sorry i know this chapter isn't too great. i wrote it ages ago, but with being on holidays and all fanfics trouble and yeah it hasn't been uploaded till now. well um, i prolly won't write the next chapter for awhile either. camp, and then school again. wowee. well... enjoy, i guess. oh and another note, i tried to upload this the other day, only the html coding wasn't working for some reason... so... trying again today, i guess.

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Piper flung out her hands in desperation, as the demonic forces came towards her, Phoebe, Paige and Cole. Freeze, dammit she thought, but her efforts were futile and ineffective. Beside her, she could see Paige, white as a ghost, and Phoebe, shielded by Cole. Cole grabbed Phoebe's hands, preparing to shimmer, but she drew away from him, shaking her head.

'Stupid witches, your powers are useless here. Only Shamrockic powers are of any effect of us.' The leader of the gathering informed them. 'Which reminds me, how silly of me to forget, let me introduce myself. He paused briefly. 'I am James… otherwise known as Shamrock's Power. And this,' He pulled up one of the others, and her hood fell back to reveal an extremely gothic looking woman, with black tribal markings over her face. 'Is Jess, or as we refer to her around her, Shamrock's Grace.'

'Pleasure to meet you.' Hissed Jess. 'You are the Charmed Ones, no? Here to rescue your precious children? We are the Shamrock forces, generally just referred to as the Shrock's. We are neither good, nor evil, nor neutral. Instead, we are nothing. We exist out of time and space, making us invincible. Generally though, we will not harm you as long as you do not harm us. You give us what we want, and the kids can go free.'

Phoebe turned to the others. 'It's as easy as that?'

'There has to be some catch.' Said Piper bluntly. She turned to the Shrock's. 'And what is it you want from us?'

'The baby.' James hissed.

'The baby.' Rang out through the gathering. 'We want the baby.'

'Kaitlyn?' Asked Paige.

'Then why didn't you just take Kaitlyn instead of Melinda when you had the chance?' Snapped Piper, sussing out that their had to be more to it than this.

'We couldn't take her. She has to be given to us, otherwise her powers will always belong to good.'

'And what if we say no?' Asked Phoebe.

'Then the Charmed kids are ours for the keeping.'

'This isn't fair!' Piper exclaimed suddenly, her outburst surprising all. 'Whatever happened to free will? You can't have Kaitlyn, or the others! They're not yours and we'll never let you have them!' Piper's rage was forming within, making her angry… she was furious.

At that moment however, Piper got the shock of her life, as little emerald green orbs appeared, combining until there in her arms was Kaitlyn. The baby looked up at her, with a huge grin on her face. Piper gaped back. Beside her, Paige, Phoebe and Cole all looked somewhat stunned. Quietly, Paige took Kaitlyn from Piper and handed her to Phoebe. Phoebe looked from the Shrock's to Kaitlyn to Piper, and then to Paige and Cole. She knew this was going to break Piper's heart, but Phoebe didn't understand much about the Shrock's and in any case she felt she would rather have 3 kids running around the Halliwell home, then her sisters 1 day old child.

'What will your decision be then?' Asked Jess quietly.

Piper looked across at Phoebe, who looked back at her with sad eyes. Phoebe nodded to Paige, who nodded back in response. Piper gasped. 'Phoebe, no…'

'I'm sorry Piper.' Phoebe stared into Piper's eyes. She saw her sister's world break in two and come crashing down. Phoebe fought back tears. 'I'm sorry.'

Piper rose from the ground. 'No!' She yelled. 'Phoebe don't do this!' Phoebe turned away, and stepped towards the Shrock's. From then on everything was pretty much a blur to Phoebe. To her, time almost stood still. Piper lunged towards Phoebe, but was cut short, as Paige and Cole took hold of her. 'NOOOOO!!! Paige let go of me! Cole! Give me back Kaitlyn! Phoebe!!! I hate you!' Piper fought against Paige and Cole, throwing herself against them, kicking and screaming. Eventually Cole managed to get his arms around Piper, and she collapsed against him, defeated and sobbing.

Phoebe felt like she and her sister were stabbing each other with hundreds of tiny arrows. Things will probably never be the same between us she thought. Nevertheless, she stuck to her decision. Holding Kaitlyn, she made her was through the gathering to where Jess and James were standing. 'I want to see the kids first.' Phoebe requested.

'Very well then, follow us.' Said James. Then he addressed the gathering. 'Meeting dismissed.' Immediately, the group of Shrock's all smoked or walked out of the chamber, until only Jess and James remained.

Phoebe turned to Cole and Paige. 'I'll be back shortly.' She said blankly, avoiding the death stare Piper was giving her, through tear-filled eyes.

'Paige, go with her. I'll be fine with Piper. I'll take her back to the hospital in a minute or two.' Paige looked from Piper to Phoebe, and did as she was told.

Phoebe and Paige followed Jess and James down another passageway, past a few doorways. Phoebe noticed, that behind the doorways, every room appeared to be empty. Then near the end of the corridor she noticed one of the rooms wasn't. In it, sitting on a thick bed of straw, was another gothic looking woman with tribal markings. Playing in the straw, was a little boy no older then 2 and a half. He had black, slightly curly hair, and beautiful big brown eyes. Phoebe noticed however, that this boy had no markings on his face. Realizing she was falling behind, Phoebe rushed to catch up to Jess, James and Paige. James opened up a door at the end of the passage. They all entered, and Phoebe gasped with delight at what was before her. Magically handcuffed, but alive and well, sitting in some straw, were Melinda, Bekky and Sophie.

Phoebe nearly threw Kaitlyn at Jess, delighted to know her little girl was all right. As soon as Kaitlyn was with Jess, the handcuffs vanished and the kids all stood up. Paige scooped up Sophie, smothering her with hugs and kisses, and Phoebe did the same to Bekky. Melinda watched on.

'Where's mummy?' Asked Melinda.

'Oh she's at the hospital still sweetie,' Replied Phoebe, picking up Bekky and Melinda. 'Let's get out of here.' Paige and Phoebe linked hands, and Paige orbed them back to the hospital, before the Shrock's changed their minds about the deal.

What they saw upon arrival startled them. Sitting on the bed was Piper and Leo, and Kaitlyn was asleep in their arms. 'What the…' Started Paige.

'Kaitlyn can astral project into a solid three dimensional form.' Replied Leo. 'It's the only explanation we can come up with.'

'Which means…' Phoebe paused. 'That… the Shrock's… will be still coming after us.'

'Can we worry about that later?' Asked Piper. 'I've had enough trouble for today.' Leo tightened his arms around his wife.

Phoebe glanced over at Cole, who was standing in the corner with a thoughtful expression on his face. He looked up at her and signaled for her to come with him out into the hospital corridor. Silently she followed, shutting the door carefully behind her. 'What is it?' Asked Phoebe.

'After you and Paige went with the Shrock's… Piper was mumbling some incoherent stuff… but one thing she said really took me by surprise.'

'And what was that?' Asked Phoebe, wrapping her arms around Cole's neck and moving in closer to him. His expression remained unchanged.

'She said Kaitlyn was Prue's baby.'