Balloons, Cakes and Demon

Part 3

The sisters were now seated on the couch in the living room. Wyatt had been placed back into his playpen but he was standing at the rail, watching them with all the solemness a two year old could muster. Leo was pacing back and forth from one end of the room to the other and back again. It was, Paige surmised, like watching a tennis match. Back and forth, back and forth.

It was Piper who put him to a standstill. "Leo, stop wearing a hole in my floor and spit it out!" she snapped, impatience clear in her tone.

Leo stopped, turned to face them.

"What did the Elders have to say about our situation?" Phoebe asked, placing a hand on Piper's knee, to calm her sister down. She was a bundle of nerves: anxious, angry, worried, afraid.

"There's been half a dozen children missing for the past two weeks," Leo said instead.

"I didn't see that in the newspapers," Phoebe said, puzzled. "No one in the office said anything about missing kids."

"What does it have to do with Chris?" Piper demanded. She wanted answers now, not needing for Leo to beat about the bush.

"That's because no one knows about it," Leo explained. "It was never published in the newspapers or made known in the news. The parents couldn't tell anyone why their children were missing or how."

"Magical kids," Paige piped up. Her sisters turned to look at her while Leo looked slightly relieved. "I get what you're trying to say. The parents can't say anything because who in the world will believe you if you say your child was kidnapped by a demon."

They fell silent at the revelation.

"So the same one that took Chris took all the other children." Piper said in a quiet tone. "And the Elders... they never mentioned this to us, to you. Why?"

Even Leo couldn't give her a good answer.

"They didn't think it concerns us," he finally said, echoing Basil's word from earlier.

"In simpler words, they don't want us to be involved," Paige said waspishly. "Or they still don't trust us after all we've done? It should be us having the problems with trusting them, after what happened..."

"Because of their refusal to tell us, my son was taken from me! How dare they keep something like this from us, from me! Now, Chris is missing and I don't even know what is happening to him." Piper's tone grew louder and angrier as she talked. "How could they?"

"And that tops the list of why we just so don't like them at all," Paige quipped.

"Paige," warned Piper. She was not in a mood for her sister's usual ill-timed humor today.

"Whether They want it or not, we're still going to do what we always do." Phoebe stood up from the couch. "This is what we do best, protecting the innocent and vanquishing child kidnapping demons. Just forget about them for now."

"Forget about them?" Piper nearly shouted, whirling around to look at Phoebe. It was enough to make even the most brave hearted person quail. "I am not going to forget about what they did. I want to go Up There and blow them all up."

"Technically, you can't vanquish them," Leo said, and suddenly found himself at the brunt of his wife's angry glare. He flinched slightly.

"Phoebe's right, Piper," Paige said, getting up as well. "Just forget about those good-for-nothing, always-sitting-on-cushy-cloud-chairs, we-are-better-than-you-people, doing-nothing-but-twiddling-their-thumbs Elders." She said it all in one breath.

"Wow," said Piper, amazed by it. Even Phoebe looked slightly awed.

Wyatt giggled from his position in the playpen. The toddler clearly thought his aunt was funny today. Leo smiled slightly.

"Hey, you," Phoebe cooed at him. "You got such a sweet laugh, yes you do! You think your Aunt Paige is funny, yes you do!"

"Pheebs, please." Piper rolled her eyes.

"Right." Phoebe grinned sheepishly.

"All I'm saying is forget about them. We can rant about them the next time," Paige continued. "If They won't help us, we need to help ourselves."

"Paige is right," Leo said seriously. "Enough time has been wasted. We need to find the demon that took our son and get Chris back safe and sound."

"The demon's not in the Book," Phoebe said with a shake of her head. "Paige looked from cover to cover and found nothing."

"I had an idea to use Magic School's resources to help us," the youngest sister said. "If the demon's not in the Book, it could be in any one of Magic School's books. We find the demon, we find Chris."

"That's a good idea actually." Leo nodded in agreement. "We'll all go. We can drop Wyatt in the nursery."

Leo took Piper's arm and Paige took Phoebe's hand. Piper was now holding Wyatt against her hip. Brilliant blue lights began to surround both pairs, but then the doorbell rang for the third time that day, halting them.

"What now?" Piper exclaimed.

"I don't like this," said Darryl Morris for the twentieth time that day.

"Darryl, please." Sheila parked the car by the curb. She could see the manor standing in stark contrast against the blue sky. "We've been through this before."

"And I'll say it again, I don't like this." Her husband crossed his arms and glared at the manor.

"Are you going to stay in the car or come out?" Sheila's patience was running thin at her husband's stubbornness.

Darryl got out of the car reluctantly. His expression showed his discomfort at being near the manor. Nothing good ever came out of being friends with the Halliwells. It was as if they were the harbingers of bad luck to all who came within three feet of them.

"Just drop the present off and go," he told Sheila.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Darryl, we promised to attend the party and we will attend the party."

"No, you promised to attend the party," he corrected. "Not me."

"Just be civil to them, don't mention any arrest warrants or the name Sheridan." Sheila sighed, stepping up to the door and ringing the bell. "Just for once, Darryl, pretend that everything is fine between us. For today."

He looked like he was about to argue it but closed his mouth. "All right, fine. I'll pretend that nothing ever happened between us and smile."

"Thank you." Sheila turned to the door just as it was yanked open.

Paige stood on the other side, looking as she had just seen a two headed duck waddling down the street with its brood. Her brown eyes were round as teacups and opened wide. She quickly shut her jaw with a click of her teeth and smiled, although it was a very forced smile.

"Darryl! Sheila! Hi!" she chirped brightly. "How nice of you both to be here!"

Sheila's smile faded when she saw the expression on the other woman's face. Granted, it was a happy smiley look but it was forced. She had seen such a look on Darryl's face a few times before.

"Paige, is something the matter?" she asked. "Are we here at a bad time?"

"No... It's just that– " Paige looked behind her into the house before turning to them, her smile now rather strained and her eyes dark with worry.

"Did something happen to the boys, or Piper or Phoebe?" Sheila persisted. She could feel Darryl glowering beside her, silently insisting they leave. She was not going to leave, not when the sisters were in trouble. They had been there for her and Darryl a few times in the past.

At the mention of the boys, Paige's face crumpled. She didn't cry, though there was a brightness in her eyes.

"Paige, maybe Darryl and I can help."

"You can't help, Sheila," Paige said in a subdued tone. "It's– not that simple."

"Paige! Who is it? We need to go now!" Footsteps sounded from the inside and the door opened wider to reveal Piper.

"Darryl? Sheila?" Piper looked just as surprised as her sister did just now. She swung her head to look at her sister then at the Morrises and sighed. "Come on in."

"I am so sorry, Piper," Sheila was saying.

"It's not your fault." Piper waved her hand dismissively. "We're the Charmed Ones. Demons are always going to attack. Only that we didn't expect a baby-snatching demon to attack on Chris's frickin' birthday."

"Is there anything we can do to help out?" Sheila knew it was a ridiculous question as soon as it left her mouth. How was she going to help? She didn't know magic or anything.

"Maybe we should leave Wyatt with them," Leo suggested.

"What?" both Darryl and Piper exclaimed.

"Why not? I'm sure Sheila will be more than happy to take care of Wyatt while we're gone," Leo said in his most reasonable tone.

"What if the demon comes back for Wyatt and attacked them?" Piper frowned at her husband, wondering if he had damaged his head during the attack earlier.

"I don't think it would attack with mortals around. Even it would think twice about risking exposure."

"But– " Piper began to protest. She didn't see the point of leaving her son with the Morrises. Someone laid a hand on her shoulder, and she saw it was Phoebe.

Her sister nodded silently, tilting her head slightly to the Morrises. Piper looked at the direction she indicated.

Darryl looked half annoyed, half reluctant. Sheila looked considerably less worried than before, as if being trusted with the care of Wyatt had lifted a little of the worries away and made her feel as if she was helping out.

Piper sighed for the second time. She had no time to argue about it. Time was ticking and Chris was still missing. She had to trust that Leo knew what he was doing.

"All right."

Leo handed Wyatt to Sheila. "We'll be back for him later. Be good for your dad, okay?" He ruffled Wyatt's hair.

"Okay," said the toddler.

"No magic," Piper added as an afterthought. The toddler tended to use magic whenever possible and whenever he felt like it. "Promise Mommy, no magic around Uncle Darryl and Aunt Sheila."

Wyatt screwed up his face as if to protest but then nodded. "All right, Mommy."

"Be good," said Piper, planting a kiss on his cheek. She wiggled her fingers in a wave and he returned it, although he looked rather woeful as Sheila carried him out of the house.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Paige took Phoebe by the wrist and orbed out.

Leo smiled at his wife before orbing them after the pair.

TBC...