Title: Circles and Triangles
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Charmed
Character/Pairing: Piper, mentions of Leo/Piper, Piper's children
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: fan_flashworks #147 Amnesty and #2: Triangle
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 2,156
Date Written: 26 February, 2016
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Spelling Entertainment, not the author, and are used without permission.




She never asked to be the matriarch of this family. She never asked for a lot of things life has given her. She's never asked for most of the things They have forced upon her. It's taken her years to come to understand that it's all, from the little things to the big, been for a reason.

She's not sure when that happened, especially in light of all They've taken from her. They took her mother and her grandmother. They took Prue. She still misses them all greatly, but a part of her knows it had to happen. They all only have a limited time in this realm.

It's all part of destiny, and no matter how much a person runs from destiny, it still finds them in the end. God knows she tried running, and just like the hero in the movie her children are watching now, her destiny still caught up with her. A person can run, hide, fight -- It never does any good. Sooner or later, often times sooner, no matter how hard you try, destiny still catches you.

It all happens for a reason, but perhaps, Piper thinks, watching the children in front of her, that isn't an altogether bad thing. It's brought her here. It's brought her to where she's watching her children grow up and seeing in them reflections of herself and her sisters. God knows she misses Prue -- she always will --, but she knows, too, that she's waiting for her in the next realm.

It's funny in a way, she thinks, odd not laughable. There's nothing laughable in her life. But she sees reflections of her family every day in her three, little ones. She sees Phoebe's snark in Wyatt, Paige's desire to see the beauty in the world in Melinda, and Prue's stubbornness in Chris. She's seen all of their desires and determinations to protect one another in her three children.

And if it wasn't for the road she's taken, if it wasn't for her destiny, she might not have the three, young lives before her. God knows she's come far too close to losing every one of them. It's a miracle Chris and Wyatt were ever even born, but it's a miracle for which they all worked.

Destiny's going to catch her children one day, too, Piper knows. That's the true reason for the school. It's not just there to help the world accept magic or to teach the different species of magickal beings to accept one another and learn to work together. More than anything else, that school is there to prepare her kids.

She wishes she could protect them. She wishes she could keep magic away from them, just like her mother and grandmother tried so hard to do for her sisters and herself. But she knows it won't be possible forever. As many times as she's tried to give magic, as she's tried to keep it and its beings out of her life, it's always come back on her, and it always will.

No matter how hard you try to run, destiny's always there, and magic is a part of all their destinies. But life isn't a circle, she thinks, listening to the song playing now. It's a series of triangles. She can see that now, and not just because of the Power of Three. She sees it in her own life. It started with her mother and grandparents. Then came Prue, Phoebe, and herself. Paige stepped into their lives when they lost Prue, and now, soon, it will be her children's turn. She's got to make certain they're able to protect themselves when their time comes.

And she will. Though it threatens to break her heart all over again, Piper knows she won't always be there for them. She'll fight tooth and nail to stay with them. She'll fight with everything she possesses. She'll be willing to sacrifice anything. But in the end, destiny will win out.

It always does, she knows. Some people think they have no choice; she was one of them once. Others fool themselves into thinking they can fight the system or are simply too naive to believe it impossible. She was one of both sets once, but life has taught her not to just simply accept destiny. Their destinies were laid out long before they were ever born, long before their ancestors were even thought of, and although they make choices every day, that part of life is like a circle for no matter what decisions they make or vows they take, they always come back to fulfilling their destinies.

And Piper knows she's almost finished completing hers. These three, sweet children are the only reasons she's really still here. After all, how long has it been now since last she defeated a Demon? Her lips twist into an ironic smirk. Yeah, she's getting old and gray now. The Powers That Be are almost done with her, but they're giving her this time with her children. For that, she's thankful.

"Momma, what's wrong?"

The small voice breaks into Piper's reverie. She blinks, her vision returning to the present and to the little, blonde girl looking worriedly up into her face. Melinda's hands are on her knee. Piper's not certain how long her daughter's been standing there, watching her, but the credits are now rolling on the television.

"Nothing, Melly," she says, taking her hands into hers and pulling her into a hug, but then, over the top of her youngest child's blonde head, Piper sees her boys and the twin looks they're giving her. She's not getting out of this one quite so easily, she knows. "I was just thinking. I didn't realize it when I was younger," she admits, shaking her head, "but they're wrong."

"Who's wrong, Momma?"

"The movie. Life isn't a circle. At least, I don't think so."

Melinda's face twists into an expression of confusion. Piper knows she's much too young for such serious thoughts, but then, she never got to choose at what age she started considering life and death. She knows it's better to be prepared and thereby concludes, "I think it's a triangle. It started with your grandparents and your great grandmother. Then there was me and your aunts."

"Which ones?" Wyatt asks, head cocked to one side.

"First Prue, Phoebe, and I, and then Phoebe, Paige, and I," Piper answers, unaware of how intently Chris is watching her. "And one day," she continues, glancing back down at Melinda, "it's going to be your turn, and you're going to do just fine."

"Yup! We sure are! I'm gonna be just like you and just like the first Melinda!"

Piper hugs her again; this time, quicker, more tightly. She kisses the top of her head. She doesn't like that thought at all, but she can't tell her why. "Not just like her," she murmurs into her blonde hair. "You've got your own destiny to fulfill, Melly." And she'll pray to whatever god might listen that destiny doesn't end with being burned alive at the stake, which is far too real a possibility yet even in these times. After all, it was only a few years ago that Phoebe was almost electrocuted for being a Witch. Again, she thinks of the school and all the many good reasons for it, but most importantly of all remains the learning of her three children.

"Will you tell me about her again, Mommy?"

"No," Wyatt calls out. "I wanna see another Disney movie!"

"Not another Disney one!" interjects Chris.

"Yeah! I wanna see Hercules or Aladdin!"

"I wanna see The Little Mermaid," Melly adds.

"No," Piper says, hearing the grandfather clock chime. "Not another one. Not tonight. You can pick the movie tomorrow night, Wyatt, and then you the next, Chris. It's bedtime now."

"Will you read us a story," Chris speaks up, "out of our family's diary?"

Piper looks at him for a long moment. She's glad Wyatt doesn't remember what happened when he was a baby, but she hopes every day that Chris doesn't recall what's happened before, regardless of rather it's in her past or his future. It's time like these, especially when she looks into his deep, thoughtful gaze, that she wonders and fears for her son. It's bad enough to have one's destiny already thought out, and to have whatever decisions one makes still arrive at that destiny for better or worse (and she hopes it's for the better as she can now see it was for her in the faces and love of her three children), but it's far too terrible a thought for children their age to already know the bad things that are going to come. Piper knows it's hard to see the good for the bad, and if it wasn't for her children, she certainly wouldn't.

"Yeah. Tell us again about the first Melinda!" Melly chimes in, once more breaking through her mother's thoughts.

Piper shakes herself mentally and shakes her head. "I'll tell you all a story, I promise, but first it's off to brush teeth and get ready for bed."

They all murmur their agreements, but as Wyatt and Melinda race each other for the stairs, Chris remains still on the floor. When his siblings are half way up the staircase, he finally makes his move. Even then, it's not to the bathroom or his bedroom. It's to his mother instead.

Piper looks into the upturned face of her sweet boy as he comes and puts his arms around her. "I think you're right, Mommy," he says, hugging her tightly, "and I want you to know you'll always be the top of my triangle." He kisses her, then rushes off after his siblings, leaving Piper again to think more on the matter and to whisper, "Thank you, Chris."

She rises, being made aware of the pain in her lower back instantly. She wishes Leo was here and not just so her husband could lay his healing fingers on her skin. He's missing too much time with their kids, but she knows his work is important. She turns off the television and returns the DVD to its rightful place. She clears away toys and finally turns off the light. She flicks the switch, turns, and immediately catches sight of the picture still standing in their foyer after all this time.

She gazes into Prue's smiling face. She knows her sister is happy now, and she knows she's waiting for her in the next realm as is their parents and grandmother. She looks up the staircase, peering through the growing shadows and knowing one day, too, her destiny will come to call on her one last time. She'll be taken from her children, just as Prue was taken from her, and their mother and Grams was taken from them. She hopes her children will be ready to be their own triangle by then, but she knows, regardless, destiny will make them ready.

Destiny will call, and they, she knows in her heart, will shine. And they'll continue the line, not just the Halliwell line but the line stretches from the very beginning of time all the way to the end of time, whenever that may be. She knows now she won't be around to see that. She hopes they won't. She hopes by that time, they're all somewhere up in their clouds, looking down as their descendents fulfill their triangles and their destinies. She hopes they're happy and safe, their destinies fulfilled at last.

And as she tucks her children in later that night, Piper again looks at the photos of the past, at all their family members smiling back at her, and she bows her head and says a quick prayer. She prays for Prue, for mother, Grams, and father, too, to look after their children and for destiny to be kinder to them than it was to her and at least as generous for them as it has been for her.

She's lost a lot, but she's gained a lot, too. She's gained her children and their love, and she'll be their mother, their father, and their grandmother, too. She'll be everything they need, everything she can give, for as long as Destiny allows. She prays it will let her stay for a long, long time, but she knows her line is already written. One day, her last word will be spoken. She'll be gone from this house, too, like all those before her, but she'll leave her children knowing how to care for themselves and each other.

She'll leave them knowing she loved them, and she'll leave knowing they loved her, too, and in the end, she knows, that's the most generous thing for which any one can ask. Love truly is the grandest and fulfills more than anything else, even destiny. "I love you, my children." Her whisper echoes through the Manor as she turns out the final light.

The End