Chapter 7 - Big Kitten

Piper rushed into the kitchen because of the urgency of Phoebe's call, "what's wrong?" they had managed to calm Ashlee down but Billie took her upstairs into her room in hopes that she would change back.

Phoebe watched as Piper moved to check on dinner and hoped it would be done soon because she was hungry, "Ashlee has a power similar to premonition because when Coop touched her she tensed and gasped just like I do when I get a premonition but until she's human we won't be able to know what she saw."

"Well it must have been something bad because she almost took Coop's head off and I've never seen her so aggressive since she's lived here and that's with Wyatt and Chris clambering all over her and demanding her constant attention," Piper said as she turned the stove off satisfied that dinner was ready.

Coop crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, "I wouldn't let that beast anywhere near my kids" he muttered but he said it loud enough for both sisters to look at him and they gave him a look that could burn a whole into him, "what?"

"That's my foster daughter you're talking about Coop and she is great with my children," Piper commented in a hard voice as she left the kitchen. Phoebe didn't say anything to her fiancée and followed her big sister out of the room.

Ashlee didn't want to be in her room, there was only so much she could do as a Lion and none of that was in her room and the only way for her to really fit in the room was to turn into a cat but with her injuries she wouldn't be able to concentrate long enough. The white lion growled in frustration and let out a frustrated roar before she started to pace back and forth like a caged animal, the animal inside of her was telling her to run at the door so she could escape but then it wasn't fair on Piper or Leo to fix it. Ashlee made her way to the bed and hoped up so she could lie down and try to get some sleep; she crossed her front legs and rested her head on her paws and within seconds she fell asleep.

"Ashe...Ashe sweetie wake up," Ashlee huffed at whoever was shaking her shoulder to warn them that she wanted to carry on sleeping but it didn't seem to deter them so she opened her eyes up and noticed Piper knelling in front of her. Piper smiled at the sleepy look on Ashlee's lion face, "hey did you want to come down and get something to eat?" Ashlee's head lifted from her paws and nudged her wrist where she was wearing her watch, "it's just after 10...Coop just left." Piper had decided to mention Coop to see Ashlee's reaction to his name, the big cat tensed as his name but didn't react much more than that, she wasn't going to be causing problems for her new family in fear they wouldn't want her anymore.

Ashlee got up and stretched with a loud yawn and trotted off in the direction of the stairs eager to finally get some food and then she would sleep. Piper followed watching Ashlee carefully and noticed the big cat was limping slightly and felt bad that she couldn't do anything about it, once they were both downstairs Ashlee went off towards the kitchen having smelt the food whilst Piper carried on into the living room where her sisters and Billie were sat. Billie lifted her head off the back of the sofa, "how's the kitten?" she asked teasingly because Ashlee was far from kitten standard and after the display she saw earlier it was going to be Ashlee's new nickname.

"Billie" Phoebe scolded light heartedly, it wasn't Ashlee's fault she turned into a lion and being teased about it might agitate her more. Billie slumped down and stared at Phoebe from the corner of her eye, ever since their conversation she had found herself thinking more and more about the Empath and she was glad she had agreed to start spending more time with her again.

Piper smirked at the rebut but didn't say anything about Billie only really listening to Phoebe, sure the blonde listened to her but it was only now and again, she didn't mind because she was acting like a mother to the young Witch. "Ashlee is fine I don't know what happened but my guess is that she saw something happen and clearly didn't like it."

Paige rolled her eyes as Piper down played Ashlee's reaction but she wasn't going to defend Coop because something about him was eerie but she had leant her lesson after the Cole fiasco to keep quiet, she wasn't going to lose her family now. Her charge had reacted strangely though "I've never seen Ashlee lash out at someone so quickly even with Mabonire she only reacted when threatened Billie, maybe that's what she saw one of us being threatened and just reacted to Coop because he gave her the premonition," or was the one threatening she added silently but refused to say that out loud.

"It would explain things," Piper murmured but it didn't seem to sit right with her and as for now there was only so much they could assume because none of them were telepathic and couldn't communicate with Ashlee. The rest of the discussion was cut off because the object of their discussion strolled in limping slightly and sat in front of Piper, the foster mother couldn't resist and started to stroke the girls head. Ashlee pushed her head into the hand and she couldn't restrain the purr that came out of her throat.

Billie shared a look with Paige and smirked "aww is the big kitten purring?" she asked in a baby voice and Phoebe hid her chuckle behind her hand. Ashlee focused on Billie and hunched her shoulders looking ready to pounce; Billie looked at her wearily and shrieked when Ashlee came at her with her mouth open. Ashlee settled herself over Billie carefully and started to lick her, she had intended to scare Billie and now she was just playing with her. "you little devil" Billie laughed as she tried to push the big cat off of her, Ashlee sat on Billie's lap instead and grinned a toothy grin "ugh you're heavy," Ashlee left one last lick on the blondes face and climbed down.

Phoebe stood up and offered Billie her hand; Billie placed her hand in the older witches and had to swallow the gasp that tried to escape from between her lips as she felt something pass between them. Phoebe was confused about what she felt but was better at keeping it in, and the feelings that appeared when Coop wasn't there came back full force almost knocking her over so she quickly pulled Billie to her feet and removed her hand from the blondes, "Billie and I are going to go back to mine."

Paige couldn't help but tease her sister "you're having a sleepover, aren't you a little old to have a sleep over Pheebs?" the youngest sister asked but Phoebe just rolled her eyes and stuck her hand out for Paige to orb them to her condo. All three of them said their goodbye to Ashlee and Piper before orbing out.

Piper watched as her sisters and Billie left for the night and noted how Billie and Phoebe had reacted to each other but shrugged it off when she noticed how tired she was, "C'mon Ashe lets go to bed you must be really tired." Ashlee looked up at her foster mother and nodded then followed the brunette up the stairs to sleep and hopefully gain enough strength to change back into a human.

\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/