Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Charmed
Vulnerable Child – Chapter 9
"Phoebe," said Piper quietly as she watched her sister staring into space, her eyes cast towards the ceiling, "Phoebe," she said again, tapping her gently on the shoulder. Phoebe blinked suddenly, as if she were snapping back into reality. She took a few seconds, as if she was adjusting to something.
"Sorry, did you say something?" she asked, looking towards Piper. Piper looked down towards the table, and shook her head. Phoebe squinted her eyes, looking puzzled at Piper. After a few seconds Piper looked up at Phoebe, she placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Phoebe, something has to be done." She said, slowly she got up from the table and wandered to the other side of the kitchen,
"What are you talking about?" asked Phoebe, Piper stared at her, almost glaring. She banged her fist on the counter,
"Phoebe. Don't. Ok, you know what I'm talking about, and you know we have to come up with a more permanent solution. We can't keep something like this too ourselves," replied Piper.
"But, everything will be alright," sighed Phoebe, "Remember that's what you told me, you said everything would be ok," She walked over to meet Piper, and took her sister's hand. "You promised me everything would be alright,"
"Don't guilt trip me Phoebe. Ok, just don't. I told you everything would be alright and it will be, when you decide what you're going to do. You can't just expect to keep hiding this from Grams and Prue. They will find out,"
"No they won't." said Phoebe bluntly,
"Phoebe in a few months you're going to start to show… we won't be able to hide this forever." Replied Piper, moving from Phoebe's side.
"We won't have to. It's all going to be over in a little while. Then everything will be back to normal," Said Phoebe, avoiding Piper's worried glances.
"What are you saying?" asked Piper as she marched towards Phoebe, taking hold of her shoulder roughly.
"Two days, that's all that's left. Then everything will go back to normal, and we can just move on."
"Are you…?" asked Piper, shocked.
"Having an abortion… yeah, that's what I'm saying." Replied Phoebe as she started to walk away from Piper. Piper stood in the kitchen for a few moments shocked, she wanted to go and yell at Phoebe, but what could she possibly say to convince her otherwise. It just didn't make any sense to her; Phoebe had always been against abortion. How could she do this? Slowly Piper walked over to the kitchen table, she lifted a pen and began to write. Scribbling what seemed like empty words onto the paper, she had to get all of this out of her system. How can you be so stupid Phoebe? How can you have been so stupid in the first place, I mean Prue always gets down on you for being useless and stupid and only interested in yourself… but I never thought you'd prove her right. I always thought you'd make something of yourself, just to spite Prue if for nothing else. How can you act like this? I know this situation isn't ideal, but we could handle it… if we told Grams… we need to tell someone else. We cannot deal with this on our own. If you don't tell Grams you're pregnant, I will.
"Pregnant?" came a voice from behind Piper, she spun round her long dark hair swirling violently as she did so. She came face to face with Grams, whose face had grown white with disbelief. Piper sat and stared up at her grandmother, was I thinking out loud as I wrote? She thought, but knew Grams had been reading over her shoulder when she grabbed the piece of paper,
"Grams wait!" exclaimed Piper, but despite her feelings she did nothing to get the paper back, maybe she wanted Grams to read it – on some level. Grams' eyes scanned the paper, and slowly Piper watched them begin to tear. After a few moments she sat down next to Piper, Piper chewed nervously on lip.
"Phoebe's pregnant?" asked Grams, suddenly Piper leapt from her chair and stood in front of the counter, she grabbed rag and began scrubbing at the work surface, although it was clean. She worked her way around the kitchen in a matter of seconds, leaving a trail of cleanliness in her wake.
"Piper, sit down… please,"
"It's so dirty in here… maybe I should get started on dinner… what should I make?" she said quickly as she walked to the fridge and opened it, almost burying her head in the contents.
"So, its true then… you always clean or cook when you're nervous. Piper, please stop… you have to tell me what happened." Piper stopped and walked over and sat back down, her head dropped close to the table. She slowly started to sob,
"I'm so sorry Grams… I wanted to tell you earlier,"
"Piper… what's this?" she asked as she slowly wiped Piper's tears away, "Piper, it's not your fault, and Phoebe shouldn't have burdened you with this."
"She didn't, I found out by myself… but it's true," Sighed Piper, slowly she began to wipe away the tears that had formed and rolled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Grams we have to do something…" she began,
"We will, don't worry I'll fix everything," Grams cut in, Piper shook her head,
"No, you don't understand… she's going to have an abortion," said Piper. Grams eyes widened, suddenly she was speechless.
"When?" she asked after a few moments.
"Two days…"
"YOU TOLD!" Yelled Phoebe from the kitchen door, Grams and Piper spun round and see Phoebe standing there. Her eyes furious and scowling at the both of them, "I trusted you!"