First a thank you to my reviewers: atlan2007

Cirolane – This is why I needed my beta. Thank you. I will do something with that. I try not to do that, but clearly I failed there. Yes, I was referring to Chris' list.

Chapter Seventeen – Exhausted

A few hours, and several failed attempts later Vicki was curled up on the couch next to Pat. Her eyes were tightly shut.

Pat had her list in one hand, lines drawn through most of the current page. Her other hand was covering a yawn.

Chris took up the rest of the couch. His own notepad had several pages flipped over the edge to make way for new spells.

Wyatt, ever stubborn, was sitting on the ground near the couch hard at work on his idea, more or less ignoring everyone else. He had pages of paper spread out in front of him. No one had really paid attention to him in over an hour.

Andy paced the attic. The inactivity had long ago started to get to him.

Leo was standing by the podium, looking through the pages of the Book. Like the two sisters on the couch, his eyes were showing signs of fatigue.

Piper was working on a potion. Prue and Paige stood on either side of her, talking to her in whispered tones.

Alanna was nowhere to be seen. Melinda was likewise still missing.

"Mom," Pat's voice showed signs of fatigue, too.

Prue looked over toward the couch. "Yes, Sweetheart?"

"I'm tired," Pat told her, covering another yawn. "I know we don't have a lot of time, but can we please get some sleep?"

Prue looked at Piper. "She's right. Nothing we have tried so far has worked and we are all tired. Do you have some place we can sleep here? We'll still have most of the day, tomorrow."

Piper nodded.

"We still haven't heard back from either Phoebe or her girls," Paige pointed out.

Piper nodded. "I'll keep the phone by my bed in case they call. We'll call again in the morning." She looked over at the couch. "Boys, do you want to spend the night?"

Chris looked over at Wyatt. "I'm staying here in case something happens."

Wyatt shrugged. "You don't exactly have a whole lot of beds," he reminded his mother, "three bedrooms. Five beds. Two couches. Possibly half a dozen sleeping bags. Excluding decorative and couch pillows, six pillows. Eleven people. I'm going to sleep in my bed at the apartment."

"I'll go find Alanna and head home," Paige added. "I'll be back in the morning with anyone who wants to come."

"Point taken," Chris told his brother. Turning to his parents he said, "I'll see you in the morning, Mom, Dad." He put down his spells on the floor by the couch and stood. Once he was standing, he orbed out.

Wyatt put down what he was working on and stood. "Good night, Mom, Dad, Aunt Paige, Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Pat, and Vicki." Wyatt walked toward the door.

"Good night, Wyatt," Piper told him as he passed by her.

Wyatt grinned and headed out the attic door. He had a car to pick up downstairs.

Piper turned to Prue as Paige followed Wyatt out the door. "Come with me, and we'll see what we can do about getting you guys places to sleep."

To Be Continued . . .

This is not something I normally do, but in this case, I am dividing this up into two parts to keep with the idea of episodes, so this is the end of part one. Part two will be posted immediately following (assuming I can get through the new story thing relatively fast. It gives me trouble at times.) Time is slipping away and things are just going to get more . . . well, I'll leave that part up to your imagination. To find out what happens next read part two. It will be listed as Charmed Heritage 108 . . . Hope you enjoy the story thus far.