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"Goodnight, Dad," Pandora said softly, wrapping her arms around her father.
Wyatt held her fiercely in a bear hug, pressing a kiss to the side of her hair. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. I love you so much."
Then he let go. Heart somewhat heavy, he turned away from her and headed towards his bedroom. Warm skin had just met the cool metal of his door handle when he heard her voice again.
"Dad?"
His gaze returned to hers. "What is it?"
"Do you think… Do you think she's happy?"
A sigh rose up from the depths of his soul. "I… I don't know… I'm not sure your sister's ever been truly happy. I think she's always had this… darkness… inside of her. Not evil. At least, not the way that we understand evil… Just a darkness. A void that eats away at her… Sucking her out little by little like some magnetic force."
Pandora's eyes filled with tears she only just held back. "Jesus, Dad… That's… That's grim. I-I wasn't expecting that. Not from you…"
"I'm sorry," Wyatt apologised almost automatically. "I've been in my thoughts today… I do think… If she ever has a chance at happiness… Real happiness… It's with him. So, she's in the best possible place she could be."
"I hope you're right…" she said sadly. "I miss her… so much."
Wyatt moved back over to her to sweep her into another embrace. "Me too. But she's not alone. And they know her. Who she really is. She promised she'd see us again. That has to be enough for us."
"Yeah… Goodnight, Dad," Pandora repeated as she pulled away.
"Sleep well, sweetheart," he said.
This time, he made it into his room. He slumped against the door for a moment, glad to finally be alone. As happy as the day his daughters had come into the world should have been for him, it never was. It was simultaneously the best and worst anniversary of his life. He tried to put on a brave face for them. Make the day special. This year, without Persephone… he hadn't had much success.
Seeing her in the other universe hadn't helped as much as he had hoped. It was, of course, amazing to know that she was alive and well. Wyatt had thought the visit might put him at ease, but it had done the opposite. Sephie had left to get away from all of the things she seemed to be surrounded with there. Magic, whitelighters, the Charmed Ones…
Being around the Charmed Ones, especially young Charmed Ones… That was the worst possible place she could be. Not just for her magic addiction, but also for her safety.
Apparently, you couldn't outrun your destiny. It had found her in a whole other universe.
Pushing away from the solid wood of the door, Wyatt made his way to the window seat. Sephie had always loved sitting in the window seat in her room. Lately, he had taken to sitting there to be reminded of her. Almost as if they were sitting there together.
Resting his forehead against the glass, his gaze turned to the night sky. "Whatever you're doing, Seph… I hope it makes you happy. Happy birthday, my sweet little girl."
For a long time, he sat there in the window seat, hugging his legs to his chest, staring at the moon.
The first sob came upon him unexpectedly. The second settled over him like a weight, sinking his already aching heart. He let himself cry.
Sometimes, you just needed to cry.
As the tear tracks dried on his cheeks and the ragged breaths calmed, Wyatt closed his eyes. "I don't know if anyone's listening… or if you would even care… but, please… take care of my girls. They deserve so much more than… this. I never thought they'd be normal… Of course, I didn't. But a father wants his children to be happy… not torn apart and miserable…"
"Please… Please… If you're listening… Gods or otherwise… Hell, the universe, itself… Just, please… take care of them… Take away the pain they carry. If I could, I would carry it for them…"
"I can tell you really mean that, Wyatt Halliwell," an ethereal, otherworldly voice startled him.
Wyatt's eyes snapped open to see a woman whose description matched her voice. Her flowing hair, which drifted about on some unseen wind, seemed to be made of light and dancing shadows. Her eyes could only be described as the color of stars being born, with all the gravitational pull of a black hole. She was somehow both there and not there at the same time.
She wasn't there to hurt him or his family, of that he was sure.
"Who are you," he asked.
"I have many names," she answered, her voice reverberating around inside his mind, almost as if it had come from within his own head. "Mortals are so fond of naming us… But my name is unimportant in the grand scheme of things."
Frowning, Wyatt carefully lowered his knees so that his feet were on the floor. Just in case he needed to move quickly. Not like he couldn't orb if he needed to. "What do you want?"
"Only peace," she smiled. "Your prayers have not gone unheard, twice-blessed child. If I could grant them easily, I would. But… there's always a choice and a price. Two sides of the coin, much like your daughters. Persephone can choose the happiness you seek for her. Or she can choose another path. But the choice will be hers, as will the price. This is as much hope as I have to offer. I was moved by your prayer, but I cannot interfere."
"There's a chance that she'll be happy, then? That she can come home and we can be a family again?"
"There's always a choice. And a price," the woman repeated. "You know your daughter. Content yourself with that."
Wyatt sighed sadly and nodded. "I do know my daughter… That's the problem."
Without moving, the woman was suddenly standing mere inches from Wyatt. She held out her hand to him. "I give you peace, Wyatt. Take it and trust that everything will happen the way it was meant to."
Barely aware of doing so, Wyatt took her offered hand. The world faded away in a cascade of warmth and light, wrapping around him like a blanket. When he awoke the next morning, he felt better than he had in a long time, half convinced that he'd dreamed the whole thing.