Piper kept swinging the crystal around and around over the big map of the city of San Francisco. Her hand grew tired after a while, but she kept going. She had to keep going. It was for her sister, her niece, her nephew, and worse, her son could be in danger. She encouraged herself to keep herself awake so she could concentrate and focus on finding her family. The pregnancy symptoms got to her more and more everyday. She hated it.

Phoebe sat thinking, leaning on the small table. She wanted to sleep, but kept herself up. It had to be at least 2 in the morning already. But heck, that was what 5 years of being a witch, fighting demons and protecting innocents brought you right? She had only gotten little parts and pieces to the vanquishing potion. She had so many cautions in her mind. What if the warlock was immune to it? What if the warlock deflected it some how? And then what would happen?

Both the Halliwell sisters grew weary, but both were just as strong to fight it. The silence in the room stayed, as the two got back to their work. Just a sigh here, and a cough there, but other than that, pure silence.

Suddenly, the loud bursting of the attic door startled the two sisters. Sam came in, her tears running down her face once again, and it seemed like she was hyperventilating. "Sam?" Piper said, her worries rising once again. Sam fell to her knees on the floor. She could barely breathe. Her eyes were pure red.

Phoebe ran over to her. Piper kneeled down next to her and embraced her. She rocked her a bit, rubbing her back so that she would feel better. "Sam...honey..what happened??" Piper said into her ear. Sam tried to talk through her tears.

"Alex....he..we..telepathically....help..." Sam tried to say. She could barely talk through her crying. She couldn't lose Alex. She couldn't. She was the only thing she had left. It was her job to protect Alex. It was her duty. He was her little brother. He counted and relied on her for protection. He couldn't die.

Phoebe dried Sam's tears. "Sam, honey. What do you mean? What happened when you went downstairs? Did you get some kind of premonition? Did something happen? Please...tell us."

Sam cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes. "Alex. We communicated telepathically downstairs. He's in trouble.."

"Did he tell you where they were?" Piper asked anxiously. Sam shook her head. "No..he...Mom..I can't let him die!" she screamed before she broke down in tears once again. Piper shushed her down. "Hey, it's going to be ok. What happened at the end of your communication? Why do you think that he's in trouble?"

"I don't KNOW what happened? All he whispered was "help", and then I lost connection, and it sounded like he was wounded or something! I just don't know! I can't take this...." she said, in the middle of her nervous breakdown.

Piper kept comforting her daughter and she motioned to Phoebe to call Leo and Cole. Phoebe saw her message and nodded.

"LEO!! COLE!! Come on! WE NEED YOU GUYS!! COLE?? LEO!!!" she screamed out loud, staring at the ceiling. Cole appeared in a blur, as he shimmered into the attic. Beside him, swirling blue and white lights appeared and in a second, Leo appeared.

"What's wrong? Did another demon attack?" Leo asked nervously. It was amazing how much the Halliwell family worries each day. Leo eyed Sam grieving on the floor. Piper looked at him, still embracing Sam.

"Leo, Alex is in trouble. We have to find them, now. I tried scrying for them, but it just wouldn't work. I swung the crystal around the whole map like 5 times but it just wouldn't work." She said. Sam had her arms around Piper now, hiding her face from everyone. She just couldn't stop crying. The pain was too much for her to handle. She had had too much pain over the majority of the years in her life.

"Can you try again? I can't get a read on them either. If they're in a portal, then that means Cole and I can't sense them..." He said. Cole nodded in agreement. Phoebe stood up and walked over to the map. "I'll do it."

"Wait, how are you? You can't scry for warlocks." Cole said. Phoebe started getting the things ready. "I'm not going to scry for the warlocks, I'm going to scry for Paige, Rachel and Alex." She reassured him. Cole nodded and turned to look how Sam was doing.

Piper was still rocking her, rubbing her back so it would make her feel better. "Shhhhhh, it's gonna be ok Sam. We'll make it better...we're gonna find him."

"Is she going to be ok?" Cole asked Piper. Piper shook her head. "I don't know Cole. I don't know if I'll be ok either if we don't find Alex or Paige or Rachel....." she said, embracing her daughter. Piper looked down at her. Even though she was 25, she seemed as if she were 12. She felt so small in her arms, and all Piper wanted to do was protect her. She only wished that her son were in her arms as well.

The sudden banging of the crystal startled all four of them. "Found them." Phoebe said, as she wrote down the location on a piece of scrap paper. Sam and Piper stood up and held Leo as they orbed out to the location. Phoebe stood staring at Cole as he held out his hand.

"Well?" he asked, his arm still extended out to her. Phoebe tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Cole, I don't want CJ to die." She whispered.

"I know baby. I don't either." He said. "Now come on, let's go." He walked towards her. Phoebe glared at him suspiciously. "Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Do you care about him? Sometimes, that voice of yours tells me that you're just pretending to care about him to get to me."

"What?? You KNOW I would never do that. He's my son too Phoebe." He argued. Phoebe still glared at him the same way she stared at him when she had betrayed him and vanquished him when he was the Source. "Phoebe..." He pleaded.

"You're just not convincing me enough Cole. I still think that you have evil inside of you and you're plotting something to get me back for to kill us."

"Jesus Christ Phoebe!! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not evil anymore?? So many times I saved yours, and your sister's lives. I'm not going to hurt you. Why did you see that in me before and you don't see it in me now?"

"I don't know. Maybe because several times you tried to KILL me and my sisters and you were the SOURCE for months and you put me through the hell with BABY LUCIFER."

"That was before. I was possessed by the Source for pete's sake! That wasn't really me. The real me is now. I still love you and by the way you're acting all bitchy now I don't know why the heck I still do!!! I've sacrificed everything for you!! And if you say one thing like I don't care about my little boy in there, well then you're damn straight wrong!! You don't know how it felt when he told me that he was my son. To know that I actually succeeded in winning you over. To know that we loved each other enough to even HAVE a son. To know that I actually become a father in the future. I never thought that would happen Phoebe. Never. And it felt good to know that I actually did something GOOD in my life." He screamed at her.

Phoebe was startled. Never in her life had she heard Cole so serious. He actually cared about CJ. She had totally stereotyped him and she felt terrible inside. "Cole.."

But Cole was sick of it. "Save it. We'll talk later." He snapped as he grabbed her wrist and shimmered out of the attic.

****

Darien gripped the handle of the small, ceremonial dagger that entered the teenager's stomach. Alex gasped in fear, as he stared at the man who was eye to eye with him. Darien smiled at him. "How does it feel to be stabbed? Not a pleasant feeling is it? If my brother has to suffer and you'll suffer too...." he said.

Alex was breathing heavily and still glared at Darien. "I'm sure he was quite the bitch, just like his twin." Alex whispered. Darien frowned at him and quickly took the athame out of his stomach. Alex gave another gasp before he fell down to the floor. As Darien backed away from him, he waved his hands quickly. The neon bindings disappeared from Alex's wrist as he fell to the floor. "No need for those anymore." Darien smirked.

Darien walked over to Rachel, who was now in tears and Paige. He pointed the athame at both Rachel and Paige and whispered: "You don't want to be next." Rachel tried to get out of her bindings. "You sick sorry bastard. Heal him or something. NOW." She said, her tone full of anger and hate. Darien wasn't even smiling anymore. This wasn't one big joke to him anymore. His brother was killed, and now he was going to do everything in his power to avenge him.

He backed away from her, sick of all the curses they've given him. He was tired of all the hard times they've given him and his brother. They are going to have to pay. Every single one of them. He walked over to the shadows, and disappeared. Rachel gave up on trying to get out of her bindings and just sat and cried.

She buried her head into her knees and cried on them. She didn't know what to do. Her cousin was dying. The cousin that was practically like a brother to her could actually die. And there was nothing she could do to help him. Nothing at all.

She couldn't bear to look at him lying on the floor, so helpless. His breathing was getting slower and slower and his blood was forming a puddle right beside him. She didn't know who to turn to. She didn't know what to do.

"Mom....what are we going to do?? We can't sit here and watch Alex DIE!!!" she cried. Paige felt helpless. She didn't know what to do in this situation either. Her thoughts raced to think of some way she could help but she just had no ideas. "I'm sure Piper and Leo will come....they'll heal him. I'm really sure they will...."

"But what if they don't? What if they never track us?? What if it's too late now??" she pleaded.

"No, you can't think like that. They will come. Don't think negatively like that. You're a Halliwell, and you have to stay strong. They're going to come..." She said sternly. Rachel went back to her crying. 'You guys better come..' Paige thought in her head.

Suddenly, both girls were startled by a sudden gasp Alex had made. They heard him groan a little and both their heads turned to look at him. There, Alex turned over from his face-down position and slowly turned around so he was laying on his back. "ALEX? Are you ok???" Rachel screamed at him. Alex was still breathing raggedly, his hands were clenched on his wound. Blood was staining his hands quickly as it poured out of the stab in his stomach. He stared at it for a few seconds, and fixed himself so he would be in a less comfortable position.

"Alex? Alex, are you ok?" Paige repeated. Alex nodded. "I'm good. Nothing like having an athame stab in my abdomen." He said sarcastically, breathing between each word. "Alex, hold on. Sam's gonna come. Piper and everyone else are going to come and we're gonna heal you, I promise." Paige reassured him. Alex nodded again.

"I'll try." He whispered.

"Alex, I don't want you to fucking try. You better freaking hold on or I swear...." Rachel cried at him. Alex gave a small laugh. "I'll hold on, I'll hold on." He whispered back. You could tell by his voice that he was getting weaker and weaker. He was slipping away fast, and both Rachel and Paige didn't want to admit it. Neither did Alex.

****

Cole and Phoebe shimmered into a dark alley. Piper, Sam and Leo were already there. Sam and Leo seemed to be feeling around on the walls and pipes. "What took you so long?" Piper asked. Cole glanced at Phoebe. "Just a little talk. Now what are we up to?" he said, quickly changing the subject.

Piper was suspicious about what had happened back at the manor but decided to drop it and concentrate at the situation at hand. "Sam and Leo are searching around for the entrance to the portal. Leo says that portals are like time ripples. It's like this door or something hidden within another thing. Since we tracked Paige, Alex and Rachel here, then we think that there might be some invisible door in one of these walls." She said.

Cole and Phoebe nodded and went to go help for the portal. Sam felt around the wall she was at. Brick by brick, she checked every single part of the wall. She didn't want to miss anything. She just had to save Alex. She just had to. If she didn't, then she didn't have any use living either.

A sudden pull of her hand startled her. The wall she was touching wasn't solid anymore. Her hand was going right through it. 'This must be it.' She thought. "I found it!!" she screamed out. Leo, Piper, Phoebe and Cole stopped their searching and ran over to her. Four of them stood behind Sam as she slowly looked back at them.

"Are we ready?" she asked, gulping down her saliva as a sign of nervousness. Piper gave her a warm look and nodded. "Go on ahead honey." She said reassuringly. Sam nodded and took a deep breath. She stared at the brick wall, and slowly stepped towards it.

She was startled by the sight of a sudden dark room. She squinted to see if anyone was there. There was barely any light, except a few spotlights from the ceiling. Then she saw two figures in ahead of her. They were sitting and down, and were back to back. "RACHEL!!" she screamed, happy to see her cousin. The girl turned to her and even from far away, could she see the grin on her face. "Sam!!" she cried. Sam looked in the back of her and called to Piper and the others.

"Come in!! They're here!!" she cried, her voice sparking with hope. She saw the other four come into the room. They too, were startled by the sudden sight of the dark room. Sam also saw her little brother, leaning against a corner of a wall, his shirt was bloody and he was wounded. "Alex?? Dad!! Help Alex! He's hurt." He screamed to Leo.

She started to run towards him, fast. Alex looked up at her and smiled. "Sam..." He whispered as he saw a blurry image of his sister running towards him. Sam smiled and ran even faster. When she finally came within at least 15 feet of him, she suddenly got shocked by some electrical force and got thrown to the other side of the room where she started.

"SAM!!" Rachel cried. They were all surprised at the sudden forcefield that had electrified Sam. Piper and Phoebe went to see how Sam was. Cole and Leo stepped closer to see what happened. Then, another shadow joined them in the portal. It was clapping.

"Bravo. Bravo. It took you only 72 minutes to find me and your dear family members." Darien said as he came out of the shadows. He raised his hands up and now the forcefields were visible to Leo and Cole. A blue wall was blocking Rachel, Paige and Alex from the other five.

"And now my revenge starts." Darien said slyly, as another slick smile appeared across his face.

A/N: gahhh. More soon ok? Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry this chapter wasn't that good but twas the best I could do for now. I think I'll update sometime later or tomorrow. Sorry it's taking so long to finish, I'm working on this other Charmed fic too. Well, cyaz.