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Chapter 7: All's Fair in Love and War
It had been almost a week since Mel and the Sons had traveled to the past. Piper had told them that they had actually been gone for the same amount of time so Mel had missed her second to last day of school. Her mom had been forced to call the school and tell them Mel had gone on a last minute vacation to visit some relatives. "Lucky for you," Piper had said, "you finished your exams early. Otherwise, you might have failed for missing them and not graduated. Then, you would have been grounded for life." She then grounded Mel and banned the boys from leaving the Manor unless they were with one of the Charmed Ones for magic lessons for a week. The only time Mel had been allowed out was to go to her graduation and then she and her family had gone home right after.
However, since it had been almost a week, the week long punishment was over this Saturday night. "Freedom!!" Mel sang as she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Reid looked up at her from the kitchen table. He was the only one currently there. "Tonight is going to be awesome. Wyatt got OneRepublic to come play at P3. It's going to be amazing!" Piper, although realizing her dream of opening her own restaurant, had been unable to sell her bar. So much had happened at P3. She had first opened the bar when Prue was still alive. She had officially chosen Leo over Dan at the bar. She and Phoebe had bonded with Paige and then with Billie there. P3 was an important part of her life and she had found she couldn't stand the thought of selling it. Wyatt then approached her about running it himself and she had gladly given it to him.
"I thought teenagers weren't allowed in," Reid said. "Not that it would really stop me."
"Normally yeah because of alcohol being served there but me, my cousins, and our friends are allowed in so long as we don't drink. Anyway, even if I wanted to drink, I wouldn't be able to because of Wyatt and Chris. They keep way too close of an eye on me when I'm at P3.
"Well that sounds like tons of fun, going to a bar and not drinking," Reid commented sarcastically. He put his spoon down and pushed the bowl of cereal away from him.
"You don't need to be drunk to have fun. Angie will be there."
Reid hadn't been able to see her outside of the house for the whole week they were banned to leave the house. She had come over to hang out with Mel (Piper couldn't exactly stop that) but he hadn't really been able to be alone with her. He was surprised to find himself eager to see her. He, of course, wouldn't let Mel know that; he had his reputation to think of and he just simply didn't fall for girls. He smirked at Mel. "So will any other number of hot girls."
Mel suddenly felt nervous, eager, and a little guilty. Where the hell did these feelings come from? She looked at Reid closely. He stared back at her. "Are you hiding something?" she asked.
"No. What would I be hiding?"
"I don't know. I just got this feeling…"she trailed off. He looked at her in confusion. She shook her head, shrugging off the feelings. "Never mind. Where are the guys?"
"Downstairs, training with your brothers. You can't hear them?"
Walking over to the door that led to the basement, Mel could hear muffled thumps and groans coming from downstairs. "What are they doing?"
"Wyatt and Chris are teaching them how to fight. Kickboxing, karate, whatever works against demons."
Mel frowned. "Then why aren't you down there too?"
"My parents, when they still actually cared, had me take karate lessons when I was a kid. I mostly just use my powers to fight. Though I can't really do that anymore. Still, I know how to fight more ways than just bar fighting." He smirked, thinking of some of the fights he had gotten in at Nicky's, mostly with Aaron Abbott.
"Oh." She opened the door and watched as Wyatt sent Tyler flying across the room, crashing into a wall. Mel winced in sympathy. Pogue laughed at the dazed look in Tyler's eyes as he drank some water. Caleb was too busy sparring with Chris to notice Mel come downstairs, Reid trailing behind her.
Wyatt helped Tyler up. "You can't let yourself be distracted by anything, my sister definitely included. Kill the demon, save your innocent, save yourself."
"You forgot don't expose yourself or magic," Mel said.
"That's a given," Chris said. He stopped throwing punches at Caleb. "Good, all of you. Definitely better than a couple of days ago. But you still won't last long unless you use your powers."
"Which, until we perfect that potion, you shouldn't," Wyatt added.
Tyler checked his head for bumps. "So, what else are we supposed to do?"
"Keep training," Wyatt said.
"I think you need a different method though. They're not going to learn much by you guys wailing on them," Mel pointed out.
"Then what do you suggest, Mel? Hugs and kisses? You're not really any better at fighting then they are," Chris argued. He had issues with people questioning his methods.
"Please." Mel scoffed. "I could kick your ass and make you cry uncle. I've done it before and I'll do it right here, right now."
"Oh, we'll see about that." Mel and Chris dropped into fighting stances that were familiar to their bodies. Wyatt motioned the Sons over to the stairs.
"Trust me; you want to be out of the way for this. They tend to go all over the place when they're fighting each other." Mel and Chris circled each other, neither willing to make the first move. "They're looking for a weakness in each other, something they can take advantage of. Do the same when you're fighting." Wyatt was taking Chris and Mel's fight as an opportunity to teach the Sons more. "You see how they're circling each other so that they're facing each other all the time. Never turn your back on an opponent, if you can help it."
Mel and Chris had completely blocked out the rest of the room. They were entirely focused on each other and on the fight. They had their eyes locked on the others'; watching for any indication that the other was going to make a move. Mel's eyes caught a small movement; her dark-haired brother had slightly shifted his weight to his right leg. She threw her arm up to block his punch then countered with a side jab. He shifted to the side to avoid it and he caught her wrist as she tried to retreat. As Chris yanked Mel toward him, she broke out of his hold by slamming a foot into his instep and then hit his elbow, causing him to let go. She flipped back and they both settled into their original fighting stances.
The Sons and Wyatt watched as Mel made the first move this time. The two opponents threw punches and kicks at each other trying to beat the other down. Tyler, Pogue, and Caleb couldn't really tell what was going on or who would eventually win. Wyatt and Reid could tell though. For all the technical skill Mel had, nature was working against her. Chris was simply stronger and his punches and kicks, even though they were both trying to avoid actually hurting the other, had more force behind them. "Five bucks on Chris winning," Reid bet.
Pogue watched as Mel threw a punch combo followed by a roundhouse kick that had Chris stumbling backwards. "I'll take that bet. Mel is really good."
They watched as Chris got Mel in a hold she couldn't break out of and Pogue groaned. Chris flipped her over her his shoulder onto the ground, her back making a loud smacking noise as it connected with the cement covered by thin rugs. They were both panting and a bit sweaty. "Pay up, loser!" Reid gloated. Pogue handed him a five dollar bill.
Chris stood over Mel. "Who kicked who's ass now?" Mel smirked, breathing heavily, and swung her leg out, kicking Chris's legs out from under him. He landed on his back next to Mel.
"I did," Mel gasped. Pogue held his hand out and Reid grimaced, handing the money back to him. Tyler and Caleb laughed.
Wyatt looked at his watch. "Chris, we gotta set up for tonight. Get up, let's go." Chris regained his feet and pulled Mel up. They started walking up the stairs. At the top Wyatt stopped and turned around. "You guys coming tonight?" Mel nodded. "Come by early and help us set up and I'll introduce you to the band."
"Bribery?" Mel asked.
"If it works. Is that a problem?"
"No."
"Good." Wyatt and Chris walked out.
"Ugh. Now I need a shower. I'm gonna go get ready," Mel said and left the basement.
Given the fact that they are boys and Angie had come over to get ready with Mel, the Sons were ready to go to P3 a lot sooner than either of the girls. They were currently waiting in the conservatory for Mel and Angie to make an appearance. Caleb and Pogue were talking to Sarah and Kate on their cell phones while Tyler and Reid were watching some stupid reality T.V. show.
Reid was really impatient, waiting for the girls. He hated sitting still when he was waiting for something to do. "What the hell is taking so long?" he asked. Tyler shrugged; it's not like he knew why it took so long for girls to get ready.
"What the hell is taking so long, Angie? I've been ready for the past ten minutes and you're not even dressed yet!"
"You can't rush perfection. And I am going for perfection tonight; when Reid sees me, I want his jaw to drop." Angie walked out of Mel's closet, dressed in low slung jeans and a black halter top. "How's this?"
Mel looked up from where she was sprawled on her bed, flipping through a magazine. "Hot. Add silver jewelry like a necklace and hoop earrings and my strappy black sandals and not only will you make Reid's jaw drop, you'll knock him out." Mel grinned.
"Good." Angie sat at Mel's vanity table to do her makeup and scrunch her hair. "Now, what are you wearing?"
"This," Mel said, going back to her magazine.
"You're so boring. Don't you want Tyler to notice you?"
"I think he already has. We have kissed before. You've made out with Reid, why are you still trying to impress him?"
"I'm not trying to impress him. I just want him to notice me." Although she wouldn't tell Mel, Angie did actually want to impress Reid. She wanted a guy who would want to be with her forever and a relationship that neither she nor the guy deliberately messed up. And, she felt that if she impressed Reid enough, he might be that guy, or at least a boyfriend who lasts longer than a couple of weeks.
Mel frowned. She inexplicably felt a longing deep within. The best way to describe it was that she deeply desired for someone, not family, to love her for her, exactly as she was. That wasn't quite right, but it was the best way to describe what she was feeling. She studied her best friend. "Are you not telling me something?"
Angie hesitated. "No, why do you ask?"
"I don't know. It's just…earlier today I felt these feelings that had nothing to do with my mood. I think they came from Reid, but he didn't own up to them, of course. And the same thing just happened with you. I felt this deep longing but it didn't seem to belong to me. Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?"
Angie shrugged her shoulders. "There's nothing to talk about, so let's drop the subject, okay?"
Mel held up her hands in a defensive manner. "Okay, subject dropped."
"Thanks. Anyway, I think you should wear that adorable black dress hidden in the back of your closet. It'll give Tyler a heart attack when he sees you in it."
"I'm fine in a T-shirt and jeans like I've got on right now. A black cocktail type dress in not something I would wear to a bar, even if I wanted to dress up more. Besides, what happens if demons show up and I need to fight?"
"Fine, don't give your boy a heart attack. And if demons show up, you'll freeze them, I TK them across the room, and then Wyatt or Chris will kill them because that's too messy for me to do." Angela stood up from the chair she was sitting on and grabbed the shoes Mel had talked about. Slipping them on, she said, "I'm ready."
Mel rolled her eyes. "Finally," she joked. "I through we were never going to leave my room during this century."
Angie smacked Melinda with her purse. Mel rolled her eyes again at her best friend and they walked downstairs. The boys heard them coming down and stood up, Pogue and Caleb hanging up their phones. "It's about time," Reid said, trailing off when he caught sight of Angie. "Well, well, well."
"Thanks. I'd say the same about you but you look the exact same," Angela said, looking the Sons up and down. This was in fact true. They were wearing the same type of clothes they usually wore: jeans, shirt or wife beater, some type of jacket, and tennis shoes. Reid also had on his usual fingerless gloves and his black hat.
Reid smirked and offered his arm to Angela and she took it. "We would have been down sooner, but someone," she said, nodding at Mel, "couldn't decide on what to wear." Before Mel could smack her, Angela pulled the blonde Son out the front door and Caleb and Pogue followed, laughing.
Tyler looked at Mel. "You look nice, even if you did take an incredibly long time." Mel scoffed at him.
"Can't rush perfection," she said, quoting Angela from earlier. Tyler laughed and grabbed Mel's hand, walking with her to the door. "Bye, Mom," Mel yelled out.
"We'll see you at the club later!" Piper yelled back. Mel and Tyler went outside and they slid into her car, Caleb and Pogue already in the back seat. Reid and Angela were going to follow Mel in Angela's car.
The music rang throughout the bar. OneRepublic was currently playing "Apologize," one of Mel's favorite songs. Wyatt and Chris were so busy making drinks and serving people that they couldn't really enjoy the band. The other bartenders were just as busy; cleaning off tables, removing glasses, wiping up spills, and restocking the pretzel bowls.
In one of the very short lulls that occasionally occurred, Chris grabbed Wyatt and gestured toward one of the tables. Mel was sitting at a corner table with the youngest Son, talking, laughing, and, if Chris wasn't mistaken, holding hands. Mel and Tyler were currently sitting alone as Reid and Angela were dancing together and two of Mel's cousins had grabbed Caleb and Pogue and the four were dancing and goofing off in a group. The two oldest Halliwell children looked at each other. Both were thinking the same thing, which was they were going to talk to Tyler as soon as possible.
Piper walked behind them toward the cash register. "What are you looking at?" She got onto her tiptoes and peered over her sons' shoulders. Following their stares, she noticed her daughter and Tyler sitting together, having a good time.
"A potential problem," Chris said.
Piper sighed. She and Leo liked that Mel was interested in Tyler; he seemed like a very nice boy and Piper liked him. "Peanut, she's happy. Don't screw this up, either of you!"
Wyatt turned his head to look at his mom. "We're not going to mess it up…per se. We're just going to make sure he doesn't mess it up."
"Yeah, Mom. Who do think we are? Over protective brothers who just want to make sure their baby sister is happy and the guy she likes is worthy of her? Like we would act like that."
Piper glared at Chris. "You know, Wyatt is never sarcastic like you which is why he wasn't in as much trouble as you growing up."
Chris shot back, "It's not being sarcastic. It's just saying the truth is a dry, mocking manner. You told me that before." He made a face back at his mom.
Piper threw an arm around each of their shoulders. Since she was a lot shorter than them, she had to get on her toes and they bent down a little bit so she could kiss each of their cheeks. "Regardless, let Mel be. Watch out for her, yes, but don't ruin this for her. Phoebe and Coop think that there is potential between them."
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. If a Cupid and his hopelessly romantic aunt who was like a Cupid without having Cupid-like powers thought that there was definitely a need to talk to Tyler. "Chris, Mel needs a refill on her Coke. And while you're over there, let Tyler know we want to talk to him."
"Oh, that's subtle, Wyatt," Piper said.
"Don't really care about subtlety. Tell him to meet us in the back office in…" Wyatt looked around the bar and did a quick estimation. "About 10 minutes."
Chris filled a glass with ice and Coke and took it over to Mel's table. While he, Wyatt, and Piper were talking, the other Sons and Angie had sat down and joined Tyler and Mel's conversation. "Here's another drink, TInk. So, what's going on?"
Melinda took the drink from him and set it down next to the full glass she already had. She raised an eyebrow as Chris grabbed a nearby chair and sat down with them. Looking over at Angela, Mel grimaced. She had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen. "Not much, Chris. What's up with you?"
"Not much," he echoed. "Just wanted to talk to my baby sister and her…friends." He grinned at the group, mainly at Tyler. The Son in question shifted a little uncomfortably. He thought he might know what was going to happen too.
"Chris," Mel said warningly. She glared at her older brother. "You and Watt better not be planning what I think you're planning. Do not, I repeat, do not do anything or I will pay you back!"
He shook his head. "We're not planning anything." Chris stood up. "Can I get anybody anything else?"
"New brothers?" Mel questioned.
"Funny. Anything to drink?" The group placed their orders. "Tyler, why don't you help us get the drinks. Supplies are by the back office. Say, in five minutes." Chris left.
"Your brothers definitely get an F for being subtle, Mel," Angela laughed.
Mel groaned. "I know, they're horrible. Like it's not completely obvious that they're going to threaten Tyler." She gave Tyler's hand a comforting squeeze. "It'll be alright. The last boy I liked was only in the hospital for a couple of days and was in therapy only for a couple of months or so," she joked. She paused in thought. "Of course, there's no saying what they would do to my boyfriend. She frowned.
Tyler's face paled slightly and Caleb laughed. "Don't tell me you're afraid of Wyatt and Chris, Baby Boy."
"I'm not scared!" His brothers looked at him a little skeptically. Out of all of them Tyler was the one who had often needed the most protection from bullies while growing up. "I'm not! It's just that they are a bit intimidating and I am dating their little sister and well, I happen to like all of my limbs in their current positions. I guess I'd better go get this over with." He stood up and took a deep breath. "If I don't make it, feel free to date someone else," he said jokingly.
"You'll be fine," Mel said. "But just in case, something to remember me by." She stood up and gave Tyler a kiss. "Now, go face the lions." Tyler shook his head at her and left. Sitting back down, Mel looked at her friends and said "What?"
"Since when are you two actually dating?" Pogue asked.
"Since he asked me while you guys were dancing and I said yes. Oh, there's my Aunt Phoebe. I wanted to ask her about something. I'll go talk to her, rescue Tyler, and then be back." Mel left. Caleb and Pogue went to go talk to some people they had met and Angie and Reid went outside to get some air.
Tyler knocked on the door leading to the office. Immediately after, he thought to himself: the guys are right; I really need to grow a pair sometimes. They're the ones disturbing me and probably going to attempt to tear me limb to limb like they threatened when we first met them. So why should I show them any type of respect?Surprising himself a little bit Tyler shoved the door open and walked into the room. He stopped suddenly. Chris and Wyatt were by the small desk in the room, Chris sitting on it, Wyatt in the chair, facing him with amused looks on their faces. "Did you actually want something or did you just want me to get away from your sister?" Tyler asked belligerently.
"A little bit of both," Wyatt said. "I seem to remember when we first met giving you and your friends a warning. I said that if any of you date Mel, we will make that boy regret it."
"Actually, what you said was that if any of us hurt Mel, you would tear us apart. I don't intend on hurting Mel and I really hope I don't. Shit happens though. If something does happen between us, I would think you had enough respect for your sister to know that she could handle herself. Or know that if she didn't want to date me she wouldn't."
"So you two are actually dating?"
"Yeah, I asked her out a few moment before Chris came over to demand I come back here."
"It wasn't actually a demand," Chris said. "Just a really strong suggestion."
"Uh huh. Look, I don't have a little sister. But I can imagine how I would feel when she started dating. I'd want to make sure the guy was worthy enough for her and I don't think I'd ever really feel any guy was. I would like to think, though, that if my hypothetical sister did find someone that made her happy, I would be happy for her and I'm sure you feel the same about Melinda."
"We do want her to be happy which is why we aren't currently tearing you apart. And, believe it or not, we do like you. Mel finally picked herself a guy that is actually at least halfway worthy of her."
"Of course," Chris interrupted his older brother. "If you do hurt her, we will pay you back. Brotherly rights, after all. But we're not going to try and scare you off. If you can handle our family and all the demons that come with us, it's okay with us that you date Mel."
Tyler stared at them. "Just to make sure I have this right; you're okay with me dating your sister?"
"Yeah, as much as we'll ever be," Chris responded. Wyatt nodded in agreement.
"Well, good. Then I'm going to leave," he said motioning toward the door.
"No, don't go yet. We're okay with you dating Mel but we want to get to know you better. Sit, let's talk," Wyatt pulled moved over another chair for Tyler to sit on and the latter sat a bit reluctantly. "You know if you really wanna impress Mel, her birthday's coming up soon and she's been looking at a certain necklace."
While the boys were talking to each other, Mel had worked her way over to where her Aunt Phoebe was sitting with her husband, Coop. Phoebe smiled at her niece. "Hi, sweetie. Where's Tyler?"
"Yeah, where is the love of your life?" Coop asked teasingly.
"Uncle Coop!" Mel admonished. "Wyatt and Chris wanted to talk to him in the back office. I'm gonna go rescue him in a bit. I actually wanted to ask you about something, Aunt Phoebe," Mel said.
"Do you want me to leave?" Coop asked.
"No, that's okay. Umm, when you first received your empathy power, how did it act?"
"What do you mean, Mel?"
"Well, did you suddenly feel everyone's feelings or was it in like little bursts?"
"Little bursts, I guess. I could read people at the beginning when they were feeling a particularly strong emotion like lust or anger. As I gained control through, I could read someone when I chose to. Although, occasionally a strong emotion will still break through. Why do you ask?"
"Twice today I felt like I might be feeling someone else's emotions. First was with Reid. We were talking in the kitchen about Angie. And I felt like nervous and eager to see her. But that doesn't make sense because I can see her all the time; she's my best friend. Then he said something stupid about there being other hot girls here and I sort of felt guilty. But none of those feelings really belonged to me, if that makes sense. Then, it happened again, with Angela this time. We were talking about Reid and I was wondering why she felt the need to impress him. She asked me to drop the subject and I did but while we were talking about it, I felt this deep longing is the best way I can describe it. And again, it didn't really seem to come from me."
"Well, I suppose you becoming an empath isn't that far out of the question."
"But aren't powers usually hereditary?"
"For the most part," Coop said, "but not always. Your brothers are telekinetic but Piper isn't. Paige can orb but Henry Jr. can't. And Patience received my Cupid powers but not any of Phoebe's while Payton is the exact opposite."
"Okay, okay. I get it. Powers aren't always passed on. Is there anything I can do to stop from feeling what other people are? I mean, I don't want to be hanging out with Tyler and suddenly start feeling what he is for me myself. Talk about narcissism. And confusing."
Phoebe laughed. "Tell me about it. When I was dating Jason, I still wasn't completely used to my new power. I started to feel what he felt and then I told him I loved him too. I basically told him he loved me before he told me! Definitely caused some problems with us. Like with your other powers, control will come with time and practice. I sometimes found that if it got too overwhelming though, I could both focus solely on myself and list everything I was feeling to block other people out or meditate. Basic meditation, just wipe your mind of anything that's troubling you and your thoughts and just relax."
"Okay, I'll try it." Mel looked at her cell phone. "Tyler's been back there for about fifteen minutes. That's more than enough time for them to threaten him. I'm gonna get rescue him."
"Alright, bye sweetie." Phoebe turned back to Coop and they continued talking and flirting. Mel smiled as she left. She loved that her mom and dad and her aunts and uncles still would act like newlyweds every once in awhile.
While Mel was talking to Phoebe and Coop and Tyler with Wyatt and Chris, Angela and Reid had gone outside to the back alley. Reid leaned against the club wall and Angela stood in front of him. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. She pulled her hair out of her face and leaned in even closer, bracing her hands on his upper arms. He bent his head and Angela kissed him. Their kissing got heavier, both of them holding each other as close as they could. Breathing quickly, Angela ended the makeout session and looked at Red a bit uncertainly.
Reid frowned slightly. This really didn't seem like the Angela he thought he knew. She struck him as a girl who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to go after it. She seemed like a really strong person. "What? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Reid raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Really. Or at least, nothing that's that important."
"But?"
Angela frowned slightly and stepped back, Reid's hands falling back to his sides. "I know what people say about me, even Mel has said it. Of course she was telling me what the other kids were saying and that she did kind of agree with them."
Reid interrupted what he was sure could turn into a long ramble. "What do they say about you?"
"That I'm flaky. I jump from guy to guy and I purposely date bad boys who will just cheat on me. Yeah, I do date a lot and none of the relationships I've had lasted long. And so what if I have a preference? Other people do. But all of the guys I've dated I've known for awhile so it's not like I'm just sleeping with any guy I meet on the street."
Reid interrupted again. "Look, maybe you've dated a lot but I don't think anyone would even imply that you're a slut or something. If you ask anyone at Spenser, I'm a man whore or a player or however you want to term it. My reputation says that I've slept with every girl at Spenser including a lot of the female teachers, not to mention the supposed fact that I've slept with over half the girls that live in Ipswich. That's not true but I'm not going to hide the fact that I don't think you always need a deep meaningful relationship with someone to have sex. Sometimes you just want to have some fun."
"Or connect with someone for a little bit," Angie interrupted.
"Sure, but I usually just go for the fun part of it, not the connection. But that doesn't matter because I don't care what people think of me and I like my image. "The Bad Boy of Spenser," Reid said, making quotations marks with his fingers while saying it. He fell for silent for a bit and he and Angela looked at each other. To both of them it felt like there was electricity and understanding arcing between them. Reid spoke up again. "I haven't done this before so I'm not really sure how to do it or even what I'm really feeling. But whatever is between us? It's different from anything I've felt with another girl."
"It's different for me too. I'm not entirely sure what that means. But we both agree that there's something here, whatever it is?"
"Yeah. So we're good?" Reid asked.
"Yeah."
"Good." With that settled, Reid pulled Angela back in for another kiss. When they broke apart, Reid and Angela walked back into the club, their hands entwined.
It was closing time for P3. OneRepublic had had a successful night and all of the customers had left happy. Paige, Henry, Coop, and Phoebe had left early since it was so late and some of their younger teenagers were getting tired. Their littlest ones had been left with a babysitter. Billie and her husband had left too, saying goodbye to Angela who was spending the night at the Manor with Mel on their way out. They were used to their daughter staying there or Mel staying at Angie's house. Piper sometimes called Angie her second daughter because Angie was over so often and it was the same for Mel and Billie. Everyone else that was left was helping Wyatt and Chris clean up since Mel's older brothers had sent the rest of the staff home for the night.
Piper and Leo were watching their kids, Angie, and the Sons clean up. They had claimed adult privileges and said that they were they in a strictly supervisory position. They were amusing themselves with calling out cleaning tips and counting the number of times Tyler and Mel looked at each other and blushed or the number of times Angie and Reid looked at each other and smirked.
When they finished cleaning, Mel left to go get an envelope out of the back office for the cash register. Walking into the room Mel saw a figure flipping through the papers on Wyatt's desk. The figure was tall and cloaked and the cloak had a hood covering his face. Never a good sign, a strange hooded figure that you don't recognize, she thought to herself. "Who are you?" The figure turned around and Mel's eyes widened. "Uh, never mind. Forget I said anything," she said when she noticed the tribal markings on his face and the energy ball in his hand. She backed out of the room quickly and slammed the door on him and turned around. "Uh oh." Standing in the hallway were many more demons.
Everyone looked up in surprise when Mel fell out of the hallway and landed heavily on the floor. "Mel!" many of them claimed in unison. Tyler and Wyatt moved at the same time to help her out.
"Demons," she gasped. "Ten of them, maybe? Couldn't tell." She stood up and the demons came spilling out of the hallway, throwing energy balls. Reacting quickly, Piper blew up two of them while pushing Leo out of the way and Wyatt and Chris threw some of them across the room using their telekinesis. Mel and Tyler crouched behind the bar, Caleb, Pogue, Reid, and Angie a little farther down.
"You okay?" Tyler asked Mel. He had noticed that she was rubbing her leg.
"I kicked a demon wrong and I think I twisted my ankle," she said wincing a little. "I'll get Wyatt to heal it if it needs to be once we finish this." Mel looked over the top of the bar cautiously and froze two demons that were advancing on her father, giving Piper the time to blow them up.
What none of them realized was that these demons were an attack ordered by Chase. He was finally making a definite move because the demons' mission was to take out as many of the Halliwell witches as possible and to capture any of the Sons they could. Chase was still after their Powers. More demons shimmered in, too many to count.
Piper yelled to Leo, "Get the kids out!" Leo, dodging energy balls, made his way over to Caleb's small group. Unnoticed by the demons, Caleb, Pogue, Reid, and Angie followed him out a side door to safety. Tyler and Mel moved to follow them when a demon appeared behind them. They didn't notice him.
"The future Source will at least reward me for getting one witch and bringing him the youngest Son," he whispered to himself. The demon created a fire ball and aimed for them.
The short hairs on the back of Mel's raised and she whipped around to face the demon, Tyler following her movement. Her ankle giving out and a nearby explosion blinding her caused Mel to miss freezing the demon and he threw the fire ball at them. Unthinking, Tyler grabbed hold of Mel and Used, wishing to be anywhere but there. They vanished a split second before the fire ball hit where they had been.
Piper, Wyatt, and Chris quickly took out the rest of the demons and Piper called her husband and Caleb, his friends, and Angie back in. "Everyone okay?" she asked. Her eyes scanned the small crowd by the exit. "Leo, where's Mel?"
Reid looked around. "And Tyler?"
Piper started to panic a little bit. "Leo! What if, where did," she gasped. "Mel?" Leo rushed over to his wife, Wyatt and Chris crowding around them.
"She'll be okay, Piper. She's smart and powerful and she can figure out how to let us know where she is."
Piper tried to calm down. "Wyatt, can you sense either of them?"
Wyatt shook his head. "It could be just that they haven't landed yet. Or maybe they're in the Underworld or I'm just too worried right now to get a good reading."
"Or they're dead."
"Piper, you can't think like that. We won't give up until we find both Mel and Tyler," Leo said looking over at Caleb, Pogue, and Reid who had strained and worried expressions on their faces. "And they will be fine. You have to believe that."
P3's phone rang and Piper rushed over. "Mel?" she asked. She closed her eyes. "Phoebe. No, we're okay. Yeah, there were demons but we took care of it. But…Mel and Tyler disappeared. Can you get everyone over to the Manor so we can find them?" She listened for a bit. "Okay, thanks sweetie. And hurry." Piper hung up the phone and turned back to face everyone. "We're meeting at the Manor to find them." Now that they had somewhat of a plan Piper was in control of her emotions and was determined to get her daughter and Tyler back, safe and sound.
Tyler and Mel fell out of the air and hit a stone floor hard. Both groaning, Tyler rolled off of Mel onto his back and they both tried to catch their breath. "Tyler, what did you do?" Mel asked.
Tyler shook his head tiredly, his hair falling into his eyes. "I don't know. I saw the fire ball and saw that you couldn't do anything and I panicked and grabbed you and Used without thinking. The whole time all I was thinking was I wanted to be somewhere safe with you. I guess my Powers directed themselves and put us here." He and Mel sat up and Tyler looked around. "Speaking of here, where are we?"
Mel hadn't been paying attention and had been examining her ankle. She looked up when Tyler expressed his question and looked around. She struggled to get up and scowled when she had to grab Tyler who had also stood up to keep from falling over as her ankle refused to hold her weight right then. He had one arm around her waist and she had a hand supporting herself on his shoulder while she looked around. "This isn't good."
"Where are we?" he asked again.
"I think we're in the Underworld. Which really sucks because Wyatt and Chris can't sense anyone down here unless they're down here. Which means we don't have a way to get back up there unless they think to come down here or I make up a spell that somehow lets us contact them."
"Which means we're pretty much screwed?"
"Yep," Mel stated. She dropped her head onto to Tyler's shoulder and he hugged her a little closer, both of them more worried than they cared to admit.