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tamingthemuseTitle: Restoration of the Halliwell Clan
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Charmed
Characters/Pairing: Piper with mentions of practically all the Halliwell clan
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: #402: Restoration
Word Count: 1,692
Warnings: Future Fic
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
Her hands caressed the wooden beams she had just cleaned, and she stopped for a moment as she thought. She did this every Spring. She had since she was a child. Spring cleaning was something her grandmother had sternly believed in, but she remembered the first year when Grams had been too ill to partake in the annual activities herself.
Piper had come to visit on an almost daily basis then and spent an hour each day scrubbing this old house that had been in her family for so long. Each trip had brought different memories just as each room of the Manor held its own memories from special moments previously lived therein. There isn't a room in her home into which Piper can step even now that she doesn't remember a smile from Prue, a hug from her Mother, her Grandmother forcing a smile, or battling some Demon or another evil foe. There isn't a place in this home in which she can step that doesn't carry one memory or another with it.
But now, as she leans into the wooden beams after scrubbing the walls and smells the aromas of Pine Sol, wood polish, and burning cinnamon incense, she's remembering another time, a time when she was young and her family wasn't quite as big as the Halliwells normally were, a time when she was torn between college, her new life, and her old. She remembers spending time scrubbing these ancient boards just as she has today and thinking that a little remodeling could make the Halliwell Manor a house of majesty once more.
Some restoration had had to be done over the years, of course. Leo had rebuilt the steps and walls and fixed God only knew how many windows over the years. The grandfather clock had been exploded so many times that she now only had to pick up the phone, make a single call to the same shopkeeper who had once catered to her grandmother, and simply say "hello" for him to start ordering the right clock for their family. Hardly anything was truly the same, and yet . . . Yet, she thinks, looking around at the kitchen, almost everything is.
Oh, there are new pictures added in amongst the old. There are new drawings for kids who aren't her or her sisters on the fridge and a new painting Paige made for them all at the last Thanksgiving dinner on one wall. The stove now has the option of being gas or electric . . . But still, almost everything is the same.
She climbs carefully down and smiles when she hears a board squeak underneath her foot. That is one thing that she won't have Leo fix, not now during Spring cleaning or ever again. That very spot had squeaked under any one's weight when she was a child (Grams had allowed it to stay that way to warn her whenever Piper or her sisters were climbing to the cookie jar before dinner), and Piper had secretly been thrilled when the board that had replaced that first one had squeaked again a week ago. She won't have it changed.
Nor will she have anything else about the Manor changed that wasn't necessary. Things do rust, and furniture being broken is a constant in a house of good Witches battling evil. There are some things that will have to be fixed, some that will have to be replaced completely, and others that can never be replaced. But she has come to sternly believe in the old adage that if it isn't broken, it shouldn't be fixed.
She looks around her with brown eyes full of love, realizing yet again just how wonderful her home is. It's ancient. It was one of the first houses built on the block, and there had been reasons why it had been built in this particular spot. There are, of course, reasons why she strives to keep every room in the manor looking as much like it did when she was a child first living here as possible.
Every room holds its memories, but the house itself is magical. It has been home to so many of her family that Piper, at times, feels as though she can just shut her eyes and her family is around her again. She can still hear Prue's laughter and Phoebe's, too, even her own from when they were children racing through this room. She can hear her mother singing lullabies to her and her sisters when she goes into the room that was theirs when they were little and closes her eyes late at night. She can hear her Grandmother whispering to her every time she turns the pages in their family's Book of Shadows.
Her family is around her everywhere in this house. She can't see them most of the time, although she wishes she can. She can't always hear them. But she can always feel them. All it takes is a few moments for her to just stand still and reach back out to them.
She closes her eyes and lowers her head now as she thinks of them. They're around her even today. Prue's probably laughing at her for spending so many hours cleaning when she has children who can be put on the tasks. Her mother has most likely noticed spots she's missed in the wood, but her grandmother . . . Dear Grams is smiling on her.
Piper opens her now misting eyes and looks again at her home. She remembers the forlorn days after she lost her mother, her grandmother, and her older sister, her best friend. She remembers the sorrow that replaced the laughter in these rooms, the sobs that echoed through them in the silence of broken hearts . . . and she recalls fearing that her family was dying. Little by little, one by one, evil was winning. They were killing the Charmed Ones. They were killing her family.
But then she had her first son. Chris came from the future to be with them and guide his brother, to make sure their family wasn't destroyed. Their family grew instead of dying. Now she has children and grandchildren and loving sisters with families and kids of their own.
The door opens. Wyatt calls for her, and she smiles. The Manor never did truly need restoring, but her family did. The holes that are left behind from those who have gone on ahead can never be filled, but the Halliwell clan has nonetheless been restored. There is love in every one of these rooms, love from the people in them now and love from the people who have been in them before. She is so far from being alone.
She touches the locket she wears, thinking again of Prue, their mother, and grandmother. Their faces are in that locket. She knows every detail of that picture Paige made for her and their smiles by heart, and she knows, too, that they're not just smiling at her from the picture. They're smiling to her from the realm just beyond what she can see, a realm she herself will one day slip into.
"Mom? Mom?" Wyatt's voice is becoming just a little panicky, and she calls to him.
"It's okay, Wyatt. I'm just in here."
"Are you cleaning again? I told you Chris and I would take care of it. You need to rest."
She can rest when she's dead. For now, there's cleaning to be done and life to be lived. She never likes to think of death, and her mood has become slightly dour. All that changes, however, when her son whisks her up into his arms. "Did you do it?" she asks him.
"We did it," Chris answers, coming in and grabbing an apple from the freshly polished table. He takes a big bite of it. "For now."
"Lighten up, bro. We saved the world again! We're heroes!"
Yes, Piper thinks as he gently puts her down, her sons are heroes. They're heroes to her. Her whole family is made of heroes, heroes from before and heroes from now, and their home never needed restoring. Their hearts just needed a little and all the love that the Halliwell clan holds.
She smiles at her boys and touches her locket once more. She remembers wondering how on Earth she was ever going to take care of Phoebe, how she was supposed to lead the Charmed Ones, how she could live without Prue and, before her, without her grandmother and without her mother, how she could and why she should . . . The reasons are standing before her now, and looking at her grown sons, Piper knows why she's held on, that she's done the right thing, that everything has turned out all right, and that all three of the women she still holds dearest to her heart after all this time are happy and proud of her.
Her family is restored. She is the matriarch, as her grandmother was before her and as another woman, and Witch, will be after her, and she has done a fine job. Her family is whole, happy, and healthy, and those who should be alive, who are meant to be alive in this time and in this place, are.
"What's for dinner, Mom?" She smiles as Wyatt opens the oven to sneak a peek at what she's baking.
"I thought you said I should rest," she teases, but then she goes about finishing her preparations for dinner and taking care of her sons, her family, as she's always been meant to do. As she sets dinner before them, she wonders and hopes that the next matriarch will be as good a chef as she, but as all her living family sits down at the table and join hands and she looks around at each face, she finally stops thinking about the past. They are here in the present, and this, being here with her family and caring for them all, leading them all into a future that is bound to be bright for the Halliwell clan, is exactly where she belongs.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Charmed
Characters/Pairing: Piper with mentions of practically all the Halliwell clan
Rating: PG/K+
Challenge/Prompt: #402: Restoration
Word Count: 1,692
Warnings: Future Fic
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
Her hands caressed the wooden beams she had just cleaned, and she stopped for a moment as she thought. She did this every Spring. She had since she was a child. Spring cleaning was something her grandmother had sternly believed in, but she remembered the first year when Grams had been too ill to partake in the annual activities herself.
Piper had come to visit on an almost daily basis then and spent an hour each day scrubbing this old house that had been in her family for so long. Each trip had brought different memories just as each room of the Manor held its own memories from special moments previously lived therein. There isn't a room in her home into which Piper can step even now that she doesn't remember a smile from Prue, a hug from her Mother, her Grandmother forcing a smile, or battling some Demon or another evil foe. There isn't a place in this home in which she can step that doesn't carry one memory or another with it.
But now, as she leans into the wooden beams after scrubbing the walls and smells the aromas of Pine Sol, wood polish, and burning cinnamon incense, she's remembering another time, a time when she was young and her family wasn't quite as big as the Halliwells normally were, a time when she was torn between college, her new life, and her old. She remembers spending time scrubbing these ancient boards just as she has today and thinking that a little remodeling could make the Halliwell Manor a house of majesty once more.
Some restoration had had to be done over the years, of course. Leo had rebuilt the steps and walls and fixed God only knew how many windows over the years. The grandfather clock had been exploded so many times that she now only had to pick up the phone, make a single call to the same shopkeeper who had once catered to her grandmother, and simply say "hello" for him to start ordering the right clock for their family. Hardly anything was truly the same, and yet . . . Yet, she thinks, looking around at the kitchen, almost everything is.
Oh, there are new pictures added in amongst the old. There are new drawings for kids who aren't her or her sisters on the fridge and a new painting Paige made for them all at the last Thanksgiving dinner on one wall. The stove now has the option of being gas or electric . . . But still, almost everything is the same.
She climbs carefully down and smiles when she hears a board squeak underneath her foot. That is one thing that she won't have Leo fix, not now during Spring cleaning or ever again. That very spot had squeaked under any one's weight when she was a child (Grams had allowed it to stay that way to warn her whenever Piper or her sisters were climbing to the cookie jar before dinner), and Piper had secretly been thrilled when the board that had replaced that first one had squeaked again a week ago. She won't have it changed.
Nor will she have anything else about the Manor changed that wasn't necessary. Things do rust, and furniture being broken is a constant in a house of good Witches battling evil. There are some things that will have to be fixed, some that will have to be replaced completely, and others that can never be replaced. But she has come to sternly believe in the old adage that if it isn't broken, it shouldn't be fixed.
She looks around her with brown eyes full of love, realizing yet again just how wonderful her home is. It's ancient. It was one of the first houses built on the block, and there had been reasons why it had been built in this particular spot. There are, of course, reasons why she strives to keep every room in the manor looking as much like it did when she was a child first living here as possible.
Every room holds its memories, but the house itself is magical. It has been home to so many of her family that Piper, at times, feels as though she can just shut her eyes and her family is around her again. She can still hear Prue's laughter and Phoebe's, too, even her own from when they were children racing through this room. She can hear her mother singing lullabies to her and her sisters when she goes into the room that was theirs when they were little and closes her eyes late at night. She can hear her Grandmother whispering to her every time she turns the pages in their family's Book of Shadows.
Her family is around her everywhere in this house. She can't see them most of the time, although she wishes she can. She can't always hear them. But she can always feel them. All it takes is a few moments for her to just stand still and reach back out to them.
She closes her eyes and lowers her head now as she thinks of them. They're around her even today. Prue's probably laughing at her for spending so many hours cleaning when she has children who can be put on the tasks. Her mother has most likely noticed spots she's missed in the wood, but her grandmother . . . Dear Grams is smiling on her.
Piper opens her now misting eyes and looks again at her home. She remembers the forlorn days after she lost her mother, her grandmother, and her older sister, her best friend. She remembers the sorrow that replaced the laughter in these rooms, the sobs that echoed through them in the silence of broken hearts . . . and she recalls fearing that her family was dying. Little by little, one by one, evil was winning. They were killing the Charmed Ones. They were killing her family.
But then she had her first son. Chris came from the future to be with them and guide his brother, to make sure their family wasn't destroyed. Their family grew instead of dying. Now she has children and grandchildren and loving sisters with families and kids of their own.
The door opens. Wyatt calls for her, and she smiles. The Manor never did truly need restoring, but her family did. The holes that are left behind from those who have gone on ahead can never be filled, but the Halliwell clan has nonetheless been restored. There is love in every one of these rooms, love from the people in them now and love from the people who have been in them before. She is so far from being alone.
She touches the locket she wears, thinking again of Prue, their mother, and grandmother. Their faces are in that locket. She knows every detail of that picture Paige made for her and their smiles by heart, and she knows, too, that they're not just smiling at her from the picture. They're smiling to her from the realm just beyond what she can see, a realm she herself will one day slip into.
"Mom? Mom?" Wyatt's voice is becoming just a little panicky, and she calls to him.
"It's okay, Wyatt. I'm just in here."
"Are you cleaning again? I told you Chris and I would take care of it. You need to rest."
She can rest when she's dead. For now, there's cleaning to be done and life to be lived. She never likes to think of death, and her mood has become slightly dour. All that changes, however, when her son whisks her up into his arms. "Did you do it?" she asks him.
"We did it," Chris answers, coming in and grabbing an apple from the freshly polished table. He takes a big bite of it. "For now."
"Lighten up, bro. We saved the world again! We're heroes!"
Yes, Piper thinks as he gently puts her down, her sons are heroes. They're heroes to her. Her whole family is made of heroes, heroes from before and heroes from now, and their home never needed restoring. Their hearts just needed a little and all the love that the Halliwell clan holds.
She smiles at her boys and touches her locket once more. She remembers wondering how on Earth she was ever going to take care of Phoebe, how she was supposed to lead the Charmed Ones, how she could live without Prue and, before her, without her grandmother and without her mother, how she could and why she should . . . The reasons are standing before her now, and looking at her grown sons, Piper knows why she's held on, that she's done the right thing, that everything has turned out all right, and that all three of the women she still holds dearest to her heart after all this time are happy and proud of her.
Her family is restored. She is the matriarch, as her grandmother was before her and as another woman, and Witch, will be after her, and she has done a fine job. Her family is whole, happy, and healthy, and those who should be alive, who are meant to be alive in this time and in this place, are.
"What's for dinner, Mom?" She smiles as Wyatt opens the oven to sneak a peek at what she's baking.
"I thought you said I should rest," she teases, but then she goes about finishing her preparations for dinner and taking care of her sons, her family, as she's always been meant to do. As she sets dinner before them, she wonders and hopes that the next matriarch will be as good a chef as she, but as all her living family sits down at the table and join hands and she looks around at each face, she finally stops thinking about the past. They are here in the present, and this, being here with her family and caring for them all, leading them all into a future that is bound to be bright for the Halliwell clan, is exactly where she belongs.
The End
