fandomhigh | Love & Romance, Hollywood Style [Period 4, Class 5]

Drake was playing some somewhat creepy music when the students arrived for class. "Today we're going to take a trip to the dark side," he said. "No, don't go running for the nearest witch with a vanquish potion, I'm talking about obsessive love. I've got two examples for you today."

A snap of his fingers, and the projector started rolling. "In ~~meta for~~ Sleeping with the Enemy," Drake began, "Laura is married to an abusive, controlling, possessive husband. So she fakes her own death and runs away to start a new life. Of course, psycho hubby hunts her down. He beats up her new boyfriend and tells Laura that he loves her, he can't live without her, and he won't let her live without him. But Laura's built up a spine in the meantime, and she grabs a gun and blows the psycho away.

"Now, in Fatal Attraction," Drake continued, "the sexes get reversed. Dan cheats on his wife with Alex while his wife and daughter are out of town. When wifey comes back, Dan cuts things off. But Alex doesn't want to let go. She makes a suicide attempt and then starts stalking Dan and spying on his family. She even boils the pet bunny. Eventually she decides to kill Beth, Dan's wife, seeing her as the obstacle between her and Dan's love. Dan attempts to drown her and then Beth blows her away."

Drake stopped the clips and turned his attention back to the class. "Alex claimed to love Dan, and Laura's husband said he loved her. Was that really love? What would you do if you were caught up in those circumstances? And why do teenage girls sometimes think ~~sparkly~~ controlling, suffocating ~~engine-stealing~~ boys are so dreamy?"

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"He kinda went batshit," Paige reminded him. "He was dangerous and invincible."

"The batshit was strong in him, yeah," Drake said, "but do you know how much he cared about you? Not just Phoebe, but you and Piper and even Prue? He was all set to sacrifice himself to save your lives, and got himself possessed by the Source instead. And he fought that, too -- he'd rather have died than hurt any of you."

Drake shrugged. "I love the guy, but I know he did a lot of awful things when he came back," he said. "But you guys were pretty awful to him." He held up his hands. "Not judging. Just saying."

Paige made a face. "Maybe we could have been nicer. But after losing Prue, there was no way Piper was going to risk losing Phoebe. And that whole dragging her off to the Underworld thing was scary."

"But you do know that wasn't him, don't you?" Drake said seriously. "The whole Source thing was totally out of his control."

"I know, but the Source was drawing on his feelings," Paige said. "And even with his demon half vanquished, he was a danger because of that vulnerability."

"Oh, come on," Drake said. To his credit, he didn't roll his eyes. "You gonna pick and choose your friends now on whether they're vulnerable or not? You're going to have a short career as a whitelighter, sister, and with that whole 'gathering storm' stuff, you're going to need all the allies you can get."

Paige was all set to go off on a rant about all the evil things Cole had done to Phoebe (and herself, Prue, and Piper), but then the last of what Drake said penetrated and she stared at him.

"Gathering storm? What do you know about that?"

"Ooops," Drake said. "I don't know if I should say. I mean, maybe I'll be screwing with your timeline and I hear from the radio how much fun that is if you're a Skywalker. Wait, just when are you from? What year is it for you?"

"It's 2005," Paige said. "And there was this whole thing with pirates not that long ago and they mentioned a gathering storm."

Drake rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Has Piper had a...special shopping list lately?" he asked.

It took a second, but Paige nodded. "You could say that. She got recruited by a certain neutral party."

"And I've met said neutral party," Drake said. "Well, an aspect of her. She's taking classes here, believe it or not. So, huh, maybe we're from the same world and all, neat!"

"Hmm," Paige said, rubbing her head since talk of alternate universes and time travel always gave her a headache. "Maybe you're supposed to help me figure out who my charge is."

It never occurred to her that Drake was her charge given that he was a demon and all.

"What, you don't get a name or a description or a bell ringing or a neon sign that says 'Your Charge Here'?" Drake said. He snapped his fingers, and oh so ironically made that very neon sign appear flashing over his head, complete with arrows.

Paige laughed. "Obviously you've never had the pleasure of meeting the Elders."

"Nah," Drake grinned. "They don't usually go slumming in the Underworld. But Cole's told me about 'em and one of them tried to take out wee baby Wyatt. Man, that's just not right."

Damn, but Drake kept shocking her today. "How exactly did Cole tell you about that? He was gone long before any of that happened."

"...I've said too much," Drake said solemnly, "and now I'm going to have to kill you." He was still grinning so hopefully she wouldn't take him seriously. And he really hoped she didn't try to listen to past radio broadcasts and hear him talking to his invisible friend.

"Drake, seriously," Paige said. "If this whole gathering storm thing has anything to do with Cole, you've got to tell me."

"I swear he's not behind it," Drake said, holding up a hand in the Boy Scout salute. "Wherever he is, he doesn't have any evil intentions toward you or your sisters, promise. In fact, he only wants you to be happy."

"That makes it sound like you can still communicate with him," Paige said.

"I'm still on his Christmas card list," Drake said with a wave of his hand.

Paige eyed him. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Relax," Drake said. "It's not like he's watching you in the shower I think. He's just watching your backs. C'mon, you can trust me, right?" He put on his best cute face.

"I suppose," Paige said. "Will you tell me if you hear anything more about this gathering storm thing?"

Re: Talk to Drake [L&R: Class Five]

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