The Best Long Kept Secret Ever

Chapter One

Silence Is Not Always Golden

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe, have just been enjoying four months of demon free days and nights, hanging out together, working at their jobs, calling each other on their lunch breaks, and then doing some break dancing at P3 almost every night, then back at it for work the next morning. Prue's at home one Saturday, waiting for Piper and Phoebe to get back from the store when she keeps thinking that she hears something upstairs.

"Oh don't you dare, tell me there's a damn demon around here. It's been the most peaceful four months we've ever had, and then all hell breaks loose." Prue says, thinking out loud. She goes upstairs to investigate, and the closer she gets to the attic, she swears up and down that she's hearing Grams and her Mom.

"We have to tell her Mother. There's no hiding the fact anymore, that there's not just the three of them. They have a right to know." Patty tells her. About that time, Prue walks into the attic.

"Mom? Grams? Hi. What are you guys doing here?" Prue asks the both of them, and Thank God that she didn't hear everything that they had said to each other.

"Just dropped by to see how things were going around here. We know that there haven't been any attacks for awhile, and we just figured we would see how the three of you are enjoying your break. What's new?" Patty replies, and Prue drops into the chair to talk to them for awhile.

"It'd be even better if Piper and Phoebe would get back home, and soon. I'm starving half to death, there's nothing here that sounds or looks good, and whenever they get back, Piper promised that it's her treat at Quake tonight. Oh, don't worry, Phoebe and I will most likely pitch in on the bill." Prue says, when she hears the front door open. Grams and Patty say that they have to be going, so they hug Prue and kiss her on the cheek, and when they're gone, Prue goes back down to greet her sisters and ask what took them so long to get home.

That evening at Quake, the girls are having a nice dinner, just buzzing back and forth about the next band that's coming to P3, when Phoebe looks up and across the room, she sees a woman who looks identical to Prue, walk in and order something to go.

"Hey Penelope. What can I get for you today?" Martin asks, while giving her a quick hug. Martin hadn't even noticed, seeing as how he doesn't see Prue or talk to her much, that Penelope is a dead ringer for her.

"Just a bacon cheeseburger, small order of seasoned fries, and a medium coke to go please. I'll just be out in my car, and I'll come back here in a few minutes. I need to call my Mom and ask her something." Penelope tells him.

"You got it honey. It should be done in around fifteen minutes. Oh, and Penelope. You do know don't ya, that we have other stuff here too?" Martin replies.

"Yeah I know. Once I get stuck on one certain thing, I can never find the urge to switch to something new. My friend got me started on these. Be back in a few." Penelope says, and when she turns to go outside, she sees Phoebe looking her way. Penelope just smiles and waves, and then goes to her car.

"Pheebes, hey. What's up? You're off a million miles away somewhere." Prue says, while snapping her fingers to get her attention. Phoebe's gaze is still toward the entrance when she finally responds to Prue's finger snapping.

"There was a woman who walked in here to get something to go, and Martin told her that her order would be done in around fifteen minutes. Well the funny thing is, Prue, she looks just like you. I swear to you, this woman had to have been your long lost twin or something." Phoebe tells her.

"My twin? Very funny. Good one Pheebes." Prue replies. They sit and continue to have their dinner, when Penelope comes back in and Phoebe tells Prue to look over there at the bar. Prue sighs but gives in and looks that way. Piper does too.

"Oh my God. Prue, she wasn't lying. That woman is a dead ringer for you. What the hell?" Piper says, and the only thing Prue can respond with is, "I heard Mom and Grams earlier in the attic. I didn't catch any part of their conversation but, I for sure heard them talking about something. They said that they only dropped by to see us for a bit. Wait here."

"Prue? Where are you going?" Piper asks. Prue doesn't even answer her, but instead she walks up to the bar to talk to the mystery woman and hopefully get some answers.

"Here ya go honey. How long are you in town for this time?" Martin asks Penelope, while she pays for her order.

"I'm heading back home in a few days. I had some business here in San Francisco, and when I get back to San Diego, It's back to work as usual Monday." Penelope tells him and when she turns to head out, she runs into Prue, and her chin just drops.

Chapter Two

Why Did You Lie To Us?

"Grams! Mom! Come out here. Someone's telling me something tonight. I don't care if I have to call into work in the morning because we stayed up all night talking. Get down here!" Prue hollers when they get back to the manor, and she's now making her way up to the attic, and she's on the war path the whole way there, with Phoebe and Piper behind her.

"What's all the racket for honey?" Patty asks, showing up in her bright white lights.

"There was a woman at Quake tonight. She lives in San Diego, she looks just like me, and I want answers. Mom, when she turned to leave there tonight, she stood face to face with me, and her chin about hit the floor like she was looking into a mirror or something. Yes, her hair is way longer than mine, but she's identical to me. Please. Tell me why she looks so much like me." Prue begs and pleads and Patty tells her to sit down.

"Is her name Penelope?" Patty asks.

"Yes. Martin, Piper's boss, called her by name." Prue replies.

"Her name is Penelope Mae Halliwell. At least, her maiden name was Halliwell before your Father and I had to give her up. We only did that because of your Grams. She kept saying that the ancient prophecy said that there would be only three of you at a time, to carry out your destiny as witches. As The Charmed Ones. So, the prophecy said that since there would be only three of you, one of the twins had to leave. They knew that two more of you girls were on the way after my first pregnancy. Of course your Father and I couldn't just kill her off, no way. I wouldn't have let that happen and neither would your Grams. So, we took Penelope to the children's home, with a note saying, that we at least wanted her first and middle name to remain Penelope Mae since she had a twin sister named Prudence Maria. I've been looking in on her from time to time, and she is a very successful doctor in San Diego. I wish I would have been able to tell you this before. No, I wish to God that I never had to do that anyway. You don't seperate twins. You keep them together. Who cares about the whole magical destiny thing and The Charmed Ones anyway? You girls have been doing just fine without any demon attacks the past four months, so why not keep on doing things that way? I never meant to lie to any of you. I'm so sorry for this girls." Patty explains, and Prue is as silent as she can be for about twenty seconds before saying, "I'm going looking for her."

"Prue! Wait, no. Please, come back here and let's talk about this for a minute." Piper says, running after her, hoping that she will stop and talk and not get too worked up.

"I have to find her Piper. I'm going to Quake to talk to Martin and see if he knows anything else about her." Prue tells her. Piper gets up in front of her and says, "Wait. Why don't we instead, go back upstairs and talk to Mom? She can tell us where she's staying at while she's here, and where she lives at in San Diego, plus, she can tell us whatever else we need or want to know." Prue just nods her head yes, and whispers, "Okay."

The next morning, Patty is working a little magic of her own to bring Penelope to the manor by using the lost witch spell, and within an hour, there's a knock at the door.

"Hey. I seen you at Quake yesterday. I think Martin said your name is Penelope, right?" Phoebe says, after answering the door. Penelope just stands there for the longest time before Phoebe tells her she can come inside.

"Yeah. I don't know why, but something inside made me come here today. I seen the three of you at Quake too yesterday. Would you happen to know the woman personally that I ran into?" Penelope asks, while stepping inside, and she instantly gets a smile on her face.

"She's my sister. If you come in here and have a seat, or if you want, come with me up to the attic. I want to show you something." Phoebe replies, just as Prue enters the room. She has Patty and Piper with her.

"Promise me, that you won't run off before we get a chance to talk okay?" Patty tells her and Penelope just nods her head but continues to gaze all around the living room.

An hour after explaining everything to Penelope, she wipes a tear away and says she has to be heading back to the motel.

"Can we see you and hang out sometime?" Prue asks her.

"I'm not sure. She got rid of me. I like my life the way it was before I found out any of this. Let me ask you a question." Penelope replies, then she turns to Patty.

"Of course. You can ask me anything." Patty says.

"You say I'm a witch too right?" Penelope continues.

"Yes. You are." Patty tells her.

"Okay. There was a lost witch spell to bring me here. Where's the spell that allows me to be rid of this whole damn thing? Where's the incantation so I can get back to my life and back home to my job by Monday? Where's the spell that will take away all magical stuff from me?" Penelope replies, asking all sorts of questions.

"There aren't any. Honey, you are who you are. There's no changing it. You are a witch, you are my daughter, and I admit to being stupid enough to give you up so I could make my girls The Charmed Ones. I should never have listened to my Mother when she told me and your Father to do it. I should have fought harder for you than that. I'm so sorry, and I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Please, if you do turn away from me, I don't blame you, but please, don't turn your back on your sisters. They are just as innocent as you are in all of this. I don't ever want for you to think that I never wanted you, because I did. I thought about you all the time and right before I died, for eight years, I went to where you were being raised. I sat across from the school and watched you play at recess as often as I could get there. I love you, no matter what you may think or what you may feel in your heart toward me, I love you and I always will." Patty explains, and that only makes her want to cry even more.

"I'm not turning my back on my sisters. I've not ever had any sisters growing up. As for you, I'm not fully turning away from you when I just met you. I do however, need time to process everything. I'm leaving Sunday afternoon to be able to get across the bridge and back home in time to get stuff done before work Monday. I have a few surgeries lined up and I'm gonna be busy for most of the day." Penelope tells her.

"Oh, you're a surgeon? Awesome baby girl. I just thought that you were a doctor. I didn't know you was a surgeon." Patty replies, and by this time, Penelope actually asks if she can slip her shoes off so she doesn't get even more stuff on the carpet. Patty tells her to make herself at home, and Phoebe says, "Come on Piper. Let's go make some tea." Penelope sits back on the couch for awhile to continue talking to Patty. That's all it took for her to open up to her Mom, was for Patty to mention her work.

"What did you call me just now?" Penelope asks.

"What? Oh, you mean baby girl? Was that the wrong thing to say?" Patty tells her.

"No. It's actually sweet. The lady I grew up with, the one that raised me, she was a real no account. Her and her husband. They never once called me baby girl, or honey, or sweetie, or said I love you to me. They said it once in awhile. I actually do feel at home here, but like I said. I have surgeries lined up every Monday, and I have a shoulder surgery patient too that day." Penelope replies, and they actually sit and talk, and laugh a little bit, and the ice starts to break and the walls finally start coming down for Penelope.

Chapter Three

Thank God! We're Saved

Monday morning early, Penelope is actually running a little behind schedule and when she gets there, she has to run back out in the parking lot for her scrubs. She had actually had just enough time to get them all washed for the week when she got back home, then she forgot her breakfast in the car, then on top of that, she forgot to pack her lunch for the day, so she had to drive back home, fix her lunch, get some relaxing music to listen to on her break when her boss let her catch a couple hours of sleep each day, then take her dog out, and try to get back to work before 6:00 that morning.

"Penny, Penny, Penny. Talk to me girl. What's with the forgetting everything today? Rough weekend?" Her best friend, Jazmine Kyle, asks, while joining her in her car for a few minutes.

"You have no idea. I found out that I was adopted when I was just a few hours old, and I found out that I have a twin sister, plus two other sisters, found out that I'm a witch. I know you aren't going to hold that against me because you've dabbled in Wicca before. Then, I had to hurry and try to get back here in time for work this morning, and I know we have surgeries lined up all the way to the end of this month. Oh, let me have some of that." Penelope tells her, and then she reaches for her cigarette.

"Here. I have a whole brand new pack in my truck. Just get ya one of these." Jazmine replies. They sit and have their smokes and morning coffee, and then realize that it's now 5:50, and that they have to be inside, in their offices, dressed and clocked in and ready to go for their first surgery of the day.

"Are you finally ready for work now?" Penelope's boss asks when he sees her and Jazmine enter the hospital for the third time that morning, and he's handing them some more coffee.

"Yes we are. Maybe not awake all the way yet, but we are here and ready for work." Penelope tells him.

"Oh Thank You God and Lord Jesus above! We're saved. There's no way we could do any of this today without the two of you." The receptionist, Geri Micheals exclaims all excitedly from behind her desk, and she's flipping rubber bands in the air above her in celebration.

"You wouldn't ever leave this crazy place to go to San Francisco would ya? You'd miss it too much." Jazmine tells her.

"Oh no. There's no way I'm leaving. San Diego has always been my home. I'll see ya in the O R." Penelope replies, and she heads into her office to get into her scrubs, and then she makes her way up to the surgery floor to meet with her first patient and her family, to let them know what all's going to be done.

"Good morning guys. How are you today Ms. Thompson?" Penelope asks a young girl that she had seen in her office just a week before her scheduled surgery.

"Really, extremely ready, to get this over with. The sooner I get done with this surgery and recovery process, the sooner I can jump horses again." The girl tells her. She's only 12, and been a trick horse back rider since she was 8.

"That's what I like to hear! I love having positive patients. You're young, and you'll be back on that horse in no time. I hope he wasn't hurt in your accident." Penelope replies with that same smile that Prue has.

"Nope. Just me. So, what all are you going to do to me today?" Martha asks, starting to get scared.

"Oh don't you worry about a thing. I can see that look. Here. I'll show you. I have to make some markings anyway. Right through here, is where I'm going to make the main cut at. Once I have you opened up, I'm going to take this knot off of the bone, and then from there, I'm going to reconstruct the tendons and ligaments, and a joint or two. From there, I'm going to pull your shoulder itself upward to where it's even with the other one, and then put in two screws. One right here, and the other one, over here. This will make your shoulder just like brand new all over again. I know, it sounds pretty scary, but I know you can handle it right?" Penelope explains. She's making the markings on Martha's shoulder and then she heads back into the O R so she can prepare and wash up.

While Penelope has Martha in surgery, she's talking to her while working on her. The other doctors attending are looking at her like she's crazy, but she doesn't even look up from her work and she says, "Don't even begin to give me those looks guys. Patients can hear in their sleep while they are under anesthesia. Continue with your jobs and hand me some gauze over there."

"Come on Martha honey. You didn't tell me just how bad the pain level was girl. From the way this shoulder looks, I'm surprised the pain wasn't at a fifteen. You really did do a number on it when you took that fall last month. Geez. Nurse, I need some help with moving the shoulder itself to where it's even with her right one. See that there, that's how it should be over here." Penelope says, as she talks to both Martha and her attending nurse. Just as she's almost done, Martha tries to wake up.

"Whoa there. Hold it guys. I have to give her some more anesthesia. She's trying to wake up on us." Another nurse named Rose Canfield says, and Penelope motions with her head to go ahead and administer it to her.

"20 milligrams. No more than that. I'll be done here in about fifteen minutes. Once I get done with the shoulder, I have to put the screws in and then she'll be ready to go to recovery." Penelope explains to her.

When Penelope's through with Martha's surgery, she's looking for her Mom to let her know how everything went. She tells her how well she did, and that all of her vitals were good throughout the whole surgery and that she even tried to wake up. She explains how long she will be down for, and how sore she'll be for about a week or so, and once they thank her for everything, she goes onto her other surgeries for the day.

Penelope had told Piper, Prue, and Phoebe, that she would be in surgery for the whole day and wouldn't get done until about five that evening with her whole job, the E R included, and when she finally gets the chance to go into her office, take her scrubs off for awhile, and kick back on the couch she has in there, her phone rings.

"Hello?" Penelope answers, and Piper can hear it in her voice that she's tired.

"Hey. I didn't mean to bother you, but we were all wanting to know when your next day off is, and see if you wanted to come and spend the day with us. I have a night club that's called P3. If it's okay with you, since we know about you now, I can change the name of it to P4 instead." Piper tells her.

"No. Don't worry about that. You guys are The Charmed Ones. I'm just Prue's twin. It's no big deal. I'm still your sister yes, but don't go changing your lives on account of me. My next day off, well, I've got plans already with my best friend and co worker here at the hospital." Penelope explains to her.

"Oh. Okay, well. You're welcome to pick a time, ya know. If you want too." Piper replies. Penelope takes a second or two to think and then she tells Piper, "I'll have to get back with you. Like I told your Mom, well our Mom, it's going to take me some time to process everything. I loved meeting all of you, and I'm proud to have sisters, but the witch thing, does bother me. I know it sounds stupid, but it's scary. I only have a couple of hours and then I have to get back at it. After I get some rest, I'm in the E R until 7:00 tonight." Piper lets her get some rest and after they hang up, Penelope lays there looking at the celing for a minute just thinking until she's out cold.

Chapter Four

Meeting Grams

Penelope was only able to sleep for about thirty minutes when Grams shows up in her white bright lights. She sees Penelope laying there so soundly and just as she's about ready to leave and let her just sleep, she gets a message from the Elders.

"I know I have to tell her. She looks so peaceful though. Alright, alright. I'll talk to her." Grams says, trying to talk back to them.

"Penelope. Hey, I need to talk to you honey. Wake up." Grams tells her, and when she wakes up, she looks at Grams and almost jumps off of the couch.

"Who are you? How did you get in here without me hearing you? Did Piper put you up to this?" Penelope asks her.

"I'm here to talk to you. Not because Piper sent me or Prue, or Phoebe. Not even your Mother sent me here. The Elders did. I'm sure you've been told about them too. I'm your Grandmother. The rest of the girls just call me Grams." Grams replies.

"I don't know you either so what's your first name?" Penelope says, while stretching.

"You may call me whatever you like. If you want to call me Grams, you can. If you want to call me by my first name, it's Penelope. The same as yours." Grams tells her.

About an hour later, they're still talking and Grams tells her the same things that Patty did, only she gets on a deeper level.

"So, I'm named after you then. Okay, I can live with that. You're the one who made Mom give me up, just to follow some half baked rule that an ancient prophet told you about and me and my sisters. Why should I listen to you? You took my family away from me. They seem like awesome freaking people, whom I could have spent my life with, but instead, I was placed with a family who didn't appreciate me. What did I do to deserve that? I told Mom that I wasn't going to turn my back on my sisters, or her. I didn't lie to Piper all the way when I told her that my friend and I had plans my next day off. She'll have to work but I'm free come Wednesday, and I'm going to hang out around my place and relax. I don't want anything to do with magic, and as long as they are practicing it, I'm staying away. Screw your power of three, screw the whole Wicca destiny, and screw the fact that I'm a witch, cause I don't want it." Penelope says, trying to tell her off. Grams just sits down in a nearby chair and refuses to leave until they get it all talked out.

"I'm here now ain't I? Your Mom still visits your sisters once in awhile. I help out from afar. I thought I was doing the right thing. I realize now that I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I don't know what more you want me to say or do. You're one of my Granddaughters too and I love you. I wish I hadn't have ever made your Mom and Dad give you up. I wish that when that happened, your Dad would have just taken you, but he didn't. I know you have a lot of questions and a lot of anger built up inside. I'm the cause for that, but ya know something? You have three sisters who love you to pieces and you can either throw them away out of your life, and never go back to see them, and forget about your Mother and I, or, you can go back to the manor Wednesday or tomorrow when you get off of work, whichever one, and sit down and get to know them. Same concept as guns Penelope Mae. Guns aren't evil. It depends on how you use them. Magic isn't evil either. It depends on how you use it. Your sisters, fight evil and demons every day that the source throws at them, trying to kill them. They've not ever made it in killing anyone of us yet, and they won't cause we're stronger than them. The source before you ask, is basically the devil's right hand man. I'm done grilling you. I'm going to leave you with a thought." Grams says, putting it all out there.

"What?" Penelope asks, while starting to cry.

"Would you have rather gotten mad at someone one day, and when you threw your hands up in the air and said just forget it, and seen them go flying some fifteen feet backwards, and that end up scaring you so bad that you thought you were a freak? Or, would you have rather met your family, and get to know them, and have that happen to you, where they could help you with it? Which one would you have rather happened cause we can't go back in time and redo the things we did that seperated you from us. Tempus won't reset time for us again. We've done asked him way too many times as it is already." Grams asks her, and Penelope just looks up at Grams, tears flowing from her eyes, and she grabs her in a hug and says, "Oh Grams. I'm so stupid for not understanding what my family, our family goes through everyday. I'm sorry for having such an angry heart. Can you take me back with you and us go to the manor? I need to talk to my sisters. First, I need to tell my boss that I have a family emergency, and put in for a transfer to San Francisco Memorial. You're right. I've already lost out on enough of my family, and it's time to reconnect and get to know as much as I can."

"That's my girl. I'll wait in your car. Which one is it?" Grams replies. Penelope tells her which car is hers, and then she goes to talk to her boss.

"Hey, I thought you were taking a nap for awhile." Gary says when she walks into his office.

"Yeah I was, but I have a family emergency. I was just called and I have to go. I'm sorry. Also, I need to request a transfer from this hospital to San Francisco Memorial as soon as possible please." Penelope tells him.

"Boy, something must have really happened for you to be putting it in for a transfer like this. Anything wrong?" Gary asks, and by the look on his face, Penelope can see that he is concerned and that he really doesn't want her to leave.

"No. Nothing bad happened it's just that I found out while I there over the weekend that, I have a twin sister, plus two other sisters, and I was told the whole story of how I got seperated from them, plus, Piper, one of my sisters, said that San Francisco Memorial is needing surgeons and doctors really bad right now. I'll still come back and visit here when I get the chance. Right now, I just feel that it's important to get to know my family and be with them." Penelope tells him.

"You'll come back to visit? Who says any of us want that to happen? We're going to have a celebration when your goofy ass leaves here." Gary says, picking on her like always.

"Yeah right. You'll miss me. You know you will." Penelope replies.

"Penny. The truth of the matter is, we really will miss you around here. You're actually the best damn doctor and most skilled surgeon that this hospital has ever had. I'll write up the transfer this evening and you come in tomorrow and pick it up okay. You just make damn sure that you do come back and see us once in awhile. Tell ya what, I'll write up the transfer right now and make some phone calls, and you just go and get whatever you need. You said you had a family emergency anyway and had to head out early today, so go to your office and round things up today and swing back by here in about ten minutes okay." Gary explains to her. She tells him that she'll be right back, and when she gets back out in the hall, she finds Grams, talking to a really cute intern at the desk.

"Grams! What are you doing? Come on, I need some help rounding stuff up. He's writing up the transfer right now but before I move to San Francisco and go to the manor, I need to have one last meeting with my patients that were in surgery today. Come help me in here." Penelope says, while almost pulling Grams away from her flirting. Grams finally helps Penelope get her stuff for the day and then they go out in the parking lot, Penelope gets her change bag, asks Grams, "Do spirits drink soda pop? I'm going to go in here and get something from the vending machine." Grams tells her that they don't, but if she wants to get something to go ahead. Penelope tells her that she'll be right back and for her to stay single while she's gone. She's gone for maybe five minutes, and when she gets back in her car, she's got a big red in one hand, and lighting a cigarette with her other hand. Grams gives her a look and Penelope asks her, "What? Prue said that Mom used to smoke."

"She did. I was on her ass a time or two as well. Oh well honey. You're 28, so you're old enough to decide." Grams tells her. Penelope had graduated high school early at the age of sixteen because the required number of credits was 44, and she had 48, plus a perfect 4.0 GPA, not to mention she was voted validictorian, and graduated at the top of her class. From there, she went straight into collage for nursing, and by the time she was 18, she was studying to be a doctor, and when she reached 22 almost 23, she was a surgeon. They drive back to her house first, and Penelope tells her, "Hey come on in for a few minutes if you want too. I don't know how the whole Wicca thing works with dogs, but I do have a rotweiler in here. He won't hurt you."

"What's his name?" Grams asks.

"Rocky. He was only named that because when I got him, Jazmine from the hospital, said I should name him Rock, because of the solid muscle, and I was going to do that. We watched all of the Rocky movies one night, and he was sitting there in the living room floor, trying to box with them. So from Rock, he became, Rocky. Come on in. I'm just packing up some clothes and stuff for a few days." Penelope tells her. They get inside and Rocky starts up his barking and such and all Penelope has to do is kind of wave her hand in front of his face, and he goes out to the back porch and lays down.

"Where did he go?" Grams asks.

"To his room. Come here and see this. I have the back porch all set up, purely for him. I call the back porch, his bed room. He has his food bowl back there, his water bowl, he has a toddler pool that he gets in and swims in almost everyday. He has his bed over in the corner, and then in a box, he has different toys. He's well trained to pick up his toys in his mouth and put them where they go too. He knows that if he doesn't do it, he doesn't get any treats. Rocky! Show Grams your bear." Penelope replies, then she hollers for her dog. He comes out of his room with a bear in his mouth and lays it at her feet and barks.

"Thank You. It's pretty. Take it back now." Grams tells him.

"Okay. I'm all ready to go. Rocky, go bye bye? Wanna go for a ride? Come on." Penelope says, and she doesn't even have to put him on a leash. She just opens the door and he walks out with her and jumps in the car. She has his leash in her pocket though, and Grams asks her, "Are you sure he won't run off when we get there? You know, you and Prue are identical twins. He'll see you and her together and get confused, and try to run."

"Wanna bet? I'm no dummy. I got it just in case." Penelope replies, while pulling his leash out of her pocket and showing it to Grams, letting her know everything is under control.

Chapter Five

Home Again

It's right around 8:30 when Penelope and Grams pull up to the manor, and Phoebe and Piper had thought that it was Prue getting back from Buckland's.

"Prue's finally home. She's got to stop working that many hours. You know it's starting to take it's toll on her." Piper says, looking out the window.

"I know. She looked so worn out this morning like she's not been getting any sleep." Phoebe replies when the door bell rings.

"Why didn't Prue just let whoever's at the door, in with her?" Piper says, and when she opens the door, she sees Penelope standing there. She tells her to go ahead and come in, and then she sees Rocky.

"Is it okay if I'm back home for good sis?" Penelope asks her.

"Of course. You're our full sister, and you are welcome here just like any of us are. Who's this handsome boy?" Piper replies, and she goes to pet him but stops to make sure it's okay.

"Yeah. Go ahead and pet him. The only reason I ended up with him when he was a baby is because, he was being trained as a special needs dog, and the lady he was going to be living with, passed away suddenly, and I told the agency that had him, I would take him. He doesn't even bark or move without being asked or told to do so. He loves kids, cats, women, if you're a man and he doesn't know you, that's a different story. He won't bark at the mailman, he does tricks, and he is just by far, the most perfect dog. Watch this. Watch what he does. Rocky, up. Come here, see Phoebe over there? Go give her kisses. Go introduce yourself. Tell her you're Rocky." Penelope explains and then she gives them a little show of what he does. Rocky goes over and sits in front of Phoebe and whimpers until she pets him.

"No. I didn't say whimper. I said tell her your name." Penelope tells him and when he barks, it literally sounds like he's saying Rocky. Then, he puts that one paw in the air and waves at her, and Penelope tosses a treat to Phoebe.

"What's this for?" Phoebe asks.

"Give him that and tell him he did a good job. Make him wait for it though. Not to long but, tell him to stay and wait." Penelope replies, and about that time, Prue walks in and gets to see the show too.

"Rocky. Who's a good boy? Speak. Talk to me." Phoebe says and he barks but when she puts her hand up, he's quiet again.

"Good boy. Wait for it, wait. That's a good boy. Here you go." Phoebe says again, and she gives him his treat. Grams was right too, even though she's gone now. No sooner than Rocky seen Prue, he got confused and scared, and ran off to the back porch.

"Hey. I'm glad you came back." Prue tells Penelope and when they go to hug each other, the lights go brighter than what they've ever been.

"So, how long are you here for this time?" Prue asks her.

"Full time, if you guys will have me. Grams explained to me on the way here that Piper and I share the middle child role. You and I may be identical twins, but you were born first. No, I um, got my transfer papers out in the car and come April 1st, I'm San Francisco Memorial's newest bone surgeon. I'm moving here, and I hope to stay and make it stick too. Would I be able to hang out here until I find a place to live?" Penelope tells them all.

"We ought to gang up on you and beat the crap out of you for asking something like that. You should know that you can stay here with us." Phoebe replies.

"Well sorry that I didn't know. I've got news for you Pheebes. This is all new to me too. I don't know much about you guys or the rest of the family, and I didn't just want to crash here without asking you all first." Penelope says, and that goes right though Phoebe. She goes into the kitchen and has a good cry while Prue talks to Penelope for a few minutes.

"She didn't mean anything by that. I know she didn't. She loves you and she wants you here as much as Piper and I do. Phoebe gets a little excited and carried away at times. We have another bedroom upstairs. There's four up there, and we all each have our own rooms, and we have one for you too. It's all set up and ready to move into. We were kind of hoping that you would come back, so we took the liberty of getting it ready for you. Can you give Phoebe another chance?" Prue tells her.

"I better go talk to her hadn't I?" Penelope asks and Prue just nods her head yes.

"Phoebe? Can I talk to you?" Penelope asks and Phoebe's just sitting there with a cup of coffee, reading something.

"Yeah. What's up?" Phoebe replies, not even looking up from what she was reading but Prue squinted her eyes and made the book go flying.

"Whoa, hey. What the hell was that?" Penelope asks in shock.

"That was my active power. We have yet to find out what yours is. Listen to her Phoebe." Prue replies, and she leaves Phoebe and Penelope to talk and patch things up.

"God they've been in there for the longest time." Prue tells Piper.

"Oh, they're not even in there anymore." Piper replies.

"What?" Prue asks, with Rocky laying across her lap.

"Yeah, they went out to Penny's car and got her stuff and started settling her into her room. They're probably up there playing monopoly or something." Piper tells her.

"Rocky, up. Let me up. I'll go see if they need any help. Wanna come?" Prue replies, and they head upstairs to check on Penelope and Pheobe, and when they get near Penelope's room, they can hear them laughing about something.

"So you mean to tell me, that you and Piper had to actually strip down to nothing but your skin, in order to blend in with everyone for the equinox?" Penelope asks.

"Yeah, and the funny part was when I told Piper, when in Rome and she said, Phoebe this is not Rome, this is San Francisco and it's illegal here." Phoebe tells her and then they see Prue and Piper standing there by the door.

"So, how many times has demons tried to steal the book?" Penelope asks, and Prue comes in and says, "Do you want weekly or monthly?"

"Either or is fine." Penelope tells her.

"Weekly, about five different times a day. Monthly, around three times a day. We hardly have any time for personal lives, or our jobs, and we're always having to come home early from work because of an attack somewhere. Magic really takes a lot of our time, but it's for the greater good, we save innocents, and fight evil, and try to have a social life somewhere during the day." Piper explains to her.

"Hey. You said something about a night club named P4 right?" Penelope asks.

"Actually, it was P3, but if you give me the okay to do it, I'll change it to P4 to fit all of us." Piper replies. Penelope thinks for a minute and then tells her, "Sounds good to me. Do you have any bands lined up for this week?"

"Got one Friday night. The Cranberries decided that since they had so much fun when they were here the last time, they are going to come back as often as we invite them to play. They're coming Friday night in fact. Would you hate very much going with us to the club that night?" Piper tells her.

"No I'd love it. Thanks. I'm starting to really feel at home." Penelope replies when they hear Rocky start going crazy downstairs and when they go to check it out, there's their first demon in four months.

"Hey, you don't belong here." Penelope tells him.

"What is this? There's two of you now? More fun for me in killing all four of you." The demon replies, and Penelope says, "Wanna bet?" She waves her hand but unlike Prue, who only has the power to move things, Penelope not only moved him, but set him on fire as well.

"What was that? You can move things, and set them on fire? That's an upper level demonic power." Phoebe says.

"Wait, wait. No it's not. Remember when we went ten years into the future and tried to save you from being burned? I did that. What she's got, is just a stronger form of telekinises." Prue tells her and they all work together in getting rid of whatever demon it was that was sent their way. Phoebe kick boxes him, and when he throws those energy balls, both Penelope and Prue are sending them back to him, and finally, Piper freezes him, and Prue sends another energy ball back to him, and he explodes.

"I loved doing that! We have to find more. That was so much fun." Penelope tells her sisters, and she's getting way too excited.

"There will be many more coming our way, trust me." Prue tells her, and they go back upstairs and get ready for bed.

Friday comes around and Penelope has already seen all of her patients for the last meeting, and everyone has said their good byes at the hospital, and while she's in the office, Prue comes in to help her get everything ready and packed up. Penelope has already taken two big boxes out to her car when Jazmine goes in there to talk to her.

"I can't believe you're really leaving. I understand though. I mean, you have sisters that you need to get to know and be with. I'm going to miss you." Jazmine says, thinking that she's talking to Penelope, but it's Prue.

"You must be Jazmine. I'm Prue. I'm Penelope's sister. She went out to her car to take a load out there and put it in her trunk." Prue tells her.

"Oh my gosh, do I ever feel stupid. I should have known better. I mean, you work with someone for as long as I have, and you would think, you could tell the difference. Hey, are you a witch too? She told me about the whole Wicca thing Monday. I dabble in it too a little bit." Jazmine explains.

"Oh we don't just dabble. We were born into this. Watch this." Prue says, and she raises her hand a little bit and makes a vase slide across Penelope's desk.

"Oh wow. Wicked cool. I have so got to come to San Francisco and hang out with y'all sometime. If you don't mind that is." Jazmine replies, and she's just in awe of Prue doing that.

"Sure. I have no problem with it. You keep our secret of us being The Charmed Ones, and I'll keep your secret of you being a universal witch practioner. Hey listen, we're going to my sister Piper's, night club tonight to hang out and party. The Cranberries are back for another performance. Wanna join us?" Prue offers, and Jazmine can only say, "Are you kidding? The Cranberries? I love The Cranberries. I'll call galooly right now and play sick to leave early."

"Excuse me? What is that?" Prue asks, when Penelope comes back in and tells her, "Honey, that's a Hebrew term for getting out of a sticky situation. She's Jewish."

That night, everyone's waiting to see if Jazmine was able to make it there or not and just as the lady of The Cranberries, is walking over to Piper to let her know that they are about to start, Jazmine gets there. She walks up to Piper and she tells the lady, "I love your band. I have followed you guys ever since you first got started. Please tell me, that you are doing Just My Imagination tonight."

"Sure. We can do that one for you. Okay, Thanks Piper. Gotta run." She tells them, and once she gets back to the rest of her band, Piper gets Prue, Penelope, Phoebe, and Jazmine, all out on the floor.

"We're going to party hardy tonight ladies. This is a celebration of having you back home where you belong." Piper says, and they all even have dates for the evening. Piper's with Dan, Prue's with Jack from Buckland's, Phoebe's with a man named Travis, Penelope's with another doctor friend from San Diego named Micheal, and Jazmine's with her husband, Eric. The music of Just My Imagination starts, and at first, everyone is dancing to their own little dance, but when the song really gets to going, the lady from the band announces to everyone saying, "This here is a celebration of life tonight everyone. The owner of this club, her and her sisters have found their long lost sister, who is Prue's twin, and life is all about having fun, praising God, and living for the moment right?!" They all agree with her and then all four sisters, are swinging each other and just really partying, and they even get Jazmine in on it too. Patty even shows up for the party and she tells them, "I'm so proud of the four of you. Never seperate okay." Penelope just gets a hold of her and has her to join in the celebration with them. Grams is still watching from afar, and wiping tears away, saying to herself, "Blessed Be."

THE END