Post by Matriarch Goddess on Dec 29, 2009 6:41:47 GMT -5
“Wyatt! Get away from the window! You are old enough to know that it’s rude to spy on the new neighbors!”
Wyatt grinned and replaced the curtain as he moved away from the window. “Doesn’t matter anyway. No hot girls, just some middle aged guy, wife, and kids. Kids are young though. Like Padrie’s age and blonde.”
Piper sighed and shook her head. “As uninteresting as they may be to you, we’re still going to be good neighbors. I’m going to go make them a batch of chocolate chip cookies.” She turned and headed for the kitchen. Wyatt turned to follow, but then he saw his father sneaking down the stairs.
“Dad? Where are you going?”
Leo looked shocked at being caught. “Wyatt, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be practicing with Excalibur? I thought we discussed how the residue pulled you in because you haven’t been focusing your power. Excalibur will help you channel your power, and the bond Melinda placed on you three will help keep you from being swayed by any more forces of darkness. Now go practice or go find a second job. Bartending at P3 won’t keep your gas tank filled on its own.”
Wyatt turned to follow orders, but turned back before he made it to the stairs. “You didn’t answer my question. Where are you sneaking off to?”
Leo looked sheepish. “You said the guy was our age and his kids were blonde, so I wanted to check and make sure it wasn’t you mom’s ex-boyfriend who lived in that house over twenty years ago.”
Wyatt couldn’t help it. He laughed, long and hard. “Dad, you and Mom have been married for twenty-one years. Mom broke up with that guy next door for you. You two are soul mates. And you think that if what’s-his-face moves in now, he’ll leave his family and run off with Mom? Man, are you being stupid.”
Leo grabbed Wyatt in a friendly headlock. “Never call your father stupid, got that?”
Wyatt laughed again. “Still, you’ve got to admit, it’s a pretty dumb idea.”
Later that afternoon
“Melinda?”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Will you come down here please?”
Melinda sighed and shut down her computer. She didn’t start work for another week, and classes at Magic School were not her idea of a fun summer vacation. She headed down the stairs where her mother accosted her with a plate of cookies.
“Melinda, honey, will you help me bring these to the new neighbors? Your father is at the hospital, Chris is with, well, Chris isn’t here, and Wyatt absolutely refuses to go. You know how he is.”
Melinda sighed again. She didn’t know how, but she always got roped into these kinds of chores. She knew that once Wyatt refused to go, fighting with him wasn’t worth the effort, not that her mother would try. But Chris was much more easygoing than either Wyatt or Melinda; it would be no problem to get him to go. She would murder him when he got home for this. Either that or make him do her multiple favors. “Sure, Mom.”
Piper rang the doorbell and poked Melinda. “Smile please. You’re happy that they’ve moved in next door, not depressed.”
Melinda plastered on a smile just as a man answered the door. “Hi, I’m Piper Halliwell and this is…Jason?”
“Piper? I thought you lived in one of these houses but I couldn’t remember which one. Wow, so you live…?”
“Leo and I live next door. Oh, and this is my youngest, Melinda, You probably remember Phoebe gushing over my oldest, Wyatt, and I have a third, Chris.”
“Wyatt, Wyatt, oh, yes, I remember. He caused Phoebe some problems at work if I recall. How’s she doing anyway? I know her web and podcasts are both major sellers and the publishers couldn’t print enough copies of her book, but other than that…”
Before Piper could respond, a small boy of about ten skidded into the room. “What’s this, cookies? Awesome! Hey Dad, can I have some?”
Jason smiled. “Sure, Gary, you can have some after I bring them into the house. Where are you brothers?”
“Mom’s upstairs with Frank and Dennis should be here soon. I ran away from him.”
Sure enough, a blond teenaged boy came forward, rolling his eyes. “Gary, I told you that Dad was busy. Do you have to go crazy every time you smell chocolate?” To Melinda, whose cookies Gary was ogling, he said, “Sorry for my little brother. He’s an animal. He’ll get civilized in, oh, six years or so.”
Melinda laughed. “So I guess you’re sixteen then.”
“And you catch on fast. Dennis Dean, sixteen.”
“Melinda Halliwell, fifteen.”
“That makes us equal. Girls do mature faster.”
“And you’re not afraid of saying it. I like that.”
“And we should leave you all to your unpacking.” Piper butted in. “Here are your cookies. It was nice to see you again Jason. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come next door and ask.”
Dennis stuck out his hand. “It was nice to meet you Melinda. Maybe you could show me around San Francisco sometime?”
Melinda smiled. “Maybe. Maybe I could.”
Dennis smiled back. “I’ll look forward to it.” he said as the door closed.
As Melinda and Piper walked back next door, Melinda regained her senses enough to ask, “Mom, how do you know Mr. Dean?”
“Oh, Jason? He was Phoebe’s boss for awhile and her boyfriend for a little while after that. She lived with him in Hong Kong for awhile. They broke up after he found out that she was a witch. He couldn’t handle that.”
“Well, he seems to have gotten over it. I mean, he was perfectly fine with you.”
“I know. I’m not quite sure if that’s just almost twenty years talking or if he hasn’t had some help forgetting.”
Leo orbed in the minute they walked in the door. “So what’s the deal with the new neighbors?”
“It’s the weirdest thing. You remember Jason Dean, Phoebe’s ex? He moved in next door with his wife and kids.”
“Jason Dean, huh? That’s a coincidence all right.” Only Melinda noticed the small smile on Leo’s face as he mentioned Jason’s name.
“Yeah, I’m going to call Pheebs and see what her take on this is.” Piper tossed over her shoulder as she headed for the phone.
“Well I’m going back to work then.” Leo told Melinda. “See you later?”
Melinda decided not to ask him about the smile, especially because she thought she already knew. “Sure, Dad, see you.”
Leo orbed out as Melinda went to join her mother in the kitchen. Piper hung up the phone. “Phoebe says that she’s actually on her way here because Paige got an important message. I can’t imagine what it could possibly be, but they’ll be right over.”
“Oh well, Mom, I don’t need to be here for this, do I?” Melinda asked sweetly. “It’d be okay if I just, you know, went to go hang out with my friends, right?”
“Wrong.” Piper said sternly as Melinda turned to leave. “I know which “friends” you’re talking about, and you may not go next door until Phoebe hears about this. I don’t know exactly what happened between them, so you may not go next door until Phoebe gives the okay. Besides, if Paige’s message is of the demonic kind, you’re not going near any mortals. I’m not letting my children make the same mistake twice. Go call your brothers please.”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Dad too?”
“No, don’t bother your father unless it becomes strictly necessary. Just your brothers.”
Melinda looked up at the ceiling disdainfully. “Hey Chris, Wyatt! If you don’t get your Wiccan butts down here in the next twenty seconds I’ll orb your laptops into a crater!”
“You three are always so pleasant to each other.” Piper remarked as she cleared the dining room table.
“Crude, but effective,” Melinda retorted as the boys orbed in.
“You know, sis, there’s this strange device called a telephone that’s ten times more civilized than screaming.” Chris commented.
“Everyone’s a critic.” Melinda muttered.
“And some of us are just in cheery moods today.” Wyatt said. “What’s the matter, demon take your good humor?”
“Hush,” Piper told them. “Paige and Phoebe will be here any minute. Paige and I both have news.”
“We sure do.” Paige called, opening the door with phoebe in tow. “And sis, I don’t think yours can top mine for weirdness. By the way, you guys forgot to take in you paper.” she said, tossing it to Melinda.
The six of them took their seats at the table. “So you first Piper,” Phoebe said. “You said it involved the new neighbors?”
“Yeah, Pheebs, you’ll never believe who moved in next door.”
“Dan?” Phoebe guessed.
“Close, but no, actually, this is your blast from the past, not mine. It’s Jason.”
“Jason as in Jason Dean, Phoebe’s former boss and boyfriend?” Paige asked.
“The very same, only married with three boys named Gary, Frank and Dennis, ranging in age from about ten to sixteen. Oh, and also very aware of Phoebe’s career.”
“Any eye-candy in that mix?” Paige asked as Melinda tried not to blush.
“Focus Paige, on why my ex is living next door to my sister. The last I heard, he was living overseas.”
“Yeah, but Phoebe, that was eighteen years ago or something like that. People move.”
“No, Piper, people don’t move next door to where their ex-girlfriend last lived unless they want to see her.”
“Maybe he forgot.” Wyatt chimed in. Everyone turned to look at him. “Well, I mean, he was never here much, right? And it has been eighteen years. Maybe he just wanted to live in the Bay area and that house happened to be for sale. Stranger things have happened, right?”
“Speaking of which,” Paige said, “brings us to the next topic of conversation. The esteemed Elders are sending us a Whitelighter. Apparently there’s a major demonic problem that they want us to deal with, and it’s like this Whitelighter’s personal case. He’ll be here within the hour to discuss it.”
“And then he leaves, right?” Chris said. “I mean, we’ve got six Whitelighters in our family; this guy would just get in the way.”
“The Elders were helpful and informative as usual and just told me that this Whitelighter was coming to talk about this and that it was our duty to help him. And by “our” they specifically meant the Charmed Ones and what they call the “Little Entente”. I assume that’s the three of you.” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“We hadn’t really decided what we’d officially be called yet…” Chris started, but them Melinda, who’d been reading the paper, gave a little gasp of shock.
“What is it?” Piper asked worriedly.
Melinda put the paper in front of them so that they could read the article for themselves and then began to summarize.
“Bane Jessup is being released today. He served his time for embezzlement and fraud and is out early for good behavior. Wasn’t he like one of your innocents or something?”
Piper and Phoebe exchanged a glance. “Or something all right.” Phoebe said. “Prue’s lover, to be exact.”
“Former lover.” Piper clarified. “But she convinced him to turn himself in, and he encouraged her to follow her dreams and become a photographer. Then he went off to prison and we never heard from him again.”
“We saved him from a demon while she was convincing him to turn himself in.” Phoebe groused. “And no thank you later.”
“Why would he have thanked us? We didn’t want to help him; Prue made us. We never like him, you especially. Which is why we never wrote to him…”
“Why would we write to him? Prue was the one who…oh.”
“What, what is it?” Melinda asked. Her mother and Aunt Phoebe never talked about aunt Prue because it was too painful for them. All Melinda knew about Prue was that she’d given her life for the craft; she’d lost her true love Andy to a demon, and now this.
“We never told Bane that Prue died.” Piper whispered.
“Why would we?” Phoebe asked angrily. “He was only a part of her life for a few days and he was trying to kill us for part of that time. He kidnapped her to get her to trust him! Why should we have told him? Should we have invited him to the funeral? He would have arrived in handcuffs followed by guards, and what sort of closure would that have brought any of us, to see him alive while she was dead? He’s a criminal, and she never did anything except help people, and now he has the rest of his life to live and she’s dead! We don’t owe him anything and we never did!”
“He loved her.” Piper whispered. “He loved her and he probably wants to see her. Maybe he’s been missing her for the last twenty-odd years.”
“I hope he has!” Phoebe was blazing. “I hope he has been missing her for over twenty years because we have! I hope he thinks about her every day and aches because she’s not there because we have, and you know it Piper!”
“That’s why he deserves to know what happened to her. Because he’s probably been missing her and hoping that she’s waiting for him, or at least a part of her is, and he deserves to know that she died over a year after he was incarcerated, so she hasn’t been thinking about him for a long time.”
Phoebe was quiet for a minute. “Tell him what you want.” she spat, “But don’t expect me to come or even acknowledge his existence.
“I don’t.” Piper said with quiet grace.
Just then, orbs glowed in front of them. “Whitelighter,” Paige mouthed, and they all nodded.
A young, dark-haired man was standing in front of them. He was wearing the current fashionable clothes of the time, but he obviously looked like he preferred to be wearing different ones. Paige gasped at the sight of him, and as he caught her eyes, she looked away. Piper and Phoebe looked visibly taken aback as well. Wyatt and Chris both looked the young man up and down as if he was a distant memory or a dream. Only Melinda saw him objectively. He was average height for a man and slim, a little younger than thirty. He was handsome, but not extraordinarily so. He was the kind of man you’d remember, because he’d make you remember him.
“Kyle?” Paige managed to choke out.
“Yes Paige, it’s me.” he said tenderly. Paige brought her hands up to her face to shield her expression. The ring on her finger caught his eye, but he didn’t flinch or change expression. Paige just left the room and Melinda could hear her footsteps on the stairs.
Piper managed to regain her composure. “Kyle, what’s the message the Elders say you have for us?”
That seemed to break his reverie. “The message, right. There’s a new threat on the horizon. It preys on strong sadness.”
“Like a banshee?” Phoebe asked.
“No. This demon eats the emotion. It sucks the sadness out of the person and eats it to make itself stronger. The demon grows, and the person loses their sadness.”
“I don’t understand.” Chris said. “If it takes away their sadness, that’s a good thing, right? And if that’s all the demon does, why does it matter if it gets stronger?”
“Because that’s not what happens. All of the person’s sadness is sucked out of them, meaning that they’re deliriously happy about everything. They’re so happy that they can’t function properly. They can’t vanquish the demon, they’re so happy. So the demon comes and kills them, just stabs them in the back with an athame, and uses their life force to teleport itself back to its lair. The police have no idea what’s going on, and every witch I’ve helped to try to vanquish this thing falls prey to it. That’s why I needed the six of you. You’re the strongest witches I know. If you can’t beat this demon, no one can.”
Wyatt stepped forward. “Look, Kyle, I know that this is really important and all, but this isn’t such a good time. Can we talk about this and get back to you later?”
Kyle nodded. “Sure, but I need your help soon. Be on your guard; you never know where this demon will strike next.” He orbed out.
Piper sank into a chair and Phoebe dropped into the one next to her. “Well, Piper, how does it feel to be the only one who hasn’t had an ex show up in the last twenty-four hours?”
“Don’t say that Phoebe.” Piper said sharply. “I’m going to see Henry. He’ll be able to find out where Bane is. I’m going to tell bane about Prue.”
“Now, Piper? Don’t you think this is a bad time?”
“Phoebe, maybe the fact that they’re all here is a sign. Maybe I’m supposed to tell him, just as maybe you’re supposed to resolve things with Jason and Paige is supposed to fix them with Kyle.” She stood. “We’ve avoided these men for twenty years. Maybe now we’re supposed to help them.”
Phoebe stopped her as she left. “Are you going to tell Henry about Kyle?”
Piper shook her head. “No, that’s Paige’s call, not mine.” With that, she turned and left, the door banging behind her.
Paige sat in the attic, her face in her hands. Bright lights appeared in front of her and she looked up. “Paige.”
That was it, that one word that could bring her to her knees. She’d thought she left her grief a long time ago, just as she’d thought her love for him was gone. She was married now, damn it, to a man she loved and had a son with. So why did she feel like this?
“Paige, look at me.” She lifted her tearstained face from her hands and looked up at him. His look made her want to cry more, for all they’d lost and never had.
“Kyle, please don’t. I’m married now, I have a son. I’ve grown older; I’m nearly twice your age.”
He smoothed her hair. “You’re still just as beautiful as you were twenty years ago.” He smiled. “I never stopped loving you, Paige.” He put up a hand to stop her protests. “I never stopped loving you, but I wanted you to stop loving me. You needed to move on, I didn’t want us to have to go through what Piper and Leo went though, especially when I wasn’t sure if we’d survive it like they did. I’ve never wanted to cause you pain. If you can’t work with me, just let me know, and I’ll leave.”
“Kyle, I tried to stop loving you. I tried so hard and I threw myself into so much else and I nearly lost myself trying to stop loving you. But while I was losing myself, I found Henry, and I fell in love with him. I love Henry so much, but a little part of me still loves you too, and when you’re here, that part emerges and takes over. I don’t want to love you Kyle, because you’re right, we wouldn’t have survived an ordeal like Piper and Leo’s. I guess I’m just not that strong. I can work with you; I just need time to work this out.”
He nodded. “So you’ll call me when you know?” She nodded, and he orbed out. In the hallway, behind the attic door, Melinda thought about the scene she’d just overheard. Paige was always so business-like. Sure, she could be funny, and everyone could tell that she loved her family, but Paige never cried, she never betrayed raw emotion like she just had. Melinda had never heard Paige tell her that she loved her. At story time, even as little Melinda and Padrie had begged for stories of love, Paige had always told battle stories instead. Were tales of love just too painful for her to weave? Did Leo’s story always remind her of what she had lost because she didn’t have the strength to endure it? Melinda looked down at the fat book in her arms, the one that was the story of her parents. Was there more behind her parents’ story than the book said?
Wyatt walked out the door of the house and gave his sister a soft kick. “Hey, you want to go food shopping?”
Melinda looked at him. “Since when do you go food shopping?”
“Since Mom went to go visit that guy in prison. So do you want to come or sit on the stoop all day? He’s not going to come out of his house just because you want him to.”
Melinda glared at her brother. “I’ll come food shopping.”
Wyatt grinned. “Good, I knew you’d see it my way.” The two of them walked out to the car, where Chris was already sitting in the front passenger seat. Melinda hopped into the back as Wyatt got into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.
“So who’s the guy?” Chris asked. “I mean, I know he’s Aunt Phoebe’s ex-boyfriend’s son, but tell us more about him.”
“There is no guy.” Melinda said. “Jason Dean has three sons, one of them is sixteen, and so Aunt Paige automatically thinks I like him.”
“Sis, you cannot put anything past us. We have known you your whole life. You like this guy. Now tell us about him so that we can beat him up if he hurts you.”
“And so we can tell him forcefully not to try anything.” Wyatt added.
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Fine, his name is Dennis, he’s sixteen, blonde hair, blue eyes, oldest of three. Seems nice, and good with his little brothers.”
“She left out the fact that she thinks he’s hot.” Wyatt told Chris as he pulled into a parking space at the supermarket. Chris laughed.
“Wyatt, just because you think every female between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five is hot doesn’t mean…oh my God.”
“Now Melinda, don’t go changing the subject.” Wyatt followed his sister’s gaze. “Now that guy is way too old for you. He’s like Dad’s age and he’s either the fire chief or he stole the fire chief’s car.”
Melinda hit her brother. “No Wyatt,” she breathed, “That’s the guy that was almost Chris’s father.”
Piper knocked on the door of the grubby apartment. She knew that ex-cons didn’t have much money, but was a little cleanliness too much to ask for?
The door swung open, and Piper saw a man her own age, in a T-shirt and jeans, clean-shaven and well-muscled. Bane didn’t look that different, just with less hair and more gray and a shifting look in his eyes. But he looked happy to see her.
“Piper, wow. Not the Halliwell I was expecting, but maybe that’s just as well.” he said gesturing around him. “This is just temporary, I promise. I have a job with an old friend of mine, a legal job, and I hope to get out of this dump in a couple of weeks. So what’s going on with you?” He let her inside the apartment, which was slightly cleaner than the outside and to a table. She sat in one chair and he sat opposite her after he got them both coffees.
“I’m all right. I’m married with three kids, and we all live in the manor. Phoebe’s married too, for the third time, and she and her husband and her daughter live nearby.”
“Well, congratulations to both of you. I’m glad you’re both happy. How’s the demon fighting coming along?”
“It’s going as well as can be expected. There’s less of it than there used to be, but that’s still too much for me.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’ll trade you some demons for my parole officer.” They both laughed, a little nervously. “So, Piper, tell me. How’s Prue?”
“Prue?”
“Yeah, I mean, does she still think about me, remember me? I thought about her a lot while I was in prison, and I’d love to see her, but if she’s married, or just doesn’t want to see me, or both, then well…”
Piper bit her lip. “Um, well, Bane, that’s what I came here to talk to you about. You see, Prue died in 2001. We were fighting a really bad demon, and she, she didn’t make it.”
Bane just stared at her, and the n his face crumpled. “She died in 2001? Piper, that’s twenty-one fucking years ago! Twenty-one years she’s gone and here I’ve been thinking, hoping that she still loves me and that maybe we can pick up where we left off and you’re telling me that a fucking demon killed her?” Piper saw the tears running down his face and knew that identical ones were streaming down hers.
“Bane, I, she…”
“Forget it Piper. You could have come to see me in jail to tell me, but instead you wait until I’m released so I won’t come looking for her, right? You had two decades to tell me, but you wait until now.”
“Please, Bane I never wanted to…”
“Just leave, Piper. You did what you came here to do, now leave. Leave me alone.”
Piper got up slowly and left, the door closing softly behind her. Bane still sat at the kitchen table, crying softly. He’d been dreaming of Prue every day since he’d turned himself in. He had thought that maybe she was married, but that would have been okay with him. He’d have had a chance if she’d been married, but dead? There was no chance now. There was no hope for him or their love, which had saved him, which had been keeping him alive. Bane was so consumed by his grief that he didn’t notice the hulking demon behind him. The demon laid a hand on Bane’s shoulder, and as Bane turned around, the demon raised the other hand and yellow lights began to swirl.
Wyatt grinned and replaced the curtain as he moved away from the window. “Doesn’t matter anyway. No hot girls, just some middle aged guy, wife, and kids. Kids are young though. Like Padrie’s age and blonde.”
Piper sighed and shook her head. “As uninteresting as they may be to you, we’re still going to be good neighbors. I’m going to go make them a batch of chocolate chip cookies.” She turned and headed for the kitchen. Wyatt turned to follow, but then he saw his father sneaking down the stairs.
“Dad? Where are you going?”
Leo looked shocked at being caught. “Wyatt, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be practicing with Excalibur? I thought we discussed how the residue pulled you in because you haven’t been focusing your power. Excalibur will help you channel your power, and the bond Melinda placed on you three will help keep you from being swayed by any more forces of darkness. Now go practice or go find a second job. Bartending at P3 won’t keep your gas tank filled on its own.”
Wyatt turned to follow orders, but turned back before he made it to the stairs. “You didn’t answer my question. Where are you sneaking off to?”
Leo looked sheepish. “You said the guy was our age and his kids were blonde, so I wanted to check and make sure it wasn’t you mom’s ex-boyfriend who lived in that house over twenty years ago.”
Wyatt couldn’t help it. He laughed, long and hard. “Dad, you and Mom have been married for twenty-one years. Mom broke up with that guy next door for you. You two are soul mates. And you think that if what’s-his-face moves in now, he’ll leave his family and run off with Mom? Man, are you being stupid.”
Leo grabbed Wyatt in a friendly headlock. “Never call your father stupid, got that?”
Wyatt laughed again. “Still, you’ve got to admit, it’s a pretty dumb idea.”
Later that afternoon
“Melinda?”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Will you come down here please?”
Melinda sighed and shut down her computer. She didn’t start work for another week, and classes at Magic School were not her idea of a fun summer vacation. She headed down the stairs where her mother accosted her with a plate of cookies.
“Melinda, honey, will you help me bring these to the new neighbors? Your father is at the hospital, Chris is with, well, Chris isn’t here, and Wyatt absolutely refuses to go. You know how he is.”
Melinda sighed again. She didn’t know how, but she always got roped into these kinds of chores. She knew that once Wyatt refused to go, fighting with him wasn’t worth the effort, not that her mother would try. But Chris was much more easygoing than either Wyatt or Melinda; it would be no problem to get him to go. She would murder him when he got home for this. Either that or make him do her multiple favors. “Sure, Mom.”
Piper rang the doorbell and poked Melinda. “Smile please. You’re happy that they’ve moved in next door, not depressed.”
Melinda plastered on a smile just as a man answered the door. “Hi, I’m Piper Halliwell and this is…Jason?”
“Piper? I thought you lived in one of these houses but I couldn’t remember which one. Wow, so you live…?”
“Leo and I live next door. Oh, and this is my youngest, Melinda, You probably remember Phoebe gushing over my oldest, Wyatt, and I have a third, Chris.”
“Wyatt, Wyatt, oh, yes, I remember. He caused Phoebe some problems at work if I recall. How’s she doing anyway? I know her web and podcasts are both major sellers and the publishers couldn’t print enough copies of her book, but other than that…”
Before Piper could respond, a small boy of about ten skidded into the room. “What’s this, cookies? Awesome! Hey Dad, can I have some?”
Jason smiled. “Sure, Gary, you can have some after I bring them into the house. Where are you brothers?”
“Mom’s upstairs with Frank and Dennis should be here soon. I ran away from him.”
Sure enough, a blond teenaged boy came forward, rolling his eyes. “Gary, I told you that Dad was busy. Do you have to go crazy every time you smell chocolate?” To Melinda, whose cookies Gary was ogling, he said, “Sorry for my little brother. He’s an animal. He’ll get civilized in, oh, six years or so.”
Melinda laughed. “So I guess you’re sixteen then.”
“And you catch on fast. Dennis Dean, sixteen.”
“Melinda Halliwell, fifteen.”
“That makes us equal. Girls do mature faster.”
“And you’re not afraid of saying it. I like that.”
“And we should leave you all to your unpacking.” Piper butted in. “Here are your cookies. It was nice to see you again Jason. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come next door and ask.”
Dennis stuck out his hand. “It was nice to meet you Melinda. Maybe you could show me around San Francisco sometime?”
Melinda smiled. “Maybe. Maybe I could.”
Dennis smiled back. “I’ll look forward to it.” he said as the door closed.
As Melinda and Piper walked back next door, Melinda regained her senses enough to ask, “Mom, how do you know Mr. Dean?”
“Oh, Jason? He was Phoebe’s boss for awhile and her boyfriend for a little while after that. She lived with him in Hong Kong for awhile. They broke up after he found out that she was a witch. He couldn’t handle that.”
“Well, he seems to have gotten over it. I mean, he was perfectly fine with you.”
“I know. I’m not quite sure if that’s just almost twenty years talking or if he hasn’t had some help forgetting.”
Leo orbed in the minute they walked in the door. “So what’s the deal with the new neighbors?”
“It’s the weirdest thing. You remember Jason Dean, Phoebe’s ex? He moved in next door with his wife and kids.”
“Jason Dean, huh? That’s a coincidence all right.” Only Melinda noticed the small smile on Leo’s face as he mentioned Jason’s name.
“Yeah, I’m going to call Pheebs and see what her take on this is.” Piper tossed over her shoulder as she headed for the phone.
“Well I’m going back to work then.” Leo told Melinda. “See you later?”
Melinda decided not to ask him about the smile, especially because she thought she already knew. “Sure, Dad, see you.”
Leo orbed out as Melinda went to join her mother in the kitchen. Piper hung up the phone. “Phoebe says that she’s actually on her way here because Paige got an important message. I can’t imagine what it could possibly be, but they’ll be right over.”
“Oh well, Mom, I don’t need to be here for this, do I?” Melinda asked sweetly. “It’d be okay if I just, you know, went to go hang out with my friends, right?”
“Wrong.” Piper said sternly as Melinda turned to leave. “I know which “friends” you’re talking about, and you may not go next door until Phoebe hears about this. I don’t know exactly what happened between them, so you may not go next door until Phoebe gives the okay. Besides, if Paige’s message is of the demonic kind, you’re not going near any mortals. I’m not letting my children make the same mistake twice. Go call your brothers please.”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Dad too?”
“No, don’t bother your father unless it becomes strictly necessary. Just your brothers.”
Melinda looked up at the ceiling disdainfully. “Hey Chris, Wyatt! If you don’t get your Wiccan butts down here in the next twenty seconds I’ll orb your laptops into a crater!”
“You three are always so pleasant to each other.” Piper remarked as she cleared the dining room table.
“Crude, but effective,” Melinda retorted as the boys orbed in.
“You know, sis, there’s this strange device called a telephone that’s ten times more civilized than screaming.” Chris commented.
“Everyone’s a critic.” Melinda muttered.
“And some of us are just in cheery moods today.” Wyatt said. “What’s the matter, demon take your good humor?”
“Hush,” Piper told them. “Paige and Phoebe will be here any minute. Paige and I both have news.”
“We sure do.” Paige called, opening the door with phoebe in tow. “And sis, I don’t think yours can top mine for weirdness. By the way, you guys forgot to take in you paper.” she said, tossing it to Melinda.
The six of them took their seats at the table. “So you first Piper,” Phoebe said. “You said it involved the new neighbors?”
“Yeah, Pheebs, you’ll never believe who moved in next door.”
“Dan?” Phoebe guessed.
“Close, but no, actually, this is your blast from the past, not mine. It’s Jason.”
“Jason as in Jason Dean, Phoebe’s former boss and boyfriend?” Paige asked.
“The very same, only married with three boys named Gary, Frank and Dennis, ranging in age from about ten to sixteen. Oh, and also very aware of Phoebe’s career.”
“Any eye-candy in that mix?” Paige asked as Melinda tried not to blush.
“Focus Paige, on why my ex is living next door to my sister. The last I heard, he was living overseas.”
“Yeah, but Phoebe, that was eighteen years ago or something like that. People move.”
“No, Piper, people don’t move next door to where their ex-girlfriend last lived unless they want to see her.”
“Maybe he forgot.” Wyatt chimed in. Everyone turned to look at him. “Well, I mean, he was never here much, right? And it has been eighteen years. Maybe he just wanted to live in the Bay area and that house happened to be for sale. Stranger things have happened, right?”
“Speaking of which,” Paige said, “brings us to the next topic of conversation. The esteemed Elders are sending us a Whitelighter. Apparently there’s a major demonic problem that they want us to deal with, and it’s like this Whitelighter’s personal case. He’ll be here within the hour to discuss it.”
“And then he leaves, right?” Chris said. “I mean, we’ve got six Whitelighters in our family; this guy would just get in the way.”
“The Elders were helpful and informative as usual and just told me that this Whitelighter was coming to talk about this and that it was our duty to help him. And by “our” they specifically meant the Charmed Ones and what they call the “Little Entente”. I assume that’s the three of you.” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“We hadn’t really decided what we’d officially be called yet…” Chris started, but them Melinda, who’d been reading the paper, gave a little gasp of shock.
“What is it?” Piper asked worriedly.
Melinda put the paper in front of them so that they could read the article for themselves and then began to summarize.
“Bane Jessup is being released today. He served his time for embezzlement and fraud and is out early for good behavior. Wasn’t he like one of your innocents or something?”
Piper and Phoebe exchanged a glance. “Or something all right.” Phoebe said. “Prue’s lover, to be exact.”
“Former lover.” Piper clarified. “But she convinced him to turn himself in, and he encouraged her to follow her dreams and become a photographer. Then he went off to prison and we never heard from him again.”
“We saved him from a demon while she was convincing him to turn himself in.” Phoebe groused. “And no thank you later.”
“Why would he have thanked us? We didn’t want to help him; Prue made us. We never like him, you especially. Which is why we never wrote to him…”
“Why would we write to him? Prue was the one who…oh.”
“What, what is it?” Melinda asked. Her mother and Aunt Phoebe never talked about aunt Prue because it was too painful for them. All Melinda knew about Prue was that she’d given her life for the craft; she’d lost her true love Andy to a demon, and now this.
“We never told Bane that Prue died.” Piper whispered.
“Why would we?” Phoebe asked angrily. “He was only a part of her life for a few days and he was trying to kill us for part of that time. He kidnapped her to get her to trust him! Why should we have told him? Should we have invited him to the funeral? He would have arrived in handcuffs followed by guards, and what sort of closure would that have brought any of us, to see him alive while she was dead? He’s a criminal, and she never did anything except help people, and now he has the rest of his life to live and she’s dead! We don’t owe him anything and we never did!”
“He loved her.” Piper whispered. “He loved her and he probably wants to see her. Maybe he’s been missing her for the last twenty-odd years.”
“I hope he has!” Phoebe was blazing. “I hope he has been missing her for over twenty years because we have! I hope he thinks about her every day and aches because she’s not there because we have, and you know it Piper!”
“That’s why he deserves to know what happened to her. Because he’s probably been missing her and hoping that she’s waiting for him, or at least a part of her is, and he deserves to know that she died over a year after he was incarcerated, so she hasn’t been thinking about him for a long time.”
Phoebe was quiet for a minute. “Tell him what you want.” she spat, “But don’t expect me to come or even acknowledge his existence.
“I don’t.” Piper said with quiet grace.
Just then, orbs glowed in front of them. “Whitelighter,” Paige mouthed, and they all nodded.
A young, dark-haired man was standing in front of them. He was wearing the current fashionable clothes of the time, but he obviously looked like he preferred to be wearing different ones. Paige gasped at the sight of him, and as he caught her eyes, she looked away. Piper and Phoebe looked visibly taken aback as well. Wyatt and Chris both looked the young man up and down as if he was a distant memory or a dream. Only Melinda saw him objectively. He was average height for a man and slim, a little younger than thirty. He was handsome, but not extraordinarily so. He was the kind of man you’d remember, because he’d make you remember him.
“Kyle?” Paige managed to choke out.
“Yes Paige, it’s me.” he said tenderly. Paige brought her hands up to her face to shield her expression. The ring on her finger caught his eye, but he didn’t flinch or change expression. Paige just left the room and Melinda could hear her footsteps on the stairs.
Piper managed to regain her composure. “Kyle, what’s the message the Elders say you have for us?”
That seemed to break his reverie. “The message, right. There’s a new threat on the horizon. It preys on strong sadness.”
“Like a banshee?” Phoebe asked.
“No. This demon eats the emotion. It sucks the sadness out of the person and eats it to make itself stronger. The demon grows, and the person loses their sadness.”
“I don’t understand.” Chris said. “If it takes away their sadness, that’s a good thing, right? And if that’s all the demon does, why does it matter if it gets stronger?”
“Because that’s not what happens. All of the person’s sadness is sucked out of them, meaning that they’re deliriously happy about everything. They’re so happy that they can’t function properly. They can’t vanquish the demon, they’re so happy. So the demon comes and kills them, just stabs them in the back with an athame, and uses their life force to teleport itself back to its lair. The police have no idea what’s going on, and every witch I’ve helped to try to vanquish this thing falls prey to it. That’s why I needed the six of you. You’re the strongest witches I know. If you can’t beat this demon, no one can.”
Wyatt stepped forward. “Look, Kyle, I know that this is really important and all, but this isn’t such a good time. Can we talk about this and get back to you later?”
Kyle nodded. “Sure, but I need your help soon. Be on your guard; you never know where this demon will strike next.” He orbed out.
Piper sank into a chair and Phoebe dropped into the one next to her. “Well, Piper, how does it feel to be the only one who hasn’t had an ex show up in the last twenty-four hours?”
“Don’t say that Phoebe.” Piper said sharply. “I’m going to see Henry. He’ll be able to find out where Bane is. I’m going to tell bane about Prue.”
“Now, Piper? Don’t you think this is a bad time?”
“Phoebe, maybe the fact that they’re all here is a sign. Maybe I’m supposed to tell him, just as maybe you’re supposed to resolve things with Jason and Paige is supposed to fix them with Kyle.” She stood. “We’ve avoided these men for twenty years. Maybe now we’re supposed to help them.”
Phoebe stopped her as she left. “Are you going to tell Henry about Kyle?”
Piper shook her head. “No, that’s Paige’s call, not mine.” With that, she turned and left, the door banging behind her.
Paige sat in the attic, her face in her hands. Bright lights appeared in front of her and she looked up. “Paige.”
That was it, that one word that could bring her to her knees. She’d thought she left her grief a long time ago, just as she’d thought her love for him was gone. She was married now, damn it, to a man she loved and had a son with. So why did she feel like this?
“Paige, look at me.” She lifted her tearstained face from her hands and looked up at him. His look made her want to cry more, for all they’d lost and never had.
“Kyle, please don’t. I’m married now, I have a son. I’ve grown older; I’m nearly twice your age.”
He smoothed her hair. “You’re still just as beautiful as you were twenty years ago.” He smiled. “I never stopped loving you, Paige.” He put up a hand to stop her protests. “I never stopped loving you, but I wanted you to stop loving me. You needed to move on, I didn’t want us to have to go through what Piper and Leo went though, especially when I wasn’t sure if we’d survive it like they did. I’ve never wanted to cause you pain. If you can’t work with me, just let me know, and I’ll leave.”
“Kyle, I tried to stop loving you. I tried so hard and I threw myself into so much else and I nearly lost myself trying to stop loving you. But while I was losing myself, I found Henry, and I fell in love with him. I love Henry so much, but a little part of me still loves you too, and when you’re here, that part emerges and takes over. I don’t want to love you Kyle, because you’re right, we wouldn’t have survived an ordeal like Piper and Leo’s. I guess I’m just not that strong. I can work with you; I just need time to work this out.”
He nodded. “So you’ll call me when you know?” She nodded, and he orbed out. In the hallway, behind the attic door, Melinda thought about the scene she’d just overheard. Paige was always so business-like. Sure, she could be funny, and everyone could tell that she loved her family, but Paige never cried, she never betrayed raw emotion like she just had. Melinda had never heard Paige tell her that she loved her. At story time, even as little Melinda and Padrie had begged for stories of love, Paige had always told battle stories instead. Were tales of love just too painful for her to weave? Did Leo’s story always remind her of what she had lost because she didn’t have the strength to endure it? Melinda looked down at the fat book in her arms, the one that was the story of her parents. Was there more behind her parents’ story than the book said?
Wyatt walked out the door of the house and gave his sister a soft kick. “Hey, you want to go food shopping?”
Melinda looked at him. “Since when do you go food shopping?”
“Since Mom went to go visit that guy in prison. So do you want to come or sit on the stoop all day? He’s not going to come out of his house just because you want him to.”
Melinda glared at her brother. “I’ll come food shopping.”
Wyatt grinned. “Good, I knew you’d see it my way.” The two of them walked out to the car, where Chris was already sitting in the front passenger seat. Melinda hopped into the back as Wyatt got into the driver’s seat and started the ignition.
“So who’s the guy?” Chris asked. “I mean, I know he’s Aunt Phoebe’s ex-boyfriend’s son, but tell us more about him.”
“There is no guy.” Melinda said. “Jason Dean has three sons, one of them is sixteen, and so Aunt Paige automatically thinks I like him.”
“Sis, you cannot put anything past us. We have known you your whole life. You like this guy. Now tell us about him so that we can beat him up if he hurts you.”
“And so we can tell him forcefully not to try anything.” Wyatt added.
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Fine, his name is Dennis, he’s sixteen, blonde hair, blue eyes, oldest of three. Seems nice, and good with his little brothers.”
“She left out the fact that she thinks he’s hot.” Wyatt told Chris as he pulled into a parking space at the supermarket. Chris laughed.
“Wyatt, just because you think every female between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five is hot doesn’t mean…oh my God.”
“Now Melinda, don’t go changing the subject.” Wyatt followed his sister’s gaze. “Now that guy is way too old for you. He’s like Dad’s age and he’s either the fire chief or he stole the fire chief’s car.”
Melinda hit her brother. “No Wyatt,” she breathed, “That’s the guy that was almost Chris’s father.”
Piper knocked on the door of the grubby apartment. She knew that ex-cons didn’t have much money, but was a little cleanliness too much to ask for?
The door swung open, and Piper saw a man her own age, in a T-shirt and jeans, clean-shaven and well-muscled. Bane didn’t look that different, just with less hair and more gray and a shifting look in his eyes. But he looked happy to see her.
“Piper, wow. Not the Halliwell I was expecting, but maybe that’s just as well.” he said gesturing around him. “This is just temporary, I promise. I have a job with an old friend of mine, a legal job, and I hope to get out of this dump in a couple of weeks. So what’s going on with you?” He let her inside the apartment, which was slightly cleaner than the outside and to a table. She sat in one chair and he sat opposite her after he got them both coffees.
“I’m all right. I’m married with three kids, and we all live in the manor. Phoebe’s married too, for the third time, and she and her husband and her daughter live nearby.”
“Well, congratulations to both of you. I’m glad you’re both happy. How’s the demon fighting coming along?”
“It’s going as well as can be expected. There’s less of it than there used to be, but that’s still too much for me.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’ll trade you some demons for my parole officer.” They both laughed, a little nervously. “So, Piper, tell me. How’s Prue?”
“Prue?”
“Yeah, I mean, does she still think about me, remember me? I thought about her a lot while I was in prison, and I’d love to see her, but if she’s married, or just doesn’t want to see me, or both, then well…”
Piper bit her lip. “Um, well, Bane, that’s what I came here to talk to you about. You see, Prue died in 2001. We were fighting a really bad demon, and she, she didn’t make it.”
Bane just stared at her, and the n his face crumpled. “She died in 2001? Piper, that’s twenty-one fucking years ago! Twenty-one years she’s gone and here I’ve been thinking, hoping that she still loves me and that maybe we can pick up where we left off and you’re telling me that a fucking demon killed her?” Piper saw the tears running down his face and knew that identical ones were streaming down hers.
“Bane, I, she…”
“Forget it Piper. You could have come to see me in jail to tell me, but instead you wait until I’m released so I won’t come looking for her, right? You had two decades to tell me, but you wait until now.”
“Please, Bane I never wanted to…”
“Just leave, Piper. You did what you came here to do, now leave. Leave me alone.”
Piper got up slowly and left, the door closing softly behind her. Bane still sat at the kitchen table, crying softly. He’d been dreaming of Prue every day since he’d turned himself in. He had thought that maybe she was married, but that would have been okay with him. He’d have had a chance if she’d been married, but dead? There was no chance now. There was no hope for him or their love, which had saved him, which had been keeping him alive. Bane was so consumed by his grief that he didn’t notice the hulking demon behind him. The demon laid a hand on Bane’s shoulder, and as Bane turned around, the demon raised the other hand and yellow lights began to swirl.