A/N: Thanks to Thunder903 for reviewing.
Chapter 5: Old Foes
Henry was dressed in a black suit. He was sitting on a stool in front of a church next to an ivory casket. He was holding a guitar in his hands and the light filtering through the stain glass widows was casting a glow on his face. With the way his hands were trembling he didn't know if he was going to be able to do what he wanted to do. But when he took one look at Chris sitting in the front row he knew that he could. His cousin had really been his rock through all of this. He took a deep breath before he started to play.
"Sometimes the road just ends it changes everything you've been. And all that's left to be is empty, broken, lonely, hopin'. I'm supposed to be strong; I'm supposed to find a way to carry on. I don't wanna feel better I don't wanna not remember. I will always see your face in the shadows of this haunted place. I will laugh, I will cry, shake my fist at the sky. But I will not say goodbye." Henry sang and he knew from the tears rolling down his face that he was going to have a hard time keeping the tears out of his voice.
"They keep saying time will heal but the pain just gets more real. The sun comes up each day, finds me waiting, fading, hating, praying. If I can keep on holding on maybe I can keep my heart from knowing that you're gone. I don't wanna feel better, I don't wanna not remember. I will always see your face in the shadows of this haunted place. I will laugh, I will cry, shake my fist at the sky but I will not say goodbye." As he sang he knew that saying goodbye was exactly what he was doing.
"I will curse, I will pray, I'll relive everyday, I will shoulder the blame, I will shout out your name. I will laugh, I will cry, shake my fist at the sky but I will not say, will not say goodbye, will not say goodbye." As he finished he barely had a voice left and his chest was heaving with sobs. He walked over and placed a kiss on the coffin. "If nothing else please know that I will always love you, " he said.
Chris walked up and grabbed his cousin in a bear hug. "That was very brave of you Hank. Come on let's go sit back down." He told him gently.
"I just love her so much Chris." Henry sobbed into his cousin's shoulder.
"I know big guy, I know." Chris said trying to keep his own tears at bay. He couldn't fall apart and hold Henry together at the same time there was just no way it would work.
Henry woke up with a start and sat bolt upright on the couch where he had fallen asleep at around five that morning. It took him a minute to knock the sleep out of his brain and realize where he was. After a second it came to him that he was at his mom and dad's house. Because he couldn't go back to his apartment yet and Bianca was taking care of Paige and really when it came down to it he was scared Oriana would be there.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and groaned. He was all confused on the inside he hadn't dreamed of Oriana's funeral in a long time. All the things that he had sang that day turned out to be true. He had spent four years blaming himself and only recently had he come to see the flaw in that reasoning. Now with her back he wasn't sure what to feel. Just because the elders had decided they needed her help that didn't change the fact that she had died. It didn't make any of the things that he had gone through or any of the pain he had felt any less real just because they could trick the rest of the world into thinking that she had never died.
None of his confused feelings had a damn thing to do with his love life though. He could still say with profound certainty that he loved Bianca with all of his heart he always had. That wasn't the issue the issue he had was dealing with his other feelings. He hated feeling like all the drinking and all the time he spent beating himself up could have been avoided if he had known that the elders were going to do something like this. This was one of the prime reasons for his passionate hatred of the elders; they sat up on their perch and played God with other people's life without taking into account how it would affect people.
Despite the turmoil he was feeling inside at the moment he couldn't help but smile when he heard his baby brother cry out from his nursery. If there was one thing that would make him feel better right now it would be seeing his brother. So without any hesitation he made his way up the steps and into Alan's room.
Henry paused in the doorway a moment just to take in the scene he had decorated the nursery after all the other guys had just set up the furniture. The walls were painted light blue and were decorated with cop cars. The mobile that hung over his crib had squad cars and policemen on it, when Alan let out another cry he went over and picked him up.
Henry kissed his brother softly on his forehead. "Morning Goose I bet you want your diaper changed. A little guy like you can get pretty wet through the night." He laid him down on his changing table. He got him a new diaper and some fresh clothes.
"Goose let your big brother tell you something don't ever think about getting yourself in the mess that I'm in now. Here I am at the ripe old age of almost twenty-one, I'm a widower, I'm in love with my dead wife's sister and I always have been, and to top it all off my wife is back from the dead. Does that make me still married? You ask, I have no clue, the only thing I know for sure is this is one hell of a mess." Henry told him as he changed his diaper and put him in a onesie he knew that he would just get messy again when he ate.
Alan didn't offer a reply he just made cooing noises. "I'm glad that you find my situation so amusing Goose. Oh, hell I know that you're not making fun of me, you're just happy to have a new diaper. I would make fun of me though. I don't know how I let things get so complicated. I should have just fought for B to begin with and then none of this would be an issue. I do love her though; I love her with all of my heart. I wish it could be that simple but a part of my heart will always belong to Oriana." Henry went on.
Alan started fussing because he was hungry. "I know, I know you're hungry I get that we'll go get you some food. I'm glad we had this talk though." Henry told him picking him up.
"Hank it can be that simple you just have to be the one to make it that simple." Paige said startling her oldest child.
"Goose tell mommy it's not nice to spy on us when we're having a heart to heart." Henry told his brother.
"I wasn't spying on you I heard you talking to him over the monitor. Bubba I'm here for you any time you need me you know that don't you?" Paige asked him.
Henry gave her a grin that made his eyes twinkle the same ways hers did. "Of course I know that mom. I was just feeling sorry for myself." Henry explained to her.
"Well feel sorry for yourself more quietly in the future some of us are trying to sleep here." Big Henry said walking up behind Paige and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Morning handsome." Paige said turning her head to kiss him.
"Morning baby." Henry replied.
Hank shook his head and looked down at Alan. "I know Goose they are embarrassing. But still seeing parental nookie is better than being at my apartment and seeing our cousin and her husband hanging all over each other. One day when Allie gets married you'll understand what I'm talking about."
"Are my boys having the what every boy needs to know about being a man talk without me?" Henry asked his sons.
"Nope we were talking about his big brother's profoundly messed up love life." Hank told his father.
"Let me ask this, does she love you and do you love her?" Henry asked.
"Of course we love each other dad." Hank answered passionately.
"Then that's all that matters everything else takes a back seat to that." Henry told him.
"It's funny that dad should mention love in a backseat because that is where you were conceived." Carly said walking past the open door of her baby brother's room.
"It wasn't where I was conceived, but it is where your first child is going to be conceived. Well either in the back seat of a car or in the alley that's right by the corner where you work at night." Hank replied without missing a beat.
"Oh honey please, I graduated from that corner a long time ago. I work the lobby in high priced hotels now. Do try to keep up with the times." Carly smirked at him smugly not one to be out done.
"Bubba just remember that she's not your twin sister and you don't have to put up with half the shit I put up with from that girl." Patty pointed out to him she was making her way to the bathroom.
"I told you last night Charlie that we can sell her across the border as a sex slave. She would be happy and we cold damn sure make a lot of money." Hailey chimed in.
"Hails it's official you're a Halliwell, kid." Hank told his cousin grinning from ear to ear.
"Henry Victor don't wish that on me as much as I love them all Halliwell women are nothing more than a pain in my ass." Henry begged his son.
"Yeah and this one is going to be a pain in your back if you keep up because you will be sleeping on the couch." Paige told him giving him a sweet smile to soften the blow.
"See what I mean?" Henry asked dryly.
"Dad I would help you out but the Halliwell women have ruined me I can't even think about normal women. Point in case I'm head over heels in love with a Bond girl that is all B is. She is one of those bad ass women in the action movies and I love every minute of it." Hank smirked.
"Well my little man needs to eat so if you want to continue this conversation with your father hand him over." Paige told him.
"No I want to feed Goose. I hardly ever get to see him in the mornings I'm either sleeping or at work. We're going to bond and I'm going to tell him the facts of life." Hank pouted.
"Well I'll say one thing for you Halliwell men you all make fiercely loyal big brothers." Paige replied.
"Grams says we're all stubborn." Hank reminded her.
"You are but you all get it from her I don't know why she thinks she has any room to talk." Henry pointed out.
"I'm nothing like Grams that woman is the bane of my existence I don't even know why I brought her up." Hank said shaking all over. "Fact of life number one Goose, Grams is so mean that she is the only person that Satan fears."
"Yeah I have this bad feeling that Grams might be up to no good we haven't heard from her in a while." Paige said sounding uneasy if only she knew what Grams had been up to this time.
"Paige it's nice to see that you busted out of lock down." Brady smiled smugly at his niece. All the future people were gathered at the bar in Voodoo.
Paige gave Brady the finger. "Fuck all of you I don't think any of you are funny." She said still sounding hoarse.
"I'm not forgiven yet?" Dom asked sticking out his bottom lip and giving her a sad puppy face.
"That face only works on your sister and your mom and you know it so spare me." Paige told him harshly.
"Anyway I believe that Jack had a point in calling this meeting and it wasn't so the three of you could fight." Alan said the boy really needed to get laid or something he was getting crabbier by the hour.
"Yes the point is we're about to be in deep shit and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it." Jack sighed he really much rather be with Emily but no he had to be here conducting this meeting. But it was better than the time he was from where he didn't get to be with Emily at all.
"About to be in deep shit? I think we are in deep shit. The aunts just haven't had time to yell at us yet. They didn't get the chance to lay into us before they found out about the prophecy." Paige reminded him.
"Then we're about to be in more shit. They are about to find out about Grams' little secret that she thought she could keep hidden." Jack corrected himself.
"That has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Grams. I don't know why she evens tries to pull this shit. She knows that all Halliwells come home to roost eventually." Brady pointed out.
"Still that doesn't change the fact that we're going to be in trouble for knowing what was going on and not telling them." Dom sighed. He was so over being in trouble all the time and he didn't even get in trouble with his parents he got in trouble with the Charmed Ones.
"Contrary to what they believe we can't tell them everything about the future just because they would like to know. Some things just have to play out the way they were meant to. And besides that I don't want to be the one they vent their wrath on when they find out." Alan rambled.
"I agree with the crab ass who if he knows what's good for him will stop being a crab ass sometimes soon." Paige said eyeing him up and down.
"We'll work on getting Al to be a happy camper later. Right now we need to figure out how the hell we can minimize the collateral damages that will surely occur when my mom finds out about this." Jack reasoned.
"There's nothing we can do Jackie this has nothing to do with us. We just need to stay out of the way as best we can. And that is going to be hard right now since we have nothing to do. There is nothing we can do right now we have to let that stuff with Gideon play out the way it's supposed to. Hell we could even help if they figured out the last line of that prophecy. I have no doubt that they will my mom may be a lot of things but a dumb ass is not one of those things." Paige replied.
"Paige I say this because I love you but the only thing you need to do right now is find a bed and get in it. You're not any good to us so sick that you have to be put in the hospital." Brady said the concern was evident in his voice.
"I'm fine Phil don't worry about me so much pal." Paige said giving him a soft smile.
"We're all worried about you Bud. You don't get this sick easily and we can't help but feel like is partially our fault. We let you run yourself in the ground. If it's no one else's job it is my job to look out for you and make sure that you're safe. I let the ball drop and for that I'm sorry." Jack said sincerely.
"It's not your fault Jackie you know me there was nothing you could have done to make me slow down and take care of myself. When I get on something you have to remind me to eat and sleep. You guys know that I take after my dad that way." Paige pointed out to them they were all wearing guilty looks on their faces.
"Paige I should take better care of you. If I'm letting this go on now I shudder to think how shitty of a husband I'll be." Dom said sounding genuinely contrite.
"Nic you did the best the thing you could do for me you took me to my mom. I might act like I'm mad at you but I'm not." Paige said using her nickname for him.
"Dom don't argue with her anymore she just said that you were right. We need to write this down on the calendar I think there may be pigs flying right now." Brady told his best friend.
"You act like I'm the only Halliwell that has trouble admitting I'm wrong. Alan and Jack are still in an argument over the wording for a spell. Al's wrong but I haven't heard him admit to that yet." Paige said rolling her eyes.
"Come on we'll go to the manor and get some breakfast out of mom I'm starving." Jack said trying to end any argument that Paige and Alan might have.
"Ro I really wish you would explain to me what the hell we're doing out here." Ricky told his brother as he pulled his car up in front of the gypsy encampment. It was nothing more than a few hundred trailers set out in the middle of the desert but he had to admit that it was pretty this time of morning.
"We're here to see someone about you're little problem. Just trust me on this one Ricky." Roman said as he got out of his car. He drove a yellow jeep wrangler that was ate up with rust but it still ran like a top.
"I don't understand what good it's going to do." Ricky bitched but he got out of the car anyway.
"You'll understand in a minute. I think I know a little bit more than you do when it comes to this stuff." Roman pointed out.
He guided him toward an open area with a fire pit in the middle of it. Despite the fact that it was the middle of summer there was a fire roaring and four old men were sitting around it. Each one looked as older than the next. One of the old men had his long white hair braided in a ponytail down his back. Another had a cowboy hat on and a blank expression on his face. One had wrinkles so deep they looked like they had been craved by the weather. The youngest of the men looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties and he had his black hair closed cropped.
Roman bowed to them and then he gestured for Ricky to do the same. Roman then began an exchange with them in a language that Ricky didn't understand at all. After a moment the man with the braid down his back addressed Roman in English.
"Roman my young friend tell me what brings you out here." the man said jovially.
"Ezra, this is my little brother Derek." Roman said and then he spoke again to introduce them all. "Ricky this is Ezra, Liam, Josef, and Peter. They are the tribal elders." He pointed to each man as he spoke. Josef was the man in the cowboy hat, Peter was the man with the deep wrinkles, and Liam was the youngest in the group.
"Roman what are you doing here?" Josef asked still not letting any little bit of emotion show on his face.
"Knowing him Josef he is probably after some charm to bring back his memories again." Liam laughed smiling in Roman's direction.
"No sir, those problems have resolved themselves. I am here today because my brother is a guardian." Roman explained.
Peter arched an eyebrow at him making the canyons in his face move a little. "Something big must be up because we haven't had anyone phase into a guardian in five years."
"What kind of guardian is he son?" Josef asked him gently.
"He's a wolf sir." Roman answered these men held the history of his ancestors so he treated them with respect.
"That would make sense his great-grandfather did sit on this council." Ezra said logically.
"Peter misspoke before we have had some of the young ones phase into guardians within the last couple of years. It has just been five years since anyone phased into a wolf." Liam pointed out.
"What are we supposed to make of this?" Peter asked no one in particular.
"I take it that there is a big threat on the horizon and we need to be ready otherwise he wouldn't have phased into a wolf." Ezra said after he had taken a moment to contemplate it.
Ricky was watching the verbal ping-pong but that still didn't help him at all. "Look that is all right and good but that really doesn't help me I don't know the first thing about what's going on with me. I would really like it if I didn't turn into a wolf in front of a bunch of people."
"Well I'll say this for him he sure got Ephraim Nicolae's temper." Liam chuckled.
"No he got his temper from his father so it wouldn't be wise to piss him off." Roman corrected him.
"Tell me Derek what are your powers?" Ezra asked him.
Ricky almost didn't answer him because he wasn't used to being called Derek. "I can conjure and I have projection. No one is really sure where those powers came from. Oh and I have telepathy."
"Is your father a mortal?" Peter asked him.
"Yes my father is mortal." Ricky answered.
"Do you have any direct involvement with any other magical creatures?" Josef asked.
"Yes my best friends and my girlfriend are all witches. Not to mention my oldest brother is half demon, Roman and Lilly are both half witch." Ricky answered.
"Hmm, I'm thinking he's that powerful because he is Ephraim's grandson. I mean Roman is pretty powerful but he is half and half. But the only thing that could account for Derek's power is his lineage. It's not unheard of for gypsies to be that powerful but normally it's because they are mixed with other magic. And the only gypsies I know that are that powerful without having anything else are Nicolaes." Liam said thoughtfully.
"Ro what are they talking about?" Ricky asked his brother.
"Ricky our great-grandfather was a man named Ephraim Nicolae he was the chief elder for a very long time. He was powerful his ancestors were the first gypsies to step foot in the new world, hell they were among the first gypsies period end of story. Anyway there hasn't been a gypsy as powerful since him but there is a prophecy that says one of his grandsons will rise up and take his seat. I'm thinking that maybe that's you. You're a hell of a lot more powerful than I am." Roman explained.
"I don't understand what that means." Ricky said lamely he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"It means that not only are you a guardian and therefore the leader of your pack but you're the leader of all the guardians. That is if we are interpreting the prophecy correctly." Liam informed him.
"Ricky these aren't only the village elders but their our elders too. Liam and Ezra are our uncles." Roman said gently.
"Wow," was the only thing that Ricky could say.
"Roman you should introduce him to the other wolves." Josef told him.
"I think that would be a good idea." Roman said he bowed again before taking Ricky by the arm and leading him off.
"Roman I thought mom didn't have any other relatives?" Ricky asked as they walked.
"Not any close relatives, those are our great uncle and great, great uncle. Just stay cool and keep your temper. I don't want you phasing if you can avoid it. And don't say anything about that little hunch that Liam and I have about you being the leader." Roman told him.
"I can do that." Ricky replied.
Roman led them to a cabin that sat near the only wooded area that there was on the whole place. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer it. A young man who looked to be about twenty answered the door.
"Roman Nicolae long time no see." The man said opening the door wider. He had on cutoff jeans and he wasn't wearing a shirt. There was a tattoo of a crescent moon on his right arm.
"Aden Stone I could have gone longer without seeing your ugly ass." Roman replied with a smile.
"What brings you all the way out to the sticks Roman?" Aden asked him.
"Business," Roman answered simply.
"Your business I hope because it is feeding time in this mad house and you make some pretty tasty food." Aden replied.
"Shit I made it just in time for the show then. And no I'm not here to cook for you. I'm here on gypsy business." Roman explained.
"Whose the kid you brought with you?" Aden asked inclining his head in Ricky's direction.
"I'm not a kid and I'm bigger than you so I would watch out if I were you." Ricky told him gruffly.
"Well you've got attitude you'll fit right in around here than." Aden said opening the door wider to allow their entry.
"Aden quit playing around it's your morning to cook and we're starving." A deep voice called from the other room.
"Shut up Luca we have company." Aden called back.
"Well bring them in the kitchen then." Luca shouted at him again.
"Come on guys this isn't going to be pretty at all." Aden said motioning for them to follow him into the kitchen.
There were six other young men sitting at the table. "Roman," they all called out when he walked into the room.
"Hey guys," Roman said giving them all a wave.
One of the young men sniffed the air and trained his eyes on Ricky. "Whose the wolf you brought with you?" he asked.
"Tanner this is my little brother Ricky, he just phased for the first time yesterday." Roman explained to him.
Some of the more overzealous in the group let out loud whoops that sounded more like howls. One of them not much older than Ricky walked up and offered him his hand. "Hi, I'm Levi."
"And I'm Grady." Another one said.
"Reese is my name welcome to the pack." Came the greeting from another.
The biggest guy in the room walked up and shook hands with Ricky. "I'm Carson, the alpha of this pack."
"It's nice to meet you all." Ricky said lamely. He was pretty much in shock.
Just then a rather attractive young woman came in the room. "Well Roman it's been a while since I've seen you around here." she said to him seductively.
"Letti it has been a long time." Roman replied gulping so he could form his words.
"Just because you break up with a girl doesn't mean that you have to stay away. What brings you out here anyway?" Letti asked him.
Roman broke out of the trance he was in. "This is my brother Ricky and he just phased into a wolf for the first time yesterday. I was bringing him out here to introduce him to his fellow wolves." He informed her. Oh, Mel would shoot him dead if she knew the thoughts he was having right now.
"Finally we get a Nicolae to join the pack I was beginning to think that we were going to be out of luck." Letti told him.
"Actually my last name is Bradford my mother is the Nicolae." Ricky corrected her.
"It doesn't matter little brother you still have the blood." Roman told him gently.
"You are going to need your wolf supplies." Carson said he left the room to go get them.
"So this is the whole pack?" Ricky asked it looked kind of small to him.
"No this isn't our whole pack some of us are still out on patrol and there are three other packs besides ours. But they are mostly inactive and made up of the old timers." Letti explained.
"Wait you're a wolf too?" Ricky asked in disbelief.
"Yeah I'm the only female in any of the packs. Isn't that right Tanner?" Letti asked him.
"That's right sis and why they couldn't put you in one of those other packs is beyond me." Tanner sighed.
Carson came back into the room with a pair of cutoff jeans, a sleeveless shirt, and a leather band. He handed them all to Ricky who looked confused. "You're a wolf now your temperature is going to run hot and sometimes you're going to prefer to wear as little as possible. Some wolves don't get as hot as the others so you can do whatever is more comfortable for you. This band is for when you get the hang of phasing. You change out of your clothes and tie them to your leg so you don't rip them to shreds that another reason for the uniform. If you tear that up it's no big deal. Now if you think you can handle your temper problems on your own without hurting anyone you can stay home while you go through your adjustment period. If not then just come on out here and we'll take care of you. At any rate I expect to see you back out here tonight." He explained.
"Ok I've got it I think I can handle it." Ricky replied.
"Well I guess we should get going then." Roman said looking at everyone in the room but Letti.
"Come on Ro stick around we haven't had a decent meal in forever." Luca begged him.
"No dice you all have never had to deal with a pissed off witch. I will have one hell of a pissed off witch to deal with if I don't get out of here. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you guys though." Roman said.
"You ready to go? I have to get to practice it would look bad if the captain didn't show up." Ricky asked looking at his brother.
"Sure let's go." Roman replied.
Letti walked up to him and planted a kiss on his lips. "I'll see you later Ro." She winked at him and slapped his ass as he walked away.
"I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it would be better if Mel never heard about this." Roman said as they got back in his jeep.
Ricky gave him a look that said he was crazy. "Dude you're nuts if you think I'm saying anything to Mel about this. She is one of those people who believes in shooting the messenger. I don't want to have to deal with that. She's your woman. I have more than I can say grace over with mine."
Roman laughed at that. "Come on wolf boy let's get you home so you can get to practice." He said throwing the car in gear.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of getting a visit from the power of three this early in the morning?" Cole asked still rubbing the sleep out his eyes. He was seated in his living room with Chris, Henry, and Prue.
"Cole we need to know everything you know about the assassin that's after B." Henry answered he wasn't taking any chances with that woman he loved her too much to lose her.
"Well Frank killed the assassin that was after B but that doesn't mean shit the triad would just send another one after her." Cole replied.
"Shit I don't guess you know who they're using do you?" Chris asked.
"In my day they used the Brotherhood of the Thorn I would know because I was a member. It is possible that they subcontracted though and they're using a member of the Cobra Clan. It's highly unlikely though because while a Phoenix will do just about any job they're loyal to their own kind. That being said however many of them might see her as a sell out." Cole explained.
"How hard would it be to take on the brotherhood?" Prue asked.
Cole looked at her and scoffed. "For any normal witch it would be suicide, for the power of three you guys would have a better chance of making it out alive but not much of one. Now if you used the thirteen then I say you would stand a very good chance of making it out of a fight with them without getting hurt."
Chris and Henry shared a look. "Cole I know that you don't know us very well and I don't want you to feel like you owe us anything. But if we got the thirteen together on this would you be willing to help us?" Chris asked.
"Of course I would be willing to help you. I'll just have to ask around and see which assassin that they have after her. I'll try to get a piece of flesh for you but I don't know if they will let me get close enough. My son is going to be born into this world and I would like it a lot if I didn't have to worry about the brotherhood trying to take him out because he's mine. Besides that I owe it to your mothers to help you out after the hell I put them through." Cole replied.
"Thanks Cole this really means a lot to us." Prue said laying her hand on top of his.
"I'll just go get dressed and then I'll get right on that for you. Just if you see Nic don't tell her what I'm up to because I have a feeling that she would get very pissed off if she knew what I am about to do. Mostly because I am helping her two kids put themselves in a dangerous situation." Cole said he was more than a little scared of his girlfriend.
"Yeah Aunt Nic isn't someone you want to fuck with. We've all been in trouble enough to know. It gets even worse when you get her, Aunt Piper, and Uncle Derek together it's not pretty. They all yelled at me at the same time once I can't say that I recall most of what was said but it wasn't fun." Henry mused.
Cole laughed. "I like you guys a lot but you need to get the fuck out of here if you want me to do what you asked."
"We're going thanks again Cole." Prue said kissing his cheek.
"You're welcome I'll see you later dear." Cole joked with her.
"You better not be late honey." Prue joked back.
Bianca had Mel, Chase, Val, and Huck gathered in the basement of the manor. She only had those four because the other seven all had practice. She would have to catch them when they had a free moment.
"B there is a point in us being here right?" Chase asked his older sister.
"Oriana tell your little brother that if he doesn't want me to kick his ass he will keep his mouth shut." Bianca said to her sister who was sitting on the stairs.
"Frankie don't piss our older sister off she has been known to get pretty testy." Oriana parroted dutifully.
"Whatever you say Ana. I think I rather take my chances with B she isn't the one who used to hold me down and shove carrots up my nose." Chase replied.
"Ok hopefully now you have that out of your system and you can focus. The reason I have you all up at such an ungodly hour is because you need training. Not just any training you need training in hand to hand combat. Lucky for all of you that happens to be my specialty." Bianca informed them.
"You want us to fight each other B?" Mel asked looking at her cousin and her friends.
"No I don't want you to fight each other. Oriana move out of the way." Bianca replied. "Alright you guys can come down now." she called.
Chuck, Jake, and Liz all came down the stairs. None of them looked very happy to be there but they weren't going to tell Bianca no she was more than a little scary.
"You want me to fight Lizzie?" Mel asked sounding highly amused.
"First off she's not as helpless as she looks she can hold her own in a fight. And second of all no you're not going to fight her Val is. You my dear are going to fight me. You were always one of my best students as a matter of fact you and Ricky were tied for the best." Bianca informed her.
"B it is very early in the morning besides that I'm a lover not a fighter." Val whined sounding like Prue.
"Valentine I was under the impression that Prue wasn't here right now but I'm starting to rethink that you sounded just like her." Jake taunted her.
"Don't make me kick your ass Jakie because I have no problem doing just that." Val threatened him.
"And here I was under the impression you're a lover not a fighter." Jake shot back.
"That will be enough out of you children I don't want to have to listen to this all morning. Charlie and Carly aren't here right now they do more than enough fighting." Huck scolded them.
"So who's fighting who B?" Liz asked.
"Like I said you're fighting Val. I think that I should pair up Huck and Jake, then that only leaves Chase and Chuck." Bianca said after thinking it over.
"I wouldn't want to ruin your little brother's confidence B." Chuck joked.
"I think he can stand to be knocked down a peg or two Chuck. And you would be surprised he is actually a pretty decent little fighter." Bianca said with a hint of pride in her voice.
"I want to fight too B." Oriana said.
"I don't think that's such a good idea O. You never have been the best fighter and really I don't think you want to get your ass kicked by Mel and Val." Bianca told her gently.
"I would go easy on her B, she is Prue's other best friend I wouldn't want the sissy to break a nail." Mel said smugly.
"No you're a cop, you fight me I know how to deal with you people." Bianca said firmly.
"Does this mean that I can fight too?" Oriana asked hopefully.
"Yes you can fight Liz you two stand the least chance of hurting each other." Bianca gave in even though she knew giving in to her sister had the tendency to get her in trouble.
"Can we stop jawing and get on with this? I've had drill sergeants who are not as long winded as you are." Huck asked. Really it sounded more like a whine.
"Yeah I was just waiting on you guys to stop asking stupid questions." Bianca replied.
"Let's get it on then." Chase cheered.
XXXXXXXXXX
An hour later they all emerged from the basement sweaty and worn out looking. Chuck went straight to his wife who was sitting at the counter and wrapped his arms around her. "Hello gorgeous I missed you." he said kissing her.
"I missed you too handsome. That is the longest we've been apart since we got married." Prue pointed out to him.
"Oh God, the never ending parade of gooiness coming from those two makes me want to puke." Chris said gagging.
"You're not the only one but I have more important things to focus on." Henry said walking over to Bianca and kissing her.
"I missed you when you didn't come by after you got off work." Bianca told him.
"You had Paige to take care of. I didn't want to bother you and plus your couch sucks to sleep on." Henry replied.
"You could have slept in the spare bedroom." Bianca reminded him.
"B there are no sheets on that bed. I know that I'm a marine but even I need sheets to sleep." Henry retorted.
"Roman James where have you been?" Mel asked her boyfriend who was also present.
Roman went to her and put his arms around her. "I was helping Ricky out this morning. I know that you got off early but all my prep work is done at work so we can spend the whole day together."
With them being that close Mel caught a whiff of perfume on him. "Roman why do you smell like a cheap whore?" she asked him.
"I don't smell like a cheap whore." Roman replied smelling himself.
"Right that is why you smell like perfume." Mel responded rolling her eyes. She wasn't accusing him of anything she was just playing with him.
"What are you accusing me of Mel?" Roman asked.
"I'm not accusing you of anything unless you have something to feel guilty about." Mel retorted.
"Ok it's not a big deal but I was out on the reservation this morning getting Ricky squared away and Letti was there. She's a wolf too, well as we were leaving she may have kissed me but I didn't kiss her back." Roman explained afraid she was going to blow up.
Instead Mel pressed her lips to his. "Yeah I'm thinking there is no way she kisses as good as I do."
"You've got that right babe." Roman replied.
"Why must all you people be hell bent on making me want to puke?" Chris asked the room in general.
"Aw, Chrissy do you want me to come kiss you?" Oriana asked him.
"Hell no, I have this rule I never kiss women that my cousins and brother have been with. It tends to keep us from fighting." Chris answered.
"Chris where is your woman by the way?" Bianca asked
"You mean to tell me that you're still letting Julie string you along?" Oriana asked.
"She has teacher workshops, she had them all day yesterday and they run through this afternoon. Or maybe she just had them yesterday and she's helping her dad today I can't remember which." Chris answered Bianca and then he turned to Oriana. "And in answer to your question no I'm not with Julie anymore. For the last few weeks I've been seeing Rachel."
"Rachel as in my cousin Rachel?" Oriana asked for clarification.
"That'd be the one." Chris replied.
"It's about time you two have been skirting around your feelings forever." Oriana told him.
"The person you really need to talk to that about is Lizzie at least I didn't let it go on for eight years." Chris said pointing at Liz.
Liz just shook her head. "Don't start on me I haven't seen your brother since yesterday afternoon. I have no clue what he's doing the only thing he'll say is that he's busy when I call him." She explained.
"Wy must have been taking lessons from B again about how to shut people out." Hank cracked rolling his eyes.
"Ha, ha very funny Henry. I'll have you know that I have been at the hospital since one yesterday afternoon." Wyatt said. He had just gotten out of the hospital so he hadn't even changed out of his scrubs.
"Wuvey Bear it's nine in the morning now you have been there for the last twenty hours. I don't know how you're not dropping." Liz said going to put her arms around him.
"I'm fine Lizzie it's nothing that some coffee won't cure. Anyway you know that the hospital where I work is a teaching hospital so I worked on getting my pediatrics rotation done I'm still on it for another two weeks. But I did some rotations and I saw some patients it was pretty worthwhile. I was starting to fall behind I had to catch up." Wyatt explained and then he had an after thought. "B your sister says that if you don't want Aunt Lyn to find out everything you did wrong as a child that you will call her."
"Whatever, I'm not calling her yet I don't have the time to right now and she really doesn't scare me. I'm twenty-four years old I'm not really worried about what my mother has to say." Bianca replied.
"Right and I'm sure that's going to go over real well with mom when you tell her that." Chase said.
"I love the woman but all she does is nag me." Bianca told him.
"Maria nags just like mom does. She is going to be pissed that I haven't been to see her yet but I'm putting that off as long as I possibly can." Oriana agreed.
"I really hope my children don't talk about me like that when I'm not in the room." Piper said from her spot at the table.
"Aunt Piper we all talk about you worse than that when you're not in the room." Jake joked with her.
"Well as long as you talk about me worse than they talk about Lyn then we're good. Let's just remember who the original bad ass is around here." Piper said.
"Piper don't give them the satisfaction they will only start talking about all of us that way." Phoebe warned her.
"Don't worry Aunt Phoebe we have other things to discuss. And not one of you is going to like the things that we have to say so I warn you now." Chris replied.
Paige looked her nephew dead in the eyes she knew that he had something up his sleeve. "Chris you guys are going after the triad's assassins aren't you?" she asked him knowing that if he had it his way that is what they would be doing.
"We're thinking about it I'm not sure that's it's going to happen but it is a possibility." Chris informed her.
"You guys really need to be careful dealing with the triad they almost killed us numerous times." Prue cautioned them.
"Prue they did succeed in killing us once but that is neither here nor there." Piper informed her.
"Chris tell me that we're not just going to do this with the little bit of people we have now." Bianca begged him. She was crazy sometimes but even she knew that they had to be well prepared when they went in against the triad's assassins.
"Hell no B, I'm not stupid I like living we would be crazy to go after them without all of the thirteen. Which is why we are going to wake the rest of the dumb asses up." Chris explained to his friend.
At just that moment Cole shimmered into the room he looked pretty haggard there were scorch marks on his clothes and he had an overall disheveled looking appearance. He silently thanked God that Nicole wasn't there. "Chris I checked out that thing you asked me to and I have some bad news." He reported.
"Go on Cole we can handle a little bit of bad news." Chris said making a give it to me gesture with his hands.
"The triad is using the brotherhood but I did manage to find out which assassin that they put on the case now. He's an old associate of mine; I have all his information here on this piece of paper. I would advise going after him while he's alone." Cole said holding out a folded sheet of paper that Bianca took from him.
"Prue wake up everyone else they're all used to you being annoying anyway." Bianca ordered her friend.
"I am not annoying but I will gladly wake everyone else up." Prue replied eager to jump head first into the new mess they found themselves in.
"Sis you sound just a little too eager to get into this if you ask me." Jake told her.
"Jakie don't argue with me just go wake Lilly up. You're the only one that she won't kill for disturbing her sleep." Prue replied.
"Just move your asses here people we have a lot to do. I would prefer that we did this while we still have the element of surprise." Henry said clapping his hands.
A/N: So here's the new chapter I hope you guys enjoyed it. Don't worry the action is coming up in the next chapter and trust me it will be well worth the wait. Henry is having problems sorting his feelings out about Oriana it's not that he's still in love with her but he is confused right now. Bianca might not be doing as well with all of it as she appears to be but only time will tell. Hell I wonder what the hell Grams did this time that is going to piss Piper off there is not telling with that woman. Until next time please review.