„Calm down everyone! Dinner will be ready in a minute!"

Piper's pleas fell on deaf ears.

It wasn't strange, really- the amount of people gathered in the living room was bound to cause a lot of noise. And it was a lot of people- the whole Haliwell family had gathered in the old Manor, nowadays inhabited only by Piper, Leo and their children.

Actually, the only person who was missing right now was her younger son, and Piper already prepared a scolding for when he came back. It rarely happened that she managed to gather the whole family for dinner, including all the children. Even Victor had come, and that was saying something.

Speaking of which, Piper narrowed her eyes as she looked at the man in question. Her father seemed strangely distracted, drumming his fingers against the armrest while he was talking with Prue. Usually he was always eager to converse with his grandchildren, but now it looked like he was hardly listening to her.

Piper shook her head. Whatever was troubling her father could wait. She had dinner to prepare.

Slowly, the eldest Charmed One walked to the kitchen and stirred the simmering soup. After checking that everything was in order, she picked up the pot and carefully brought it to the living room.

Some people (mostly the male side) stopped talking and focused on the approaching food. Piper didn't even bother trying to get the attention of the rest. At least for now.

"Alright, give me your plate, and I'll-"

"Sorry for being late!"

The loud sound coming from the door startled her so much that she had to stop for a moment to regain her balance as not to spill the hot contents. Finally sure she was in control of her moves, she turned to glare at the perpetrator.

"Chris!" she hissed, now even more angry than before. "What did I tell you about startling me like that?"

The man in question scratched his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, mom. I'd be here earlier but I had to pick someone up first."

That get the attention of some other people, who were now looking at Chris curiously, as well as trying to get the view of the mysterious stranger.

"Ooh," cooed Phoebe from her place at the couch. "Have you finally brought a girlfriend?"

Instead of blushing, spluttering and outright denying the statement as would be expected, her second born son only grinned.

"Actually, yes," he coughed, and looked at every person gathered in the room. "Everyone, meet Bianca."

A few things happened at once. A tall, tanned girl walked into the room. Somewhere in the back echoed identical gasps of shock, but Piper didn't hear them very well, because suddenly there was a burning pain in her legs.

She stood there dumbly for maybe two seconds, before Wyatt, Chris and Melinda, as well as some others all exclaimed at the same second either 'Mom' or 'Piper', and the witch suddenly snapped back into reality. Hissing, she rushed into the kitchen, grapping a towel to wipe the hot soup that spilled on her when she dropped the pot.

"Are you alright?" Wyatt and Leo both appeared at her side, looking at her worriedly.

"Yes, don't worry," she replied automatically, not even thinking about her answer.

"Maybe I should heal it-" started Wyatt, but Piper quickly cut him off.

"I said it's fine. No need to waste your powers on a simple burn."

Wyatt looked ready to protest again, but Piper didn't give him the chance.

"I'll go upstairs to change. Go back to the living room. You don't have to wait for me."

Not waiting for the answer, she bolted towards the stairs, quickly reaching the bathroom and locking herself in. Splashing cold water onto her jeans and face, she let out a long sigh. It was going to be a very long day.

When she came down again, dressed in dry clothes, she noted that the mess had been cleaned. Absentmindedly, she wondered if it was done by magic, and if she would need to scold someone for using it for personal gain again, but then decided that it wasn't worth it.

The living room was now significantly more quiet than before, and the tension was palpable in the air. Most of the children seemed on edge, not really knowing what was the source of the sudden unease, but realizing that something was off.

Pheobe was talking in a false cheer to the now seated Bianca, who looked clearly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of everyone.

"Law, you say? Why, that's very interesting!" The effort she put to sound friendly was clearly visible, and probably wasn't fooling the girl, who was shifting in her place. "I was-" she stopped when she saw Piper, quickly rising from her chair, taking the chance to stop playing the host.

"Piper! Are you alright? That must have hurt," Phoebe said, wincing at the words.

Piper nodded, plastering on a smile.

"Everything's alright, don't worry," she turned her attention to the girl that was the cause of her accident. "Bianca, was it? I'm sorry you had to watch it. I probably didn't make a very good first impression."

Bianca shook her head, mustering a smile of her own, though it was as strained as Phoebe's.

"It's alright, Mrs. Halliwell. I'm glad nothing serious happened."

"It's Piper, please," the oldest Halliwell sister said, inclining her head politely. Then she clasped her hands, bringing the attention of everyone to her. "Now, I'm afraid you'll have to pass on the soup, but what do you say about the main dish?"

Some of the men in the room cheered, and so part of the tension was dissolved.

"Well," started Phoebe, again in that false cheerful voice. "That was quite unexpected."

Paige snorted from beside her .

"That's coming from someone who can see the future."

Piper interrupted them before they could get into a squabble.

"We all should have foreseen this. We just didn't want to think about that."

They were sitting together in the kitchen, while the rest of the family had dispersed. The awkward dinner was long finished, and some of the children either disappeared to their rooms (Wyatt and Melinda) or left to their business. Chris and Bianca were the first to leave, Chris shooting them angry glares all the way.

Well, Piper supposed she couldn't blame him. They didn't exactly made his girlfriend most welcome.

"That doesn't change anything, does it?" Phoebe was the first to speak again. "I mean, it doesn't matter what happened in the past. They are here now and they love each other. We should be happy for them!" She sounded like she tried to convince herself as much as the others.

Piper shot her a critical look.

"You're forgetting the part about her being a Phoenix. How do we know she's not dangerous? She could do something to him and-" Piper felt nausea at the thought that the girl might be trying to kill her son right now.

"You're all exaggerating," came an annoyed voice from the door, and all sisters turned to see Victor standing there with hands on his hips.

"You were eavesdropping!" accused Phoebe, pointing her finger at him.

Victor rolled his eyes and slid into the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

"I don't know what your problem is," he decided to ignore the comment. "Bianca seems like a perfectly nice lady. Which, unfortunately, couldn't be said about you." He looked at all three of them with a disapproving frown.

Piper scowled, refusing to surrender.

"You don't know who she is," she stated coldly.

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," Victor crossed his arms against his chest and looked at them sternly. "And if I'm right, and I think I am, then there is a very easy solution to all your worries."

The sisters exchanged glances, before Phoebe tentatively asked:

"What?"

"Tell him the truth," was the blunt answer.

Piper felt taken aback.

"What?" Her voice sounded incredulous, and she looked at her father as if he grew a second head.

Victor didn't seem amused by her reaction.

"I don't know what's so strange about that. If that girl is supposed to be dangerous, wouldn't it be better to warn him beforehand?"

Before Piper could make some scalding remark, Phoebe cut in.

"But we can do that without telling him everything," she paused, then said in a gentler tone. "Why should we burden him with this? He might feel pressured, or guilty, or something. He's happy now, why change that?"

Her eyes pleaded at him to understand, and Victor felt himself sagging with resignation. He at least tried.

"Girls," he shook his head sadly and left the room.

For a moment there was a silence, before Paige piped up.

"Right, so what do we do about our Phoenix problem?"

"That was worse than I expected."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

Bianca sighed and sagged against him.

"No. But it was still awful."

Chris hummed in agreement, snuggling her closer to himself.

No one said anything for a long moment, and they sat there in a comfortable silence. The park they were in was mostly bereft of people, so it was a nice change after the full house they just left.

Finally, Bianca broke the silence.

"Do you think they will eventually tell you?" The question was hesitant, and there was a brief pause while Chris contemplated the answer.

"No," he finally said. "Not until I ask them, and you saw how they reacted earlier. They don't want to talk about it, hell, they even don't want to think about it." There was resignation in his words, but it lasted only a second, before he turned his gaze to her and smiled. "But it's alright. I know it's painful for them, and I wouldn't want them to feel bad because of that," he mused.

Then, in a much more cheerful voice:

"Well, there's always my grandpa and your mom. Wasn't it for them, we'd probably go crazy with these dreams."

Bianca snorted.

"I wouldn't call my mom helpful. At first she was even worse than your family when I told her about you."

Chris's lips curled into a rueful smile.

"That's true."

Bianca looked at him from behind her eyelashes.

"And what will you do when they come to vanquish me?"

Chris laughed and brought her closer to himself, their foreheads now touching each other.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they won't vanquish my fiancée."

Their lips met, and for that moment nothing more mattered.

AN: The end! After some time, but it's finally here. It was originally meant to be two chapters, for both Bianca and Victor (though at the beginning it was supposed to be Wyatt) but then I decided that it would be better to include them in the same chapter. So it's significantly longer than the previous ones.

I hope all doubts are cleared about Chris' memory?

Thank you for reading this story, and please tell me one last time what you think about it!

~Rilliane