A/N: Hey guys, here's another chapter. In this AU the sisters didn't vanquish Cole but instead he is alive and still in the underworld after Phoebe realized she had become Cole's queen -although not coronated- and couldn't bare the thought of what the Seer's tonic would do to her child. She left him and returned to the Manor.
Piper sat in her en suite, waiting for the required time to pass. She and Leo hadn't been trying to get pregnant but that didn't mean she wasn't excited for the possibility. It was the first good thing –other than finding Paige and Phoebe's nuptials—to happen for their family since Prue's death. Crying at the thought of her late sister, Piper heard the alarm on her cell phone go off and she reached to grab her test off the bathroom sink.
Talking to Paige and later to Phoebe had helped Piper feel better about the negative test result. Still, knowing that Phoebe and Cole were expecting was a little devastating—no matter how happy Piper was for her sister.
Sure, it would be exciting to have a niece; just not as exciting as having her own daughter to hold in her arms. And she had been so sure that she and Leo would be welcoming little Melinda. The timing would have been perfect in accordance with the future that she had traveled to with Prue and Phoebe, although clearly that future was no longer possible.
That thought alone –that there was no future in which Piper would never get to live out her days in the company of her older sister—was nearly enough to be her undoing. The second born didn't think she could take any more losses and unfortunately due to her line of work she knew there would be many more to come.
"Come on, Phoebe! We're going to be late," Piper yelled as she gathered her things and waited for her sister by the doors.
"Alright, alright," Phoebe said bounding down the stairs. "Thank you again for getting me in to see your doctor."
Cole had thought keeping Phoebe under the care of the Seer would be better for their baby, but as his secret became impossible to keep and his magic could no longer keep him safe from his wife's power of premonition, Phoebe knew she had to guard herself against any dark magic. Cole still remained in the Underworld, waiting for any opportunity to gain back his wife and unborn child.
Since her return to the Manor after a stint as the Queen of the Underworld, Piper and Paige had been weaving protective magic around the house and rituals to strengthen the influence of good magic on Phoebe and her child. It had been Gram's idea, who was constantly been summoned in the previous weeks to act as High Priestess and a consultant.
"It's nothing. We have to make sure your little one hasn't been harmed. Maybe we can find out the gender today," Piper rambled as they made their way to her car.
"Well, the Seer seemed pretty sure I was going to be having a boy."
"Yeah but in all these centuries we haven't seen one boy born into our line. I don't know why now should be any different."
"Maybe because he was conceived under the influence of dark magic and his parents were the reigning sovereigns of the Underworld," Phoebe offered sarcastically. "I just hope the Halliwell magic can undo whatever the Seer and her tonics did to the poor tyke. No matter what evil has taken over my husband, I can't believe he let that bitch feed me those tonics under the guise of her being a midwife."
"Well what do you expect, Pheebs? He's the Source of all evil, after all."
"A boy? Are you sure," Grams asked. "Maybe that quack made a mistake," she said waving a hand. "These doctors and all their technology and still you would be surprised at the mistakes they manage to make."
"Well," Paige said grabbing the sonogram off the alter table, "if you look right here you can see the little guy's equipment."
Grams squinted trying to make it out. "Well, it's hardly impressive let alone visible."
"Grams! That is my son you're talking about. Can you please be kind?"
"I'm just surprised and all. I mean three hundred years and not a single boy. I think we need to prepare for the worse possible scenarios. Start performing more rituals."
Piper stood behind Phoebe. "I think we should prepare for the possibility of more boys in the future, Grams. I mean we've only had girls but that was also while we were waiting for the Charmed prophecy to be fulfilled. Now that it has we don't know what to expect."
"Still," Grams said. "We'll have to make sure we are completely prepared for his arrival and for what it means. The child of a Charmed one will be extremely powerful and coveted, especially one who shares its heritage with the Source of all evil."
"How do we do that," Paige asked.
"By teaching you girls more about magic, for one thing," she told her granddaughters.
"I think we pretty much got it on that front," Phoebe rebutted.
"There's much more magic out there than just the defensive potions and spell casting you've learned," Grams replied. "Gypsy magic, other pagan magic from the British isles and other eastern European countries, hoodoo and voodoo and the old religion of the earliest centuries. There is a lot to teach you girls; to make up for not learning as children. And of course, Piper must be trained to take on the role of high priestess."
"Wow. High priestess? But that's what we have you for," Piper said.
"And that's fine for now, but eventually you will need the strength of a high priestess in the physical realm. Now that you are the eldest," Grams said sadly, "the role will fall to you." Grams stepped back into the circle of candles. "Blessed be."
"Blessed be," the sisters echoed.
