Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed; I am not Brad Kern or Aaron Spelling or any of those rich men. I'm not even a man! Anyways…

A/N: Wow. It's hard to believe that this is my fourth fic. I love to hear from the reviewers so please review, even if you want to say that you absolutely hate it. Just to let you know, my idea changed mid-way in this story so sorry if it seems a little weird. I want to give it a summary but I'm afraid that it'll give it away… well, here goes!

Summary: Patty Halliwell gave up Paige, her daughter by her Whitelighter, Sam, in order to protect him and keep him from getting in trouble by the Elders. But what happens when Paige receives her Whitelighter powers early? She is assigned to protect a potential source of tremendous good and things don't go as well as planned.

Note: The pact between Nicholas and Patty was broken due to the fact that Nicholas was killed. Therefore, Grams unbound the girls' powers early.

Chapter One: Little Guardian

Patty Halliwell had given up everything that had ever meant anything to her so that she could be with her Whitelighter, Sam. He had become Patty's Whitelighter and fallen in love with her. Patty had even given up her family, her own daughters, just to be with him. So when she became pregnant with his child, she knew that she couldn't keep the child once it was born. If the Elders ever found out, there would be serious consequences to pay.

Shortly after birth, Sam and Patty had orbed to a church to leave the baby girl. When a nun appeared, Patty requested that the nun find the girl a good home. She also told her that the baby's name was Paige. The nun agreed, thinking that Sam and Patty were angels and they left.

XoXoXoXoX

A small toddler, a week shy of her first birthday, held tightly onto her oldest sister's fingers as she attempted to walk across the living room. The middle sister sat on the floor with her back against the wall, holding her arms out, waiting for her youngest sister to walk to her.

"C'mon Phoebes, you can do it. Just a little bit farther," the four-year-old cooed.

"Pi!" The toddler cried. Of course, she was trying to get out 'Piper!' but it obviously wasn't working. She looked up at the sister that was guiding her. "Pwue!" The toddler, who wasn't paying attention, toppled over her own feet, but before she could hit the floor, Prue caught her.

"Careful sweetie," the six-year-old eldest warned. Once Phoebe had cleared the room and successfully made it to Piper, the two sat, Phoebe in Piper's lap, playing patty-cake. Prue took this opportunity to go into the kitchen and ask her grandmother a long awaited question.

Grams looked up from the bills she had been doing when she saw Prue come into the room. "Hey pumpkin. Is everything okay? You look like something's bothering you."

"Grams," Prue started as she pulled up a chair. "Where's mom?"

Penny's face softened at the look of sad confusion that covered Prue's face. "Oh honey." She wrapped Prue in a hug as they both began to cry. After a few moments, Grams told Prue to go get herself and Piper ready for bed and told her that she (Grams) would take care of Phoebe. Prue nodded and left the room.

After Phoebe had fallen asleep, Grams quietly left the room and went to check in on Piper and Prue. Even though both of them were asleep, Grams kissed each of them on the forehead. She left the room, closing the door behind her. Before she could head downstairs, a tall man with short brown hair, green eyes and a tough looking chiseled face appeared in an array of swirling white and blue lights.

"Are you Penny Halliwell?" he asked, fairly somber.

"I am," she replied in a hushed tone.

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry but I was instructed by the Elders to notify you…"

"Notify me of what?" she demanded in her hushed voice.

"Your daughter, Patty Halliwell was drown a few hours ago by a powerful warlock."

Penny collapsed in the man's arms, sobbing. "But… But…"

The man held Penny for a few moments. "She requested that you take care of her daughters."

"Of course, of course."

"She also added, 'Even the odd one out.'"

"'Odd one out?' What does that mean?" Penny asked through her sobs. The man shook his head apologetically as he orbed out.

XoXoXoXoX

It was the fifth week of Phoebe's sixth grade year as she sat at her desk, frivolously scribbling a note to her best friend. One thing that she didn't like about being in middle school was that since Carter Middle and High Schools were connected, she had to see her sisters more often. It wasn't that it was a bad thing; it was just something she could have done without. She finished her note and smiled. It read:

Boy, we didn't get many cute guys this year- Phoebe.

She folded it up and looked around to make sure no one was looking before she passed it to her friend. They had known each other since third grade, but all the times she had asked if her friend could stay the night, Grams had said no, and that she had to go out and couldn't have someone else there while she was gone. But that had all changed when Phoebe had asked and Grams finally said yes. Phoebe had waited all week for Friday to come and now that it was finally here, she was downright giddy. Her friend slipped the note back to her. She opened it and read:

Tell me about it! Are you excited about tonight? –Paige

Phoebe looked over at her best friend, Paige Matthews, smiled and nodded. The bell rang for everyone to leave the classroom and go to that afternoon's assembly and everyone scrambled out of the classroom. Phoebe smiled s she and Paige got up and walked to their lockers. Even though Paige was younger than Phoebe by almost a whole year, she was skipped up in third grade due to her phenomenal smarts. However, the moment Phoebe had seen Paige in her third grade classroom, she had felt that there was some type of strong connection between the two.

"So, I'll be there around six, is that okay?" Paige was truly looking forward to staying the night at Phoebe's.

"Yup. Just don't forget your toothbrush. My oldest sister has this thing…" Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"It's okay. You don't need to elaborate."

"Oh, that reminds me! You're going to meet my sisters today at the assembly. We promised each other that we'd sit by one another. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you joined us."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to make a bad first impression."

"Positive." Phoebe shut her locker door with a loud 'clank.'

Just then, Paige heard a jingling in the back of her mind. She frowned and turned to Phoebe. "Um… I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

"Just meet us in the Gym."

"Okay," Paige smiled as she turned and headed for a private bathroom. She shut the door and orbed out. When her body re-formed, she was in a place like Heaven. Well, it actually was Heaven. She waited for a few seconds until the Elder that had called for her appeared.

"Why must you insist on bothering me? I may be eleven, but I know what I'm doing," she nagged irritably.

"Because we can't have you meeting all three of the sisters at once," Micah, the head Elder, explained. He and the other Elders found out what had happened shortly after Patty was killed, but never acted on what had happened between her and Sam.

"But why?" she asked.

"We can't explain right now. We had to make the eldest sick so that you'd only meet with the middle sister."

"But-" Paige thought about telling him that she was going to stay the night at Phoebe's but decided against it.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Nevermind," she replied. "Whatever, can I go now?"

"Fine, but remember what I told you."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." She gave a smirk as she orbed out and back into the private bathroom. She opened the door and walked into the hallway until she reached the Gym door. She opened it and went into the assembly. She spotted Phoebe and who Paige thought to be Phoebe's sister. She climbed up the bleachers and sat next to Phoebe.

"Where have you been? You've been gone for like twenty minutes!" Phoebe whispered.

Paige had forgotten that time went by much slower 'Up There' than it did on Earth. "When I came out of the bathroom, a teacher asked me to run an errand really quick but I got held up. Sorry."

"It's okay. This is my sister, Piper," she said, pointing to Piper. Piper did a small wave and returned her attention to the assembly. "Prue went home sick." Paige briefly smiled.

A few minutes later, the assembly was over and Paige and Phoebe were at their lockers, preparing to go home. "So, I'm going to leave my house and be at yours by six," Paige told Phoebe.

"Sounds good to me," Phoebe responded. She shut her locker door, hugged Paige and set off down the hallway. Paige went back to the private bathroom and orbed herself home.

XoXoXoXoX

Paige appeared in the shadows of the front porch at the Halliwell Manor. She walked to the front door and knocked. Phoebe greeted her at the front door and welcomed her in.

Paige was taken aback by the beauty of the interior of the house. She looked around, flabbergasted. When she laid her eyes on the magnificent chandelier, she was puzzled. Prue, Piper and Grams entered the room. Paige asked, bluntly, while staring at the chandelier, which was a shimmering blue color, "What's wrong with you chandelier?"

A/N: Well, there it is, the first chapter! I hoped you liked it. Read & Review! Even if you want to criticize