Chapter 15

Willow put the soaked white cloth off to the side and sat the little boy in the sink. She had to stand there and support his back because he could not yet sit up.

"Willow, we don't have any boy clothes," Prue whispered as Willow filled the other side of the sink with warm water.

"We just need a baby blanket for now," Willow whispered back as she sat the boy in the water and started to wash him. He was very little and appeared to be malnourished. He hade a little bit of chocolate brown hair and his eyes were sky blue. He had long since stopped crying but he was still pretty tense. The shock was almost too much for Willow and Prue to handle.

As Willow ran the wash rag over his neck, he started to giggle. It kind of took Willow by surprise, but after a few seconds she smiled gently at him. She giggled herself as the boy giggled and babbled up at her. Prue came in with a soft blue baby blanket from the dryer.

"It's been in my closet a long time," Prue explained. Willow took out the boy, dried him off, then wrapped him up in the blanket where he was soon fast asleep. Willow handed the baby to Prue.

"Let's show him to Piper. That might cheer her up," Prue suggested.

"Okay," Willow agreed as the two headed up the stairs with the baby. When they got to Piper's room Willow knocked gently.

"Go away!" Piper snapped. She was in no mood to talk to anybody. At that moment Willow heard Laci scream from Prue's bedroom.

"C'mon Prue. We'll show him to Lac," Willow said and abandoned Piper's door. When Willow opened Prue's door she saw Laci, who was standing up in the crib. Her face was flushed.

"Look honey, we brought you someone to play with," Prue said and showed Laci the baby.

"Bebe," Laci said.

"Yes baby. We found him," Willow told her.

"Hi howie," Laci said and sort of waved at the baby.

"Howie," Prue and Willow tried out the name at the same time.

'It kinda rolls off your tongue,' Willow thought to herself.

"Let's call him Howie, Will," Prue said.

"Okay. That's too cute," she said then lifted Laci out of the crib. "You named your little buddy Lac," Willow said andnuzzled Laci.

"We have to find out who he belongs to," Prue said.

"I know," Willow replied. They were silent for a while.

"Let's go try to show him to Piper again," Prue suggested. Willow nodded and her and Laci followed Prue and Howie. Prue knocked on the door. This time Piper opened it.

"What Prue?" Piper asked. She looked like she was in a bad mood.

"We wanted to show you something," Prue said and held Howie out for Piper to see.

"Where'd he come from?" she asked, still pretty irritably.

"Willow and I found him. He was abandoned in our trash can," Prue said sadly.

"I wouldn't get attached to him if I were you," Piper said and headed back into her room.

"Why not?" Willow asked, her voice sounding sad. I guess Piper could tell because her voice softened.

"People are going to start asking questions."

"But for now," Willow said twisting Laci's hair around her finger."He needs a home." Piper shrugged her shoulders and shuffled papers on her desk. Paige was asleep on Piper's bed.

"You'll get used to him," Willow said gently, putting her hand on Piper's shoulder. "I promise."

2 months later...

"Peek-a-boo!" Buffy cried and tickled Howie's belly. Howie giggled and kicked his feet. Howie loved to kick. It was Friday night at the Halliwell Manor. Howie was on his back on the couch in the living room with Buffy hovering over him. He had grown a lot since Willow and Prue had first found him.

They had gone to child services and then they offered to put him in a foster home until they found his mother. Everyone agreed it would be better if Howie stayed with them. So the child service workers agreed and allowed them to take Howie in.

The air outside was crisp and fresh, welcoming fall. Leaves had already begun to change color and scatter about on the ground. Howie was dressed in a tiny Howie Long jersey Willow had bought for him. She said it was very appropriate. He also had on tiny black, jean shorts. It was only one of the many outfits Prue, Willow, and Buffy had bought for him.

Oz grabbed hold of Paige's leg before she could escape and tumbled her and Laci over as the two toddlers shrieked in happiness. The three were wrestling about on the floor happily. Willow's mom and dad had happily taken care of Paige and Howie along with Laci during school for the girls. Prue was at the stove making Mac and cheese for everybody, and peas.

Howie and Laci loved mashed peas.

Willow sat on a chair in the living room, trying to read a book for school. She only had about 5 pages left but her attention kept traveling back to Oz and the babies. She would giggle and loose her place. So finally she crawled down on the floor and grabbed hold of Oz's arm and the 4 went about wrestling.

Megan, Piper, and Amy sat at the table playing Snap. Angel and Andy were out trying to get ideas for a report the two had teamed up to do together. There was someone missing.

Phoebe.

Phoebe still hadn't come out of her coma. Everyday after school, everybody would head over to the hospital to talk to Phoebe. Dr.Bronze said she could hear them, even if she couldn't respond back. Prue was really skeptical about that but she went along and talked to Phoebe anyway. Sometimes Prue would stay behind with Willow.

She would sit there on Phoebe's bed, alongside Willow, and let all her emotions go. Willow would sit and listen to everything Prue had to say, allowing her to cry into her. Sometimes letting some tears of her ownescape her eyes and trail down her face.

"Dinner!" Prue cried. Willow scooped up Laci in her arms who continued to giggle like crazy. Oz lifted Paige over his shoulder and Buffy picked up little Howie. She set him in his high chair next to Laci. Paige sat in a booster seat next to Prue. Everyone chattered about school. After dinner they would go and visit Phoebe.

Hey everyone. I am really sorry it takes me such a long time to update in between chapters. But I'll be off to post Chapter 16 after I post this one. Thank you for being so patient with me!!!

Dru619