Chapter 17

"I'm surprised that you waited as long as you did!" She replied, pulling his T-shirt to get him closer to her. As their lips met again, Sydney slowly lay back on the couch, bringing Vaughn down on top of her. His hands were placed on her hips, his fingers tracing patterns over her skin. The gentle touch of his hands on her skin sent shivers up her spine. She ran her hand through his hair; the other patted along the couch looking for the remote. Finally her hands landed on it, enabling her to turn off the screaming fans on the TV. After a few minutes Vaughn pulled away from her, slightly out of breath.

"Syd?" He said, his voice barely about a whisper, his forehead creased with wrinkles.

"Yeah?"

Vaughn knew that he had to ask her, whether he would like the answer or not. "Are you sure this is what you want? I mean, you and Danny only broke up this morning, I don't want to force you into anything."

She smiled at him, amazed at how much he cared about her even though they had only been friends for nearly a week. "Vaughn, Danny and I have been over for a long time, but he just didn't want to admit it. And besides I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be!" She traced the outline of his lips with her finger, and then her hand rested under his chin, guiding him back to capture her lips again.

Laughter was all that could be heard as Patty walked into the living room of the Manor. She smiled as she watched all her girls laughing and talking on the couch. The sight of them all together again was too much for Patty as she found a small tear rolling down her cheek. When Prue moved to the city with Victor, Patty had missed her so much, and it was clear that her sisters had missed having her around aswell. Wiping the tear away she walked towards her daughters, noticing how happy they all looked.

"Hey mom!" They all said in unison.

"Hi! Have you all forgot that thing you have tomorrow…oh what do they call it?" She paused, acting like she couldn't remember what she was talking about. "Oh yeah that's right, school!" The girls laughed at her humoured way for telling them to go to bed. Phoebe rolled her eyes as she got off the couch, offering her hand to help pull Paige up.

"Night mom!" Phoebe kissed Patty on the cheek, and waited until Paige had hugged her mother and then the two of them walked slowly up the stairs.

"It's great to have you back Prue!" Patty hugged her eldest daughter, kissing her lightly on the forehead. Piper joined the hug, as she said goodnight to her mom.

"I'm glad to be back!" Prue smiled, taking hold of Piper's hand and they ran up the stairs to catch up with their other two sisters.

"Paige can we talk for a minute?" Prue asked when they finally caught up with them. Paige looked a little worried but she agreed. Piper and Phoebe looked at each other, each searching for some clue about what Prue wanted to say. Realising that it obviously had nothing to do with them, they said goodnight to Prue and Paige and left them in the doorway. Prue followed her sister into her room and sat on the bed.

"Prue, if this is about your room, I've been thinking that I can move into the guest room down the hall and you can have your room back…" Paige was cut off by Prue's laughter.

"No honey, it's not about the room. I'm perfectly fine in the guest room, this is your room now, I want you to keep it." She smiled at her younger sister, watching as the expression on Paige's face changed quickly from worried to confused. "Look, when we first found out that we had another sister, the three of us, we were thrilled. But shortly after that I moved away and Piper and Phoebe got to know you better than I did. I've seen how close you three are, and I regret that I moved away before I got the chance to get to know my younger sister. I know we spoke on the phone and saw each other when I came back to visit, but it's just not the same. I hardly know you, I mean how strange is that…I hardly know my own sister!" Prue sighed, and Paige came and sat next to her on the bed.

Paige had been really nervous when Prue came back. Before they found out that they had sisters, it had always just been Prue, Piper, and Phoebe - the three of them. But then Paige had joined the family and it became the four of them; the four P's, as Grams always liked to call them. Then Prue had moved away and it had been the three of them again, making Paige feel this obligation to be as great as Prue was. She always had this fear deep down that the Halliwells would never accept her as their sister, but the whole family made her feel welcome, like she had lived in the Manor her whole life.

Listening to Prue tell her how she regretted that she had never had the chance to bond properly with her, like Phoebe and Piper had, put the rest of Paige's fears aside. She smiled, relief taking over her. "I know what you mean. I spent most of my life thinking I was an only child, and then I found out about you guys and everything changed. I've loved getting to know Piper and Phoebe they've made me feel so welcome and wanted. They're not just my sisters; they're also my best friends. I've always wished that we had gotten the chance to become friends before you moved to San Francisco." Paige felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders as she opened up to Prue.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you. How about some day this week we hang out just the two of us, and I can finally get to know my baby sister?" Prue asked her, a smile playing on her lips.

"I'd like that!" Paige said in her usual bubbly voice.

"Yeah?"

Yeah!"

"Ok. I better get to bed before mom or Grams find me!" They both laughed, thinking about what Grams would say if she found that they were still up late on a school night. Sometimes she forgot just how old they were, but they had given up trying to get her to let them stay up late. Prue hugged Paige and then fought back a yawn as she walked towards the door. "Goodnight sis!"

"Night Prue!"

Vaughn planted kisses across her face, and then he slowly made his way down her neck. Sydney couldn't help but laugh as his kisses began to tickle her neck. "Vaughn…" She laughed as she tried to grab his attention. He lifted his head up enough so that he could look at her face and see what she wanted.

"Yes?" He asked raising his eyebrow suspiciously at her. He tried to stop the laughter that was building up inside of him from getting out, as he realised exactly what he was doing to her. Sydney could see the mischief in his eyes, the small grin that was threatening to break out on his lips. She stroked his cheek watching as he smiled at her touch.

"You're tickling me!" She pouted as she looked at him innocently, trying to make him feel bad for tickling her, but that wasn't going to happen.

He let out a small chuckle. "It's all part of my master plan!" He lightly kissed the tip of her nose as he played along. The grandfather clock that was standing in the hallway interrupted them as it chimed the hour. Sydney sighed knowing that she would have to leave his warm embrace.

"Well, your master plan is going to have to be put on hold! I've gotta go." Vaughn nodded as he stood up, helping her to get off the couch. Neither of them wanted her to leave, it was written on both of their faces.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Vaughn asked, as he put his arm around her shoulders, walking her to the door.

"Thanks but I'll be fine." She reassured him. They both stood in silence in the doorway both thinking about how their lives had changed through the course of the day. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school?" Sydney asked, her arms loosely hanging around his neck.

"Yeah."

"Great!" Sydney whispered as she leant up and kissed him. "Goodnight Vaughn!" She reluctantly walked away from his house, leaving him watching her in the doorway.

Sydney walked into her house expecting to hear her mom and dad still talking in the living room, but the house was relatively quiet except for the frequent clatter of dishes coming from the kitchen. Walking into the kitchen, Sydney found Irina washing up the dishes that her and Jack had used.

"Hey mom." She opened the fridge and poured herself some orange juice into a glass.

"Hi sweetheart. Did you have fun at Michael's?" Irina finished putting the clean dishes away and turned to face her daughter, who was being to blush slightly.

"Yeah it was great. I'm going to go to bed!" She quickly rushed out of the kitchen wanting to avoid any of her mother's awkward questions. As she passed through the living room, a loud snore caused her to gasp slightly. Turning towards the couch, she found a passed out Jack Bristow laying there, loudly snoring.

"Er…mom. You might wanna come in here!" Irina quickly ran into the room, worried about what Sydney was talking about.

"What is it?" She asked, a worried expression covering her face.

"Why is my dad passed out on the couch?" She nodded towards the sleeping Bristow, as Irina sighed.

"We had a little too much to drink, and he couldn't exactly drive home." She shrugged. "So I said that he could stay here! It's not big deal…although he might feel a little ill in the morning!" She smiled shyly at her daughter. Sydney rolled her eyes and continued to walk upstairs to bed. "Tomorrow morning is gong to be awkward!" She said under her breath.

Irina waited until her daughter had gone to bed and then she sat on the coffee table opposite from Jack. She watched him sleep for a couple of minutes, the steady rise and fall of his chest telling her that he was having a peaceful dream. Leaning forward, she gently brushed his hair with her hand and then kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight Jack!" Turning off the living room light she followed her daughter up the stairs and went to bed.