Legacy: What Dreams May Come

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Seven: Finding Safety in Each Other

“I cannot believe that you were so careless as to tell someone to go in after some lunatic that is after you cousin and his girlfriend! Not to mention, I specifically told you that you were not to be going after demons, young man!” Paige Matthews-Mitchell was yelling—no, screaming—at her son while Parker cowered. Susan could only watch this with interest while Chris sat with his hand in his head, looking vaguely bored.

“Don’t tell me that you’re used to this,” Susan whispered to him while Paige continued to scream and yell at her son.

“No, I’m not,” Chris whispered. “It’s just that Mom’s much worse when she really mad at us. Trust me, Parker and the twins got it easy. And Prue, Penny, and Mel had it really easy.” Susan smiled slightly as she glanced over at Brandon.

They had called Paige to heal him, mostly because they didn’t want to interrupt Brooke and Wyatt’s weekend getaway just so he could heal the Whitelighter. What they hadn’t expected was that Parker hadn’t called his mother like Chris had told him to, so he was in for an earful when she got finished healing Brandon. He was going to be unconscious for a few days, mostly because she had no idea what it was that had hurt him so badly. Whatever it was, it had done a great deal of damage to the Whitelighter, who were more or less immortal.

Once Paige had finished screaming at her son, she took a deep breath and turned to the two witchlighters who were sitting in the kitchen. “Okay, now you want to explain to me why exactly you got him involved in this?” she said through gritted teeth. “Chris, you knew perfectly well he was grounded.”

“Yeah, which is why I told him to call you so that he wouldn’t get into any trouble,” Chris told his aunt calmly. “And I didn’t have him do anything else before we went over to the Connellys’ place besides watch over our bodies. On the bright side though, at least that demon’s vanquished.”

Susan smiled brightly. “Yeah, I called the hospital awhile ago and apparently Riley’s awake,” she told them.

“That’s good,” Chris said, grinning. “So, how long should Brandon be unconscious for?”

“At least three days,” Paige sighed, giving up on yelling at them. “I’d advise against moving him, though, otherwise it could be more. Susan, um, do you have any idea what this Peter Connelly has against you or what he even did to Brandon? Did anybody see what was in the room that could’ve been used to torture him or anything?”

“Honestly, Paige, I kind of had my mind on other things at the moment,” Susan told her.

“I didn’t see anything either, Aunt Paige,” Chris told her when she looked at him. Paige sighed, but nodded.

“All right, well, I’m going to go up to the Elders and see if they know anything,” Paige told them. “And Susan, They’re probably going to come here and visit you, to get a first-hand account of how you guys found you and about your demon friend.”

“He’s not a demon!” Susan half-snapped at her. Paige said nothing, simply looked at her. “And no. Absolutely not. No Elder is going to step foot into my apartment, barring a piano or an equally heavy object falling on my head.” She folded her arms across her chest, glaring at Paige.

“He’s half-Elder,” Paige said with a grin, pointing towards Chris, who rolled his eyes. Susan sighed as she sat down, rubbing her forehead gently. “And what do you have against the Elders? What did they ever do to you?”

Susan froze, not wanting to go into that story anytime soon. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice like ice. “No Elder is going to set foot in here, am I understood?” She was actually shocked to hear her words. “I do not want Them in here and I won’t have Them in here.”

Before any of the three Halliwells could speak, the front door opened and Wyatt’s voice called out, “Hey, we’re back! Anybody here?”

“Kitchen!” Chris called, still looking towards Susan worriedly. Even Paige was looking concerned as Wyatt and Brooke came into the kitchen. “What are you two doing back so early?”

“Well, it turns out that demon activity continues to haunt us, even when we try to avoid it,” Brooke said, rolling her eyes. “So we decided to just come home and be done with it. We did, however, manage to see that play that I wanted to see before the demons started following us like flies.”

“Whoa,” Wyatt said, spotting Brandon on the couch. “What’s going on with him? And what are you guys doing over here?” he added, looking at Paige and Parker. “What’s going on? What did we miss?”

Susan and Chris looked at each other. “You tell them,” Susan said, sighing. “I’m going to go lie down. I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

She stood up, kissed Chris on the cheek before heading into her room, closing the door behind her, hearing Chris explain what had happened as she did so. Lying down on the bed, she suppressed a sigh as she stared up at the ceiling, wishing that she could really forget why she hated the Elders so much. But how could she possibly forget that?

Getting to her feet, Susan walked over to the window, opening it and feeling the cool breeze wash over her. For some reason, it made her feel better, at least until she heard Paige said the word “Elders” in the next room. Then it came back to her in a rush.

Swallowing a lump that had started to form in her throat, Susan pushed the tears that had started to form in her eyes as she slowly picked up the photo that she kept on her nightstand. Staring down at the image of her and Ryan sitting on the porch of their house, grinning at their mother, Susan let out a soft sob, lying down onto the bed as she cradled the photo.

“I miss you, Ryan,” she whispered to her dead twin, “so much.” Unbidden and unwilling, the tears began to slide down her cheeks and she buried her face into her pillow, sobs racking from her.

She was so wrapped up in her agony that she never heard the door open and close behind her. Not until she felt someone climb onto the bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her gently. Chris kissed her forehead, smoothing her hair away from her face.

Snuggling closer to him, Susan reached up and clung to him, allowing herself to be enveloped in his arms, seeking the comfort that she needed, from someone who truly cared about her. And for the first time since Ryan’s death, Susan felt as though she was really safe.

Right there in Chris’s arms, with him holding her so tightly, trying to protect her from the world and soothe her pain and agony, she felt more at peace than she had in the longest time. He understood her in a way that no one ever had, not even her brother. And that was a bond that she would never fully understand, but was grateful of it.

--

Chris stayed with Susan until she fell asleep, clinging to him like a child. He didn’t say anything, had no words to comfort her with, but his mere presence seemed to be enough. Slowly, he unwrapped her from him, massaging her fingers so that she let go of him.

Standing up, Chris bent down and brushed a strand of her brown hair out of her face, picking up a picture frame that she had been clutching before he came in, staring down at the photo of Susan. She was standing outside of a house with a boy that he didn’t recognise. They were both smiling and laughing at whoever was taking the photograph.

Feeling understanding and pain rush through him, Chris realised that this had to be Ryan. The Susan in the photo had been so happy, so carefree, so loving . . . would she ever be that way again? he wondered. She had said once that he had saved her, but now he wondered how he could possibly protect her from this.

Just be there for her, a voice whispered in his mind. Just let her know that you’ll always be there, no matter what.

Chris sighed as he bent down, pulling blanket up over Susan and sat watching her for a second. She was so unlike any girl that he’d ever known, and was so caring, so kind.

And he had the feeling that it was no mere coincidence that she and Brooke came to San Francisco and then Peter Connelly suddenly became interested in tracking them down. What was it about Susan that made him so highly interested in killing her?

Almost the second that he thought that, he could’ve sworn that he felt the presence of someone standing nearby. As he looked up, there was nowhere there, but there was a feeling of someone watching them and unseen power nearby. Standing up, he moved slightly in front of the unseen visitor, but no one appeared to attack them.

In fact, all that happened was the drawer on her dresser popped open and the mysterious visitor vanished, leaving Chris standing confused with the still sleeping Susan.

Hesitantly, he walked over to Susan’s dresser and peered into it. Amongst the shirts of various colours, there was a small journal and a file lying in it, almost asking him to retrieve them.

Chris picked them up and slowly opened them, his heart beating fast as he stared down at its contents. “Brandon, what did you find over there?” he whispered as he realised how they came to be there.

--Fade to Black--

End Credits

Rider Strong as Parker Matthews-Mitchell

Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews-Mitchell

Jack Devonport as Peter Connelly

Drew Barrymore as Deidre Connelly

and Danneel Harris as Aisling