CHAPTER 1: MISSING FAMILY
Everything seemed quiet and normal in the Halliwell household. Prue, and her sister Piper, were sleeping peacefully in their beds. They didn't know that just down the hall, their youngest sister, Phoebe, was tossing and turning, and talking in her sleep.
Suddenly Phoebe woke from her restless sleep with the feeling in her head that she just had a premonition, one that made no sense. She sat there for a moment scratching her head, trying to remember what woke her up so quickly.
"THE ATTIC!"
She said aloud to no one as she jumped out of the bed, grabbed her bathrobe, and ran out her bedroom door. It was almost 5:00 in the morning, and Piper, who was always a light sleeper, woke with a jump, hearing a door slam and feet running past her door. Thinking that one of her sisters might need her help she climbed out of bed and entered the hallway to see what was going on.
As she closed her bedroom door, she looked along the hall and saw no one. She checked in the bathroom to make sure no one was sick, and when she found it empty, she decided to check downstairs. After checking the kitchen, and living room she noticed the back and front doors still dead bolted and chained, which told her that no one left the house.
Figuring it was just a dream, she made her way back upstairs and was about to head back to bed when she noticed the attic light was on. Letting out a small grown she made her way up the stairs dreading it more and more with every step she took.
As she approached the top of the stairs, she paused for a moment and listened. She could clearly hear things being thrown on the floor, furniture being pushed around and someone mumbling to themselves.
She made her way up the final few steps and raised her hands preparing to freeze anything in her sight. She entered the room slowly, and scanned the room with her eyes, expecting the worst. At first, she saw nobody, which scared her tremendously, for she had learned that sometimes the most dangerous things couldn't be seen. As she moved slowly around a pushed dresser, she found the strangest thing.
"Phoebe? What the Hell? What are you doing?"
Hearing the loud voices and thumping on the ceiling, which to her sounded like someone pounding on her head, Prue climbed out of bed, and grabbed her bathrobe.
"This better be good!"
She mumbled to herself as she made her way out of her bedroom. Not even stopping to close the door behind her, she made her way up the attic stairs. She was ready to kill the first person she saw for waking her so early in the morning on her first day off in weeks.
"Alright, would someone please tell me what is going on up here? It's 5:00 in the morning, and for once, I can sleep in and…"
Stopping mid-sentence she noticed that Piper wasn't even looking at her. She walked around the dresser, followed Piper's fixed stare, and hung her mouth open with complete shock. What she saw confused and scared her terribly.
"Look in the walls, look in the wall…."
"Phoebe what are you doing?"
Prue watched as Phoebe continued crawling on her hands and knees, running her hands along the wall talking to herself. She did not attempt to respond to her sisters question, and even worst, didn't even seem to notice they were in the same room. When Prue still got no response, she stepped in front of Piper, turned around, and looked her square in the eye.
"Piper what's going on? What is Phoebe doing?"
"I don't know, I asked her. Prue it's like she lost her mind. All
she keeps saying is 'Look in the walls.' She won't say anything else."
Prue wasn't going to settle for that. She turned around and walked right over to Phoebe. Bending down she grabbed Phoebe's hands, forcing her to look right into her eyes.
"Phoebe, pull yourself together! Tell us what's wrong."
Still not getting a response, Prue softened her voice and pushed a strain of hair out of Phoebe's eyes.
"Pheebs, just relax and tell us what your doing. Maybe we can help."
Phoebe, looked up at Piper as if saying, 'HELP ME'. Piper recognized this look in her baby sister's eyes, and joined them on the floor.
"Phoebe we want to help please let us."
Phoebe looked from Piper to Prue, and then back to Piper. She could tell she was worrying Prue, and scaring Piper. She took a deep breath, and began to explain.
"I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I was sound asleep having a wonderful dream about Owen. Suddenly it was like someone walked into my dream and pulled me out. The next thing I knew someone was leading me around the attic, telling me to look in the wall to find the answer."
"Someone? You don't know who?"
"No I never saw her face. By the voice I could tell it was a woman. I feel like I should know who she was, her voice was so familiar. All I do know for sure is that there is something up here, and I have to find it."
"Do you have to find it now? I mean, I just got to sleep three hours ago; the club was really busy last night. If you let us get a few more hours of sleep, I promise to help."
"Do you really think I can go back to sleep without knowing what this is all about?"
"Fine, then we'll all help. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can all go back to sleep."
Prue looked at Piper who was about to argue, but decided it would be best to just help out. Prue planned on making this search go as fast as she possibly could. She really wanted to get back to some well deserved, and much needed sleep.
They spread out around the attic, moving every piece of furniture they could. They each began tapping on the walls and floor throughout the entire attic, none of them really sure as to what they were looking for. Minute by minute they were each growing more and more exhausted. After several hours, Piper threw her hands up in the air.
"Alright I give up. I surrender. What ever was in your dream obviously isn't here now. We have looked everywhere. Can't we just get some sleep? We can look again when we can actually keep our eyes open."
"No. You guys can give up if you want to. I know there is something here. I don't care if it takes all day and the next to find it. I'm not giving up!"
Phoebe was more frustrated than any of them. She knew that this was some kind of premonition, and she never ignored her visions. She leaned against the wall and ran her hands through her sweaty hair.
"We just have to……HUH….."
Knowing the look on their sister's face, Piper and Prue knew that now they had to wait for Phoebe to come out of her premonition. In Phoebe's minds eye she could see her Grams pulling out a loose brick from the wall, putting something inside, and then replacing the brick before walking out of the attic.
"What did you see?"
Is all Phoebe could hear when she opened her eyes. Without a word, she turned around and faced the window. Walking over to it, she bent down and examined the wall just underneath. It was then that she noticed a brick that wasn't really cemented into place. She removed the brick and then looked at her sisters before reaching her hand into the hole.
"I hope there aren't any little things in there. You know things that eat cheese, and tend to live in the walls."
Piper said with a very squeamish look on her face as she pictured Phoebe pulling a dead mouse out of the wall, or even worse, a live one. Prue gave her a "this is not the time" look, and then turned her attention back to Phoebe, who wasn't even paying attention to what Piper had just said. Phoebe eased her hand out of the wall and examined what she had found.
"What are they?"
"They look like letters."
"Who are they from?"
"They're addressed to a Miss Penny Halliwell."
"So they are probably some old love letters from different guys that Grams dated."
"Take a look at the return address, a Mister Paul Halliwell."
"Paul? We don't know any Paul, do we?"
Phoebe was relieved that all their searching paid off, but she was still more confused than ever. Prue could see the stress and confusion in her youngest sister's face, and decided it was time for big sister to take charge.
"Listen, we're all pretty awake now. Why don't we head downstairs and have some coffee. We can look over the letters while we have some breakfast."
Piper once again was about to voice her opinion, but she too saw how much her baby sister needed their help right now. She helped Phoebe to stand up, and followed her down the stairs. She knew darn well, that there was no way she could get to sleep, even if she tried. Prue took one last look around the attic. They had really made a mess, vowing the make sure they cleaned it up later, she closed the attic door, and made her way downstairs toward the kitchen.
Arriving in the kitchen, she saw that Piper was already in the process of turning on the stove, and scrambling up some eggs. Prue made her way over to the counter, stopped for a moment to turn on the coffee pot, then opened the cabinet pulling out three coffee mugs setting them on the counter.
"So?"
"So what?"
Phoebe held her head in her hands as she rubbed the sleep out of the corner of her eyes. She could feel the dust that filled her hair, and cloths. She felt absolutely gross.
"Read the letters you had to find so badly. I want to know what was so important that we had to be up at 5:00 in the morning."
Prue was quick to agree as she began to pour the coffee into the mugs. She then made her way to the refrigerator to get out the cream, and then the sugar. Setting them on the table she watched as Phoebe lifted her head as if she was clearing her mind.
"Oh right. Ok, here's the first one. Dear Mom, I…"
"Wait Mom? I thought you said the return address was Paul, not Patty Halliwell."
"Piper I can read. Take a look for yourself."
Phoebe handed Piper the envelope as Piper made her way over to the table with a plate in hand. Putting the plate down she took the envelope from Phoebe, and examined the return address for herself.
"Maybe it was just someone who liked to call Grams Mom. Maybe they grew up with Mom. I mean we used to call Andy's Mom, Mom all the time. Andy called Grams, Grams. We won't know if you don't stop interrupting me."
"Yea, right. Someone who grew up with Mom, and just happens to have the same last name as us…."
Piper threw the envelope back on the table, picked up her coffee, sat down and began to pour in some cream, and then looked up at her sisters. Phoebe was to busy rolling her eyes at Pipers rambling to say anything. Prue gave Piper a stern look that had the words "SHUT UP" written all over it.
"OK fine. Read on."
"Thank you so much."
Phoebe took a second to take a bite of her scrambled eggs, before re-picking up the letter. Taking a sip of her coffee, she cleared her throat and began to read the letter aloud to her sisters.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mom,
I know it's been a long time since you have heard from me, and I don't know if you even want to. I mean, I wouldn't blame you. Who would want to hear from a son who walked out of your life, and into a life that was totally against everything you tried to teach me and Patty? I wanted to let you know that I have left the occult.
I completely understand why you blocked me from entering your mind, and I now understand what you were trying to warn me about. Several weeks ago, a young woman came into the group, and it was love at first sight. I met her and just knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but she was advancing so fast that I became afraid that I would lose her forever. If that is how I made you feel, I am so very sorry.
We walked out together two days ago, and it's going to be difficult for a while. We will have to be on the move a lot to make sure they don't follow us. Right now, we are safe. I can't tell you where we are, just in case, but I can promise you this. No matter how much they wanted to know about my family, I never told them about you or Patty. I would never want the dangers that I have put on my life to affect you guys.
The love of my life's name is Sarah, and we will be married soon. I know it may seem fast, but as I said it was love at first sight.
Well I have to go, time is running out, and we have to move on. I wish I could hear from you, but since I don't know where we are going right now, I know that is not possible. I will write again soon, and once we can settle down for a while, if you want, you can write to me. I don't expect anything.
Love Always Your Loving Son,
Paul
P.S.
Kiss Patty for me, and tell her that her big brother had never forgotten about her, and will always love her.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The room was filled with silence as each of the girls absorbed the information that was given to them. Each girl thought about something different, none of them knowing how to put their thoughts into words.
Piper couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. With tears welling up in her eyes, and a touch of harshness in her voice, she decided to speak what was on her mind. She had so much sadness in her voice she didn't think she would be able to say what she wanted to without breaking down.
"How could she not tell us? Why wouldn't she tell us? I mean this had to be years ago right. When was it dated?"
Not even waiting for a response Piper picked the envelope up again and examined the date.
"1980. Mom was already gone. Phoebe and I were still young, but Prue was already in High School. She could have at least told you. Why didn't she?"
Seeing the tears in her youngest sister's eyes was breaking Prue's heart. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was watching her sister cry. Even when they were younger, if her sisters were hurt, or upset, she would do everything in her power to make the pain go away. Her motherly instincts kicked in, as she tried to console her sisters.
"I don't know. Maybe she couldn't tell us."
"Why?"
"Piper, think about it. If she had told us about him, we would have wanted to know why he left. We didn't know anything about us being witches and she wasn't about to tell us then."
"Then why tell us about him now?"
"I don't know, but the rest of these letters will probably give us the answers."
Prue looked over at Phoebe. She could tell that now that they knew what the letters were about, Phoebe was allowing the exhaustion that was building inside her to show.
"Tired Pheebs."
"A little. I don't think I can think anymore. I think I should try and get some more sleep."
"Good idea. I think we could all use some rest. Why don't we finish this wonderful breakfast that Piper cooked, and then get some sleep. We don't have to figure this out right now. We have time."
They all agreed and one by one finished their breakfast, put their dishes in the sink, and headed upstairs to their rooms. Each of them hoping to get more sleep, but knowing the odds of that were not very good.
Four hours passed by in a blink of an eye. Prue knew that she was wasting her time trying to sleep anymore; she had maybe slept another hour and a half. She was to worried about what her sisters must be feeling, to rest herself. She got out of bed, and after quickly checking on each of her sisters, she headed for the shower.
For the first time in a long time, Prue was actually able to enjoy her morning shower. Normally after no more then five minutes she would hear someone pounding on the door, yelling at the top of their lungs.
"ARE YOU DONE YET? YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE FOREVER!"
She took a little longer then usual, allowing the nice hot water to wash away some of the stress that was bound to be waiting for her just outside that bathroom door. Her usual ten minutes extended to twenty. Upon exiting the bathroom, feeling more refreshed and relaxed, she met Piper in the hall as she was exiting her bedroom.
"How you feeling Piper? Did you sleep at all?"
"Some. It's just a lot to think about. Not to mention, I'm a little worried about Phoebe. She looked so stressed out."
"I know what you mean. Don't worry, we'll figure it out. She still sleeping?"
"Yea, I just looked in. Covers tossed on the floor and all."
"That's our Phoebe. The more worried she is when she falls asleep, the more stuff we have to pick up off the floor when she wakes up. Why don't you go take your shower? I'm going to get dressed."
"I hope you left enough hot water. You know how much Phoebe hates a cold shower first thing in the morning."
Prue just let out a small giggle as she closed the door to her bedroom. Piper too had to laugh. She knew that after she was done, there wouldn't be much hot water left.
Piper, like Prue lost track of time in the shower, and she too took longer then she was allowed. As she exited the bathroom, she decided to check on Phoebe one more time. As she approached the door, she could only hope that her baby sister was still fast asleep. Piper knew that first and foremost, Phoebe needed the sleep. Piper and Prue both knew that when it came to Phoebe's premonitions, there would be no more resting until an answer was found.
Piper also figured by the time Phoebe got up, there might be a little more hot water. Quietly opening the door, Piper inched her head inside the room. She let out a sigh of frustration when she found Phoebe wide-awake, laying in her bed staring at the ceiling.
"Pheebs you ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking?"
Piper walked into the room and took a seat on the bed. Phoebe sat up and locked eyes with her sister. Piper could always read Phoebe, even as a child, but this was different. Phoebe looked like the whole world was on her shoulders.
"About Grams?"
"No, yes, I don't know. I'm thinking about everything. Like who was the lady? Why did she choose me? And why now?"
"Well everything happens for a reason. No one knows that better then us. We'll figure it out."
"I guess your right."
Phoebe said as she jumped off the bed, walked over to her closet, and grabbed her bathrobe. Turning around she made her way to the door. As if coming out of daze, Piper realized where Phoebe was heading and jumped off the bed. She stood in Phoebe's doorway; she wanted to find a way to stall.
"Where you going?"
"I don't know. Thought I would take a shower. Crazy thought I guess."
"Well I just thought that maybe you were to tired to take a shower. You know you look like you could use some more sleep."
"Well Piper you see, besides getting clean, part of the reason people take a shower is to help them wake up when their tired. Now move out of the way. I want to get to work on those letters so we can figure out what kind of demon we are up against."
"What makes you think it's a demon?"
"When's the last time I got a premonition that didn't involve a demon. Now for the last time move!"
"Oh, right sorry. I guess I'll see you downstairs."
Piper moved out of the way, allowing Phoebe to make her way into the bathroom. Piper simply stood in the hallway and listened to the door being closed, followed closely by the water being turned on.
Prue decided it was a good time to check on her sisters. She knew that Piper didn't usually take her time when it came to getting going in the morning. Prue stopped at the top of the stairs when she noticed Piper staring at the bathroom door.
"Piper? What are you doing? What's wrong?"
"You'll see…….3.…….2.……1.…"
"OH MY GOD….I'M GOING TO KILL YOU GUYS!!!!"
Prue didn't need to ask any more questions, she turned on her heals and headed straight downstairs. Piper looked over her shoulder expecting to see Prue still standing there. When she saw she was gone, she followed suit, running into her bedroom to get dressed as fast as possible.
About a half an hour later, Phoebe came down the stairs, fully dressed and towel drying her hair.
"Thanks a lot you guys. That's all I needed today was a freezing cold shower. What are you guys doing?"
Phoebe looked around the kitchen table. Letters and papers were spread everywhere.
"Sorry Pheebs. We tried to wait for you, but our curiosity got the better of us."
"That's alright I guess. If I had been the first one up, which next time I will, I would have done the same thing. Did you guys actually find anything?"
"Nothing at first. Just lots of letters about life on the road, and stuff like that. They weren't telling us anything about Paul, or his wife. Then it dawned on us that maybe the family history would."
"But you didn't actually find anything right?"
"Sure we did."
"That can't be. I've read that book cover to cover, I don't know how many times. I would remember him being there."
"Well he's here now. It's not like it's the first time stuff popped up in one of our books."
"Remember Barbas? Mom put that stuff in the book when she knew he was coming. Then she added things as she saw fit."
"You know just when we think we have all the secrets of this family uncovered, poof, more show up."
"Thanks a lot Grams. Since when are we detectives?"
Piper looked up to the sky. She knew her Grams could hear ever word she said. She also knew that she wouldn't appear unless she was summoned.
"You know maybe we should just summon Grams."
"Not yet Piper. Besides summoning her doesn't mean she'll tell us anything. We just need to figure it out for ourselves. Give me the book."
Phoebe poured herself a cup a coffee, then joined her sisters at the kitchen table. Prue placed the old book in front of Phoebe. Taking a sip of her coffee she cleared her throat before she began to read aloud.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
PAUL ANTHONY HALLIWELL
First male witch to be born in the Warren line. He possessed the power of mind jumping and mind speaking. Unlike mind control, this gave him the ability to jump into peoples minds and speak to them, and for him to hear what they had to say, rather then what they were thinking.
Since the Wiccan line always ran through the women in the family, his powers were never very strong, and therefore grew at a very slow pace. Always wanting to learn more about his powers he spent a great deal of his time trying to learn everything he could from his mother.
Feeling bitter that his mother devoted most of her time and energy helping his younger sister Patty learn the ways of a witch, at the age of 18 he left home, not even leaving a note behind to say goodbye. He searched for many months until he found someone who was willing to teach him about magic, with the guarantee that his power would grow in a very short amount of time. Feeling that he would finally be worthy of being a Halliwell, he used his power to link with his family, and received many warning from his mother to walk away.
He was taken in by a group called the Powers for Life, although the rest of the magical world knew them as the Controllers. Their goal was to have all natural born witches under their control so they could rule the world.. Joining members knew nothing of their leader's plans, but were simply told they would help their powers to grow to help the world. Paul decided to learn what he could from these people, so that he could take his new advanced power back to his home and help protect his family, namely his little sister Patty. The leaders would often ask about his family history, and where he got his powers from. Never wanted to have them involved, he would lie, and say that his parents were dead, and he didn't know much about them. They accepted this from him and allowed him to stay.
Paul spent many years in the group, but never took the final steps that would put him under their control. He convinced the leaders that he could be very useful in other ways, and he was allowed to stay to recruit new members, and work the finances. One day he met a new member of the group who he fell deeply in love with, and together they found the strength to leave the group. They realized the dangers that they were in, and knew they could never fully be together while in the group. They ran for many years before settling down, and starting a family of their own.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phoebe turned the page of the old book expecting to read more. When she saw there was nothing there, she slammed the book closed in frustration.
"What? That's it? Where is the rest?"
"Grams probably never had the chance to finish Paul's story. We know that he did get married to Sarah, and had a child."
"How do you know that?"
"We think that where the book leaves off, the letters pick up. Read this."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mom,
I just wanted you to know that on February 26, 1987 Sarah gave birth to your newest granddaughter. You wouldn't believe how much she reminds me of Patty. She has your eyes, and Patty's smile.
We named her Nancy, sorry mom, I know what your thinking, but we needed to break the 'P' names sometime. She has become the one real pleasure in our lives.
I will write more later.
Love Always,
Paul and Family
P.S.
How are the girls doing? Please let me know if you need anything, I will try and send you what I can.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"That means that Grams must have written him, he knew about us."
"Yea, we know. This letter was written 5 years later."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Grandma,
I LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS
Love your Granddaughter,
Nancy
Hi Mom,
Nancy is so smart. The teachers say that she has an IQ of over 200, and will probably be out of college by the time she is 16. We don't want her to grow up too fast, so we decided to wait on sending her to school. We are letting her finish her one year of preschool, then we'll keep her home for a while. They don't know where to put her anyway.
Even though she has never met you, she knows all about you, and is always asking when we can write grandma again. She is so proud to be a witch, and is totally excited to know that the Charmed ones are her cousins. Sarah and I are just happy to finally discover what her power is. She has my power, only more advanced. She can leap into people's dreams, and pull us into hers. Last night, she was having a nightmare and was scared, so she pulled me into her dream. She said she needed me to keep her safe. At least some of the dreams we have had since Nancy was born make sense now.
Well I have to go and get ready for work. Yes mom can you believe it. I finally have a full time job, and it never felt so good. Sarah says hi, and is really starting to push for us to see each other. Maybe this summer. Who knows.
Love Always,
Paul and Family
P.S.
I have included Nancy's school picture. Thank goodness she isn't as devilish as Patty was, then again right now Nancy is an only child. Give us time.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Where's the picture?"
"Right here."
Prue handed the picture to Phoebe, and watched as Phoebe starred at it.
"She looks like you when you were young Pheebs."
"She does. Really?"
"Yea. People always used to say that you were a dead ringer for mom when we were kids. You might not remember, but Grams used to slip all the time and call you Patty. I asked her why once, and she said you reminded her so much of Mom. Even with how you used to get into trouble."
"Now I remember. I wonder what Nancy…..HUH…"
For the second time today, Phoebe was pulled from her own thoughts, and shoved into the black and white world of a premonitions, that through pictures in her mind.
As she came out of it she could say nothing. She developed a sheer look of terror on her face. Her stomach began to turn as she tried to force words out of her mouth. Her hands began to shake, and her lower lip quivered. Seeing the stress on Phoebe's face, Prue told Piper to get some water, as she kneeled in front of Phoebe taking hold of her hands and speaking in a soft and calm voice.
"It's alright Pheebs take your time. Drink some of this water. Just relax."
Piper handed Prue the water and then sat back down in the chair next to her baby sister. She watched as Phoebe tried to calm down so that she could tell them what she had saw.
"Good, now can you tell us what you saw?"
Taking a deep breath, she placed the glass of water back on the table, and took a hold of Prue's hands one more time. She almost felt like she had to draw some strength out of Prue in order to put her thoughts into words.
"I saw, I would assume it was Sarah and Paul being killed. I'm pretty sure it already happened. I saw, well a form of Nancy there. She looked like this picture."
"A form?"
"Yea, it's a little hard to explain. It was like a hologram of Nancy, or something like that. I'm pretty sure she got away. If she did, then she is all alone, and has no one to help her. You know it's bad enough that Warren witches have to lose their mothers at a young age, but why fathers too. I don't understand."
"Phoebe calm down we don't know for sure that it already happened."
"Yes we do Prue. Look."
Piper handed Prue the family tree. Like the words in the Family History, dates appeared next to Sarah and Paul's names. They held their breath and waited to see if another date appeared next to Nancy's name, but it never did.
"We have to find her."
"How Pheebs. We don't even know where she is. None of these letters have a return address. Grams probably had it memorized, and threw it away so no one could find it."
Piper was trying to be the voice of reason, but she knew that it wasn't coming out the right way. She could see the wheels of thought rolling in Phoebe's mind.
"Maybe, if I concentrate hard enough on this picture, I can force a premonition, and find out where she is, or at least if she's alright."
Prue and Piper both knew that Phoebe was emotionally and physically drained, but knew that trying to reason with Phoebe right now wouldn't be the best idea. So for the better part of the rest of the day, they watched as Phoebe focused all her remaining energy concentrating on the picture. While they all hoped that a premonition would pop into Phoebe's head, and show that Nancy was not just alive, but happy, Prue and Piper knew the odds of that were very slim.
As night drew closer, Phoebe tried harder and harder, with no success. She eventually gave in to her sister's demands, to get some sleep, and try again in the morning. Prue and Piper tucked their exhausted baby sister into bed, kissed her goodnight, and turned in for the night themselves.
Well past 1:00 in the morning Phoebe became restless. She began to toss and turn even worst then the night before, when she woke up screaming at the top of her lungs.
Hearing the screams, Prue and Piper each woke up from dead sleeps. Fearing the worst, they each fell out of their beds trying to get up, and find out what was happening. They reached the hallway almost at the same time, looked at each other confused, and then sprinted to Phoebe's door. Throwing the door open, at first they saw nothing. Phoebe wasn't in her bed, and all the blankets were thrown on the floor.
As they entered the room, with extreme caution, they heard soft whimpers and sobs coming from somewhere. Prue clicked on the light and looked around the room. To her surprise they found Phoebe sitting in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying softly.
"Phoebe honey. What's wrong? What happened?"
Prue asked as she and Piper approached her slowly so to not scare her anymore then she already was. Receiving no response, the two older sisters bent down in front of their baby sister to try to comfort her, and ease her pain.
Although Phoebe continued to say nothing, as soon as Prue sat down, Phoebe leaned forward placing her head in Prue's lap. Prue looked over to Piper, hoping she would know what was going on. She knew she would get no answers from her when she saw tears of fear rolling down Pipers cheek.
"Prue, I'm scared. What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know. I'm scared too, but we have to stay calm, for Phoebe."
Turning her attention back to Phoebe, Prue placed her hand softly and slowly on Phoebe's back. At first Phoebe jumped and her body tensed up, but soon she began to relax as Prue started to rub her back in small circles as she had done so many times when they were younger. Prue decided not to push for information right away, but to first get Phoebe to calm down.
"Phoebe, I want you to listen to me ok. Your safe. Piper and I are here, and nothing is going to happen to you. I want you to close your eyes and listen to the sound of my voice. Feel my hand on your back, and hear the calm in my voice. Now take a deep breath, then let it out. Then take another, and let it out."
As Prue continued to talk she could feel Phoebe's body begin to relax. Phoebe's breathing was becoming nice and calm, and when Prue was sure it was safe she took it a step further.
"Good Phoebe, your doing great. Now I want you to take your time. Can you tell us what happened?"
Phoebe took another deep breath and let it out slowly. She once again closed her eyes, and not even bothering to lift her head from Prue's lap she began to explain.
"I saw Nancy. She was being beat up by someone."
"A demon?"
"No, but he certainly was a monster. I think it happened pretty recently. She looked a little older then the picture we saw."
"Can you elaborate a little for us?"
"At first it was like any other premonition. I could see everything around me and everyone, including Nancy. Then suddenly it changed. In the blink of an eye it was like I could see through Nancy's eyes. I could feel what she feels. I could feel every hit, every punch, and every kick. I still can."
"That's happened to you before. Remember?"
"Right, when I was connected to the Succubus demon. Guy's I think I'm somehow connected to Nancy. She needs our help, and she needs it now."
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yes and no. I can tell you she's in L.A. I just don't know where."
"How do you know?"
"I just do Piper. I can feel it. You have to trust me."
"Don't worry Phoebe, we trust you. Here Piper take her."
Prue handed her baby sister off to Piper, and Phoebe accepted Piper's open arms. As Phoebe allowed her body to relax once again Prue got up off the floor and went in the hallway to get the phone. Several minutes later she returned, helped Phoebe to stand, and walked her to her bed.
"There's a flight leaving at 10:00 in the morning. We leave first thing in the morning."
"Prue what about work? You can't just leave."
"This is more important. I'll call them from the airport. It's a little after two now. Let's try to get a few more hours of sleep before then."
"Prue I can't. I'm scared. I know it's really stupid, I mean with all the demons and warlocks we've faced I shouldn't be scared like this, but I can't help it. I am."
"It's not stupid Pheebs. I tell you what, you can come and sleep in my room, even though I won't get much sleep."
"Why not?"
Prue had to smile at the puzzled look on her sister's face.
"Well Phoebe, face it, people don't like sharing a bed with you because well, there's no nice way to say this, but you kick."
"I do not. Do I Piper?"
"Sorry Pheebs she's right, you do. Why do you think whenever we went on vacations, you always got your own bed?"
"I just thought you guys wanted to stay up all night and talk about boys."
"Well that too, but we didn't want to be kicked all night either."
After trying to give a look of hurt to Prue and Piper, Phoebe couldn't hold it any longer and the three ladies began to laugh for the first time all day. Piper decided to join them in Prue's room. Phoebe was very happy, she was going to be able to get a few hours of sleep in-between the safe and comfortable embrace of her two older sisters.
When the alarm went off at 7am, the three girls bolted out of bed, washed up, threw cloths in a bag, and were out the door by 8:30. Arriving at the airport, they found that the flight was being delayed. They waited as patiently as they possible could. Finally at 10:00 the plane began to load, and by 10:30 the plane took off from the runway, headed straight for L.A.
"So how are we going to find her once we get there?"
Piper was trying to make small talk to keep her mind off the fact that she was actually in an airplane, the one thing she hated most in the world.
"With these."
Phoebe reached into her backpack that was stowed under the seat in front of her and pulled out the photo of Nancy, and a few of the letters Paul had written to Grams.
"Hopefully between being in L.A., and these things, not to mention the connections, I will be able to link up long enough to find out where she is. I just hope we're not to late."
"First of all Phoebe you would have had another flash. Second I checked the family tree before we left, and there still isn't another date added to Nancy's name."
"That's not what I meant. Last night I could feel Nancy's emotions. She was emotionally drained, and I could tell that she was not fighting back. If she gives up hope, I might not get another flash."
"Don't worry, we'll find her."
Prue looked from Piper to Phoebe, then back to Piper. Both of them noticed how in one day Phoebe looked like she had aged ten years. Her eye's looked so tired, and she had worry lines all over her face. They had debated on weather to talk to Phoebe about it, and they knew that now was as good a time as any. Prue knew that Piper was always better at getting their sister to open up. Giving Piper's hand a squeeze, Piper knew that was her signal to go ahead. Taking a deep breath she asked the question that had bothering them every since they had found out about Nancy.
"Phoebe, you know that we are all worried about Nancy. Prue and I want to know why you are more worried then us. Is it because of the link?"
"Maybe, but I don't think so. I think it's because when Mom died it was really hard, but I was so young and didn't understand a lot about what was going on. When I finally did understand that Mom wasn't coming back, I was sad of course, but I wasn't scared about what would happen to me, because I had Grams and you guys to look after me. I knew I wouldn't be alone."
"We all felt that way."
"I know, but I used to think that our lives were so hard, and that nobody could ever understand what I was feeling. This is making me realize that there are people out there who have it harder then I did, and it's family. Nancy has nobody to help her feel safe, make her feel loved. We need to be there for her, like Grams was for us."
"I think we understand Pheebs. Don't worry, we'll find her no matter how long it takes. We will remind her what it's like to be loved, and part of a family."
Phoebe seemed to calm down a little after opening up. It always helped her to say what was on her mind. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep for a little bit, since she knew she wouldn't sleep again until Nancy was safe and in their arms.
Two hours later the plane landed, the girls got a rental car, and found themselves a motel room. Deciding to clean up before heading out to find Nancy, they each took turns changing their cloths, and washing their faces in the bathroom.
Phoebe as usual drew the short straw and went into the bathroom last. Phoebe took a fresh washcloth washing her face and neck before she ran some water of the top of her short brown hair. Lifting her face she looked in the mirror. She knew she needed to put some makeup on, her eyes were so dark and looked sunken in. Pulling out her makeup bag she started to apply some eyeliner, when she dropped the pen grabbing hold of the sink. She could feel the room begin to spin, as she fell to the ground landing on the cold tile with a loud thud.
Prue and Piper had just finished putting on their shoes when they heard a loud noise come from the bathroom. Getting up from the bed they ran over to the door and knocked.
"Pheebs you alright in there?"
They waited for a response, but could hear none. Prue pushed her ear to the door and could hear Phoebe groaning on the other side.
"She's in trouble. Back up Piper!"
Raising her hand she forced the locked door open and entered the bathroom. They grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around Phoebe as they helped her to sit up. They could clearly see that she was conscious, but was having trouble forming words.
"Take your time Phoebe, we're right here."
Moments later, and with her eye's still closed she found the strength to tell her sisters what was happening.
"It's Nancy. I'm connected again."
"Can you see where she is?"
"She's in a cab. The man from last night is sitting next to her."
"Phoebe try to look around. Do you see any street signs, or landmarks?"
"No. She's just looking at the floor. Wait, the cab just stopped. She's so scared. She doesn't want to get out of the cab. I think she knows something is going to happen if she goes inside."
"This connections is really strong."
"Quiet Piper."
"Phoebe when she gets out she'll have to look up. Just focus. Remember when you helped me with the Succubus demon. You forced her to say and do what you wanted. Try to force Nancy to look around."
Phoebe concentrated with all her energy. It took every once of strength she had to not just go along with Nancy. She felt as if Nancy was trying to push her out of the connection, but it wasn't working.
"Alright, here we go. Their in front of a apartment. The address says 1974 Sycamore Lane."
"Great. Piper maybe you should stay with Phoebe. I'll go alone."
"No way Prue. Piper get me a shirt. You guys just need to help me a little. The connection isn't breaking."
"No problem little sis, just hold onto us. We'll take care of you."
Piper grabbed Phoebe's shirt from her bag, helped put it over her head, and then pulled her arms through. Prue and Piper each grabbed a hold of Phoebe and slowly helped her to stand. Sensing that Phoebe was shaky and uneasy, Prue helped her baby sister find her balance while Piper helped to support her body.
As Phoebe gained a little more balance, Prue put one of Phoebe's arms around her neck, while Piper did the same on the other side. When Prue got closer to Phoebe she could feel heat radiating from Phoebe's body. She gently placed a hand on Phoebe's forehead and immediately felt not only heat, but a great deal of sweat forming on Phoebe's forehead.
"Pheebs, your burning up. Do you feel alright?"
"Yes and no. Remember I feel what Nancy feels. Right now I think she's sick. We need to hurry guys. I feel like giving up, which means she's giving up. I don't want the connection to break till we get there."
"Alright let's go."
They quickly but carefully got Phoebe to the car, laying her down in the backseat. Prue and Piper jumped in the front and with Piper's navigations they were outside the apartment in no time. Arriving at the apartment Prue and Piper helped Phoebe out of they car. They expected her to still be shaky, but found that she could stand on her own with little to no problem.
Phoebe noticed that her body temperature was slowly dropping back to normal. It was as if the connection was no longer necessary, and the two girls were no longer one. By the time they reached the front steps Phoebe had full control of her body again, and could no longer see through Nancy's eyes. As they slowly made their way up the stairs they could hear a child scream, and they quickened their pace running to the door. Knowing that there was no time for subtlety, and not caring who saw her, Prue broke down the door with her power.
As they ran inside they immediately noticed the scent of garbage, beer, and cigarettes in the air. Not really stopping to take in their surroundings they rushed inside following the whimpering sound of a child, and the loud and angry voice of an adult. Rounding a corner their eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and anger, for in the middle of the room was a young girl lying on the floor with blood running down her face, and a large cut on her arm. Above her stood a middle-aged man, his arm raised up high in the air, belt in hand, obviously drunk and ready to strike again.
Hearing the sound of a door opening, and footsteps approaching he turned his attention away from the crying child. Looking up his reaction was a mixture of rage and terror all rolled into one.
"Who they hell are you? Get out of my house or I'll…"
Piper took the chance to freeze the man mid-sentence. With the man frozen in place they ran over to the girl who was scared out of her mind.
"Don't be afraid, it's alright now. Are you Nancy?"
Not knowing who to be more afraid of, the man who had been hurting her for the past three months, or the women who had broken down the door, and she knew had powers, she simply nodded her head yes. She then began to try to back away from them, sliding her body across the floor. With each movement she took pain would radiate throughout her body till she couldn't take it anymore. She stopped trying to get away and allowed even more tears to fall.
"Are you going to hurt me too?"
"No sweetie, we're not?"
Nancy looked at them confused. She couldn't understand why. Ever since her parents had died, she bounced from one foster home to the next. Some homes good, some bad, and her current situation was the worst of them all.
"Why not? Everyone else does! Who are you?"
"We're family."
For the first time since their arrival Nancy looked into the eyes of the strangers. Moving from the strong blue eye's of the obvious to her oldest one, to the tears and concerned brown-eyed middle woman, she settled her eyes on the youngest one. There was something warm and comforting about those eyes. They made her feel safe, made her feel strong. They were so familiar. She searched her memory to try to understand why she was feeling this way. Only one person came to mind.
"I'm sorry Dad."
She whispered to herself in a voice so soft that even the girls couldn't hear what she had said.
"We're here to…"
Phoebe didn't even have a chance to finish her sentence. Nancy grabbed her, hugging her so tight never wanting to let go. For Nancy and Phoebe it was like they had known each other for years.
"I knew you would find me someday. I just knew you would, but you can't be here. You can't help me. It's to dangerous. I promised Mom and Dad that I would never go near you. You could get hurt or killed. People even worst than this are still looking for me. Someday they might find me and it wouldn't be good for anyone. You have more important things to do in the world then get killed over me."
"We'll worry about that later. Right now there is nothing more important to us then helping you. We need to get you to a hospital. You don't look so good. Phoebe, help Nancy to the car, then call the police. Piper and I will take care of this guy."
Phoebe took off her coat, wrapped it around Nancy, and then picked her up off the ground as gently as possible. Phoebe's adrenaline was working in such overtime that she didn't even notice how light, and small Nancy was for her age.
"You aren't going to kill him are you? He may deserve to die, but he doesn't deserve to be killed. No one does. Beside it's not our job to punish, just protect."
Nancy had a great deal of concern in her voice, but not for the man who had put her through hell for the past several months. All her life her parents had warned her about using her powers to get even with people, or intentionally harm someone. She knew what would happen if a good witch used their powers against an innocent. She also knew that these three ladies were the Charmed Ones, and if they turned bad, God help the world.
"Don't worry Nancy. We aren't going to kill him. We're just going to make sure he gets what he deserves. It will be alright, we won't be long."
Knowing she had no choice but to believe her cousins, Nancy put her head on Phoebe's shoulder and allowed herself to be carried out the door. Once Prue knew they were out of sight she told Piper to grab a chair. With the chair in place, Prue used her power to set the man down, being only cautious enough so he wouldn't unfreeze. With him seated Prue ripped the man's belt from his still clinched fist, using it to strap him down to the chair. When they were sure everything was secure Piper put up her hands ready to unfreeze the room. Pausing for a moment she turned to her older sister.
"Prue remember, control. Don't lose control."
Prue nodded her head signaling that she understood and with that gave Piper the go ahead to unfreeze the man.
"I…What? How did you…."
"Shut up! Don't even ask! Just pay attention. The cops have already been called. You better pray when we get Nancy to the hospital that there is nothing seriously wrong with her, or you will pay."
"They won't believe you, or her. I'm a model foster parent, have been for years."
"Don't even think of lying, or this will happen to you."
Prue turned around looking at the kitchen table. Using her power she lifted it high in the air before throwing it up against a wall causing it to shatter into a million pieces.
"You got it!"
"How did you do that?"
"You don't want to know. You understand!"
"Yea, Yea, I got it…"
"Prue, we better go."
Piper could see the rage beginning to build inside of Prue. She knew that her temper could only be controlled for so long. Getting no response, or movement from Prue, Piper grabbed Prue's arm and got right in her face.
"Prue, we have to get Nancy to the hospital. NOW! Let's go."
Piper pushed her toward the door, then turned and faced the man.
"You are so lucky I didn't leave her alone with you."
She then ran out the door not even bothering to close it behind her. Arriving at the car, Prue was just getting into the drivers seat. Piper hopped in the passenger seat and they both turned around to face Phoebe, who was sitting in the back with Nancy.
"How is she?"
"Just drive fast. She hasn't said much since we got into the car, but her grip on me won't ease up anytime soon."
Prue and Piper quickly fastened their seatbelts and took off in a flash. As the car sped along the road Nancy grip on Phoebe grew tighter and tighter. Phoebe began to worry even more when she noticed that Nancy was simply repeating herself over and over again.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you…"
"I think she's in shock guys. Prue drive faster!"
Prue understood the strong and no nonsense tone in Phoebe's voice and slammed her foot on the accelerator causing Phoebe to tighten her grip on Nancy even more. Piper just watched as Prue cut off one car after another. She gripped the door handle and braced herself as Prue took one sharp turn after another. Moments later Prue's speeding paid off and they arrived at the hospital in record time.
"Wow Prue, where did you learn to drive like that?"
Piper asked once her feet hit the cement closing her car door behind her.
"Wouldn't you like to know!"
Was all Prue would say as she grabbed Piper's hand and they began to run toward the emergency room door. The two of them ran inside to get a doctor, while Phoebe stayed in the car with Nancy who was shaking terribly and almost unaware of what was going on around her.
"Alright Miss. You can let go now, we'll take her from here."
Phoebe heard moments later as the emergency room team opened the back door and prepared to get Nancy out of the car. Phoebe quickly released her grip on Nancy and tried to get out, but Nancy who seemed to come to her sensed a little more as a doctor tried to take her away from Phoebe, tightened her grip on Phoebe not letting her out.
"Phoebe, don't leave me with them. Don't let them take me away please."
"Don't worry Nancy, I'll stay with you?"
Phoebe looked to the doctor to confirm that this was aloud, and then after receiving a nod from the doctor continued.
"I promise Nancy. You need to relax, let the doctors help you. I won't let them hurt you."
Nancy loosened her grip and allowed the doctors and nurses to ease her out of the car and onto the gurney. As they tried to strap her down, Nancy once again began to fight back.
"Forget it, let's go!"
One of the doctors yelled, and without hesitation they rushed her through the emergency room doors. Nancy was very scared, but Phoebe kept her promise. She held Nancy's hand and talked to her softly and calmly every step of the way. Being asked to move so the nurse could start a I.V., Phoebe moved to the end of the bed, placed a hand on Nancy's leg to let her know she was still there. Nancy stayed as calm as possible the whole time, but kept her guard up, just in case.
Meanwhile Prue and Piper paced the waiting room waiting to hear any news about their cousin's condition. Only moments after they arrived the police arrived, with a social worker close behind. Prue and Piper now had their work cut out for them, they hadn't really figured out how they were going to explain how they knew Nancy was their cousin, and how they found her. Prue had a partial plan, but didn't know if it was believable enough.
"I'm told you are the ones who brought in Nancy Halliwell."
"That's right. My name is Prue, and this is my sister Piper, Halliwell."
"Halliwell? Any relation?"
"Yes. We recently found out that she is our cousin."
The social worker sat down and took out a note pad and began to take notes.
"Well my name is Julie Simons, I've been Nancy's social worker for several years now. We found Robert Davis tied down to a chair at his house. The person who called in the report claimed that he was abusing Nancy. Is this correct?"
"Yes. We walked in and found him beating her with his belt. She had a large cut on her arm, and head. We fought him, took his belt away, and brought Nancy here."
"This is all very confusing to me Miss Halliwell. I still don't understand how you know that Nancy is your cousin."
"To be honest we weren't sure ourselves. You see a few weeks ago, I was in L.A. on business. I spotted Nancy in a park and thought she looked like a young girl in this picture."
Prue reached into her purse and pulled out the picture that Paul had sent to Grams. Handing it to Julie she continued.
"You see, our Uncle and Aunt used to write to our Grams all the time. He sent this picture, along with a copy of Nancy's birth certificate to her for safekeeping. Here are a few of the letters that he sent to our Grams."
Julie took the letters and papers from Prue and studied them carefully before making any more comments. Piper just sat back and listened to what her older sister was saying. She knew she had some questions of her own to ask Prue when this was all over.
"Well of course you realize that I will have to double check all this information, as well as speak with Nancy personally. Everything you have said seems in order and legitimate, but you understand."
"Of course we do. Our other sister Phoebe is in with Nancy right now. Nancy was refusing to allow the doctors to help her until Phoebe agreed to go in with her."
"Understandable. I would like to ask what your intentions are toward Nancy if all this does prove to be true."
Just as Prue was about to answer Phoebe exited the exam room and sat down next to her sisters. Seeing Phoebe sit down, Prue and Piper turned their attention away from Julie for a moment.
"How is she?"
"The doctors say that she will be alright. She is running a fever, and is badly dehydrated. He says from the looks of it she hasn't had much to eat in the last few weeks. Beyond that she has a few broken ribs and a concussion. They gave her something to sleep. She'll be out for a while."
Prue put her arm around Phoebe who was visibly upset by the whole ordeal, and turned her attention back to Julie.
"You want to know our intentions. I would think that would be pretty obvious. We would like to have Nancy come and live with us."
"What makes you think that you are qualified to take care of a 13 year old girl?"
"I don't think you'll find any other people who are more qualified. Our mother passed away when Phoebe was only 3 years old. Our father was never a part of our lives. Our Grams raised us, but being older, and having no money left to take care of us, she had to work a lot. We learned to take care of each other."
"Prue practically raised us. She was there for every sporting event, every teachers meeting, and every doctor's appointment. For all intense purposes, Prue was our mother."
"Prue helped put me through college. She helped me through my regular college work, and then helped me find out what I really wanted to do with my life, which at the time was be a chef. Now of course I run my own club, which my sisters are silent partners. They helped me get the money together to open the club."
"The point that I think we are trying to make is that if we had not been there for each other, we would never know what love was, we would never know what commitment was, and we would never know what it was like to depend on someone else. Sure it has not always been easy, and we have had our share of bumps along the way, but no matter what we always know when push comes to shove one of us, if not all of us, will be there to back each other up. We want to provide these things for Nancy. She has been through so much in her young life already. We feel that it's about time she had something that was constant."
"According to my records, when Nancy's parents passed away two years ago, she reported not having any other family."
"We can't really answer why that is. It's possible she didn't know about us. Our Grams did pass away a little over two years ago. It's possible she had forgotten in her time of stress. We never actually did have the opportunity to meet each other. We only found out about her when we starting going through our Grams things and found our Uncles letters."
Julie watched as Prue put a protective arm around both her sisters. She finished taking notes then looked into each of the sister's eyes. She had seen a lot of people try to bluff their way through interviews, but she could tell that these ladies were being sincere.
"I don't for see any real problems with Nancy going with you, as long as everything you have told me does pan out. As I said before, we will have to check everything out. We will need to have a new social worker assigned to you in San Francisco, and have her check out your home environment, and financial standing, but most of that is routine. Do you have any references we can call to check things out?"
"Here is my entire phone list. You can call a Lieutenant Darryl Morris; he's with the San Francisco Police Department. Here is my boss at Bucklands Auction House. Here are the phone numbers for all three of our boyfriends, and neighbors who have known us since we were kids. Do you need anything else?"
"Not at this time. Tomorrow I will come back and talk with Nancy. Depending on what she has to say, I will base my decision. We might need her to come back to testify against her foster father."
"I don't think that will me necessary. He pled guilty to everything when we arrived at the house."
Julie wrote down want the officer told her.
"Well that's good news for Nancy. I tell you what I believe that Nancy will be very lucky to have a family like yours to take care of her."
Julie and the cop stood shook the girl's hands and left. Once she was sure they were gone, Piper turned to Prue to ask the questions that she almost froze the room to ask.
"Where did you get the Birth Certificate?"
"Before you and Phoebe came down yesterday, I opened a few envelopes, and there it was. When I was packing this morning, I grabbed it and a few letters as well."
"But Prue, all that talk about powers, and magic."
"Piper do you think I'm stupid. I found all the letters that didn't have to do with magic. A few others I magically changed."
"Changed?"
"Yes changed. Like the letter about Nancy being so smart. I magically took out the parts about her powers."
"Personal gain?"
"No way. I needed to do this to help protect Nancy. I'm sure the powers that be will understand."
"They better. If that backfires it could not only expose us, but also cost us Nancy."
Piper wasn't telling Prue anything she didn't already know, but over the course of the next hour they simply sat in silence. Phoebe was nodding off to sleep every now and then, and Piper and Prue just sipped their coffee. Finally after what seemed life forever a nurse came out and showed them to Nancy's room.
They each sat with her while she slept. Nancy had a rough couple of days, she would wake up with nightmares, and at times not remember where she was, but those events lessened as the days passed on. On the third day Julie came to visit Nancy to find out her side of the story. The girls excused themselves and went to the cafeteria.
"Nancy how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine Julie. When can I get out of here?"
"Well that's what I'm here to talk about. Can you tell me what happened with your foster father?"
"I'm not really sure. When you first placed me with him everything was fine. He said that I was finally going to get to go back to school, and get on with my life. When I did start school he changed. He became angry. One night I was doing my homework, and he sat down with me, said he wanted to help, so I said great. I knew I could do the work myself, but it had been a long time since someone took any interest in my life. We were talking about the Holocaust and he was totally wrong with what he was telling me. He was really confused, when I corrected him he smacked me across the face and told me to never contradict him again. After that I started to really see him for what he was, a mean and angry drunk. I think he was angry that I knew more then him."
"How does that make you feel?"
"I'm used to people especially adults feeling that way, but this was the first time someone actually took it out on me."
"What do you mean your used to it?"
"Kids in the group homes never understood me, since I was in a room with kids my age, yet they never saw me at school. They didn't believe me when I told them I was in high school, so they always treated me like I was a freak. Kids in the high school weren't too bad, but they didn't like having some young kid around who knew as much as they did, if not more. Some of the foster homes I was in were good, some bad. The good ones figured that with my intelligence they didn't have anything to offer me. They wanted to raise a child and teach them things, they thought I already knew it all. Others, like Mister Davis, couldn't handle having someone in their home that was smarter then them. My parents always told me to not be ashamed of my intelligence, and to never act like I don't know something if I do. I can handle being different, have been my whole life."
Julie, Nancy's social worker took notes as Nancy talked. Nancy was being totally honest with her, and she knew it. Nancy liked Julie, they always got along really well, and Nancy knew what the next question was going to be.
"Alright Nancy, now you and I have a deal remember."
"Sure, we always tell each other the truth."
"Right. So, only if you want to, tell me why you didn't tell me about him hitting you?"
Nancy had thought about this for a long time. She wasn't even sure she knew the answer to that question, until now. She played with the corner of her blanket, and made no eye contact with Julie. She was ashamed of not telling Julie what was going on, and didn't want to make Julie feel bad too.
"Nancy, look at me."
Nancy lifted her head and locked eyes with Julie.
"You can tell me anything, I won't be hurt, and I won't be angry with you."
"I didn't tell you because you worked so hard to find a good home for me. You placed me in so many homes, and I knew that every time it didn't work out it would hurt you to see me hurting. We both thought that being placed with a single father would be the ultimate choice. I had no other kids to compete with, and no woman in the house that wanted to turn me into her sweet innocent little girl. I decided that come hell or high water this was going to be my last move. I wanted to tell you so many times, every time you did a visit, but I couldn't. Then he started to tell me lies, and little by little I started to believe them."
"Lies, like what?"
"He said that since I had told you how well things were going in the house, that if I suddenly changed my story, you wouldn't believe me. I don't know why I believed him, but I did. I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for. You didn't do anything wrong, he did. Do you understand me?"
"Yes. Is he in jail?"
"Yes he is."
"Do I have to go to court? I don't want to see him."
"No you don't. He confessed to everything. He will be sentenced without a trial. Don't worry about him anymore alright. Now let's move on shall we. The ladies who helped you."
"You mean my cousins?"
"Did they tell you that's who they were?"
"Yes, but they didn't need to. I knew the minute I saw them."
"How's that? You always said that you didn't have any other family besides your parents."
"I don't know how I forgot about them, maybe it's because we never met face to face. I only saw pictures of them when my Grandmother would write to us."
"How would you feel about going home with them?"
"I'm not sure. What do you think?"
"Well I've done a lot of checking on them. I had a friend who works in social services in San Francisco check them out. They are good people, and I know how much they care about you."
"So you think I should go?"
"Only if you want to."
"If I do, and it doesn't work out, can I come back here?"
"I might be able to arrange that. What do you say?"
"I guess it's worth a try, but I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you too, but we can keep in touch. You can call me anytime you want."
"Do you know who will be my social work when I get there?"
"Sure do, her name is Jamie, and she's a real good lady. We went to school together, I've known her for a long, long time. You just make me a promise that you will always be honest with her."
"I'll try."
"Nancy, you carry a lot on your shoulders. I know you always think you have to protect people, but that's not your job. We are adults and we need to take care of you, alright."
"I'll work on it."
"Good. Well I'm going to go now, but I'll see you again before you leave."
"Do you know when that is?"
"It's up to the doctors."
"You know I hate hospitals."
"I know you do. You just keep doing what they tell you to do, so you can get better."
Julie leaned over and gave Nancy a gentle hug and kiss, then left the room. Nancy laid back in the bed and closed her eyes. She always tried to sleep as much as possible, it made being in the hospital more bearable.
During the course of the next week Piper made several calls home to her boyfriend, and the girl's next-door neighbor, Dan. She had arranged for him to show the social worker their home, and provide any information she wanted, including access to her club. She also asked Dan to turn a spare room into a beautiful room for Nancy. They were hopeful that she would be coming home with them, and didn't want to wait for the last minute. Dan was more then happy to help out, and recruited Owen, Phoebe's boyfriend, and Jack, Prue's boyfriend, to help out.
After a long two weeks, Nancy was discharged. She was given strong painkillers for the physical pain that she would endure for some time. The doctor had suggested finding a suitable doctor for Nancy once they got home. He provided a list for them to choose from, and they were more then happy to accept his help.
Arriving at the airport they were greeted by Julie who was just stopping by to say goodbye. Julie took a second to pull Prue and Piper off to the side, while Phoebe got a wheel chair for Nancy, she still had trouble getting around, or walking long distances.
"I wanted to give you guys this. It's a list of child psychologist who I think might be able to help Nancy. It may not seem like it, but she really needs someone to talk to about what's going on in that mind of hers. She'll bottle everything inside, until she can't take it anymore. I don't want her to explode."
"Thanks, we'll look over this when we get home."
"Here are the really important papers. Nancy's a really special kid, you make sure to take really good care of her."
"We will."
Shaking Julie's hand Prue and Piper joined Phoebe and Nancy who were standing in line for the metal detector. Less then a half an hour later, with custody papers in hand they boarded the plane and headed home.
After a short flight, but still for them a long day, they arrived home and got Nancy settled in her new room for what they hoped would be a long stay. Several days later, they received a visit from Jamie, Nancy's new social worker, who gave them their official seal of approval. She would still have to observe them pretty closely for the next few months, she was hopeful that everything would work out.
The girls started to fall into a pretty regular routine. Nancy however while she was feeling very welcome, was still on edge. She knew the only reason she agreed to go with her cousins for a while, was to make Julie happy, but she knew it wouldn't last. She didn't want to become to attached, only to have to be hurt again.
The girls came into Nancy's room to kiss her goodnight. This was pretty regular, they always tucked Nancy in together, and said goodnight to her together. As they walked in the room they decided maybe tonight they would make some small talk.
"Well Nancy, Jamie's visit went very well, she thinks that this will be a good thing for all of us. We'll have to go to court to get permanent custody of you, but Jamie says that we have her full support."
Prue tucked Nancy under the covers, and handed her a pain pill, with a glass of water. The girls each held their breath as they waited for Nancy to comment on the situation. Nancy had yet to express how she felt about being with them, and they were on edge to find out, but didn't want to push. Nancy made no reply, she simply took the pill and laid back down with an odd look on her face. All three girls had different ideas about what was on her mind.
"Are you in pain?"
Piper was quick to think. Only to receive a shank of Nancy's head to say no.
"Are you sad?"
Prue decided to try, but again they got a shake of the head to say no.
"Nancy this is a good thing. What's on your mind?"
Phoebe decided that the direct approach would have to be used, despite the fact that they had decided to wait for Nancy to bring it up. Nancy looked into Phoebe's eyes and knew she couldn't lie to her. They had shared something very special, and in some ways Nancy thought to herself that she would someday have to apologize to Phoebe for putting her through that. For now she decided the truth would be the only answer. Taking a deep breath, she turned her look away from the girls for she didn't want to look into any of their eyes when she said what she had to say.
"You know I'm very grateful for everything you guys have done for me, but I'm still not sure that this is a good idea. I made a promise to Dad and Mom. I swore I would never go near you guys, at least not until we were totally safe. I've already broken that promise, I've never done that before."
"Nancy don't you think if you were going to be found, you would have by now."
"I'm not sure, that's yet to be seen. For now this feels like a nice place to be, but only time will tell if this is really permanent. No matter what, I'm glad I was finally able to meet you guys. You are everything I thought you would be."
The girls could say nothing because for the time being Nancy was with them, but Nancy was right. They only hoped that somehow, someway, they could prove to Nancy that they could protect her, and each to other from whatever dangers would come their way. They need to show her that the only way to do that, was to stick together.
They decided not to dwell on that for now, each kissing Nancy on the head, they walked out the room, closing the door behind them. Pulling each other into a group hug, they each silently prayed that they wouldn't wake up tomorrow with all this being a dream. They hoped the old saying was true:
TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS!!!