To all, I'm sorry I'm taking so long between updates. I do have excuses, but they're just that, excuses, so I will try to update more quickly in future!

PiPeRAnGeL39 - I'm glad you like it! And there will be more about Nicki's childhood coming out gradually, so keep reading! Thanks for your review!

Mysterious Midnight - I hope your computer is fixed now, I always get so annoyed when mine is offline. Thanks for your review, they're always appreciated, no matter when they come in!

PrueTrudeau - Don't worry, the Book will be making an appearance soon! Hope you like this chapter too, thanks for reviewing.

InTheForestsOfTheNight - Of course you can use the name Phoenix, go for it! Although remember, it is PhOEnix, not PhEOnix, like you said in your reviews. Thanks for reviewing, I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one.

AmyH. - Yup, she takes after Phoebe. They'll make one hell of a team in a few chapters. Thanks for your review.

--Chapter Fourteen--

That evening, everyone was sitting around the dining room table. Nicki was wearing another set of new clothes; her hair still wet from her second shower, but tied up in its usual plait. When Piper had woken up, she'd gently berated her niece for taking the baby monitor, ('It's not that I don't trust you to take care of Wyatt,' she'd said, after Nicki had apologised profusely, 'it's just that it's my job to take care of both him and you.'), and then called her husband down for dinner. Phoebe and Paige had been in charge of food, and there were two large takeaway pizzas and a large pitcher of water on the table in front of them. Everyone was making polite conversation, but nobody was asking the question that they all wanted answered. Finally, Phoebe decided that she may as well start.

'So,' she said, picking at the pepperoni on her slice of pizza, 'What did they say at work, Paige?'

The table went silent, and Paige put her pizza down onto her plate. 'Well,' she said, slowly, 'there's good news and bad news.'

'Bad news first,' Nicki said, quickly, unconsciously bracing herself. Please don't be him, please don't be him!

'The bad news is that your foster parents want you back,' Paige said, quietly.

Nicki started breathing shallowly, almost hyperventilating. Oh God, no, please, don't let them take me away!

Phoebe, who was sitting next to her, put a comforting arm around Nicki's shoulders and started rubbing her back, trying to calm her. 'But they can't do that, can they?' she asked Paige.

'Therein lies the good news,' Paige said smiling.

'Well?' Piper asked, leaving her finished plate and getting a bottle from the fridge for Wyatt, who was fussing in his high chair.

Nicki had almost calmed down, and was breathing naturally, although there was still a look of terror in her eyes. 'What good news?' she asked, pleadingly. 'I don't have to go back?'

'No, honey, you don't,' Paige said, her voice calm and reassuring. 'We all have to go in for a DNA test on Monday, and Mr Cowan will talk to you then. Basically, you can stay wherever you want to; you're old enough to decide now.'

'See, it's all going to be okay,' Piper said, cradling Wyatt in her right arm, whilst giving him his bottle. She came over behind Nicki and gently squeezed her shoulder.

'I've got two weeks of compassionate paid leave, too,' Paige said, choosing another slice of pizza, 'to get to know my new niece.'

'Sounds good to me,' Phoebe said, getting back to her pizza.

'That's actually really useful,' Leo said, setting down his glass.

'What do you mean, useful?' Paige asked, suspiciously.

'Well, the elders want to see all of you,' he said, quickly, as if that would lessen the blow.

'What do you mean, they want to see us?' Piper asked. 'Last time we went Up There we were gone for a month.'

'We can't leave for a month!' Paige said, 'Social Services are watching us!'

'And we have jobs,' Phoebe said. 'I can't leave the Mirror, and Piper can't leave the club.'

'I know that,' Leo said, soothingly. 'And they only want to see you for an hour or two, so you'll only be gone a couple of days. Can you get two days off work?' he asked, looking at Phoebe and Piper.

'I can,' Phoebe said, 'but not until next week. It'll take me at least a week to get ahead on the letters.'

'Okay, great,' Leo replied. 'How about you, honey?'

'No problem, my manager should be able to cope. But it'd better be Monday and Tuesday, they're the quietest nights,' Piper said, putting the bottle into the sink and holding her now sleepy son close to her chest.

'Good, now that's sorted,' Leo said. He offered his hands out to Piper. 'Do you want me to put him down?'

'Sure,' she said, gently handing Wyatt over to his father. 'Don't forget to change him first, though.'

'I won't,' Leo said, giving Piper a kiss on the cheek. 'See you guys in a minute,' he said, walking quietly out of the room.

'Bye,' Paige said, finishing off her last slice of pizza. She gestured to the pieces still in the boxes. 'Everybody done?' she asked.

'Mmm hmm,' Phoebe said, and Nicki and Piper nodded. Paige stood up and carried the leftover pizza to the breakfast bar, and she put it on a large plate, covered it and put it in the fridge.

'Can I ask something?' Nicki said, tentatively.

'Sure you can,' Piper said, as they all moved into the living area.

Nicki curled up into the armchair she'd sat in yesterday. 'Who are the elders? And why will it take two days to see them for two hours?'

The sisters smiled. Paige looked over to Piper. 'You want to take this one, sis?'

'Oh, sure,' Piper said, sarcasm in her voice. 'Right,' she turned to Nicki, 'it's kind of complicated, but stick with me, okay?'

'Okay,' Nicki said, curiously.

Piper sighed. 'Okay. The elders are kind of like… guardians of good magic. They live on a different plane, we call it Up There, because, actually, I don't know why, we just do.' She looked kind of puzzled, but shook her head slightly and carried on. 'With me so far?'

'I think so,' Nicki said, nodding.

'Great. Well, time moves differently Up There, an hour there is like a day here, so you have to be careful how long you spend there.'

'How do you get there?' Nicki asked, 'If it's a different plane?'

'That's where whitelighters come in. Leo's a whitelighter, and Paige and Wyatt are half-whitelighter.' She nodded over to Paige, who smiled under Nicki's curious gaze. 'They can take you Up There, and anywhere else, too. It's called orbing.'

'The blue and white lights you saw Leo arrive in yesterday,' Phoebe said.

'Okay,' Nicki said slowly, 'I get it, I think. So what are whitelighters?'

'They're immortal beings,' Piper explained, 'kind of guardian angels for good witches. They can orb, and shapeshift, and heal, like Leo did for you yesterday.'

'So how come you're half-whitelighter?' Nicki asked Paige, curiously.

'My dad was a whitelighter,' Paige said. 'We all have the same mom, but my dad was mom's whitelighter, and their dad was a mortal, the same as your mom's.'

'So you're their half-sister?' Nicki asked, working it out in her head.

'Yeah,' Paige said. 'I'm half-witch, half-whitelighter.'

'But you're still my aunt?'

'Oh honey, of course I am,' Paige said, reassuringly. 'Don't worry about that.'

'Okay,' Nicki said. 'So there're witches, whitelighters and demons. Anything else I need to know about?'

'Well, warlocks are evil witches,' Phoebe added, 'but they're pretty much the same as demons, only they can blink from one place to another.'

'So, warlocks too. That's it?'

'Pretty much,' Piper said. 'That's the basics anyway.'

'And what's blinking?' Nicki asked.

'The only real power that warlocks have. When they turn evil, they lose their other powers, but they can steal others,' Paige said, hugging a cushion to her chest.

'Do you guys have powers too?' Nicki asked, eagerly.

'Sure,' Piper said. She took a magazine off the coffee table and threw it into the air. She froze it at the top of its arc, and smiling at the look on Nicki's face, left it for a little while before blowing it up.

'Wow,' Nicki muttered. 'What was that?'

'That's what I can do.' Piper said, still smiling at the look of astonishment on her niece's face. 'I can freeze things, and blow them up.'

'Can you do that too?' Nicki asked Phoebe and Paige.

'Nope,' Paige replied. 'Ours are different.' She promptly orbed out, and appeared behind Nicki. 'Over here,' she said, laughing when Nicki's head shot around.

'That's orbing, right?' Nicki said, looking to Piper for confirmation. Piper nodded.

'I can move things with my mind, too,' Paige said, walking back over to the couch. 'Book!' she said, holding out her hand. A book disappeared from the top shelf of the bookcase, and reappeared in her hand. It was 'The Lord of the Rings'. Paige bent over and put it onto the coffee table. She then flung her hand out again. 'Book, shelf!' the book vanished from the table, and materialised back in its place on the shelf.

Nicki was astounded. 'That was so cool! What can you do?' she asked Phoebe eagerly.

'Nothing quite as flashy,' Phoebe said, smiling. 'I can levitate,' she said, rising out of her chair and hovering by the ceiling for a few moments before gently floating back down. 'And I get premonitions, which means that I see flashes of the future sometimes. I can also feel what other people are feeling,' she said, settling herself back onto the couch next to Paige.

Nicki was captivated. 'Wow,' she said, under her breath. 'What could my mom do?' she added as an afterthought.

'She could move things with her mind, different to Paige though, and she could astral project, which is being in two places at once,' Piper said, quietly.

'Okay,' Nicki said. 'How about Wyatt?'

'He's too little for us to be able to tell really, but he seems to have a lot of power,' Piper said.

'Do I have any powers?' Nicki asked, timidly.

'Yeah, you do,' Paige said, 'although we don't know what they are yet, because they're bound.'

'What does that mean?' Nicki asked.

'It means you can't use them yet,' Phoebe said gently. She looked to Piper and Paige and asked them a question silently with her eyes. They both knew what she was talking about, and nodded. 'If you want,' Phoebe continued, seriously, 'we could unbind them so you can use them. Would you like that?'

'Of course!' Nicki said. 'When can we do that?'

'You'll probably need a little control when we go see the elders,' Piper said, 'so we should do it soon, if you're sure.'

'I'm sure,' Nicki said.

'Okay then,' Phoebe said. 'How about tomorrow?'

--End of Chapter Fourteen--