I am the son, I am the Heir

It was a peaceful and sunny day, there were no demons in sight for any of the Charmed One's to vanquish and so they decided that they would sit in their garden and do 'normal' things. Piper was gardening; trimming the rose bushed that had grown wild over the cold and harsh winter, Phoebe was sun-bathing and Paige was reading a magazine.

"This is nice isn't it?" Piper said suddenly, she stretched and looked to her sisters, "Having a day like this, it's nice to be all together and just enjoy each other's company?" Phoebe and Paige nodded and then they all carried on with what they were doing, which or Phoebe wasn't really a lot, though every so often she would roll over to make her tan even.

"Does it ever make you wish you-" Paige had begun to speak but a sharp glare from Piper made her stop. "What?"

"I know what you are going to say, and no it doesn't, don't try and tempt fate Paige, there are some demons that would have loved you to have finished your sentence," Piper sighed and returned to her rose bush. Paige sighed and flicked through her magazine.

She was going to ask whether just being relaxed like this ever made them wished they weren't Charmed but, then again, she knew that she would always want to be Charmed, if there was ever a day she had no powers she wouldn't see the point in living. She looked at Piper with admiration, for she truly was amazing and clever. She was right about everything, of course there would be demons about that were listening to what they were saying, if she'd finished her sentence, her wish may have come true, even if she didn't mean it.

Phoebe rolled over again and mumbled to herself and Piper and Paige looked at each other and smiled, Phoebe had fallen asleep out in the son.

"Should we wake her?" Paige said.

"No, just get an umbrella, we don't want her getting burnt and she won't appreciate it if we wake her, she'll just deny she was asleep."

Paige got up and moved the large garden umbrella over Phoebe.

"I wonder what she's dreaming about." She smiled and stroked her sister's hair and then decided she was going to go in and get a glass of water.

Piper carried on trimming and found herself thinking about Leo just as he appeared by her side. He greeted her with a kiss on her forehead before they had even exchanged words.

"That was nice," she said and she reached up to do the same time him.

"How are you?" Leo said as he took Piper's hands in his own.

"I'm ok, you?"

"I need to talk to you, about something important, but I don't want you to tell your sisters."

"That's impossible; I can't keep secrets from them."

"I know but please, will you try? If you tell them what I am going to tell you it could upset them more than they have ever been upset before."

"I'll try but if I think it's in their best interests then…well…no guarantee's ok?"

"I've been hearing voices."

"Who's?"

"This is just it, I've been hearing voices of people I know to be dead, and the strongest voice so far is Prue," Piper put her hand over her mouth and muffled her shock.

"But…why you? Your not a...why not any of us, I…how does she sound?"

"I don't know why it's me and not the logical people who she would call out to, which are you or your sisters. She is singing whenever I hear her, she sings about the sun and the air."

"The son and the heir?" Piper took her hand away and smiled

"Yes, I don't know why though."

"Not the sun as in a big ball of gas in the sky, the son, as in the child, and the heir. It was a song she used to sing when she was little, she taught me it once and I could never understand why she'd want to sing about celestial bodies and the air we breathe but then she explained it. It's a Celtic song about hope and love. It's really beautiful."

"So why is she singing it now and why to me?"

"I don't know. Something can't be right, she stopped believing in hope and love a long time ago, before me and Phoebe taught her how to love and trust and look forward, instead of back. But ever since then she stopped singing that song."

"Odd."

"I'm going to have to tell my sisters, you know that right?"

"Ok, but there's one more thing. The most recent time she sang it she changed the words, I am the son, I am the heir, I am human and I want to be free. Before it was I am the son, I am the heir, we will be together my love, one day."

"What? How could she change it?"

"I don't know because that would imply that she is not dead, when you are a ghost you stick to a pattern, but Prue has changed hers."

"Changed her ghost pattern?"

Leo nodded. Piper sighed and shook her head. A single tear ran down her cheek. She was ashamed of crying. It had been such a long time since she had been so weak that she had cried but her sister always reached a soft spot in her heart. Thinking of her sister reminded Piper of how much she missed Prue and her beautiful smile and her power and the way she always resolved the situation.

She wiped the tear away and looked a Leo with her red eyes. He took her hands back I to his again and kissed her on the forehead.

"You can sort this out Piper. I love you."

Phoebe made a sigh and opened her eyes to see Leo kissing Piper on the head. She smiled and then noticed Piper had cried.

"Everything ok?" Piper nodded.

"Tell you in a minute, go inside young lady, before you frazzle." Phoebe bowed and went in to the house. Leo followed her in and Piper wiped her tears away.

Come on girl, this will be ok, we just need to contact Prue and talk to her, and tell her that she needs to stay the same because if the ghost of a charmed one should change, then terrible things could happen. Piper wasn't sure why she knew that but she did. The sisters had to get in to contact with Prue and tell her to stick to her old ways before something happened.

Yet something still wasn't right; and Piper knew it.