P to the Fourth Power
Based around a year after the - - - season finale, and before the avatars
Chapter One
It was a semi-normal morning at the Halliwell manor. Kids screaming, adults running around madly, and the doorbell ringing.
"I can't find my entertainment section, where is the entertainment section?" Paige asked as she ruffled through everything on the counter.
"I'm on my way to work right now Elise! I'm on my way, — I know, I just need— can you hold on just a sec, has anyone seen my car keys? Yeah, no, I know that-" Phoebe said on her cell phone as per usual.
"Can someone get the stupid door? Wyatt! Give that back to your brother! Now!" Piper screamed over the commotion as she tried to feed baby Chris.
"Here they are! Bye! I got to go!" Phoebe yelled as she grabbed her keys and ran out the back door.
"I'll get the door." Paige yelled as she went to answer whoever was incessantly ringing the bell.
"Hello? May I help you?" A teenage girl, very pretty, and a little familiar looking, was standing outside holding a newspaper.
"Hi! I got your paper for you. You look like an entertainment section person yourself." She said handing over the thing Paige had been searching for all morning. "Um, I was just looking for a guy by the name of Chris, he said this was where I could find him. Is he here?" Paige looked her over swiftly, dread filling her stomach. "Oh, um, well, why don't you come in real quick."
"Alright, but it's kind of urgent." She said as she stepped into the entrance hall.
"Paige, who...?" Piper entered and was cut off mid sentence at the sight of the girl. "Hi. Do-do I know you? You look familiar."
"Oh! Um, no I don't think so, is Chris here? Or, um, maybe you know where I can find him?"
"Chris? Do you know Chris?"
"Yeah, I'm his cousin. I really need to see him, please. It's extremely important."
"Oh, you're his cousin. That's why you look familiar. Paige." Piper said as comprehension dawned on her.
"Wow. Yeah, Piper. I think we need to talk, um, what was your name?"
"Patience. What are you...? Wait, what has Chris been telling you? Is he here? I really need to talk to him. Still. Like I said, it's important, and if he's not here, I really need to find him. It's an emergency."
"Maybe you should sit down in here." Piper said as she ushered the girl into the family room.
They all sat down and Piper started, "You see, about a year ago, there was a bit of a problem, and Chris, Chris got, he, he..."
"He was killed in an accident." Paige finished. "I'm really sorry, I assume you were really close. Were you from the same, um, place?"
Patience looked so shocked Paige was getting worried, but then she finally answered in a strangled voice. "Yes. Oh my goodness. I knew something was wrong. Oh no. What am I going to do?"
"Can we help? At all?" Piper offered.
"Was that a yes your from the same place or yes you were close?"
"Both. Yes, I'm from the future, obviously he disclosed more information than he was supposed to, but maybe you can help me. I mean, I guess I need to get back. I'll need the book." Then more to herself she added, "but I'm not going back to much, I mean it's not like I have any family any more, ya know?" She gave a dry laugh, she looked close to panicking, but somehow kept her cool.
"So he really was your cousin? Then, your mom was. . . Paige or Phoebe?" Piper asked.
"Huh? My mom? Wait a second, what all did he tell you? He wasn't supposed to tell you ab... what did he tell you?"
"Well if you mean the fact that I'm his mother, he told us that. In fact, baby Chris is asleep in the other room." Piper answered.
"Oh this is soooo not– baby Chris?" Her face lit up. "Can I see him?"
They led her into the other room where Chris and Wyatt were taking their naps. When she saw Wyatt, however, she froze.
"What? What is it?" Paige asked.
"It's just, did Chris mention anything about Wyatt?"
"Yeah. He said that he's evil in the future, but we managed to save him from that. So he won't be evil."
"I wouldn't be so sure."
"What? Why not? Is he still evil?"
"Oh yeah." Her face fell, " I guess, he's the only family I have left now, but he'll never take care of me. I mean, I wouldn't want him to, but, well, anyway." She stopped and walked right past Wyatt to Chris. "Hi Chris! You're too cute to be the Chris I know." She giggled, "You know Chris has always taken care of me. He's more like a big brother than a cousin."
"You never answered my question. Who's your mom?" Piper asked again with a mischievous grin.
"Wouldn't you like to know. Look, I'm not as big mouthed as Chris, I just need to get back. Can I borrow the book?"
"Sure, if you know where it is."
"Of course I know where it is. The alter room."
Paige and Piper looked at her funny, but she just smiled and went on. "More commonly known as the attic." And with that she turned and left toward the attic with the two sisters close behind.
As they climbed the stairs to the attic, Patience explained, "Uncle Leo always told me that a witch's Book of Shadows should be kept in an alter room, but the Halliwells have always been different, and that he never wants us to keep the Book of Shadows in any room other than the attic."
"He said that?" Asked Piper.
"Uncle Leo? That just sounds odd. You are Phoebe's daughter right? Not mine?" Asked Paige.
Patience gave her a stern look and walked into the attic. "I'll take that as a yes." Paige said as the girls followed her.
"You know I think I'd better call 'Uncle Leo'. Leo!" Yelled Piper.
Leo orbed into the attic a split second later. "Hi honey. What's up?" He said in greeting.
"Well, I just thought you'd like to meet someone."
"What?" He asked looking befuddled as Piper motioned towards Patience who was thumbing through the Book of Shadows.
"This is Patience, your niece,"
"My what!" He asked, more confused and surprised. Patience looked up and smiled.
"Hi! Hey, um, did Chris's powers happen to work while he was here?"
"Yeah." Paige answered her.
"Oh good, this is taking forever." And the pages started turning at lightning speed. "Here it is! Okay, all I need is some chalk, and I'll be out of your hair." She smiled at them, but Paige decided to pipe up at just that moment.
"Wait, isn't that a power of three spell? We'll have to get Phoebe home before you can go home. That won't be easy."
"Oh no, I'm sure I can do it. Really, no need to bother her."
"You can't do it by yourself if it's a power of three spell, can you?"
"Well, some spells seem to be power of three spells, but really, the future brings advancement and we've discovered that this one can be done by one person." She paused as the others raised their eyebrows at her. "Okay, I'm a horrible liar, but really I can do it by myself, just, please, don't ask questions. I'm not supposed to tell you anything."
"What will you do?" Piper asked, "When you get back I mean."
"That's a question," she started, but changed directions with a sigh, "but I honestly don't know. I've really only been on my own for a couple of days so far. Maybe I'll call my mom. She'll know what to do."
"But, I thought you had no family left, besides Wyatt?"
"What are you all talking about?" Leo asked in frustration.
"I'll tell you in a sec, honey, but right now we need to get something straight over here."
"Oh, come on," Patience rolled her eyes, "like you guys didn't teach me how to summon the dead! Please! I talk to you all the time. Okay, not so much, but often enough. It's obviously not the same, but it works. Only Chris told me to never... I'm telling you way to much. Do you have chalk or not?"
"Of course, but your not getting any." Piper said sternly, "We need you to stay here for a while, until we can straighten everything out. Alright?"
"Alright, but you better hope you'll change where you keep the chalk." And with that the girl left down the stairs. Everyone else in tow.
"Where are you going?" Paige asked her as she caught up.
"To my . . . oh." She stopped in her tracks, "Um, well, now I'm going to the family room."
"Which room will be yours?"
"My mom's."
"Which room is that?"
"Not yours, you happy?"
"Quite. Now, the only question I have is, why don't you want your mom to come home? Don't you want to see her?"
"No. Actually. I-I think it will just be too hard."
"Why?"
"I don't know, she's been gone a while, but I still miss her and I am doing it again! Stop asking me questions. This is very hard for me. Chris told me that he couldn't bring me even though- never mind."
"You did that on your own."
"Don't rub it in."
They reached the family room and both plopped down opposite each other.
Meanwhile Piper was explaining everything to Leo.
"So she's Phoebe's daughter from the future? And Wyatt's not good? And she has no family left for her but an evil Wyatt, so you don't want to send her back?"
"Right."
"But, Piper, what are we going to do with her? And what are we going to tell Phoebe? And what was with the pages of the Book of Shadows? And–"
"Hold it! I don't know yet! Alright? I-" she inhaled a deep breathe, "I just couldn't send her back yet, okay?"
"No, that's not okay! She's not supposed to be here. We have to send her back!"
"I know, just not yet. We still need to figure out what's with the spell. How come she doesn't need the power of three."
"Okay, but I should really talk to the elders about this."
"No! Let's not tell them yet. Just humour me." And she went to the family room to talk to the others.
Patience was sitting there with her arms folded across her chest, looking pensive.
"You okay?" Piper asked her
"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's just strange. Unbelievable, you know."
"Yeah. Okay, I'm going to go make you some food, are you hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Paige, I think you should go call Phoebe and see when she can get home. Tell her it's not an emergency, yet."
With a quick guilty look at Patience, she left. And Piper, Patience, and Leo went to the kitchen.
"You know, everyone always says you're a terrific cook."
"I take it I have never cooked for you?"
Patience made a sound that made Piper think the conversation was over and shouldn't be brought up again.
"So, what do you like to do? Or are your hobbies strictly in making potions and spells?"
"That's it. I train. You never know when a demon may attack." And from under her breathe, Piper made out "or a cousin". "Like two minutes from now for instance. Where's the sage?"
"What? Ah, over there. Wait, why?"
Patience rushed over to get the sage and grabbed a cup of water. Piper watched in awe as she put the sage in the water, which was suddenly boiling, and turned around to see a demon of some sort standing there. Piper gasped, Leo turned to see almost too late, and Patience threw her sage water at it. The demon started to smoke and Patience muttered a little rhyme and he was gone.
"What-what-what . . . " was all Piper could say as Leo ran over to her.
"Oh, sorry. Did you want to take care of it?" Patience asked, looking truly sorry.
"No, what I do want, though, is to know what just happened?"
"Huh? Well, that demon was a Fjarkl demon, they're easily burnt, and if you just throw some scalding hot water on them, their defenses get lowered. Then all you have to do is add a bit of sage and say the right spell, poof. I always find it faster to throw the water and sage at the same time."
"I assume you do this often?"
"Oh, no. I've gotten rid of a couple, but they really don't come up much, and Chris won't take me down to them, so, whatever. H-Haven't you ever met a Fjarkl demon?"
"Uh, no. How did you boil that water? And how did you know it was coming?"
"Oh, well, I saw it coming. I-I thought you'd be used to that with Phoebe around. And I also have the power to adjust temperatures. It's kinda fun around Christmas. Oh, don't tell anyone I said that."
Suddenly Leo piped up. "Who are you?"
"Leo! We just went through this!"
"No, she can't be who she says she is. She has too much power to be Phoebe's daughter."
"What? No. Wait, oh this is a disaster! I never imagined this would h-happen! I'm so, so sorry, thank you for everything, but this is, this is just too much. I-I'll see you someday. Just. Could you not tell Phoebe I was here? In fact, just forget everything I told you, forget I was ever here." And with that she turned and ran in the direction of the attic.
"Wait! Leo! Look at what you did! Poor kid. Patience! Stop!" Piper took off after her.
"Paige! Orb! Attic!" Piper yelled as she ran past Paige who had barely started to form the word "what". Paige orbed herself to the attic and Piper ran up stairs hoping one of them would head off the distraught teen. When Piper arrived in the attic Paige was trying to calm down a frazzled Patience who was looking everywhere for what Piper assumed was chalk.
"What on Earth is going on?" Paige asked as she headed off the young girl.
"She's trying to leave, don't let her." Piper answered as she froze a plant that was about to fall.
"Sorry." Muttered Patience as she jumped back, "Where is it? I-I have got to go. No, it's not here. Uh. I'm so sorry. You should just let me go. . ."
"Paige! Orb the chalk!"
"OK. Chalk!" With that word, a box of chalk flew to her hands.
"No. Please. Just let me leave. Don't do this! Your only making, making . . . please don't." Patience said near tears.
"Come here, honey." Piper said gently.
"No. I have to . . . I can't . . . Just . . . " And she broke into a fit of sobs. Piper went over and helped her to a sofa. The poor girl sat there crying, while Piper tried her best to comfort her, and Paige led Leo, who had followed Piper, out of the room for a moment.
"What happened?"
"We were attacked by a demon, and she got rid of it in two seconds flat. There's no way she's what she says she is. When I warned Piper about that, she went ballistic and took off telling us to forget she was ever here."
"You said something like that in front of her? She just lost the only family she had left and you accused her of lying to us? Her family that she never got to know? Gees Leo. That was smart."
"I don't trust her, you should have seen what she did. She boiled water automatically. She knew all about that demon, including that it was going to attack two minutes before it did!"
"Leo! What's up with you? You're usually more open minded than us!"
"I don't know, I'm getting a bad vibe from her. I think we just need to get Phoebe here and figure this out. Call her, I'm going to see the elders now."
"Fine. Whatever. But you saw what she was like. I don't think this is a good idea. Besides, the book trusts her." And with that she turned and left him to orb out. Paige went back into the attic room where Piper and Patience were talking.
"I'm so sorry. I'm never like this, I was taught to be strong and suck it up. I never cry or break down, it must be the time switch or something." Patience tried to explain, as tears were still streaming down her face.
"Oh, honey, it's okay to cry, especially after everything you have been through. You are a very strong girl." Piper said trying to comfort.
"It's just- I'm kind of scared, and worried. I..." She trailed off.
"It's okay. I still think you need to stay here for a while. At least until we can sort some things out. Like Leo." She said the last part with a worried smile.
"Yeah. He's acting really different." Paige added.
"He's probably just confused. He's always been really good to me. Maybe he's mad at me because I told you that Wyatt was evil. Maybe he thinks that I'm the evil one. Wyatt has always been his favorite, after all."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But I'm the only little girl in the family, so I get catered to as well. Not a lot, I'm not spoiled, but I get just enough attention. Chris is the one who always gets left out, but he's always had Grandpa. Me too, but I was more for sneaking up to the attic and calling grandma and grams. I always got into trouble, but they got me out of it, normally."
"How old were you when you started summoning the dead?"
"About four. Why?"
"Just wondering." Paige said looking impressed.
"What other powers do you have?" Piper asked her.
"Well, other than premonitions and temperature adjustment, I can manipulate particles like you Piper (freezing things and blowing them up), and I have extreme telekinesis (that was the book thing), also levitation, and astral projection. I have a few other various psychic abilities, and I can also do basic witch stuff like spells and scrying. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve that I only use in emergencies, that you don't need to worry about."
"Wow. And you are Phoebe's kid? Who's your dad?" Asked Paige.
"If you don't know yet, I can't tell you. " Patience answered, "Sorry. I only know his name and occupation anyway." She added quickly.
"Well, if Phoebe asks any questions, it'll be about him."
"Well, I don't think I can give her more than a name, we don't talk about him much. She had a lot of trouble with him, and something happened just after I was born, but-"
At that second they heard Phoebe walk in the door.
"What's the not yet emergency, cuz I only have a forty-five minute lunch break. Hello! Piper! Paige!" She yelled.
"We'll be right there!" Piper yelled back.
"Mom. It sounds like her." Patience muttered under her breath with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomache.
"Hi you guys, no one said we had a v- oh my goodness. Oh my goodness, who, who is that?"
Phoebe asked as the three girls came down the stairs to see her.
"Oh, um, Phoebe, this is Patience. She came by to see Chris. She was his cousin." Piper answered.
"No kidding? Did you, ah, tell her, about-about Chris?" Phoebe asked still looking flustered.
"Yeah, Phoebe are you okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just, really weird. Patience right? Nice to meet you. I'm Phoebe. Sorry, you just look strangely familiar." Patience just smiled awkwardly.
"Um, actually Phoebe, there might be a reason for that." Began Piper
"Does it happen to be a coincidence that her name begins with a P?" Phoebe whispered to her.
"Not a coincidence sorry."
"She is my-my, no, she can't be. . . . Things like this only happen to Piper."
"Yes. She can be." Paige supplied as Piper said, "Hey!"
"Hi, Phoebe." Said Patience.
"Okay then, you're my daughter from the future?" Patience nodded. "Then, I am your mother?" Another nod, "And I don't let you call me Phoebe do I?" Patience shook her head, tears starting to fill her eyes. "Then, call me mom." She opened her arms, and Patience went and gave her a hug.
"This is my beautiful daughter I told you guys about! This is her! I told you I saw her!" She stopped to look at the girl in her arms. "Why are you crying? I don't mistreat you in the future do I?"
"No. I'm just really happy to see you." Patience said.
"Phoebe, I hate to break up the 'pre-union', but we have a problem." Paige said, and the sisters then proceeded to fill Phoebe in on all she'd missed that morning.
Chapter Two
"But you vanquished the demon right?"
"Well, um, yeah..."
"Then I just don't see the problem."
They were sitting around the room discussing the events that had happened in the kitchen earlier, they hadn't gotten to Patience trying to leave, and they left out the fact that Patience had gotten rid of the demon, not them.
"The problem is that we don't know what the demon wanted. Everything is just so crazy all of a sudden." Said Paige.
"Our other big problem happens to be Leo's reaction to–" Began Piper.
"Stop." Said Patience as she grabbed Piper's hands.
"What?" asked Piper looking confused.
"You almost blew up the lamp."
"Oh." Said Piper realizing how upset she was and how she was about to wave her hand in the direction of the said lamp.
Phoebe gave the two a strange look then shook the thought away.
"What do you mean? Leo's reaction to what?" She asked.
"Well, . . ." Piper went ahead and explained everything that involved Leo, including exactly what happened in the kitchen.
"You mean she, my daughter, did . . . What? That's not possible, is it? Why would Leo react like that anyway? I mean, yeah, it's weird, but to blame her, to accuse her? She's only a child!"
"Hey! I'm 16!"
"Sorry, I just mean, you think he really believes Patience is the bad guy here?"
"I don't know Phoebe, it's all so strange." Supplied Piper.
"Maybe we should just concentrate on getting Patience back to the future." Paige suggested.
"We can't do that! She has no one there! We have to fix things first! Besides, Chris seems to have died in vain! Wyatt's still evil."
"What do you mean she has no one there? She still has her mom and aunts, there is no way her cousin meant that much to her!" Phoebe laughed.
The others just sadly looked at Phoebe then at Patience who looked so much like crying and the girls knew, put in her position, they would be by now. Piper and Phoebe had lost their mother at a young age, too, thank goodness they had Grams and each other. Paige had lost both of her parents in a car accident when she was a teen, but she hadn't really had anyone, she was just lucky she was old enough to take care of herself.
"You guys? What is it?" Phoebe ventured on after no reply, "Really now. What? Wait," comprehension dawned across her face, "you mean? No. I-it can't be like that. I-it c-can't. . ."
"When I was 4, I can't tell you any more than that. But Chris took good care of me when Leo left us."
"Leo left you? You never mentioned that." Piper said.
"He left after Wyatt turned. He couldn't take it, and he left. We don't have any clue where he is. You know it's nearly impossible to find a white lighter if he doesn't want to be found. Even Chris couldn't find someone as powerful as Leo."
"Powerful?"
"Oh, yeah. He's the leader in my time, well was, is going to be . . .I give."
Piper let out a little snort.
"It's nothing to laugh at Piper." Paige scolded.
"No, it's just she reminded me a lot of Prue. It's uncanny."
"Well, I actually do call her a lot more than the rest of you. They allow that more because I never knew her. And she's more with it than Grams or Grandma since she died later. Sorry to be grim."
"That's too funny. In a morbid sort of way. I really wish I could talk to Prue right now." Piper said sullenly.
"Maybe we should." Said Paige looking pointedly at Patience.
"Are you sure about this?" Piper asked as the girls were heading up to the attic to call their dead sister. Paige was all for it, after all, she never really knew Prue, but Piper and Phoebe were ever so slightly reluctant.
"It's no big you guys, it's just like the first time you saw Grams, I know it seems like a huge thing, but really." Patience said matter-of-factly.
"How can you say that! When someone dies you can't just keep calling them back, it's not right!" Argued Piper.
"Of course it is, plus tell that to the millions of people that do it every day if it's not."
"What? Only Witches can call on the dead, and there aren't even that many!" Said Paige.
"What are you talking about? Anyone can call the dead, only witches can call, and see the dead, but anyone can pray for guidance from loved ones that have passed on. They usually answer too."
"Oh." The sisters replied at the same time.
"Do you guys want to do it? I assumed you did, since she's your sister and all." Asked Patience.
"Don't see why not, but if it doesn't work for us, you'll have to do it." Piper said and everyone agreed.
insert spell
"What on earth is going on? Piper? Phoebe? What are you calling me for? Who are they? Wait, I remember, Paige right? Our half sister?"
"Prue?" Piper asked so close to tears.
"Oh, honey, come here." She solidified and stepped close to Piper who fell into her embrace.
"Piper, honey, I'm so sorry, you too, Phoebe, but you've managed so well without me. I'm proud of you." She let go of them and asked, "Now, why did you call me?"
"Well, it was her idea." Piper said pointing to Patience.
"Hi, who are you?" She turned to her sisters, "You guys know better than to call the dead around other people. What are you thinking?"
"No, she's not a normal person, she's a witch, your niece." Phoebe contributed.
"What? How can she be my niece?"
"Well, she's Phoebe's daughter, Patience, from the future." Piper said.
"Oh? And if you have people from the future helping you why did you call me? And who came up with this idea?"
"Patience did, and we called because she said you're the one who helps her the most after we all die."
"What! You all die? When?"
"Well, I can't give you an exact date, but I was, will be, whatever, four."
"Oh you poor thing."
"I'm alright really, I have Grandpa and Uncle Leo."
"Doesn't that just sound awkward? Uncle Leo." Paige muttered.
"That reminds me, Leo!" Piper yelled yet again.
Leo materialized in front of them. "What now Piper? Is everything alright?"
"Hiya Leo! Long time no see." Prue grinned at her brother-in-law.
"Hi Prue. Piper, I- Prue! You called your sister? Are you insane?"
"Leo! Don't have a cow! It's not like we haven't done this sort of thing before! We know what we're doing." Phoebe yelled back.
"Are you sure? Then I guess you don't need me, I'll just be going."
"Not so fast, we still need you." Piper said catching him just in time.
"Yeah, I don't even know what's going on." Prue added with a shrug.
"I'll tell you what's going on. Your sisters are going insane."
"Leo! Come on! What is your problem? She hasn't done anything to hurt us. She keeps trying to take off, don't think I can't see you, young lady!" Piper said and Patience quickly looked at her with a small trace of guilt on her face, but she hid it and innocently shrugged. "I saw you trying to get that chalk." Piper proceeded to blow up the chalk that had absentmindedly been laid on a table near the girl.
"Piper! What if we need that later?" Leo asked.
"We can get some more once we've tied her to a chair." Piper answered sounding even more agitated.
"Excuse me! Still in the dark over here." Prue called out to her family.
"Sorry Prue." Phoebe said sincerely. "You see we have several problems. The most major being that Wyatt will still be becoming evil."
"Hello! The most major problem seems to be that we have Phoebe's 16 year-old daughter from the future here with us, if that's who she even really is." Leo objected.
"Leo, what has gotten into you anyway?" Prue asked.
"You'd be wary of her too if you had seen what I saw. This girl has more power than the Charmed ones and possibly more than a dangerous upper level demon."
"Hey! Look, I only use my power for good. I know you didn't like my dad, but really, Uncle Leo, you've always been so nice anyway. You understand more than anyone I've ever met that ones parents don't have complete influence over their children, besides that, I was never around my dad. He died again before I was born." Patience finished her rant a tad bit more watery eyed than she had been.
"What does your dad have to do with any of this?" Paige asked quickly.
Patience gasped and covered her mouth. Her eyes wide and bright realizing that she had just slipped up big time she looked at her mother. Phoebe was staring at her oddly, like she had almost solved a huge puzzle but couldn't quite place her finger on the correct answer. "Died again?" she muttered then comprehension dawned on her face. "Cole," she whispered, "you have his eyes. I should have known." And with that she collapsed into a chair. Patience was on the verge of another breakdown.
"Please, I have to leave. I could never expect- not now that you know. Please–"
She started to back away from her family, those that could never love her because of what she was. Her father, she knew, had been an extremely evil demon, he had tricked Phoebe too many times. He had tricked her into falling in love with him again. That was when Patience had been born, and she knew that he had kidnaped her from her mother when she was 5 months old. Phoebe would have let him have her too, if not for the fact that her daughter was one of the most powerful children to live, almost more powerful than Wyatt, but not quite since his mum and his dad had both been entirely good, as opposed to half and half. So Phoebe had to make certain that her daughter fought for the light side and not the dark, if nothing else but to get back at Cole. That's what Phoebe had treated her daughter as for the first 4 years of her life. But as she got older it was her own idea to get revenge on her father's "side of the family", so to speak.
Leo stood staring at the young girl in front of him. He could suddenly sense every feeling, every thought that was running rampant through her brain, he didn't know how, never-the-less, it was happening. He suddenly saw what her life had been like and he felt very sorry for how he had most recently been acting, and then he realized that the child had nothing but love, and respect for him. He realized that he and Chris had been the only ones there for her, her entire life. The only ones who hadn't used her, or felt threatened by her.
Piper, Prue, and Paige ran to Phoebe's aide and were completely unaware of Leo and Patience. As Patience continued to back away, Leo approached her. "Wait," he said. However, Patience looked as though she were scared to death. She was shrinking up against a wall that was behind her. She started to curl into a little ball, and was muttering incoherently. Leo bent down in front of her, and tried to shush her. "It's all right, I'm sorry. I understand now. I really didn't mean to act like that toward you. I could sense the demon in you, but now I know. I don't know how, but I do. I know what has happened to you. I just want to help you."
"Please. Let me go back. I want to get back to normal. I don't care how bad things are back home, I just need to go back. I can't stay here, they won't understand, they'll be mad at me . . . " Patience broke down again as she thought of how her mother would react upon knowing the truth now.
Meanwhile Phoebe had woken up and the four sisters were watching the poor child before them, as Leo held her and tried to comfort her.
"I don't understand how this is possible. How could Cole be her dad? I wouldn't fall for him again, I know I wouldn't. And look at her. She acts as though we hate her in the future because, because of her dad. I, I can't understand any of this." Phoebe said looking quite flustered by the whole predicament.
"I know honey, but maybe that's part of why she's here to begin with. So we can fix all of this. I have a feeling she's had a rough life, and it seems to be getting rougher." Piper supplied. They looked toward the young lady on the opposite side of the room and wondered what torment she had dealt with in her short lifetime. And how much of it was their faults.
Chapter Three