Prue slowly became aware of the phone ringing. At first, she tried to
ignore the shrill sound, but after it rang a couple more times, she groaned
and rolled over, reaching across Abby to pick up the phone. As soon as she
placed her hand on the receiver, the phone stopped ringing. She groaned
again, annoyed at being awakened for no reason, then pulled her hand away
and tried to go back to sleep. If it's really important, they'll call back,
she thought as she tucked her hands under the pillows.
She was just drifting off when the phone started ringing again. She jumped about a mile, startled, and grabbed the phone off the hook. "Hello?" she answered, her voice groggy and hoarse.
"Hey, Prue? It's Andy," he said, adding his name a little unnecessarily. "Were you sleeping?"
"No," she said, clearing her throat. She opened her eyes, glancing over at the clock, and saw that it was a little after seven-thirty. She groaned quietly and sat up, running her fingers through her hair. "Of course not. What's going on?"
He chuckled and she could tell, even over the phone, that he was shaking his head at her. "Well, on a hunch, I ran Abby's name through missing persons again and this time, I got a hit. A report out of this little town in Massachusetts called Abington from four years ago. You wouldn't happen to know why I could find it this morning, but I haven't been able to find it the past couple of days, would you?"
She was suddenly wide awake. "What?" she exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice quiet. "You really found her missing persons report?"
"Yes," he said, laughing at her excitement. "I'm looking at it as we speak. But seriously, people are going to wonder why a four-year-old report wasn't in the computer yesterday but it is today."
"Uhh," she hesitated. How could she put this concisely? "It's a long story involving a vengeful demon and a magical shield. Do you think you could convince everyone that it was a computer glitch or a clerical error or something?"
"Why does everything have to be so difficult with you?" he said with a sigh. He sounded exasperated, but she could hear the small hint of a smile in his voice. "Sure, I'll do what I can. We're running her mother's name through the national census database now. With any luck, we'll find her in a few hours. I'll let you go so you can tell her the good news."
"Great! Thanks, Andy. Thanks a bunch. Bye." She hung up the phone and looked down at Abby. The little girl was still fast asleep, completely undisturbed by the phone conversation. It appeared, though, that Abby's sleep had been restless at one point. The sheets were wrapped around her legs and Amethyst was lying face first on the floor beside the bed. Prue smiled sympathetically, then shook Abby's shoulder, gently rousing her. "Hey, Abby. Wake up, sweetie."
Abby turned over with a quiet moan, her eyelids fluttering open. "Hi, Prue," she murmured.
"Morning, sweetie," Prue said, brushing the girl's hair out of her face. "Guess what. Andy called. He found your missing persons report. You know what that means?"
Abby sat up, smiling almost hesitantly. "The spell worked?"
Prue nodded, grinning. "But you know what else that means?" Abby shook her head, her face marked with confusion. "It means your mom never stopped loving you. She's been looking for you all this time because she never stopped loving you."
Abby's eyes filled with tears as she grinned and wrapped her arms around Prue's neck. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! They couldn't have found it without you!" She squeezed harder, her voice growing softer, more serious. "I love you."
Prue squeezed the girl back, touched by her admission. "I love you, too, sweetie," she said softly. "I love you, too."
She meant it, too. It was hard to believe that she had only known the girl for five days. It felt like Abby belonged with them, that Abby was meant to grow up in the Manor. She couldn't imagine her life without the little girl running around the house. But now, here she was, faced with the very real possibility of having to give the girl up. Tears jumped into her eyes and she let Abby go to swipe them away.
"What's the matter, Prue?" Abby asked, confusion on her face again.
"Nothing, sweetie," Prue said with a smile. "Come on. Let's go wake up Piper and Phoebe and tell them the good news."
"Great!" Abby exclaimed. She climbed out of bed and ran for the door. She whipped the door open and ran down the hall to Piper's room. "Piper, Piper!" she exclaimed again as she opened Piper's door and jumped onto her bed, waking Piper out of a dead sleep.
Piper groaned and pulled the covers over her head, trying to ignore the bouncing. "It's too early, go away."
Prue giggled as Abby ripped the covers from Piper's head and shook her shoulder persistently. "Piper, guess what, guess what! Andy's going to find my mom!"
Piper sat up, grinning, and cast a glance over at Prue. "Really?"
Prue nodded somewhat sadly. Piper wrapped Abby in a congratulatory hug. "This calls for a special breakfast. How about chocolate chip pancakes?"
"Works for me!" Abby exclaimed, jumping off the bed. "I'm going to go wake up Phoebe!"
The sisters giggled as Abby ran from the room and headed down the hall. Once the girl was out of earshot, Piper climbed out of bed and walked up to Prue, resting her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You going to be all right?"
"Yeah," Prue shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be all right?" She tried to smile, but she knew that Piper could see through her facade. They both knew that she wasn't going to be all right.
**********
Abby looked over at Prue after she finished her turn. She and the sisters had been playing a game of Monopoly for a couple of hours, but Prue hadn't been paying much attention. Every time Abby looked over at her, she seemed to be totally lost in thought. Abby gently nudged her. "Prue, it's your turn."
Prue gasped, shaking herself out of her reverie. "What? Oh, sorry." She picked up the dice, rolled, and moved her token the seven spaces she was supposed to. Her pawn landed on Reading Railroad. "Keep the money from Go and give me the deed for the railroad, please," she instructed Piper, who was the banker.
Piper, Phoebe, and Abby all exchanged a concerned glance, but Piper wordlessly did as she was told. Prue accepted the deed with a smile, then sat back against the chair, her mind drifting elsewhere again.
Abby looked down at her own deeds, wondering what was wrong with Prue. As far as Abby knew, she hadn't done anything to make anyone mad. Plus, Prue didn't really seem like she was mad. It was more like she was sad. She opened her mouth to ask Prue what was wrong, then closed it, changing her mind. Instead, she silently watched Piper and Phoebe roll, took her own turn, then nudged Prue again.
Prue started and silently took her turn. Piper smiled, trying to cheer the room up. "Hey, guys, why don't we call it a draw? I know Monopoly gets boring after a while."
"Fine with me," Phoebe answered. "Who's up for ice cream sundaes? I can go get them and bring them back here."
"Sounds great," Piper grinned. "I'll go with you. Four hot fudge sundaes?"
"Mine with chocolate ice cream, please," Abby answered with a smile.
Prue nodded. "Mine, too."
Once Piper and Phoebe left the house and Abby heard the car pull out of the driveway, she got out of her seat at the table and climbed into Prue's lap, sitting sideways so she could see her face. She reached up and began playing with Prue's dark hair. "Prue, are you mad at me?"
"Of course not!" Prue looked down at Abby, her mouth open in surprise. "Why would you think I'm mad at you?"
"You're being really quiet," Abby answered, shrugging. She shifted position in Prue's lap, reaching around her shoulder to twirl more of Prue's hair around her finger. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing you have to worry about, sweetie," Prue said, plastering a smile on her face.
Abby sighed, totally unconvinced. She turned around and leaned back against Prue. The two of them sat in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.
Abby was excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. She was excited about the fact that her mother could be only a phone call or two away, but she was also scared that her mother, despite the missing persons report, wouldn't want her back. It had after all been four years. Maybe she'd gotten used to not having a little kid around and maybe she wouldn't want to disrupt her life by taking her back and starting over again.
And even if her mother did want her back, Abby didn't want to leave the sisters. They had been so incredibly nice to her, they had gone above and beyond the call of duty, they had given her a home, no questions asked, and she didn't want to leave. She hadn't lived with her mother in over four years and even though she'd only been with the sisters for five days, she felt as if she belonged there. "I'm going to miss you, Prue," she said softly, breaking the silence.
"I'm going to miss you, too, sweetie." Prue wrapped her arms around the little girl and hugged her tightly.
Abby turned around and glanced up at Prue. She was surprised to see tears in Prue's eyes. "Oh, don't cry," Abby said, choking up herself. She kneeled up in Prue's lap and wrapped her arms around Prue's neck. "I didn't mean to make you cry."
"Oh, sweetie, you didn't," Prue replied, hugging the girl back. She stroked the girl's hair and planted a kiss on her head. "I just . . ."
"I shouldn't have come here," Abby sniffled, tightening her grip. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Hey," Prue said as she sniffed back some tears. She pulled out of Abby's hug and brushed the girl's hair behind her ears, smiling. "Hey, listen. You have nothing to apologize for. I wouldn't give up the past few days with you for anything. And of course I'm going to miss you, but we'll always remember the past couple of days and be happy. Plus, we can call each other or write to each other. We'll never be very far apart."
Abby nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to leave you. I want to stay here forever."
"I know, sweetie," Prue said, hugging Abby tightly once again. "But don't you want to go back with your mom?"
Abby just shrugged sadly. "I don't really know her anymore. What if she doesn't want me anymore? Or what if she doesn't like me?"
"Oh, honey, don't worry. Your mom loves you, I'm sure of it."
Abby was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by the ringing phone. She hopped off Prue's lap so that she could answer it. Abby's heart was pounding as Prue spent what seemed like hours on the phone, just listening. After she hung up, she turned to Abby with a huge grin. "They found her! A couple of years ago, her job transferred her from Massachusetts to San Francisco! She lives just down the street from us. You've been so close to her this whole time and you didn't know it."
Abby jumped up and down, squealing with delight. "Really? What do we do now?"
"Go down to the police station and meet her," Prue smiled. She held out her hand. "Come on. We'll call Piper and Phoebe on the way."
She was just drifting off when the phone started ringing again. She jumped about a mile, startled, and grabbed the phone off the hook. "Hello?" she answered, her voice groggy and hoarse.
"Hey, Prue? It's Andy," he said, adding his name a little unnecessarily. "Were you sleeping?"
"No," she said, clearing her throat. She opened her eyes, glancing over at the clock, and saw that it was a little after seven-thirty. She groaned quietly and sat up, running her fingers through her hair. "Of course not. What's going on?"
He chuckled and she could tell, even over the phone, that he was shaking his head at her. "Well, on a hunch, I ran Abby's name through missing persons again and this time, I got a hit. A report out of this little town in Massachusetts called Abington from four years ago. You wouldn't happen to know why I could find it this morning, but I haven't been able to find it the past couple of days, would you?"
She was suddenly wide awake. "What?" she exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice quiet. "You really found her missing persons report?"
"Yes," he said, laughing at her excitement. "I'm looking at it as we speak. But seriously, people are going to wonder why a four-year-old report wasn't in the computer yesterday but it is today."
"Uhh," she hesitated. How could she put this concisely? "It's a long story involving a vengeful demon and a magical shield. Do you think you could convince everyone that it was a computer glitch or a clerical error or something?"
"Why does everything have to be so difficult with you?" he said with a sigh. He sounded exasperated, but she could hear the small hint of a smile in his voice. "Sure, I'll do what I can. We're running her mother's name through the national census database now. With any luck, we'll find her in a few hours. I'll let you go so you can tell her the good news."
"Great! Thanks, Andy. Thanks a bunch. Bye." She hung up the phone and looked down at Abby. The little girl was still fast asleep, completely undisturbed by the phone conversation. It appeared, though, that Abby's sleep had been restless at one point. The sheets were wrapped around her legs and Amethyst was lying face first on the floor beside the bed. Prue smiled sympathetically, then shook Abby's shoulder, gently rousing her. "Hey, Abby. Wake up, sweetie."
Abby turned over with a quiet moan, her eyelids fluttering open. "Hi, Prue," she murmured.
"Morning, sweetie," Prue said, brushing the girl's hair out of her face. "Guess what. Andy called. He found your missing persons report. You know what that means?"
Abby sat up, smiling almost hesitantly. "The spell worked?"
Prue nodded, grinning. "But you know what else that means?" Abby shook her head, her face marked with confusion. "It means your mom never stopped loving you. She's been looking for you all this time because she never stopped loving you."
Abby's eyes filled with tears as she grinned and wrapped her arms around Prue's neck. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! They couldn't have found it without you!" She squeezed harder, her voice growing softer, more serious. "I love you."
Prue squeezed the girl back, touched by her admission. "I love you, too, sweetie," she said softly. "I love you, too."
She meant it, too. It was hard to believe that she had only known the girl for five days. It felt like Abby belonged with them, that Abby was meant to grow up in the Manor. She couldn't imagine her life without the little girl running around the house. But now, here she was, faced with the very real possibility of having to give the girl up. Tears jumped into her eyes and she let Abby go to swipe them away.
"What's the matter, Prue?" Abby asked, confusion on her face again.
"Nothing, sweetie," Prue said with a smile. "Come on. Let's go wake up Piper and Phoebe and tell them the good news."
"Great!" Abby exclaimed. She climbed out of bed and ran for the door. She whipped the door open and ran down the hall to Piper's room. "Piper, Piper!" she exclaimed again as she opened Piper's door and jumped onto her bed, waking Piper out of a dead sleep.
Piper groaned and pulled the covers over her head, trying to ignore the bouncing. "It's too early, go away."
Prue giggled as Abby ripped the covers from Piper's head and shook her shoulder persistently. "Piper, guess what, guess what! Andy's going to find my mom!"
Piper sat up, grinning, and cast a glance over at Prue. "Really?"
Prue nodded somewhat sadly. Piper wrapped Abby in a congratulatory hug. "This calls for a special breakfast. How about chocolate chip pancakes?"
"Works for me!" Abby exclaimed, jumping off the bed. "I'm going to go wake up Phoebe!"
The sisters giggled as Abby ran from the room and headed down the hall. Once the girl was out of earshot, Piper climbed out of bed and walked up to Prue, resting her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You going to be all right?"
"Yeah," Prue shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be all right?" She tried to smile, but she knew that Piper could see through her facade. They both knew that she wasn't going to be all right.
**********
Abby looked over at Prue after she finished her turn. She and the sisters had been playing a game of Monopoly for a couple of hours, but Prue hadn't been paying much attention. Every time Abby looked over at her, she seemed to be totally lost in thought. Abby gently nudged her. "Prue, it's your turn."
Prue gasped, shaking herself out of her reverie. "What? Oh, sorry." She picked up the dice, rolled, and moved her token the seven spaces she was supposed to. Her pawn landed on Reading Railroad. "Keep the money from Go and give me the deed for the railroad, please," she instructed Piper, who was the banker.
Piper, Phoebe, and Abby all exchanged a concerned glance, but Piper wordlessly did as she was told. Prue accepted the deed with a smile, then sat back against the chair, her mind drifting elsewhere again.
Abby looked down at her own deeds, wondering what was wrong with Prue. As far as Abby knew, she hadn't done anything to make anyone mad. Plus, Prue didn't really seem like she was mad. It was more like she was sad. She opened her mouth to ask Prue what was wrong, then closed it, changing her mind. Instead, she silently watched Piper and Phoebe roll, took her own turn, then nudged Prue again.
Prue started and silently took her turn. Piper smiled, trying to cheer the room up. "Hey, guys, why don't we call it a draw? I know Monopoly gets boring after a while."
"Fine with me," Phoebe answered. "Who's up for ice cream sundaes? I can go get them and bring them back here."
"Sounds great," Piper grinned. "I'll go with you. Four hot fudge sundaes?"
"Mine with chocolate ice cream, please," Abby answered with a smile.
Prue nodded. "Mine, too."
Once Piper and Phoebe left the house and Abby heard the car pull out of the driveway, she got out of her seat at the table and climbed into Prue's lap, sitting sideways so she could see her face. She reached up and began playing with Prue's dark hair. "Prue, are you mad at me?"
"Of course not!" Prue looked down at Abby, her mouth open in surprise. "Why would you think I'm mad at you?"
"You're being really quiet," Abby answered, shrugging. She shifted position in Prue's lap, reaching around her shoulder to twirl more of Prue's hair around her finger. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing you have to worry about, sweetie," Prue said, plastering a smile on her face.
Abby sighed, totally unconvinced. She turned around and leaned back against Prue. The two of them sat in silence, each lost in her own thoughts.
Abby was excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. She was excited about the fact that her mother could be only a phone call or two away, but she was also scared that her mother, despite the missing persons report, wouldn't want her back. It had after all been four years. Maybe she'd gotten used to not having a little kid around and maybe she wouldn't want to disrupt her life by taking her back and starting over again.
And even if her mother did want her back, Abby didn't want to leave the sisters. They had been so incredibly nice to her, they had gone above and beyond the call of duty, they had given her a home, no questions asked, and she didn't want to leave. She hadn't lived with her mother in over four years and even though she'd only been with the sisters for five days, she felt as if she belonged there. "I'm going to miss you, Prue," she said softly, breaking the silence.
"I'm going to miss you, too, sweetie." Prue wrapped her arms around the little girl and hugged her tightly.
Abby turned around and glanced up at Prue. She was surprised to see tears in Prue's eyes. "Oh, don't cry," Abby said, choking up herself. She kneeled up in Prue's lap and wrapped her arms around Prue's neck. "I didn't mean to make you cry."
"Oh, sweetie, you didn't," Prue replied, hugging the girl back. She stroked the girl's hair and planted a kiss on her head. "I just . . ."
"I shouldn't have come here," Abby sniffled, tightening her grip. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
"Hey," Prue said as she sniffed back some tears. She pulled out of Abby's hug and brushed the girl's hair behind her ears, smiling. "Hey, listen. You have nothing to apologize for. I wouldn't give up the past few days with you for anything. And of course I'm going to miss you, but we'll always remember the past couple of days and be happy. Plus, we can call each other or write to each other. We'll never be very far apart."
Abby nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want to leave you. I want to stay here forever."
"I know, sweetie," Prue said, hugging Abby tightly once again. "But don't you want to go back with your mom?"
Abby just shrugged sadly. "I don't really know her anymore. What if she doesn't want me anymore? Or what if she doesn't like me?"
"Oh, honey, don't worry. Your mom loves you, I'm sure of it."
Abby was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by the ringing phone. She hopped off Prue's lap so that she could answer it. Abby's heart was pounding as Prue spent what seemed like hours on the phone, just listening. After she hung up, she turned to Abby with a huge grin. "They found her! A couple of years ago, her job transferred her from Massachusetts to San Francisco! She lives just down the street from us. You've been so close to her this whole time and you didn't know it."
Abby jumped up and down, squealing with delight. "Really? What do we do now?"
"Go down to the police station and meet her," Prue smiled. She held out her hand. "Come on. We'll call Piper and Phoebe on the way."