Puppy Love

[mcharmed21]

Author: Blueness

(This is set after Chris Crossed. The sisters get a new addition to their family but he isn't what he seems to be, lol. Oh yes, this is the teaser, )

It was a bright, sunny morning. However, the residents of the Halliwell Manor would soon discover an alarming surprise on their front steps for lying stretched out on the cement was a gorgeous little puppy of dark golden fur. Black silts proclaimed that its eyes were shut tight and the puppy's soft pelt was ragged and tangled with twigs and leaves. Sure enough, when the front door opened, what a hurried-looking Paige Matthews saw was the still puppy.
Her eyes widened at the sight of poor creature and she called back over her shoulder, bending down to pick it up, "Um...Phoebe, Piper, we've got company!"

"Aww come on Piper, can't we keep him? He doesn't have an ID or anything," Paige insisted to her big sister while she washed the very much awake puppy.
After a rushed explaination from Paige and slight hesitation, a bath had been run. While the pup was reviving Piper pointed out the fact that this was too circumstancial and could be some sort of a trap or something but Phoebe said once they had this sorted out then they could decide whether or not this was connected to their being the Charmed Ones.
Now however, the pup was gazing up at the trio gathered around it rather innocently, bright black eyes with silvers of green adorably large and almost questioning. Its two front paws were placed comfortably on the white surface of the bathtub which had been half-filled with warm water. Brown dirt was spreading away from the damp pup, his scruffy tail wagging energetically through the water making ripples of brown and other substances and items that had collected in his coat.
"No Paige, it's a stray so we'll have to take it to the pound. We can't keep it," Piper said firmly, shaking her head.
"How is it that you can't like a cute little thing like this?" Paige cooed, scrubbing the pup gently with soap.
"Why don't we name him?" Phoebe suddenly said, kneeling down beside Paige to help hold the pup which had just wriggled at the touch of the soap, splashing a bit of water over the edge of the tub.
When both her sisters stared at her for her random words she shrugged, looking sheepish, "We can't just call it 'he' and 'it' all the time."
"You're right," Paige agreed. "So any ideas?"
"What about...wait a second, how we know it's a he or a she?" Phoebe asked, puzzled.
Piper sighed and said, striding over to the edge, "There's one way."
"Eeeew, Piper!" Phoebe cried, disgusted and amused at the same time.
"I think it's a boy anyway," Paige said hastily, glancing cautiously at Piper.
"Okay, so what do you want to call it?" Piper questioned, raising a brow at them.
"Spike," Phoebe suggested.
"He doesn't look and act like a Spike Phoebe," Paige objected. "What about Rascal?"
"Rascal?" Phoebe echoed back doubtfully.
"Yeah, Rascal sounds better," Paige nodded, smiling.
"Alright Rascal," Phoebe looked to Piper.
"Go for it," was her shrugged reply.
"You know, he's looking at you a lot," Paige commented curiously, having just noticed that indeed, the pup was gazing at her a quite often.
"Ooookay, thanks a lot for telling me that," Piper pulled a bit of a weird face but a small smile crossed her visage as she gazed back at the pup, softening under its lovable stare, "Just...keep an eye on him alright? I'll be downstairs, feeding Wyatt."
When Piper closed the door behind her she bit her lip, still unsure about their animal visitor but she brushed her worries away and headed downstairs. She lightly berated herself as she took the baby food down from the pantry. It was only a puppy after all, what harm could it possibly do?

[mcharmed21]

"Well, Rascal's getting the full cleaning treatment from Paige now," Phoebe said as she entered the living room where Piper was busily trying to spoon some baby food into a refusing Wyatt.
"I thought she already cleaned him enough?" Piper asked just as Wyatt's hand randomly hit the unattended spoon of food and it dropped onto her leg. She sighed, shooting Phoebe who was keeping a straight face a 'Don't say a word' look and then began to scrape it off.
At that precise moment a flurry of white lights appeared in the room to solidify into their WhiteLighter, Chris. He was covered so much with rather disgusting green slime that in fact, the only way they knew it was him was that he had just wiped away the slime on his face and that he had orbed in.
"What happened to you?" Phoebe asked with a wide-eyed stare, walking over to him.
"Nothing...it was just a demon," Chris answered evasively while he mopped off more of the gunk from his sleeves.
It fell with a sick plop onto the carpet, adding to the glob that had fallen when Chris had wiped his face.
"How can it be nothing when you have a whole bunch of demon crud on you? Demons don't usually, literally speaking, spew their insides out when we vanquish them," Piper pointed out, standing up and fixing an accusing gaze on him. "Chris, remember what we talked about after the Bianca episode? About not keeping secrets from each other?"
Piper was overlooking the fact that he was dripping green slime on the floor, inadvertantly messing the carpet up to a more pressing matter to deal with.
"It's nothing. Really," Chris tried to reassure them although something didn't ring true about his voice. "This demon was a Slime Demon and well, when I blew him up I forgot to take cover." Before any of them could say anything more he gestured to Phoebe, "Do you mind making a spell to clean me up?" He glanced down to the muck around his feet and added, "And the carpet."
"Sure," Phoebe said. She chanted a spell and in about one second Chris was slime-free.
"Thanks," Chris said. He then orbed, disappearing in a shower of white lights.
"Did you sense anything from him?" Piper asked Phoebe.
"Nope," Phoebe shook her head and continued, "But you didn't believe his story did you?"
"Not really no. At least not all of it," Piper replied, walking towards the kitchen, holding the spoon.
"I hope he's not hiding anything from us again," Phoebe said as she followed Piper.
"Let's hope," Piper nodded.

***

Chris hadn't exited the Manor as he orbed out but reappeared in the attic. He had immediately crossed over to the Book of Shadows and began to flip the pages, obviously searching for something. He paused however, as he heard the sound of yips floating through the open attic door. Puzzlement passed his features, frowning slightly. That had sounded like...a dog. He took a quick survey outside. No, there weren't any dogs on the street and he doubted that the sound could reach up all the way to the second level of the house and anyway, it was definitely coming from inside the house. Weird. He left the attic, leaving the book open. He would come back later to resume his search.

Chris stopped in shock at the strangest sight that he had ever seen in his life, well not exactly strange but probably the least likely to be seen in the Halliwell Manor. Paige was holding a small shining golden puppy in her arms, cooing at it. There was also a very soapy smell about it and Chris was sure that the poor thing had been scrubbed down rather hard.
"Paige, why do we have a dog?" Chris said incredulously, coming up to her. His expression was astounding as he gazed at the animal.
"Oh, hey Chris," Paige jumped, startled at Chris' arrival and blunt greeting. "He's not a dog, he's a puppy and his name's Rascal. Why, can't we have a pup?" She continued, starting down the steps.
"Since when did you decide to have one anyway? Under the circumstances, what were you thinking?" Chris asked defiantly, following her.
"Calm down, it's not like a demon will come specifically to try to kill a pup and we found him on the doorstep," Paige soothed. "He was practically exhausted."
"And you don't think it's odd that a puppy happens to come along on your doorstep, the Charmed Ones?" Chris gave her a questioning look.
"Yes, a thousand times. We're all thinking the same thing but there's nothing suspicious yet so quit worrying already," Paige sighed, turning to smile reassuringly at him.
Chris studied the puppy closely, his eyes snapping to its eyes as he noticed the glinting tints of green in them and a sudden suspicion dawned upon him. He stared at it in amazement, brows furrowed slightly in bewilderment. No...it couldn't be, could it?
"...Chris, you okay?" Paige looked at her WhiteLighter in clear bemusement and surprise, voice tenative. He looked at Rascal as if he was seeing a whole new person.
"Wait here, I'll be back," Chris shook his head, snapping of it and orbing out.
Paige wore an expression of utter confusion now but Rascal suddenly wriggled out of her arms, landed with a slight stumble and yelp on the carpeted floor and then darted straight for the kitchen.
"Where are you going?!" Paige cried, making a grab for it instantly but missing. She quickly chased after it, wondering wryly if her day could get any weirder.