I am really sorry you guys, but once again, I just don't have time to do replies. I know you probably hate me but I promise I will address you all in the next chapter, but until then, enjoy this one. I'm quite proud of it even if I do say so myself. Lol.
The character, Persia Halliwell, is property of a fellow FF.N author, Princess Pinky, who used some of my characters in her amazing story, "Every Halliwell Counts" You should read it if you haven't, not only to understand Pamela and Persia's friendship, but also because it's a great fic!
Ashes To Ashes, Father To Daughter
Paige sat on her now cleaned sofa, courtesy of Piper, with her legs curled up next to her as she picked at the threading of the cushion on her lap. The youngest Charmed One looked terrible, her porcelain skin was now a ghostly chalk white, only broke up by the small hint of colour on her lips, which was the one sign of life as her eyes now looked like two gaping black holes in her face. The witch's dark chestnut hair was pulled back into a ragged ponytail, little strands sticking on end and her scalp almost shining with grease as a sign of her not having a shower for three days. She looked like death.
Scrunching her lifeless eyes shut, she fought against her pounding headache in vain before the she felt a shift in the light in front of her. Paige opened her eyes to see Piper sitting on the coffee table in front of her. The eldest Halliwell gave her little sister a smile that Paige loathed her for, it was one filled with disappoint, superiority and pity. The witchlighter fought back the urge to vomit on her sister as another wave of nausea crashed against her stomach and throat.
"Phoebe's almost done packing your things…" Piper informed her. Paige could only nod a little to respond, "And Aidan's got the twins ready." She reached down to her side and pulled a ragged clown doll onto her lap, "Do you want Slappy?"
Paige stared onto her sister's eyes, her head swaying as it summoned the concentration to form a sentence, "Save it…" She whispered in a strained breath. If there was one thing that bugged her about Piper the most, it was how she sometimes crossed the line from caring to patronising. Without saying another word, Paige nestled herself even further into the collar of the turtle neck that was slack enough for her to cover the bottom half of her face.
Piper let out a tired sigh and looked past her sister to see Phoebe standing in Paige's bedroom door with a suitcase at her feet, wearing a neutral expression to not anger either of her siblings, she had saw the whole thing. The middle Halliwell had to suppress the tears she felt beginning to form as her empathy picked up on Paige's depression and disappointment in herself. More than anything, she wanted to comfort her baby sister, but she knew this was something she couldn't help her with.
Aidan wheeled the double stroller out of the twins' room; both girls were in matching winter wear which included woolly blue hats that covered their heads, only showing little wisps of their blonde hair. The elemental himself was also dressed to brave the cold, with a thick jacket that had the collar up around his neck. Paige narrowed her eyes at her children's attire before looking up at their father.
"The weather in Atlantis is not like here, it's snowing there right now." Aidan replied to his ex's stare before pulling his scarf up over his mouth, "Ready to go?" Came his muffled voice from the behind the fabric, "C'mon, girl." He clicked his fingers a little, calling for Sandy and making her sit patiently at his feet.
Taking that as a sign, Phoebe pulled out the extendable handle on the suitcase and walked it towards Aidan on its wheels, before pushing the handle back in and putting the carrier into the holding tray in the bottom of the stroller. She knelt down in front of her nieces, taking a hand from each of them in her own and grinning at them before standing up, Phoebe gave an expectant look to Piper, who glared her.
With an inaudible sigh, the eldest Halliwell cautiously extended her hand to help Paige up. The witchlighter gave the palm a questionable look before putting her hand in it and allowing herself to be pulled up from the sofa, while avoiding eye contact with Piper at the same time.
"Has that us got everything?" Aidan asked, ducking down to make sure that all the children's supplied were intact in the tray below as Paige walked to side, putting a hand on the stroller handle and taking Sandy's leash from Aidan with the other. She looked towards her two older sisters, who were currently keeping their focus on their feet. Swallowing to get her voice back, Paige opened her mouth to speak.
"See you in a while…" She croaked, before Aidan, her, the dog, and the twins, were consumed with water and suddenly burst, splashing out to their new destination.
Phoebe groaned as she sat on the arm of the sofa, flicking her hands backwards at her neck and sending her long hair swishing onto her back, "Are we doing the right thing? I mean, there's plenty of places here she could have got help, we didn't need to send her to Atlantis." She looked towards her older sister for support.
Piper frowned at her with a smile, "Are you kidding me? She'll be living in luxury as she grieves, as will the twins. And transportation powers don't work in Atlantis, so there's no chance of her orbing out to a liquor store. It also means we don't have to bind her powers, which would have made her hate us."
The middle sister retaliated with an empathically charged answer, "And how much of what you just said do you believe?"
"Woman, you're an empath again for ten days and you're already on my case?" She sighed in response, "Speaking of which, why do you think you got it back so soon after levitation?"
Phoebe pondered over her answer, "I actually don't think the Tribunal had any control over the return of my other power, it was all the book's doing. And maybe they think that because Emma's…" She struggled to find the right word, but decided to leave it. "We needed at least one empath. How are you holding up?"
Piper took a deep breath and put her hands in her back pockets, "Ask again later." She smiled weakly.
"Remind me why I need to help with this," Brennan asked as he pressed the button of the elevator, a ding indicating they were going up. "It was your premonition, not to mention the guy probably isn't even in his office at…" He pushed back his sleeve to look at his watch, "Ten thirty at night. We're probably just going to get busted by security and-,"
"Put a cork in that whine, Tinkerbelle." Pamela cut him off abruptly, "Besides, since when did you come up with excuses not to fight demons? C'mon! You're my sidekick for these sort of things, we both fight demons to let off steam, what's the matter with you?"
He gritted his teeth and sighed, "I just want to get home and make sure Phoebe and Connor are all right,"
"Why wouldn't they be? Phoebe's an empath again, she's practically invincible with that," Pamela objected to his worries, remembering her aunt's abilities to use her enemy's powers through their emotions.
"It's not directly Phoebe I'm worried about, it's-," He was cut off by the elevator eliciting a piercing ding, letting them know they were on the right floor.
They walked into a beautiful hallway; Pamela expected nothing less from one of the biggest law firms in the city. It was tastefully decorated with a deep biege coloured carpet, and small spotlights in the ceiling bathed the corridor in a soft glow. The serenity however, was quickly ended with a man's scream coming from behind a door down the hall.
Without a second to spare, Pamela raised her hands and gestured aggressively, reducing the door into a shower of wood shafts and splinters that flew into the office from the force of the explosion.
"What the hell…?" She frowned as she stepped through the large hole in the entrance along with Brennan, who already had a handful of electricity sparking and sizzling in his hand.
From what the two witches could see, a plume of black smoke had engulfed the man, who was now slumped to the side in his large black leather chair as the gaseous being swirled around him. When the creature pulled back, Pamela cringed and Brennan swore loudly at the state the man was in, it was almost as if the smoke had burned away the top layer of skin and the muscles of his face could clearly.
"Now that's just nasty!" Brennan exclaimed, following the cloud with his eyes as it hovered above its latest victim.
"I don't think I thought this through…" The teen cringed as the swarm of blackness suddenly flew at her uncle, "Look out!" She shouted, taking in a sudden gasp for air as her fear triggered her new power. The witch's body glowed with an eerie blue light before a thundering crash sounded and a pulse of astral energy tore from her body. The surge of power scattered the cloud, a scream of anguish flew through the air before a haunting silence filled the office.
"Where'd it go?" Brennan swirled around, looking for any traces of the demon.
A breath from Pamela signified she had awakened, "Damn power…" She growled, before a buzzing sound hit her ear. The witch looked down, gasping as dark particles circled her ankles before swallowing her in a whirlwind of darkness.
"Pam!" Her uncle bellowed, ready to hurl an arc of lightning at the tornado, but then realized he would hit Pamela and not the demon. All he could do was watch as the creature devoured his niece before coming after him.
"NO!" A man's voice screamed as orbs filtered through the ceiling, eventually revealing a man dressed in jeans with a leather jacket over a grey sweater and white t-shirt. The stranger threw a potion at Pamela's feet; even the vial seemed to glow before it smashed on the ground, releasing a blinding flash of bright light that was accompanied by a long groan of pain.
Brennan brought his arm down from his eyes to see Pamela standing in front of him, unscathed, and the man breathing heavily, as if he had hurried.
"Who the hell are you?" The mutant asked calmly, snuffing the voltage in his hands by making a fist.
Pamela's face was drained of all colour as she stared into the face of her saviour, she opened and closed her mouth rapidly, at a loss for words. She walked towards the man, still trying to form a coherent word, "Da…" She began, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she hit the floor unconscious.
Shadow Demons.
Extreme caution advised when confronting this gaseous form of evil. Within the dark cloud lies an incorporeal being that devours its prey's skin, constantly searching for a form. Lone confrontation is not recommended, as this demon can expand and retract on command, allowing it to flow through the smallest of spaces or engulf the biggest of areas. C.f Exsilium
"I can't believe you went after such a dangerous demon with just the two of you. You guys didn't even have the vanquishing potion!" Piper scolded Brennan while Pamela lay unconscious on a sofa in the attic.
"There's a vanquishing potion?" Brennan raised an eyebrow at his sister in law. She tapped her finger at the Latin word at the bottom of the paragraph.
"It means 'look up banishments'," She picked up a wad of pages and turned them together, slapping the one she had landed on, "See? There's the potion recipe right there!"
"Do I need to brush up on my Latin to use that thing? And besides, she had a premonition and we didn't have much time."
"Fat lot of good it did! The guy's dead!" The eldest Halliwell pointed out.
Phoebe walked back into the attic holding a glass of water with Leo and Andy in tow. Piper gave her sister and husband an angry look as her eyes narrowed, "And I can't believe you two knew he was alive!"
The middle Halliwell put the water down on a coffee and turned to her sister, putting her hands up, "Alright, I have no excuse. He was my whitelighter for a year, I should have told you. Happy now?"
"No." She snapped, whipping around to Leo, "What's your excuse?"
"Honey…" Leo began, taking a wary step towards his wife, "You've seen how Pam's reacted to this, can you think of a time where we would have been able to handle her breaking down? We've needed her to fight ever since she came to us. Besides, there are implications…" He trailed off.
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.
"Mommy! Tain!" Connor suddenly blurted out, waving a toy train in the air at his mother, but looked at with a grin before bending down, sweeping her hair behind her ears as she joined her son on the floor.
"Did Daddy buy you that?" Phoebe frowned, not recognising the toy that Connor was holding onto. It was yellow and green, but the paint was chipped in places, showing the metal underneath, it looked as if it had been through a lot.
Piper narrowed her eyes at the toy, "Isn't that Dad's old train?"
"I think it is…" Phoebe marvelled for a moment, "Sweetie, where did you get this?"
Connor turned his head and pointed towards a box which had been turned on its side. Old toys were falling out, teddy bears, small metal cars, and dolls were just a few of the things that had spilled out onto the floor.
Piper smiled at her nephew as he rolled the train back and forth on the wooden floor, "I guess Prue was right to keep all these things. Take it Pheebs, it's not as if Wyatt and Chris will be playing with it, they've been poisoned by video games," She walked towards the box and picked up a doll, "Maybe Lorna would like these when she's older…" The eldest sister mused.
"Wait a minute, why did Prue tell you to keep this stuff?" Andy asked, bending down and sifting through the toys, grinning as found a plastic gun in the junk. "I remember playing 'Cowboys and Indians' with this!"
Pamela's head shifted to the side as she came to, "Ugh…" She groaned, trying to sit up on the sofa and rubbed her forehead. "What happened?" The witch opened her eyes wide before scrunching them shut. She stayed motionless as the memories came back to her, suddenly remembering her reason for fainting.
"Pam…" Andy stood back up and walked towards his daughter.
Not knowing how to react, Pamela raised her hands and followed her instincts, gesturing at the whitelighter and causing him to shatter into orbs as they flew outwards in every direction before reconstituting back into Andy, who had a look on his face that was between anger and shock.
"PAM!" Piper bellowed, narrowing her eyes and pointing a warning finger at her niece.
Phoebe just gaped at her before forming a sentence, "How… Did you know he was going to able to reform? Did you know he was a whitelighter?"
"No, I didn't." She replied flatly, flopping back onto the couch with a groan before noticing the glass of water of the table next to her. The witch sat back up and took a sip from the glass, "I want him to leave." Pamela growled, not looking up, "Now…"
Phoebe gave a look to Andy, silently saying that she would call him if he was needed. It was then both him and Leo looked skywards, both with ominous expressions on their faces. The elder turned to his wife, even though she immediately knew why the two of them had looked up.
"They're calling anyway…" He replied, turning to face Andy, "They want me to bring you in."
Piper frowned, "Wait a minute… What?"
"Why do they want Andy?" Phoebe walked slightly towards her brother in law with her brow creased.
Leo licked his lips nervously and back away from the two sisters, "Um…"
Pamela had used the argument as a distraction to slink away to her room, where she slammed the door shut behind her and paced the floor, sweeping a hand through her hair as she tried to process the information. She wanted to talk to someone to badly, yet she couldn't, everyone would have a bias opinion of the matter, saying that she should use this opportunity to get to know her father, she need someone that was on the same wavelength. Then it hit her.
Persia.
Bounding on top of her bed, she crossed her legs and gently unclasped the golden heart locket around her neck, laying it on the sheets carefully and staring at it for a while. Pamela had never used it before, she had always been contacted through it, not the other way round, and the last time she was contacted was when Emma was alive… Ever since the empath had died, it seemed that a certain part of everyone who loved her had died too. Pamela could only guess that it was because of the bond they had shared. Emma had been more like a big sister than a friend, yet she could still not shed a single tear for her.
Deciding that she couldn't just sit and stare at the locket, Pamela snatched it up in her hand before pulling it open. She stared at the diamond inside as it began to glow, the witch began twisting the chaos wing necklace between her fingers nervously as the light grew stronger before a hologram suddenly sprouted from the rock, revealing the face of Persia Halliwell.
"Pam?" Her voice came through; waking the witch from the trance she had put herself in.
She automatically activated her emotion defence mechanism, "No, it's Santa Claus, who else would it be?" She snapped, instantly regretting it, "Sorry…"
"What's got you pissed?" Persia asked in a droning tone as she shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable wherever she was sitting, as the hologram tossed about before landing back on the witch's face.
Pamela let out a sigh, "I don't even know why I'm doing this…"
"You probably just had to talk to someone who was outta this world," Persia smirked back.
"No, that would be me, honey. You're out of this world." She grinned back, pointing to the bed to emphasise her point before returning her hands to her lap. Okay, she had broken the ice, but Pamela could tell by the look on her friend's face that she knew something was up, "Emma's dead." She finally announced, completely realising the lack of tact in her actions.
Persia's eyes widened with shock, "Emma's… dead!" She exclaimed. The girl's eyes suddenly became very glassy, almost reflective as her usually tanned complexion turned to a sickly white, "Oh my God… When?"
"Around a week ago." She replied weakly, picking at her cuticles and bowing her head, "Everyone's been sorta scattered since then… Actually, scratch the sorta, everyone's gone completely nuts. Piper's having to take care of Emma's kid-,"
"Wait, when did she have a kid? Woman, you definitely need to start using this thing more often, this is all a lot of info to process in one session." Persia said with one eyebrow raised with an oddly out of character assertiveness.
Pamela snorted out a laugh, "Session? What are you? My shrink?"
"If that'll get you to start talking." The teen retorted, "C'mon, tell me what's been going on."
Paige stared out of the tall window of her room in the castle. She looked up to the top of the pane; it seemed to stretch for miles as it reached the ceiling. Every long sheet of glass had a coating of frost around its edges as small piles of snow and sleet built up at the bases.
"Look Melly, snow…." She whispered into her daughter's ear as she balanced on her hip. Paige grinned as Melinda raised her arm and pointed towards the light snow falling onto the balcony outside. The blonde child cooed and giggled as her green eyes widened, following one flake of snow as it fell.
"Um…" A servant timidly began her sentence. Her skin was a deep blue with shock white hair, "That's the bed spread changed, Miss." She announced, shooting a look at baby Melinda in the process.
Paige noticed this and turned slightly so she was shielding her daughter, "Thanks…" She said, hoping the woman would leave, but she kept staring at Melinda, "You're excused." The witchlighter ordered flatly with a hint of confidence.
The servant seemed to scoff at this notion, "Only the King can talk to me like that. Not some-,"
"You're excused, Beatrix." Aidan's voice echoed before a surge of water arose from the floor, taking on the form of the elemental and baby Emma, who was being held in her father's arms. "Leave these quarters now and watch your tongue."
The blue skinned woman scowled as her nose twitched a little, "As you wish, Your Majesty…" She complied lowly, speaking as if the words had caused her pain before grabbing the old sheets and fading away in a chilling wind that swept around the room, sending a shiver down Paige's spine. She was brought back to earth by Sandy jumping up on the bed.
"Sandy, down," Paige ordered kindly yet firmly. The dog whined slightly before reluctantly jumping down and settling herself at the foot of the bed. The witchlighter turned back to the window "I thought transportation powers don't work here." She inquired.
"The castle staff are immune to the charms and enchantments that are cast over the city, so they can act quickly if… I'm hurt." Aidan explained. Redness began to show in his cheeks, and it wasn't from being out in the cold.
The witchlighter lowered her daughter into the playpen next to her before turning back to the window, locking her arms together across her chest, "I didn't think you would be one for getting servants to do everything."
"I'm not." He replied, setting Emma down next to her sister walking towards the window.
"I can't really blame you though," Paige continued, "I mean, from what I remember, you aren't exactly gifted when it comes to domestics."
Aidan pretended to look offended and laughed, "Coming from the girl who dyed all of my whites pink after just throwing in that red sock! I had to go out and buy all new stuff."
"What? If I remember correctly it was a stocking that you had ruined at Christmas after you left it in front of the fire with chocolate in it! Talk about a melted mess!" Paige smiled at the memory.
"And if I remember correctly you ate anything that hadn't been melted… And it still doesn't change the fact that I had a massive hole in my wallet for two months after buying new stuff."
"Hmm… shame too, I would have found your pink underwear a turn on…" Paige gave him a devilish grin.
The two of them smiled out the window as various memories of their time together came back to them. Everything that they had endured had resulted in the birth of their beautiful baby girls, and the fact that they were having a civil conversation and recounting old memories just showed how far they had really come.
"We had some good times, didn't we?" Aidan asked uncertainly, not knowing whether Paige would think it an acceptable question.
"Yeah." She replied, folding her arms again and clamping her mouth shut, "Before you shot it all to hell…" The witchligher finished with a venomous tone before walking to her daughters.
Piper sat on the living room sofa hugging her knees. Her gaze was set upon the urn that rested on the mantelpiece, she had been thinking so hard about her deceased friend that she hadn't even realised it was three in the morning. Picking up the glass of red wine from the small table, she raised it towards the urn in a toast.
"Here's to you, Red," She murmured, before polishing off the rest of the crimson liquid in one gulp before returning to the book next to her, which lay open after Piper had got caught in a trance with the urn.
Pamela entered the room silently, taking a seat across from her aunt and glancing at the empty glass, "Just how much have you had."
Piper smirked, "Only a couple of glasses, and before you ask you're not having any."
"Damn. You know, if you lived up to the drunken aunt stereotype, that wine would be in my hands right now," The teen clicked her fingers with a smile, before noticing Piper's fix on the urn, "Have you thought of where to scatter her ashes?"
"Actually…" The eldest Halliwell smiled to herself, thinking of the place she had chose of, "Yeah, it's perfect." She moved the book away from her lap, "Pam…"
Her niece put her hand up in protest, "Wait, before give me a speech, I've had some time to think, and I'll give this whole father daughter thing a try…"
Piper grinned, "What changed your mind? You were pretty adamant about it earlier."
"Well, I was ready to blow him up again the next him I saw him, but a conversation with an otherworldly being convinced me otherwise." She revealed, looking down to avoid her aunt's glowing face.
"Would this being's name begin with a P?"
Pamela licked her lips and smiled, knowing that Piper was immediately thinking Prue had been the one to talk her down from hating Andy, "Maybe…" She smirked, what didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Both witches squinted their eyes as orbs impaired their view of each other. They cleared, revealing Leo and Andy standing in front of them, Andy with an ashamed look on his face. Piper stood up, hugging her husband while Pamela shifted uncomfortably on the couch.
"It's about time; you guys have away for hours!" The eldest exclaimed.
"Sorry, you know how time moves differently up there…" Leo rolled his eyes, "Besides, you wouldn't believe the fight this guy put up when they took away his powers," He said, putting a sympathetic hand on Andy's shoulder, "You're welcome to stay here if you want…"
Andy gave a look to Pamela; he wouldn't stay if it was going to cause her stress. He was pleasantly surprised when she put up her hands, "Why are you looking at me? I'm cool with it."
"Um… Thanks…" The ex whitelighter mumbled, "Actually, it's only a suspension so I'll be out of your hair as soon as I get my powers back, I promise."
Piper smiled, "Don't be ridiculous. You're welcome here anytime." She said before scowling, "Frickin' Elders!"
The sun was setting on the Bay, shining weakly on the water and causing it to shimmer beautifully. The city of San Francisco was also being affected by the lack of sunlight; the tall buildings that gleamed in the day were now just glowing palely as they bathed in orange light. But the most magnificent sight was the Golden Gate Bridge; the red metal seemed to be the brightest thing on the skyline, the low sun casting a tall shadow on the water below as it stood proudly.
The Halliwells had gathered atop the bridge, all of them were silent as Paige stood at the front of them, clutching to the urn in her hands as her family watched her walk towards the edge of the platform. Her shoes made a small clanging sound when she took a step; each step was taken slowly, as if Paige was trying to draw this out. She, least of all, didn't want to say goodbye. It just seemed to final this way, but she also knew that she would have to let go.
Piper and Phoebe stood with their respective families while Aidan stood with the twins. Everyone was glad that the children were staying quiet through this process, even Lorna, who had been extremely upset for the past week, had managed to find and inner calm as watched her Auntie Paige walk to the edge of the red steel. Chris and Wyatt were really the only ones who had the slightest understanding of why this was happening, Connor and the twins were just staying silent because everyone else was as they stood next to their fathers, clutching their hands.
Paige looked up, a lone tear fell from her eye, but she wiped it away defiantly, not wanting anything to go wrong as she said her final farewell. She looked back to her sisters, both were wearing supportive expressions, but Piper's hands were ready for what they had planned. She looked towards Pamela, who seemed to be swaying next to Andy, almost hypnotized and not even paying attention.
She took a deep breath, looking down at the urn and silently saying goodbye, rubbing the top lovingly as she felt her eyes sting with fresh tears, she couldn't hold back any longer, she had to free her. Closing her eyes, she held the urn out in front of her, before suddenly throwing it into the air. Piper, who seemed to have been waiting for this, threw out her hand at lightning speed, blasting the urn into millions of tiny grains that would fall harmlessly to the ground.
As the urn particles fell to the ground, the ash swirled around in the air before a gust of wind carried it away towards the sea. This was when a choking sob suddenly shattered the silence, Paige turned to see Pamela's face buried in her father's shoulder. Whatever had been in the way, Pamela had now found a way past it as she cried into Andy's shoulder, who stood with his daughter in a tight embrace, comforting her in a way only a parent could.
The youngest Charmed One turned back round, the ash seemed to have completely blown away. Emma was free now, she would now be able to live a peaceful eternity where she belonged, and even though Paige knew the empath's spirit was far from here, this made it feel like she would always watch over them.
"Goodbye…"
Leo, Piper, Pamela and Andy all sat in the living room of the Manor, each of them silently taken aback by the whole experience. Pamela had only just now stopped crying, whatever had been blocking her emotions had been destroyed, she felt a lot better after releasing everything. Andy looked around, seeing that the three of them need to reflect on this by themselves.
"I'm gonna go lie down, I'm pretty beat." He said, standing up and receiving an understanding nod from Leo before walking through the foyer to reach his bedroom in the basement.
The doorbell rang; none of them were in the mood for answering. Piper eventually got up, dragging Leo with her as she went to answer the door. She tiredly turned the lock and opened it, instantly regretting it. A police officer immediately flashed his badge and a search warrant.
"Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt, you are both under arrest for suspicion of murder in the first degree." The officer nodded at the two people behind him and they rushed into the house.
"What the hell? What are you talk-Ow!" Piper was cut off as the man roughly brought her arms behind her back and tightened the cuffs on her wrists. Leo was in the same position as he struggled with his cuffs.
"What's going on?" Pamela asked with a thunderous expression, "Try it Junior, and I'll take your head off." She growled at a young looking officer coming at her with a set of handcuffs.
"We have a warrant to search your house." The head guy walked towards Pamela, who snatched the piece of paper from his hands and quickly scanned it over while Piper and Leo stared at her, hoping she would find a way to stop them.
Pamela suddenly laughed, "You may be able to arrest my aunt and uncle, but you can't search the house."
The officer laughed at her, "And what do you know about search warrants, little lady?"
"Well, I know for one thing that you can't search this house, since the warrant says 1339 Prescott Street, this is 1329 Prescott Street. So I would appreciate it if you got the hell out of my house."
He snatched the document from her hands, scanning it over before mumbling a curse to himself, "I'm still taking in your aunt and uncle." He finally said, "I'm Inspector Payne by the way," He added, Pamela scoffed.
"Wow… Am I supposed to be scared when you introduce yourself? And what the hell are you doing arresting them? Who have they supposed to have killed anyway?"
Payne gave her a patronising stare before pulling out a photograph and putting it in front of Pamela's face, making her cringe and turning away, "Redhead, late twenties, found in this state on your attic floor. Emma DeLauro." He stated before putting the photo back in his jacket.
"What the hell makes you think they killed Emma?" Pamela exclaimed.
"Apart from the fact that evidence proves she was killed in the location she was found, the will relinquishing custody of Lorna Throughway to your aunt and uncle, combined with Miss DeLauro being killed only literally hours of writing the will, gives us reason to believe that they killed her to get custody of the baby."
Pamela had to hold back a laugh. She had forgot that on Lorna's creation, the world had been changed, made to believe that Emma had been pregnant for the full nine months before giving birth in San Francisco Memorial. For some reason, even those who knew the truth about the baby's origins also had their memories altered, except from the fact they knew they weren't real.
"You can't-," Pamela again, only to be cut off by her aunt.
"No… We'll go…" Piper murmured, looking at her feet before shooting a look at Pamela that said "Look after the kids and hide the magic stuff." The teen was impressed at the fact that Piper could convey that message in one look.
"Alright then…" He turned back towards the couple, "You do not have to say anything, although anything you say will be given in as evidence. If you cannot afford an attorney then one will be appointed to you…" Payne continued as his fellow officers escorted Piper and Leo out of the door.
"Um… I'll figure this out! Somehow…" Pamela yelled out of the door. Her eyes were still red from crying as they began to sprout fresh tears. She gritted her teeth, feeling that she couldn't break down right now, but then again, was there ever a right time to break down? It was in that very moment as she watched Piper and Leo being hustled into a cop car, that Pamela realised her family was falling apart.
And she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
NEXT TIME: With both eldest and youngest Charmed Ones out of commission, Phoebe feels the strain of being the only active Halliwell witch left. An incident at the castle leaves Paige wondering about where she stands with Aidan, Piper and Leo try to resist the temptation of escaping the precinct jail and will Pamela survive under the scrutiny of Social Services.
Chapter 33 will be up soon!