I hope you enjoy this new story. It's something that I've been thinking about for a while. Please read and review!!!

Chap. 1

Cassandra Alena Martin walked up the front steps of the red Victorian mansion that was the Halliwell Manor. She was terrified, her clothes were torn and ragged, her face bleeding. She had no where else to go. She never wanted to turn to the Charmed Ones, but circumstances had left her with very few options. She nervously rang the bell, stepping back a few feet as she did so.

"Hello?" an older woman asked. She held a cell-phone in her left hand and a pan of food in her right.

"Hi…" Cassie began. "Piper, right?"

The woman immediately became suspicious. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Relax, I'm a witch. But I need help," Cassie told her.

"Obviously!" Piper sighed, putting her pan down before calling up the stairs. "Chris! Wyatt!"

Cassie looked around the famous manor in awe. The place looked like another comfortable family home. It was hard to believe that the most powerful witches in the entire universe lived there. Footsteps pounded down the stairs and Cassie stood up straight.

"I'll leave her to you boys," Piper said. "I've got to get to the restaurant."

Her sons nodded, looking over the witch who their mother was leaving them to protect and aide. Piper hurried out the door. She was too busy to notice the way Cassandra was staring at Wyatt and the way he was staring back at her.

Wyatt's POV:

In one day my life had changed forever. One minute I was helping my brother prepare a vanquishing potion for some new demon threatening the greater good, and the next I was staring at the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life.

Ok, so she was a mess, but there was something about her that told me that underneath all the grime and filth there was a truly attractive girl. Her curly auburn hair was matted and knotted with sweat, dirt and who knows what else. Her clothes were torn, but it was obvious that at one point her yellow skirt had been pretty and the jacket might have once been white. But it was the cuts and bruises that covered her thin, pale and delicate body that worried me the most.

"Get Aunt Phoebe," I whispered to Chris. "I think she might need a woman's help as well."

Chris nodded before orbing out. I looked at the shivering creature in front of me and I felt my heart swell in my chest. Dismissing it as pity, I quickly orbed the thick, woolen blanket from my bed into my arms. I draped it around her, trying to warm her quivering bones.

"My name is Wyatt Halliwell," I told her. Studying her small, but pretty face.

"I know," she said, smiling a little. "And my name is Cassandra Martin. But you can call me Cassie, everyone does."

I nodded, anxiously awaiting Chris and Aunt Phoebe. Thankfully, they orbed in momentarily, saving me from a painful silence.

"Oh, sweetie!" Aunt Phoebe exclaimed in a motherly voice. "Whatever happened to you?"

Cassie just shook her head, signaling to all of us that she was not yet ready to discuss her problems.

"Well, we can talk later. Let's get you into a nice hot bath and some clean clothes," Aunt Phoebe said, whisking about the room. She gave us the we-need-to-talk look as she led Cassie up the stairs.

"Ok…" she said when she reappeared from the bathroom. "Would someone care to tell me what the heck is going on here?"

"Beats me," Chris replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Mom just told us that we had to take care of her. Said something about her needing our help."

Aunt Phoebe nodded. "That girl definitely needs help. There's something not quite right about her. And did you see all her injuries?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to clear the inappropriate thoughts of Cassie in the bath from my mind. "I did. I don't know what happened to her, I don't think that could be demonic."

We all brainstormed ideas about our new guest, but we never got anything. We were convinced that her injuries were non-magical, but that would not explain her coming to us for help. Apparently, Cassandra Martin knew something that we did not. And it was putting her in a lot of danger.

After about an hour of discussing Cassie, Aunt Phoebe told us that she would go upstairs to help her finish her grooming. "I'll try to get a vision while I'm up there, but it's like she's neutralizing my powers," she told us.

Chris and I nodded. We settled onto a sofa to flip through the Book of Shadows, searching for a lead. Our search was in vain, but soon Aunt Phoebe and Cassie came walking down the staircase.

Cassie looked amazing. It was hard to believe that she was the urchin that had stood terrified on our doorstep. She still had cuts and bruises, but her long hair was falling in light curls down her sweater-clad shoulders. She wore one of my large sweaters and a pair of my mother's old jeans. She looked so relaxed and comfortable in my home that it was uncanny.

"So, would you care to tell us why you're here?" the ever frank Chris demanded the moment they reached the ground floor.

"Cassie is going to explain everything to us over a nice hot meal," Aunt Phoebe told us in her no-questioning-my-judgment voice.

Chris and I nodded, meekly following the two women into our large kitchen.

Please R&R! I'm curious to know what you all think!!!