Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Author's Note: I wanted to post this chapter too, so you'd see where I'm going with this. Although I assume you canall already tell, but just so you can get a taste of what I'm planning.
Please Review!
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"I'm already late, Piper!" Phoebe yelled over Chris screaming and Wyatt screeching.
"Come on Phoebe just change him! I can't clean Wyatt up and change Chris at the same time. And look at the kid he's dripping banana mush all over the floor!" Piper yelled chasing Wyatt around the kitchen, as the little boy squealed.
"What about Paige? I'm late! AGAIN!"
"We agreed to let her grieve, remember! She's at Magic School in solitude. PLEASE! Come on he's you nephew!"
Phoebe sighed, bouncing Chris, "Why do I even bother having a job." She complained as she walked the baby over to the table.
"What are you doing?" Piper hissed as she sat Wyatt on the counter.
"Changing him."
"On the kitchen table!"
"I'm laying a blanket down first."
"Phoebe!"
"Okay, okay, we'll go to the living room…. come on Chrissy-wissy-poo let's get you clean…." She cooed, and Piper rolled her eyes.
"He hates that." Piper reminded her younger sister as Wyatt squirmed as she brushed the wet cloth over his face.
"Yeah, but he won't be able to tell me for another two years at least." Phoebe commented leaving the room.
Piper laughed, shaking her head as she tended to her oldest.
In the living room, Phoebe had placed baby Chris on the sofa and was powdering his bottom, "Yes, that's right, mister, Auntie Phoebe is going to be late, again, yep very late… 'cause of you and your little tush…" she spoke in high-pitched tones to the baby and he gurgled back at her.
She had just finished up with him, when Piper walked into the room. She was balancing Wyatt on one hip and proceeded to deposit him in his playpen. Then she reached for Chris, "Thank you very much for doing your Auntie-like duties."
Phoebe nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I hafta go!' She called, heading into the foyer.
Piper nodded, cuddling Chris, "Drive careful."
She said, Phoebe nodded absentmindedly, reaching for the jacket that went with her skirt, suddenly she stopped.
A gripping terror filled her so completely it made her dizzy. Reaching out she steadied herself against the wall as the absolute fear coursed through her, making her unable to even scream let alone move.
"Phoebe you okay?" Piper asked from behind her. She hadn't heard the door close and had wandered into the foyer to see why, only to find her sister standing still as a statue with one hand to the wall and the other to her abdomen.
"Phoebe?"
A scream of terror came from outside, followed by the sound of an explosion, gallivanting both sisters towards the door.
Phoebe reached it first, yanking it open she found a tall man clad in brown and black with scales on one side of his face towering over a tiny girl with dark hair and tears on her cheeks.
The child's hands were poised in mid-air and to the right of the demon a bush burned.
"Shit." Phoebe exclaimed and turned back into the house to get water.
The demon moved towards the girl again, causing her to flex her hands, but the explosion took out a sign post not the demon.
Piper reached out and froze the scene – except the girl didn't freeze. She looked up at her and than turned around and raced around the block.
Phoebe returned with a pitcher of water just in time to see the blur round the corner.
She ran down the steps and threw the water on the bush.
Piper looked around and made sure no one was around before she reached out and blew the demon up, then she unfroze everything.
"Did you see that?" Phoebe asked, going back up the steps, her eyes on the corner the girl had disappeared around.
Piper followed her gaze, "Yeah I saw, I saw she didn't freeze and I saw she was blowing things up."
"We can't just leave her out there."
"No, we can't. You go after her; I need to stay with the boys."
"Taking them to magic school?" Phoebe asked, handing the pitcher to her sister as she headed back to the steps.
Piper shook her head, "No, I need to stop taking them there every time things get weird; otherwise I'll never see them."
"Good point. I'll be back soon. Call Elise and tell her I'm writhing in pain from menstrual cramps."
"You were writhing last week. This week you're delusional with fever."
"Kay."
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With every step she took Phoebe's feeling of anxiousness grew. She knew she was getting closer, how she knew she wasn't sure, but she did.
It was almost as if she had an internal radar or something. But whatever it was, it was creepy and really freaking her out.
Mostly because she was a hundred percent positive that she'd felt that little girls terror which was impossible because she didn't have her empathy powers back yet.
Her feet stopped moving suddenly, she didn't tell them to, they just did. She stood still and listened, faintly she could hear the sound of sniffling.
She turned her head and saw a small bush against a house; she walked over and peered behind the bush.
Big, wet hazel eyes stared up at her.
"Hi," Phoebe said, smiling gently, "My name's Phoebe, you want to come out of there?"
The girl looked down and shook her head.
"Come on," she cajoled, "…we can go back to my house and call your parents."
Again the shake of the head.
"There are toys at my house." Phoebe added, thinking the child looked to be about three or four.
No response this time.
"My sister made chocolate-chip cookies today, you can have some."
"I like cookies." The girl said, her voice smooth and surprisingly clear, with just a hint of uncertainty.
"Come out of there."
The hazel eyes looked up at her again, and Phoebe felt something deep inside of squeeze tight. A feeling of warmth, of ferocity to protect that she only felt with the boys rise in her.
"Trust me." She whispered to the girl.
Slowly the little girl stood and walked around to stand directly in front of Phoebe.
She was so small, was Phoebe's first thought. She was young to begin with, but she also had a small frame, and tiny bone structure in her heart shaped face. A face marred with tears and a just a little dirt that she'd probably had on her hands.
"Let's go," Phoebe said, extending her hand. The child grasped it immediately the expression in her face almost reverent.
Phoebe frowned a little as they began to walk – reverent?
Why would the girl look up at her like that? As if she'd waited her whole life for this moment.
The thought was pushed away as they reached the front of the manor. Slowly they climbed the stairs and let themselves inside.
"Piper, we're here!" Phoebe called as she shut the door behind.
Piper appeared from the kitchen, holding Chris, "Oh good, I was getting worried. Let's go into the kitchen."
A few minutes later, Chris was deposited in his basinet, and Piper, Phoebe, and the younger girl was sitting at the table. A plate with three cookies and a glass of milk sat in front of the girl.
"So…" Piper started, "What is your name?"
They watched, fascinated, as the girl finished chewing, took a drink of milk and rubbed her fingers together to rid herself of crumbs before shifting in her seat to face both sisters. "My name is Tessa." She said, again with that startling clarity.
Piper blinked a little, having expected the voice a toddler, "Well Tessa, my name is Piper. And that's Phoebe."
The girl nodded, "You make very good cookies."
"Uh… thank you. How old are you?" Piper asked, curiosity taking over.
"Four."
"Uh… wow… you… um… you have a very good…"
"…mastery of language?" Tessa provided, when Piper faltered.
Again Piper blinked in astonishment, she glanced at her sister but found that Phoebe was staring fixedly on the girl, and showing no signs of planning to join the conversation, "Uh, yeah… exactly." She said.
"Thank you." Tessa replied, "I go to a special school."
"I'm can believe that." Piper said, astonishment still evident on her face and in her voice.
The kitchen was quiet, but obviously Tessa knew there was more to come because she made no move to begin on her cookies again.
"Do you know what happened outside?" Phoebe asked after a moment.
The girl shrugged, "Sort of. It'd never happened a'fore though. I'd never been 'ttacked 'afore."
"You have powers?" Phoebe questioned, just to confirm.
"Yes, lots."
"I saw you blow something up." Piper said, "How did you get that power?"
"I'm not supposed to talk 'bout this stuff."
They noticed that she kept looking between them, as if searching for something.
"Listen honey, we don't often have little girls who show up with that kind of fire power. Especially since that kind of fire power tends to run in our family. So maybe you should tell us how to get in touch with your parents so we get all this cleared up." Piper said kindly.
Tessa looked down at her hands, "It is in your 'amily." She said softly.
The sister exchanged another look and Phoebe felt the knot in her stomach tighten. There was something about the girl that just… pulled at her… something that yanked at her soul… "What do you mean?" she asked almost warily.
Tessa seemed terrified suddenly, "I want my daddy." She said, her tone changing from clear to childish in a heartbeat.
Piper nodded, a look of confidence falling over her features; now that sounded more like a four year old, "Okay, tell me what his name is and I'll see if I can fin-"
Tessa slid off her chair and walked to the middle of the kitchen, she took a deep breath and screamed, "DADDY!" at the top of her lungs; and her cry was quickly followed by the angry wails of an infant awoken from sleep.
"Hey!" Piper called out standing, "Don't yell like that."
Tessa ignored her, "DADDY!"
Chris wailed louder. Piper and Phoebe exchanged looks again – the kid was crazy.
"DA-" but her cry was cut off this time, by the slow formation of what seemed like multi-colored dots.
And then he was there.
Blinking at them in utter astonishment and unabashed horror, expressions replicated perfectly on both their faces.
"Daddy!" Tessa cried and ran to him, hugging his knees.
Almost unconsciously he reached down and scooped the girl into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck as best she could and her little feet dangled.
But her father had yet to look her. His gaze was still focused on the two women before him.
And they… well they could hardly breathe, Chris's crying faded into the background as they stared at Cole Turner, alive and well, and in their kitchen.
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