Disclaimer: I can't begin to explain how much I want Charmed. Mainly because my therapist says it isn't good to dwell.

Ch. 10:

"Darryl." Paige said, talking into the phone. "Speak up."

"I know I never asked before, but I'm asking now." Darryl said. "I need help on this one. Magical help."

"All right." Paige said. "What's going on?"

"This stupid kid, I-I mean, he's got hostages." Darryl told her. "Only I know him-he wouldn't hurt anybody-but I'm running out of time to talk him down. SWAT's ready to move in. I don't want to lose him, Paige."

"Alright." Paige said, her voice gaining enthusiasm. "Alright! I'm coming. Okay. Hold your horses."

Paige hung up and grabbed the car keys before heading back into the house.

Piper and Phoebe knelt next to the playpen, trying to distract Wyatt from his new friend.

"Where's Wyatt?" Piper said, covering her eyes. "Where is he? Look, look, wait. Listen. Where's Wyatt?" She removed her hands and looked at him. "There he is! Look! Look!" She covered her eyes again. "Where's Wyatt? Where's Wyatt?" She moved her hands again. "There he is!"

Wyatt ignored her.

"Alright." Piper said, giving up.

"I don't think distracting him is the answer." Chris said.

"Oh, and vanquishing his friend is." Meredith said sarcastically.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side in all this." Chris said.

"I will be on your side." Meredith told him. "When your plans don't involve vanquishing babies!"

Chris threw up his hands and turned away.

"Wyatt, bad demon." Piper told her son. "Very bad demon."

Paige walked back in to join them.

"Hey, was that Jason?" Phoebe asked.

"No." Paige replied. "That was my raison d'être."

"Pardon?" Phoebe asked.

"That was Darryl." Paige told them. "I've been wondering why the temp agency hasn't called, and now I know why. I needed to be free to help him."

"To do what?" Piper asked.

"Well, to save an innocent." Paige replied. "Why else would he have called? And, more importantly, why else would I have been the one to answer the phone?"

"'Cause you were closest to it?" Phoebe suggested.

"No." Paige replied. "Because it's my reason for being. Call me if you need help."

She turned and left, and Chris stared after her.

"What?" he demanded. "You're just gonna let her go?"

"You're welcome to try and stop her." Piper told him.

"I should go talk to Jason." Phoebe said, standing up.

"And her, too." Piper added.

"Wait." Chris said. "Stop. Where are you going? Are you slightly concerned that there's a demon in the house?"

"Chris, this is a baby, okay?" Phoebe told him. "Relax." She turned back to Piper. "You call if you need anything."

"Love you, too." Piper told her.

"Don't." Phoebe said, shuddering.

"Sorry." Piper replied, grinning.

"And you're okay with this?" Chris asked her as Phoebe left. "Them, dumping this on your lap?"

"Well, they don't seem too worried." Piper replied.

Chris looked down at the playpen.

"Well, they should be." Chris said. "I need to figure out what kind of creature we're dealing with here."

He left the room and Meredith sighed.

"Has he always been like this?" Piper asked.

"No." Meredith replied. "The last seven years have made him hard. I was just hoping it wasn't permanent."

"And now you think it is?" Piper asked.

"I don't know." Meredith said. "I really hope not. The Chris I knew was kind and gentle. He was funny and sarcastic, and he never would've even thought of harming a baby, no matter what it might grow up to be."

"What happened?" Piper asked.

"He lost a war." Meredith replied. "He lost everything."

She sighed again and walked out, following Chris up the stairs.

Piper watched her go before looking back at the playpen.

Phoebe walked into the bullpen and headed for Jason's office.

"Hey, is he in?" she asked as she past his assistant.

"No." the man replied, getting up quickly. "I mean, yes, he is, but he asked not to be disturbed."

"Yeah, but that can't possibly mean me." Phoebe replied, turning back to look at him.

"Actually, it specifically means you, Phoebe." The man told her. "Sorry. You guys have a fight?"

"No." Phoebe replied. "But we're about to."

She threw her bag at him and angrily marched into Jason's office.

"Listen, Jas-oh." She said.

She looked around and saw that Jason was in a meeting with a lot of other people.

"Oh…" Phoebe said. "I'm sorry."

"Phoebe, what are you doing?" Jason demanded.

"I didn't know you were in the middle of a meeting." She told him.

"Yeah." He replied. "That's why the door was closed."

"Really?" Phoebe said, getting back her anger. "Because I was told the door was closed specifically for me."

"Vogliate scusarmi." Jason said, turning back to the other people. "Torno subito."

"I didn't know you spoke Italian." Phoebe said as he got up.

"Outside." He said, pointing.

He quickly moved her outside and away from the door.

"How come I didn't know you speak Italian?" Phoebe asked.

"Is that what you came here to ask?" he asked her.

"No." she replied. "No, of course not. I just wanted to talk about last night."

"Okay, fine, but can we do it later?" he asked. "I'm in the middle of a very important meeting right now."

"Of course." She told him. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that." She sighed. "So how about tonight?"

"Tonight." He said. "Tonight's not good. I'm flying to Rome."

Phoebe laughed with disbelief.

"Wait." She said. "What?"

"I was meaning to tell you." Jason told her. "It just came up."

"Really?" Phoebe demanded. "When? Right after I told you I loved you?"

"Aw, come on!" Jason protested.

"I've heard of guys running when they hear the 'L' word, but running all the way to Italy?" she seethed. "That's gotta be some kind of new record!"

"Would you keep your voice down, please?" Jason asked. "It's got nothing to do with that, and you know it."

"That's a crock." Phoebe told him. "We both know how you really feel about me. The only difference is I'm the only one who's not afraid of it. Ciao!"

She quickly walked away, leaving Jason standing there.

"Chris?" Meredith called as she walked in.

"What?" he asked harshly, not looking up from the book.

"Chris, you can't vanquish a baby." She told him, sighing.

"It's not a baby." He said. "It's a demon."

"So that makes it automatically evil?" she demanded.

"What part of 'demon' are you not understanding?" he asked.

"What part of 'baby' aren't you understanding?" she shot back. "I won't stand by and let another child die!"

"You think I want it to happen?" He yelled at her. "I lost her too!"

They stood there, both breathing heavily.

"I'm not saying it's the best option." He told her softly. "But he's not Jenny. He's a demon, Mer. This is what we're supposed to be doing. Vanquishing threats, protecting Wyatt."

"I won't do it, Chris." Meredith whispered. "And I don't think the sisters will either. I'm sorry, Chris. I can't kill a baby. Not after losing ours."

"It's not human." Chris told her. "It's a demon."

"Am I interrupting?" Piper asked from the door.

Chris and Meredith quickly moved away from each other.

"No." Chris replied. "I found out what he is. Where's Wyatt?"

"Downstairs." Piper replied.

"You left him with the demon?" Chris demanded.

"I've got the monitor." Piper said, holding up the device. "I heard shouting, and I wanted to make sure everything was alright."

"It's fine." Meredith replied.

"Yeah." Chris agreed, running his hand through his hair. "Let's go downstairs and I can tell you what I found."

"Vicious demons with supernatural strength and venomous claws," Chris read from the book as they sat in the conservatory, "Manticores communicate with high-pitched cries and tend to travel in packs." He nodded. "Great. I say we get rid of the little brat before the pack comes looking for him."

"Okay, fine." Piper replied. "What do you suggest we do with him, call social services?"

"No, I suggest you vanquish it." Chris replied.

"Chris, I'm a mother." Piper told him. "I can't go around vanquishing babies, no matter how evil they are."

"Told you so!" Meredith called from where she was kneeling in front of the playpen.

"It's not how evil he is." Chris told them. "It's how evil he's gonna be. You gotta stop looking at him like he's a little baby and start looking at him like he's an unstoppable killing machine, because that's what he is."

"I realize that, but still-" Piper said.

"But still nothing." Chris replied. "You're supposed to protect the innocents, right? Think of all the future innocents you can save by vanquishing him right now."

"Okay, that's it." Meredith said, getting up.

She walked over to Chris and brought him towards the playpen.

"What do you see?" She asked. "Not what do you know, or what is he. What does he look like to you? And for the record, ignore the tongue."

"A demon." Chris replied without hesitation.

"Then you're even more damaged than I thought." Meredith told him. "Cause that is a baby. Except for the tongue thing, if I put him next to other human children, no one would know the difference. So you're telling me, you could look at him and throw the potion that would kill him?"

"Yes." Chris replied, but Meredith could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"Look," Piper said. "I understand what you're saying, and I'm scared to death of what he could possibly do to Wyatt, but I can't even separate them!"

"Piper, there's one thing you can do, and you know it." Chris told her. "And you'd better do it fast before any other Manticores show up. There's no known vanquishing potion."

"I just… can't do it." Piper told him.

"Okay." Chris said. "Well, if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to Leo."

He orbed out and Meredith sighed again.

Piper turned back to the playpen. Inside, Wyatt and the baby were playing their own form of peek-a-boo. When Wyatt covered his eyes, the baby would shimmer away, and when Wyatt uncovered his eyes, the baby would shimmer back.

"Should we be worried about where he's shimmering to?" Meredith asked, watching them with guarded amusement.

"I don't even want to think about it." Piper replied, also watching them with amusement.

Wyatt covered his eyes again, and the baby shimmered. When Wyatt uncovered his eyes, the baby shimmered back with a squeal of delight.

"Probably wise." Meredith said.

"I thought so." Piper agreed.

Wyatt looked at Piper and Meredith and neither woman said anything.

Outside a bank, the police barricade was set up and a van carrying the SWAT team arrived as Paige arrived.

"We're in position, Lieutenant." The SWAT Leader called through a radio to Darryl. "We've got a clean shot."

Darryl glanced at his watch before looking around.

"Darryl!" Paige called. "Darryl! Over here!"

"Stand by." Darryl said into the radio before turning to Paige. "It's okay, let her through. What took you so long?"

"I would have orbed here, but that could have been more magic than you had in mind." Paige told him.

"I'm not sure what you could have done anyway." Darryl said. "He's not letting any of the hostages go, and SWAT's ready to move in."

"Forget that." Paige replied. "I'm not giving up. This is my raison d'être."

"Excuse me?" Darryl asked.

"Listen, I came to help." Paige said. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do, so what do you need?"

"I don't know." Darryl admitted. "If I could just talk to the kid…without getting shot."

"I think I have the perfect spell for this." Paige told him.

"Whoa, whoa." He replied immediately. "Spell? What spell?"

"Just go with me, okay?" Paige told him.

"Blessed with powers from my destiny,
I bless this hero with invincibility."

Paige held her hand up and power leapt from her to Darryl, causing him to stagger back from the impact.

"How do you feel?" Paige asked as he took a deep breath.

"It feels…it feels good." He told her.

"All right." She replied. "Go get him, tough guy."

"Yeah!" Darryl said confidently.

He turned around and walked straight towards the post office.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" the SWAT leader demanded as Darryl took out his gun and badge, handing them to another officer.

"Hold your fire!" another officer ordered.

Darryl walked right up to the door and the boy inside pointed his gun at him.

"Hey, turn around!" the kid yelled. "Get outta here! I swear to god, man, I'll shoot! I'll shoot you, man! I swear to god I'll do it!"

"Put your gun down, son." Darryl called to him. "I just wanna talk."

The kid fired and the glass of the door shattered, but when the bullets hit Darryl, they bounced off like they were nothing. From the side, Paige watched, pleased.

Darryl looked down at the bullets at his feet and laughed. The kid stared at him, his eyes wide.

"That's okay." Darryl called to the officers. "Hold your fire. I'm goin' in."

Satisfied, Paige turned and left.

On top of the highest tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, Leo stood with his arms held out, his face to the sky, and his eyes closed. He didn't even move when Chris orbed in.

"Leo, I have been looking everywhere for you." He told the Elder, looking around. "What are you doing up here?"

"Communing with the others." Leo replied.

Chris looked down at the bridge.

"Can anyone see us?" he asked.

"Not me…" Leo said, smiling to himself. "But you look like a lunatic, standing up here talking to yourself. What do you want?"

"It's about Piper." Chris told him.

"Is she all right?" Leo asked, finally looking at Chris in alarm.

"Yes, she's fine." Chris assured him. "Don't worry. It's Wyatt I'm worried about."

"Why, what happened?" Leo asked, worry in his voice.

"Nothing yet." Chris replied. "Just out of curiosity, what's the Elder's policy on vanquishing demon babies?"

"Why?" Leo asked warily.

"No reason." Chris answered. "There's just one playing with Wyatt in his playpen as we speak."

A/N: So, did Piper hear Meredith refer to Jenny as 'ours'? Or Chris say that he lost her too? Find out next time on: Together Charmed.

I'm still not crazy about that name. Let me know what you think.

Abbey