Charmed isn't mine, but ya'll know all this. Characters not from the WB belong to me.

Psyche avoided Marc for the next few days without telling him why. When she finally fell back to hanging out with him, it was in a friends sort of way. Chris was preoccupied with his new on-again, off-again girlfriend Bianca, so they were a sort of distraction, although things were still strained between Marcus and Psyche. Marcus had a habit of looking over at Psyche when she was not watching or pretending not to, trying to figure out what was going on.

Psyche herself didn't completely understand what was going on, so she finally went to Wyatt about it.

"So I just can't bring myself to look at him anymore, and I know it's not right because he has no idea what's going on or what he did. But I'm terrified to let it go any further."

Wyatt blinked at her. "Wow. I don't think you took a single breath when you said that."

"Wyatt..."

He grinned. "No, I don't think you're wrong, necessarily. And it's understandable. You aren't a very trusting person- you've had a lot of bad experiences. You have major issues with commitment as a result of that. So the fact that possibly someone is going to stick around, someone who wants you to put a lot of your trust in them, scares you. And while this present-day Marc hasn't tried to get you serious; yet, in effect that's what you feel your experience forebodes for you. So just try thinking about it from a new perspective, and then decide how you want to react to him. You also have to decide whether or not you're going to go through life only trusting me." He pushed her back playfully."Not that I mind. It's always nice to be worshipped."

Psyche snorted and walked away. "You wish. You're just easy to use."

Psyche thought about what Wyatt said for a while before making her decision. So she did something she'd never done before- she went through her photos. Her aunt Piper, who she was closest to, had organized pictures of her into an album and given it to her. Psyche had taken it because of her connection to her aunt, but had put it in a chest in her closet that contained all of her possessions from when she was younger. She was not exactly fond of her past.

She had forgotten all the pictures her birth mom used to take when she was still trying to pretend that they were a normal family. There were some pictures of her as a baby, all dressed up as a two year old in little ballet outfits. The home photos grew fewer and fewer the older she got. She glanced closer at the last picture taken of her before her mom dumped her at the fire station. There was a vague tall shadow standing over her in the background, looking slightly menacing towards the camera.

Flashback

Five year old Psyche held her mommy's hand as they walked towards the car. Although she didn't understand it, mommy had been very cold lately, making Psyche cling all the tighter to her. But tonight was exciting- she was getting to stay up past her bedtime and go on a drive! Mommy drove for a couple of hours, until Psyche was almost asleep.

"Psyche, wake up. We're here."

Psyche blinked at her a few times, not really comprehending.

Mommy led her over to a bench. "Honey, Mama's gonna leave you here for a while, ok? There are some nice people here who are gonna take care of you, alright? I want you to be good. Don't do... Remember that your special gifts are a secret. Don't show them to anyone."

Psyche frowned, confused. "Where are we, Mommy? Is that a fire truck? Why are you going away?" She began to wail. ÒI donÕt like it here. Don't leave me alone! Please...?"

Mrs. Carmichael felt a twinge of guilt, but she'd made up her mind. "Shh... Sweetie, everything's going to be ok. Now, here's your bag and they'll be out soon. Just wait here quietly." She turned and walked away quickly, not stopping to look back.

Unfortunately for Psyche, it was a quiet night at the fire station. No one found her until the morning, by which time she'd frozen into a quiet, speechless little girl. The firemen went through her bag, which had been neatly packed with an envelope of papers on top. They contained her birth certificate and records, and a notarized letter.

To Whom It May Concern

I officially relinquish all responsiblities and gaurdianship of this child, one Psyche Melinda Carmichael. This may be difficult to understand to some people, but I have given it my all and cannot be responsible for a child as unique as her. I feel like IÕve lost my grip on sanity, and just canÕt handle her anymore. May God be with whoever has the care of her next.

Sandra Carmichael

The videotape of the parking lot the night Psyche was abandoned horrified the people who saw it even more. The lady who had abandoned her was obviously affluent, and her actions seemed senseless. When Social Services attempted to contact her and her husband, they were told that they'd moved. So Psyche was shuffled into the foster care system, a dark haired and darker humored little girl who rarely spoke.

Nine Years Later

A sulky, black-clad fourteen year old shuffled into the orphanage living room with a book and curled up in a chair in a shady corner. A minute later an older tall blonde guy followed her in.

"Psyche Carmichael?"

She gave him a dirty look."Yeah, what?"

He smiled at her. "I'm Wyatt Halliwell. I'm a part of the Big Brother/Sister program and they thought that we'd get along."

Psyche snorted. "I don't see why. We're nothing alike."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? We've just met."

She let out a sarcastic laugh."Trust me- there's nothing similar. Look, you're probably just doing this for the credit hours so you can get into the college of your choice, or you feel sorry for poor little orphan Annie. Either way, I don't need it. I'll tell your college people or whatever that we're 'best friends' if they ask, but you can go do your own thing."

He laughed. "Before you give up on me, at least give me a trial chance. If you still don't like me, I'll go away. I'll even tell your house mother that you're completely unmanageable and should just be left alone.'

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Psyche got up. "Whatever. Can we at least get out of here?"

"Sure. I'm hungry anyway."

Wyatt took her out for ice cream, talking about random things. Psyche was pretty silent while they ate. Then he took her to the bookstore, and although she made a snide comment, her face softened and took an hour looking at the books. When she reached home that night, she found one of the books she'd been looking at slipped into her backpack.

Wyatt was very quiet that night at supper. Later his mom asked him to help her clear the table and clean the kitchen.

"Wyatt, I know youÕve got something on your mind. Spill."

He shrugged. "I don't know. There's just something about Psyche that I can't place. She seems really familiar, for one thing. I know there's something in her that's different- something that just resounds, if that makes any sense."

Piper shook her head. "Just be careful. Don't put her in any danger. She could be an innocent that you need to guide."

Wyatt gave a wicked grin. "What kind of trouble could I cause?"

Psyche and Wyatt hung out a lot over the next few weeks. She rarely talked about herself, but learned all about his family. They had a lot of the same interests, and Psyche began to feel safe around him. She even visited his house for dinner once. Afterwards, they played basketball out back for a while before he took her home.

Then Wyatt got a call from her house matron. Psyche was missing, and was she with him? She had asked for a hall pass during school that day and just hadn't returned. Did he have any idea where she could be? If she contacted him, he was to get ahold of the orphanage immediately.

Wyatt scryed for Psyche immediately. The fact that she would just disappear in the middle of the day scared him, especially when theyÕd made plans to go to see the Mavericks versus the Warriors (the Mavs were her favorite team) in a few days. SheÕd been really looking forward to it.

He found her a few miles away. Grabbing a jacket, he ran out the door and jumped into his car.

He drove up and down the street the crystal had landed on, trying to find her in the driving rain. Parking on the side of the road, he started looking around, then heard crying in an alley. He ran towards it, and turned the corner and found himself between Psyche and a demon.

Psyche was curled up against a wall, crying,"Leave me alone! Why canÕt you just go away? Please, don't touch me..."

The demon raised his hand and started to throw it towards her when Wyatt froze them both. But instead of stopping, Psyche jumped and backed away from him. Stunned, he took a step towards her.

"Stay back!" Psyche cried defensively. She threw up her hand in front of her. "I knew it! You just wanted me like he does! You were lying the whole time! Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

"Psyche, just calm down a minute. I swear, I'm not going to hurt you."

Fear and trepidation gleamed in her eyes. "What did you do to him? How can I trust you?"

Wyatt held up his hands. "I just froze him. You know me. I could have hurt you plenty of times before. Why would I start now?"

"Well, what is going on? Why didn't you freeze me, too?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. The only people who I canÕt freeze are... good witches." Realization hit him. "Psyche, is there anything different about you?"

Psyche crossed her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't believe me," she muttered. "I sound crazy."

He snorted. "Do you really think I'm going to call you crazy after what just happened?"

She shrugged, not looking directly at him. "I have... powers. Weird things happen around me. It's why my parents gave me up."

Horror struck Wyatt. What if his parents had decided he was just 'too much trouble'? He couldn't even bear to think about it. "Well, let me take care of him and then we'll get out of here. You shouldn't be in the rain, you're going to get sick." He blasted the demon, then lead her to the car, wrapping his jacket around her.

Before asking her any questions, he called her gaurdian and got her set up in the living room with clean clothes. She huddled in front of a fire, wrapped in a big blanket.

Wyatt sat down in front of her. "I think you need to tell me about yourself now. What do you know about your parents?"

She looked into the fire. "I know that the people who gave birth to me couldn't have children naturally. There was a big lawsuit that they won just after I was born about it. Something about a tube being accidently switched- biologically IÕm someone else's kid. But a different clinic had done the actual procedure originally, and they only had my father's first name to go on. The court decided to seal the case, and I was declared the Carmichaels' legal child. The man turned out to have disappeared, so they decided not to push it. I- I think he's dead.I've seen him in my dreams sometimes."

This sparked curiosity in Wyatt, and something niggled at the back of his mind. "Keep going, please."

Psyche shrugged. "Well, they dumped me at a fire station when I was about five. They just couldn't handle the powers anymore- who could they get to help them? They'd had enough.There was a letter she'd left for my eyes only when I got old enough. She'd had a flash when I was being born of my actual parents- a witch and a demon. Lucky me. Such a great parentage"

He frowned. "Psyche, did you ever learn your biological father's name? Did they tell you that?"

"Yeah, sure. They tried to find a relative, but it turned out that he had very little background. The authorities couldn't find anything on him, except he was married. They didn't inform his wife- they think he was cheating on her. She had a miscarriage herself, right after one of his disppearances."

"Could you tell me what it was?"

She gave him a piercing gaze. "Cole. Cole Turner."

He gave her one shocked look before running into the other room yelling. ";Aunt Pheobe! AUNT PHEOBE! Mom! Dad!"

Pheobe ran downstairs as Piper and Leo orbed in, "What! Where is it?"

"No, it's not that. You need to listen to her story!"

Piper gave him a dirty look. "Wyatt! You know better than to yell in here if it's not.. you know."

Wyatt shook his head impatiently. "Whatever." He looked at Psyche."Could you tell them what you just told me?"

She shrugged. "Sure. They're going to think I'm crazy, though."

"Trust me. In this house, no one is crazy."

So Psyche told them about her strange story- the mix-up and her consecutive abandonment.

Leo looked at Wyatt,"That's a really odd story, Wyatt, but I don't see-"

ÒNo, dad. Psyche, tell them your dad's name."

She looked rather hounded. "Cole Turner."

Pheobe turned pale white. "That isn't possible."

Wyatt looked at her. "Think about it, Aunt Pheobe. She has premonitions. What if Cole did something to, you know...?"

Psyche looked at all of them, confused. "What is going on? Can this day get any weirder?"

Leo led Wyatt and Piper out of the room. "I think they need to talk, alone. Wyatt, come on."

Pheobe reached her hand toward Psyche. "I'm... I think I'm your mother."

Present Day

Psyche closed her memory book quickly. She hadn't reacted well to that news- she'd had too much bad ideas associated with that word. Then had come a long period when the Halliwells had had to prove that she was biologically theirs, and she'd moved into the manor. Well, not the manor per se. Pheobe and Jason owned the manor next door to the original house, and she'd had to readjust her life completely.

They'd discovered that the demon who was after her was the only survivor under Cole's reign as the Source who knew about her. He'd wanted to take her, and gain power in the Underworld with her help.

The sisters tried to banish the demon side to her but couldn't. The Elders thought that her nature- as the only part-witch, part-demon ever, was an even mix of light and dark, making her more human-natured. Her two sides were irreversibly fused- and they had to accept her as a powerful being whom they couldn't control. Most of her family's group of friends treated her with apprehension.

And now she was at the brink of adulthood. She had a choice to make, and she had to make it soon before it passed through her fingers.

Marc answered a knock on his door. Psyche was standing there, looking at him in a way he didn't recognize.

"Can I come in"

Reviews would be much appreciated! How am I doing? I wrote this at like, 3 in the morning, so I was kind of delirious. :)