Disclaimer : Ah shucks, would you look at that. I don't own Charmed, not even a fraction of it! Well dang -SNAPS FINGERS- I was hoping I would at least own Chris and Wyatt by now. I mean, it's a new year! Cut me some slack! But I don't own it, I will people! Mark my words, someday I will own Charmed. At least I hope. Although, the plot to this series, however, including its characters and story line is mine. Steal it, and I will kill you. If you run, I will hunt you down - bringing my hell hounds and assassins with me. You have been warned. Now, enjoy your reading! Also, a review at the end would be nice.

Author's Note : So, this update took longer than I thought it was going too. You have to understand though, it wasn't my fault in the least. Okay, you caught me, it was but I have to study for my exams. I love my writing, but education has to come first (yeah, I don't know why either.) So, I have my exams this week and all next week (yeah, everyday) so uopdates might be seldom. After that though, I am free for two months. I know, I can't wait either. Also, a few months after that I wont be doing anything, so plenty of time to update. So, bear with me.

1x08 : Bone Appetite!

Summary : when a new restaurant opens across from Piper's, Mel is convinced that there is something wrong with the place, but when the her brothers ignore her, will she find out
what's really happening - or will there be devastating consequences?

Please Remember to Review.

Chapter Seven : Where'd She Go?

"I can't believe you," Emily raged as she shook her head, narrowing her eyes as Prue began sputtering, trying to come up with a valid excuse as to why she and Wyatt had ended up in memory lane. As she paced furiously to and fro, she sent Prue and Henry dirty looks. Didn't they know better than to commit such acts of foolishness? Not only was it none of their business, but what about the Source? With two of them out of the way, it would have been the oppourtune moment for him to strike - he didn't - but it would have been. What they had done was reckless and ... "It was not your place to intervene-"

"Emily-"

Emily ploughed on; ignoring the half-cupid's other attempt to get her to stop talking. She was like butter at the moment, she was on a roll, and there was no way she was going to listen to Prue's excuses. At least not until she got her thoughts out, she was normally the civil one, but not right now. "Prue, don't give me some half assed explanation either," she raged, stopping in her tracks to take in the sight of the half-witch in front of her. She knew that Wyatt was still behind her, surprised at her outburst; but something told her that he was not about to interrupt. Smart man. "Will you-"

"Emily-" Prue once again tried to interrupt, looking sheepishly to Henry Jr who was also one of the people on the other end of Emily's rage - she almost felt sorry for her cousin. Almost. All they knew was that Emily did not look very happy as her eyes continued to dart back and forth between them. Since she and Wyatt had returned, her eyes had been narrowed and now her lips were forming a frown. "We just-"

Henry Jr kept his mouth shut as he looked over to where Chris and Hazel were stood off to the side, a sheepish half-manticore on Chris' other side. Not that Henry Jr could blame them, if he was Caleb he would not want to face Emily's wrath either, sadly though, he had been completely involved in the plan. Despite not being involved though, the three look as uncomfortably as he felt, and he almost felt bad for them having to be here in this situation. A sigh escaped his lips; what a wonderful mess Prue had gotten them into this time.

"We never meant to upset you, Em," Henry Jr said simply, finally speaking up for himself. Out of all of them, he was the more civilized, probably because he embraced his white lighter side, no matter how small it was, a bit more than his cousins or siblings. Still, he tried to avoid conflict whenever he could, that was why he wasn't yelling at Emily; like Prue. He regretted the fact that his voice was soft and almost sympathetic when Emily increased her glare - he even saw Wyatt's mouth twitch.

"I am not upset," Emily denied looking back at Wyatt, who kept a blank expression. The only way you could tell he was upset was the fact that his mouth was pressed together in a tight line and he had his arms crossed across his chest. "We are not upset," she corrected, removing her eyes from Wyatt to look at Henry Jr once more, only to see him roll his eyes upward at her words. Something that only succeeded in pissing her off even more. "We are pissed off."

"I don't think you should speak for, Wyatt," Hazel said simply, ignoring how Caleb and Chris were shushing her, but she ignored them. Yeah, she knew that Emily wasn't all that fond of her and it was only the last few days that she had been welcoming at all- but that didn't mean she wasn't going to speak her mind. She was who she was and her personality was not going to step aside so she could make a new friend. Either you liked her or you got the hell out of her face. "He can talk for himself and I know you two are good friends, but you've been out of sync lately; hence the all expense-paid trip to memory lane. So, do you really think it's wise to tell them how he's feeling?"

"Back off," Emily snapped, her eyes narrowing at the half-elf. She would admit Hazel was growing on her; hell earlier at the restaurant they had been talking as if they were old friends. Even with barely any contact with each other, they were able to connect, but Hazel was crossing the line at the moment. Hazel didn't know anything about Emily and Wyatt's relationship, she hadn't been there to see it grow. Nor was she there to see what it survived or how it had progressed over the years. "We're hardly friends, and up until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know you, let alone like you."

"No need to be rude," Caleb defended, knowing that if he had not, Chris would have. That was the last thing they needed, another argument where they were forced to take sides. Especially Wyatt, it would have been between his brother and Emily, which was definitely not a place people wanted to be stuck in the middle of. "She was just adding her opinion, and you have to admit that she's right; you two have been out of sync."

"That's so not the point," Emily whined, causing the Halliwell brothers to chuckle while the others rolled their eyes at her childish remark. "That was earlier, and I really don't appreciate that you," she hissed, turning on Henry and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Went and told everyone about the argument we had! I came to talk to you because I thought you were the only one that wouldn't go and blab to someone. Wyatt and I would have worked it out on our own, if you hadn't noticed, we're fine now!"

"So my plan worked," Prue exclaimed, clapping happily, only to shift awkwardly when everyone looked at her with a mortified expression. "What?" She asked as she continued shifting on her feet, wrapping her arms around herself. She could have sworn that the temperature had dropped as a result of the tension. "It did," she defended, even though she was pretty sure there had never been a moment where she had felt this uncomfortable in her life. "It helped."

"But it still wasn't your business," Wyatt said, finally entered the conversation. He did not know what else to say, or how to explain how he felt. On the one hand, he was thankful they had cared so much to step in and help them sort out their problems, but on the other hand, he was not all too pleased they had stuck their noses in. "You should have given us the opportunity to sort it out before you stepped in."

"With how stubborn you are?" Chris asked confusion evident on his face as he looked over at his older brother who was frowning at him. Did Wyatt really believe that him and Emily would have sorted it out, the two would have bickered and refused to see the other's point. Then they would have gone a while without talking, only to miss their friendship, but after that it never would have been the same. That had been too much to risk. "Come on, with you two, we would have been lucky if you had sorted this out by the time you were in your forties."

"No need for sarcasm, Chris."

"Then you clearly don't know me."

"Well-"

"Okay that's enough," Caleb said as he let out a piercing whistle, instantly silencing everyone there. "Wy Em, we get it. No one should have stepped in and you should have been able to figure everything out yourselves, but will you both please give it a rest? Memory lane helped, so that's the end of it. So, let it go." He pleaded, his voice sounding more as if he was demanding that they gave it up. "And Prue, you should learn to give people a chance to sort things out," seeing her narrow her eyes though, he knew he was in for it later. He had just talked back to his girlfriend; he was so going to pay for it. "How about we all drop it and move on, okay?"

Everyone shifted on their feet uncomfortably as a deafening silence descended upon them. They were not used to Caleb being the one to snap, he was usually the calm and collected one. This only proved Emily and Wyatt were slowly -but surely- driving everyone to their breaking point.

Melinda watched in amazement as she and Tommy walked through his house. In actuality, it was about the same size as the Manor and like the Manor; everywhere you looked there were family portraits and random snapshots. It was decorated much the same as well too, with old furniture and relics that could have easily belonged to Tommy's great-Grandmother or something, but she liked it. Despite just having moved in, the house already had a homey feel. Seeing another picture, Melinda pursed her lips together. "You seem close," she commented, gesturing to the fiftieth picture she had seen of Tommy and his father. She met his eyes, "are you?"

"Yeah," Tommy said as he stopped in his pacing so he could stare at the picture. It had been taken when he was five and he and his parents had taken a trip to Disney World in Florida, it was one of his favourite pictures. His mother had taken it, so she was not in the picture, but it was easy to see that she had taken it. His father's eyes held the crazy-in-love look as he looked at his wife, while his eyes had been filled with nothing except love and adoration. "It's one of my favourites."

"I can see why," she admitted, smiling softly at the picture of the younger Tommy who had wild, dark brown hair and happy eyes, and a genuine smile. Looking over at her guest, Melinda nodded as she smiled at Tommy, something about him was not screamed evil anymore, but the house still was. Even when she walked pass some rooms; she could feel all of her warning signals going off. Something was definitely up; she just did not know what. "It's a cute picture."

"Can I show you something?" Tommy earnestly asked, quickly grabbing her hand and turning in the opposite direction. Seeing her hesitant look, he smiled at her warmly, causing Melinda to sigh and allow him to lead her off. Leading her up the hall, he didn't bother to look back as they walked off, passing door after door as they continued to walk on. "It'll only take a second."

"Where are we going?" She questioned, frowning when she noted that they were heading in the direction of the bedrooms, something that caused her heart to speed up. She was not drunk and she knew Tommy was not drunk, but she was not sure if going up to some guy's room when a wild part was going on was a good decision to make under any circumstances.

"I just want to share something with you, Mellie," Tommy stated, causing Melinda to arch an eyebrow. Only her brothers called her Mellie and up to this point, she had snapped anyone else's head off, but she did not mind it coming from Tommy for some reason. As they walked, she concentrated on where he was holding her small hand in his. "You can trust me."

"I do," only Melinda did not know if she was being honest this time, or if it was another lie.

Walking into a bedroom, Tommy led Melinda over to the bed, only to bend down, take out a blue photo box, and hand them to Melinda. Curiosity getting the best of her, Melinda opened it up, only to smile when she saw pictures of Tommy and his mother - a blonde thing with happy eyes. "This is your mother," she said slowly, silently wondering why these photos were not out in the house. "She's pretty."

Tommy nodded as he sat next to her at the head of the bed, "yeah," he said, silently wishing that he had more of his mother's traits. He looked identical to his father, and while that was not always a bad thing, it saddened him that he did not carry more of his mother in his physical appearance. "I know I definitely look like my dad."

"You've got your mother's smile."

"I do?"

"Yeah, you have the same laugh lines." Melinda answered, showing Tommy the laugh lines that were easily shown on his mother's face in the picture. "They're right there …. And here," she said as she pointed to the pictures. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't these pictures displayed like the ones of you and your dad?"

"I think it hurts too much for Dad," Tommy said softly.

Melinda frowned, "is she dead?"

Tommy chuckled, almost as if there was something funny in the statement. That caused Melinda to frown as Tommy got up and began pacing, "she's not dead," he answered when he noticed the alarm in Melinda's face as she stood up. "She's just … really sick," he said slowly, as if he were afraid he would reveal too much. That brought back Melinda's bad feeling. "And she has to get … this special kind of medicine that's kind of hard to come by."

"… Tommy?"

"I'm sorry about this, Mellie." Tommy said sadly, and that was when the room was filled with a bright light before Melinda's world went black. She really needed to start listening to her instincts.

"Can you give us a minute?" Ana questioned, her eyes never straying from Ian's, but from her tone, her family that was accompanying her knew she wasn't asking. Whether she had said it or not, this was between her and Ian, and she did not want them involved. This confrontation had been a long time coming - from the moment they had broken up - and now they were finally ready for it. Ana had been ready for quite some time now, honestly. "So Ian and I can talk on our own."

"Are you sure you're okay, Ana?" Callie asked as she noticed the dark circles under her sister's eyes. Much like Katy, her sister had been stressing over exams and had not been getting enough sleep, which was enough to kick her worry into over drive. Placing her hand on Ana's shoulder in concern, she glared at Ian as her older sister glanced at her hand for a moment before shrugging it off. Ana's eyes immediately went back to Ian's. "Because I-"

"I'm sure I'm fine, Callie," Ana erupted, tired of her cousins and siblings worried about her. Sure, she had been a little messed up when she and Ian had broken up, but that was because she had gotten too involved in the relationship. Where he was, she could easily be found. It had gotten to the point she had no identity outside of being Ian's girlfriend - she had lost herself. She had lost that fight, but she would not lose this war - and this was the final battle. A battle she needed to fight alone. "I've never been better, now can you all leave."

"But-"

"You heard your sister, Callie," Ian interrupted, his eyes shifting to the teenage girl who looked so much like his ex, but was the complete opposite on the inside. Actually, she hated parties so much; he was surprised they had managed to convince her to come at all. "Since you actually left your room for once, why don't you go join the party and have a drink?" Seeing Callie's face screw up, he rolled his eyes and let out a bitter chuckle. "It's a party, Callie. Drinking is what people do," he explained slowly as he looked around gesturing to people, "she drinking, I've been drinking. Hell, Ana even drinks. People drink."

"Now you-"

"We're going," Katy said as she grabbed Callie's arm and pulled her away from Ian, little could set Callie off, but Ian was one of the few. Frowning, Katy let out a loud, piercing whistle when she noted that her baby sister was not near her, seeing Elizabeth run through the people, Katy grabbed her arm with the other hand. "Stay close, and don't accept any drinks from anyone, got it?"

"Yes mom," Elizabeth sighed, rolling her eyes at her sister as she looked around the party, looking for Melinda who she had lost sight of. "Um," she said, looking over to where Ana was with Ian, she frowned when she saw several people who were practically glued to the keg. "You know, this isn't the first party like this I've been too."

"What?!"

Ana shook her head in dismay when she noted that her cousins were slowly being pushed out of her view as a result of people separating the toe of them. She knew she should have listened to Katy when she had said that this was going to turn out bad - that was all the half-cupid had been saying all day. Ever since Melinda had concocted this little plan Katy had not stopped going on about how this would be a disaster. Her proof was standing in front of her, all six foot of it. "So, what do you want?"

"What's the matter with you," Ian slurred out as he took another sip of his beer, something that caused Ana to frown. This was one of the many reasons whey they had broken up - his drinking problem. It was an accomplishment, being a full-blown alcoholic before you even graduated High School. "I'm just drinking."

"It's not just drinking with you though, Ian," Ana shot back, her frustration showing as Ian frowned with her. "All you do on weekends is drink - to the point you don't know what you did," her eyes flashed, "or in your case - who."

"You don't need to be like that," Ian stated the suggestion heave in his voice as he reached out and pulled Ana into his arms as he attempted to sway in time with the music. Ana attempted to push his larger frame off of her, but he was a lot heavier than her small frame. Ian would not let up though, he finally had Ana where he wanted her - and there she would stay. He had had to work so hard to get her attention lately, and Ana's unrelenting outlook on their relationship, or lack there of, was really starting to get annoying. Ian knew that Ana was only refusing to date him again because he had cheated on her - a drunken mistake. Ana's argument was that it had happened more than once and she did not accept the excuse 'more than one drunken mistake.' "We can have fun," he continued, "we used to have fun."

"Used," Ana agreed as she pushed the bigger frame away from her thin body, "as in it's in the past, like our relationship. I was willing to talk, but that was not talking," she narrowed her eyes. "Stay the hell away from me," she demanded as she pulled her head away from his chest, only to have her eyes widen in shock when Ian leaned his head in, planting his lips on hers. The kiss lasted no more than an instant, but it was long enough for Ana's anger to be refuelled. "Stay the hell away from me, Ian." Her eyes narrowed further, "and never touch me again."

Turning away from her ex-boyfriend, Ana slowly exhaled and slowly made her way for the doorway to the kitchen - where she prayed her cousins and sister were. "Ana," Ian slurred, reaching out to grab her arm - something that caused Ana's face to grow tight with tension. "You can't leave. The party's just beginning."

Ana took another deep breath, almost smirking when she noted that the teenagers around them grew quiet - apparently, they could sense the impending fight. Seething, Ana yanked her arm away from Ian and turned to glare at him. "Leave me alone, Ian. I don't want you around me," she clarified, "at all. You know, it's kind of funny how as soon as you stopped dating me, all of those booty calls stopped coming around."

"Excuse me?"

Ana sighed, "I mean, I don't blame them," she said as she looked down for a brief second only to look up and meet his eyes. "They've seen you naked, they must have realised why I broke up with you," she mused, her face completely serious - causing the guys around her to howl and make fun at Ian. Seeing him step closer, Ana tightened his hand into a fist, and before anyone knew what was happening, her fist connected with Ian's jaw, causing him to stagger backwards. "Don't fuck with me, Ian," she calmly stated, waving her hand around. It stung like hell, "I said never touch me again," she explained when she saw his confusion. Seeing him blink, she shrugged, "I think that pretty much says it all."

With that, she walked away (without interruptions, finally) only to run into her cousins and sister in the next room, who all frowned at her when they noted that she was rubbing her hand against her leg. "What the hell happened to you hand?" Katy asked frowning at her cousin, while Ana looked around sheepishly. "Fall down again?"

"Punched Ian."

There was a brief pause in the atmosphere as Katy looked at Ana in surprise, sizing up her cousin as if to determine if she was telling the truth or not. Seeing that Ana was not lying, Katy let out a squeal of approval and flung her arms around her younger cousin, clinging to her. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," Ana said, her eyes drifting to her sister and youngest cousin as they frantically dialled numbers on their phones. That was when she knew something was wrong, causing her good mood to deflate like a balloon. In addition, she had been so proud of herself too. "So, what happened?"

Elizabeth smiled sheepishly, "we can't find, Melinda."

When Emily and Wyatt had finally calmed down, Prue had sat down and attempted to call Katy - something that was not odd for the sisters. Sure, it was after midnight, but after being used to living together, they were used to the late night talks. She should not be up this late, she had an early class in the morning, but she knew for a fact she would not be able to sleep without talking to her sister.

Hearing Hazel tease Wyatt for the millionth time, asking him if he liked kinky sex, Prue rolled her eyes and concentrated on the number she had dialled a million times. Normally people ignore phone calls at this time in the night - unless a family member is sick and they're waiting for news, but she knew when Katy seen the Prue ID, she would pick up.

She did. "Hey Prue," Katy said slowly on the phone, something that caused Prue to frown as she listened to her sister's voice. "Is that you? Because if it is not, then I am acting like a total idiot talking to some random person who I do not know, which could be bad? The random person could be the creepy, perverted dude that lives-"

"Katy you're rambling," Prue said simply as she heard the opening of a door. Frowning she looked over to meet Chris' eyes, which caused him to instantly frown as he looked into Prue's brown eyes, silently asking her what was up. Instead of guving him a reason to worry over nothing though, she shook her head and concentrated solely on her conversation with her sister. She was determined to fine out what was happening, Katy only rambled when she was at risk of someoen finding out what she was up to. Not a comforting thought. "So stop it," she ordered, hearing something crash, she frowned. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Katy asked stupidly and Prue could practically see her sister frowning as she shrugged her shoulders, but once Prue cleared her throat, Katy rushed to explain. That was … Oh! You mean the crash," Katy stated, her voice going up a few octaves as she tried to avoid whatever was going on. "Oh, that was nothing. We are just being klutzes. You know - Callie, Ana, Beth and … me."

Prue arched an eyebrow, "Mel's not with you?"

"… She is."

"Then why didn't you include her in you statement?" Prue asked as she rolled her eyes at her sister's attempts to avoid the conversation, "Katy Halliwell," she scolded, deciding not to take anymore of her sister's BS. "What the hell is going on?" She demanded, wincing when she realised that she now had everyone's attention since they were all looking at her, frowns on their faces as she frowned sheepishly. "Katy," she began again, wearily rubbing her forehead with her palm. "Where are you?"

Over the line, Katy paused and cringed. "At a party."

"A party," Prue repeated, her eyes narrowing. "KATY!" Prue exclaimed, the anger radiating out of her voice. "What do you mean you're all at a party?" She demanded and with that one sentence, she had Chris, Wyatt and Henry's attention. She narrowed her eyes, she may be an older sister, but her cousins were big brothers. She did not get it either, but apparently there was a difference. In simple terms, they were going to be pissed. "You aren't allowed to go to parties like this, and Beth is fifteen you idiot!"

Katy let out a huff, "I'm watching her!"

"Yeah, sure you are," Prue snapped, rolling her eyes upward as she silently curses her sister to hell. How could her sister be so stupid? It was one thing for Katy to go to a party, but it was another thing all together for Elizabeth to go to one of those parties. She had been in High School; she knew what the parties were like people drinking, dancing, and running off into empty corners and bedroom to make-out. She did not want her sisters there. "Katy," she sighed, "we've talked about things like this."

Wyatt frowned, "Prue," he said slowly, not liking how Prue was avoiding his eyes. It seemed as though she was purposely pretending she did not hear him - there was something she did not want him to know. Also he had heard Melinda's name, as well as the names of all of his cousins that were not in the room, more than that, he had heard the word party. He had been a teenager a few years ago, so he knew what it was like to go out partying on weekends, but it was different when the word 'party' was used when involving his baby sister. "What's going on?"

"Wyatt shut up I'm on the phone," Prue snapped, and that was when Katy knew she was in trouble. Prue still sounded pissed - less judgemental - but still pissed. "So, what's going on at this party that you and the others went to? What aren't you telling me?"

Katy let out a deep sigh, "you need to get here," she admitted in a defeated voice, something that caused Prue to sit up straighter. "We can't find Melinda."

"Uh-oh."

Katy sighed, "that about sums it up."

Author's Note : sorry about the wait, I had finals. So far I've passed everything, but I have exams almost everyday next week, so I don't know when the next chapter will be posted. All I know is that there are two more chapters and the last one is written, lol. So it shouldn't be too long. At least I know you hope it wont be too long, sp dp I. I want to get it updated so I can move on with my series, this story has been the hardest to write. I don't know why though - but it has. Some stories just roll off my tongue and into the computer, but not this one. Some scenes did, but not all of them. Ugh, I hate it when I blank out when I'm writing, Love you all. Please review.