Summary: When Piper finds out she is pregnant, she must decide whether she is ready to risk her child's life in the dangerous world as a witch.
Rating: PG for some adult content/themes.
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"Piper, are you in there?"
Piper Halliwell jumped at the abrupt knock on the bathroom door. Her sister... well, half sister, Paige, waited patiently for her reply.
"Um, yeah, gimme a minute." Piper's stomach rumbled again, and she leaned over the toilet bowl to vomit for the umpteenth time.
"Do you want me to call Leo? Maybe he can heal you." Paige persisted from the hallway. Piper could hear the sympathy in her voice, but she couldn't feel it.
"No," she whispered as she wiped her mouth with a towel. "I'm coming out." She opened the door slowly, bracing herself on the sink for balance. She still felt nauseous, and a little light headed, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been earlier that day, when she had had food in her stomach.
"Are you okay? You look really pale." Paige took her arm at the elbow and helped her to her room.
"I'm fine. I just need to, uh, lie down." Piper flopped onto her bed and curled up into a ball. "Tell Phoebe not to bother me for a while okay? I don't want to get you guys sick too."
Paige nodded and pulled the comforter up over her sister's shivering form. She kissed her forehead tenderly and left, turning the lights out on her way.
Piper watched her go, thinking of Prue and how much alike she and Paige were. So caring, willing, maternal even. She sighed and pulled the quilt up under her chin.
What can I tell Leo? she thought. I'm not ready for this yet. A baby is a big responsibility, and it's too dangerous around us right now. It seems like we are never without a demon to vanquish, and I can't risk putting my child between me and demon, let alone trying to raise a little witch. Abortion is not one of my top choices, and I can't have it and give it up, Leo wouldn't stand for it. What do I do?
Piper covered her head with her blanket and cried, willing it all away with each tear.
***
Phoebe watched her sister weep from the doorway, wishing she would let her into her life. Piper had been so solitary lately, shutting out even her husband. No one knew what was wrong, and she wasn't helping them figure it out. She remained silent if she was with them, and said only a few words to Leo when he asked her what was wrong. It was as though she thought she no longer had a family.
Phoebe sighed and went to the attic, hoping to find consolation in the Book of Shadows. She flipped through the pages, reading each spell in her head. When she found nothing even remotely related to Piper's condition, she resigned herself to rummaging through the boxes in the attic. She found a lot of her old toys, pictures from high school, even one or two of her and her sisters as children living with their grandmother, Grams. Then she noticed a relatively new parcel, wrapped in packaging paper and labeled simply, "Piper". She looked about, making sure that no one was around to yell at her, and ravaged the paper, ripping open the box without mercy. Inside she found a brand new stuffed rabbit, a shining pink rattle, and a baby blanket with the name Melinda inscribed in the corner. She smiled, remembering how happy her sister had been when the original Charmed Ones had returned from the future, and Piper had told her she had a daughter named Melinda. She had never seen her, but Phoebe knew that any child of Piper's had to be the most beautiful child... She observed a smaller box at the bottom of the original box, and reached in to pull it out. She turned it over in her hand and read the label out loud.
"One step pregnancy test." She opened the box and found a used pregnancy test.
It was positive.
"Piper was pregnant?" Phoebe found herself searching for her own thoughts, as she was no longer capable of holding them for more than a moment. "And she never told us?"
A scream surged through the house, followed shortly by a crash and yelling. Phoebe ran down the stairs, only to encounter a red-faced demon with only one eye in front of her. She levitated and kicked him, send him sprawling backwards at Paige, who stood waiting with a knife. He vanished in a cloud of dust, leaving the sisters to assess the damage. They went into Piper's room, and gasped at what they saw.
The entire place was destroyed, the bed broken in two and a giant hole in the wall where a dresser had once stood. Piper lay unconscious in the floor, a small trickle of blood oozing from her head. Phoebe rushed over and knelt at her side.
"Oh God, Piper! Come on honey, wake up. Leo!"
"Leo, where are you?" Paige seemed frantic. "Leo?"
The whitlelighter orbed in, a blue light blazing around him. "What happened? What's wrong?"
Phoebe grabbed his hand and put it over Piper's head. "Heal her."
A glow appeared under his hand, sealing the wound instantly, and allowing his wife to wake up. "Piper." He held her in his arms, kissing the top of her head roughly, as though he hadn't seen her in a long while.
"Leo, God, what happened?" Piper sat up right, gripping her abdomen upon reflex.
"A demon, he attacked you. Why didn't you just freeze him?" Phoebe helped her to her feet and set up down on a chair that had remained undamaged.
"I did, but when I tried, I just blew up the bed." She pointed to what remained of the item on the floor. "I thought I had gained control of my powers by now."
"I guess not. Come on, you can stay in my room until we fix this." Paige led her to her own room, where she sat down on the bed and looked at her family, who simply stared back at her.
"I'm fine, guys. Really. Just let me sleep a little." Piper sat up straighter to emphasize her point, so Leo nodded and left, followed by Paige. Phoebe stayed behind, lingering by the bed. Piper watched her for a moment before asking, "What do you want, Pheebs?"
"What didn't you tell us you were pregnant?"
Her sister sat, dumbfounded. "How... how did you know?"
Phoebe took a seat next to Piper, and held her hand, squeezing it gently. "I found the box in the attic, along with the rattle and the blanket. Why did you hide it Piper, especially after all we've been through together?"
"I-I guess I thought I had to make my own decision. About whether or not I wanted to keep it, or have it, or whatever."
"So what happened? Did you get an abortion?" Phoebe stared at her intently.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you didn't have it, I'm sure we would have notice that much, so what happened?"
Piper blinked a few times, attempting to understand her sister's logic. "You think I... and that I... Ohhhhhh."
"What? What are you 'ohhing' about?"
"You think that I got pregnant before, when I bought those things last year. But I didn't."
Phoebe glared at her, confused. "So... what is that test doing in the attic?"
"I put that there last week. I'm pregnant now, Pheebs. That's why I've been so sick. I thought you guys would pick up on it, but you didn't."
Phoebe's mouth dropped open in shock, then distorted into a thoughtful pursed expression, and finally an approving smile. "So, again, why didn't you tell us?"
"I was so afraid of having it, bringing it into the world and constantly putting it in danger, but when that demon attacked me, all I could think about was how upset I'd be if anything happened to it."
Her sister laughed. "I guess evil is good for something after all. It saved my niece or nephew's life." She reached over and placed her hand on Piper's stomach, and immediately had a premonition. "She's a healthy baby girl, Piper. Congratulations."