Wow. It's been over a year since I've updated this story. I'm sure anyone following this thought it was abandoned. So sorry! I love this story, I just had other stories to work on. To make up for it, this is a long one! If you're just tuning in, I hope you like this story. Please leave a review! thanks guys!

Chapter 2

It was early afternoon when Sophie orbed back into her bedroom, finding her sister waiting impatiently for her. She had hoped to dodge Scarlet all day, but there didn't seem to be a chance of that now. Before she could slip up, Sophie began to sing a song in her head, knowing if Scarlet channeled in on her thoughts, the truth would come out. Being Scarlet's twin, Sophie had leaned a thing or two about keeping her thoughts private from her mind-reading sister. Scarlet's eyebrows furrowed together as she realized what Sophie was doing.

"Oh come on, Soph, just tell me where you were." Scarlet begged. "You leave dinner early last night and then disappear this morning. What's going on?"

"I can't tell you yet." Sophie said adamantly. She reached for her hairbrush and ran it through her long brown hair. Scarlet – who was stretched out on Sophie's bed on her stomach with a pillow under her chin – propped herself up on one elbow and chucked the pillow at Sophie's back.

Sophie eyed Scarlet in the mirror without turning around and smiled condescendingly. "Now that was childish."

"Oh, stop acting like the big sister." Scarlet complained.

"I am the big sister." Sophie pointed out with a laugh. Scarlet rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Sophie. I'm your only sister and your twin. We tell each other everything. Why the big secret?"

Sophie sighed and dropped her eyes. "Can't I be allowed one secret for myself, Scarlet?"

"Nope." Scarlet said, smiling annoyingly. "Not allowed."

Sophie picked the pillow up from the floor and whipping it at Scarlet's head. "You are a pain in the butt, you know that?"

"I know. Its part of my charm."

"Yeah, whatever. Would you get out of my room already?"

Scarlet agreed to leave, thinking to herself that she would catch Sophie's thoughts at some point. Finally Sophie was alone but knew not to drop her guard just yet. She began to hum the song that had been playing in her head.

"Melinda, table six is looking like they are ready to order." Piper informed her daughter. The restaurant was bustling with activity as the lunch hour crowd had come in. Melinda scurried over quickly to her table. Piper loved having Melinda working for her. Melinda shared her love of cooking and someday, Piper wanted her to take over the business, but right now her daughter was too young to be a cook and worked as one of the waitresses.

Melinda rushed to the kitchen with tables six's orders. She loved working here, despite the occasional rude costumer. It was normal, unlike much of her life. It was the one place she felt safe and free to be herself. Yes, she considered her true self apart from her identity as a witch. Of course, She could never say that to any of her cousins or brothers. Only her mother knew how she felt. Piper assured her that it was natural to desire a normal life and that in a couple years, her brothers and cousins might share the same feelings. She was just an early bloomer of sorts. I doubt that. Melinda thought. Her brothers and cousins were the most talented and dedicated young witches she knew. There was no way that someone like Scarlet or Wyatt would give up their magical lifestyle for something normal. Besides, they were a team, a well-oiled machine. Each one of them brought something different to the table. They knew each others strengths and weaknesses and how each other handled themselves in a fight. If one of them were to walk out on the 'family business' as Scarlet called it, the team would have a weak spot, a crack in its foundation. Mel couldn't be the one to do that to the family. She was a valuable part of the well-oiled machine. So she spent time at the restaurant dreaming of a normal life and then pushed all thoughts of that out of her head when it came time to fight. She had parts of her life that were normal and that would have to be enough for now.

"What do you think about this color? I like it, but I'm not sure it will work." Bianca turned to Chris, but his attention was miles away. She put down the color choices. They were deep in wedding planning, but Chris had mentally checked out a little while ago, right after they were discussing honeymoon plans.

"Chris? Hello?"

Chris snapped out of his reverie and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry. Where were we?"

"Never mind. How about you tell me what's got you so preoccupied?"

"I'm worried." Chris admitted, but didn't expound on it.

"About…?" Bianca prompted.

Chris sighed. "Melinda and my cousins. I worried about leaving them."

"Chris, they can survive without you for a little while, you know. They're strong enough and smart enough to look after themselves."

"Not Phoenix." Chris said sharply. Bianca sighed and grabbed his hand.

"First of all, you're not responsible for what happened to Phoenix. You saved her life. Second of all, I think you're being a little hard on her and a little hard on yourself. Trust Phoenix to have learned her lesson and cut yourself some slack."

Chris locked eyes with Bianca and smiled just a little. It was enough to let her know he'd heard what she was saying. Now he just had to accept what she was saying as true. "I love you, B." He murmured. She smiled back at him.

"I know. Now, help me pick a color."

Portia headed down the stairs and into the kitchen for lunch. She grabbed the loaf of bread and was about to go to the fridge to get lunch meat when a portal opened up on the wall and Phoenix ran out of it and nearly knocked Portia over.

"Watch it!" Portia growled. She let her breath out in a huff and made Phoenix move out of the way of the fridge.

"Sorry." Phoenix said quickly, with no sincerity in her voice. She had the power of teleporting, but unlike how her Whitelighter cousins orbed around, Phoenix had the ability to create portals. It required slightly more effort than orbing. With a simple wave of the hand, a portal could pop up on just about any surface.

"Whatever." Portia grabbed her ingredients and began to prepare her sandwich.

"So what's this thing you wanted to talk to Mom and dad about?" Phoenix asked casually. Portia spun around to face her sister.

"Were you spying on my again?" She demanded.

"No. Well, maybe a little. I just overheard you talking to Prue on the phone about needing to talk to Mom and Dad about something."

Portia glared at her nosy little sister. "Well, it's none of your business."

"Oh, come on. If you know and Prue knows and you're telling Mom and Dad, then I am the only one that doesn't know. It's not fair. I get left out of enough things as it is."

"Quit whining. You'll know soon enough." Portia said with no sympathy for Phoenix.

"Know what?" Phoebe asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Umm nothing." Portia said, sending a warning glance to Phoenix to let this go, but Phoenix was not in the complying mood.

"Portia knows something big and she won't tell me, but she's planning on telling you and Dad, just not me." Phoenix said quickly before Portia could stop her. She sent a smug look to her sister when she was finished.

"What's going on, Portia?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, Portia. What's –"

"Phoenix!" Phoebe snapped. Phoenix fell silent and Phoebe turned her attention back to Portia, who was looking frustrated and flustered. "Portia?"

"It's nothing serious." Portia said. "I just was going to talk to you and Dad later when Prue arrives."

Phoebe didn't want to, but she let it drop for now. Portia was never serious, unless it was about one of her sister's or cousin's love life. She wasn't sure she was going to like whatever it was Portia had to say.

Wyatt orbed into the attic, intent on figuring out something new about the attacks last night against Melinda, Scarlet, and Prue. He had no doubt that the targets were carefully selected. It was one cousin from each family. Other than that, they really hadn't made much progress in solving this mystery. Sophie's premonition had been vague and confusing. Heading for the trusty book of shadows, Wyatt found that Scarlet was already there, flipping through the pages slowly, carefully scanning each page.

"Hey, Scar. What are you up to?"

Scarlet glanced up from the book, her face a picture of concentration. She sighed.

"I'm trying to find out some new information about last night's attacks."

"You already identified your demon and Mel and Prue found theirs as well. Three lower level demons up to no good."

"I know. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. Something just feels wrong about this whole thing."

"Something feels wrong about a demon attack?" Wyatt teased. Scarlet glared at him, but couldn't help smiling also.

"You know what I mean. Three demon attacks in the same night, all three demons were different, and Sophie gets a premonition about how it was all a warning. It doesn't add up."

"So what do you think it's all about?" Wyatt asked. He had already formed his own conclusion, but he wanted to know Scarlet's. She was eager and bright and reminder him of himself when he was her age.

"I think it's all one elaborate plan put in place by someone or something very powerful. Think about it. Three demons of different origins working together? That's rare. There's no way all three attacks were coincidence. Someone told them to do it, who to attack, where to find us."

"Impressive, Scar." Wyatt said with a smile.

"You think so?" She looked up to Wyatt. They all did. He was the oldest and bravest, but also quick to listen and help.

"Yeah, I think you're on to something. I came here today to work on cracking this demonic mystery. Want to help?"

"Are you kidding me?" She grinned. "Where do we start?"

Prue had come home around 2 in the afternoon and went into the living room with Phoebe, Coop, and Portia, but Phoenix watched enviously from the top of the stairs. At least from her vantage point, she could see most of what happened and hear everything crystal clear.

"What's this about, girls?" Phoebe asked. "Portia has been so secretive all morning."

"It's not a huge deal, Mom. I just wanted to wait until Prue was here." Portia explained. In all honesty, she really didn't think it was a big deal, but she had a feeling that her mother would.

"Go on." Said Coop, eager to hear what this was about.

"Well, I've been talking with Prue a lot lately and we both think it would be a good idea for me to move in with her."

Coop's expression was unreadable and Portia wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Phoebe's look spoke for itself that she was not at all comfortable with this idea. Phoebe had to stop herself from shouting "Absolutely not!" when she heard the news. Portia was nineteen. She wasn't a child anymore.

"Why?" Phoebe begged to know. "You know I worry about Prue enough as it is. I don't want to always have to worry about you."

"Mom, don't play the guilt card." Prue cut in. She and Phoebe had a strained relationship at times. They didn't always see eye to eye. "Portia is going to the same college as me and my apartment is closer to it than this house. That's huge for those of us without supernatural transportation."

"Mom, most of my friends have already moved out of their parents' homes. I think I'm ready to go out on my own a little."

"But not completely alone, because she'll have me." Prue added.

Phoebe sighed. "Those are all very good reasons, but I just don't feel comfortable with you leaving to go live in an apartment downtown. We let you live here rent free and the only thing you have to do is your own laundry and it's in a safer location."

"Demon attacks happen everywhere, not just in shady locations." Prue pointed out. Portia could see the tension rising between her sister and mom.

"Alright. Prue, thank you for your support, but I've got it from here." Portia said calmly. "Mom, my desire to move out has nothing to do with feeling like I'm being treated like a child here or wanting to seek out danger in dark alleys near the apartment. I'm nineteen and I've lived with you and Dad for a year longer than most people my age. It has been wonderful and I really appreciate that you don't make me pay rent while I'm working and going to school. But I want to spend more time with my big sister and I want to know what it's like to live on my own…"

"But like I said earlier, not completely alone." Prue cut in.

"Yes, thank you, Prue." Portia said with a smile and slight shake of her head. She looked Phoebe in the eye as she continued. "Mom, I just need to do this for me. And I know that if I ever screw up and need to come back home, you'll let me. Please just understand why I need to do this."

Phoebe locked eyes with Portia. She didn't want to let Portia go. She was the lovable middle child that kept arguments at bay and laughter always coming.

"What about Phoenix?" Phoebe threw out as a last resort. "She'll be all alone in the house and she's really struggling with being left out of things as it is."

Before Portia could say anything, Phoenix' voice bellowed from the top of the stairs. "I'll be fine. More room for my stuff."

Portia rolled her eyes, not at all surprised that she had been listening the whole time.

"Nix, you can come down and join us." Prue called up the stairs. Phoenix didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled down the stairs and flung herself down onto a couch.

"Ok, continue." She said.

"I'm glad we have your blessing." Portia said sarcastically. "Anyway, I think everyone would benefit from Nix and I spending some time apart."

Phoenix nodded her head vigorously. Portia could normally get along with everyone, except Phoenix had a way of getting under her skin and vice versa. Prue was the only one who could talk Phoenix out of a fowl mood and since she had moved out a few years ago, Portia and Phoenix had been gradually fighting more and more.

Phoebe tried to think of something else to say to convince Portia to stay, but she was drawing a blank.

"I just don't know what else to say other than I don't want you to go." Phoebe pleaded softly.

"Mom…" Portia reached for Phoebe's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"Well," Coop finally spoke up. "Portia, I feel like you were really mature in the way you discussed this with us. You've clearly thought this over for a while and talked with Prue about it. Even though I'm not at all eager to have you out of the house, I feel like you might be ready to take that step. However, this is all very sudden and I feel like we should have time to digest this and talk about it as a family again in the near future."

Portia smiled at her dad. He was giving his blessing but also trying to give Phoebe some time to work through it.

"Can be part of the next meeting?" Phoenix piped up.

"Like we could keep you from eavesdropping if you weren't." Portia said.

"Of course you can." Prue told her. Phoenix beamed at Prue.

Sophie glanced down the hallway to see if Scarlet was around. She hadn't seen her since she'd thrown her out of her room this afternoon so maybe she's gone somewhere else. Either way, the coast was clear and Sophie proceeded to make her way down the hall to the stairs. She spotted her mom almost immediately.

"Mom?"

Paige had just returned from helping a charge and hadn't been home all day. She saw Sophie and smiled excitedly.

"Soph! How was it?"

Sophie returned her mother's smile with one of her own. "It was so amazing!" It felt good to talk about. Hell, even to think about it.

Paige grabbed Sophie and gave her a tight hug. "Come on, tell me all about it. I want to know everything about your first day as a Whitelighter with a real charge."

Words just spilled out of her mouth so fast, Sophie could barely stop herself for a breath. She'd been so excited about it, but hadn't been able to tell anyone all day. Only her mother knew of her decision to take on charges and become a full-fledged Whitelighter. Sophie may be part witch, but she connected most with her Whitelighter side. She was a healer deep down, but Scarlet was not. Scarlet was a fighter, a protector. She saw healing as soft, weak. She barely used her Whitelighter powers. Sophie wasn't ready to tell her yet.

She recounted everything to Paige, every little detail she could remember. When she was finished, she sighed contentedly.

"I'm proud of you, Soph."

"Thanks, Mom. You were with me today the whole time. Everything you've taught me about being a Whitelighter helped me know what to do."

Paige's heart swelled with love and appreciation for her girl. Sophie was such a good kid. She was wise beyond her years and had the maturity level of a thirty year old. Paige wasn't sure where she got that from. It certainly wasn't from her.

"Well, come on. Let's get dinner started before Scarlet and your Dad get home."

Scarlet showed up a half hour later. She came through the back door into the kitchen drenched in sweat.

"What have you been up to?" Paige wanted to know.

"I went for a run … to clear my head." Scarlet said between breaths. "My powers are increasing again. They're driving me crazy … with how uncontrollable they are right now." She complained. It was something everyone understood. A power increase made the powers go all haywire for a while until it was finished.

"How are they increasing?" Sophie wanted to know. Living with a mind-reader who could also throw their own thoughts into other people's heads was hard enough. If she learned to use mind-control, they were all doomed.

"I don't know. I think my thought-reading radius is increasing. I can hear from farther away. But I can't block things out as easily, so it's giving me a headache. That's why I went for a run."

"Dinner's almost ready. By the time you shower and get dressed, it'll probably be done."

Scarlet headed up the stairs and into the bathroom. Once she was gone, Sophie shot Paige a panicked look. "I don't think we'll be able to hide this for long." Sophie said. "She's going through a power increase."

"Soph, I know you don't think you're ready to tell her, but she's your sister and she loves you. Speaking as someone very experienced in sister drama, I think you should tell her soon before she figures it out on her own. It'll be better for her to hear it from you than to hear it in your thoughts, trust me."

"I know. I just don't want her to be disappointed with me or to look at me differently."

"She's your sister." Paige said again. "No matter what, she's got your back. Sisters always have differences and they don't always get along, but they always have each other's back."

"Ok," Sophie said. "I'll tell her soon. Just not tonight."

Henry came home just as dinner was getting put on the table and Scarlet had joined them again.

"Hey handsome." Paige greeted her husband. Her arms went around his neck as she brought his lips down to hers. It was a private moment between husband and wife, but Scarlet could do nothing to stop the thought that popped unwillingly into her head.

"Ew! Stop thinking like that with me in the room!" She whined. Paige laughed, having forgotten Scarlet's predicament. Henry wasn't informed though so he told her to stop being nosy and block it out.

"Believe me, I wish I could."

Sophie laughed. "She can't, Dad. Her powers are increasing again."

Paige, Henry, and Sophie had a good laugh about it while Scarlet sat at the table with her head down.

You laugh now, but just wait until I learn mind control." Scarlet threatened. Sophie was worried for a moment, wondering if maybe Scarlet really was learning how to do that. "Then you'll all be doomed."

Sophie realized how perfectly Scarlet's words matched her thoughts earlier and she realized Scarlet must have heard them.

"Yeah, whatever, Scar. You don't scare me. Now, pass me the salad."

Warren was sprawled out on the couch watching tv when a knock was heard from outside.

"Wyatt, your date is here." Warren yelled.

Wyatt emerged from his bedroom dressed in black pants and a nice button down shirt. His hair was styled and he had shaved.

"I see you were too lazy to get the door." Wyatt said as he walked passed him.

"I only answer the door for the girlfriends of yours that I like." Warren said honestly. He had a habit of being blunt, which Wyatt usually appreciated, but not this time.

"What's your problem with Jess? She's nice and fun."

"She's shallow and superficial. Admit it, she's your rebound girl. She makes you feel good, but you're not going to get anything serious out of this relationship."

Wyatt hated how dead-on Warren could be about certain things. He also hated that when he was, he had to point it out.

"I like Jess. I enjoy dating her and I'm not going to stop just because you don't like her."

"I didn't tell you to. I'm just letting you know where I stand."

Jess knocked again on the door. Wyatt said goodbye to his cousin and left with Jess. The evening was fine. They went to a club and had a good time. Just a good time though. Wyatt hated to admit that Warren had been right. He was only dating Jess to get over Sarah. Jess didn't make him feel like Sarah had. Jess was just a good time. So when the evening came to a close, Wyatt took her home and kissed her goodnight. He returned to his apartment ready to fall into bed and not think about his pathetic love life. He got off the elevator on his floor and ambled down the hallway. He rounded the corner and looked up to see someone standing in front of his apartment door. It didn't look like a threat. In fact, something about the person was familiar. He got close and his heart stopped.

"Sarah?"

Sarah Blake smiled nervously at Wyatt. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" He wanted to know. He hadn't seen her since she dumped him a couple months ago.

"I know I freaked and ran last time and that hurt you, but you told me some serious stuff, Wyatt. It was scary."

"If you can't handle the fact that I'm a witch that hunts demons and also a Whitelighter, then what are you doing here?" Wyatt said defensively. She'd hurt him deeply. He thought she was the one, but he opened his heart to her and she ran.

"It was a lot of information all at once, Wyatt. I needed some time to process that."

"You could have said you needed some time instead of just disappearing on me."

"I know. I know. It was stupid and wrong, but I was scared. I'm sorry."

"It's been months, Sarah. I've moved on." Wyatt lied.

Tears pooled in her eyes. "I know. I had to come back, though. I had no other choice. I'm still not sure if I can handle what you are, but I had to come back because, like it or not, we've got something that ties us together."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant."

Whoa. Shocker! PLEASE REVIEW! Tell me who your favorite character is or how you like the story. I promise an update is already in the making and should be up withing a few weeks.