October 31st, 2007

Having a baby, Paige decided, was not like fighting a demon. It had nothing in common with spells or potions or all the other difficult things in her life she'd ever had to master.

Having a baby was a pain in the ass and in slightly higher places.

"I want drugs," she demanded hoarsely, grabbing her husband by the collar of his shirt and jerking him down so he was face-to-face with her so she could make her point that much clearer with a close-up of her angry snarl. "Now!"

"The doctor already gave you the drugs, sweetie, remember?" Henry Mitchell had faced down some crazy shit in his time as a parole officer. He'd been threatened by anything and everything from a banana to an Uzi, but nothing was quite as frightening to him as the woman in front of him.

It wasn't even the fact that she had magical powers – it was her, plain and simple. Paige Matthews Mitchell was a force unto herself and a force unto him that he absolutely adored, which was why he was about to throw up. Seeing her in pain was horrible – worse than any gut-punch, worse than any kid he couldn't save. It was the darkest, cruelest form of torture he'd ever had to face.

"Can't you do something?" He asked the nurse, running a hand across his wife's forehead, not even trying to hide his panic and fear.

"Your wife is fine," the nurse assured him. "The drugs will kick in a moment and she'll be right as rain."

Henry had never understood that phrase – just what the hell was so right about rain? – but it didn't really matter because Paige was calming down and he was calming down and the baby –

"Well," the doctor spoke from between his wife's legs with a beaming smile. "It looks like your water just broke. Are you ready to have this baby?"


Ready or not, two hours later, an amazing short amount of time in the long run of things, and Henry was standing in the hall outside the delivering room, grinning like a fool and staring into the face of his newborn son with absolutely no idea what to do next.

"Sir?" The nurse spoke next to him, smiling slightly as he turned to look at her with that completely dopey grin. "I need to take him to get cleaned up now. You can see him in the nursery in five minutes."

"Five minutes?" Already he could feel that fragile connection formed between the two of them and five seconds seemed to long to be apart let alone five minutes. His smile began to falter and the nurse was quick to reassure him that he'd be reunited with his son in no time.

Staring forlornly down the hall long after the nurse had disappeared, Henry turned towards the doors on the opposite end of the hall and took a startled step back as his brother-in-law made an unexpected appearance.

"Don't fucking do that, man!" He swore, pressing a hand to the lower part of his chest over his heart as he hunched over, brain going wiggy with all the extra adrenaline that had just hit his system.

"Sorry, man," Coop offered with an apologetic grin. "Forgot about the whole…you know."

The whole mortal thing. Being the only completely human one of the bunch (Leo didn't count – Leo had been a whitelighter, an elder, and an Avatar, plus the dude was like eighty years old in a forty-something year old body), he still got a little wigged out when members of his extended family did decidedly supernatural things around him.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Henry straightened, his heartbeat under control as he frowned at the older man. "I thought you were in the waiting room with the…others. The others," Henry's mouth formed a little 'O' of surprise and he closed his eyes with a hiss. "The others, I forgot about the others. In the waiting room."

"Phoebe said you would, so I came back to remind you," Coop explained. "So?"

"So you might as well get them and bring them to the nursery," Henry replied. "And I'll introduce them to their new nephew."

"Another boy? Seriously? Congratulations, man!" Coop clapped him on the shoulder and that dopey grin was back, but hey – he'd just become a father. He was allowed to be a little stupid today.

"He's so cute!" Phoebe stared longingly into the face of the newest addition to their family and fought the urge to rub the tiny bump on her own stomach.

Six weeks – Ladybug was six weeks old today and watching her cousin sleeping peacefully on the other side of the glass, Phoebe was already impatient to have Ladybug in her arms.

"What's his name?" Piper asked, hitching Chris higher on her hip as she smiled at Leo and Wyatt who were both pressed against the glass making kissy faces at the babies on the other side.

"Henry," Henry replied, smiling as his son pursed his lips in his sleep before rolling his head to the other side. "Henry Victor Mitchell Jr."

"Victor?" Piper's eyebrows arched. "Your middle name is Victor?"

"It's a family name," Henry defended. "My grandpa was named Victor."

"Our dad is named Victor," Phoebe smiled at a cute little girl lying next to baby Henry. "We should tell him you named Henry after him, earn you a few brownie points the next family reunion."

Henry smiled at that. Piper and Phoebe's father was a nice enough guy – he'd met him at Phoebe's wedding and they'd become fast friends, both of them having similar introductions into the realm of magic.

"Sure," he agreed readily enough with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why not?"


March 31st, 2008

Piper was exhausted, elated, and worried as she held her new baby girl in her arms.

"How's Phoebe?" She asked, turning to glance at her husband, brown eyes filled with fear. Piper was the older sister, the mommy of the group. She was the one who was supposed to be there to hold Phoebe and Paige's hands through the hard stuff and there wasn't really anything harder out there than giving birth.

Figured – just when Phoebe went into labor with her first child, Piper's little Melinda Prudence decided to make an appearance. Given that this was Piper's third labor and Phoebe's first, it wasn't surprising that Melinda had arrived much quicker than her cousin, but even holding her newborn daughter in her arms, Piper was already wishing she could just get up and go.

"Fine," Leo assured her, smiling widely down at his baby girl as he ran a soothing hand over his wife's hair. "Doctor says she's only five centimeters so it's going to be a little while. You have time."

Piper smiled slightly as Mel stirred in her arms, blinking her sleepy eyes up at her parents before yawning and letting those pretty brown eyes flutter close.

"Excuse me," the nurse murmured, interrupting their bonding time with an apologetic smile. "But I have to take her to the nursery now."

"Now?" Leo knew the routine by now but it still gave him little flashes of panic whenever his newborn child was taken from him. Too many bad things with Wyatt and Chris as kids and now there was baby Mel and Leo was just waiting for some dumbass to try something new…

"It'll only be for a little while," the nurse assured them, taking the little girl. "We just have to get her cleaned up and a little warmer and give mommy a little while to rest. You can follow me to the nursery if you'd like."

"Go," Piper instructed when Leo glanced down at her for permission. She remembered very clearly all the kidnapping attempts with Chris and Wyatt and was just as determined as her husband to make sure that didn't happen again.

Leo left, trailing after the nurse and Piper reluctantly closed her eyes, determined to rest for a little while so she could be there when Ladybug finally entered the world.


April 1st, 2008

Phoebe had really wanted to have a natural at home childbirth but all thoughts of that had flown completely out the window once the first contraction had hit.

"Drugs," she'd insisted, clutching at Coop's shirt as they'd wheeled her into the ER. "I want lots and lots of drugs."

She'd punctuated her demand with a ear-shattering scream that had Coop jerking backwards against her death grip, pale face paling all the more.

"It's alright," a calm nurse had assured him as they wheeled Phoebe into the back. "This is normal."

Phoebe had given the woman a dark look in response, opening her mouth to give her opinion on that one when another contraction had hit, harder and more painful than any of the others and she'd defied all expectations by screaming at an even higher decibel.

She'd learned, somewhere in her pain induced haze, that Piper had gone into labor as well and couldn't help but feel a stab of concern since Melinda Prudence wasn't due for another two weeks. Her concern dissipated shortly afterwards when Leo had made an appearance, stating that Piper had already given birth to their beautiful baby girl while Phoebe was stuck, apparently, at five centimeters dilation.

"Listen," she demanded after midnight had come and gone. "Either you give me something to make this labor go faster or I swear to God I'll – "

Coop had cut her off with a hand over her mouth as he smiled apologetically at the nursing staff.

"So sorry," he'd apologized but the nursing staff had waved it off.

"We've heard a hell of a lot worse," the nurse who'd wheeled her in stated.

"Good news," the doctor reported five minutes later. "You're at eight centimeters. Another two and you'll be ready to push."

Two hours and two centimeters later, Ruby Prudence Halliwell, also known as Ladybug, made her grand debut into the world.


December 1st, 2010

There'd been a bit of a lull in Halliwell births due mostly to the fact that Piper had declared she and Leo were done having babies – three was more than enough.

Phoebe hadn't really given much thought to more kids – Ladybug was the only one she'd seen so she was the only one she'd thought Coop and her would have.

And Henry and Paige had been too busy trying to be good parents, a good parole officer, and a good witch to really give the idea of more kids much thought, at least until their anniversary rolled around.

"Twins," Paige stared at her stomach for a moment before glancing over at Henry. "Two babies?"

His wife's confusion was adorable, a cuteness that Henry would happily reflect back upon later on in life but right now he was having problems of his own.

"Girls," he muttered, shaking his head. "I don't know what to do with girls. Isn't there some sort of rule book or something?"

"Relax," Coop assured them from where he stood in the corner of the room holding toddler Ruby while a very pregnant Phoebe cuddled next to him. "It'll be fine."

"Twins," Henry reiterated, pointing to Paige's stomach even as she let out a pained hiss and another ripple fluttered signaling another contraction.

"You'll do fine," Piper assured, cuddling against Leo as she held Paige's other hand. "You've got us to help you."

Five hours later Henry figured he didn't need anybody except Paige – he was flying high on cloud nine as he stared gobsmacked into the faces of his two little angels on the other side of the nursery glass.

"Penelope Charlotte and Pandora Samantha," Phoebe read the names as she rubbed a hand across her stomach and smiled. "Welcome to the family."


February 22nd, 2011

"Is that normal?" Billie asked, standing in a corner and feeling queasy as she watched Phoebe curl up on the bed once more, moaning in the grips of yet another contraction, her hand falling to her own slightly bulging stomach.

"Perfectly normal," a nurse assured her, moving around her to check one of the machines on Phoebe's other side.

Billie didn't really believe her but hell, who was she to argue? This was the first birth she'd witnessed and to be honest, aside from the little girl she was going to have in about three months time, she was definitely gonna make sure it was the last. There was nothing joy inspiring about watching one of your friends writhe around in pain.

Except when six hours later there's this little tiny baby that's screaming it's fool head off while Phoebe cried and Coop cut the cord.

"Wow," Billie murmured, touching her stomach once more as she stared down at little Artemis Patricia and suddenly she could not wait for her own little bundle of joy.


June 6th, 2011

"I'll kill him," Billie promised as sweat dripped down her face. "I'll murder that fucking bastard in his sleep and make damn sure he's awake for all of it!"

Billie wasn't making any sense but none of the sisters were going to argue with her, not in the state she was in.

"Language, Billie," Piper reminded the other girl gently as she dabbed at the sweat. "You don't want little Jessie's first words to be a curse now, do you?"

"I don't care," Billie moaned, closing her eyes as another contraction hit. "I just want her out."

Seven excruciatingly painful hours later Billie got her wish as Jessica Nicole Jenkins greeted the world, mother Billie Jenkins, father unknown.


May 25th, 2013

Phoebe figured it was fitting that she had three girls – keep the legacy alive and all that.

Elizabeth Christie Halliwell was born a healthy little girl at eight pounds, six ounces, twenty-one inches with one hell of a set of lungs.

"She's beautiful," Billie stated, staring through the nursery windows as Missy and Ruby visited their moms.

"That she is," Coop agreed with a proud smile. "How's Jessie?"

"Walking," Billie replied ruefully. "Her grandma and grandpa are at their wits ends, calling me to come pick her up before some other disaster occurs."

"I can go get her for you, if you'd like."

"Would you?" Coop was already gone before Billie could even blink, not that she would. Her attention was focused on her sisters namesake, a little brown eyed girl who had so much going for her.

"Promise," she murmured, fingers touching the glass. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you. To either of you," she finished as Coop reappeared, a sleepy little Jessie in his arms.

"No matter what."

A/N: I'm really underemployed right now so… ta-da! Chapters! Stories! Plot! Woo-hoo! This is the companion prologue to Used, my other Charmed/Covenant Crossover. This is supposed to cover the Blessed Ones, the children of the Charmed Ones, side of the story. Not a whole lot of plot since I'm just establishing who's who right now, but I hope you like it anyways. Enjoy!