"Vicious demon with supernatural strength and venomous claws," Chris read, "manticores communicate in high-pitched cries and tend to travel in packs." He nodded, "Great, well, I say we get rid of the little brat before the pack comes looking for him."

Piper sighed, "Ok, fine. What do you suggest we do with him, call social services?"

"No," he said, clearly not amused by her sarcasm. "I suggest you vanquish it."

"No," CJ chimed, causing Chris to roll his eyes before turning to look at her; she still had the baby in her arms, and he wanted nothing more than to just snatch him from her and vanquish him, himself. "Chris, he's still a baby. You're walking around so concerned for Wyatt, but encouraging us to kill a baby just because he can't control who his parents are?"

The brunette furrowed his brows, "Wyatt's different; that is a demon. He's evil, Carina, why aren't you accepting that?"

"No matter how evil he is, we can't just go around vanquishing babies." Piper reasoned, waving her arms in exaggeration.

"It's not about how evil he is, it's about how evil he will be. You guys have to stop looking at him like he's a little baby, and start looking at him like he's an unstoppable killing machine, 'cause that's what he is."

The baby woke, looking into CJ's misty blue eyes immediately. She recognized that look — it was fear; he was afraid to die, as an infant. It shattered her heart, and she walked past Chris and Piper without any words, picking up a teddy bear that she had brought up from her room. She handed it to him, letting him hug the bear as she watched him with a sad smile.

She knew Chris was right, but at the same time, he wasn't; she agreed with Paige, about the whole nurture defeats nature thing. She was raised by her father, a really kind and powerful witch, before Cole had shown up and ruined everything. He was her brother, yes, but he snatched away the good from her life and drove her into the deep end of evil. She didn't have a choice, and she knew that this baby was just like her in that aspect. She promised herself that she wouldn't let her kid turn out like Cole, whenever she would even see him again.

Chris and Piper continued to go back-and-forth, before the shaggy brunette looked over to CJ. He noticed the twinkle of happiness in her eyes, one he'd never seen before; he realized that he didn't know much, if anything, about her. He smiled lightly at the sight of her happy, before orbing out to get Leo to try and convince Piper to vanquish the baby.

Piper took a deep breath, approaching her friend. She sat on the couch next to her, a small smile on her lips as she observed the sight. "You're really passionate that he can be raised to be good, aren't you?" She asked, placing her hand on the woman's shoulder.

CJ turned her head, nodding. "Yeah; I mean, I was, so why can't he be?"

"CJ, the difference between you two is that, you didn't have two types of demon genes coursing through your system. You were raised by your dad, who was a witch. . . but you went down a really evil path when Cole showed up."

"I didn't have a choice in that," she reminded, furrowing her brows at the woman's words. "You know that, Piper. Cole kidnapped me and drove me into the Underworld, I didn't enjoy who I was when he came into my life." She looked back to the baby, "I thought you'd consider that." She muttered, before Piper nodded and walked off.

...

Piper had taken Wyatt to the attic, causing the baby to scream in result of being separated from his new friend; CJ was trying her hardest to calm him down, when a creature appeared in the corner of the room.

"Please," he began, causing the half-witch to spin around with the baby in her arms, "give me my son." He began, slowly approaching her. She backed up, the baby held protectively in her arms.

"No," she began, "I will not allow you to raise him to be one of you."

The child blinked out of the room, into the attic with Wyatt, Piper, and Phoebe. The demon charged towards her, causing her to blink out of the way and reappear in the spot he'd just been in. He spun to face her, charging again.

She launched an energy ball toward him, but had unexpectedly been grabbed from behind by him — he'd blinked behind her; she screamed for help, causing the two sisters to rush downstairs at the sound. They watched as she'd been blinked away, a pleading look of desperation sparkling in her eyes as the scenery changed from the manor, to an abandoned house somewhere in the city.

CJ was thrown to the ground, rolling and swiftly landing on her feet. She slowly turned to face the demon, unwillingly changing into her demon form. Her skin was just like her brother's had been; crimson red with black markings. The whites of her eyes turned black, and she released an aggravated scream.

...

Chris and Leo orbed to the attic, causing Paige to turn and shush them. "Don't wake the baby, trust me."

The two looked to the playpen, before Chris widened his eyes. The baby wouldn't let anyone take him from CJ; "Where's Carina?" He asked, his tone calm. He'd hoped that she was just downstairs, on her way up, until Phoebe had spoken.

"You know, that's a really good question." She said, motioning toward the scry.

"Wait, she's missing?!" Chris exclaimed, his eyes wild with concern as Piper entered the attic.

"Yep. Phoebe and I saw her get taken; the baby blinked up here to be next to Wyatt, so we ran downstairs because we knew something was wrong."

"Did the Manticores take her?" Chris asked, anxiously running his hand through his hair as he paced back and forth.

"No," Phoebe said, "some other creature that wanted the baby."

"Dammit, I told her she wouldn't be able to handle this." He sighed, continuing to pace. The sisters and Leo shared a look, before the blond Elder placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and stopped him. "You guys should've listened to me, you should've vanquished the baby when you had the chance."

"Trust me, wherever she is, she's handling herself just fine." He reassured, earning a puzzled look from the brunette, "I just don't know for how long. . . Any ideas on where they took her?" He asked, looking to the sisters as his words echoed through Chris' skull.

Why were they so confident in her? Why weren't they freaking out as much as he was?