Twelve years after season eight.
Parker, Phoebe's second daughter, still hasn't come into her powers after ten years. She isn't able to cast spells either and they are starting to wonder if she even is a witch. This causes her trouble to fit in with her family. But there is something other different to Parker. She was born with a strange symbol tattooed on her back. The tattoos have been spreading further over her body through the years. From her back down and up her spine, over her head were it shaped into an arrow pointing at her nose. There were similar lines on her arms and legs. They also ended in an arrow on both of her hands and feet. It were all kinds of symbols drawn in black ink. Almost every night the tattoos would grow and now it looked like it was a complete work of art. But to Parker it felt like there was still something missing. On her front head there was an empty circle. It had been there for a couple of weeks and it hadn't been filled yet.
Because people would look strange at them when they saw Parkers tattoos, they started to hide them. Parker wore gloves without fingers and a kerchief folded in a triangle bound on her head. Her cousins always joked that she looked like a pirate with the kerchief on her head, but when she didn't wore it they would joke around about her tattoos. She cared less when they were teasing her about looking like a pirate so she started to wear the disguise all the time.
"Parker…Parker!" Phoebe called her daughter: "Hurry up. Your sister is almost ready to leave for magic school." Parker walked into the kitchen with skin almost as pale as the skin from a vampire.
"Mommie, I don't feel so good" Parker said with her eyes half closed. With one look at her daughter, she ran over to Parker to feel her forehead.
"Honey you look incredibly pale and it feels like you have a fever. I'm sorry Parker, but you're not going to school like this."
"Not that she would care" PJ whispered softly, sitting at the table with her breakfast in front of her. Phoebe turned her head towards her other daughter: "What did you say PJ?"
"Nothing…" and PJ stuffed a spoon of cereal in her mouth. Phoebe was a bit confused but decide to let it go: "Okay. I'm gonna call your aunt Piper." Phoebe took her cellphone and searched for her sister in her contact list. She pressed the green phone symbol and then waited for a response on the other line.
"Hey Phoebe, a good morning to you."
"Hi Piper, well not that good of a morning. Parker is sick. Is there a change you are home and can take care of her for today?"
"Yeah no problem. Bring her over."
"Thanks sis. I wouldn't know what I'd do without you. See you in a bit." Phoebe put her cellphone back on the table and kneeled next to her daughter: "Okay sweetie, I'm gonna drop you off at aunt Piper before work. You go lie down on the couch for a while until we leave." Parker nodded and sauntered over to the couch where she lay down until her mother woke her up again to leave. Meanwhile her sister had already left for another day at magic school. Parker wasn't too sad about not going to magic school. She didn't really feel at home but it was even worse at a normal school. She had tried it but her parents got several complaints about the gloves and the kerchief on Parker's head. It wasn't allowed at school but it would be even worse if they had seen her tattoos.
After a 20 minute drive, her mother parked the car in front the Halliwell mansion. They walked up the stairs together to the front door and walked straight in. It was a habit they had never unlearned since Phoebe and Paige moved out. Luckily Piper didn't mind.
"Piper?!" Phoebe called out to her sister.
"I'm in here!" The voice came out of the kitchen. Phoebe walked further through the hallway past the stairs, with Parker right behind her.
"Sweetie, you can go lie down on the couch. I'm just gonna talk to aunt Piper for a second" Phoebe said to her daughter, who just nodded and then left her side to find a nice spot to rest.
"Hey Pheebs" Piper said when she saw her younger sister walk through the kitchen door.
"You are already busy today" Phoebe stated, seeing the pots and pans on the stove.
"Yeah, I made oatmeal for the kids. Want some?"
"No thanks, I don't think Elise would like it if I'm late…again" Phoebe answered with a smirk. Piper replied with a laugh.
"So, where is the patient?" she asked.
"I send her to the couch already. She looks very pale and I think she has fever. Maybe she picked up the flu, or something."
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of her. I was planning to make some soup later but wasn't really sure yet which one… Now I do, my incredibly delicious chicken soup."
"Parker will love that. Okay, I'm gonna say goodbye to Parker and leave for work. I'll pick her back up around three."
"Okay. Bye, have a good day."
Parker had already fallen asleep and Phoebe didn't wanted to wake her so she just pressed a soft kiss on Parker's head.
"I'll see you in the afternoon" she whispered after she released from the kiss.
Almost four hours later, Parker woke up. It took her a few seconds to realize she wasn't at her own home. She went sitting up straight and heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. Walking over to the room, she recognized her aunt Piper's voice cursing a drawer. Parker put her head through the door opening and saw her aunt sucking on her finger. As soon Piper saw her niece watching her she stopped the whining and invited her to come closer.
"Did you sleep well?" Piper asked. Parked nodded and walked over to the counter.
"Are you okay aunt Piper?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just shut the drawer with my finger still in it."
"Is it bleeding? Do you need a bandage?"
"No, it's okay. How are you feeling?"
"Better" Parker answered while taking place on one of the high stools at the cooking island.
"That's good. You also have a bit more color on you face again, which is good too." Parker smiled and took a deep breath through her nose.
"Mmmh, smells good" she said.
"I made chicken soup. Do you want a bowl?"
"Yes please" Parker answered with another smile. She loved the food her aunt Piper made. She was such an amazing chef. After eating a whole bowl of hot chicken soup, Parker had a soft blush on her face.
"Now that's a healthy color" Piper stated: "If it wasn't already past noon, you could have gone to school for a half day." As soon as Piper had sad that, the healthy blush on Parkers face faded away for a couple seconds and that hadn't escaped Piper.
"Can I go outside for a while, to get some fresh air?" Parker asked.
"Sure. But don't forget to put on your shoes and a sweater. We don't want you go home sicker than you came" Piper replied. Parker jumped down from the chair and went back to the couch she had been resting on before. She put on her shoes and searched for a sweater in her backpack, that her mom had packed for her. In her backpack Parker also found some fresh clothes. That's when Parker remembered she was still in her pajama's, that also meant that she wasn't wearing her kerchief on her head or her gloves on her hands. She didn't care about still wearing her pajamas but she didn't like not wearing her kerchief or gloves because it meant that her tattoos were visible. Parker quickly searched her backpack again but couldn't find her them anywhere. She left the ransacked backpack lying on the ground and ran back to the kitchen.
"Aunt Piper?" Parker called in panic. Piper could read the fear and worrying in her niece's eyes.
"What wrong Parker?"
"I can't find my kerchief and gloves. They aren't in my backpack" Parker said, breathing faster than needed.
"Honey, it's okay. Your mom put them on the table, over there" Piper answered trying to calm Parker down and pointed toward the table. Parker turned around and saw her accessories lying on the corner. She ran over to them and quickly put them on. A deep sigh. Then Parker went outside to enjoy the soft, pleasant weather. But now Piper was concerned. It worried her how upset Parker was, just because she couldn't find the clothes that cover up her tattoos. She knew that Parker didn't like to show them, but it's not like she was going outside to the mall or something. She was just going to the garden and the only person around was Piper herself. It didn't feel right to Piper, so she decided to talk to Phoebe about it later. But she wouldn't be her for another two hours and a half, so she still had time to bake a batch of muffins.
Piper was half way through her recipe when Parker came running in the kitchen.
"Aunt Piper! I found something…I found a kitten!"
"A kitten? Where?" Piper asked coming around the counter.
"In the backyard. It's hiding between the roses." Piper followed Parker outside to the bush of roses where she had seen the kitten. Piper couldn't see it at first, but then she saw the emerald green eyes. The pitch-black kitten sat huddled against the fence, looking straight at her with those big green eyes.
"It's scared" Parker stated.
"Maybe we should it give it some milk" Piper suggested. A bit later she came back with dish of milk. Piper gave it to parker, who put it right in front of the roses.
"Let's go back inside, so it can come out to eat" Piper said.
"No, I wanna stay here" Parker protested. Piper could see the determination in Parker's eyes.
"Okay, but you're not gonna sit on the grass. Here…" Piper reached for a cushion on one of the garden chairs. "Take this to sit on." Parker took the cushion and put it on the grass a couple feet away from the rose bushes and then silently took place on it with crossed legs. Piper went back inside to finish her muffins, but frequently looked through the window to check up on Parker.
Around thirty minutes past three, Phoebe finally arrived at the Halliwell mansion. She found her sister in the same room as when she had dropped of Parker.
"Hey" she greeted Piper: " Sorry I'm late. Elise wanted to have a short meeting before I went home."
"No problem" Piper replied with a smile.
"So…How's my little girl doing?" Phoebe asked looking around, searching for her daughter.
"You can see for yourself" Piper replied pointing to the garden. Phoebe frowned while walking over to the window to look into the garden. There she saw her daughter sitting on a cushion looking at the roses.
"What is she doing?" Phoebe asked her sister, who came standing behind her and looked over her shoulder.
"She found a black kitten in the rose bushes. She has been sitting there for two hours or so and she hasn't moved a bit. That's determination, if you ask me."
"She doesn't really seem sick, does she."
"Not really."
"Do you think she was pretending?"
"No, I don't think so. I believe she really felt sick this morning, but that it didn't have to do anything with the flu."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever heard of school sickness?"
"Yeah, I was school sick all through high school" Phoebe sad with a smirk but then turned back to being serious. "You think she doesn't like going to school?"
"It's just a guess, but yeah. A bit past noon, after eating some soup, she had a healthy color on her cheeks again. But when I brought up school, that color disappeared like that" Piper said with a snap of her fingers. Phoebe looked worried.
"I think it's time for a talk" she said. Before Phoebe could walk outside Piper stopped her, remembering the kerchief issue from earlier.
"Hey Phoebe, earlier when Parker wanted to go outside she got really upset because she couldn't find her kerchief and gloves in her backpack. She was scared you hadn't packed them. If you ask me it doesn't seem healthy for her to be so attached to them or being so scared of those tattoos."
"Yeah" Phoebe sighed looking through the window at her daughter. "She has been wearing them at home too for a couple weeks now. I have talked to her that she doesn't have to but… I think she would wear them to sleep if I let her." Another deep sigh. Phoebe opened the door to the garden and walked over to the edge of the grass. She heard a rustle at the rose bushes and then Parker turned around to look at who stood behind her.
"Mom" she said with smile.
"Hi honey. How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"Yeah, I can see. So your aunt Piper told me you found a kitten and you have been sitting outside for a while. Aren't you cold?" Parker shook her head and turned back to look at the rose bushes.
"Can I come sit next to you?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah" Parker answered with a nod.
"So…where is that kitten hiding?" Phoebe asked. Parker pointed at an opening between a couple roses.
"Has it come out to drink yet?"
"Yeah, but it got scared again when you walked over."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"It's okay. If we're very quiet, it will come out again." Phoebe was surprised by her daughter's patient and determination. After sitting there for a while in silent, the kitten finally came out again and drank the rest of the milk.
"It's still very young and probably got lost" Phoebe said.
"I think it ran away" Parker said without taking her eyes off the kitten. Her daughter's statement took Phoebe by surprise. Then she remember her psychology lessons. Children often use the things around them to show what bothered them or how they felt. Like when you ask them to draw something, the picture often told more than what you first saw. Phoebe decided to go along with what her daughter had said. Maybe she could find out why Parker didn't want to go to school.
"Why do you think it ran away?" Phoebe asked.
"The other kittens didn't like her" Parker replied.
"They didn't like her? Why would that be?"
"Because she's different."
"Different?" Phoebe didn't understand but when she looked back at the kitten she saw a detail on the kitten she hadn't noticed before. The kitten was completely black accept for one spot in its neck that was white. Then she turned back to her daughter: "From who is she different? Her family, her friends?"
"From everyone." Phoebe waited a second before continuing.
"Does the kitten know she's different?" she finally asked Parker.
"Yeah. The other kittens have told her many times. They bully her about the white spot in her neck because all the other kittens are completely black." That's when Phoebe started to understand.
"Parker?" she asked and Parker looked up to her mother: "Are their kids at magic school who bully you?" Parker turned her eyes to the ground, she took a deep breath and nodded.
"They don't like me either" she said in a whisper.
"Honey, why haven't you told me before that it didn't go well at school? You know you can tell anything, right?" Again Parker nodded.
"But PJ said that if I told anyone, I would be a tattletale and that the bullying would only get worse" Parker explained.
"When you get bullied it's always better to tell someone. You could tell me or your dad or a teacher." The kitten had now come even closer and had laid herself down next to Parker. Now Parker was able to pet it. With a two fingers she stroke over the kittens head, who enjoyed the soft and tender touch.
"Mom, I don't wanna go back to school anymore" Parker said looking straight in Phoebe's eyes.
"I know it's hard, but you can't just not go to school." Parker looked sad. "Tell you what. I'll go to magic school tomorrow and I'm gonna talk to the headmaster. Maybe we can find a solution."
"Okay" Parker said and put a small acted smile on her face.
"Now let's talk about something else. Maybe your birthday? Only two weeks and you'll be ten. Have you thought about something you'd like to get for a present?" Parker shook her head but then paused. She looked up to her mom with a twinkle in her eyes. Phoebe hadn't seen that twinkle for a while, she thought.
"Can I take keep her?" Parker asked.
"You mean the kitten?" Phoebe asked. Parker nodded. Phoebe thought about it.
"Please mom, I'll take care of it myself. I promise."
Phoebe sighed, happy to see her little girl be excited about something. She agreed and hoped Coop wouldn't mind either. They hadn't really talked about having a pet in all these years but she knew that Coop did love animals.
"Do you know how you're gonna name your knew kitten?" A frown appeared on Parker's face which indicated she was thinking hard. The kitten looked up, straight into Parker's eyes, who stared right back. It looked like they made a strange connection.
"Parker?" Phoebe asked curious: "Everything okay?"
"Yin." Parker replied like she was in a trance.
"What?" Phoebe asked confused.
"Yin" Parker said again: "That's her name." She looked up again to meet her mother's eyes and smiled with the kitten now taking place in her lap.