Realistic or Modern The Visitor

[DrTrollinski]

Going to Uncle Cal's would be fun for all of the family, more or less. Ethan was going to come along and he'd finally get the chance to have a word with him about becoming a protector for Sam, which would by far be one of the smartest things he could ever do. At least with what Cal would give him, he would be... Protected. Protected from being manipulated and taken over by Eli, which would make Eli's job siginificantly harder. Especially if erasing memories wasn't going to be possible. A man with no soul is some dark shit, in all reality, so when it comes down to it? Yeah, he's going to have to be careful, especially if Ethan is protected more or less entirely from dark magic.

Fun!

Well, regardless, they made breakfast and everything, and Sam found that Elena, much like Max, was a good cook. She made a big breakfast for everyone, and Chandler was a prime example of how good she was at cooking - why? Because he cleared his plate within minutes. He loved mom's food. His dad was French, though, and for the longest time was his only parent. His dad was a good cook, but, there was something about Elena's cooking that was much better. She seemed to have perfected it, which was nice.

Soon enough, though, they found themselves right next door to Max's house, and it was there that they were faced with Cal's front door.

They reached out to knock, and as they did, before they could even grab the knocker, well, the door opened.

And there he was. Cal.

"Hi." He said, "I've been expecting you."

He opened the door up. "Hello, Chandler." He looked down at the young boy.

"Hi, Mr. Osias." He said, shyly.

"What can I do for you today?" He asked.

--

"Sort of, yes. That's what Witness Protection is like." He said, "We pretend that the other person died and we become someone else. We only do that because... There might be someone out there that wants to hurt us or come after us, so... We do that so that we know we're safe and no one can find us, okay?" He smiled. "Nothing to be confused about, just-"

"No, no, I wasn't electrocuted for it, I-"

Oh no.

"No, no, Jane Donovan wasn't for your safety, no, that's different." He said. "No no no, Piper, don't be upset. Please, you don't have to be Jane Donovan. Don't cry." He said. He reached out to touch her but he knew that wasn't going to go down well, so, he pulled back. "No, look, it's not like that." He said, "Witness Protection is something that the police do for you. No one gets shocked. I promise. Piper, oh god..." He whispered and looked away.

Fuck.

This wasn't what he intended.

"It's okay. You don't need to be Jane Donovan. I won't make you be her." He said, "You can be Piper Whitman."

But then she started sharing everything that this guy had on them, and gradually... Mark's relaxation disappeared and he became one thing: Panicked. Jittery. How the fuck was he ever going to explain any of this? He'd texted Reba hours ago but now he'd forgotten about all of this. He'd forgotten about how he said he was on his way back. Charlie was going to be long since at home now. Hell, they were in their driveway but still, that wasn't the point. His family was going to know that he had been in there for hours talking to some random girl, and Reba was going to see this girl and Mark's stressed look if she looked out the window, and she was going to know that something was going on.

"No, I don't want to read the books." He whispered, "I don't want... No, I've heard enough." He said. "Thank you, Piper... I..."

He couldn't breathe. He was struggling to breathe.

He even followed Charlie's after school activities. Did he know about the sports he took part in and the little societies he sat in? He was part of some sort of Reading and Writing thing, right? He knew all of that. He knew everything. He knew every little detail.

He felt sick.

"Let'sgoinsidenowPiper." He quickly said, and he stepped out.

The cold air hit his face.

He felt better and worse. He looked towards the window...

How the fuck was he going to explain all of this to Reba?

 

[Willow Pillow]

Sam didnt ask how uncle cal knew or what was going on. The second he opened thst door and chandler gave his meek hello....sam hugged her uncle tightly trying to keep it together and not cry.

"Then you know whats going on..." she sniffled.

All of this....this entire journey. It scared her. Uncle cal was the closest thing she haf to her mother around. Her father had no idea this eorld existed.

Or so she thought.

They walked into his house and it was as she remembered. Filled with artifacts and adventures he had with her mother.

"Uncle cal....you know this world better than anyone. Chandler and i....we need help." She gave the boyba soft smile picking him up and putting her on his lqp. They had gotten close when she saved the houdr thst day. "Unclr cal is a superhero. Hes good at ficing problems. You eant to tell him whats going on?"
--
Charlie was home and he did ealk bybhis father as the bus dropped him off giving a look of 'who the fuck ia that anr ehy is my dad looking terrified' look before he went in the house.

Reba occassionally looked out the window and her panic grew. She believed msrk already knew her secret and was having a panic attack.

There was also a strange girl in his car.

The teo walked inside and reba opened the door for them. "Mark honey" she kissed his cheek. Dinner is ready. Whose this lovely lady?"

"I am piper whitman mrs. Rebecca gardner." Her voice chipper but she hid behind mark.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Mhm." Cal nodded.

He knew what was going on. He knew what she was going through. He knew what all of them were going through, he knew what Chandler was going through and he knew what Ethan was going to ask him as well. He knew it how it was all going to go down and he knew what the future held, and that was the scariest part. They knew that he knew, but why didn't he share it? As it goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

He wasn't going to tell them because it would cause problems. It would result in them getting into a plethora of shit.

If he told Sam what was really happening, she'd probably just end her life and that would be it.

They couldn't afford that happening, and he didn't want that to happen to her, either.

But soon enough they were sat down and Chandler was sat comfortably on Sam's lap. He looked at Calloway, "I'm having nightmares." He said, "Lots of nightmares, about... Darkness and things hurting me. I don't like the dark." He said, "I don't like any of that and sometimes I just..." He leaned back against Sam. "I guess I get lost in like... Time. Because sometimes time goes really quick." He explained.

That made enough sense, he figured.

Calloway looked back to Sam, "Okay, so we've got one problem there." He said, "And what about you? Let's kill two birds with one stone before we decide what we're going to do. Why are you here, Sam?" He asked, "I know you need my help, but, with what?" He asked.

--

Poor Charlie.

Boy was protective of his family, so seeing this random girl and his panicked father was probably spiking that whole 'I need to protect my dad no matter what' - She was a new person and so far things didn't seem to be going in her favor. She looked perfectly calm while his dad was having a breakdown.

Either way.

He stepped into the house with Piper behind him, and he leaned forward and kissed Reba. His lips were trembling. "Hi, honey." He whispered. He looked at Piper, "This is... This is Piper, it's... She's... Um..."

Yeah, you know already it's not good, Reba.

"It's a long story." He said, "We need to... I've been asked to look after Piper. For a while. Sort of for a while. Yeah." He nodded a few times, and then he looked at the teenage girl stood behind him, "Piper, honey..." He pointed to a door just a short walk down the hallway, "There's a bathroom right there. Do you want to go and get washed up before we eat?" He asked. "Dining room is just there, look," He pointed to that, too. "You can join the family for dinner tonight. Try not to take too long, okay...?" He gave her a smile, then he looked back to Reba.

".. I'm sorry, Reba. I never got the chance to tell you sooner. It wasn't meant to go down this way but it did. I promise, I was planning on bringing this up with you but everything happened so fast."

 

[Willow Pillow]

"Its umm...." sam bit her lip. Telling cal was a bad idea. She had thia under control. Just research the msgic on her own. Getting him involved would only get Cal killed. How selfish was that.

She was a very selfish person.

"Time skips too. I black out for a few hours and im in the middle of reading a book or washing myself when I wake up. I feel like Im becoming....something else and im hoping Mom knew what it could be."

One hand went on ethans knee. "He can explain it better....ive been driving him insane the past few months."

She tried to smile but it sidnt seem that great of a joke.

Worse....what if he said there was nothing they could do....
--
Charlie was....lets say making it look like he was reading a book when he was really watching his father carefully in the living room. People had gone out of their way to hurt him in the past but this time...charlie would be there to stop it.

Whoever this girl was.....she was not goingnto hurt his family. Mira depended on him. James too. He was the man of the house after all.

Piper nodded and walked slowly down the hall. Her hands were kept together so she wouldnt touch anything.

Charlie put his book down and followed. The door was shut in his face and then....he heard a spray bottle and scrubbing in there. "Are you a friend of my dad's?"

More scrubbing sounds through the door. "Doctor Mark Gardner is a friend yes. Are you james gardner or Charlie Gardner?"

Dad told her about him? Oh. "Charlie....what are you doing in there?"

"Cleaning the bathroom."
--
Mark looked close to passing out. Whatever was going on....it was bad. She took his hand eatching charlie chase after thr girl after she left.

"Charlie wont do anything. Hes been anxious to talk to you since he got home. Hes probably just nervous for you. Piper is staying with us...."

Oh god.

"Is she a secret love child? If she is...thats fine i just....i just need to know mark. Weve been through worse and we can get through this too."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Ethan didn't smile, no, and Cal didn't either.

Ethan just cleared his throat, "She reads the magic books a lot. Or at least she did before she burned them all." He said, "And time skips, she says. It must do." He said, "I promised her I'd talk her out of it if she ever tried to go back, but now I can't keep doing it, because its not getting us anywhere." He said. "It's sad, but, that's the way it is." He said, "I'd tell her to put the book down and she would, and we'd sit and talk for sometimes hours about it, we'd talk about everything, and..."

He looked at Sam, then looked away and down at the ground.

"And then from there, well, she'd promise me that that was the last time, that it would never happen again." He said, "And then I'd go and check on her fifteen minutes later and she'd just be... Spaced out, going through these books. I don't know what to do."

"Well, Sam, how about some questions for you?" Cal said, "Have you noticed any major changes in yourself, other than the blacking out?" He asked. "Any changes in your personality? Anything you do that you wouldn't usually do?" He asked.

"Every little detail, Sam. It's important." He said.

--

Mark looked at Charlie as he followed Piper, no doubt to do some sort of check on her to make sure she was cool and wasn't going to cause them any harm, which was good of him. Mark had to smile, because he could hear him talking to her and asking if she was a friend of his dad. She knew about the family, though, so all was well. Everything was okay and Charlie would soon learn that she could be trusted, which was exactly what he needed, too.

The boy needed to learn that not everyone was out to get them. He'd be okay.

But Mark looked back to Reba and...

"I didn't mean to make him anxious. I'll speak with him before he goes to sleep tonight." He said, "I'll just make sure that everything's cool with him, I'll let him know that there's nothing to be scared of." He said.

When Piper started questioning Charlie about schedules... Oh boy.

'You spent 7 minutes in the bathroom tonight but only 1 minute 38 seconds in there last night. Why?'
'You watched TV for 25 minutes but yesterday you watched it for 40.'
'You don't always go to sleep straight away. Last night you went to sleep at around 9:30 but the night before that it was about 9:50.'

If only he knew how... Freaked out Charlie would be by it all at first. He was going to have to explain to his boy that Piper didn't mean anything by it.

But then Reba asked a big question.

Was it a secret love child?

She saw the color wash from his face straight away, "No it wasn't that." He gasped, "No, she wasn't anything like that, she wasn't." He said, "She's from an institution up the road and herlifeisindangersoIsaidwecouldhelpbecausenooneelsecan."

He was breathless.

"Ididn'tcheatonyou." He whimpered.

.. And Charlie heard an almighty crash as his dad collapsed back and dragged down a framed picture on the wall with him.

Oh dear. Did Mark just faint?

Maybe.

 

[Willow Pillow]

Any big or minor changes. They were all going to think she was a freak. She could hear it in her head, the taunting voice that just was so unrelenting. Keep it together, Sammy.

"That's...that's part of the reason we're here because I've been cutting magic out but it hasn't gotten better and Ethan's right...it's related. I love ribs now, and barbeque. Rum I used to love but now it's brandy. I catch myself drinking it all the time."

She had a few shots this morning in fact.

"My cat wants nothing to do with me. He hisses and snarls...which makes me sad because he's my baby. He's never been like this before. Poor thing he's...he's really shaken up at what's going on and I don't know how to fix it. I like...I like watching things bleed now but I don't."

One second she was smiling about it the next she was grossed out by her own actions. it was....it was really hard to explain.

"Our ummm..." She covered Chandler's ears. "Bedroom life has been different. I'm...I'm more violent and dominating."

she mouthed 'sorry' to Ethan. She knew all of this was really hard on him.

"Most of all...I don't know...I think Chandler and I are going through similar things. Did Mom ever encounter anything like this?"

When did it start Sam.

"It all started when I used Danny's blood to locate Tommy."
--
It was going to be a whole new world for Charlie. He'd have entire conversations he had with Piper recited back to him, his room would be touched and cleaned when he didn't want it to be. It was only going to continue. He was going to learn real quickly that there was something off about Dad's new friend...but not in the dangerous way.

Just the weird way.

"Why are you cleaning the bathroom? It's already clean." He protested.

"I got to get the blood out of the walls and sink."

"There's no blood in the bathroom unless you put it there!"

It was going to be an interesting relationship.

Reba though, she was worried about Mark. He looked on the verge of fainting. "You know how Charlie gets. He's just worried. He's been through quite a lot in the past few days. He'll be fine. I'm starting to worry about you too, you were out there for a very long time."

Not his child. A girl from a mental hospital. "She can't be any older than eleven or twelve...how did she get in a mental-"

Oh dear.

Down went Mark. Reba immediately went down bringing his head to her lap. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
--
Mark woke up on the couch, a cold rag on his head, and Reba checking his pulse. It was just the two of them. Charlie wasn't there, no babies it was...quiet in their living room.

"Charlie helped me get you on the couch. He's watching the babies. Your friend has been cleaning each room."

Mark heard the vacuum going now upstairs.

"I'm sorry," She kissed his forehead. "I didn't...I jumped to conclusions. I should have never assumed...you're ok honey. We will work this out. It's just the two of us. What's going on?"

She'd tell him about the pregnancy much later.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Okay, so, let's just list..." Cal held up a hand.

And he listed.

"Changes in food preferences."
"Changes in alcohol preferences."
"Erratic behavior."
"Blacking out."
"Losing touch with yourself."
".. Changes in bedroom things."
"Your cat no longer likes you."

That last one was pretty blunt, but it was more or less the truth at this point.

"Me and mom encountered a few things like this, yes." He said. "Not quite to this extent. These things always vary, and there's often a reason they vary." He said. "Usually because the reason you're changing is because it's not you allowing these changes to happen. It's someone or something trying to force them on you." He said, "So that's what the situation is, I'm willing to bet." He said.

But she revealed when it all started.

"Sam, you engaged in blood magic when you had no experience in something so dark?" He asked.

Elena patted Chandler on the head, "Why don't you go and find a book to read, honey?"

".. 'Kay." He hopped up off of Sam's lap and strolled out of the room, happily enough.

Once he was gone...

Cal spoke.

"Blood links us back as far as our earliest ancestors." He said, "By using blood that is not your own, you've engaged yourself on a path where you have no understanding of what is in that bloodline. If that bloodline is filled with evil, what you have done is put a nice 'Welcome Home' doormat right outside your house." He said. "And that is dangerous. When you have no idea of how to tame it, it can be deadly. Blood is connected to pain. It's connected to passion. It's connected to life itself." He said, "And that was something you chose to experiment with?" He asked. "But why Danny? What is his relevance?"

".. We were tracing the whereabouts of a serial killer." Ethan mumbled. "He's his brother."

Cal slowly took off his glasses and stared at Sam.

"Do you ever feel like you're being watched, when there's no one there?" He asked. "Do you ever feel like something you do is being controlled by someone else, and no matter how much you hate it, you can never find the power to stop yourself from doing it?"

--

Mark woke up on the couch. Charlie had helped him get there, and the guilt kicked in even more. That wasn't the best thing in the world to happen, honestly. He was worried. He was worried for his boy and his own mental health. He needed to be a kid - not a protector. He didn't need to be doing all of this. He shouldn't have been picking his father up in his time of need. That was Mark's job. It was Mark's job to pick Charlie up, as his dad - not the other way around. His son didn't owe him anything.

Oh, Mark... If only you knew what Charlie had to say about that. You and Reba are his heroes. He'd do anything for you. That's just what family does, after all.

"It's okay." He whispered, dryly. He slowly sat up and pecked her on the lips. "I just... Ugh." He set his head back down. "Charlie shouldn't be doing all of this for us. For me." He whispered, "I feel so terrible for him. I never wanted to put him in this spot. I never wanted my son to feel like he was responsible for either of us, but, it feels like it's going that way. I don't want him thinking that I can't look after him. I want to be able to do all of this for him." He said.

He shut his eyes.

"Piper is a girl from that institution." He said, "You remember Harper? Harper's the one that locked her up when she was four. Her brother was framed for the murder of her whole family except her." He said, "Well, actually, it's believed he murdered her too as they never found a body." He said, "But they've hidden her and tried to convince her she was someone else. We broke her out today, and here she is." He said.

He went quiet.

"Honey, Harper hasn't forgotten about me. He's obsessed." He gulped, "He has information on all of us." He said, "Me, you, the kids... He had doctors' information. You know, all the doctors we saw..." He said, "Employment history, credit scores, past addresses, phone numbers - he has everything." He said, "Most of that can be farmed online, but that's not the point." He said, "He has..."

He looked away. "He has school records, too." He said, "And he knows about the preschools we've been applying for for Mira." He choked.

"I don't know what to do."

 

[Willow Pillow]

It was blunt but it was the truth. He hid from her. He ran away. He bit her. He hissed. He treated Sam like she was the plague and he wanted nothing to do with her. It broke her. She found him abandoned in New York and bottlefed the little thing. He was her baby for Christ's sake and he would not engage in the same room with her now if he could help it. It broke her heart a little.

When Cal broke it down like that, it sounded much worse than she thought, and she already thought it was bad.

She practiced in blood magic. Sam gulped. She waited until Chandler was out of the room fully. "We didn't have much time. I wasn't sure if scrying from something personal of his would actually find him...but I knew Danny was Elijah Mueller's brother...and blood's the biggest connection so it was the guarenteed way to find Tommy quickly before he got hurt. We...we just tried to help." Her voice cracked.

Helped by fucking the whole world over it seems. Sam hugged herself as Cal broke it down. What was going on. "He...Mueller used me like a puppet to hurt everyone but I came back. I thought....I thought I broke the link."

She was clawing and scratching at her skin, upper arms as she hugged herself. "I broke the link. I had to have broke the link."

Why did this conversation feel like she had it before? Oh god.

"Yeah..." she cried. "Like when he tells me to stop reading the books and I don't want to but I am...he's not...he can't still be in me can he?" She cried. "I...I can't let him hurt people. He nearly killed Max...all of them...Ethan...he can't have access to magic. I can't...I can't..."

Lena was going to have to kill her. That was the only way.
--
"Harper? Louis Harper. I hated your college friend. He was such a big asshole and..."she stopped herself as she let Mark continue what he was saying. That girl was being tortured at a place Harper ran? Mark had to get her out.

Ok...they could work through this. They would need to keep her safe they could do this.

"He had our doctor records?" she cracked.

It only got worse.

Charlie's school.

Mira's preschool...

Reba was usually the one giving advice and calming Mark down. Right now, with everything else...Mark probably NEEDED Reba to give this advice to him...but she didn't. She squeezed his hand as she felt the room spin it was hard to breathe. Harper had been stalking them for years. "What...what was he going to do with all this?"

Oh God....her boy. She looked up the stairs where Charlie was rocking James in the nursery.

"Mark...I'm pregnant....what are we going to do?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I understand, but sadly sometimes helping can be the most dangerous thing you can do." He said, "Using blood which was not your own is one of the riskiest things you can do. Like I said, well, it can tie you to all sorts of evil and sometimes there's no way to escape that." He said. "Sometimes you don't expect it, no, but the thing is..." He sighed. "The thing is you knew this was a mass murderer. You knew it was someone evil. You acted on the need to help and that was all." He said.

"I know it's easy to believe that things will work out, and it's even easier to believe that using your own power you can break the link, but at the end of the day it's not always like that." He said, "The link can't always be broken when you see fit, especially if... Well, especially if one being has more power than the other. Just remember that links like that require two people. Two connections. If one connection doesn't want to break, then the other may be forced to stay." He said. "There may be ways to manually go in and break that connection, but it's not going to be instant." He said.

He scratched his chin.

"I have a book that may be able to help you." He said, "At the moment, if the person you're connected to is going to be taking over all the time, if he's going to be listening in on every single thing that you do, then you need to be careful. Most tactics you try may not work." He said.

But he looked at Elena.

"You need to treat this as if you're hiding from someone who's following you around in person." He said. "The less he knows, the better." He said, "So that means you two need to work together but... It's going to have to be Elena who does the majority of the work here." He said. "She's the person he can't spy on. She's the person whose eyes he can't look through." He said. "Sam, I'm afraid that if he has control of you, he already has access to the magic." He said. "What sort of books have you read while you've been blacked out?" He asked.

"If what I fear is true... Whoever this being is... He has more knowledge of this than we can even begin to plan for. What did your books detail? Was any of your mother's work there?" He asked. "Are there any topics that crop up more than others? Any particular magical theories or spells?" He asked.

--

"He had everything, Reba. He had everything and I didn't know. I had no way of knowing, but Piper has this thing. Eidetic memory, or something." He sniffed. "And she remembered everything she ever saw in his offfice. He has everything on me in there. He has school records and copies of all of my successes, all of my reports, my books. It's like he's obsessed with me. And I've never had people be obsessed with me in the past, with the exception of Eli." He sniffled. "And I don't know how to tackle this." He said. "All of these years and I thought this guy had been out of my life, when all along he's been right there looking over my shoulder at everything I love. It's scary." He said.

Scary was putting it lightly, really.

"I don't know what he was going to do with all of this." He said, "I wish I knew what he was going to do with it, but don't you think it's scary?" He asked. "How... I don't know how he got access to all of this. I really don't." He said, "I don't know why he's even doing it, though, that's the thing. We parted ways because we didn't agree with each other's ways. That was all. There was never any rivalry there... Was there?" He asked.

Oh, god.

He didn't want to imagine. What if this was all caused just because he didn't like the way Harper did things?

But then the bombshell was dropped.

"You're pregnant?" All the color went from his face again and he immediately pulled her into a hug. Oh, fuck. "Oh, god. Oh shit. Okay." He said, "Okay, look, we're going to work this out. Things might be fine." He said, "Because he... Think, right... We caught him in the act. Surely that just gives him more reason to leave us alone, doesn't it?" He asked. "If he knows that I know the things he's doing maybe he'll just forget about us. Because I can just go to the police and that'll be the end of it." He said. "That'll be the end of all of it and he'd be caught. Everything he worked for would just be gone. We're going to burn that place to the ground, Reba... But we have leverage."

He paused.

"Maybe just... Call the kids for dinner. Maybe things will be okay." He said. "We can figure things out later. But we're okay. Harper isn't going to do anything now that we know what he's doing behind the scenes."

He could only pray that was the case.

 

[Willow Pillow]

"Maybe we should just kill me..." Sam broke in tears. "I can't....I needed Ava to break the link. My abilities they...they're too strong. No one should have access to this..." Oh god.

Oh god he was still inside her. Sam wanted to rip him out. Had he been seeing through her eyes this entire time? Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. "I just....I just wanted to help Tommy. He was in danger. They were just kids. I thought...I thought I was doing the right thing..."

No Sam. You FUCKED over everyone. Because you were selfish and stupid.

Cal asked what she remembered and if Sam tried to think nothing came up. She struggled. Not a single word of text was remembered. It was all just....like turning on a tv and hearing white noise...but instead of seeing it you were just reaching and grabbing it.

"I don't remember..." she muttered. "I don't remember.

She clutched her head and tried to think She trembled as she clutched.

"I don't remember..."

Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. What if she-

Sam's trembling stopped. She let out one cool breath and she calmed down. Her nerves just seemed to...return to normal. She was calmer as she sat up straighter. "If I can't remember, it's probably because he doesn't want me to remember right?" A reasonable thought. "If you have a book, like you said it's probably better if Lena reads it and she takes notes. I'll just have to be more passive in this. Is there anything we can do to help make sure he can't see or hear anything?"

If there was, there was someone very calm right now that wanted to know about it so they couldn't use it. Lena was playing babysitter? Well, she would be more concerned about her boy. So if that became a problem, there was leverage.
--
Louis and Reba never got along. Louis didn't like that Mark had friends, it didn't matter if Reba was in the picture much longer than Louis....in their college days he had made it pretty well known. Reba had never told Mark this but there was an incident where Louis had pinned Reba up against a wall and said it would be massively unfortunate if Mark was too distracted with her to complete the work they had together.

Thinking about it, Reba rubbed her neck as they talked. Louis had always been a little...unhinged and well....now here they were.

She didn't have comforting words. This was different than Eli. Eli was a great white shark who happened to stumble upon mark and claim him. Louis...he had been in their lives for almost 20 years and now...

Oh God.

Louis had a son, a little girl and he was still obsessed with Mark. Fucking hell. What had he been planning...and it had been right under their noses. If Mark didn't help that little girl...what would have happened to them?

Oh God.

She tried to breathe.

"We'll be ok..." she tried to comfort herself. "We'll be fine. It's not the end of the world and...and it'll....we've been through worse. Dinner. Let's just get dinner. and.......we have the spare bedroom that Jason sleeps in when he stays over, Piper can stay there. We'll be ok Mark." She kissed him.

Dinner. Let's just get dinner together. So that's what they did. Reba washed up, called Charlie down and piper...and dinner was being set on the table. Spagetti and meatballs. Garlic bread...it would be great. Piper wrapped saran wrap over her chair and was using her gloves at the table. She thanked all of them, addressed them by their full names. Even james and mira were addressed.

Don't think about it Reba...think about something positive.

"Charlie, how was school today? You must be wrapping up classes for Christmas break. That's exciting."

"School was good. Alice and I made a snowman during recess. But umm...this guy came to talk to us. He was helping volunteer watching the kids. Had a school badge and stuff...he said he knew you Dad."

Reba's heart plummeted. She had done those volunteer recess days. Usually it was on cycle from the PTA...but that wasn't...

"He knows your father?" reba forced a smile. "What did you two talk about?"

"He said I looked just like him. Spitting image. I don't know. I didn't like it. He said to tell my Dad he was looking forward to seeing him again. Their favorite bar in college or something?"

Oh God.

Reba felt faint. "What's his name? Did he give you that?"

"Harper. He said he was Mr. Harper."

Piper dropped her fork and looked at Mark. "Do not go to that bar Doctor Mark Fischer-Gardner."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"You did the right thing for him, but sadly it just wasn't the right thing for you." He said. "I know this news isn't going to be easy to take, I understand that..." He sighed. "But this is the way it is and we just need to work to try and figure out what the best course of action is from here on out. Currently it's too hard to say what the case is." He said, "With things like this, the way things unfold can differ depending on the sort of person it is that's connected to you." He said. "Now, I've seen a few cases that are similar. You've got a case where... Things are sort of all bundled into one." He said. "Let me just list a few things from cases I've seen like this one." He said.

And he did.

"Physical control over someone else."
"Intrusive thoughts."
"A pinpoint location of one's connected being."
"Physical violence."
"Memory loss."
"Heightened emotions."
"Weight loss."

He stopped.

"If you tick more than half of those boxes, we need to find a way around this." He said. "So yes, Lena can be the one to do the majority of the reading."

But what else?

"If you ever feel like you're being watched, there's a chance he has a way of locating you." He said, "So, I'm wondering..." He scratched his chin. "What if we did a reversal? What if we spun the trick back and let you track where this... Evil entity is coming from?" He asked. "I know it sounds crazy... But if we can pinpoint where they are instead of the other way around, we might know who is causing all of this." He said. "Or we can at least be certain."

--

"Yes, we've been through worse. We can get through this." He said.

He knew that there were things that went on in the past, and he knew that Harper didn't like his girlfriend of... Well, his whole life. They'd basically been together since they were seven, so that made for a long time, really. Right now, things were okay. They weren't in any danger and the most part of it all was over. "I should have never agreed to help but I couldn't just let that little girl die, and... And I owe it to Fran." He said.

He paused.

"After all, that's what I promised. It was the terms of my witness protection. I had to help them if anything ever warranted it. And this was just one of those things." He said, "But if we never found her we never would have known that this was... Well, that this was happening." He said.

It would be fine.

It would be okay.

"We'll be okay."

At dinner, though, Mark was sure that everything was going to be okay. They were talking in their little family circle and even Piper had joined them for this one. This was nice. She was part of the family at the moment, even though Charlie may have been a little skeeved out from her. That made sense, though. Piper was a quirky girl, quirky to the point that Charlie had never experienced before. That was fair enough, really.

But then Reba asked - how was his day at school?

They did not like the answer they got.

He looked at Reba at Charlie's first response.

Harper.

He looked at Charlie with complete horror, and then he looked at Piper. "Please, please... Just Gardner." He said, "Not Fischer-Gardner. Gardner is fine. Remember what I said?" He asked. He looked to Charlie again. Oh god. The stress. "Jesus, okay... Son... This man..." He gulped, "Have you ever seen him before?" He asked. "Has he ever been to your school? Have you ever seen him volunteer there before? Has he ever said anything else to you?" He put his knife and fork down. "Has he ever done anything to you in the times that he's seen you? Or has he ever said anything that scared you?" He asked.

It was a lot of questions.

But he needed to know.

 

[Willow Pillow]

"I'm sorry Doctor Mark Gardner. I thought it was not Fischer outside of your family." She saw that Doctor Mark Fischer looked stressed...and if it was because she said Fischer-Gardner...then she would have to find a way to apologize to him. Doctor Mark Fischer was a nice man and he was someone she respected. she read his books, cover to cover. He could send her back to the facility. He could send her to another facility...

What if she never saw her brother because she made him upset. Don't panic Piper, it would all be ok. She tensed at the table. She didn't know if all doctors were like Doctor Harper...and f that was the case....she was in Doctor Mark Fischer's home and-1234568910...You can trust Doctor Mark Fischer. Deep breaths.

You were finally out of St. Agnes. This world was scary, but it was going to be ok because it was better than St. Agnes. She would have time to get better and she could do impossible things. She was never going back and it would all be ok.

Charlie glanced his eyes at Piper suspiciously scooting his chair away from her. "Do you need a glass of water, Piper?"

"No, Charlie Gardner, but thank you." She closed her eyes and was focusing on her breathing.

His suspicious gaze was now on his parents as Dad looked ready to pass out. Something bad was going on here and no one was saying what it was. He didn't like it. It already had him freaked out seeing this man come up to him and talk. Charlie was ready to pick up alice and run....throw the snowman's head at him to give them a few seconds head start...

Now his dad was sweating and acting strange. Alright then. "He used to do volunteer stuff at my old school sometimes." Charlie said. I know his face, he never talked to me though. I never saw him at this school until today."

He looked back at Piper, this strange girl who told her father not to go to the bar and had sat with him for hours as he looked more distressed. She knew who this man was. Oh. His eyes widened. She wasn't the enemy. Dad saved her from the enemy...and that meant she knew what Charlie would need to know to keep his parents safe.

Oh.

"Piper,"

"Charlie, was there anything else you did at school today?" Reba cut him off.

"Do you know Mr. Harper?"

Fuck was written all over Reba's face.

"Doctor Harper was my doctor at St. Agnes Mental Health Facility. He is not a good man. Doctor Mark Gardner should not go meet him."

Yes. Bingo. Charlie was right. Piper and him were going to be great friends.
--
It was a connection that worked both ways. Interesting. Sam looked...intrigued. She was a student in a classroom right now as Uncle Cal was explaining her situation. Whoever was stronger in that moment. That would explain how Sam managed to stop Eli in his tracks that day. A burst of strength. "So in order to stay in control, I just have to be the stronger one? Ok...I think I understand." she nodded.

That should be a problem.

Control was a specialty.

"I can try...I don't know if it will work though. Do I just concentrate?"

Easy enough.

Sam closed her eyes, rubbing her hands on side of her head as she thought. She focused on the entity that could be causing this. "...I just see black tar Uncle Cal...I'm sorry."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"No, don't worry." He said, "Just... Yes, Fischer is fine while we're around family. But don't combine the two names because that's too much of a mouthful." He said. "Don't be sorry. These things do happen. It's nothing to be upset about." He said. Mark saw her getting distressed and it just wasn't what he needed right now. He needed her to be strong and solid so that he could worry about his son for a while - and he didn't mean that obnoxiously. It was just... Y'know.

The current situation fucking sucked and he needed to tackle it as best he could. It was just because he knew his son was potentially in danger now. He could see Piper more or less having a meltdown at the table and he just... God. Why did she make this so hard for him?

Mark. Calm.

You're panicking.

Yes. Yes he was.

"Piper... I'm not angry at you, it's okay. Don't let it get to you." He said. "We'll go with that. Fischer while I'm at home... Gardner outside of the family. But not both at once. That sound fair?" He asked. He tried to force a smile.

But Charlie had some bad news for him too.

"He used to do this at your old school too? But Charlie... You went there since you were five years old. Has he... Oh god." He leaned right back in his chair and just shut his eyes. "Oh god oh god." He whispered.

Fuck.

His son was in danger big time. Fuck fuck fuck.

He didn't like this but he was just going to have to deal with it.

They both clocked onto what he was doing though. They both knew that he was going to be questioning Piper. The tone of his voice when he said her name just had it written all over it.

"Piper maybe you should tell Charlie about-" Mark tried to interject but it didn't work out. Charlie got the answer he was looking for.

Mark looked like he was about to faint again.

"Charlie. When we finish dinner you're coming out for a drive with me. We can give mom and Piper a chance to get to know each other but me and you are going out for a while, okay?"

He was freaking the fuck out right now.

 

[Willow Pillow]

Mark was panicking. Mark had a reason to panic. He found out today that a psychopath had been stalking him for years. He found out that psychopath had followed his son around in the shadows and had been pretty much undetected. Mark took Piper and Harper sent a clear message. Go to the bar and meet me, or else. He knew everything about his life. It would not take Harper long to find his family now. The Fischers were dead, thanks to Fran and that potentially could have been the end of it. But he knew Mark was Gardner.

It didn't take him that long to find Charlie's school. And if it didn't take that long then how long it would take for him to find Reba...James and Mira.

That was probably a question.

"I want to get to know Piper too. She's staying here right?"

If that was the case then Charlie was going to ask her more questions. She just...seemed to answer whatever she was asked. That was why Dad was nervous in the car because that was what he was doing he was asking Piper about this strange man that showed up at his school.

"No, Charlie, we need some girl time. We're going to get her room set up."

"Can I clean the room?"

"We'll clean it together Piper. Why don't we talk about Christmas. We're heading over the Marshall's this year. That should be exciting."

Reba spent as much time as she could to make sure Charlie couldn't ask any questions. She managed to cut in through most of it and just as dinner was finished, she wanted Charlie to get out of there with Mark so Mark could....explain to his boy how serious this was and to not take advantage of someone who had zero clue what they were doing was hurtful.

"Mom and PIper got the table, if you boys want to pick up some milk?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

It was only natural for a father to panic in a situation like this one. His son had bee followed around by someone they were convinced was a complete lunatic. He was a complete lunatic. There was no denying that but Mark didn't want to think about how his old college friend may have been slightly crazy. Nope. He didn't need to be thinking about that. He needed to be thinking about how he would keep his family safe. Keeping them safe was important. His son was in danger so he had priority.

Harper could wait. He didn't need to know if he was going to come for him or Reba. He just needed to make sure his kids were safe as it seemed to be them that he was targeting the most. Mira wasn't far off of starting preschool. She was growing up quick and so far Mark had made the potty training quite successful. He didn't like how quick time was moving with all of it though. At first he was enjoying it but now... Now he just wanted things to slow down.

He just wanted Mira to stay little forever and he wanted to go back to the days where he knew Charlie was safe. But thinking back on it... Maybe Charlie was never safe. Maybe he was always at risk and Harper was just plotting all along.

Fuck.

They finished dinner though... And for the first time Charlie seemed to object against spending time with dear old dad. But Mark knew why. He wanted to sit here and fucking talk to Piper and most likely give himself nightmares. All Piper had to do was tell him about the shock therapy and various other abuse and it would be enough to bring Charlie into their room every night in a mess of tears. That boy was too cunning for his own good sometimes. He couldn't risk his son finding out about all of that.

He gave Reba a kiss.

"You girls have fun." He said. "We'll grab milk, yeah. I'm thinking I might take Charlie for milkshakes while we're out. We've got a lot to discuss." He said. He gently ruffled Charlie's hair. "Get suited up. It's cold out." He said.

Once they were all dressed to stand up against the weather, Mark lead Charlie out and got him in the car. He didn't hesitate on getting out the driveway either. He didn't hesitate on speaking, too. He needed to talk to Charlie about... Everything. He needed to talk about all of what they had just discussed.

"If you ever see that man at school again you run and find a teacher and tell them to call me. No questions asked." He said. "I'm going to report him to your school so they don't let him back in. But no matter what you don't go near him and if you see him any time I'm not there, you get somewhere safe and you call me. You don't go near him. You don't talk to him. You don't try and fight him or stand up to him unless you absolutely have to. I want you to run or hide. You're small, fast. He wouldn't be able to keep up with you." He stopped.

He was probably scaring the shit out of Charlie right now.

"I'm sorry. I'm just anxious." He said. "What do you think of Piper so far?" He asked.

Smooth subject change.