A Kiss of Fate

Chapter 1: Lessons to be Learned

"Piper! Phoebe! I'm here! Hello?" I yelled as I entered the manor. Right then, Paige walks out of the kitchen, followed by Leo. "Hey Paige. Leo. You seen Piper? She said she was gonna help me." I said, hanging my jacket on the hook. Then I met Paige by the foot of the stairs.

"Oh? With what?" she asked, curiously.

"She's training me to fight demons, since I'm always hanging out with you guys, she said she'd train me." I said. Chris came up behind Leo, and waved.

"Actually, she asked me to do it today. Something came up at the club, and she said she was sorry." he said. I shrugged, that was fine with me. He smiled, and offered me his hand. I took it, smiling, and he led me upstairs. We were crossing the hall, headed to the stairs that led to the attic. "So you're pretty close to the sisters, huh?" Chris asked, as we started up the stairs.

"Yea, we're pretty close." I replied, sighing. Chris walked over to the book and I just sat on the couch not far from the stand where it laid. "Although, their whitelighter is pretty cool, too." I said, wondering if he'd catch that. He stopped flipping pages, and looked up at me, smiling. I laughed at him.

"Okay, we're gonna start with-"

"Wait, wait, hold on." I said, giving him the time-out signal.

"What's the matter?" he asked, looking around like we were missing something.

"Shouldn't I learn how to fight them first, especially since I have no powers?" I asked. He looked down, obviously thinking about it.

"That's a good idea. Where should we do it? Here or the basement?" he asked, leaving it up to me.

"Well, in the basement, nothing can get broken, up here however..." I said, looking around the crowded attic.

"Good point, basement it is." he said. He smiled, and turned, going to the staircase. Sensing I wasn't right behind him, he turned around, and looked at me.

"Are you coming?" he asked me. I took a step forward, but stepped back to where I was. "What's the matter?" he asked, curiously. I looked down and shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I'm a little nervous about fighting demons. They're really scary." I said, quietly. "I wanna fight them, I do, it's just the idea of losing scares me." I said. He looked at me for a second, then he took both of my hands into his. I looked up at him, and smiled. He smiled back at me.

"You can do this. Trust me, I wouldn't have offered to train you if I didn't think so." he said. I looked at him.

"You offered to train me?" I asked him, surprised. I hadn't seen that one coming.

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." he said. My heart sped up as he looked at me with emerald green eyes.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Paige asked us, bringing us back to the attic. Instantly, my hands were out of his and in my pockets. Chris turned to Paige, startled by her entrance.

"We were just about to go down to the basement. Cara's gonna learn how to fight demons without powers. After that, we'll work on spells and potions." he says, rambling nervously. I could feel my face flush. Paige looked at us, suspiciously, and shook her head. "Whatever. Look, Chris. Barbas, the demon of fear. He's out and he's coming after us again." Chris' eyes grew wide, and he looked straight at me.

I knew Barbas, and what he could do. Barbas could bring your worst fear to life. I didn't know what my worst fear was. But I wanted to stay and help, even though I knew they would never go for it. He scared them, but they could take care of themselves. I had no powers, and I hadn't begun my training yet. Just then, the whole house was bricked over; no windows, no doors, nowhere to go. Chris jumped in front of me like a guard, and Paige did too. I laid my hand on Chris' shoulder, and he looked at me.

"I'm sorry. If I'd known this was gonna happen, I would've taken you home by now. Just stay near me, and you'll be safe. Don't go anywhere alone." he warned me. I nodded, too afraid to speak.

"What am I gonna do? You can't guard me forever, and who knows how long he'll keep this up?" I asked him, whispering. He ground his teeth, knowing I was right. This was Barbas' game, and HE decided when to come out into the open.

"We should get downstairs with the others." he said. Paige and I both nodded. Chris grabbed my hand and we ran for the staircase. Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were all standing at the foot of the stairs when we got there ourselves.

"Does he know she's here?" Chris asked Piper. She looked at me, apologetically, and nodded. We heard a noise over by the couch in the living room, and we all jumped. Just then, I see Prue, the oldest sister who died three years ago, walking towards me. My eyes grew wide, and my heartbeat rapid, as I started backing up towards the kitchen. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, as I was backing into a wall.

Prue had died protecting me from a demon. Shax had been the source's assassin, and Prue had jumped in front of an energy ball that was meant for me. I lived, she didn't. I've felt guilty to this day, and apparently, Barbas knew about it. Chris jumped in front of me, and Piper came to my side, holding me up before I could melt onto the floor. They couldn't see her, I was the only one. I had always been afraid that Prue would haunt me for it, and Barbas must have sensed it.

"It's my fault. If I hadn't been here, she wouldn't have been killed." I said, melting in Piper's arms. She looked at me, sadly, remembering her older sister and best friend. She took my face in her hands.

"Sweetie, that wasn't your fault. Prue died because of Shax, he's the one who killed her. You did nothing wrong, you have nothing to apologize for" she said, kissing my forehead. I wiped my tears away, knowing this was not the time for a meltdown. I stood up, and ghost Prue had disappeared. Piper stayed near me, as did everybody else. This was just like that day, when Shax attacked. I had been powerless then, too. The demons in between hadn't been this big of a deal. Barbas always got under the sisters' skin. He attacked them last year, and they'd told me about it. Spiders for Piper, and Phoebe afraid of losing another sister. Paige had had a claustrophobic moment.

"We need to conquer our fears, like last time." Paige said.

"She's right, whatever you guys are afraid of, get rid of it; face it in your mind." said Phoebe.

Just then, Barbas appeared with a grin on his face.

"Well, looks like we have a couple of newbies in the family. This ought to be fun." he said, waving his hand in front of him, his palm facing him. He frowned, and his brows furrowed.

"What's the matter? Lost your touch?" I heard someone say. Everybody turned to look at me, and I realized it was me who had said it. Piper smiled, but quickly went back to a serious glare in his direction. I covered my mouth to keep anything else from slipping out. I couldn't afford any attention on me. Phoebe took a couple steps toward him, and held her arms out to the side. She had a smug smile on her face.

"You're not getting anything out of us this time, Barbas." she said.

"I suggest you leave before I show you what real fear is." Piper said, stepping up next to her sister, her fingers linked together. Snarling at the fact that he'd lost, he removed the brick layer of the house, and the sun flooded the interior of the house. Barbas disappeared, and we all breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. It hadn't lasted as long as we all thought, but it had been a very long eight hours of terror. Chris turned to me, confused, and then turned to Piper.

"What were you guys talking about in the beginning?" he asked us. Piper looked at me, and sighed warily.

"Before Paige, we had...an older sister named Prue. She's actually the oldest of the four of us. Not long before Paige came into our lives, we had this demon...Shax. He was the source's assassin, and he was after this doctor at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. We rushed to the hospital, and brought the doctor here to the manor. He didn't believe us when we said there was a demon after him." she stopped and looked down, as did me and Phoebe. Chris raised his eyebrows, still not following. "Prue got this...chill feeling and Shax..." she sighed and changed her position, "Shax attacked. He was here for the doctor, but Cara," she said, looking at me, "jumped in front of him. Shax wasn't phased by her, he knew she wasn't a witch. An energy ball formed in his hand, and Prue knew that both Cara and the doctor would die if she didn't do something. So, Prue jumped up, and Shax threw the energy ball at her instead of them. I told Cara to hide. She ran to the kitchen and hid in the pantry. Me and Leo found her there an hour later. She was scared half to death, we couldn't blame her. The doctor had been killed, as had Prue. Cara ran to her, as soon as she was calm enough to come out. She blamed herself for Prue's death." she said, sadly. Piper sniffled, and turned to me. "I didn't know you still blamed yourself. Why didn't you talk to us? We could've helped you with it." she asked me, concerned. Everyone's eyes were on me, then. I looked down, not able to look into the five pairs of eyes that were burning holes into me.

"I didn't wanna bother you, especially with such a painful subject for both you and Phoebe." I said, looking between her and Pheebs. "And I didn't want to hurt Paige's feelings by talking about Prue." I said.

"You wouldn't hurt my feelings talking about Prue, sweetie. She was your best friend." Paige said, softly.

"You can talk to any of us about Prue, honey. Sure, its a painful subject, but..." Phoebe stopped, and looked at Piper, then back to me "you don't have to carry this sadness by yourself, we're all feeling it, all the time. Come to us if you wanna talk. And not just about that, but about anything that's on your mind. We're here to listen." she said, smiling.

"We love you, Cara, like a younger sister. We consider you part of the family." Piper said. They all smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. Chris rubbed my back, and squeezed my neck gently. All this time, I hadn't noticed he'd been sitting right next to me. For some reason, I was feeling really close to him.

"Alright, I'm going to bed. The whole Barbas experience really took it out of me. I'll see you guys in a few hours." I said, standing up. Chris grabbed my hand softly.

"I'll drop you off; I'm leaving myself. I'm tired, too. Night, guys." he said, as we started for the stairs.

"It's 7:00 in the morning." Leo replied.

"Oh...then I guess I'm off for a catnap, then." Chris replied.

I chuckled at his remark. It served Leo right. He wasn't exactly fond of Chris, I didn't know why. Chris was here to protect Wyatt and the sisters. What more could Leo want? He was the one who walked out on Piper and his son. Was he jealous that he wasn't our whitelighter anymore? I didn't think that could be it, I hoped not. It was a lame excuse. He didn't trust Chris at all, not even in the beginning. I didn't get it.

"We'll begin your training when I get back, okay?" he asked, half way down the street. I nodded, too tired to talk. Even with the sun on its way up, it was still kinda dark, and cold. I walked closer to Chris, it seemed he didn't mind. We totally got along, I was glad about that. A part of me wondered if we'd end up together. I shook my head to clear the thought away. He was way out of my league, I was ordinary. Nothing special about me. He helped three witches save the world every week. He was way out of my league. I knew I'd only be lucky to end up with a guy like him.