A/N: Thanks to everyone who gave me a "Happy Birthday"! Now, it's been a long day and I'm exhausted. I should have gone to sleep an hour ago, but stayed up so I could update. So let me do a quick Thank you to everyone, then right into the fic.

Matt91: Half the people who reviewed figured out she was pregnant. I must be loosing my touch. Lol. And thanks for the "Happy Birthday"!

Whyte-Fire: Lol. Glad I didn't disappoint! And trust me, there's much, much more to come. I'm nowhere near done with Part Two, and I still have Part 3. If I play my cards right, I could have over 60 chapters.

Charmedluver: Ah, okay. Lol. Lots of strangling going on there . . .

Wyatt333: The answers to all your questions will be answered eventually. Question is, will they be the answers you want?? Lol.

The-Cheese-Factory: So true. I never even realized. Lol.

Jade-Eye-Halliwell: Lol. Glad you liked it, and thanks for the "happy Birthday"!

FutureEditor: I'm glad you enjoyed this and my other stories so much! Glad you like the cliffhangers and sorry about the little bit of dragging on . . . I try to make my chapters a certain length and when I'm short, I add in mumble jumble to keep it from being too short. Hehe.

PiPeRAnGeL39: - Smiles innocently. –

Special Message to Christina Marquez (if you are still reading): About what I said on my Ch 24 thank you for your review – I'm sorry and I didn't mean it to sound the way I did. I was joking and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I never, ever would do that intentionally. It was an accident, I hope you will forgive me, and I hope you'll continue to read and review my fics. I'm really sorry.

Okay, on with Ch 29! Please enjoy and please review!

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"Scott, wait!" Melinda cried, running after Scott.

After witnessing the scene in the living room, Scott had turned and stalked out of the house and was now heading to his car, Melinda chasing after him.

"Scott, stop! Please stop, I can explain!" Melinda cried.

Finally, finally, Scott stopped and turned around.

"Explain what? You're cousin turning a disfigured guy into a block of ice and shattering it? The frozen, shattered dude turning into a ball of fire and exploding? You throwing him again the wall by squinting your eyes? You can explain that?" Scott snarled, trying to hide his fear with anger.

"Yes," Melinda said, as calmly and as firmly as possible. "I can, if you'll just calm down and-"

"Calm down? Melinda, you're a-a- I don't know what! And-"

"Scott, please, please, I can explain. What you saw, it-" Melinda cut off. How could she explain what he'd seen? 'Oh, that, in the living room? Yeah, it was a demon trying to kill my cousins and me and we used our powers to vanquish it. But it doesn't happen often because we're the Children of Light and we're so powerful, most evil baddies don't even dare to attack. It was worse for our parents, the Charmed Ones. They were extremely powerful, but we're even more powerful. So really, you have nothing to worry about. Let's go for some lunch."

No, she couldn't say that. So how the hell was she supposed to defend herself?

She stared sadly at Scott, feeling totally helpless.

Shaking his head, still trying to hide his fear through anger, he stalked away, leaving Melinda standing there watching until he couldn't see him anymore. Then she went back inside where Wyatt and Chris were cleaning demon guts off the living room walls.

"What happened? What did you tell him?" Chris asked urgently. This – someone coming close, or actually discovering who they were – rarely happened. It had happened once to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. Phoebe had told them about it when they were all old enough to hear. I mean, really, how could they keep it a secret when pictures of the lost Halliwell were all over the house, and boxes in the attic were labeled 'Prue's clothes' and 'Prue's camera equipment' etc.

"I tried to explain, but he was so scared-" Melinda began, but Chris interrupted, saying "Scared? He was pissed off!"

"When he doesn't want to let on that he's scared, he gets angry," Melinda explained through pursed lips.

"Oh, right. And you like this guy? Oh, wait, you do. How could I forget, considering you fuc-"

"Chris!" Wyatt snarled, stalking over and shoving Chris away, for with every angry word he had uttered, he had taken a step closer to Melinda until she was pushed into the wall and cowering.

Chris glared angrily at Melinda, not giving a damn that tears had formed in her eyes and her lip was quivering.

Wyatt opened his mouth to say something to Melinda, but she shot out of the room quicker than you could say "Chris is an asshole, ignore him."

"Something I said?" Chris sneered.

Wyatt slapped him upside the head and left the room, heading to Melinda's room upstairs.

Upstairs, he knocked on her door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. He orbed inside.

She was gone.

Her room had been ransacked; clothes were strewn all over and drawers had been left open. All pictures that had been on her night table and dresser were gone and her favorite stuffed animal – a little brown puppet puppy dog – that Piper and Paige had gotten for her was gone.

On her bed, he spotted a note. He read through it. Tears formed in his eyes as he clutched it and left the room, going to find Chris and kill his half-breed ass.

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Melinda sat in a seat by herself, next to the window. Her bag was next to her. She stared out the window, watching the scenery pass by fast. Tears were snaking down her face and hadn't stopped since she'd left the house.

She couldn't take it anymore. Scott hated her. Chris had looked murderous. Most of the time, they got to live normal demon-free lives and she had no problem with that. But the past few days, ever since that fanged demon had attacked her, things had gone to hell and she couldn't take it anymore.

After she'd left the living room, she'd gone upstairs, hastily packed her most valued possession, and then orbed to the bus station (Thank goodness the Elders had given her the power to do so) and had caught the first bus leaving, not even caring where it was going. The one she was on, it turned out, was headed for New York City.

Melinda placed a hand on her stomach, frowning as she realized how stupid she'd been, She was going to a place where she had no home and no family and what would happen as the months went by and she was ready to give birth? She couldn't live on the street – that would be bad for her and could be very harmful to her baby.

So what was she to do?

Well, too late now. She'd have to figure out a plan once she got to New York.

"May I sit here?" someone asked.

Melinda looked up. A man with shaggy brown hair and crisp blue eyes smiled down at her. She nodded slightly and moved her bag onto the floor by her feet.

"I'm Eric," the man said, holding out his hand.

"Melinda," Melinda replied warily, shaking his hand quickly and letting go.

"Traveling alone?" Eric asked.

Melinda bit her lip and shrugged. "Yes and no."

"Yes you are, or no you aren't?" Eric asked, quirking a brow in confusion.

"I'm alone, as in no one's with me. But-" Melinda rested a hand on her stomach, "-technically, I'm not alone."

"Oh," Eric said, then his eyes widened. "Oh! You're – oh. How far along?"

"Just a few weeks. Close to four," Melinda replied.

"Oh. You just seem so – well-,"

"Young? Yeah, I know. Not exactly planned," Melinda explained, looking away. "And-"

"And you're boyfriend bailed?" Eric asked knowingly.

Melinda looked at him again. "Not exactly. Uhm, he didn't even know I was pregnant. But- he just started acting really weird and then he saw something and- Anyway, the point is, he was angry with me and my cousin was, like, murderous when he found out and things just got hectic and so I'm going to New York City where I have no home and no family. And I also just blurted my entire life's story to a complete stranger."

Eric smiled. "Not completely. To everything, that is. Now, why would what your cousins think matter so much?"

"I live with my two cousins. Male cousins. Both older than me. Our mother's were sisters and the house we live in has been in the family for hundreds and hundreds of years. They were killed fifteen years ago and we just – well – stuck together," Melinda explained.

Eric nodded slightly. "You have an odd family. But, I'm sorry about your mom and aunts. Must have been hard on you. You must have been really little when it happened. As to the homeless part, well, you could come live with me. I have an apartment in the East Village on fourteenth street, between second and third. It's big and really nice."

"But we just met. For all I know, you could be some crazy stalker slash murderer," Melinda half joked.

Eric smiled. "Promise I'm not. I'm harmless. In fact, I'm a police officer and I have ID." He pulled out his Driver's license and badge and showed her.

"I wouldn't want to trouble you-" Melinda said. Or be murdered by you, she thought, but did not voice out loud.

"It wouldn't be any trouble at all," Eric assured her.

Melinda frowned. What did she have to loose? If all else failed, she could use her Children of Light powers on him.

"Okay," Melinda replied.

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Hours had passed since Melinda had left. Melinda hadn't specified where she was going, just that she was leaving and why. So they spent half the evening, and well into the morning, searching San Francisco for her. They even tried scrying for her, but couldn't locate her.

"What could that mean? Scrying always works," Chris said, super worried and now extremely sorry he had been such an asshole to Melinda. Maybe if he'd been nicer, she wouldn't have left.

"She must have done some kind of blocking spell so we can't find her by scrying, and probably by spells also. Our only chance of finding her is if she uses her powers, then the Elders will be able to find her. Until then," Wyatt replied, "we need to put in a missing person's report at the police station and hope for the best. Daniel (Darryl Morris's son) will help us. He knows our situation and who we are and he'll help. He has to."

"And if he doesn't? You know how he is now – ever since Darryl . . ." Chris let the rest of his sentence fall flat.

"That was unfortunate," Wyatt replied sadly. "But that was before Melinda was born. He has no reason to take it out on her, and it's his job to find missing people. Even though, technically, she isn't lost. She ran away."

Chris nodded. He opened his mouth to say he was sorry, for the hundredth time that night, but Wyatt cut him off and said, "Let's go home. It's too dark to keep looking for her, and wed need to be well rested so we can look again tomorrow."

Together, Wyatt and Chris orbed home.