"Are you okay?" Chris asked his mother.
Piper had luckily moved back a step before the girl had been able to topple straight onto her body. Instead, the girl had fallen over right onto her already poor achingly sore feet and there she was resting as Piper looked a bit aggrieved to the situation.
"Oh sure, I'm fine. She just fell right onto me that's all." Piper replied sarcastically.
Chris took up the singer off of his mother's feet and the floor into his arms. She had been lying on this mother's feet and he knew that that wasn't good. Especially when before the girl had even shown up she had been complaining about her feet and even before that his poor mother had been passed out behind the bar. The singer mumbled into him as he held her to him.
"Cuddly cuddly wuddly bear." the singer mumbled into Chris's shirt.
"Wow. Chris you not telling us something?" Phoebe said, smugly teasing her nephew.
"Is she alright?" Piper asked frowning as she looked at the girl who was haphazardly lying in Chris's arms.
Piper's eyebrows were clearly raised and she was a bit overwhelmed by everything that was happening so far that day. She was pretty darn tooting sure she was getting too old to deal with all of this.
Piper then started to wonder if after all the demons they had all vanquished they could get a hiatus away from the craft for a little bit if not for the rest of their lives.
"Yeah she'll be fine. She's breathing and that's all that counts, right?" Chris replied as he ignored Phoebe's comment with an annoyed look and answered his mother.
"Well that's an improvement, I guess." Piper replied brushing her hand over her stomach where the baby inside her lay quiet.
"She's lucky she survived an energy ball." Phoebe added.
"She must be pretty strong." Piper said .
"Or pretty lucky." he added. "And pretty delusional at the moment."
The singer wiggled a bit in Chris's unready arms. She kept snuggling her blond curled head up on his shirt as she tried to find a comfy spot on his chest.
"Mmmm. Smelly yummy good boy." the singer said again incoherently.
Piper was vaguely amused at Chris's discomfort. It was nice to see Chris with a girl in his arms. Of course, it wasn't the right one but she guessed a girl was good enough. This one was even making it even more funny since the girl was so delusional and was saying a whole bunch of oddities.
This was going to be one long night.
"Hold on. Where did she come from anyways?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know. Don't look at me." Chris replied when all eyes laid on him.
"She ran with the others. So, why is she still here?" Phoebe stated in confusion as she surveyed the girl who was badly wounded in Chris's arms.
"More importantly how much did she see?" Piper added.
They had had a few very harsh brushes with the world seeing their witchcraft. It was a risk along with their own lives that they took everyday. It didn't help that this time their innocent happened to be a very public figure like an up and coming singer.
Piper hadn't even really met the girl. She had just let her band play that night because when she had said the name aloud around a few of her employees they all had immediately piped up to say that the band Red Helter was worth it. So, she had thrown them on.
She hadn't expected a huge demon infested fighting match to go on the day she had this majorly famous local band play. She hadn't ever expected she would have to deal with the lead singer as her innocent. She also hadn't even expected to be down on one very powerful ally.
Victoria. She had lied to them about being sick. She had lied to Chris, and Piper knew for a fact he was going to give her hell for it.
"Well I know what I saw." Phoebe said clapping her hands together. "Firstly, the ambiguously gay duo twins threw an energy ball at her and the guy she was with. Then, they attacked us. Now, they are out of commition for the time being" Phoebe recapped for everyone.
"Wait a minute, missie. Where's the guy she was with?" Piper asked.
"Uh. He ran? Fled the scene of paranormal activity in the first half," Phoebe replied not knowing for sure of anything.
"Leaving his up and coming American Idol wannabe here?" Piper asked incredulously. She had also seen the man with the singer of Red Helter. He had wanted her to be apart of his company or whatever. He had even been handing her his card when the twins had thrown their energy balls at him.
"Hey, it could happen. Think about it, Piper. Sneaky weasel executive of a music corporation runs for his life in order to survive another year sucking the life out of all his music corps. star conquests or top executive stays and protects up and coming unsigned contracted artist?" Phoebe asked her sister as she made a balance with her hands.
"Good point. He's gone with the wind." Piper nodded.
"Alright. Then, what now?" Chris asked. "Guys?"
"Chris, Chris, Chris. You get the chance to be the strong hero in the story here and you want to give that up already?" Phoebe asked her nephew smiling.
"Well, yeah. She's heavier then she looks."
"Men," Piper and Phoebe both stated together as they shook their heads and placed their hands on their hips almost in unison.
Then, they looked at each other. Piper bit her lip and said. "We've been around each other for too long."
"Yeah, I know." Phoebe replied as she looked around the club and tried to ignore the fact they were standing the same way as she then swung her arms around a little bit.
"Hey, you try carrying her." Chris replied, defensively.
"No thanks. I think I'll pass," Phoebe responded.
"Okay, I say we take her back home and regroup there till we figure this out," Chris told his mother and aunt as he tried to find a happy medium as he held the singer in his arms.
"I guess that's the best we can do for now," Piper nodded as she ran her hand through her hair and looked around the club. Both Phoebe and Chris cringed knowing what was coming as Piper shrieked. "Look at this place. It's a mess!"
"Yeah, it looks like a nuclear disaster site." Phoebe agreed surveying the club with her sister.
"And I know just who to thank for that." Piper told her family as she started in the twin demons direction.
Piper we to the twin demons and instantly surveyed them. The one who was conscious sensing her intent to destroy them hissed at her.
"Yeah. Do you really think that that's scary. I'll show you scary." she replied as she flicked her wrists and blew up his counterpart. She then turned back to him as Phoebe added her presence to her sisters' side and then she asked the one still alive as well as conscious, "Are you willing to answer my questions?"
The demon stared back blackly at her and the spot its twin brother had once been. Now, his twin was in ashes on the floor. The twin hissed again at her.
"Well, I'm gonna take that as a no" Piper responded and flicked her wrists impatiently. The remaining twin burst into a pile of dust and scattered over the floor.
"Mom, what the hell did you do that for? We could have got answers out of them!" Chris cried as he stopped beside them.
"Firstly, don't ever say 'hell' around me. You know how I feel about you and your brother cursing. Secondly, sweetie, when we need answers we'll either summon someone up who can help us or we'll get a premonition from Phoebe. Don't worry about it. Those two were only trying to get noticed anyways." Piper told her youngest son.
"Noticed?" Chris asked as he tried to move the singer in his arms around to get a better grip on her body. "Mom they tried to kill innocents!"
"Yeah, well they also winked at you and checked you and your brother out." Piper replied with her head tilted back. Her long dark brown hair falling backwards in the red lights of the empty club making her look like a queen waiting for her royal subjects reply.
"Eww. Please, that's gross don't bring it up again." Chris replied shivering in repulsion as he squinched his face up in disgust.
"So, shall we?" Chris added trying to get out of there as quickly as possible and also so that he could change the subject so his mother wouldn't get into a cleaning frenzy.
No one really replied.
Phoebe looked quizzically at him for a moment. The singer of Red Helter's hand fell to the side as Chris tried to get a better handle on her weight for the hundredth time. A plain silver banded ring flew off of her finger as he did. Phoebe quickly picked it up and went to place it back on the girl's hand when she had an instant premonition.
She saw the man who had been giving the girl his card. He was walking down the alley behind the club and then he stopped immediately. He was standing there for a moment as he saw someone. The next moment he was dead on the stone alley wall. Then, she saw a drunken Victoria walking dizzily around. There was a black aura over her body that followed her everywhere. It was around her one moment and then it went into her another like a game of illusions.
Phoebe gasped and came out of the premonition. Chris and Piper watched her ready for anything as she looked at both of them. She forgot about the ring in her hand and swallowed. She stared at Chris as he realized it was something big concerning him.
"What? Pheebs, what did you see?" Piper asked her little sister in concern at her sister's paling face.
"I.. I saw the man who was here. We won't have to look far for him," she told them.
"Why?" Chris and Piper both asked.
The singer in Chris's arms giggled out of no where destroying the silence around them.
They all surveyed her weirdly. Perhaps she was evil and not an innocent Phoebe wondered as she look down at the silver banded ring in her hand. It was an engagement band.
"Because he's dead now." Phoebe replied flinching as she bit her lip. "And Chrisâ Something's wrong with Victoria. Really, really, really wrong and weird and supernatural is wrong with her."
"What? How?" He asked in confusion.
Everyday they all had to deal with some strange possession or death match for their lives or whatever. Those were the consequences for saving the world daily. It was just so weird though whenever it did happen to one of them. It was generally weird now that Victoria was one of them and she was so very strong and here she was possessed by something.
Piper wished she hadn't had to bring her sons into a world like this. As if relationships weren't already hard enough in real life with all the troubles of normal day problems. Adding the supernatural just didn't seem very fair for her sons as well as her sisters and herself having to face daily.
"She's.. I dunno. Did she have too many drinks today. Maybe that was some of it." Phoebe tried to figure it out.
"No, mom wouldn't let her have any." Chris replied as worry imprinted itself all over his face.
"Well, my battleship just sunk." Phoebe replied frowning in dismay.
"Phoebe!" Chris cried.
"I hate to be the barrier of bad news, butâ she â I don't know. In my premonition, I thought she was drunk, but hey she could just be a little off the deep end or tired. No harm no foul, right?" Phoebe tried to lighten it up a bit but it didn't happen.
"What!?!" Chris cried.
"Honey," Piper tried to calm him down.
"Mom," he said in a slightly warning tone that was meshed with worry. "Don't patronize me now."
"Uh, guys. There was something else." Phoebe added.
"Well?" Piper asked.
"What now?" Chris asked.
"There was a strange black aura with her the whole time. And well, the last time we saw that aura thing. Well, we didn't see it. Prue saw it and last time she saw that thing it meant" Phoebe tried to get her statement out without sending Chris into a panic.
"It meant Death." Piper ended for her younger sister in the quiet room.
"What?" Chris cried out.
Piper didn't have to know what was going on inside of him. She knew it all too well from her own experiences. He was closing down. He was in denial. In the same state of denial though he was seeing his life flash before his eyes. He was seeing all the good times with Victoria and he was seeing her dead. He was trying not to, but it was hard now that that statement had been uttered.
He was trying to see his life without the one person he had fallen hard for.
It was slowly slamming down on him. All he wanted now was to see her to make sure she as okay. All he wanted now was to watch over her to make sure death wouldn't be able to stake his claim.
And that would be deadly for him. Phoebe had had her time trying to make sure death didn't kill one of her ex boyfriends. That hadn't ended up right at all. Instead of saving him Phoebe had almost been killed off with him for being in Death's way in the first place.
Piper didn't want to deal with that again. She didn't want to lose her son so early like she had before. She didn't want to lose her new ally either.
"But that can't be right. The Elders said she was going to help us out for years. She's only been with us for a month!" Phoebe replied in a quick shot of a sentence.
"Mom, how?" Chris asked in a lost voice.
"Don't worry about it. Phoebe got the premonition so we could save her and we will. Alright?"
He nodded quietly still inside his torment of worry.
"Good. Then, we are going to go home and not say a word about this to her. Now, let's get back to the Manor quickly. Wyatt will be probably already be there with Victoria. We'll get our innocent healed and then, we'll figure this all out. Everybody got it?" Piper asked as she issued her orders.
"Aye aye captain." Phoebe replied lightly.
Chris only nodded and Piper shook her head. "Let me just go get my purse and we can go."
Phoebe watched her sister and nodded, "Yeah, I'll go with you in case you need help."
Piper shot a glance of 'what a lame excuse' to her sister. She didn't think Chris had gotten it well since he just stood there waxenly. He was about ready to orb off without them. So she only hoped she could get this conversation with her sister out quickly.
"Why did you tell him we could save her?" Phoebe cried in a whisper. "Once death lays his claim on someone he doesn't give it up."
"What did you expect me to say? 'Uh, Chris, sweetie, your girlfriend is as good as dead so get over it now'? "Piper asked her sister annoyed. "Besides, you did have that premonition for a reason."
"Yeah, well I have had premonitions for innocents we couldn't save before too. Remember that, sis?" Phoebe replied intensely.
"Look, he's my son. I am going to help him save his girlfriend alright?"
"Piper, what if we can't? What if the Elders were wrong about her all along and she is really meant to die young?"
"We will save her." Piper replied firmly. "No one is meant to die young. Not her. Not mom. Not Prue."
