Fic: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn (28/37)

[sara_wolf]

Title: Comes Out of Darkness, Morn
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: Pax's disappearance shattered Paige. Losing Prue, three years later, reopens old wounds that she thought she'd managed to close off, forever. But, through tragedy comes a sliver of light, and discovering that she's a witch is only the beginning...

*****

June 5th, 2002

"Henry! Henry, over here!"

Henry looked around at the sound of his name, shielding his eyes from the bright sun. He spotted a familiar head of red hair across the pick-up and drop-off area, and he grabbed his suitcase and headed in that direction. Then, he swept Emily up into a hug as he reached her.

"Hey," he greeted, as he let the girl go. "What are you doing here? I was going to take the BART back home, since it's so early."

"Caleb woke up at four a.m. and wanted to see his favorite uncle," Emily told him, gesturing to the baby strapped in the car seat in the back of the car.

"That can't be him," Henry protested, as he looked at the one-year-old. "He's too big. He couldn’t have grown that fast; I was only gone for two weeks."

"It was two and a half," Emily corrected him, "and, I swear he's been growing like a weed, lately. Every time I blink, he's gone through an entire wardrobe."

"Look at you," Henry crooned, as he opened the back door and reached for the baby. "You've got to stop growing, Caleb. I'm never going to be able to keep up."

He unbuckled the boy from his car seat and cuddled him to his chest. Then, he jerked in surprise at the very distinctive feel of teeth latching onto his earlobe, letting out a very undignified yelp.

"What the hell?"

"Caleb Page!" Emily snapped, as she reached out and took her son from Henry. "Sorry," she apologized, quickly. "He's been in a biting mood, the last couple of days. I don't know what started it."

"Well, I don't think I'm bleeding," Henry told her, reaching up and gingerly touching his ear. "Geez, that kid's got some teeth on him."

"Yeah," Emily agreed, as she placed the wailing child back in his car seat. "Well," she scolded her son, as she buckled him back in, "if you hadn't bitten Uncle Henry, he'd still be holding you." Closing the car door, she added, "You ready to go home?"

"More than ready," Henry told her, as he put his suitcase in the trunk and slid into the passenger seat.

"You know," Emily remarked, as they drove away from the airport, "I'll never understand how Jenna can stand to live in New York. It's so dreary."

"You'd melt if you ever had to leave the California sunshine, wouldn't you?" Henry asked, rhetorically, getting a grin from his younger sister. "Jenna's doing well in school," he added. "She misses everyone, and she can't wait to come home for Christmas."

"Christmas?" Emily echoed. "What happened to Thanksgiving?"

"She and Sheryl are spending Thanksgiving with Sheryl's family," Henry told her, "and then they're coming here for Christmas. What about you?" he asked, after a moment. "Anyone special in your life?"

"Yes," Emily told him, and then she laughed at the scowl on his face. "Hey, you asked. If you didn't want to know-"

"So, what's this guy's name?" Henry asked, grumpily.

"His name is Luke," Emily told him. "We go to school, together. He's nice. I like him."

"And does this Luke," Henry asked, making the name sound like a curse word, "know that you have a very protective older brother who is a cop, and who carries a gun?"

"I think he's more concerned about the very protective older sister who can turn him into a toad," Emily replied. "He's Romani," she added, seeing Henry's confused look. "Part of the clan that Paige's friend, Ava, belongs to. So, he already knows about magic, and he's cool with it."

"What about with Caleb?" Henry asked, still grumbling, and Emily sighed.

"We hang out, and we have a nice time, together," she replied, sounding exasperated with him. "I'm seventeen, Henry; I'm not looking at forever, yet. Luke is a good guy, and he likes Caleb, and Caleb likes him. Besides," she added, softer, "weren't you there for Paige, at this age?"

"That was different," Henry protested, automatically, and then Emily's words sank in and he looked at her, sharply. "How do you know about that?"

"I have eyes," Emily pointed out, reasonably. "I've seen the pictures on the wall. What happened? Why doesn't Paige ever talk about her?" she asked, quietly, after a moment.

"We lost Pax seven years ago," Henry finally told her, and Emily stared at him, gasping in shock.

"Oh, god," she whispered, horrified. "Oh, no wonder Paige never says anything." She glanced in the rearview mirror, looking at Caleb in his car seat. "I don't know if I could survive losing Caleb."

"Sometimes," Henry confided in her, quietly, "I'm surprised that Paige did."

They drove in silence for several minutes, Emily clearly lost in her thoughts. Then, she snuck a look over at Henry.

"You know," she commented, idly, "I'm surprised that you haven't called her by now."

"It's not safe to use a cell phone while you're driving," Henry protested, immediately, not even pretending not to know who she was talking about.

"Yeah," Emily agreed, slowly, "but, see, that's only really a concern if you're driving, and I'm sitting behind the steering wheel."

"I haven't even called Caryn, yet," Henry protested, getting a snort from his younger sister.

"You mean Caryn, who was running around with her ex-boyfriend while she was dating you?" she asked.

Henry just shook his head, not having any kind of response to that comment. "Maybe I want some privacy when I talk to Paige," he finally said.

"Oh," Emily remarked, exaggeratedly drawing the word out. "Privacy, huh?"

"It's not like that," Henry protested, but Emily just laughed at him, the sound filling the small car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Paige hadn't thought that she'd let herself get so caught up in the potion that she was working up, up until the point where the ringing telephone startled her badly enough that she dropped too much saltpeter into the saucepan, causing a small explosion that knocked her onto the floor. She groaned in pain as she rubbed the newly-forming knot on the back of her head, contemplated getting up off the floor, and then just orbed the phone into her hand.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey," came the reply, and she started grinning as soon as she heard Henry's voice.

"Hey, stranger," she greeted him, happily. "How was New York? How's Jenna? When did you get back?"

"Fine, she's good, and this morning," Henry answered, and Paige laughed. "So," he went on, "what's been going on with you guys? Vanquish any interesting demons?"

"I got turned into a mermaid," Paige told him, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"You want to run that by me, again?" Henry asked. "Mermaid? Like, fishy, tail-"

"The whole nine yards," Paige replied. "We were trying to help an actual mermaid, and I wrote this spell to track her down, and it did not work the way I was expecting it to."

"Well, considering that you were going to have to look for said mermaid in the middle of the ocean," Henry pointed out, "how exactly did you expect it to work?"

"You know," Paige complained, "you're just too logical for all this magic stuff."

"I'll bet that's something you never expected to say," Henry teased her. "So, how is unemployed life been treating you? Going stir crazy, yet?"

"Getting laid off was unexpected," Paige told him, "and for the first couple of days, it pretty much sucked. But, I'm starting to think that it might not have been such a bad thing. I wanted to devote more time to magic, and now I get to be a full-time witch."

"Uh huh," Henry agreed, vaguely. "So, stir crazy?" he prompted, and Paige grinned at how well he knew her.

"I've made every potion in the Book," she answered. "Twice." Henry chuckled, knowingly. "Some failed, others failed spectacularly-"

"Blow anything up, yet?" Henry asked, and Paige made a rude noise into the phone.

"Oh, ye of little faith," she told him. "For your information, the only thing I blew up was a blender full of gazpacho."

"It amazes me that someone so good at making potions can be such a lousy cook," Henry told her.

"Hey," Paige said, defensively, "who are you calling a lousy cook?"

"Try that on someone who didn't have to suffer through your unfortunate tomato soup cake," Henry retorted.

"If you're not nice to me, I'm never going to cook for you, again," Paige told him.

"Can I get that in writing?" Henry said, teasingly.

"You're a riot," Paige said, dryly, and then she looked toward the doorway at the sound of voices. "Henry, I've got to go. Sounds like something is up."

"Be careful," Henry said, and Paige nodded, even though she knew that he couldn't see her.

"Always," she promised. "Hey, stop by for dinner tonight, okay? We'll catch up."

"Got it," Henry replied, and then he hung up, and Paige got up from where she was still sitting on the floor to go out into the sunroom. She found Leo and Piper standing there with a woman with curly, gray hair.

"Don't tell me you're interviewing nannies, already," she joked, and then the woman turned around to face her, and Paige recognized her as Piper, Phoebe, and Prue's grandmother. And hers, she supposed, although she hadn't ever really thought of the older woman that way. "Mrs. Halliwell," she said, surprised. "Um, no offense, but aren't you dead?"

"Oh, I'm over that," the older woman said, dismissively, waving a hand. "Paige," she went on, with a smile, "you're even more beautiful that I imagined."

"Um, thanks, I think," Paige said, slowly. She looked at Piper for help, but Piper looked absolutely overjoyed to have her grandmother back, and Paige couldn't blame her.

"You have my mother's eyes," Penny gushed, as she pulled Paige toward her in a hug. "Oh, she was a real looker in her day, too. I'll bet you have a lot of boyfriends."

"Not really a problem I'm having, at the moment, Mrs. Halliwell," Paige confessed.

"Oh, call me Grams, dear," Penny told her, and Paige shot Piper another look, silently pleading with her to do something.

So, she was a little bit grateful for the demon that appeared suddenly in the middle of the living room with an enormous axe in his hands. He swung the axe at Piper and Penny, but Piper pushed her grandmother out of the way, and Paige lunged at the demon. Her flying tackle knocked their attacker off balance, but he retaliated quickly enough, smacking her across the face hard enough to send her flying into the coffee table, where she lay too stunned to move.

She watched Penny throw the demon back with her telekinesis, and then Piper blew him up, the axe clattering noisily to the floor. A few seconds later, Leo came pounding down the stairs, and he rushed over to her when he saw that she wasn't moving, healing the injuries that Paige hadn't even known that she'd sustained until that moment.

"I'm going to hit the Book," she announced, groaning softly as Leo helped her to her feet. "I want to know who just attacked us, and if we can expect any of his little friends."

"No need for the Book," Piper told her, and Paige looked at her in surprise, waiting for an explanation. "I knew him," Piper went on, "and that was no demon."

"Then, what was it?" Leo asked.

"The woodsman from Snow White," Piper said, as she picked up her book of fairy tales from the ruins of the coffee table that Paige had demolished with her back.

Paige stared at her sister for a long moment, trying to digest her words. "Are you saying that a fairy tale just came to life and attacked us?"

Continued here