I (again) am unbelievably sorry that I did have not uploaded in the last, what is it, almost a month? I wanted to change some things in this chapter, but I realized that I am not going to have the time to do so and still actually give you the chapter. So here it is, hopefully it truly is better late than never

Ch. 14

He orbed to his usual spot to think, swearing the whole way. If Phoebe hadn't walked in... he swore again. Damn, he was going to—well, if he'd have shut the door that might not have happened. Wait, it was Phoebe, what was he thinking? He'd have to lock and bolt the door to keep her out. Whatever. Next time, he'd… hold up, next time? Was he really considering a next time? He thought about it… and came up with definitely. Hell, he was planning on it. He had to wonder now what had stopped him before. He'd known Amber for months, but he'd never tried anything. Oh, right. He'd had a few reasons. There was the big reason—the reason he'd come here was for Wyatt. But he'd taken care of some demons that were after him, and he hadn't done anything but work on finding more demons since he'd gotten here. And everyone was always bugging him to get a life outside of demons anyway. He could still keep an eye on Wyatt and have a life. He wanted her, he knew she wanted him. It was obvious. This was a good thing. It would make all of this a hell of a lot easier.

Amber sighed, glaring down the stairs. She should go talk to Phoebe. If they all found out…she hadn't expected her paltry attempt at a spell to work so she hadn't anticipated what she would do if the sisters found out about her mischief. She reluctantly went downstairs and found Phoebe on the couch in the living room. She plopped down on the couch beside her. "Phoebe…"

Phoebe looked like she felt terrible. "I am so sorry, Amber. I really had no idea. I was just worried about you."

"It's okay. Just…" Amber was biting her lip.

Phoebe gave her a suspicious look. "Why are you nervous?" She peered closer at Amber, "You're hiding something from me."

Amber wrestled with her conscience for several moments. She finally said slowly, "You have to promise not to tell anyone."

Phoebe wrinkled her face up. "I can try. I'm really, really lousy at keeping secrets."

"Can you try? This is really important." Amber begged.

"Okay. I promise." Phoebe gave in. She really had to know now.

"I cast a love spell on Chris." Amber blurted.

"You what?" Phoebe didn't know whether to laugh or scold her. "On Chris? Sweetie, you know that's dangerous right? Love spells always backfire."

"It doesn't seem to have so far." Amber wore a worried expression. "Look, it's only temporary, okay? It's supposed to wear off in like 3 or 4 weeks."

Phoebe looked worried as well. "Almost a month?"

She caved at the sight of Amber's puppy eyes. "I guess we can give it a try. If something goes wrong, you'll have to fix it. I can't help you on this one."

"I know." Amber sucked in her breath. "I can deal with whatever happens. I promise."

It was the next day when Phoebe was in the kitchen, slicing a banana into a cereal bowl that Chris orbed in to talk to her. "Phoebe." He greeted her, snagging an apple from the fruit bowl on the table and biting into it. "Hey, do you have any ideas for where I could take Amber today?" He queried, utterly without shame. Phoebe smiled, but continued slicing. "Why don't you try asking her where she wants to go?"

He waved a finger at her. "Good idea." And he wandered off, apple still in hand.

Amber trotted downstairs, only to bump immediately into Chris. She automatically started to back up and apologize, but he gripped her shoulder to keep her still, and unexpectedly asked "Hey, are you busy today?"

"No…" She answered, looking at him curiously. "Why?"

Typical enigmatic half smile. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something."

She blushed as she recalled what exactly went on last time she'd seen him. "Like what?"

He shrugged, still with the enigmatic smile on his lips. "Whatever you want."

Whatever she wanted? There was an idea. She tried to think of the appropriate response, all the while wishing she could smack her head against the wall a few dozen times without him giving her funny looks. "Um. I don't know. I really don't know." She thought about it. Then she willed her mind out of the gutter. "Well…I haven't been to P3 in awhile," She ventured. His smile was amused now. "Think bigger than San Francisco. We can go anywhere you want."

That significantly expanded her possibilities. . She still didn't know what to pick though. She gave a slight smile. "Surprise me."

There was a moment of silence while he apparently considered options. The wicked smile making its way across his lips was starting to really worry her.

"What?" She blurted.

"Are you a virgin?"

No wonder he was smirking. Her cheeks flamed as she tried to stammer out a response. Luckily she was saved by Paige, who was standing a few feet away, having just walked in. Just in time to hear him say that…God, this was embarrassing. Paige's expression was utterly disgusted. "Christopher Halliwell, did you really just ask that? That is so rude, you never ask a woman about her love life."

He shrugged at her in response, still smirking. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Right..." Paige quirked an eyebrow expectantly, folded her arms, and inquired "So how did you mean it?"

"I just meant…" He sighed. "Ask Phoebe."

"Fine. I will." Paige flounced to the kitchen, presumably to do just that. Chris returned his attention to Amber, who was still scarlet. "You ready?"

Amber recovered enough to say, "Depends. Where are we going?"

The rare grin, accompanied with, "You'll see. Don't worry."

Why was she more worried than ever? Just the same, she took his hand and squeezed her eyes closed when he orbed.

"Ask Phoebe, ask Phoebe!" Phoebe threw her hands up into the air in a melodramatic show of exasperation. "Tell me, is there anyone on this planet who doesn't Ask Phoebe?"

Paige rolled her eyes at her older sister's display. "You know, Phoebes, you really should take a vacation one of these days."

Phoebe looked at her for a moment, then deflated, dropping her hands to her sides.

"I know. I just don't have the time."

"Make time." Refusing to be deterred, she gave Phoebe a gimlet stare. "So, what's the deal with Chris?"

Phoebe's eyes went wide and she hurriedly replied without daring to look at Paige, "What do you mean? He seems perfectly fine to me."

"Are you kidding?" Paige's eyebrow went way up. "He's acting bizarre, and he told me you'd tell me what was going on. Why exactly did he ask Amber if she was a virgin?"

"I have no idea." Phoebe was still looking away.

"I don't think so, sister. He told me to ask you, so you obviously know something that I don't."

Phoebe compressed her lips to keep from blurting out the secret. She looked like she was ready to explode. Paige already had her trademark I-know-you're-gonna-spill-so-do-it-already smirk in place. "Come on, Phoebe. Spill."

"Spell!" Phoebe blurted out. "Amber put Chris under a love spell." At first she looked horrified at her own failure, then relieved to have gotten it off her chest. "See? No big deal."

"Ooh, a love spell?" Paige's eyebrows rose suggestively.

"Yeah." Phoebe was all one big sigh of relief right then. "But I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone, so you've got to keep your mouth shut."

"Oh, right. Cause Piper's old."

"Excuse me? I'm what?" Piper interjected, dropping her keys on the counter. Phoebe jumped guiltily and Paige covered by saying, "Well, no offense Piper, but married equals old in my book." She shrugged.

"Hey, I am not old." Piper said defensively. "I am still fun. I still get the whole unmarried and irresponsible thing."

"Hey, I'm not irresponsible." Paige argued.

This argument could last forever, Phoebe thought, wondering if she should stop them or not.

Amber promptly slipped and fell on her ass when she found herself on solid ground again. She glared at Chris when he laughed at her and, refusing his hand, stubbornly got up by herself. "So, where are we?" She asked.

"Nice try." He still wasn't gonna tell her? He had to be kidding. She dusted off the back of her pants. "Okay, so what do we do, then?"

"Wait." With that, he took a seat on the ground. Amber made a face. Well, hell. She might as well have stayed on the ground then. She plopped back down next to him somewhat gracelessly, hoping her jeans wouldn't end up damp. "What are we waiting for?"

His gaze flicked back to her face. "I told you. You'll see." He continued. "I'm pretty sure one will show up…" He scanned the trees around them. Amber followed his gaze, hoping to get a clue of what exactly he was looking for. "They're curious…they'll come sniffing around."

"So…. what are we waiting for?" She asked again. She reasoned that it had to be a creature of some sort. If it was gonna be "sniffing" around.

This time, he just looked at her.

"Well….?"

No response. A frustrated huff.

"You are extremely unhelpful."

"I know." He finally said. She huffed at him again before trying a different tactic. "Please?"

He rolled his eyes. "No."

"Please?"

"No."

A pout. "Pleeeaaaassseee?"

Exasperated. "No."

"Why not? She was equally exasperated. He didn't answer, but a smirk was playing about his lips and upon closer scrutiny she realized he wasn't looking at her. He was looking just slightly to the left of her face. Why? What was he—"GACK!" She felt something snuffle at her shoulder and jerked away, and looked with wide eyes at the horse—wait, that wasn't a horse, there was a spear-like horn growing out of its—"Holy shit!" she blurted. "Is that actually a unicorn?"

The raised eyebrow suggested that she was, as she'd long believed, crazy. "Yeah. Unless you know about any other white horses with horns growing out of their heads."

She gave him a dirty look and then returned her gaze to the unicorn. "That is so cool! I thought you guys were myths! Can I pet him?"

"Sure. They're good."

"So that's why you asked me that weird question earlier." She marveled. "Wait, does being a virgin have anything to do with whether they like you or not?"

A lazy smile. "Myth. If any girl sat still long enough, they'd be surrounded by them."

"Surrounded?" But even as she looked, she noticed another unicorn cautiously poking its head out from the trees. She concentrated on stroking the soft creamy fur of the one next to her. He—or was it a she? She didn't know anything about unicorn anatomy—flopped down into the grass with what was almost a groan. It rested its head on her knee. "Um. They don't drool, right?"

He laughed at that. "Maybe. It's not like I spend my spare time here."

"Good thing. Otherwise I'd worry about your sexuality." She looked at him in an exaggerated display of wide-eyed alarm. Instead of the offense she'd expected him to take and the protests she'd expected him to make, his lips slipped into a smug sort of smile as he responded, "Actually, unicorns are symbolic of masculinity and were believed to have powers to make men more virile."

Amber hesitated, decided she had to know, and then blurted, "Is that a myth?"

A glance at the unicorn next to him, and, "I don't know. You want to find out?"

Amber tried, and failed, to fight the furious blush rising to her cheeks. "Uh. Um. I." She rubbed her hand through her hair nervously. "Actually. Yeah."

A flicker of surprise in his eyes, and his eyebrow rose, before he smirked, pushed her hair out of the way, tugged the sleeve of her shirt down her arm, and laid his lips to the bared skin. She uttered a surprised gasp as his lips moved from her shoulder down her collarbone. The gasp turned into a giggle when she saw a unicorn sniff his hair and then start munching on it. She couldn't see his face, but she could feel the sudden jolt of surprise that went through him.

"It's eating my hair, isn't it?" He gave a resigned sigh as he straightened. Amber nodded and another giggle slipped out. He pushed the unicorn's head away, shooting it an annoyed look. He ran a hand through his hair, the back of it wet and sticking up from the unicorn's antics. "I need a shower." He sounded so put out that Amber had to hide her mirth when she suggested, "Why don't we go back so you can shower?"

"You sure? I can go and come back for you in ten min—"

Amber interrupted him, "No… I'm good. There's only so much I can do for entertainment here anyway." She put her hand on his shoulder to ready herself for that disorienting moment of molecular dispersion, but this time she kept her eyes open.

She promptly regretted this when her butt hit the floor—again—and she was dizzy for several moments. "That is the worst mode of transportation in the world!" She spat as she gripped the side of the wall to stand up.

"You'll get used to it." Piper's lips twitched up into a smile at Amber's balance problem.

"I doubt it." Amber was mildly frustrated and embarrassed at the same time. When her senses had fully returned to her, she put a hand on her hip and mock glared at Piper. "Where'd you come from, anyway?"

"I was just standing here, where'd you come from?" Piper retorted. Amber looked around. They were in the kitchen and Piper was cooking dinner. "Oh. Sorry."

Piper glanced at Chris. "What happened to your….never mind. I don't want to know."

Paige walked in. "I'm gonna—whoa, Chris, what happened to your hair?" She inspected the back of his head.

Chris didn't deign to respond. "I need a shower."

Piper, Paige, and Amber all watched him go. "What's wrong with him?" Paige asked, sounding almost insulted. Piper shook her head slightly and reached for the wooden spoon. "I stopped asking myself that a long time ago…"

Amber and Paige both laughed.

"Now, what were you saying, Paige?" Piper asked, stirring whatever was in the pot on the stove.

"Oh. I can't remember now. What's for dinner?" Paige peered into the pot on the stove, before getting shooed away from the stove by Piper. "Nothing if you don't stop distracting me. Go… do something. Elsewhere. As in, not here."

Paige crinkled her nose at her sister in mock-annoyance. Before exiting the room, though, Paige sniffed the air and said, "Do I smell…is that unicorn?"

Amber twitched. They could smell her? Out loud she said, "I need to go change."

As she was leaving the kitchen, she could hear Piper asking Paige, "How do you know what unicorns smell like?"

"Remember when…"

She heard the spray of the shower as she passed by the bathroom, and reminded herself to take one before bed. In the meantime…she closed the door behind her automatically when she entered her room. Her mind wandered to that afternoon. She passed by her dresser and spotted her reflection in the mirror above it. She reached for her makeup bag and spilled the contents over the dresser. She selected her favorite shade of red and started filling in her lips with the rich color.

Finished showering and toweling off, Chris eyed the still-fogged mirror. He wiped a circle in it—not something his mother would thank him for later—and checked out his hair. It was still a complete mess. He combed his fingers through it to try and make it look presentable and then grimaced at his reflection. He could almost hear the crack not-evil Wyatt would have made about his primping.

Amber capped the eyeliner. Not bad, she mused. She almost regretted it now, seeing as she really had nothing to do that involved makeup being necessary, and it would be a pain in the ass to remove later. Oh well. She rolled her smoky, lined blue eyes at herself, and smiled. She couldn't even try to pretend that she wasn't hoping that Chris was going to surprise her again. She changed out of her unicorn-ish smelling clothes into another pair of jeans and a one-shoulder white ruffled blouse. Barefoot, she walked out of the room, thinking she'd go see if Piper was allowing people in the kitchen yet. On her way towards the stairs, she literally bumped into Chris. He'd changed too, she guessed that he'd orbed back to his room to get a change of clothes as well, and put a button up shirt on over his tee shirt. She grinned at his hair. It was normal again. "Nice hair." She teased.

He shot her an annoyed look. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Probably not." She agreed.

He sighed and shook his head slightly, but continued down the stairs, and she trotted down behind him.

Paige saw them first, and a sly smile perked up the corners of her lips. "Hey, you guys look good…where are you going?"

"Nowhere." They both said at the same time.

"Oh, come on. Seriously, do you guys never have fun? Jeez, Chris, take a break, you guys…go out to dinner or something." Paige sounded almost annoyed. "Here." She jotted down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Chris.

"And who's going to be bankrolling this?" He gave a doubtful look to his aunt. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, right. Whitelighter."

"Hey, if I hadn't come back here to—"

Paige waved off the beginnings of one of his rants. "Just go. I've got ya covered, okay? Just don't say I never did anything for you."

Chris looked down at the paper and looked back at Amber. "What do you think?"

"I think I'll go get my shoes." Before she walked out, she turned to look back at him, "Oh. And can we take my car instead orbing?"

He chuckled. "Sure."

Paige watched them leave, then reached for her cell phone, dialed the number, and waited. "Hello? Is Damian there? Yeah. Hey…" Her voice shifted to her most seductive tone. "Remember that favor you owe me?"

A/N

Initially I wrote this because I thought it had been long overdue that they have some supremely adorable fluff moments, so I went totally overboard. That said, I also couldn't help that think that what Chris did in this chapter was pretty typical guy stuff – trying to impress a girl with something fluffy and ridiculously cute. Things should be winding down within a couple of weeks, hopefully. We're filming the first episode of the web-series on Saturday so I should have more time to write when we're finished with that. And thank you so much for those of you that are still reading this, for bearing with me.