Chapter III

The innocent

Their little dispute didn't go unnoticed by the other people in the bar at all. Of course Bianca was the first one to notice the odd looks they had managed to gain in such a short time, so she grabbed him by the arm and proceeded to drag him out of the place. When they put what seemed to her as a safe distance between them and the bar, she let go of his arm and spun around to look at him before he even had the time to blink.

She always moved with such speed and agility, but Chris couldn't help but marvel at it every time.

He opened his mouth to ask just how she had done it, but slowly clamped it shut when he saw the stance she had taken. Arms akimbo, lips pursed…yep! Nothing good was gonna come his way! It hadn't took long for him to learn how to read Bianca's movements. After six months of dating, he could read her as if he had known her his whole life. Which turned out to be a great thing, since in Bianca's book an ignorant man became a dead man pretty fast. Or even worst he'd get kicked out of her life.

"I liked their espresso, you know?" Or maybe he didn't know her all that well because that was not what he was expecting.
He walked towards her. Always careful not to show his insecurity in front of the enemy, or worse a woman.

"And now you can't have it anymore because…" There was no way to hide the confused look on his face.

She blushed slightly then.

"Am I blushing? Seriously! Did I actually turn thirteen again without noticing?!" She thought.

He caught the blush she was trying hard to cover and smirked catching on.

"Did you say something to get kicked out?" She looked at him appalled, like he was some sort of madman that needed to be locked away in a clinic as soon as possible.

"Me?" She shrieked, at the same time advancing menacingly towards him. " This . Is . All. Your. Fault!" And every word was stressed by her index finger poking him in the ribs.

He laughed at that and used her moment of weakness to sneak his arms around her waist to pull her near him. She was forced by their position to lean back to look him in the eyes. He was smiling his charming smile, while looking down at her. The same smile he wore the previous week when he broke one of her coffee's cups or the week before that when he had to reschedule a date for a family emergency.

He did have an awful lot of those.

"Damn! How am I supposed to stay angry at him?" She mentally sighed.

"Calm down, Starfire!"

"Oh well! That would help." Bianca glared at him.

She raised an eyebrow, watching him with a smile of her own.

"You never said you were a comics' nerd." She watched with amusement as his expression transformed into a shocked one.

"Crap!" Chris mentally swore. However if there was one thing he was good at, it was fast recovering. The smile came back on his face pretty fast, to her disappointment.

"Mmm…and how would you know?" He let go of her and took her hand, starting to walk. He knew she'd be too busy to notice that people walking by were looking at them, but he knew just as well that as soon as she did take notice all hell would break loose and it would be: All. His. Fault.

"What?" Her eyes became round from the shock.

"I should shock her more often, she looks cute." He turned to look at her with a fond smile.

"I mean, Ruby Locks," he saw her scowl but choose to ignore it, "that there's only one way you could know what I'm talking about." Bianca turned to look at him as well, examining him carefully. He returned the gesture until she abruptly turned her head around, facing the street.

"Let's forget that happened." She said in a no-nonsense tone. He chuckled at that, but shut up when she shoot him a dirty look.

"Agreed."

"So, what are we gonna do in this day all for us?" She smiled as she remembered the serious look on his face as he promised her an emergency-free day. He turned to look at her and also smiled at her relaxed stance.

"She doesn't even hold all the bailing against me." His smile got brighter at the thought. He brought her near his side, sliding his arm around her waist.

"I resent that. Isn't the idea of a whole day with me enough? You need entertainment?" She couldn't resist laughing at his childish attitude, he knew just the right buttons to push.

"But of course, Mr Halliwell! You have to woe me every day!" She smiled at him and quickened her pace. But he stopped and pulled her arm to make her crash into him.

"But of course, Ms Mckenzie! Although…" His hand started to travel up her body to caress her cheek, his lips just an inch away from hers, "are you sure you can resist my charm?"

"I'm not sure I want to." She couldn't help but think.

Before they could cover the distance that was separating them, the yells of a group of kids on the skates broke their bubble reminding them exactly where they were.
They broke apart and looked at each other with awkward smiles. He turned to look at the kids and shook his head, turning towards Bianca and offering her his hand.

"Let's get going, Copper Coin!" Bianca took his hand and dragged him forward rolling her eyes.

"You're such a kid!"

"You like 'em young!" She slapped him over the head in record time, which just made him laugh more.

"You are so …so…"

"Handsome? Witty? Charming?" He put a hand around her shoulder.

"Infuriating?"

"And that's why you love me!" They both froze in the middle of the street, this time neither one of them really caring about the people cursing them for blocking their path. His hand was still holding a lock of her hair he had been playing with.

"Are you an idiot! Six months! Six months you've been together! She's gonna think you're crazy! She's probably trying to figure out how to get a restraining order against you!" Chris couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"Breath! Breath! I mean it! Not thirteen, remember?" She was sure she was supposed to say something at this point, but she couldn't find the words.

"Say something you idiot! Of all the times to lose the gift of world…" He berated himself.

"Say something!"

They both turned to face each other, both about to open their mouth when a panicked yell came from the alley they had stopped in front of. They turned towards the noise, both of them recognizing the brand of panic in the feminine voice.

"Demon!" Bianca thought shocked.

"Demon! Demon?! NOW?...Are you kidding me? That was it, he was summoning an Angel of Destiny and they better have some answers!" He thought angrily.

He was the first one to recover.

"Stay here Bianca, I'll go see what's happening." That shook her out of her shell shocked state.

"No!" Her shriek was full of panic. "You can't, it's dangerous!" He stared at her with a pointed look and an expression she'd never seen before. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to back away from the alley.

"That's why you're staying here!" His expression was so serious that she stayed rooted to the entered the alley cautiously, to avoid being noticed by the demon.

He was a huge block with purple skin and a horn sticking out of his forehead. He remembered reading about it in the Book Of Shadow.

"At least he's a lower level demon. Lucky me!" He mentally snarked at his bad luck.

Silently concentrating on a way to take him out quickly and, most importantly, quietly he didn't notice Bianca stepping behind him or her sharp intake of breath.

"Geez! Why is it always the ugly ones that go for the pretty ladies?" The demon turned towards him and growled. He raised his eyebrow at that and rolled his eyes.

"You're the talkative kind, uh?" Bianca hasn't even taken a peek at the demon, too focused on her now officially crazy boyfriend that wasn't as shocked as she would have thought by the sight of a demon. Or better yet, he was not shocked at all.

The demon formed an energy ball, but she was too preoccupied with studying her obviously crazy boyfriend, noticing that not even that got a reaction from him.

The demon launched the fireball at him and kept his hands raised so that more of them come out.
The boy just slightly moved his fingers to deflect it.

"Telekinesis? No! No way that would mean, it'd mean…he's a witch?!" Bianca froze at the sight in front of her.

"If I remember correctly he's a lower level demon that preys on young witches to obtain strength from their power."
Chris tried to recall the Book of Shadow's entry.

He quickly peaked at the girl the demon was attacking to see she did indeed look scared, but she was not shocked by the sight of the demon like a mortal would have been.

"So, I must be right. That means that if I get rid of his horn he's vanquished. At least he's not a difficult one."

The demon by then had grown even angrier, seeing his attack being deflected and charged at Chris. He just orbed himself behind him.

"What was that?" Bianca mentally shrieked.

"Horn!" He tele-orbed the horn in his hand and the demon disappeared in flames.

"Ah! Next time anyone calls him paranoid for studying the Book of Shadow he'll just laugh in their faces." Chris thought

He looked up at his vanquish and saw a figure standing behind the now burning demon.

He paled in horror. "Bianca…"

Stuck in fear he didn't notice another demon shimmering behind him, but Bianca did. Her eyes went round as she cried out.

"Chris! Watch out!"

She shimmered next to him while conjuring a dagger and stabbing the demon in one swift motion, the creature backed away from them in pain.
He was looking at Bianca with wide eyes and she was returning the stare. The demon's growl snapped them back into action and he called for the horn to vanquish it.

"I guess I forgot they moved in couples." He glanced at Bianca. "You're thinking about that now!"

They were staring at each other with wonder, too astonished to talk. Chris was about to say something when the innocent came near them.

"I forgot about her." Chris tried to shake himself out of his stupor.

"There was a girl?" Bianca turned her head to look at the young woman.

"Thank you!" The girl smiled brightly at them…or more exactly at him.

"What am I? The invisible woman?" It really wasn't the right time to meet another giggling girl.

The girl looked at Bianca and added."The both of you!" But she was quick to turn to smile up at her male savior.

"Oh! If you think you can play the damsel in distress card…" Her thoughts however were interrupted by the girl.

"You're a Halliwell aren't you?" Bianca frowned at that.

"A Halliwell? Why would she say it like that?" This day was going to leave her with an headache.

"Yeah, I am." He threw a quick glance Bianca's way to see her frowning.

"Could it be…she doesn't know?" Chris thought, " But she shimmered! Oh God... why does she shimmers?"

"I knew you'd come, I saw you!" The girl then looked at Bianca with a perplexed expression. "But I didn't see you…"

"I bet you didn't, you little…" Bianca mentally cursed.

"Sorry to intrude!" The girl chuckled nervously and looked at her feet. Bianca felt almost bad for her. Then she was smiling at him again and all thoughts of sympathy for the demon's victim fled her.

"Well! I'll go now! Thanks for the saving!" She beamed at him before leaving and Bianca had to use all her self-control not to punch the girl. She turned around to meet his eyes and remembered exactly what had happened just a few minutes before.

He just looked down and coughed a little.

"So…mmm…did I tell you how good you look in red?"