Since seeing Peyton in my dream world, my determination to save my family had toppled. You could find me engrossed in books about witchcraft, in the Book of Shadows, anywhere I could find about possible threats my now little cousin could come across to turn him evil.

I didn't realize I was isolating myself like I used to do when I had an important test at the Magic School, allowing myself to stress over about the situation, and it wasn't till Phoebe came in and practically forced me out of the attic when I realized I was doing that.

So here I was, feeling annoyed by hearing Phoebe go on and on by this Spencer guy from another column her boss had put her to work with. And for a moment I allowed dark thoughts to pass through my head.... Yes, Phoebe, you should have left him turned into a turkey.

I listened to Phoebe and Piper in the kitchen, how they spoke about their busy day lives, momentarily going back in time when PJ and I used to talk when were kids about our super busy schedules and mom pretended to be concerned about it and give us advice about it... Mind you, our schedules consisted on school, doing homework, extracurricular clubs, spending equal time with each one of our cousins and meeting with our friends and mom always took us seriously, treated our schedules like if they were important, and for our 9 and 11 year old minds it was...

The only thing that was able to bring me back to the present had always been the mentioning of horrible relationships. Before Wyatt flipped to the dark side, he used to tease me about it, used to tease my cupid side, how I let my powers take over and suppressed my human and witch side. I missed those times, those healthy times where Chris, Wyatt, PJ and I were very close.

"...Because I actually enjoy sleeping with my boss" Phoebe's casual mention of Jason zapped me back to reality, accidentally letting a mug slip through my fingers, falling to the floor, breaking in pieces.

Phoebe and Piper's heads snapped toward me.

I looked at them sheepishly, "Sorry"

Phoebe tilted her head, "What is it with you and seeming uncomfortable speaking about the sex life, sweetie?"

I gave her a slight wide eyed look, "Excuse me for being a minor, being not really comfortable talking about sex like if it's the weather. Thank you very much"

Phoebe pouted, "You and Piper should hang out more. Not getting any makes you two bitter"

I looked away uncomfortable, staying silent. If you knew what you're asking Phoebe.... Telling a cupid to have sex was like giving a recovered addict a new drug to experiment on. I couldn't. I had to always be mindful of my love and sexual life if I wanted to keep some stability and my cupid powers from taking over me.

Piper gave Phoebe a look, gesturing at Wyatt -who was sitting in his little chair at the table- "Hello, hi, excuse me"

Phoebe huffed, waving a hand dismissively "Oh, he doesn't know what we're talking about. He's ten months old, he thinks we're talking about milk for god's sakes"

"Phoebe, he conjured a dragon" Piper deadpanned, "I wouldn't put anything past him"

I tilted my head in agreement. "That's a good point"

I still couldn't believe he had done that... Maybe my Wyatt but not this little and innocent one. Yet he did. What else was he capable of doing?

Piper sighed "Now if he can only find a way to keep guys from bolting every time they lay eyes on him. It's not easy dating as a single mom"

"Oh, come on, there's got to be lots of guys out there that like kids" Phoebe told her.

"Yeah, I haven't met any so far, so I'm just gonna cut to the chase" Piper told us "I've got three dates lined up, they're all gonna meet Wyatt on the first date, and if they don't like it, tough"

"You could always turn them into a turkey" I ordered, smiling slightly.

Phoebe held up a potion, nodding in agreement.

Piper gave us a look.

Paige walked in through the back door.

"Where you been?" Phoebe asked. Paige didn't answer, walking past us, hurriedly. "Paige?"

Phoebe and I exchanged a look, following Paige toward the dinning room.

"Paige?" I asked "What happened?"

"What's the matter?" Phoebe asked.

Paige walked to the bottom of the stairs. "What time is it?"

"Eight" Phoebe answered "Were you out all night?"

Paige shrugged "Yeah, I guess I was"

"Okay, sit down here for a second" Phoebe told her. She and Paige sat down on one of the steps. I remained standing, leaning against the start of the railing. Piper walked in. "Talk to us"

"I lost an innocent last night" Paige told us. I straightened up. "A demon killed him right in front of me"

Finally, something to take my mind off from the disaster of my world and from saving Wyatt... At least for a while.

"Oh, God" Phoebe murmured.

"At your temp job?" Piper asked.

Paige sighed "Yeah. I should have seen it coming. Every other job someone's wound up needing my help. I just don't know why I didn't see it"

I shrugged, "Well, maybe you weren't meant to"

Paige shook her head, "No, I was, I just ... Didn't. Even worse, when I tried to save him, he wound up saving me. I just wish I knew what was going on. Why they were after Larry in the first place and how he knew they were coming for him"

"What do you mean he knew?" Piper asked.

"He just did" Paige told us "He was finalizing his will, making donations, trying to get me out of there, he knew"

I frowned, tilting my head.

"How could he have known?" Phoebe asked, voicing my thoughts.

"I don't know, unless maybe he wasn't so innocent, which is probably why you weren't meant to save him" Piper told her.

I bit my lip, shaking my head.

"No, I don't believe that" Paige told her.

Phoebe sighed, "Look, Paige, even if he was an innocent, you can't save everybody. I mean, that's just the lesson we've all had to learn unfortunately"

Unfortunately.

Paige nodded sadly, "I know"

"Paige, you can't blame yourself for what happened" Piper told her "If you were meant to save him, you would have. You have to believe that"

Paige shook her head "I can't"

Pauge stood, walking upstairs.

I looked at Piper and Phoebe, "I understand her. Why do you think I'm still in this time?"

I followed Paige upstairs.

~8~

I was upstairs, heading to Paige's room, stopping in the hallway, grabbing my conjured cupid ring/control necklace, closing my eyes. A soft pink light appeared in front of me. A Chris projection. Well, more like I was Astral projecting brief part of his soul to me (A trick my dad taught me to keep in contact with my loved ones when they were far away)

"You're going to get me caught" Chris scolded. I opened my eyes, dropping my hand. The pink glow was still around him, letting us know he wasn't really here. "It's everything okay? You haven't used this kind of summoning in a long time. Since PJ..."

I held back a sad expression. A few months before Wyatt snapped, PJ and I liked to summon everyone in our family this way just to see who was the best. And since I was more in tune with my cupid half, it was easier for me to do so than PJ. Peyton was too little to even practice advanced magic, mom had her focused on her wiccan abiltites at that point. 

I shrugged, "Yeah, it is. Just, uh..." I sighed. Chris' expression softened. "I haven't found anything that can help us save our time"

Chris sighed, "Neither have I. And the changes we've nade since we got here, I know did something. I can feel it" I nodded in agreement, I could feel it too, but I wasn't certain what it was. "But, I can't steady the portal to bring us home" 

"Do you need help?" I asked.

Chris shook his head, "No. It's enough Leo doesn't trust me and I can feel him spying on me almost all the tine. You're on a thin line with him, I don't want him to treat you like he does to me" I looked at him sympathetically. "Stop looking at me like that, Parker. This is not new to me. The only difference is he doesn't really know who I am to him these days"

"If you're certain" I told him hesitantly. Chris' form flickered in and out. I sighed "I need more practice. I'm rusty"

Chris looked down at himself, noticing what I did, nodding slightly "Yeah. Let me go" He put a hand in my shoulder, giving me a reassuring smile. "Everything's gonna be okay, P2. We'll success. Okay?"

I took a deep breath, nodding "Okay. Be careful"

Chris smiled slightly, disappearing in a swirl of pink lights.

I let go of the breath I was holding, looking toward Paige's bedroom door. I knew she felt upset about the lack of support her sisters were giving her and I wasn't going to let her down too. If nothing, I was going to help her with this.

After all, what's family for?