A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
Chapter One
Date Night
Patty is still with her girls, and while she's cooking supper for the whole family one evening, Prue's two kids, Carter who belongs to Andy from a previous relationship, and Micheal, who is her husband of ten years's son, come in fighting again like usual. Piper's boys, Wyatt and Chris, are sitting there looking at each other like "Are they ever gonna quit it?" Phoebe's two girls, Melinda and Jessa, aren't too far behind Carter and Micheal and they have heard the fight for the last two blocks on the way home from the library. Phoebe married her boss at the Bay Mirror, Jason, not maybe a year after they met and starting dating, and both he and Phoebe, live in the manor with their two girls. Even though Prue has Carter from her previous relationship with Andy, she met and married Jackson, a man she worked with at Buckland's and they hit it off immediately and he just fell in love with Carter as his little girl when he first seen her. He always said that she was a minature Prue, which everyone agreed with him on that note. Carter is now fourteen, Micheal is Twelve, Phoebe's girls are seven and ten. Wyatt is eleven and Chris is nine.
"What are you two going on about now?" Patty asks them just as Carter shoves Micheal out of her way.
"He won't stop following me around. Grandma, I've told him to leave me alone and he just won't do it. I've had it with his stupid face." Carter replies, while raising her fist to lay into Micheal and their Dad, Jackson, grabs her fist in mid air behind her and says, "Hey! Now that's enough. Little lady you and your brother have done nothing but argue and fight all week, and if it doesn't stop I'm gonna be putting some hair on the wall if you get my meaning. Now sit down!"
"Better yet baby. I have an idea. Why don't we all go away across town, have a neighbor to watch them, and we lock this place up for the weekend so they can't escape, and the only way to get out of the house, is to work together and find a way out. Not only will it make them stop fighting with each other, but they will learn how to get along, and how to survive the whole weekend with one another. Grams did it to us, which Mom never knew about cause she was away on business that week." Prue says.
"And it worked?" Jackson asks her, with a puzzled look on his face, while taking a drink of his coke.
"Like a charm. Look at how close we are now." Piper tells him, while playfully smacking Prue on the shoulder, and Prue elbows her. Phoebe even says, "Yeah, we're great now." While play kicking both of her sisters in their behinds.
"Hey, that just wasn't right." Prue tells her, as she smiles about it, instead of kicking her back.
"Ya know what? It will work and these two will stop fighting, I'm all for it then. Mom, whatcha think?" Jackson says, asking Patty her opinion to which she turns around from the stove and gives a look that says she's thinking about it for a minute. Carter and Micheal are standing there with their fingers crossed inside their pockets, hoping she will say no.
"It might work. If my Mother did that with them and they are closer than ever now, then it just might be what these two need. For now, Carter it's your turn to help me with supper tonight. Don't pull the whole 'I've got homework Mamaw, I can't help.' Cause you are, so come on." Patty replies, while motioning for Carter to get a move on, who is standing there with her arms crosses and her back to the wall. She sighs like it's gonna kill her, but she finally moves and decides to help.
When the weekend rolls around, it's Friday afternoon and when the kids get home from school, it seems that Carter and Micheal have completely made up thanks to Wyatt coming into Carter's room and them talking for awhile. He reminded her that Micheal is pretty cool and he loves with all his heart. He told her that the reason he follows her around all the time is because he wants some of her energy she seems to have coming off of her. That energy is, he's not really what you would call Mr. Popularity at school like Carter is. He has even able to get their sentence lifted off of them so they wouldn't have to be at home all weekend by themselves. Carter and Micheal walk all through the house before finally finding their Mom in the laundry room.
"Hey Mom. Is my outfit for tonight clean?" Carter asks, talking about the football game that's going on at the school, and her being in the Marching Band, so she has to be there at the games.
"I did it this time, but you being fourteen, you need to get your clothes in the basket and down here to the laundry room or from now on, I'm not doing it for you okay." Prue tells her.
"Sorry Mom. You're right. I should have gotten them down here myself, but I wasn't thinking as usual. Do you need any help? I still have like two hours before I have to be at the band room at the high school." Carter says, as she goes over to Prue and puts her arms around her, hugging her while laying her chin on Prue's shoulder. Prue turns around, hugs her back, and says, "I do forgive you ya know. Okay, if you want to help, get that basket there and carry it into the living room and start folding that bunch while I put these here in the dryer." Carter takes the basket in the living room like she was told, and she has to stop to answer the door. It's the guy she likes from 5th period math.
"Hey. I was wondering if you would want to go to the dance with me tonight after the game. If you don't have the four dollars, I'll pay it for ya." Jeremiah tells her.
"Oh. I can ask my Mom and Dad and let you know at the game when we get there. It's really nice of you to ask me Jeremiah. Thank You." Carter replies, and Prue comes up behind her and lays her hand on her shoulder.
"Would you like to come in for a bit?" Prue asks him.
"Oh, I surely Thank You for your offer, but my Mom is parked out front here and waiting on me. See ya at the game Carter. Good bye Mrs. Robinson, nice to see you again." Jeremiah says, as he takes off back to his Mom's car. When all of the Halliwell sisters got married, they took the last name of their husbands. Piper has even changed her last name to White, Phoebe is now Phoebe Masterson. So there's Prudence Robinson, Piper White, and Phoebe Masterson. Their days of the power of three and the whole destiny witch craft days are behind them, and have been for the past fourteen years. Carter and Prue continue to work on the clothes and then when Carter goes to get ready for the game, her Dad comes in and asks what time everything is.
That night, everyone is at the game, and it's in the last quarter. Everyone for Carter's school is to their feet in anticipation when the buzzer sounds, and they win the game 27 to 14. They all round up everything and Carter's date for the dance, gets up behind her and has to hop on his back and he gives her a ride to the band room where she puts up her intrument and they take off for the gym where the dance is being held. There's a man standing outside the gym entrance when they get up to it, and he stops her to talk.
"Hey, that was good game wasn't it?" The man tells her.
"Yeah. I can't believe we won. It was a close there for awhile. My name's Carter Robinson. What's yours? I don't reconize you." Carter replies, with Jeremiah standing close as if to protect her.
"The name's Andy. Andy Tredeau. I was actually looking for someone who I believe goes to this school. Don't worry, I'm safe. I'm an officer. Or, I was anyway. The one I'm looking for, her name is Carter too. She's my daughter." Andy says, while handing her a card with his name and number on it.
"I'm sorry but, I don't know any other Carter who goes to this school. I hope you find her though. We gotta go. Bye." Carter tells him, and they go inside, and the meeting leaves Carter with her mind wondering and racing for the rest of the night.
Chapter Two
Who's Andy Trudeau?
When the dance is over with, and Carter is so sore that she canbarely move, Patty is out front to pick her up, and she's asking where her Mom is.
"She's at home. Micheal got sick tonight and had to be taken to the hospital. He was so sick he couldn't keep anything down, pale, running a fever, and so weak that he could hardly stand on his own. He's one sick little guy right now. So, I told your Mom to just stay with him, and I would come and pick you up. How was your night?" Patty tells her.
"Not to bad. We won the game and all that dancing tonight has me so sore it's not funny. Grandma, I used muscles tonight that I didn't even know I had." Carter replies, while reaching down to rub the back of her left leg.
"You're a runner girlfriend. You're in Marching Band and on top of that, you're in cross country and track. Now how in the world can you be that sore?" Patty asks.
"I dunno. Probably cause I'm trying to do too much. Hey, before I forget. Who's Andy Trudeau? He came to the gym tonight, and asked me about his daughter, who's name is Carter, just like me, and that she went to the same school as me. He really freaked me out if anything. I'm just curious you know?" Carter says, and Patty's heart just about sinks down to her toes. She's thinking to herself, "Oh dear God no. He can't be back. He's gonna take her, I just know he is."
"Grandma? Grandma, who is he? Grandma!" Carter says, while having to shake Patty by her right shoulder and keep asking over and over until she comes out of her trance and answers.
"Oh what? Sorry baby. I'm just thinking. Andy is just, well he's an old friend of your Mom's, and Aunt Phoebe's and Aunt Piper's. They all used to play together when they were kids. If Andy wasn't over at the manor, they were at his house. They go way back. I'll let your Mom tell you more about him later. I would really wait until tomorrow sometime though cause, by the time we get home, and everything with your brother tonight, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if both your Mom and Dad are passed out when we get home. You want anything from town before we get home? Something to eat maybe." Patty tells her.
"Um. Well you know that I'm a vegeterian, so maybe just a garden salad from Wendy's will do." Carter replies.
It took nearly everything that Carter had, but she tried to make it to morning to ask her Mom about Andy. When it's around 2:30 in the morning, Carter's laying there in bed with her right arm bent, laying her head on the inside, near her elbow, and she hears someone up and moving around. Figuring that it's only Micheal, and he's sick again, she lays there for a few minutes when she hears her Mom's voice outside her door, checking to see how her night was at the game and dance.
"Mom. I need to ask you something." Carter says, as she sits straight up in her bed and pulls her knees to her chest.
"What is it sweetie? Your Mamaw said that you and her talked a little bit on the way home. What was it about?" Prue asks as she moves Carter's bangs out of her face.
"Someone stopped me outside the gym tonight and was looking for another girl who supposedly goes to the same school that I do. He really freaked me out, and he said that this particular girl is, also named Carter. I told him that I had never heard of any other Carter but myself, and he thanked me for my time, handed me a card with his name and number on it, and asked me to let him know if I ever came across this girl. Mom, who is he? He really creeped me out." Carter explains to her.
"What card did he give you? Do you still have it?" Prue asks, fearing that maybe Andy is back in town. He was ordered to leave by the department for letting a buddy of his slide through the legal system, when he broke into someone's house and robbed them. Everyone had thought that Andy never had that in him to do anything that under handed and low down, but he tried to explain to his captian that the loss of Prue and his daughter, really messed with him. They of course, told him that it was his own fault, but he wasn't trying to hear any of it. Carter gets up and walks over to her desk and pulls out the card from inside her math book and hands it to Prue. When Prue looks at the card and sees the name on it, she puts her hand up her mouth, looks at Carter, and tells her, "Go make us some popcorn and meet me by the fireplace in the living room. We need to talk."
"Mom?" Carter asks, not knowing what's going on. Prue just tells her, "Trust me on this honey. I know you are old enough and brave enough to take what I'm getting ready to tell you. You've got a good head on your shoulders, so I know you can handle it." Carter looks at her Mom still in confusion, but does as she's told. She heads down into the kitchen and is caught by her Grandma. Carter tells Patty what all is going on and Patty just tells her that yeah, they do need to talk.
When Carter gets to the living room, Prue is already there just staring into the fireplace at the flames dance everywhere. Sampson's baby is laying there beside Prue until she sees Carter come in there and join them. Sampson has been gone for about two years, but before he passed away, Prue bred him with a neighbors Pit and Boxer. As soon as that litter of pups was born, Carter just had to have a girl and she picked one that is solid brown and white, and she named her Aphrodite.
"When you're Father and I met, you were only about two years old. Jackson has been the sweetest man I've ever met, next to Andy. Your Dad honey, is not Jackson. It's Andy Trudeau. He grew up with all of us and he and I got extremely close. We started dating right out of Junior High, and it went from there. I or, we all had a secret to keep hidden from not only him, but the whole world. When I finally told him about the secret, I didn't know that I was already pregnant with you." Prue starts explaining to her.
"Andy's not my Dad. I don't claim him, mainly cause I don't know him, but my Dad's upstairs asleep, and that's where I'm going." Carter replies, as she tries to get up to go back to bed but, Aphrodite jumps up, grabs her by her pajamas, growls, and makes her sit back down, like she knows what's going on.
"Alright. I give up. I'll come back and talk about this some more. What secret are you talking about?" Carter says, while pulling her leg away from Aphrodite and reaching down to smack her nose and tell her, "You know better than to grab your Mama now don't ya? Go lay down. Get!"
"We used to be called 'The Charmed Ones.' You know about your Aunt Piper's club right? P3?" Prue tells her and she nods her head yes, that she understands so far.
"Okay. The P3, stands for Power Of Three. Our Grandmother raised us when, oh Lord, this is hard to talk about. You won't believe me anyway." Prue says, as she lays her head in her hands and just about forgets about telling the rest of it when Patty comes in and says, "We used to be witches. Now you can sit there and listen, or run off. It's your choice, but you are entitled to learn about your heritage and why your biological Father wanted nothing to do with you or your Mom."
"Okay Mamaw. I'll listen. I'm a little scared, but what have I got to lose? This is family, and a person should be safe with family, so go ahead. Tell me what all you think, I need to know." Carter tells them both. They all sit there around the fire place and talk until around 4:30, and Carter is told about everything and whatever questions she had, was answered to the best of Patty's and Prue's abilities. She nods her head, says she understands everything, and promises to never say anything about the Halliwell line. Prue told her what was really the point of ever saying anything anyway because all magic is gone for them, and there are no more powers, or power of three or anything anymore. Carter goes back to bed, and she turns around at the stairs and asks, "Mom. He was obviously wanting to see me now. I know I have Dad but, could I? Could I possibly see Andy tomorrow? You have his card that I handed you." Prue tells her that she will think about it the rest of the morning, and let her know come daylight, and for her to just go ahead to bed.
"Alright Mama. Mamaw, Thank You for explaining everything to me. That wasn't my fault or your guys's for him not wanting to see us. It's just a family line, but I will give him a chance if he is willing to finally give us one." Carter says, as she takes off upstairs before they can answer.
"Prue, she is one smart little lady." Patty tells her.
"That's why I let her in track and cross country Mom. She has the brains and smarts, and makes all A's in most of her classes. She's also a hell of a lot stronger than what I could have been in this situation." Prue replies.
"What you could have been? Prue, you were in her situation. Your Father was a little uneasy about you girls being witches. I'm going to go get things ready to go. I'm off of work today, so I might get things cleaned up and caught up around here." Patty says, while patting Prue on her shoulder and taking off for the kitchen to begin the morning chores.
Chapter Three
Meeting Andy
Carter and Prue are just getting back home after a band competition that was in another school district, and even though Prue and everyone thinks that she's wearing herself way too thin, Prue still let her go to the band competition. She had to be there though because she's in band as well as cross country and track, and she refuses to slow down for anything.
"Hey, how did it go sweet girl?" Phoebe asks, as she hugs her and picks her up.
"We won Aunt Phoebe! We won it all! Best percussion, best color guard, best drum line, best drum magor, and we are going to State next weekend!" Carter hollers in excitement and Phoebe picks her up again, and her, Piper, and Phoebe, as well as Prue, all dance around the living room together.
"That's great. I so wish I could have been there honey, but I had to work today. I hope your Mom got it on video for me." Patty tells her, and Micheal and the other kids are still hugging her.
"I sure did. Hey, has you know who, called back yet? Carter said she wanted to meet him, and I left him a message before we left this morning, and I've not heard anything back from him yet." Prue replies, and Patty tells her that there was a message. Patty lets Carter know what the message was about, and that it was from Andy saying that he would be there to meet with her around 10:30 the next morning, and maybe take her for lunch or take her to buy some new outfits or whatever she would like to do.
"Is it safe Mamaw? If you guys don't want me to go, I won't go." Carter tells them, while she sits down on the stairs and takes her shoes and socks off, and Piper sees that she has developed a hugh blister that covered the whole outer side of her left foot.
"Oh crap Mom. That doesn't look good on her foot. Look at that thing. That's gonna hurt when we go to get rid of it." Piper says, as she takes a hold of Carter's ankle and holds up her foot to show to Patty.
"It doesn't really hurt right now, so I don't think it will later." Carter tries to tell them, but they all know better.
"Says you. And yes, it's safe for you to go with Andy tomorrow and meet him and get to know him if you want too. I used to watch him all the time when he would come over to play and he is a nice person. I just don't know what happened over the years if all, unless he just got scared." Patty says, while taking a look at her foot and seeing how big the blister is. Prue tells her to go grab a good shower, then come back down to the living room where they can get her foot taken care of.
"Why can't I get a shower after it's taken care of?" Carter asks.
"The hot water will hurt that so bad that the pain of it will take you down. You want to get a shower first, then we'll take care of that, and get you bandaged up." Prue tells her. Carter finally complies with what all they have been telling her, and while she's in the shower, Patty gets to work finding all of her home medical supplies like, gauze, tape, clippers, and antibacterial cream. She sits everything on the table in the living room, and has Phoebe to put Carter's dog in the laundry room and close the doggie gate so she can't interfere.
"Aphrodite, move your big ass. I swear to goodness girl, you're just like your freaking Daddy was. You never want to go where you're supposed to." Phoebe says, while pulling on her color to make her move but Aphrodite's so muscular and Phoebe's so small framed, that with her just being in her socks instead of barefooted, she's sliding toward Aphrodite to where she's nearly under her. Aphrodite just lays down on top of her and Phoebe's laying there going, "Get off of me damn it. Aphrodite, get, off, ouch. Ugh."
"Get your ass off of her like you was told. Get in that laundry room. Move it." Prue tells Aphrodite while smacking her on her behind and she finally gets up and tramples all over Phoebe.
"Ya know Pheebes? Before Kit turned back into a human, I think you got too used to dealing with cats more than dogs. Just give them a good whack or two on the ass and they'll move. Come on." Prue tells her, as she helps her out of the floor. Carter gets back downstairs from her shower, and Patty gets her on the couch where she can work on her. By the time Carter is able to have the blister taken care of, it's filled up to the brim with water and Patty has some cloth ready to keep her dry.
"You ready? This will more than likely start to burn as soon as I get it opened and get the skin peeled away. The air hits it, and you're gonna be hurting." Patty tells her.
"Okay. I'm ready. Go ahead." Carter replies and Patty clips just one small part and the water starts pouring like crazy. Carter does pretty good right up until the last few parts of excess skin are peeled away, and just like her Mamaw said, that air hit them open places, and it started burning and stinging. Carter is usually able to hold stuff in when she's in pain, but this time she's not able to do it. One good scream gets out and Aphrodite completely busts through the doggie gate they have up, and runs right in the living room where she starts growling until Wyatt, who no one knew was even still downstairs, comes in and grabs her color and gets her under control. Patty finishes up with Carter and when she gets done with her, that blister place was so bad that she was bleeding even, and Patty had to wrap the gauze around her foot and then put an ace bandage over top of it to hold it in place. Carter had her face buried in the back of the couch with her left hand up to hide the rest of her face so they can't see her crying. They can hear her softly crying, but she didn't want anyone to see her cry.
"What? What's wrong with her? What happened? Micheal asks, coming into the living room where Prue is lifting Carter off of the couch and carrying her up to her room.
"She's hurting baby. She's just hurting pretty bad is all. She had a blister that covered the whole outer side of her left foot. That damn band teacher of hers had them marching all day long during practice before the competition today." Prue tells him. She gets Carter up to her room and into bed and she sits up there and talks to her for awhile before Carter's ready to go to sleep. Prue gets her comfortable with her foot being bandaged up, and after she gets her to sleep, she walks toward the door, turns around back toward her, and whispers, "Please baby. Be safe tomorrow with Andy. Please."
The next morning around 9:45, Carter is finishing up with breakfast, and debating on weather or not she should take the bandage off yet from where she was worked on the previous night. Prue has already headed out for Buckland's for work and Piper was given strick orders not to let Andy leave with Carter if she felt at all uneasy about him. Carter hears a knock at the door, and she starts getting a funny feeling in her stomach.
"Easy. Just stay there for a minute." Piper says, and she put her hand up signaling to Carter to not move from where she is yet. Carter stays there and Piper lets Andy in and she can see that he has several big bags with him.
"Carter! Come here honey." Piper calls into the kitchen. Carter walks out, wearing one of her Mom's old outfits, and Andy tells her right off, "You look so much like your Mom when she was your age. I heard that you are a runner. Want to go running today?" Carter sits down so Piper can take a look at her foot and possibly redo the bandaging for her.
"I can't today. We had a band competition yesterday and all of the practicing and marching, and running, and the shoes we have to wear, kind of caused this." Carter tells him, and he sees where the blister was.
"Ouch, oh good Lord girl. I bet that was quite painful getting rid of it last night wasn't it?" Andy says and Carter just nods her head, while Piper redoes everything.
"Well, we can always just go shopping for whatever it is you want today, then maybe for lunch, then to the park or whatever." Andy tells her.
"The park? I'm fourteen. What am I gonna do at the park?" Carter asks, with a funny look on her face.
"Well, your Mom told me that you play basketball with Wyatt and Chris, and that sometimes Melinda and Jessa and even Micheal, will play too once in awhile. So, we could play some basketball. You can't do much moving around on that foot, so we could play horse or something." Andy replies. Carter thinks about it for a minute or two and finally tells him okay. Carter had no idea just how much fun she was really going to have with Andy that day.
That night, Prue is pacing back and forth between the front door and the foyer, then to the kitchen and back, just wondering where they are and what's keeping them gone so long.
"Mom will you quit it? You're making us all crazy." Micheal tells her. She finally sits down for maybe one minute before doing it all over again.
"I can't help it. I'm so nervous that something's gonna happen. They should have been back by now. Where are they?" Prue replies, going to the door once again, and this time, opening it and looking up and down the street. Prue looks at her watch and sees that it's now after 8:30, and they were only supposed to go have lunch and get to know each other. With the last time that Prue looks outside, she sees head lights coming up the street and the car pulls up outside the manor.
"Hi Mom." Carter says, getting out and going inside. Andy just waves at Prue and drives away.
"What took you two so long to get back?" Prue asks, while still hugging her.
"Andy had car trouble. That's why he had to hurry up and get out of here. It started acting up outside the mall. Sorry he's late getting me back." Carter tells her. They all sit and talk for a bit and Carter shows her Mom all the new stuff that Andy has gotten her, and then she gets ready to go to bed, knowing that Sundays is her day to help her Grandma around the house.
Two weeks later, Andy has pretty much regained Prue's trust back and everyone else's too for that matter. He's at the house most of the time when the kids get home from school and is always ready to take Carter for a couple of hours or however long Prue and Jackson will allow. Andy has even gotten on Jackson's good side. They are just hanging out watching the game one afternoon when the kids come running through the front door and they are all buzzing about the upcoming holiday.
"Hey guys. Calm down. What's the fuss about?" Phoebe asks, coming from the kitchen, and as soon as her girls see her, they tackle her.
"Hey Mom can we go to Jamie's house for Thanksgiving? Please Mom, please please please. Her oldest brothers are coming in from Denver and they are always playing football each year, and we were invited anyways." Jessa says, while still clinging to Phoebe, thinking that she will let them.
"Jessa. You know that your Dad is going to say no. I don't why you two always ask stuff that you already know the answer to." Phoebe tells her when Jason comes in from out in the yard. Him and Leo were out there raking up leaves and trying to get the patio and such cleaned up and ready for the winter.
"What am I going to say no about honey?" Jason asks, and he gives her a kiss on the cheek.
"Your daughters want to go over to Jamie's house and play football with her brothers for Thanksgiving. I told them no because we already have plans of what we are going to do over here this year." Phoebe tells him.
"You Mom's right girls. No means no. You're not going anywhere. Go do whatever homework you have, and then clean up a little bit. Your Mom and I are going out for supper tonight, and you girls are going too. We all have something to discuss. Scoot." Jason says, and they look like they are upset, but they do as they are told. Not even Patty had any idea that since all magic was gone for them, that Phoebe and Jason were thinking of moving out, and Prue and Jackson, and Leo and Piper, had all been thinking of doing the same.
Chapter Four
A Snake In The Grass
Just three days before Thanksgiving, Carter tells her Mom and Dad that she's gonna go for a good run and won't be back until at least five thirty. They both told her to go ahead and have fun and be careful. Andy had been really making a name for himself of being Carter's Dad again. She still doesn't call him Dad yet, but she does know that he is her real Father. She at least acknowledges that much about him, and that he gave her life. Prue hugs Carter and tells her to try to be back in time for supper and she tells them all that she will be back and be safe too.
While Carter is running, and listening to her music, she stops for a minute to retie her shoe and when she gets back up to continue her run, she gets a strange feeling that she's being followed or something. She stops again, takes her headphones out of her ears, looks around, and when she doesn't see or hear anything, she just smiles and says, "Carter, pull it together." She continues her run and when she rounds the corner to the ally where she's ran several times before, an arm goes around her waist, and someone knocks her in the head, and throws her in a car, and just takes off out of sight.
Carter wakes up four hours later in an abandoned warehouse and she has a splitting headache. She sits up the best she can, and puts her hand up to her head to feel a knot about two inches in diameter. Whoever it was that took her, didn't take her watch off of her and she sees that's well after 7:00. She had told her family that she wouldn't be back until around 5:30, and she starts thinking to herself, "I know they are thinking I lied to them. Gotta be a way out of here somewhere." She slowly gets to a standing position and has to lean against the wall for a minute or two before regaining her full balance. She looks around and sees a window way up above her, and she can't reach it. She starts looking around for a chair or something that she might be able to stand on when she hears a voice say "Don't even think about leaving here Carter." The voice scared her so bad that she screamed at the sound of it.
"Who are you?" Carter asks, while shielding her eyes from little bit of light is in there and bothering her head.
"Just call me Daddy. That's all you need to know." The voice tells her, and she gets a feeling of regret in her stomach.
"Andy! Andy Trudeau, you better let me go if you know what's good for you. Ya know, my family and I used to be witches. I'm sure it's still there deep inside of us. Don't make me think up a spell and turn you into a toad! You son of a bitch!" Carter threatens him, to which he gets onto her for her language.
"You better stop talking like that little lady. I'm not taking you home to see your Grandma with you talking like that. I know already about the witch craft thing. I'm against it, so if you want to live through this experience, you will not threaten me again. Are we clear?" Andy tells her.
"You mean. I'm really going home? When? Um Andy, can I have some water or something?" Carter asks him.
"We'll work on you coming around to calling Dad. Yes, you are going home. I'll get you some water and as for when you are going home, well that all depends on when I know I can trust you not to run off." Andy tells her.
"Oh come on man, work with me. If I know that I'm going home, where I really want to be back at right now, why would I try to run off? You are my way back home. Now, can we just go please? My head really hurts." Carter replies, while sitting back down and leaning her back up against the wall.
"Sure. Yeah, you're right. There's no chance of you running off if I take you home. Give me about ten minutes. I hope you're hungry. Your Grandma will have something special planned for you when we get there." Andy says, and Carter can hear him filling up a bottle for some water for her.
"You better just drop me off and be on your way. Ya know, so you don't get caught. Since I'm going home, I won't say anything to anyone about you taking me." Carter tells him.
"Yeah." Andy replies, not letting her know that it's his Mother's house he's taking her to, in San Diego, and not back to her home. Carter just lays down and waits for her water to be lowered down to her through a hole in the top of the building, and she figures that she's in the basement or something.
Andy had put something in Carter's water so it would cause her to be knocked out for the whole car ride from San Francisco, to San Diego, that way, she wouldn't know where she was at or how to get back home. He had her so drugged up that when he carried her inside, she didn't even catch on at first. She finally wakes up when she hears someone say, "She looks just like Prue. Thank You for bringing her home son. She belongs here with us, not with them."
"Who are you? Where's my Mamaw?" Carter asks, while trying to sit up, and Andy's Mom can see just how tight her legs and calf muscles look. She whispers to Andy to really keep an eye on her in case if she tries to run. She tells him that she can tell by looking at her she's a runner and could easily get away.
"Stop whispering amongst yourselves and tell me where I am, and who you are, and where my Mamaw is." Carter demands.
"Honey, calm down. I'm your Mamaw. You're home baby girl. This is your new home. This is where you belong, and where you are going to stay from now on. At least until you are 18 at which time, you're gonna get through school, go to collage, get a career, get married, and raise a family right here in San Deigo." The lady tells her.
"Sorry about your luck lady but, you're not my Mamaw. You're nothing to me, and I want to go home." Carter replies, and she is now to a full sitting position and in the perfect position to jump up and run out the door and keep going if she gets the chance.
"Oh come on now. You'll learn to like it here. Are you hungry?" Andy says, while slipping her shoes off of her and getting her comfortable, thinking that if she doesn't have her shoes, she'll not be able to run away.
"I guess I could eat something. Where is the kitchen?" Carter asks, starting to play them and getting away with it so far. They tell her where the kitchen is and ask if she needs any help. She tells them she's sure she can handle fixing herself a sandwich. She goes in the kitchen and when they are no longer looking, she realizes she still has her phone in her sports bra where she always carries it, and that she did remember to put it on vibrate. She gets ready to text her Mom, but decides to just wait for a few minutes so she can do it from the bathroom. She puts it back where it's always at, and walks out of the kitchen with just a lettuce, tomato, and cheese sandwich.
"Girl, you need some meat on that thing." Andy's Mom tells her.
"You're a special kind of stupid too. I'm a vegeterian. I ain't eating any meat. No way, not happening." Carter replies, as she starts tearing into her sandwich. They show her where her room is, and the bathroom, which she has her own bathroom there, and Carter looks at her and says, "My Mom said that at one time, Andy was really sweet and cared a great deal for her. She said that he wouldn't ever have hurt anyone. He hit me in the head, threw me in his car, and held me in a basement or wherever, until he lied to me and said I was going home tonight. You can keep me here, but there's no way in the world, that I'm ever gonna call him Dad, or you Grandma. I don't like either one of you, I certainly, don't love either one of you, and if either one of you, love me like you say you do, you'll let me go home. Think about it, you can't force someone to love you, and if you are just going to hold me here against my will, that's only going to hurt me. Don't ya think so?"
"We do love you Carter." Andy's Mom tells her.
"Would you ever do anything to hurt me?" Carter asks.
"No. Of course not. We would never hurt you honey. My name is Annabell by the way." She tells her.
"Okay. You say you would never do anything to hurt me. Does that cover emotional hurt? By you aiding in his keeping me here Annabell, you are hurting me. I'm going to sleep. I'm not going to run off okay, just let me go to bed." Carter replies. Annabell doesn't even bother with telling her where her clothes are or anything. She just figures that she'll find them and be okay come morning. Carter waits until she's the only one in the room and she locks the door, then pretends to be asleep.
Around 3:00 in the morning, Carter calls her Mom but whispers the whole time and tells her to be quiet so Andy and Annabell won't be able to hear anything.
"Mom, it's me. Don't say anything don't holler, don't be loud. Just listen cause I don't have a lot of time to talk. Get Darrel and whoever else you can to find the address of Andy's in San Diego. That's where I am. I don't know where, but I'm somewhere in San Diego. Please, come and get me and bring me home. I love you, I have to go." Carter tells her Mom, as she hangs up cause she heard movement outside of her room.
"That's it. I've just about had enough of these two already. What are you doing outside my room? Get away from the door and leave me alone. I said I wasn't going to run off, and I'm not, so scram and leave me alone for the remainder of the night, and the remainder of the time I have to stay here." Carter nearly yells at them, as she jerks the door open and shoves Andy halfway down the hall from one good push against his shoulders. She was just that pissed off at him.
"Little lady, don't you dare raise your voice to me. You show me some respect, you got that?!" Andy yells, and he gets right up in her face.
"Oh yeah. I got that. Now, you were never there for me or anywhere around when I was growing up, so why would you come around now? You want respect? You gotta earn it with me buddy. Being a Father is so much more than just dating someone and getting them pregnant, then leaving them. You have to be there and actually interact with them daily. You want respect Andrew? You earn it. Have you got that!?" Carter yells back at him, and she is nose to nose with him.
"You're getting awfully brave there girl." Andy tells her.
"So are you. Don't screw with me Trudeau. There's a long list of people who have tried to cross me, at the wrong time. Wanna dance? Let's go cause here I am and apparently, I don't get to leave anytime soon. You want to do this now or later? Choose which one you're up for." Carter says, letting him know that she is clearly completely fed up and had enough. Andy backs off like he's gonna leave her alone, and when she turns to go back to her room, he grabs her by her hair, pulls her back to him, and when she tries to turn toward him to get him off of her, he hauls off and hits her. He leaves her laying there on the floor, and he just leaves the hallway and goes out for awhile.
When Carter wakes up, she's still in the hallway where Andy left her, and she gets up, looks around to make sure no one is there, and Annabell isn't even there. She gets her phone out, calls her Mom again, and tells her she's getting ready to do the most dangerous thing she's ever had to do.
"Mom. I don't know how much time I have to talk, but I'm coming home. I'm still in San Deigo at Andy's place, but I'm leaving now. I'll call you again when I get to a diner or something." Carter tells her, and Prue is writing everything down.
"I think you should just stay there. I have called Darrel already and he is on his way. That was around two hours ago when I called him and he said that San Francisco is not very far away from where you are. He said he knows right where Andy is living at." Prue tells her.
"No Mom. You're not listening to me. I need to go to the hospital. Your best bet is to go ahead there and wait for me to show up. He hit me tonight. He and I got into it, he grabbed me by my hair, and when I turned to get him off of me, he hauled off and punched me. My jaw bone feels broken, along with my nose and eye socket. I'm leaving. I'm heading out now. I'll call you when I get to a diner. I love you." Carter explains, while crying and Prue even cries at the sound of her voice, and she can hear the pain in her voice, and only imagine how bad she looks. Carter hangs up, puts her phone in her pocket, gets her shoes on after finding where Andy had hid them, and took off running out the front door and she doesn't stop no matter how bad she's feeling until she sees that sign that reads, "Maria's Diner" Carter runs right up to it, and goes inside.
"Oh my God honey. Are you okay? Come here with me. Come in the back." The lady behind the counter tells her, who happens to be the owner. Carter's crying so bad that she can barely talk to tell her what happened and Maria literally picks her up and carries her to the back where she lays her on a cot and tells her daughter to watch over her and get her cleaned up while she closes up for the night.
"What's your name baby? Where are you from and who did this to you?" Maria's daughter Lilly, asks her while she works on her.
"My name's Carter Robinson. I live in San Francisco. My Mom's name is Prudence and her last name used to be Halliwell. My biological Father did this to me. First he didn't want me, then he decided that he did want me, as I got older, and was never around him, he went all crazy I think. He used to be an officer. They let him go from the department for law breaking. Can you call my Mom for me? My phone is right here." Carter says, as she reaches for her phone and hands it to Lilly.
"I sure will. It will be nice to talk to your Mom again. She used to babysit me when I was only four. We moved out here when I was ten and I haven't seen her since. I thought you looked like her. Hello, Prue. I don't know if you remember me or not, but this is Lilly Jacobs. You used to babysit me when I was four. Carter's here at my Mom's diner in San Diego. She's beaten pretty bad. I have the cops already being called, and a cop car just drove by not to long ago so they should be coming back around here. Nevermind, Mom just flagged them down and they're here. They're gonna take her to the hospital. Most likely Mercy Hospital." Lilly tells her. Prue writes everything down, gets off the phone with Lilly and hollers through the house, "Update on Carter! She got away from Andy. After he beat her up, she woke up in the hallway and took off running into the diner of the woman who's little girl I used to babysit for. Carter's on her way to Mercy Hospital in San Deigo. Anyone wants to go, now's the time to move it!" Prue gets downstairs, nearly falls on the rug in the foyer, but turns and jerks so she doesn't fall. It throws her back out, but she continues on her way.
"Andy?! You mean to tell us that he had her? What the hell?" Patty says, as her and Jackson jump in Prue's car.
Carter is being worked on at Mercy Hospital and Andy has just returned home and seen that Carter wasn't there.
"Mom! Where's Carter?" Andy hollers through the house, and his Mom comes downstairs.
"The girl's run off. In a way, I don't blame her. If you loved her even half as much as you say you do, you wouldn't have done all of that to her. I just finished scrubbing the carpet where she layed there and lost so much blood." Annabell tells him. He walks back outside to sit and think for a minute when the police show up and take him to the station. Back at the hospital, the doctor is just finishing up with Carter, and lets her get some rest and the thing she keeps saying is, "You're not listening to me. I want my Mom and Mamaw, now where are they? Where is my Dad?"
"Honey, he was picked up just around twenty minutes ago." The nurse tells her.
"No he wasn't. I ain't talking about Andy Trudeau. I mean Jackson Robinson. Where is my family?" Carter says, while nearly crying. Carter cries herself back to sleep and within an hour of the doctor being done working on her, Patty, Prue, and Jackson, are all walking into the hospital and asking where she is. The receptionist tells them where her room is, and they don't even bother with someone showing them, they just take off.
"Excuse me nurse, where is Carter Robinson?" Prue asks the first nurse she comes to just outside of Carter's room.
"She's right in here. Now, I don't want you to worry when you see her. She's okay. He never touched her in any other way except to punch her, breaking her nose, jaw bone, and right eye socket. Her face is swollen and bruised, and she did have to have some minor work on her jaw bone done to repair the damage. Why someone would do that to their own child? Anyway, she's right in here." The nurse tells her.
"Carter? Are you awake honey? Carter, it's Mama." Prue says, as she pulls the curtain aside and sees what the nurse was talking about. Carter opens her eyes for a second or two and when she sees her Mom standing there, she makes sure the IV line they have her hooked too, won't pull or anything, and she jumps out of her bed and throws her arms around Prue's neck.
"Mommy! I want to go home. Please take me home." Carter pleads, and she starts crying again, only harder than before.
"Shh shh, hey. Don't cry like that, stop. You're going to hurt your mouth honey. I can't believe you are this awake just coming out of surgery about twenty minutes ago. Are you okay?" Prue asks her when the nurse says that only two of them can be back there with her, and Carter tells her they all either come back together with her, or she's going home now. Carter is still in her Mom's arms, with her legs wrapped around Prue's waist when the nurse tries to get one of them to head back to the waiting room.
"This is my Dad, my Mom, and my Mamaw. They're not going anywhere." Carter tells her and she kind of just shakes her head but says okay. Prue sits down with her and Patty and Jackson both sit beside Prue so they can see her too.
"Daddy. I'm sorry that I tried to get so close to Andy. I was really starting to like him. He's not my Dad though. You are. Let them know that I want to go home. How long have I been gone?" Carter says, with her hand up to her jaw. Prue gets her to lay back down for awhile until her doctor comes to see her.
"You've been gone since yesterday evening honey. We thought we would never see you again. I'm just glad you're okay." Prue replies, and her doctor comes in and says, she should be okay to go home but that the nurse has to come in and show her how to eat with her mouth being messed up.
"If you have any other trouble, or need us at all, you can always come back if need be. There's a really good hospital in San Francisco too, so that's closer. Happy Thanksgiving folks. You really have something to be thankful this year." The doctor tells them all, and he shakes hand with all of them.
"You bet we do. I'm going home with my family tonight. My real family." Carter replies, and Prue just smiles as Carter, even though she's fourteen and going in the eighth grade soon, jumps back on her Mom's lap.
Thanksgiving rolls around two days later, and even though Carter is pretty sore yet, she still gets down in the kitchen and offers to help with everything. Patty lets her do some things, and when she goes to take a bite of a carrot, Patty tells her to be careful because of the stitches in her lower right jaw. She is still careful but she takes that bite and hollers in pain. Prue would have came running, but she knows that she's okay.
"Carter. I know that you are not a meat eater, but honey, you really should stick to the stuff you are able to chew for the next two weeks at least." Patty tells her as she offers a small cut off peice of turkey that just came out of the oven.
"I don't know Mamaw. I, I just don't think I can." Carter says, but she tries it anyway just to make her Mamaw happy. To her own surprise, she loves it, and wants even more.
"I told you Carter Jade. I have been telling you for the last twelve years of your life, since you first started eating nothing but veggies and fruits, that one day, you would get tired of them and go back to the meats. Maybe next time that good ole Mamaw tells you something, you won't look at me like I've done lost my mind." Patty tells her, and she has to eventually run her out of the kitchen until everything is done cause she won't leave the turkey alone.
"Yeah. You told me but, I'll still always love my fruits and veggies, but I could come to like meat too." Carter replies, and it's still hard sometimes for them to understand what she's saying since there was so much work done on her mouth.
"What's that honey?" Piper asks, who was heading into the kitchen anyway. Carter repeats what had just happened, and what she just got through saying and Piper says, "Oh. Okay. I got ya now." Patty and Prue get the table set and then Leo being the one with the biggest mouth, hollers through the house to the rest of them to get a move on. Leo asks who's saying the blessing, and Phoebe volunteers to give it.
"Lord, you know I'm not the best one for this but that's okay. You love everyone and you always forgive people for their short comings. We want to give you thanks for so many different things not only this year, but every year and every day of our lives. Thank you for allowing us to wake up and be breathing and healthy every morning, thank you for a house full of family and a neighborhood full of friends we can rely on. Also, thank you Lord for bringing Carter back home to us safely, and thank you for the food in front of us, and bless the hands that have prepared it. In Jesus's name, Amen." Phoebe says, and they all say Amen with her. While they are sitting around the table talking and laughing, Prue looks over at Micheal and Carter, and she's trying to figure out how they could go from nearly hating each other to now being inseperable. Patty gets up to get her some more tea and while she's in the kitchen, she whispers where no one can hear her, "Thank You God and Mom for all of this. I love you both."
The End