A/N: Yay, more reviews! Thanks you guys:)

Lucy Knight: Hmm, I never thought of that as foreshadowing... Of course I can't tell you if you're right or wrong, that would ruin the story. But there is a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter. And hopefully your questions about Piper will be answered also.

Jessi: No, that's not sadistic! That's the reason I decided to write this! I hope to bring out the other sisters' emotions as well.

Mediatorsk: Thanks for the complement! You've been reading from the beggining, huh? I'm glad somebody was...

CHAPTER SIX

Piper, Leo, Wyatt, and Chris sat at the kitchen table. All of them were eating silently. Piper struggled awkwardly with her fork.

"Do you… need some help, mom?" Chris asked cautiously. He didn't know what kind of mood his mother was in that day, so he could have either gotten a nasty "I can do it myself!" remark, a flood of tears, or a casual "okay." Luckily, it was the last one.

"Well, guess I'll finally be able to get my pre-motherhood figure back, huh?" Piper joked.

Chris smiled. "Here." He used his telekinesis to raise some Au Gratin potatoes into the air, where Piper ate them.

"Spaghetti night's gonna be a disaster," she remarked. Everyone exchanged a chuckle and continued eating.

"Seattle," Piper said all of a sudden.

"What?" Leo asked.

"I've never been to Seattle," she replied. "It would be fun."

"Well, maybe we'll go sometime," Leo replied. Wyatt let out a huge sigh.

"What is it?" Piper asked him.

"Stop it," he replied, irritation more than obvious in his voice. "All of you, just stop it!" He slammed his fist down on the table.

"Stop what?" Piper asked. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"This! All of this! You're all just okay with the fact that you're dying, mom!" He stood up. "You act like you don't even want to fight it! Am I the only one who still wants to save you?"

"Wyatt, honey, we all want to find a way to stop this," Piper said. "And we're scared, too. But we're not going to live with an omnipresent doom cloud over us. There are some things I would like to get a chance to do in my life, and I'm simply expressing that."

"You still shouldn't act like there's no hope, and that that's fine by you!" He stormed out of the kitchen.

"Wyatt…" Piper started, but she didn't follow her son. Instead she sighed and sat back down.

"It's just that rebellious phase," Leo assured.

"I hope you're right, considering that Chris came back from the future to stop him from turning evil…"

"And he succeeded," Leo finished. "There is no evil in Wyatt. He's going to grow up as a good witch, you'll see. He just loves you, and he's scared for you, that's all."

"Chris, why don't you go talk to him?" Piper suggested.

"No way!" Chris replied. "You know he'll blow up at me if I do that?"

The back door opened, and Phoebe strolled into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Sorry about interrupting dinner… Is Pam over here?"

"Uh, yeah, she's in the attic," Piper replied. "Working on how to save me."

Suddenly, they heard loud noises coming through the ceiling.

"Pam?" Phoebe called. She and Piper took off for the stairs.

……………………………

"Now, you are going to give me an answer," Pam said to the demon she had trapped in a crystal cage. "What is in my aunt?"

The demon had already received one very painful torture shock, and he didn't want to experience another one.

"It was created by Temerarius Demons centuries ago," he began.

"Temerarius Demons, eh? How come I don't recognize the name?"

"Because they were foolish enough to let it get out and destroy their entire species! For decades after that, every demon in the underworld didn't dare touch it, not until recently," he explained. "We learned how to control it, contain it in energy balls. It was clear to us that witches would be a lot easier to kill from then on…" Pam remembered the green energy ball that Edzin had had.

"How do stop it? How do you get it out?" she asked. "Don't make me torture you again…" At this point, Piper and Phoebe had entered the room.

"You can't stop it," he grinned evilly. "It will eat away at her insides until she dies."

"Pam, what are you doing?" Phoebe asked. Pam turned, surprised to see her aunt and mother standing there. The demon took the diversion as an opportunity to swiftly kick one of the crystals away and bust out. He formed an energy ball in his hands. A green one. He threw it at the cluster of witches.

Piper tried her hardest to freeze it, but her hands would not move and her fingers wouldn't unbend. Luckily, just before it hit her, Phoebe used her Empath powers to channel it away from them and into the wall. Pam threw the potion at the demon, who immediately burst into flames.

"Uh, hello, what were you thinking?" Phoebe asked.

"We needed answers. I've been doing a lot of research, Edzin was associated with the Nosti Clan. The demon I just summoned was a member of that clan," Pam answered. "If figured he could tell us what we needed to hear."

"The demon you just summoned, don't you mean the demon that almost just killed us!" Phoebe replied. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Use your head before you attempt suicide!" She was yelling by now.

"I just wanted to get some answers. And now we have them. Remember, I'm telepathic. He wasn't lying."

"I don't want to hear it!" Phoebe replied. "That was stupid and irresponsible! Now you go home and think about this! And no more summoning anyone unless I approve of it!"

Pam sighed and shuffled out of the attic.

"Wow," Piper remarked. "That's the first time I've ever seen you scold her."

"It's the first time I ever had to," Phoebe replied. "I wasn't too harsh, was I? I mean—"

"Phoebe, stop," Piper said. "It's hard to punish your child for the first time. It's probably twice as hard if they're already 18 when you do it, but don't go and take it back. You're teaching her a lesson she needs to know. You can't go soft, even if you hate being viewed as the enemy, or she'll never learn anything."

"The enemy?" Phoebe asked. "Oh, no! You don't think—"

"Phoebe, she'll be fine, don't worry. You'll probably be cool again first thing tomorrow morning."

"I guess you're right…" Phoebe sighed. "You are the veteran mother in this family."

"Please. You make me sound old."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Go home and relax. And if you still feel like you want to cave in, just watch Raising Helen to remind you of why children need to be punished every once in a while."

Phoebe smiled. "Hey… uh, I know that demon said there's no cure, but—"

"I know, I know, stay hopeful," Piper replied. "I will." The two started for the attic door. "It would be really great though if I could brush my own hair again."

A/N: "Temerarius" is a Latin word meaning "rash" or "reckless." I figured I'd call those demons that, since they were "reckless" enough to let the thing kill themselves... Also, Raising Helen is a movie where the main character, Helen of course, is afraid of punishing her niece because she doesn't want to be hated. Good movie!