The weeks moved by at a snails pace for Piper. Her due date was creeping closer but not fast enough. Now just over eight months pregnant Piper was running out of things to do. With this being her forth baby so much was already finished. The nursery was given a fresh coat of paint, a selection of the girls old clothes mixed with several new purchases from Piper's many shopping trips lined the chest drawers, and Piper had even finished knitting a new baby blanket. The older girls had all used the same blanket, one which Piper made before Melinda was born. However Makayla refused to give it up. It had been hers since she was born and she loved too much to give it away. It was several shades of pink and a large triquetra covered the middle. At each point Piper had stitched the girl's names. It was actually just after Melinda was born that Paige suggested Piper had her name to the top of the family symbol. Each daughter that followed had her name added to the blanket and the blanket was added to the crib. As badly as Piper wanted to add the new baby to the same blanket it was just one change too many for Makayla to handle. On top of that there was no room left on the blanket to add the new baby so Piper made the decision to knit her a new one. In order to avoid future arguments Piper made the new blanket in a creamy yellow, the only thing that remained the same was the triquetra. Once the baby was born her name would be added. But for now Piper had nothing left to get ready. She had even been updating the baby book on a regular basis.
All this free time was riding on Piper's last nerve. She had to find something to keep her busy. The girls had started school again so she was left on her own. The questions that she had about this baby's future were still unsolved so she dedicated herself to finding out the truth. Leo gladly gathered what little information he had managed to find out together for her and set her up with a huge library of Mystical Tomes and Texts. He was just as happy to have her sitting and working on one project instead of fighting him to be more active. As well he thought that a new set of eyes may put together the pieces he was missing. Unfortunately Piper was not getting any further than Leo had.
"This is useless." She said in frustration slamming the book closed that sat on the sunroom table. She had taken Leo's notes and organized them in a way that only Piper could. Fifteen books were stacked on the floor amongst the girls toys and several note books were open and ready.
"Knock, knock. Piper are you home?" Paige's voice flowed through the kitchen doors.
"In here." Paige entered the conservatory with a huge bouquet of flowers. "What's up?" Piper looked up and spotted the flowers. "Wow where did they come from?"
"Oh Luke has been bringing them home, like every day and I am out of vases. I thought you could use some livening up in here. What are you working on?" Paige looked down at Piper's notebook. "Oh you are still looking for reasons?"
Piper nodded. "I need something to do Paige. Besides we have to find out what will be coming with these bundles of joy." Piper said patting her tummy.
"That's just it Piper we don't need to know. Yes we know that they are powerful but we don't need to know every part of their future. We didn't with any of the other girls."
"I don't know Paige I just have this feeling something is not right here." Piper closed the notebook and heaved herself to her feet.
"I know that you do. My theory is let's not worry until we have reason to worry. It's not like we have been attacked, please stop worrying so much." Piper nodded but knew she was right. "Why don't we call Phoebe and go to lunch?"
"I like that idea but what about Lyanna?"
"Oh don't worry about her, Matt has the day off. He can take care of his daughter for a few hours." Paige said swinging her arm around Piper's shoulders.
Within an hour the three sisters were sitting a patio table at the Embarcadero. They had ordered already and each was tending to a tall glass of ice tea. The conversation had drifted between husbands to work issues to the children.
"So you are never going to guess what missy here was doing when I stopped by the house to invite her to lunch." Paige said to Phoebe while nodding in Piper's direction.
"Oh I know she was studying. Ever since Leo turned the books to her she hasn't stopped." Phoebe said with a chuckle.
"Hey leave me alone. I can't believe that you two are not more worried. It's not like you to let things happen without explanation."
"Piper it's not that we are not worried. I just think that we will find out what's to come when we are supposed to. I mean what have you managed to discover?" Paige asked.
"Not much. The books seem to be hinting that a power will come into the world that is the strongest the world will ever know and that it will ever see again. However there are huge pieces missing. It doesn't say anything about how many will be born, when, where, or what 'the strongest power ever' means. I just wish that someone or something can fill in the blanks."
"Well when we get home maybe Paige and I should help you out." Phoebe suggested.
"Oh no you don't that is my project. Look I have 5 week to kill and nothing left to do. You have Lyanna and your column and you have all of your save the children projects with the youth programs. I have nothing to keep me busy during the daytime."
"If that's want you want fine. We just thought that we could help." Phoebe said pretending to cry. Piper swatted her arm. "Hey!" Phoebe went to swat Piper back but as her hand landed on Piper's arm she was thrown into a major premonition. They were at the manor and under attack. Six demons surrounded them and one was centered facing them head on saying something that Phoebe couldn't hear. The three charmed ones were all very pregnant and each had a blade to her stomach. At that instant Phoebe came back to reality.
"Phoebe what happened? What did you see?" Piper asked slightly panicked.
"Us being attacked." Phoebe said in a raspy voice. She was in a slight shock. She had not had a premonition like that in a very long time.
"What? When? Where?" Paige stumbled out.
"Now, at the manor." Phoebe said.
"Now?"
"Well I don't know Paige. We were pregnant and really pregnant so soon. We were surrounded by six or seven demons and some other demon was talking to us. But the really bad part was that a knife was ready to slash each of our bellies." Tears threatened Phoebe and both her hands grabbed her belly. The other two did the same a spilt second later.
"What? They are going to hurt the baby? Piper I guess you were right worry about their futures? We need to get home and figure this out." Paige said grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair.
She stood up and pulled her much larger sisters to their feet. Phoebe had nearly caught up to Piper in the weight gain department but Piper was still bigger. Paige was still far behind both of them. Piper paid the check and the three of them rushed home.
