AN: I apologize that the line breaks in the last chapter got removed. Now all the sections run together and even I find it confusing. If I could fix it, I would, but the document has long since expired and the original is on my home computer which is a good 45 minutes away. So with that, and the fact that I haven't updated anything since August, and this since March, I finally present you with more. I'm so sorry for the delay. Enjoy!

She didn't remember a lot about being four, but she did remember her 4th birthday. The mother she had barely known was dead and the father she knew even less about had left. Her sisters had actually known their parents and it was back then that she started to resent them for it.

Grams had taken her and her sisters to the beach to celebrate. It was the same beach that Grams had brought them to after their mother's funeral, but back then, Phoebe didn't realize it. She was just happy to spend the day playing in the sand.

She remembered an eight-year-old Prue pouting because she didn't want to be there. She remembered a six-year-old Piper trying to pout like her big sister, but instead ending up playing just like her little sister. But the thing that she remembered most about this birthday was the emptiness she had felt. Despite having Grams and her sisters, she had felt alone. And every birthday after that, the feeling got worse; another year passing without her parents around.

She had eventually learned to cope with it, but with Wyatt's 4th birthday around the corner and his parents gone as well, she feared the empty feeling would return for both of them. And this time, she didn't even have Grams or her sisters. Phoebe was prepared for a breakdown.

(Insert line break here.)

"Cole, can you get that? I'm helping Chris!" Phoebe called, referring to the doorbell, from upstairs where she was attempting to get the stubborn two-year-old into a shirt. "Come on little man. Don't you want to look nice for your big brother's birthday party?"

"No." It was his new favorite word. Chris was slow at starting to talk, like his brother had been, but now that he was finally opening up, he was more defiant than ever.

"But it's red. That's your favorite color isn't it?"

"No."

"Since when?"

"No."

"Christopher, you are not helping." Ever since he had lost his parents, he hadn't been the happy baby boy she remembered him to be. Instead, he found it hilarious to try her patience whenever possible, especially when they were running late like today for instance. Boy, he was going to be a fun teenager… "People are already starting to get here. Please, put the shirt on for me?"

"No." Chris took the shirt out of her hands and through it across the room.

"Need some help?"

"Dad! I would love some help," Phoebe smiled at her father.

"When no one answered the door, I just let myself in. I figured the toddlers had you other wise occupied."

"Cole wasn't downstairs?"

"Didn't see him."

"What about Wyatt?"

"I assumed he was up here."

Phoebe stared at him blankly for a moment, until a realization dawned on her. "Oh no, he did not."

"Everything, okay?"

"It will be. Can you get Chris to put a shirt on?"

Victor noted the red shirt on the floor. "Were you trying to get him to wear that?"

"Yes, and he won't do it."

"Phoebe, he was wearing that shirt the night he learned that Piper wasn't coming back."

"He was?"

Victor nodded and Phoebe ran a hand over her face. "That explains it. Good memory. Then just…let him pick something out. I have to go find Wyatt and Cole."

"You know where they are?"

"Unfortunately. If people start coming for the party, let them in will you?"

"You're leaving?"

"If Cole and Wyatt don't respond to my calls, then yes, I am. I should have them all back by the time the party starts though, don't worry."

"Honey, I'm always worried."

"Dad," Phoebe rolled her eyes and went to kiss him on the cheek. "Just dress your grandson."

Phoebe headed up to the attic and stopped in the doorway. Her dad's mention of Piper had brought back a wave of nostalgia. Today was her son's fourth birthday and neither she nor her husband was here to see it. She shook off the memories and cracked open the yellowing book. The page with the Wendigo stared back at her. That seemed like a million years ago. Back then she had three sisters, even though she didn't know that one of them existed. Now she had none.

Phoebe continued flipping as the bitter memories of each vanquished demon filled her. She stopped when Beltazar's picture caught her eye. Cole. That's why she was up here. She had to focus. She had to go find him and yell at him for doing exactly what she had told him not to do.

She found the spell and read it aloud, instantly feeling herself being transported. Life would be so much easier if she could orb or shimmer. But then again, when had her life ever been easy? The smells of the beach instantly greeted her. Her beach. The beach of death. Before her, Cole sat with Wyatt in the sand watching him build a sand castle.

"I specifically told you not to come here."

"Phoebe!" Cole exclaimed looking up.

"What were you thinking bringing him here? His friends will be at the house any minute now!"

"We were going to make it back in time. Besides, he really wanted to come here."

Phoebe just scoffed and looked away as tears started to fill her eyes. She didn't need to be here, especially not today.

"What is your problem?" Cole asked, coming up next to her.

"Grams took us to this beach when my mom died. And she took us here on my fourth birthday. Excuse me for not wanting to relive my past right now."

"I – I'm sorry. I didn't know –"

"Yes you did. Cole look, I know you want to be a good uncle to him, a good father to him, but he already has a dad who loves him very much. Leo isn't dead, he's just frozen. I just can't save him because my sisters aren't here to help me defeat…"

Cole grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her gaze to meet his. "I know this is hard for you, but you have to understand that we're his parents now. Leo's not coming back and neither is Piper. Do we have to adopt them for you to get that?"

"We should go. I'd hate for Wyatt to miss his own birthday party."

(Insert line break here.)

Phoebe found herself in the attic again, this time with no particular purpose. The party guests had all departed and Victor was out cold with the boys. Henry and Cole were talking in the kitchen and she had used the opportunity to sneak upstairs. Phoebe flipped to the "To Call a Lost Witch" spell. She remembered Piper trying every spell in the book to try and bring back Prue. She remembered that none of them worked. But none of that was going to stop her from trying now.

She threw open the trunk in the corner where their ritual items were kept. The rosemary, cypress, and yarrow root were still in there from the last time someone had used this spell. She ground them together while looking for an athame.

"Powers of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies. Come to us who call you near. Come to us and settle here." Phoebe dragged the blade of the athame across her palm, barely noticing the stinging pain as her blood mixed in with the other ingredients. "Blood to blood, I summon thee. Blood to blood, return to me."

The last time she had tried this, right after her sisters died, Grams had appeared before she was even able to cast a spell. And this time, not even she materialized. Phoebe let out a frustrated groan.

"Look, I get that you don't want to send me my sisters right now, even though I think it's time I be allowed to see Prue, but could you at least send me my mother?"

Seconds later, a glitter of white lights appeared in the center of the room. Patty Halliwell stood before her.

"Hi, Mom," Phoebe sighed.

"Phoebe, I –"

She was cut off as her daughter moved to hug her surprisingly corporeal body.

"Oh my sweet girl," Patty breathed into her daughter's hair. "I can only imagine how hard all of this is on you."

"I can't do this anymore, Mom. It's all too much."

"You just have to stay strong…"

"How? How can I stay strong when I've lost my mother, my grandmother, and all three of my sisters?"

"You have to stay strong because your nephews need you to be. You're all they have left too. And you know better than anyone what it's like to lose your parents at that age."

"It's a living hell."

Patty pulled away from Phoebe to look at her.

"When was the last time you got any sleep?"

Phoebe laughed bitterly. "The night before my sisters died."

"Phoebe, it's been months –"

"How are they?"

Patty sighed and led her over to the small couch in the attic. "Paige is doing surprisingly well. She misses you and Henry dearly, but she seems to have come to terms with it. My guess is that it's because since she's a full-time whitelighter now, she's been able to distract herself from the fact that she's really dead."

"And Piper?"

Patty shook her head. "She's done nothing but yell at us to get her back here. She's worse than Prue was when she died."

"Prue wasn't leaving behind two kids."

Cole appeared in the doorway of the attic. "I thought I'd find you up here. Oh, hello Patty."

Patty smiled. "Cole."

"Wyatt's asking for you."

"He is?"

Cole nodded.

"Go," Patty told her.

"But, Mom –"

"Piper thinks you're doing a great job with them. Don't let her down now." And with that she dematerialized and left.

Phoebe buried her head in her hands. Cole placed a hand on her back.

"It'll get easier," Cole whispered.

"When?"

"Now there's the million dollar question."

Phoebe laughed and allowed him to help her up. "Let's go see what Wyatt wants."

Once downstairs, Phoebe knelt in front of her nephew who was sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs in the living room.

"You wanted to see me, bud?"

"Your mommy died when you were three, right?"

Phoebe nodded.

"How did you hold it?"

"Hold it? Oh you mean handle it?"

Wyatt nodded.

"Well, at the time, I didn't fully understand what had happened. My sisters and I didn't know we were witches or have our powers so we weren't quite as smart as you are. I just knew that she was gone. I cried… a lot. Then my dad left and that made things even worse."

"But Grandpa's right here," Wyatt said, gesturing to the sleeping Victor next to him.

"He came back. But he's only been back for about seven years now."

"Does this mean, my daddy will come back?"

"Maybe."

"Phoebe, you can't tell him that," Cole interjected.

"But he might! Maybe by the time Wyatt and his brother and cousins are the ones fighting, they'll defeat whoever it is that's keeping Leo from us. Maybe he'll get Leo back when he's 25. We just don't know."

"Exactly. We don't know, so we shouldn't be promising him anything."

"You should have a little bit more faith, Cole. After all, you were the last person I ever thought I'd be seeing in my living room again. Time is a funny thing. Trust the girl who can see the future: things can change in the blink of an eye."

AN: Even after all of this time, reviews are still the key to my heart. :)