Okay so I left you with a cliff, and that wasn't very nice ;-) So here you go because I'm a nice person or at least for the moment... Chapter 9

Of scapegoats and explanations

Coop ran up the attic stairs after hearing a crash the source of which he wasn't sure. It had only been about 20 or 30 minutes since he and Henry had been sent away, left to wonder why Leo was allowed the option of staying no matter the situation, not that it really mattered cause the girls always informed them right after. Instead of going to sit with the kids like Henry had, he decided to lean against the wall at the bottom of the attic stairs hoping Phoebe would change her mind about him being with her the first time she met…her. It wasn't like he didn't know this day was coming it was only a matter of time; they had always reminded him of that, but he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon at least that's what he tried to tell himself. The truth of the matter was it didn't really matter whether or not Phoebe ever saw the young woman that was truly her first child, because the girls fate would be the same, it would end the same. Coop only hoped Phoebe wouldn't get too attached in the process, knowing that it would only hurt her more when she found out the truth of things. He had never lied to Phoebe at least not directly. The elders did send Coop for Phoebe to fall in love with to make up for some of the heartache over the years, what he didn't tell her was that someone else sent him to Phoebe for something slightly less noble than what the elders had in mind. But none of this mattered, at least not in a simpler sense, because Coop did fall hopelessly in love with Phoebe, and would do anything to make up for something he had no control over. In time he thought she might be able to forget the events that were sure to take place. He only hoped he could save her the pain that was soon to follow…

"Mom, what happened?" Peri looked down at her son, she didn't really know how to answer him, in fact she herself didn't know exactly what happened. It wasn't that she was afraid of what happened or even afraid of what she saw, but something she couldn't identify was screaming at her to flee almost like a promotion without pictures, telling her something was very, very wrong. Of course she still couldn't even think about the woman who's name she now knew was, Phoebe, and the others. In fact she pushed all thoughts of them to the back of her mind, when she shimmered herself and the twins back to the apartment, and all the while she was putting up new protection spells to prevent any spell from penetrating the invisible barrier that encased her small living area. She already had a spell in place to prevent anyone from getting in any way other than the mortal one, but now she put one in place vise versa, not wanting the witches to summon her back anytime soon. She new the spells couldn't hold forever and she would eventually have to deal with everything, but for the time being she simply refused to admit to what she saw. So instead of answering her son, and even though she hadn't said anything yet her daughters question, and did the only thing she could think to do at that time, she bribed them.

"How about some ice cream guys sound good?" They both looked at her suspiciously, and then to the clock on the wall that read midnight.

"Your trying to bribe us so we won't ask you about you mom, aren't you?" Peri looked at her daughter, wishing for once the little girl couldn't read her every emotion, and sighed in defeat.

"Yes, I am, and I promise you that in about six hours or so when there's light outside, and we've all had a few hours sleep that we will talk about everything that happened. But right now I need you guys to eat some ice cream, and help mommy pretend what happened didn't just happen." Peri could see they both were ready to object, but then she saw Gwen whisper something in Carters ear, and then they both ran into the kitchen opening the freezer, and grabbed out three cartons of ice cream, one for each of them.

"Okay so which do you want mom, Carter wants the chocolate one as always, that leaves the triple chocolate chip and coffee ice cream for you and me." Peri smiled at her daughter's thinly veiled attempt to taunt her mother's decision to let her already hyperactive children eat highly caffeinated sugar so late at night.

It was two hours, three emptied cartons of ice cream, and a broken glass later that she finally got the twins to bed, almost regretting her bribe, but just almost. She herself was still slightly wired from the sweets, but mostly because she kept having to push away all the doubts clouding her mind. Peri had never been the type to avoid an issue or at least not on a conscious level, if she had a problem she dealt with it even if it came at a great personal cost she never let herself have the luxury of pretending. That was until tonight. She couldn't believe she had been so careless to let what should have been if not a happy moment, at least a memorable one turn into her running away like a coward. If not for that insistent nagging in the back of her head, telling her that something was terrible, terrible wrong she would have shimmered back, and tried to smooth things over. And of course there was the twins it wasn't like she could just leave them to fix something that was totally her fault. No she would have to face what she did, and who she did it to. Her…Well she still couldn't say it or think it, at least not yet. Truth be told, she had never thought much about her parents. She had seen so many others spend their lives away waiting for people who in the end always disappointed them. Peri had always told herself she didn't need them she had grown up alone, she had taken care of herself, so what did she need parents for? Of course she had been curious, but that was only because of her powers, and the only time she ever went looking for the people that were the reason for rather unusual abilities, it had ended where she was left three months old and wrapped in a baby blanket. It had ended with Benjimen, the man who had left her there at the police station; he had left a note a single word 'Peri', and his name. She didn't know who he was whether he was her father or just somebody who happened upon her one night, and took her to the station. She truly didn't know, but whoever he was without him she knew deep down she wouldn't be here, and for that she named her son Carter Benjimen, after his father, and the man that gave Peri a fighting chance at life when she was just an infant.

Peri couldn't help, but realize that if this woman was who she thought she was, then at least she owed her an explanation, after all if she was her…well then she at least deserved a chance. With that thought in mind, Peri decided to go talk to the witch, after of course a few hours of much needed sleep, she drifted off into a world less complicated than her own, completely unaware of the presence watching over her as she slept…

Phoebe was still in shock as she let her sisters guide her over to the couch in the attic, she heard someone coming up the stairs, but paid no heed as she thought about the encounter she had with her daughter. Her daughter, she couldn't believe she was real, and those beautiful children so sweet, of course she hadn't expected to be a grandmother at only 49, and by the way Peri reacted she wasn't so sure she would get to be. Oh how she wanted to be, as soon as the little girl had touched her hand, she immediately felt connected to all of them, she saw how well Peri had dealt with the twins through the years, being a better mother than Phoebe herself was sometimes, bending over backwards just so her kids never missed her in the mornings or at night. She tried so hard to give them all she could, but never forgot the most important thing was time spent together. Phoebe couldn't believe it, and what she couldn't get her mind around was that she did it all alone. She hadn't seen in any of the images a father, which left her to wonder who he was, and why he would leave Peri to deal with that alone. That's when she remembered the little boy's orb, which could mean only one thing,

"He's part Whitelighter." Phoebe said aloud to no one in general.

"Who is?" Phoebe looked at her husband she supposed he was the one who came up the stairs a minute or so ago, she couldn't help but notice how anxious he felt.

"Her kids, their half Whitelighter." Phoebe's monotone reply, veiled her growing angst. She didn't quite know how to take hearing 'mom' for the first time from her first child, only to have her leave a split second after. Not that she really blamed her, considering she had been alone most her life, being shuffled from house to house never really having a home or family, it made since that she would run from the woman that abandoned her to such a life, even if it was inadvertently. She couldn't help, but feel an immeasurable amount of guilt; she hadn't even mourned the child that had grown in her womb, writing it off as not hers, even when she knew that wasn't so. She had yet to let herself think about the father of her first, she tried desperately to put him to the farthest reaches of her mind, and yet he kept resurfacing in her every thought. He had been so excited, that for the first in a while she saw him again the man she loved, not who he was pretending to be. Though at that time she hadn't known he was the source deep down she knew he hadn't been himself not at all. But when she told him about the baby, oh how he shined just like he had the day they met on the college campus, the moments before he asked her to marry him the first time after being attacked, covered in green demon blood. That was the man she loved, not the one she killed.

"Phoebe, Phoebe, hello you in there?" Phoebe snapped out of her daze to see Paige's hand waving in front of her face.

"What, what's wrong?" Phoebe asked, she couldn't believe she had drifted off, and thought about…Him. She was married to the love of her life, and the man from her past kept coming back to haunt her, though this time he had a purpose she figured she would have to face him or at least in a way seeing as their daughter was alive well, and not the core of all evil. Phoebe stood with renewed energy, she knew that summoning Peri back would only lead to more confusion, so she decided to do it the mortal way. She had her name after all, and she knew where she went to school surely, she could find her there or at least find out where she lived. After all the least she could do is explain why she never looked for her, and perhaps from there she could make up for so many years. Phoebe knew what it was like to grow up without a mother, and she would be damned if she let her daughter spend the rest of her life thinking of her as she had her own mother. Yes tomorrow she would go down to SFU, and confront, Peri Wolf, her daughter, and maybe just maybe she could start making up for lost time.

"Phoebe, are you okay you look kind of odd." Phoebe simply smiled at Piper, and said,

"Come on Paige, I need you to persuade Henry to play bad cop, and help me get some records unlocked." Phoebe grabbed her very confused sisters hand and headed off down.

"Well they have the same exit strategy." Piper commented to the room that consisted of herself, her sons, husband, and a very concerned ex-cupid…
Okay I know it's short, but I figured it was better than making you wait three or four more days for a longer Chap. Anyhow hope you like, as you can probably tell the plot is thickening, and is do for some twists in the near future. The next chapter will be Of near misses and more demons

R&R cause I value your opinion, and because my ego likes to be stroked(no pun intended)