Here's the first chapter!
The Manor
It was a quiet Saturday morning at the Halliwell Manor. Leo was in the sunroom playing with Wyatt and Chris, Piper was upstairs resting and Prue and Charlotte were out with charges.
Leo grimaced as he looked around the sunroom, where toys of every kind laid on the floor. Stuffed animals, plastic figurines, toy cars, books, you name it, it was there. Piper's gonna freak when she comes downstairs, he thought to himself. The last thing Leo wanted to do at the moment was upset his wife. Piper was 9 and a half months pregnant now, 2 weeks overdue, and was becoming impatient and emotional. No matter how much her doctor, Leo, her sisters or anyone else tried to convince her otherwise, Piper was concerned that something was wrong with the baby, or that she wasn't doing something right.
Leo's thoughts were interupted by the sound of orbs that filled the room. He looked up and saw white lights swirl in front of him, and eventually take the form of his mother, Charlotte Wyatt.
The woman smiled at Leo, "Morning" -Charlotte gasped as she looked around the room- "Oh my goodness! What happened here? Piper's gonna-"
"Freak?" Leo finished with a grin, "yeah I know, but try getting a 4 and a half year old and a 3 year old to clean up a room full of toys."
"Leo," she gave her son a look. "Piper doesn't need to be any more stressed out than she already is at the moment, so clean up the mess before she sees it."
"I feel like I'm 5 years old again," he laughed. "Being told by my mother to clean up toys."
"And you still don't listen to me," she rolled her eyes. "Some things never change."
"Alright, we'll clean up," Leo gave in as he stood up off the ground. He went over to Chris and playfully picked him up from behind and began tickling him.
"Daddyyyyy!" Chris squealed, trying to break free of his father's arms.
Leo stopped tickling his son and grinned, "Are you gonna help clean up?"
The little boy frowned, "Do I have to?" he whined.
"Yyyyyeeeeesssss," Leo mimicked Chris's tone. He then turned to Wyatt who was playing with two toy cars on the floor, "And you too, Mister. Or you will face the torture of the tickle monster."
Wyatt's eyes widened in terror. He dropped the cars, quickly stood up and replied, "I'll clean up."
"Thanks guys," Leo said, putting Chris back down. "Normally, I would let you guys get away with this type of mess but I don't really want to upset Mommy right now. And Grandma's on my back too."
Charlotte hit her son playfully, "Well if I wasn't on your back, this house would be a pig sty by now."
"True," Leo nodded. "Piper's usually the one that nags about cleaning, but since she's kind of out of it lately, I'm glad you've stepped in."
Charlotte raised one eyebrow and was about to reply when Piper entered the room still in her pajamas, which was unusual for her, considering it was 9:30am.
When Leo saw that Piper looked like she had been crying he became concerned and came over to her, "You okay honey?"
Piper forced a smile and replied, "Yeah, I just had another emotional moment." -she looked around the room- "What happened in here?" Piper asked calmly, which was also unusual considering she was normally a neat freak and any sort of mess stressed her out.
"This?" Leo asked. "This-this will be cleaned up very soon."
Wyatt looked up and added, "Daddy said the tickle monster is gonna come and get us if we don't help him clean up."
Piper looked over at her husband, "Oh really? Well don't worry guys, I'll protect you from the tickle monster. There's no way he's laying a hand on my babies."
"Does that mean we don't has to clean up Mommy?" Chris asked happily.
"No, you still have to clean up, or I might have to ask the tickle monster to get you," she replied with a smile.
"No!" Chris giggled.
"Well please start cleaning up then sweetie," Piper told her son calmly.
"Okay Mommy," he replied, then started putting his toys into the toy box with Wyatt.
"How are you feeling Piper?" Charlotte asked.
"I'm okay," she answered with a small smile. "I just feel like I'm gonna be pregnant forever."
"Oh that's impossible, you can't be pregnant forever," Leo replied.
"Metaphorically speaking," Piper glared at him.
The three adults suddenly heard the front door open. Piper looked over at Leo, who shrugged, then they both left the sunroom and went into the parlor, leaving Charlotte to supervise the boys cleaning up.
As Piper and Leo entered the parlor, they were almost run down by Phoebe.
"Hey," Piper greeted her sister.
"Oh my God!" Phoebe exclaimed sarcastically. She then turned to Leo, "Is that who I think it is? The hermit lady, formally known as my sister, Piper Halliwell, has resurfaced?"
Leo laughed, "I believe she has. You'd better call the newspaper Phoebe, the press are gonna have a field day."
"Shut up, both of you," Piper glared at her husband and sister.
"Well it's true, you've been moping around for the last week or so," Phoebe replied.
"That's cos I thought I was going to have a baby 2 weeks ago, and it didn't happen," Piper explained. "I'm still pregnant, with no signs of going into labor at any time soon."
"But you know sweetie, the doctor could have gotten some dates wrong or something," Phoebe tried to assure her. "I mean it's almost impossible to calculate a due date just from the possible conception date. I mean you have to consider all of the factors, like..." she continued rambling.
"Have you been reading those pregnancy and childbirth books again?" Leo interupted.
"I'm pregnant, of course I am," she exclaimed. "Those books are so interesting. You know, during pregnancy, a woman's body is stretched so much that it will never be the same as it was before the pregnancy."
"Phoebe," Piper started, placing her hands on her very large stomach, "I present to you, exhibit A. Believe me, I am very well aware of that issue."
"Oh, right," Phoebe chuckled. "I forgot."
"Hi Phoebe," Charlotte greeted her as she entered the parlor.
"Hi Charlotte," she replied. "Did you notice that Piper is up and about?"
"You know what Pheebs, I'm surprised that you noticed I was 'up and about'," Piper said to her little sister. "You forgot that I was even pregnant."
"You forgot?" Charlotte asked.
"Well I didn't forget, you know," she explained. "It just slipped my mind...somehow."
"So, are you up to going out?" Leo turned to Piper. "You know, just to the park or something. Just to get the boys out for a few hours."
"Uh sure, as long as the sunroom is clean," she replied. "Just give me a half an hour to have a shower and get changed."
Leo nodded as Piper went and slowly made her way up the stairs.
Charlotte and Leo looked at each other, then Charlotte called out, "Piper, honey do you want me to orb you upstairs?"
Piper turned around and gave her a grateful smile, "Could you? Or it will probably take me 2 hours to get ready."
"Of course," she smiled, walking over to Piper, and orbing her upstairs.
The Manor - 1/2 hour later
Piper, Leo and the boys had left for the park and Charlotte had gone away to see a charge, so Phoebe and Prue were left at the Manor. They decided to have some sister-time, and were sitting in the living room talking.
"So how are you Pheebs?" Prue asked. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages."
"Well, I've been really busy planning for the baby, and fighting demons, and looking for a new house," Phoebe explained, "and many many other things."
"I still don't believe my baby sister is having her own baby," Prue grinned. "It seems like yesterday when you stole those shoes from a store and the police brought you home."
"I've grown up a lot since then Prue," she replied.
"I know you have," Prue agreed. "You got a job, you got married...3 times."
Phoebe rolled her eyes, "Well for what it's worth, I was under a spell the second time."
"Right..."
"I was!" she exclaimed, playfully hitting Prue on the arm. "Billie cast a spell on me and Dex!"
"Who's Billy?" Prue asked, teasingly. "An ex-boyfriend?"
"No!" Phoebe laughed. "Billie's a girl!"
"Oh..oops."
"Billie was Paige's charge," Phoebe explained to her older sister. "She helped us with demons and we taught her more about witchcraft and helped her find her sister. That's probably where we went wrong."
"How do you mean?" Prue asked.
"We ended up fighting Billie and her sister Christie in a big battle, in which Paige and I were killed," she continued. "Then Piper and Leo had to go back in time and stop us from dying."
"So what happened to Billie and Christie?"
"Billie killed Christie, out of guilt for going against us I think," Phoebe explained. "She helped us return everything to normal, then she left and we haven't seen her since."
"I wouldn't want to see her again if I were you," Prue replied. "She killed you and Paige."
"Yeah, but I think that she wanted her sister back so badly, she was willing to turn evil," Phoebe defended her former friend.
"That's no excuse-" Prue started, but was cut off when two demons, one male one female, suddenly blinked into the room. "Phoebe demon!" Prue exclaimed.
Phoebe and Prue quickly got up, and the two sisters ran behind the lounge as the demons started firing energy balls at them.
"Where is the witch!" the male demon yelled.
"We are the witches dumb ass!" Prue yelled back, using her telekinesis to throw both of the demons into the wall behind them, which happened to be where the grandfather clock stood. The male demon went crashing into the clock, smashing it to pieces, while the female demon crashed into the wall, leaving a deep hole.
Both demons seemed relatively unharmed as they stood up. The female demon turned to the male demon, "She's not here Markin, we'll come back later."
The male demon nodded and they both blinked out.
Prue looked over at Phoebe in disbelief, "What the hell was that?"
The Park
Piper and Leo had made it to the park with Wyatt and Chris. As soon as they arrived, the boys ran off to the play equipment and started playing. Piper and Leo slowly walked hand-in-hand along the footpath beside the play equipment, keeping a close eye on their sons.
Piper smiled as she watched her sons playing. At the moment, Chris was carefully sitting down at the top of the slide, deciding whether he was brave enough to go down, and Wyatt was inpatiently waiting for his brother to go down so he could have a go.
As the two boys continued fighting Leo said to Piper, "Just think, very soon we're gonna have another one of those running around, fighting with it's brothers, making more noise, making a mess..."
"Leo, that's our baby you're talking about there," Piper replied, then looked down at her stomach, "Don't listen to Daddy baby, when you come out you can make as much noise and mess as you want."
"I was kidding," Leo smiled. "I don't really mind the fighting and the noise and the mess, it's all apart of having kids."
"Well that's good, cos there's still a lot more fighting, noise and mess to come," Piper grinned. Suddenly, she winced and grabbed her stomach.
"Honey? Are you okay?" Leo asked his wife as he led her to a nearby park bench.
As she sat down, Piper replied, "Yeah, I think it's just stomach cramps."
"You're two weeks over due and you think it's stomach cramps?"
"It doesn't feel like contractions Leo," she explained in annoyance, "I should know."
"Okay, okay," he replied. "Are you sure? Cos if you're not we can go to the hospital and-"
"Leo, I'm fine," Piper said bluntly. "Stop worrying. I just want to enjoy a day at the park with my sons and my husband, okay?"
"Piper, just because you haven't gone into labour yet, doesn't mean it's never going to happen."
"Well, obviously," she replied sarcastically, instantly feeling bad for speaking to Leo like that. She sighed and said to him calmly, "Sweetie trust me, when I go into labour you'll know about it."
"You're stubborn, you know that?" Leo grinned as he put his arm around Piper.
"Oh, that's why you love me," Piper smiled, leaning in to kiss him.
"I do love you," Leo agreed, giving his wife a gentle kiss.
"I love you too," Piper leaned in to kiss her husband again when she heard a cough.
The couple looked up to find Prue standing in front of them, "You guys really need to get a room."
"Prue? What are you doing here?" Piper asked, knowing that there would be only one reason for her sister to come and find her. "Did something..." -she lowered her voice-"demonic happen?"
"Yeah," Prue replied. "It was really weird actually, these two demons just blinked into the Manor and started throwing fireballs at me and Phoebe."
"And that's weird, how?" Piper asked with a sigh.
"Well then, one of them asked us where "the witch" was," she continued. "So either it was a really dumb demon that didn't know we were witches, or they're after you or Paige."
"Why would they just be after me or Paige?" Piper asked.
"Maybe they're trying to destroy the Power of Three by killing one of us," Prue suggested.
"But there are four or us now," she argued. "They would have to kill two of us to destroy the Power of Three."
"They could be after our baby, or Paige and Henry's baby," Leo suggested. "Maybe it's best for you guys to go to Magic School, just to be safe."
"No!" Piper protested. "If there's a demon after our baby I'm not gonna go hide, we've got to vanquish them!"
"Piper keep your voice down," Prue whispered. "Why don't you guys come home and we'll try to figure this out okay?"
"Okay," Leo replied, standing up from the park bench, then helping Piper up. "We'll get the boys and drive home okay Prue?"
She nodded, "Just be quick, the demons could be back any minute."
Review everyone!
