"Well girls, I just don't quite know where to start" Patty said stalling.
"I'd say that the beginning, since it appears that you've been lying to us since then" Prue sated.
"Prue, I know you're upset, and it's understandable, but please allow me to explain at least" Patty said.
"Yeah Prue, lets hear what she has to say first" Piper said.
"Alright then get on with it" Prue snapped, Piper and Phoebe looked at her shocked at how she was talking to their mom.
"Well, it started after your father and I were divorced, when I was with Sam. We did not plan on this obviously, it just happened, fate I guess. But we knew we couldn't keep the baby, it was too dangerous. I mean, before Piper and Leo, well white lighters just did not fall in love with their charges and never had children with them. The idea was beyond comprehension. We did not know what they would do when they found out, if they might take the baby, and we felt it was not worth the risk. That we couldn't be selfish and keep her here just because we loved her at the risk of them taking her away and doing who knows what. We thought that it would be best to let her have a normal, safe, life. That it would be in her best interest. We also were afraid that you girls would be denied your powers; it's the power of three, not four. And we were afraid of what might happen. We did not want to give up the baby, but it was for her sake, and yours, and also the greater good. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do." Patty told them.
"Okay would you stop referring to me as the baby, I have a name" Paige snapped.
"Of course, I'm so sorry Paige. Oh look at you, all grown up and finally coming back here. I always knew that you'd find your way back here. I'm so proud of you" Patty said.
"Well that's all just dandy, but that doesn't explain everything. How is it that we did not even know about her?" Prue asked.
"Well you were all young, you just thought that mommy got a little fat, it was less than a year before my death, so you were all very little" Patty said softly.
"And now what?" Phoebe asked.
"What do you mean?" Patty asked.
"Yeah, Phoebe is right" Prue said putting her arms around Piper and Phoebe's waists "We are the power of three, you said that yourself, we are the charmed ones, and what does that make her?"
"Yes, I mean we saw her orb" Phoebe said.
"Well, it makes her half witch and half white lighter. She's obviously not a charmed one, I mean if something ever happened to one of you, god forbid, she might be able to be one, but as it is, she is just half witch and half white lighter. She will be just like any other common witch and eventually probably take up white lighter duties too. Which is why you are not a charmed one Paige, because you are meant to be the first witch/white lighter, so don't ever think that that makes you less, it's just different, you have a great destiny ahead of you too. And most likely you'll be a great asset to your sisters in saving innocents" Patty said.
"I'm sorry, great help to us?" Prue said.
"Well yes, I mean she is your sister. You need to train her, help her with her powers, she will be a great witch with your help, and she will help you in your destiny" Patty said.
"Oh great I get to be a sidekick" Paige muttered.
Patty looked worried and said "Oh no it's not like that, you're not a sidekick, you are like any other witch. The charmed ones get aid from many others, you will just be like that. Believe me, you are like Leo, or even like Cole was…."
"Is! Thank you very much, I'm still here and still a help" Cole interrupted irritated.
"Yeah, Cole is just as much a help and as much a part of this family as Leo, and with him and Leo we are just fine" Prue said, clearly deciding it was worth being on Cole's side to upset her mother and to make her position clear.
Cole looked surprised and smiled at her, he and Leo both moved to stand behind the girls, so that Paige now stood alone, off to the side.
"Oh no, please, girls I understand you're angry with me, and that's fair, I deserve that, but please, don't take this out on Paige, she did not do anything to deserve that, Despite the circumstances, she is still your sister, and you can't just pretend like she's not. You may not know it, but you will need her. It's been foreseen, by several gifted individuals, elders, witches, seers and even a few gypsies" Patty told them.
"Hello, and no one thought to tell us about all these visions or prophecies?" Prue snapped.
"Its not like that, these people, that is all they do, they get visions of the future and they give that information to the elders, there are so many visions and things about everyone, some small and some huge, like the one about the coming of the charmed ones. They can't hardly give you all of them, since likely they get at least one a day about you" Patty said.
"Wonderful, so they sit up there happy as can be, knowing more about our lives than we do, that's just perfect" Prue said.
"Please girls, I know it's hard to see past what I did, but give Paige a chance, its essential to your future. She is important to your charmed duties, and if you can't make yourselves accept her based on sisterhood at least accept her based on that" Patty said.
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice" Phoebe said.
"Great, more things that are out of our control, wasn't that just what I had planned for today" Piper said.
"Well, the charmed one's always come first, but that's it, it's nothing more than that" Prue said.
"Ok hello, anyone remember that I'm still here, and officially freaking out. Who the hell says I want to be apart of this great destiny, or want you as sisters" Paige said.
"Well you clearly weren't listening, we never offered up sisterhood" Prue snapped.
"Prudence, that's enough, she is your sister, that is beyond your control and you need to just get over it and deal with it, now" Patty said in a stern tone.
"Ok now back to me, I don't know what this is all about, but I'm outta here" Paige said turning to leave.
"You can't, weren't you there last night? Without your powers under control, when another demon comes back you will die, you can't fight them, and clearly they are after you, and you specifically. That was the sources assassin, that means you are targeted for a reason, it's not safe for you to go" Phoebe said.
"She was probably targeted because someone on the evil side of things got the same vision that our side got" Piper said.
"Great, that's just great" Paige said "You just barge in here and take over my life, that's great."
"It's hardly our fault, and it's not like we want this any more than you do" Prue snapped.
"Alright enough, mom's right. It's not Paige's fault that she is our sister, and like it or not, she is our sister, so she deserves to at least have a chance. If you must rant Prue, rant at mother, she's the bad guy here not Paige, so ease off" Phoebe said.
Paige shot her a grateful look. And Piper turned and smiled at her and said "Yes, Prue, its not like she chose this either, and apparently we need her around, and she seems to need our protection. She first off she is an innocent, so you can't keep picking on her, and second she will be an ally, so we need to have some kind of civil relationship with her. And that's not even bringing in the sister thing, which we will have to talk about and deal with later."
"Alright, okay" Prue said but tightened her hold on her sisters in a possessive way, clearly making a statement towards Paige.
"So now what?" Paige said.
"Well now you learn you learn the ways of magic, the rules, and you work on creating a bond between you" Patty said sounding pleased.
"Enough with the bond stuff, I think that we have talked to you enough" Prue said, and she leaned over to blow out a candle.
"I'm sorry my darlings, I never meant to hurt you and I only did what I thought was best for you" Patty said as she faded away.
"Well now that she is gone, what do we do?" Piper asked.
"Well why don't you girls go downstairs and talk" Leo suggested.
"No Leo, we are not going to have a bonding session, we need to discuss training Paige and how to protect her" Prue said.
"Well for the time being, with the source on the loose and after you, you will have a hard time protecting her when she lives far off" Leo said.
"Well what are you suggesting that she moves in?" Phoebe asked.
"Well actually, yes. It would be convenient, I mean to train her and protect her, what better way, that way she'd be safe" Leo said.
"Excuse me? You want her to live here with us? Isn't that just putting her in more danger?" Piper asked.
"Hardly, I think it's safer. Because otherwise one of you would have to always be watching over there and you would be separated and unable to say a power of three spell, you're safer if you are together" Leo said.
Prue exchanged a looked with Piper and Phoebe. And said "Alright, lets have a family conference or something, Paige wait here please, we'll be right back" With that Piper, Phoebe and Leo hurried down the stairs, Prue followed after them, then looked back and said "Cole, aren't you coming?"
Cole looked surprised and then nodded and came after her saying softly once he reached her "I wasn't sure if I was meant to, not being family after all."
"Compared to her, you're practically my twin in my mind" Prue muttered.
Cole laughed and said "Well I have a feeling we are the only ones on that side."
"Wait, you're on my side on this?" Prue said surprised.
"Of course, we don't know if she's even trustworthy, and as if we aren't under attack enough, let bring in someone else designed to attract even more trouble, I hardly think that's the worlds best plan" Cole said.
"My thoughts exactly, well at least I'll have someone voting with me, but its still in their favor, three to two" Prue said.
"Well we will just have to convince them that we are right" Cole said.
"Okay, you work on Phoebe, I'll work on Piper, I think Leo is a lost cause" Prue said.
"I think Piper is the one we have the best chance with, Phoebe is way to happy about the idea of a younger sister, so I'm not sure I can convince her, but I'll sure as hell try" Cole said.
"Alright, lets go" Prue said and they started down the second flight of stairs.
"There you two are, I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost" Phoebe said.
"Hardly, I just had to remind Cole that she was the one that is not family, not him" Prue said.
"I'm not sure how to take that, I mean I'm thrilled that all this has made you see Cole as family, but I think you're being unfair to Paige" Phoebe said.
"Yeah Prue, she is apparently our sister, we ought to give her a chance of something" Piper said.
"Even if that's true, it's hardly a reason to have her move in, I mean we need to get to know her slowly, to build a bond, and having her here wouldn't do that" Prue said.
"Nice try Prue, but somehow I don't think bonding with her is foremost on your mind" Phoebe said jokingly.
"I don't think you are taking this seriously enough Phoebe, we have no reason to trust her, we don't know her. Inviting her here with no knowledge of her background and motives is just suicide; she could be a killer and kill us in our sleep. She could be spying on us, or any number of other horrible things" Cole said.
"No she can't, she's a white lighter after all" Phoebe said.
"She was born with white lighter powers, she's not an actual white lighter, she hasn't had to do good deeds to earn them, she just has them, it has nothing to do with her goodness or evilness, its just a power with her" Cole said.
Prue looked pleased at his saying that and said "yes, we don't even know if it's really her, I mean it could just be a shape shifter that stole her powers, it could be anything."
"Ok paranoid much" Phoebe said.
"Prue we shouldn't just suspect her of evil, that's not fair" Piper said.
"We shouldn't just suspect her of evil? Where the hell have you been the last three years, of course we should suspect her of evil, half the people who come into our lives are evil and plotting to get us" Prue said.
"Well mom vouched for her, so that's enough for me" Phoebe said.
Prue looked stumped on how to respond to that.
"Well why don't we vote on whether or not she should stay here" Leo said.
Prue and Cole shared a worried look and then Cole had a look of inspiration and said "But where? I mean where are you planning to put her? They way you make this sound, its not going to be a short visit, so what will you do with her?"
"Well…" Piper trailed off and then said "We will set up an air mattress in the basement."
"But we use the basement as a training area, and with the source out there we need to train" Cole said.
"Well the mattress won't take up too much room, so don't worry" Piper said.
"Alright she lets vote" Leo said.
"Why bother, we know that you, Piper and Phoebe are gonna vote for her so lets skip it and just tell her that she can't leave" Prue said in a depressed voice.
"Oh come on, it won't be that bad" Phoebe said.
"Yeah sure, we'll see" Prue said skeptically.
