Just to let all of you know that we're moving house right now, so it might be a week or so before I can update! I'm really sorry!
Mysterious Midnight - Yep, you were first again. I really don't know how you do that! As always, thanks for reviewing!
Jade-eye Halliwell - Lol, yep, I did! It always seems to take me ages to update, so sorry about that! Thanks for your review!
Kat Hawkins - Thanks for your review, I'm so happy you think it's cute!
Pruedence.Halliwell - I know! They were all up way to early for my liking too, but they had to have a great big conversation before Phoebe and Paige left for work, and Nicki is still partially on England time (6 hours ahead). Anyway, thank-you for your review!
lillynilly - Whoa that's a lot of reviews! Thank-you so much, I'm so glad that you like my story!
--Chapter Eleven--
Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting in the living room. Piper was in an armchair, with Wyatt on her lap and Leo sitting on the arm of the chair, his left arm loosely around her shoulders. Nicki was curled up into the other armchair, her old trainers on the floor next to her. Phoebe was on the couch, touching up her lipstick and Paige was walking around the room, both looking over all the surfaces and going through her purse.
'Has anyone seen my car keys?' she asked, bending down to look under the coffee table.
Phoebe put her lipstick in her bag, took the keys off of the top of the television, and threw them lightly to Paige. 'Here you go honey,' she said, sitting back down.
Paige turned around and caught them swiftly in her right hand. 'Thanks,' she said, as she put them into her purse and sat down next to Phoebe.
They all sat in silence for several seconds, the girls looking between themselves. Wyatt had his pacifier in his mouth, and was bouncing his blue elephant on his knees, giggling.
'Did you all want to talk about something?' Nicki asked, looking wary. I knew that they wouldn't want me here. 'Did you want me to go?'
Her question hung in the air for a few seconds, before Piper spoke. Accepting the role of the oldest, it fell to her to make the first move.
'No, honey, actually it's just the opposite,' she said, playing gently with Wyatt's hair. 'Would you like to stay here with us?' she blurted out. This is just great. I can't do this whole 'taking control' thing nearly as well as Prue could.
Nicki looked shocked; it was obvious that she wasn't expecting them to make an offer like that. 'Are you sure?' she asked, looking incredulously at Piper. 'You're kidding, right?'
'No,' Paige said, smiling at her. 'We're not kidding, I promise. You have to trust us.'
'But why would you want me here?' Nicki asked, looking lost and confused. 'You don't even know me,' she said, fiddling with the shoulder strap on her backpack.
It was Phoebe who answered, although everyone was taken aback by Nicki's words. 'Honey, look,' she said, moving over to Nicki's armchair and kneeling down in front of it. 'We want you to stay because we love you,' she continued. She lifted Nicki's chin with her index finger. 'You're our niece, and Wyatt's cousin.'
Nicki looked at her, and knew that she was telling the truth. Phoebe's eyes were willing her to trust her. 'You want me to live here, with all of you?' she said, her eyes full of unshed tears. She looked imploringly into everyone's faces, and was met with nods of affirmation. She turned back to Phoebe, who had tears in her eyes too. 'R-really?' she asked, stumbling slightly over the word, her voice thick.
Phoebe laughed slightly, remembering their conversation the night before. 'Really,' she said, smiling, the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She drew Nicki into a hug, and, although she was still shocked, Nicki returned it.
'You actually want me?' she said, almost whispering, although everyone else in the room heard it and felt a small jolt of pity for the young girl.
'Of course we do,' Leo said, reassuringly.
Nicki started crying softly into Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe gently lifted her from the chair and turned and sat in it herself, with Nicki now curled into her lap. She held her close, rocking her gently, and whispered comforting words softly into her ear. Piper handed Wyatt to Leo, and she and Paige went over to join them, and to console her as much as possible, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. After several minutes, Nicki's breathing slowed and her tears stopped. She took several deep breaths and then lifted her head, her face shining with happiness.
'So,' Paige said from her kneeling position next to Nicki's head, 'is that a 'yes' then?'
Nicki nodded slowly, a smile plain on her face. 'Thank-you so much,' she said, tears brimming in her eyes again.
'I work for Social Services,' Paige said, 'so is it okay with you if I start to get everything sorted for the adoption?'
'Adoption?' Nicki echoed. 'I never though I'd get adopted,' she said, as if to herself. She reached down to her bag, which had slid onto the floor, and pulled out her battered tin. She carefully opened it and took out some papers, and she offered them nervously to Paige.
'What's this?' Paige asked, taking them from her.
'My passport and my birth certificate,' Nicki replied, unsure if she'd done the right thing by giving them to her. 'I don't know if you need them, but…'
'Thanks,' Paige interrupted, smiling. 'These will be really helpful.' She flicked through the burgundy book, which was completely empty and showed a photo of Nicki from when she was seven or eight. Her big, blue eyes stared hauntingly out of the picture. Paige turned to the birth certificate, and opened it. Her face fell.
Piper, noticing this, caught her eye and looked worried, and Paige handed her the old piece of paper. She read it through, and saw what had saddened her sister. Under 'Name', the words 'Phoenix Madison Halliwell' were written in cursive handwriting. 'Date of Birth' was 'May 12th, 1987', 'Place of Birth' was listed as 'Unknown, Bristol', and 'Time of Birth' as 'Circa. 6 am'. It was the last two fields that caught her breath. Both 'Name and Address of Mother' and 'Name and Address of Father' had had the word 'Unknown' written diagonally across the dotted lines in big, black ink. Didn't the person who wrote this have any compassion? Then it hit her. Paige's birth certificate would have looked like this.
She handed the piece of paper back to her sister, smiling with difficulty. Phoebe, looking between them quizzically, caught Paige's eye. 'Later,' Paige mouthed to her, putting both the certificate and the passport into her bag. 'So,' she said, breaking the building tension, 'Leo's gonna make a room for you in the attic.'
Nicki's face lit up. 'I get my own room?' she asked, looking excited. 'All to myself?'
'Of course you do, honey!' Piper said, laughing and straightening up. She walked over to Leo and Wyatt, because Wyatt had started to fuss. 'Here,' she said, taking him from Leo. 'He just needs changing, I'll do it.'
'No, it's okay,' Leo said, standing up and gently lifting his son back from Piper's arms. 'I can get it,' he said, as if trying to make up for the breakfast debacle with the mashed banana. He headed to the stairs. 'Bye bye,' he said, waving Wyatt's chubby little hand from side to side as he walked up them. They could hear him laughing with his son as he crossed the upstairs landing.
Piper smiled to herself and settled down onto the couch. 'I just gotta love that man of mine,' she said, closing her eyes and relaxing back.
'Which one?' Paige asked, sitting down next to her.
Piper chuckled. 'Good point,' she said, sitting forward again. 'Where were we?' she asked, looking between Phoebe and Nicki.
'Talking about Nicki's new bedroom,' Phoebe said, giving her new niece a quick hug.
Nicki's face was radiant, she was completely content, and felt safe for the first time in her life.
'Right,' Piper said, feeling elated, evidently Nicki's happiness was contagious. 'Well, it won't be ready for a little while, so you'll be in Phoebe's room for the moment.'
'Is that okay?' Nicki asked, turning around to face Phoebe, looking slightly worried.
'Of course,' Phoebe said reassuringly. 'I'll bunk in with Paige, she'll love it, I can tell her all the stories from when we were little she's been begging me for,' she said, looking at Piper out of the corner of her eye.
'Oooh,' Piper said, nudging Paige in the ribs, 'you'd better not tell her anything about me.'
Phoebe giggled. 'But Piper,' she said, innocently, 'those are the best ones.'
'Either way,' Paige said, smoothing things over, 'it's fine with me.' She stood up, stretching out her back, her top riding up and showing off her flat stomach.
'Okay,' Nicki said, 'if you're sure.' She pulled her plait over her shoulder and started fiddling with the end.
'Of course I am,' Paige answered, 'but I have to get to work now, and so do you Phoebs.'
Phoebe nodded, but her eyes were fixed on the back of Nicki's head. 'Just a minute, she said, gesturing Paige to come over behind her. 'Nicki, honey, what's that?' she asked, gently running her fingers over a small tattoo at the top of Nicki's spine. It was the triquetra.
'It's a symbol or something,' Nicki said, rubbing it. 'I've had it as long as I can remember.'
Paige came over behind them, Piper following. They both looked a little shocked when they saw the small tattoo. They exchanged meaningful glances with Phoebe, who shifted Nicki's weight forward, turning her around.
'Okay then,' she said, 'it doesn't matter.' She stood up slowly, helping Nicki to her feet. 'I've got to go to work sweetie,' she added. 'See you later?'
'Okay,' Nicki said slowly, as everyone moved to the door. 'Are you all going?' she asked, timidly.
Piper turned round. 'No honey, of course not,' she said, squeezing her niece's shoulder. 'You can spend the day with me and Wyatt, maybe we'll go shopping or something. You'd like that?'
'Sure,' Nicki said, as Phoebe and Paige opened the door. Sunlight flooded into the Halliwells' living room.
'Bye,' they called, as Piper went to close the door.
'Come straight home,' she said, her head poking out the gap. She closed the door and turned around. 'So,' she said, putting an arm around Nicki's shoulders and steering her towards the kitchen. 'How about that shopping then?'
Meanwhile, Phoebe and Paige were walking down the Manor steps.
'Can I see that paper now?' Phoebe asked, as they reached Paige's lime green bug.
'Okay,' Paige said, taking it out of her purse and reluctantly handing it over, 'but you're not going to like it.'
Phoebe silently took the certificate out of Paige's hand and quickly read it. She looked back at Paige, her eyes full of sadness, but she couldn't find any words to say.
--End of Chapter Eleven--
Please review, any comments are welcome! I'm sorry if you guys thought that the beginning of this chapter was overly emotional… Anyway, thank to all you wonderful people I have now discovered that Nicki would go into 10th grade. Another question. Is that Junior High or High school? And would she be a junior, or a sophomore or whatever? Thanks again to all of you!