Family Ties (Power of Five) Post #1
Characters:
Prue Halliwell
Piper Halliwell
Phoebe Halliwell
Paige Matthews
Patrice Tomasi
Leo Wyatt
Jason
John Tomasi
Wyatt Halliwell
Portia Tomasi
This story takes place as if Prue never died, but they still found Paige. Leo has become an Elder and has left Wyatt and Piper. This is a ten years after that. (This may contain spoilers...but I'm not sure so read if you want.)
Disclaimer ~ I do not own any of the Charmed ones, only the characters that I have made up.
The leaves had just begun to change colors on Prescott St. There was hardly any traffic on the road. All the families were inside having dinner together. The world, for once was serenely perfect.
Inside the Halliwell Manor, Prue, Phoebe, Piper, and Paige sat around the living room laughing. For once, their lives were normal.
"Did you see the moving trucks across the street a couple of days ago?" Prue asked her sisters.
"Yeah. I hope their cool people, I mean who wants to live next to some old stuff-shirts?" Paige said.
"They have a little girl that's Wyatt's age, Piper," Phoebe said twisting her hair around her finger.
"Yeah I saw her getting the mail the other day."
"Maybe you should take Wyatt over there and welcome them to the neighborhood. He needs a playmate," Paige mumbled.
"Wyatt is just fine," Piper said, becoming defensive.
Phoebe stopped twisting her hair and looked at Piper, "You know what we mean, honey, he's just so quiet. Maybe a friend would help him open up."
"It has been hard since Leo left, for all of us. The first time he left Wyatt was so little, and then he came back and Wyatt got so attached to him. Now, he's sad."
"So take him over there, it's not a big deal," Paige said.
"I'll think about it."
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At the house across the street, a tall, slender woman stood at the kitchen window doing the dishes. She pushed her long dark brown hair out of her face with her arm. At the kitchen table behind her sat a beautiful ten year- old little girl, who looked like her mother. She was coloring and had a mess of crayons lying all over the table. "So when are we going to have lessons again. I miss having you teach me. Plus it's so boring here. There aren't any kids to play with."
"It's only what you make it. And, there is a boy across the street that looks your age. Why don't you go and introduce yourself tomorrow. But remember..."
"I know mom, no magic, people wouldn't understand. You tell me that everyday. And I told you that I hate it. Ever since daddy left you don't teach me anymore."
"Portia, we've had this conversation before, and I think that I've explained to you why."
"Yeah, you have, but you don't listen to me." Portia stormed upstairs.
Patrice sighed. She knew that Portia was right. Ever since John left the she had tried her hardest to make amends to her daughter. His work was more important than Portia, and his marriage. The Elders had forbidden them to marry, but let them slide when Patrice found out that she was pregnant. Portia was born and they were happy for a short while, and then disaster struck with the Titans. He told her one-day that he had to go, and he kissed Portia goodbye and that was it. She hadn't seen or heard from him since. For ten years she longed for his caressing touch, but she tried her hardest to forget. Forgetting was causing her the most pain. She had stopped teaching Portia how to work spells, which had been the only saving grace in her life, but she had stopped that too, because that was how she met John.
She rested her head in her hands, "I had hoped that moving would have helped us, but it's no use. I can't forget, and she won't forgive me. I wish you were here, because then I wouldn't be so alone.
The next morning, Wyatt came downstairs for breakfast. Piper, being the cooking virtuoso that she is, already had platters with muffins, bacon, and eggs sitting on the counter waiting for the family to get up. "Morning mom."
"Good morning," she looked around for his backpack, "Where's your stuff?"
"In the foyer. I thought that I would walk to school with the new girl. She's in my class." He shrugged his shoulders and picked up a muffin and some bacon.
"That's nice of you."
"Well I figured that she could use a friend, since she's new and all." Piper smiled at him. That was the whitelighter shining through, always trying to help. "Hey, I've gotta get going, I'll talk to you later. Love ya mom."
"I love you too. Have a good day at school." He walked out of the kitchen and into the foyer.
As he stepped out into the sunny San Francisco morning, Wyatt looked across the street while adjusting the straps on his backpack. As soon as he saw the girl, he trotted over to meet her.
Portia saw him come running over and stopped to wait for him. "Hi, I'm Wyatt Halliwell," he stuck out his hand to shake hers. Portia hesitated and then grabbed his hand.
"I'm Portia Tomasi. It's nice to meet you." There was a moment of awkward silence.
"You're in my class, right?" Wyatt asked her.
"Yeah...you know, I was going to come over and see if you wanted to walk to school with me today. Isn't that weird? We must be on the same psychic wavelength, huh?"
The mention of the word psychic made Wyatt's heart race. But he got over his anxiety and smiled. "So what are your mom and dad like?"
"Well...my mom's name is Patrice. We moved here from Chicago because she got a better job. And, you're the only person that I know here."
"What about your dad?"
"I don't have a dad. He, uh, ditched us when I was little. It's still hard on my mom," she paused. Even though she didn't know her dad, she knew how much he had hurt her mom. "What about you? What are yours like?"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't have a dad either. I only met him once. I was pretty much raised by my mom, Piper and my aunts. My mom has three sisters, Prue, Phoebe and Paige."
"I guess we're in the same boat." They both looked down at the ground. All of a sudden there was the sound of a blaring horn. Both of them looked up and the car was headed straight for them. By instinct, Portia threw her hands up in the air. She froze the street, that is everyone and everything except Wyatt.
Wyatt stopped and looked at her in disbelief. "You've got to come with me right now," he said as he grabbed her and orbed to the Manor. Piper was cleaning up the kitchen. Phoebe was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee, still wearing her pajamas. Paige and Prue had already left for work.
"Guess what?" Piper asked Phoebe
"What?" Phoebe responded, still half asleep.
"Wyatt walked the neighbor girl to school today."
"Really! Good for him!" Suddenly there was a swirl of blue and white lights. Piper's heart raced...was it Leo?
Wyatt and Portia appeared before their eyes. When Piper saw Portia her jaw almost hit the floor. She was about to scold Wyatt when he shouted, "She can freeze!"
"What!!! What do you mean, she an freeze?" Piper asked exasperatedly.
"You know how you can freeze time...well she can do the same thing. She froze a car just before it hit us! She saved us!"
Phoebe got up from her chair. "What's your name, hun?"
"Portia Tomasi. I live across the street."
"I think maybe we should call your mom and dad," Piper told her. Patrice knocked on the door of the Halliwell Manor. The last thing she expected was a phone call from across the street saying, "You need to come over here right away. Portia almost had an accident." She wasn't sure which sister it was, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach which signaled that it was important. She had slipped on her tennis shoes and ran over.
Back inside, Piper and Phoebe were talking to Portia. "Will you show us?" Phoebe asked her.
"I guess, but my mom told me not to. When I did it, it was because that car was going to hit us. It was a reflex.
"Portia, think fast," Wyatt said to her as he threw a porcelain vase her way. Without thinking, she froze it.
The vase lay suspended in mid-air. " You better grab it before it unfreezes. My freezes don't last that long," Portia said to Wyatt. She looked at Piper and Phoebe. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Phoebe said. She walked to the foyer and opened the door. A woman who resembled her mother, Patty stood there. "Hi, " she said, "I'm Phoebe Halliwell. You must be Portia's mom. I'm Wyatt's aunt. Come in, the kids are in here."
"What exactly happened?" Patrice asked, forgetting to introduce herself.
"Well, the kids almost got hit by a car, but Portia..."
"I know what she did," Patrice followed Phoebe into the kitchen. Her heart was pounding. Was Portia OK? Finally she saw Portia and she breathed a sigh of relief. She wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Thank God you're alright."
Portia smiled, "Guess what mom? I froze the whole street...that is everyone except Wyatt, who orbed us back here."
"Wyatt orbed you?" Patrice looked at Piper and Phoebe, and suddenly remembered her manners. She stuck her hand out, "My name is Patrice. I'm sorry for being so rude."
"No, it's okay. We understand, but I think that we really need to talk," Piper said, "Let me call my sisters."
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Less than half an hour later, Patrice, Portia, Wyatt and all the Charmed Ones sat in the Halliwell living room. "I think that we need to hear your side of the story first, if that's alright?"
"Yeah. Well, I might as well start at the beginning. I was adopted, from a church in San Francisco, about 38 years ago. I grew up in Michigan with the best parents that you can imagine. I graduated high school and college there. It was after I graduated from college that I discovered my powers. When I get mad, I turn things to ice, I'm what you would call cryokinetic, and I can read minds. Shortly after that I met John. He was my whitelighter and we fell in love. The Elders forbade us to marry, but I found out that I was pregnant, so we had to get married."
"This sounds awfully familiar, don't ya think, Piper?" She elbowed her sister.
"Let her finish," Prue interjected.
"Anyways, I asked my parents if they believed in the supernatural and they said, 'No,' so I left it at that..." there was a pause. Piper leaned forward on the arm of the chair. "So John and I got married and had Portia. We were happy for a little while and then the Titans got loose. He did some heroic deeds and became an Elder. So he left us...and I haven't seen him since." She searched the sister's faces for a look of approval, and then sighed, "And that's it. I moved here to see if I could find any of my real family."
"You said you were adopted from a church?" Prue asked her.
"Yes, I checked there and the nun who gave me away told me that I came from angels." Paige looked at her sisters hoping that they were thinking the same thing that she was. She had a feeling that they had found another sister. "The Charmed Ones are going to complete the Pentacle. They've found the fifth sister," said the Oracle.
"Good. Everything is unfolding exactly as I have planned."
"How so, master?"
"The girl will be mine. The daughter...she'll fall right into my trap."
"How?"
"I will answer no more of your foolish questions Oracle. Be off with you!" The Oracle left. The warlock sat down in a chair that had what looked like spikes sticking out of it. Besides him, rested a cauldron full of powder. He picked some up in his hand and slowly let it fall through his fingers. "The sands of time are shifting witches. Watch your back." "Could you come with us? I think we can help you," Piper said as she walked up the stairs. Her sisters, Wyatt, Portia, and Patrice followed.
Piper opened the door and walked over to the podium where the Book of Shadows was. She opened it up to a spell.
"Hear these words,
Hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side,
Come to me,
I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
Patty and Grams appeared. Prue, who had been watching Patrice was surprised that she didn't flinch. "Hello my girls," Grams said. Patty was staring at Patrice. Grams walked up and "hugged" her Charmed Ones and Wyatt. She saw Portia and looked down at her. "And who are you my dear?" She was surprised that the girls would have shown anyone their book and the spell to call the Halliwells. But Portia didn't answer her; she was too surprised by the spectacle that was happening before her eyes.
Patty took a step towards Patrice. "You're so beautiful. Just as I had imagined."
"You know me?" Patrice asked inquisitively.
"Of course I know you. I'm the one who was foolish enough to give you and your sister away as babies," she lightly touched her face. "I wish I could have seen you grow up."
"Mom?" Piper said.
"This is your sister, and your twin Paige." She looked at Portia, "My you look like your Aunt Phoebe did when she was your age." She smiled at Portia.
"Are you my grandma? My real grandma?"
"Yes," Patty looked at all her children. "My God, you're beautiful, all of you. Finally together. My Prudence," she walked over to Prue, "So strong all the time." She moved to Piper. "You're the glue my darling and the matriarch." Next was Phoebe. "You're the fun one. You were such a joy as a baby, and are a phenomenal adult." She moved to Paige and Patrice. "My twins, you are so different from each other, but both strong in your own ways." She looked over to Grams who walked back over to her.
"Well, Patricia, your pentacle is complete, behold the most powerful force of good the universe will ever know." Patrice looked around the attic in disbelief. Then she looked at her mother. "So you're telling me that you're the one who let me go and left me all alone to figure this stuff out by myself!"
"Patrice, even if she would have kept us, it wouldn't have mattered, she died shortly after you were born. At least you had parents."
"Yeah, but did you ever spend nights alone and pregnant wondering what the hell was wrong with you? I mean I was crazy when I was pregnant, nothing worked!"
"Patrice, I left you and Paige because your father was a whitelighter and we were forbidden to be together."
"Don't even pull that with me! I was married to a whitelighter too! He left me! But that's beside the point. You didn't even give me a hint as to whom I was related to. I mean..." she finally broke down in tears. Portia ran to her mom's side.
"Mom, it's alright. You're not, I mean, we're not alone anymore."
Patrice looked up at Grams and Patty.
"So how do I know that you're my mom?"
Phoebe walked over to her with a small mirror. "Look, don't you see who you look like?" Patrice looked in the mirror and then at Patty. She broke down again.
"I'm sorry, this is just a lot to digest." Portia who was still hugging her mom moved over so Paige could stand by her.
"It's really OK. I understand how you feel too. This was all new to me about twelve years ago. I had a family too, but they died, and then found my sisters, but let me tell you something. I always felt that something was missing. I think that it was you."
There was a flash of blue and white lights as a figure appeared before their eyes. When Patrice saw the lights she hoped that it was John, but she wasn't let down when it wasn't him, rather, it was someone she didn't know.
"His Chris!" Paige said greeting their whitelighter.
"Hi, there's a new de...who's this?" Chris asked suspiciously looking at Patrice and Portia.
"Don't worry. Patrice, Portia, this is Chris, our whitelighter. Chris, this is our sister Patrice and her daughter Portia.
"Very nice to meet you. Wait...another sister?" He asked extending his hand to Patrice. Paige nodded. Chris went to look down to Portia but stopped and stepped back, "Melinda?"
"Who's Melinda, Chris?" Piper asked him, vividly remembering the daughter she and Leo were supposed to have.
"No one...you just look so much like her. It's unbelievable."
This time Portia spoke up, "Who's Melinda and why are you looking at me that way?"
"Don't worry; she's someone who doesn't exist. You just remind me of her."
"I hate when people talk around things like that, "Portia said crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"So what's it like up there? I mean, I'm a whitelighter and I've had a whitelighter but I've never been up there."
"It's pretty boring. Just a bunch of stuff shirts in robes walking around being really quiet. It's all the same save the world stuff all the time, twenty four seven."
"Do you know any of the elders, their names, I mean?"
"A few. I know Piper's husband, but that's about it," he saw her face fall. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason."
"So, Chris," Piper said cutting through the tension, "what's up?"
"Oh, not much. Just your below average demon after the Charmed Ones."
Prue stood up a little taller, "Who is it?"
"A demon called Cato. Should be fairly easy to vanquish, but that's not what the elders are worried about. He's got someone very powerful behind him. A warlock, but that's all we know so far. He's very illusive.
"So what about Cat? What are his powers?" Paige asked walking over to the Book of Shadows to look up Cato's entry.
"He's an illusion demon, thankfully nothing new. But this warlock isn't going to be easy."
"Well, here's a potion and a vanquishing spell. But we've got to get him to talk."
"Easier said than done, sometimes Paige," Phoebe said putting her arm around Wyatt's shoulders. She looked at Patrice who was having more than a little trouble translating everything her sisters were talking about. "Talk about overwhelming. Why don't we go and have a cup of coffee and let them worry about this." Patrice nodded and took Portia by the hand and followed Phoebe down the stairs to the kitchen.
Wyatt looked at Piper, "I'm going to go too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe got the coffee filters out of the cupboard. "Regular or decaf?"
"Regular please."
"I bet all of this is weird, huh?"
"A little, but I've been weird my entire life. It 's just different, plus, I just saw my mother, who happens to be a ghost."
"Yeah. It's a little crazy." There was a moment of silence. "So, umm, what are your mom and dad like?"
"They're French. They came over to America on a trip to San Francisco, and that's where they got me. I grew up around a lot of American children, which is why I don't have an accent. My mom's name is Marianne and my dad's name is Arnauld."
"So you speak French?"
"That and Spanish, Italian, and Chinese. It's kind of required for my job. I work in international relations."
"That sounds like fun."
"I like it, and it pays the bills. So, what are your sisters like?"
"Well, Prue is the oldest and she's pretty much a workaholic. She never got married because her boyfriend's still in jail. Piper is like the mom, sister, best friend all wrapped up in one person. She owns a nightclub and is divorced. Paige is the youngest, same age as you obviously since you're twins. She's widowed. Her husband, Richard, died a few years ago in a plane crash. And there's me. I'm the only married one. My husband Jason owns the newspaper that I write for. You'll meet him later."
"What about Piper's ex? Didn't Chris say he was an elder? Is her ever around?"
"Not really. He was a whitelighter, and he became an elder. He did come around about four years ago, but he's not supposed to, breaking the rules and all." Phoebe saw Patrice look down and wipe her eyes.
Portia also saw her mom and quickly jumped in, "So, do I really look like you?"
"Ya sure do, let me go get a picture." Phoebe went into the sitting room, searched for a picture and brought it back into the kitchen. "Here. I think that I was eleven."
"Wow, I do look like you!"
"Let me see," Patrice asked. Portia handed her the photo. "Most definitely...are these your, I mean, our sisters?"
"Yeah, the big one's Prue and Piper's in the middle."
"Where's Paige?"
"The only pictures of the four of us are recent. We didn't know she was our sister until eleven years ago. Her parents died in a car crash."
"How awful. I know how she feels. My hus- I mean, ex-husband's sister died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. It was hard."
"What was your husband like?" Portia leaned into listen too, her mom hardly ever talked about her dad.
"Oh, he was the love of my life. Tall, dark, handsome with big brown eyes that you could drown in if you looked into them long enough. He was so gentle. My favorite memory is the day Portia was born. When he saw her...the look in his eyes, I never saw him happier. He loved to look at her. He smiled so much. He wanted more kids, but then he left..."
Hearing this, Portia's blood pressure went through the roof. "Why wouldn't you ever tell me that? I didn't even know if he loved me or not?" She stormed out of the kitchen and out of the Manor. She slammed the door behind her and ran back to her house. A dark figure watched her from the window. Portia reached her door and opened it. He moved closer.
Once again, she slammed the door, "Sometimes I don't like her! Why couldn't she tell me!" She felt cold hands wrap around her throat as she disappeared from her home. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," Phoebe said.
"No, she's right. I should have told her. We've been having communication problems a lot the last few years," She lowered her head wanting to cry, "It's just been so hard."
Phoebe came up and gave her sister a hug. On the stairs, Piper, Prue and Paige could be heard hurrying down. "Time to be brave again," Patrice said to herself, wiping the newly formed tears out of her eyes.
"We've got it! All we need is to mix the potion," Piper said starting to walk over to the cupboards.
"Here, let me help you." Patrice offered to Piper as she stood. She knew that Piper was skeptical. "Don't worry, I know how. I had a whitelighter husband, he taught me how to do this stuff."
"Alright, but at least let me help," Piper said smiling as she pulled some dragon's blood out of the cupboard.
"Hey, mom, I'm going to go and get Portia. I'll be back in a little while," Wyatt said just before he orbed out.
"Why'd she leave?" Pre asked Patrice.
"She's mad at me, but we can talk about that later."
"O-kay. Anyway, the faster we get this potion done the better." Prue walked over to Piper as Patrice added the final ingredient. The potion poofed and smoked.
"It's finished! Now this demon. How do we get him here?" Patrice's asked Prue who was holding another piece of paper in her hand.
"Summoning spell, but we need him to talk so...no vanquishing him right away. Piper you freeze him and then unfreeze his head."
"Or," Patrice said slyly, "You can let me turn him into a giant ice cycle, that is everything but his head, and then Piper can blow him up, or I can just read his mind, which would make things a lot easier." The sisters looked at her flabbergasted. "What? I told you that I've had some experience, it's just how fast your thoughts came out that kind of sent me flying."
"Yeah, but if there is some sort of blockage because his master knows your power, he still needs to talk. So that will be our back-up plan."
"Alright," Paige said, grabbing Prue around the arm, "Let's wrangle ourselves a demon."
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"Portia, are you here," Wyatt said immediately after he orbed in. There was no answer. "Portia? It's me, Wyatt. Come on, I know your mom made you upset, but she didn't mean it." He walked around the kitchen and the dining room. There were still boxes sitting around that were labeled 'Kitchen' and 'Portia's Room.' "Maybe she's unpacking," Wyatt thought. He could hear noises coming from upstairs.
Wyatt climbed the staircase. For some reason, he was very wary of the situation at hand. His force field went up, which only happened when something was going to happen. The noise got louder as her rounded the corner, getting closer to one of the bedrooms. He reached for the doorknob and slowly pushed it open...
"Meow?" Wyatt jumped. It was only a cat.
He continued his search, but there was no sign of Portia. Wyatt could feel it in his bones that something wasn't right. "Where are you, Portia." He orbed back to the Manor to tell his mom and aunts what he had found, or rather, what he hadn't found. The five sisters strategically placed themselves around the living room, far enough apart so that the demon wouldn't get all of them at once. "Ready?" Prue asked looking at each sister.
"Ready as we'll ever be." Phoebe said.
Paige smoothed her shirt down and took a defensive stance, "Bring it."
Prue started the spell, "Magic forces black and white,
Reaching out through space and light,
Be he far or be he near,
Bring the demon Cato here."
In a swirl of what looked like stardust from a circus act, a horrible mangled faced demon, who looked like he had been mauled by pit bulls appeared. He seemed surprised that he had been summoned. Patrice turned him to ice straight away.
"Talk," Paige said walking toward him.
"Never witch!" Cato shouted back.
"Oh yeah," Piper said as she blew off one of his hands. The demon screamed but clamped his mouth shut. Piper proceeded to blow off his other hand. "You know, this could go on for hours." He again clamped his mouth shut and Piper blew off part of his right arm.
Finally, after losing his arms and his left foot, he agreed to talk. "Who's your master?" Paige asked him.
"A warlock."
"We know that. What's his name?"
The demon was afraid to tell the sisters. "His name is...is...Aurius." Suddenly the demon ignited into flame, and was vanquished without the Charmed Ones moving a muscle.
"Someone obviously didn't want us to know that," Patrice said looking at her sisters. Not even thirty seconds later, they were up in the attic checking the Book of Shadows. But, for some odd reason, there was no entry for him. They searched the book front cover to back and couldn't find anything even hinting at his existence.
"I think that we should have Chris talk with the Elders. Maybe they know something about Aurius," Prue said looking through the Book one last time. "We don't have any leads." At the same moment, there were the blue and white lights that were all too familiar in the Halliwell home. They expected it to be Chris, but it was Wyatt.
"Are you absolutely sure that Portia went home?"
"What do you mean, Wyatt? Where's she at?" Patrice asked getting worried.
"She's not there. I looked all over and got scared half to death by your cat, but she's gone."
The sisters looked at each other, and then to Patrice. "Anyone feel like scrying for her?" Patrice asked.
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"LET ME GO!!!" Portia tried to get out the manhandling grip of her kidnapper. She kicked and wiggled but it was no use, he was too strong. The shimmer ended and they were in a very nice house. "Where am I? And who the hell are you? Let me go!" Her captor let her go and she ran to a corner of the room away from him.
"It's alright little girl, you are safe with me. I won't hurt you."
"Too late...you messed with the wrong girl." Portia tried to freeze the man but it was no use, he wouldn't freeze.
"Don't waste your energy. It's worthless to fight. Soon you will be my child, not a Charmed baby, no...that's not your destiny."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where could she be?" Patrice asked herself. "She would never run away."
"So, umm, what really happened while we were in the attic?" Paige asked her twin.
"Well, I was telling Phoebe about Portia's father, something that I hadn't even told Portia and it hurt her that I could never tell her that."
"Why didn't you tell her? I mean, just out of curiosity." Prue asked.
"My husbands left just after she was born, and I remember weeks when my dad would go to France and just leave my mom and me. He did it once on my birthday. He promised that he'd be there so I got all dressed up and fell asleep waiting for him, he never came. I never wanted that for her, because he said that he couldn't come back, so I didn't want to make her a promise that couldn't be kept."
"I know how you feel. Our dad was the same way." Prue said. "But he did change and now he comes around a lot."
"But Portia will never have a dad, and that's why I didn't tell her about him. I thought that it would be easier on me, but it's hard to play mom and dad."
"Wyatt, are you sure that Portia wasn't there?"
"I checked the entire house, there was no sign of her."
"Something evil is afoot. I can feel it in my bones," Phoebe said. "We've tried scrying for her and sensing her, but she's gone. Will you help us?" Piper asked her friend Daryl Morris.
"Yeah, I'll set up a watch and I'll look for her myself. Do you have any recent pictures of her?"
"In my purse, hold on." Patrice went to her purse and pulled out her wallet, and then grabbed a picture. "Here. This was taken a few months ago, just before we moved here."
"Thanks, and I promise that we'll find her, Mrs. Tomasi."
"Call me Patrice, and thank you again." Daryl walked out of the Manor. Patrice was still very upset. Even Chris couldn't sense her. She was losing hope.
"Where is she?" Suddenly, she had an idea. "Chris! Hurry!"
There was a flash of white lights and Chris appeared. "What?"
"Can you get my husband to come down here?"
"What's his name?"
"John, he's an Elder."
"I can try, I'll ask Leo if it's alright," he said before orbing back up there.
"Why do you want your husband?" Prue asked her.
"He promised me that he would watch over her...he's not doing his job very well now is he?"
The blue and white swirls appeared again, but it was only Chris, alone. "They said 'no,' that you need to figure this out alone."
"**** that. John Anthony Tomasi, get your elder ass down here right now." Her sisters could feel the anger pulsing through Patrice's veins. They knew that he had better hurry up and get down here. Chris also became a little frightened, but felt relieved when another mass of swirling lights appeared, but it wasn't John either.
Leo appeared. "What is going on down here?"
"Where is my husband, I called for him, not YOU!"
"Hi to you too, Patrice. He can't come."
"Why not, if I may ask?"
"He's busy."
"What a bunch of bull****. That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. John, get down here!"
"He won't come."
"Fine, well then I'll go find MY daughter alone. Can I borrow a car?" she asked one of her sisters. Piper tossed her her car keys. "Thanks, I'll be back later." She quickly shut the door behind her.
Leo, looked perplexed. He looked up at Piper, who was giving him the, 'I thought that you said you would help if we called you look and now you've disappointed us again,' look. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help more." He looked over at Wyatt. "Hi, son."
"Don't call me that," Wyatt said as he went up to his bedroom.
"I guess there are lots of unresolved issues floating around, huh." Phoebe stated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why are you doing this to me? I don't even know you, and how do you know me?"
The warlock didn't answer.
"Well, you could at least tell me your name? I mean, come on, you are being rude."
"Shut up foolish girl, you ask too many questions."
"I'm ten, I have to ask questions or I don't ever get any answers." The warlock continued to ignore her. "Fine, don't talk to me then."
Aurius pulled a vile from his robes. He drank from it and replaced it, trying to hide it from Portia. Luckily she saw, but remained quiet. She had to get answers, and this guy wasn't going to give them to her. Patrice sped away in Piper's SUV. She had to be someplace alone. With her daughter missing, and no clue as to her whereabouts, she could hardly focus on the road. Plus, she had to talk to her husband.
She went to Golden Gate Park, to a place where she was surrounded by trees. She started a spell.
"Hear my heart,
Feel it beat,
And take me to the one,
That it seeks."
Instantly, she vanished from the park.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked Piper about Wyatt.
"Oh, don't be stupid, Leo. You left him."
"I never..."
"You did, but right now, our niece is missing, and we need to find her."
"What happened to her?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Prue said. "I think that it's a warlock named Aurius. Would you check for us?"
"Yeah." He orbed out.
"I hope that she's okay. And Patrice too, she totally flipped out," Paige said.
"Where do you think she went," Piper asked.
"Somewhere to vent and calm down. Leo and Chris only made the problem worse." Phoebe said.
"Leo's been pretty good at that for the past few years," Piper said as Wyatt made his way down the stairs.
"Is he gone?" He asked looking around for Leo.
"Yeah, went to check on something for us," Paige said.
"So he's coming back?" His face fell.
"Yep," Phoebe said to him. "Unless Chris comes back instead."
"I can only hope." He turned around and walked back up the steps, but stopped at the landing, "Mom, if you're not too busy later, I need to talk to you, okay?"
"I always have time for you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice appeared in a cloudy place with Greek colonnades. She assumed that this was up there. Around her, men stood wearing white robes that shone like stars. One of them approached her.
"Excuse me. What are you doing up here?'' The mysterious man asked her.
She responded in a yell, "I'm looking for my husband!" The man backed away, as though he was scared, and another man stepped forward. He pulled down his hood.
"What are you doing here, Patrice?" It was John. Patrice stopped for a moment. He still looked the same as he had ten years ago...dark hair, eyes, and a body that was still perfectly ripped.
"What do you think that I'm doing up here? You heard my calls didn't you?"
"Of course."
"Well, our daughter is missing, or don't you remember her, you know, the one you left behind?"
"I know that she's missing."
"Well, I thought that you were supposed to be watching over her."
"I am always watching her."
"You obviously don't pay attention very well, now do you?"
"That's not the truth at all."
Tears of sadness rolled down her cheeks. John moved closer and took her in his arms. After 10 years of being apart, holding his wife felt more than right. She put her head on his muscular chest. They orbed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Portia sat in what resembled a prison cell. The warlock that was holding her captive was gone for the moment. There were torches around the room. "Too old to be somewhere in San Francisco," she thought to herself. "Where am I? My mom is going to kill me when I get out of here." She examined the room once more. In the left corner there was a tunnel that led off to another chamber. The other corners held cobwebs and rats. In the center of the room, there was a table-like altar and a Book that rested on a podium.
She wondered for a moment, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere. Clouds filled her mind, and a vision of the past appeared.
She saw her mother and a man. The man held a tiny baby in his arms. His eyes shone, he looked so happy. But then, all she saw and felt was utter despair. The man was crying and so was her mother. He kissed the baby and then hugged her mother. He gave her a tender kiss, and orbed away.
The clouds formed again, and then moved away. This time they showed a more recent scene...two days ago. Her mother was washing dishes, and she was coloring. She stormed upstairs. But the vision focused on her mother. She was so sad. Then she heard her mother speak. "I can't forget, and she won't forgive me. I wish you were here, because then I wouldn't be so alone."
The vision disappeared, There were tears in Portia's eyes. "I'm so sorry mom." Leo orbed back into the Halliwell Manor. "Did you find anything out?" Paige asked him straight away. The sisters were feeling agitated and helpless.
"Yeah. There's good news and bad news."
"Give us the good news first, we could use some cheering up right now," Phoebe said sitting down to await pending disaster.
"Well, Aurius is rather easy to vanquish. See, he's not completely whole."
"What do you mean 'he's not completely whole.'" Prue always hated the mystical whitelighter lingo.
"He has to drink a potion from a vial to maintain his physical form. Years ago, a witch cursed him, and the vial is the only way of retaining his life force. If you can get the vial from him, he can be defeated."
Prue walked over to stand closer to Piper and Phoebe, "Well, that sounds reassuring, but what about the bad news?"
"When he captures a witch or anyone for that matter, he takes them to a different plane, where he drains their life force and puts it in his vial."
"Whoa, I thought only demons could plane hop?" Piper said, looking at Leo ponderously.
"Like Chris told you before, he's a very powerful warlock, he has many powers."
"So Portia is on a different plane? How do we get to her?" Paige asked.
"Through Aurius."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John and Patrice appeared back in the park. It had been so long since she had seen him that she didn't want to let him go. He reached for her chin, and lifted it gently to his mouth, and kissed her.
Nothing felt so right, nothing in ten years, it hadn't killed their passion for each other. Patrice pulled out of the kiss and smiled at him. But her thoughts, though they had gone astray, wandered back to Portia. "John, can we do this later? I need to find my little girl."
"Yeah, come on." They walked back to Piper's car. John opened the door for Patrice and then walked over to his side.
There was an uneasy silence for the first five minutes of the trip. "So when did you last see her?" He asked.
"After I told my sister more about you than I've ever told anyone else. She felt betrayed and she ran back to our house. Wyatt went looking for her but by then she was gone."
"Did you try sensing her?"
"Yes. We called the police too, he was a family friend. He knows about our magic, and was more than happy to help."
"Oh." There were no more words until Patrice pulled the car into the Halliwell driveway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe stood by the window. "Here she is...oh wait. she's got someone with her." Phoebe had never seen the man before, but he looked much like the man Patrice described as her husband, and she saw where Portia got the dark skin. "It must be him," she said going to the front door.
Patrice burst in wondering what had developed while she was gone. Her sisters filled her in, after she introduced them to her husband.
Leo wasn't very surprised that he had come down. He knew the Halliwell women all too well...they were really stubborn.
"Hi, Leo," John said to him.
"John." Leo bowed his head and smiled. he could see the pain in John's eyes, and felt his pain, he himself knew the feeling all too well.
After half an hour of deliberation, the sisters went to John. "Why don't you try and sense her, after all, you are her dad?" Prue said to him harsher than she expected. He closed his eyes in concentration.
After five minutes, he broke his concentration. "I'm sorry, I couldn't feel her."
Patrice met his gaze. "Well, maybe if you had stuck around, you would be able to find her." She stormed out of the room.
Prue waited for John to go after her, but he held his ground. "Don't just stand there, go to her. You love her, don't you?" He walked into the kitchen. "I'll never understand male logic!"
"I'm going to go and see if the elders know anything else yet." As he orbed out, the sisters headed back to the attic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Patrice wait!" She turned around to face him. Her body said it all.
"What?!!"
"Don't walk away from me."
"Why the hell not? You walked away from me...no, wait, more important, you walked away from her. Do you know how hard it is to explain to a five year old why she doesn't have a daddy like all the other kids do? Or how hard it was to deal with her superpowers when she was two, or how hard, it is to teach her her magical heritage when you hate it, because it took away the love of your life? No, you don't, and the most hurtful thing is that you don't care. You live your exalted life and when YOUR child is in trouble, you don't even pay attention."
"I do care, and I wanted to come, but this is why I didn't want to come, because of all the emotions that it would stir up." Patrice looked at his, disgusted. He had changed so much.
"You know, you're not the man that I loved or married. He was no fool, or a coward." For what seemed like hours, Portia sat thinking about her vision. She felt terrible for treating her mom so bad. Her captor still hadn't returned. He had been gone for so long, and she was starving.
Finally Aurius returned, carrying a tray of food for her. "Girl! Here's some food."
He slid the tray underneath the bars of her prison. Slowly she got up and went to get the food. "Thank you," she said to him, at the same time trying to peer under his hood to see his face.
Quickly he turned on his heels and walked over to the altar. Portia couldn't resist the smell of the food and started to eat. To her surprise, it was delicious. "I didn't know bad guys could cook so well," she said to herself.
As she ate, she began to feel tired, but she dismissed it, and by the time she was finished, she had passed out.
Seeing that she was out, Aurius went to her cell. He opened the door and walked in. His footsteps made her stir, but she was too groggy to realize anything, even the fact that he had picked her up.
He carried her out of the cell and laid her down on the altar. On the altar were restraints, which he used to secure her arms and legs. He then proceeded to his book.
He stood at the podium and reached into his robes. He pulled out his vial and took a quick drink. Then he started to chant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris orbed into the attic. "I've got it! We found her!"
Phoebe ran to the attic door and yelled down the stairs, "Patrice, hurry up, we found Portia." Patrice and John appeared in the attic.
"You found her?"
"The Elders detected the plane that he was on, so all we have to do is send someone there, but only one person can go and get her."
John stepped forward, "I'll go, I owe it to her." But Patrice was worried.
"She doesn't know you, why would she go with you?"
"She had a vision," Phoebe told her sister, "She'll go with him."
"Well," Prue said, "we need to get moving. She could be in big trouble. Now, John, you have to get Portia and the vial. That will bring him here, " John nodded.
Paige spoke up, "I imagine that we need a spell, right? Because I've got one here if anyone's interested."
"Good," Chris said to her.
Paige recited, "From one to another,
A new plane we seek,
Take us to the demon Aurius,
So we can save our niece."
A vortex appeared and John stepped in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auruis was almost finished extracting Portia's life force. Her body had begun convulsing, and all he had to do was release her soul. He picked up his athame and approached the altar. He raised the athame over his head.
John came out of the vortex and ran up behind Aurius, grabbing the athame and knocking Aurius over. The vial lay on it's side after tumbling out of Aurius's robes. John grabbed the vial and went to his daughter. She was out cold. He quickly felt for a pulse...it was faint but she was still alive.
After watching her, he grabbed her and the vortex reappeared. He steeped in, and she didn't stir. The vortex closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice paced back and forth in the attic. "Hey, why don't you stand still, I'd like a ceiling left in my room," Paige said jokingly.
"Sorry, I'm just so nervous. What if he can't get her?"
"He won't leave without her," Paige reassured her.
"I know."
"So what happened in the kitchen, if you don't mind me asking," Phoebe asked her distraught sister.
"It was another fight. We're both different people now, with different priorities. he's so foreign to me know, I mean, ten years is a really long time. But his touch is so soothing."
"That's always the way it is, believe me, I would know," Piper said patting Patrice on the back.
The vortex reappeared and John came out carrying Portia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aurius staggered up from the ground. He had been badly injured and could feel the blood trickling down between his shoulder blades, as well as his life force. "Foul whitelighters." He hurried across the room and grabbed a bottle. he threw it at the wall and created a portal, and he jumped through it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lay her down over here," Prue said leading John to the cleaned off sofa. Gently he laid her down.
"She was almost gone when I got to her. He was taking her life force." He held his hands out over her and a golden glow shone from underneath them. Portia began to awake.
"Mommy?" Patrice rushed to her side and took Portia in her arms. She cradled and rocked her.
"I was so worried. Thank God that you're alright."
"Mom, I'm sorry."
Patrice looked down at her, "Whatever for?"
"I saw what happened to you in my vision and how I treated you...I never...knew."
"It's okay, just rest sweetie." Patrice put Portia back down and got up. She walked over to John, "Thank you."
"It's a part of my job." She nodded and went back over to her sisters. Prue was skimming the book of Shadows.
"How do we destroy this?"
"You don't witch!" A voice said from across the room. The sisters looked up at Aurius. He still had not revealed his face, he was still wearing the hood. "Uhhh..." Paige stammered, "vanquishing spell?"
"The bottle," Chris yelled to them, "smash it. It should wound him more than he already is."
"NO!" Aurius yelled as he ran across the room and dove for the vial, but someone was one step ahead of both the sisters and Aurius.
The bottle flew out of John's hands, to Portia. The demon turned around in surprise. "I didn't know that you had that power little witch."
"Well, I do." Portia concentrated hard on the vial and with as much telekinetic force as she could muster, through the vial across the room, into a wall.
"NOOOOO!!!!!" Aurius yelled at her and he charged her but she quickly froze him long enough to get away.
"Mom, the spell!" Portia said.
"Stealing life forces was your game,
Half in half out of the physical plane,
But without your little bottle,
Your life's been cut short,
Go away Aurius,
You exist no more!"
A cloud of smoke blew his hood off and revealed a rather handsome face. He wasn't like his low level counterpart at all, but as he writhed in pain, his true warlock self came out, and he looked like any monster meant to scare little kids.
Portia stood in defiance as he finally vanished. "Thank God," she said out loud after he had disappeared, "you should have seem where he was keeping me. You want to talk dirty?"
The sisters laughed at her, "What? It's so not funny." They laughed again as Patrice came and gave Portia a hug.
"I'm so glad that you are alright." She pulled out of the embrace and looked at her daughter. "I might have gone insane if I had lost you too." Portia smiled and hugged her mom. Then she saw the man who was in her vision.
"It's you!"
John looked around the room, "You mean me?"
"Yes, you were in my vision with mom." She looked back at her mom. "Is he who I think he is?"
Patrice nodded, and Portia went to shake John's hand. "I'm Portia Tomasi."
"John...John Tomasi." He waited for the shocked expression on his daughter's face but it did not come, rather, she smiled.
"It's nice to finally meet you." John smiled back with tears in his eyes.
"It's nice to meet you too. You are even more beautiful in person, little one." A few hours had passed by, and Portia sat talking with her dad, after 10 years, she had finally met him. They talked about everything that one can imagine, school, friends, the past, but most importantly magic.
"So, I can orb?"
"Yes, you got that from your mother and I."
"So...wait, you knew that mom was a Charmed One?"
"Not exactly, I knew that she was adopted, and that she had had a whitelighter before me, only she didn't know about it."
"Who was he?"
"Leo. Your mom and I were friends with Leo for a long time. Why, he was even there when you were born."
"Come again?" Piper said walking into the room with Patrice. "Leo was your whitelighter too?" She turned to Patrice and asked.
"Well, when I knew him, I didn't know that he was my whitelighter. That's part of the reason why I yelled at him like I did."
"Anyways," Portia said smiling, "more about my powers. I'm part Charmed One, so what does that mean. I can orb, freeze, move things, and have visions of the past. Is there anything more that I can expect?"
"Honestly, sweetie, I really don't know. I'm not in charge of that kind of thing."
Piper patted Patrice on the arm, "I'm going to go talk with Wyatt, he said he needed to talk to me." Piper climbed the stairs, and went to Wyatt's door. She knocked, but there was no answer, so she walked in. Wyatt was laying on his bed, bouncing a book in the air telekinetically. "Wyatt?"
"Oh, mom. Can we talk?"
"That's what I'm here for, fire away."
"Can you tell dad never to come here again?"
Piper was puzzled. "Why?"
"...I don't even want to see him. He was never a part of my life, or at least the life that I can remember, and I don't want him around. It makes me angry, and I don't need that."
"Are you sure, honey?"
"More than positive," he said throwing the book down on his bed, and getting up. He walked over to the mirror on his wall. "I wish that I looked more like you, instead of like him." There were no words between them. Piper didn't know how to react, or how to tell Leo. She knew it would break his heart, but she couldn't blame Wyatt for his feelings.
"Alright, I promise that I'll tell him. Now, come on down with the family, and eat dinner. Uncle Jason will be home soon." Wyatt stepped away from the mirror, but not before giving himself one last look over. "I have her eyes," he thought to himself as he walked out of the room behind her.
Dinner came and went, and everyone got better acquainted. John even stayed for a little while, just so he could be by Portia.
Before they left, Portia took a final sweeping glance at her family, and smiled. For once, she was normal. She had a dad, and knew where she belonged, and that made her feel good. She kissed her Aunts goodbye, and hugged Wyatt. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear. He smiled back at her. Once they were outside, she walked ahead of her parents. She knew that they had some talking to do before he had to leave again. Portia hoped that it wouldn't be a long separation, that he would come home, since he knew that he was wanted. And Portia felt good, as she heard her parents kiss behind her.
The End!!!!!!
Characters:
Prue Halliwell
Piper Halliwell
Phoebe Halliwell
Paige Matthews
Patrice Tomasi
Leo Wyatt
Jason
John Tomasi
Wyatt Halliwell
Portia Tomasi
This story takes place as if Prue never died, but they still found Paige. Leo has become an Elder and has left Wyatt and Piper. This is a ten years after that. (This may contain spoilers...but I'm not sure so read if you want.)
Disclaimer ~ I do not own any of the Charmed ones, only the characters that I have made up.
The leaves had just begun to change colors on Prescott St. There was hardly any traffic on the road. All the families were inside having dinner together. The world, for once was serenely perfect.
Inside the Halliwell Manor, Prue, Phoebe, Piper, and Paige sat around the living room laughing. For once, their lives were normal.
"Did you see the moving trucks across the street a couple of days ago?" Prue asked her sisters.
"Yeah. I hope their cool people, I mean who wants to live next to some old stuff-shirts?" Paige said.
"They have a little girl that's Wyatt's age, Piper," Phoebe said twisting her hair around her finger.
"Yeah I saw her getting the mail the other day."
"Maybe you should take Wyatt over there and welcome them to the neighborhood. He needs a playmate," Paige mumbled.
"Wyatt is just fine," Piper said, becoming defensive.
Phoebe stopped twisting her hair and looked at Piper, "You know what we mean, honey, he's just so quiet. Maybe a friend would help him open up."
"It has been hard since Leo left, for all of us. The first time he left Wyatt was so little, and then he came back and Wyatt got so attached to him. Now, he's sad."
"So take him over there, it's not a big deal," Paige said.
"I'll think about it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the house across the street, a tall, slender woman stood at the kitchen window doing the dishes. She pushed her long dark brown hair out of her face with her arm. At the kitchen table behind her sat a beautiful ten year- old little girl, who looked like her mother. She was coloring and had a mess of crayons lying all over the table. "So when are we going to have lessons again. I miss having you teach me. Plus it's so boring here. There aren't any kids to play with."
"It's only what you make it. And, there is a boy across the street that looks your age. Why don't you go and introduce yourself tomorrow. But remember..."
"I know mom, no magic, people wouldn't understand. You tell me that everyday. And I told you that I hate it. Ever since daddy left you don't teach me anymore."
"Portia, we've had this conversation before, and I think that I've explained to you why."
"Yeah, you have, but you don't listen to me." Portia stormed upstairs.
Patrice sighed. She knew that Portia was right. Ever since John left the she had tried her hardest to make amends to her daughter. His work was more important than Portia, and his marriage. The Elders had forbidden them to marry, but let them slide when Patrice found out that she was pregnant. Portia was born and they were happy for a short while, and then disaster struck with the Titans. He told her one-day that he had to go, and he kissed Portia goodbye and that was it. She hadn't seen or heard from him since. For ten years she longed for his caressing touch, but she tried her hardest to forget. Forgetting was causing her the most pain. She had stopped teaching Portia how to work spells, which had been the only saving grace in her life, but she had stopped that too, because that was how she met John.
She rested her head in her hands, "I had hoped that moving would have helped us, but it's no use. I can't forget, and she won't forgive me. I wish you were here, because then I wouldn't be so alone.
The next morning, Wyatt came downstairs for breakfast. Piper, being the cooking virtuoso that she is, already had platters with muffins, bacon, and eggs sitting on the counter waiting for the family to get up. "Morning mom."
"Good morning," she looked around for his backpack, "Where's your stuff?"
"In the foyer. I thought that I would walk to school with the new girl. She's in my class." He shrugged his shoulders and picked up a muffin and some bacon.
"That's nice of you."
"Well I figured that she could use a friend, since she's new and all." Piper smiled at him. That was the whitelighter shining through, always trying to help. "Hey, I've gotta get going, I'll talk to you later. Love ya mom."
"I love you too. Have a good day at school." He walked out of the kitchen and into the foyer.
As he stepped out into the sunny San Francisco morning, Wyatt looked across the street while adjusting the straps on his backpack. As soon as he saw the girl, he trotted over to meet her.
Portia saw him come running over and stopped to wait for him. "Hi, I'm Wyatt Halliwell," he stuck out his hand to shake hers. Portia hesitated and then grabbed his hand.
"I'm Portia Tomasi. It's nice to meet you." There was a moment of awkward silence.
"You're in my class, right?" Wyatt asked her.
"Yeah...you know, I was going to come over and see if you wanted to walk to school with me today. Isn't that weird? We must be on the same psychic wavelength, huh?"
The mention of the word psychic made Wyatt's heart race. But he got over his anxiety and smiled. "So what are your mom and dad like?"
"Well...my mom's name is Patrice. We moved here from Chicago because she got a better job. And, you're the only person that I know here."
"What about your dad?"
"I don't have a dad. He, uh, ditched us when I was little. It's still hard on my mom," she paused. Even though she didn't know her dad, she knew how much he had hurt her mom. "What about you? What are yours like?"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't have a dad either. I only met him once. I was pretty much raised by my mom, Piper and my aunts. My mom has three sisters, Prue, Phoebe and Paige."
"I guess we're in the same boat." They both looked down at the ground. All of a sudden there was the sound of a blaring horn. Both of them looked up and the car was headed straight for them. By instinct, Portia threw her hands up in the air. She froze the street, that is everyone and everything except Wyatt.
Wyatt stopped and looked at her in disbelief. "You've got to come with me right now," he said as he grabbed her and orbed to the Manor. Piper was cleaning up the kitchen. Phoebe was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee, still wearing her pajamas. Paige and Prue had already left for work.
"Guess what?" Piper asked Phoebe
"What?" Phoebe responded, still half asleep.
"Wyatt walked the neighbor girl to school today."
"Really! Good for him!" Suddenly there was a swirl of blue and white lights. Piper's heart raced...was it Leo?
Wyatt and Portia appeared before their eyes. When Piper saw Portia her jaw almost hit the floor. She was about to scold Wyatt when he shouted, "She can freeze!"
"What!!! What do you mean, she an freeze?" Piper asked exasperatedly.
"You know how you can freeze time...well she can do the same thing. She froze a car just before it hit us! She saved us!"
Phoebe got up from her chair. "What's your name, hun?"
"Portia Tomasi. I live across the street."
"I think maybe we should call your mom and dad," Piper told her. Patrice knocked on the door of the Halliwell Manor. The last thing she expected was a phone call from across the street saying, "You need to come over here right away. Portia almost had an accident." She wasn't sure which sister it was, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach which signaled that it was important. She had slipped on her tennis shoes and ran over.
Back inside, Piper and Phoebe were talking to Portia. "Will you show us?" Phoebe asked her.
"I guess, but my mom told me not to. When I did it, it was because that car was going to hit us. It was a reflex.
"Portia, think fast," Wyatt said to her as he threw a porcelain vase her way. Without thinking, she froze it.
The vase lay suspended in mid-air. " You better grab it before it unfreezes. My freezes don't last that long," Portia said to Wyatt. She looked at Piper and Phoebe. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Phoebe said. She walked to the foyer and opened the door. A woman who resembled her mother, Patty stood there. "Hi, " she said, "I'm Phoebe Halliwell. You must be Portia's mom. I'm Wyatt's aunt. Come in, the kids are in here."
"What exactly happened?" Patrice asked, forgetting to introduce herself.
"Well, the kids almost got hit by a car, but Portia..."
"I know what she did," Patrice followed Phoebe into the kitchen. Her heart was pounding. Was Portia OK? Finally she saw Portia and she breathed a sigh of relief. She wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Thank God you're alright."
Portia smiled, "Guess what mom? I froze the whole street...that is everyone except Wyatt, who orbed us back here."
"Wyatt orbed you?" Patrice looked at Piper and Phoebe, and suddenly remembered her manners. She stuck her hand out, "My name is Patrice. I'm sorry for being so rude."
"No, it's okay. We understand, but I think that we really need to talk," Piper said, "Let me call my sisters."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Less than half an hour later, Patrice, Portia, Wyatt and all the Charmed Ones sat in the Halliwell living room. "I think that we need to hear your side of the story first, if that's alright?"
"Yeah. Well, I might as well start at the beginning. I was adopted, from a church in San Francisco, about 38 years ago. I grew up in Michigan with the best parents that you can imagine. I graduated high school and college there. It was after I graduated from college that I discovered my powers. When I get mad, I turn things to ice, I'm what you would call cryokinetic, and I can read minds. Shortly after that I met John. He was my whitelighter and we fell in love. The Elders forbade us to marry, but I found out that I was pregnant, so we had to get married."
"This sounds awfully familiar, don't ya think, Piper?" She elbowed her sister.
"Let her finish," Prue interjected.
"Anyways, I asked my parents if they believed in the supernatural and they said, 'No,' so I left it at that..." there was a pause. Piper leaned forward on the arm of the chair. "So John and I got married and had Portia. We were happy for a little while and then the Titans got loose. He did some heroic deeds and became an Elder. So he left us...and I haven't seen him since." She searched the sister's faces for a look of approval, and then sighed, "And that's it. I moved here to see if I could find any of my real family."
"You said you were adopted from a church?" Prue asked her.
"Yes, I checked there and the nun who gave me away told me that I came from angels." Paige looked at her sisters hoping that they were thinking the same thing that she was. She had a feeling that they had found another sister. "The Charmed Ones are going to complete the Pentacle. They've found the fifth sister," said the Oracle.
"Good. Everything is unfolding exactly as I have planned."
"How so, master?"
"The girl will be mine. The daughter...she'll fall right into my trap."
"How?"
"I will answer no more of your foolish questions Oracle. Be off with you!" The Oracle left. The warlock sat down in a chair that had what looked like spikes sticking out of it. Besides him, rested a cauldron full of powder. He picked some up in his hand and slowly let it fall through his fingers. "The sands of time are shifting witches. Watch your back." "Could you come with us? I think we can help you," Piper said as she walked up the stairs. Her sisters, Wyatt, Portia, and Patrice followed.
Piper opened the door and walked over to the podium where the Book of Shadows was. She opened it up to a spell.
"Hear these words,
Hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side,
Come to me,
I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
Patty and Grams appeared. Prue, who had been watching Patrice was surprised that she didn't flinch. "Hello my girls," Grams said. Patty was staring at Patrice. Grams walked up and "hugged" her Charmed Ones and Wyatt. She saw Portia and looked down at her. "And who are you my dear?" She was surprised that the girls would have shown anyone their book and the spell to call the Halliwells. But Portia didn't answer her; she was too surprised by the spectacle that was happening before her eyes.
Patty took a step towards Patrice. "You're so beautiful. Just as I had imagined."
"You know me?" Patrice asked inquisitively.
"Of course I know you. I'm the one who was foolish enough to give you and your sister away as babies," she lightly touched her face. "I wish I could have seen you grow up."
"Mom?" Piper said.
"This is your sister, and your twin Paige." She looked at Portia, "My you look like your Aunt Phoebe did when she was your age." She smiled at Portia.
"Are you my grandma? My real grandma?"
"Yes," Patty looked at all her children. "My God, you're beautiful, all of you. Finally together. My Prudence," she walked over to Prue, "So strong all the time." She moved to Piper. "You're the glue my darling and the matriarch." Next was Phoebe. "You're the fun one. You were such a joy as a baby, and are a phenomenal adult." She moved to Paige and Patrice. "My twins, you are so different from each other, but both strong in your own ways." She looked over to Grams who walked back over to her.
"Well, Patricia, your pentacle is complete, behold the most powerful force of good the universe will ever know." Patrice looked around the attic in disbelief. Then she looked at her mother. "So you're telling me that you're the one who let me go and left me all alone to figure this stuff out by myself!"
"Patrice, even if she would have kept us, it wouldn't have mattered, she died shortly after you were born. At least you had parents."
"Yeah, but did you ever spend nights alone and pregnant wondering what the hell was wrong with you? I mean I was crazy when I was pregnant, nothing worked!"
"Patrice, I left you and Paige because your father was a whitelighter and we were forbidden to be together."
"Don't even pull that with me! I was married to a whitelighter too! He left me! But that's beside the point. You didn't even give me a hint as to whom I was related to. I mean..." she finally broke down in tears. Portia ran to her mom's side.
"Mom, it's alright. You're not, I mean, we're not alone anymore."
Patrice looked up at Grams and Patty.
"So how do I know that you're my mom?"
Phoebe walked over to her with a small mirror. "Look, don't you see who you look like?" Patrice looked in the mirror and then at Patty. She broke down again.
"I'm sorry, this is just a lot to digest." Portia who was still hugging her mom moved over so Paige could stand by her.
"It's really OK. I understand how you feel too. This was all new to me about twelve years ago. I had a family too, but they died, and then found my sisters, but let me tell you something. I always felt that something was missing. I think that it was you."
There was a flash of blue and white lights as a figure appeared before their eyes. When Patrice saw the lights she hoped that it was John, but she wasn't let down when it wasn't him, rather, it was someone she didn't know.
"His Chris!" Paige said greeting their whitelighter.
"Hi, there's a new de...who's this?" Chris asked suspiciously looking at Patrice and Portia.
"Don't worry. Patrice, Portia, this is Chris, our whitelighter. Chris, this is our sister Patrice and her daughter Portia.
"Very nice to meet you. Wait...another sister?" He asked extending his hand to Patrice. Paige nodded. Chris went to look down to Portia but stopped and stepped back, "Melinda?"
"Who's Melinda, Chris?" Piper asked him, vividly remembering the daughter she and Leo were supposed to have.
"No one...you just look so much like her. It's unbelievable."
This time Portia spoke up, "Who's Melinda and why are you looking at me that way?"
"Don't worry; she's someone who doesn't exist. You just remind me of her."
"I hate when people talk around things like that, "Portia said crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"So what's it like up there? I mean, I'm a whitelighter and I've had a whitelighter but I've never been up there."
"It's pretty boring. Just a bunch of stuff shirts in robes walking around being really quiet. It's all the same save the world stuff all the time, twenty four seven."
"Do you know any of the elders, their names, I mean?"
"A few. I know Piper's husband, but that's about it," he saw her face fall. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason."
"So, Chris," Piper said cutting through the tension, "what's up?"
"Oh, not much. Just your below average demon after the Charmed Ones."
Prue stood up a little taller, "Who is it?"
"A demon called Cato. Should be fairly easy to vanquish, but that's not what the elders are worried about. He's got someone very powerful behind him. A warlock, but that's all we know so far. He's very illusive.
"So what about Cat? What are his powers?" Paige asked walking over to the Book of Shadows to look up Cato's entry.
"He's an illusion demon, thankfully nothing new. But this warlock isn't going to be easy."
"Well, here's a potion and a vanquishing spell. But we've got to get him to talk."
"Easier said than done, sometimes Paige," Phoebe said putting her arm around Wyatt's shoulders. She looked at Patrice who was having more than a little trouble translating everything her sisters were talking about. "Talk about overwhelming. Why don't we go and have a cup of coffee and let them worry about this." Patrice nodded and took Portia by the hand and followed Phoebe down the stairs to the kitchen.
Wyatt looked at Piper, "I'm going to go too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe got the coffee filters out of the cupboard. "Regular or decaf?"
"Regular please."
"I bet all of this is weird, huh?"
"A little, but I've been weird my entire life. It 's just different, plus, I just saw my mother, who happens to be a ghost."
"Yeah. It's a little crazy." There was a moment of silence. "So, umm, what are your mom and dad like?"
"They're French. They came over to America on a trip to San Francisco, and that's where they got me. I grew up around a lot of American children, which is why I don't have an accent. My mom's name is Marianne and my dad's name is Arnauld."
"So you speak French?"
"That and Spanish, Italian, and Chinese. It's kind of required for my job. I work in international relations."
"That sounds like fun."
"I like it, and it pays the bills. So, what are your sisters like?"
"Well, Prue is the oldest and she's pretty much a workaholic. She never got married because her boyfriend's still in jail. Piper is like the mom, sister, best friend all wrapped up in one person. She owns a nightclub and is divorced. Paige is the youngest, same age as you obviously since you're twins. She's widowed. Her husband, Richard, died a few years ago in a plane crash. And there's me. I'm the only married one. My husband Jason owns the newspaper that I write for. You'll meet him later."
"What about Piper's ex? Didn't Chris say he was an elder? Is her ever around?"
"Not really. He was a whitelighter, and he became an elder. He did come around about four years ago, but he's not supposed to, breaking the rules and all." Phoebe saw Patrice look down and wipe her eyes.
Portia also saw her mom and quickly jumped in, "So, do I really look like you?"
"Ya sure do, let me go get a picture." Phoebe went into the sitting room, searched for a picture and brought it back into the kitchen. "Here. I think that I was eleven."
"Wow, I do look like you!"
"Let me see," Patrice asked. Portia handed her the photo. "Most definitely...are these your, I mean, our sisters?"
"Yeah, the big one's Prue and Piper's in the middle."
"Where's Paige?"
"The only pictures of the four of us are recent. We didn't know she was our sister until eleven years ago. Her parents died in a car crash."
"How awful. I know how she feels. My hus- I mean, ex-husband's sister died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. It was hard."
"What was your husband like?" Portia leaned into listen too, her mom hardly ever talked about her dad.
"Oh, he was the love of my life. Tall, dark, handsome with big brown eyes that you could drown in if you looked into them long enough. He was so gentle. My favorite memory is the day Portia was born. When he saw her...the look in his eyes, I never saw him happier. He loved to look at her. He smiled so much. He wanted more kids, but then he left..."
Hearing this, Portia's blood pressure went through the roof. "Why wouldn't you ever tell me that? I didn't even know if he loved me or not?" She stormed out of the kitchen and out of the Manor. She slammed the door behind her and ran back to her house. A dark figure watched her from the window. Portia reached her door and opened it. He moved closer.
Once again, she slammed the door, "Sometimes I don't like her! Why couldn't she tell me!" She felt cold hands wrap around her throat as she disappeared from her home. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," Phoebe said.
"No, she's right. I should have told her. We've been having communication problems a lot the last few years," She lowered her head wanting to cry, "It's just been so hard."
Phoebe came up and gave her sister a hug. On the stairs, Piper, Prue and Paige could be heard hurrying down. "Time to be brave again," Patrice said to herself, wiping the newly formed tears out of her eyes.
"We've got it! All we need is to mix the potion," Piper said starting to walk over to the cupboards.
"Here, let me help you." Patrice offered to Piper as she stood. She knew that Piper was skeptical. "Don't worry, I know how. I had a whitelighter husband, he taught me how to do this stuff."
"Alright, but at least let me help," Piper said smiling as she pulled some dragon's blood out of the cupboard.
"Hey, mom, I'm going to go and get Portia. I'll be back in a little while," Wyatt said just before he orbed out.
"Why'd she leave?" Pre asked Patrice.
"She's mad at me, but we can talk about that later."
"O-kay. Anyway, the faster we get this potion done the better." Prue walked over to Piper as Patrice added the final ingredient. The potion poofed and smoked.
"It's finished! Now this demon. How do we get him here?" Patrice's asked Prue who was holding another piece of paper in her hand.
"Summoning spell, but we need him to talk so...no vanquishing him right away. Piper you freeze him and then unfreeze his head."
"Or," Patrice said slyly, "You can let me turn him into a giant ice cycle, that is everything but his head, and then Piper can blow him up, or I can just read his mind, which would make things a lot easier." The sisters looked at her flabbergasted. "What? I told you that I've had some experience, it's just how fast your thoughts came out that kind of sent me flying."
"Yeah, but if there is some sort of blockage because his master knows your power, he still needs to talk. So that will be our back-up plan."
"Alright," Paige said, grabbing Prue around the arm, "Let's wrangle ourselves a demon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Portia, are you here," Wyatt said immediately after he orbed in. There was no answer. "Portia? It's me, Wyatt. Come on, I know your mom made you upset, but she didn't mean it." He walked around the kitchen and the dining room. There were still boxes sitting around that were labeled 'Kitchen' and 'Portia's Room.' "Maybe she's unpacking," Wyatt thought. He could hear noises coming from upstairs.
Wyatt climbed the staircase. For some reason, he was very wary of the situation at hand. His force field went up, which only happened when something was going to happen. The noise got louder as her rounded the corner, getting closer to one of the bedrooms. He reached for the doorknob and slowly pushed it open...
"Meow?" Wyatt jumped. It was only a cat.
He continued his search, but there was no sign of Portia. Wyatt could feel it in his bones that something wasn't right. "Where are you, Portia." He orbed back to the Manor to tell his mom and aunts what he had found, or rather, what he hadn't found. The five sisters strategically placed themselves around the living room, far enough apart so that the demon wouldn't get all of them at once. "Ready?" Prue asked looking at each sister.
"Ready as we'll ever be." Phoebe said.
Paige smoothed her shirt down and took a defensive stance, "Bring it."
Prue started the spell, "Magic forces black and white,
Reaching out through space and light,
Be he far or be he near,
Bring the demon Cato here."
In a swirl of what looked like stardust from a circus act, a horrible mangled faced demon, who looked like he had been mauled by pit bulls appeared. He seemed surprised that he had been summoned. Patrice turned him to ice straight away.
"Talk," Paige said walking toward him.
"Never witch!" Cato shouted back.
"Oh yeah," Piper said as she blew off one of his hands. The demon screamed but clamped his mouth shut. Piper proceeded to blow off his other hand. "You know, this could go on for hours." He again clamped his mouth shut and Piper blew off part of his right arm.
Finally, after losing his arms and his left foot, he agreed to talk. "Who's your master?" Paige asked him.
"A warlock."
"We know that. What's his name?"
The demon was afraid to tell the sisters. "His name is...is...Aurius." Suddenly the demon ignited into flame, and was vanquished without the Charmed Ones moving a muscle.
"Someone obviously didn't want us to know that," Patrice said looking at her sisters. Not even thirty seconds later, they were up in the attic checking the Book of Shadows. But, for some odd reason, there was no entry for him. They searched the book front cover to back and couldn't find anything even hinting at his existence.
"I think that we should have Chris talk with the Elders. Maybe they know something about Aurius," Prue said looking through the Book one last time. "We don't have any leads." At the same moment, there were the blue and white lights that were all too familiar in the Halliwell home. They expected it to be Chris, but it was Wyatt.
"Are you absolutely sure that Portia went home?"
"What do you mean, Wyatt? Where's she at?" Patrice asked getting worried.
"She's not there. I looked all over and got scared half to death by your cat, but she's gone."
The sisters looked at each other, and then to Patrice. "Anyone feel like scrying for her?" Patrice asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"LET ME GO!!!" Portia tried to get out the manhandling grip of her kidnapper. She kicked and wiggled but it was no use, he was too strong. The shimmer ended and they were in a very nice house. "Where am I? And who the hell are you? Let me go!" Her captor let her go and she ran to a corner of the room away from him.
"It's alright little girl, you are safe with me. I won't hurt you."
"Too late...you messed with the wrong girl." Portia tried to freeze the man but it was no use, he wouldn't freeze.
"Don't waste your energy. It's worthless to fight. Soon you will be my child, not a Charmed baby, no...that's not your destiny."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where could she be?" Patrice asked herself. "She would never run away."
"So, umm, what really happened while we were in the attic?" Paige asked her twin.
"Well, I was telling Phoebe about Portia's father, something that I hadn't even told Portia and it hurt her that I could never tell her that."
"Why didn't you tell her? I mean, just out of curiosity." Prue asked.
"My husbands left just after she was born, and I remember weeks when my dad would go to France and just leave my mom and me. He did it once on my birthday. He promised that he'd be there so I got all dressed up and fell asleep waiting for him, he never came. I never wanted that for her, because he said that he couldn't come back, so I didn't want to make her a promise that couldn't be kept."
"I know how you feel. Our dad was the same way." Prue said. "But he did change and now he comes around a lot."
"But Portia will never have a dad, and that's why I didn't tell her about him. I thought that it would be easier on me, but it's hard to play mom and dad."
"Wyatt, are you sure that Portia wasn't there?"
"I checked the entire house, there was no sign of her."
"Something evil is afoot. I can feel it in my bones," Phoebe said. "We've tried scrying for her and sensing her, but she's gone. Will you help us?" Piper asked her friend Daryl Morris.
"Yeah, I'll set up a watch and I'll look for her myself. Do you have any recent pictures of her?"
"In my purse, hold on." Patrice went to her purse and pulled out her wallet, and then grabbed a picture. "Here. This was taken a few months ago, just before we moved here."
"Thanks, and I promise that we'll find her, Mrs. Tomasi."
"Call me Patrice, and thank you again." Daryl walked out of the Manor. Patrice was still very upset. Even Chris couldn't sense her. She was losing hope.
"Where is she?" Suddenly, she had an idea. "Chris! Hurry!"
There was a flash of white lights and Chris appeared. "What?"
"Can you get my husband to come down here?"
"What's his name?"
"John, he's an Elder."
"I can try, I'll ask Leo if it's alright," he said before orbing back up there.
"Why do you want your husband?" Prue asked her.
"He promised me that he would watch over her...he's not doing his job very well now is he?"
The blue and white swirls appeared again, but it was only Chris, alone. "They said 'no,' that you need to figure this out alone."
"**** that. John Anthony Tomasi, get your elder ass down here right now." Her sisters could feel the anger pulsing through Patrice's veins. They knew that he had better hurry up and get down here. Chris also became a little frightened, but felt relieved when another mass of swirling lights appeared, but it wasn't John either.
Leo appeared. "What is going on down here?"
"Where is my husband, I called for him, not YOU!"
"Hi to you too, Patrice. He can't come."
"Why not, if I may ask?"
"He's busy."
"What a bunch of bull****. That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. John, get down here!"
"He won't come."
"Fine, well then I'll go find MY daughter alone. Can I borrow a car?" she asked one of her sisters. Piper tossed her her car keys. "Thanks, I'll be back later." She quickly shut the door behind her.
Leo, looked perplexed. He looked up at Piper, who was giving him the, 'I thought that you said you would help if we called you look and now you've disappointed us again,' look. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help more." He looked over at Wyatt. "Hi, son."
"Don't call me that," Wyatt said as he went up to his bedroom.
"I guess there are lots of unresolved issues floating around, huh." Phoebe stated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why are you doing this to me? I don't even know you, and how do you know me?"
The warlock didn't answer.
"Well, you could at least tell me your name? I mean, come on, you are being rude."
"Shut up foolish girl, you ask too many questions."
"I'm ten, I have to ask questions or I don't ever get any answers." The warlock continued to ignore her. "Fine, don't talk to me then."
Aurius pulled a vile from his robes. He drank from it and replaced it, trying to hide it from Portia. Luckily she saw, but remained quiet. She had to get answers, and this guy wasn't going to give them to her. Patrice sped away in Piper's SUV. She had to be someplace alone. With her daughter missing, and no clue as to her whereabouts, she could hardly focus on the road. Plus, she had to talk to her husband.
She went to Golden Gate Park, to a place where she was surrounded by trees. She started a spell.
"Hear my heart,
Feel it beat,
And take me to the one,
That it seeks."
Instantly, she vanished from the park.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked Piper about Wyatt.
"Oh, don't be stupid, Leo. You left him."
"I never..."
"You did, but right now, our niece is missing, and we need to find her."
"What happened to her?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Prue said. "I think that it's a warlock named Aurius. Would you check for us?"
"Yeah." He orbed out.
"I hope that she's okay. And Patrice too, she totally flipped out," Paige said.
"Where do you think she went," Piper asked.
"Somewhere to vent and calm down. Leo and Chris only made the problem worse." Phoebe said.
"Leo's been pretty good at that for the past few years," Piper said as Wyatt made his way down the stairs.
"Is he gone?" He asked looking around for Leo.
"Yeah, went to check on something for us," Paige said.
"So he's coming back?" His face fell.
"Yep," Phoebe said to him. "Unless Chris comes back instead."
"I can only hope." He turned around and walked back up the steps, but stopped at the landing, "Mom, if you're not too busy later, I need to talk to you, okay?"
"I always have time for you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice appeared in a cloudy place with Greek colonnades. She assumed that this was up there. Around her, men stood wearing white robes that shone like stars. One of them approached her.
"Excuse me. What are you doing up here?'' The mysterious man asked her.
She responded in a yell, "I'm looking for my husband!" The man backed away, as though he was scared, and another man stepped forward. He pulled down his hood.
"What are you doing here, Patrice?" It was John. Patrice stopped for a moment. He still looked the same as he had ten years ago...dark hair, eyes, and a body that was still perfectly ripped.
"What do you think that I'm doing up here? You heard my calls didn't you?"
"Of course."
"Well, our daughter is missing, or don't you remember her, you know, the one you left behind?"
"I know that she's missing."
"Well, I thought that you were supposed to be watching over her."
"I am always watching her."
"You obviously don't pay attention very well, now do you?"
"That's not the truth at all."
Tears of sadness rolled down her cheeks. John moved closer and took her in his arms. After 10 years of being apart, holding his wife felt more than right. She put her head on his muscular chest. They orbed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Portia sat in what resembled a prison cell. The warlock that was holding her captive was gone for the moment. There were torches around the room. "Too old to be somewhere in San Francisco," she thought to herself. "Where am I? My mom is going to kill me when I get out of here." She examined the room once more. In the left corner there was a tunnel that led off to another chamber. The other corners held cobwebs and rats. In the center of the room, there was a table-like altar and a Book that rested on a podium.
She wondered for a moment, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere. Clouds filled her mind, and a vision of the past appeared.
She saw her mother and a man. The man held a tiny baby in his arms. His eyes shone, he looked so happy. But then, all she saw and felt was utter despair. The man was crying and so was her mother. He kissed the baby and then hugged her mother. He gave her a tender kiss, and orbed away.
The clouds formed again, and then moved away. This time they showed a more recent scene...two days ago. Her mother was washing dishes, and she was coloring. She stormed upstairs. But the vision focused on her mother. She was so sad. Then she heard her mother speak. "I can't forget, and she won't forgive me. I wish you were here, because then I wouldn't be so alone."
The vision disappeared, There were tears in Portia's eyes. "I'm so sorry mom." Leo orbed back into the Halliwell Manor. "Did you find anything out?" Paige asked him straight away. The sisters were feeling agitated and helpless.
"Yeah. There's good news and bad news."
"Give us the good news first, we could use some cheering up right now," Phoebe said sitting down to await pending disaster.
"Well, Aurius is rather easy to vanquish. See, he's not completely whole."
"What do you mean 'he's not completely whole.'" Prue always hated the mystical whitelighter lingo.
"He has to drink a potion from a vial to maintain his physical form. Years ago, a witch cursed him, and the vial is the only way of retaining his life force. If you can get the vial from him, he can be defeated."
Prue walked over to stand closer to Piper and Phoebe, "Well, that sounds reassuring, but what about the bad news?"
"When he captures a witch or anyone for that matter, he takes them to a different plane, where he drains their life force and puts it in his vial."
"Whoa, I thought only demons could plane hop?" Piper said, looking at Leo ponderously.
"Like Chris told you before, he's a very powerful warlock, he has many powers."
"So Portia is on a different plane? How do we get to her?" Paige asked.
"Through Aurius."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John and Patrice appeared back in the park. It had been so long since she had seen him that she didn't want to let him go. He reached for her chin, and lifted it gently to his mouth, and kissed her.
Nothing felt so right, nothing in ten years, it hadn't killed their passion for each other. Patrice pulled out of the kiss and smiled at him. But her thoughts, though they had gone astray, wandered back to Portia. "John, can we do this later? I need to find my little girl."
"Yeah, come on." They walked back to Piper's car. John opened the door for Patrice and then walked over to his side.
There was an uneasy silence for the first five minutes of the trip. "So when did you last see her?" He asked.
"After I told my sister more about you than I've ever told anyone else. She felt betrayed and she ran back to our house. Wyatt went looking for her but by then she was gone."
"Did you try sensing her?"
"Yes. We called the police too, he was a family friend. He knows about our magic, and was more than happy to help."
"Oh." There were no more words until Patrice pulled the car into the Halliwell driveway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe stood by the window. "Here she is...oh wait. she's got someone with her." Phoebe had never seen the man before, but he looked much like the man Patrice described as her husband, and she saw where Portia got the dark skin. "It must be him," she said going to the front door.
Patrice burst in wondering what had developed while she was gone. Her sisters filled her in, after she introduced them to her husband.
Leo wasn't very surprised that he had come down. He knew the Halliwell women all too well...they were really stubborn.
"Hi, Leo," John said to him.
"John." Leo bowed his head and smiled. he could see the pain in John's eyes, and felt his pain, he himself knew the feeling all too well.
After half an hour of deliberation, the sisters went to John. "Why don't you try and sense her, after all, you are her dad?" Prue said to him harsher than she expected. He closed his eyes in concentration.
After five minutes, he broke his concentration. "I'm sorry, I couldn't feel her."
Patrice met his gaze. "Well, maybe if you had stuck around, you would be able to find her." She stormed out of the room.
Prue waited for John to go after her, but he held his ground. "Don't just stand there, go to her. You love her, don't you?" He walked into the kitchen. "I'll never understand male logic!"
"I'm going to go and see if the elders know anything else yet." As he orbed out, the sisters headed back to the attic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Patrice wait!" She turned around to face him. Her body said it all.
"What?!!"
"Don't walk away from me."
"Why the hell not? You walked away from me...no, wait, more important, you walked away from her. Do you know how hard it is to explain to a five year old why she doesn't have a daddy like all the other kids do? Or how hard it was to deal with her superpowers when she was two, or how hard, it is to teach her her magical heritage when you hate it, because it took away the love of your life? No, you don't, and the most hurtful thing is that you don't care. You live your exalted life and when YOUR child is in trouble, you don't even pay attention."
"I do care, and I wanted to come, but this is why I didn't want to come, because of all the emotions that it would stir up." Patrice looked at his, disgusted. He had changed so much.
"You know, you're not the man that I loved or married. He was no fool, or a coward." For what seemed like hours, Portia sat thinking about her vision. She felt terrible for treating her mom so bad. Her captor still hadn't returned. He had been gone for so long, and she was starving.
Finally Aurius returned, carrying a tray of food for her. "Girl! Here's some food."
He slid the tray underneath the bars of her prison. Slowly she got up and went to get the food. "Thank you," she said to him, at the same time trying to peer under his hood to see his face.
Quickly he turned on his heels and walked over to the altar. Portia couldn't resist the smell of the food and started to eat. To her surprise, it was delicious. "I didn't know bad guys could cook so well," she said to herself.
As she ate, she began to feel tired, but she dismissed it, and by the time she was finished, she had passed out.
Seeing that she was out, Aurius went to her cell. He opened the door and walked in. His footsteps made her stir, but she was too groggy to realize anything, even the fact that he had picked her up.
He carried her out of the cell and laid her down on the altar. On the altar were restraints, which he used to secure her arms and legs. He then proceeded to his book.
He stood at the podium and reached into his robes. He pulled out his vial and took a quick drink. Then he started to chant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris orbed into the attic. "I've got it! We found her!"
Phoebe ran to the attic door and yelled down the stairs, "Patrice, hurry up, we found Portia." Patrice and John appeared in the attic.
"You found her?"
"The Elders detected the plane that he was on, so all we have to do is send someone there, but only one person can go and get her."
John stepped forward, "I'll go, I owe it to her." But Patrice was worried.
"She doesn't know you, why would she go with you?"
"She had a vision," Phoebe told her sister, "She'll go with him."
"Well," Prue said, "we need to get moving. She could be in big trouble. Now, John, you have to get Portia and the vial. That will bring him here, " John nodded.
Paige spoke up, "I imagine that we need a spell, right? Because I've got one here if anyone's interested."
"Good," Chris said to her.
Paige recited, "From one to another,
A new plane we seek,
Take us to the demon Aurius,
So we can save our niece."
A vortex appeared and John stepped in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auruis was almost finished extracting Portia's life force. Her body had begun convulsing, and all he had to do was release her soul. He picked up his athame and approached the altar. He raised the athame over his head.
John came out of the vortex and ran up behind Aurius, grabbing the athame and knocking Aurius over. The vial lay on it's side after tumbling out of Aurius's robes. John grabbed the vial and went to his daughter. She was out cold. He quickly felt for a pulse...it was faint but she was still alive.
After watching her, he grabbed her and the vortex reappeared. He steeped in, and she didn't stir. The vortex closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice paced back and forth in the attic. "Hey, why don't you stand still, I'd like a ceiling left in my room," Paige said jokingly.
"Sorry, I'm just so nervous. What if he can't get her?"
"He won't leave without her," Paige reassured her.
"I know."
"So what happened in the kitchen, if you don't mind me asking," Phoebe asked her distraught sister.
"It was another fight. We're both different people now, with different priorities. he's so foreign to me know, I mean, ten years is a really long time. But his touch is so soothing."
"That's always the way it is, believe me, I would know," Piper said patting Patrice on the back.
The vortex reappeared and John came out carrying Portia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aurius staggered up from the ground. He had been badly injured and could feel the blood trickling down between his shoulder blades, as well as his life force. "Foul whitelighters." He hurried across the room and grabbed a bottle. he threw it at the wall and created a portal, and he jumped through it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lay her down over here," Prue said leading John to the cleaned off sofa. Gently he laid her down.
"She was almost gone when I got to her. He was taking her life force." He held his hands out over her and a golden glow shone from underneath them. Portia began to awake.
"Mommy?" Patrice rushed to her side and took Portia in her arms. She cradled and rocked her.
"I was so worried. Thank God that you're alright."
"Mom, I'm sorry."
Patrice looked down at her, "Whatever for?"
"I saw what happened to you in my vision and how I treated you...I never...knew."
"It's okay, just rest sweetie." Patrice put Portia back down and got up. She walked over to John, "Thank you."
"It's a part of my job." She nodded and went back over to her sisters. Prue was skimming the book of Shadows.
"How do we destroy this?"
"You don't witch!" A voice said from across the room. The sisters looked up at Aurius. He still had not revealed his face, he was still wearing the hood. "Uhhh..." Paige stammered, "vanquishing spell?"
"The bottle," Chris yelled to them, "smash it. It should wound him more than he already is."
"NO!" Aurius yelled as he ran across the room and dove for the vial, but someone was one step ahead of both the sisters and Aurius.
The bottle flew out of John's hands, to Portia. The demon turned around in surprise. "I didn't know that you had that power little witch."
"Well, I do." Portia concentrated hard on the vial and with as much telekinetic force as she could muster, through the vial across the room, into a wall.
"NOOOOO!!!!!" Aurius yelled at her and he charged her but she quickly froze him long enough to get away.
"Mom, the spell!" Portia said.
"Stealing life forces was your game,
Half in half out of the physical plane,
But without your little bottle,
Your life's been cut short,
Go away Aurius,
You exist no more!"
A cloud of smoke blew his hood off and revealed a rather handsome face. He wasn't like his low level counterpart at all, but as he writhed in pain, his true warlock self came out, and he looked like any monster meant to scare little kids.
Portia stood in defiance as he finally vanished. "Thank God," she said out loud after he had disappeared, "you should have seem where he was keeping me. You want to talk dirty?"
The sisters laughed at her, "What? It's so not funny." They laughed again as Patrice came and gave Portia a hug.
"I'm so glad that you are alright." She pulled out of the embrace and looked at her daughter. "I might have gone insane if I had lost you too." Portia smiled and hugged her mom. Then she saw the man who was in her vision.
"It's you!"
John looked around the room, "You mean me?"
"Yes, you were in my vision with mom." She looked back at her mom. "Is he who I think he is?"
Patrice nodded, and Portia went to shake John's hand. "I'm Portia Tomasi."
"John...John Tomasi." He waited for the shocked expression on his daughter's face but it did not come, rather, she smiled.
"It's nice to finally meet you." John smiled back with tears in his eyes.
"It's nice to meet you too. You are even more beautiful in person, little one." A few hours had passed by, and Portia sat talking with her dad, after 10 years, she had finally met him. They talked about everything that one can imagine, school, friends, the past, but most importantly magic.
"So, I can orb?"
"Yes, you got that from your mother and I."
"So...wait, you knew that mom was a Charmed One?"
"Not exactly, I knew that she was adopted, and that she had had a whitelighter before me, only she didn't know about it."
"Who was he?"
"Leo. Your mom and I were friends with Leo for a long time. Why, he was even there when you were born."
"Come again?" Piper said walking into the room with Patrice. "Leo was your whitelighter too?" She turned to Patrice and asked.
"Well, when I knew him, I didn't know that he was my whitelighter. That's part of the reason why I yelled at him like I did."
"Anyways," Portia said smiling, "more about my powers. I'm part Charmed One, so what does that mean. I can orb, freeze, move things, and have visions of the past. Is there anything more that I can expect?"
"Honestly, sweetie, I really don't know. I'm not in charge of that kind of thing."
Piper patted Patrice on the arm, "I'm going to go talk with Wyatt, he said he needed to talk to me." Piper climbed the stairs, and went to Wyatt's door. She knocked, but there was no answer, so she walked in. Wyatt was laying on his bed, bouncing a book in the air telekinetically. "Wyatt?"
"Oh, mom. Can we talk?"
"That's what I'm here for, fire away."
"Can you tell dad never to come here again?"
Piper was puzzled. "Why?"
"...I don't even want to see him. He was never a part of my life, or at least the life that I can remember, and I don't want him around. It makes me angry, and I don't need that."
"Are you sure, honey?"
"More than positive," he said throwing the book down on his bed, and getting up. He walked over to the mirror on his wall. "I wish that I looked more like you, instead of like him." There were no words between them. Piper didn't know how to react, or how to tell Leo. She knew it would break his heart, but she couldn't blame Wyatt for his feelings.
"Alright, I promise that I'll tell him. Now, come on down with the family, and eat dinner. Uncle Jason will be home soon." Wyatt stepped away from the mirror, but not before giving himself one last look over. "I have her eyes," he thought to himself as he walked out of the room behind her.
Dinner came and went, and everyone got better acquainted. John even stayed for a little while, just so he could be by Portia.
Before they left, Portia took a final sweeping glance at her family, and smiled. For once, she was normal. She had a dad, and knew where she belonged, and that made her feel good. She kissed her Aunts goodbye, and hugged Wyatt. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear. He smiled back at her. Once they were outside, she walked ahead of her parents. She knew that they had some talking to do before he had to leave again. Portia hoped that it wouldn't be a long separation, that he would come home, since he knew that he was wanted. And Portia felt good, as she heard her parents kiss behind her.
The End!!!!!!