Chapter 10: Beauties and the Beast.
Over the next two weeks Xander noticed a dark cloud over the two Halliwells as he watched them, there seemed to be something holding them in an odd state of depression. But the real nail in the coffin was when he saw Piper and Prue meet up with another stunning yet somber young woman who he knew from a photo as Phoebe Halliwell their youngest sister, when he got home later that night he was met by his mom and Dru with somber looks and a sullen looking Patty.
"Alright what's going on here first the girls, then you guys, someone tell me what's going on." Xander said as he got a weird feeling in his gut.
"Well I think its best I speak on this subject here today." Said an elderly woman wearing a pale each gown with a sweet grandmotherly look to her, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Xander took a very deep breath. "Let me guess you were close to the girls and you just recently died, and by your showing up here, im gonna go ahead and say you're the reason they seem to be so damn depressed." With a groan Xander walked over to a fluffy armchair before talking again. "Now not to sound rude, but who are you and why die now?"
The others in the room were shocked. Well all except Drusilla and the new ghost that is. "Well my dear my name is Penelope Halliwell but all my friends call me Grams, and it seems I owe you for saving one of my granddaughters lives." Penny said with a small smile on her face.
"Ahh, Piper yeah well no thanks needed." Xander said sagely before he looked at Penny and Patty and started speaking with a voice too calm, that his mom noticed and she gulped waiting. "Now I must ask you two lovely women a question, and if my gut is right then life for me is about to hit a shitstorm. When I helped Piper she seemed to not know what was going on, and there's only two reasons for that, 1. She was truly surprised and untrained, or 2. She has no idea of her powers or the fact that said power is going to be a beacon for vamps and the like who all want to taste a witches blood." Here he pinned the two ghosts with a cold glare. "Now which is it ladies, and why."
Penny and Patty knew that the rest of the night would not go well, so they just jumped head first into their past and how they thought it would be safer for the girls to bind their powers so that the demon underworld would not sense the power their girls held so that they could have a semi-normal child. But the decision was only in discussion until Patty died and their dad victor sought to rise the girls without their powers, and how that led to the rift between Penny and victor as well as the girls.
Xander for his part just sat there trying to sift through all that he had been told, until it reached the point where he could take no more. "Ok I understand." Xander finally said with a cool voice, but before everyone could sigh in relief he continued. "Penelope, you're funeral is in three days, so you have four days to come up with a good reason for why I shouldn't go to your house and introduce myself to them. Because in four days they will have a new protector whether you all think it's a good idea or not." And with that Xander left the room to get some much needed rest.
/
Over the next few days Xander noticed that all of the women in his life were always huddled talking with a glance his way every once in a while, but he paid it no mind as he ignored them and went about his business making sure that everything was ready for the meeting with the sisters three.
/
Later that day Xander was confronted by his mom and Patty.
"Im guessing you two need to speak with me about something." Xander said with a cool look at Patty, but a normal one for his mom.
Jessica spoke first. "Now Alex I know how you feel about just leaving people in the dark when they are so clearly in danger, and even more so when its children, but I ask that you consider thing fr.." She was stopped by Xander raising his hand.
"I know what you're about to say mom and I know how hard it had to be for Patty to keep her daughters from that hard life of hunting or being hunted. But she came to me for help in keeping her girls safe and I will never fail her, and for that to happen her girls need to be taught to defend themselves and taught in their arts." He stopped to take a breath before turning to Patty. "When you died you left your girls behind on his shithole we call home, and you left them without the power to defend themselves. They have been lucky but as they got older and stronger they began to leak more power than your average witch, and in the end demons of all kind will be drawn to them. And when that day comes I don't plan to see them die young." Xander turned from them and began to walk from the room, but as he reached the door he stopped. 'Tomorrow I go to them, everyone is welcome to come even Dru once night falls, just know that I will hold nothing back as long as no one tries to stop me. They will smile again I will make sure of that." And with that Xander left them there.
/
-1329 Prescott Street-
Xander stood next to his mom as they both looked up at the Victorian style manor the stood in front of them. Xander turned to his mother. "Alright let's go." He said as adjusted the strap of the duffel bag on his shoulder.
A few minutes or two later Xander was waiting for someone to come to the door after ringing the doorbell.
"Yes how may we help yo.."
Xander turned to the person who stopped mid-sentence and let a small smile cross his face at the dark-eyed beauty in front of him, and let his right hand rub the back of his neck. "Hello again Piper, can I come in?"
Piper just looked on at the young man who she could not get out of her head at times ever since that night a few weeks ago. "U-umm sure, sure come in." She said as she stepped aside and let him and the woman he had with him come into the manor. She turned to led them into the living while asking what brought them by.
"Well Piper im here for a lot of reasons, but first I would like to extend my sorrow for the loss you suffered by the loss of your grandmother." Xander said causing a small amount of tears to appear in her eyes.
"T-thank you Xander, but you said you had more reasons." She asked while wiping her eyes.
Xander took a deep breath. "Yes I did, and it involves your sisters so can you please call them, and before you ask about how I know about your sisters, let's just say that my mom knew your grandmother when she was younger." Xander said as he put a hand on his mother's shoulders.
Piper's eyes quickly moved to the woman. "Im so sorry I haven't introduced myself, im Piper Halliwell and you?"
Jessica just smiled as she took a step forward and brought Piper into a tight hug. "My name is Jessica Lawson, and its ok you just someone you loved it's normal to be a little scatterbrained, my dear."
After Jessica stepped back Xander spoke again. "Im not here to cause harm just to talk to you three."
Piper after a minute of staring at Jessica just nodded and went to the foot of the steps and called up. "Phoebe, Prue can you both come down her for a minute, there's some I want you to meet." Piper took Xander and Jessica over to the couch where they both took a seat. A minute or two later they heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs.
Xander turned and felt a small stab to his heart seeing their eyes still puffy from crying, but put on a smirk. "My, my I knew you had it going on Piper, but you didn't tell me it was a family trait to be this hot." Xander spoke with a wink to the two women who had just got to the foot of the steps.
Piper was a little taken by his comment but spoke anyway. "Well you never asked now did you." She spoke before looking to a grinning Phoebe and a slightly scowling Prue. "Girls meet a friend of mine, Xander…"
"Alexander Harris, at your service mistresses Halliwell." Xander spoke in a very, very bad English accent while taking a grinning Phoebe's hand while bowing.
"Please forgive my son, a son who im going to have a talk with later about his use of the word mistresses and how he knows it." Jessica said ignoring the small 'epp' from her son as she shook the hands of Phoebe and Prue. "My name is Jessica Lawson, mother of this fool." She said as she popped Xander upside his head.
Piper seeing Prue about to start asking questions spoke up. "Xander is the man I told you all about, the one who saved me that night." As she said this Prue stiffened and Phoebe looked at Xander with wid eyes.
Prue spoke first. "I thank you for what you have done for my sister, im happy to still have her around." She said with a smile on her lips as she glanced at Piper.
"M-me too." Said Phoebe from where she was hugging Piper after being reminded of that night.
"And not that I don't appreciate it but what are you doing here, and how did you know here we lived?" Prue asked after a moment looking straight at him.
Xander lost his smirk and had an unreadable look on his face. "Well that's where it gets very fucking weird." He stopped for a minute to glare at his mom who smacked him. "What was that for?"
"Watch your mouth, you're in the presence of ladies." Jessica said with a smile.
"When I see them I will." Xander said with a smirk before continuing where he left off. "Like I was saying it gets weird and well by the end of this night all of your lives will never be the same." He paused again before looking each of them in the eye. "And for that im sorry, now can we all go sit in the living because your all gonna wanna sit down while hearing this." He said as he started walking to the living room.
/
A few minutes later found all three sisters sitting on the couch looking at one another while looking at a pacing Xander and a smirking Jessica who was sitting in an armchair.
"Y'know honey it might be best if you just start from the beginning." Jessica said to him.
"You know mom, you can just hush." Xander shot her a halfhearted glare before taking to himself again while pacing.
He was done a minute later when he took a deep breath and looked toward the sisters. "Alright ladies im assuming that Piper told you 'everything' that happened the night we met right." Xander said stressing the word everything.
"If you mean that a cute guy same her life, and then shamelessly flirted with her and sent her home doing an impersonation of a tomato, then yeah she did." Said a way too innocent looking Phoebe, who was smirking at a red-faced Piper.
Xander stopped pacing and just stared at piper for a few seconds. "ooook, while that is good to know I meant did she tell you anything strange about the men who attacked her?" Xander asked the sisters.
This time it was Prue who spoke. "Im guessing you mean the fat that they were tossing glowing balls of something, and that when you killed them they exploded." She said with a lot of skepticism.
"Yes that's the bit I meant. Well the best way to put this is that, the world that you know is only the tip of the iceberg. And before you all interrupt me unless I ask you too, I have proof of this so listen as I speak and show you how." Xander said before stepping back and looking at the watch he wore. "Now I have a friend who will stop by later to help with all this ok, but for now im going to have some fun. Now Phoebe since you seem to be the youngest I can you to toss out something you think only magic can do, and please none of that Vegas stuff okay." Xander said with his now firmly in place smirk.
Phoebe took a weird look before looking sideways at her sisters. "Ok I have one. Can you read mind and stuff like that?"
"Well I can do something like that, would you like me to show you?" Xander asked. At her nod he began, and centered Magda's power into his voice. (Unlike last time when his was at Giles' place his control of this power and it led to some weird time for one Xander Harris.)
"Well then Phoebe do you think im cut like Piper seems to" Xander spoke with a smooth liquid sound coming from his voice that seemed to flow into Phoebe.
"Well of course I think you cute, you would be downright hot as hell if you took off that shirt right now." Phoebe said before blushing and slapping her hands over her mouth and looking at a smirking Xander with wide eyes.
Piper and Prue were looking at Xander with wide eyes as well.
"What I can't quite read minds but I can make others speak their thoughts as easy as I can breathe." Xander said as if they asked him what one plus one was. "Now does anyone else have any questions before I continue?"
"How the hell did you do that!" Came the voice of Phoebe as she had finally spoke again.
"Magic of course, now anything else?" Xander said.
"Ok say we believe you what does all this have to do with us?" Asked a slightly shaken Prue.
Xander looked off into the distance for a minute. "Well you love to ask the hard stuff. Ok well in order to answer that, you girls need a whole lot of backstory, but if im not interrupted I can tell you what I know, and what has been told to me." At their nods Xander told his story of how he met a lithe blonde and how from that day his life was never the same.
/
About three hours later Xander and his mom sat in the kitchen of the manor awaiting Dru before they dropped the real bomb on the heads of the sisters about their own powers, their mom, and even more their own grandmother. Right now said sisters were in the living room on the couch digesting all they had heard.
"So how do you think it's going in there with them?" Jessica asked Xander while she sipped her tea.
"Well I know for me, it took staking Jesse for it to really kick in, but im hoping that they can take it all well." Xander sighed.
The quiet of the house was broken by a rather weird knock at the door. Xander looked at his mom before they looked to the windows of the kitchen and seeing that while not as high as it was before the sun was still out, they dismissed it. Hearing one of the sisters open the door before talking to someone they assumed it was a visitor for the girls.
"OOH KITTEN, mummy's home!" Xander and Jessica were out of their seats and in the living room as quick as they could, and the sight that met them was of a slightly smoking Drusilla wearing a black knee length corset dress with red strings holding it closed, and she had Piper by the throat while smiling with her fangs showing and a gleam in her yellow eyes at Xander.
Xander looked around and noticing the scared faces of Phoebe and Piper, while Prue looked like she wanted to kill Dru and by the slightly bloody lip she had tried. Xander took a deep breath before talking.
"Girls I would like you to meet my friend Drusilla, the vampire I wanted you all to meet. Now Dru while I asked you to help me show the girls what a vampire was I didn't mean like this." Xander spoke.
"Aww did mummy make Kitten angry?" Dru asked with a smirk. "Is Kitten going to spank mummy now?" Dru said as she put Piper back down and pouted at Xander.
Xander watched as Piper ran over to her sisters who were watching him and Dru talk while Jessica seemed to be laughing.
"You know one of these days im gonna take you up on that, and then we'll s who's laughing." Xander said before he started to pout at the fact that Dru and his mom kept messing with him.
Drusilla turned to the sisters before speaking. "Im dreadfully sorry, but that had to be done. Kitten told me that you wouldn't believe him and that I was to show you what a vampire could do. And my name is Drusilla I hope we can be friends." Dru said with a curtsy and a bow.
The sisters looked to Xander and he spoke. "She's right she's the friend I told you about before. And thanks to her I think it's safe to start the second part of this little shindig, I told you that magic was real, as well as a list of other things that most fairy tales speak of, but one thing I failed to mention was how this related to you all." Xander paused before asking his mom to go and check Piper's throat before he got back to talking. "Ghosts are real too and the only way I can tell you all about why im here is to have you talk to the person who called me here. Xander stopped talking and stepped back as a shower of lights took his place and a woman the three sisters thought they would never s again, smile at them.
"Hey girls, how are you?" Patricia 'Patty' Halliwell smiled down at the three girls, no women that she gave birth too.
"Mom!" Was the yelled and shocked reply from the Charmed ones.
"The one and only." Patty said with a grin.
/
30 minutes later Xander, Dru, and Jessica sitting on the porch of the manor enjoying the nighttime air while finishing up their plans.
"Ok so were all set up then, Dru you and me can do a quick patrol around the manor before we go to sleep. Mom I want you to go in there with Patty and help the girls along a little, we'll talk more in the morning, just try to get the girls to bed at a good time. If you need me or Dru we'll be in the basement after we get back in.
And with that the group went to their tasks and the night was filled with tears, a few screams, and a few hard truths.
/End of Chapter 10/
A/N: Same as always review and let me know how you like it.