Chapter 3 - Ashlee Bayn
Billie came in through the back door quietly it was still early and she didn't want to wake anyone, she had been out all night with a few friends that were visiting her as they went to other Colleges across the state. All she wanted now was to have some food, have a shower and fall into bed for a few hours sleep before everyone got here; thank god it's the weekend she thought. As she entered the kitchen she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a cat sitting on the counter looking at her, "when did Piper get a cat?" she asked aloud, the cat made a snorting sound as if she understood what Billie was saying "weird" she grumbled to herself before making her way over to the cereal cupboard, she poured herself a bowl of cereal to eat for breakfast. The cat turned its attention to the window, Billie was still paying the cat some attention just in case it wasn't a cat, then she sat at the counter and started to eat. The cat looked at Billie again intent on paying the college student some attention, and it was freaking Billie out slightly. Billie looked at the cat properly and noticed it had Heterochromia, its left eye was green and its right eye was blue. The cat approached the blonde cautiously so Billie sat still so she didn't scare it, it started to sniff her, the cat seemed to be studying her and it was unnerving Billie slightly. Being a little freaked out Billie picked the cat up, "Okay why don't you go outside for awhile, do cat things or something" the cat made a meow of protest and tried to free itself from Billie's grip but it was too late the blonde had placed the cat outside and closed the back door, "there no more freaky knowing cat." Billie went back to her cereal and ate in peaceful silence.
Leo and Piper came into the kitchen a while later with the boys, as Leo got them situated Piper started to make breakfast, she looked around the kitchen but didn't see Ashlee so she went back into the living room to see if she was still asleep but her spot was empty and cold which meant she had been awake for awhile, "great shape-shifter on the loose" she made her way back into the kitchen. She had told Leo about the night she and Paige had when they woke up, he seemed to be confused as well as why she couldn't change back. She looked underneath the kitchen table but she couldn't see her there either.
Billie had just finished washing her bowl and spoon when she noticed Piper looking under the table, "um Piper what are you doing?" Piper straightened out and looked at her.
"I'm looking for Ashlee I can't find her anywhere she was in the living room last night but she's not there now" she looked annoyed by that but moved to finish making the boys breakfast. Leo was sat at the table looking only slightly amused by his wife looking for a cat, when all she had to do was call her because she was really a human and would respond to her name.
Billie looked at Piper like she had lost a few marbles "who is Ashlee?" Billie went and sat beside Wyatt at the table and ruffled his hair when he smiled at her.
"She's a cat at the moment and I want to see what she wants for breakfast" Piper placed the boy's breakfast in front of them and they began to eat without being told to. Leo got up to help cook breakfast because with her mind preoccupied Piper might forget, Piper smiled and sat down at the table so he could do it.
The blonde looked at Piper gauging if she was still sane because even she knew cats couldn't talk and asking what they wanted for breakfast was rather stupid as they couldn't respond, "is the cat a whitey colour" Piper focused her attention on Billie and nodded, "oh I put her out for awhile" Piper's eyes widened in alarm and rushed to open the back door.
Piper's voice could be heard in the backyard "Ashlee you get here right now...No now...get out of that damned tree...people will see you like that!" she sounded alarmed whilst Billie turned to look at Leo for help.
Leo laughed slightly, "Billie, Ashlee is a shape-shifter not a real cat so you effectively put a human out in the backyard" at seeing Billie blush the Whitelighter laughed louder and his sons joined in but didn't know what they were laughing out. Wyatt may have known what was going on because he was slightly more attentive to his surroundings.
Billie seemed to think about it and now it made sense that the cat had known what she was on about, Piper walked back in grumbling about stubborn teenagers and sat back at the table. Billie looked towards the back door and saw a large female lion walk through the back door, "okay she was so not that big when I put her outside" Ashlee looked at her and narrowed her eyes; she huffed and went over to Leo.
Leo turned his attention to the witch sat by his feet, "Hello Ashlee I'm Leo, Piper's husband" he put his hand down and Ashlee placed her paw in his hand effectively giving him a hand shake "well at least you have manners" she nodded at him and removed her paw but remained sat next to him "want breakfast?" she nodded at him. She had woken up hungry an hour ago and was waiting when Billie came in but she didn't mind being put outside after she realised she could climb the tree in the backyard as a lion, "bacon okay?" Ashlee nodded and Leo stroked her head, she nudged his leg in thanks then made her way over to the table where two small boys were watching her but they didn't seem afraid.
Piper decided to introduce her sons to Ashlee seeing as they seemed interested in her, "Ashlee this is Chris" she pointed to the highchair next to her "and that is Wyatt, and the one who put you outside earlier was Billie...guys this is Ashlee Bayn, Paige's new charge the funny tingling sensation she's had for the past few weeks." Ashlee put her front paws up on the table to allow Wyatt and Chris to stroke her.
"Piper!" a new voice said from the hallway. Ashlee turned her head in that direction wanting to know if it was a threat or not.
Piper smiled at Ashlee's defensiveness, "calm down Ashlee it's just my sister Phoebe" Ashlee put her front paws back on the floor and led down by the table still watching the entrance to the kitchen. Billie looked at Piper who just shrugged at her; "in the Kitchen Pheebs" she called back to her sister.
Phoebe made her way through the manor to the kitchen and got the shock of her life at seeing a large lion led on the floor watching her, "guys what is that!" she squealed and made her way towards Piper. Billie laughed at her reaction and Leo joined in.
Piper smiled but was quick to calm her sister down "calm down Phoebe it's just Ashlee, she's Paige's charge that we rescued last night" Ashlee looked up and narrowed her eyes at Piper "okay fine we went to rescue her but she ended up rescuing us by shape-shifting" Ashlee nodded and put her head down. Phoebe sat next to Piper effectively calmed, "problem is she can't change back so were going to look through the book later to see if we can help, you in?"
Phoebe nodded "sure I don't have anything to do today and if it's helping a witch out then that's fine with me" Leo came over and placed a plate of bacon on the floor for Ashlee and then went back to cooking as Ashlee quickly devoured the bacon, they giggled at that "Hungry Ashlee?" the middle sister asked playfully, which was answered by a nod. Ashlee got up and sat beside her, she nudged the Empath's hand, and Phoebe didn't know what to do so she looked at Piper.
"She wants you to stroke her Pheebs," Piper replied. Leo came over and handed out plates of breakfast and they quickly dug in.
Paige orbed into the manor, it was a little after noon but she assumed that they would probably be having lunch. Ashlee had sensed Paige's arrival, she couldn't' explain it but she just knew that her whitelighter had arrived. Piper was sat with Ashlee and Phoebe out in the conservatory, she noticed that the witch's attention was no longer on Phoebe who was telling them about her new book, Phoebe must have noticed to because she had stopped in the middle of a sentence. Ashlee got up and walked into the hallway and at seeing Paige she rushed over to her and gave her a soft nudge in welcoming. Paige smiled down at her charge, and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "hello to you too Ashlee."
Piper looked over at Phoebe who shook her head with a smile, "she's excited to see someone so I guess it's Paige," empathy came in handy when trying to understand what the lion was doing and she didn't seem to mind the middle sister reading her emotions as she must have sensed it would be handy for them, "Paige were in the conservatory" Phoebe called to her younger sister and she just hoped that Ashlee hadn't tackled Paige to the floor with her excitement.
Paige was still rubbing the bridge of Ashlee's nose when she heard Phoebe calling to her; again she didn't want to stop stroking the soft fur. Ashlee loved being petted even if it was supposed to be very demeaning to her human side; she didn't care about that though. Paige stopped stroking Ashlee and started to make her way towards her sisters, she noticed that she wasn't being followed but didn't think too much into it seeing as Piper didn't seem to mind her being around the house. Paige sat next to Piper, "so what are we going to do about her, she seems content to stay like that."
Phoebe nodded at Paige's conclusion about Ashlee, "she is content in being like that but threes also a longing in the back of her mind so I guess she misses being a human too."
As Phoebe and Paige carried on talking Piper's mind wondered off to Ashlee's action over the past couple of hours, the large cat seemed to be happy the way she was. After breakfast she played with the boys for her so she could do some work and an hour later she found them crashed on the carpet in the front room, Ashlee was just led there seeming happy to be the boys pillow. When they were taken to magical school with Leo, she followed Phoebe around and listened to her as she spoke and seemed pleased she was being acknowledged, then when Piper asked her sister for help the teen came along to help too. "Let's go to the attic and figure out how to turn her back" lion Ashlee was too confusing for her to figure out. The sisters nodded and started their way into the hallway but didn't see Ashlee anywhere, "where is she? That's the second time today she's vanished" before they could answer they heard a bang upstairs and an unhappy Billie grumbling.
Ashlee had walked upstairs after Paige had left because she hadn't explored up there yet. She had looked in every room that she could and the last door she came to was Billie's room, the Blonde was still asleep but Ashlee wasn't pleased with that, the animal in her demanding she wake up and pay her attention. The teenager made her way over to Billie and nudged her but she didn't get a response, far from deterred she leapt onto the bed and nudged her again and still she got nothing, there was only one option left in her mind and that was to push Billie off of the bed. Billie didn't like that because as she hit the floor she started grumbling and when she sat up she saw the cause of her fall, "what are you doing in here?" Billie sat with her back against the wall, she noticed that Ashlee seemed pleased with that as the big cat came over to her and led down with her head on the blondes lap, "you wanted attention is that all?" Ashlee nodded so Billie started to scratch behind her ear, she purred with victory and satisfaction.
The sisters made their way to the young witch's room to find her on the floor with Ashlee lead next to her, Paige chuckled at the sight and Piper hide her laughing behind her hand whilst Phoebe decided to comment "she woke you up just for you to stroke her," the blonde didn't make eye contact with Phoebe because she knew her secret would be out if she did.
Billie hummed and looked at the sisters careful at who she looked at "she pushed me off of the bed so she could have some attention, but I don't appreciate being thrown off the bed and woken up" Ashlee didn't acknowledge who was in the room which the witches found strange as she always looked at the new arrivals to see if they were hostile or not.
Piper sobered up a little "well were going to look through the book to see if we can change her back so we need her to come with us, that means you can go back to sleep Billie" the Blonde nodded gratefully, she pushed the lions head and eventually she moved. Billie got up and got back into bed, "Ashlee come on were going to the attic."
The four of them had made their way up to the attic and had been searching for a way to but they were coming up empty; Piper shut the book of shadows "it doesn't say how to help a shape-shifter change back only what a shape-shifter is and that doesn't help us" Ashlee had fallen asleep on the couch a few minutes ago because she couldn't actually do anything to help them.
Paige straightened up from where she was leaning against the book's stand, "why don't we make a spell up surely that will work if we couldn't find a way to help in the book," Piper nodded and Paige went off to write a spell.
Phoebe was sat next to Ashlee on the couch idly stroking her head whilst thinking about Billie, the blonde hadn't looked her in the eye since the big fight and it was hurting her to know she wouldn't look at her and didn't have a clue as to why. The Empath just wanted it to go back to how it used to be between them, renting moves and joking around but ever since Coop came along they barely spent any time with each other, hell she even stopped sleeping in the spare room to sleep in her dorm. She would openly admit that she missed the blonde. That strange feeling she had been getting suddenly came back to her and this time Coop didn't turn up which was strange to her, "Pheebs you okay?" Piper had been watching Phoebe for a few minutes and her face had shown her change from one extreme emotion to the next quickly.
"Yeah I'm okay I'm just wondering why Billie won't look at me...do you think I did something wrong?" Phoebe asked her sister because she really wanted answers; Piper came and knelt in front of her sister. She couldn't answer the question, so helplessly she just shrugged; Ashlee was awake when Phoebe had asked her sister, and for some reason she wanted to help Phoebe out, she would have to talk to her when she was human again.
Paige came back in waving the piece of paper around in front of her; "I wrote something that should help...I hope" Phoebe and Piper came to stand next to their younger sister to see what she had written and both of them nodded, pleased with what they had just read. Ashlee grabbed the couch throw with her teeth and covered herself as best she could so they wouldn't have see her naked when she changed back. The sisters began to read the spell.
'From Human to cat
They can't change back
From four legs to two and fur to skin
Help our friend become human again'
As they finished saying the spell Ashlee's body started the change from animal to human and the pain she felt was excruciating, she tried to block it out but she wasn't successful seeing as Phoebe dropped to her hands and knees screaming in pain. Paige ran over to help Ashlee whilst Piper stayed to help Phoebe. Ashlee finally changed into her human form, she was panting from the amount of pain she felt, "Ashlee are you okay?"
Ashlee nodded her head quickly as she regained her breath, "I hate it when it does that" at the statement all three sisters looked at her, but she just waved her hand in the air and in doing so caused some ice vapour to come out of her hand, "I'm gonna have to learn how to use that."
Piper helped Phoebe to her feet, "Cryokinesis, that's a very rare power" Phoebe commented off handily as she got her breath back, Paige and Piper nodded in reply only knowing one witch to actually have that power. "Do you go through that every time you change back?" Phoebe couldn't imagine going through that ever again; it felt as if her skin was trying to turn inside out.
Ashlee made sure she was covered properly before she sat up so she wouldn't flash the sisters; she also wanted to cover up her body but it wasn't out of modesty. "The pain, yeah it's there every time I change back, well when I manage to change back anyways" Ashlee leant back against the back of the sofa to get comfortable, "I know you want to know more about me but can I get dressed first because I could inadvertently flash you" Paige orbed her bag to the attic for her, "Thanks Paige."
"I'll show you to a bathroom and once you're done meet down stairs in the living room" Piper said and she led the teenager down the stairs and into a bathroom, once the door was closed the older witch made her way to Billie's room and saw the blonde fast asleep sprawled out on her bed.
Ashlee was dressed in a long sleeve black t-shirt with a white tank top on top, she was wearing grey jeans and black slip on trainers, her dog tags were clearly shown on top of her tank top. She made her way down stairs to the living room and sat beside Phoebe on the sofa where as Paige and Piper were sat opposite them in separate chairs. She smiled at the sisters to show she was ready, "okay Ashlee how old are you?"
"please call me Ashe" the charmed ones nodded at her request, Ashlee knew the easiest questions came first "I'm 16 my birthday is in March so I'm almost 17" she let off a shy smile, no one really cared how old she was before only that she had been quiet. She knew the next question would be about her parents so she prepared herself to be apathetic. Phoebe gave the teen a strange look as she felt her emotions being blocked from her all she felt was indifference.
Piper saw Phoebe looking at Ashlee like she had done something unexpected; she filed that in her mind for later, "won't you're parents notice you're not at home Ashe," Phoebe felt some pain and longing from the teen before it quickly got masked, she gave Paige and Piper a quick glance and they meet her eyes briefly before turning back to look at Ashlee. The teenager just shrugged, which caused Piper to narrow her eyes, "Ashlee be honest with us."
Ashlee looked into Pipers eyes and saw she was serious about wanting to know, the teen sighed "I don't know because I don't live with my parents Piper, I'm a foster kid" the sisters noted sadness to her words "my foster mother would probably be glad to be rid of me for a while, I haven't been home in a week so I don't think Bianca cares too much, otherwise she would have phoned my mobile." Piper, Phoebe and Paige were appalled that her foster mother wouldn't care that she wasn't at home.
Paige put her hand out towards Ashlee who got the silent message; she leant forward and dug through her bag for her phone. Paige caught the phone as Ashlee threw it to her; she took out her phone to in put her own number into Ashlee's phone as well as getting the teens number for her phone. "If you need me and I'm not responding to your call, call my mobile or the manor house phone." Ashlee looked confused when she said responding to her call, "oh right yeah I'm your whitelighter, I'm like a personal guide to magic, so if you need me all you have to do is call my name and I should respond to you but sometimes I will be doing charmed stuff so I won't be able to" Ashlee nodded at that but she had no intention to call for Paige even if she needed her, she didn't want them to get hurt because of her, they had families were as she didn't.
Piper stood up and started towards the front door when she turned to look at Ashlee, "I've got to go to the club so why don't I take you home," Ashlee nodded and went to follow Piper, her sisters were about to protest but she held up her hand, "Ashe go wait out by the car in the drive whilst I talk my sisters," Ashlee grabbed her bag and took her phone from Paige, she turned to look at them and nodded towards them and went out of the front door, she had no intentions of saying goodbye to them maybe because she planned to see them or maybe because she couldn't bear to. Paige and Phoebe stood in front of Piper, "I know you don't want me to take her home but I have to its law guys and if her foster mother found out we could get in trouble" Piper turned and followed Ashlee outside.
\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/