’s done is done. And I certainly am not going to regret the chance to live with my sisters and my dad and everyone else. I’m just going to miss Andy.”
Darryl nodded. Andy had been his partner and his friend, but he knew how she felt. Had Sheila been dead, he’d probably wish to be with her, too. It wasn’t so much that he’d wish to be dead. It was more that he’d wish to be with her and with her would happen to be dead.
“So are you coming?” Prue asked, again, changing the subject.
It was the sound of the manor door that decided it for Darryl. He didn’t want to talk to another member of the SWAT team. Explaining to someone that they’d been unconscious for seven years was tough enough. Explaining why they had done that on the floor of someone’s home with no benefit of medical equipment was just a little hard to believe. He followed Prue on around back. At the sight of her three sisters, he smiled.
Paige met him halfway. “Hi, Darryl. It’s good to see you.”
Darryl smiled. “Hi, Paige.”
“Welcome back,” Phoebe added. “It seems like forever.”
“Thanks for keeping them out,” Leo offered with a smile.
Darryl looked at him surprised. “Keeping who out? The SWAT team got in.”
“But not until after Zankou was gone,” Leo reminded him. “And that probably saved most of them.”
“But they died . . . or at least some of them died,” he decided remembering Cates and the opening front door.
“More of them would have otherwise,” Leo informed him. “Zankou would have seen to that. The other demon,” he shrugged. “She just wanted the girls dead and to otherwise be left alone. She had no issues with killing, but she wasn’t looking for someone to kill just because.”
Darryl sighed.
Piper walked over to him. “The boys tell me that you helped keep an eye out for them. Thank you.” She looked down at the two boys at her side.
“They’re good kids,” Darryl informed her. “Your dad is raising them well.”
Piper hugged her arms around her sons’ shoulders. “I’ve missed so much.”
“I imagine Mike could be convinced to make some videos for you,” Darryl informed her. “He is his visual arts teachers prize pupil and he like videotaping your sons.”
Piper smiled. “Mike? Do you mean little Mikey?”
Darryl nodded, a proud smile on his face. “No so little anymore. He passed me up a few months ago and he’s only fifteen. He insists that he’s too old for a name like Mikey.”
Piper hugged her boys closer. “I’ll probably take you up on that.”
Darryl glanced down at his watch. “I’d better get going. Sheila prefers dinner to be on time and with everyone there. I’ll see if we can find a time to have you over. All three of them love Wyatt and Chris and I imagine they’d love to see you, too.”
“Really?” Phoebe blinked in surprised. Sheila would have been quite glad to be rid of all three of them the last time they had met up with her. She was pretty upset about various things that had happened over the years.
Darryl nodded. “Really. I’m glad you girls are back safe and sound.” Glancing at Leo he added, “You too, Leo.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Darryl,” Leo returned.
Having assured himself that they were all alive and safe, Darryl headed back to his car and drove home.
Piper sighed. “I guess we’d better deal with our house ‘guests’, make sure they get out all right.”
“I’ve already dealt with that,” Lydia informed her as she exited the back door. “They’ll not remember waking up her and they’ll be tired enough that they’ll want to go back to sleep at once. All of them are out of your house and I have got to get going.” She sighed. “Apparently, I have a charge who has been demon possessed for seven years. She’s not going to be as okay with all this as she appeared to be.” With that she orbed out, leaving them looking at her.
Several seconds passed and Piper walked over to Sam and Dean. “Wyatt said you accepted my invitation. Do you need a ride?”
Behind her Paige frowned. She started pointing and silently counting.
Dean shook his head. “Nah. Sam left my baby just up the block. We know the way. Right, Sam?”
“Wrong,” Sam corrected him without hesitation. “I don’t know about you, but I got lost trying to get to Victor’s place and trying to get here from there.”
“I’m counting ten heads,” Paige announced. “We can’t fit that in Victor’s car. My head’s kind of spinning right now, so I don’t think I’ll try orbing, but maybe Wyatt and Chris can . . .”
“We can give some people a ride,” Sam announced suddenly.
“What?!” Dean looked at his brother as if he had grown two heads. “You want to pack people into my baby?”
“Those boys orbed me out of danger’s way,” Sam informed him. “And while I certainly appreciate the help it was one of the most disorienting things I have ever experienced. I figure they’d rather not have to orb to get home.”
Paige hid a smile behind her hand. “That is so sweet, unnecessary, but really sweet.”
“You get used to it,” Phoebe added.
“Piper snuggled next to Leo. “You certainly do.”
“See they don’t need a ride in my baby,” Dean pointed out.
“Well, I’m not used to it,” Prue pointed out. “So I’m going in one of the cars. I don’t care which one.”
“We’ll see you at home,” Wyatt announced as first he, then his brother orbed out.
“I guess that answers that,” Paige commented to Phoebe with a laugh.
“Let’s get going,” Piper demanded. “We can’t leave my babies home alone.”
“I think they’ll be fine, Piper,” Prue tried to reassure her. “Dad’s done a good job with them.”
Victor smiled at the unexpected words of praise from his oldest daughter.
Dean glanced at Sam. “Are you sure you can’t find the place? This is too much Brady Bunch for me.”
“I can try,” Sam decided.
The four sisters looked at each other and laughed as the two brothers made a break for it.
“They don’t know what they’re missing,” Phoebe commented.
“Oh, I think they know,” Paige corrected. “I think they just don’t like admitting it. They are men after all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leo protested.
Victor just shook his head. “We’re out numbered her. Just go with it.”
Prue laughed and hugged her arms around the nearest two sisters as the four of them walked together toward Victor’s car. Life was looking up.