Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of it's characters.

I decided to post chapter 2 today along with chapter 1. Since I did not use info from the comics, you will see that I did make up my own names for most of the Charmed Ones kids, besides Chris and Wyatt of course.

CHAPTER 2

Alex walked several feet in front of her mother, excited because she was about to see Peyton. She was anxious to show Peyton her new outfit. Her mother had won ten thousand dollars on a scratch off lottery ticket that week and took her on a shopping spree for an early birthday present. It was the weekend now and Peyton was at her Aunt's house, so it was only a house away from their own.

Anxiously, Alex rang the bell at the door as her mother took in the architecture of the Halliwell Manor. Alyson had lived by the manor for most of her life, but never knew the Halliwell family. After she had moved out of her mother's house, she had only heard stories of some of the weird things that went on at the manor. Her mother spoke of them having guests at weird hours and having to replace doors and windows countless times. The Halliwell sisters were even on the news once for supposedly helping Homeland Security with things unknown to the public. Her mother said that they seemed like an odd family, but Alyson wasn't about to judge before meeting all of them and now a Halliwell seemed to be the only friend her daughter had.

A teen with brown hair that was clearly in need of a trim answered the door. "Hey, you must be Alex." He said. She was too lost in his deep green eyes to answer. "I'm Chris, Peyton's cousin."

Alyson nudged her daughter. "Yes, this is Alex and I'm her mother Alyson." She said.

"Come on in." Chris replied. He turned for a quick second, yelling. "Peyton, your friends' here."

"Hey." Peyton squealed in excitement when she saw Alex. The girls ran off with one another.

Alyson just stood awkwardly as her daughter tore off. Chris smiled. "Aunt Phoebe's in the kitchen with my Mom, let me take you back there." He said.

"Thanks." She replied. She glanced around the manor as they walked straight back through what seemed to be the living room and the dining room. She saw a slew of pictures going up the stairs and thought about what a big family the Halliwells must have been. They took a left and entered the kitchen.

"Aunt Phoebe." Chris said.

Phoebe smiled. "Hi, Alyson. So glad you could come for lunch." Chris walked off.

"Thanks for inviting us." She replied.

Piper made sort of grunting sound. "Oh, this is my sister Piper." Phoebe said quickly. "Piper, this is Alyson."

"It's nice to meet you." Piper would have offered a hand to shake, but she was holding a plate of food.

"You too." Alyson replied. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Thanks, but I think we're just about done here." Piper said as she walked around Alyson on her way to the dining room.

Alyson and Phoebe followed Piper into the dining room where the table was already filled with food. "I was looking at pictures and you guys sure seem to have a big family." Alyson said. Piper went to find the girls and Chris.

"Yeah, Coop and I have three kids. Piper has two herself and then there's my other sister, Paige, and her kids." Phoebe explained.

"And you're all still happily married?" Alyson asked.

Phoebe made a look of pure confusion. "Of course. Why would you ask that?"

"Oh, it's just that my marriage turned out to be a total sham. I'm probably a little jealous." She explained. "I've had a lot of bad luck in the last few years."

"Come on." Phoebe said. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Well, I quit the best job of my life so I could be a stay at home Mom for Alex. When she started school I got pregnant again. So, even though I had planned to get back into the job market, I decided to continue being a stay at home Mom. Eight months along, I lost the baby because of complications."

Piper walked in just in time to hear Alyson talking about losing her baby at eight months. "I almost lost my little Peanut. I can't even imagine what it would have felt like if I had." She said.

Chris walked in behind her. "I told you to stop calling me that Mom." He grabbed a plate and started filling it, walking off when he finished.

"He's working on a project for school, I told him he could eat in his room if he wanted." Piper explained.

"Oh ok." Phoebe replied. The three of them sat, waiting for the girls to join them. "I can't imagine losing a child either, but that aside, I'm sure your life wasn't that bad." Phoebe thought about her life as a witch and demon hunter. Surely Alyson's life wasn't nearly as bad as her own had been on some occasions.

"Well, my husband turned out to be a dirt bag. Cheated on me once and I made the mistake of forgiving him and assuming it wouldn't happen again. Then, last year, he tells me he wants a divorce so he can marry his secretary." Alyson explained.

"Ouch, that's awful." Piper replied.

"When the divorce proceedings started, our lawyers decided we should sell the house and split the profits. That's when I discovered we were so in debt on the house, that we didn't stand to make any profit off of it." She continued. "So I had to move in with my mother and struggle to find work after all those years and because I was out of work for so long, I couldn't get the same position that I used to work as at another design firm."

"My husband and I went through a period of separation." Piper explained. "It was shortly after our oldest son, Wyatt, was born. I think it was hardest on Wyatt because his Dad wasn't around as much as he used to be. My husband wasn't a dirt bag though. Guess I was lucky."

"Yeah, it just seems like everything is going wrong in my life, everything except for Alex. She's been great, but she doesn't really understand why her Dad and I aren't married anymore." Alyson said. She didn't know why she was opening up so quickly to Phoebe and her sister, but if felt good to get it all out. "I've had some bad luck lately, but that's all about to turn around."

"I'm glad your so positive." Phoebe replied. She could feel with her empathy power that Alyson mean what she had said, that Alyson truly was being positive.

Peyton and Alex walked in. "Sorry we took so long, I took her back to the garden to show her the flowers we were planting. Had to wash our hands." Peyton said. Both girls sat at the table.

"We should do a garden at Grandma's house." Alex suggested to her mother. "They have all kinds of interesting plants and herbs in theirs. It's so pretty."

Over the years Piper had started an herb garden in the backyard near the rose garden. They went through enough herds fighting demons and making potions. She thought it would be quite useful and it has been. Whatever ingredients she could not grow, she went to a little shop in Chinatown for. She had become a usual customer for the owner over the years.

"Well, I'll think about it." Alyson replied. She took a plate full of salad and glanced up. "So who's the cook in the family?"

Piper smiled. "That would be me."

"She actually owns a restaurant downtown." Phoebe added in.

"Wow, impressive." Alyson said.

Alex looked over at her. "Did you tell them about the money you won?" She asked.

Phoebe looked at Alyson surprised. "What money?"

Alyson shook her head. "Oh, it was just a measly scratch off ticket." She explained.

"Yeah ten thousand dollars." Alex added in. "She took me on a shopping spree for my birthday."

"Really?" Piper asked. She was clearly surprised as well. "I have the worst luck with those. I don't think I've ever won more than ten bucks."

"Looks like your luck is already changing." Phoebe said.

After lunch, Alyson had to get Alex home. Her father was going to be picking her up for a movie. To Alyson's surprise though, Alex's Dad, Mark, showed up with his secretary in tow. His secretary was part of the reason for their divorce. Mark had cheated on her with the woman and claimed he wanted to be with her instead.

Alyson opened the front door and stood in shock when she saw that Mark had 'her' with him. "Why the Hell is Bridget here?" She asked.

"Hey, Alyson." Bridget said cheerily. Alyson wished she could smack the cheer right out of her.

"Like it or not, Bridget is apart of my life. We are getting married after all." Mark explained. "So, I want her to be apart of Alex's life too."

"Wait, what?" Alyson shook her head frantically. "You're getting married?"

"This isn't exactly how I planned on telling you, but you need to know. Our divorce is nearly final and when it is we plan to have our wedding." He replied.

Alex came running down the stairs. "Daddy." She screamed. Her arms wrapped around him.

"We'll be back after the movie." Mark said. He lead Alex and Bridget out to the car as Alyson stood staring in disbelief.

Alyson slammed the door and went to the basement. She opened her new found book of magic and began to flip through the pages. She stopped when she found an entry to separate two lovers. It required a picture of the lovers and a black candle. She wasn't sure the spell would work, but she never thought the money spell would work either and it did. She won ten thousand dollars on a lottery ticket and even received a raise in pay at the design firm she worked at.

Alyson had purchased an array of candles and even various herbs and things for potion making. Luckily, she had one black candle. Lighting the candle, she wondered where she would get a picture of Mark and Bridget. Then, a light bulb flickered in her mind. She ran upstairs to her laptop and found her husband's Facebook page on the internet. His profile picture was one of he and Bridget. Alyson printed the picture out and went back to the dark basement. She held the picture in the candle's flame and watched as it began to burn. Her gaze slowly moved to the magic book and she read the spell aloud. "Take this couple here before me, Displace their love, let their hearts be free, Turn their feelings into hate, Soon to part, that is their fate, With this spell, I now have won, Their love is cursed to come undone." The flame in the candle flared, causing Alyson to jump back a step. Ashes from the picture fluttered near the candle.

Almost three hours later, Alex stormed into the house after her movie. "I never want to see Dad again." She said angered as she ran passed her mother for the stairs.

"Why, what's going on?" Alyson asked her.

"Dad and Bridget started fighting in the middle of the movie and they got us kicked out. So, we went to get dinner and they argued even more." She stopped and explained to her mother. "I hate Bridget, she ruined everything."

Before Alyson could get a word in edgewise, Alex was already on her way up the stairs to her room. She thought about her spell, wondering if that meant it was working. Then, she wondered if she was being too foolish in using such a spell. Was it really her place to break up Mark and Bridget? She hated Bridget and was pissed at Mark, but she never wanted her daughter to witness them fighting.


Please feel free to leave any comments. I will get the next chapter posted in a few days. Thanks!