"Not so fast," said Shyster, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to the arbiter. "Before coming here, I had a talk with a judge myself. This is a court order instructing that the child be returned immediately to the natural parents. Since the child was unlawfully abducted, the OWIOD has no legal grounds to retain physical custody. The judge agreed with me. And as the arbiter will see, it has been properly and duly processed."
"He's right," said Settlemontos. "This court order requires the OWIOD to return physical custody of the child to Ms. Halliwell."
Piper immediately moved over and took her son away from the demoness.
"Just a formality," said Ms. Bicheterous. "In a couple of hours we will legally take physical custody of the child."
"Just try it," snapped Piper.
"I also had a little chat with your supervisor," Shyster said to Ms. Bicheterous. "It seems he agrees with me. Until the child was actually delivered, technically Piper wasn't a mother, since to be a mother necessitates that a child be present somewhere. Since she wasn't technically a mother, Piper couldn't very well be an unfit mother, now could she? And even the Other World code does not recognize an unborn fetus as a child. Otherwise it wouldn't be called a fetus.
"He also mentioned something about obtaining a court order without first performing a proper investigation. Or at least checking to see if any of the charges were valid. As required by the regulations of your own department. Your supervisor said something about reassigning this case to someone a bit less aggressive."
"This isn't over," vowed Ms. Bicheterous.
"Really?" questioned Shyster. "I got the distinct impression that your supervisor was very displeased with how this case has been handled. Oh, by the way, he said he wanted to see you the minute this hearing was over."
"Well," said the arbiter, "it would appear that the matter has been resolved. This hearing is concluded.
"Irving, I owe you an apology," said Piper back at the manor. "I thought for sure you had botched it. I was ready to vanquish you right there."
"Don't give it a second thought," said Shyster. "I had fun. And the look on Ms. Bicheterous face when I pulled out that court order was priceless."
"Se sure seemed to be out to get us," said Paige.
"She was," said Shyster. "The Seer was her sister. She blamed you for the Seer's death. I think it kind of messed up her mind."
"Thanks anyway," said Leo. "We appreciate everything you did for us."
"My pleasure," said Shyster. "See, sometimes the system does work."
"Maybe," said Phoebe, "I just wish it wasn't so emotionally exhausting."
"Say, weren't you married to the Source of all Evil at one time?" Shyster asked Phoebe.
"Yeah, but we got divorced," said Phoebe. "Besides, he's dead now."
"Oh, I know that," said Shyster. "I was just curious about something."
"What's that?" asked Phoebe.
"You got any plans for dinner?" asked Shyster.
The End
If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed" stories at my website, You can also post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction.
I would also like to announce the publication of my first book, "outlander: Book One Of The Forgotten Powers Sage" available now from Publish America. You can find it on their website or at my own website with geocities under geocities . com / aramath .