A Charmed Story - Part Seven:
Hope Dies Last
Chapter 11

Leo was the first one who returned to the manor. He had brought the kids up to the Elderworld to Silas. There they were save while the kindergarten of the magic school was closed.
Seconds later Paige and her sisters orbed in. Everyone of them was armed with lots of potions.
Piper sighed: "So... now we have to wait..."
"I wouldn't wonder if nothing happens... if we armed ourselves for no reason..." Paige said sarcastically. Phoebe rolled her eyes and sat down.
The next moment the brothers orbed in. Still dressed in the dark and dirty closes, smelling like a dump.
"Wow? Where have you been?" Leo asked worried.
"Long story," Chris said, while putting off his coat. Wyatt just nodded.
"Have you found something?" Piper asked. She seemed to be even more worried then the Elder.
Chris shrugged: "No... only that there is a whitelighter involved... but he's not the head of it..."
Suddenly the air began to wave. Piper rose her hands to blow up the intruder, when they noticed that it was Tom.
"Hey, did you find something?" Paige asked approaching him.
Tom nodded: "Yeah... You wouldn't believe it. There was this demon, and he told us that they took Steve to manipulate him."
"What?"
"How?"
Everyone looked at the young man confused.
"I don't know," Tom went on. "He didn't knew much, only what he had to know. But then we shimmered to Steve's house and found Nicki unconscious... no sign of Steve..."
"That's mysterious," Phoebe muttered.
At that moment several demons shimmered in around them, immediately starting to throw fireballs at the family. And Steve was leading them!
Everyone ducked just in time to avoid the first round of attack.
Tom was the first one who rose again: "Damn it Steve, what are you doing?"
But he didn't react. He was acting more like a machine then a human. He threw a kind of flash out of his hand, a little like the way Elders did. Tom flew backwards and crashed into the wall. He swore and cursed in pain and frustration.
Meanwhile everyone was involved in the fight. The sisters threw potions, Piper and Wyatt let some demons explode, Chris made them fly telekinetically to the walls, while Leo helped Tom. They fought desperately, but it seemed to the sisters that the demons kept coming and coming. It seemed they couldn't win.
In the middle of the fighting, suddenly bluish orbing lights filled the room. Chris was shocked and scared to death, when he saw his wife with the astralprojection of his daughter appear from the orbs in the middle of the room. Lying on the ground the Phoenix moaned. Chris rushed over to them, to her, while the others were still fighting, and was even more scared when he saw how pale Bianca was.
"Sweetie, what are you doing here?" he asked, while a fireball passed him, only inches from his head away.
But Bianca didn't answer, again she cried in pain.
That moment Cole orbed in. When he saw the mess around him he was shocked. He just had enough time to avoid an energyball.
Wyatt, who could feel the pain and the worries Chris felt though their connection, knew he had to do something, had to end this quickly. So he crawled over to Paige. "You have to orb to Steve and orb with him away for 30 seconds," he said.
"What?" Paige asked in disbelieve.
"Please," Wyatt begged, "I don't want to hurt him!" Paige nodded and did as he had said.
While his aunt orbed, Wyatt told the other to stay hidden. Then he watched how his aunt orbed behind Steve, grabbed his shoulders and disappeared with him.
Wyatt rose. Like he had did it before he stretched out his arms and that orange band of energy appeared and streamed through the room, through the whole house... Every single demon was vanquished within 10 seconds. Only one person was left. One that Wyatt couldn't hurt but also one who couldn't leave, cause Wyatt hold him telepathically.
Piper reacted instinctively and blew the man up. He exploded to thousands of little blue lights, which reform to the man immediately.
Tom stood up: "Adam?"
Everyone looked now at the young whitelighter. Now they recognise what the dark dress and the dirt had made them overlook.
"Oh my God," Paige said when she rematerialised with Steve who struggled to get free. "Adam how could you do that?"
Again Bianca moaned in pain, which let everyone feel the urgency.
Wyatt swallowed feeling the desperation of his brother. He closed his eyes and turning to the whitelighter he demanded: "Release Steve from whatever you did to him and tell us what this is all for!"
Adam's coolness faded. He was afraid... no he was scared... because he was alone. He did as Wyatt had said and threw a potion to the ground where Steve was standing. Seconds later it was like their friend woke up from a dream. But at the same moment Adam cried in pain and then he explode before he could say any other word.

The old demon turned around when a darklighter entered. "And? Is it done?" he asked.
The darklighter took a bow: "I'm afraid no, master."
"WHAT?" the demon yelled furious. He had planed everything so detailed, so clearly... How could it not work?
"I'm sorry, master," the darklighter went on, "there was another witch, they called him Wyatt like the baby... but he was an adult... he vanquished everyone master... just with a move of his hand."
The demon groaned: "And the whitelighter?"
"I killed him, before he could say anything."
The demon nodded.

"I'm here sweetie," Chris said. His voice was braking. He was just kneeling next to his wife, holding her hand. While the fight had gone on around him, he had already tried to help her with healing, but it didn't work. Now everything around them was calm, but he didn't even notice.
He felt desperate, helpless, weak... He was so scared that anything could happen to her.
"Daddy," little Hope said.
Chris looked up. The girl was holding a sheet of paper in front of his nose.
"Daddy, I don't want to hurt mommy... please help me to stop this," she said.
Chris took the sheet of paper and looked at it, while their family was approaching them. Chris read the text, it was a spell... a spell to bind Hopes powers... or at least a part of it.
Chris looked up again: "No I can't do that."
"Do what?" Piper asked. Leo was also there, also trying to heal her with no result.
Everyone looked desperate at the couple. They all knew how much they loved each other and it broke their hearts to see the Phoenix suffer like that.
"Please Daddy, you have to stop me!" Hope begged again.
Cole put a hand on his nephews shoulder. "It's ok, just do it..." he said, even if he wasn't sure that it would help... not after what he had seen... But he had to help them now, he had to be there from them.
Chris sighed, remembering what Wyatt had told them after their arrival... that his daughters powers had been bound... Then he took a deep breath and cast the spell:
"I call the entity of time and space
Come now here to us at this place
Bind all the kid's powers which hurt her mother somehow
Bind all these great powers, bind them now!"
While Chris had spoken these words, the image of Hope faded, and when he ended it was gone.
For a moment everyone had the feeling that Bianca would relax, but then she cried again.
"Hey, what's that?" Wyatt asked, pointing at the woman's night-dress. It was wet.
"Oh-oh..." Piper said. "Her water broke..."
"Paige, orb to the kitchen, we need towels and a lot of hot water. Cole get the blanket from the sofa..." Leo commanded. Then he turned to his son: "Seems it's time for you to become a daddy."
Chris looked at him unbelieving: "What? That's to early...!"
"What date is it?" Wyatt asked, worried on his own.
"July 22nd," Piper replied.
Her oldest grinned: "Well then it isn't too early... July 22nd is Hope's birthday."
"You knew that?" Chris asked completely lost.
"I didn't know which date it is..." Wyatt defended himself.
"No time for that," Leo said, "I need your help here."
Together they helped Bianca to a more comfortable position. Chris was supporting her, while she yelled again.
"Shhhhh, sweetie... It's ok... it will be over soon," Chris said softly.
"I'm afraid," Bianca whispered.
"There is no need to," Leo said. "I know what I'm doing."
Chris nodded. He caressed his wife's cheek and kissed her hair. "I love you," he said, "we will get through this together."
Piper had sat down next to them holding Bianca's hand tightly.
The other had stepped back giving them a little more space. It was an indescribable feeling they all felt. Especially Wyatt was completely overwhelmed. He would witness how Hope... one of his best friends, was born.
Cole had sat down on the sofa, hiding his face in his hands. He begged to God that what he saw wouldn't come true. Phoebe who had noticed that something was wrong with her fiancé, went over and sat down next to him.
Meanwhile Bianca was working hard to give birth to her child. Chris was so excited and so scared at the same time... he didn't... he really didn't know what he felt, but what ever it was, it was overwhelming.
"Come on," Leo said, "just one more time, Bianca... pressing..." So she did...
Moments later a huge smile appeared on Leo's face. And then they heard the sweet cry of the new-born girl.
"Welcome to this world, little Hope," the proud grandfather said and showed the girl to Chris and Bianca, before he cut the navel cord.
Chris just smiled. She was so small... so helpless... so cute. He couldn't believe it... that was his girl! It was just amazing.
"Hey sweetie, look how..." When Chris turned to Bianca again all the joy he felt, all the happiness, was washed away within a second. His wife had closed her eyes. She wasn't moving.
"Bianca?" he shook her softly, "Bianca!... DAD!"
Leo had given the baby to Piper and now tried to heal the woman. But nothing happened.
Chris started shivering when Leo searched for her pulse. "That can't be... that can't be..." he mumbled.
After a while Leo looked up with sad eyes: "I'm sorry" he said.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Chris yelled crying so hart and desperate, that it broke everyone's heart.
Cole broke down into Phoebes arms, while the empath just realised that he had known it. She hugged him with tears in her eyes.
Paige went over and hugged Piper who was so shocked that her sister feared she could brake down every second.
Steve, who was himself again, and Tom looked at each other not knowing what to do or to say.
Leo just sat down next to his son, who hugged his dead wife as if that could change something.
Chris didn't notice anything of that. He just cried. He felt his world braking into pieces. He felt his soul dying with his wife. She was everything to him, he knew he couldn't go on without her. He needed her, and Hope needed her, too. 'She can't be dead' he thought, 'she can't... she just can't... Wyatt had said she's fine... Wyatt had said... Wyatt... Wyatt...'
Chris rose his head. With his red and swollen eyes he looked at his brother beggingly. "Please... Wyatt... Please help me... Please save her..."
Wyatt was crying... he cried the whole time, cause he felt Chris's heart braking like it would have been his own. He couldn't understand all this. Bianca had been there when he left the future. Could his trip to the past mess up with the time so much? But then everything became clear, because he heard and also felt his brother's pleading... He felt it in every cell of his body... Like in that dream...
"Chris," Leo said, "no one can..."
"Please Wyatt... I know you can do it... I believe in you..." Chris begged not listening to his father's words.
Everyone was watching the Elder-witch, everyone felt pity for him and everyone was sure that Chris's begging was useless, everyone except his brother.
Wyatt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. How could he do that. He knew what Chris meant, but...
"Please... Wyatt..." Chris sobbed desperate.
Wyatt sighed as he went over to them and knelt down next to Bianca's body. Then he looked at Chris who glanced at him expectantly. He didn't believe that it could work, but he had to try, for Chris. So he put his hands over her body and closed his eyes again.
"Wyatt?" Piper asked confused. Also Cole looked up again, suddenly remembering what Chris had once told him.
First nothing happened. Then suddenly a golden light appeared underneath Wyatt's hands and covered the Phoenix from head to toe. Everyone was shocked by that, everyone except Chris and Cole.
It took only a few seconds, then suddenly Bianca inhaled deeply.
Wyatt flinched a little surprised and shocked that it really worked. He had never believed that he really could do that... not again...
Bianca coughed. Chris helped her to rise a little to be able to breath easier.
"What... what happened...?" she asked
"Shhhh... Just relax, ok?" Chris said to her ear and again his voice broke, cause he felt so overwhelmed, so relieved... "Everything is fine, don't worry."
"Where is my baby?" she asked then. Piper gave Hope to her and Bianca hold her tightly smiling overwhelmed, too.
Chris began to chuckle, he couldn't help it. It was just the tension that left him, when he saw his wife - alive - with their daughter in her arms.
Then he looked at his brother who sat beside them a little exhausted.
Wyatt smiled back. He could read Chris's thoughts, and he felt his feelings... He felt how thankful he was, and that was more than thousand words he could have said.
Everyone was happy that moment, even if no one except the brothers really understood what had happened. They were just happy that in the end everyone was fine.

Steve, who had been watching the whole scene with sadness reflected on his face, took advantage of the moment of relief that everyone felt once Bianca was completely healed, and asked Tom to shimmer him away, in search of his love.
Nicki was sitting on the bed, wrapped up in a blanket that Veronica had gently placed around her friend's shoulders. She had a plastic bag with ice on her head, and was sobbing weakly now. Veronica had been trying to cheer her up, saying that everything was gonna be ok, that they had discovered some things, that Steve had been manipulated all the time... But she would not respond in any way. She just fixed her eyes in an invisible point at the front.
"Hey..." a shy voice made the girls raise their heads just to face Steve.
Nicki stared at him expressionless, but Veronica smiled and stood up to leave them alone. Just when she passed by the boy, she glanced at him and patted his shoulder. Then she left with Tom.
Nicki kept sitting on the bed as Steve approached her, ashamed.
"I'm sorry..." he mumbled, looking in her glassy eyes. "I... I just..." he shook his head, "I don't know what to say." He sat down by her, and caressed her wounded head softly.
"You don't need to say anything," Nicki answered, with a trembling voice.
"Nicki, I can't believe what I did. I would have never hurt you, I swear. Any of you. I almost killed all the people I love..."
He was trying to hold his own tears back, but Nicki shrugged. "It's ok, Steve..."
"No, it's not. It's not ok that I was ignoring all the time what happened to me, and put you all in danger. I... I hurt you Nicki," he sobbed.
Nicki sighed and turned to look him in the eyes. She had never felt so bad...
"I love you girl, I do. I would always protect you, remember?? I just can't... forgive myself for what I've done."
Nicki put a finger on his lips to make him stop talking. "Steve... It's ok You were manipulated. Veronica told me. I know that something happened to you, but you're ok, now. I just wanna forget all this." She forced a smile, and Steve nodded.
Then, she kissed him on his lips, and the boy closed his eyes, thinking painfully: 'Yes... you wanna forget. I will never be able to.' And as he closed his eyes, the images of all the terrible things he had undergone came to his head... His being chained, hit when he didn't collaborate, taken to that other chamber and tied to a chair, the light... the pain... the pain... A tear ran down his face as he kept kissing Nicki. The pain and the nothingness. Now he remembered perfectly well what they had done to him, he just had some blanks which corresponded to all the time that he wasn't himself. He recalled the pain, above all... something he'd never forget.
He kept kissing Nicki, and the tears rolled down his cheeks.

Odin had orbed Cole to the manor, and then he kept pensive, like petrified. Cole was a witch... Since the day he had been in the fields with Chris. Since that very day, he had kept the secret. Why?
He shook his head... Because he had been a demon before, and he was afraid that they would not have liked the idea. Because actually, some people up there hadn't liked the fact that he had gone to those fields.
He sighed and orbed to the Upper World, he had a lot of things to think through...

The rest of the family as well as Tom and Veronica went back to whatever they had to do. Tom took Veronica home. Leo went to the Upper World to get the kids back, and tell the Elders how everything had gone on. How Adam had been discovered and killed by their own bosses. It was a bad day, a day to remember for all of them.
Nicki would be told some hours later, and she would feel worse than ever. Adam had been her apprentice, she had fully trusted him. It was the worse news ever...But she wouldn't talk with Steve about it. They wouldn't talked about what happened, it was too painful.
Piper called a doctor to come and check on Bianca and Hope. After all the girl was born to early and they just wanted to make sure that everything was alright now.
Wyatt was lost in his own thoughts, trying to understand what he had done, but knowing well that this had been the reason why he came to the past... Now he knew.

It was already early morning. Bianca was sleeping in their bed as Chris lulled their baby in their little lounge. He couldn't believe that she was there already. His little Hope P. Halliwell - because they still had to figure out what the P stood for - was already alive in her true time. Which surprises would the future bring? He wondered as he stared at the baby and studied her face, her little hands, her little feet, her little nose and ears, her perfect beautiful green eyes... He had to smile.
"Hey you're gonna be so big..." he whispered.
"Just like her father," a voice surprised him from behind.
Chris turned to face its owner, and smiled, happy and sad at the same time. "Hey, Wyatt..." he said as his brother went closer. "Isn't she beautiful?" he asked him.
The blonde man took one of her little hands and softly caressed her small fingers. "This is so weird... She will get mad when she knows that I'm seeing her so little and defenceless."
"Are you talking about me??" another voice made them turn around.
"Hope!" Wyatt exclaimed.
The girl was widely smiling at their back. "Oh, look at that, am I not cute?" she asked, looking at the baby in Chris's arms.
Her father smiled, amazed. "I guess it's time for you to leave Wyatt... The taxi is waiting for you," he said sadly.
Wyatt frowned: "I have that potion to go back, I..."
"Oh, come on, shut up, Wyatt!" Hope said, rolling her eyes. "Don't spoil it!! What if I just wanted to see my little self and my daddy?? Actually..." she grinned, kissing Chris on his cheek, "I came because dad told me that perhaps you two would like to enjoy more time together."
"What??" Chris exclaimed. "But... What about future consequences and all that stuff?" He couldn't believe that he himself had said that, or would say that in the future.
"You know, daddy... you're getting older," Hope winked at him, and then, after kissing both men goodbye, she disappeared in the middle of those purple orbing lights.
Chris and Wyatt stared at each other amazed. What if something more would happen? But... what the hell!! They had more time for them as brothers! They started to laugh full of happiness.

"You're smiling..." Julian said.
Belthazor turned serious immediately: "No I'm not." He separated himself from the computer.
"You were smiling, I know."
"No, I wasn't!!! And we have a lot of things to do now, so turn that damn machine off, and work!"
Julian chuckled and shook his head. Then he looked at the screen and saw Chris and Wyatt with the baby, laughing, and he himself grinned before shutting the computer down...