**thanks for all the wonderful reviews and comments! I don't know how long
this story is going to be... I hope you don't get bored with it. Chris's new
power to disassociate things will be fully explained in the next chapter.
;-) ~abs
Paige was up early for Sunday breakfast. Piper, Leo and Wyatt orbed in as Paige was in mid-flip with a pancake causing her to sling batter all over herself. Piper and Leo laughed. "How come I can be super-witch and kill uber-demons but I can't even make pancakes!" Paige exclaimed, "You're really going to have to teach me how to do this after you have Chris."
"Deal," Piper laughed taking the spatula from Paige.
Chloe joined the happy family in the kitchen, "Morning," she grunted avoiding eye contact with Paige.
"Good morning," Paige beamed. "How did you sleep?" Chloe didn't answer but simply picked up the morning paper. Paige, Piper, and Leo exchanged furtive looks.
"Glad to see you're in a good mood," Leo said concerned.
"I had a rough night," Chloe tersely responded.
Leo continued to stare at her, hoping she would at least make eye contact with him so he would have an idea what was going on. She didn't. "Well, I have to go take care of some business. If you need to talk, just call me." Chloe nodded as Leo orbed out.
"I really need an aspirin—or the whole bottle," Chris groaned entering the kitchen.
"Morning, honey," Piper greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, "You smell like whiskey."
Chris laughed nervously, "Ha, ha, well isn't that something?" he said filling a glass with water and chugging it. He then turned to Chloe, "I thought you were going to get me up this morning so we could finish our talk."
Chloe rose from her chair in fury and flung a low-voltage energy ball at Chris who exploded in a cloud of orbs. Piper's and Paige's jaws dropped. Chloe stormed out as Chris recollected himself and exclaimed, "What have I told you about doing that? Especially when I have a hangover!" and turned and followed her out of the room.
"Did she just blow up my son? I think she just blew up my son!" Piper asked bewildered with an edge of panic. Paige grabbed Piper's arm as they followed the argument into the living room.
"You know how he was vanquished, Chris. You know all the details! You know how, you know why, you know by whom," Chloe pointed exasperated at Paige. "And you told me you didn't know anything. How could you? That is absolutely imperative information for getting him back!"
Chris, obviously furious with Chloe's reaction, walked up to her and in a hushed whisper, "Do you mind yelling at me a little quieter. I don't think the dead man down the street heard you!" and then into Chloe's ear, "You're going to give yourself away."
"I... don't... care..." and she fired another fireball at Chris who orbed out before he could be blown up a second time. He orbed back in next to the wall, which he leaned against and motioned to the plate of pancakes on the counter—which promptly flew through the wall and into Chloe's face, "AH!" she screamed.
"STOP BLOWING ME UP!" Chris shouted back.
Chloe turned to a vase of flowers sitting on the dining room table and motioned for the water in it to go flying towards Chris as Piper shouted, "Enough!" and froze the water and vase, "Enough, enough, enough!" She waddled over to Chris and grabbed his arm as Paige grabbed Chloe and marched them back into the living room, putting them each in a chair, then taking a seat on the sofa themselves. "Somebody better start explaining what the hell is going on here before I start blowing things up," she demanded. Chris and Chloe looked away. The potpourri bowl on the end table between them exploded as they both turned to look at Piper, "I'm so not kidding."
"I had a dream last night. A dream about how my dad was vanquished," Chloe answered not looking anyone in the eye. Chris turned to look at her.
"I thought Batterak had your dad in custody somewhere and was feeding off his powers?" Paige asked confused.
"He does. But apparently, my dad has been vanquished before and is currently still vanquished." Chloe answered matter-of-factly.
"He's been vanquished three times," Chris added.
Chloe jumped up, "What?"
"Hey, hey, hey... before anything else gets blown up, including my son, or thrown across the room, let's sit down and talk the rest of this out," Piper tried to suggest calmly.
Chloe walked across the room and picked up the spell book she had taken from Phoebe's room. "I can't talk about this anymore right now," she said looking at the wedding pictures in the curio cabinet, "let Chris fill you in. He obviously knows more than me, anyway. I have some research to do." She turned tear-filled and hurt eyes towards the room and shimmered out.
"I heard a yelling match... What did I miss?" Phoebe asked coming down the steps.
"Women," Chris leaned back in his chair.
Chloe shimmered into the mausoleum. She walked over to the sarcophagus of her grandfather and laid her left hand on top. Squatting down to read the nameplate she traced the letters of his name out loud, "Benjamin Turner." She knew her father had once worked to get back his soul, and it had been used as leverage by the brotherhood to get him to turn against the Charmed Ones, but until the day before she never knew what had become of it. "You were a good man, I'm sorry things ended so badly," she talked to him—he had been killed trying to save him while her father was young. "Funny how mysterious deaths tend to run in families," she noted standing up.
"Bravo, bravo. I think I have a tear in my eye," a wicked voice mocked from behind her. She turned to aim a fireball at Batterak who successfully deflected it back at her—catching her arm with a nasty burn. She fell to the floor in pain.
"What do you want?" Chloe glared at him through the pain.
"I think that should be obvious," Batterak sauntered over to her, "I want you. But first you've got to use that pretty little head of yours and get your papa back. Then we'll talk," he shimmered out leaving Chloe in a lump of agony on the floor.
"So, we can actually blow you up?" Phoebe kidded Chris.
"Yes," he moaned, "haven't you seen Mom blow up Leo?"
"That's dad," Piper gently corrected, "and they have—but he's dead, you're not."
"Well, Chloe figured out when we were little that she could blow me up with an energy ball. It made our arguments a lot more colorful if you catch my drift." The threesome laughed, "Not funny," Chris shied away.
"So tell us how you can use your powers on each other at all?" Paige wondered.
"Our powers aren't connected like yours are. If one of us loses them, it doesn't affect everybody. Granted, we're still not supposed to. But Chloe has a temper—she got it from both sides," he finished under his breath. Chris looked up and saw the ring on Paige's necklace glowing and quickly grabbed it telekinetically.
"Hey, you better fix that!" Paige grabbed at her neck.
"Chloe, I don't know where you are!" he paced. Then closed his eyes. Leo had been teaching him how to tap into his white lighter powers to sense where people were. If he could only find her—then he orbed out.
"You know, note to self—teach my kids not to orb out in the middle of conversations," Piper patted her round belly.
"Check," Paige nodded.
Chris orbed into the mausoleum to find Chloe unconscious on the floor, "You have got to stop doing this," he sighed. "Leo! Leo!" he called.
"What?" Leo answered orbing in behind him.
"Help her, she's hurt," he points to the massive burn on Chloe's shoulder. Leo placed his hands over the burn and it slowly healed. Chris shook his head as Chloe came to, "Now what did you do?"
She squinted her eyes at him and grabbed her ring out of his hand, shoving it back on her right finger. "It was Batterak. He was waiting on me here."
"Is he gone?" Leo asked.
"I think so, but just in case I think we better get out of her. I want to run something by you two before we talk to the sisters, if that's ok?" Chloe sat up, rubbing her arm.
"I know just the place," Leo winked.
The threesome orbed in on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. "You sure do come up here a lot," Chloe teased taking a seat, "What if we're seen?"
"Who would think to look up on the top of the bridge tower for three people?" Chris responded sarcastically.
"They'd only see two, I'm invisible," Leo informed them—Chloe and Chris shrugged their shoulders. "What did you want to talk to us about?"
Chloe sat for a moment and then spoke, "I've got to bring my dad back. And I think I know how." Chris looked at her shocked.
"Who's your dad?" Leo honestly did not know.
*I thought he knew your secret.* Chris thought.
*He knows who my mom is, not my dad,* she looked at Chris, then back to Leo, "I'm afraid to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because you might kill her," Chris answered Leo, "or kill him once we figure out how to get him back."
Leo looked at Chloe puzzled for a minute then the pieces fell together. "How in the world is he your father?" he asked emphatically, "He's been vanquished... three times!" Leo yelled jumping to his feet.
"So I've heard," Chloe rolled her eyes to Chris who smirked, "Leo, he is good. Somehow, he's alive and he is good and he is being held hostage by the most powerful demon of our time... who is feeding off his power. And as he does, he is invincible to the power of three and he is invincible to my powers because he is now tied to them. That wound you healed ten minutes ago was from a fireball that I fired!" Chloe was now standing. "He has a soul, Leo. And if he weren't good, I wouldn't be either." Chloe walked to the far end of the bridge tower they were perched upon and levitated there with her eyes closed.
Leo sighed and looked at Chris, "Hey, don't look at me. I know him from the future, she's not pulling your leg. He's saved me more times than I can count." Leo looked down at the city remembering how long and awful the battle to vanquish Cole had been—the whole two years of it. Phoebe had finally healed from the wounds of distrust with which Cole had hit her.
"Chloe, he was certifiably insane when the girls finally vanquished him," Leo began, "he had tried to kidnap Phoebe, blow up Piper who was pregnant and fortunately had healing powers, and last but not least tried to eradicate Paige from history by turning back time and keeping Piper and Phoebe from ever meeting her. Where is the good in all of that!"
"I didn't know about all that," Chloe watched a boat going under the bridge and out towards the Pacific, "I didn't even know how he was vanquished—not until my dream last night anyway. I don't know how he changed, or why he changed, but he has. Leo, think of it this way, if we don't bring him back—I don't exist. And personally, I like living."
Leo looked at Chloe hovering above the bridge, watching the boats, and chuckled to himself. He had watched Phoebe growing up, before she had powers, and now knowing that he was watching her daughter—regardless of who her father was—he had a little pride. He had only known her for forty- eight hours, and he wanted to continue to get to know her. Leo knew Chloe had a valid point—if they did not find a way to bring Cole back then she would no longer exist. How is that fair to her? How is that fair to his son who obviously loved her as a sister? He walked up to Chloe and startled her by putting his hand on her shoulder, "We'll find a way," he attempted to assuage her.
"I have a way," she turned around.
"What?" Chris asked.
"My epiphany... that's what it was. I know what to do. The Power of Three, times two," she held up two fingers.
"Explain," Chris rose to join Leo and Chloe across from him.
"You, me, Wyatt, Phoebe, Paige and Piper. Between the six of us, there has to be enough powerful magic to get something done."
"Now that's funny. They spent two years trying to vanquish him, and now we're asking them to bring him back? You can't be serious?" Chris grinned, "But she is serious!" he threw his hands up.
"Yes, I am," Chloe nodded, "and here's why they're going to help us. Cole is the only one who can vanquish Batterak. It's his power that Batterak is feeding off of... therefore he is the only one strong enough to fight him and weaken him. Once Batterak is weakened we can vanquish him. Voila."
"Now you're crazy," Chris chided.
"I know I am, it runs in my family," she cocked her head at him and stuck out her tongue.
Leo finally spoke up, "She's right, though. That may be the only way to vanquish him."
"Ok, how do you plan on doing this?" Chris interrogated.
"Blood. And the Hall of Lost Souls," Chloe answered. Leo and Chris exchanged looks, "Let me explain," she began.
Paige was up early for Sunday breakfast. Piper, Leo and Wyatt orbed in as Paige was in mid-flip with a pancake causing her to sling batter all over herself. Piper and Leo laughed. "How come I can be super-witch and kill uber-demons but I can't even make pancakes!" Paige exclaimed, "You're really going to have to teach me how to do this after you have Chris."
"Deal," Piper laughed taking the spatula from Paige.
Chloe joined the happy family in the kitchen, "Morning," she grunted avoiding eye contact with Paige.
"Good morning," Paige beamed. "How did you sleep?" Chloe didn't answer but simply picked up the morning paper. Paige, Piper, and Leo exchanged furtive looks.
"Glad to see you're in a good mood," Leo said concerned.
"I had a rough night," Chloe tersely responded.
Leo continued to stare at her, hoping she would at least make eye contact with him so he would have an idea what was going on. She didn't. "Well, I have to go take care of some business. If you need to talk, just call me." Chloe nodded as Leo orbed out.
"I really need an aspirin—or the whole bottle," Chris groaned entering the kitchen.
"Morning, honey," Piper greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, "You smell like whiskey."
Chris laughed nervously, "Ha, ha, well isn't that something?" he said filling a glass with water and chugging it. He then turned to Chloe, "I thought you were going to get me up this morning so we could finish our talk."
Chloe rose from her chair in fury and flung a low-voltage energy ball at Chris who exploded in a cloud of orbs. Piper's and Paige's jaws dropped. Chloe stormed out as Chris recollected himself and exclaimed, "What have I told you about doing that? Especially when I have a hangover!" and turned and followed her out of the room.
"Did she just blow up my son? I think she just blew up my son!" Piper asked bewildered with an edge of panic. Paige grabbed Piper's arm as they followed the argument into the living room.
"You know how he was vanquished, Chris. You know all the details! You know how, you know why, you know by whom," Chloe pointed exasperated at Paige. "And you told me you didn't know anything. How could you? That is absolutely imperative information for getting him back!"
Chris, obviously furious with Chloe's reaction, walked up to her and in a hushed whisper, "Do you mind yelling at me a little quieter. I don't think the dead man down the street heard you!" and then into Chloe's ear, "You're going to give yourself away."
"I... don't... care..." and she fired another fireball at Chris who orbed out before he could be blown up a second time. He orbed back in next to the wall, which he leaned against and motioned to the plate of pancakes on the counter—which promptly flew through the wall and into Chloe's face, "AH!" she screamed.
"STOP BLOWING ME UP!" Chris shouted back.
Chloe turned to a vase of flowers sitting on the dining room table and motioned for the water in it to go flying towards Chris as Piper shouted, "Enough!" and froze the water and vase, "Enough, enough, enough!" She waddled over to Chris and grabbed his arm as Paige grabbed Chloe and marched them back into the living room, putting them each in a chair, then taking a seat on the sofa themselves. "Somebody better start explaining what the hell is going on here before I start blowing things up," she demanded. Chris and Chloe looked away. The potpourri bowl on the end table between them exploded as they both turned to look at Piper, "I'm so not kidding."
"I had a dream last night. A dream about how my dad was vanquished," Chloe answered not looking anyone in the eye. Chris turned to look at her.
"I thought Batterak had your dad in custody somewhere and was feeding off his powers?" Paige asked confused.
"He does. But apparently, my dad has been vanquished before and is currently still vanquished." Chloe answered matter-of-factly.
"He's been vanquished three times," Chris added.
Chloe jumped up, "What?"
"Hey, hey, hey... before anything else gets blown up, including my son, or thrown across the room, let's sit down and talk the rest of this out," Piper tried to suggest calmly.
Chloe walked across the room and picked up the spell book she had taken from Phoebe's room. "I can't talk about this anymore right now," she said looking at the wedding pictures in the curio cabinet, "let Chris fill you in. He obviously knows more than me, anyway. I have some research to do." She turned tear-filled and hurt eyes towards the room and shimmered out.
"I heard a yelling match... What did I miss?" Phoebe asked coming down the steps.
"Women," Chris leaned back in his chair.
Chloe shimmered into the mausoleum. She walked over to the sarcophagus of her grandfather and laid her left hand on top. Squatting down to read the nameplate she traced the letters of his name out loud, "Benjamin Turner." She knew her father had once worked to get back his soul, and it had been used as leverage by the brotherhood to get him to turn against the Charmed Ones, but until the day before she never knew what had become of it. "You were a good man, I'm sorry things ended so badly," she talked to him—he had been killed trying to save him while her father was young. "Funny how mysterious deaths tend to run in families," she noted standing up.
"Bravo, bravo. I think I have a tear in my eye," a wicked voice mocked from behind her. She turned to aim a fireball at Batterak who successfully deflected it back at her—catching her arm with a nasty burn. She fell to the floor in pain.
"What do you want?" Chloe glared at him through the pain.
"I think that should be obvious," Batterak sauntered over to her, "I want you. But first you've got to use that pretty little head of yours and get your papa back. Then we'll talk," he shimmered out leaving Chloe in a lump of agony on the floor.
"So, we can actually blow you up?" Phoebe kidded Chris.
"Yes," he moaned, "haven't you seen Mom blow up Leo?"
"That's dad," Piper gently corrected, "and they have—but he's dead, you're not."
"Well, Chloe figured out when we were little that she could blow me up with an energy ball. It made our arguments a lot more colorful if you catch my drift." The threesome laughed, "Not funny," Chris shied away.
"So tell us how you can use your powers on each other at all?" Paige wondered.
"Our powers aren't connected like yours are. If one of us loses them, it doesn't affect everybody. Granted, we're still not supposed to. But Chloe has a temper—she got it from both sides," he finished under his breath. Chris looked up and saw the ring on Paige's necklace glowing and quickly grabbed it telekinetically.
"Hey, you better fix that!" Paige grabbed at her neck.
"Chloe, I don't know where you are!" he paced. Then closed his eyes. Leo had been teaching him how to tap into his white lighter powers to sense where people were. If he could only find her—then he orbed out.
"You know, note to self—teach my kids not to orb out in the middle of conversations," Piper patted her round belly.
"Check," Paige nodded.
Chris orbed into the mausoleum to find Chloe unconscious on the floor, "You have got to stop doing this," he sighed. "Leo! Leo!" he called.
"What?" Leo answered orbing in behind him.
"Help her, she's hurt," he points to the massive burn on Chloe's shoulder. Leo placed his hands over the burn and it slowly healed. Chris shook his head as Chloe came to, "Now what did you do?"
She squinted her eyes at him and grabbed her ring out of his hand, shoving it back on her right finger. "It was Batterak. He was waiting on me here."
"Is he gone?" Leo asked.
"I think so, but just in case I think we better get out of her. I want to run something by you two before we talk to the sisters, if that's ok?" Chloe sat up, rubbing her arm.
"I know just the place," Leo winked.
The threesome orbed in on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. "You sure do come up here a lot," Chloe teased taking a seat, "What if we're seen?"
"Who would think to look up on the top of the bridge tower for three people?" Chris responded sarcastically.
"They'd only see two, I'm invisible," Leo informed them—Chloe and Chris shrugged their shoulders. "What did you want to talk to us about?"
Chloe sat for a moment and then spoke, "I've got to bring my dad back. And I think I know how." Chris looked at her shocked.
"Who's your dad?" Leo honestly did not know.
*I thought he knew your secret.* Chris thought.
*He knows who my mom is, not my dad,* she looked at Chris, then back to Leo, "I'm afraid to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because you might kill her," Chris answered Leo, "or kill him once we figure out how to get him back."
Leo looked at Chloe puzzled for a minute then the pieces fell together. "How in the world is he your father?" he asked emphatically, "He's been vanquished... three times!" Leo yelled jumping to his feet.
"So I've heard," Chloe rolled her eyes to Chris who smirked, "Leo, he is good. Somehow, he's alive and he is good and he is being held hostage by the most powerful demon of our time... who is feeding off his power. And as he does, he is invincible to the power of three and he is invincible to my powers because he is now tied to them. That wound you healed ten minutes ago was from a fireball that I fired!" Chloe was now standing. "He has a soul, Leo. And if he weren't good, I wouldn't be either." Chloe walked to the far end of the bridge tower they were perched upon and levitated there with her eyes closed.
Leo sighed and looked at Chris, "Hey, don't look at me. I know him from the future, she's not pulling your leg. He's saved me more times than I can count." Leo looked down at the city remembering how long and awful the battle to vanquish Cole had been—the whole two years of it. Phoebe had finally healed from the wounds of distrust with which Cole had hit her.
"Chloe, he was certifiably insane when the girls finally vanquished him," Leo began, "he had tried to kidnap Phoebe, blow up Piper who was pregnant and fortunately had healing powers, and last but not least tried to eradicate Paige from history by turning back time and keeping Piper and Phoebe from ever meeting her. Where is the good in all of that!"
"I didn't know about all that," Chloe watched a boat going under the bridge and out towards the Pacific, "I didn't even know how he was vanquished—not until my dream last night anyway. I don't know how he changed, or why he changed, but he has. Leo, think of it this way, if we don't bring him back—I don't exist. And personally, I like living."
Leo looked at Chloe hovering above the bridge, watching the boats, and chuckled to himself. He had watched Phoebe growing up, before she had powers, and now knowing that he was watching her daughter—regardless of who her father was—he had a little pride. He had only known her for forty- eight hours, and he wanted to continue to get to know her. Leo knew Chloe had a valid point—if they did not find a way to bring Cole back then she would no longer exist. How is that fair to her? How is that fair to his son who obviously loved her as a sister? He walked up to Chloe and startled her by putting his hand on her shoulder, "We'll find a way," he attempted to assuage her.
"I have a way," she turned around.
"What?" Chris asked.
"My epiphany... that's what it was. I know what to do. The Power of Three, times two," she held up two fingers.
"Explain," Chris rose to join Leo and Chloe across from him.
"You, me, Wyatt, Phoebe, Paige and Piper. Between the six of us, there has to be enough powerful magic to get something done."
"Now that's funny. They spent two years trying to vanquish him, and now we're asking them to bring him back? You can't be serious?" Chris grinned, "But she is serious!" he threw his hands up.
"Yes, I am," Chloe nodded, "and here's why they're going to help us. Cole is the only one who can vanquish Batterak. It's his power that Batterak is feeding off of... therefore he is the only one strong enough to fight him and weaken him. Once Batterak is weakened we can vanquish him. Voila."
"Now you're crazy," Chris chided.
"I know I am, it runs in my family," she cocked her head at him and stuck out her tongue.
Leo finally spoke up, "She's right, though. That may be the only way to vanquish him."
"Ok, how do you plan on doing this?" Chris interrogated.
"Blood. And the Hall of Lost Souls," Chloe answered. Leo and Chris exchanged looks, "Let me explain," she began.