Portia and Wyatt were walking to school, something they have been doing
everyday for the last four months. What seemed to Portia like years ago,
when she met her cousin and her aunts, and finally the father that she
never knew. And the fact that their long lost family was the Halliwell's,
the most powerful force of good that the world has ever known. Her cousin,
Wyatt, was her best friend.
"I hate the family album stuff, they make us do it every year," Wyatt said to Portia.
"Not where I went to school, they always asked about you, and were so interested in you, but they didn't care. I wish that the teacher would have let us work together, now she's gonna have two albums that are practically the same."
"I know, well, her time, not ours!" Wyatt said laughing, and Portia laughed with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jason, honey, you're going to be late for your flight!" Phoebe yelled up the manor stairs as she set down the last of his luggage. She hated it when he had to go away, though she was used to long separations, and a month wasn't a long time.
Jason rushed down the stairs still fixing his tie. He had his sportscoat over his right arm and his briefcase underneath his left armpit. He looped his tie the last time and lost grip on his briefcase, which tumbled to the floor, spilling it's contents. "****!" he said bending over to pick up the papers. Phoebe kneeled down to help him.
"It might help if you slow down a bit," she said.
"I know." There was a pause, "You know that I'll miss you?"
"You miss me when we're not in the same room." He smiled at her, knowing perfectly well that she was right.
"I wish you could come with me," he said giving her puppy eyes. She met him with a stern glance. "I know, magic. I understand too, but can't a guy wish?"
Finally the papers had all been picked up and replaced haphazardly in the briefcase. They both stood up and Jason pulled Phoebe into his arms, and kissed her long and hard. Phoebe didn't want to let him go, but she knew that he really had to leave. She always made him late. "Honey, you better go."
"Alright, if you say so." He kissed her once more, "I love you."
"I love you too, now go. Call me when you get to Tokyo." He stepped out the door with his luggage, packed his car and drove off. Phoebe shut the Manor door. "God, I love that guy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice was in her room making her bed, She had loads of housework to do before she left for work. She had just finished the bed when blue and white lights appeared in her bedroom. It was John. He always tried to visit her at least once a week. He came up to Patrice and wrapped his arms around her. Over the last four months they had rekindled their love, which had been dormant for ten years. Feeling his arms she relaxed and he layed her down on the ned.
"Hey! You're gonna mess it up!"
"I'll make it later," he kissed her and rolled her on her back. Piper was sitting at the bar in P3, calculating the month's expenses and income. Though the club had been around for years, it still packed a good crowd and still got the best and hottest bands. That was her favorite part, doing the bills however, was not. It seemed that prices were always going up someplace or another.
But that was the economy, and she couldn't change the circular flow. She laid down her pen and got up off the bar stool. There were a million things that she had to do. "If only my freezes lasted a few hours, then I could get a handle on things." She thought and then the personal gain ticker went off in the back of her mind.
She gathered her papers up in her arms and grabbed her keys. "I can finish this stuff at hom." She gave the club a final look over and locked the door behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was nearing 10:00 am when Patrice climbed out of bed, wrapping a bed sheet around her naked body. She looked at the clock. "Oh my God, I am so going to be late," she said. "You can't come in the morning like this, when you come I always end up late for work."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not!" She said laughing as she leaned in to give him a kiss. She stood back up and searched the room for her undergarments, put them on and went to the closet and pulled out a light pink blouse and a black skirt suit set. After dressing, she walked over to her mirror and fixed her hair. "Good enough," she said to herself.
Her briefcase sat on the chaise lounge in the corner and she grabbed it. "Are you coming to see Portia tonight?"
"Yeah."
"Come and have dinner too." She looked at her watch, "Alright, I'll see you tonight. Bye, I love you."
"I love you too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Portia sat in class falling asleep. The teacher had been rattling on about the same passage from their text for an hour. Unknowingly, Portia started to spin her pencil on her desk telekinetically.
Wyatt, who sat behind her, gave her seat a swift kick. He knew her well enough to know that she played magic games when she was bored, and he didn't want her exposing herself.
Feeling the kick, she immediately stopped. She looked around the classroom, no one had seen her. Next to her sat a red headed boy named Andrew. He was asleep, snoring and drooling on his desk. Portia was surprised that the teacher hadn't noticed yet.
Across the room sat a pretty young girl who was drawing on her desk. Her name was Skylar, Portia recalled. Skylar met Portia's gaze and Portia dropped her eyes as clouds filled her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue sat in her office at 415 Magazine. Being Chief Photo Editor had it's perks. A bunch of pictures lay scattered on her desk along with a few articles. She had to decide what photos were good enough to be used.
A young woman came in carrying a manila folder and a cup of coffee. "Here's your coffee and the final layout of those photos for the fashion article."
"Thanks Meriel," Prue said to her. She took the folder from her and noticed that Meriel's palms were sweaty. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing that you'd want to hear about, Miss Halliwell."
"Try me."
"Okay," Meriel said sitting down in the chair opposite from Prue. "Well, my husband wants kids, but I can't afford to go on maternity leave if I do get pregnant. See, he lost his job two weeks ago and I'm supporting the both of us."
"Oh," Prue didn't know what to say, "Is the maternity leave paid?"
"No which is a big factor in deciding whether or not to have kids."
"Meriel, whatever you want you can accomplish. If you want kids, have them while you are young. And if you ever need anything, just let me know."
"Really? Oh, thank you Miss Halliwell!"
"Call me Prue."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alright Bane, today's your day. I'm here to let you go." The guard opened the cell door and a tall man with dark hair stepped out.
"Thanks Dave, you've always been a pal."
"Live peacefully Bane."
"Will do."
"What are you going to do first?"
"Shower and then go see the love of my life."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piper arrived at home around 11:00am adn set her papers on the kitchen counter. From the looks of it, Phoebe was still home. Her laptop was sitting on the kitchen table. "Pheebes, I'm home!"
Phoebe hurried down the stairs. "You left early this morning."
"I had a few things to take care of down at the club. Did Jason leave?"
"Yeah, awhile ago actually."
"Do you wanna help me with the houseworK?" Piper asked her.
"I already started actually. I did the sun room and the sitting room. I was gonna leave the kitchen for you and start upstairs and let you finish up down here."
"Wow, thanks."
"Hey, I know this is off subject, but have you heard from Leo lately?"
"No, he doesn't come around because of Wyatt."
"No biggie. I was just wondering" Phoebe went upstairs. Piper wondered what was wrong with her. She was acting wierd, well, at least wierd for Phoebe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The clouds formed a vision in Portia's mind. She saw Skylar sitting in a room doing homework, alone, trying to block out the yelling in the background. Her vision moved to the source of the yelling. A blonde woman stood there, who looked much like Skylar, except for her eyes. Skylar's eyes looked like the man's. His eyes were filled with rage as he raised his hand and threw an energy ball at the woman who vanished.
Portia pulled out of the vision scared for the life of Skylar.
Later at lunch, Skylar approached them. "Hi, can I sit with you?"
"Sure," Wyatt said. She sat down next to him, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
"My name's Skylar."
"I'm Wyatt and this is my cousin Portia."
"Nice to meet you. So how do you like Mrs. Tranks's class?" Portia zoned out.
"I fall asleep everyday," Wyatt said laughing.
"I know, I have to draw to keep awake."
They both laughed together as Wyatt looked at Portia, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, sorry, what were you saying?"
"How much we hate Mrs. Trank's class." Wyatt still looked at her. He knew that she had had a vision. Patrice was on the phone in her office. "Oui, Monsieur Renard, je comprends," she paused, "le 17 Avril?" She picked up her date book and opened it to April 17th. "D'accord, c'est bon. Au Revoir." She hung up the phone and sighed, another meeting on the books.
Her office was impeccably neat. Everything was organized in files and drawers. On her desk was a translator and a Japanese dictionary. She had recently been dealing with a Japanese Company and had to learn Japanese in a hurry.
Her phone rang. She picked it up, "Patrice Tomasi, International Relations Manager, how can I help you?"
"Patrice, it's Paige."
"Oh hey sis!" She loved getting phone calls from her sisters.
"Do you wanna meet me for lunch?" Patrice looked at her watch. It was getting to be that time.
"Yeah, where?"
"How about that little deli around the corner from your office at 12:30?"
"That sounds great. I'll see you there." The phone clicked off at the other end. She checked her watch again. She had enough time to study some more Japanese vocabulary and head out to meet Paige.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piper and Phoebe flopped on the couch. They had just finished cleaning the entire Manor, stem to stern.
"I'm famished," Phoebe said to Piper.
"I know. I think that there's some chicken salad in the frig. We can make some sandwiches, come on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bane showered at the local YMCA after buying some clothes, shaving cream, a razor, and deoderant. He wanted to look his best when he saw Prue.
With a shaven face, he jumped on a cable car. He hoped that she was home, but if she wasn't he planned on waiting for her. After all, what was a few hours when he had already waited over ten years.
The cable car dropped him off four blocks from the Manor. He walked the rest of the way, thinking of the perfect thing to say to her. Most of his thoughts he had dismissed as frivolous or too forward as he neared the Manor. His heart pounded in his chest as he walked up the steps to the Manor and knocked. Patrice was running late as she hurried through the door of the deli. She saw Paige and waved to her. "Sorry, I got caught up in a phone conference with our italian conglomerate," she said sitting across from Paige at the table, which mimicked the french cafe look.
"It's alright. I was late too, so we're even. Do you wanna go order?"
"Oh yeah, sure." They both stood up together and walked to the end of a very long line. A woman with two young children got in line behind them. The little girl tugged on her mom's dress, "Look mommy, they're twins like me and Missy!" Patrice and Paige turned around to smile at the little girl. That was the first time that anyone had noticed or said they were twins.
"Yes, they are dear." She looked up at Patrice and Paige, "Sorry about that. She thinks that twins are really neat, and always has to say something." The woman smiled.
"No need to be sorry, it was cute." Paige said. After the little 'twins' incident, they turned to talk to eachother.
"So," Patrice started, "ever since we've become official sisters, we haven't really had the chance to talk, that is twin to twin talk."
"Yeah, someone or something is always interrupting."
"If you don't mind me asking, what was Richard like? I saw his pictures around the Manor and was just wondering."
"Oh, wow, where to start. Well he was a you know what. I met him while I was working a temp job and we fell in love, got married. We were married for seven years and then he fell ill and died."
"I'm sorry,"
"It's okay, I've moved on." There was a puase. Patrice felt bad for asking Paige about Richard. "So, how are things between you and John? Heating up?"
Patrice giggled, "You could say so, but he's still busy all the time, which makes it hard. He does come and see Portia and they've become very close."
"At least he's there for her now, better late than never." The line moved up a few feet. "I feel bad for Leo. Piper told him that Wyatt didn't want him around. Phoebe said that he felt, I mean according to our little e-m-p- a-t-h, like a part of him died."
"But can you blame Wyatt? He knows that his dad really hurt Piper."
"And Portia knows that John hurt you too, but she doesn't hate him."
"That's true."
"Plus, look at Piper. I mean, even though she divorced Leo a long time ago, it's plain to see that she still loves him, but she wants to do what's best for Wyatt. She's not even thinking about herself."
They finally reached the ordertaker. Patrice ordered first, "Turkey on rye, mayo, mustarc, tomato and lettuce please."
The second man took Paige's order, "Ham on wheat, mayo, tomato, lettuce, and provolone cheese please." They both grabbed a tray, paid and waited for their sandwiches. After getting a drink, they both sat down. "So, you lived in Michigan. How was that?"
"I hated it. I mean, my parents were there, but I hardly went out. I had a few good friends that I still talk to now, but after I graduated college and had Portia, I left and moved to Chicago. Now, I love that city. It's so nice. We moved here so I could find my real family, and I found a better job. So, I got a two for one deal, a family and more money."
"What are your mom and dad like?"
"They're french and that explains it all. Vive la France!" Paige laughed at her, she had never heard her sister speak french before. "What you do not like my outrageous french accent," Patrice said overdoing her natural accent.
"That is so funny," Paige said, continuing to laugh.
"You should hear my parents and my brother if you wanna hear funny."
They chatted the rest of the time, mostly girl talk about men and sex, but both of their lunch hours were drawing to a close. "Well, I have to get going," Paige said looking at her watch. "I don't want to be late."
"Yeah, I'll see ya tonight." They gave eachother a hug and went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe and Piper were washing the dishes from lunch when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Phoebe said drying off her hands and hurrying to the door.
When she opened it, she gasped. "Nice to see you too, Phoebe." Bane said to her.
"How'd you get out?"
"My sentence is over, I served my time. Is Prue here, I really need to see her."
"No, she's at work." PIper, wondering who Phoebe was talking to came in.
"Bane!"
"Hi, Piper. How are you?"
"Good, what are you doing here?" She was a little aprehensive, "You didn't bring any demons with you, did you?"
"Nope, this time I'm clean. I came to see Prue."
"Oh, well she's not here, do you want to wait?"
"Yeah, I don't have anywhere to go, so that would be great."
Phoebe shot Piper a nasty glare, but Piper blew her off. "Have you eaten anything?"
"No. I got out a couple of hours ago, bought some nice clothes, cleaned up and came here. I hope I'm not imposing?"
Phoebe remembered the connection that Bane had with Prue. He was the first man that she had been with since Andy died. Plus being an empath did have it's benefits, and she could tell that he was sincere. "You're not i,posing, come into the kitchen." Bane got up and followed Piper and Phoebe into the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
School ended at three o'clock and Wyatt and Portia were making the trek back home. Wyatt knew something was wrong with Portia, that she had had a vision. "What was up with you today? You were acting like you had seen something horrible. Did you have a vision?"
Portia swallowed hard before answering him, "Uh-huh and Skylar was in it."
"What happened to her."
"Well, it's not so much what happened to her, as what happened to her mom. Her dad, who I think is a demon, killed her mom, but she doesn't know."
"No wonder you were so quiet at lunch. You should have said something to me earlier."
"When? While she was sitting right there? 'Hey Wyatt, I think her dad is a demon who killed her mom.' That would have blown over well."
"I didn't mean then, calm down."
"Sorry," she said. She felt bad for biting his head off. Portia heard footsteps running up behind them.
"Hey! Portia, Wyatt! Wait up!" It was Skylar. "Can I walk home with you?'
"Sure," Wyatt said. Portia could tell that Wyatt liked her, and she cracked a grin.
"Thanks, this way is shorter," Skylar siad, finally catching her breath. "Where do you guys live?"
"On Prescott Street." he replied.
"That's a pretty swanky neighborhood. Do you live together?"
"No, Portia lives across the street."
"Your families must be close."
"You could say that," Portia said to her.
"So what are your parent's names?" Wyatt asked nonchalantly.
"My dad's name is Aidan. My mom died a few years ago, he name was Atalaya."
"So you live with your dad?" Wyatt asked, "What's he like?"
"He's cool actually. He goes away a lot so I usually stay with friends of his. But I was closer to my mom than I'll ever be with my dad."
"I know what you mean," Wyatt said quietly. They had walked a few blocks when Skylar parted ways with them. "She's really nice," Wyatt said, trying not to appear too eager.
"You like her, I can tell."
"No, I don't!" he said trying to keep a straight face, but he couldn't.
"That's what I thought," Portia said smugly as they approached the Manor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The workday was over for Prue as she climbed into her car and headed home. For some reason she felt hurried, like there was something important that she had to do, but she couldn't think of what could be so important.
The traffic slowed to a hault. Even at three in the afternoon she was stuck. In what seemed like hours, Prue hadn't moved twenty feet, though only an hour had passed. Still feeling pressed for time, she looked at her watch. "What's wrong at home, why the urge to hurry?" Wyatt waited for Portia to drop her stuff off at her house before entering the Halliwell Manor. Neither of them had any homework to do, so they were just going to hang out.
"Mom, we're home!" Wyatt yelled as he and Portia came through the door. Piper came out of the kitchen laughing and gave him and Portia a hug.
"How was school?"
"Fine. Why are you laughing?"
"Aunt Phoebe..." PIper started to giggle uncontrollably again.
"O-kay," Portia said turning away from Piper and looking at Wyatt. "We're gonna go upstairs."
"Oh, no wait, I want you to meet someone." She grabbed Wyatt by the hand and Portia followed them into the kitchen. "Portia, Wyatt, this is Bane, an old friend or Aunt Prue's. Bane this is my son Wyatt, and my niece Portia."
"Nice to meet you both. Phoebe this has to be you daughter, she looks just like you."
"Nope," Portia said a little louder than she intended. Phoebe hugged her from behind.
"She's our sister Patrice's daughter."
"Hold up, I thought there were only three of you."
"Well, we've got two twin sisters that our mom had with her whitelighter. You'll meet them later."
"Okay, but even if she isn't yours, she does look just like you. If no one has ever told you, you are a beautiful little girl, Portia."
"Thank you," Portia replied blushing crimson.
"And Piper, a son! He has your eyes!"
"Yeah, and that's about all," Wyatt said resentfully. "Otherwise I look 'just like my dad.' I'm a chip off the old block." He rolled his eyes and grabbed Portia's hand. "We're gonna go do our homework," he said, knowing very well that he was telling a bald faced lie, "in my room. It was nice to meet you Bane." Portia smiled at Bane and left with Wyatt.
After they had been gone for a few minutes Bane spoke up. "I'm sorry for upsetting him, though I don't completely understand why?"
"It's not your fault," Piper said reassuring Bane, "he just needs a reality check."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice arrived hom at five, listened to her messages, changed her clothes and called John. He orbed in and scooped her up in his arns, and proceeded to the bed, but Patrice scolded him before he could get any farther. "Not right now. My sisters are having us for dinner and I don't want to be late."
He pouted, but quickly saw that it wasn't going to work. "Alright," he said slyly before grabbing her waist again, "but you can't keep me hanging like this, it's mean."
"Right," she said laughing at him. She kissed him quickly, took his hand and led him out the front door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was six when Prue got home. She had sat in traffic for three hours and was not at all pleased. Paige pulled in the driveway minutes after her. "Hey, Prue. You're home awfully late. What time did you get off?"
"Three. I sat in traffic for three hours."
"Nice."
"Yeah." They entered the front door and heard the incessant laughter in the kitchen. "I wonder what's going on in there?" Prue and Paige walked in the kitchen. John, Patrice, Piper, and Phoebe stood gathered around a man. "Oh my God."
Prue saw Bane and Bane saw Prue. Their eyes met, but neither of them moved. Piper silently signaled the rest of the gang to follow her, in spite of Paige's nearly silent protests. But Phoebe grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.
"Hi Prue."
"Bane...I can't believe it. You're here." He walked up to her and took her hand.
"I've waited so long to hold you." He enveloped her in his arms, holding her close. He could feel her sobbing. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just...I can't believe you're here...with me finally." They didn't say anything else. Nothing needed to be said, they just held eachother. This was right, this was perfect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner that night was fun. There were laughs and Paige and Patrice got a glimpse into the past, into a life that they had never known, of the Prue that they had never seen. She was happy and for once didn't always put her two cents in. Prue held Bane's hand all night and John had his arms around Patrice and Portia. Paige, Phoebe and Piper couldn't have been happier for Prue, she was finally going to have the love that she deserved. And Phoebe could feel Bane's adoration for Prue, she could feel wedding bells around the corner.
Wyatt was happy for his Aunt. She had told him about Bane and how much she loved him, but he was sure that she didn't remember their conversation, after all, he had only been four, but Wyatt could remember every detail of it. How she looked when she talked, how she sat, and how she smiled, and that was what she was doing tonight.
But something deep down was nagging him. Was it the disturbing news about Skylar? Maybe that was part of it, but there was something else, he just couldn't put his finger on it. But he didn't want to dwell on the bad.
He looked at his mother, who was beaming at the sight of seeing her sister so happy. His Aunt Phoebe was smiling but he could tell she was sad deep inside her heart. The first few days were always hard for her. Aunt Paige was strong. He remembered when his Uncle Richard died how strong she was, even though her heart was broken. The day of his funeral, he could hear her in her bedroom crying, at one point she even yelled up to heaven. But, in front of him, she never cried, though her eyes betrayed her. She tried to make everyone else feel better. But that's just how she was.
And Aunt Patrice, he hadn't known her for very long, but she was very dear to him. She understood how he felt about his dad, and helped him when he was frustrated. She was like a second mom to him. Finally Portia, his best friend, She opened him up, and he told her things that he would never tell any other person. She was the one person that he could trust. When she was with her dad, her inner beauty shone like a lighthouse on a foggy night, where you can't see a foot in front of you. He sometimes envied her for that. She had something that he never could have with his own father. In the inner most chambers of his heart, he wished his dad was more like Uncle John.
After hours of chitchatting, the group disbanded around nine thirty. Bane was staying with Prue. John, Patrice and Portia went home. John stayed with his family too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day was Saturday and everyone slept in, except Piper. She couldn't sleep, so she decided to take a walk.
After leaving a note on the refrigerator and putting on some comfy clothes and shoes, she headed out. The mornings in San Fransisco were always brisk. While she was walking she finally had alone time in her head.
Her insides hurt, but no one at home knew. She missed Leo. Even though they were divorced, he had always been there for her. In the deepest caverns of her soul and heart, she still loved him. Her body yearned for his gentle touch, but for Wyatt, she suppressed her feelings. The day she told Leo that Wyatt didn't want him around, she just wanted to hold him, and comfort him, she wanted to be his wife again.
Tears rolled down her cheekds, Was it a crime to love someone? She just wanted him, all her life, and they had overcome obstacles that would have broken apart any normal marriage. Their love had survived the worst.
But Wyatt was one obstacle she could not get over. He hated Leo, and it killed her. She felt bad that she had blamed her son, but she didn't want to hurt Wyatt, so she asked Leo to go away. He came first, his wishes before hers, even if they ripped her apart.
She was sobbing uncontrollably now, to the point where walking was too difficult. She sat down on the sidewalk and cradled her head in her hands. Her first instinct was to stop, but she had to let it out.
"Piper?" A voice from behind her said.
"Leo."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe woke up shortly after Piper left. She flet nauseated and rushed into the bathroom.
The toliet flushed and Phoebe came out, she had an idea what was wrong with her. Nothing was wrong, per say, all she needed was a pregnancy test.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue woke up in Bane's arms. She rubbed his chest gently. It was as smooth as she remembered. With her finger, she lightly traced the muscles in his chest and abs. He felt her and woke up, "Hey beautiful." He kissed her hand.
"Hi," she kissed him back.
"That was perhaps the best night of sleep that I've ever had."
"You didn't do much sleeping," she giggled. He hugged her and they laughed together.
"Did you miss me while I was gone?"
"Everyday for 14 years. Your letters and phone calls helped though. Just hearing your voice."
"You helped me alot too. If I hadn't of had you, I wouldn't be the same man." He looked deep into her eyes. She kissed his chest. "I love you Prue."
"I love you too, Bane."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice woke up with John, something that was becoming more and more common. But this time, she had clothes on. She hears her daughter stirring in the bedroom down the hall.
Portia made her way to the door that was slightly ajar. "Good morning sleepyheads!"
"Good morning sunshine! Did you sleep well?" Patrice asked patting the bed next to ther leg, signaling Portia to sit down on the bed.
"Great. Looks like you did too."
"Portia Atiana Tomasi, I can't believe you just said that!"
"Why not, do you ever watch TV?" By this time John had heard them talking and woke up, pulling Portia into a bear hug.
"And how is my beautiful little girl?"
"Good, daddy." He started tickling her and she laughed.
"So, ladies, today's my day off. What do you wanna do?"
Portia pondered for a minute, "Can we orb to Paris and see Aunt Tina? Please??!!"
"How about something more local, sunny."
"Fine, how about the zoo?" John nodded his approval, as did Patrice. Wyatt woke up and stretched. He kicked his covers off and lathargically climbed out of bed. He put his feet on the ground and rubbed his eyes, stood up slowly and walked to the bathroom.
After doing his business, he walked down the hall to his mom's roon, only to discover that she wasn't there. "She's probably fixing breakfast, as usual." Every Sunday and Saturday Piper made delicious omlettes and the crispiest bacon one can imagine. But there was no haunting aroma from the kitchen, so Wyatt went to check what was up.
"Mom? Are you down here?" There was no reply. He walked into the kitchen and looked around. He just missed her note as he checked the laundry room and the rest of the downstairs area.
Worried, he went back upstairs to see if any of his Aunts were up. He wasn't going to go in Aunt Prue's room, he might see something that would make him want to poke out his mind's eye. Aunt Paige usually slept until twelve, so he knew that she wasn't up, so Aunt Phoebe it was.
He opened the door to her room. She was sitting at her vanity table brushing out her hair. "Good morning Aunt Phoebe."
"Good morning sweetie."
"Have you seen mom? She's not in the house."
"No, maybe she went out. Did you check for a note?"
"I didn't see any and I checked everywhere."
"I'm sure she's fine, she probably went to get something she needed for breakfast."
"Yeah, I guess so."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What are you doing here?" Piper said wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"I could hear you crying, and I was worried. You've never cried like that before. Not in a long time, at least."
"Yeah, sorry to worry you. I just got to thinking about..." she faded out in mid-sentence.
"About what?"
"Nothing," she hid her face from him.
"Piper, it's not nothing, tell me. I hate to see you hurting like this."
"I...I...I miss you." She couldn't believe that she said it. She missed Leo.
"I miss you too."
"But do you miss me like I miss you? As a husband, as a lover?"
Leo didn't know what to say, of course he missed her as a wife and lover. He missed her companionship and her gentle touch. "Yes, Piper, I do." They had just finished visiting the penguin exhibit at the San Fransisco Zoo adn were headed to have lunch. Portia walked a few feet in front of her parents, who were holding hands behind her.
"Portia, honey, don't get too far ahead of us," Patrice said.
"You walk too slow," Portia said smiling and looking back at them, not paying attention to where she was walking. As she turned to look forward, she ran into Skylar.
"Portia, hi."
"Hi, Skylar. UMMM, these are my parents, Patrice and John. Mom, dad this is my friend Skylar from school."
"Nice to meet you, Skylar," Patrice said.
"You too, this is my dad, Aidan." A tall man with dirty blonde hair came up and put his hands on Skylar's shoulders. He presented his hand to Patrice and John.
"Aidan Kane, pleased to meet you." When he offered his hand to Portia, chills went through her body as she shook it. The vision of this man killing Skylar's mother reappeared. "Well, Sky and I must be getting along, she has her gymnastics class in a few hours." He smiled and turned, but harshly spoke to his daughter, "Come along, Skylar."
The three of them stood there as Aidan and Skylar walked away. Portia slowly backed up into her parents. "Mom, dad, that guy's a demon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue and Bane finally got out of bed around noon. They had spent a few extra hours galavanting around Prue's bedroom. Their giggles could be heard downstairs by Paige, Phoebe and Wyatt. But when they finally came down, no one said a word.
"Good morning," Prue said cheerfully.
"Morning?" Paige said looking down at her watch. "It's afternoon."
"Oh really," Bane said smiling at Prue, "Time flies when you're having fun."
Wyatt choked back a laugh. "So, Aunt Prue, are you gonna help me with my astral projection today?"
"Oh, sweetie, Bane and I made plans. I completely forgot. How about tomorrow?" Wyatt shrugged.
"Whatever works. How about you then Aunt Paige, are you up for stocking the potions cupboard?"
"Why not, I don't have anything to do. Wanna help Pheebes?"
"I need to go to the drug store, but when I get back I'll help."
"Okay. Prue, Bane, have lots of fun today. Come on Wyatt." Paige and Wyatt left to go into the kitchen and Phoebe went to the foyer and got her purse and coat.
"I'll see you guys later, be back in a little while," she yelled. "Bye," she said to Prue and Bane, closing the door behind her.
"Now I feel bad. I promised him that I would help him. He just got that power."
"Knowing you. I know you'll make it up to him."
In the kitchen, Paige and Wyatt had all the herbs that they needed on the counter. A big pot was sitting on the stove and Paige was adding things into it. "You know, little man, you've got a pretty good handle on this stuff."
"Yeah, mom thinks I'm still too young to do it by myself, but I know how to do this, I mean, I've watched you guys do it alot."
"Well, your mom should give you more credit." She paused, she knew that she had to talk with him about Leo. "Wyatt, if you won't get mad, why do you hate your dad so much?"
Wyatt was taken by surprise, "It's not so much that I hate him, I just don't want him around."
"And why not?"
"Because, he'll just leave again and hurt mom."
"But you don't know that."
"It's a given, he's done it before."
"But look at Portia's dad, Uncle John, he wasn't around for years, and she doesn't hate him."
"Yeah, but the person that stares back at her in the mirror isn't a constant reminder of the pain."
"Why are you in pain, I guess I just don't get it?"
"I..it's hard to explain, to put it into words. I just don't like him."
"Have you ever sat down and talked to him?"
"No."
"Well, try it some time, he's a great guy." Wyatt didn't say anything more, he didn't want to explain his feelings. He needed to work them out on his own. "Piper, do you want to go somewhere where we can talk?"
"Yeah, that would be great, but we can't go back to the Manor. No talking will get done, only fighting, and I think that we need to resolve our issues before we can deal with Wyatt." Leo nodded and helped her off the ground. He took her behind a bush and they orbed to a abandoned warehouse.
"Okay," Leo said feeling a little awkward, "we're alone."
Piper, who had already been standing close to him, could feel his breath on her neck. "Right, well, I want to talk about what happened with Wyatt a few months ago, when I told you that he didn't want you around. He hasn't changed his mind, I've changed mine. I want you around. It's killing me not to see you."
"Piper, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I...am still in love with you." There was a moment's silence. Piper was afraid that he didn't feel the same way.
Her revalation hit Leo like a bolt of lightning. "I still love you too Piper." Again, neither of them said anything, but Piper just laid her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up into his eyes and saw the tears that were forming.
"I'm glad that you feel the same way."
"Piper, I've loved you since the day I met you. Nothing could ever change that." She reached up for his chin and pulled his face down into a kiss.
They broke apart, "I've missed you, Leo."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe returned from the drug store with the bag containing her pregnancy test in her purse. She didn't want her sisters to know until she was completely positive. She quietly went upstairs, and into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
She opened the box and took the test. (I'll leave what she did to your knowledge of the subject). A pink line appeared. The test was positive.
Her heart raced. Finally a child after years of wanting one and trying to get pregnant. Now she would be called mom too, not just Aunt Phoebe. "Phoebe, are you in there?" It was Paige. Phoebe threw away the test and covered it with some toliet paper.
"Yeah, just a minute." She tried to compose herself but the excitement was killing her. She opened the door.
"Why didn't you tell us you were home?"
"I had to put some things away, and use the bathroom, then I was going to come down."
"Oh. Okay, come on."
"Thank God she didn't suspect anything," Phoebe said to herself, but her happiness was bubbling over inside of her, she could hardly contain it. She giggled outloud behind Paige and then acted like Paige had somoething stuck to her butt to cover it up. "That was too close, Phoebe."
They reached the kitchen where Wyatt was putting the finishing touches on a Tracer Demon vanquishing potion. "Hey Aunt Phoebe."
"You should see Wyatt mix a potion, he does it like a pro."
"Well, that's what you get for being the child of a Charmed One." The world 'child' sent chills up and down Phoebe's spine. Wyatt saw this and looked at her. "Is something wrong, Aunt Phoebe? You're acting funny."
"Oh, no, don't you worry about me. I'm just chipper!"
Paige looked at Phoebe, something was definitely wrong, she thought, who uses the word chipper. But she didn't want to push, at least, not in front of Wyatt, so she just shut her mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Portia, honey, what did you see?"
"Him...killing her mom." Portia gulped.
John took his daughter by the hand. "I think that we need to discuss this in the company of the Charmed Ones," he whispered. They headed back to their jeep to head for the Manor. If Aidan was a demon, the Charmed Ones needed to hear about this.
"I hate the family album stuff, they make us do it every year," Wyatt said to Portia.
"Not where I went to school, they always asked about you, and were so interested in you, but they didn't care. I wish that the teacher would have let us work together, now she's gonna have two albums that are practically the same."
"I know, well, her time, not ours!" Wyatt said laughing, and Portia laughed with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jason, honey, you're going to be late for your flight!" Phoebe yelled up the manor stairs as she set down the last of his luggage. She hated it when he had to go away, though she was used to long separations, and a month wasn't a long time.
Jason rushed down the stairs still fixing his tie. He had his sportscoat over his right arm and his briefcase underneath his left armpit. He looped his tie the last time and lost grip on his briefcase, which tumbled to the floor, spilling it's contents. "****!" he said bending over to pick up the papers. Phoebe kneeled down to help him.
"It might help if you slow down a bit," she said.
"I know." There was a pause, "You know that I'll miss you?"
"You miss me when we're not in the same room." He smiled at her, knowing perfectly well that she was right.
"I wish you could come with me," he said giving her puppy eyes. She met him with a stern glance. "I know, magic. I understand too, but can't a guy wish?"
Finally the papers had all been picked up and replaced haphazardly in the briefcase. They both stood up and Jason pulled Phoebe into his arms, and kissed her long and hard. Phoebe didn't want to let him go, but she knew that he really had to leave. She always made him late. "Honey, you better go."
"Alright, if you say so." He kissed her once more, "I love you."
"I love you too, now go. Call me when you get to Tokyo." He stepped out the door with his luggage, packed his car and drove off. Phoebe shut the Manor door. "God, I love that guy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice was in her room making her bed, She had loads of housework to do before she left for work. She had just finished the bed when blue and white lights appeared in her bedroom. It was John. He always tried to visit her at least once a week. He came up to Patrice and wrapped his arms around her. Over the last four months they had rekindled their love, which had been dormant for ten years. Feeling his arms she relaxed and he layed her down on the ned.
"Hey! You're gonna mess it up!"
"I'll make it later," he kissed her and rolled her on her back. Piper was sitting at the bar in P3, calculating the month's expenses and income. Though the club had been around for years, it still packed a good crowd and still got the best and hottest bands. That was her favorite part, doing the bills however, was not. It seemed that prices were always going up someplace or another.
But that was the economy, and she couldn't change the circular flow. She laid down her pen and got up off the bar stool. There were a million things that she had to do. "If only my freezes lasted a few hours, then I could get a handle on things." She thought and then the personal gain ticker went off in the back of her mind.
She gathered her papers up in her arms and grabbed her keys. "I can finish this stuff at hom." She gave the club a final look over and locked the door behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was nearing 10:00 am when Patrice climbed out of bed, wrapping a bed sheet around her naked body. She looked at the clock. "Oh my God, I am so going to be late," she said. "You can't come in the morning like this, when you come I always end up late for work."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not!" She said laughing as she leaned in to give him a kiss. She stood back up and searched the room for her undergarments, put them on and went to the closet and pulled out a light pink blouse and a black skirt suit set. After dressing, she walked over to her mirror and fixed her hair. "Good enough," she said to herself.
Her briefcase sat on the chaise lounge in the corner and she grabbed it. "Are you coming to see Portia tonight?"
"Yeah."
"Come and have dinner too." She looked at her watch, "Alright, I'll see you tonight. Bye, I love you."
"I love you too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Portia sat in class falling asleep. The teacher had been rattling on about the same passage from their text for an hour. Unknowingly, Portia started to spin her pencil on her desk telekinetically.
Wyatt, who sat behind her, gave her seat a swift kick. He knew her well enough to know that she played magic games when she was bored, and he didn't want her exposing herself.
Feeling the kick, she immediately stopped. She looked around the classroom, no one had seen her. Next to her sat a red headed boy named Andrew. He was asleep, snoring and drooling on his desk. Portia was surprised that the teacher hadn't noticed yet.
Across the room sat a pretty young girl who was drawing on her desk. Her name was Skylar, Portia recalled. Skylar met Portia's gaze and Portia dropped her eyes as clouds filled her mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue sat in her office at 415 Magazine. Being Chief Photo Editor had it's perks. A bunch of pictures lay scattered on her desk along with a few articles. She had to decide what photos were good enough to be used.
A young woman came in carrying a manila folder and a cup of coffee. "Here's your coffee and the final layout of those photos for the fashion article."
"Thanks Meriel," Prue said to her. She took the folder from her and noticed that Meriel's palms were sweaty. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing that you'd want to hear about, Miss Halliwell."
"Try me."
"Okay," Meriel said sitting down in the chair opposite from Prue. "Well, my husband wants kids, but I can't afford to go on maternity leave if I do get pregnant. See, he lost his job two weeks ago and I'm supporting the both of us."
"Oh," Prue didn't know what to say, "Is the maternity leave paid?"
"No which is a big factor in deciding whether or not to have kids."
"Meriel, whatever you want you can accomplish. If you want kids, have them while you are young. And if you ever need anything, just let me know."
"Really? Oh, thank you Miss Halliwell!"
"Call me Prue."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alright Bane, today's your day. I'm here to let you go." The guard opened the cell door and a tall man with dark hair stepped out.
"Thanks Dave, you've always been a pal."
"Live peacefully Bane."
"Will do."
"What are you going to do first?"
"Shower and then go see the love of my life."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piper arrived at home around 11:00am adn set her papers on the kitchen counter. From the looks of it, Phoebe was still home. Her laptop was sitting on the kitchen table. "Pheebes, I'm home!"
Phoebe hurried down the stairs. "You left early this morning."
"I had a few things to take care of down at the club. Did Jason leave?"
"Yeah, awhile ago actually."
"Do you wanna help me with the houseworK?" Piper asked her.
"I already started actually. I did the sun room and the sitting room. I was gonna leave the kitchen for you and start upstairs and let you finish up down here."
"Wow, thanks."
"Hey, I know this is off subject, but have you heard from Leo lately?"
"No, he doesn't come around because of Wyatt."
"No biggie. I was just wondering" Phoebe went upstairs. Piper wondered what was wrong with her. She was acting wierd, well, at least wierd for Phoebe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The clouds formed a vision in Portia's mind. She saw Skylar sitting in a room doing homework, alone, trying to block out the yelling in the background. Her vision moved to the source of the yelling. A blonde woman stood there, who looked much like Skylar, except for her eyes. Skylar's eyes looked like the man's. His eyes were filled with rage as he raised his hand and threw an energy ball at the woman who vanished.
Portia pulled out of the vision scared for the life of Skylar.
Later at lunch, Skylar approached them. "Hi, can I sit with you?"
"Sure," Wyatt said. She sat down next to him, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
"My name's Skylar."
"I'm Wyatt and this is my cousin Portia."
"Nice to meet you. So how do you like Mrs. Tranks's class?" Portia zoned out.
"I fall asleep everyday," Wyatt said laughing.
"I know, I have to draw to keep awake."
They both laughed together as Wyatt looked at Portia, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, sorry, what were you saying?"
"How much we hate Mrs. Trank's class." Wyatt still looked at her. He knew that she had had a vision. Patrice was on the phone in her office. "Oui, Monsieur Renard, je comprends," she paused, "le 17 Avril?" She picked up her date book and opened it to April 17th. "D'accord, c'est bon. Au Revoir." She hung up the phone and sighed, another meeting on the books.
Her office was impeccably neat. Everything was organized in files and drawers. On her desk was a translator and a Japanese dictionary. She had recently been dealing with a Japanese Company and had to learn Japanese in a hurry.
Her phone rang. She picked it up, "Patrice Tomasi, International Relations Manager, how can I help you?"
"Patrice, it's Paige."
"Oh hey sis!" She loved getting phone calls from her sisters.
"Do you wanna meet me for lunch?" Patrice looked at her watch. It was getting to be that time.
"Yeah, where?"
"How about that little deli around the corner from your office at 12:30?"
"That sounds great. I'll see you there." The phone clicked off at the other end. She checked her watch again. She had enough time to study some more Japanese vocabulary and head out to meet Paige.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piper and Phoebe flopped on the couch. They had just finished cleaning the entire Manor, stem to stern.
"I'm famished," Phoebe said to Piper.
"I know. I think that there's some chicken salad in the frig. We can make some sandwiches, come on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bane showered at the local YMCA after buying some clothes, shaving cream, a razor, and deoderant. He wanted to look his best when he saw Prue.
With a shaven face, he jumped on a cable car. He hoped that she was home, but if she wasn't he planned on waiting for her. After all, what was a few hours when he had already waited over ten years.
The cable car dropped him off four blocks from the Manor. He walked the rest of the way, thinking of the perfect thing to say to her. Most of his thoughts he had dismissed as frivolous or too forward as he neared the Manor. His heart pounded in his chest as he walked up the steps to the Manor and knocked. Patrice was running late as she hurried through the door of the deli. She saw Paige and waved to her. "Sorry, I got caught up in a phone conference with our italian conglomerate," she said sitting across from Paige at the table, which mimicked the french cafe look.
"It's alright. I was late too, so we're even. Do you wanna go order?"
"Oh yeah, sure." They both stood up together and walked to the end of a very long line. A woman with two young children got in line behind them. The little girl tugged on her mom's dress, "Look mommy, they're twins like me and Missy!" Patrice and Paige turned around to smile at the little girl. That was the first time that anyone had noticed or said they were twins.
"Yes, they are dear." She looked up at Patrice and Paige, "Sorry about that. She thinks that twins are really neat, and always has to say something." The woman smiled.
"No need to be sorry, it was cute." Paige said. After the little 'twins' incident, they turned to talk to eachother.
"So," Patrice started, "ever since we've become official sisters, we haven't really had the chance to talk, that is twin to twin talk."
"Yeah, someone or something is always interrupting."
"If you don't mind me asking, what was Richard like? I saw his pictures around the Manor and was just wondering."
"Oh, wow, where to start. Well he was a you know what. I met him while I was working a temp job and we fell in love, got married. We were married for seven years and then he fell ill and died."
"I'm sorry,"
"It's okay, I've moved on." There was a puase. Patrice felt bad for asking Paige about Richard. "So, how are things between you and John? Heating up?"
Patrice giggled, "You could say so, but he's still busy all the time, which makes it hard. He does come and see Portia and they've become very close."
"At least he's there for her now, better late than never." The line moved up a few feet. "I feel bad for Leo. Piper told him that Wyatt didn't want him around. Phoebe said that he felt, I mean according to our little e-m-p- a-t-h, like a part of him died."
"But can you blame Wyatt? He knows that his dad really hurt Piper."
"And Portia knows that John hurt you too, but she doesn't hate him."
"That's true."
"Plus, look at Piper. I mean, even though she divorced Leo a long time ago, it's plain to see that she still loves him, but she wants to do what's best for Wyatt. She's not even thinking about herself."
They finally reached the ordertaker. Patrice ordered first, "Turkey on rye, mayo, mustarc, tomato and lettuce please."
The second man took Paige's order, "Ham on wheat, mayo, tomato, lettuce, and provolone cheese please." They both grabbed a tray, paid and waited for their sandwiches. After getting a drink, they both sat down. "So, you lived in Michigan. How was that?"
"I hated it. I mean, my parents were there, but I hardly went out. I had a few good friends that I still talk to now, but after I graduated college and had Portia, I left and moved to Chicago. Now, I love that city. It's so nice. We moved here so I could find my real family, and I found a better job. So, I got a two for one deal, a family and more money."
"What are your mom and dad like?"
"They're french and that explains it all. Vive la France!" Paige laughed at her, she had never heard her sister speak french before. "What you do not like my outrageous french accent," Patrice said overdoing her natural accent.
"That is so funny," Paige said, continuing to laugh.
"You should hear my parents and my brother if you wanna hear funny."
They chatted the rest of the time, mostly girl talk about men and sex, but both of their lunch hours were drawing to a close. "Well, I have to get going," Paige said looking at her watch. "I don't want to be late."
"Yeah, I'll see ya tonight." They gave eachother a hug and went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe and Piper were washing the dishes from lunch when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Phoebe said drying off her hands and hurrying to the door.
When she opened it, she gasped. "Nice to see you too, Phoebe." Bane said to her.
"How'd you get out?"
"My sentence is over, I served my time. Is Prue here, I really need to see her."
"No, she's at work." PIper, wondering who Phoebe was talking to came in.
"Bane!"
"Hi, Piper. How are you?"
"Good, what are you doing here?" She was a little aprehensive, "You didn't bring any demons with you, did you?"
"Nope, this time I'm clean. I came to see Prue."
"Oh, well she's not here, do you want to wait?"
"Yeah, I don't have anywhere to go, so that would be great."
Phoebe shot Piper a nasty glare, but Piper blew her off. "Have you eaten anything?"
"No. I got out a couple of hours ago, bought some nice clothes, cleaned up and came here. I hope I'm not imposing?"
Phoebe remembered the connection that Bane had with Prue. He was the first man that she had been with since Andy died. Plus being an empath did have it's benefits, and she could tell that he was sincere. "You're not i,posing, come into the kitchen." Bane got up and followed Piper and Phoebe into the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
School ended at three o'clock and Wyatt and Portia were making the trek back home. Wyatt knew something was wrong with Portia, that she had had a vision. "What was up with you today? You were acting like you had seen something horrible. Did you have a vision?"
Portia swallowed hard before answering him, "Uh-huh and Skylar was in it."
"What happened to her."
"Well, it's not so much what happened to her, as what happened to her mom. Her dad, who I think is a demon, killed her mom, but she doesn't know."
"No wonder you were so quiet at lunch. You should have said something to me earlier."
"When? While she was sitting right there? 'Hey Wyatt, I think her dad is a demon who killed her mom.' That would have blown over well."
"I didn't mean then, calm down."
"Sorry," she said. She felt bad for biting his head off. Portia heard footsteps running up behind them.
"Hey! Portia, Wyatt! Wait up!" It was Skylar. "Can I walk home with you?'
"Sure," Wyatt said. Portia could tell that Wyatt liked her, and she cracked a grin.
"Thanks, this way is shorter," Skylar siad, finally catching her breath. "Where do you guys live?"
"On Prescott Street." he replied.
"That's a pretty swanky neighborhood. Do you live together?"
"No, Portia lives across the street."
"Your families must be close."
"You could say that," Portia said to her.
"So what are your parent's names?" Wyatt asked nonchalantly.
"My dad's name is Aidan. My mom died a few years ago, he name was Atalaya."
"So you live with your dad?" Wyatt asked, "What's he like?"
"He's cool actually. He goes away a lot so I usually stay with friends of his. But I was closer to my mom than I'll ever be with my dad."
"I know what you mean," Wyatt said quietly. They had walked a few blocks when Skylar parted ways with them. "She's really nice," Wyatt said, trying not to appear too eager.
"You like her, I can tell."
"No, I don't!" he said trying to keep a straight face, but he couldn't.
"That's what I thought," Portia said smugly as they approached the Manor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The workday was over for Prue as she climbed into her car and headed home. For some reason she felt hurried, like there was something important that she had to do, but she couldn't think of what could be so important.
The traffic slowed to a hault. Even at three in the afternoon she was stuck. In what seemed like hours, Prue hadn't moved twenty feet, though only an hour had passed. Still feeling pressed for time, she looked at her watch. "What's wrong at home, why the urge to hurry?" Wyatt waited for Portia to drop her stuff off at her house before entering the Halliwell Manor. Neither of them had any homework to do, so they were just going to hang out.
"Mom, we're home!" Wyatt yelled as he and Portia came through the door. Piper came out of the kitchen laughing and gave him and Portia a hug.
"How was school?"
"Fine. Why are you laughing?"
"Aunt Phoebe..." PIper started to giggle uncontrollably again.
"O-kay," Portia said turning away from Piper and looking at Wyatt. "We're gonna go upstairs."
"Oh, no wait, I want you to meet someone." She grabbed Wyatt by the hand and Portia followed them into the kitchen. "Portia, Wyatt, this is Bane, an old friend or Aunt Prue's. Bane this is my son Wyatt, and my niece Portia."
"Nice to meet you both. Phoebe this has to be you daughter, she looks just like you."
"Nope," Portia said a little louder than she intended. Phoebe hugged her from behind.
"She's our sister Patrice's daughter."
"Hold up, I thought there were only three of you."
"Well, we've got two twin sisters that our mom had with her whitelighter. You'll meet them later."
"Okay, but even if she isn't yours, she does look just like you. If no one has ever told you, you are a beautiful little girl, Portia."
"Thank you," Portia replied blushing crimson.
"And Piper, a son! He has your eyes!"
"Yeah, and that's about all," Wyatt said resentfully. "Otherwise I look 'just like my dad.' I'm a chip off the old block." He rolled his eyes and grabbed Portia's hand. "We're gonna go do our homework," he said, knowing very well that he was telling a bald faced lie, "in my room. It was nice to meet you Bane." Portia smiled at Bane and left with Wyatt.
After they had been gone for a few minutes Bane spoke up. "I'm sorry for upsetting him, though I don't completely understand why?"
"It's not your fault," Piper said reassuring Bane, "he just needs a reality check."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrice arrived hom at five, listened to her messages, changed her clothes and called John. He orbed in and scooped her up in his arns, and proceeded to the bed, but Patrice scolded him before he could get any farther. "Not right now. My sisters are having us for dinner and I don't want to be late."
He pouted, but quickly saw that it wasn't going to work. "Alright," he said slyly before grabbing her waist again, "but you can't keep me hanging like this, it's mean."
"Right," she said laughing at him. She kissed him quickly, took his hand and led him out the front door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was six when Prue got home. She had sat in traffic for three hours and was not at all pleased. Paige pulled in the driveway minutes after her. "Hey, Prue. You're home awfully late. What time did you get off?"
"Three. I sat in traffic for three hours."
"Nice."
"Yeah." They entered the front door and heard the incessant laughter in the kitchen. "I wonder what's going on in there?" Prue and Paige walked in the kitchen. John, Patrice, Piper, and Phoebe stood gathered around a man. "Oh my God."
Prue saw Bane and Bane saw Prue. Their eyes met, but neither of them moved. Piper silently signaled the rest of the gang to follow her, in spite of Paige's nearly silent protests. But Phoebe grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.
"Hi Prue."
"Bane...I can't believe it. You're here." He walked up to her and took her hand.
"I've waited so long to hold you." He enveloped her in his arms, holding her close. He could feel her sobbing. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just...I can't believe you're here...with me finally." They didn't say anything else. Nothing needed to be said, they just held eachother. This was right, this was perfect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner that night was fun. There were laughs and Paige and Patrice got a glimpse into the past, into a life that they had never known, of the Prue that they had never seen. She was happy and for once didn't always put her two cents in. Prue held Bane's hand all night and John had his arms around Patrice and Portia. Paige, Phoebe and Piper couldn't have been happier for Prue, she was finally going to have the love that she deserved. And Phoebe could feel Bane's adoration for Prue, she could feel wedding bells around the corner.
Wyatt was happy for his Aunt. She had told him about Bane and how much she loved him, but he was sure that she didn't remember their conversation, after all, he had only been four, but Wyatt could remember every detail of it. How she looked when she talked, how she sat, and how she smiled, and that was what she was doing tonight.
But something deep down was nagging him. Was it the disturbing news about Skylar? Maybe that was part of it, but there was something else, he just couldn't put his finger on it. But he didn't want to dwell on the bad.
He looked at his mother, who was beaming at the sight of seeing her sister so happy. His Aunt Phoebe was smiling but he could tell she was sad deep inside her heart. The first few days were always hard for her. Aunt Paige was strong. He remembered when his Uncle Richard died how strong she was, even though her heart was broken. The day of his funeral, he could hear her in her bedroom crying, at one point she even yelled up to heaven. But, in front of him, she never cried, though her eyes betrayed her. She tried to make everyone else feel better. But that's just how she was.
And Aunt Patrice, he hadn't known her for very long, but she was very dear to him. She understood how he felt about his dad, and helped him when he was frustrated. She was like a second mom to him. Finally Portia, his best friend, She opened him up, and he told her things that he would never tell any other person. She was the one person that he could trust. When she was with her dad, her inner beauty shone like a lighthouse on a foggy night, where you can't see a foot in front of you. He sometimes envied her for that. She had something that he never could have with his own father. In the inner most chambers of his heart, he wished his dad was more like Uncle John.
After hours of chitchatting, the group disbanded around nine thirty. Bane was staying with Prue. John, Patrice and Portia went home. John stayed with his family too.
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The next day was Saturday and everyone slept in, except Piper. She couldn't sleep, so she decided to take a walk.
After leaving a note on the refrigerator and putting on some comfy clothes and shoes, she headed out. The mornings in San Fransisco were always brisk. While she was walking she finally had alone time in her head.
Her insides hurt, but no one at home knew. She missed Leo. Even though they were divorced, he had always been there for her. In the deepest caverns of her soul and heart, she still loved him. Her body yearned for his gentle touch, but for Wyatt, she suppressed her feelings. The day she told Leo that Wyatt didn't want him around, she just wanted to hold him, and comfort him, she wanted to be his wife again.
Tears rolled down her cheekds, Was it a crime to love someone? She just wanted him, all her life, and they had overcome obstacles that would have broken apart any normal marriage. Their love had survived the worst.
But Wyatt was one obstacle she could not get over. He hated Leo, and it killed her. She felt bad that she had blamed her son, but she didn't want to hurt Wyatt, so she asked Leo to go away. He came first, his wishes before hers, even if they ripped her apart.
She was sobbing uncontrollably now, to the point where walking was too difficult. She sat down on the sidewalk and cradled her head in her hands. Her first instinct was to stop, but she had to let it out.
"Piper?" A voice from behind her said.
"Leo."
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Phoebe woke up shortly after Piper left. She flet nauseated and rushed into the bathroom.
The toliet flushed and Phoebe came out, she had an idea what was wrong with her. Nothing was wrong, per say, all she needed was a pregnancy test.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue woke up in Bane's arms. She rubbed his chest gently. It was as smooth as she remembered. With her finger, she lightly traced the muscles in his chest and abs. He felt her and woke up, "Hey beautiful." He kissed her hand.
"Hi," she kissed him back.
"That was perhaps the best night of sleep that I've ever had."
"You didn't do much sleeping," she giggled. He hugged her and they laughed together.
"Did you miss me while I was gone?"
"Everyday for 14 years. Your letters and phone calls helped though. Just hearing your voice."
"You helped me alot too. If I hadn't of had you, I wouldn't be the same man." He looked deep into her eyes. She kissed his chest. "I love you Prue."
"I love you too, Bane."
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Patrice woke up with John, something that was becoming more and more common. But this time, she had clothes on. She hears her daughter stirring in the bedroom down the hall.
Portia made her way to the door that was slightly ajar. "Good morning sleepyheads!"
"Good morning sunshine! Did you sleep well?" Patrice asked patting the bed next to ther leg, signaling Portia to sit down on the bed.
"Great. Looks like you did too."
"Portia Atiana Tomasi, I can't believe you just said that!"
"Why not, do you ever watch TV?" By this time John had heard them talking and woke up, pulling Portia into a bear hug.
"And how is my beautiful little girl?"
"Good, daddy." He started tickling her and she laughed.
"So, ladies, today's my day off. What do you wanna do?"
Portia pondered for a minute, "Can we orb to Paris and see Aunt Tina? Please??!!"
"How about something more local, sunny."
"Fine, how about the zoo?" John nodded his approval, as did Patrice. Wyatt woke up and stretched. He kicked his covers off and lathargically climbed out of bed. He put his feet on the ground and rubbed his eyes, stood up slowly and walked to the bathroom.
After doing his business, he walked down the hall to his mom's roon, only to discover that she wasn't there. "She's probably fixing breakfast, as usual." Every Sunday and Saturday Piper made delicious omlettes and the crispiest bacon one can imagine. But there was no haunting aroma from the kitchen, so Wyatt went to check what was up.
"Mom? Are you down here?" There was no reply. He walked into the kitchen and looked around. He just missed her note as he checked the laundry room and the rest of the downstairs area.
Worried, he went back upstairs to see if any of his Aunts were up. He wasn't going to go in Aunt Prue's room, he might see something that would make him want to poke out his mind's eye. Aunt Paige usually slept until twelve, so he knew that she wasn't up, so Aunt Phoebe it was.
He opened the door to her room. She was sitting at her vanity table brushing out her hair. "Good morning Aunt Phoebe."
"Good morning sweetie."
"Have you seen mom? She's not in the house."
"No, maybe she went out. Did you check for a note?"
"I didn't see any and I checked everywhere."
"I'm sure she's fine, she probably went to get something she needed for breakfast."
"Yeah, I guess so."
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"What are you doing here?" Piper said wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"I could hear you crying, and I was worried. You've never cried like that before. Not in a long time, at least."
"Yeah, sorry to worry you. I just got to thinking about..." she faded out in mid-sentence.
"About what?"
"Nothing," she hid her face from him.
"Piper, it's not nothing, tell me. I hate to see you hurting like this."
"I...I...I miss you." She couldn't believe that she said it. She missed Leo.
"I miss you too."
"But do you miss me like I miss you? As a husband, as a lover?"
Leo didn't know what to say, of course he missed her as a wife and lover. He missed her companionship and her gentle touch. "Yes, Piper, I do." They had just finished visiting the penguin exhibit at the San Fransisco Zoo adn were headed to have lunch. Portia walked a few feet in front of her parents, who were holding hands behind her.
"Portia, honey, don't get too far ahead of us," Patrice said.
"You walk too slow," Portia said smiling and looking back at them, not paying attention to where she was walking. As she turned to look forward, she ran into Skylar.
"Portia, hi."
"Hi, Skylar. UMMM, these are my parents, Patrice and John. Mom, dad this is my friend Skylar from school."
"Nice to meet you, Skylar," Patrice said.
"You too, this is my dad, Aidan." A tall man with dirty blonde hair came up and put his hands on Skylar's shoulders. He presented his hand to Patrice and John.
"Aidan Kane, pleased to meet you." When he offered his hand to Portia, chills went through her body as she shook it. The vision of this man killing Skylar's mother reappeared. "Well, Sky and I must be getting along, she has her gymnastics class in a few hours." He smiled and turned, but harshly spoke to his daughter, "Come along, Skylar."
The three of them stood there as Aidan and Skylar walked away. Portia slowly backed up into her parents. "Mom, dad, that guy's a demon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prue and Bane finally got out of bed around noon. They had spent a few extra hours galavanting around Prue's bedroom. Their giggles could be heard downstairs by Paige, Phoebe and Wyatt. But when they finally came down, no one said a word.
"Good morning," Prue said cheerfully.
"Morning?" Paige said looking down at her watch. "It's afternoon."
"Oh really," Bane said smiling at Prue, "Time flies when you're having fun."
Wyatt choked back a laugh. "So, Aunt Prue, are you gonna help me with my astral projection today?"
"Oh, sweetie, Bane and I made plans. I completely forgot. How about tomorrow?" Wyatt shrugged.
"Whatever works. How about you then Aunt Paige, are you up for stocking the potions cupboard?"
"Why not, I don't have anything to do. Wanna help Pheebes?"
"I need to go to the drug store, but when I get back I'll help."
"Okay. Prue, Bane, have lots of fun today. Come on Wyatt." Paige and Wyatt left to go into the kitchen and Phoebe went to the foyer and got her purse and coat.
"I'll see you guys later, be back in a little while," she yelled. "Bye," she said to Prue and Bane, closing the door behind her.
"Now I feel bad. I promised him that I would help him. He just got that power."
"Knowing you. I know you'll make it up to him."
In the kitchen, Paige and Wyatt had all the herbs that they needed on the counter. A big pot was sitting on the stove and Paige was adding things into it. "You know, little man, you've got a pretty good handle on this stuff."
"Yeah, mom thinks I'm still too young to do it by myself, but I know how to do this, I mean, I've watched you guys do it alot."
"Well, your mom should give you more credit." She paused, she knew that she had to talk with him about Leo. "Wyatt, if you won't get mad, why do you hate your dad so much?"
Wyatt was taken by surprise, "It's not so much that I hate him, I just don't want him around."
"And why not?"
"Because, he'll just leave again and hurt mom."
"But you don't know that."
"It's a given, he's done it before."
"But look at Portia's dad, Uncle John, he wasn't around for years, and she doesn't hate him."
"Yeah, but the person that stares back at her in the mirror isn't a constant reminder of the pain."
"Why are you in pain, I guess I just don't get it?"
"I..it's hard to explain, to put it into words. I just don't like him."
"Have you ever sat down and talked to him?"
"No."
"Well, try it some time, he's a great guy." Wyatt didn't say anything more, he didn't want to explain his feelings. He needed to work them out on his own. "Piper, do you want to go somewhere where we can talk?"
"Yeah, that would be great, but we can't go back to the Manor. No talking will get done, only fighting, and I think that we need to resolve our issues before we can deal with Wyatt." Leo nodded and helped her off the ground. He took her behind a bush and they orbed to a abandoned warehouse.
"Okay," Leo said feeling a little awkward, "we're alone."
Piper, who had already been standing close to him, could feel his breath on her neck. "Right, well, I want to talk about what happened with Wyatt a few months ago, when I told you that he didn't want you around. He hasn't changed his mind, I've changed mine. I want you around. It's killing me not to see you."
"Piper, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I...am still in love with you." There was a moment's silence. Piper was afraid that he didn't feel the same way.
Her revalation hit Leo like a bolt of lightning. "I still love you too Piper." Again, neither of them said anything, but Piper just laid her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up into his eyes and saw the tears that were forming.
"I'm glad that you feel the same way."
"Piper, I've loved you since the day I met you. Nothing could ever change that." She reached up for his chin and pulled his face down into a kiss.
They broke apart, "I've missed you, Leo."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phoebe returned from the drug store with the bag containing her pregnancy test in her purse. She didn't want her sisters to know until she was completely positive. She quietly went upstairs, and into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
She opened the box and took the test. (I'll leave what she did to your knowledge of the subject). A pink line appeared. The test was positive.
Her heart raced. Finally a child after years of wanting one and trying to get pregnant. Now she would be called mom too, not just Aunt Phoebe. "Phoebe, are you in there?" It was Paige. Phoebe threw away the test and covered it with some toliet paper.
"Yeah, just a minute." She tried to compose herself but the excitement was killing her. She opened the door.
"Why didn't you tell us you were home?"
"I had to put some things away, and use the bathroom, then I was going to come down."
"Oh. Okay, come on."
"Thank God she didn't suspect anything," Phoebe said to herself, but her happiness was bubbling over inside of her, she could hardly contain it. She giggled outloud behind Paige and then acted like Paige had somoething stuck to her butt to cover it up. "That was too close, Phoebe."
They reached the kitchen where Wyatt was putting the finishing touches on a Tracer Demon vanquishing potion. "Hey Aunt Phoebe."
"You should see Wyatt mix a potion, he does it like a pro."
"Well, that's what you get for being the child of a Charmed One." The world 'child' sent chills up and down Phoebe's spine. Wyatt saw this and looked at her. "Is something wrong, Aunt Phoebe? You're acting funny."
"Oh, no, don't you worry about me. I'm just chipper!"
Paige looked at Phoebe, something was definitely wrong, she thought, who uses the word chipper. But she didn't want to push, at least, not in front of Wyatt, so she just shut her mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Portia, honey, what did you see?"
"Him...killing her mom." Portia gulped.
John took his daughter by the hand. "I think that we need to discuss this in the company of the Charmed Ones," he whispered. They headed back to their jeep to head for the Manor. If Aidan was a demon, the Charmed Ones needed to hear about this.