Chapter 10
"Okay kid, cool it okay." Prue said as she attempted to stop Paige from running for the attic door.
"I will not cool it!" Paige hissed like a kitten and tried to scratch Prue. "Get away from me. You, you freak!... you're a demon!" Paige was scared that they had found her and were going to take her straight to that monster and his group of freaks.
"I think she bites." Phoebe warned, glancing warily at Paige.
Paige looked around the room, taking everybody in. She was still not fully awake but knew for sure that she wasn't dreaming. She glared at Phoebe. She knew her. She was the reason for everything bad that had happened to her. She was the reason she had been taken back into care.
"We won't hurt you." Leo said gently.
"Yeh right!" Paige growled, "Did I not just see that woman!" she pointed at Prue, "Move something with her eyes."
"Well yeh." Leo admitted, "But it doesn't mean she's evil. You mentioned Demons. I know it must have been very scary for you to have met a demon. They are bad, but Prue here helps people, she's a good witch."
Prue looked at Leo as if she had no idea what he was talking about but then looked back to the skinny child and tried to reassure her, even if she wasn't too sure herself, "Yeh, we're good. Honestly. We'll protect you from the bad guys, we promise."
"You think I'm five years old!" Paige asked incredulously, "What the fuck is going on here! I hate that bitch, she's the one who got me arrested." she gestured at Phoebe. "Some friend you were Bitch!"
"Oh shut up!" Phoebe sneered. "I didn't force you. You do the crime, you do the time, got that."
"Oh do be quiet!" Prue shouted at Phoebe in exasperation.
Suddenly everyone's eyes were fixed on the center of the room. Something or someone was appearing.
"Paige Mathews! How dare you speak in such a manner in my house!" bellowed Penny Halliwell, who now stood before them looking utterly furious "I don't know how you're family raised you. But you are my granddaughter. Maybe not by name, but by birth you are my grandchild and you will show more respect. I already have one granddaughter who is pregnant at 17, and another who drinks like a fish and sleeps around at 14 no less! I will not have you talking like that!"
"Grams!" Phoebe squeaked.
"Grams!" Piper repeated, astounded.
"Wait. What!" Prue exclaimed when she released what her grandmother had actually said. "Paige is your grandchild… Did mom have a sister, or a brother? We never knew about this."
"She's well. I can't really say. I'm sworn to secrecy." Penny replied, looking rather sheepish, hoping that her daughter would appear and reveal all.
Paige stepped forward boldly, forgetting her predicament, she was on the verge of finding her true identity, something she had dreamed of since she had found out she was adopted. "Look lady. I've seen a lot of weird stuff in the past few days. I'm not afraid of you, even if they all are. You're their grandmother; you're my biological grandmother, so you say. So, who are my parents? I'll swear all I want until you tell me! Fuck fuck f…"
Paige stopped talking abruptly and looked down at the floor in embarrassment when she saw the rage in the old woman's face.
Penny squirmed uncomfortably. Who ever said all your problems would be forgotten after you were dead was lying. She made up a story on the spot as best she could, they couldn't know the truth or Paige would be exposed and the elders would know everything. It was bad enough that her unborn great-grandchild could be taken away, without Paige being exposed as a half breed Halliwell as well.
"I had another child." She lied, glaring disapprovingly at Paige. "Her name was Phyllis and she was born around five years before the girl's mother Patty, exactly 4 years before I married my husband Allen. In those days it was a rare thing for a young girl to be in that kind of position and I had very limited options.
I gave her up when she was born to a distant relative. Back then, it was seen as wrong to have a child out of wedlock. I was 18 years old, with no husband, what choice did I have in all honesty? Anyway she grew up with cousins on my father's side and they sent me photographs now and then and told me how she was getting on. She had no idea she was a witch or that I was her real mother. She had Paige, and I knew about it. But what could I do, I had no claim to the child. I was told that Phyllis had run away from her family and eloped with some man from Texas when she was in her thirties. Anyway, I have no idea where she is." Penny took a deep breath and hoped that they would buy this completely made up turn of events.
Paige seemed to except this, and sat down on the bed. "Did you ever get a photo of me?" she asked, almost forgetting that she was talking to a ghost and she should find it weird.
Penny assumed that the child wanted to hear that she had, and it was the truth in a way. Patty had taken one photograph of Paige before she had given her away, "Yes dear. One." She said genuinely and then returned to the lie, "My father's relatives sent me one, right before Phyllis disappeared into thin air."
"Can I see it?" Paige asked hopefully, "Are there any of my mother too?"
Penny began to panic. If Paige saw it then Prue, Phoebe and Piper might see it and obviously recognize the woman holding Paige as a baby as their mother.
"The pain of not being able to raise my own daughter…. Well I didn't keep the photographs. I'm sorry. I burned them before I died." Penny replied regrettably.
"Grams, I'm so sorry." Prue said, feeling guilty that she hadn't lived up to her grandmother's expectations. "I nearly died tonight, through my own stupidity. And I'm willing to put things right. I will make you proud of me. I'll step up to my duty as a witch or whatever you call it."
"You have done the best that you could Prudence under the circumstances. You have really stepped up to the mark and I am proud of you" Penny said waving her hand dismissively, "But it's Phoebe and, and Piper that I am astounded by. You girls have humiliated me to no end and I can tell you one thing, you'd better mend your ways if you're going to become the charmed ones, otherwise you are going to end up in all sorts of trouble!"
"Well you can talk Grams!" Piper replied straight away, aggrieved that her and Phoebe were getting all the blame, "You had a baby at 18 and lied to your whole family. You failed to mention that we were witches. It may have helped!"
"Don't you dare speak to me like that Piper Halliwell!" Penny snapped, "I raised you since you were five years old, and even if I'm not your mother you will speak to me with the respect I deserve. I have tried my best. Okay so I lied. I did it to protect you from harm. To give you a childhood, free of demons and disappointments. You had already lost your mother and your father had decided that he couldn't be bothered with his children any longer. I thought that telling you that the next demon attack wasn't far off might make things even worse. When your child is born you might understand why I hid magic from you all!"
Piper flinched as if stung. She never could stand up to her grandmother. And as a ghost she was even more intimidating. She could be loving, but you knew you were in for it if she was angry. "When you put it like that." Piper said, and backed away.
"Oh look." Penny began, as she searched the faces of her unhappy granddaughters, "I came here to help you all, not to cause more problems. What's done is done, but I expect you to listen to me and not to make the same mistakes twice." She looked at Paige lovingly, "Paige" she said softly, "Trust your new found family. They mean you no harm and they will help you defeat the people that have haunted you the past few nights. Stay and learn who you truly are."
"Phoebe." She turned to her second youngest grandchild, "Forget your friends and boyfriends forget your feckless father and forget your party lifestyle. You are a Halliwell, and a charmed one. You may be young but you have a responsibility now to the world"
"Piper." she sighed and turned to the grandchild that she in heart of hearts had loved the most, "You have your own child to think of now too… When the time for a decision comes, don't make the one that is easiest, but the one that is right."
"Prudence. All I can say is I'm sorry. You must be the one to lead them now. I must go away. I don't belong here anymore. It is hard, I know. You're a young woman, but you must continue to make the hard decisions and look after your sisters, and little cousin. And I trust you will take care of the little problem we talked about earlier."
Prue nodded, "The one who killed Andy will be in the ground by tomorrow night believe me."
Phoebe put her arm around Paige, "I knew you were related to me, Isn't that weird."
Paige shrugged her off and said sarcastically "Yeh I guess it is." She smiled sweetly, but inside she was raging. "Funny thing about it is… I've never been a big fan of my so called family who abandoned me. And I don't like you either, isn't that funny."
"Hilarious." Phoebe clapped her hands together in mock praise but said nothing further. Why humor the kid, she was obviously really immature and not the kind of cool person Phoebe had once thought.
"Enough of your sarcasm! Paige is right. It is funny." Prue shouted at Phoebe in annoyance, "Take Paige to my room. You will both sleep there tonight as the attic seems the best bet for a meeting place. Leo, Piper and I will come up with a plan."
Phoebe shook her head in defiance, and opened her mouth to argue, "But.. This is so unfair! I…"
"Do as you're told!" Penny Halliwell roared at her granddaughter, "Now that I am gone Prue is in charge and it's about time you started listening to her."
Phoebe glared at just about everyone in the room and then grabbed Paige by the arm, "Come on then." She hissed under her breath.
Paige snatched her arm back, but grudgingly obeyed and followed Phoebe out of the room, "Don't touch me." She snapped back.
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Nobody got much sleep that night. Everyone was terrified that the man responsible for the car wreck would show up at the manor. Prue had a killer head ache, although it didn't stop her from focusing on what needed to be done.
Now she was sat drinking her 6th cup of coffee, "I say we summon him to the manor, and kill him, tonight." Prue said for the hundredth time but neither Piper nor Leo was listening to her. They were too busy arguing about the baby, which had become the main focus of the conversation within the last hour. They had found out from Grams that the man trying to kill them was a demon named Jeremy. He had been stalking Prue for months.
"Emm, hello!" Piper said mockingly, "How exactly do you propose to raise her, you're an angel, literary. As in you don't live on earth. You're dead!"
"I can work around it. Anyway, I'm the only one who can protect her once the elders find out. I'll become a rouge white lighter if I have to in order to keep my powers." Leo announced solemnly, "It's the only way to keep her safe. I'd do anything for my child. You know that!"
Piper shook her head violently, "Including taking her from her own mother and her whole family! You will not be taking her anywhere. She is my baby!"
"She!" Prue interrupted, "Is not even born yet. We have more important things to worry about, like killing Jeremy for one and working on our powers. We are all in deep shit, in case you hadn't noticed!"
Leo and Piper both turned around. "Yeh course, sorry Prue" Piper replied sighing.
"If you summon him here, then you'll need Phoebe to complete the spell." Leo informed them "The power of three spell should work in vanquishing him for good."
Prue wasn't sure. Phoebe was just a child still, but if they needed her to kill this guy then she had no choice.
Prue nodded eventually, "Fine, I'll go and get her. No doubt she'll be all excited at first and then run and hide when it comes down to it."
"You under estimate her you know." Leo said, trying to defend the young girl who he knew would become a force to be reckoned with one day. "She may be young but she's part of the charmed ones."
"Oh do shut up about the charmed ones. That means nothing!" Prue rolled her eyes, "I know her, remember. I practically raised her after mom died. She was two years old and she didn't understand why mom had left us forever, Piper and I knew she was dead, but Phoebe didn't know what that meant. She wouldn't do what grams or dad said, so it fell down to me to try and control her. She was a nightmare after losing mom, and ever since then she has never faced up to anything in her life. I should know, I've been bailing her out for all of her childhood."
Piper and Leo just looked at Prue. They could see the resentment in her face.
"You need to start giving her a chance." Piper said softly, thinking carefully about what she was about to say "If we are gonna make this witch thing work, you have to become friends with Phoebe and stop trying to raise her. She doesn't need a mom anymore, she needs a sister. Stop seeing everything she does wrong as a failure on your part. You're not her mom, and you never were."
"I'll try." Prue replied simply without looking at Piper. She headed for the attic door and disappeared out of it.
With Prue now gone, Piper turned to Leo, "You know Prue loves Phoebe like her own child. That's why she is so hard on her, and it's why she is so annoyed when Phoebe screws up. She wouldn't be so critical of her if she saw her as just a little sister. The thing is, Prue is too young to be a mother to a teenager."
"Are you jealous?" Leo asked curiously.
"Maybe a little," Piper sighed and instinctively her hand went to her bump. "I mean I don't remember mom all that much. I was closer to Grams and dad than Prue or Phoebe ever were really, and they're both gone. Well dad is still alive but, you know, he's never shown much interest."
"So, Grams was a mom to you, whereas Prue was a mom to Phoebe." Leo reasoned.
"Exactly" Piper nodded, "Prue's my big sister. I look up to her and I'm very grateful to have her, but."
"You're fed up of Phoebe hogging the attention." Leo elaborated.
"I guess." Piper said, feeling guilty for what she was saying, "For once I'd like to be Prue's favorite, or her main concern at least. She's all scared for poor delicate Phoebe, and here I am pregnant, and she doesn't seem concerned for my safety at all."
"It's only natural to feel this way." Leo explained, taking Piper's hand, hoping that she wouldn't pull away. "But Phoebe's the baby, remember. Prue explained perfectly why she is protective of Phoebe. Phoebe didn't understand that you're mother had died. That attachment break must have been hard, so she naturally so Prue as a substitute, despite her only being seven or eight years old."
"Have you always been this wise?" Piper asked, laughing slightly.
Just then Prue burst in.
"Phoebe and Paige are gone!" she shrieked in horror.
Review if you like. I will continue as soon as possible.