Disclaimer: I don't own charmed
Chapter 2: A New Arrival
"ah how cute" Paige cooed
"I guess someone was a little tired" Leo commented.
"we all need a nap now and then" Kyle added.
The three of them laughed, staring at Cole who had managed to fall asleep despite being sat upright at the dining room table.
"Cole" Phoebe hissed, prodding him in the side "wake up you're dribbling!"
"huh" Cole awoke with a start
"You fell asleep again" She told him.
"well, honey that's because Paloma seems to have inherited her mother's lung capacity"
"Cole, she's only 3 weeks old, how can she be expected to sleep through the night already?"
"Ben was a good little sleeper"
"Actually" Kyle added "Rosie learnt to sleep through quite quickly too"
"Not helping" Paige told him.
"seeing as you are so well rested" Phoebe told him " You won't mind looking through some of these wedding catalogues with me this afternoon"
"It's a bit early for all that isn't it? I thought we agreed to wait until the baby was 6 months old…"
"It's never too early to start planning"
"Face it dude – you're not getting out of this one"kyle nudged him.
Cole grimaced. "Fine, but only on the condition that we take the stupid things to the park. What do you say Ben, want to go have a kick about with your old dad?"
"Yes" he replied "But I was thinking.."
"what?" Phoebe grew concerned at the pensive look on her son's face
"Can we stop at the shop on the way and take the baby back?" he asked
"huh?"
"swap her for a boy? Boys are much nicer than girls……" He stated.
His parents were saved the need to answer by Poppy rushing into the room
"I'm off, I'll be back at 5" she told them
"where are you going?" Kyle asked
"I told you this morning – to the cinema"
"correction" Paige interrupted "You asked us this morning , and I believe the jury is still out over whether you were allowed to go or not, given last week's little charade"
"mum"
"Let her go" Kyle said, deciding that it would be much better than watching her sulk all afternoon.
"fine" Paige conceded
"Great, I'll see you later" she made a beeline for the door
"wait a minute, who's this friend you're going with? Julia? Katie? Claire?.."
"Daz" came the barely heared reply over the sound of the front door slamming.
"Daz?" Kyle and Paige chorused in unison exchanging looks of concern.
………………
Out in the Kitchen Piper and Chris were doing the dishes, enjoying each others company, catching up on each others news for the week.
"so, have you decided what you're going to buy Jenny for your two year anniversary" she asked her son.
"I don't know" Chris replied "something special"
"Your father used to buy me a bunch of Roses back in the early days"
"what does he get you now?"
Piper thought for a moment, "this year he got me a matching tea towel, oven mitt and ironing board cover"
"How romantic" Chris rolled his eyes.
"it's my own fault, I mentioned that I liked them.."
"but still..I'm going to get Jen something much nicer than that"
"As long as you're not thinking of buying any form of Jewellery, say, a ring.?."
"gosh mum you're just so subtle, it was really hard for me to guess what you were inferring….Relax ok"
"but you and Bianca…"
"That was different. I have no plans to get engaged this time around, I'm enjoying having some fun, being a student, no saving the world from evil responsibility. Jen and I are serious but not that serious"
"good" she patted him on the back. "I'm proud of you"
"Hey" Leo stuck his head into the room "I'm going to drop the boys off at your dads and then go and catch-up with one of my charges"
"By 'catch-up' I assume you mean 'play a round of golf'?" Piper teased , throwing him her car keys
"Can you drop me off at Jenny's on the way?" Chris asked
"sure" They both headed out, calling their goodbyes.
Wow, Piper thought, 9 down and 3 to go before she could have the house to herself for a few hours. She busied herself putting away the remaining dishes, as Phoebe and Cole got ready to leave.
"Ready" Phoebe called from the hall way.
"Okay" Cole appeared, a baby sling on his front
"You know, pink really suits you" she told him
"ha ha"
The phone rang, Phoebe leaned over to answer it, and Cole groaned, if this was one of her friends, they would never leave.
"you want to speak to who sorry?" Phoebe asked the receiver.
"yes, Leo Wyatt does live here, but he's not home at the moment"
"Okay then.bye"
She turned, "see, just someone after Leo, that's all…BYE" she hollered toward the kitchen.
"wait up" Paige was descending the stairs, Kyle running behind her carrying Rosie,"we're coming with you"
Cole rolled his eyes. "everyone out" he summoned, pushing them out the door.
…………..
2 hours later and Piper was finally putting her feet up. Relishing in having the house to herself she had given everywhere a good tidy, baked some cookies, and was now looking forward to sitting down with a mug of coffee and indulging in some brainless tv watching. Scanning the TV Guide she saw that Danielle Steel's 'A Perfect Stanger' was on Hallmark. Just what I need she thought.
No sooner had she settled back and turned on the TV, than there was a knock on the door. Dragging herself to her feet, she swung the door open to reveal a smartly dressed woman on the door step.
"Hello" the stranger began "I'm sorry to bother you like this"
Piper vaguely recognised her as one of the new people who had moved in across the street.
"It's just.." The woman continued, however before she could get any further, Piper's ears picked up the sound of an ominous thud coming from the front room.
"I'm sorry" she told the woman "now isn't a good time" she began shutting the door
"It's okay" the woman called "I'll come back later"
"Yes, yes, please do" Piper replied distractedly, hoping that the Power of One, would be sufficient to deal with whichever demon that had just called by unannounced.
Racing to the previously empty room, she found a small child stood nervously by the sofa.
It was a girl, about 4 years old in Pipers opinion, with big brown eyes and long dark hair pulled soberly into two plats. She had an air of familiarity about her, but Piper couldn't quite place where she might have seen her before.
"Hello" Piper said softly, as she approached the child, "where did you come from?"
"I don't know" the child's large soulful eyes filled with tears, " I, I, I w was at home and then s s suddenly I was here. W w where am I?" She cried.
"Hey don't cry" Piper's heart went out to the child, and immediately gathered her in her arms "It's okay"
She looked down at the girl who was sobbing gently in her arms. She was dressed in a black pinafore dress over a white t-shirt, with little white ankle socks and black ballet pumps. Fashionistas would call it a 'timeless classic'. This girl could be from anywhere, the past, the present, the future, hell she could have wondered in from next door for all she knew!
The tears were subsiding gradually, and Piper's motherly instincts kicked in, "My name is Piper. Would you like a cookie?" she asked gently.
The girl nodded.
Piper quickly grabbed a cookie from the jar in the kitchen and hurriedly returned to the font room. Handing the sweet biscuit over to the girl, she noticed an envelope held tightly in her tiny fist.
"what's that?" She asked.
The child appeared to have forgotten that she had it in her possession. She handed it over to Piper. "Laura gave it to me to look after , she said it was very important"
Piper took the rumpled paper. Turning the envelope over she found that the blue ink had run and blurred, making it impossible to read to whom it was addressed. Seeing as how this child had ended up in her house, she thought she had enough right as anyone to read the letter within, so sitting down next to the child, Piper removed opened the envelope, removed the letter, and began to read…
XXX
TBC