Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed
Title: Where There's Smoke
Author: ReadingRed
Chapter One: There's Fire
"Who's the kid?" Paige asked with a nod over to the boy in the corner.
"Police brought him in, they said he was found sleeping in an alley." Her boss said of the little boy.
"Runaway, maybe abandoned. Don't really know, he won't say much. His name is Oliver, other than that we've got nothing from him" Paige's boss said, filling her in on the boy's status. He looked to be about five or six years old. He reminded her a little of Wyatt. They both had wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to be wise beyond their years.
"Sometimes those little video game things help loosen them up. Billy's got one of them in the back, I'll go get it" Paige said, referring to her co-worker.
"Good" her boss said, before Paige walked away to track down the handheld video game. On her way back she passed the refrigerator where that they kept stocked with snacks for the children. She decided to get something for Oliver. Maybe it too, would help him to open up.
She sat down next to Oliver, on the long bench.
"Here you go, Oliver, I thought you might be thirsty" Paige said, handing him the juice box. Expertly, Oliver broke the plastic covering the straw and jammed it into the small hole on top of the juice box.
"Oliver, I'm Paige. I heard that you don't want to talk about us about your parents. Do you know their phone number? I'm sure they're missing you, and they want to know that you're okay" she waited for the little boy to answer and when he didn't she asked the one question she always dreaded having to ask.
"Did they hurt you?" She asked.
"No, they didn't hurt me" Oliver said. It was the first words Paige had heard him say. She was relieved that not only was he now talking, but that his parents hadn't hurt him. All too often, the answer to that question was 'yes'.
"Good, alright. But something happened" Paige said.
"I don't wanna talk about it" Oliver replied with a pout.
"I know it's hard, Oliver, but talking is how we fix..." Paige started. Before she could finish, Oliver interrupted her with a shout.
"I said I don't wanna talk about it!" As the boy yelled a trash can across the room went up in flames.
"Fire!" Paige yelled.
The office erupted into chaos and Oliver slipped out of the office in the commotion. Paige saw him leaving, so she grabbed her purse from her desk and followed him out. By the time she got into the parking lot, little Oliver was nowhere to be found. Paige knew he could've gotten far so she started looking behind all the cars in the staff parking lot. She found him hiding behind a large SUV.
"Hey" Paige said, startling the little boy. "Hey, hey, don't go, you don't have to be afraid" she said to Oliver. He didn't listen. Oliver turned on his heel and started walking away. That was when Paige used her last resort.
"I won't tell anyone I saw you start the fire"
"You saw?" Oliver asked as he stopped walking and turned around to face her. He looked so small in that moment it tore at Paige's heart. He shouldn't have to deal with powers he didn't understand.
"Yeah, but nobody else did. And I promise I won't tell. I swear I won't" Paige told him.
"I didn't mean to do it" Oliver said apologetically.
"I know, Oliver, I know" Paige said, as she tried to comfort him with mere words.
"Please don't make me go back to them. I never want to go back to my foster parents, they don't understand me" Oliver said. Not for the first time, Paige wondered how old the boy was. He was incredibly well spoken for a five year old, so she guessed that he was closer to six, if not seven.
"I know a place where I can take you where you'll be safe. But you've gotta trust me, okay?" Paige offered.
Oliver nodded and took her outstretched hand in his own. Paige decided that Orbing with him, while faster, would most likely just scare him. She decided instead that they would take her car.
The drive back to the Manor was quiet, almost unnervingly so. Oliver sat in a booster seat in the back of Paige's car and said nothing for the entire twenty minute drive across town.
When they got to the Manor, Paige had offered him her hand to hold like earlier, but he refused. Together they walked up to the front door and went right him. Oliver looked at the house in wonder, taking in everything. Paige didn't think it was all that special but she could see how a kid would be impressed with it.
Piper came into the foyer from the kitchen with Wyatt on her hip and stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of Oliver. The words she had planned to say to Paige were replaced with a different set.
"Hello" she said to the boy. "Who're you?" Piper asked. Granted, it wasn't the most eloquent turn of phrase, but she found it the most helpful when wanting to find out who a particular person was.
"Oliver" he answered with a shy smile.
"Well Oliver. I'm Piper, and this is Wyatt. How about you and he go into the family room and play with some toys. He'll show you his trains if you want" Piper offered.
"Like Thomas?" Oliver asked. Like any mother of a young boy, Piper knew immediately who Oliver was referring to.
"Exactly like Thomas" Piper said. She set Wyatt down on his feet and told him "go show Oliver your trains".
Wyatt raced over to Oliver and took his hand, and together the two boys left to go play.
"Okay, now who is he?" Piper questioned her sister.
"Well he's Oliver" Paige said noncommittally. With an arched eyebrow and a stern face, Piper got Paige to expand on her answer.
"Apparently he's a runaway. I was talking to him and work, and when he got upset, he started a trashcan on fire" Paige said.
"Paige! You're telling me I just sent my three year old off hand in hand with a five year old pyro?" Piper exclaimed.
"No, it wasn't like he flicked a match and started the fire. We were talking; he got upset, and the fire, started." Paige said enunciating the word started. "I think he might be a witch, so when he ran off I offered to let him stay here while we figure things out. Witch or not, he's an innocent"