"Frozen In Time"
Disclaimer: See chapter One
Chapter Thirty: Unnatural Exposure Part One
Setting: August 10, 2023
Greg was sitting in the living room, the early morning sunlight just passing through the curtains. His face was pale, and there were dark bags under his eyes. He flipped through the Book of Shadows.
His eyes caught a written passage, penned by his grandmother Patricia.
A child is the finest and most innocent of innocents. It is therefore unlawful and unnatural to use magic to change what is in the nature of a child. Before casting a spell that affects a child, the witch must ask herself "Am I doing this for the child or am I doing this for myself? For the witch, who is bothered by the noise of a child and would seek to use magic to bring forth peace and quiet, this tome can only say one thing: sometimes a baby just has to cry.
He slammed the Book shut, he knew it would be wrong to cast a spell on his baby daughter. Halliwell Piper Wyatt was only two months old, and a non stop crier. Emma handles it well, but Greg hasn't slept in two months, and he is close to losing his job, especially with the paternal and demonic time he has taken off.
Who knew that a magical child, with no powers can cause such commotion. His mind is filled with thoughts about his daughter's future. He would only have one child. After Halli was born, Emma had to undergo a hysterectomy, for childbirth had not been kind on her body.
Pru was as big as a watermelon, and very moody. Cole, Mike and Sander had spent the last month turning the informal living room into a bedroom. It was a complicated task. The wall had to stop at the solarium's edge, the formal living room, and can't jut into the foyer leading into the dining room too much, not to mention, placing a window was also a chore.
"Cole! Stop bitching at me! I want to go out with my friends for the day!" Pru yelled at Cole, as she walked down the stairs.
"But what if the baby comes early?" he protested.
"The babies aren't coming for another two months! All I want to do is go to Sacramento to see my friends, who I abandoned when I moved back here because of that hunt shit!"
Cole rolled his eyes, Pru obviously inherited their mother's craving for a normal life.
Greg walked into the foyer to see the couple arguing. "Ssshhh you are going to wake Halli, and I won't be happy."
"Sorry." Cole and Pru said, and turned to each other.
"I'm only an orb away if anything demonic should happen." she kissed her husband and vanished in a swirl of orbs.
"I'm hungry." Cole said as she rubbed his stomach.
"Em, Sander, and Mike should be up soon, how about we do breakfast? It's Sunday, and I'll treat."
"Good, because Pru took our credit cards."
Greg laughed. Cole shrugged, and he went back upstairs to change out of his pajamas.
Greg was already dressed and showered, he guessed he should get it out of the way when he woke up at four am from a restless sleep.
At eight o'clock, Sander walked into the kitchen yawning. His chin full of blonde stubble, for he had neglected to shave in a two days.
He noticed Greg sitting at the table reading the paper, eating a cereal bar.
"Morning." Sander said after another yawn.
"Long night?" Greg asked Sander with a laugh.
"You can say that. I was up half the night researching some stuff for school."
"What do you have to research? You teach French, and speak French."
"Other stuff for school. So what are we doing about breakfast because we are tapped out in the food department." Sander said, as he rummaged through the fridge.
"Pru went out today, and I was thinking about going to breakfast at night, if Emma ever wakes up."
"No problem, I'll go shower and stuff." Sander said, as he stole the rest of his brother's cereal bar, and ran upstairs.
"That was mine!" Greg screamed at Sander's back, who totally ignored Greg.
Sander walked back into his room, and looked at Mike, who was snoring in bed. His chest moving up and down with each breath. His brown hair covered his eyes, it needed to be cut.
He opened some drawers and pulled out a pair of track pants, and a tee shirt with the Baker High School crest on it. He glanced in the mirror, and stared at his reflection. He picked up his gel tube, and placed a dollop in his palm, and then ran it through his locks. He didn't feel like showering because he took one that night before bed. He telekinetically moved his sneakers out from under the bed. Mike stirred.
"Morning sleepy beauty." Sander said to his boyfriend.
Mike squinted to see him, and groaned. Mike was always cranky.
"What are you doing today?" Sander asked, as he bent over to tie his shoes.
"Hopefully you." he joked.
"Later." Sander teased and sat back up and reached over and kissed Mike sweetly on the lips.
"I got to go. Elders want a staff meeting, and I got seven other charges to tend to."
"Okay, Greg, Cole, Em, the baby and I are going for breakfast, want me to bring you anything home?"
"Yeah, some bacon if you can." Mike loved bacon.
"I got to go, I'll see you later?"
"Definitely." Mike said, as he reached over and kissed Sander. "Remember the bacon."
Sander laughed and got up and walked out of the room, and headed downstairs.
By nine thirty, they pulled in at the Courtyard Café. The Courtyard Café was an open air restaurant. They were seated rather quickly despite the long lines. Halli was quiet and content, which was good. Greg and Emma looked alive, and Cole was on his cell phone with Pru, who had a question about Cole's pant size.
The waiter brought the plates to the table. He looked at Sander weird when he asked for a doggie bag of bacon.
"Try my omelette." Emma said to Greg as she placed her fork in his face, he complied like an obedient husband.
They and the rest of the hundred patrons were enjoying their breakfasts unaware of what was to come. It happened in less then thirty seconds, a crackling blue energy ball flew through the air and hit an empty table next to the witches and company. It exploded in several pieces and lit on fire.
Cole, Greg and Sander were immediately on their feet, as everyone freaked out. There at the door, after the smoke cleared was a demon. Of course he looked human, but there was something about him that bothered Cole.
Another energy ball was thrown through the air, which Greg froze before it hit a young woman.
"Witch!" screamed a few nearby people. Sander was surprised that everyone was glued to their seats watching this, he had half heartedly expected them to get up and run away, scared.
"Demon leave this place, you are not wanted!" Greg shouted angrily, as Halli began to cry.
"Cole get Emma and Halli out of here now, then go get Pru! NOW!" Greg dictated. Cole nodded and shimmered them out.
Sander stepped forward. "You messed with the wrong witches!" He flung his arm forth and a chair went sailing in the air towards the demon, who shimmered out and back in after the chair landed.
"I can take two low level witches, no problem."
"What about the Charmed Ones?" Pru's voice said as she orbed in.
"Take this!" he shrieked and sent three energy balls at the witches.
Greg put his hand up in a halt position and the ball intended for him froze.
Pru orbed out of the way, as the ball hit the stone wall behind her.
Sander flicked his wrist and the energy ball sailed off into the fountain in the center of the café.
"Greg now!!" Pru screamed. Greg did his usual hand motion and the demon blew up into a million particles.
"That was easy." Pru laughed.
"Freeze! Put your hands where we can see them!" a man said from behind the witches. The witches turned around and saw a SWAT team in the courtyard. "Now!" he yelled.
"Greg do something!" Pru muttered.
"You freeze instead!" he said, and the crowd froze.
"Home, now!" Sander said grabbing his sister's coat. She nodded and the three orbed out.
They were in serious trouble. They were exposed it was just a matter of time before they ended up on the news. The security tapes caught it all, and they would be sold to news stations for large sums of money. This was the beginning. The beginning of the end.
I hope you all liked. I loved the All Hell Breaks Loose plot from season three, and I tend on emulating it because this story commenced before that particular event. Review!!