"Hey Grandpa." Chris said happily as he came down the stairs into the manors living room.
"Chris! Thank God, I was worried…where were you?"
"With Bianca." He replied, grinning broadly as he made his way over to a nearby chair.
The old man stared at him in shock; this was clearly not the answer he had been expecting. "All night? Did you you- ummm?"
"Yep. We did. But that's not even the best part."
Victor laughed and took a seat across from his grandson. "Okay, then what is?"
"You know how I was supposed to meet my new charges?" he began to explain "Well, I met the first two without any problems, but then I was orbed to Bianca's apartment…"
"You what? Chris, you can't just expose yourself like that, you should have been more careful! And what about your last charge, you said yourself that you would not let personal issues interfere with your duties." Victor cut in, not allowing the boy to finish.
Still grinning, Chris shook has head. "No, it wasn't like that…the elders orbed me to Bianca's, because, well, she's my last charge."
The look of shock on Victor's face intensified. This made no sense…how could Chris' girlfriend possibly be one of his charges?
"She…she's a witch?" he stuttered, the disbelief evident in his voice.
"Yep. We were both shocked at first, but we've worked it out, and now we're happy about the whole thing…no more secrets. It's great."
"Wow, that's certainly…" Victor began, unsure of what to say. "Un expected."
Chris gave a short laugh at his grandfather's response. "No kidding. I can't believe I didn't realize sooner."
It was Victor's turn to laugh "Yea, what happened to all of those magical sensing things you have?"
"I suppose I was too much in love to notice or care." The boy replied, standing up and heading for the kitchen. "I'm going to garb some stuff for lunch and orb back to Bianca's. Do you need me to pick up anything on the way home?"
"No I think we're fine, I'll go for groceries tomorrow."
Victor listened as the kitchen door slammed behind Chris.
This had certainly been an unexpected development, and somehow Victor could not suppress a sense of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. He had never told Chris this, but he had been happy to see his grandson in a relationship with a girl he believed to be human. Magic always seemed to complicate life, and he had hopped that Bianca would keep Chris a little more in touch with the mortal world; Victor's world.
But now, it seemed that the boy was slipping even further away, into a reality that Victor could never understand, and the thought scared him. Chris was his grandson, and he wanted nothing more than to protect him…it was beginning to seem, however, that this was an impossible task. An aging human was no match for the magical evils that Chris faced; the boy was alone, left to bear the Halliwell burden, and there was nothing Victor could do about it.
On top of that worry, Victor feared that this entire situation was becoming much too recognizable.
A witch and her whitelighter…Piper and Leo.
Unfortunately, the earlier example had not ended well and he hoped that a similar fate did not await Chris and Bianca. Although Victor would never admit it to Chris, in his opinion boy quite a bit like his father (well, the Leo he remembered from when Piper had first married him), but he hoped that the boy would have enough sense not to leave his family, no matter how demanding his job got.
With a sigh, the old man stood up and walked towards the kitchen, hoping to wish Chris goodbye before he left. He opened the wooden doors and surveyed the room, only to see a faint trickle of blue rising up towards the ceiling.
Chris was gone, and Victor couldn't follow.
Bianca put the last of the dishes in the sink and decided that she should tidy up the living room a bit before Chris got back. She hadn't really given her apartment a good cleaning in a month, and she figured that if Chris was going to be spending a lot more time there, she should at last make it presentable.
She dried her hands and swiftly left the kitchen. The feelings of happiness had not yet left her, and she realized, that for the first time in a long while, she could truthfully say that life was great.
As she stepped out into the living room, her lighthearted mood was instantly quashed.
Elizabeth.
Her mother's sister, and perhaps least favorite relative, was standing near the book shelf, looking through Bianca's Grimoire.
When she heard Bianca enter, the middle aged woman instantly looked up. "There you are sweetie." She said, her voice dripping with false kindness. "Just thought I'd come by for a nice visit."
Bianca rolled her eyes.
Elizabeth's visits were never nice.
"Yes, well what do you want, I'm kind of busy." The girl snapped, folding her arms and taking a defensive stance.
Elizabeth gave a cool laugh, and gently placed the book back in its rightful spot. "How can you be busy? You hardly even come with us on missions anymore. Your mother would not approve."
"Leave her out of this." Bianca shot back.
The older woman laughed again, and a chill ran down Bianca's spine. "You're right, there is something I want." Elizabeth stated, moving closer to her niece. "There is a new power rising in the underworld, he wants all who can fight to swear allegiance to him. He has requested the aid of our coven, and I know that you will serve him well. You may not like to kill Bianca. But you do possess a natural talent for it."
The girl scoffed. This was a ridiculous request. She wanted no part in this, she wanted to distance herself from her dark past and move on to a better future; a future with Chris.
"No thanks, tell the new power to find someone else." She replied, gazing coolly into her aunts dead grey eyes "I've moved on."
"You cannot deny who you are Bianca," the woman protested, her anger growing from Bianca's insufferable behavior. "You were born to kill. You are good for nothing else. You are worthless."
Bianca drew in a deep breath, and fought back the lump growing in her throat. She knew that she should not listen to her Aunt, but the woman had voiced what she herself was currently battling with, and it had really struck a nerve.
She was meant to kill.
She knew that…but she didn't want to embrace it. She had Chris, her beacon of good, and he believed that she was something more. 'That was enough' she re assured herself.
"I said no, now get the hell out of my apartment, and don't come back." Bianca shouted suddenly, forming a fireball threatinengly in her had.
If Elizabeth had been ten years younger, she would have challenged the girl. But with her youth had gone her perfect reflexes and strength; Bianca could probably kill her if she wanted, and that was why she needed the girl on their side.
"Fine." Elizabeth spat, before giving her niece one final glare, and shimmering out.
Bianca gave a sigh of relief. She was glad that Chris had not been there for this; Elizabeth hated good beings even more than she hated humans. Bianca knew that she would not hesitate to kill Chris if she were to ever find out about them.
She heard the sound of chimes from the kitchen.
"Bianca?" Chris called. "I'm back."
The girl turned and headed in his direction, relieved that he had not decided to return two minutes earlier.
That was a situation she was certainly happy to avoid.
A/N so this is what I do instead of studying…bad Leigh
This was a bit of a filler, but I needed to lead up to the action ahead, I think the next chapter should be an eventful one!
Thanks to those who gave me some feed back, I'm glad to know that people like this.
PLEASE REVIEW
