A/N: There are a few things we need to say before this chapter gets under way. First of all, = change of setting = vision ######## = same setting different time

That said, on with the chapter.

Ever since she was a child growing up there, Piper had always loved the Manor, but there were times, like tonight, when she was alone that the sheer size of the house seemed to weigh on her. She sighed as she poured the batter she had just finished mixing into a pan and smoothed it out. Paige was out on a date. Of course, Phoebe was once again staying late at work, fighting with her column to finish it up. She understood Phoebe's problems with the column and wished her sister luck with working through them tonight, but where was Leo? She knew he had other duties to take care of, but that didn't stop her from missing him and wanting him home with their children.

Shaking her head in yet another vain attempt to clear her thoughts, Piper slid the cake into the oven and set the timer. She dusted the flour off from where it had collected on her jeans and washed her hands before heading upstairs. She and the rest of her family had been through so much already in their lives, and there was always some new danger looming around the next corner. She knew that, while she'd never fully get used to that, she'd be more than able to handle whatever came their way as long as she had the two beautiful faces she was about to see waiting for her at home.

Reaching the nursery, Piper looked in first at her youngest. Though he was smiling peacefully in his sleep, pain shot through her heart as she looked down on him and remembered the older version of this child. "Chris . . ." she whispered, keeping her voice low enough that she would not wake the sleeping children. She reached out and stroked his face with tender, trembling fingers. She knew that she would see him again, that she was actually looking at him even now, but she also believed that nothing would ever dull the pain of losing him the first time.

Blinking back tears, Piper moved to the next cradle, and she had to smile at the sight before her. Her firstborn lay sleeping, seemingly just as peaceful as his brother, but Piper's smile vanished as she lay a hand on his forehead. Wyatt was burning up. As soon as his mother realized that, her instincts kicked in. She did not yet wake him, but instead turned and ran, her footsteps falling as silently as if she were hiding from Demons instead of simply trying not to wake her sons, into the bathroom where she started drawing cool water into the bath tub and raced back for Wyatt.

Stroking Wyatt's face, she called softly to him. "Wyatt. Come on, sweetheart," she whispered, trying not to wake Chris. He stirred in his sleep but didn't answer. Piper carried him down to the kitchen where she gave him a dose of Children's Tylenol. It took some doing to get the medicine down him, but once she had, she carried him into the bathroom and shut off the water.

Shutting the door partway with her foot, Piper undressed Wyatt and set him in the tub. She began to wash him gently even while wondering aloud, "Just where is your father, huh?" She no longer wondered simply because she missed him, but because she had a sudden feeling that this was just the beginning and she would soon need her husband.

At the paper, Phoebe Halliwell was sitting at her desk, trying to figure out this week's column. Ever since she had lost her powers, she had been having a hard time with the column. She wasn't sure of what she should write and Elise was not happy. Her past four columns had been late and Elise had told her that if this one wasn't in on time, she could very well lose her job.

Phoebe knew that she couldn't let that happen. She knew that they needed the income from her job as well as the club. She knew that now having four adults and two small children in the house was taxing enough on the budget without her losing her job.

Putting down her pen for the tenth time in the past hour, Phoebe sighed and ran her fingers through her now shoulder-length hair. She was frustrated and she hated that feeling. She thought of how many times she had felt that way when dealing with demons in the past. Before the empathy had come along, she had always had to depend on spellwork and her own martial arts skills to deal with the demons. But that was not always an option. Sometimes the other two girls would have to bail her out using their powers. She had so wanted an active power. Then, it came. The empathy. She had used it to save Piper from becoming an Amazon and to remind her of what she felt for Leo. She had used it to write her column.

Phoebe turned her head and looked at the picture on her desk. It was of her, Piper, Paige, Leo, Chris and Wyatt in front of the Manor. Everyone looked so happy. Leo was back with the family instead of being an Elder. The two boys were happy and healthy. Paige was seeing someone steady. Piper wasn't trying to bottle up her feelings anymore. And Phoebe, well, she wasn't so sure about herself. She was still upset because she had been there when the older Chris had died. She had lost him and, even though his younger self was still here, she knew he wouldn't grow up to be the same young man that had come to them a little over a year ago.

She picked up the picture and focused on her family, hoping that, as usual, it would help her to clear her mind, calm down and get back to work. Instead, she felt a familiar rush and saw a vision for the first time in almost a year.

The nursery. It was the nursery at home. There were the two cribs that Wyatt and Chris slept in. Chris was asleep in his but Wyatt's was empty. 'Where's Wyatt? Why isn't he in his bed?' Suddenly, she spun, feeling an evil presence in the room. Two demons had just shimmered into the room. "Piper! Piper! Leo! Demons! Demons in the nursery! Help!" She tried to fight them, but they apparently couldn't see her. They walked right past her and picked up Chris. They turned around as Piper burst into the room, holding Wyatt. But before her older sister could do anything, they shimmered out with the youngest of the Halliwell line.

"NO!!!" she screamed as she felt her knees go out from underneath her. She didn't hit the floor though. Two hands caught her. She looked up to see her brother-in-law's face looking at her worriedly.

"What's wrong, Phoebe? I heard you call me. What did you mean by demons in the nursery?"

At this point, tears were flowing freely down Phoebe's face. "I had a vision. Demons in the nursery. They took Chris. Piper had Wyatt in the tub. She came back in just as they picked him up and shimmered out. We have to go home. Now."

Leo nodded and put a supporting arm around Phoebe's shoulders to orb them home.

While watching Wyatt in the tub, Piper heard something. It sounded like Phoebe's voice yelling. Something about demons in the nursery. Even though Wyatt's fever was still annoyingly present, Piper pulled him out of the tub and was running up the stairs even as she wrapped Wyatt in a towel.

She burst into the room to see two demons holding Chris. Before she could bring her powers to bear on them, they had shimmered out of the nursery, taking her youngest baby with them.

She just stood for a moment, in total shock. Chris! Chris had been taken! It took a few moments for her to react. She sunk to her knees, tears running silently down her face. Wyatt started crying as his mother held him close to her, her hand stroking his hair as if to reassure herself that he was still there.

Leo and Phoebe orbed in just then. Phoebe looked around. They were too late. Chris was gone. She knelt beside Piper and touched her shoulder. "Piper. Piper, let me see Wyatt. Let me take him. Please."

Piper hesitated for a moment. She wasn't sure at first if it was really Phoebe. After all, after Pru had died, she had heard Pru's voice often, either telling her how badly she had screwed up or how proud she was. She had even seen Pru once or twice. Just a ghost image of course. But it made it a little easier to deal with the pain of Pru's death. But when she felt Phoebe's hand on her shoulder, she knew that Phoebe and Leo were really here. She handed Wyatt to Phoebe and looked at Leo. "He's got a fever. That's why I wasn't in here when they took Chris. I had him in the tub. I swear, I didn't know. I didn't know they'd come after him! I didn't know they'd come after Chris!"

When she started sobbing again, Leo was torn between his older son, finding his younger son and comforting their mother. He decided that he needed to heal Wyatt first. He was curious as to why Piper hadn't called him when she realized that Wyatt had a fever. He would have been there in a heartbeat and then they could have stopped the demons that stole Chris.

Those thoughts wouldn't do any good now. They had to take care of Wyatt and then figure out why these demons had taken his younger son. He stepped over to where Phoebe was holding Wyatt and healed him without a second thought. Then he turned to Piper. He realized that she really was sorry. Kneeling beside her, he took his wife into his arms. She turned into him and continued sobbing, leaning on him as if she had no strength left.

Phoebe turned away, not wanting anyone to see how much she missed having someone take care of her like that. This was about the only thing she missed about Cole. He had always been a strong shoulder to lean on when she felt weak. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. She bounced Wyatt a little as she waited, trying to keep him calm.

Paige's voice came to her rather breathless. "Yeah?"

"Paige, it's Phoebe. You need to come home now. Chris is gone."

"Gone? Gone? Gone how?"

"Stolen. Kidnapped. Right out of his crib. Demons. Come home now."

"Be there in a moment. This is really bad timing."

"Sorry."

The two girls hung up and about five minutes later, Paige orbed into the bedroom. "What do we do first?"

Piper was still crying in Leo's arms and Phoebe wasn't in the room. She walked in a moment later, carrying the map and scrying crystal. Seeing that their youngest sister was here, she handed Wyatt to Paige and sat down with the map. She picked up one of Chris's smaller toys and tied it to the string holding the scrying crystal. She started scrying for her nephew.

She sat there for almost thirty minutes before putting down the crystal. "Whoever or whatever has him is blocking the scrying. I can't find him."