A/N: To all the people who are confused about the girl suddenly appearing all the time: Chris does not know her, she just appears everytime when he's in danger. Her name's Ava and there is definitely something strange going on between her and herself. And between her and Chris, or wouldn't have kissed her, obviously. That's all I can say without giving the plot away. :D
And with Piper...She's gone...mentally at least. She's sort of insane and I haven't decided yet whether it's gonna be permanent. She just realized that she loved Leo a lot, so...
Have fun with this next chapter!
P.S. It does contain referrings to sex and (friendship) kissing again...

......::::::::::::......

"At least tell me one thing, Ava?" asked Chris, pleading for just one answer from the girl.

"Very well, you may ask me one thing, Chris", she said, amazing Chris by knowing his name and actually giving him the favor of one answer...

"You're possessed aren't you?" Chris said, longing to know and in his rash mood adding: "Do you want to stay with me tonight? I could help you..." His voice trailed away and looking at her face he knew it wouldn't be any good.

"That's a double no, Halliwell" said Ava, her voice trembling and she was smiling. "Geez, Christopher, they didn't tell me you were that on to girls. Surely, you can do better than me?"

"Who told you what?" asked Chris, but before he could grab a hold of her, she smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek, then she orbed out, leaving Chris bedazzled and amazed.

"Well, it's a start", he sighed and he walked out of the room.

"Chris?" came a voice from the living room. Chris turned around to find Leo in the room, panting and looking relieved.

"Yes?" Chris asked him, rather suspiciously.

"Was she- did she- I mean, she didn't hurt you!" Leo exclaimed. Chris looked puzzled and walked a little closer. His look slid over Piper, who was still on the couch and an expression of pain and loneliness appeared on his face.

"What do you mean, Leo. Please, explain yourself!"

"Chris, that girl was Up There. I don't know where she got the power and the nerve to come there, but you have to be pretty damn powerful to open the Gates. Only whitelighters can do that." bellowed Leo, because Chris seemed too unconcerned, rather in heaven than on earth.

"See, the thing is, I'm not sure whether she was a witch or a whitelighter. She could be both, like me", added Chris.

"She, she chased all the whitelighters away and killed a few of them. None of them has the guts to return so she must've been pretty powerful to do that. Lucius was still shocked when he told me. He told me of a girl in jeans and a white tank top, with hair glowing honey and a pureness radiating from her. Yet, she killed them. She killed them, Chris, and you're telling me you're fine and you've been talking to her."

"Well, I didn't really sense that kind of power in her. She seemed rather innocent to me. Besides", he added, "she saved me from Richard. He attacked Phoebe while I wasn't watching and she took him out. I don't see how she could harm me. She appears to be like a guardian angel to me or something."

"Chris", said Leo in an exhausted voice,"whitelighters don't need guardian angels. There is something definitely wrong with this girl and if you ever see her again, I want you to warn me because she's dangerous."

"Well, I guess you're missing one point here, Leo", said Chris in a we've- been-over-this-before voice. "I also happen to be part witch and therefore I am a mortal. I can die. Remember? And besides, she didn't do anything to me so why should I distrust her?"

"In that case, I've got a question for you", said Leo, looking at Chris very seriously.

"Fire away", said Chris in the cool tone he saved for occasions in which he needed to look unconcerned.

"Do you like this girl?" asked Leo, sounding sternly and more like a father than ever before. "I mean, do you feel sexually attracted to her?"

"This is not the time for father-and-son talk now, Leo", said Chris, suddenly remembering they were supposed to save Paige. "We have to save Paige, so she can help us with Richard. If you just try to heal Phoebe, then I'll try to contact Paige."

Leo looked puzzled at his last words, and so he felt obligated to explain.

"I can sense people, where they are and I can orb to them. And now, with my empathy powers obviously developing, I'm guessing it couldn't be too hard to find her...Unless she's still in the Pacific", he added with his dry sense of humour. He walked out of the room to find a quiet place to concentrate on finding Paige.

Meanwhile, Leo was still standing where he had been when Chris had left the room. Somewhere deep inside, he was proud of his son. He was obviously his son, because he had the whitelighter powers, but he would say that Chris was more Piper's son than his. He seemed to have her hotheadedness, but also her determined calmness, even though he was pushed to the limit. In the past few weeks, Chris had often been pushed over that limit and that had caused an outburst of emotional fights with Leo ánd Piper. Poor Chris...

......::::::::::::......

One person who certainly wasn't in a forgiving mood was Paige. By the time she sat down on a rock close to the lake, she had been screaming herself hoarse to an invisible Richard who was, no doubt, still in the real world. She doubted whether he could hear her, but it did her good. Now that she was sitting down, however, she began to feel a little discouraged. How was she ever going to get out of here. The one person she really needed now was Chris. Even though she hated to admit it she needed him. She was still rather angry at him for coming into the house again and giving Piper such a hard time.

"Chris, if you can hear me, come save me!" she bellowed up into the air. She felt rather strange and crazy standing there like that, but it was a necessity, unfortunately. She tried again.

"Chris! Please! Come get me......OK? Can you hear me? Well, I don't know if you can, but I'm gonna tell you where I am now, Chris? I'm in this place and it's really beautiful with mountains and a lake." She hesitated, wondering whether to tell him where she really was. She figured that he'd need to know in order to save her, so she continued. "Chris, the place I'm in is only in my memory. It is not to be found on earth. I don't know if you can get me out of my memory. I hope so." She paused, hoping he would appear. One-and-a-half hour later, nothing had happened and Paige was growing worried and slightly irritated. She tried again.

"Chris, I don't know if you've ever had it...I mean during sex and all...Have you had sex?" She asked wonderingly. "O, wait that's none of my business. But, this place it's where Richard and I go mentally when we...ow, you know what I mean. So anyways, it's always real and I guess it's because we're both kinda powerful witches that we go here. I always want to go here, but just not...in this way...if you know what I mean...I guess, you don't know, but get me outta here, Chris, please!" she cried out in despair. She was loosing more hope every second that passed.

......::::::::::::......

Little did she know that Chris could hear every word she said. But he couldn't react in any way. At least not verbal, or mental, whatever. He was thinking hard about a solution to get her out, but he wasn't getting any further. Her body appeared to be in the Pacific, but if she was in her mind, too... That'd mean that Richard had created some sort of second Paige and dropped her in the Pacific. He decided he'd focus on the real Paige first.

He thought about the time he had been in somebody else's memory. It was only a short hour ago. Piper's mind had seemed so full. It hadn't been difficult to intrude in her mind, though. It just happened. This must mean that he should use his empathy to gain entrance to Paige's mind. Chris shook his head. From what Paige had told him, it must be a special, but sexually loaded place. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to experience all Paige's feeling for Richard and about everything else. Unfortunately enough, it was bare necessity. The situation was dire. Piper was gone, Phoebe was gone and he had had a row with Leo. Suddenly, Paige seemed warm and positive at the thought of everybody else, thought Chris. He realized that he needed someone to help and trust him now, or he couldn't do it. He turned around and called for Leo.

Leo, meanwhile, hadn't moved one inch. Chris scared him to death with his sudden call.

"What is it?" he shouted back grumpily.

"Have you managed to heal Phoebe yet? And how's Richard?"

"I'm working on Phoebe now", said Leo, quickly kneeling down next to Phoebe and healing her. He was done the minute Chris stepped into the room.

"Oh, good, she's healed. I'm still waiting for my healing powers to get to me..." His voice trailed away as he and Leo stood close to each other, face to face.

"I'm sorry", they both said at the same time. It was Leo who continued.

"I shouldn't have doubted you, but that girl is dangerous."

"I know she is, I could see evil in her eyes, but I couldn't sense anything." Chris jumped as he heard Paige screaming his name, followed by desparate sobs and more screams.

"What is it?" asked Leo, alarmed at Chris' sudden tense expression. "Is it that girl again?"

"No, it's Paige, she's calling, hang on, I think I've found her..."

"Well, let's go then, what are you waiting for?" asked Leo, ready to orb out.

"No Leo, someone has to stay with Phoebe, Piper and Richard, to guard them from the girl. And, um, Richard has locked Paige inside her own memory. I guess I have telepath powers too. I think it's kind of private to her and you can't go there, because you're not a telepath." With these words, Chris orbed out, leaving Leo slightly insulted.

......::::::::::::......

As Chris was in his orb, he concentrated hard on Paige and he could hear her calling out again. He tried to sense her and succeeded. Next five minutes, all he did was focus hard on being with her, in her memory, in her mind. Suddenly a whirlwind sent him spinning around his axis with his arms wide. He was screaming out in pain. In the midst of all the worries and dreadful memories that surrounded Paige he realized he was on the right path.

Out of the blue
Arisen out of the darkest darkness,
comes the deepest of all
emotions which is love

With a slap in his face, it was all over. He realized the slap in his face had been Paige, trying to get him conscious again. He opened his eyes and relief washed over him. It was Paige, looking at him with a grateful smile.

"Thank god you're here, Chris" she kissed him swiftly on the cheek.

"Hey! What happened to all the angry feelings?" he asked, surprised by her sudden appreciation of his person.

"I don't know, I'm just really happy you're here", she said.

"So am I. We need to talk", he said.

She sighed and nodded. She had thought about this place, about her love for Richard and about Chris. She had a funny feeling about him not being as bad as they'd thought. But most of all she'd thought about being herself. It must've been hard for Richard being around her. He'd explained her on the way in the orb (it took soo long) that he absorbed the powers of people near him, but he also had powers of his own. She thought about not being herself around him and loving him. In the end she'd realized that loving him wasn't enough if she couldn't love herself before that...

I love me; does that sound strange to you?
Not physically, not spiritually; only emotionally
You'd better get used to it
because I just promised myself eternal loyalty

She sighed again and settled in the thought of talking to Chris about this.
She, of course, could not know what she was going to find out in the next few minutes...