Chapter 1

San Francisco September 4th 2022

"Time for dinner!" Piper Halliwell's voice traveled around the Halliwell Manor alerting all the family it was time for their traditional family meal. The whole family was at the manor today. Piper, with some help from Wyatt, had cooked a feast; like she did every time her sisters and their families were there, which was more often than not.

While carrying in a succulent smelling bowl of stew, Piper walked into the dining room and saw there were still people missing from the table. "Is Henry still at work, Paige?" She questioned turning to her half-sister.

The Witch-lighter looked up from her already full plate and nodded. "Yeah he called and said he was gonna be late, and not to wait for him. Oh and Henry Jr, PJ and Mel are staying at Magic School tonight, they said they wanted a head start for going back to normal lessons on Monday."

"That would explain their absence but Chris, where's Blaze?" She turned to her middle child and immediately started worrying at her son's expression.

"I don't know… and I can't sense her. She blocking me, she never does that." He exclaimed, panic clear in his tone. Wyatt automatically turned to his brother, clearly confused.

However before Piper could begin to freak out, Parker, Phoebe's middle daughter, piped up from the other side of the table. "We know where she is." She pointed at herself and Paige's twin daughters; Kat and Tamora, "She's on a date with that creep, James Ryans." They burst into fits of giggles.

"WHAT!" Chris, Wyatt and Leo bellowed at the same time. Piper and Leo had adopted Blaze two years ago, but they had known her since she was 5, and they loved her like she was one of their own. However that also meant that she was like a sister to Wyatt, Chris and Melinda, and the boys were very protective of their sisters. In addition with Blaze also being Chris's best friend, he was doubly protective of her.

"She's on a DATE! With JAMES RYANS! You have GOT to be kidding me!" Piper could see a mixture of emotions flash across her youngest son's face. Anger, hurt, confusion and something else that she couldn't quite work out. Was that... Jealousy.

Coop walked over and placed a comforting hand on his nephews shoulder. "Its OK Chris. I'm a Cupid, I know that eventually she will realize where her love is and she will realize how blind she has been."

With a very puzzled look on his face, Chris replied, "What are you talking about? Look we need to find her. James Ryans is a sick pervert! So lets go and get her before something happens."

He stood to head out to look for her when his Aunt Phoebe's voice, which was too calm for his liking, stopped him. "Listen Chris." She hesitated. "I'm sure Blaze is perfectly fine. If she wasn't she would have called. And I'm also sure that if you went and barged in on her date she defiantly wouldn't be very happy with you. So I think we should just wait for her to come back and if she calls then we go and find her, OK?"

He nodded realizing he couldn't win this argument but he wanted to find her. She was his best friend after all.

Henry Mitchell sat at his desk in the San Francisco Police Department. Being a Parole Officer meant a lot of paper work that he had let get on top of him, again. Let's just say that by being the husband on a Charmed one and being father to three very powerful Witches can cause you to let your work slip; which meant having to work overtime to get files completed.

He had just finished his last one and was about to leave when Freddie Warrington, his partner walked over to his desk. "No. I am not doing it. I am already late for dinner and Paige is going to kill me so I have to leave. It's 12 o'clock at night, I've already worked over my overtime." Henry protested. He really didn't want to stay at the office any longer. He wanted to go home to his family.

His friend and colleague looked over to him, sympathy showed across his face. "I know dude, but the boss wants you to take this case. It was meant for me but seeing who she is, he thought it was better for you to take it. You'll see why in a second, here's her folder. She's in for stealing some family's motorbike but instead of pressing charges they just want her to talk to a Parole Officer about her behavior She is waiting just outside, I'll call her in for you."

"Why did the boss want me to take this case and not you?" Henry asked his colleague, while opening the folder.

"Because you know her. She is your adopted niece after all." Freddie replied while turning to get the girl in question.

"Oh God! Blaze, what have you done?" He turned to his adopted niece, who just shrugged her shoulders in response. "This is serious Blaze, you stole a motorcycle?"

"I know, I'm not dumb! I just..." She trailed off, unsure what to say. She looked at the man next to her, who was basically her uncle. Besides Chris, he was the person she trusted the most. Probably because two years ago he had saved her from... No she had told herself not to think of that, especially not now with today being the day when…

Henry looked over at her and saw the tears forming in her eyes. "Blaze, please. Just tell me what's wrong. You can trust me. You just, what?" He was beginning to panic now. This girl usually always turned to him or his nephew, Chris, and by the state of her she defiantly wasn't going to talk to her best friend.

Then for the first time in that conversation she looked into his eyes, and what he saw in them scared him greatly. Tears. Henry had seen Blaze Sparrow cry once in the 12 years he had known her and that day had been two years ago... Today.

A quick glance at the calendar confirmed his suspicions. No wonder she was so upset.

"Blaze... I am so sorry. I didn't realize it was today... Are you OK?" He asked her gently walking over to her to give her a comforting hug.

She leaned into her uncle's hug. "It's OK Uncle Henry, I'm fine." She lied he knew he saw right through it but he didn't say anything. He knew right then she needed to, she hated people worrying and fussing over her.

"Let's go home Blaze, OK?" He whispered to her, and received a small nod in return.

"Are you going to tell Piper and Leo?" She asked quietly.

He had to think for a second, "I will have to tell them about the motorcycle, otherwise I will lose my job. But I don't have to tell them why, if you don't want me too. However I do think you should tell them then they can talk to you about it."

She had looked relieved for a second, but when had gotten to the end of the sentence her small smile had dropped. "No, I can't, they'll think I can't cope. But I can, I can really. Please I can't."

He pulled his niece into another hug before she started crying again. "It's OK if you don't want to, you don't have to. Let's just go home, because I don't know about you but I'm really in the mood for some of Piper's home cooked food."

That earned a smile. Then together they walked to Henry's car and headed back to the manor.

The Charmed Ones, Chris, Wyatt and Leo all sat in the living room of Halliwell Manor, it was now 1am and they were worrying about Blaze. They hadn't been able to get in contact with her. Which had lead to the group to wait up for her. Mel and the cousins had all wanted to as well but the mums had all sent them to bed. With Coop taking PJ, Parker and Posy home, and the Twins and Henry staying in Blaze and Wyatt's beds. Wyatt normally stayed in his flat he shared with his best friend and fellow witch, Kyle Fields, and seeing as Blaze wasn't here the twins had borrowed her bed.

Chris watched as his mother sat opposite him, unsure of what to do. So far that night she had made chocolate chip cookies, brownies and some demon vanquishing potions, just in case she had said. Now he could see she was sat next to his father waiting for their lost adopted daughter to return home.

He was about ready to go crazy when he heard the front door open then shut again. He shot to his feet, hope spreading through his body, however he sank back down when his Uncle Henry's voice gently traveled to them through the hall. His mum and Aunt Paige however still went to great Henry.

Piper had started grilling Henry for any information about Blaze before she had even fully stood up, and she said it all in one breath it seemed. "Henry, thank God. Have you seen Blaze? Because we can't get hold of her, she's blocking us, and we are really worried now. She could be anywhere, and we wouldn't be able to find or help her if she was in trouble. And if that wasn't bad enough according to Parker and the twins she was on a date with a 'creep', but we can't find her, and we don't know what to do and… BLAZE!"

That had gotten Chris's attention; he leaped from his spot on the couch and ran to the hall where he found his best friend being smothered by a huge hug from his mum, followed by hugs of the same intensity from Chris's aunts, dad and also one from Wyatt, although Wy's was a little gentler.

"Where were you Blaze? We have been worried sick about you. You've been out all night and we had no idea where you were!" Chris shouted. He didn't care about the fact there was four sleeping teens, who for the record would defiantly beat him up for waking them up, he was angry at the recklessness of his friend's behavior "AND you went out with JAMES RYANS! How stupid could you be! You know what he's like, he could have hurt you…"

"Do you really think that little of me Chris? I didn't go out with Ryans, he's a creep!" She shouted back at him. He could see she was very angry but he didn't know why.

"Then where were you if you weren't out with Ryans?" he asked, continuing their shouting match, which had now woken Mel, Henry and the twins.

This question left her silent. There was no shouting back, no snappy or sarky comment. Just silence. And that scared him.

He didn't know what to say but thankfully his Aunt Phoebe did. "Blaze, why did you come home with Henry? What happened?"

Blaze looked like she was about to break down from all the pressure, but Chris wasn't sure whether it was from sadness or anger.

"I... I don't... I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I was angry and I just wanted to blow off some steam. It's ok because they didn't even want to press charges, or anything. All they wanted was for me to talk to a Parole Officer, or something, and I did, I spoke to Uncle Henry, so it's over with." She stuttered, leaving Chris very confused.

He looked over to his mum, who blinked a few times, and then she had a look of realization glide across her face. "What did you do?" She faced Blaze, her monotone voice scared Chris more than any Demon could.

Blaze flinched when she heard Piper's tone and just looked down at the floor not answering the question. But she didn't need to; Henry did it for her.

"She stole..." He began, but Blaze interrupted him.

"Borrowed, I borrowed it. I had every intention of giving it back."

Henry nodded slowly at her statement, and continued. "A motorcycle, she 'borrowed' a motorcycle from a family just across town. She was right though, they don't want to press charges. They just wanted her to talk to a Parole Officer. Lucky for her, but don't worry she won't get of that quietly. She will have to come in once a week for a little while to talk to me. And no buts!"

Mum looked stunned. "Y... You... You stole a MOTORCYCLE! Why would you STEAL a motorcycle?"

Chris saw guilt flood across Blaze's face. "I told you I was blowing off steam. I couldn't go to the Underworld without alerting you, so I went for a walk. I saw the bike and the family weren't home so I borrowed it. When I got to the corner though they came back and I almost hit their car but swerved and crashed."

He was getting angrier at every word she said. "So not only did you steal their motorcycle, you wrecked it too." He said with a roll of his eyes and left the hall to go and sit in the living room, away from his infuriating best friend. But she just followed him into the room.

"Actually the bike was fine. Me, not so much but I only have a concussion, but nothing to worry about. They said I should see a doctor. But don't worry I'll go and see them tomorrow, it's nothing for you to worry about."

That was when he actually looked at her. Her face and arms were covered in cuts and bruises. Her long, radiant brunette hair was mixed with the metallic scent he knew was her blood. He stood and walked over to her, softly placing his hand on her cheek, and examined the huge gash on the top of her head. It had started to bleed again so he grabbed some tissues of the table next to him and held them carefully on the cut.

She looked up at him, locking his gaze with her dazzling, hazel eyes "I'm so sorry Chris." Her voice was faint, as she whispered those words. In that moment he knew she wasn't telling him something.

"It's OK. Just… You are telling me everything, aren't you?" he asked.

She looked up at him. "Yeah… Um, can we talk later? My head hurts, so I'm going to lie down. Can I stay in your room please, so the twins can have my bed?"

Chris nodded at her, and they headed up to bed. With the twins and Mel in the girl's room and Chris, Blaze and Henry Jr in Chris and previously Wyatt's. Wyatt headed back to his apartment, leaving the adults in the living room.

Even with the inquiring looks from the rest of the group, Henry stuck to his word and didn't explain the real reason as to why Blaze stole the bike. But he knew in his heart that she needed help. So he promised himself if he couldn't tell Piper and Leo what had happened, he would tell the one person who could. Chris.