Chapter Ten
Mady rolled onto her back and stretched her arms high above her head, attempting to wake herself. After a few minutes of fighting the desire to fall back asleep, Mady rolled from the bed and headed out into the hallway. She knew that by this time in the morning, all three other occupants of the house would be up and she would be the last to join them, wherever she happened to find them.
"Oh, there you are." Mady looked up into her Aunt Piper's chocolate colored eyes and smiled slightly.
"Hi Aunt Piper." Mady mumbled, her voice still edged with exhaustion.
"Your mom sent me to check on you." Piper sounded nervous and Mady nodded her head. Falling back into the usual routine of morning back home, Mady fell against Piper, hugging her. "What's this for?" Piper asked, returning the hug and even placing a kiss on her niece's forehead.
"Just 'cause." Mady replied yawning and Piper chuckled slightly.
"Come on, let's get you downstairs." Then that was it, Piper pulled away from Mady and directed her downstairs. Mady understood why too and wasn't going to point that out.
The second Mady saw Prue, reclined on the couch and watching some boring soap opera with Phoebe, Mady was right there. Mady fell on top of Prue and snuggled tightly against her, looking for some warmth and really wanting to fall back asleep. "Good morning to you too." Prue said, wrapping her arms around Mady and kissing her on the top of her head.
Mady mumbled something that no one could understand and Prue sighed. "You're still sleepy." Prue stated, Mady nodded her head and yawned. "Then why did you get up?" Mady shrugged her shoulders and Prue chuckled.
"You want to eat before you take a nap?" Mady shook her head and Prue looked at her sisters.
"Phoebe and I need to go grocery shopping anyway." Piper said pulling Phoebe to her feet.
"Yeah, but we are going to be back later and we'll go crazy." Phoebe said, all to loudly for the already half asleep Mady, scaring her as she fell on top of her and gave her a hug and peppered her face with kisses.
"Mom." Mady whimpered, trying unsuccessfully to pull away from Phoebe.
"Pheebes, leave her alone." Prue commanded wrapping her arms tighter around Mady. Mady smiled contentedly and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, Mady heard the front door close and the house fell silent.
"You're dead set against letting me do anything today, aren't you?" Prue asked softly, rubbing Mady's back as she quickly started to drift off. "What if I have things I need to do though?"
Mady mumbled a reply and Prue chuckled. "I'm going to take that as a I don't care, you're stuck." Mady nodded her head and slipped completely to sleep.
A little while later, Prue carefully untangled herself from Mady and covered her with a blanket. It would only be a matter of time before her sisters got home and they needed to work on how to get Mady home. Mady moaned in her sleep and Prue paused, ready to pull her into a hug if she was having a nightmare. Mady only rolled onto her side and stayed soundly asleep. Prue kissed her lightly on her temple and headed upstairs to grab the book.
Prue settled at the coffee table, extending her legs before her and flipping the cover open. She glanced up at Mady, not sure if she was ready to send her home. But that didn't matter, Mady needed to go home, no matter how hard it would be for the both of them. Prue released a sigh and turned back to her research.
"Prue, we're home!" Prue looked up ten minutes later as Piper and Phoebe came through the door.
"Be quiet!" Prue chastised as they appeared in the living room. Phoebe and Piper nodded their heads and fell into there own respectively empty seats. "So what are you up to?" Phoebe asked softly, watching her niece's slumbering from.
"I've been working on a spell to send her home."
"Oh, do we have to send her back now?" Piper chuckled slightly, knowing there was more to Phoebe's question then what she was saying.
"She's to smart to tell you anything about your future." Piper stated, Phoebe glared at her and both Prue and Piper chuckled.
"Everything that we've been told has been by accident Phoebe and you know that Piper's right." Prue counteracted and Phoebe stuck her tongue out at here sisters.
"You two are mean."
"No, we're just right."
"Yeah and it sucks."
"Either way, I need your help in the attic Phoebe, can you stay down here and watch her?"
"I don't know Prue."
"Piper, she's the same little girl that you watch for me all the time; she's just a few years older."
"Fine." Piper grumbled, snuggling down in the chair and watching her sisters go. When they were gone, Piper turned and studied Mady's peaceful face. She was terrified by the fact that sometime within the next eight years, her sisters little girl would eventually become almost her own.
Piper turned away as Mady stirred in her sleep and settled back down again. Piper sighed and slipped from the armchair, where she had been sitting and settled next to Mady on the couch. Carefully, Piper brushed Mady's long bangs from her face and made a mental note to make sure that they got trimmed when she got home. Mady stirred under the attention again.
"Five more minutes, please?" Mady whimpered snuggling tighter against the back of the couch.
"Of course Sweetie, you can sleep as long as you want." Piper assured her, Mady nodded her head in agreement and sighed. "Sleep as long as you want."
Piper kept smoothing Mady's hair, unsure of what else to do. After a few minutes of this, Piper believed that Mady was asleep, but she rolled over suddenly and looked up at Piper. "What's up Sweetie?" Piper questioned as Mady forced herself into a sitting position and looked around.
"Nothing, I'm just…." Mady seemed at a loss for words and looked at Piper, for reassurance, an explanation, something. "I don't know." Mady admitted, running her fingers through her hair and sighing.
"Come on Sweetie, let's get you some food and maybe then you can get your brain going again." Mady smiled slightly and allowed Piper to pull her to her feet. "Waffles still your favorite?"
Mady chuckled and smiled. "Only your waffles though." Piper smiled and wrapped her arm around Mady's shoulders.
"You'll have to broaden your horizons sometime, you know that don't you."
"You keep saying that, but do nothing to enforce it."
"What are you saying?" Mady looked at Piper, her eyebrows creasing in a thoughtful look and Piper wasn't sure that she liked where this was going.
"There are certain things in the future, certain things you say, you mean and other, not so much. You try and…and…it's hard to explain." Piper nodded her head and wasn't really sure that she really wanted Mady to explain the whole thing.
"Don't worry about it Sweetie, let's just get some food down you and then go see what your Mom and Phoebe are up to." Mady nodded her head in agreement and settled into a chair as they entered the kitchen.
Piper fell silent as she started digging for ingredients and mixing them together. Mady knew every ingredient by heart and just how to mix them together and make them perfectly smooth, but she was still trying to figure how to cook them exactly. She had yet to actually cook an edible waffle.
"Here you go Sweetie." Piper set a full plate and large glass of orange juice and settled next to her. Mady instantly attacked the food with the ferocity of a bear barely awakened from hibernation. Piper wondered if she would be safer in another room, but decided to stick around anyway. She wanted to talk to Mady.
When Mady finished eating and leaned back against the chair, Piper decided that there was no time like the present to ask. "Do I do a good job, raising you in the future?" Piper asked softly, Mady turned her head and looked to her aunt.
"Of course you do Aunt Piper, I don't know what I would do without you half the time. You've held me together since Mom died."
"That may be, but I never helped you through it."
"Only because I wouldn't let you." Mady didn't know what else to do, she laid across the gap between her chairs and laid her head in Piper's lap. "You've tired everything to get me to open up, but I'm stubborn and it hasn't worked as well as you liked." Piper smiled slightly and started to play with Mady's hair.
"So I'm not a failure?"
"Anything but Aunt Piper." Piper smiled again and thought for a few seconds, still playing with Mady's hair.
"What do I need to do to help you through?" Mady sighed and rolled over to look up at Piper.
"I really don't know Aunt Piper, I'm still trying to figure stuff out myself."
"You can't figure it out all by yourself."
"I know, but that doesn't mean that I can't try."
"Well I think that I might be butting in on your thoughts more often, helping you figure things out as much as I possibly can."
"I guess that's what I get, right?"
"Always." Piper replied leaning down and kissing Mady on her forehead.