Saturday

Meditating in the Park: early Saturday morning.

Like the previous day, it is quiet but other than that, nothing much else is the same.

A thick white mist, coming off the sea, brings with it a cold and damp breeze, that smothers sound and restricts vision to only a few meters. Which is exactly what the young woman currently sitting cross legged on the top of a very large rock is looking for.

Paige Matthews, witch, whitelighter, social worker and stressed out sister is currently enjoying some time to herself. Trying hard to relax and meditate, to regain her equilibrium and reduce her blood pressure, she has chosen this place to achieve it.

Her preferred place is normally on top of the Golden Gate bridge, however todays breeze and the mist it brings with it, makes it far too cold and damp. Besides that it was one of her favorite spots was becoming far too well known. She keep running into other Whitelighters and Elders, all who seemed to want to talk with and check out LA's first Charmed Witch / Whitelighter. And as Prue had pointed out, if the good guys knew she liked that spot, how long before the bad guys found out.

However the meditation is not working. Not too far away, is a certain hillside where less than twelve months before, a demon called the Source of all Evil had tried so very hard to kill her. Only the arrival of her three newly discovered sisters, powerful witches like her, had saved her life. Even so, it had been a close call as a mass attack by nearly all of the cities most powerful demons had almost overwhelmed them all, before both sides had discovered for the first time, just how powerful all four sisters working together could be.

Equally disturbing, in particular to Paige, was the small monument to the two police officers, whose arrival had distracted the Source for long enough to give her three sisters time to find her. That it had cost the two officers their lives, still haunted Paige and she regularly laid flowers at its base. Often she wished that their heroics could be made public, so that their families could find closure and a reason for what had happened.

Still trying hard to empty her mind and relax, Paige's mind drifted from topic to topic.

The most common topic for her to consider, has also caused the greatest change in her life. For the first 23 years of her life, she had been an only child, now she was the youngest of four sisters. While she enjoyed company and was in no way a loner, her new family was the cause of the greatest stress in her life. And to make things worse, it was the source of her greatest pleasure.

She now had three sisters, sisters with who she had developed a fierce bond, driven by destiny and forged in blood, magic and battle, a bond that still burned within her. Not as fiercely as when her powers had been awakened but now it had sunk into her bones, her heart and her soul, least that was the only way she could describe it. For now and forever, she was part of the Halliwell family, a family that stretched back over 300 years of witch craft and mostly good witches.

And in addition one sister was married and another almost, which meant she was now living with five other adults, sharing two bathrooms, and all the other facilities that any large Victorian house tended to not have enough of. And of course, neither Paige or her unattached sister Prue lacked for company. The previous Saturday morning had been both embarrassing and funny as each sister had woken up with male company. Introductions around a far to small breakfast table, to say nothing of the lines outside the bathrooms had put a rather amusing damper on what had been a very successful Friday night's date and its aftermath for both her and Prue.

And changes could still happen here. One vibe that was coming through loud and clear from Prue's long term boyfriend Matt, was that he wanted to make their relationship more permanent. It didn't take her sensing power to work that out, as both Phoebe and Piper were also wondering when he was going to pop the question. Even Leo and Cole had recently queried their respective partners about it. The last to work out what was going on was of course Prue, who was becoming a nervous wreck as she tried to work out how to tell Matt about her being a witch and if he did pop the question, what would she say.

Given the mayhem that had surrounded Piper's wedding, none of it demonic as Prue's suppressed astral self had rebelled, almost ruining it for Piper. As Phoebe had muttered to Paige, this time it might be Pipers turn for revenge.

Her magical life had also taken some getting use too. Despite Prue's assurance that magic and demons would not be a constant part of her life, it seemed that it had. Since she had become a witch, she had become Evil along with all of her sisters, something she had only admitted to herself that she had rather enjoyed, although she had no intention of doing it again.

She had been attacked by demonic children, warlocks, tag teamed demon wrestlers with her sisters and survived various other demonic attacks. A particularly dangerous demon called Shax had almost killed both Prue and Piper before she and Phoebe had driven him off. At least he had made the mistake of waiting before returning, which gave Leo and Paige time to heal both sisters. As a result the four of them had made short work of him when he did return. Still it had been a close call as without Leo's ability to channel Paige's still dormant healing power, neither Prue or Piper may have been healed in time to help vanquish Shax.

That being hit by a sin ball which had infected her with envy was still hard to live with, even if her sisters and Leo had also had to deal with sins of their own. A banshee infecting Phoebe who had then turned into one herself, had made her start to wonder when it was going to be her turn to change into something else. Although watching Prue charge around as a dog, did have its funny moments, even now. Prue was still sensitive about the subject of fleas and it had taken Kit several weeks before she decided to trust Prue enough to sit on her lap.

Swapping bodies with Phoebe, having to invade Piper's mind along with Phoebe and Prue to save her from the Source, being shrunk and almost turned into a small statue by one demon, discovering her past life as an evil enchantress and time travelling back to rescue her sisters from the same enchantress, had shown that she could hold her own.

And just recently, she had gone back in time to see if the fiery car accident her parents had died in, had been her fault. At least she now had closure about that incident, it hadn't been her fault and meeting her parents ghosts, thanks to Leo, had allowed them to say how proud they were of her and she of them.

Meeting ghosts, muses and other witches amongst others had filled in her time nicely. She now understood why the Charmed ones tended to avoid too much contact with other witches. They had been unable to save several from demonic attacks and even bringing a witch back to the protection of the Manor, had not saved her.

One thing she wasn't going to meditate on, as that it was one mistake she would never make again, was using spells to punish mortals. She still remembered the back pain from when a backfired spell had as Piper, usually with a big grin on her face sometimes still reminded her, so busted her.

And the big one was the return of Cole. Like Prue and Piper, she had been very disappointed that Phoebe had lied to her, but her sister's obvious love for Cole and his determination to be good, now meant he was part of the family. This was causing increased tension in the Manor as Prue still found it difficult to trust Cole, even if he was now without his powers. And Paige sometimes found it difficult to reconcile what she felt from Cole, compared to what he was saying.

Then there was the magic, the source of all the good and bad in her life. While hers was developing and growing, she still found it difficult when she compared her abilities to that of her sisters. Prue's powers had grown rapidly since the battle in the Park as her telekinesis had expanded both in power, range and control. Lately her astral self had begun to learn how to use her power, something that Prue now practiced at every opportunity.

Piper's new explosive power had saved the day several times, although it had taken some time to separate the freezing and explosive aspects. More than a few water melons and household items, along with several demons, had been accidentally vanquished before Piper had learnt how to control both.

Phoebe was the only sister who had not gained a new power, however both her premonition and levitation powers had continued to develop and Leo thought it was only a matter of time before she gained the abilities she had displayed in the battle with the Source.

Paige was realistic enough to know that she was two and a half years behind her sisters, and that her powers would take a while to catch up. Still after a year of practicing and practical application, she was catching up fast, even Piper with pride in her voice, admitted. Her Whitelighter side meant she had a more pacifist magical outlook which explained the less aggressive aspects of her powers. She was as Leo had explained long ago, responsible for bringing the sisters magic together and thus allowing all four of them to fight as one. She was the key that unlocked the true power behind the shield, a sort of magical defense that had allowed all four sisters to withstand a massed demonic attack. That all three of her sisters and Leo were impressed with what she had achieved so far, was gratifying. Still it was difficult sometimes when she found herself still playing the baby sister role.

And as she had found it difficult once upon a time to vanquish a demon, lately she had realised that it had become easy. Something she did not enjoy but definitely something she had no problem doing. What the future was going to do to her moral standing was something she often debated with herself. Could she torture a demon to save life's, especially if one of her sisters was in danger?

At least her witch magic was developing nicely. Even Piper trusted her potion making these days and Phoebe's efforts to teach her spell casting had even gained praise from her big sister Prue. Her orbing had now progressed to the point where she had come from the Manor to the park and landed exactly where she had wanted, all by herself without Leo's help. She was even considering taking passengers, however none of her sisters, Leo or Cole would co operate by volunteering. That still hurt, the speed that everyone had found something important to do or had disappeared when she had announced that she wanted to try. Even Kit seemed to want to keep her distance.

Leo hoped that soon she would gain other Whitelighter powers, especially healing as given their current lifestyle, it would be a particularly valuable addition to the family's abilities. Still, Leo had proven on several occasions that he could channel her healing powers, which showed that it was one ability she was destined to gain one day.

She could now orb larger objects to her and from greater distances however despite extensive coaching by Leo, she still had to call them by name. She had recently succeeded in sending objects away from her to somewhere else but could not move objects sideways like Prue could. One Darklighter had found out what she could do the hard way, as she had called the arrow he had just fired at Leo and then sent it straight back at him. Ok she had missed, but it had distracted him for long enough for Piper to explode him.

Given that she had several powers to develop, Leo was very pleased with her overall progress, he kept making the comment that already she had progressed far beyond many other older and more experienced witches. Still when she could only compare herself to her own older and more experienced sisters, some form of an inferiority complex was understandable.

At least, her scrying ability had progressed to the point were she was the one that was selected first to try and locate something. She had a knack for locating people, objects and even demons or warlocks that had now surpassed any of her sisters. Her related sensing power had also progressed nicely, as not only had it gained in power but she could now selectively target people. Left on auto detect as she called it, it had already picked up on several demons imminent arrival, giving all of them at least some time to get ready. By mutual agreement, her sensing ability which she had been the first witch or whitelighter to show, was to be kept secret. It was too great an advantage when they were dealing with untrustworthy beings to risk others finding out and developing some way of blocking it.

However her transformation abilities remained limited and uncontrolled, as apart from changing various liquids into coffee and in one case water, she had so far at least, not changed anything else. Leo remained optimistic and his often repeated answer "to give it more time" was starting to wear thin.

And then there was her job as a full time Social worker, having been promoted almost four months ago. One thing her sisters had all agreed on was the need to keep something outside of magic, a way to separate the raw emotion and at times the insanity that came with magic and demons from a 'normal' life. Even here her magic interfered as she had now developed a reputation as a highly skilled judge of character. Her sensing powers allowing her to assess those who had asked for help and to taylor it in specific ways to best help her clients. Given that it had also allowed Paige to separate abusive spouses and parents from their victims, she considered it a positive.

That her salary was a valuable addition to the Halliwell finances didn't hurt as well. While Piper's club and Prue's photography job could bring in good money, bad times caused shortfalls. Both Cole and Phoebe tried their best but at the moment neither had a permanent paying job. And while Leo being a Whitelighter had major benefits, making money was not one of them. That most of the damage done to the Manor because of demonic fights had to be fixed by Leo or paid for by the sisters instead of them using magic, was still a sore point in the household.

As she returned to the present, Paige realised that the mist had been condensing onto her hair so with a vigorous shake of her head, she sent a spray of water around her. Relaxing, she sent her sensing power outwards, like a radar to see if anyone was near. Sitting where she was, someone would have to climb the rock to find her, not impossible but difficult enough to make explanations of how she had got there, somewhat tricky. Good, no one for over 50 meters, human, demonic or otherwise. Leaving it on auto, Paige again tried to relax and enjoy the solitude and quiet.

The part of her social life that saddened her the most, was the effect her sisters and magic had done to relationship with her friends. The family 'emergencies' and the mundane complications of living with three sisters had put a major dent in her normal social life. Only Glen had not changed, something that pleased her no end. Despite his first introduction to the magical world she now lived in, rougher that hers given that the Source of all Evil had possessed him, he still enjoyed her company, regarding her witch skills and powers with fascination.

Also enjoying the mist and the cover that it provided was a now very hungry Nightstalker and her mate Bloodletter as they carefully tracked a particular scent across the park. Drifting down from the air above, it told them much about their prey, It was alone, female, young, in good health and condition, not scared and apparently somewhere high up. Only when the rock appeared in front of them, did they understand.

They split up, each moving down one side of the rock, looking for an easy way to climb it. While paws made climbing difficult, their superb strength and agility made any ledge within five meters easy to reach. While they could revert to their human form, it was regarded as something to do only as a shameful last resort. So it was with anticipation and pleasure, a hungry Nightstalker found a ledge within easy jumping distance with an equally easy jump from there to the top. The prey could not escape and killing her there would hide much of the blood evidence as it was unlikely that anyone else would climb it anytime soon.

Paige, stiffened as her 'sensing radar' jabbed hard. Something evil was near and getting closer. Coming from behind and on her left and as she concentrated, another appeared on her right. Surrounded and trapped on the rock, Paige realised that she had nowhere to go, except by orbing away. Hidden by the mist, she quietly got to her feet and turned to move over to the side and look down at what was coming. With what she called her mental finger on the orbing button, she peered down into the mist.

What came out of it, would haunt her nightmares for some time to come. A large, heavy set and muscular animal, covered in short dark brown or red hair, shaped like the largest dog ever, came out of the ground mist and landed on a ledge below her. As it looked up with a large, wide head, a wide mouth filled with massive teeth and what shocked Paige the most, two large, red eyes that obviously belonged to an intelligent, thinking animal. A sharp feeling of hunger and the desire to kill invaded Paige's mind from the creature. As it tensed to spring again, Paige frantically pressed the 'orbing button' and disappeared in a cloud of orbs.

With a yelp of surprise, Nightstalker found herself flying through the last of Paige's orbs as her prey disappeared into a cloud of white bubbles, that in turn diminished and then vanished. With a snarl of frustration, she lifted her nose and carefully smelt the air. Good, at least she could recognise the witch in future. As Bloodletter joined her, he too memorised Paige's scent. Witches had always caused trouble, however the pack had developed ways to deal with them.

A young couple, playing hide and seek in the mist proved to be suitable alternatives and were never seen again.