A Few Simple Rules to Being a Father

A/N: Updating this. Uhuh. Only reason I'm here actually. I'm on a major updating frenzy. Updating all my other fics as well!

Ally, I'm glad you're hyped! Well, I'm not sure if you're hyped about the story or because of the iced mocha. Either way, still glad you are hyped. Lol. And I'm pretty unpredictable, cliff-hangers or not. So, here's the next chapter, just for you. Ok, not really but the reason I updated this is partly because of you! At least! Thank you for reading and reviewing mate!

Mony19, Now you scare me with the fact that if I did pair Prue and Andy up that you'll attack me or something! Lol. Call me stupid but you know, I fear my safety too. As for Victor not causing drama??? Hm...Dunno about that. I'll leave you to read to find out.

PhoebeColeForver, No offence taken. Hey, you're human entitled to their opinion right? At least its good. Hehe! If you'll stop reading then I understnad but you'll be missing one hell of a story. And than you for stating your opinion hon! Salute!

To everyone else, Charmedbaby11, Afw, Charmedchick34 and to all those unknown readers, thanks guys!! Now I shall leave you in peace! Hai!

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…Previously

"I never ever met anyone named-" Piper suddenly halted, Prue nearly bumped into her.

"Piper, are you alright?" Prue asked, rubbing her shoulder. She looked to the spot where Piper gazed at and saw a man staring right back at them.

"Oh my god…" Phoebe said. Her mouth was slightly open.

Victor smiled a weak smile. "Phoebe, Piper."

"He knows you?" Paige was confused now. "I thought you didn't know anyone named 'Victor'?"

"That's because we don't call him 'Victor'." Piper finally said, still not taking her eyes away from the man.

Phoebe gulped. "We call him 'dad'."

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"I-I think I need to sit." Piper said faintly. She took a seat on the sofa, Phoebe and Paige sat next to her. Prue on the other hand stayed in her place, only placing down her cup on the table.

All eyes were on Victor.

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here." He said.

"What are you doing here?" Piper said in a harsh voice making her father wince slightly.

"Can't a father visit his children?"

There was a moment of silence before Piper retorted angrily. "No dad, a father can't visit his kids when he's been gone for who knows how many godamn years and he can't visit them when he doesn't even know what they went through in life, what they've been through, what they're going through and specially not when he abandoned them. No, they shouldn't get that privilege." Piper ended painfully.

"Piper, maybe we should-" Phoebe said in a hushed voice but was cut off immediately.

"No Phoebe!" Piper got up as tears started to form in her eyes. "I am not going to forgive someone that easily when that someone didn't fulfill his role in life which was to be there for us! But was he there!?" She pointed at her father.

"You have to understand that it wasn't my choice to leave you!" Victor desperately explained.

Piper raised a hand and closed her eyes briefly. "I don't want to hear it. Just don't." Piper then left the room.

Phoebe got up and looked at her father. "She's hurt by what you did and so am I. If you expect some sympathy from us then you're wrong." Phoebe glared at him then hurried after her sister.

"I'll go talk to them." Paige said, more to Prue then Victor. With a wan smile, she left the room as well.

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Piper stormed into her room, closely followed by her sister, Phoebe.

"Piper!"

Piper twirled around to meet Phoebe with a murderous glare. "He can't just walk back in here like that!"

The door opened, fueling Piper's anger even more.

"Get out!" Piper thundered but regretted almost immediately when Paige stepped in, crouching as if she were afraid she would get hit. She made a move to get out but Phoebe stopped her.

"No, stay." Phoebe told her gently. She returned her attention to Piper. "Do you think running away from him will solve anything?"

"Hell, I know it's better than facing him." Piper ran a hand through her hair. "Why are you protecting him Phoebe? He left you too, remember?"

"I'm not protecting him." Phoebe explained. "Piper, he's our father! Yes, I am angry at him for what he did but maybe we should let him explain himself."

"Well, I don't want to hear what he has to say."

"Come on Piper." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "This is childish!"

"Childish?" Piper stepped forward. "Don't talk to me about being childish when you yourself are childish!"

"Don't drag me into your problem!" Phoebe shouted.

"That's the thing with you! You act like you're a mediator and expect not to be in the problem when in truth, you are the problem Phoebe!"

"You guys, stop it." Paige said quietly.

Phoebe let out a cynical laugh. "Well, at least I don't run away like you do, like a coward."

"You guys…" Paige said a little bit louder this time but they still ignored her.

"Don't call me a coward." Piper said through gritted teeth. "Don't."

"Why?!" Phoebe asked. "Does it have a connection to your lame life in high school!?"

"Why you-!" Piper made a move to attack Phoebe but Paige jumped between them.

"THAT IS IT!" Paige screamed out as she pushed Piper and Phoebe away from each other. They both looked at her, stunned. "Stop it! Just stop it!" Paige looked from one to the other. "God, what the hell is wrong with you guys? Fighting won't solve anything!"

"It'll make me feel way better." Phoebe growled.

Piper ignored Phoebe. "He's not your father, Paige. You don't know how it felt to be abandoned." She snapped.

"You're right." Paige said in an equally forceful voice. "I don't know how it feels but I do know one thing; you are lucky you still have a father who actually came back."

"We would be luckier if he didn't come here today." Piper said haughtily. "I can't believe he even has the nerve to show his face around here!"

Paige looked at Piper with a disbelieving face. "You know, I'm done with being little miss 'levelheaded' here." Paige stressed on the word 'levelheaded'. "You're an idiot Piper."

Piper stared at Paige. "What?"

"Yeah," Paige spat. "You're an idiot. You spend all this time bashing and complaining about your father and for what? What exactly is it going to do? Make you feel better? Well, wake up Piper! The past is the past and as much as all of us would love to, you can't change it! So stop living like we are in the past!" Paige licked her lips. "You are very very fortunate you have a dad. You lost him a long time ago but he's back. For some of us, they'll never come back. If I were you, I'd take that chance to listen to what he's got to say." Paige ended.

They both glared at one another then Piper's eyes softened. She hesitated then said calmly, "You're right." She turned to Phoebe who had calmed down considerable. "I'm sorry Phoebe; I didn't mean any of those things. I was just-"

"Angry?" Phoebe finished. Piper nodded. "You're not the only one."

"I think…I'm angrier at myself more than I am at him." Piper took a seat on her bed, resting her chin on her hands. "If I could have stopped him then maybe it wouldn't have come down to this…"

"Piper," Phoebe said firmly. She kneeled down in front of her older sister and took her hands into hers. Paige stood back as she watched the scene unfold. "This is not your fault. Maybe if I had stopped him-"

"No Phoebe."

"Exactly." Phoebe smiled. "It means it's not your fault either. Listen to me, we were both young. We were kids then. We wouldn't have had the power to stop him, no matter what."

Piper smiled and stood up, helping Phoebe up as well. They smiled at each other for a second before wrapping one another in a tight embrace. "I love you." Piper muttered.

"Aw sweetie, me too." Phoebe said as they broke apart.

Piper looked up at her other sister. "Paige?"

Paige straightened. "Yeah?"

"..."

"You're welcome."

Piper frowned. "I was going to ask for a hug." She said cheekily.

Paige stepped forward. "Screw you guys." She said lightheartedly.

"Right back at you." Phoebe winked while Paige rolled her eyes.

"You guys are weird." Paige commented as they all hugged each other in a tight 'group hug'. "Loveable and weird." She murmured, closing her eyes as she savored the moment just being with her sisters.

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The only people left downstairs were Prue, who was still awkwardly standing and Victor who had taken a seat. He gave her a careful look.

"I don't think I introduced myself." He said calmly. "I'm Victor Bennett." He looked at her expectantly. "And you are?"

"Uhh…" Prue shuffled her feet. "I'm Prue. Prue Hennessey."

Victor did a double-take. "You're…You're-"

"I'm you're daughter who you gave up for adoption, yeah that's me..." Prue finished.

Victor looked surprised and he managed to ramble out, "You do know that we weren't willing to give you up."

"You had your reasons. I get it." Prue said evenly, showing she understood. She took a seat on the recently occupied but now vacant sofa. It was weird for her to be sitting in the same room with her biological father. "Did you…did you ever think of me?"

Victor smiled softly. "I always thought of you."

"And mom?" Prue asked, fiddling with her fingers. "Did she ever?"

"You were our first daughter." Victor said, sitting up. "Our first child. She never stopped thinking of you." He paused. "I always knew you'd find your way back to us."

"I promised myself I'd find my family." Prue said solemnly. "I held myself to that but don't think that what you and mom did didn't hurt."

Victor winced. "We didn't mean it that way…"

"Uhuh. Just like you didn't mean to leave Piper and Phoebe, just like you didn't mean to hurt them, just like you didn't mean to hurt me, just like you didn't mean anything at all. Where you expecting to come back here to find that everything is alright?"

"I wasn't expecting anything. I wasn't expecting sympathy either."

Prue heaved a sigh. "I'm not trying to be harsh, it's just I don't know you and I have the right to be protective of my sisters."

Victor gave Prue a thoughtful look. "In that case, I'd like to get to know you better..."

Prue flashed a smile. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."

Victor returned the smile then on instincts, looked up. Prue followed his gaze and found that Phoebe, Piper and Paige had all returned.

"We hope we're not disturbing anything." Phoebe said.

Prue quickly shook her head. "No. We were just…acquainting each other."

Piper looked incredulously. "He knows that-"

"You three are sisters." Victor nodded.

They all then stood there, no one speaking but instead just staring around trying to avoid eye contact.

Finally fed up, Phoebe stepped on Piper's foot.

"Oww!" Piper jerked her foot upward. She glared at Phoebe. "What the hell was that for?!"

"I didn't mean to step on you that hard! Sorry!" Phoebe apologized. "You know, maybe you should talk…" She looked at her pointedly.

"Next time, blow a horn in my ear why don't you?" Piper snapped.

Paige grinned. "I got one in my room. Should I get it?" Piper turned her glare on her. Paige quickly got rid of the grin. "Ok, not funny…I'll shut up now."

"Talk about what?" Prue said, trying to bring the topic back around.

"Piper?" Phoebe said.

"Alright, alright already." Piper said moodily. She gritted her teeth. "Why dad left us…Maybe you should explain." She looked at her father. "You owe us that much."

"Maybe you should sit first." Victor said.

"Ok." Phoebe said and quickly sat next to Prue, scooting over as Piper sat next to her as well. Paige took her place, sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"Shoot." Prue said, waiting for him to begin.

"Where do I start?" Victor quietly said to himself.

"How about from the beginning?" Piper suggested.

Heeding her words, Victor began his story. "The beginning…You must first understand that there are going to be things that you won't understand in this. As much as I'd love to explain it to you, as much as I would, I can't. For now. Everything has its time but for that, its not today." He paused then he continued on. For the next few minutes, he launched into his explanation of why he had left Phoebe and Piper, how much it pained him and how their grandmother never liked him.

What he could talk about, he explained to them in full detail but the rest was not. As he had said, there were many holes in his story but no one questioned him.

"….And that's why left." He concluded, looking around. "Believe me, I never wanted to. Does it answer any of your questions?" He asked nervously.

"Some." Piper said truthfully. "But not all. Phoebe?"

"Same."

"But for now…" Piper faltered. Admittedly, she had missed her father. "It'll have to do."

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

Piper looked at Paige and smiled. She then mysteriously proceeded to say, "A wise person once told me, that the past is the past and as much as we'd all love to change it, we can't. I guess we just have to look to the future."

Paige straightened, feeling proud of herself.

"But dad, in order for this to work out, we need rules." Piper said.

"Ditto." Phoebe smiled. "Rules sound good."

"One; you'll love us no matter what." Piper stated. She had no idea why she had said that, be it felt right.

"Two!" Phoebe quipped, showing two fingers. "Family always comes on top. No excuses."

"Three," Prue said quietly. They all looked at Prue who had stayed quite the entire time. "Jus being a father is good for me."

Victor nodded. "Of course-"

"We're not finished yet." Prue cut. Slowly, she gestured to Paige. "This is Paige Matthews and she's our half-sister but it doesn't matter because she's still family to us. Would you like to add anything Paige?"

Paige sighed and awkwardly looked at her feet as Victor was staring at her in pure amazement. Paige thought long and hard. Finally, she spoke. "You'll never leave us, no matter what; you'll always be by our side. Or, you'll never leave Piper, Phoebe and Prue…" She shut her mouth.

"Paige," Phoebe warned. "You know you'll be family and we'll include you in everything!"

"Phoebe's right." Piper said. She patted Paige's thigh. "You're our sister."

Victor looked at Paige closely. "Paige," Paige looked up. "I know I'm not your father and you're not my daughter but you are their sister which means you're family."

Paige nodded like a little child. "It's just…I'm half."

"Don't say that." Prue said firmly. "The position of being a half-sister is non-existent. Half or not, you're still our sister, Paige."

Paige smiled. "Aw, shucks. I'm blushing." She joked. "Thanks guys and…Victor."

"Which brings us back to the subject yet again." Piper said. She faced her father. "Can you cope with the rules dad?"

"Anything for my daughters."

The four girls sat there and looked at each other and slowly but surely, smiles lit up their faces and they all nodded, taking Victor's words to the heart.

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A/N: Did you like it? Not the best but it isn't that bad. Ok, so, won't be updating till mid-Janurary, after I've moved and settled.( I move tomorrow. Sob) I'll be back then to update!! So, I'll say it now! Advanced Merry Christmas and Hanukkah everyone!! Have a wonderful one!

Ciao!