Flash Fictions *Multiple Fandoms*

Fork in the Road (Charmed) *Chris/OC*

Fandom: Charmed.
Pairing: Chris Perry/OC (Blake Rodriguez).
Side story to "Ashes To Ashes".

Despite her unconventional upbringing of growing up with parents she'd never seen as anything short of murderers, before moving on to live with a much more normal foster family, then inevitably struggling to find a place she felt she fit in the world - especially when, as a darklighter, she eventually came to live with a family of witches - Blake surprisingly didn't suffer much from nightmares. Except for one. Every so often, that same recurring nightmare would come back to haunt her.

It was a pretty simple concept and obvious enough to anyone. It wasn't really difficult, seeing as it was the same concept that plagued her both when she was asleep and when she was awake. A choice. A crossroads. A line that lay between good and evil.

Sure enough, after the blurring of consciousness between losing awareness and falling asleep, Blake found herself standing at the edge of that crossroads. There was nothing really that sinister about it. The fork in the road wasn't sign-posted, each direction splitting off into a road so long that they each just petered out to nothing. No mist, no spooky forests; just a choice for her to make - one that gave her no indication as to what either outcome would eventually bring for her.

Though both roads looked the same, Blake didn't need the obvious representation of one side being dark and dreary and the other bright and sparkly to know what they symbolised for her. Why would she, when it was the contrast that had followed her all her life. It was the line between good and evil. It couldn't have been more black and white than that.

Blake's feelings about it, however, had always been a lot more contradictory. She'd never once been tempted by evil - or the dark side, as she'd jokingly call it - despite the amount of demons that had tried to recruit her over the past. That was another thing she had to thank her parents for. Not. Wealth and power didn't appeal to her in the slightest. All she'd ever wanted was the chance to live a normal life.

But because of her darklighter blood, most people only expected one thing from her. For her to be bad. Demons sought her out for hire, whereas other magical beings looked down on her. Everyone saw her as what they expected her to be. Just another killer. She was determined to prove them all wrong, but then a small voice at the back of her head had always niggled at her, worried her. What if it was a fate she couldn't escape? What if her darklighter side meant that it was inevitable that she'd eventually succumb to evil? People always said you couldn't fight genetics. She was prepared to fight it for as long as possible, but she was constantly terrified that her heritage meant it was a fight she'd lose in the end.

The worst part about her mental crossroads was that both paths looked exactly the same. How was she supposed to know which was the right one to take? Or more importantly, which was the one she wanted to take? It was the dilemma she faced every time. Like always, the dream ended with her just standing at that fork in the road, too scared to follow either path.

Blake woke with her face wet with tears. Nobody knew the internal battle she faced every day and, half the time, even she wasn't aware of how much it bothered her. It was only during moments like these. The aftermath of her nightmares. The time she felt most vulnerable.

She sat up and brushed her face dry, before running her hands through the tangled mess of her hair. Even after she'd had it cut and styled, it always found a way to become unmanageable again. She pushed it back away from her face, her eyes adjusting to the dull light from the opaque bulb plugged into the wall besides the bed. She never slept in complete darkness anymore. When she'd been rooming with Paige back at the manor, it hadn't really been her choice, but now that she was staying in the spare room at the club and could technically call it her own, the first thing she'd done was go out and buy a nightlight. She needed things to provide some light in her life, particularly during the night.

Luckily, she had something else to help light up her dark life and it worked a lot better than her nightlight did. She looked down to see that Chris was still asleep beside her, as usual. He could sleep like the dead when he wanted to. Though he was certainly something of a complainer, he'd never once complained about having the nightlight plugged in. Nor had he even questioned why a twenty-year-old would need a nightlight. He'd just allowed her to have that piece of comfort and, by doing so, provided her with even more still.

Blake reached over to gently brush his bangs away from his eyes. He still didn't stir, that perfect face remaining undisturbed, clearly having much better dreams than she had. Blake smiled. It was because of the people in her life - especially Chris - that reminded her that her nightmares were simply that. Nightmares. Regardless of whether she was awake or dreaming. And even if she didn't know exactly what the right road would look like, they'd help her to find her way to it in the end.