Just to apologise to everyone, I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long for me to write! I have great plans for this story but am suffering from a little writers' block right now. Again, I am really sorry for the wait...

Mysterious Midnight - Once again, thanks so much for your review! You were the first again (how do you do that, by the way?), it's so nice getting practically immediate response from you! Yey!

JanaRose - Oh my God, I don't believe that Shannen Doherty is fighting the release of the DVDs! Really? That is so mean, I keep missing episodes and I find it really annoying. I really hope she isn't, because I kind of like her... Anyway, thanks again for your review, this is becoming somewhat of a pattern now, isn't it?

PaganPhoenix - Flattery will get you everywhere! Or at least a special little mention in my Hall of Fame here. Thanks so much for your review, I was all glowing inside when I read it!

FanOfBRASH - I'm glad I make your mornings just that little more exciting, I hope this makes you feel good about going to work! Thank you for your review, sorry it took so long for me to update.

naiya-isis - I know what you mean about Piper, but then I think I would accept it better coming from my mother than my sister as well!

--Chapter Six--

Nicki was still in the bathroom. She turned her back on the mirror, and all those niggling questions in her mind, and sank to the floor, her back against the door. She hugged her knees for reassurance and rocked to and fro, just thinking. What am I doing here? I shouldn't be here. They don't want me here, I'm just complicating everything.

Meanwhile, Piper had entered the attic, with Leo right behind her. She walked purposefully toward the pedestal holding the Book of Shadows, and started turning the pages absentmindedly.

'So what do you think about all of this?' she asked, looking at Leo out of the corner of her eyes.

'Me?' he said, as if he was surprised that she'd asked. 'I think that you need to ask Grams, and maybe Prue if you can, and then talk all this through until you all agree. If it helps,' he walked up behind her and turned the book onto the right page, 'I can't sense any evil around her at all.'

Piper turned to face him and looked at him quizzically. 'But haven't you been watching us our entire lives? Don't you already know whether she's telling the truth or not?'

Leo stepped back, and began setting the candles up in a circle on the floor of the attic and lighting them. 'Yes, I do know. But I can't tell you, it wouldn't be right. Anyway,' he indicated to the candles, 'you'll find out soon enough.'

Piper glared at him. 'Whatever, we'll talk about your secrets later.' She ran her fingers along the spell in the big, leather-bound book, and then started to read aloud. 'Hear my voice, hear my cry, spirit from the other side, come to me I summon thee, cross now the great divide.'

A bright light shone from inside the circle, and formed itself into a very transparent Grams. 'Piper,' she said, smiling at her grandchild, 'what a lovely surprise. You really should summon me more often, you know.' Her eyes drifted around the attic, and settled on Leo. 'Leo,' she said shortly, nodding her head in his direction.

'Hello, Mrs Halliwell,' Leo said pleasantly. Grams ignored him completely. Piper rolled her eyes in Leo's direction, and then turned back to Grams.

'Grams,' she began slowly, choosing her words carefully, 'I need to talk to you about Prue...'

Grams interrupted her. 'Piper, we've talked about this before,' she said decisively. 'You can't summon Prue; we've been through this so many times. I thought you were moving on with your life?'

Piper glared at her. 'If you would let me speak,' she started, the venom in her voice evident. 'I actually wanted to talk to you about when Prue was younger. Let's say when she was seventeen. Anything you want to tell me? Anything you feel like sharing?'

Grams' already transparent face became visibly paler, although she tried to act nonchalant and shake it off. 'Of course not, Piper. What on earth are you talking about?'

'Oh Grams, you know exactly what I'm talking about,' Piper said dismissively. 'I want you to tell me what really happened when Prue was attacked.'

'Well,' Grams started, pacing around inside the circle of candles. 'I guess you've probably figured out that it was a demon that attacked her. His name is Deimos, at least it was before I vanquished his sorry ass. He's in the Book... er... I think near the beginning.'

Piper walked over to the Book of Shadows, and started turning the pages. 'Although this information is always good to know,' she said, not taking her eyes from the pages she was turning, 'that's not what I was talking about.'

Grams looked alarmed. 'Oh dear,' she said, playing with her necklace, 'Patty is not going to be very happy that I told you that. What did you want to know then?'

'I wanted to know what happened after that, why you sent her to England,' Piper said. Leo came up behind her and looked at the Book, whilst Piper lifted her eyes up to Grams.

Penny smiled at her. 'You know why I sent her to stay with Margie, Piper. She just needed a little time to get her head together, that's all,' she said, as if happy to be back on familiar ground.

Piper smirked at her. 'Uh huh,' she said, sighing. 'Look, cut the crap Grams. There is a girl downstairs who claims to be Prue's daughter, born in England, surprise surprise.'

Grams looked shocked. 'She's... she's here?'

Piper stared at her with her mouth hanging open. 'You knew? Were you ever going to tell us?' Leo started to rub her shoulders supportively but she shrugged him away.

'Prue begged me not to,' Grams said, her eyes pleading with Piper's. 'You were all too young...'

'And you let the baby be put up for adoption? Knowing full well that we were going to become the Charmed Ones?' Piper was incredulous. 'How could you do that?' she said, with an accusatory tone.

'Piper, it wasn't my decision,' Grams said, soothingly. 'They gave the orders, once Prue decided to keep it.' Her eyes drifted upwards.

Piper moved to leave the attic. 'They have a lot to answer to,' she muttered under her breath. Her foot caught on the corner of the rug, and she threw her hands up to steady herself. The large dresser in the corner of the attic blew up. 'That's just great,' Piper muttered again, picking herself up off of the floor, leaving Grams and Leo staring at each other. 'More cleaning up for me to do...'

The sound of the explosion reverberated throughout the house. Phoebe and Paige were still in the kitchen, drinking their coffee. Wyatt started to scream, and they heard the bathroom door open. Phoebe smiled tiredly to Paige.

'Which one do you want to take?' she asked, getting up from the table.

Paige followed suit. 'I'll take Wyatt,' she said. 'Babies are much less complicated.' She smiled to Phoebe and then left the kitchen, heading for the nursery.

Phoebe sighed and took their cups over to the sink. She took half a dozen cookies from the jar on the worktop, put them on a plate and climbed the stairs, meeting Nicki in the hallway.

'Do you want to come into my room and have a chat?' she asked, noticing that Wyatt's screams were quietening down. She offered Nicki a chocolate-chip cookie.

Nicki grabbed it from her hand and smiled. 'Okay,' she said, following Phoebe down the corridor. She took a large bite from the cookie and swallowed it almost immediately. It was such a nice feeling to get some food into her stomach.

As Phoebe went to close the door, she saw Nicki wolfing down the rest of the cookie and smiled. 'Come, sit over here,' she said, leading Nicki over to her bed and sitting on it. She took another cookie off of the plate and started to nibble at it, and she handed the rest of the plate over to Nicki.

Nicki smiled again as she took it, and she hungrily bit into another cookie. 'Thanks,' she mumbled through her mouthful of chocolate chips.

'That's okay,' Phoebe answered, chuckling to herself. 'But you might want to slow down a bit, you'll choke,' she said, grinning.

Nicki swallowed, and didn't take another bite just yet. 'Okay,' she said. 'Sure.'

Phoebe sat back a little, and then spoke slowly. 'What did you mean about us being witches?' she asked, looking at Nicki out of the corner of her eyes.

Nicki looked at her quizzically. 'Well you are, aren't you?' she said, almost defiantly.

Phoebe blushed a little. 'Well, yes, but you know, most people don't believe that.'

'Well I do,' Nicki said, taking another bite from her cookie.

'Why do you?' Phoebe asked, curiously. 'I mean, why doesn't it surprise you at all?'

Nicki swallowed again and looked at Phoebe. 'Most people stop believing in monsters when they're about six, right?' she asked.

Phoebe nodded in reply; she didn't want to give Nicki any reason to clam up again.

'Well I didn't,' Nicki continued, talking slowly but with growing confidence. 'I kept seeing them, whenever I was out of the house. When I didn't stop talking about the monsters, my foster parents handed in a report to Social Services, saying I was backward or something, so I kept getting moved around. After a while I learned that if I didn't talk about them, then it was easier to stay in one place. So when I was eight or so, I didn't talk about the monsters any more.'

Phoebe looked shocked. This girl has been dealing with demons and warlocks her entire life. How can she talk about them so calmly?

Nicki had finished her second cookie, and was starting on her third. 'I never stopped believing in them, because they were still there. I used to go to the library to read about them. A lot of children's fairy stories have demons in there somewhere, you know.'

Phoebe smiled at her, remembering her wonderful experience as Cinderella, and took another bite of her cookie. Piper's cooking sure was good.

'I learnt a lot about demons, warlocks, and witches from books in the libraries of all the towns I lived in. I also took kick-boxing classes after school, so I could fight them when they caught me. I used to run away,' she said, by way of explanation. 'Not the bravest thing to do, but hey.'

Phoebe looked at her disbelieving. 'You stayed alive,' she said. 'You must have been doing something right.' Nicki looked up at her, finishing off another cookie. 'You know, we can get you something proper to eat in the kitchen,' she said, smiling at Nicki and standing up, straightening her skirt and putting her cookie onto her bedside table. 'Something green.' She offered her hand to Nicki.

Nicki took it with the hand not holding the plate of cookies, and also stood up. 'Really?' she asked.

Phoebe chuckled. 'Really.'

'Okay' Nicki said, and the two of them walked down the stairs.

--End of Chapter Six--

Please review and tell me what you think, and ask any burning questions, I will try to answer them unless they give too much away!