Never Really Gone (Marissa's new fanfic)

[marissalu415]

[marissalu415]

10
The shrill cries of baby Lexi filled Paige and Henry’s apartment as Paige tried unsuccessfully to calm her down.

“Make it stop!” Paige cried as she held the baby out toward Henry, who had come home earlier for lunch. Henry backed away shaking his head.

“Paige, I don’t know how to take care of a baby. I’m sorry.”

“And I do?” said Paige.

“Well yeah,” said Henry. “You know, you’ve got your nephews.” Paige frowned. “Besides, I have to get back to work.” Paige sighed and pulled Lexi back in close to her. She rocked her gently, but it had no effect on her wailing.

“This has to be a set up,” said Paige. “Someone up there must really hate me.” She glanced at the ceiling. Henry stood thinking, trying to figure out how to help his struggling wife.

“Why don’t you take her to the manor?” Henry suggested. “Maybe she’ll settle down if there are other kids to play with.”

“Maybe I’ll give that a try,” said Paige. At this point, she was willing to try anything. She kissed Henry goodbye, grabbed Lexi’s things, and then orbed out.
----------------

In the attic of the manor, Prue balanced Chris on her hip while she flipped through the Book of Shadows.

“Found it,” she said, grinning, once she came across the ingredients for the transporting potion. Then all of a sudden she heard a baby’s cry echoing from the main floor.

“Is that one of your friends?” she said to Chris.

“Anybody home?” Paige called from downstairs.

“Coming!” Prue shouted back. Prue left the attic and headed downstairs to find Paige with a baby girl in her arms.

“What’s with the baby?” Prue asked.

“It’s my charge’s baby,” said Paige. “I’m protecting her. If only I could get her to stop crying.” Paige sighed, and then there was silence.

“Uh Paige, she did stop crying,” Prue pointed out.

“Oh,” said Paige, turning her head down towards the baby. She noticed that Lexi’s head was resting on her shoulder. She was finally asleep. “Thank God.” Prue had to smile at the fact that Paige was so out of sorts, she didn’t even notice when the baby stopped crying.

“Why don’t you put her down in Chris’s play pen,” Prue whispered. Paige turned into the living room and set Lexi down gently in the travel crib. Then she returned to the foyer where Prue was standing and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“How you holding up?” Prue asked sympathetically.

“Well, I now have even more respect for Piper,” Paige answered. “Taking care of a baby is pretty damn exhausting.” She yawned. “Anyway, now that’s she asleep, we can finally talk. What have you been up to?” Prue hesitated, glancing to the side. Then she looked up at Paige.

“Promise you won’t tell Piper?” Prue asked sheepishly. Paige chuckled.

“You sound like me, talking to Phoebe. What are you up to?”

“Well, I’ve sort of been planning a trip to magic school,” Prue confessed.

“By yourself?” Paige asked, raising her eyebrows. Prue nodded. “You know that place is crawling with demons, right?”

“I know,” said Prue. “That’s why I’m going. Good magic needs to take back what rightfully belongs to it.”

“While you have a valid point, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go alone,” said Paige. Prue frowned.

“Who’s the big sister here?” she joked. Paige smiled.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” said Paige. “None of us do.”

“I know,” Prue said seriously. “I know you guys want to protect me. But I’m not a porcelain doll. I can protect myself.” Paige nodded, acknowledging the fact that Prue had a point.

“I know you can,” said Paige. “But I also know that we’d all feel better if you took one of us with you.”

“I would,” said Prue. “But that’s just it. Piper’s been busy, Phoebe’s pregnant, and you’ve obviously got your hands full.” She glanced at Lexi, still asleep in the crib. Paige frowned. The girl does have a point. “Okay, how about this,” Prue said. “I’ll go, but I’ll just survey the situation. See what we’re up against. No fighting. How does that sound?” Paige thought for a second.

“I guess that would be alright,” she said. “But we still better not tell Piper.”

“Tell me what?” said Piper, stepping out of the kitchen. Prue and Paige looked at each other nervously.

“That Paige brought a baby into the house,” Prue blurted out.

“Another one?” said Piper, looking at the sleeping baby. “Can’t Henry find somewhere else to-”

“She’s not abandoned,” said Paige. “Lexi is my charge’s baby.”

“So you babysit now?” Piper said with a chuckle. “In that case, are you free on Friday night?” she teased.

“It’s only for a day or so,” said Paige. “I hope.” Just then, Lexi awoke and started to fuss. Paige drooped her shoulders and sighed. “That’s my cue. We’d better get going.”

“You can stay here with her if you want,” Piper offered. She had to almost yell to be heard over Lexi’s shrieking. Paige shook her head.

“No sense damaging all your eardrums. I’ll just take her home.” She scooped Lexi out of the crib and nestled her in her arms. “Any tips?”

“Is she hungry?” Piper asked.

“I just fed her before we got here.”

“Diaper?”

“Just changed her too.”

“She probably just misses her mommy,” said Prue.

“The one thing I can’t give her,” Paige said in frustration.

“Give it time, she’ll settle down,” Piper assured her.

“I hope so,” Paige said wearily. “Well, I’ll see you girls later.” And with that she orbed out. Prue and Piper chuckled to themselves.

“What are we going to do with her?” Piper said with a smile.

[charline]

Oh gosh!! I missed out on so much!!! But im totally updated. I love it!!!

Im addicted AGAIN!

Kisses!

[thefifthsister]

Wow, so fantastic. I love this story! I gets better and better. Great work Marissa!

*hugs*

xoxoxo

[marissalu415]

Thanks guys. Here's the next part, but I also have an announcement. Pretty soon, i will be posting the first part of a new fanfiction i've been working on called "Charmed: The Next Generation". It will follow the lives of the children of the Charmed Ones. I will still be continuing this one, but i just wanted to give you guys a heads up.



11
Phoebe sat at her desk in her office at the Bay Mirror, working hard to make the deadline for her next column. Just then, her phone rang.

“Phoebe Halliwell,” she said into the phone. “Oh hey Paige.” She paused while Paige explained her current baby situation. “Oh sweetie,” Phoebe said sympathetically. “What a time for this to happen. Have you taken the test yet?”

“No,” said Paige from her cell phone in her apartment. Lexi could be heard screaming in the background. “I’m a little tied up at the moment. I’ll get to it.”

“Hey, I’ve got a bit more writing to do, but how about I stop over when I’m done?” Phoebe offered.

“Have I ever told you you’re the best big sister in the world?” said Paige. Phoebe smiled.

“Yeah, but I can stand to hear it again,” she said. Paige could hear her smiling through the phone. “Okay sweetie, I’ll see you soon. You hang in there.”
-------------


Back at the manor, Prue was in the attic putting the finishing touches on her transporting potion. Piper was feeding Chris his lunch, so Prue took the opportunity to brew a potion unnoticed by her overprotective sister. After tossing the last ingredient into the cauldron, Prue ladled the potion into small vials.

“Here goes nothing,” said Prue as she dropped a potion at her feet. She disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. Moments later, Prue found herself at the end of a long hallway.

“So this is Magic School.” Taking care to be extra quiet, Prue tiptoed down the hall, in search of any suspicious behavior. As she neared the end of the hallway, she heard two male voices coming from a classroom.

“Have you heard the rumors?” one of the voices asked. “About the Charmed Ones.” Prue perked up at the mention of her family. Cautiously, she stuck her head out in the doorway to glimpse who was speaking. Demons, by the looks of them.

“The eldest Charmed One has been brought back to life,” came the other voice.

“And we have a demon to thank for that,” a woman’s voice said angrily. Prue hadn’t noticed a female demon standing at the other end of the room.

“Not anymore,” replied one of the male demons. “The witches vanquished him, no surprise.”

“The Charmed Ones were untouchable before,” said the other male demon. “And now that they have the strongest one back, they’ll annihilate the Underworld.” Prue smiled, slightly flattered. “It won’t be long ‘til they show up to take back magic school.”

“Not if we can help it,” said the female demon. She smiled deviously. “The winds of change are coming. It’s time for evil to reign.” Uh-oh. Sounds like a major evil plan in the works.

Prue continued to listen, but nothing else was said about any sort of plan to overthrow the Charmed Ones. Swiftly, she stepped past the doorway unnoticed, and continued down the hall. Before long, she reached a large room with walls that were lined with books. There were a few other hallways from this room to explore, but something shiny on one of the shelves caught her eye. It was a name placard. Wiping the dust away, Prue was able to read the inscription. HEADMASTER LEO WYATT. Prue smiled as she imagined this name plate sitting on the edge of a desk, with Leo sitting behind it smiling. That will be him again soon. Lost in thought, she didn’t hear anyone come in.

“Watch out!” someone yelled. Prue turned around just in time to be pushed to the ground by a stranger, as the name plate flung out of her hand. Just as this man moved her out of the way, an energy ball hit the spot where she had been standing. The man got up quickly and threw an athame at the demon that had thrown the energy ball, causing him to erupt in flames and then disappear. The man turned back toward Prue and held out his hand to help her up. Prue noticed the leather vest and pants he was wearing, and slid away from him, getting up by herself.

“Since when do demons help innocents?” Prue asked.

“I’m not a demon,” the man said, as if it was obvious.

“Then why are you dressed like that?” Prue asked.

“It’s a disguise,” said the man. “Gotta blend in up here.” Prue looked down at her floral print sundress. Why didn’t I think of that?

“Right,” said Prue, slightly embarrassed.

“What are you doing here?” the man asked.

“I could ask you the same question,” Prue pointed out.

“Hey look, I just saved your life,” the man said defensively. “So you’re lucky I’m here.”

“I’m not defenseless,” said Prue. “I could have taken care of that demon myself.”

“Okay well, I’ll remember that next time I see an energy ball heading towards you,” the man said, rolling his eyes. Prue sighed.

“Thank you for saving my life. Happy now?” The man just shrugged.

“Was that your way out of here?” He pointed to the broken vials of Prue’s transporting potion. Prue turned to look where he was pointing. Oh crap.

“So what if it is?” said Prue, trying not to panic on the outside.

“Well then it looks like you’re screwed,” the man said.

“I’ll be fine,” said Prue.

“Need a lift?” the man asked. Prue wondered exactly how this guy got around.

“No thanks, I can take care of myself,” Prue said confidently.

“Okay,” the man said with a shrug. “Well if you change your mind, come find me. I’m Max.” When Prue didn’t say anything, Max said, “And you are?”

“Leaving,” said Prue. She didn’t want to trust this guy. “It was nice to meet you Max.” And with that, she turned and headed down a different hallway, leaving Max standing there, watching her go.

[chashkieh]

Hmm... this got me thinking real good. you're awesome Marissa! Keep it up!

[marissalu415]

^you'll have to wait and see...


Thanks guys, should have the next part up soon.

[charline]

I'm with Charles.. and besides he sounds cute??!