Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or its characters.
AN: hey charmed fans! this is Daisy, Aqua's co-writer on this fic. sorry i took soo long to write this part. hope u like it.......
A Journey Cut Short
PART II: Discovering the Demon
Daisy
"Paige?" Phoebe called as she closed the front door behind her and began searching for her sister.
"Attic!" was the faint reply she heard. When she reached the attic, she found Paige sitting on the floor staring intently at a page in the Book of Shadows. Paige looked up at Phoebe and pushed red strands of hair out of her face. "Come here", she ordered.
Phoebe sat down beside her sister. "Do you know where Piper and Leo went?" she asked curiously.
"No", replied Paige. "Probably off baby shopping or something."
Phoebe then glanced at the blonde in the book. "What the hell kind of a demon is that?" she inquired loudly, raising her eyebrows.
"It's the Demon of Vitality", Paige replied flatly, and kept reading. When she finished, she passed the book over to Phoebe and just sat there, pondering over this new demon.
"Ok", said Phoebe when she too had finished reading. "A demon who ages babies in order to turn them evil before they can have the power of good instilled in them. Is that about accurate?"
Paige sighed. "Yeah, but not just any babies. Babies who have a family line of witches."
"Oh yeah, that's right. That's what Darryl said. The mothers of all three missing infants were involved in wicca programs. But you know what that means."
Paige nodded. "Piper." They both sat in thought for a moment. Then Paige broke the silence. "You know, maybe we shouldn't tell Piper. I mean we have already convinced her to have the baby here and we shouldn't bother her during her pregnancy if it isn't necessary."
Phoebe nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Let's just keep this to ourselves for now."
"Ok, well let's go see if we can find out more about these babies," Paige suggested. The sisters helped each other up, replaced the book on its pedestal, and began to leave the attic.
*****
When Piper and Leo reappeared, they were in the foyer of the manor. By the look on Piper's face, Leo could tell she was still in shock. That shock, however, quickly turned into confusion and anger.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded, turning around and facing Leo.
"Uh, well I'm not sure, but it looked rather demonic to me." She gave him a 'well-duh' look.
"Gee, thanks for clearing that all up for me Leo." He shrugged his shoulders. Piper rolled her eyes and waddled into the living room, plopping herself down on the couch. "Who.or what. would do that to innocent little newborns?" she said in pure disgust.
"I don't know, but shouldn't we be looking in the Book of Shadows?"
Piper glared at him. "Yeah, there's only one problem with that. It's all the way up there, and I'm all the way down here," she stated, pointing to the ceiling.
"Fine I'll go get it," Leo replied.
"Would you?" Piper smiled sweetly to him. Just as he was about to orb to the attic, they heard a pounding of footsteps and Phoebe and Paige came running down the stairs. When Paige saw Piper and Leo she stopped so abruptly that Phoebe ran into the back of her and nearly knocked her down the stairs.
"Uh, Piper, Leo, hi. What are you guys doing here?" Paige asked uneasily.
"That's funny", replied Piper from the couch. "I was just getting ready to ask you the same thing." She hoisted herself up and hobbled over to the doorway, placing her hands on her hips. "What are you two up to?" she questioned slowly, narrowing her eyes at her sisters.
"What, us? We're not up to anything. We just, uh, forgot something for work", Phoebe declared, trying not to sound too guilty, but failing miserably. "Right Paige?"
"Yep, and now we really need to go so we aren't late", Paige agreed as they continued the rest of the way down the stairs and hurriedly dashed for the door.
"Wait-" Piper started, but was cut off by Phoebe.
"Sorry Piper, gotta go! Bye Leo!" she yelled over her shoulder while slamming the door behind her.
Piper groaned, threw her hands up in the air, and retreated back to the couch.
"You know they're lying", Leo commented.
Piper sighed. "Yeah I know. Those two couldn't get away with lying to me to save their lives. I just wish I knew why they were lying."
*****
As Paige and Phoebe hopped into Paige's car they both let out a long, relieved sigh. Paige rested her head on the steering wheel. "Do you think she bought it?" she asked hopefully.
Phoebe laughed. "If I know Piper, probably not. But at least it bought us some time."
"Yeah whatever", Paige mumbled starting the car. "Let's just fix this." When they reached the hospital, they asked the front desk where the nursery was. After only two unsuccessful attempts, the sisters finally found the right floor.
"That way", stated Phoebe pointing down the same hall as a sign saying 'Newborn Nursery'. Pushing through heavy doors into a corridor much more colorful than the previous, they ran into a woman. Paige gasped as she recognized the woman's strikingly blonde hair and other features as the same one in the Book of Shadows. Phoebe kicked her and she stopped gaping at the doctor.
"What are you doing down here?" the doctor demanded, obviously surprised to see anyone there.
"We're here to see our sister's baby," Phoebe quickly lied. The doctor eyed them suspiciously.
"Well no one is allowed in the nursery right now. The babies, um, need their rest." Paige spoke up. "But I thought-"
"I'm sorry, you need to leave now", the doctor cut her off. She escorted Paige and Phoebe back through the doors and continued on her way. They watched her and as soon as she was out of sight, they snuck back through the doors.
"Well at least we know we're on the right track", Paige commented as they crept along the corridor, making sure they didn't run into any more unexpected people. "That was definitely the Demon of Vitality."
"Yeah", Phoebe replied, peeking around a corner and motioning for Paige to follow her.
"Don't you find it odd that there are no other people around?" Paige whispered to Phoebe. "No nurses, doctors...no one."
"Yeah that is kind of strange. Especially for a baby nursery. You'd figure that there would be people all over the place tending to the infants. Ok, here we are." Paige shoved Phoebe in first.
"Hmm, no babies, big surprise, Phoebe mumbled sarcastically.
"Ok, come on, go. Touch stuff, do your premonition thingy. We don't have all day", Paige declared, pushing Phoebe toward some empty cradles. Phoebe glared back at her sister, but doing as Paige said, started gently touching the cradles. After a few minutes she gasped and tensed up as she was drawn into a premonition. When it was over she opened her eyes and looked up at Paige, not believing what she had just seen.
*****
Piper sat on the couch with the Book of Shadows on the coffee table, flipping through the pages. Picking up her jar of peanut butter, she leaned back and began licking the spoon. She jumped as the pages started furiously turning by themselves. It landed on a page toward the end of the book with a picture of a blonde woman. Piper sat up curiously and started reading. The Demon of Vitality. While she was reading, Leo entered with the cordless in his hand.
"Phoebe's cell phone wasn't on", he told her.
"Well, the try Paige's," she replied not looking up from the book.
"I did. Her's wasn't on either. What did you find?" he asked walking over and sitting next to her.
She pointed at the picture.
"Wow, ok, what does it say?"
"She's called the Demon of Vitality. She...well she does exactly what we saw." Piper tucked her long brown hair behind her ears and looked up at Leo. "Apparently she does this to turn magical babies evil before they can use their powers for good."
"And how do we stop her?"
Piper sighed and scrunched up her face. "Well that's the only glitch in our baby-savin' quest. The only way to vanquish her is to-".
Suddenly Paige and Phoebe burst through the door. "Hold it!" Piper demanded and the two stopped in their tracks. "Sit. Now," Piper then ordered pointing at the couch opposite her. They obeyed, and after taking a couple more bites of peanut butter, Piper continued. "Where the hell have you two been and don't tell me work because I know that's a lie, and why weren't either of your cell phones on?!" When she got no immediate response, she gave up. "Fine. We'll discuss that later. Right now we have another problem. A demonic problem." Missing the glance that Paige and Phoebe tossed each other, she continued on. "There is a demon called the Demon of Vitality-".
Paige's mouth dropped open. "You know about that?!" she half- shouted.
Piper eyed her questioningly. "Yeah. Wait, how do you know about that?"
They all spent the next several minutes explaining, and after all the misconceptions had been set straight, only one thing had yet to be said.
"Phoebe", Leo started. "You said that the reason you and Paige were at the hospital was so that you could try to get a premonition. Well, did you?" Phoebe looked at Paige nervously.
"Um, yea. But it doesn't really make sense to me." She paused. "The demon's next victim, the baby in my premonition..was your baby." There was a long period of silence until Paige spoke up.
"But, we couldn't figure it out, because we had all decided that you were going to have your baby at home, right Piper?"
Piper looked at the ground. "Well the reason we were at the hospital is because we were kinda rethinking that decision." She looked up at her sisters. "But of course now I think we will go with the original settlement," she finished quickly.
Phoebe glared at her, hurt that she hadn't shared this information with them. "Yeah," she mumbled.
Sensing the tension building, Paige stood up and walked over to where Piper was beside the Book of Shadows. "Ok, well we didn't get a chance to see how to vanquish her before we left, so did you find out?"
Piper nodded. "Yeah, but you're not going to like it. She uses her eyes to age the babies, so we need to damage them in order to stop her. According to the book the only way to vanquish her is to say the spell while blowing a powder-potion into her eyes after she has already aged a baby, while her eyes are still glowing."
"Which means-" Phoebe began.
"If Piper's baby is her next victim, then we have to wait until after she ages it," Paige finished. The four of them sat in silence for a while, the reality of what they had just discovered sinking in, and contemplating where to go from then.
AN: Okay hope ya liked it! make sure to review, 'cause if you dont, then we wont smile, and if we dont smile then we're not happy, and unhappy people dont write fanfics. so in the interest of this story, please review!!!!!!
AN: hey charmed fans! this is Daisy, Aqua's co-writer on this fic. sorry i took soo long to write this part. hope u like it.......
A Journey Cut Short
PART II: Discovering the Demon
Daisy
"Paige?" Phoebe called as she closed the front door behind her and began searching for her sister.
"Attic!" was the faint reply she heard. When she reached the attic, she found Paige sitting on the floor staring intently at a page in the Book of Shadows. Paige looked up at Phoebe and pushed red strands of hair out of her face. "Come here", she ordered.
Phoebe sat down beside her sister. "Do you know where Piper and Leo went?" she asked curiously.
"No", replied Paige. "Probably off baby shopping or something."
Phoebe then glanced at the blonde in the book. "What the hell kind of a demon is that?" she inquired loudly, raising her eyebrows.
"It's the Demon of Vitality", Paige replied flatly, and kept reading. When she finished, she passed the book over to Phoebe and just sat there, pondering over this new demon.
"Ok", said Phoebe when she too had finished reading. "A demon who ages babies in order to turn them evil before they can have the power of good instilled in them. Is that about accurate?"
Paige sighed. "Yeah, but not just any babies. Babies who have a family line of witches."
"Oh yeah, that's right. That's what Darryl said. The mothers of all three missing infants were involved in wicca programs. But you know what that means."
Paige nodded. "Piper." They both sat in thought for a moment. Then Paige broke the silence. "You know, maybe we shouldn't tell Piper. I mean we have already convinced her to have the baby here and we shouldn't bother her during her pregnancy if it isn't necessary."
Phoebe nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Let's just keep this to ourselves for now."
"Ok, well let's go see if we can find out more about these babies," Paige suggested. The sisters helped each other up, replaced the book on its pedestal, and began to leave the attic.
*****
When Piper and Leo reappeared, they were in the foyer of the manor. By the look on Piper's face, Leo could tell she was still in shock. That shock, however, quickly turned into confusion and anger.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded, turning around and facing Leo.
"Uh, well I'm not sure, but it looked rather demonic to me." She gave him a 'well-duh' look.
"Gee, thanks for clearing that all up for me Leo." He shrugged his shoulders. Piper rolled her eyes and waddled into the living room, plopping herself down on the couch. "Who.or what. would do that to innocent little newborns?" she said in pure disgust.
"I don't know, but shouldn't we be looking in the Book of Shadows?"
Piper glared at him. "Yeah, there's only one problem with that. It's all the way up there, and I'm all the way down here," she stated, pointing to the ceiling.
"Fine I'll go get it," Leo replied.
"Would you?" Piper smiled sweetly to him. Just as he was about to orb to the attic, they heard a pounding of footsteps and Phoebe and Paige came running down the stairs. When Paige saw Piper and Leo she stopped so abruptly that Phoebe ran into the back of her and nearly knocked her down the stairs.
"Uh, Piper, Leo, hi. What are you guys doing here?" Paige asked uneasily.
"That's funny", replied Piper from the couch. "I was just getting ready to ask you the same thing." She hoisted herself up and hobbled over to the doorway, placing her hands on her hips. "What are you two up to?" she questioned slowly, narrowing her eyes at her sisters.
"What, us? We're not up to anything. We just, uh, forgot something for work", Phoebe declared, trying not to sound too guilty, but failing miserably. "Right Paige?"
"Yep, and now we really need to go so we aren't late", Paige agreed as they continued the rest of the way down the stairs and hurriedly dashed for the door.
"Wait-" Piper started, but was cut off by Phoebe.
"Sorry Piper, gotta go! Bye Leo!" she yelled over her shoulder while slamming the door behind her.
Piper groaned, threw her hands up in the air, and retreated back to the couch.
"You know they're lying", Leo commented.
Piper sighed. "Yeah I know. Those two couldn't get away with lying to me to save their lives. I just wish I knew why they were lying."
*****
As Paige and Phoebe hopped into Paige's car they both let out a long, relieved sigh. Paige rested her head on the steering wheel. "Do you think she bought it?" she asked hopefully.
Phoebe laughed. "If I know Piper, probably not. But at least it bought us some time."
"Yeah whatever", Paige mumbled starting the car. "Let's just fix this." When they reached the hospital, they asked the front desk where the nursery was. After only two unsuccessful attempts, the sisters finally found the right floor.
"That way", stated Phoebe pointing down the same hall as a sign saying 'Newborn Nursery'. Pushing through heavy doors into a corridor much more colorful than the previous, they ran into a woman. Paige gasped as she recognized the woman's strikingly blonde hair and other features as the same one in the Book of Shadows. Phoebe kicked her and she stopped gaping at the doctor.
"What are you doing down here?" the doctor demanded, obviously surprised to see anyone there.
"We're here to see our sister's baby," Phoebe quickly lied. The doctor eyed them suspiciously.
"Well no one is allowed in the nursery right now. The babies, um, need their rest." Paige spoke up. "But I thought-"
"I'm sorry, you need to leave now", the doctor cut her off. She escorted Paige and Phoebe back through the doors and continued on her way. They watched her and as soon as she was out of sight, they snuck back through the doors.
"Well at least we know we're on the right track", Paige commented as they crept along the corridor, making sure they didn't run into any more unexpected people. "That was definitely the Demon of Vitality."
"Yeah", Phoebe replied, peeking around a corner and motioning for Paige to follow her.
"Don't you find it odd that there are no other people around?" Paige whispered to Phoebe. "No nurses, doctors...no one."
"Yeah that is kind of strange. Especially for a baby nursery. You'd figure that there would be people all over the place tending to the infants. Ok, here we are." Paige shoved Phoebe in first.
"Hmm, no babies, big surprise, Phoebe mumbled sarcastically.
"Ok, come on, go. Touch stuff, do your premonition thingy. We don't have all day", Paige declared, pushing Phoebe toward some empty cradles. Phoebe glared back at her sister, but doing as Paige said, started gently touching the cradles. After a few minutes she gasped and tensed up as she was drawn into a premonition. When it was over she opened her eyes and looked up at Paige, not believing what she had just seen.
*****
Piper sat on the couch with the Book of Shadows on the coffee table, flipping through the pages. Picking up her jar of peanut butter, she leaned back and began licking the spoon. She jumped as the pages started furiously turning by themselves. It landed on a page toward the end of the book with a picture of a blonde woman. Piper sat up curiously and started reading. The Demon of Vitality. While she was reading, Leo entered with the cordless in his hand.
"Phoebe's cell phone wasn't on", he told her.
"Well, the try Paige's," she replied not looking up from the book.
"I did. Her's wasn't on either. What did you find?" he asked walking over and sitting next to her.
She pointed at the picture.
"Wow, ok, what does it say?"
"She's called the Demon of Vitality. She...well she does exactly what we saw." Piper tucked her long brown hair behind her ears and looked up at Leo. "Apparently she does this to turn magical babies evil before they can use their powers for good."
"And how do we stop her?"
Piper sighed and scrunched up her face. "Well that's the only glitch in our baby-savin' quest. The only way to vanquish her is to-".
Suddenly Paige and Phoebe burst through the door. "Hold it!" Piper demanded and the two stopped in their tracks. "Sit. Now," Piper then ordered pointing at the couch opposite her. They obeyed, and after taking a couple more bites of peanut butter, Piper continued. "Where the hell have you two been and don't tell me work because I know that's a lie, and why weren't either of your cell phones on?!" When she got no immediate response, she gave up. "Fine. We'll discuss that later. Right now we have another problem. A demonic problem." Missing the glance that Paige and Phoebe tossed each other, she continued on. "There is a demon called the Demon of Vitality-".
Paige's mouth dropped open. "You know about that?!" she half- shouted.
Piper eyed her questioningly. "Yeah. Wait, how do you know about that?"
They all spent the next several minutes explaining, and after all the misconceptions had been set straight, only one thing had yet to be said.
"Phoebe", Leo started. "You said that the reason you and Paige were at the hospital was so that you could try to get a premonition. Well, did you?" Phoebe looked at Paige nervously.
"Um, yea. But it doesn't really make sense to me." She paused. "The demon's next victim, the baby in my premonition..was your baby." There was a long period of silence until Paige spoke up.
"But, we couldn't figure it out, because we had all decided that you were going to have your baby at home, right Piper?"
Piper looked at the ground. "Well the reason we were at the hospital is because we were kinda rethinking that decision." She looked up at her sisters. "But of course now I think we will go with the original settlement," she finished quickly.
Phoebe glared at her, hurt that she hadn't shared this information with them. "Yeah," she mumbled.
Sensing the tension building, Paige stood up and walked over to where Piper was beside the Book of Shadows. "Ok, well we didn't get a chance to see how to vanquish her before we left, so did you find out?"
Piper nodded. "Yeah, but you're not going to like it. She uses her eyes to age the babies, so we need to damage them in order to stop her. According to the book the only way to vanquish her is to say the spell while blowing a powder-potion into her eyes after she has already aged a baby, while her eyes are still glowing."
"Which means-" Phoebe began.
"If Piper's baby is her next victim, then we have to wait until after she ages it," Paige finished. The four of them sat in silence for a while, the reality of what they had just discovered sinking in, and contemplating where to go from then.
AN: Okay hope ya liked it! make sure to review, 'cause if you dont, then we wont smile, and if we dont smile then we're not happy, and unhappy people dont write fanfics. so in the interest of this story, please review!!!!!!