"What do you care?" asked Sam's mother, Teresa.

"Well, if I shall answer to a new ruler, what better than someone who already is on the dark side of

things. Someone who already understands power and has the capability to make it all even greater. Sounds like a much more appealing transition"

"Why tell her? Why not just getting rid of her yourself?" asked one of the demons close to Teresa. She rolled her eyes his way and then to Vizkaroth waiting for an answer.

"I'm simply an ordinary demon, nothing truly special… I'm afraid, not even powerful enough to take her on… but someone from her lineage, willing to not only get her out of the way, but to seize the chance to take her place… is a whole other story"

Teresa's ambition was peeking through even before she would admit it to herself.

Why should she be in the place that is rightfully yours? Teresa stared at Viz. You are better than all these minions, are you not? She nodded ever so slightly. She is enjoying the benefits from the gifts which should have been rightfully yours. He read off her head what he needed to spur her on. Why not take back what's yours?

"Tere, what you wanna do?" asked another female demon in the group.

"I'm gonna pay a nice warm visit to my darling daughter"

"How are you even gonna get near her? Thought you were afr…" the demon was nudged by the female demon by his side. "Thought you wanted nothing to do with her no more"

"He does make a valid point, Tere. The son of the Charmed ones is not someone to take lightly"

"I can help you with that" said Viz, his evil smile matching Teresa's.

After his meeting with Sam's mother, Viz shimmered to the Underworld where a Kracht demon and his personal lackey waited for his return.

"Why did you summon me?" the Kracht demon said menacingly.

"I need one of your kind to talk to someone"

"Who?"

"A kid. His name is Lucas. He is living on the surface with a foster family, but he has… dealt with your kind before so he'll oblige to your… persuasion"

"What do you want me to tell him?" Vizkaroth smiled widely before letting the demon in on all the details. He utterly enjoyed disposing of demons like pawns on a chess board. The word of Wyatt and Sam's doing under Vizkaroth's influence had gotten around, which made a lot of demons of all kinds willing to help anyway they could in his coming plans.

FEW WEEKS LATER…

Piper had been spending a lot of time at Magic School with Leo, trying to read every possible book on any kind of whispering demons. Phoebe and Paige joined on and off but work, magical and non, was quickly catching up with them and were trying to juggle it all. Their children took care of most of the magical stuff, but had to be aided often by their mothers to fight the most experienced foes. So far, no such luck on their quest.

Chris had been keeping mostly to himself or aiding their cousins since Bianca wasn't speaking to him and whenever he tried, she said she was on a mission and just slipped away. He could tell she was lying more often than not, but wasn't about to force her into talking to him. Bianca on the other hand, had been on some missions, even though she had been avoiding Chris as well, and wasn't being as selective as she had been in the last few months. The thought of Chris thinking of her as essentially not-good kept torturing her.

"Can't believe Kai is almost 6 months old" Sam said burping him.

"He's five and a week" Wyatt laughed. "Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself?" he went to kiss the top of her head.

"Maybe a little" she laughed. "It's just hard to imagine he's been around almost half the year now"

"Are you doing his milestone card photoshoot?"

"Of course"

"I remember Chris held him during his first"

"Yeah" she gulped nostalgically.

"We'll get there again" he tried to comfort her, pushing the hair out of her face with the tip of his fingers.

"I know… I mean I hope so"

"Not sure?"

"Yes, but…I keep thinking that even if we do manage to change the world, our family might still try to change it back" she finally said out loud. "What then?"

"They'll get there, honey. We just need to… give them time" Sam reached for his hand and sighed. "Well, now we're not at the store anymore…"

"Glad Michelle is back cause I missed home" Sam interrupted.

"Me too" he took a moment to smile and kissed her. "Shall we see where we stand on this whole thing?" Wyatt finished his initial thought. Sam hesitated but nodded, putting Kai down on the foam mattress placed in the middle of the living room, where the other kids lied, cuddled with their blankies while watching TV.

They walked around the couch, ready to call upon Vizkaroth. They felt a lot safer having the kids right next to them. Wyatt and Sam took one last protective look at their beautiful children and then Wyatt called out. "Vizkaroth" who, forever listening in, appeared almost immediately.

"My liege" he bowed to both of them in turn.

"How are things coming along?" both Wyatt and Sam kept a firm stare on him.

"Are we there yet?" she spoke in the same ominous voice her husband just had.

"Almost, my queen. We're gathering…"

"Spare us the details" Wyatt interrupted him.

"…everything we need for the spell to bring back the Nexus" Viz completed the thought without revealing any details.

"Good. Anything we need to do till then?"

"I'm afraid there's nothing to it but wait, my liege. But I promise you we're very close"

There was a knock on the door and Wyatt dismissed Vizkaroth with a wave of his hand. They exchanged looks and then walked over to see who it was. Had they been heard? Was somebody spying on them? Sam was the one who opened.

"Hi, you guys. Is this a bad time?" said their cousin Bianca, looking at their stern faces.

"No, not at all" Sam smiled "Please come in"

"Hope we're not intruding" said Jackson, her boyfriend.

"Of course not. Everything alright?" Sam's smile flickered but stayed on.

"Why wouldn't it be?" asked Bianca seemingly nervous. Wyatt opened his eyes wide in a sarcastic way. "First, since you're the only ones who know so far, we wanted to show you this" she took out her latest sonogram.

"Awww, what a cutie!" said Sam melting instantly into a silly conference of giggles.

"How far along are you now?" asked her cousin.

"She's entering her second trimester" Jackson said proudly.

"Which is why we kinda needed advice on how to tell mom and dad" Bianca confessed. "I'm running out of excuses for mom not to touch me" Sam led them into the living room where the kids saw them coming and smiled. They had been spending so much time over at their place that them being here was a treat. Julian even got up and went to hug Jackson. "We've barely kept in touch as it is, trying to avoid them cause I'm afraid something might trigger a premonition before I get a chance to tell her myself"

"OK. Tell me. What are you so afraid of?" Sam cut straight to the chase.

"I don't know. I keep thinking of what mom and dad would even think about this"

"In other words, you're afraid they might not approve" Bianca and Jackson nodded to Wyatt's words.

"This is your life, not theirs, honey. Whether they approve or not is irrelevant. They can either be happy for you and tag along for the ride, or just go about their lives as you do yours" Sam held her hand.

"They are right" Jackson told Bianca.

"I know… but still"

"There's no way Uncle Coop would be upset about this"

"And mom?" she asked her cousin.

"She might be a tougher nut to crack" Wyatt said eyeing Sam.

"Even so, she'll take one feel outta you guys and will warm up to the whole idea, you'll see?" Sam encouraged her.

"I thought of having them over again, but she's also been busy lately. Most of the time she's with Aunt Piper"

"Can't imagine why…" Wyatt whispered.

"Tell her it's important. Uncle Coop will do the rest I'm sure" Sam suggested.

"In the meantime, bagels? We just ordered some earlier today, might even still be warm" Wyatt offered.

"Yes, please" said Bianca in a much lighter mood. She felt supported even if she hadn't broken the news to the whole family yet.

"Any plans for the weekend?" asked Jackson as he prepared yet another toasted bagel with cream cheese for Bianca.

"We thought maybe a picnic. Haven't been out of the house that much since we stopped going to Brightest Blessings" suggested Wyatt biting into a fresh bagel himself. Sam smiled, delighted with the idea.

"Sounds like a great idea. I know they'll love it" Jackson said turning to contemplate the children, still happily sprawled over the inflatable mattress.

"Got a question for you" said Sam with her mouth full. She half swallowed and went on. "Would you be able to handle your kid being a witch?" Bianca felt suddenly nervous. The kids had been around more often and Jackson had handled it fine, but having them over for a few hours was one thing, actually raising one was a whole other. She wondered herself what the answer to that question would be, but she had been way too nervous to pop the question herself. She started smearing another bagel wearing a nervous smile which she tried to hide concentrating on getting cream cheese on every bit of the bread.

Jackson on the other hand, had taken yet another moment to stare at the kids and then at Bianca who avoided his stare quite obviously so.

"I…I can't promise you that I will" Bianca's bite went down painfully down her throat. "But..." he took her hand. "I can promise that I will do my best to be a good father and to love them, no matter what" Bianca's hormones broke through every bit of restraint she had. She threw herself at his arms and wept like a little girl. "Hey, there, there. Everything's gonna be alright. We're in this together, right?" she nodded and continued weeping disconsolately. She knew she was happy and at the same time all kinds of feelings just rushed to the surface and took over.

Wyatt and Sam were pleased to see Jackson was one of that kind of people the world so desperately needed. One without judgement. One willing to embrace magical differences. It only reassured them they were indeed doing the right thing.

AT MAGIC SCHOOL…

"Maybe we could cast a spell to actually know where to look" said Piper perusing the pages of yet another endless volume.

"Piper, we'll find it" Leo told her. Piper shut the book violently.

"It's taking forever! How can we be sure we'll find it before it's too late?" her voice echoed through the library.

A book dropped for no apparent reason, at the far end of the endless row of books. Piper gave Leo a look of suspicion and made her way to the end of the hall, followed by Leo. A few steps from reaching the book sprawled on the floor, the pages started shuffling on their own. By the time Piper's hand reached for it, the pages stopped as fast as they had started shuffling.

"The Norms?" Leo read the headline.

"Who are those?" asked Piper intrigued. Leo sighed.

"They are the keepers of lifetimes in general. They represent the lines of the past, present and future"

"So…" Piper started walking back holding the book firmly on the page. "If we're looking for a particular demon, they might actually know something about it? I mean, isn't it how it works?"

"Maybe…but it's way too dangerous" Piper snorted. "I mean it, Piper. Just talking to the Norms can shift the balance of all life in the world, not just our family's"

"I understand" Piper said a lot more serious this time. She could tell Leo was nervous just by the mere thought of having to deal with these creatures at all. "But we still need information on a demon who might have been lurking around our lives for a very long time" she stood in front of her husband explaining her reasoning. "I mean, how else could have he manipulated Wyatt so perfectly? He had to have been tracking him for a long time to do that. To know what would exactly make him do what he needed him to. You said so yourself the other night"

"Yes, but you're looking too much into it"

"Maybe I am. That's why asking some beings that have been overlooking every single life seems to be a pretty solid idea on who to go to right about now" Leo's face was unchanged. "This" she pointed at the piles of discarded books on the tables and all around the floor. "Evidently is getting us nowhere"

"We've just started to look"

"We've been at it for weeks!"

"I know, but…"

"We can't just keep pretending we have all the time in the world, because we clearly saw that we do not" Leo sighed yet again. "They would know everything about every living creature that has roamed on this world, but…" he raised a finger, marking his words.

"Just because they know, doesn't mean they'll tell you"