eastside

chapter thirty two

"Good Evening Miss OJ, could you spare a moment for our lord, Jesus Christ?"

Piper stood smiling in her front doorway, having just thrown it open, to find an equally excited Chris standing just inches away.. "I knew it had to be you.. Only you'd show up instead of calling like we planned." She teased, her head tilted to the side with her hands on her hips causing that devilish grin of his to light up.

"Why? Did we interrupt something??" Chris smirked, eyeballing her clothes, or Eddies rather, and purposely bumped into her as he made his way inside. She glanced down to find that she were wearing the shirt inside out and backwards, making her face redden. "Who's we? You talkin' about your multiple personalities?" She snarked, hoping to draw the attention back to him, and went to close the door only to be met with something blocking the way. With a huff, she looked down to the bottom of the door to figure out the problem, thinking maybe the stopper was hung..

But instead found that it were the end of a cane, causing a shocked gasp to radiate from her chest.

"Hello there, Missy. Heard that you were back in town and just wanted to stop by. Hope that's okay."

"Pops.."

Within a thousandth of a second, Piper had the door open again and was throwing her arms around his neck. The moment it clicked what and who she were looking at, it seemed like every emotion from the weekend hit all at once, springing tears to her eyes and a lump to her throat. Pops stumbled a little from the sudden embrace but managed to catch his balance with his cane and chuckled delightfully as he patted her back.

"Hey now, it's alright dear.. You on the other hand.." Pops leaned her away briefly and gave her a look, his worried eyes searching hers but she didn't want to talk about her right now.. Her main concern was him.

Piper grabbed him by the shoulders to really get a good look and it was so strange.. It felt like she were seeing him for the first time in years, even though it had only been a few days. He looked older, his features sunken. Dark circles under his eyes, his usual braided hair was unkempt and down around his shoulders. He didn't even have a handkerchief folded in his pocket..

"I hope I look as good as you remember.." He joked, gently tugging at his collar as if to straighten it up and gave her a warm smile, one where she could see a flicker of his old self peaking through and that seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back. The tears began flowing freely as she threw her arms around his neck again.

"You look absolutely handsome." Piper somehow managed out with a muffled laugh when she felt another hand slide across her back. She turned to find Eddie beside her, fully dressed and smiling at the both of them with a hint of moisture lining his eyes. "Hiya old man, it's good to see you again." He reached out and shook Pops hand, quickly pulling him in for a hug. Piper stepped aside, her clasped hands under her chin in complete love and adoration, and watched as Eddie silently broke down into the embrace. He and Piper made eye contact for a brief moment, the two sharing a mutual feeling of relief before he wiped the tears from his cheeks so that Pops wouldn't see.

"It's good to see you too.. How was -Jesus, son.. Are the boys abusing you? What happened?" Pops had leaned back and was about to ask about the tour but the big, ugly purple mark around Eddies eye stole his train of thought. The sun had hit in such a way, like a spotlight shining directly onto his black eye. The fact that it felt swollen after spending the majority of the morning crying probably didn't help matters either.