Wild Child

A Charmed-spinoff

by Hart of Darkness

Chapter 1

Part 1

She glanced in the mirror and sighed. Maybe bangs had been a stupid idea? The chocolate brown hair flowed freely down her back and the thick bangs covered her forehead. She leaned in, scrunching her face up, looking for new wrinkles. At an age of 45, Phoebe Halliwell didn't look one day over 35, and she loved it. Nobody ever imagined she had a 17 year old daughter, unless the daughter in question showed up and ruined the image of Phoebe as the perfect, young woman…

Okay, maybe it was all thanks to some magical equivalent of Botox, too, but Phoebe wasn't going to pretend she didn't consider herself a hot mama.

When the door opened, Phoebe more sensed it then heard it. Ava…

- Avalon? - Phoebe shouted through the house, but never got any reply. She sighed and stood up, leaving the make up table in her bedroom and walked out into the hallway. The plus carped muffled the sound of her steps, as it had done for Ava just seconds ago.

Phoebe often wished her own daughter had been more of an unruly teen, the usual kind that slammed doors, left clothes and belongings everywhere and talked back loudly and obnoxiously. Instead, Avalon had been a calm, almost chilly young woman for as long as Phoebe could remember. Off course, when Ava was born, Phoebe's TV career was boosting, and Ava had been brought up by nannies. Her powers had been bound by the three sisters immediately after her birth, so that Ava would never experience the magic nor the curse that being a witch meant.

Phoebe stopped by the door at the end off the hallway, putting her ear to the cold, hard surface, withholding her breath, listening. Not a sound.

- What are you doing?- she suddenly heard from behind, and as she spun around, she found herself face to face with a 17 year old version of herself. Avalon looked so much like Phoebe had done 27 years ago it sometimes hurt to look at her.

- I was just…- Phoebe started out, then she gave herself a brush-up within and shot Ava a short, cold stare.- We are eating at 7pm, sharp. Dress for the occasion.

As she walked past her daughter, she could feel the hostility. She had been so young when her own mother, Patty, had passed away, she had vowed her own daughter would never lack anything, especially not the love only a mother could cradle her child with. Instead, there was nothing between mother and daughter Halliwell then a cold war of stares and things unsaid.

- I'm not staying for dinner.- Ava replied, walking into her room. Phoebe closed her eyes, turned and walked in, following her daughter.

- What is that supposed to mean?- she asked, sounding harsh. More harsh then she had intended. Ava glanced up as she was switching her green tank top for a black sweat shirt and pulled her hair up in a pony tail, pressing a ballcap firmly over her head.

- I have better things to do.- she replied, trying to walk past her mother. Phoebe grabbed Ava by the elbow, yanking her back.

- You are not going anywhere. You have been out of control for the past few weeks and it's about time we talk about this, little lady!- she hissed straight out. Ava looked her mother into the eyes and laughed shortly, melodically.

- "Little lady"?- she mocked Phoebe coldly.- Would that make you "Big lady" or something? Big, maybe… but hardly a lady!

Phoebe lost her nerve and slapped Ava across the face. The girl fell, to the floor, looking back at her mother with a shocked expression as she grabbed her burning cheek. The moment she had hit her daughter, Phoebe felt guilty, kneeling down next to her.

- I'm sorry, Ava… I'm sorry… I didn't meant to…- she tried to ask for her daughter's forgiveness, but there were such hatred in Ava's eyes, Phoebe just stood up and backed away, turning and fleeing into her own room as soon as she could. How in the world did this happen? Where had it all gone wrong? She had a beautiful baby girl, she had a great job, she had everything… family, friends, career, a New York penthouse… somewhere down the road, Ava had turned from a happy child into a cold and distant young woman, a woman Phoebe couldn't reach at all.

How much she hated to admit it to herself, there was only one thing left to do.

Phoebe exhaled, pushed her long hair back and picked the phone up. After dialing a number out of memory, she waited for the signals to pass. When somebody picked up across the line, memories of years passed overflowed her, but she suppressed them, pressed a smile across her lips and inhaled.

- Hi, it's me… Phoebe…

The sun was slowly emerging from behind the mountains of the mainland, kissing the water of the Bay and slowly dressing beautiful San Francisco in a sunny veil. The yellow taxi cab was travelling uptown, from the airport and towards Prescott Court, stopping silently by the dark pink house in the middle of the street.

- We're here…- the cabbie announced, glancing back, over his shoulder, at his young passenger. Ava leaned forward, towards the side window of the car and eyed the house roof to basement.

- It's pink…- she mumbled disgusted.

The cabbie looked up towards the house too.

- It's more mauve… or budding elderberry…-he replied. Ava cut her eyes to him. He was in his mid-30's, looking handsome, fit and with eyelashes so long, most women would kill for them. And he knew colors like mauve and elderberry… As he turned and smiled at her, she realized he was damn hot.- Welcome to San Francisco!

Yes, welcome to San Francisco in deed.

As she attempted to pay for the ride from the airport, he stopped her.

- Your mother's production company has already taken care of it all.- he announced, getting out of the car, unloading her luggage. Two bags, one bigger, one smaller. That fit her entire life to them. Ava was standing at the curb, watching the house, as the cabbie walked up to her, placing her bags next to her, on the sidewalk.- Are you going to be okay now?

Ava gave him a short sideways glance and a crooked smile appeared in the corner of her lips.

- Okay is not the word that comes to mind…- she sighed, but as the cabbie gave her a confused stare, she waved it off.- I'll be just fine. What other choice do I have?

He smiled, pointing at the cab.

- Well, my services are only one call away…- he acknowledged, leaving Ava all alone on the curb outside of the pink, or mauve, or elderberry colored house.

She was short, about her mother's height, as far as they could remember her, and looked a lot like the photos of Phoebe from her childhood that they had seen, hidden in various albums throughout the house.

- Why is she just standing there?- Chris asked. He was younger, his unruly brown hair kept falling into his eyes and his eyes were always looking for something new to ponder over, analyze to bits and leave broken.

Wyatt smiled. His curly dark blonde hair, making him look just like his father, was falling around his long, handsome face, framing it, giving him an angelic aura. They were like night and day, coming from the same mother and father, but what set them apart was also what had created such a strong bond between the brothers.

- She's watching us.- Wyatt replied, not taking his eyes off the dark hared woman at the curb, who was at this very moment glancing down the street, away from the house.

- What do you mean, she's looking the other direction!- Chris pointed out. He was impatient, and he hated to believe in what he couldn't see nor touch.

- Trust me.- Wyatt replied, and at that very moment, Ava turned around and shot a cold stare towards the attic window. The curtain danced as the two brothers quickly stepped away, but she had already made them.

- Ava?

Ava looked down, from the attic window and to the front steps. There, in the doorway, with her long brown hair pulled back into a loose pony tail, a sweater and a pair of black slacks, stood her aunt Piper, watching her curiously. Ava tried on a smile. She hadn't seen her aunt Piper, actually neither one of her aunts, since she had been five years old, and her mother relocated to NY City permanentelly. NY had always had a natural drawn on Phoebe, but it had never done the same for Ava. She had made it her home, but it didn't mean she loved it. Just like her family situation, Ava felt she was caught between two worlds, not fitting into either one of them.

- Let me help you with the bags…- Piper suggested as she started walking down the stairs. Ava smiled, glanced at the bags and then vanished, in a blink of an eye. Piper stopped, as her feet had grown into the soil somewhere between the front porch of the house and the curb, and looked terrified at Ava. Then she hurried up to her, leaning in.- What are you doing? Do you have any idea how careful you have to be about that stuff?

Ava looked calmly up at her aunt, looking her straight into the eyes.

- Nobody was watching. I couldn't sense them…- she replied slowly as she started to walk up towards the house.

- Sense them?- Piper asked, feeling thrown off basis for a moment.- You couldn't sense them? That means absolutely nothing!

- Actually, it means quite a lot.- Ava disagreed.- It means there was nobody there. Nobody but those two…

She stopped right outside of the house and pointed at the attic window. Piper looked up, but she couldn't see anything.

- Inside!- she told Ava seriously, pointing at the open door. Ava glanced at her, shrugged once and walked into the house that once had harbored the Charmed Ones. The magical Threesome. The three sisters that had been the epicenter of good in the world.

There had been a lot of water under the bridge since they together fought for the good of the world… too much time had passed. They had created lives of their own, with husbands and children, and careers… and it had been years since a demon or warlock had attacked any one of them. Little did they know, that by breaking the power of three, they had bound the goodness and evil of the world for a century long standstill. And now, the standstill was over…

She had showered and redressed and was allowed to explore the room that once had belonged to her mother, but now would belong to her. Seven more months, and she would turn 18, and then nobody could tell her to do anything, but until then, she stuck living with aunt Piper and her two sons in San Francisco, cast away by her TV hotshot mother and expelled from her east coast home…

Ava picked up an old perfume bottle and sniffed it. What once must have been a nice perfume now only smelled stale, like alcohol and dust. She put it away with a sigh and turned, glancing out the window. San Francisco spread out before her beyond the calm street where her aunt's house laid.

Suddenly, she felt him. Slightly turning her head, catching a glimpse of the closed door at the corner of her eye, Ava smiled.

- You can come in, you know…- she acknowledged. The door opened slowly, and a messy, blonde head was stuck in through the opening. Ava was facing the window, but she didn't have to see him to know him.- Hello, Wyatt…

Wyatt slowly entered the room, closing the door behind him.

- Hi… so… you're cousin Ava…- he said. Ava smiled, looking at the perfectly mowed lawn before the house and nodded before she turned, letting him take her all in.

- Guilty.- she admit to shortly, shrugging once.- And you are Wyatt Matthew Halliwell… the promised one…

Wyatt looked confused at her for a moment, then he laughed shortly.

- It's been ages since anybody mentioned magic in this house.- he replied. Ava nodded.

- Yes, I know. Last time was in 1990, when I was born and the three witched of San Francisco bound my powers.- she replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed, watching him curiously.- Don't you ever miss having active powers?

Wyatt shrugged, taking a glance over the room. He hadn't been in here since aunt Phoebe moved out… Twelve years ago, to be more exact. He nor Chris had been allowed to enter. Now, Ava was here, and it would be her room for at least the nearest future.

- I was so young when mum bound my powers, I can hardly remember it.- he replied. He had been nine, so he very well remembered, but what was he supposed to say.

- Perfect son.- Ava replied, sizing him up.- You mow the lawn, you have your football scholar ship, to a University nearby, because you can't leave your mum all alone, can you? I bet you have never done one bad thing in your life…

Wyatt glanced at Ava and an amused smile lingered over his lips.

- Have you?- he asked.

Ava held his stare for a few seconds, then she smiled, looking away.

- Unclear. Ask again later.- she declared, pretending he had just shook a magic 8-ball and not asked her an up front question.

- That's why you are here, isn't it?- Wyatt persisted. Ava looked straight at him, but it was like she was seeing right through him.

- I'm here because my mother and I are too alike to be under the same roof.- she admit to slowly, like it was paining her to say that. Then she smiled, shaking her head, trying to shake the realization off her and looked at Wyatt again.- Do you know you have a green aura?

Wyatt smiled back.

- Is that good?- he asked. He didn't know exactly whom her father had been, but he knew this much: his cousin had inherited her father's ability to see good and evil in people by one quick glance at them.

- It's a healers aura…- she replied slowly.- Healthy.

- Good?- Wyatt asked again. Something inside of him turned with nervosity. It had been stories he's been told, but there were dark forces out there that, in another reality, had lured him over.

- You tell me.- Ava replied slowly. She could sense him tightening up, uneasy at her not wanting to reply. She knew it pained him that he could ever be anything but a joy to his parents, and it became all very clear to her, why he tried so hard to be the best son he could ever be. He was trying to make up for what he could have become…

- Kids? Lunch!- the voice of Piper cut through the house, announcing time had passed since the yellow taxi cab holding Ava had rolled up the street bright and early this morning. Six hours down, about a million left to go…

Ava sighed, stood up and headed for the door. Then she stopped, hessitated, and glanced at Wyatt.

- Don't worry. It's all good.- she replied, giving him a confident smile. Wyatt smiled back, feeling lighter at heart. But as he was letting her walk down the stairs ahead of him, Ava sensed the dark dots in him, budding, slowly growing…