A/N: so, I don't know if anyone actually reads my stories, which is fine 'cause I'd write them anyway. But if you are reading this I'm sorry it always takes me so long to update.

Chapter Four



"Helena," Brianna said in shock and surprise. "What are you doing here," she asked her older sister when she was able to gain her composure. As long as she could remember, Brie had looked up to her sister as though she were some queen of a fairytale realm. Tall, poised, and the picture of perfection, Helena had always been Brie's remodel when they were young. The perfect grades, the perfect clothes until Helena started high school, and though she maintained the perfect grades her behavior was less than stellar. That's when the two girls had started to drift apart. To the point where Helena was running all over creation and Brianna had stepped back from their family legacy.

Helena brushed past her little sister into the foyer. News of the bridal shower had reached her via her little brother Victor and her cousin Johnny, the only two family members she managed to keep in touch with regularly. She glanced back at Brianna, who looked stunning with her chocolate brown hair layered down past her shoulders, wearing a black satin top and pencil skirt. God, she thought, how much have I missed? "Well, I was traveling in Africa and came across a tribal community where I heard gossip about another Charmed one merging with a prominent family from the magical world. I got in contact with Johnny two or three days ago and here I am."

"Really," Brianna said returning to her usual snooty tone. "Amazing how word travels that far," she went on in a disbelieving manner. She didn't believe in coincidences. No one in their family did. Just as she was about to question her sister's experiences in her travels, Gabby wandered over.

"Baby," Gabby exclaimed. "What are you doing here," she asked as she rushed to tug her eldest daughter into her arms. "You have no idea how good it is to see you!" Gabby stepped back from the embrace, still holding onto Helena and giving her a good look over from head to toe. "You're too skinny, let's get some meat on those bones. Brie, close the door please," Gabby requested from her middle child as she walked away joyously with an arm around Helena.

Brianna stood there, flabbergasted. She rolled her eyes and pointed her finger at the door and walked away as it shut with a thump.


Brianna's stilettos clicked across the hard wood flooring of the foyer as she returned to the bridal shower, where the bride and family were gushing over the return of the prodigal daughter. As a waiter passed with a tray of champagne flutes Brianne grabbed one and downed it before returning to her seat.

Helena was laughing and joking with her cousins and aunts and glanced sideways to get a look at her younger sister. She's still furious, she thought. So she'd rather have a reunion filled with boring chit chat and meaningless small talk. How long is this going to last? When she tuned back into the conversation at hand, her family was asking about how long she intended to stay and if she would be staying with Christopher and Gabby.

"Um, no actually. I was thinking about finding my own place since I'm thinking about staying for awhile." Helena's voice dropped down suddenly as she watched Brie head into the kitchen. Apparently her little sister wasn't interested and went in search for something more amusing to keep her entertained. That's it, she thought. I'm getting this over with!

"Excuse me for one moment. I'll be right back," Helena said as she put down her champagne flute and went in search for her sister.

Helena walked away from the party where laughter and merriment was being shared. Passing through the kitchen, she made her way through the laundry room towards the backyard where her sister was sitting in the gazebo her father had added a few years ago. "This was always your favorite place to go whenever you didn't want to deal with me."

Brie turned her head to glance at her sister. Turning back she shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, well it's a good place to sit and stare at the stars."

It was the first time Helena had seen her sister free of all the barriers she usually erected. "They're so beautiful," Helena contributed. "They make me feel so free."

Brie chuckled. "Like you need something to make you feel free. You traipse around the world, forgetting about every one that you left behind in order to do whatever it is you do; only to come home once every two or three years or when you need someone to clean up your mess. You never think about anyone else while you're out there living this wonderful, exciting life until trouble finds you and somehow it always does. Then you drag whatever trouble you're in to our doorstep and we clean it up."

Helena looked shocked at her sister's total honesty. "You don't know anything about me. About why I do what I do. Why I couldn't stay here and be some little Pollyanna like you did. So what, I left home. Guess what, people grow up and leave the nest and find what's right for them." Rage was burning in her eyes as she stared down her sister, whose face was still blank and unforgiving. "What did I ever do to you that made you so angry with me?"

Without moving from her place on the bench, Brie turned to her sister with tears glistening in her eyes and equal parts hurt and anger gracing her face. "You left me alone here. You turned your back on me and left me alone here."

Brie ran back into the house, leaving Helena alone to cry out in the gazebo.


The floorboard creaked underneath Brie's shoes as she entered the house.

The floorboard creaked underneath Helena's feet as she crawled through her window. She had just managed to get in without being heard when her lights turned on and she tripped over someone's feet. Looking up from her place on the floor, Helena saw her mother sitting in a rocking chair. "Uh,oh."

"Uh oh is right. You are so lucky that you're father doesn't know about this young lady. You are seventeen years old and come stumbling home at three o'clock in the morning intoxicated!"

"Mom, I can explain…"

"No," Gabby said. "I've had enough of your explanations. For the past two years you have been reckless and irresponsible and , and I am done worrying about whether you are going to come home dead one day," she screamed. "I was always terrified that one day one of you kids would be caught in the cross fire of a vanquish but you are going out and looking for trouble!" Tears rolled down Gabby's face. "I don't know what to do with you. I don't even know if you'll be alive long enough to go to college in the fall!"

Helena sat up and tried to keep herself from crying. "Mom, I'm sorry. I'll do better," Helena exclaimed. "I'll stop, and I'll go to college…"

Gabby cut her eldest daughter off. "How? I don't understand this behavior, how did I raise you to think this was acceptable? You sneak off every night and half the time I can't even find you with scrying! How do you expect to make it through school?"

"You didn't raise a bad daughter," Helena spoke stubbornly. "I am not a bad daughter. I'll change. I'm good. I'll do good things."

Brianna continued until she made her way back to the bridal shower. She only had to be here for an hour before she could leave without seeming rude. She just wasn't in the mood to hang around a family that put up with her because of common blood. As she took a seat, her mother asked her where her sister was. "Back yard."

"What's wrong with you?" Gabby knew about the tension between her two daughters but didn't know what she could do. All she could do, she figured, was leave it to them to find some common ground.

"Nothing," Brie said in a tone that indicated the complete opposite.

An hour had passed and Brie was getting ready to leave. She had squeezed in between various guests and made her way to her cousin. "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. I have to leave early but I can't wait to see you at the wedding." With that, Brie leaned in and gave her cousin a kiss on the cheek and was about to leave when a warlock blinked in behind her and stabbed her with an athame.

Brie crashed down to the ground as shower guests ran to her. Helena held the bleeding Brianna in her arms. "Victor!" Helena stared up at the ceiling as guests began shouting orders. "Victor," she screamed. The tears began to fall down her face as she realized that all of the whitelighters present were being attacked by darklighters who had recently appeared.