Disclaimer: Could I simply borrow it for a day or so? Please?

Ch. 19:

Piper waited patiently in the middle of the sawmill as Chris paced behind her and Meredith sat on the floor, filing her nails.

"She's supposed to be here by now." Chris complained.

"So, she's a little late." Piper replied.

"No, she's a lot late." Chris shot back. "Paige used to be the first one to a vanquish. What's wrong with her?"

"She's in love, Christopher." Meredith said, not looking up from her nails. "Give her a break."

"Not when it interferes with her responsibilities as a Charmed One." Chris replied crossly.

"Why don't you just let me handle this one alone?" Piper asked.

"Because you've handled the last four vanquishes alone." Chris told her.

"Hey!" Meredith protested. "What am I, chopped liver?"

"You're not a Charmed One." Chris sighed.

"No, I'm just the most powerful Elemental ever born." She shot back.

"Can you cast a Power of Three spell?" Chris asked.

"No." Meredith replied grudgingly.

"Then shut up." Chris said.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I thought this didn't need a Power of Three spell." Piper said.

"The point is," Chris continued over her, "You never should've let them move out."

"Hey, you don't see me complaining." Piper said. "I'm happy for them, and you should be, too."

"I am." Meredith said brightly. "I got my old room back. My future room. My future old room." She scrunched up her face. "You know what I mean."

"So, where is this demon, and what's its name?" Piper asked, choosing to ignore Meredith.

"No one knows its name." Chris replied. "And it's too strong for one witch to handle alone."

"Again I ask, am I completely useless?" Meredith groused.

"Don't you have some kind of temporal theory to be working on?" Chris complained.

"But if I was working on that, how would I have time to annoy you?" Meredith asked innocently.

"Are you two going to bicker the whole time?" Piper asked.

"Yes." They both answered at the same time.

The door creaked open and Darryl poked his head in. Behind him, they could hear several impatient workers.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" he asked.

"Go see what Phoebe's doing." Piper ordered Chris.

He sighed and orbed out.

"Finally." Meredith sighed. "He's so cranky when a vanquish doesn't go his way."

"Where'd he go?" Darryl asked as Piper snickered.

"Hong Kong." Piper replied.

"Hong Kong?" Darryl asked, exasperated. "This is the last time I work crowd control for you guys."

Piper waved him away and Darryl left.

"Do you think I should paint my nails?" Meredith asked.

Piper stared at her.

"What?" she asked defensively. "I'm bored. Chris won't let me do anything! Do you know what I did yesterday? I spent the day looking at books by the leading authorities on time travel, only to come to the conclusion that they're all morons. And I played 200 games of solitaire. This is what my life has become. I'm a witch turned into a research assistant. If I don't get to do something soon, I'm going to go insane and I'm bringing you guys with me."

Meredith's rant broke off as Chris orbed back with Phoebe, who was dressed in a beautiful traditional Chinese-style dress. She squealed when she saw Piper.

"Hi." Piper said as Phoebe grabbed her in a hug. "Wow!"

"Oh, how's Wyatt?" Phoebe asked. "I miss him so much."

"He misses you, too." Piper told her.

"I'm starting to feel neglected." Meredith complained, standing up.

"Oh, I miss you too, honey." Phoebe said, hugging her. "Speaking of, do we have an update on mini-you?"

"The New York Social Services are still stonewalling us." Piper replied. "Paige is working on it."

"Well, I want to know the moment we get her." Phoebe ordered.

"You will." Piper assured her. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, this is a great time." Phoebe assured her. "Jason's away at a conference. I was just practicing my origami." She showed it to Piper. "This is a tiger. You can have that."

Piper laughed as she took the folded paper animal.

"I'm sorry I didn't visit." Phoebe told her.

"No!" Piper protested. "No, don't be silly. "You've obviously been really busy folding. I'm sorry I have to ask for your help, but-"

"No." Phoebe interrupted. "It's okay. I mean, if you don't enter the tiger's cave, you may never get the cub, right?"

"Huh?" Meredith asked.

"Ancient Chinese proverb." Phoebe replied. "Means nothing ventured, nothing gained. You know."

"Could we get the show on the road here?" Chris interrupted.

"Sure." Phoebe replied.

"Spoil sport." Meredith muttered.

Chris reached over and slapped her upside the head and she retaliated by elbowing him in the stomach.

"How long have they been like this?" Phoebe asked Piper.

"Oh, 'bout a week." Piper replied.

"Wow, that must be annoying." Phoebe said, grinning.

"A little." Piper agreed.

"Vanquish, now." Chris ordered.

"Keep that." Phoebe said, pointing at the origami.

Outside, Darryl was trying to calm down an angry foreman.

"Look, when the safety hazard's clear, you can go to work." He told the man. "Just be patient, okay?"

"Yeah." The Foreman replied. "Easy for you to say. I got four mouths to feed."

The other workers made sounds of agreement.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Phoebe asked Chris.

"You're the bait." Chris told her. "All you gotta do is levitate into the air. And when this demon senses your magic, it's gonna come fast and hard."

"And I couldn't do this because…?" Meredith asked.

"Because you were supposed to be at home." Chris shot back.

"And I told you that if I spent one more moment at home, I was going to go stark raving mad." Meredith seethed. "Or do you not remember the last time I was grounded?"

Chris winced.

"Ah, I see you do." Meredith said, smirking. "Now do you want to let me out of the house, or do you want to lose your eyebrows? Again."

"Okay, on with the vanquish." Chris said.

"Okay." Phoebe agreed. "Be careful of my origami. That tiger took two freakin' hours."

"Okay, let's do it." Chris said.

Phoebe backed up and levitated high into the air. Suddenly, the floor began to explode as the creature began its attack. Phoebe watched anxiously until green goo shot out of the ground and latched itself onto Phoebe, encasing her in the goo.

There was a large explosion and Darryl turned to look at the door as the workers went silent. Finally, the door creaked open and Piper stepped out, green goo all over her white shirt.

"All clear." She said cheerfully, smiling and nodding at the others.

A/N: So let me know what you think! And the poll is still open, so please go take it! Also, we're at 49 reviews. First person to get me to 50 gets a shout out in the next chapter.

Abbey