The Miracle Child
Chapter I
"Oh my…" She exclaimed, realizing that once again, she had orbed. "I wonder how Paige manages to control it so well… Then again, maybe it's you who's hungry," Piper thought as she caresses her bulging belly tenderly. "Hey, it's for soon, my son," she added aloud, before opening the refrigerator's door.
"So what are we having this morning," She asks the baby half-jokingly.
Leo orbed behind her at this point, with a wide grin on his face.
"I see that you're getting in the habit of saving yourself a few steps."
Piper turned to him with a mocking smile of her own.
"Well, now I know how it feels to you. I must say, I'll miss that."
Leo came closer, tenderly putting his hand on her stomach.
"But I still can't wait to see him…"
"Neither can I," Piper answered softly.
Suddenly, Piper grimaced, as a searing pain coursed through her lower back.
"Piper?" Leo questioned anxiously at seeing the grimace she made.
Piper couldn't answer, as she was trying to catch her breath.
"Oh," she thought, "could it be?"
However, the pain was greater than she expected.
"Piper," Leo repeated louder as she bent over because of the persisting agony.
Paige entered the kitchen at this moment, and the smile that was already forming on her lips at the thought of a witty joke about Piper's orbing died off.
"Is it time?" She asked nervously.
Piper still couldn't answer as instead of the release she expected from the end of the contraction, the pain only intensified. All the Lamaze training she had gone through was for naught, as no breathing exercise could get her through this. Bright spots began to form in front of her eyes and suddenly she blacked out without even hearing the exclamations of horror Leo and Paige uttered.
Leo bent toward his wife, who had fainted and fallen hard on the floor. Panicked, he tried to heal her, but Piper wouldn't wake up.
"Leo what's wrong?"
Leo turned toward Paige with a pained expression.
"I have no idea. What are we supposed to do," he questioned then, too afraid to think straight.
Paige didn't lose time.
"You've gotta get her to the hospital. Hopefully, it's something they can treat…"
"But if I can't…?" Leo protested.
"Maybe it's something you're not allowed to heal, Leo. We can't take the chance anyway," Paige replied nervously.
"Alright," Leo agreed uncertainly. "I'll orb her there…"
In saying so, Leo didn't lose time orbing Piper to the hospital and Paige orbed in turn.
After examining a still unconscious Piper, the doctors were baffled by her condition.
"I don't know what is wrong with your wife, Mr. Wyatt. There's no reason for it. Her tests all came back normal except for one thing…"
"What's that," Leo asked worriedly.
"The baby seems more mature than had previously been assessed. Your wife might give birth any moment."
"What? We still have almost a month to go…"
"It seems not, Sir. But don't worry; slight errors like these are frequent. She probably was pregnant earlier than she thought."
Leo was puzzled but he was too worried about Piper's present condition to ponder this strange affirmation.
"Then why is she unconscious?"
"Maybe she's simply exhausted…We'll monitor her closely, have no fear. Even if she wakes up, I would prefer she remained in the hospital until after she gave birth."
Leo nodded and the doctor reentered the Intensive Care Unit right away.
"Piper's not gonna like it," Paige uttered uncertainly, startling Leo. He had almost forgotten about his sister in law.
"What's wrong with her?" Leo asked instead of answering this comment.
"You tell me…" Paige was also watching the Unit anxiously.
Piper found herself floating in a strange environment. All around her, swirls of multicolour lights seemed to envelope her. The pain was gone, but not the lingering fear. There was no sound, short of her own breathing. As she wondered why Leo wasn't there to help her out of this place, the swirls began to darken and a strange wind rose. Through the wind, as if in a whisper, a voice could be heard.
"He belongs to me, never to you. He never belonged to you. He belongs to me…"
Piper began to panic. She whirled on herself many times, trying to see where the voice came from but to no avail. Then suddenly she saw a bright light coming toward her. Instinctively, she bent down and the energy ball landed behind her with a deafening sound. Another, and then another came her way, all of them nearly hitting her. There was no one throwing those that she could see. The projectiles came out of nowhere and there was nothing she could do but try to escape. She started running away, but then the pain came back even stronger than before and she blacked out again, vaguely wondering if she just died.
Bells rang loudly in the Intensive Care Unit and they could even be heard from the hallway where Leo and Paige looked up nervously. Leo stood from the small uncomfortable chair he had been sitting in for what seemed like hours but which really was only about fifteen minutes. Each and every one of them had seemed excruciating. Then, he rushed toward the door. As he was about to open it and enter the Unit, a nurse came out, practically bumping in him.
"Sir, you've got to get out of the way. We've got an emergency," The nurse uttered imperatively.
"What emergency," Leo asked, almost in a panic. Piper was in there and for some reason, even with all his Whitelighter's powers, he couldn't do anything to save her. He had asked the Elders but they were at a loss as to what the problem was. However, they told Leo that indeed, he couldn't intervene in the natural process of birth. Angrier with himself than with the nurse for her curtness, he stepped aside and she rushed out passing him without answering.
"Paige!" Phoebe called. Paige gave her the news by phone. As it had become usual in the last few months, Phoebe was at work very early. Paige and Piper often worried about her eagerness. They remembered the Phoebe who would never have been so involved in her work that she would almost forget about everything else. Phoebe used to be carefree. Now she was almost too responsible. Paige even thought she had become boring at long last and told her so a few times. Invariably, Phoebe would avoid answering those comments and leave the room. It was obvious that she still had serious issues to work out. Right then, Phoebe was obviously very concerned. Paige had offered to orb there when she heard the worry in her sister's voice, but Phoebe insisted she should stay close to Piper. Paige had been grateful for that.
"Phoebe, finally…" She exclaimed.
There was no real reproach in Paige's voice, but rather relief. She was glad to have Phoebe around right now. Leo was becoming increasingly nervous and she didn't know too well how to handle the situation. With all their magic, there didn't seem to be a thing they could do.
"What's happening," Phoebe questioned, also alerted by the loud sounds coming from the Unit.
"I don't know," Paige answered gloomily.
Leo, on the other hand, couldn't take this anymore and he rushed inside the Unit, leaving the girls to wonder.
There, he saw a group of nurses and doctors surrounding his wife. Piper was pale as death and still apparently unconscious. Leo moaned involuntarily, desperate to save her. Why couldn't they do anything? Even as he thought this, the doctor who spoke to him earlier spotted him and came to him impatiently.
"Sir you shouldn't be here."
"I'm not going anywhere," Leo uttered firmly, although he was shaking inside.
"We're doing everything we can, Sir. As a matter of fact, we're preparing your wife for a C-section right now. My colleagues and I have concluded that whatever is causing your wife's coma will be resolved after the baby's birth."
"What? Why?" Leo questioned with some confusion. Before the doctor could answer this, Phoebe entered the room resolutely.
The doctor eyed her severely but Phoebe ignored him, heading straight for her sister. A nurse had to stop her from grabbing Piper's hand.
"I need to touch her," Phoebe protested angrily.
The nurse tried to lead her away, but Phoebe side stepped her and went back toward Piper. This time, she grabbed her hand firmly before anyone could stop her. Immediately, Phoebe was pulled into a vision. It was a nightmarish environment, filled with flashing red lights and fire bursts. In the middle of these, Piper was standing very still, seemingly paralyzed by fear. Then Phoebe heard a voice.
"He belongs to me, never to you. He never belonged to you, he belongs to me…"
She looked aside in the direction of the voice and what she saw almost threw her for a loop. About twenty feet away from Piper, the Seer watched her sister fixedly.
"What?" Phoebe wondered fearfully. As she was thinking this, she heard the frightened voice of her sister.
"Leo, Phoebe…Paige…where are you? Please help me!"
Phoebe's vision ended and she almost fell onto the hard floor of the unit but for Leo, who grabbed her just in time. The doctor insisted again.
"Now you see this is not helping at all. You have to wait outside."
Leo gave another panicked look at his wife, but he knew he had to find out what Phoebe saw. Reluctantly, he helped Phoebe out of the unit, looking back one last time before the door closed again. Immediately, he turned to Phoebe with a questioning stare.
"I don't know what it is, Leo. I think I just saw Piper's nightmare…It was horrible," Phoebe added in a broken voice.
"What do you mean," Paige questioned as she came closer.
"I'm not sure…I think Piper is stuck in this nightmare somehow. Maybe it's the fear for the baby…There are so many things that could go wrong…Maybe she's imagining the worst. The Seer was there and saying: "he belongs to me". Remember… just like she told me about…" Phoebe couldn't finish the sentence.
"Are you sure it's just a nightmare," Paige questioned with a hint of panic.
"Look I can't be sure of anything…But it didn't look real. Besides, we know that the Seer was destroyed. It can't be real, but Piper was so frightened," Phoebe exclaimed. "Real or not, we've got to do something."
Leo listened to all of this with increasing fear. He cast many worried glances between the sisters and the Unit.
"Look whatever it is you have to do, do it now. They're gonna cut her up…she could die and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it." He exclaimed.
"Don't worry Leo," Paige said as calmly as she could under the circumstances. "I think I know a way."
Both Phoebe and Leo turned to her intently.
"What?" Phoebe questioned.
"Remember when Piper was taken by the Source? We used that spell to enter her mind?"
Phoebe hesitated only a moment.
"Alright, it's worth a shot. Let's go home and get the spell."
"Hurry," Leo uttered nervously, while staring at the Unit. The nurse who had come out earlier was coming back with a metallic table. On it a large package wrapped in green fabric rested. She noisily rolled the table inside the Unit and as the door was closing again, Leo heard the doctor saying nervously," Hurry, the baby's heartbeat is dangerously low."
His own heart sunk at this. He couldn't lose them both at the same time. When he turned toward the sisters to hurry them along, he saw they were already gone.
"Please, save her," he pleaded in a broken voice.
Piper looked about fearfully. She had finally noticed the Seer and even if she knew it was impossible, she couldn't help the doubts. What if the baby wasn't hers? What if he was the Source? "Oh it's ridiculous," Piper tried to tell herself. However the voice persisted, continuously telling her that her baby wasn't hers. "What if," Piper asked herself hesitantly.
"Leave me alone," she said aloud. The Seer was there a second ago, but now she couldn't see her. Of course, it had happened a few times already. The Demoness seemed to be moving around her, always closer but not touching her. When she turned back, the Seer was only five feet away, watching her intensely.
"He belongs to me…Give him to me," the Seer uttered very deliberately.
"No! He's not yours. You're dead! The one you wanted killed you. Leave me alone!"
At this point, the Seer lifted her hands toward Piper and this one felt another atrocious pain in her stomach. She had the feeling that the Seer was trying to force her baby out. She covered her belly with her arms and shouted again at the Demoness.
"Leave him alone. He's mine. Not Yours!"
The pain was becoming excruciating again. Piper feared she would faint but she couldn't risk it. The Seer would take her precious child. She was dizzy with the effort of holding on. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice behind her, but she couldn't believe they were here.
"Piper," Paige called to her intently. "Piper, listen to me."
The Seer didn't seem to hear them as she continued staring at Piper. This one couldn't bring herself to look back for fear that she would lose it.
"Piper," Phoebe called then. "We're here to help you, but you've gotta come to us."
Piper trembled as much from the effort as from the fear, but when Paige called again, she forced herself to look back. Behind her, Paige and Phoebe were beckoning to her.
"Piper, you've gotta come to us. It's not real, Piper. It's just your fears…"
"But I see her," Piper barely managed.
Paige took a step closer but another fiery burst stopped her short.
"You've gotta believe us, Piper. If you do, all of this will vanish. Trust us."
"Don't believe them," the Seer uttered almost mockingly. "I will have your baby."
"No!" Piper almost shouted again. She looked from her sisters to the Seer a few times, and then, she forced herself to reject the horror around her.
"That's it, Piper," Phoebe encouraged. "You can do it!"
Even as Phoebe was saying it, she could see the red flashings becoming fainter. Even the Seer began to fade slowly but surely.
"You're doing it Piper. It's going away!"
After a few moments, a bright blue sky began to show overhead and Piper thought that the pain was receding. She turned again toward her sisters and these two smiled gently at her.
"It's time to wake up, Piper." Paige said then.
Almost at the same time as she heard those words, Piper woke up in the unit. She saw all the doctors and nurses surrounding her and she panicked slightly.
A doctor was standing by her sides and he was holding one of those masks they use to put people to sleep for surgery.
"Hey, what are you doing with this?" She asked immediately.
This got the attention of the surgeon who seemed startled at the sound of her voice.
"Mrs. Halliwell," he questioned hesitantly. "How do you feel?"
Piper was about to answer when another intense pain surged in her lower back and she winced, but this time, she remained conscious.
"I think the baby is coming," The surgeon told a doctor who was standing on the other side of the bed.
Piper thought, "and he won't be yours," before another wave of pain coursed through her.
Leo was finally admitted into the Unit just after Phoebe and Paige had returned and reassured him about his wife. He got there just in time to see the baby coming out and being handed to his mother.
"It's a boy and he looks very healthy." The doctor announced with obvious relief.
Leo watched them both with tears in his eyes. He had been so worried that now, he didn't know where to put himself. It was such a miracle. Piper was gazing at their son with amazement in spite of her obvious exhaustion. Then she looked up and noticed Leo there.
"Come on Daddy…your son is waiting for you to say hello…"
Leo came slowly toward them and he impulsively kissed Piper gratefully.
"Oh my god, I couldn't be happier."
"Neither could I," Piper uttered softly as she returned her adoring gaze toward their miracle child.
Phoebe and Paige stood at the door, impatiently waiting for a chance to go welcome their new nephew. Phoebe watched this with a pang of regret as well. She couldn't help remembering the child she'd lost. When the nurse signalled to them, Phoebe was the first one to enter and she walked slowly toward her sister. Leo looked up with a wide smile when he sensed her approach and he moved aside. The baby was so beautiful already, she thought. He also had a full head of dark hair and when his eyes fluttered opened, she saw that they were of a deep blue. In short, he was just as she imagined her own son would be if… Phoebe stopped herself from thinking about this and she smiled at Piper who had only now seen her.
"It's so wonderful, Phoebe," Piper said softly.
"Yeah…" Phoebe said gently before touching his little arm.
Immediately, a vision took her again. Phoebe found herself standing in the same nightmarish environment she thought had only been a figment of Piper's overactive imagination. She could hear a voice but it was faint at first. Then, just as she expected to see the Seer again, a tall boy came toward her. His eyes turned to fire and then to black just as the Source's eyes used to.
"Hello mother…" the boy said coldly before Phoebe returned to the reality of the Intensive care Unit.