Author Note – I throw myself at your feet and beg for forgiveness. Lots of things have happened since I updated or even worked on this story. But I figured I'd left it long enough.

I broke this into two parts – the second part isn't finished yet and I don't know when it will be. But here you go.

UPDATE - 07/10/15 - just tidying things up in the hope that it inspires me.

...~oOo~...

Soul Survivor

HPOV

Helena watched as the delivery guys put the new fridge down in the kitchen that was the last of the things being delivered. Helena had gone to Home Depot with the others and basically furnished the house completely. There were a few things that weren't from the Depot however. Helena had passed a large antique store and picked up a few things. Her favourite of which was a painting.

She had gone into the store when she saw a lovely set of drawers to go in her bedroom. On a back wall of the store Helena had spotted it and bought it without letting the others see it. It was a renaissance portrait of a girl…of her. Helena had been surprised that the portrait still existed. In it she was thirteen and she thought her family would have destroyed it.

Helena saw the delivery guys to the door giving them both a tip as she did. After all they had off loaded the fridge, a washer, a dryer and other smaller kitchen goods. Helena and Micheal hadn't spent the night here yet, Helena had wanted to wait for everything to be delivered first. While everyone was over at the Manor Helena decided to take the chance to hang the painting.

She went to the smaller room on the ground floor that she'd set up as a playroom for Micheal. Using her projection to create a nail firmly placed in the wall, Helena brought the painting from where she'd hidden it behind the sofa.

Hung the painting up and stepped back to admire it.

'Who is that?' Helena jumped and turned to find Chris stood behind her. 'Sorry, I thought you heard me come in.'

Helena smiled in embarrassment. 'No, I was lost in thought.' She turned back to the painting.

'So who is it?' Chris asked as he moved beside her.

'It's me.' Helena said softly making Chris look at her in surprise. 'It was painted just after my thirteenth birthday. My…father…had it commissioned, just like he had my brother's done three years before for his thirteenth birthday, and he most likely did the same for my sister a year later.'

As Helena sat on the sofa Chris moved closer to the portrait to look at it. 'What do you mean 'most likely'?'

'A few weeks after that was painted I started to show my powers. My father sent me to the cloister, I think my mother must have talked to him because instead of becoming a nun I simply lived there, a bit like a ward of the church in a way. I had the same clothes, jewels I even had a small dog for a pet. My life was the same except for the location.'

'I'm sorry.' Chris said looking away from the portrait. 'That must have been hard for you.'

Helena shrugged. 'I missed my sister most. My father ran our estates, my brother had lessons all the time and my mother had her days at court or other nobles houses.' She stood up again and moved to the door. 'It's in the past now. No need to dwell on it. I only bought the painting because it reminded me of when my life was normal, before…everything.'

Helena walked out with Chris locking the door behind them. As they crossed the road Helena looked at Chris. 'I'm sure there's something you had in the future that you kept because it reminded you of better times.'

Chris nodded briefly. 'Yeah, I had a picture of me and Wyatt together when we were five and six.'

Helena could see his reluctance to discuss it so she let the subject drop. Walking into the Manor she saw Piper and Phoebe sat at the dining table having breakfast, Wyatt was in his high chair. 'Hey guys. Good news we are now officially one food shop short of moving in. Well and a quick plumbing connection for the washing machine.' Helena liked the new glossy white appliances but aside from the fridge, toaster and kettle she still wasn't very comfortable with modern things.

Phoebe grinned at her. 'Excellent. I should be able to give you a lesson tonight on your laptop.'

Helena sat down and reached for some toast, scowling as she did. The few times Phoebe had worked on her laptop from home Helena had been fascinated at the speed she could write at using the computer. Phoebe had talked her into buying a laptop for herself but Helena knew she would likely never use it. 'Uh…yeah, sure Phoebe.'

Helena noticed Chris wasn't at the table. Honestly he was worse than a two year. Helena didn't look up but called out. 'Christopher Perry if you don't stop going up those stairs and sit down to eat right now I will spend the rest of the week sending stinging energy balls at you.'

There was a brief pause and then Chris reappeared with a scowl on his face. 'I'm not hungry.'

'Uh huh.' Helena pushed the toast rack towards him. 'You're worse than Wyatt.'

Phoebe and Piper laughed at this since it was true. At the moment Piper was trying to get Wyatt to eat some mushed up fruit but he was scowling in almost the same way as Chris.

Chris scowled again at the comparison. 'I need to follow up on some things.'

'Well Helena's right, that can be after breakfast.' Piper said turning back to Phoebe. 'Anyway why would Elise want you to work with him?'

Phoebe finished the last of her toast and dug a compact out of her nearby purse. 'I don't know. I guess to promote his hiring. She wants us to pick a letter and each give advice on it. So, you know, one sensitive and caring and the other one chauvinistic and – '

'Slimy?' Piper said as she offered Wyatt another spoonful of fruit.

'Wait,' Helena said as she tried to catch up with the topic. 'Elise hired another writer?'

Phoebe gave a small scowl. 'Yes, I turned him into a turkey last year but then I nearly killed him so I turned him back.'

'Oh.' Helena said wondering what the story was behind that.

Phoebe put her compact away and continued talking. 'I have half a mind to call Jason and complain about it, but I don't wanna use our relationship for leverage.'

'Then what's the use of sleeping with your boss?' Piper said looking away from Wyatt with a smile.

'Okay.' Chris said quickly standing up. 'I'm leaving now.'

Helena made him take another piece of toast with him. 'Remember our deal Chris. I will follow through.'

'Yeah, I remember,' was the reluctant reply as he disappeared upstairs.

Phoebe watched him and then turned back to Piper. 'Because I actually enjoy sleeping with my boss.'

Helena had started to blush at their conversation. 'I can't believe you guys talk about this stuff.'

'She's just bragging Helena.' Piper said holding up another spoon of food.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. 'Not getting any is making you bitter.'

'Oh my God!' Helena said feeling her eyes pop slightly.

Piper looked up from Wyatt in mild shock. 'Hello, hi. Excuse me,' she waved the spoon at Wyatt.

'Oh he doesn't know what we're talking about. He's ten months old. He thinks we're talking about milk for God's sakes.'

Helena shook her head. 'I'm not so sure. I don't know for sure, since Micheal hasn't been around other baby's, but from what Micheal says he seems to take a lot in.'

Piper nodded in agreement. 'Yes, and let's not forget the time he conjured a dragon hmm?'

'He conjured a dragon?' Helena said in amazement and Piper nodded.

'Yes and it tore up half the city until the Cleaners stepped in.'

Phoebe considered this. 'Good point, but still, even if he does know what we're saying, he can't exactly put it into context.' Phoebe stood up and slipped her shoes on.

Piper sighed a little and went back to feeding her son. 'Now if he could find a way to keep guys from bolting every time they lay eyes on him…' Helena and Phoebe both frowned in confusion, 'it's not easy being a single Mom.'

'There's gotta be a lot of guys out there that like kids.' Phoebe said tucking her cell phone (another device Helena couldn't get used to using) and makeup into her bag, along with a couple of potions for some reason.

Helena shrugged her shoulders. 'And if the guy doesn't like kids he's not worth it.'

'Well unfortunately, I seem to have only found the second kind so far. So I'm just gonna cut to the chase. I've got three dates lined up. They're all going to meet Wyatt on the first date, and if they don't like it – tough.'

Phoebe held up one the potions she had and grinned. 'You could always turn him into a turkey.'

Helena clutched her head as she got a sudden headache. 'Oh, oww.'

Piper and Phoebe turned to Helena in concern. Before they could speak though Paige walked in the back door and Helena knew straight away that her headache had come from Paige's roiling emotions.

Paige didn't stop and didn't respond to Phoebe asking her where she had been.

After exchanging a look with the two older Charmed Ones, Helena quickly went after Paige with Phoebe in front and Piper following.

'Paige, what happened? What's the matter?' Phoebe asked worriedly as they caught up to the red head.

Paige stopped and rubbed her forehead wearily. 'What time is it?'

Helena frowned and rubbed her own head as she felt an echo of Paige's tiredness. 'It's just after eight. Why, are you just getting in?'

'I uh…I guess…'

Phoebe frowned at her younger sister. 'Okay. Sit down here for a second.'

As Phoebe got Paige to sit on the stairs Piper came to Helena. 'Hey you alright?' She whispered.

Helena waved away her concern. She was fine, they had to help Paige.

Phoebe sat next to Paige. 'Talk to us.'

'I lost an innocent last night. A demon killed him right in front of me.'

'Oh God.' Phoebe said and rubbed Paige's back for comfort.

Piper played with her fingers and Helena realised she always did that when she started worrying. 'At your temp job?'

'Yeah, I should've seen it coming.' Helena felt a wave of guilt come from Paige and tried to make her walls thicker. 'Every other job, someone's wound up needing my help. I just don't know why I didn't see it.'

'Well maybe you weren't meant to.' Piper said obviously picking up on Paige's guilty feelings.

Paige shook her head slightly in frustration. 'No I was. I just…didn't.'

Helena felt another surge of guilt and got a flash in her mind from Paige. 'He ran in front of an energy ball to save you?'

Paige nodded slightly. 'Yeah, he saved me instead of the other way around. I just…wish I knew what was going on.'

Helena felt Paige's confusion and got some more flashes from her. Clutching Piper's arm to try and fend of the headache Helena frowned at Paige. 'You think he knew they were coming for him? How?'

'I don't know, but he did know.'

Piper glanced at Helena and then back to Paige. 'Maybe…he wasn't an innocent after all and that's how he knew. That would mean you weren't meant to save him.'

'No I…don't believe that.'

Phoebe stroked Paige's arm. 'Look, Paige, even if he was an innocent you can't save everybody.' Phoebe looked at Helena and Piper briefly. 'We've all had to learn that lesson unfortunately.'

'I know.' Paige sounded, and felt, utterly defeated.

Piper stepped forward slightly. 'Paige, you can't blame yourself for what happened. If you were meant to save him you would have. You have to believe that.'

Paige looked up at Piper sadly. 'I can't.' Then she stood up and went upstairs.

One she was out of sight Phoebe looked at Helena. 'What were you getting from her?'

Helena shook her head to clear it. Now that Paige was further away the psychic echoes were fading. 'The same as you could see, just worse. She's devastated and filled with guilt.'

Piper sighed. 'Well, we can't really do much. This is something she has to deal with herself.' Piper went and took Wyatt from his high chair. 'If she comes to us then we can help but until then…'

Just then Micheal came down the stairs. 'What's wrong with Paige, why did she look so sad?'

Helena smiled reassuringly at him. 'Hey darling. How come you were upstairs?'

Micheal came down and hugged Helena. 'I finished breakfast quick so Phoebe said I could go look at the Book of Shadows.'

Helena looked at Phoebe. 'You did?' She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Phoebe shrugged not bothered by Helena's mild glare. 'I thought it would be good if he looked at the pictures of demons, that way he'll know to use his shield if he was by himself for some reason.'

Helena realised she had a point. 'Oh, okay then, good idea.'

'Mama. Why was Paige sad?' Micheal said tugging on her jumper.

She knew she'd have to give him some kind of explanation. 'Paige is sad because one of her friends died sweetheart. So make sure to give her extra hugs okay?'

Micheal nodded and then went to Piper. 'Piper, may Wyatt and I go play?'

Piper smiled and put Wyatt down. 'Sure Micheal.'

The three of them watched as Micheal slowly walked into the sunroom. Wyatt crawled after him as fast as he could.

Piper sighed and turned back to them. 'He is going to start walking properly purely to keep up with Micheal.'

Phoebe laughed and grabbed her purse. 'Yeah there will be no stopping him then. Okay so ring me if Paige needs me. I am off to work.'

'I need an aspirin.' Helena said heading into the kitchen. She had found that when she'd felt particularly strong emotions from people in this time she got a headache afterwards. Helena wasn't sure why but she was glad to have access to painkillers. They were one modern thing she did like.

ChrisPOV

Chris came to a stop at the bottom of the rocky slope and was pretty every inch of him had a bruise. He slowly got to his feet but it didn't seem like he had any broken bones. What the hell did Leo do that for? Chris winced as his hip throbbed.

'Where are we?' Leo asked as they took in the landscape.

'How the hell should I know? That what I was trying to say before you threw us in here. I don't know how to control it.' Chris couldn't believe this was the same guy that had, in the future, told him he had impulse control issues.

Suddenly there was a roar behind them and Chris felt his blood run cold. He turned slowly and there was a HUGE dinosaur behind them! Chris took off and a couple of seconds later he heard Leo do the same behind him.

Chris ran down the valley in front of them as fast as he could. That was a frigging T-Rex!

He glanced behind him and saw that Leo was keeping up, but the dinosaur was only a few hundred yards behind him.

'We need to try and orb away from it.' Leo said as he ran.

'Yeah no kidding.' Chris huffed back at Leo. He would have rolled his eyes but Chris didn't want to fall flat on his face. Up ahead there was a relatively flat area. 'Let's try orbing just there.' Chris called out, he thought he heard an affirmative sound from Leo but it seemed the older guy was too winded to talk.

Grinning slightly Chris prepared himself…then as soon as the ground became more level he orbed – or tried to. Chris felt his grin disappear. 'Leo! Can you orb?'

It was a moment before Leo replied. 'No! Just keep running!'

'Yeah like I was gonna stop!' Honestly did Leo think he was an idiot or something?

There was another loud roar and Chris thought it sounded closer. This made him push more out of himself and run faster.

Helena was going to kick his ass, even though this whole thing was not his fault. Stay here and be eaten by T-Rex or go back and be ripped a new one by Helena? Talk about rock and a hard place. Chris ran round a corner and groaned when he saw no clear hiding place.

Oh they really were in deep –

HPOV

'You're sure you don't want me to keep Wyatt here?' Helena said looking from her sketch pad. Piper was putting a jacket on Wyatt who was less than pleased to be pulled away from Micheal. 'I don't mind watching him.'

Piper shook her head. 'No thanks, I want my dates to meet him straight away.' Piper picked up her purse and keys. 'Besides, no point wasting my time if they don't even like my son.'

Helena smiled reassuringly at Piper. 'Piper, you'll find someone. Just try to have fun, okay?'

'Okay. Well, we'll see you later then. Bye Micheal.' Piper waved to Micheal as she walked out of the sunroom. 'And when I come back later I'll have some groceries for you.'

'Bye Piper. Remember the cookies.'

Helena heard Piper laugh as she left. 'You're a cheeky boy Micheal.' She drew a little more to her sketch as she spoke. 'So are you looking forward to sleeping in your new bed tonight?'

Phoebe and Paige had taken Micheal to buy his own bedroom furniture. He'd picked what was called a high sleeper, it had a sort of den underneath that Helena expected would be put to good use. Micheal had also picked out a bright blue wardrobe and set of drawers. The almost neon colours of his furniture made Helena glad she'd had Micheal's room painted a very pale blue, with white detailing.

Micheal nodded eagerly in response to Helena's question. 'Yes, it's feels like I've been waiting ages to sleep in it.'

Helena laughed at Micheal's enthusiasm. 'It was only delivered two days ago.'

'I know, that is ages.' Micheal's smile faded slightly. 'Do you think Wyatt will be okay without me in his room?'

'Of course he will sweetheart, but it's not like we're going far. We'll probably still spend a lot of time here.'

Micheal seemed reassured and went back to his jigsaw that Phoebe had bought him. At that moment the phone rang. Helena picked it up and carefully pushed the right button. A fair few times she had accidently hung up on someone. 'Hello?'

'Hey Helena, it's Phoebe.'

'Hey, Phoebe. What's up?'

'Do you think I'd get in trouble if I left a turkey in my office?'

Helena frowned into the phone. 'A turkey what do you – ' Just then Helena heard what sounded suspiciously like a turkey over the phone and realised what Phoebe meant. 'Phoebe you didn't!'

'What! He was being slimy.'

'You better have the reversal potion with you Phoebe.' Helena trying to keep the humour from her voice.

'Yeah, yeah.' Phoebe said sounding very reluctant. 'Are you sure I can't leave him like this? It's an improvement I promise. And I swear it totally goes with the whole protecting people thing.'

This time Helena did laugh. 'Just turn him back Phoebe. You can put up with him by relishing the knowledge that at any moment you could make him a dinner item.'

'Spoilsport.' There was a quiet sigh. 'Oh alright then. I'll talk to you later.'

Helena laughed as she hung up. This Ricks guy must really get on Phoebe's nerves if she had turned him into a turkey again – Piper had filled her in on the whole Witch Doctor fiasco.

A little while later Helena got another phone call.

'I can't believe another one up a left. I mean he just left Wyatt stood there in the middle of the bar!'

It had taken about ten minutes before Piper had stopped ranting and said that she was on her way home.

But now…Helena was stood in the hallway with Paige, and Richard Montana.

'Paige you don't know what might happen if you – '

Paige shook her head. 'What I know that I need answers and Larry has them!'

'But – ' Helena started but Paige ignored her and started chanting.

Beloved spirit, I call to thee,

I who wish to set you free.

Cross on over, so I may help.

Come to me, reveal yourself

Helena crossed her arms in frustration and saw Micheal peeking out of the sunroom. 'Micheal! Stay out of sight!' His head immediately pulled back and Helena hoped he did as he was told.

Then a man in a tunic appeared within the circle of candles Paige had set out.

'Welcome back Larry.' Paige said with a smile.

Larry spun around to look at Paige he didn't look pleased. 'Ah, okay, you gotta send me back before Zahn gets pissed.'

'Zahn. Is that the demon that…?' Paige let the sentence drift off.

'Killed me?' Larry said, still not looking to happy. 'Yeah, for all intents and purposes, yes.'

Helena strode over to Paige again. 'I told you! Now we're going to have a pissed off demon to deal with!'

Paige scowled at her. 'Well I'm not sending him back until we figure out what's going on.'

Larry held his clasped hands out to Paige in appeal. 'Paige, please, I'm begging, reverse the spell.'

'You heard him Paige, he doesn't want help. Now stop borrowing trouble.'

'No!' Paige said glaring at her. 'I can't believe that it was Larry's fate to die last – '

'Fate? You want to talk about fate?' Larry asked seeming annoyed. 'If I don't live up to my end of the deal, my wife's fate is screwed too. And I'm not going to let that happen. Now come on!'

Paige jumped on this information. 'What, did you make some sort of Faustian deal?'

Larry stopped gesturing for Paige to undo her spell and just looked at her sadly. 'Yeah. Yeah, I did. Look. I'm not proud of it, all right? But Zahn came to me five years ago, when I was down and hurting. He promised to pull me out of it in exchange for my…'

Helena rolled her eyes at the stupidity of mortals. 'Your soul? And let me guess, last night you had to pay up?'

'Yes, but you've got to understand,' Larry said pleadingly. 'I didn't realise at first what my success meant. I didn't know Zahn was making me rich off other peoples suffering!'

PiPOV

Piper went up the steps to the door and could hear Helena's raised voice. As she opened the door she could hear the words clearly.

'He is a demon! Did you think it would be sunshine and daisies? All demons do is cause pain and suffering! They spread it everywhere!'

'Helena?' Piper could see a man that was obviously a spirit stood inside a circle of candles. Richard Montana was also there.

Paige, Richard and Helena all turned to look at her. Ignoring the others Piper focused on Helena. 'You okay Helena?'

Helena snorted. 'Oh you mean aside from your sister summoning a spirit who is mixed up with a Faustian deal? And the spirit thought the demon would make him rich in a nice way. Oh I'm just peachy.'

Piper just walked towards the sunroom expecting Paige and Helena to follow her, which they did. She put Wyatt down beside Micheal and then walked back to the two younger women.

Paige spoke up first. 'What was I supposed to do? Just let him rot in hell or wherever he was?'

'Yes!' Helena hissed furiously. 'He made a deal and now he has to pay the price. That's what you get when you deal with demons!'

Piper could tell there was more to this for Helena than she was letting on, or even aware of. 'Helena, why do I get the feeling that for you, this is more about…Kiernan, than this spirit's choices.'

Helena seemed confused. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, it's just unlike you to react so…emotionally. I'm wondering if it's bringing up memories you'd rather forget.'

Helena glanced at Micheal, but he was playing with Wyatt and not paying attention to them. 'I – I don't know…'

Piper sighed. 'Look, you've been through more than most, it's bound to come back when you least expect it. But you need to try and be aware of when it does so that you can deal with it.'

Helena dropped into a seat looking a bit upset. Piper turned to Paige. 'And you, do you even know what kind of demon he's made a deal with?'

Paige shook her head. 'No, but at least I got him away from the demon. Now I have a chance to save him.'

Piper glanced at the hallway where Richard and the spirit, who she assumed was Larry, were stood watching the women. 'Save him? He's dead.'

'I know that, but I can save his soul. He hasn't moved on yet.'

This was just like Paige. She might be the most tactically minded but that went out the window when she got caught up in something. 'Never mind that. What level is this demon? What powers does he have?'

Her little sister squirmed guiltily. 'I don't know, I haven't checked the Book yet.'

Great, that was the perfect thing to add on top of her runaway date. 'Paige I know this whole, separate identity thing is important to you, but you can't keep going off on your own. It's not how we work.'

'Well if I hadn't Larry's soul would have been lost by now.'

'Yet again,' Helena chimed in, 'I'd like to point out that he sold his soul. As in gave it up.'

Piper nodded. 'I'm with Helena on this. He made a choice, now he has to face the consequences.'

Paige's reply was a scoff. 'So he made a mistake. That doesn't necessarily mean he has to pay in his afterlife.'

'Yeah, maybe it does. We can't clean up after everyone's mistakes.'

'So what? I just send him back? Let him burn or whatever?'

Piper took a deep breath to remain calm. 'It means that if you bring danger into this house, you need to talk to us beforehand.'

'I did but you weren't exactly supportive – '

'Now hang on a minute.' Helena said standing up again. 'When you showed up this morning, we were supporting you. We thought that you were simply struggling with the death of an innocent. We've all done that. Then you disappear and when you come back you summon a ghost. At what point did you come to us and say that you wanted to check if your instincts were right?'

Piper thought Helena had a really good point and looked Paige expectantly.

'But this morning – '

Piper interrupted her. 'This morning you were just grieving. This afternoon your head is clearer and we would have listened if you had said you still felt the same way.'

Paige looked guilty again. 'Okay, you're right. So will one of you help me while the other watches the boys?'

Piper looked at Helena. She might not want to deal with this one. Apparently Helena could see the question in her eyes.

'It's okay, I'll cover this one Piper. Besides you have another date later. How would you explain it if you had a weird injury?'

Piper watched as Paige and Helena went back to the hall. After a moment Richard headed to the door and Paige, Helena and Larry went upstairs.

Piper looked down and saw Micheal watching them disappear as well. 'Did Paige really summon a ghost?' He asked curiously, a little too curiously.

Of course he had been listening, the little monster heard everything. 'Yes, and if you do it your Mommy will not let you have any sweeties for a month.'

Micheal looked scared at that possibility. 'Okay, I won't, I promise.'

Piper hid a sigh of relief. Hopefully that was averted. The last thing they needed was for another Cleaner situation.

Chris POV

'Okay, new tactic…' Chris panted out as he and Leo tried to keep ahead of T-Rex. 'Let's…try going into…the rocky bits.'

Beside him Leo nodded. 'We might find…somewhere to…rest.'

'Right.'

Chris didn't waste any breath he didn't need to. They had been running for nearly twenty minutes non-stop and still hadn't managed to lose that blasted dinosaur.

Turning back towards the rockier hills instead of the wide open area, Chris led the way by running up a steep hill. His calves protested as he did but Chris pushed on anyway. As he slid down the other side Chris spotted a narrow gully and turned down there. With Leo right behind him Chris ducked under an outcropping of rock.

Chris and Leo held themselves as back as possible when T-Rex arrived above them. As the dinosaur clomped around showers of dust a pebbles fell over the edge of the outcropping. After a moment the dinosaur stomped down from the ledge and off somewhere else.

'I don't understand, why can't we orb?' Chris asked Leo as he watched T-Rex disappear.

'Prehistoric. Magic won't be around 'til there's people around to use it.'

Wonderful, Helena was definitely going to kill him. 'Perfect. We'll just hang out for the next million years or so? No problem.'

'More like sixty-five million.' Chris turned and looked at Leo in horror. 'Looks like Cretaceous Period.'

Chris looked away as he fought a laugh. That made him think of how Paige had once described Leo of being as old as the dinosaurs. 'Man. You are old.' Chris kept watching where the welcome wagon had disappeared to. 'I think he's gone. He looks gone. Do you think he's gone?' It wasn't likely, they would be a nice appetiser to a pterodactyl or something.

'No,' replied in 'duh' tone of voice.

'Neither do I.' Chris quickly started heading back the way they came. Hopefully they could get back to the portal before they became dinner.

When they got a little more distance between them and the dinosaur they slowed to a walk. No need to exhaust themselves if there was no need to run.

'The sooner we get back to our time, the less we have to worry about it.'

'Yeah that's gonna be a problem.' Chris sighed at Leo yet again stating the obvious and decided to burst his bubble.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, you don't just create time portals out of thin air. It's not like that.' Things would be so much simpler if it was like that.

'Well you coming from the future originally seemed like an exact science.' Leo frowned slightly. 'Even Helena's arrival could be seen as exact.'

'Those were spells alright?' Jeez it was like talking to a newbie. 'A one-way door. Helena's 'door' took her to the best place for her and Micheal. Mine brought me to the time that I pictured in my mind. Spells only go one-way through time, and each time you move through time you need to use the spell.'

'So, what, you're creating portals to get back to the future, is that it?' Chris scrunched his nose at Leo's persistence. 'Why?'

'To see if it changed okay?' Hopefully this would get rid of Leo's issues with him. 'To see if I stopped the demon who was after Wyatt.' And Leo just stood there staring at him like moron. 'What, you still don't believe me?'

Leo walked past him. 'All I care about right now is getting back home.'

Why was he so infuriating? The man was like a walking aneurism waiting to happen! 'Well all you gotta do is find the portal that dumped us here.' Chris said sarcastically as he walked past Leo. 'Good luck. Watch out for dinosaurs.'

'You'd like that wouldn't you? Get rid of me once and for all.'

And there was the aneurism. 'You were the one who sent us back to Jurassic Park, all right? Not me.' Even Helena laying into him would be preferred to this. Stuck with Leo in a time that had no magic.

Leo just walked past him, again. 'Wouldn't be the first time you tried to get rid of me.'

And they were back to that. 'Think what you want, but know this, if we don't get back, Wyatt's screwed. If you don't believe me, believe that.' Stupid know-it-all Elder, stupid evil brother, stupid portal, stupid dinosaur, stupid sun giving him a migraine. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

HPOV

Helena paced up and down the attic, watching as Paige wrote a spell to summon Zahn.

'You know, the pacing? Not helping.' Paige said without looking up from her scribbling.

'Paige I'm begging you,' Larry said from his position beside her. 'Please just send me back.'

'No, I was your temp for a reason Larry. Now shush.'

Helena ignored Paige's comment and kept pacing. 'That Book entry might not be recent. For all you know it could be older than I should be.'

'Well you look pretty good for someone in their fifth century of life.' Paige quipped with a smile as she put her pen down. 'Okay I'm all done. Are we ready?'

'No,' Larry said immediately, 'just send me back.'

'You shush. Helena?' Helena refrained from trying to change Paige's mind for the tenth time and simply nodded. 'Okay here goes.'

Demon Zahn who trades in souls

I summon now to accomplish my goals

Helena rolled her eyes. 'It took you twenty minutes to write that?'

'I've never been good with the rhyming – I actually wrote a vanquishing haiku once.'

Before Helena could comment on that there was a rush of wind and a demon appeared in the middle of the attic.

As soon as the magic faded from around him and Zahn saw Larry, he immediately sent Paige flying across the room. Paige was knocked into the stand holding the Book of Shadows and rolled to a stop near Larry. Zahn then turned to Helena as though to do the same.

'Don't even think about it Zahn. I'm backup, nothing else.' Helena summoned an energy ball to each hand in warning and nodded at Paige. 'She's the one who summoned you.'

Zahn regarded her briefly before turning to Paige. 'Usually I would kill someone for summoning me. But since you brought me to Larry,' Zahn glanced at Helena, 'and you have a...friend with you, I'm going to be merciful, just this once.'

Larry looked at Zahn pleadingly. 'No please don't hurt her, she was just trying to help me.'

Zahn looked at Paige scornfully. 'Help, really? What, you thought vanquishing me would set him free? Is that it?'

Paige smirked. 'As a matter of fact…' Paige threw the potion she had made before writing the spell.

Zahn caught the potion telekinetically and destroyed it with his own energy ball. 'You were saying?'

'You're a low level demon. You're not supposed to have that power.'

Helena crossed the attic to Paige's side, she got rid of one of her energy balls but kept the other ready. 'I told you so. That entry is out of date.'

'The lady is right. I started trading souls for powers years ago. Wanna see?' Zahn went to throw an energy ball at Paige but Helena spoke up.

'If you show me yours, I'll show you mine.' Helena bounced her own energy ball in the palm of her hand.

Zahn reconsidered and got rid of the energy ball, but then Piper walked in and he tossed her against the door to the attic.

Helena watched from the corner of her eye as Paige helped Piper to her feet. 'You okay Piper?'

'Oh yeah, peachy.'

Zahn smirked at Helena. 'Just to keep you in line. If I did happen to be vanquished, it would only make things worse for Larry. Paragraph five, subsection six, line three: All souls in my possession will burn in eternal flames upon my untimely demise. Believe me. It's a fate worse than anything that could happen at auction. A little protection clause I put in all my contracts.' Zahn walked over to Larry and waved a hand at him, making chains appear on him. 'Consider yourself repossessed.' With another wave of his hand Zahn made himself and Larry disappear via flaming. Definitely an upper level skill.

Helena turned to Paige. 'I so told you so.' She turned and went to pick up the Book. 'Go and shift the boys to the nursery to play so they're closer, Paige, and then ring Phoebe and make sure she's on her way. Piper, you sit down, you hit the door pretty hard.'

Piper went to argue but then shifted her shoulder and the protest died on her lips. 'Yeah, okay then.' She went to lay on one of the old sofas.

Half an hour later Phoebe was home and storming into the attic with the ice pack Piper had requested.

'This would all be so much easier if someone that could heal you was actually listening!' Phoebe ended up shouting at the ceiling.

Helena shook her head angrily. 'It isn't going to work. I have been doing that since Zahn left.'

'Besides,' Piper said as she sat up. 'I've had worse.'

Phoebe sighed as she place the ice pack on Piper's shoulder. 'Still, those two need a talking to, I'll tell you.'

Paige spoke up from next to the Book that she was flicking through. 'I don't understand this. Faustian deals have been around for over century – '

Helena snorted. 'Try adding a few centuries to that. I've heard of them.'

Paige nodded. 'Even worse then. There is nothing in here about how to break them. How is that possible?'

'Maybe because they can't be broken.' Piper said firmly to her sister.

However Paige wasn't listening to them. 'It can't be. There's gotta be a way. I am not giving up on Larry now.'

Piper and Phoebe glanced at Helena. While Paige had gone downstairs briefly Helena had filled them in on her experience with Faustian deals.

Phoebe looked back to Paige. 'Listen, sweetie, maybe you should. I know you feel guilty about what happened – '

'That's not it.' Paige said cutting across Phoebe quietly.

Phoebe took a breath and continued. 'It's affecting all of us now, not just you.'

'I said I was sorry.'

Piper shook her head slightly. 'That's not the point.'

Helena took a step closer to Paige. 'Think about it. The only reason Zahn didn't kill you was because Larry was right there and I scared him off. What if he hadn't been intimidated by me? He could gone downstairs and found the boys.'

Paige's eyes widened slightly and she sighed. 'Listen, I just want to save his soul.'

'But you can't!' Piper burst out, clearly getting frustrated with Paige's one track mind.

Paige however had thought of something else. 'Larry said that Zahn keeps his contracts locked up somewhere. So if we can find them and destroy them, then we can set all those souls free.'

Piper shook her head. 'I don't think so.'

'Why not?'

Phoebe adjusted the ice pack again. 'We think we should go after Zahn. Stop him before he gets anymore powers.'

'What? And just let all those souls burn?' Paige clearly found that option offensive.

Helena went to stand near Phoebe and Piper. 'Paige I met a demon like Zahn once, he was gaining powers very fast, there are a lot of demons out there that want souls, I took care of him before he got too powerful to stop. As it was it was a hard fight. If I'd left it any longer, I wouldn't have defeated him.'

'We can't just give up!' Paige said fiercely. 'We're stronger than you were and we have you to help us.'

Piper tried again. 'Paige, we don't like this anymore than you do, but this is where we're at.'

'But he's my innocent.'

'Yeah but this is our problem, and one we did not ask for, by the way.'

'No, I'm not sacrificing him.' Paige said in a tone a voice a brooked no arguments.

Helena walked off across the attic and left this to her sisters.

Piper gave another sigh. 'You don't have a choice. This is beyond your control. I'm sorry.'

Paige didn't say anything and just walked out of the attic.

Helena watched her go trying to get a read on her. 'She's going to Richard's, and she still seems kind of firm on her opinion.'

Piper dropped her head into her hands. 'Great. Now what do we do?'

Phoebe looked over to Helena. 'Have you heard of anything that could break this deal?'

Helena shook her head. 'No. They're known as unbreakable for a reason.'

Piper stood up and wince at the pain in her shoulder. 'Okay, let's check on the boys, give them lunch and then think on what to do.'

Author Note – Let me know what you think – even if you just want to yell about how long this took.

Until next time.