Sorry for the long delay in updating! I hope that everyone enjoys the next stage of this story. And please, REVIEW!

Melinda turned to the CDs that were littering the bar and began to neaten the stacks into some form of order. She had a feeling that Gavin had come to talk to her, but she wasn't in the mood to talk about Chris's case anymore.

"Is there something new with Chris's case?" Melinda asked, as she slipped the CDs back into her bag.

"Oh, no there isn't anything new. I just wanted to, uh… say hi." Gavin cleared his throat awkwardly, he was normally smoother with the ladies. He blamed the pep talk that his brothers had given him before he left the house that morning. He knew that everyone was depending on him meeting the right girl and her falling for him, the future of the family line hung in the balance.

"Oh, well… Hi." Melinda frowned at him with a quizzical expression and began cleaning the glasses that Prim and her had been drinking out of. She wanted to get the bar set up for the evening so she could deal with the band and everything. She wasn't sure what to make of the younger brother of the Prakenskiis, his brothers had always been so nice and welcoming to her, but his behavior at the hospital had been strange.

Gavin hurried to fill the awkward silence that had descended on them. "I realized when I met you at the hospital that most of my family has met you, but I haven't gotten a chance yet. " Gavin walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. He never drank, your senses being dulled could get you killed, but he wanted to appear friendly.

"So," he said. "What caused you to want to own a bar? You don't see very many women that are bar owners."

Melinda frowned a little as she continued to straighten up the bar, but manners drove her to answer his questions. "My mother owned a bar when I was a child." She pointed over her shoulder at the picture of her family at P3. Gavin studied the small family smiling back at him from the frame, he wondered silently where her father was and why she didn't have a more recent picture.

"I would go to work with her when I was younger, listen to her talk to the bands and the bartenders and knew that I wanted to be just like her." Melinda swallowed hard and blindly reached for another glass to polish. Gavin frowned and pushed upright on his stool, he remembered vaguely that his aunt had mentioned something happened to her mother.

"She died when I was in middle school, so this is a homage to her as well. The family bar in San Francisco will always be her place, and I wanted to open my own. Sea Haven hasn't had a successful bar open in the last 5 or so years and I wanted the challenge of making it work."

Melinda raised her head and again scanned the empty tables and booths, her resolve to not let this demon ruin her life strengthened. She was not giving up on her club, and she was not giving up on her mother's dream that they have normal lives. She turned her gaze back to Gavin and was surprised to see that he was looking at her quite intently.

"I didn't mean to bring up painful memories," he said quietly. The nervous man that had been at the hospital and walked in to the bar seemed to be gone. Instead, an intense man was in his place closely studying her face.

"It's ok," she said. Melinda looked at Gavin in a new light. He seemed bigger, more powerful in that moment and she couldn't figure out what was going on. It was almost like how Wyatt could seem when he was being all Twice-Blessed on people.

She continued her thought, "You didn't know that she was dead when you asked. I'm trying to be better about talking about mom anyway, she's been gone over 10 years."

"No, I remembered after I asked that my aunt Libby had mentioned that she was gone. Sometimes, with so much family I can't keep all the conversations straight anymore. It can be exhausting."

Melinda smiled at that, she knew that she had a much smaller family than Gavin did, but she could easily imagine that if she was overwhelmed by 6 cousins he had to be going crazy. "Really, it's fine that you asked. How large is your family anyway? I know you have 6 older brothers and that Camille is part of 7 girls."

"Well, how much time do you have?" Gavin joked, he smiled as Melinda laughed and shrugged. "You're right, I have 6 older brothers, and my dad is also one of 7 boys. My mom is one of 7 girls, it's her younger sister that is Camille's mother. All of my aunts and uncles have at least 3 children. So 12 other couples later, it's just a lot of people. I'm closest to my aunt Elle's girls, since they actually understand what it was like to grow up in a house of 6 other kids." And Gavin thought, his cousin Shannon was also destined to have 7 girls and intimately understood the pressure that he faced from his family. Though, he thought, he wasn't going to let any man take his little cousin off. He was going to have to prove himself.

Melinda shook her head as she thought over the idea of having that many children in one family. "I always thought that the Halliwell's had it rough, and I only have 6 cousins and 2 brothers. My family just doesn't do the big family thing." Melinda also wondered if the demon hunting and early deaths of women had impacted the want of large families, mothers didn't want to leave behind their children. She resolutely turned her thoughts away from that, she didn't want to ruin a perfectly good conversation thinking about that. "But," Melinda tilted her head as she thought about it. "We did basically all grow up in the same house. Especially, after my mom died my aunts basically moved their families in."

"How big was your house that two other families could move in?" Gavin asked. His parents had deliberately picked a house with 7 bedrooms for the reason that they didn't want any of the boys to share. He couldn't imagine having to share his room with one of his brothers, they all had powerful psychic gifts and their fights in just the living room could rock the house.

"Not that big," Melinda laughed. "The boys moved into our basement, and I shared a room with two of my cousins. The other room was for Phoebe's three girls and the aunts shared the last bedroom. We didn't all sleep there every night, but when all the Halliwells were in it got tight." She moved out from behind the bar and started to flip chairs off the tables to ready for the night. She looked up in appreciation when Gavin started to help her, she was already behind since she had dawdled talking to him.

"The boys had to sleep in the basement? Why not just move to a bigger house?" Gavin frowned to himself as he thought about it, it didn't make sense to him that children had been put in the basement.

"Oh, the house has been in the family for 100 years. The oldest daughter has always lived there with her family. There wasn't even a thought of giving the house up. We just made it work. Hasn't Camille's house been in the family for a long time? She mentioned that her mother grew up there too."

Gavin paused with a chair in his hands and looked at Melinda for a moment before he answered. She was simply stunning to him. She had bundled her hair up on top of her head while she worked, revealing the simple curve of her neck and making her eyes appear even larger. His palm started to itch again and he almost set the chair down and grabbed her hand before he caught himself.

"Uh, yes. Sorry, I spaced a little thinking about something. Yeah, the Drake house has been in the family for a long time. It is always passed to the last daughter, so one day it will be Shannon's house. Have you met her?"

Melinda screwed up her face as she tried to remember. "Maybe? Camille has so many sisters and cousins that I can't keep track of all of them yet. I have met Madison, she is going to be Chris's physical therapist."

"Maddie is a great PT, he's going to be back on his feet in no time." Gavin set the last chair down and glanced around to see if there was anything he could do.

"So, Melinda. I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner? Get to know you better." Gavin looked over at her, and was a little surprised that she looked so shocked.

"Uh, I… well. Um, no. I don't date, uh… the club needs a lot of work, and now with Chris hurt. I just… I don't have the time! Yes, I don't have the time to date. Sorry." Melinda nervously rambled on, shoving her hand into her hair and taking a few steps away from Gavin. Panic was flooding through her body, why oh why did he have to ask her out? Why couldn't he have just left it at a nice conversation between people that have a lot of friends in common and just gone away?

"Uh, I have to go talk to my cousin," she continued to stammer. "You can just see yourself out." Melinda all but ran to the kitchen and threw herself through the door.

Gavin stood in the bar area for a little longer with a puzzled look, he had never actually had that reaction to his asking a girl out on a date. He was more determined than ever to get to know her more, and to enlist all the family necessary to figure out why she was so skittish.

Gavin walked to the door and pulled his phone out as he walked, he sent a family meeting text to his brothers and cousins. Giving one more thoughtful look at the kitchen door, he walked out the door as he called his cousin Madison. Based on his memory, she had her first session with Christopher today.

Melinda slammed the kitchen door behind her and stared at her cousin, she vaguely noticed Camille come to an abrupt halt behind the stove.

"He asked me out!" She said breathlessly to her cousin.

"Oh dear, how fast did you run?" Primrose asked, slightly teasing but mostly serious.

"Well, it was just out of nowhere! I don't date! You know that! Oh, God... What if he asks again?" Melinda grabbed her cousin by the arms and stared at her.

"Mellie, you have got to get over this fear of dating someone. It's bound to happen that a nice young man would want to take you out!" Primrose gently pried Melinda's hands off her arms and took Melinda's face between her hands. "You deserve to be loved, and you deserve to love someone."

"It's showing right now that you are your father's daughter." Melinda stepped away from her cousin and frowned, looking off into the back of the kitchen. Neither cousin seemed to remember that Camille stood by the stove.

Melinda's mouth twisted as she attempted to repress her emotions, but a tear still managed to slip from one eye. "My father would not agree with you about love. He would state that love is foolish and only brings heartbreak." Melinda quickly dashed away the tear that had escaped and turned back to her cousin.

"Mellie…"

"No, I don't want to talk about it anymore." She turned desperately and searched for any other topic that she could bring up. "Camille, what's the plan for food tonight?"

"Uh," caught clearly eavesdropping, Camille scrambled for a minute. "Well, the nachos have seemed to be very popular, and chicken wings."

"Can't go wrong with cheese on everything." Primrose tossed in, a quick attempt at a smile briefly brightening her face.

"Yes, exactly. So those and some spring rolls. I might start adding more unique things to the menu in the next couple of weekends and seeing what is popular and what falls flat. We should think of adding more seafood since we are on the ocean, and my family has connections to the large farm outside of the city."

"Wait, the fortress with the guards and fences?" Melinda interrupted. She had driven by many times before, you couldn't see through most of the fences. She knew an entire family lived out there, and several owned businesses in town as well.

"Yes, my mother's cousin lives there and is basically family to everyone there. One of her "sisters" works for the government so they added a lot of security to the farm. But, it is a working farm and they are well known for the fresh produce they have. We could start adding that to the menu and promote that we have local food and everything." Camille pulled a list of menu items that she had drawn up as ideas, and passed it across the table to Melinda.

"Would it be more expensive or about the same as what we are spending now?" Melinda looked down at the list and an eyebrow shot up. As much as Camille talked nachos and chicken wings, this was a little more expansive.

"Well, the ingredients could vary based on season and everything, but…" Camille trailed off as she saw Melinda's face.

"Camille, this menu is more than a bar would offer. This looks a lot more like a restaurant. We aren't coded as a restaurant, or have the kitchen space."

"What about tapas? Small plates early in the evening, before the music and dancing starts! Sea Haven doesn't have anything like that. And I really think, from my own experiences and what my family has said, we could use a young, trendy place for dates and hanging out." Enthusiasm was obvious in Camille's voice, and lit up her face. Melinda was all for this new idea, until the word date.

The word took her back to the panicked feeling that had swamped her when Gavin had asked her out. "Let me think about it, we have just barely opened and I don't want to push this place on people. Let's just get the first couple of months off the ground and see where it takes us," Melinda said. She placed the list back on the counter and turned the leave.

"I'm going to clean up the bar area and call tonight's band. I also want to try and run home to see Chris after his therapy appointment before we open. I'll be out here if you need me." Melinda walked back out of the kitchen.

A stiff silence was left in her wake between Primrose and Camille.

Camille paused as she thought of what to say. She hadn't checked her phone since Melinda had come into the kitchen, but she had seen it lighting up constantly with texts from the family. She had an idea that Gavin was going to call a family meeting about Melinda so strongly turning down a date, but she wasn't sure if she should talk to Primrose about it.

She decided to take a course of action that she hoped didn't backfire on her. "Primrose, I know my cousin, and I know that he isn't going to back down quickly if he's really interested in Melinda. But, has something happened to her that maybe he should know? He wouldn't want to make her feel scared or uncomfortable." Camille looked at Primrose and was surprised that Prim seemed to be deep in thought of how to answer.

Primrose was torn between family loyalty and her Cupid instincts. She knew that Melinda and Chris could be irrational about dating, but she also knew that Melinda had never fully shared what had happened between them and their father the day of Piper's funeral. She nibbled on the side of her thumbnail and debated, she could see from Camille's face that she was perfectly earnest. And a quick use of her empathy gift told her that there was no malice hidden behind the worried expression.

"Melinda and Chris had a rough childhood with relationships, their parents had an awful style of on-again off-again marriage. They would be together at one point, then fight and Leo would leave for months at a time. He was furious when she died though, and took it out on them. I don't think anything has ever really happened with a boyfriend, but then she hasn't ever really had one." Primrose paused and leaned on the counter, "Melinda has protected herself from being hurt like her mother was. She has the bar, her family, her plants, and her baking. None of those things could hurt her, but also she won't ever really be happy and fulfilled when she hides like that," Primrose said.

Camille nodded and tucked all that away, she couldn't imagine her father walking out on her mother. Jackson Deveau- Drake had fought for life and love, and he wouldn't give that up, or his seven daughters for anything.

"Thank you Primrose, I know that it can't be easy to share that with, basically, a stranger," Camille said.

Primrose nodded and headed for the door herself to help Melinda, "As I said, she deserves love."

Madison paused outside the small cottage that Melinda Halliwell had purchased when she moved to Sea Haven. It was quite a small house, but had two levels and a very large garden. Madison looked over some of the plants that grew riotously over the yard and up trellises that were placed throughout the garden. She recognized poppies, primroses, comfrey, thistle, and other flowers and herbs. There were also benches and statues placed every so often within the paths. Madison noted that there were also hunks of crystals placed every so often, and noted that she recognized some her family used for protection potions and spells. She assumed the Melinda used them for the look.

It looked toward the back that Melinda had planted a vegetable garden, Madison could recognize the pepper vines and tomato stalks growing. She was a little surprised that this late in the summer that Melinda still had so much growing. Her family estate had a year-round garden, but it was family knowledge that it was more from the family gifts than any special gardening skills they had.

She threaded her way through the waving flowers, stopping every so often for second to smell the blooms. She wondered if the primroses were planted for the cousin Primrose, and if anything else in the garden stood for a family member.

Madison made it to the stoop and braced herself before ringing the bell, Gavin had called her on the way over and asked her to gather more information on the Halliwells. She was torn between wanting to help him find the girl for him, and not wanting to breach a patient's privacy.

Chris cursed as he tried to lever himself off the couch at the knock on the door and couldn't quite manage it.

"Come in!" he shouted toward the front hall. Melinda had told him that Sea Haven was a quiet town, and he couldn't imagine a burglar knocking and then coming in. Anyways, if it was someone with bad intentions did come in, he could just use his magic to knock them out.

A petite young woman with blazing red hair and green eyes stepped into the room, she was carrying a large bag and a medical file. She was also dressed in loose comfortable clothing and sneakers. He assumed that this was the physical therapist that Melinda had set up for him. He tried to get up again, but with one leg in a split, and not being able to use a cane since the opposite arm was also in a sling he mostly failed.

"Don't get up!" She cried running over and pushing him gently back onto the couch. Madison quickly looked over the room, clearly Melinda Halliwell had tried to make it as easy as possible for her brother to rest and recover. She had moved the large cushions off the back of the sofa to make it bigger for him, left the TV remote, food and tea on the coffee table. There were also books, magazines, and not just his phone, but also the charger already plugged into the wall. The room itself, while a little smaller was quite cozy and warm. Family photos were scattered everywhere, a small upright piano was under the picture window looking over the garden, and there were quilts laying over the backs of chairs and the sofa. It wasn't the house of a bar owner that Madison had imagined.

Madison frowned and looked at the pale young man that was laying back on the sofa, the pain of trying to get up had taken the flush from his face and set his mouth into a grim line. "Ok, I have to ask. How are you getting to the bathroom?"

"When it gets to the point I can't ignore it, I use the side of the couch and work myself up and brace on the walls to the downstairs bath. Melinda helped me over before she left for work, and she said she would be back before she opens and I'll go then too." Chris scratched his head and wondered if that had made sense. The real answer of, he orbed himself to the bathroom wasn't going to be the answer that he gave the mortal therapist.

"Well, that sounds a little dangerous. We might rig something to help you lever up and then rails or something so you don't fall down as you walk. We want to make sure that we aren't doing anything to over stretch muscles or pull your stitches out. To start, we just want to keep you moving and then as the wounds are healed, we want to get full range of movement back if we can," Madison said. She pulled his files on his injuries out and her plan of care out.

She eased herself down onto the couch next to him and they spent a solid hour going over the old injuries that he had, the new ones from the attack and what he was already able to do and what he needed to be able to do as a firefighter.

Madison sat back and rolled her shoulders, hunching over the notepad had set up an ache right in between her shoulder blades. Without thinking, Chris reached over with his good hand and pressed on the spot that hurt. He managed to hit right where it was bothering her and got it massaged out in a minute. She glanced over at him, and the look that passed between them seemed to hold something. Chris yanked his hand away as if it was burned, "Sorry, I didn't mean to just grab you." He rubbed his neck and looked away.

"It's fine," Madison said. She felt heat climbing up her neck and into her cheeks. "Um, do you need to go to the bathroom or anything? We don't need to start working on the actual physical therapy just yet, and I would want you to come to the clinic where we have the equipment anyway." She stood and brushed at her pants awkwardly, trying not to make eye contact with him.

Chris cleared his throat, "Uh, yes that would be nice."

Madison pulled him up and helped walk him down the hall. As she let him have privacy in the bathroom, she wandered the living room a little more. Madison found herself smiling over the photos of Melinda and Chris at various stages, she didn't know who to the tall, blonde man was in many photos. There was a little resemblance around the mouth and nose, but his coloring was totally different. Camille had mentioned that there were a lot of cousins, so maybe this man was a cousin. But she could also count 5 other young women and a young man in a police uniform, so she wasn't all that sure.

She turned when she heard Chris coming back down the hall and hurried down to help him sit down again. "Um, I was looking at the pictures and I have a question. Who are the young people in all the pictures? I know that my sister has mentioned you have cousins."

"Oh, yeah. Pass me the picture that is sitting on the top of the piano. It has all of us and it's the most recent," Chris said. He held out his hand and took the frame, scooting over on the couch so Madison could sit down and see the people in the frame.

"Here, let's start at the top." He pointed at the young blonde man that Madison had noticed, "This is my older brother Wyatt. He's actually working in Africa right now, Somalia more specifically, building wells and helping villages modernize. The party this was taken at was his bon voyage. Next to him is Melinda and then myself. Sitting on the couch as a group are my Aunt Phoebe's daughters; Primrose is here now, and then it's Poppy and Pepper. They all have dark hair and darker brown eyes. Next to them standing, with the sandy hair and light brown eyes is my cousin Henry Jr or HJ." Madison nodded the description, it was the police officer from the other pictures. "HJ is my Aunt Paige's son, and the two girls with the light brown hair and brown eyes that look a great deal alike are his sisters, the twins, Patsy and Penny." Chris stopped for a minute and smiled as he looked down at his family.

"Wyatt is the oldest and Poppy is the youngest. We are all really close in age though because it's only about 10 years that separate them." He set the frame down on the side table and smiled once more before turning to Madison again.

"Are any of you married or anything? My sisters and cousins are all starting to settle down, it's getting to family parties are close to over 100 people." Madison tossed her braid behind her, she hoped this would get her some information for Gavin.

Chris seemed to pause and look out the window for a long moment before answering. "Ah, no. Actually it's weird that none of us are married or getting close to it. My uncle even runs a match-making and wedding business. Wyatt's still pretty wrapped up in his career and saving the world, and I guess the same for Melinda and me too. The others are younger, and HJ knows you have to pick someone who can handle dating a police officer. Anyways," he scratched the side of his nose and glanced at her, "Is there anything else that we need to talk about?"

"Ah, no," Madison stood and started to gather all her files and notes. "I'll call you with any appointment times I have, I know that you're going to need Melinda to drive you for a while. Let me know what works best and we can go from there."

Chris smiled, "Mellie's driving might kill me before we make to therapy, but I'll talk to her about her schedule."

"Ok, well I'll see you later then," Madison said. She smiled and left the cottage. She glanced back one more time at the cottage and the man that lived inside and therefore missed that the fairy statue right inside the gate glowed softly as she left.

Madison pulled out her phone, she had nearly 100 unread messages from the group they all had as cousins.

The first one from Gavin stated:

Family Meeting, My house at 8am tomorrow.

The rest were mostly the other cousins whining about the early meeting time and wanting to know why the meeting was happening. It was the last one from Camille that made Madison pause and think as she read it

Melinda is going to be harder to win over than you think, we all need to talk.