A Charmed Story - Part Eleven:
Enemy In My Mind
Chapter 4

"Another robbery," Kyle said, dropping a small folder with some papers he had just filled in.
"Another magical one?" Darryl asked raising his eyes from his work. Kyle just nodded. He looked so tired... Actually he had spent half of the night with Paige, then he had returned to his work, early in the morning - after a short two-hours-nap.
"Something new about it??" Darryl asked.
His colleague shook his head, sighing tiredly: "The same as always, I am afraid. Magic ties, and the victim said it was looking like a monster... I talked with the sisters and they did not know anything, but they promised they'd help. He explained. Darryl nodded.
"So meanwhile, we..." Kyle continued, but Darryl frowned and made him stop with a gesture of his hand. Then he stood up and approached the window separating the office from the rest of the station, as Kyle turned to follow him with his eyes.
"...I saw that, he threw a ray with his hand and..."
"Lady, please... We are just asking you to relax and think about what you saw... We cannot base an investigation on this..."
"But I know that man!" she went on.
At that moment Darryl stormed out of his office and told the officers that he wanted to take care of that case. "Go on working, I'll take charge of this... Could fit to my other case..." And saying that, he smiled at the woman and invited her to his office, where Kyle was waiting, following attentively their movements. She seemed to be very nervous. When she entered the office, she sat down and started to talk hastily.
"There was no storm, and I DID see a ray!" she exclaimed when he interrupted her to try and convince her that maybe a storm had caused that... "And I know the man. He's my neighbour, but I always knew they were a weird family. All that noise and lights in their house..."
"Wait... You know the man?? What's his name?" Kyle asked, exchanging a look with Darryl.
"The Halliwells. I think he was that one... Christopher?? The brother of one of them, or cousin, or something like that." Then she turned to Kyle: "Have we met before?"
The young officer shrugged and looked away, hoping that she hadn't seen him, one of the few times he had visited Paige at home.
Darryl meanwhile opened his eyes widely, but tried to keep calm: "We don't say that you're lying or that we don't trust you, but... You need to understand that this matter is very delicate... We cannot go there and say: 'You're under arrest for throwing rays with your hands...' We need to be sure that what you saw is what..."
"Turn on the radio," she said, determined.
Darryl and Kyle frowned, but she insisted peremptorily, so Kyle went to the radio and turned it on. He started to check all the stations until he found one related to the city.
"... And suddenly he started to throw rays with his hands..."
Kyle changed it immediately, scared, and surprised by the victorious look in the woman's eyes.
But as soon as he changed, he heard:
"... According to some witnesses, rays coming from his hands, hit a wall. We don't know if there are any casualties, but if some doubt is left, more than two dozens of people saw this man and the woman who was walking with him disappear magically, in the middle of a light, and..."
"Enough."
Kyle turned off the radio, and looked at Darryl, who was completely taken aback by the news.
"I told you! And I can take you to this man and his family." The woman said, triumphantly.
Darryl sighed. He was more worried than ever before. 'And we didn't want to expose them...' he thought.

°°°°°°°°°°

Michael and Angela sat side by side on the sofa watching TV, but not really paying attention to the program. She had snuggled herself into his arms and just enjoyed that he was there this morning.
He had worked really a lot the last weeks, therefore he had taken a few days off.
"I love you," he whispered to her ear, making her chuckle, when his breath caressed her neck.
But then something made them turn their heads to the TV.
"It was like in a scifi movie... the rays come right out of his hand and hit the wall..." a woman said hysterically.
Michael and Angela looked at each other and then back to the screen.
"He must be a demon or something... Armageddon, that's the Armageddon," a man exclaimed. Then the reporter was seen again: "No one has an explanation for what happened here, but everyone says the same. A man with dark hair and light eyes shot some kind of energy out of his hands in to that wall behind me..." And the camera zoomed to a big hole and then back to the woman. "... and after that he disappeared with a dark haired, tanned woman who seemed to know him well, turning into some blue lights..."
Michael jumped up: "I need to go over to them!"
"Do you mean..." Angela said, "... this was Chris?"
"I don't know," he said while pulling on his shoes, "but whatever is going on out there, they will know it..."
Angela nodded and stood up too: "Alright... I'll drive."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve was in the kitchen, cooking, completely unaware of the fact that Nicki watched him from the door. "I'm sorry," she said suddenly, startling him.
"What? Oh..." he said while he turned around, "I didn't notice that you're awake..." Then he frowned: "Why are you sorry?"
"Because of last night... I..."
Steve sighed and put down the spoon. Then he went over to her and hugged her: "Don't be sorry... you didn't do anything wrong." The couple had spend half of the night talking. It had made them feel relieved, both of them, that finally the things were said and not longer hidden. But still it wasn't a very funny talk.
"I am sorry... I didn't want to ruin the night... I mean..." she said.
He kissed her hair and hold her even closer. "We have thousands of nights, but only if things are fine... So it was good that we talked, honey. We needed it."
She nodded. Then she asked: "Will you really stay now?"
He smiled and then kissed her before he answered: "I will... as long as you want me on your side..."
She smiled and hugged him again, when they suddenly heard a voice from the living room.
"STEVE??? NICKI??? WHERE ARE YOU????" It was Tom's voice.
Nicki turned around and went out of the kitchen. Steve shut down the oven and followed her.
"What's wrong?" he asked when he entered the living room.
Tom and a slightly pale Veronica stood in the middle of the room, close to each other, pointing at the screen of the TV which one of them had turned on before the other two entered.
Nicki and Steve turned to see the local news of San Francisco... and with every second they went paler and paler.
"Alright," Steve said then to his friend while he switched off the tv again, "can you shimmer us to the manor?"
Tom nodded holding out his hand: "That's why I'm here."

°°°°°°°°°°

"WHAT??!!??!!??!!" Piper exclaimed looking at her son who sat there on the sofa like a picture of misery, Bianca next to him holding his hand.
"I can't believe that," Paige said, shaking her head.
"But how...?" Leo asked.
Cole interrupted him: "You've heard him, he had seen a demon."
"But there was no one there," Bianca said.
"Thanks God that you hurt no one," Phoebe remarked.
"But still that changes nothing!" Piper exclaimed turning to her son. "YOU EXPOSED MAGIC! Damned! How could you do that?"
Chris closed his eyes, shaking his head. He couldn't believe all that on his own, and his freaking out family was the last thing he needed at the moment. "I was acting on instincts... the demon wanted to shot Bianca... how should I know that this wasn't real?" he then snapped back angry.
Suddenly Paige's mobile phone rang and she left the room to talk in private.
At the same moment Tom shimmered in with the others. "We've heard in the news about someone..." Nicki started, but then she looked at Chris and saw something weird in his expression, which made her stop. The others saw that too, and it gave them a bad feeling.
"Don't tell us that this was you..." Steve said speaking out what the others thought.
Chris said nothing, just stared back at his friend. But that was enough to make them understand.
"Oh my God..." Veronica muttered and held Tom's hand tightly.
At that moment Paige returned, the expression on her face very serious. "The problem is more huge than we had thought."
"What happened?" Leo asked.
The witch-whitelighter sighed: "That was Kyle on the phone... one of the people who saw you Chris, was Mrs Nobel"
"THAT Mrs Nobel, the annoying bitch who..." Phoebe said. And as Paige nodded she muttered another: "Oh my God..."
Chris leaned back shaking his head. He couldn't believe that all this was happening. He couldn't understand it. What had he done to the world that the fate always put those huge stones in his way?
Bianca caressed his cheek: "Hey honey... we solve this, don't worry..." Chris only nodded weakly.
Just that moment another well known person shimmered in. "Chris I... Wow... what happened here?" Julian asked when he saw all the scared and worried faces.
"What are you doing here Julian?" Cole asked back with a sigh.
The demonic witch frowned but then explained: "Well... Belthazor just freaked out a little, throwing fireballs all around him... and therefore I wanted to see if Chris is fine."
While the others looked at the newcomer confused, because they had no idea about the things that happened in the underworld the other day, Cole rose from his seat: "Is he alright? I mean he didn't hurt himself or something, did he?" he couldn't believe that he had completely forgotten about the huge red demon. And now he was really worried that something could have happened to him.
Julian smiled understanding: "No... he's fine, he just demolished most of our equipment."
Cole sighed relived while Chris mumbled: "That explains why you don't already know."
"Don't know what?" Julian asked, worried on his own.
"Chris exposed magic," Steve said bringing the things to the point, gaining some disapproving looks from the others, but no one said anything.
Julian looked from on to the other not believing his ears, when bluish orbing lights filled the room. "CHRIS... thanks God you're here," Silas said.
The Elder-witch just smirked while Piper grimaced and said: "I was wondering when you would show up..."
Silas looked at her for a second but then turned to Chris again: "Man, you have to hide... The Cleaners are after you..."
"WHAT?" everyone exclaimed.
"They can't do that!" Piper said.
"He's an Elder!" Leo remarked.
"They don't care," Silas explained. "Jeremiah, Odin and Elenia are trying to detain them, but they can't do that for long. You have to go!"
Chris's eyes were terrified now, where should he go. "That's useless... there is no place to hide from them..." he said with fear in his voice.
"There is..." Julian said. "The Cleaners have the same sensing-power like Elders... they can't find you when..."
"... you're in the underworld," Leo ended his sentence. Chris sighed.
"But you can't hide down there... if the demons find you..." Piper remarked with the worry of a mother.
"We'll protect him... I know a place where even the demons won't be able to find him," Julian said. Then he looked at Chris who nodded.
He was about to stand up, when Bianca hold him back, worry written in her face. "Be careful," she said and kissed him.
"I will..." he said, "I love you..." Then he rose and took Julian's hand.
"We'll find a way to clear that mess," Piper said and hugged him.
Chris smiled weakly: "I know." Then Julian shimmered them both away.
All the family looked at the spot where they had stood for a little while without saying a word. Then Phoebe turned to Cole: "I think you have to explain some things to us."
"What?" Cole, Paige and Tom asked at the same time while all the others observed the couple wondering.
"I felt you knew what Julian was talking about... you had been down there yesterday, right?"
Piper and Bianca now looked at Cole with mouth wide open. But before anyone of them could say something, the doorbell rang.

°°°°°°°°°°

As soon as they reappeared in the Underworld, Chris could not help looking around him, anguished. Slowly all the events began to sank into his mind, slowly he understood how much his life would change when they couldn't solve this. Suddenly he felt the friendly touch of Julian on his arm: "It's ok, we'll find out what's going on." Chris swallowed and nodded with a worried expression on his face. "Let's go," the colored witch went on, pulling him towards their cave.
"He doesn't know I am coming..." Chris said, referring to Belthazor.
"Don't worry. He knew I was going to check on you."
Chris nodded again, looking around. He was not afraid of demons, real demons. He was afraid of seeing an imaginary one again. What was happening to him? To both of them??
"Over here." Julian had let go off his arm, so that the young man could just follow him.
"I know the way... Why didn't we just shimmer straight to your cave?" he asked, worried.
"Just because I made a spell there. No magic can be used inside, just to prevent Belthazor from doing any harm in case he'll have another outburst," Julian explained, as he kept walking. "So no orbing in, even if it isn't good to open the door, either... could weaken the spell."
After that was said, the demonic witch could feel that Chris had stopped. He turned back and saw his worried countenance. That boy was so helpless!! Of course, what he had done would have terrible consequences, and not to know what was going on was awful... But seeing Chris that way made him feel so sorry for him! He was just a child... Well, not a child, ok, but a child for him. And that was what he looked like at that moment.
Julian, in spite of his tough character, tried to smile reassuringly: "They are gonna find a way to fix that, Chris. Or we will. I promise." And he stretched his hand inviting him to go on. "Come on..."
Chris sighed and started to walk again, mumbling: "I hope you are right..." He was saying that when they crossed the door to the cave, and all of a sudden he found himself standing in front of the huge red demon that was so familiar to all of them.
"Welcome, Chris..." he said.
Chris smirked. "Hi again. It seems our destinies are more linked than we thought." the young man replied bitterly.
Belthazor said nothing; he just let them in, and closed the door behind him. "What are you doing here?" he asked, more curious than angry. He was wondering if Chris would actually know something about their problem.

°°°°°°°°°°

Michael stormed into the house as soon as Phoebe had opened the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a heavy sigh. She liked them both, but... right now...
"We saw the news," Angela explained.
"Don't tell me it was Chris..." Michael added worried.
Phoebe shrugged: "He was... But I think it's better when you just go home... I guess it will not take long until..."
"NO!" both exclaimed at the same time. And then Angela added: "Where are they?"
"Bianca is in the living room," the empath said. Angela nodded and went over there.
"And Chris?" Michael asked.
Phoebe sighed again as she led him to the living room, too: "Somewhere where the Cleaners will not find him... hopefully."
Michael just nodded as he entered the room. He saw his wife hugging Bianca and went over to them, too. He sat down next to the worried woman and took her hand silently.
Right that moment, the baby-phone went on and they heard a soft cry. "I go and check them," Piper said and rose. She had put the kids to sleep, after they had returned from the rehearsals for the play.
"I'll help you," Cole said and followed her upstairs.
Leo and Silas followed them with their eyes and then looked at each other again. They didn't know what to do. No one could fight the Cleaners... Ok, Piper did, but now they would be more careful, they surly would be prepared for a new confrontation.
"What exactly are the Cleaners?" Angela asked then.
Silas sighed: "They are those who protect magic. They can alter the time if necessary. They do all that is necessary to keep the secret."
"Even if that means to erase someone's existence," Veronica added.
"They once took Wyatt and made us forget him... just because he played with his powers..." Leo hissed. He still felt a kind of anger when he thought about that.
"But you got Wyatt back," Michael said.
Paige nodded: "Yeah, but I think this time it won't be that easy." All the other magical beings in the room nodded in agreement.
Short after that Piper and Cole returned with the kids. When Wyatt saw the newcomers he ran over to them, yelling: "MICKEY! ANNY!" And he jumped to Michael's lap and asked: "You wanna play with me?"
"Yeah, of course man," Michael said and Wyatt pulled him out of the room to the sun room where his cars still lay on the ground.

°°°°°°°°°°

Darryl and Kyle were still hearing witnesses... There came more and more every minute as it seemed. And both were sure that they couldn't keep things at hold any longer. They had to go to the Halliwells, there was no way to avoid it. Mrs Nobel had been too clear in her descriptions. They had to arrest Chris at the end of the day.
"We can't do that," Kyle said after another witness had left the office.
Darryl nodded: "But we have to... there is no way to stop this anymore..."
"There must be one," Kyle replied stubbornly. "We just can't let that happen... we can't put him into jail!"
"And what is it, that you want to do?" Darryl asked. He felt like his friend, but he had no idea how to prevent the things from happening.
"I don't know... maybe... Yeah what if we tell them that it wasn't him but that demonic thief who's walking around, there..."
"And then Mrs Nobel identifies him and they will accuse him also for that... if they aren't already doing it..." Darryl said shaking his head. Then he added: "Look... until now he has done nothing more then destroying a little bit of private property, he hasn't hurt anyone... So maybe it won't be that bad..."
"Not that bad?" Kyle exclaimed, still trying to keep his voice low. "He exposed magic... To THEM he is a freak! What do you think they will do to him?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Michael and Wyatt were playing with the boy's cars. It wasn't what the man wanted to do, but at least he did help by taking care of Wyatt so that the others could concentrate on helping Chris.
"You're worried?" Wyatt asked then, noticing the expression of his friend.
Michael smiled: "A little..." He didn't want to worry the boy. He knew he would if he would know. Even if Wyatt was only three, he and Chris were too close.
"Chris's worried too," the boy suddenly said.
Michael looked at him frowning: "You can still feel him?" Wyatt nodded energetically.
The man sighed. If the Cleaners would find out about that... No, they couldn't use him to find Chris, could they. "Ok, Wyatt, listen... You have to do me and also Chris a favour, ok? Don't tell anyone that you can feel him, alright?" The boy nodded.
Then they heard a noise from the living room... Like something was blown up.
Michael took Wyatt by his hand and went, carefully not to be seen, to the door to look into the other room.
There were two men, dressed completely in white. They looked at the sisters, who's looks were very angry.
"Leave my house!" Piper yelled and again tried to blow them up. But all that was broken was a vase in the background.
"We want Chris..." one of the man said.
Michael turned around a little more to see where his wife was. Then he noticed that she stood behind Silas, trying to hide. He sighed, relived, knowing that the Elder would protect her.
At the same time Wyatt took a look into the living room, too. When he saw the Cleaners his eyes grew wide with fear. He had to go away from them. 'They are evil,' he thought. He grabbed Michael's hand, holding it tightly, and orbed with the man away.

(Chapter 4 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)