:o) Jedi Alanna: I'm glad you're happy with the outcome of the last chapter. Oh, and about the use of the "lol"? That was the only way I could think of to express that Mrs. Jenkins was lightening the mood at that point. The whole letter was just so serious in nature, you know, lol? Also, you're so close on your other assumption. Think ex-Elder, and you've hit the nail right on the head ;o)

lol, And where did everybody else go? I seem to have lost my loyal followers. Please come back, your input matters too.

Chapter 9: Congratulations, You're A Halliwell!

Billie crept up the attic stairs, slowly, but as she reached the closed door she heard bits and pieces of what sounded like a heated argument. She placed her ear up against the door to listen and make out what was being said. The first voice, filled with anger, she immediately identified as Piper's. However, the second voice sounded strange, almost transient. It was a voice she didn't recognize but one thing was very clear. They were arguing over her and it needed to stop. As she opened the door, it released a creaking sound. She made her way to the middle of the attic with all eyes turning towards her.

"STOP!" she pleaded loudly. "I don't want you to fight about me. Please!"

Billie looked from each of the sisters to the woman standing in the middle of them, who appeared to be studying every inch of her. She was translucent in appearance which signaled to her that she was a ghost. A spirit. She had also heard her referred to as 'Grams' through the door. That probably meant that this woman was her great grandmother. Penelope? Is that what the letter had called her? Anyway, now that she was really looking at her, she seemed familiar. Then Billie remembered. It was six months ago when Coop's ring had pulled Gram's past self into the present. Billie had gotten a quick glimpse of her.

Everyone remained speechless for a matter of seconds.

Phoebe looked between Billie and Grams before heaving a heavy sigh full of weariness. Then, she slowly made her way towards Billie but Billie retreated back from her. At her rebuke, Phoebe immediately halted her movement.

"No!" protested Billie. "If this is a problem for you, any of you, I'm just going to leave. Right now. I don't want you to be angry with each other because of me. And I certainly don't want you hating me because I let you down. I'm the one who is a failure. I'm the one that almost got you all killed."

Both Phoebe and Paige began to shake their head in protest to Billie's claims.

"No, sweetie, no! We don't want you to go anywhere. This is all just a bit of a shock right now," Phoebe insisted. She looked around the room, making it a point to stare at Piper, who refused to even look in Billie's direction. "For all of us!"

"Yeah, and we don't feel like you let us down," Paige stressed as she, too, jumped into the discussion. "Do you actually think that?"

Paige really wanted to know. Because as her whitelighter, she was starting to feel really guilty about not spending enough time around her since the whole Ultimate Battle ordeal went down six months ago. At the time, Paige knew it had been rough on Billie living with the fact that she had vanquished her only sister. But she thought she had been helping her by giving her space. Apparently, Billie had misinterpreted that as rejection. Sure, they were upset in the beginning, but they all acknowledged that Billie had done the right thing in the end. After all, if it hadn't been for her, they never would have been able to project back in time to stop Christy, Dumain, and the Triad. Didn't she realize that?

Before Billie had the chance to answer Paige's question, Piper spoke up. And what she had to say, shocked all of them. "I want to see Prue!" she declared. "I want to see her now!"

Billie swallowed and looked to the floor, while Phoebe and Paige turned their attention back to Grams. Grams closed her eyes and nervously shuffled about before replying to her willful granddaughter's request.

"I'm sorry, Piper, but that's just not possible!" she strongly objected while shaking her head.

"Not possible?" she mocked. "It's been five years now, I think she owes it to us and to Billie to orb her own butt down here and do the explaining. So I want to talk to her. Right now!" Piper demanded, refusing to give up.

"Piper, summoning Prue here is not going to give you the answers you're looking for!" Grams protested.

"Maybe not for her, but maybe she can give some to Billie," Paige offered up.

She still remembered the first time she had met her real mother, Patty. It was right here in this very attic after the sisters had summoned her. So she could relate to Billie and how important that might be for her. And to be completely honest, her own heart was pounding at the prospect of meeting her oldest sister for the first time. The sister she had never seen before, except from a few scattered photographs around the house. She then offered Billie a small smile.

Grams turned to look at Billie before she continued. "I'm very sorry, Billie, but I'm afraid you won't find what you're looking for from Prue. At least, not anytime soon," she replied with a touch of remorse in her voice.

A quizzical expression crossed Billie's face as she tried to decipher what those words meant.

"What is that suppose to mean?" argued Piper. "You're making it more complicated than it is. It's simple. Prue orbs her afterlife butt down here, tells Billie why she gave her away, and then disappears again. How hard can that be?"

"Piper?" warned Phoebe. She was actually getting fed up with Piper's rant. A rant that was being directed intentionally at their deceased sister. When she finally got to see Prue in the afterlife, she wanted the moment to be memorable but not filled with animosity or regrets.

"Because it's not simple, Piper!" Penny Halliwell exclaimed. "She doesn't remember anymore than you do!" Penny didn't want to hurt her newly discovered, great granddaughter, but that was the truth. Well, at least as much of the truth as she was allowed to give. God, help me, she thought.

"What do you mean she doesn't remember, Grams?" Phoebe asked anticipating the answer her Grams was most likely about to give. It would be the only answer that made sense.

Penny took one last look at Billie as she sighed and continued.

"It means that I cast a spell to strip her of that particular memory," she explained. "Prue was very depressed when she returned home. I just made it so that she could move on and have a life of her own, that's all. Billie was in good hands, I trusted the Jenkins completely."

While the three sisters were shocked by their grandmother's admission, at the same time, they weren't that surprised. It wouldn't have been the first time their Grams used magic in the name of protecting their so-called Charmed destiny. Billie, on the other hand, had no idea how to feel. However, what shocked everyone was Piper's final response on the matter.

"I'm done!" she exclaimed. She slammed the Book of Shadows, closing it, and made her way to exit the attic.

ooooo

At the magic school, Leo and Dimitri were both deeply engaged in their task at hand. They were both re-categorizing and re-shelving all of the magic books into their proper location.

"This is quite the task," Dimitri commented as he climbed back up the ladder to reach the top shelf. Leo remained at the bottom, handing the books to him one by one.

"Yup. Unfortunately, the demons did a real number on the school," explained Leo.

As a new Elder, Dimitri was curious about what had happened. "So, how did the demons get their hands on the school in the first place?" he inquired. "Wasn't this place suppose to be protected by good magic?"

This conversation was heading into an area that Leo really wanted to avoid. It brought up too many bad memories concerning his son, Wyatt. He had been forced to kill Gideon, a high-ranking Elder, in order to save Wyatt and the future. So, he opted to be as vague as he could on the subject.

"Uh, it was but after the Elder in charge of the school died, it sort of just fell by the way-side. Paige tried to head it for awhile but with the whole charmed destiny thing going on, well, you know?" Leo shrugged his shoulders, hoping that was enough to satisfy the new Elder's curiosity.

"Now, Paige?" inquired Dimitri, as he fumbled with one of the books. "She's one of the Charmed sisters, right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right," answered Leo. He furrowed his brows, wondering where this discussion was suppose to be heading. "Why?"

"Oh, no particular reason. I just heard some talk from other Elders, that's all," he informed Leo.

"About what?"

Leo handed Dimitri some more books he finished organizing. He wished the Elder standing above him would just say what he was getting at so he didn't have to pull the information out of him. Dimitri finished placing the remainder of books on the top shelves and then proceeded to make his way down the ladder. He turned to look at Leo before answering him.

"To tell you the honest truth, I'm not exactly sure what I heard. But I heard her name mentioned along with another one, Prue? I think it was Prue," he concluded, as he took a moment to think about it. "Anyway, the Elders have been on edge about something that happened recently. There's been quite a few meetings over it in the past few days."

The Elder had Leo's full attention.

Prue? Why would the Elders be discussing Prue of all people? She's been dead for over five years. And what did it have to do with Paige?

Suddenly, Leo contemplated whether or not there was anyway that he could use his new Elder status to gain access to one of those meetings. Because whatever concerned his family, concerned him. Plus, he didn't want his wife being placed under any more stress than she needed to be. Not with the new baby coming.

"Well, what happened?" Leo inquired. "What does it have to do with Prue or Paige? Although, I don't see how Prue is relevant to them. She died over five years ago."

"That I don't know because most of the meetings have been delegated to high-ranking Elders only. But what I did over-hear was that they detected a use of magic coming from somewhere they didn't expect. And it highly concerns them. Especially, since it's just recently been discovered that any transmission coming from that source of magic has now been blocked. They can't sense a location anymore."

Damn, thought Leo. So much for getting in on a meeting.

But he was actually pretty perplexed and wondered if any of this might be connected to the demons his wife and her sisters were tracking down. However, just as Leo was about to interrogate the matter a little bit more, Dimitri was called away.

"Sorry, Leo," he replied, after the jingling call penetrated his senses. "Duty calls." Then he orbed away.

ooooo

"Piper, where do you think you're going?" demanded Phoebe, as she turned around to confront her sister.

"Yeah, you can't leave," Paige stressed. "We have demons to vanquish." Then she quickly looked to Billie before adding, "And a sister to find!"

Piper stopped just as she was about to open the door. "No, actually you have demons to find. I don't!" she reiterated, because they didn't appear to get her message the first time. "I quit! I just don't want to do this anymore. Not when it's all been based on lies!"

"Lies? What lies?" Paige debated, feeling at a complete loss as to what Piper was rambling on about. "Our destiny hasn't been a lie! We've saved tons of innocents to prove it!"

"Oh really?" Piper challenged Paige as she made her way back towards her. "Well then, how about we start with our prophecy? You remember, the one that came from our ancestor, Melinda Warren? Because I could have sworn she predicted a future of three sisters. Not four, but three. So let me ask you this, Paige. Where do you fit into all of this if the lies don't start right there, huh?"

Piper turned back around to make her way back to the door, while poor Paige felt like she had just been slapped in the face. Piper had just taken that one, small, hidden insecurity she still harboured of not belonging, and slung it like an arrow straight through her heart. Phoebe witnessed the devastated look cross her sister's face and came to her defense.

"Piper, that's not fair and you know it!" she shouted. "We all know by now that futures aren't set in stone. Look at Wyatt and Chris. Or take my premonitions as another example. We use them to change the outcome of situations all the time. Melinda was shown what she was allowed to see at that time."

"Yeah, well, you know what? Here's another example of the future changing for ya! Me walking out that door for good," Piper mocked as she turned on her heel and left the attic.

Billie stood to the side, feeling completely helpless. The two remaining sisters looked to the other, both feeling completely unnerved about what just went down in the attic. What were they suppose to do now?

Billie shook her head. She felt a gut-wrenching sensation of guilt pass through her. "This is all my fault. That's exactly why I wanted to wait before I showed anybody that stupid letter!" she exclaimed.

Phoebe walked over to Billie and embraced her in a hug. "No, sweetie, none of this is your fault. Please don't think that. Piper's just being Piper. She'll get over it."

"Geez, are you sure about that?" Paige challenged, not feeling to sure about that herself. Paige knew her older sister had a tendency to obsess and then rant so she could get things off her chest. But what if this time there was no going back?

Phoebe sighed. "She better."

Paige covering up over her own hurt feelings, looked to Billie, and chimed in with a light laugh and playful response. "So. Welcome to our dysfunctional family?" Then she started to ramble. "Not that we didn't already consider you a part of it, it's just now it's official and, ah, you know what I mean!" she finished as she flung her shoulders and waved her hand across the air.

The demonstration earned her a small laugh from Billie and Phoebe as it helped to relieve some tension and lighten the mood. Grams, who had remained completely quiet, finally piped in.

"Sorry, girls, but I do have to be getting back."

Phoebe, Paige, and Billie all turned to look at the woman. Before she orbed into an array of bright white lights, Penny materialized into her full form. She stepped forward, reaching out, and pulled Billie into a gentle hug. Although Billie felt awkward about it, she let it happen.

"It's good to have you back," proclaimed Grams. "And be well. All of you!" She said this as she looked to each of them, while stepping backwards. She blew a kiss in their direction and faded away back into the afterlife.

ooooo

Piper stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing the dishes that were used for dinner.

She had just finished feeding all three of the kids and was preparing to settle them down to sleep for the night. It had been a few hours since she had spoken to either of her sisters, or Billie for that matter. She felt completely disgusted with herself for taking her anger out on her sisters. The truth was they had been kept in the dark just like she had. They weren't responsible for keeping these secrets anymore than she had been. As she reflected on everything she had been through in the past eight years, she slammed one of the dishes into the drainer. It broke, slicing her hand in the process.

"Ouch, dammit!" she released, bringing her hand to her mouth. When she turned around to grab a small towel hanging over the handle of the stove, Leo happened to orb into the kitchen.

Leo made his way over to kiss his wife, but she turned away from him. He scrunched up his face in confusion. Was she still mad at him?

"What's the matter?" He took a step closer and noticed the blood seeping through the white towel covering her hand. "Hey, what happened?" he exclaimed softly. Leo reached out for her hand, his concern for her taking over immediately.

Piper sighed in frustration but she didn't pull her hand away. Leo removed the towel and allowed the white light to illuminate from his hand as he healed the deep gash embedded in his wife's palm. After he finished, he looked up into Piper's face trying to read her.

"At least having my powers back offers some type of reward," he tried to joke.

However, Piper didn't find the humor behind it. She turned around and walked away with her back towards him and then proceeded to wash down the kitchen table. Leo could sense that she was extremely agitated over something and made his own assumption as to what it was.

She's still mad at me for not telling her.

"Look, Piper, I'm sorry I waited to tell you. But I knew you wanted to move on with a normal life and I just didn't know how to tell you. This really matters to me because it's given me a sense of purpose again. Something I haven't felt for awhile. But I shouldn't have kept you in the dark about it," he proclaimed.

"No you shouldn't have!" she turned on her husband. He had unintentionally provided her with an opening to vent all her pent up frustration. She balled up the washcloth in her hand, pitched it, and then watched as it hit the wall and fell to the floor.

Leo observed his wife's sudden outburst in surprise.

She wasn't that angry about it, was she?

Then Piper proceeded to verbally vent all those pent up frustrations at her husband. Her voice cracked and her eyes misted over.

"I'm just sick of the lies, Leo. All of them. They're going to get us killed. Do you know how hard I've tried? I've tried so hard these past five years to take Prue's place. I wanted to live up to her and become the big sister she use to be to us. But all for what? To measure up to some standard that probably never existed?"

Leo stood back listening quietly as his wife broke down. She brought her hands up to cover the front of her face while she began sobbing. She cried and pleaded for the answers to things she knew she would never get. Her husband rushed to her side and embraced her in his arms to offer some comfort.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, planting his face in the top of her head. He could smell the sweet after-scent from the shampoo she had used earlier, a scent of strawberries that permeated through her hair. Piper wasn't making any sense to Leo but he allowed her to vent amidst his swaying arms.

"Why did she have to die? I still don't understand what any of this had to do with our destiny. She was always there for me and I trusted her with everything. Why couldn't she trust me back? Both Mom and Grams have taken the time to visit us from the afterlife. It's been five years and where has she been all this time? Not once has she come back to see us or check up on us. I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now. That's not what a big sister is suppose to do. It's not fair, any of it. Not for us and not for Billie."

"Wait, what does Billie have to do with any of this?" Leo prodded gently.

Piper pulled back out of Leo's arms slowly as she used the back of her hands to wipe at her eyes. She let out a small laugh and a sniffle before responding. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're way out of the loop."

"What loop?" asked Leo.

"Oh, well, didn't you hear?" Piper mocked. "Billie's the newest, long-lost Halliwell!"

"What?" Leo declared in surprise. "How is that even possible?" He shook his head.

"It's possible because apparently Prue had a little secret that none of us knew about," she explained, turning around to sit at the kitchen table and bringing her hands back up to cover the front of her face. Only this time it wasn't to cry; it was to sort out all of her rambling thoughts. "I guess she was more like mom than she ever cared to admit," came her muttered reply under her breath.

Leo was speechless but finally realized what had his wife so upset. She had been lied to and more than once. And even worse, the lies came from family members. Protecting family meant everything to Piper; therefore, being lied to by them could prove to be disastrous.

Piper sighed and continued in a calmer tone of voice. "You know, for a long time I got used to pretending that Prue never coming around just didn't bother me. After she died, Grams said we still had this destiny to continue on with and then Paige came along. So I did it. I made myself move forward so we could continue on as the Charmed Ones. I didn't want to feel those emotions I felt when I became a Fury ever again. These past five years I've had no choice but to remain strong because I became the oldest.

Leo nodded in understanding. "Sometimes we do what we need to so we can move on and survive. Phoebe and Paige couldn't have done any of it without you. You've done a great job, Piper. Prue would be proud."

A small, sad smile fell across Piper's lips. "Proud, huh? Well, I really do wish I could share that same sentiment about her right now. It would make things feel alot less confusing and complicated. Part of me right now feels like I never really even knew her. At least, not the way I thought I did. And Billie? I've spent these past six months trying to come to terms with what she did and it's been so hard. I don't hate her but Phoebe certainly has a bigger heart at offering forgiveness than I do. So to be honest, I'm really lost on how I'm suppose to deal with the truth about Billie. I never saw it coming."

Leo sighed and finally took a seat at the table with Piper. "Wow, I don't know what to say except I don't think anybody expected you to see this coming, Piper. There are some things that just fall out of our control. And we deal with them the best way we can when they come our way or when we're forced to be confronted by it."

"Yeah, well, Grams sure had plenty to say," remarked Piper, after listening to her husband's words of wisdom. "One of those things being that she cast a spell and made Prue forget about it. All in the name of protecting our destiny as the Charmed Ones. Which means, even if Prue wanted to confide in us later on, she wouldn't have been able to anyway," she reasoned reluctantly.

Leo remained silent and just continued to listen.

"And what's even worse is that I made a total ass out of myself in front of Billie. She probably thinks that I do hate her but that's not it," she admitted remorsefully.

"Why, what happened?" came Leo's question.

"Uh, well, I basically told Phoebe and Paige that I was done with the Power of Three and that they were on their own. All of them, including Billie. Which means, they've probably run off to the Underworld by themselves to get the demons," she answered.

Piper shook her head feeling like she was the stupidest sister in the world. What older sister or aunt for that matter, because up until now that title was reserved solely for Phoebe and Paige, allows her younger sisters and niece to run off and face demons working for the Triad without the Power of Three to back them up? Leo picked up on Piper's feelings of guilt and then he extended his hand in front of her.

"You know, I meant it when I said my powers could come in handy? All we need is their location and I'll orb you down there to help them," he offered.

Piper looked at his hand and smiled. They both stood up and then she placed her own hand in his as they orbed away.

ooooo

Paige, Phoebe, and Billie all orbed into the Underworld lair. As they looked around, they proceeded with caution. Before them stood a framed door made of metal steel. Ancient markings graced the entire outside perimeter of the door.

"Maybe this was a mistake," suggested Billie, nervously. "Maybe we should have waited for Piper."

"Sweetie, we didn't have time to wait," argued Phoebe. "We need to move on this while we have a location. Who knows when or if they'll change it again. Or if we'll be able to find it!"

"Yeah, just follow the instructions we gave you and we'll all make it out of this alive," added Paige, nodding her head. She handed Phoebe one of the vials she was holding while giving her the secret head-shake. Phoebe nodded in return, communicating back to her sister that she understood.

Phoebe and Paige both took a position on each side of the door while Billie approached it. "This is weird," she muttered while she observed the door standing directly in front of her. "It looks similar to the place they were keeping Christy before."

"Billie!" scolded Paige in a whisper. "Focus!"

"Right! I know, I know," she answered.

Billie took a deep breath, reached for the door knob, and turned it. Yup, locked, she thought. Just like they suspected. Well, duh! Of course it would be locked. Why would it be that easy? She brought her two hands up to the sides of her temple and began to concentrate really hard. She focused on projecting the reality of an unlocked door standing before them. This time when she reached, the door knob twisted and opened.

"Wah-lah!" Billie joked, turning on them with wide eyes and a smile of satisfaction.

"Good," Phoebe encouraged. She and Paige prepared themselves for the their next move.

Billie slowly slid the door open and peeked inside. "Christy?" she called out timidly. When she received no answer, she made her way further inside.

Phoebe and Paige followed closely behind. It was dark, too dark.

"Christy, are you in here?" she attempted a second time. "Please answer me. I need to know that you're okay." But still there was no answer.

Phoebe and Paige looked around nervously.

"Are we sure we have the right place?" Paige hissed back to Phoebe. "Because I don't see any demons anywhere."

They bolted their heads in front of them when they heard a grumbling sound coming from the back-end of the enclosed space. Slowly, all three women approached the back.

"Who's there?" came a groggy, mumbled response from the back.

Billie couldn't make out the voice but it just had to be Christy. She rushed forward in a hurry.

"Billie, wait!" came Phoebe's stern warning.

"Christy ... " Billie started but stopped when she took in the sight before her.

The person lying on the ground was anyone but Christy. Suddenly, the dark cavern lit up with torches providing light where there was once only darkness, startling all three women. The cavern was empty, all except for the one woman lying on the floor. At the same time the torches flamed to life, the door loudly screeched shut. A demonic laugh could be heard from the outside.

Phoebe panicked. "Oh my god, Paige the door!" she hollered.

Paige ran to it but it was locked. She pounded on the door with shouts of hey. Then she tried to orb herself out of the cavern, but was bounced back landing flat on her butt.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed.

Phoebe ran over to her to help her off the ground. "I can not believe we just fell for this!" declared Phoebe. "It was a freaking trap!"

"And this place must be sealed off from using any magic," surmised Paige, while brushing herself off.

"Guys, I think you should come over here!" called Billie.

Billie's voice caught the attention of both sisters who walked over to stand beside her. She was leaning over the unknown woman, trying to make out how bad her injuries were.

"Do you think she's okay?" Billie asked with concern. "I mean, whoever she is."

There, lying on the ground, was a woman clad in a t-shirt and a pair of navy blue jeans. The white shirt and blue jeans were now covered in a dusty mist, no doubt because of the dirty ground floor. She had scratches up and down the sides of her arms. Her long, raven-colored hair covered her face. Suddenly, feeling alarmed by the voices surrounding her, she bolted upright. Her reaction caused Billie and both of the sisters to jump back.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded to know, while backing herself up against the wall, and taking in the three faces standing before her.

When the woman's hair swayed away from her face, it took both Phoebe and Paige a moment to register belief. Paige blinked in rapid succession, shut her eyes tightly, and then reopened them only to come face to face with who she now knew she was staring at. But it was impossible. How could this be?

Phoebe stared. She couldn't move, she was absolutely frozen in place. Her blood ran cold and her heart continued to beat in a rapid pattern. Then without warning, she fainted, passing out on the ground floor. Paige rushed to her aid while the woman stood back in the shadows, a widespread look of confusion crossing her features at the scene before her.

It was Prue.

To Be Continued ... Okay, I got this chapter done a little bit sooner than I had anticipated. Initially, I had other plans in mind for the ending but this just seemed to fit way better. And don't worry, there will be a slight explanation to show how Prue came to be where she is. Darryl will still have a small role before he starts to fade out of the story and it's Piper to the rescue after she learns the big secret. lol ... So stay tuned.