Disclaimer- I do not own charmed!
Thanks for your reviews! I hope to update at least once a week but I'm only up to around Chapter 8 so it might fall behind if I post too often!
I know it seems a bit Paige centred at the moment, but that will change! I am a big Piper fan, so her time to sine will come soon hopefully! And I may even be so kind as to give Feeble…I mean Phoebe a subplot (Just encase you're wondering, I am in the process of writing one. Much to my disgust! Teehee!)
S.Halliwell24- I liked the bit with Paige and the athame too. It seemed so right for Paige's character!
And for the Phoebe/Cole fans- watch out for chap7! You will not like it! :p
AN- This takes place four months after chap1.
Chapter 2- Bye Bye Belthazor.
"Shh baby" An exhausted Piper whispered to her four-month-old daughter. The bags under Piper's chocolate brown eyes were now a permanent feature on her pretty face. "Please let Mommy get some sleep..."
As Piper continued to shuffle up and down her bedroom with baby Prudence cradled in her arms, the baby's eldest auntie popped her head round the door with a distant look on her face.
"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Piper asked, slowly lowering Prue into the crib.
Phoebe just looked at her elder sister smugly and replied "Honey, I haven't even been to sleep yet..."
It took a while for it to register that Cole had, once again, spent the night. She let out a small giggle as to how slow her exhaustion was making her. "Does Cole not actually have his own apartment?" she asked intending to sound sarcastic but instead sounding angry.
Phoebe stared at her sister through large, brown, puppy dog eyes and replied in her most irritating baby voice "I'm sowee."
"What have you done now?" Came Paige's sarcastic remark from the door of Piper's room. Piper and Phoebe turned to see their younger sister beaming at them, her arms enveloping her gradually expanding stomach.
"You know they really shouldn't call it morning sickness. Maybe hurling your guts out every time someone mentions food' is a more appropriate name! And that whole thing about it going away? Not happening!" She sighed as she joined her sisters on the unmade double bed, Her long brown hair sweeping her face as she turned to look at her dosing niece. Her sisters laughed sympathetically at her comment and pulled her into a hug.
Paige had never seen herself as the mothering sort. Growing up she had always said she was going to wait until she was at least forty to even try for a baby, but here she was, happier than she had ever been. Of course, living with her sisters, brother-in-law and niece weren't her ideal living arrangements but since they had converted the basement into an apartment for Mark and she to live in, she wasn't really that bothered.
She looked around the room. Everything was so peaceful. In the Halliwell manor this was a very rare occasion so Paige breathed deeply savouring the moment knowing that upon Leo's return there would inevitably be another demon to vanquish. Three demons had attacked at dinner. Piper had, of course, blown them up but Leo had gone to check with the elders about the athame they left behind after finding nothing about it in the Book of Shadows. The constant demon attacks were the only thing that worried Paige. How was she going to raise such an innocent a child in a world full of evil- And they still hadn't vanquished Decron. She tried to convince herself that it wouldn't stop her raising a perfectly healthy baby by thinking of Mark. Having a demon-hunting witch as a father and a witch/whitelighter for a mother was going to make this baby very powerful. She then looked at baby Prudence and realised if Piper and Leo could do it so could she and Mark.
The silence was broken, as was Paige's chain of thought, by Prue cooing in her sleep. Phoebe and Paige let out synchronised "Awwwws", to which Piper responded "You try awwing at that when it keeps you up eighteen hours a day."
Phoebe gave Piper a look and then eyed Paige, as if to say, "shut up or you'll put her off."
Piper just smiled and said reassuringly "Don't worry Paige, I'm sure no other baby is as restless as Prue." As Paige smiled to her sister, Piper continued, "Come to think of it, now that she's a sleep, I should be to."
Phoebe took Paige by the hand and they left Piper's room, letting her get some well earned rest. As they stood in the dimly lit corridor Phoebe put her hand on Paige's stomach and asked "So how's my other favourite niece doing? Is Mommy still being grumpy? Yes she is, yes she is,"
Paige looked at her sister; one eyebrow raised and said "If you want to use my stomach as a petting zoo and babble to it, make sure you're being nice about mommy or mommy will shove the rattle you gave her up your ass..."
Phoebe knew Paige was being sarcastic but took the hint. She sighed and looked at the small bump emerging in her younger sisters stomach. "I want one..." She said, in a tone that reminded Paige of a five year old looking through a toy catalogue.
"Oh you do, do you?" Cole asked menacingly, hugging phoebe round the waist from behind, "well I'm sure you've had plenty practice tonight..."
Paige looked on smiling, longing for Mark to get back from his demon hunt. As if by magic her wish was granted by a loud bang and a yell from the attic. Paige, Cole and Phoebe exchanged worried glances and headed straight towards the attic stairs.
"Damn darklighters!" Came Mark's voice from the old loveseat. Leo was lying on the ground clutching his side, from where and arrow emerged. Mark signalled towards a darklighter who was now unconscious in the corner of the room.
"Oh Crap" Gasped Piper when she eventually squeezed past her sisters and Cole to get to the door.
Cole had immediately gone to Leo's aid, pulling out the arrow and lifting him onto the worn old couch. Phoebe, thinking on her feet as usual, ran straight to the crystals to encircle the darklighter. Piper had run to her husband's side with tears welling in her eyes. Trying to count the endless number of times her husband had been in this situation and survived didn't help to comfort her. Paige on the other hand took one look at the huge gash on Mark's back and felt the need to throw up. Unsure of whether or not it was pregnancy sickness or utter bewilderment that caused it, she headed straight back downstairs to the bathroom.
After the commotion had died down a little, Paige reappeared at the door. Phoebe and Cole had managed to bandage Marks wound. Piper was sitting with Leo and baby Prue on the sofa waiting for Paige so she could heal him. Paige looked around. Everyone she cared about in one room, but the sight wasn't a happy one. Her troubled thoughts of not being able to raise a baby in the Halliwell manor returned to her. Maybe having demon hunting witches for parents was going to cause problems rather than solve them. She shook her head and tried incredibly hard to hide her worried expression as she walked over to a very pale Leo. She took his hands and, quicker than anticipated, healed his wound. As soon as she had done this she kneeled next to her husband and amazingly healed his, without the help of Leo.
Everyone was staring at Paige. She had never shown any sign of being able to heal before. Only, with the help of Leo, had she managed on two occasions. She stared into Mark's mysterious blue eyes and blew her fringe out of her own. "Looks like little miss Anderson here is more powerful than we thought." She said as Mark put his hand on Paige's stomach.
Piper was a little shocked at how she suddenly felt towards her half sister. A sudden brush of envy was sweeping over her. Prue had never shown signs of power inside the womb and only now, at four months, was she starting to orb her pacifier from the floor to her mouth. For only a brief moment she caught Leo's eye but as always, he was able to read her like a book.
"Honey, just because Prue couldn't heal from the womb doesn't make her weak. Besides, it's probably the baby's power combined with Paige's power that did it. And just the other day Prue managed to orb the TV control from Phoebe when she was about to put on that dreadful aerobics channel." he said quietly, suppressing a small laugh.
This made Piper feel slightly better. Although she wasn't worried about Prue being weak, she had just thought that since Paige's baby was only going to be a quarter whitelighter it made sense for Prue to be stronger.
The thoughts of both baby Prue, and Paige's unborn child were soon washed away by the sudden howl from the corner. The darklighter had obviously tried to orb out as he was now in a heap on the floor. Phoebe was the first to notice that he wore the same symbol around his neck as the one they had discovered on the demon's athame.
"Who sent you?" She demanded.
The darklighter however, paid no attention whatsoever to Phoebe and kept his eyes fixed on Cole.
"Belthazor," he sneered, "I trust this is your witch?" He nudged his head towards Phoebe and grinned evilly.
"Don't call me that" Snapped Cole, "He isn't part of me any more."
"Oh, believe me I know. How do you think I injured your friend over there?" He indicated to Mark with his hands "A fireball. Where do you think your powers went after your precious witch stripped them? They don't just disappear into oblivion. I absorbed your powers Belthazor! I did wonder why you had given them up when I realised just how powerful they were, but I'm not going to complain. Although, your nature will never change: Once a demon, always a demon."
Cole looked disgusted. The darklighter seemed to think Cole was still evil. Putting this thought to the back of his head he decided to play along with the darklighter's suggestion. "You're right. So if you'd kindly tell us who sent you, I won't vanquish your sorry ass and send you back to hell."
At this comment the Darklighter's smug expression turned to one of fear. Piper, noticing this, let out a small giggle, turning the fear into confusion. Even as the darklighter rose to his feet, Cole towered over him. He moved as far to the back of the crystal cage a he could without being electrocuted and began to whimper. Now the Halliwell sisters were the ones who were confused. Why on earth (or hell) would a darklighter be scared of a powerless demon? Seeing this as an advantage they just stood back and watched in amusement.
Mark, who was now on his feet, standing at an impressive six foot four inches, moved slowly towards the cage "Pathetic." he spat. Piper, Paige, Phoebe and Leo continued to watch, struggling to hold back their laughter as the two men stood, reducing the supposedly powerful darklighter almost to tears.
"You call yourself a demon?" Mark asked spitefully
"I asked who sent you." Said Cole, once again sending a look of sheer terror onto the face of the darklighter.
"Decron." Whined the pathetic excuse for evil. "He's set up a gang of demons and warlocks to come after the charmed ones and their babies. He knows the only way to get to them is through their family, that's why I came after the whitelighter and the hunter. He wants the children and he says that they may be more powerful than the charmed ones themselves. I promise I didn't want to help him. I'm only powerful because of your power… please spare me."
As he finished pleading an eerie silence had filled the room. For the first time in a long time the charmed ones were actually enjoying a vanquish- if you could call it a vanquish. But as the news of Decron's plan settled in, both Leo and Mark became very protective of their wives and children, pulling them into tight hugs.
"Okay, now I'll keep my end of the bargain, I won't vanquish you." Cole was grinning. He was enjoying watching evil suffer- an evil which had once engrossed his whole body. "Ladies..."
Phoebe knew what she had to do. She crossed the attic to a small box in the opposite corner. She took the necklace she was wearing off over her head to reveal a small silver key. With this key she opened the box and took out a potion vile with thin green liquid in it. It was the Belthazor vanquishing potion Cole had made her keep, just encase he somehow got his powers back and endangered the family.
Cole was smiling wryly. He watched the woman he loved throw the potion vile at the darklighter and the sound of the Power of Three chant rung in his ears like a melody. Finally the part of his history he didn't want to remember was gone. In a matter of seconds, Belthazor's powers had been demolished. They were never coming back and now, he hoped, Phoebe would marry him.
(AN-don't mind while I hurl! Cole WILL be mine!!!!)
As the residents of the Halliwell Manor began to clean up the fresh mess in the attic Piper and Paige held back tears of worry and anguish. A demon they knew nothing about, except that he was powerful enough to gather demonic followers, was after their babies. Piper refused to leave Prue by herself for a moment and Paige jut sat in silence, watching her family fuss over small messes on the floor.
Cole couldn't help feeling happy. He had picked up Phoebe and spun her around, the words "will you marry me?" on the tip of his tongue. but no matter how much he wanted to ask her, he just couldn't bring himself to say it. As he stared at the people he now considered as family he was overcome by guilt. Leo was holding his daughter close to his heart. The look of worry on his face was enough to bring a tear to Cole's eye. He quickly brushed it away, pretending to have an itch and turned to look at Piper. She was doing what she always did when things got too much for her: cleaning. Mark, Cole noticed, had joined Piper in her pointless cleaning spree when suddenly Paige let out a frustrated cry.
The thoughts she had been bottling up since she had discovered she was pregnant had suddenly become too much for her. If her unborn child was going to be under a constant threat she didn't want to bring it into the world.
"I can't do this!" She Screamed. "No child deserves this! What sort of life is my daughter going to lead if she is constantly being attacked by demons!" She stared around the room through tears and kicked the stand where the Book Of Shadows resided, sending it flying towards Phoebe.
"Paige..." Piper started
"Piper! Nothing you can say is going to change my mind. I don't want this baby if she is going to suffer for her whole life!"
Mark made an attempt to comfort his wife by placing his arm around her middle but she pushed it away. She charged out of the attic, slamming the door as she left.
Everyone listened to Paige's sobs as she stormed through the house to the basement where they heard her let out an incredibly loud scream of anger. Phoebe and Piper had only known their sister for a year, but in that time had learned that when she was upset she needed to be left Alone. Mark on the other hand had chased after Paige.
Mark didn't return to the attic for the next half an hour. When he did his eyes were puffy and his cheekbones tearstained. Paige's outburst had completely unnerved everyone. Leo, not knowing what to say or do had gone to tell the elders what they had found out, thus irritating his wife beyond belief. Piper, after hearing Paige's distressed thoughts was questioning the safety of Prue. Phoebe on the other hand was beating herself up about not realising how much bottled up emotion her younger sister had and Cole pondered over whether or not to make tea- it always seemed to calm everyone down when Piper did it...
"She orbed out... I don't know where she's gone." Mark told everyone.
Phoebe and Piper both immediately looked up at the ceiling, calling "Leo!" He orbed in moments later, poised and ready to fight.
"What? What happened?" He asked worriedly.
Piper scowled at him and then asked almost too calmly "We need you to sense Paige, she orbed out."
Leo breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought another demon was attacking the sisters. He slowly closed his eyes and concentrated hard on finding Paige. "She'll be okay." He told them. "She's with Sam."
This calmed everyone down slightly. Sam was a whitelighter, Paige's father- nothing too bad could happen if she was with him.
Mark sat on the sofa and looked at the floor trying to avoid everyone's gazes. He had a worried feeling that they might all blame him for his wife's outburst. His long, dark, curly hair fell over his face and his strong masculine physique looked unusually weak.
Phoebe put a comforting hand on his shoulder and told him "She'll come around. I mean, she didn't handle being a witch well to start with and look at her now: she's like a super-witch. I think it was just a shock to her system… to everyone's system. Just give her time. You can talk to her tomorrow."
Phoebe wasn't even sure if Paige would be home tomorrow. She wasn't sure if anything she had said was true, but she had to try and do something to calm him down. Her middle sister instincts were kicking in and she actually liked being the voice of reason for a change. Trying to think of something to take everyone's minds off the situation, she asked Mark "How did the darklighter get here in the first place?"
It suddenly dawned on Leo and Mark that they hadn't told anyone of the incident which had led them to the attic. They both started to explain...
Earlier that night
Mark was sitting on the kitchen counter, as his wife explained what each potion she was giving him was. "The red ones are the scalding potions, the yellows are exploding potions, the green are blinding potions- encase of warlocks- and the blue ones should vanquish your basic, lower level demons..."
Mark wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying. He was just staring at her, realising just how beautiful she was. He leaned foreword to kiss her but she pulled away.
"I have garlic breath! We had pizza for dinner!" She giggled.
"Well, at least let me kiss my little guy goodbye." he said, lowering himself so that he could kiss Paige's stomach.
"You mean your little girl, we have girls in this family," Paige told him smiling, "you better get going, it's already eleven thirty. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come home and the less I will worry."
"I'm sorry I have to go out this late sweetheart." he said apologetically, "it's just that demons tend to come out more at night. And my family has been all boys for years! That's how the Nauctater gene gets passed."
"Well Spanky, (AN-the nickname will be explained later!) I know I'm having a girl. It's just a feeling."
"And when are you ever wrong? That's why I love you!" Mark hugged her and departed. Just as he was about to reach the front door a familiar set of blue and white lights orbed beside him. Leo laughed at the sight of Mark; a tall, muscular man, carrying a small, purple satchel.
"Don't laugh!" Mark said half heartedly, knowing how stupid he must look. "Paige is paranoid about me getting hurt and she's given me about a thousand potions to take with me!"
"Sorry. It's just, well, you look like you're going to pre-school or something!" Leo laughed.
Mark promptly changed the subject. "So what did the elders tell you?"
"Oh. They think the symbol belongs to group of demons called the Nasus Tribe. Most of them should be lower level demons and warlocks, but apparently there are a few very powerful beings leading them." Leo explained
"Whaddaya mean beings?"
"Well, they're unsure of what they are but if I were to take a wild guess I'd say they were upper level demons." At this point Leo lowered his voice. "A bit like, erm… Belthazor."
Mark looked from Leo to the living room where Cole was sitting with baby Prue in his lap. He let out a small laugh wondering how Cole could ever have been evil. "Well, I suppose I should be going. Any idea where this Nasus Tribe is hiding?" He asked, planning to go looking for them.
"Woah! You can't just get rid of them yourself." Leo knew perfectly well that Mark could probably take out three upper level demons by himself but didn't like the idea of him going alone. "I'll just call the girls...Phoe-"
"No." Mark interrupted "Piper's exhausted and Paige won't be any use if she keeps throwing up everywhere. Just let me go. I can handle it. Where are they? You'll have to orb me to the underworld."
Leo, seeing Marks point of view, eventually agreed. "Okay. They aren't actually in the underworld. They are hiding in that old warehouse down by the docks. You know the one where those fishermen were murdered a few years back?"
Mark had no idea what Leo was talking about. He had been living in Aberdeen, Scotland up until two years ago. "Erm, no idea mate!" He said blankly.
"That's okay. I'm still not letting you go by yourself. I'm coming with you." Leo said, to which Mark had no objections. "As long as I don't have to wear a satchel." He added, smiling.
When the two men arrived in the dockyards everything seemed normal. The smell of fish and the cries of seagulls filled the air and there were a few dodgy looking men standing on an old boat. Thankfully, they hadn't noticed the orbing strangers.
Leo led Mark to a huge abandoned warehouse. It seems like a perfectly normal abandoned warehouse to me, Mark thought to himself, whatever that is...
"It's quiet," he said, mocking the explorer he had watched in a film the previous night, "too quiet."
"Yeah, you know when they say that in movies something bad always happens." Leo informed him.
Unfortunately, Leo was correct. As the words left his lips a warlock had blinked in behind them. Luckily, Leo had sensed him just as he was preparing to throw an energy ball straight into Mark's back.
"Behind you!" Leo yelled.
Mark, who was very quick on his feet, turned round to face the warlock sending him flying into the side of the warehouse with an electric blast. This gave Mark enough time to pull out one of the yellow potion vials from his satchel. "The yellows are exploding potions" he remembered Paige saying as he threw it straight at the warlock. To his pleasant surprise this had vanquished their adversary.
Leo and Mark hoped they hadn't drawn too much attention to themselves and hurried towards the warehouse. The moment they stepped inside they strongly regretted their decision. Everywhere they looked they saw either demons or warlocks- at least sixty. Leo grabbed a handful of potions from the open satchel, unaware of what any of them were used for and Mark made a dash for the athame he always had tucked under is belt when he was demon hunting.
"A couple of demon hunters!" One of the demons said laughing. His face was a muddy green colour and looked strangely as though it had been melted at one side. "And we were expecting the charmed ones!"
"Sorry mate," Mark mocked, "You get one better."
"Yeah," Leo agreed, unsure of where witty comments were going to get them. "You get their husbands!"
The huge room filled with shrieks, cackles and grunts of laughter. Leo and Mark shared worried glances- the demons were prepared for an attack. How had anyone known they were coming?
Mark cursed loudly as he turned and realised a large amount of demons and warlocks had shimmered or blinked behind them. Leo was prepared to orb out but didn't want to risk being followed back to the manor. He followed Mark's lead and started randomly attacking anyone and anything he could see.
Mark, being used to fighting, was making it look easy. He threw a high kick at the demon with half a melted face and proceeded to kill him with his athame. He dodged what seemed like a hundred energy balls by swinging down to the floor in an almost break-dancing style, allowing the demons and warlocks to vanquish each other. At this point it was lucky for Leo that he was able to orb. Leo was continuing to randomly throw potions from the satchel. He made a mental not to thank Paige when they returned home.
Miraculously, after an hour and a half of fighting, both Mark and Leo had managed to vanquish a majority of the evil creatures in the room without being seriously injured. Of course, the only reason half of the demons were gone was because when Leo had been throwing the satchel to Mark it had been hit by a fireball, sending a combination of very powerful potions all over the room. "And I was just starting to like that thing," Mark had joked before turning back to kicking serious demon ass.
Some of the remaining demons looked apprehensive. "Maybe we'd have been better off with the charmed ones." Leo heard a darklighter say. He was thankful that the darklighter had not noticed his orbing power or, he feared, he could have been killed.
Mark was still ready for action when he let out a howl of agony. The apprehensive darklighter had thrown a fireball straight at his back, causing him to go tumbling to the floor. Leo knew he couldn't use his healing power in front of the darklighter or he may be in Mark's position too. He ran over to his friend, grabbed him by the hand and orbed out.
"That's when we arrived here." Leo explained "And that creep shot me."
Mark had let Leo do most of the talking. His thoughts were still focused on Paige. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and reassure her that everything would be okay. He knew deep down that it wasn't okay. He had been suffering the same thoughts as Paige, although not quite to her extent. He was confident that they were both entirely capable of raising a child but the news of Decron's plan had made him doubt it for a brief moment. Luckily he was good at hiding his emotions but was finding it hard, so as the rest of the group conversed about the Nasus tribe he quietly slipped out of the room.
Hope you like it! Please R&R! :p
Laur xXx