Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 2 - Search

Piper tried to focus on the T.V. with no success. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something terribly wrong. She wasn't sure if these feelings were due to something that had already happened or due to something to come. All she did know was that whenever 'it' happened 'it' was not going to be good. 'Normal' people may have thought that she was being paranoid and should just relax, but Piper knew better. If her instincts were telling her that something was wrong they were usually right. Like 99.9% of the time, thought Piper.

You see Piper Halliwell wasn't any ordinary woman. She and her sisters Phoebe and Paige were collectively known as the Charmed Ones, the three most powerful Witches of all time. Ever since Phoebe found the Book of Shadows around 30 years ago their instincts and powers grew with each passing year, "God, was it really that long ago?" Piper asked out loud. By now their internal 'Witch alarms' could sense evil approach before evil could even sense them. "So at least I know I'm not paranoid or going crazy," Piper said in an attempt to ease the knot in her stomach, which she had had since waking. "Oh well, when in doubt clean" she said to the too quiet manor.

As she heaved herself off the settee she noticed that the Manor hardly needed cleaning, but hey no harm in giving it another once over right? Busy in her thoughts Piper never noticed Courtney's knee high steel toe boots lying on the floor. She never noticed them that was, until she tripped over them. As she tried to keep her balance she knocked over a photograph near the telephone shattering the glass on the wooden floor. "Damn it! Can't that girl ever clean up after herself?" Piper picked up the boots and put them in the less lethal place of the cupboard. "Well at least I have something to clean up now!" Mumbled Piper in frustration as she went to get the dustpan and brush from the kitchen. When she returned to her 'Courtney induced mess' she noticed that, ironically, the frame that had gotten smashed contained a photo of Courtney.
I remember when this was taken, thought Piper as she carefully removed the photograph from the shards of glass. Out of all her children Courtney was the one that resembled her the most. She had Piper's long dark brown hair; her dark hazel eyes and was even cursed with Piper's lack of height. The photograph only made these similarities between the two of them more obvious. They were both standing next to each other, arms around each others waists with their heads leaning together.
"Hell we even smile the same," said Piper with a smirk. As she started to clean up the glass she remembered the day that photo had been taken, it was a month ago on Courtney's 18th birthday. Both her and Leo had decided to give Courtney a surprise party with her friends and family in attendance.
"Boy was that a mistake," mumbled Piper.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige had spent most of the day putting up the decorations and preparing the food, whilst Leo and Melinda, Piper and Leo's third child, rounded up the friends. They had it all planned out, Isabelle, Courtney's best friend, was going to keep Courtney at her house until 5:30 at which time she was to bring Courtney home. Well it had all gone to plan until 6:00. Little did they know that Courtney was a very cautious person who had been carrying explosive potions around with her since the age of eight. So at the chime of the clock everyone hid behind the furniture with the lights out waiting for the birthday girl to come through the door. Courtney and Isabelle arrived just as the clock finished chiming six.
"Mum I'm home!"
"SURPRISE!" Then without warning the room froze and the potion blew.

"Luckily her aim was off and hit Leo instead of the crowd" said Piper as she shook her head still remembering the look of shock on Isabelle's and the family's faces. Thank God Isabelle's part Witch and didn't freeze otherwise it would have been one messy clean up if she didn't stop Courtney from throwing the second potion, thought Piper whilst straightening her back and heading to the kitchen.
"And thank God Leo's dead already otherwise all that would have been left of him would have been his ear!" Just as she finished putting the glass in the bin the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi Piper it's Isabelle, is Courtney there?"
"No, she left about an hour and a half ago to meet you at your place, hasn't she turned up yet?"
"No, I thought she was just running late that's why I didn't call earlier."
"Have you tried her cell?"
"Yeah, I phoned that before I phoned you."
"Then where the hell is she? She didn't have to pick up anything for you did she?"
"No, I don't understand it's not like Courtney to just go off and not tell anyone where she's going"
"No it's not," said Piper as she started to frantically pace back and forth, whilst twisting the phone cable around her finger.
"Okay, Isabelle this is what I want you to do, phone all of Courtney's friends and see if they have heard or seen her at all today."
"And if they haven't?"
"If they haven't then I want you to back track the way that she usually goes to your house and see if you can see any signs of a struggle. Take a high explosive potion with you just in case, and let's hope I'm just being paranoid."
"Alright what will you do?"
"I'll call LEO! And see if he can sense her whilst I try and Scry for her"
"Okay. If I don't find anything I'll come to yours and see if I can help you guys find her"
"Okay." Replied Piper, only half listening, thinking 'where is Leo?'
"Good luck Piper."
"Yeah you to Izzy." Piper replaced the phone, now with a very tangled cable, back on the receiver.
"LEO! LEO WHERE ARE YOU? I NEED YOUR HELP!" With that a sudden swarm of bright blue lights filled the kitchen. As they dissipated there stood her husband fully formed, and as gorgeous as ever thought Piper, then shook her head remembering the reason she called him.
"Piper what is it?" Asked Leo, in a worried tone, after seeing the look of fear in his wife's eyes.
"It's Courtney; she didn't turn up at Isabelle's"
"Well did you try her cell? You know what she's like for getting distracted halfway through something."
"I don't know Leo." Said Piper, worry obvious in her voice, as she sat in a chair at the table. "Isabelle has already tried her cell with no success. I told her to phone all of Courtney's friends to see if any of them have seen or heard from her today. I thought you could try your 'Whitelighter radar' whilst I try to Scry for her?" Asked Piper, referring to a Witch's ability to magically find someone or something with only a crystal and map. Leo took one look at his wife and could see that she was really worried.
"Okay, but why don't you call one of your sisters or one of the kids to come and help you?"
"It doesn't take two to Scry Leo," replied Piper as she left the kitchen and headed for the attic, where they kept all of their magical apparatus. An hour later a very frustrated Piper was sitting on the attic floor trying very hard not to throw the useless crystal across the room.
"NOTHING! What about you?"
"I can't get a reading on her," replied an equally frustrated Leo as he sat down next to his wife, putting his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to keep her calm, not to mention myself, he thought.
"Well what does that mean? OH GOD! Is she..."
"NO! I would be able to sense that no matter what"
"Then why can't you sense her now? And why can't I find her with the crystal?" Asked Piper, rubbing her stomach trying to, yet again, loosen the knot that was becoming tighter with every minute.
"Well without checking with the Elders there's only a couple things that I can think of."
"Like what?"
"Either she has been kidnapped by a Dark Priest or Priestess like Prue was that time," said Leo referring to the eldest Halliwell sister, "Or"
"Or what?"
"Or she's in the Underworld," replied Leo looking at Piper as a look, of what could only be described as pure fear, appeared on her face.
"The Underworld? Why? How? Why would she be down there?"
"I don't know. All I can think of is that she was taken against her will." This can't be happening. Who would want her? Ha! About every demonic Faction that's who, thought Piper. Just then the doorbell rang. Piper looked at Leo with hope in her eyes and rushed downstairs. Leo got up and followed his wife knowing all too well that the person at the door wasn't Courtney. He got to the bottom of the stairs just as Piper opened the door.

"Hey Mrs Halliwell," said a too cheerful voice.

"Oh, hey Hayley," replied Piper, with obvious disappointment in her voice.

"Not who you were expecting huh?"

"No you weren't. Ummm what are you doing here?" Just as Leo reached Piper the answer to that question made itself known.

"Gah, gah, gah!" Both Piper and Leo looked down at the wriggling bundle in the pram in front of Hayley.

"I told Courtney that I could look after Faith until five-thirty and considering it is now six I thought I would drop her off."

"Oh! Right, yes of course, thank you Hayley," said Piper as she carefully removed her granddaughter from the pram. Hayley pushed the pram into the hall and had just turned to leave when Piper asked, "Hayley! Wait a minute, when did Courtney drop off Faith?"

"You know Isabelle asked me the same thing. It was around three-thirty why?"

"Oh, no reason," replied Leo as he reached for the door. "Thanks for dropping her off Hayley."

"No problem Mr Wyatt," replied Hayley who was already at the bottom of the stairs.

"Tell Courtney she owes me one"

"Will do," said Leo as he waved goodbye and closed the door.

He then went into the front room and what he saw broke his heart. Piper was sitting on the settee holding onto Faith for dear life, rocking her back and forth as if by holding the daughter of her missing child would somehow bring Courtney back. Leo slowly went over and sat next to her, gently stroking her back.

"Okay, we now know that the most probable person to have seen Courtney last was Hayley, which means she would have made her way to Isabelle's from there. Piper? What is it?" Leo asked softly as he saw tears building up in his wife's eyes.

"I can't believe that I forgot about Faith. I was so caught up in finding Courtney that I completely forgot about her," replied Piper as she looked down at the drowsy baby in her arms.

"We have to find her Leo. I know what it is like to grow up without a Mother or a Father. I can't…no! I won't let that happen to Faith. Why didn't she tell us who the Father was Leo? I mean he should be here, now, for his daughter."

"Lets not get into that now Piper. You know as well as I do that Courtney isn't going to tell us unless it is absolutely necessary. Let's just focus on finding Courtney, then finding a way to bring her back okay? OKAY?" He asked as he lifted Pipers chin, so she was looking him in the eye.

"Okay. Look why don't you go and ask those forever useless Elders up there if they know anything?"

"Okay. But what about you?"

"I'll go and tuck this little one in and then go and look in the Book of Shadows to see if I can find any Demon or Warlock that might be powerful enough to take Courtney."

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can," whispered Leo as he gave Piper a quick peck on the lips and then kissed, the now sleeping, Faith on the head before he orbed out. As if sensing Piper's stress and worry Faith began to whimper.

"Shh, shh, shh don't worry sweetie I'll find Mummy and bring her back if it's the last thing I do. I promise," murmured Piper in a soft calming voice as she headed upstairs to Courtney's room.

Out of habit Piper knocked twice before entering the bedroom. As Piper looked around at Courtney's posters of P!nk, Within Temptation, and Florence and the Machines she realised just how young she really was. Obviously she knew she was 18 but it seemed that ever since Courtney found out that she was pregnant she had grown up to almost an adult state of mind. Yet looking around Piper realised that she was in fact like any other teenager who was into music, movies, ridiculously baggy clothing and piercings.

"God, I would have killed your mother if it wasn't for her quick excuses," Piper murmured to Faith, as she tucked her into her crib, remembering how the day after Courtney's 18th she came home to find Courtney with her eyebrow pierced. "Do you know what her excuse was? She said she wanted you to have a 'cool' mum, whatever that is these days. I would have clouted her if your Grandfather hadn't held me back. Then again she is a one hell of a Mum. Even if she does use her child as an excuse for bodily mutilation." I can't believe she is already 3 months old! She's gotten so big, and is so much like her mother, thought Piper as she switched the baby monitor on and turned out the light. She was just about to leave when….

"Oh I almost forgot!" Gasped Piper as she put a crystal in place. The room glowed for about a second then it went back to normal. "Your Mother would have killed me if I forgot to put the Demon alarm on," whispered Piper, who suddenly felt the knot in he stomach tighten even more, if that's possible, reminding her that her daughter was still missing.

Just as Piper reached the attic the whole room filled with bright white lights, Pipers heart felt like it stopped as she waited for the orbs to dissipate, but as they cleared there stood Isabelle. Piper gave a sigh of relief that it wasn't Leo with some bad news and hoped Isabelle had better luck than they did, then she looked at Isabelle's face and new she was in for bad news whether she wanted it or not.

"Okay Isabelle I can see from the look on your face that you haven't brought good news so just give it to me straight," sighed Piper as she picked up the Book Of Shadows and sat down on one of the many old settees in the attic. Isabelle started to nervously pace back and forth taking deep breaths mentally preparing her-self for what she had to say.

"Well I phoned everybody, that I knew of, and no-one has seen or heard from her all day, well that's a lie, Hayley had seen her when she dropped Faith off."

"Yeah we know she just brought her back about ten minutes ago."

"Oh, okay. Well when I heard this I realised she wouldn't have taken the usual route to my house, she would have taken the shortcut from Hayley's. So I left my house and started to head to Hayley's. About halfway there, in a deserted alley none the less, there were signs of a struggle."

"What kind of signs?" Asked a now, even more, panicked Piper.

"I WAS GETTING TO THAT!" Shouted Isabelle, making Piper sit back as though she had been physically pushed.

"Oh God I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout," apologised Isabelle as she sat next to Piper and put her head in her hands. Piper took one look at the girl and realised that she was just as upset about all of this as she was. Well duh! They've only been best buds since they were foetuses, thought Piper as she put the Book down and held the now sobbing girl in her arms.

"Shh, it's okay Isabelle. We're going to find her and everything will be back to normal you'll see. Now why don't you take a couple of deep breaths to calm yourself down and tell me what you saw?" Said a very tearful Piper. Isabelle slowly lifted her head off Piper's shoulder and gave a quiet chuckle.

"Sorry, looks like I've ruined your shirt."

"Nah, it will come out. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah. Where was I? Oh yeah. Well I entered the alley and it looked like there was…was…sorry," said a very emotional Isabelle, who was trying very hard not to let the tears fall. "It looked like there was a struggle. The bins were thrown all over the alley, the wooden planks that were leaning on the wall were broken as if something had been thrown into them and there were a couple of scorch marks on the wall, you know the type that are left from Courtney's potions? All I can say is that the situation must have been really bad or she must have been out numbered to have to have used the potions. What could have been powerful enough to have taken her?" Asked Isabelle as she looked at Piper with worry and dread in her eyes. Piper hated to say it but with no idea what to say her almost inaudible answer was,

"I don't know."

Back in the Underworld…