Note: This story was written after I realised that the family tree shown in the show has a rather strange Anomaly. Even though it is claimed by Grams that there have not been any male children born into the family in quite a while, the family tree suggests that she has a brother Gordon Johnson II. It also states that he married a Francine Bowen who was 65 years older than him and died when he was 13. All very odd. This story is my way of explaining this. Also it may also be noted that on the Charmed Wiki it is stated that Francine Bowen may have been the fourth child of James Bowen and Iris Sauls. The other three being the parents of , and . This is my first Charmed fic. Let me know what you think.

Cousin Prea

It all started when they were kids. A silly misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misremembering because she was so young. Her imagination ran away with her. She was only 8 at the time and both entrigued and a little in awe of this girl. Her cousin Prea, who she didn't even know existed until she turned up on their doorstep. All these years that was what she had assumed, that somehow her imagination had gotten the better of her. But now, after reading from the book of shadows and learning about their true heritage, Phoebe couldn't be so sure anymore.

Phoebe couldn't sleep. Grams had put her to bed hours ago, but she couldn't sleep. One by one she had heard the other doors close as everyone else went to bed. Even without getting up she knew that the whole house would be dark by now, everything was quiet. Maybe Prea was still awake. She had been drawing when Phoebe went to bed and had been too distracted to properly say goodnight to her youngest cousin.

Decision made Phoebe pulled herself out of bed andputting her slippers on she crept towards the door. As she expected the hallway was dark. But she knew the way to the litle guest room that Prea was staying in without the lights. Silently she crept past Prue's room and stopped at Prea's door. It was sitting ajar so Phoebe put her fingers into the gap and pulled. The room was dark, but she could see from where she stood that Prea wasn't in bed. Moving slowly Phoebe inched further into the room. She could see that the door to the balcony was open so she moved towards it assuming that her cousin was outside. Before she reached it however something small with wings flew past her into the room. Turning sharply Phoebe thought she could see Prea on the ceiling above the bed, but it must have been a trick of the light because the next moment Prea was by her side with a hand on her shoulder. For a second in the shadows Phoebe thought she saw two black wings on her cousin's back, but that was crazy.

"Are you alright Phoebe?"

The elder girl asked, and Phoebe nodded until she noticed that there was a cut on Prea's arm.

"You're bleeding Pre."

She said turning so that she could get a better look at her cousin's injury. But the blood was gone.

"Don't be silly Pheebs. I'm fine. Come on you should be asleep. Aunt Penny will have a fit if she finds you out of bed."

Shrugging away the weirdness Phoebe followed Prea as she took her back to bed. Maybe she had imagined it all. Cousin Prea was a little strange but she wasn't that strange. She was tall and thin with pale white skin and jet black hair. She took loads of pills every morning and she was alergic to loads of stuff. But she never got sick or hurt. She was always drawing away, but she ever finished a single picture. She always left the bottom corner blank. And she always called Grams 'Aunt Penny'. And on top of that she was also really strong. Even though she was really thin she could lift Phoebe easily when both Prue and Piper complained that she was too big for that now. Yawning Phoebe climbed into bed and Prea tucked her in. Right now she would try and get some sleep. Maybe in the morning she would ask her sisters if they thought there was something about cousin Prea. In the morning.

In the morning she asked her sisters, but they just told her she was being silly. Prea had a medical condition. That was why she took so many pills. That was why she had to be careful with what she ate, and it was why she was so pale. Phoebe however wasn't convinced. She wondered whether she should ask Grams about it, but she didn't. Instead she talked to Prea while Prue and Piper were playing outside. Prea didn't go outside much, especially when it was Sunny. She said it was because she was so pale. She burned easily.

When they talked about the night before Prea laughed. She showed Phoebe her arm, and turned around to show her that there were no wings on her back.

"You've been reading too many stories Pheebs."

She laughed again, but stopped when they realised that Grams was standig in the doorway.

"Why don't you go outside and play with your sisters for a while Phoebe. I want to speak to Prea for a moment."

Within a few weeks Prea was going away to boarding school. Although she promised to write to the three of them and Grams claimed that it had always been the plan for Prea to use the money her mother left her to go away for school. Phoebe always wondered whether it was her fault that her cousin had been sent away.

Phoebe sat on the porch with her coffee cup warming her hands thinking about everything that she had learned since the night before and how it made her question her childhood. Prea still wrote to her occasionally and she wrote back. Both of them keeping the other up to date on what was happening in their lives. It was strange. Even thou Prea was closer to both Prue and Piper in age, she had always been closer to Phoebe. It was probably because they were more similar. Prue was always saying that Prea was a bad influence. Always writing about the parties she went to, the all night events, the one night stands. She was an artist living off her artwork and the image she had built around herself. An image built around the private joke they shared about Phoebe's childhood imaginings. An image, a gimic that painted Prea as a demonic creature with black wings and a fear of the light. As the door opened behind her, Phoebe pulled herself out of her musings to talk to Piper about what she had learned.