AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, this is a little long but I wanted to add a bit
more with Paige and also with Brendan. You'll get a bit more introduced to
him and the villain of the story as well hint hint. Well on with the story!
Paige drummed her fingers on the table at the restaurant in boredom as she and the family waited patiently for Phoebe, Cole and Patience to arrive. They weren't that late, but Piper was carrying on as if they were five hours late instead of fifteen minutes. Paige noticed the anxious expression in Piper's eyes but disregarded it believing it was simply because she was worried.
She glanced over at the twins and smiled. Darcy was sleeping peacefully in her highchair, a little drool sneaking its way out the corner of her mouth. Danielle, the more hyper active of the two, was staring curiously at a young boy at the next table. Together they studied each other with a keen interest, until Danielle got bored and turned to face her mother. Seeing that her mother was watching her she smiled broadly exposing a mouth not quiet full of teeth yet.
Both twins wore green velvet dresses with lace bodices, lacy white socks and black patent Mary Janes. The outfit came with matching green headbands, but neither of the twins had enough hair yet for the headbands to do much good. In her opinion, and several others, they looked exactly like her. If she held her own baby picture up next to theirs, you'd never know who was who. Except that the girls had Glenn's eyes, a gorgeous honey color she'd kill to have instead of her dark brown.
So it seemed all the Halliwell children were going to be heart breakers. David most of all. He looked like his father, but with a sturdier build and his eyes were bluer. In a suit and tie he looked like an angle though being his Aunt she knew different. Shawn looked a lot like Leo as well, but he had Piper's dark brown hair and his grandma's mocha eyes. He still possessed baby fat here and there, but from what she could tell it was slowly fading away.
Patience would be as beautiful as Phoebe, no doubt in her mind, though the only similarity between them was their structures. She had the face and rail thin body Phoebe had had as a child, but she had auburn hair and Cole's bright blue eyes. Where the auburn hair came from no one knew. It was most likely from Cole's side, for there had only been brunettes and raven heads in the Halliwell family for generations, and before it had been blondes.
A waiter came up between her and Glenn and pulled out a note pad. "Would you like to order now?" he asked flashing an annoyed smile at them.
"No, we're waiting for three more," Leo replied.
"Well my manager has asked me to inform you that if the rest of your party doesn't arrive soon, we'll have to take away that extra table for other customers," he answered indicating the three tables it took to make one big enough for their whole party.
"They'll be here," Piper snapped annoyed with the waiter.
"They are here," Paige corrected her and waved a hand to Phoebe, Cole and Patience as they walked in the door.
The waiter looked up and studied the three. Then sighed frustrated and walked away.
"Hey, sorry we're late," Phoebe apologized as Cole pulled a chair out for her and she sat down.
"Boy you three look. happy," Glenn observed.
"Can I tell them mommy? Please?" Patience begged with a perfectly pitiful look.
Cole and Phoebe looked at each other and nodded.
Patience squealed with delight and glanced around the table to make sure everyone was watching her. She cleared her throat loudly smiling broadly. "I'm gonna be a big sister!" she exclaimed loudly enough for the other tables sitting around theirs to hear.
"Ohmigod!" Paige and Piper exclaimed together.
"That's great!" Leo exclaimed as his wife shrieked with delight.
"Great? It's awesome!" Paige corrected.
"Congratulations!" Glenn added with a goofy grin.
"Ohmigod!" Piper exclaimed again. "I can't believe it! I thought you said no more?"
"Well it happened and so," Phoebe trailed off and shrugged as Cole wrapped and arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Phoebe watched as the family with an acceptation of the kids all chatted happily about the news and continued to congratulate her. She smiled in return feeling happier than she'd felt in a while, but still the deep fear of what she hadn't told them crawled around in the pit of her stomach.
Piper would figure it all out soon enough, for she was smart and logical and could put two and two together. But she felt a little guilty as she watched Paige, ecstatic with happiness, chatter on, not knowing anything about Raven. It had always been a hard thing for Paige to accept that Phoebe naturally told Piper everything. Paige had let her know that she was hurt Phoebe felt she couldn't tell her things as she did Piper, and Phoebe had tried to tell Paige first, but it didn't always turn out that way. It was still an instinct to go to the one who'd been there her whole life.
The rest of the dinner consisted of everyone talking about the new family member to be. Paige had proclaimed it better be a girl and Phoebe had assured her it was. Piper had insisted that Phoebe name her another virtue like she had Patience. And Phoebe had explained that she'd picked Patience because that's what it had taken to get her back. All the while the guys grumbled about being way too out numbered by women and little girls.
The end came quickly and everyone hugged and kissed and complained about the fact that this was the only time the whole family saw each other and that they needed another dinner on Tuesdays. Finally they all went their separate ways, Leo, Piper and the boys to their mini van. Paige, Glenn and Dee-Dee went to their waiting Limo. And lastly Phoebe, Cole and Patience went to the back of the restaurant to shimmer out.
* * * * *
"These dinner's are always fun," Piper sighed happily as she climbed into the passenger seat after buckling Shawn into his car seat.
Leo smiled as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "You know what I noticed while we were there?" he asked. Piper shook her head so he continued. "We're always at that restaurant when someone makes a big announcement. Like last week we were there when Paige and Glenn announced they're going to adopt, and then tonight."
"We announced I was pregnant with Shawn there and Paige with Dee-Dee too." Piper observed. "Maybe we should begin to expect surprises when we go there."
Leo shrugged and Piper remained silent staring out the window into the night. "Whatcha' thinkin'?" he asked.
"Was it just me or did Phoebe seem a little distracted?" she asked turning to him and trying to keep her voice low for the boys were asleep in back.
"She was distracted," Leo nodded.
"I knew it wasn't just me!"
"The question now is why?" Leo pointed out.
"I'll find out," Piper shrugged.
"I know you will," Leo replied and smiled at the determined look on his wife's face.
* * * * *
Brennan Price looked up as she entered the office and smiled to himself. She was about the most perfect woman in the world in his opinion. Her shape and form reminded him of his mother, strange he knew, but his mother had been a beautiful woman. They both possessed long flowing hair, neither were very tall and were more curvaceous than most, though his mother was probably a bit more rounded.
Today she wore a pair of black slacks and an emerald green blouse. A very nice choice in his opinion, classic, yet subtly sexy. She approached him, flashed him a smile and he nearly melted on the spot. What the woman could do to him!
She started to open her mouth to tell him something but abruptly stopped. "I- can I talk to you in a minute?" she asked, avoiding his gaze.
"Sure," he replied with a nod. "Are you okay?" he asked as he studied her. She was looking down, avoiding his gaze purposely, and was fidgeting with the strap of her purse.
Her head snapped up instantly. "Yeah," she replied a little too quickly. "I mean, yeah, I'm fine," she corrected herself a bit more smoothly.
"Right," he nodded still not believing her. "I'll see you in my office in five minutes. She nodded and walked back to her office rather quickly and shifted her purse to cover her butt as if she knew he was admiring it.
He slowly made his way back to his office wondering why Phoebe was not herself today and reminding his employees about the remembrance issue for September 11th they were making for tomorrow's issue. He chuckled to himself as he assigned one of them to write a column updating the people on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The stupid humans didn't know the man wasn't even a man at all, he was a demon and was currently hiding out in the underworld. In fact, he'd even let the guy stay with him a night or two after the attack itself happened.
As he entered his office he came up with a plan. As he closed the door behind himself he gave a quick glance around and lowered the blinds then locked the door. Once he was certain he was alone and wouldn't be disturbed he went behind his desk and settled into the chair comfortably.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on Phoebe then opened his eyes again, which had turned a pure white. Soon he was flying through the maze of memories that was Phoebe's mind, searching for a clue as to why she was so nervous. He came to a halt as he felt a memory slip by that had a different feel to it than the others.
This isn't right, he though to himself as he dove into the memory. This felt strong and powerful, what was Phoebe doing with a memory that possessed power? He opened the memory and watched as the scene folded out in front of him. Through her eyes he saw her husband, Cole, he saw her hands take off his shirt. He quickly fast forwarded not particularly wanting to see the two make love from Phoebe's point-of-view, he'd much rather it be Cole's. He stopped and backed up as the scene instantly changed.
He was looking up into the sky changing colors from night to day and back again, over and over. He looked down through Phoebe's eyes as she did and watched as her stomach grew with a child within her. Soon another scene replaced this and he was looking up into the faces of several people, he could only assume were her family for Cole's was the only one he recognized. He felt a quick sharp pain and heard her scream, then was suddenly sitting up and a baby was in Phoebe's arms. A little baby girl sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Then something he couldn't quiet understand happened. His younger sister Raven appeared in the middle of the hospital room and snatched the baby out of Phoebe's arms. Puzzled he watched as Raven disappeared with the baby and felt Phoebe's grief for a brief instant before he was pulled out of the memory and was back in his office.
Shakily he shook off the dizziness and his eyes returned to their normal, emerald color. "Weird," he mumbled to himself and rubbed his eyes. "That shouldn't have happened," he thought aloud to himself. He sighed. Phoebe was pregnant. Too bad, the though, though it wasn't all that bad. He could easily get rid of it, but he wasn't about to until he did a little more research.
He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the number of his sister's apartment. He was taking a chance trying her there, but he couldn't risk going to the Underworld until the workday was over.
"Hello?" he heard his half-sister's fake southern drawl as she answered the phone.
He smiled to himself. "Well howdy there little sister Raven," he replied in his best impression of a southerner.
She sighed and gave a little laugh. "Brennan? I'd almost given up hope!" she exclaimed in her real voice this time. He couldn't help but notice the hint of sexiness in her voice, something their mother had taught all her children. It was a subtle tone, one that none of them really noticed after it had been implied, but Brennan always noticed, he noticed everything.
"I'm sorry, but I've been busy workin' my way up in the human world," he explained, truly sorry he hadn't kept in touch. Most all of his brother's and sister's had lost touch over the last few years after their mother's death. "Listen, I was wondering if you're working on any plans lately?" he asked.
"Well I've located a few potential candidates, but Jade beat me to one of them," she replied referring to her older half-sister. "Why do you ask?"
"Is Phoebe Turner on your list?" he asked.
"Phoebe Turner?" she repeated. "Nope, never heard of her. Why?"
He started to answer but there was a knock on the door. He made a quick turn of his wrist and the door unlocked just as the person reached for the handle.
The door opened and Phoebe stepped in. "Oh, sorry I'll come back later," she said and took a step back to leave.
"Oh, it's fine, stay," he told her and turned his attention back to Raven. "Hold on a minute okay?" He waved her in the rest of the way and pointed to a chair. She shut the door but didn't sit down. She said she would and he turned his attention back to Phoebe. "What's up?"
"I just thought I'd give you notice that I'm pregnant," she replied.
"Pregnant?" he repeated trying to sound surprised. "That's great, when are you due?"
"Due?" she repeated. She paused as she calculated in her head the date, "June?"
He nodded and scribbled it down on a note pad. "All right thanks."
"Oh, and I was wondering if you could keep it just between us," she added as she stood.
He sensed there was more to the story so he probed a little. "Why are you keeping something you can't hide a secret?"
"I-I've had a couple miscarriages. I just don't want people to get over excited if it happens again," she replied after a moment. She didn't wait for a response and slipped out of the room quickly.
Well that was definitely a lie he observed. He turned his attention back to his sister as she spoke. "Lier!" she exclaimed.
"You sensed it too huh?" he nodded to himself.
"Oh please, that woman needs some serious lessons," Raven laughed. "Okay so anyway about this Turner woman?"
"That was her, she's pregnant and I was just reading her memories when I came across one with you in it," he explained.
"Really now? What was I doing?" she asked.
"Stealing her baby," he replied.
"I've never stolen a baby from anyone by that name before," she replied after a moment of thought.
"Well that's not the thing. I don't think it was the past," he rationalized.
"So it was a powerful memory then?" she said understanding what he was saying perfectly.
"Exactly!" he exclaimed.
"She's a witch then, it's the only explanation, or a being of power. Whichever," Raven replied and he could hear her munching on something crunchy. "Hey, can I steal the baby?" she asked.
"No Raven, you can't steal her baby," he said sternly only then realizing the window of opportunity he'd opened for her. He hated to slam it shut in her face, but he'd already decided he was going to figure out why his sister was in Phoebe's mind before taking anymore steps.
"You like her, I can tell," she said through a mouth full of whatever she was eating.
"Geeze, Rave, you should see her!" he exclaimed. "I'm 'bout to go kill her husband and take her for my own."
"Husbands've never stopped you before," she pointed out.
"This is different," he sighed. "Listen, it was nice talking to you but I've gotta' go. I'll see you."
"All right, bye," she said.
"Hey!" he exclaimed before she could hang up the phone. "Remember what I said, no one can steal her baby. Not you or our sisters, no nieces or daughters, no one."
He heard her grumbling protests as he hung up the phone and smiled. He'd known she was planning it for he'd read her mind as she said bye to him.
A nifty little gift he'd inherited from his father, whomever he was. Most of his siblings didn't know who their father was, he didn't even think his mother knew half of them. Out of his 13 brothers and sisters maybe three of them new their real father, but it didn't really matter. None of them really cared who he was, just as long as he didn't show up to ruin things.
It was obvious for some of them who their father was. Morgan, with her powers and pointy ears it was obvious her father was Ferris, the King of the Elves. Damion, the eldest of them all, his father was Ares the Greek God of War. He was several thousand years old contributing to his cranky, violent nature. His father was still alive, so it was rumored, but just after Damion had been born the first Source came to power and all Greek and Roman gods went into hiding.
The last one of them that knew who their was father was Raven. She was the daughter of a powerful demon named Bethazar, her mother had proudly told them all that. It was proven correct when she was but a few days old when she transformed into a small red demon child with black markings and threw energy balls at everyone who made her angry. His mother had been gitty with happiness, but he and his eleven brothers and sisters, at the time, kept a safe distance from the temperamental child. It had also been obvious from that day on Raven was their mother's favorite.
No one else knew for sure who their father was, but he, Skye, Saige and the youngest Kate, had an idea who their sire was. None had a real interest in finding out for sure, so they just left it at that.
He pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced at the clock on the wall. He'd been thinking about his family for a full fifteen minutes! He jumped up and headed out of his office to remind his employees to get to work and to yell at those who didn't obey.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay so I was just wondering if any of you guys have noticed if Brennan is sometimes spelled Brendan? My computer does this thing where it automatically corrects it and I was reading my copy and noticed sometimes it's spelled differently. Sorry about that, I'll try and fix it. Oh and thanks for the ONE review last chapter. Remember you guys are the ones that give me inspiration to keep on writing and if you don't review then I get sad and think you don't like it and then I won't even continue with the story. So PLEASE review!!!!! Oh and my friend wants me to let you all know that she helps me with the story too. I'm giving you credit Raven so you can stop whining now. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!
Paige drummed her fingers on the table at the restaurant in boredom as she and the family waited patiently for Phoebe, Cole and Patience to arrive. They weren't that late, but Piper was carrying on as if they were five hours late instead of fifteen minutes. Paige noticed the anxious expression in Piper's eyes but disregarded it believing it was simply because she was worried.
She glanced over at the twins and smiled. Darcy was sleeping peacefully in her highchair, a little drool sneaking its way out the corner of her mouth. Danielle, the more hyper active of the two, was staring curiously at a young boy at the next table. Together they studied each other with a keen interest, until Danielle got bored and turned to face her mother. Seeing that her mother was watching her she smiled broadly exposing a mouth not quiet full of teeth yet.
Both twins wore green velvet dresses with lace bodices, lacy white socks and black patent Mary Janes. The outfit came with matching green headbands, but neither of the twins had enough hair yet for the headbands to do much good. In her opinion, and several others, they looked exactly like her. If she held her own baby picture up next to theirs, you'd never know who was who. Except that the girls had Glenn's eyes, a gorgeous honey color she'd kill to have instead of her dark brown.
So it seemed all the Halliwell children were going to be heart breakers. David most of all. He looked like his father, but with a sturdier build and his eyes were bluer. In a suit and tie he looked like an angle though being his Aunt she knew different. Shawn looked a lot like Leo as well, but he had Piper's dark brown hair and his grandma's mocha eyes. He still possessed baby fat here and there, but from what she could tell it was slowly fading away.
Patience would be as beautiful as Phoebe, no doubt in her mind, though the only similarity between them was their structures. She had the face and rail thin body Phoebe had had as a child, but she had auburn hair and Cole's bright blue eyes. Where the auburn hair came from no one knew. It was most likely from Cole's side, for there had only been brunettes and raven heads in the Halliwell family for generations, and before it had been blondes.
A waiter came up between her and Glenn and pulled out a note pad. "Would you like to order now?" he asked flashing an annoyed smile at them.
"No, we're waiting for three more," Leo replied.
"Well my manager has asked me to inform you that if the rest of your party doesn't arrive soon, we'll have to take away that extra table for other customers," he answered indicating the three tables it took to make one big enough for their whole party.
"They'll be here," Piper snapped annoyed with the waiter.
"They are here," Paige corrected her and waved a hand to Phoebe, Cole and Patience as they walked in the door.
The waiter looked up and studied the three. Then sighed frustrated and walked away.
"Hey, sorry we're late," Phoebe apologized as Cole pulled a chair out for her and she sat down.
"Boy you three look. happy," Glenn observed.
"Can I tell them mommy? Please?" Patience begged with a perfectly pitiful look.
Cole and Phoebe looked at each other and nodded.
Patience squealed with delight and glanced around the table to make sure everyone was watching her. She cleared her throat loudly smiling broadly. "I'm gonna be a big sister!" she exclaimed loudly enough for the other tables sitting around theirs to hear.
"Ohmigod!" Paige and Piper exclaimed together.
"That's great!" Leo exclaimed as his wife shrieked with delight.
"Great? It's awesome!" Paige corrected.
"Congratulations!" Glenn added with a goofy grin.
"Ohmigod!" Piper exclaimed again. "I can't believe it! I thought you said no more?"
"Well it happened and so," Phoebe trailed off and shrugged as Cole wrapped and arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Phoebe watched as the family with an acceptation of the kids all chatted happily about the news and continued to congratulate her. She smiled in return feeling happier than she'd felt in a while, but still the deep fear of what she hadn't told them crawled around in the pit of her stomach.
Piper would figure it all out soon enough, for she was smart and logical and could put two and two together. But she felt a little guilty as she watched Paige, ecstatic with happiness, chatter on, not knowing anything about Raven. It had always been a hard thing for Paige to accept that Phoebe naturally told Piper everything. Paige had let her know that she was hurt Phoebe felt she couldn't tell her things as she did Piper, and Phoebe had tried to tell Paige first, but it didn't always turn out that way. It was still an instinct to go to the one who'd been there her whole life.
The rest of the dinner consisted of everyone talking about the new family member to be. Paige had proclaimed it better be a girl and Phoebe had assured her it was. Piper had insisted that Phoebe name her another virtue like she had Patience. And Phoebe had explained that she'd picked Patience because that's what it had taken to get her back. All the while the guys grumbled about being way too out numbered by women and little girls.
The end came quickly and everyone hugged and kissed and complained about the fact that this was the only time the whole family saw each other and that they needed another dinner on Tuesdays. Finally they all went their separate ways, Leo, Piper and the boys to their mini van. Paige, Glenn and Dee-Dee went to their waiting Limo. And lastly Phoebe, Cole and Patience went to the back of the restaurant to shimmer out.
* * * * *
"These dinner's are always fun," Piper sighed happily as she climbed into the passenger seat after buckling Shawn into his car seat.
Leo smiled as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "You know what I noticed while we were there?" he asked. Piper shook her head so he continued. "We're always at that restaurant when someone makes a big announcement. Like last week we were there when Paige and Glenn announced they're going to adopt, and then tonight."
"We announced I was pregnant with Shawn there and Paige with Dee-Dee too." Piper observed. "Maybe we should begin to expect surprises when we go there."
Leo shrugged and Piper remained silent staring out the window into the night. "Whatcha' thinkin'?" he asked.
"Was it just me or did Phoebe seem a little distracted?" she asked turning to him and trying to keep her voice low for the boys were asleep in back.
"She was distracted," Leo nodded.
"I knew it wasn't just me!"
"The question now is why?" Leo pointed out.
"I'll find out," Piper shrugged.
"I know you will," Leo replied and smiled at the determined look on his wife's face.
* * * * *
Brennan Price looked up as she entered the office and smiled to himself. She was about the most perfect woman in the world in his opinion. Her shape and form reminded him of his mother, strange he knew, but his mother had been a beautiful woman. They both possessed long flowing hair, neither were very tall and were more curvaceous than most, though his mother was probably a bit more rounded.
Today she wore a pair of black slacks and an emerald green blouse. A very nice choice in his opinion, classic, yet subtly sexy. She approached him, flashed him a smile and he nearly melted on the spot. What the woman could do to him!
She started to open her mouth to tell him something but abruptly stopped. "I- can I talk to you in a minute?" she asked, avoiding his gaze.
"Sure," he replied with a nod. "Are you okay?" he asked as he studied her. She was looking down, avoiding his gaze purposely, and was fidgeting with the strap of her purse.
Her head snapped up instantly. "Yeah," she replied a little too quickly. "I mean, yeah, I'm fine," she corrected herself a bit more smoothly.
"Right," he nodded still not believing her. "I'll see you in my office in five minutes. She nodded and walked back to her office rather quickly and shifted her purse to cover her butt as if she knew he was admiring it.
He slowly made his way back to his office wondering why Phoebe was not herself today and reminding his employees about the remembrance issue for September 11th they were making for tomorrow's issue. He chuckled to himself as he assigned one of them to write a column updating the people on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The stupid humans didn't know the man wasn't even a man at all, he was a demon and was currently hiding out in the underworld. In fact, he'd even let the guy stay with him a night or two after the attack itself happened.
As he entered his office he came up with a plan. As he closed the door behind himself he gave a quick glance around and lowered the blinds then locked the door. Once he was certain he was alone and wouldn't be disturbed he went behind his desk and settled into the chair comfortably.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on Phoebe then opened his eyes again, which had turned a pure white. Soon he was flying through the maze of memories that was Phoebe's mind, searching for a clue as to why she was so nervous. He came to a halt as he felt a memory slip by that had a different feel to it than the others.
This isn't right, he though to himself as he dove into the memory. This felt strong and powerful, what was Phoebe doing with a memory that possessed power? He opened the memory and watched as the scene folded out in front of him. Through her eyes he saw her husband, Cole, he saw her hands take off his shirt. He quickly fast forwarded not particularly wanting to see the two make love from Phoebe's point-of-view, he'd much rather it be Cole's. He stopped and backed up as the scene instantly changed.
He was looking up into the sky changing colors from night to day and back again, over and over. He looked down through Phoebe's eyes as she did and watched as her stomach grew with a child within her. Soon another scene replaced this and he was looking up into the faces of several people, he could only assume were her family for Cole's was the only one he recognized. He felt a quick sharp pain and heard her scream, then was suddenly sitting up and a baby was in Phoebe's arms. A little baby girl sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Then something he couldn't quiet understand happened. His younger sister Raven appeared in the middle of the hospital room and snatched the baby out of Phoebe's arms. Puzzled he watched as Raven disappeared with the baby and felt Phoebe's grief for a brief instant before he was pulled out of the memory and was back in his office.
Shakily he shook off the dizziness and his eyes returned to their normal, emerald color. "Weird," he mumbled to himself and rubbed his eyes. "That shouldn't have happened," he thought aloud to himself. He sighed. Phoebe was pregnant. Too bad, the though, though it wasn't all that bad. He could easily get rid of it, but he wasn't about to until he did a little more research.
He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the number of his sister's apartment. He was taking a chance trying her there, but he couldn't risk going to the Underworld until the workday was over.
"Hello?" he heard his half-sister's fake southern drawl as she answered the phone.
He smiled to himself. "Well howdy there little sister Raven," he replied in his best impression of a southerner.
She sighed and gave a little laugh. "Brennan? I'd almost given up hope!" she exclaimed in her real voice this time. He couldn't help but notice the hint of sexiness in her voice, something their mother had taught all her children. It was a subtle tone, one that none of them really noticed after it had been implied, but Brennan always noticed, he noticed everything.
"I'm sorry, but I've been busy workin' my way up in the human world," he explained, truly sorry he hadn't kept in touch. Most all of his brother's and sister's had lost touch over the last few years after their mother's death. "Listen, I was wondering if you're working on any plans lately?" he asked.
"Well I've located a few potential candidates, but Jade beat me to one of them," she replied referring to her older half-sister. "Why do you ask?"
"Is Phoebe Turner on your list?" he asked.
"Phoebe Turner?" she repeated. "Nope, never heard of her. Why?"
He started to answer but there was a knock on the door. He made a quick turn of his wrist and the door unlocked just as the person reached for the handle.
The door opened and Phoebe stepped in. "Oh, sorry I'll come back later," she said and took a step back to leave.
"Oh, it's fine, stay," he told her and turned his attention back to Raven. "Hold on a minute okay?" He waved her in the rest of the way and pointed to a chair. She shut the door but didn't sit down. She said she would and he turned his attention back to Phoebe. "What's up?"
"I just thought I'd give you notice that I'm pregnant," she replied.
"Pregnant?" he repeated trying to sound surprised. "That's great, when are you due?"
"Due?" she repeated. She paused as she calculated in her head the date, "June?"
He nodded and scribbled it down on a note pad. "All right thanks."
"Oh, and I was wondering if you could keep it just between us," she added as she stood.
He sensed there was more to the story so he probed a little. "Why are you keeping something you can't hide a secret?"
"I-I've had a couple miscarriages. I just don't want people to get over excited if it happens again," she replied after a moment. She didn't wait for a response and slipped out of the room quickly.
Well that was definitely a lie he observed. He turned his attention back to his sister as she spoke. "Lier!" she exclaimed.
"You sensed it too huh?" he nodded to himself.
"Oh please, that woman needs some serious lessons," Raven laughed. "Okay so anyway about this Turner woman?"
"That was her, she's pregnant and I was just reading her memories when I came across one with you in it," he explained.
"Really now? What was I doing?" she asked.
"Stealing her baby," he replied.
"I've never stolen a baby from anyone by that name before," she replied after a moment of thought.
"Well that's not the thing. I don't think it was the past," he rationalized.
"So it was a powerful memory then?" she said understanding what he was saying perfectly.
"Exactly!" he exclaimed.
"She's a witch then, it's the only explanation, or a being of power. Whichever," Raven replied and he could hear her munching on something crunchy. "Hey, can I steal the baby?" she asked.
"No Raven, you can't steal her baby," he said sternly only then realizing the window of opportunity he'd opened for her. He hated to slam it shut in her face, but he'd already decided he was going to figure out why his sister was in Phoebe's mind before taking anymore steps.
"You like her, I can tell," she said through a mouth full of whatever she was eating.
"Geeze, Rave, you should see her!" he exclaimed. "I'm 'bout to go kill her husband and take her for my own."
"Husbands've never stopped you before," she pointed out.
"This is different," he sighed. "Listen, it was nice talking to you but I've gotta' go. I'll see you."
"All right, bye," she said.
"Hey!" he exclaimed before she could hang up the phone. "Remember what I said, no one can steal her baby. Not you or our sisters, no nieces or daughters, no one."
He heard her grumbling protests as he hung up the phone and smiled. He'd known she was planning it for he'd read her mind as she said bye to him.
A nifty little gift he'd inherited from his father, whomever he was. Most of his siblings didn't know who their father was, he didn't even think his mother knew half of them. Out of his 13 brothers and sisters maybe three of them new their real father, but it didn't really matter. None of them really cared who he was, just as long as he didn't show up to ruin things.
It was obvious for some of them who their father was. Morgan, with her powers and pointy ears it was obvious her father was Ferris, the King of the Elves. Damion, the eldest of them all, his father was Ares the Greek God of War. He was several thousand years old contributing to his cranky, violent nature. His father was still alive, so it was rumored, but just after Damion had been born the first Source came to power and all Greek and Roman gods went into hiding.
The last one of them that knew who their was father was Raven. She was the daughter of a powerful demon named Bethazar, her mother had proudly told them all that. It was proven correct when she was but a few days old when she transformed into a small red demon child with black markings and threw energy balls at everyone who made her angry. His mother had been gitty with happiness, but he and his eleven brothers and sisters, at the time, kept a safe distance from the temperamental child. It had also been obvious from that day on Raven was their mother's favorite.
No one else knew for sure who their father was, but he, Skye, Saige and the youngest Kate, had an idea who their sire was. None had a real interest in finding out for sure, so they just left it at that.
He pulled himself out of his thoughts and glanced at the clock on the wall. He'd been thinking about his family for a full fifteen minutes! He jumped up and headed out of his office to remind his employees to get to work and to yell at those who didn't obey.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay so I was just wondering if any of you guys have noticed if Brennan is sometimes spelled Brendan? My computer does this thing where it automatically corrects it and I was reading my copy and noticed sometimes it's spelled differently. Sorry about that, I'll try and fix it. Oh and thanks for the ONE review last chapter. Remember you guys are the ones that give me inspiration to keep on writing and if you don't review then I get sad and think you don't like it and then I won't even continue with the story. So PLEASE review!!!!! Oh and my friend wants me to let you all know that she helps me with the story too. I'm giving you credit Raven so you can stop whining now. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!