ten_fwd | A Stabbing Is Not An Appropriate Birthday Present

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A Stabbing Is Not An Appropriate Birthday Present

Sickbay: [for Carson so our little whitelighter doesn't die.]

Chris ran toward the playpen. Gideon had vanished, no doubt staying invisible until he could make a move on Wyatt. He had to get the toddler out of here, or else all of his hard work was going to be for nothing. The trauma of Gideon's attempt to pierce his shield and kill him would turn him evil. And then, Chris's future was doomed. Well, it was already pretty much doomed. The world was a mess and his Wyatt wanted to kill Chris since his little brother didn't want to play 'take over the world' with him.

The Whitelighter-Witch ran, but was only able to take a handful of steps before Gideon materialized, his knife sinking in his abdomen. He watched the elder walk over and pick up his big little brother(time travel was so confusing) and orb away.

Chris fell the the attic floor, calling for his father, the older Whitelighter to help heal him, and go after Wyatt.He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, Chris was still on the floor.

But not the floor of the Halliwell Manor. But the Book was next to him. An old book, quite thick.

He tried to get up. Nope, that wasn't going to happen. Chris tried to orb back to the manor, so his father could get to him. Instead, the Whitelighter-Witch just dematerialized in a flash of blue and white lights, and then materialized again in the same place.

"Anyone have a bandaid?"

[Sickbay: After the funtimez that is emergency surgery, OPEN]

Chris sat up in bed and looked around, for the first time getting a good handle on his surroundings. The Halliwell's Book of Shadow's was beside him. Good. At least no one had tried to walk away with it while he was unconscious.

This was.....not like any hospital he'd ever seen before. And it wasn't the Manor, Magic School or any plane he was familiar with. So...how did he get here? Did Gideon orb him here so he wouldn't be able to help Wyatt? Focusing for a minute, his eyes widened in alarm. Definitely a different plane. He couldn't feel his Mom and his Aunts. Or Leo. He had to hope that Leo would get to Wyatt. Save him. Chris would just have to get back as soon as he could. Well, bright side at least he wouldn't be in the same reality when he was born? Which was any minute now.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I can't be here right now."

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"It's a Starship, really," Fatima replied. "But it sometimes feels like an asylum. You're in the medical bay right now. You were whooshed here, same as me, by some weird omnipotent creature who likes 1980s rockstars and goes by the name of Q."

She did not say the name pleasantly. More like tasted like a lemon in her mouth.

Fatima wasn't big on being jerked around by anything more powerful than she was. Which, sadly, was any number of things.

"The people in the funny space pajamas are the natives. They're part of something called 'Starfleet.' The rest of us are prisoners of this Q thingy."

"Q? It goes by a letter? Do they all go by letters? Wouldn't the species run out of letters really fast?" Chris clenched and unclenched his hand, fighting the urge to grab the book and double check that thee was no entry for a 'Q'.

"I'm Chris." He paused. "Halliwell." He added, just in case she was from his reality and was a demon and he could use his surname to scare the crap out of her.

"And this isn't your native reality either, correct?" Chris asked, gathering information. "Are we prisoners?" The Whitelighter looked around for guards.

Fatima smiled a little bit, unfazed by his name. "I dunno. I think they all go by 'Q' which seems confusing. I mean, it would be like everyone on earth being named Bob. But they're from a higher level of existence or something, so I guess they've figured it out."

The book was starting to draw Fatima's attention. She'd spent hours upon hours buried in the library in Zelien, sometimes flirting with Sam, sometimes reading up on the Old Ones. The book looked like something right out of the scene, so she couldn't help cutting her dark eyes over to the table.

"That yours?"

Okay. Either she really wasn't from his reality or she was really good at covering her fear. But she didn't feel demonic. Then again she didn't exactly feel mortal either.

"Yeah....why don't you come over here and look at it with me." What could he say? The Halliwell tried and true test of 'can I trust you?' If the book didn't move away from her or zap her across the room, things were looking good. Still, the way she was eyeing the book.....

"Librarian?" He asked dryly.

"Community college dropout," she replied, walking over. That and part of the team that frequently saved the world, back home. But when dealing with the multiverse, it was best to ease into new waters. She'd figure the guy out eventually. No need to shock his system.

The last thing she needed was a repeat of the Dean/demon episode.

The book was...weirdly appealing. Fatima couldn't put her finger on why. It made her think of something Artemis would read. For fun.

Malkavians weren't always so good at having fun.

"What is it?"

And the way Chris was wired, it probably would be a repeat of the Dean/demon episode. At least he wasn't armed. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes at her when she stared at the book. And inquired about it. Oh so curiously.

"Why don't you touch it first? Then I'll explain." Assuming she was still conscious.

"And why don't you tell me why you're so curious?" The book was old and leather bound, with a giant triquetra embossed on it. Meanwhile, Chris was trying not to look like he was considering attacking Fatima depending on the outcome of the next few minutes. And completely failing.

Fatima narrowed her eyes for a moment. Under better circumstances, she'd start flirting with this guy. He was kind of her type. At least...physically. The jury was still out on personality, especially considering she probably wasn't seeing him at his best.

She hadn't exactly been a ball of sunshine when she first arrived.

But the whole 'touch the book' thing was just creepy.

"This isn't some kind of subtle way of asking me for a handjob, is it?" she asked dryly. "Because if so, that isn't happening."

Chris, despite having been stabbed only a few hours ago, losing his big brother and being transported to some weird reality, laughed. From his point of view, the leap from touch the book to handjob was completely ridiculous. Hysterical. And he needed a laugh.

"No." Chris shook his head, still laughing to himself. "The book protects itself. It's apparently my not so subtle way of trying to figure out if you were a threat. So. Are you?"

The laughter broke the tension. And more so, the honestly. Under other circumstances, Fatima might have been offended to be treated like some kind of threat right off the bat. But then, she'd done plenty of that shit herself, both in Zelien and back home.

So she'd let it go.

She even smiled. A real one that went all the way up to those brown eyes of hers.

"I guess that depends on how you define 'threat.' I mean, could I take you in a fight? Probably. Do I want to fight you? Not really. Not unless someone on the Enterprise starts some kind of fight club or something. Which seems...you know...unlikely."

And to close the matter, she set her palm on the book.

Sadly this was Chris's usual way of operating. Shady, suspicious, secretive. Telling you just enough to get what he wants and filing the rest of it away like an information hoarder. Trust was something you earned and when you grew up with a father who was never there(and yet had time for Mom, Wyatt and everyone else in the freaking world, but him), a mother who died in front of him at fourteen and twenty years of being picked on by your insanely powerful kinda crazy older brother, well, Chris's social and coping skills were a little stunted.

But he did relax a little when she put her hand on the book, and nothing happened. Not that people havent been able to trick the book before, but it was something. A step.

"Fight club, not really my kind of thing." Sure, let her keep thinking he was pathetic and harmless. That was okay with him.

"It's really not worth it without Brad Pitt anyway," she agreed, taking her hand off of the book.

It had been a bit of a risk, just going in and touching an unknown object like that. But a calculated risk. If there was one thing the multiverse had taught Fatima, it was the value of making friends and allies. And judging from the look of the book and the way he'd tried to manipulate her, Chris had some bite to that bark.

Possibly a good friend to have.

She eyed the cover thoughtfully. "That's a triquetra," she noted. "Which cosmology does it represent? Celtic or Christian?"

"Know a lot about cosmology do you?" Chris asked, not answering her question. At least for now. But at least her question cemented the reality that she wasn't from his.

He looked a little bewildered and confused at the mention of Brad Pitt having something to do with a fight club, but let it go. A little before his time.

"It's just a family symbol." He relented, giving her enough. Not the entire truth, but enough that maybe she wouldn't keep digging. At least until he was ready to tell her. If he was ever ready to tell her. The need for therapy was strong in this one.

"Been studying cosmology since I was three," Fatima replied dryly. Her fingers were itching to open the book, but she knew that was crossing a line. Every bit as much as if someone tried to use her pocket watch from Zelien. As much as she hated it, Fatima knew the importance of certain social rules. Especially when they involved cosmology.

And family symbol her ass.

She relented, turning away from the book to face Chris again. "Where I come from, it's a symbol of a trinity. Usually maiden, mother, and crone. According to most Celtic sources, anyway. The Christians kind of stole the symbol for their Trinity, but that's just a thing they did."

He wasn't going to stop her. If the book didn't want her to open it, it would defend itself. So far, the book didn't seem to have a problem with her.

Still, Chris gave her a smile. "I never said it didn't represent a trinity. It does. Just not the trinity you're thinking of. 3's are....big in my family. What do you think the triquetra on my book represents?" He asked, curious as to someone else's take on it. Someone, who didn't know the Power of Three or the Warren/Halliwell heritage.

Fatima's eyebrows quirked up slightly. She certainly loved a challenge. Especially in an area of her expertise.

Such as runes.

Or magic.

Or anything Celtic.

"Well," she said slowly, regarding the book yet again. "You said it was a family symbol. And that it does represent a trinity. So...my first guess would be that at some point in your family's history, there were three individuals of note who did something extraordinary. And...your last name is...UK-ish, so your family could have Irish origins. So...possibly powerful women?"

"Wow. You're good. Actually my older brother is the first male to be born in our family in three hundred years. My great grandmother wasn't too thrilled when she found out mom had a boy. Thought something had gone wrong. Tell you what? Why don't you tell me a little bit about your family and I'll tell you something about mine. Keep it even."

Like maybe why you were so interested in cosmology. Witch? Scholar?

Fair enough.

And Fatima couldn't help but smile a little bit at the idea of a first boy. After all, she was descended from a line of thirteen Merali girls, all of them dhampir.

...most of whom had died young.

"There's not much to tell," she started, figuring that she would ease him in slowly. "My mother was named Parvana Merali. She died when I was a teenager. Don't know who my father was, although he was probably Irish since my middle name is 'Aine.'"

The Halliwell line didn't exactly have a tendency to live to a ripe old age anyway. But it looked like they had something in common. Dead parents.

"My mom's name is--was Piper Halliwell. She was killed when I was fourteen." Time travel made things so confusing. " My dad was never really around. Sent me letters mostly."

Alright that was getting a little depressing. And a tad morbid.

"This is a happy conversation. Got anything more cheery in that family line of yours?"

Fatima didn't offer sympathies for his mother. She hated it when people did it to her, so she wasn't going to do it to someone else. Really, what could you say? 'I'm sorry?' It was nice, sure. But it didn't make anything better.

She let out a loud, abrupt laugh. It was the last thing that came to her mind when she thought of her family. Cheerfulness. No. The Merali girls were not a happy bunch. They were a great and powerful line. An honorable line. An important line.

But also a miserable one.

"Would you believe me if I said that we've saved the world?"

"Yeah, actually I would. Do you really?" Chris held back, wanting to be sure before he spilled the metaphorical beans. If she was? Well then, she understood what he and his family had been through. And maybe they could work together to get out of here.

But one step at a time. Make sure she wasn't lying or a crazy wackjob who needed a padded cell.

She shrugged. "A couple of times. It's a long and complicated story and I suspect you don't really need a history lesson on my world...especially when you're in a hospital gown and all."

Fatima made a vague gesture, without looking.

"Anyway, I got a question for you now."

"I'll take a rain check on that. Maybe sometime when I'm actually dressed. But go ahead, ask away."

Chris with held judgement, she didn't seem crazy, but he'd wait and see what she was asking before deciding. And he had to admit, part of her reminded him of Bianca.

It went against years and years of training and discipline. The first rule of living among vampires was not to talk about vampires. Or dhampir. Mages, werewolves, changelings. None of that stuff.

And in a flash and the creak of wooden planks beneath her feet, all of the rules had been rendered null and void.

In some ways, it was still strange and foreign for her. In other ways...an incredible release.

"What kind of magic is the book working?" she asked bluntly.

"Um. Excuse me?" Like Fatima, Chris's first instinct was to deny and lie at all expense. "I don't know what you're talking about. It's just a book."

Chris flexed a hand, wondering if he was going to have to use his magic against her or not. Every Halliwell instinct and ingrained lesson shouted 'attack her and save the book! She might be dangerous!' But to his credit, Chris didn't attack the woman in the middle of sickbay.

Instead, he played stupid.

"You did say that the book offered you some kind of protection," Fatima pointed out. "Or do I need to remind you of your sketchy handjob request again?"

And she gave him a look.

"Besides. You're taking this whole whooshed-into-another-universe thing way too chill. So obviously, you must know something about higher realms and whatnot. Or else, you'd be streaking down the corridor, flashing ass in your hospital gown."

A Stabbing Is Not An Appropriate Birthday Present

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