A/N: I apologize for the short chapter, but you'd be surprised how much information/progression can be crammed into such a short space. On another note, I have no problem with anonymous reviews, but if you actually log in it'll be easier for me to respond to questions. Like always, no ownership, no profit. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 2: One Last Hurrah

"Alright Cody, what is this about?" Zack grumbled impatiently while his brother forced him onto the couch to cover his eyes.

"You'll see in a minute. Keep them closed." Cody warned. "Trust me, I can close them for you. It will hurt."

Max rolled her eyes from her vantage point on the barroom stool. "Cody, it's not like you're wheeling a bike in here for his birthday. Would you just tell him?"

Cody glowered at their whitelighter. "You have no sense of dramatic build up."

"Cody, you have three seconds to explain." Zack griped again.

"Like you have anywhere better to go." His brother reminded him. "Look, I promise you'll thank me for this."

"What time was she supposed to get here again?" Max asked with an edge of boredom to her voice. Cody shot her an incredulous stare for giving away part of the secret.

"She?" Zack uncovered his eyes to give the same look at his twin. "Please tell me you didn't set me up on a blind date."

"Better." Cody grinned. Before he could explain further, there was a light knock at the door as apparently delicate knuckles wrapped against it. "There she is!" he beamed.

"There who is?!" Zack tried in vain to get an answer out of his brother. Cody moved quickly to answer the door.

--Three Days Ago--

"I'm worried about him." Cody admitted to Piper while she spooned another bite of the rich chocolate cake into baby Chris' mouth. "He's just been so glum since the whole demonic slow-down. I don't get it. I couldn't be happier that things are finally getting back to normal."

Piper spooned herself some of the cake on her plate before answering Cody. "That's because you and me," she pointed her spoon at the both of them, "we're the normal ones. The rest, well they're freaks. You and I never really liked the whole witchcraft thing. I mean sure, it's convenient at how many accidents I can avoid now that I can freeze time, but sometimes all the other stuff didn't seem worth it. All I really wanted was a happy normal life with Leo and the boys. After 

awhile, Phoebe started to want the same thing. Paige on the other hand, she still loves being a witch. That includes the demon fighting and the near death experiences. In fact that's why she became a full time whitelighter. She missed the thrill of fighting for the greater good. Billy's the same way, but give her a few years. She'll learn."

Cody watched Zack try to feel the kick inside Phoebe's stomach who was explaining to him that "Ladybug" wasn't developed enough yet to do that. "I think you're right. The demon fighting was probably Zack's favorite thing. Think he'll get over it? I just can't stand this slump he's in."

Piper mused for a moment, pushing Chris' hand out of her face when he tried to put his fingers in her mouth. "You guys just let out of school, right?"

"Yep. We're officially seniors now. That's probably what's got him down too; the thought of moving on."

"Makes sense. So how about one last hurrah?"

Cody frowned. "Huh?" Piper smiled meaningfully at him, and he got her message. "Ah." The party continued until Carey realized that she had five minutes before curtain call back at the concert in LA. So Max orbed her back while everyone else said their goodbyes.

"You'll tell me when it's time right?" Zack asked, still unable to tear himself away from listening to Phoebe's barely protruding womb.

"Relax Zack." Phoebe ruffled his hair. "There's still a good seven months before that happens. I promise I'll keep you posted." She and Coop exchanged humorous glances over Zack's newfound fascination with her pregnancy.

Henry put his arms around Paige's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. "Speaking of which," he whispered, "when do we get to put a little bun in the oven?"

Paige's eyes grew wide. "Not here." She scolded, quieting the matter.

"Alright, it looks like we've made a big enough nuisance out of ourselves here." Piper said while handing Chris off to Leo so she could scoop Wyatt into her arms. "Let's go make nuisances of ourselves back home now, shall we?" She smiled encouragingly one more time at Cody before taking Paige's hand so they could start the orb. She mouthed the words "good luck" before the rest joined in the circle. Then in a twinkling of lights, they were gone.



Later that night, after Zack was asleep, Cody crept silently out of their room. Once he was in the living room, far enough away from the door so that he wouldn't wake his brother, he took a deep breath and whispered one single word. "Max."

A cloud of orbs descended from the ceiling, forming into the brown eyed girl with twin braids. "Look Zack," she said automatically before realizing her mistake, "I've already told you that the Elders are tired of you sending…. Oh… it's you this time." There was an irritated edge in her voice that twinged Cody's stomach with guilt, though he wasn't in the mood to talk about it right now. "So what do you want?"

"It's about Zack… do you think you can do me… a favor?"

Max's eyes grew wide as she took the thought right out his mouth before he could voice it. "Not you too."

--Present--

"Hello." A musical voice drifted from the doorway when Cody opened it. Zack's curiosity got the better of him and he got to his feet to look past his brother at the newcomer. He suddenly found himself wishing that his brother had set him up on a blind date. "I'm Gwen Solidus. I believe Max told you about me?" The girl introduced herself graciously.

"Hey Gwen." Max waved half heartedly from the kitchen.

"Oh, there you are."

"It's nice to meet you," Cody began "come—"

"Come on in." Zack interrupted, shoving his brother out of the way to admit their visitor. He took advantage of the better view to get his first real good look at her. Beautiful would have been an understatement. This girl was knock-out gorgeous. She wore a simple red tank top over a black long sleeve, and stylishly faded blue jeans over her long slim legs. Judging by her height, she was older than they were. Probably closer to Maddie's age. Her sandy blond hair hung in ringlets that went all the way down to just above her waist. It framed her alluring pale face, which housed a pair of bright hazel eyes. It took awhile for Zack to realize that his mouth was hanging open. He hastily corrected himself and tried to smooth things over. "I'm Zack, the attractive one, this is my brother Cody, and I guess you've already met Max. So what can we do for you?"

Gwen flashed him a pearl white smile of admiration as he guided her to the couch. "I know who you are. I'll admit I was a little hesitant to ask for your help on this case, what with you two being so young."



"Case?" Zack knitted his brows together as his brother's recent actions started to make sense. So that was how Cody planned to make him feel better.

Gwen continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I guess I couldn't turn down help from members of The Seven. That's almost as good as The Charmed Ones. Not to mention all the other exploits you've done since then."

The brothers looked to each other and shrugged modestly at her. Since becoming witches, a lot of comparisons had been made between them and the sisters. But rather than resenting it, they seemed to take it as a compliment. Max rolled her eyes at how the two of them milked the attention.

"Well," Zack tried to sound casual, but he couldn't fight the slight heat in his face, "I guess out record speaks for itself. What can we do for you doll face?" he motioned for her to take a seat.

The girl's face hardened the smallest degree. "Gwen," she corrected and sat lightly on the edge of the couch while Zack took the armchair beside it, "and like I said, I need your help. I'm a truancy officer for magic school, and there's a certain student I've had difficulty retrieving."

While Zack guided her to the couch while Cody tried to keep his smile intact until he reached where Max was sitting so he could whisper his frustration in her ear. "That's the big case the Elders dug up for us? A magic school truant?"

"They said it would be hard for them to pick up a big case like the one you asked for at the moment, but Sandra promised she'd try." Max whispered back, her annoyance matching his. The tiffs between them seemed to have become more frequent lately even though they were no longer dating. "Just give this a chance. Maybe there's more to this case that meets the eye."

Max was soon to be proven right as usual. Gwen wasted no time getting down to business. "At first I thought she'd decided to take off, go back to being human. A lot of the students do when they can't handle the stress of being a witch. There really isn't anything we can do about that. That's their whitelighter's job. But later on, her whitelighter dropped off the radar. No one's heard from him since. So I decided to do a little investigating on my own. It's a lot worse than I thought."

Zack took this in calmly. "So what does she look like?" he asked, realizing after it was out of his mouth just how far that question was actually going to get them. It wasn't like she was a lost little girl walking the halls of the Tipton.

"She's about your age." Gwen answered. "Maybe a year younger. Here's her photo." She pulled a three by five picture from her sleeve and held it out for them to see. "Her name is Nicole Michaels." The photo was of a olive toned girl a white 

streak in her otherwise dark hair. Her eyes were a startling blue color, and as Gwen had said she appeared to be about sixteen. Zack froze when he saw the picture, and motioned for Cody and Max to come closer. Their jaws dropped at once. The Elders definitely knew what they were talking about, because they had already met this girl several times and not even known it.

"Isn't that…" Cody began.

Zack finished his sentence. "Nathan's neice."