Phillipe sat for a moment in silence, staring at the crumpled bit of paper in AJ's hand. Several seconds past while he recollected what had occurred so many months ago, and the feelings that it had been dredged up.
"AJ, where did you find this? I thought I threw it away ages ago."
"But what is it? " she persisted.
He sat up and took the paper from her, not looking at her. "It's nothing AJ, really." He stood and crumpled the paper, stuffing it into his pocket as he walked to the kitchen. Taking down a glass, he filled it with water and brought it to his lips, noticing his hand tremble as he did so. After only three swallows, he emptied the remainder and turn to find AJ standing behind him with her arms crossed, a deep frown on her face. "It has my parent's names on it. That makes it my business."

Phillipe's mind began to race. The paper had certainly been from AJ's parents, but how could he explain that it had come from the silver frame that was his only connection to his own parents? How could his parents have possibly known AJ's mother Maria and her husband Xavior, whom AJ had loathed so much? But what if they had indeed known each other, or even worse, had been friends as the paper suggested? Wouldn't that imply that Phillipe's own parents were just as bad as Maria and Xavior? And for that matter, if Ben and Rose had not died, would he have been raised by parents as bad as AJ's had been? Phillipe's mind was whirling. Was bad parenting genetic? What if he was doomed to become that same as they might have been? He thought of his twin children and his heart shattered. NO! He would never become like them!

"It's not...anything...not your parents...somebody else..." he finished lamely.

He saw the confusion and disbelief on her face and his heart wanted to go to her and tell her the truth, but in the next instant his mind saw her after she knew the truth... knowing that his parents were as bad as her own...knowing that he was destined to be just like them. He saw her shrinking in fear from him, turning and running, taking the children and fleeing from him. He snapped back to reality and walked silently back into the living room. She turned and followed him with her eyes. "Phillipe Gaston, you are lying. I need to know what you are hiding!"
Phillipe pulled the paper from his pocket and flattened it out on the mantle. He read it silently again. "To Ben and Rose, from Xavior and Maria"

He made his choice.

"Please trust me on this AJ. It's better if you don't know. It's better for everyone." And with that, he bent over and held the paper to the flames in the fireplace, watching as the paper caught fire and burned, dropping it onto the logs and waiting until it was a curled back pile of ashes. Then he looked up into her stunned and disbelieving face and recalled what he had said that day so long ago and repeated it now. "Let the dead stay dead, and let the past remain in the past."

Phillipe looked again at AJ, then at his daughter and son. He was beginning to feel as though he were backed into a corner and there was no way out. The instant AJ had produced the spell book, he knew what she was going to do. He had a sudden instinct to run back into the living room and seize the book and flee, thereby preventing AJ from learning the truth. But he had done that before with terrible results. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
But seeing what AJ was intending to do was almost as bad.
"AJ, you cant..."
She turned and stared at him with Odette in her arms. "Phillipe, don't start telling me what I can and can't do. I got enough of that when I lived with my mother."
Her words hit him like a physical slap. He stumbled back and saw the immediate confusion on her face. How could she know that her words were so close to his own fears... He brought a shaking hand to his mouth, covering it for a moment, then dropped it.
"AJ... if you don't stop... you may wish you had. What you learn may cause you to change... change how you think of me."
Her look of confusion deepened. "What are you not you telling me?"
His resolve crumpled. "I think that Ben and Rose were my parents. And I think they were friends with your parents."

The two little ones stared at the fire intently as their mother moved swiftly over to the side and opened the pouch. She grabbed a handful of the dust in the bag and threw it in the fire. The fire grew in size and the color turned to blue. AJ's eyes stayed on the fire, while Phillipe sat down and wrapped his arms around his children. AJ spoke with authority as she called out her mother's name. "Maria... I need to talk to you."

A pair of eyes appeared in the fire before them all. The woman had bright eyes, full of authority and malice. She laughed. "AJ, call me mother, it's not polite to call me by my first name." And Maria slowly came into full view. She had dark brown hair, fair skin... She spoke again. "Who are those people?" The figure in the flames nodded to AJ's family. The Frenchwoman smiled as she sat down by Phillipe. "This is my husband, Phillipe." Pointing to her husband. "And these are our children, Odette, and Marcus."

The woman shook her head. "You married a mortal after all, didn't you?" She paused. "You never listen..." And AJ ignored her. "Children, say hello to your grandmother." Odette leaned forward and waved, as did Marcus. Marcus seemed bitter, while Odette didn't care.

"They certainly are precious for being half mortal." And AJ rolled her eyes. "Will you give it a rest?" Maria shook her head. "No. You had potential. Instead of doing what was asked of you, you run away and get married to this nitwit." Phillipe stood and picked up his daughter. "Come on kids." And Marcus stood. "We've had enough of grandma today." And he took them to their room and laid them down. Both children fell back asleep, for they were both still tired.

"You cannot change what has happened already." AJ spoke, ignoring her family for a moment. "I love my husband and children..." Maria seemed to gag. "You are impossible." She said while AJ quipped with: "You are a hag."

Phillipe sat back down next to his wife and held her hand, giving her silent support as AJ and her mother continued their banter.

"What do you want?" Maria asked with more seriousness in her voice.

"Who are Ben and Rose, mother?" Was AJ's question. The older woman stared intently. "How did you find out about them?" Phillipe held up the picture frame for her to see. "We found a note in this... it said that it was from you, and your husband." Phillipe replied.

"They were your parents..." Maria said with a devilish smile. "Your assumptions were correct Monsieur Gaston. They were wonderful people, but too bad for them they gave birth to you."

Phillipe's temper flared, "And it's amazing that a sadis... " but he cut off and looked down at his hand holding AJ's and breathed deeply for a moment. When he looked up again, he could see the glee on his mother-in-law's face. She was enjoying this immensely.
"Why must you be so cruel?" he asked her. "It doesn't help your cause....It doesn't help you get what you want the most....in fact it drives AJ further from you all the time."
His words had the effect he was hoping for. Her face darkened and then became contemplative as she regarded Phillipe silently. When she spoke, her words were without emotion, as if a dead corpse were speaking.
"Understand this Monsieur Gaston... when I say your parents were wonderful people I mean that they were the best that I could expect from mortals. They loved magic, though they could not use it, and despite my better judgments, I found myself drawn to them. It was probably their hero worship of me that did it." she added, and smiled a bit at the expression it brought to Phillipe's face. Then she continued.
"In any case, we became...friends. I found that despite their lack of talent, they had a deep appreciation for my skills. In fact, In time I was surprised to learn that their years of research in the arts had them more knowledgeable than even me. They had the know how you see, but not the ability. A pity, really..." She regarded the nails of her hand dismissively. "So you see, we were a benifit to one another. They explained the spells to me, and I carried them out. When we saw that the spells worked, your parents would add a little mark next to the instructions."
Phillipe looked puzzled. "Instructions? What instructions?"
Maria rolled her eyes."The ones in the book, dear boy." She pointed to the shelf where AJ's spell book lay."That book."
Phillipe was stunned. "You mean to say, that AJ's spell book was written by my parents?"
She shrugged. "They....compiled it together. I don't see how the spells in it could have been created by them. They must have simply put everything that they learned in that book. It's amazing that it all worked. Well most of it did anyway. There were a few spells that we never did seem to get right."
Phillipe was silent, shocked by the knowledge that his parents were so well versed in magic, though they could not perform it. Then he realized that they had gotten off topic. "How did they die?"
She looked down her nose at him, but did not answer.
"Tell him Maria." AJ growled at her. "You know what happened to them, don't you?"
Maria looked at her daughter, then nodded. "You were just a newborn when I saw Rose coming up the walk one day for a visit. And when I saw her that day, I knew that she was pregnant. One talent that I have always had, even before meeting Ben and Rose, was an ability to see things before they occur. It's a family thing, I believe." Then she glanced at AJ. "Well, perhaps not."
She stepped silently about the room as she spoke. "In any case, when I saw that Rose was pregnant, I also saw that her child would be a boy, and that someday, that boy would grow to love my own daughter."
AJ gasped. "You saw Phillipe as my husband?" Her mother shook her head. "Not quite so definitively. I saw that he would love you, and I could not have you so distracted. I couldn't take the chance that he would keep you from becoming who you were meant to be. So I....dealt with it."
Phillipe stood. "What did you do?" His voice was cold and deadly, his fists were clenched at his sides.
Maria rolled her eyes and deliberately turned her back on Phillipe. She spoke to AJ instead. "The intention was to cause a miscarriage. I used one of those spells in the book that we had not quite mastered. I studied it for months until Rose was nearly at full term before I attempted it." And now the slightest crack of emotion began to show in Maria's calm face. "The result wasn't what I had planned at all. I dont know what happened exactly, but I went to see Ben and Rose the next morning, expecting to find them grieving over a miscarried baby, and instead, I found both of them dead instead. Rose's body had been...opened... and you were gone. I never knew who took you from them nor what happened to you."
"You killed them! And you took the book that belonged to them..." Phillipe hissed.
"An accident!" she said coldly. "And the book was just as much mine as theirs! I helped confirm it's accuracy!"
Phillipe stood still as stone for a moment, all the hate in his eyes boring into AJ's mother for several seconds. Then he turned and walked to the twins bedroom door. He turned and looked back at her. "You have ten minutes, then I want you out of my house and out of our lives forever. If I ever see you again, I will do whatever it takes to kill you." Then there was a click as the door closed softly behind him.