PART SIX

AN: For Charmed fans, this story takes place after "SpinCity". And I know that, after that episode, Piper moved to the MagicSchool where she would be safe until the baby was born. But let's say that, in this story, she came home for a visit.


Paige Matthews watched her sister pace the foyer with worried eyes. Piper was a bundle of anxiety in motion, her body rigid with tension. Which could not be good for the baby.

"Piper, sweetie." Paige stood up from the steps and took a cautious step towards her big sister. "Wouldn't you like to sit down? You know, you should really try to…"

"Don't say relax!" Piper snapped, pausing to glare at her younger sister. "Don't tell me to relax! Relaxed is the last thing I'm going to be right now!"

When she waved her hand in exasperation, Paige took a quick step back, then let out a sigh of relief when nothing in the immediate vicinity blew up. That kind of thing tended to happen when Piper was upset.

"Okay, okay." Paige held up her hands in supplication. "I won't tell you to relax. But maybe you could sit down for just a minute…"

Piper ignored her and started to pace again, one hand resting on her protruding stomach.

Sighing, Paige sat back down on the steps. It wasn't that she could blame Piper for her worry. Paige was worried herself. After all, her nephew—after going off to fight a demon on his own, for which she'd kick his ass later—had vanished.

It wasn't unusual for Chris to go off on his own, although he didn't do it as much now as he had before they knew who he really was. But this time was different. This time, he'd gone off to vanquish a demon, without "back-up". And he knew Piper knew where he was going, and had been both angry and worried when he orbed out on her. Under those circumstances, he would have wanted to get back to the Manor as soon as possible, partly to gloat over how easy vanquishing the demon had been, partly to ease his mother's mind.

Only, he'd been gone for hours now. He wasn't at the club. He wasn't at the Golden Gate Bridge, his favorite thinking spot. Leo couldn't find or sense him. And he hadn't answered any of their 'calls'.

"What if that demon was stronger than he thought it was going to be?" Piper suddenly said, obviously saying what she'd been thinking the past few hours. "Or what if he got another lead on who's after Wyatt, and he went off to follow it without telling us first?"

"Calm down, Piper. Chris wouldn't do that."

Piper paused to give her a long, disbelieving look.

"Okay, he would do that," Paige reluctantly admitted. "But I don't think that's what he did this time. Not when he knows how worried you would be."

"Which just means there are a million other things that could have happened to him."

Since she couldn't think of an argument against that one, Paige remained silent.

"I'm going up to check on Wyatt," Piper suddenly said, abruptly starting for the stairs.

Standing, Paige stepped out of the way. "That's a good idea, honey. And why don't you try to get some rest, huh?"

Again, Piper ignored her. As Paige watched Piper slowly climbed the stairs, Paige's heart went out to her. She might not be a mother, but she understood what her sister was doing. With one child missing, she felt the urge to hold the other closer.

Sighing, Paige went into the living room. She found Pheobe still sitting on the sofa, holding a scrying crystal over a map. The map of San Francisco had been abandoned long ago when they could find no sign of Chris in the city. Now, they'd moved up to a map of the world.

Paige watched as the crystal swayed aimlessly on the end of a black cord. "Still nothing?" she asked, disappointment in her voice.

"Still nothing," Pheobe dejectedly agreed. She lowered the crystal onto the coffee table, then shook her obviously tired hand. "Of course, that could be because I had to modify the spell when the crystal kept homing in on Baby Chris. So maybe that's keeping me from finding Big Chris."

"Ya think?" Paige asked hopefully.

"Anything's possible," Pheobe said. But the optimism in her voice sounded forced. "He could be in the Underworld, or a magical blind spot where a scrying crystal can't detect him. That, or he's not on this plane of existence anymore."

"Right," Paige nodded. She noticed Pheobe didn't mention the other option that might keep them from finding Chris. And she wasn't going to mention it either. "And I was thinking about something. When you tried to call him once, didn't he sort of put you on metaphysical mute?"

"Well, that was because I was kind of bugging him. Plus, I admit I wasn't calling him for anything really urgent." A mildly angry frown creased Pheobe's brow. "And that better not be what he's doing this time, or else he's so grounded!"

Paige smiled slightly at the idea of grounding 22 year-old Chris. After hours of worry, the smile felt good.

"We'll find him," Pheobe said, her voice strong and determined. Picking up the crystal, she started to scry again.

Nodding, Paige sat down on the sofa next to her. She took a deep breath to try to loosen up the knot that had formed in her chest.

It was hard to believe they'd only known Chris was a Halliwell for a few months. In such a short time, and despite a few rough patches, he just seemed to…fit. At first, it was hard for Paige to believe that this grown man (who was only a few years younger than her and, at the same time, hadn't technically even been born yet) was her nephew. Now, it just seemed normal.

Some might think Chris got along better with his aunt Pheobe. But he and Paige 'got along' in their own special way. They bickered. They argued. They disagreed. In fact, he'd become like the slightly annoying younger brother she'd never had. And her day just didn't feel complete unless she and Chris had snarked at each other at least once.

And, now, he was missing.

Elbows on her knees, hands fisted beneath her chin, Paige watched the scrying crystal, mentally urging it to settle somewhere, to give them some clue. And she tried not to think of all the things that could have happened to the newest member of their family.

(TO BE CONTINUED)