The Charmed Children, those of them that were left, remained quiet for a long time. They had retreated back into Piper's room to keep an eye on Chris' thankfully still stable condition and to inform Mel of everything that had happened.

Paige, Piper and Phoebe had disappeared upstairs to put Wyatt in a protective circle and to keep going through the Book. Which was code for 'let's leave them to it while we discuss what the hell just happened'.

There was a heavy feeling of guilt in the room, and everyone felt a little sorry for themselves and angry at Kat for expressing what they all somewhat thought. And at Henry for crossing a line that they hadn't even known about. No Halliwell had ever been disowned before.

PJ curled up on the bed at Chris' side, one hand wrapped around her cousin's, the other curled at her collar bone while she tried to resist the urge to rub at the cut on her head. Cupids healed a bit quicker than normal, but her head still pounded. Cole had shaken her awake from where Kat had left her, hidden in a closet and they made their way to Wyatt's room just in time to see the confrontation between the last surviving Mitchell siblings.

Her heart had ached far more fiercely than her head. Empathic abilities always seemed a little bit more trouble than they were worth, but grief was always the worst. Kat was so angry, while Henry was so cold. Destructive and reflective. They needed to deal with their emotions in different ways, but they couldn't do it without the other.

All of the Halliwells were stronger when they were together, in everything. They were at their most vulnerable when they were alone and separated. They were all hurting, but Kat was hurting by herself. She was more alone now than she had ever been.

PJ shuddered at the thought of losing a twin. A life-long companion who had always been there. She had an empathetic link with all of her siblings, and her cousins to some extent, but it was strongest with Parker. She was the more powerful empath, and Parker was the next strongest, having had the most time to practice, but their bond was nothing next to Peyton and Pearl's. There was something stronger about a bond with a twin, stronger than what she had with Parker and the thought of that just being gone was chilling.

PJ mentally probed her link with Parker, like she hadn't since they were children. Not communicating anything, just checking. They had stuck together after their mom died. For months she hadn't left her sister's side. It had strengthened the link, their shared suffering. She wasn't entirely surprised to find that even through time, even almost two decades away, Parker poked back. Halliwells shouldn't be alone.

"We need to go after her," said Mel. She had taken up residence on Chris' other side. "Does anyone know where she might have gone? Where has she been going anyway?" She asked. Her voice was tight, and carefully measured. She was barely holding on. With Chris nearly dying, and Wyatt nearly dying at Kat's hands, and Henry getting hurt, and Matt and Leo being God only knew where, and too many close demon fights, her nerves were shot. PJ could feel the waves of anxiety from the other side of the bed.

Shielding from empaths had been one of the first things that Wyatt had taught Mel and Chris, back when he had just been their cool big brother who hadn't wanted to get caught sneaking out by their Aunt Phoebe. All three had gotten very good at it over the years. But now all those walls gone, all the fear and concern was laid bare. It was oddly discomforting.

PJ hadn't realised how much she had relied on the solid wall of silence and calm that her cousins had seemingly so-effortlessly exuded. Only now that it was gone she felt like she was free-falling and life was offering her so few hand-holds.

"She won't hurt anyone," said Cole.

"No," PJ agreed. The last few minutes notwithstanding. Life had few certainties, but she wasn't abandoning this one. "But she's hurting." She gave in and rubbed her head, carefully avoiding the wound. "She shouldn't be alone. We're angry at her, but we're not shutting her out." She punctuated that statement by glaring at each one of her cousins, daring them to disagree, not that Chris was in much of a state to.

Semi-conscious at best, he was barely following along with who was in the room, much less what had happened.

"PJ, do you have any idea where she would have gone or should we start scrying? I can bring her back," Cole offered.

"No," said Henry. "You're bringing me with you. She's my sister." Henry was firm, but PJ could feel the guilt pouring off of him, thicker than from anyone else. He didn't think he was wrong to have said what he said, but he regretted it nonetheless, and those conflicting feelings made him even more tense.

"Henry," she stared, trying to calm him down.

"No," Henry snapped. "That's both my sisters now. I'm not losing Kat. Not to grief and not to evil. I'm getting her back."

PJ could feel his guilt intensifying at being the one to send her away. He was too close to the situation. He needed time to calm down, she recognised. "You need to rest, Henry," she said. Her head pounded, but it was healing. Sitting down and resting her active abilities was the best thing that she could do, but Henry didn't have any magical abilities to help him. And he wasn't taking it easy. The pain was only making his mood worse, and that wasn't going to help the situation any.

Henry spat a curse at her that might have been upsetting if she hadn't spent a significant portion of her time around the Resistance soldiers, more than a few of whom happened to be demons. Between Aunt Paige, Cole, the soldiers, and the enemies that they faced almost day-to-day, there were few words that PJ hadn't heard in some shape or form. She didn't waver or back down. "You need to be at your full strength if you want to help Kat. She can't stay here, Henry. It's not good for her."

"Or for you either," Mel pitched in. "Or Wyatt," she added.

PJ nodded. "She should be at home. She needs to be allowed to grieve, and she can't do that here. Whatever happens here, she'll still have to go home to - to a world without Tam. We all will. But Kat can feel it, even now. She needs to deal with that. And Henry, I think you should be together to deal with it."

"I should be with her now," Henry insisted, tearfully. "I should go to her."

"I'll go," said Phoebe.

The Charmed Children turned to their aunt and mother startled, and Cole looked at her, surprised.

The sorrow in her eyes was familiar. It was the same look that they had seen in Piper's eyes, and the same look that lurked in Aunt Paige's eyes everyday. They had all lost a sister. Phoebe might not express it as visibly, but that old grief was clear across her face.

Prudence Johnna, PJ reflected. Aunt Prue had never been forgotten.

"I understand how she feels," said Phoebe. "I'll talk to her."

"Are you sure?" Mel asked. "She just tried to hurt Wyatt and Piper. We wouldn't blame you if… Well, if you didn't want to see her."

Phoebe shook her head. "Part of being a witch is doing good, which she did in the end. I know what it's like to let your emotions rule over you. I can talk to her."

"You have to be careful," PJ warned. "There are things that you can't know. About the future."

"Future consequences," said Phoebe. "We've heard it all before." There was a fond smile on her face when she looked down at Chris'. Even through the open concern.

"We need to find her first," said Henry.

Piper entered her room, which was now filled to the brim with people. "And then I think that you owe me an explanation," she said to Mel.

Mel nodded mutely, shooting PJ a worried look. PJ wasn't worried. There was no anger coming from Piper, just concern and confusion. There was no danger.

"Henry, PJ, why don't you two go lie down and get some rest?" Cole suggested.

"Cole and I can scry for Kat," said Phoebe.

Cole shot Phoebe a wide-eyed look that had PJ smothering her a smile. He clearly remembered the distrust and dislike that had stalked him during his first few months of resurrection, PJ had heard all the details second-hand but the emotions had still been crystal clear, but Phoebe was willing to deal with a little awkwardness between them to help out Kat. There were few things that she was unwilling to face when it came to helping an innocent.

Henry was obviously unhappy at having been benched again and being prevented from going after his sister, but he didn't argue with Piper. He offered PJ a hand off the bed and together they went out in search of somewhere to lie down for a while in relative peace.

Phoebe led Cole out of the room and up to the attic, and he followed somewhat meekly, leaving Piper, Mel and Chris alone in the room.

~Poisoned~

Like too many buildings in San Francisco, Buckland Auction House was barely standing these days. It had never been specifically targeted by Wyatt's demons, and it had never been terrorised by them either, but it had fallen victim to one of the many battles that raged across the city. The roof was sinking, with large sections just missing. The windows had been boarded up and the door was nailed shut. The only way in or out was to climb in through a missing panel on the covered window and wiggle through, being mindful of splinters and scrapes. Orbing was an option, but it wasn't a safe one.

As far as their safe houses went, it still had a unique sentimentality. Most buildings that they had some sort of connection to had been destroyed or torn apart in searches for the Charmed Ones, their allies, or anyone who came between Wyatt and something that he wanted. And that didn't take into account the unending cruelty of some of the demons, who would kill and torture people just because. Though even that had lost its enjoyment, and nowadays they spent their time grumbling about patrols and being avoided by all by the most foolish of people.

In the confines of the building, Peyton, Pearl and Parker were the safest that they had been in years.

Peyton stood in the middle of the largest, open space available. He readied his bow and took aim at the makeshift target that Paige had set up. Pearl crouched in a corner trying to break into a tin of peaches with a fountain pen. They had a can opener, but she enjoyed the challenge. There was nothing that they could do until Paige came back from meeting with the latest batch of Resistance fighters who had been injured and needed healing. She was informing the few other leaders left about what the rest of the family had been up to, and that some of Wyatt's lieutenants were now dead, including Tam.

Parker held a perch on the edge of a half-collapsed desk. Her head pounded with borrowed pain. She had felt the careful mental prodding from her sister and she had carefully poked back, concerned and perturbed to feel a connection to someone from another time. PJ's touch was familiar, but it was still a foreign touch in something as intimate and personal as her own mind.

Still, it was comforting. She and PJ had always been close. The twins had each other, and as much as they had needed their older sisters they kept closer to each other. They had only gotten closer to each other in response. They had clung to each other after Mom and Dad died. Her cousins and her aunt and Cole did their best, but they had a unique memory of their parents. Parker tried to share it with her younger siblings as best as she could, but it was different to share those memories with PJ. Peyton and Pearl missed their parents, but they didn't know them in the same way. They had spent more time without her than with her, and even though it still hurt them to have grown up without them it wasn't the same heart-wrenching pain that Parker knew that she and PJ still experienced.

It was better that way, of course. The twins had been a little too young to fully understand their grief, too young to fully understand the horror of how their parents died, of how it felt to have family turn on you. They were still so young, and yet they were already jaded. The pain of losing Tam had already faded to the background, something that hurt but that you couldn't let overwhelm you. They had already gotten over being held hostage.

Most Halliwells tended to accept that having weapons or energy balls shoved in your face was just parr for the course, but Parker had been at least fifteen before she stopped panicking whenever it happened. She still had nightmares about that exact thing even now.

Something pushed at Parker's mind. More than PJ. More painful than PJ.

"Parker?" Pearl called, and Parker realised that the pen scratching sounds and the light thuds of Peyton's arrows had stopped. "Are you okay?"

"Parker, what's wrong?" Peyton asked, hands gripping his bow.

"Nothing," Parker said, waving a hand. She rubbed a hand against her head. Migraines and headaches were just an irritating part of life when you had psychic powers, just like mood-swings were when you had empathy but this was something different. Psychic pain hurt, but it was a more distant sort of pain. It was distant in the way that other people's emotions could be distant, it was still there and it was still annoying but it could be worked through even if it couldn't be avoided.

There was also the serious pain of straining those powers which was worse and it was heavier. It was a more localised pain, like she could tell exactly where it was coming from. Luckily, medication and a long nap could usually deal with it. This was different.

She couldn't tell where the pain in her head was coming from, just that it was strong.

Some fresh air might help, she decided. Her mom had started to get headaches, normal headaches, when she was a bit older and she had been a firm believer that fresh air and a glass of water was the best cure for them. Parker knew that she had just wanted to avoid developing a dependence on her migraine medication, to make sure that it would work when she actually needed it, but she couldn't deny that it had seemed to help.

She pushed off the desk. "I'm fine. It's just a little headache. I'm just going to go get some -"

And then everything went black.

She opened her eyes again to find her siblings crowded around her, two sets of big, watery eyes watching worriedly. Parker opened her mouth to reassure them that she was alright, even if she didn't believe that herself, when the pain in her head suddenly exploded.

"Ugh - God!" She hissed, pressing both hands into her temples.

The twins both shrieked and the shrillness of the sound made her head pound harder.

"Should we get Aunt Paige?" Peyton hissed.

"Uncle Leo," Pearl insisted. "He can heal her faster. And he knows more about this sort of thing." 'This sort of thing' being their powers, Leo had been around more psychics and empaths than Paige.

Even through the haze of pain, Parker was still able to feel a level of amusement that the twins had bothered to time which white-lighter members of their could heal the fastest. Magic School had been destroyed before they had ever gotten the chance to attend, but they definitely would have thrived.

"Don't call anyone," she demanded. "Wyatt is watching everywhere," she reminded.

Patrols had increased after PJ and the others had travelled back to the past. They were safe here, but not forever. They still needed to keep a low profile.

"No beaming," she grunted.

"No beaming," Pearl agreed.

Parker wanted to press Peyton to agree as well, but the pain in her head increased again.

"Her nose is bleeding," Peyton observed.

Parker could feel the wetness dripping onto her upper lip. That had never happened before. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Be careful," she ordered the twins, and then she reached inside of her own mind.

Something was pushing at her mind, and now Parker pushed back.