A/N: I wrote this for my Grandparents and my Dad, who's also adopted.
The Adoption Creed
Piper rolled over in bed as her eyes opened to the overwhelming darkness. The only light was visible from the red light of the clock radio in front of her. 5:49, the clock read. Odd, it was true Piper was an early riser, but never this early. She had feeling in her gut though that this wasn't an ordinary wake up in the middle of the night. She had feeling that she was meant to get up, and if magic had taught her anything…
Piper lifted herself up from her bed, her face scrunched at the feeling of her limbs stretching. She looked behind her at the sleeping lump she knew was Leo. Nothing out of the ordinary there, so she then, slightly reluctantly, moved up onto her feet and walked out of her bedroom door and down the hall.
She slowly and carefully opened the door to her sister Phoebe's room. Inside was Phoebe, lying sprawled out sideways on her bed. Piper laughed, oddly enough; there was nothing out of the ordinary here either. She closed her younger sister's door with a smile on her face then walked down the hall to the next door.
At the end of this long hall was Paige's room, her youngest sister's room. The door was slightly ajar and Piper could see a light shining from inside. She walked to the room faster now, her heart quickened with her pace. She knew she had a strange feeling when she got up, she knew something wasn't right.
She fought the urge to throw the door open and instead eased it. When she looked inside though, to her displeasure she found it wouldn't have mattered much if she threw open the door or not. Paige wasn't in the room.
The sheets were untidy and clothes were strewn across the floor. An art easel stood at the far end of the wall along with a radio that was buzzing with the melody of the song coming out its speakers. All of these things were exactly how Paige would leave it in her room, not one seemed out of place, giving no signs of some sort of struggle. Piper ran out the room and burst inside her own.
"LEO!" Piper called, her heart beating fast. "Leo, wake up!"
"What is it?" Leo muttered, his head still against the pillow, his eyes still closed.
"Paige is missing. I need you to sense for her!" Piper called, still shaking her husband's shoulder.
Leo, despite the fact that he cared for Paige, wasn't completely registering what was going on in his half-awakened state. He did understand the part about sensing though, so he reached out with his mind towards the lost sister.
"She's on the bridge," Leo mumbled after a few seconds silence. Piper felt her heart slow down. Paige always went to the bridge, she was in no danger.
"Do you want to see her?" Leo asked, bringing Piper out of her thoughts.
"Yea," Piper replied. "Yes Leo, can you please orb me there?"
Leo reached his hand out to her and orbed out o the bridge. Piper felt the change immediately, for now the air around her was no longer warm. It was cold and windy atop the Golden Gate Bridge, the exact opposite of her bedroom.
"Night," Leo yawned sleepily, then orbed out to, Piper guessed, the bed at home.
Piper watched him orb away then turned and looked to the other side of the bridge. There was no Paige there. A look of confusion passed across Piper's features and she was about to call Leo again when she heard a voice.
"What are you doing here?" the voice questioned from somewhere above her. Piper looked around confusedly at first, but then looked up above her. There was Paige, sitting atop the bridge cross-legged, facing out in the direction of the bridge, but against the cars that whizzed by below. Her hair whipped wildly behind her, revealing the features of her porcelain face to be calm yet sad.
"You weren't in your bed," Piper replied. "I got worried."
She saw a different emotion flicker across Paige's features temporarily, but before it could be identified it had passed as quickly as it had come. Paige bowed her head down against her chest and shut her eyes, just letting the wind blow against her face for a second. Piper was just about to speak again when she saw Paige's head lift up along with her hand. Surprise and worry coursed through her as she saw the clear bottle neck enclosed in Paige's fingers.
"Are you drinking?" Piper asked, her voice filled with concern. Paige had once confided in Phoebe that in her past she was an alcoholic. Through Phoebe, Piper came to learn as well and eventually the three of them sat down to have a small discussion about it. Well not it per say, the discussion was really about why Paige had told Phoebe about her past problem and not Piper. It was all settled when Paige revealed she didn't trust Piper completely with her feelings. They'd grown past that now though, and Piper knew that Paige did trust her with her feelings, and for the most part, Piper felt the same.
"Did you want some?" Paige turned to her, offering out the bottle, a smile playing on her lips. Piper wasn't amused.
"Paige, what's wrong?" Piper asked, keeping her voice steady and calm. She knew that yelling at Paige would get no where. Besides, Piper was so worried she was past yelling. Paige took her sobriety very seriously; something must've gone terribly wrong for her to jeopardize everything she'd fought for.
Paige fell silent and the smile left her face. She looked back out across the sky before turning back to Piper.
"I thought I could make it through this day alone," Paige replied. "But then I realized the only reason I made it through this day before was because I was so drunk I couldn't remember the day anyways."
"What day is today?" Piper asked once Paige had fallen silent again. Instead of answering though, Paige jumped down from the part of the bridge she was sitting on to the part Piper was standing on below. Something, Piper knew, Paige would never do if she were sober.
"Follow me," Paige said to Piper and reached out her hand. Piper took it warily and she felt the familiar sensation of orbing sweep her body.
When the two of them rematerialized Piper found that the two of them were standing near the center of a graveyard. A sight Piper found not at all appealing. It was dimly lit from the lights around, but far from easing any person's fear, it heightened it instead, the glow from the light was so eerie.
"Why are we here?" Piper turned to Paige confusedly. She didn't see Paige standing beside her though, she saw Paige sitting beside her, sitting down on the grass in front of a large stone tombstone. Piper sat down beside Paige and studied the tombstone silently. 'Matthews' it read in black craved in letters. Piper didn't need the knotted feeling that rose up in her stomach to know where she was. She was in front of Paige's parents' grave, the date of there death matching the date of today.
"Today is…?" Piper asked turning to Paige, even though she already knew the answer.
"It's the first time I've faced it sober," Paige replied, her head nodding in the affirmative. A small smile escaped Paige's lips though as realization spread across her face.
"I guess not really though," Paige chuckled, gesturing to the bottle still in her hand.
"You should've told us," Piper said, her eyes on Paige.
"I didn't think you cared," Paige replied.
"Why wouldn't we care?" Piper asked surprise etched in every line of her face. "They're your parents, Paige. Of course we care."
"They're my adoptive parents," Paige replied, emphasizing the word adoptive. "I didn't think you'd understand that even though they weren't my real parents, I still loved them."
Piper remained silent, her brow furrowed. She didn't remain silent long though, soon she was speaking out the words she'd thought through in her head.
"Do you think of them as your real parents?" Piper asked.
Paige looked up to Piper, confused at first. Her expression softened though and the familiar expression of sadness returned.
"Yes," Paige replied softly, guilt consuming her as she dropped her head to the ground. "They raised me, they took care of me. I think of them as my real parents, even though they technically aren't."
"Then that's all that matters," Piper replied. "I understand why you feel that why way about them."
Paige looked up to Piper, a new calm radiating in her features.
"Why don't you tell me about them?" Piper replied, "And about you, when you were young."
"Okay," Paige smiled. "But not here, let's go back home."
"Fine with me," Piper replied, taking Paige's hand in hers. Paige orbed out silently, allowing the glow of blue-white lights to illuminate the dark sky.
Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone
But still miraculously my own
Never forget
Not for a minute
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it