Chapter One: The Birth
"Come on Blair, push! You have to push!" directed the midwife as she sat between the woman's spread knees. She had been there for about seven hours now, and the baby was just about to arrive in the world, if only the mother would push!
"I can't!" The woman, Blair, wailed. "It hurts!"
Beside the birthing mother stood another woman, who had long dark hair and dark eyes. She wiped the dripping moisture off Blair brow and tried to sooth her fears.
"I know it hurts darling, it'll be over soon." The woman murmured gently, kissing Blair's forehead as she did. Blair only cried harder as the contractions got worse.
"Oh, Momma, I don't want to have a baby!" Blair's words ended in a screech, both as the pain ascended and the baby was finally pushed free from her mother and into the midwife's waiting hands.
Just as the baby was pushed free, the curse her lover had placed on her took effect, and Blair's magic began consuming her from the inside. The baby, officially known now to be female, was silent as it watched its mother be consumed in the fire of her power.
The grandmother of the child turned her head away as she cried, afraid to look at the end her poor child was suffering through without her being able to do anything for Blair. Soon enough, Blair was gone from the world and her suffering ended. The midwife was in shock and had lost consciousness not long after the curse took effect. The grandmother looked down at the child she now held in her arms, looking at the glowing runes appearing across the babe's body.
"Your name shall be Phaedra Michaels, my darling." The older woman said, watching as the glowing runes slowly disappeared. The pair quickly shimmered away, not wanting to be in the place of their mother's and daughter's death.
Six years later….
"Phaedra Blair Michaels, you come back here this instant!"
"Catch me Mimi! Catch me!" screamed the six year old as she ran from her grandmother. Unfortunately for Phae, her luck had run out, because she crashed headlong into another child a little older than her and sent them both tumbling across the park grass. The two lie where they stopped, out of breath and dizzy from the summersaults they had just experienced.
"Chris? Chris! Are you alright, peanut?" Piper Halliwell yelled as she ran across the playground to reach her son.
The young boy Phae had run into slowly sat up. "Yeah Mom, I'm fine." Piper picked him up and began checking for small cuts or bruises anyway. When she was finished, she turned toward the tiny girl that had sent Chris tumbling.
"And who might you be, sweetheart?" Piper smiled brightly at the girl. She was just too cute for words. The little girl had large, golden eyes that seemed to glow, pale skin, and shoulder length black hair. She was dressed in a jean skirt and white tee with tiny white sandals on her feet.
The little girl just smiled shyly in return, not saying anything. That is, until an older woman jogged up to them, giving the little girl a small frown as she helped her up.
"Mimi! Look who I just met! It's a Charmed Lady, Mimi!" The little girl shrieked happily, bouncing on her feet as she tugged on her grandmother's skirt and pointing at a frozen Piper.
The older woman barely glanced at Piper, only nodded her head at her tiny little granddaughter, saying, "Yes, I know little butterfly." The grandmother smiled slightly, before finally turning to Piper. "I'm sorry about this Ms. Halliwell. Phaedra is quite the handful, and very magical. I'm sorry she just blurted that out in the middle of a park of innocents."
"That's quite alright." Piper began to smile again. "How old is she? She doesn't look to be any older than Chris."
"Well, she's about six years…."
As they were talking, Phae and Chris began talking to each other.
"So, what's your name?" Chris asked as he fidgeted. Girls had cooties – Wyatt said so….but he's not right about everything, is he? Chris wasn't too sure that his older brother Wyatt had the right idea….he already knew that girls liked to play rough! This one just proved it by knocking him to the ground! But she was so short! Oh well, he thought, she probably might like to play with me though.
"My name's Phae." Phae answered quietly, looking up at Chris through her long lashes. "What's yours?"
"Chris." He didn't know what to say! "Um….do you want to play on the swings with me?" He asked, feeling very shy and odd all of a sudden.
It was the opposite for Phae. She had been so lonely with only Mimi to play with, and she didn't like to play in the mud like she did and, well, she might finally have a friend beside Mimi! "Sure!" She said, excited. "Let's go!"
The two children ran off, not saying anything to their families that had then stopped talking to watch them run off together.
Piper only shook her head, laughing to herself. Boys will be boys, she thought as she watched Chris race the tiny little girl to the swings, his favorite playground equipment.
Well, she amended her last thought as she watched her youngest push the little girl on the swing, making her squeal happily, Chris will be Chris.
"So," the other woman, who Piper still didn't know the name of, "should I be arranging play dates with you now?" The older woman raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I think that would be about right." Piper answered. "Um, what is your name? I can't believe I've been so rude as to not ask that…"
"That's quite alright, my dear. I know how children can be." The woman smiled. "My name is Cameron Michaels, Ms. Halliwell. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Piper replied politely, feeling like Cameron was judging her for something she couldn't help.
"What time would be good for you to have Phae over?" Cameron asked after a pause, them both watching the children for any sign that they were not agreeing over something. They had nothing to worry, as Chris was very protective and gentle with the tiny girl that was so short compared to him.
"Hmm? Oh, anytime during the day is good with me. My job doesn't need me to be there until the evenings, and if they do need anything, they can just call the house." Piper shrugged. "I'm there pretty much all the time."
"Oh….how about tomorrow then? Around noon, and I'll treat you and Chris to lunch?" Cameron asked gently.
"That sounds lovely. Thank you." Piper smiled.
And the friendship of their two children was born.