I own nothing. Enjoy!
"Melinda," Aunt Paige said sitting at the kitchen table as Mom and I pulled the cookies out of the oven, "I just thought of a wicked idea."
"You know how much I love wicked idea's," I said giggling, "What's up?"
"Why don't you and Phoebe go out and get some ice cream and we make ice cream sandwiches with the cookies?" she said smirking.
"That sounds awesome," I said bouncing, "Can I Mom?"
Mom turned and faced me with a frown on her face. I knew that she didn't want me to leave the house until we were sure I could handle my new power. She also knew that I had to leave to test out my strength.
Since Aunt Phoebe and I were the only ones with the power of empathy it was hard for everyone else to understand what it was like. Not that I wanted anyone to understand how it felt.
Emotional overload would cause anyone who wasn't geared for the gift to go insane. I had a feeling that if I didn't have Aunt Phoebe there to help me I wouldn't have been able to push the other emotions away.
It was a little weird since my other two powers didn't seem to be connected. My first power had been telekinesis, then I had gotten thought projection, now I was an empath.
Dad always said that our powers were all connected and expanding, but mine didn't seem to follow any pattern. Not that I was complaining. I loved my powers and would never trade them.
"Do you think you could handle it?" Mom said softly.
"Yes," I said knowing that I would be fine.
Ever since I came down from the attic with Aunt Phoebe after talking to Grams I had only lost control three times. Aunt Phoebe told me that I was doing a lot better then she had when she got her powers at first.
I didn't like the fact that I didn't have control over this power. It had been years since I had gotten my last power. Mom and Dad told me stories about when I was a child moving things around trying to figure out my power.
Once I got my second power, thought projection, I sat in the kitchen with Mom making things appear and disappear. After hours of just sitting there trying to figure out the ins and outs of my power I finally got it down.
Now I had a new power that I couldn't do that with. Empathy was about reading other people and with the potion that my family just took made it impossible for me to read anyone but Aunt Phoebe.
Aunt Phoebe said that with the empath ability that I could do so much more. I had seen her use her power to push a fireball that was thrown at her by demons. It had taken her years though.
I was never one to take my time to learn something. I wanted to learn everything about my powers quickly so I couldn't make a mistake while fighting. If I accidentally hurt my family while fighting I would hate myself.
"Come on Mel," Aunt Phoebe said linking her arm with mine, "Let's get ice cream. I'm thinking some vanilla, chocolate, and, my favorite, cherry. Do you think we should get anything else?"
"Mint?" I asked hopefully.
"Of course Sweetie," she said kissing the top of my head.
We walked out of the Manor and to Aunt Phoebe's car. As close as I was to my parents and siblings I always went to Aunt Phoebe first. It might have been because of how much people said we were alike, but I didn't think so.
Aunt Phoebe was known for her emotions. Dad even told me about how she was turned into the Goddess of Love and said I would have been turned to that too if it happened.
I liked being a lot like Aunt Phoebe, but I wondered why I was. It wasn't hard to see that Wyatt was like Aunt Paige and Chris like Mom. Though it made me wonder if our powers were not only connected to our emotions, but our personalities.
The more I started to think the less aware of my surroundings I became. At first the emotions that started to trickle through didn't bother me. Then I was fully hit when we pulled into a busy street.
I almost screamed when I felt this this time. It was one ting to feel the emotions of four or five people, but this was a whole different concept. With how things were turning out now I wondered how I would ever leave the Manor again.
"Focus," Aunt Phoebe said calmly, "Just take deep breaths and focus."
Closing my eyes I tried to do what she was saying. It was so much harder this time around. To me it seemed like I was never going to find a way out of these emotions. As soon as I thought that I felt a heavy wave of calm fill me.
I opened my eyes for a second to see Aunt Phoebe had pulled the car into the parking lot and had her eyes shut. Aunt Phoebe was using her powers to magnify the feeling and send it to me.
Taking a few deep breaths I opened my eyes and tried to smile. I knew that it came out more of a grimace, but she could feel the emotions behind it. Without her I wouldn't be as far as I am.
"Come on," Aunt Phoebe said getting out of the car and going to my side, "Link your arm with mine and focus your emotions. I can filter some of the other peoples emotions so you don't get overwhelmed again."
"Thanks," I said linking our arms and resting my head on her shoulder.
Aunt Phoebe might not have been my mom, but doing things like this made her feel like she was. Don't get me wrong I love my mom with all of my heart, we just didn't have a lot in common.
Elise, from Bay Mirror, already said that once Phoebe thought about retiring from working that I would take her place. That had been one of the happiest moments in my life. I loved Aunt Phoebe's work and I couldn't wait to do it for myself.
We went into the store and picked up the ice cream we wanted along with two classic horror flicks. If Aunt Phoebe and I played our cards right we could get everyone to join in to a movie night.
As we paid for everything I looked across the street. Dean was walking into a sub shop. Feeling happy that I saw him I barely noticed Aunt Phoebe had me a bag and start laughing.
"Let me guess," Aunt Phoebe said smirking, "Cute guy across the street is Dean."
"Yup," I said smiling.
"Introduce me," she said pushing me across the street.
As we walked across the street I started to laugh myself. Aunt Phoebe had a way of acting like she was a teenage girl again when it came to cute guys, though she herself was married with kids.
Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop had three little girls all still in elementary. The oldest was Prue, then Penny, and lastly Patty. She and Aunt Paige followed giving the girls names that started with P's.
Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry's three kids were in middle school themselves. The oldest was Henry Jr. then there was the twins, Pandora and Priscilla. We were all close, but usually stayed with our age groups.
"Hey Dean," I said hoping I didn't sound shy.
"Melinda," Dean said startled.
"What are you doing?" I asked smiling happily.
Before Dean could answer I felt a wave of longing hit me. I took a step backwards and lost my footing. Dean wrapped a strong arm around my waist and kept me from falling.
"You okay?" Dean asked softly.
"Yeah," I said blinking slowly.
The only thing I could focus on was the lust and longing radiating off of Dean. Just as I was about to pull Dean into a kiss the feeling of calm washed over me once more.
"Dean," I said thankful my aunt stepped in, "This is my Aunt Phoebe. Aunt Phoebe this is Dean, he's new at school and in all of my classes."
"Nice to meet you," Aunt Phoebe said smiling, "Melinda has good taste."
"That she does," Dean said helping me stand straight, "Are you okay?"
"Yes," I said nodding, "Thank you."
"No problem," he said brushing off the compliment, "Do you feel better? Wyatt said you might not be at school tomorrow."
"I'm fine," I said honestly, "I just get overwhelmed sometimes at I get something like a panic attack."
"Damn," he said shaking his head, "Well, if there's anything I can do."
"Actually," I said innocently, "Since you're in all of my classes you can help. See, when I get a panic attack all these emotions are running through me. If I have one at school and you're there can you tell me to focus on one emotion? It's the only way for me to calm down."
"Sure," he said shrugging, "I can do that. I should order. My dad and brother are probably wondering where I am, and more importantly, where the food is."
"Same here," Aunt Phoebe said shaking the bags slightly, "Ice cream is melting and making ice cream sandwiches with melted ice cream is just not right."
"True," I said laughing, "Bye Dean. I'll see you at school.
"Bye," Dean said nodding.
Without thinking I leaned forward and pressed a gently kiss to Dean's cheek. I felt silly for a moment, but then I heard Dean clear his throat and felt the longing return. Aunt Phoebe took me outside before the feeling grew.
"Oh yeah," Aunt Phoebe said nodding, "You two are so cute together."