Here's already the next part. Just a little family scene here as I thought after what happened with Barbara they could need a break. Some Coop, Phoebe and Tony - if someone missed him. Oh, Tony, reminds me to greet Proud-to-be-insane. I decided how to do chapter 30, but I'm afraid you won't like it ;-) or maybe you will.

Thanks for the lovely reviews. Thanks to Margot.

Enjoy!

Chapter 25

"Hey, anybody home?" Phoebe Halliwell yelled, entering her former home. She held her daughter Penny's hand. On the way from the car to the front door, she had tried to run away from her parents at least 3 times. Now, Phoebe held on to her tight, before she would destroy half the Manor.

Coop followed her, arguing with his two other daughters who were trying to persuade their father to buy them some new toy they desperately needed to have.

Wyatt emerged from the kitchen. "Aunt Phoebe, hi."

"Hello, Wyatt. Are you alone?"

"Nope, Chris is here."

"Great. We want to go to the shopping center and we want to take you boys with us."

"That's great. I'm afraid, I have to pass, though."

"Why?" Phoebe asked, finally letting her youngest child go, who ran into the conservatory at once.

"Because…well ... Don't get me wrong, Aunt Phoebe, but I don't fancy going shopping with my aunt and her three little brats."

"We are not brats!" Prue pouted.

Phoebe looked at her oldest nephew. "Well, okay, then. If you think, we are no fun. Then we'll go alone."

"Aunt Phoebe, don't be in a snit. I'm sorry. But why don't you take Chris with you?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Okay, yeah, sure."

Wyatt smiled at her and shouted for his brother. "It'd be really good if you take Chris with you, because I can invite Carolyn over then."

"Oh woah! You shouldn't have said that," Phoebe told him, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Why not?"

"Because I, your Aunt, now know that you are going to spend the whole afternoon alone with your girlfriend in the Manor, probably doing something, I should forbid."

Coop smirked.

"But, Aunt Phoebe, I spend lots of afternoons alone with Carolyn," Wyatt explained. He didn't really see the problem in this.

"Shush. Don't go on. I know nothing," Phoebe said. "I don't want to get into trouble with your dad, so I'll stick to knowing nothing."

Wyatt nodded. "Okay, I get it."

Chris climbed down the stairs. He saw his aunt and uncle plus their little girls standing in the hallway. He already could imagine that this was nothing good.

"Hey, Chris," Phoebe greeted him. "Would you like to go shopping with us?" she tried to sound as motivating as possible.

"No."

Phoebe's smile vanished. "Oh come on."

"I have an idea," Coop said. "How about we let you girls do your shopping and we boys meanwhile can go play some video games, listen to some cool music. You know what boys enjoy doing?"

Phoebe glared at her husband a second. "Oh! Oh yes, that would be good. Right? So we can go shopping without some stupid boys interupting us?" she said to her girls, who cheered happily.

Chris shrugged.

"Great!" Phoebe said happily. "Then let's go."

Prue and Penny opened the front door, rushing towards the car.

"You've got some money?" Wyatt asked his brother.

"He doesn't need money when he goes out with his uncle," Coop answered.

"Bye Wyatt. We might be back late. I'm sure the kids want to eat something in Happy Burger." Phoebe hugged her nephew. She left the Manor, but stopped once she closed the front door behind her. Nervously she opened the door again.

Wyatt looked at her quizzically.

"I forgot my child," Phoebe said. "Penny!"

"Okay, Coop, I say we meet in front of Happy Burger at six. Not a second later," Phoebe said, while she tried to make Penny stay in the stroller.

"Are you sure you can handle these three alone while the nice dresses laugh at you?" Coop teased his wife.

"Very funny, Coop. Yes, I can."

Coop nodded. "Alright. Chris? Are you ready to have some fun?"

Chris shrugged. "Why not?"

"Okay." Coop bent down to kiss his wife goodbye. "We'll have so much fun," he murmured.

Phoebe laughed and walked the other direction with her girls.

Coop and Chris went into an arcade. Lots of the machines were already taken by other kids or teenagers. A few parents were there also. Most of them obviously bored and just waiting for their offspring to finish the level.

"Hey, Chris, listen. You know I'm a Cupid. I bring love all day long to other people, making them happy and so on. Now, I want to play some game where I can kill."

Chris stared at his uncle.

"You know, some military game or whatever."

"Roman Empire Wars III."

Coop repeated the name of the game. What was wrong with kids these days? But he grinned and tried to be ecstatic about playing the game.

It was the first time Coop had even entered a place like the arcade. He had no idea how to work the machines or even computers in general. But Chris explained to him what to do and he really enjoyed the game. He made like 50 out of 23000 points. But that was alright. God, he had fun. The video game was kind of brutal, though. The Cupid only recognized that when he suddenly heard himself yell: "Death to you, stupid Celt!"

Chris played the game as well and reached high score, as always. It wasn't his favourite game but it was the one he was best in. He also had to admit, that spending the time with his magical uncle was not as embarassing and boring as he had imagined it to be. He knew that Coop wasn't really interested in the video games and the music they now listened too, but he didn't show it. Moreover, Uncle Coop was didn't talk too much.

"Hey, Chris!"

Chris turned around at the sound of his former friend Tony's voice. "Hey, Tony."

Chris wasn't really happy to see the Italian teenager. He searched for his uncle, but Coop seemed occupied with checking through the jazz section.

"How are you?" Tony asked.

"Okay."

"How was your report?"

"Okay. I passed."

"Really? Cool, dude."

"And you?"

"They kicked me out."

Chris' eyes grew large. "Kicked you out?"

"Yep. My grades haven't been too bad, but because I skipped the courses so often… you know…"

"Oh, yeah, I see. Sorry, to hear that. Really."

"Yeah, me too. My parents are going to send me to a Catholic boarding school."

"Ouch!"

Tony shrugged. "What about my shirt?"

Chris frowned. "Tony…"

"Chris, we need to go," Coop said. "Sorry, to interrupt."

"No, it's okay. Tony, this is my Uncle Coop."

"Tony? The Tony?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah, the one who got my into so much trouble. I need to go now. I guess I won't see you again soon."

"So do I," Tony muttered.

Chris walked away from Tony without turning around.

Coop tried to start some sort of conversation, but was not really successful. Chris thought about Tony. When Tony didn't come back to school, Chris would be all alone next term. It sucked!

Phoebe and the kids weren't standing in front of the fast food restaurant already. So, the two men had to wait. They sat down on a bench.

"Hey, I've got something for you," Coop said and gave Chris a bag.

"What is it?" Chris looked inside the bag and smiled brightly. "Hey, thanks, Uncle Coop. Cool!" It was a CD. To be exact, it was the CD Chris had listened to in the shop. "How could you buy that, without me noticing?"

Coop winked. "I'm smart."

"Thanks, Uncle Coop. I really had fun today."

Coop smiled. "Me too. And the best of it was, no girls, for once."

They laughed.

Phoebe and the girls arrived a few moments later. She had hung at least 8 bags around the handholds of the stroller. "Lets eat something. I'm exhausted."

Coop smiled at her.

They found a table where they all could fit in.

"Well, Chris, is there any news?"

"I have a new power," Chris answered while eating his cheeseburger.

"Oh, a new power. What is it?"

"Thought projection."

"Hey, we once met a boy with that power. He turned us into superheros," Phoebe told them. Her daughters made large eyes and at once tried to persuade their mother to tell them the story. "I'll tell you the story tonight as your bed time story."

They shrugged and ate more fries.

"Yeah, pretty cool," Chris said.

"You don't sound too happy about this new power."

"It's okay."

Phoebe frowned.

"Hey, we found something for you too!" Prue shouted.

"Really? Uncle Coop already bought me something," Chris said. He didn't want to take all the presents he got today.

"Oh, that's okay. Wyatt told me you don't like shopping for clothes. But we do, so just take it and like it."

Wyatt knocked at Ray's bedroom door. His friend's mother had let him in. Wyatt had decided to talk to Ray first. Amanda wouldn't be easy to apologize, too. But Ray was a boy too and should understand him better.

"Hey, man, good to see you!" Ray greeted him.

"Really? Last time you and Amanda came over, I thought you hated me."

"We don't hate you. It just kind of hurt, when you left with Carolyn at the fair and never talked to us again afterwards."

"Don't remind me of the damn fair," Wyatt said. The two teenage boys sat down on Ray's bed. "I'm really sorry. It's just that I really want to keep her."

"And you think you can accomblish that by never letting her out of your sight."

"No. I know, we maybe spend a little too much time with each other. I really shouldn't have forgotten about my friends. But you know, I really like her."

"Sure. She's smart, she's hot. I like her, too."

Wyatt grinned.

"Tell me, Wyatt, is she your best friend now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you guys talk?"

"Of course we talk."

"About what?"

"Music, films, guys from school. Everything."

"Do you talk with her about the same things, you talk to us about?"

"No. I can talk to you and Amanda about things I can't discuss with anyone else. You are my best friends."

"Well, I guess, you have to split up your time then. Between your girlfriend and your best friends. Because this is not fair. And your relationship with Carolyn will not work out if you don't spend some time apart. If you lose her because you didn't see her for one day, then she's not the right girl."

"I guess, you're right. How about tomorrow? We could meet and go bowling."

"Cool. I'll bring Amanda."

"Thanks. I'll talk to her tomorrow. Say sorry. You know."

"Buy her some popcorn, let her win the game. I know."

Leo made himself some tea. He heard the front door open and a second later his youngest niece clung to his leg, followed by her sisters and parents and Chris.

"Hey, where have you all been?"

"Out shopping."

"Uncle Coop got me a really cool CD and Aunt Phoebe some new clothes. It's awesome!" Chris told his father.

"Awesome? Well, then, I'm glad you had fun. All of you, I hope," Leo replied with a look towards his sister-in-law and her husband.

"Absolutely. We played some video games, while the girls did the shopping," Coop said.

"Can we play with Chris in his room?" Penny asked her mother.

"You have to ask him."

"Chris, can we play with you in your room?" she repeated.

Chris wrinkled his nose, but agreed, anyway.

When the kids left the kitchen, Leo said, "I'll pay you back."

"No! Don't you dare!" Phoebe exclaimed. "These were presents for my favourite nephew."

"Don't let your other two nephews hear that," Coop said, but Phoebe only waved his remark aside.

"And you played video games?" Leo asked the Cupid, smirking

"Oh, yeah. I had lots of fun. I mean with three girls, I usually play with dolls and get my hair done and stuff. But with a boy you can play football and basketball and brutal video games. I wished I had at least one son."

"Forget it!" Phoebe told him.

"Brutal video games?"

"They are all brutal, Leo. Don't worry. Your son won't become a psychotic terrorist. Only a full-time demon hunter. But you should be used to that already," Phoebe calmed her ex- whitelighter.

"Thanks for that, Phoebe. Still, I don't think I like it, that my son likes to kill people in a video game."

"I'm getting the feeling that you have never played a video game with your son," Coop said. The truth was, Chris had already told him that Leo had never played a video game with him.

"I can't handle a computer, Coop. I'd probably get like 2 points."

"And? Listen, I managed to get 50 of 23000 possible points. That's not what's important. Important is that you spend time with your son and do something he enjoys. You don't have to be good, Chris can show you how. He's really good. And it's so much fun. I fought agains Celts, Egyptian, Huns and even Chinese. It was so much fun!"

Phoebe gave her husband a surprised look. "Aren't you a pacifist?"

"It's not real, honey," Coop said apologizing. "Chris told me they need illustrators for these games and that he thought it would be fun to create one. Maybe something with witches and demons and other magical creatures, you know."

"He wants to become an illustrator? Why doesn't he tell me these things?" Leo asked.

"Maybe, because he thinks you won't appreciate it," Phoebe suggested. "And, to be honest, do you appreciate it?"

Don't forget to leave your thoughts on this, please!