Piper smiled as she watched Prue and Abby playing in the water. Thought it was early May, the temperature had soared into the high nineties and heavy, humid air had settled over the city. Anxious to get out of the house, Prue had suggested taking Abby to the beach. Piper and Phoebe agreed and packed the beach bags and cooler while Prue took Abby to the store to get her a bathing suit.

The water was still cold, but it was just warm enough for Prue to go in up to her ankles. Abby was trying to get her further in, splashing her and doing cartwheels right at her side. Piper giggled as Abby took a running start, did a cartwheel, and fell down, splashing Prue with a spray of water. Prue laughed and kicked water at Abby to get her back. "Look how much fun she's having," Piper said softly, nudging her sister, who was lying on her stomach, reading.

Phoebe looked up from her book and smiled. "Which one, Prue or Abby?"

Piper stared straight ahead, watching her sister walk further into the water to appease Abby. She stopped when the water reached her knees. "Both of them. I think Abby's just as good for Prue as Prue is for Abby."

"I think you're right," Phoebe said quietly. She sat up and adjusted her towel. Then she set her book down next to her and hugged her knees to her chest. "I don't think I've ever seen her this happy."

Piper nodded and placed her hands behind her, leaning back on them. She straightened her towel with her heels as a soft breeze kicked up and blew her hair in her face. She sighed, shook her hair out of her eyes, and turned her attention back to Abby and Prue. Abby was tugging Prue's hand in a futile attempt to get her all the way into the water. "Come on, Prue," she heard Abby whine. "It's not that cold. You get used to it real fast."

Prue shook her head and stood her ground. Abby gripped Prue's other hand and started walking backwards, pulling Prue little by little into the water. Suddenly, Prue lost her footing in the soft sand and fell down, taking Abby with her. Prue started laughing, jumping up quickly as the icy chill of the water hit her, and splashed Abby. Piper giggled at the two of them. "I don't think I've seen her this happy, either."

Abby and Prue played in the water until the wind suddenly changed and a cool breeze came in off the ocean. The girls scrambled out of the water and ran back to Piper and Phoebe, dripping wet and teeth chattering. Prue grabbed an unused towel and tossed it to Abby before taking the last one for herself. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders and rubbed her hands over her arms to try to warm herself. "Good God, that was cold!" She settled herself into the lounge chair and closed her eyes.

"It wasn't that bad," Abby said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, that's why your lips are purple," Piper teased.

Abby giggled, covering her mouth. "They are not!" she exclaimed, her voice muffled by her hand.

"Yes, they are," Phoebe laughed.

Abby grinned, laid her towel out and grabbed an empty cup. She sat down on the very edge of the towel and began filling the cup with damp sand, packing it tightly. "What are you doing?" Piper asked as she watched Abby shovel another handful of the heavy sand into the cup.

"Making a sand castle," she answered as she tipped the cup over and held it in place for a moment. Then she tapped the bottom of the cup and lifted it slowly away from the sand. A small mound of dirt in the shape of the cup stood in its place. "Ehh, it's a little dry. I'll be right back."

She ran down to the water, cup in hand, and filled it with water. As she was coming back, Piper nudged Prue. "She's good for us, Prue."

Prue opened her eyes and glanced over at Piper, eyeing her carefully. "What do you mean?"

"She's giving us a taste of motherhood," Piper shrugged. "And you know what? I like it."

"I like it, too," Prue said softly. "Piper, she means so much to me, and I can't figure out why. I mean, yeah, she's a great kid, I'm scared for her and everything, but I feel . . . I don't know, I feel like she was meant to be with us."

"Maybe she was," Piper said with another shrug. "Destiny always gets what it wants, remember?"

Prue smiled as Abby came back up to the three of them. She plopped down in the sand, dipped her hand into the cup of water, and dribbled it onto the mound. Suddenly, she put the cup down and stared straight ahead thoughtfully. She seemed a little confused, but mostly like she was trying to remember something. The sisters all exchanged a concerned glance, but it was Prue who spoke up. "Abby? What's wrong?"

"We went to the beach," she said, her voice barely audible. "We were at Nantasket Beach, just me and my mom. Then, Peter came and my mom asked me to throw something away for her. The barrel was like, right there and on my way back, I heard Peter say that my mom was going to pay for what she did to him. He said that he'd take the one thing she loved more than anything away from her, and then my mom ran over, picked me up, and took me home. I remember that she was almost crying." She looked up at Prue, tears in her eyes. "What was he talking about?"

The sisters exchanged a confused glance, each asking the other the same question. "I don't know, sweetie," Piper answered, "but I promise we'll figure it out."

Abby nodded and climbed into Prue's lap. Prue didn't even care that Abby was getting sand all over her and the lounge chair. Instead, she began playing with the little girl's hair, pulling it back into a long ponytail. "We can go home if you want."

She shook her head and turned around, looking Prue in the eye. "No, that's okay."

"Do you want to go anywhere else?"

Mischief flashed in Abby's eyes and she grinned. "Back in the water!" She jumped up and grabbed Prue's hands, pulling her off the lounge. "Come on!"

"I was just warming up!" Prue whined as she followed Abby back down to the water.

Phoebe laughed, shaking her head, then turned to Piper, her face turning serious. "What do you think Peter could have been talking about?"

"Your guess was as good as mine," Piper said with a shrug. She gazed out at Prue and Abby, smiling at how carefree Abby was making Prue, then sighed. "Maybe he was talking about Abby."

"But if Abby really was the one thing her mother loved more than anything," Phoebe countered, "why didn't she report her missing?"

Piper sighed again. "Yeah, that's a very good question. One I wish I had the answer to."

**********

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Prue," Andy said with a sigh. "We've run her name through missing persons, we've run her fingerprints through the computers, and we've come up with nothing. By police standards, Abby isn't missing."

Prue ran her fingers through her hair and flopped down on the couch with an irritated groan. The more Abby remembered, the more certain Prue became that Peter had taken Abby from her mother. The only wall she kept running into was the fact that Abby wasn't listed in any of the police databases. And she had to admit, it was a pretty big wall. She shook her head, giving up trying to figure it out. "Well, Andy, if you were the one here when she remembers these things, what would you think?"

"I'd think the exact same thing you're thinking," he admitted, "but there's no evidence she was kidnapped."

"But she's remembering--"

"No hard evidence," he clarified, sitting down on the couch next to Prue. "We've got the word of a seven-year-old against the fact that no one seems to be making an effort to find her. Plus, she's remembering stuff that happened when she was what, three at most? It's hardly reliable."

Prue sighed heavily. She couldn't understand why it seemed that no one wanted Abby. She was such a good, sweet little kid, quiet and polite. The little girl was also one of the strongest people Prue had ever met. She knew that she didn't have a permanent home at the moment, but she wasn't letting that knowledge get her down. She seemed to be having a good time with the sisters, which to Prue was all the more reason for her to stay with them for good. "Well, did you try looking for her mother?"

"I called the Massachusetts State Police and they couldn't find any record of a Carol Lancaster, at least our Carol Lancaster, living in the state," he said hesitantly.

"Well, maybe she moved!" Prue exclaimed. "Is there some way to--"

"Prue, I can't call every state police department in the country." He stopped to push Prue's hair back behind her ear so he could see her face clearly. "I know you want to help her, but there's only so much we can do."

Prue put both hands to her head and began massaging her temples to stop the headache that was starting to form. She was meant to help Abby, she knew it. Why else would she have found the little girl? Maybe that's what her dizzy spell in the mall was for. Maybe it was a way to delay the sisters just long enough for Peter to leave Abby in the science store. Maybe it was a way to ensure that the sisters were in the store when Abby discovered that Peter was gone. "Andy, this little girl has nobody--"

"I know that," he said gently. "And I know she means a lot to you, but you can't help everybody. Sometimes kids like Abby fall through the cracks and it's not fair, but it's just the way it has to be." Prue sighed and closed her eyes. Andy could tell that she was trying not to cry. While most of the tears were from sheer frustration, he knew that Prue felt horrible for Abby and even more horrible that she was failing the little girl. "Where is she?" he asked, hoping that a slight change in conversation would cheer Prue up a bit.

"Piper and Phoebe took her for ice cream sundaes," she said with a small shrug. "They knew I wanted to talk to you alone." She looked over into Andy's eyes, searching his face for any sign that he was withholding information from her. This couldn't be the end of the road; it just couldn't. She had promised Abby that they'd help her, and the little girl had been through too much already to have someone disappoint her yet again. "This is ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "I'm a witch, for Chrissake! I have powers beyond human comprehension. There has to be something I can do."

Suddenly, she jumped up and headed for the stairs with a determined expression on her face. "Prue, where are you going?" Andy asked, trying to mask his exasperated tone.

"To check the Book of Shadows," she called over her shoulder. "I'm going to find her mother if it kills me."