I do not own Charmed
I have decided to update early because I'm going to my best mate's 16th birthday party tonight and I don't know if I'll be in a fit state to do anything tomorrow…lol!
Thanks for the reviews!
Wyatt333- Thank you! I used to get annoyed when people called Phoebe's daughter Melinda too, but then I watched 'baby's first demon' and Piper says she was going to call Wyatt Prudence, if he had been a girl and I figure that one of the other sisters would take the name Melinda. You'll have to wait and see about the kids but there will be 8 in total and perhaps there will be a boy or two, perhaps not. You'll have to wait and see!
Peanut2lb- More about MJ's demonic markings will be explored when she's older (remember, ice cream trucks and demonic children don't mix.) & Thanks for you review! Expect a review when on your fic soon, I promise!
Jade-eye-Halliwell- It may have taken a week for me to update, but I have escaped an attack from your deadly weapon! Thanks for the review!
Cutleryismyfriend- Lol, like I said, there is a reason to do with Decron's absence (remember his grudge against Paige) and for quite a while, Phoebe is going to be happy (sorry to disappoint you, I have disgraced myself-lol!). & about the flying monkeys- After the Wicked Witch of the West died, they came to work for me! The wicked witch of the north east! Muahahaha!
Jackie67- Yes, you have escaped the wrath of the Oz beings (which are not evil!) I always kinda related to the Wicked Witch…figures! Thanks for the review!
:D To show my true gratitude I'm going to sing you this song from the sound of music, because it's been stuck in my head all week!: High on the hill is a lonely goat heard. Yodalayee Yodalayee Yodalayee hee hoo! Don't ya just love musicals!? Lol! Seriously though, your reviews really mean a lot to me so thanks!
I have to recommend Wyatt333's story 'simply charmed' because it seriously kicks butt!
There are other stores I'd like to recommend but just check out my 'favourite stories' on my profile if you want to take a look at them!
Happy Reading! And don't forget to review! BTW, this chapter starts in January, four months after the last chapter!
Laur xXx
Chapter8- Chocolate sauce & Parties
Phoebe eventually got her daughter to sleep and sat back in triumph on the loveseat in the living room. She just managed to drift off when she was woken by her youngest niece. Laura had obviously orbed herself on top of Phoebe unknowingly because she looked slightly worried when her Aunt woke up.
Because she had only just learned to orb from one room to another, Laura was having great joy in orbing everywhere. She had also learned to speak a lot quicker than most other children and had the surprising ability to control her exploding powers with ease. Prue too, was using her powers like a pro and practiced them a lot with her Aunt Paige. Melinda-Jayne, or MJ as she was sometimes called, had so far only showed the ability to shimmer and form tiny fireballs, but it was the powers of Piper's unborn child that everyone was curious about. When she had been pregnant with Prue, Piper had the ability to orb (AN-I know I said before that Prue had shown no powers in the womb, but now I'm contradicting myself for the purposes of the plot!); when Paige had been pregnant with Laura, she cold heal and when Phoebe had been pregnant with MJ, she had the ability to use all of the baby's powers. But with Piper's second pregnancy, she had shown no sign of a new ability or even felt a power increase. It was worrying her a lot so she had began going for check-ups with Ava once a week.
"I's sowee." Laura said and she opened her huge blue eyes widely and batted her long eyelashes. Even though she wasn't even two years old she definitely knew how to win a person over.
"That's okay Laura. Just check if anyone's here next time okay?"
"Uhuh. Mommy?"
"She's gone shopping with Uncle Leo."
"Pixie! I know you're up here!" Mark said in a playfully menacing tone. He walked into the living room and picked his daughter up under her arms. He began spinning round in circles until he almost fell over the coffee table.
"Daddy!" Laura giggled, "Again!"
"Only if you promise you won't orb away from me like that again, okay?"
"Uhuh! Weeeeeeeee!" She giggled and waved her arms in the air, as if on a roller coaster and when Mark stopped spinning, she gave him a huge hug and whispered "I wuv oo daddy,"
Phoebe sat watching the touching moment between father and daughter. A tear came to her eye as she thought of her daughter having to move between homes, but she quickly brushed it away when she spotted Piper standing in the doorway watching. Prue held her hand and she was looking enviously at her Uncle Mark.
"Me wants a turn!" She said and ran up to him with her arms stretched outwards.
Mark looked at Piper to ask whether or not it was okay. Normally he wouldn't have hesitated, but messing with an eight-month pregnant woman was not something he wanted to do. Piper smiled and nodded- she was obviously not in the middle of a mood swing.
"Okay Prue, up you come!"
Prue levitated into her Uncle's arms and he spun her round, just as he had done to his own daughter. When he began to get dizzy Phoebe had to catch him before he once again, fell over the coffee table.
"I'm not doing that again in a hurry." He said with a small laugh.
"Mommy!" Laura squealed as she heard the door in the foyer shut.
"Help!" came Paige's reply.
Piper spun round to see her sister with an armful of groceries, struggling to keep a hold of them all. She decided it would be more fun to watch.
"Bite me." Said Paige
"Gladly..." Said Mark as he walked up to his wife, taking a few bags from her and he began nibbling her neck.
"Get a room!" Piper told them "There are kids here! - Where's Leo?"
"He's waiting for you in the car. You have an appointment with Ava, remember?"
"Oh yeah! I totally forgot! Prue honey, do you want to come see Ava with Mommy and Daddy?"
Prue's eyes lit up when she heard Ava's name. Going to see Ava meant getting candy. She toddled over to her mother and graciously took her hand.
"We'll be back soon." Piper said as she walked out of the front door.
"Was I that forgetful when I was pregnant?" Phoebe asked
"Nope," Mark replied, "You're always that forgetful."
"Gee, thanks!"
"That's quite alright."
Mark and Paige took the groceries into the kitchen and Laura went to babble to her Aunt Phoebe about cheese, of all things. (AN-I couldn't resist! I had to give a character randomness! It was driving me insane! Lol!) Phoebe laughed at her niece's random comments and decided that Laura was going to be able to talk for the USA before she could form proper sentences. She once again sunk into the loveseat when Melinda began to stir in the corner.
"Linda's 'wake!" Laura exclaimed.
Phoebe got up and picked her daughter out of her basinet. Melinda-Jayne, or MJ as she was now called, stared up at her mother through large, doe brown eyes and began to fuss.
"Shh MJ, Mommy's got you." Phoebe whispered to her four month old.
She began to do the wiggle around the room when she decided it was time for her to go to Cole's- even if she was going to be an hour early.
"Laura, do you want to go visit Cole?"
"Yeh! Mommy?"
"Of course you can go visit Cole, Pixie." Paige said with a smirk- it was as if Phoebe was reading her mind. For the first time in six months she was going to be left alone with Mark...
Piper and Leo pulled up outside the Manor just in time to see Phoebe drive away. They assumed she was taking MJ to her father's and waved.
"Hurry up Piper, we're already late!" Leo said.
"I know honey, but I really want to get those films developed and there's a photographers right next to the clinic..."
"I know honey, just be quick!" Leo said as he watched Piper waddle up the stairs to the Manor and he silently added 'She really is forgetful when she's pregnant!'
Piper pushed the Manor door open and judging from the silence Phoebe had taken Laura with her. She walked, as quickly as an eight-month pregnant woman could walk, through to the kitchen to look for the camera. It was only when she heard a quiet giggle from behind the fridge that she noticed her sister hiding there.
"Paige, what are you doing?" She asked, but no reply came. "Hey! Don't you orb away from me!"
The cloud of orbs that had been making it's way towards the basement stopped and materialised in the doorway. Paige stood grinning and blushing, wearing nothing but Mark's chef apron.
"PAIGE!" Piper gasped, her eyes drawn to the bottle of chocolate sauce that Paige held in her hand.
Paige quickly tried to hide the bottle behind her back and responded "Hey Piper! I was just gonna… erm... have some chocolate sauce..." She attempted to look innocently at the ceiling, but it is not something that is easily done when you are standing half naked in an empty house!
"Y'know what? I am not even going to ask...remind me not to give chocolate sauce to Prue for desert tonight...eew!"
"Umm, okay! Y'better get going Pipe'!"
"Yeah! I think I had better!" Piper said as she almost ran out of the kitchen, only just remembering to grab the camera off the table "Bye Mark!" She shouted cheekily.
"BYE PIPER!" She heard him boom back and it was obvious he was taking great enjoyment in his wife's embarassment because he seemed to be laughing.
Piper slammed the door shut behind her and wondered whether to laugh, or be deeply disturbed by what she had just witnessed.
"Eew." She said once more as she got into the car.
"What honey?"
"Don't even ask! Prue- If Aunty Paige ever tries to give you chocolate sauce do NOT take it, okay?"
"Otay Mommy!"
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Phoebe, Laura and Melinda-Jayne emerged from the lift and went to knock on the door. Phoebe let go of her niece's hand and lifter her arm. However, before she could make contact with the whitewashed wood, it opened.
Standing in the doorframe was a petite Hispanic woman, smiling broadly at Phoebe and the girls. Her thick, glossy, black hair hung in waves around her face; the fringe stopping just before her big, dark eyes, and her smile revealed two rows of perfect white teeth. Her nose was slightly crooked and she had a large mole on her chin, but even with those blemishes, Phoebe could not help but notice how pretty the woman was. The only thing wrong with the woman was that Cole had his arm around her waist.
"Hi!" The woman greeted, "I'm Danielle! You must be Phoebe? And this must be little Melinda-Jayne? And…Laura, right? Cole thinks the world of those girls you know?"
"Um…" Phoebe's mind went completely blank. She was over Cole, but it was odd seeing him with another woman. "Yeah…nice to meet you."
"You too. She's beautiful." Danielle was smiling at MJ with a broody look in her eyes and she began babbling, "Yes you are. You're a cutie. I could just eat you up."
Suddenly, Danielle stopped moving altogether. Cole and Phoebe, who had been warming to her turned to give Laura 'the look'.
"Sweetie, you can't just freeze people like that." Cole said sternly.
"She eat 'Linda!" Laura replied, shocked.
"Oh no Honey…that's just a figure of speech. The nice lady was just pretending. Now unfreeze her please."
Laura gave Danielle a very evil glare with her eyes narrowed and her lips curled; a glare that reminded both unfrozen adults very much of Paige. Reluctantly, she unfroze her and gave her a guilty smile. As Danielle turned to the almost-two year old, Laura's look hardened, but when she noticed the chocolate bar in the woman's hand, she soon decided that her Uncle Cole's girlfriend was not so bad.
"I'm sorry we're early Cole, but I've got a column to hand in by tonight." Phoebe said, but she was secretly glad they had come early so she had gotten to meet the infamous Danielle.
"That's okay Phoebe." Cole replied, "It means MJ gets to spend more time with Daddy. And guess what Melly? Daddy's gonna take you to feed the ducks up at Golden Gate Park? You like that don't you?"
Phoebe smiled. Cole was a great Dad and she'd have loved to stand and spoke to him more, but she had a column to hand in and Laura was getting restless. "I'll pick her up on Monday morning at ten."
"Bye Phoebs."
"Bye Cole. And Melinda-Jayne, you be a good girl okay?"
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Two weeks later- February 7th 2005
The chaos of having three magical little girls, and another child on the way very soon was getting to be a little overwhelming for the Haliwells. Prue was beginning to understand that using her powers outside of the Manor was not a very good idea but Laura, it turned out, had inherited her mother's stubbornness. She had gone on a play date with Darryl's daughter Shauna and decided it would be fun to freeze her friend. Luckily Darryl and Sheila knew about the Haliwells being witches because if they hadn't, then they would have found it pretty suspicious that their daughter was frozen in her playpen. Luckily for Paige and Mark, Laura could only orb within the walls of the Manor as she was still going through an orbing phase. MJ took great delight in throwing fireballs when she was in a temper and Phoebe was having trouble hiding her daughter's tribal mark when she got angry. Cole ensured her that as MJ got older she would be able to control it better, but for now she was never without a hat or bonnet.
Phoebe looked proudly at the banner she had just stuck on the wall of P3. 'Congratulations!' it read. Mark had just been given the job as head chef at Quake (A/N Yep, where Piper used to work) and they had decided to use it as an excuse to have a party. Because it was a Sunday, P3 was closed and Piper had offered it as a place to hold the party because she was too heavily pregnant to tidy the Manor.
Paige was sitting on the stage in P3 attempting to teach her daughter and niece how to karaoke. She handed Prue the microphone and sneakily switched it on.
"And now you sing." She told them.
"Otay!" Prue said and stared around the club in shock as her voice was magnified and came out of the speakers in the roof. "If you happy and you know it..."
"Pat you knee!" Laura squealed.
"Pat your knee," Prue repeated. "If you happy and you know it…" (Imagine Phoebe and Prue in 'Once upon a time'. I LOVE that scene!)
"Gee's Piper, you oughta book Prue for the club!" Mark joked.
"Yeah Mommy!" Prue said
"Not until your twenty one sweetie." Piper told her and then added to Leo and Mark "Oh God, that's only nineteen years!"
"Eighteen years, four months!"
"Shut up Mark! I can't believe how quickly she's grown up."
"Yeah Piper, but pretty soon we're gonna have another one to watch grow up. You should probably sit down honey."
"I'm perfectly fine! Honestly!" She told him, lifting her arms up to show her 'perfectly fine' body and being washed over by dizziness "Woah... maybe I should sit down..."
"Are you okay honey?" Leo asked. He placed his hands on her shoulders and orbed her over to one of the seats.
"You know, it's a damn good thing we know about you guys!" Came a voice from the bottom of the stairs and everyone turned to see Darryl, his wife Sheila and two kids Michael and Shauna standing there.
"Hey D!" Mark said and he walked over to greet his friend.
"Congrats on the job!" Darryl said and he turned to his kids "Hey guys, Prue and Laura are over there, how about you go play with them?"
"Okay daddy," The little, dark haired, five-year-old boy said as he grabbed his sister's hand and walked over to the stage.
"Is Piper feeling okay?" Sheila asked, looking towards Piper, who had just gotten over her dizziness, but was sitting with her head in her hands looking quite pale.
"I think she just got a little dizzy- she's been on her feet all day." Mark said. He had a feeling Piper was probably not okay but if he said otherwise he was at risk of being blown up.
"Okay," Said Sheila and she began to walk in Piper and Leo's direction. "I'll leave you guys to… do guy things."
Phoebe took MJ from her father, so that he could join his friends at the bar. She went to sit next to Paige on the stage but found that her daughter was not too keen on being surrounded by four hyperactive children and one very hyperactive Aunt Paige. Paige was holding Laura on her hip and was dancing around in circles singing the Bob the Builder theme tune. Phoebe laughed at her sister's childish behaviour- her parenting techniques were odd, but very effective.
"Paige?" Phoebe asked, "What the heck are you doing?"
"Well I'm doing what we came here to do! I'm partying!"
"Like a three year old?"
"Well my partying is a lot more appealing than everyone else's. Since when did the Halliwells become boring old losers?" Paige gestured around the almost empty nightclub.
"Hey, we are not boring!" Phoebe retaliated, although looking around P3; she got Paige's point.
If the faces had not been familiar to her, Phoebe would have said she was attending a parent-teacher association meeting. Paige was the nursery teacher: looking after the children; Cole, who was leaning over the bar from behind it, was a teacher, telling Darryl and Mark how well their children were doing in class; Sheila was also a teacher, but one of troublesome children. Leo looked deeply concerned and Piper- wait…what was Piper doing?
Phoebe's fantasy drifted quickly out of her mind as she took a closer look at her older sister. She was clutching her abdomen and panicking, grabbing onto Leo's hand. Then, as Sheila came rushing towards her, it registered in Phoebe's mind what was happening: Piper was in labour.
"Piper's baby's coming!" Sheila yelled at the two other women.
At this comment, Paige looked up. Phoebe was already running to Piper's aid and all three of the men at the bar were going into panic mode.
"Okay…" Paige muttered to herself, looking at the kids. "Who wants to play 'Ring Around the Rosies'?" All of the kids looked up excitedly, and Paige held out her hands. "Make a circle and close your eyes." She instructed, hoping they would realise this was not the rules of the game they were going to play.
Luckily, they did as they were instructed and as soon as a circle was formed, it disappeared in a cloud of bright lights, reappearing next to the bar. Unfortunately, Prue had noticed her mother's panic and had sped off in the direction of the table where Piper and Leo were.
"Prue, wait." Paige yelled.
Prue stopped and turned to face her Aunt. "What's wrong with Mommy?" She asked urgently.
"Don't worry honey. You're baby sister is coming."
Prue's eyes were as wide as saucers. A smile appeared on her little face and she began toddling back towards the other kids. "Sister?" She asked, her voice sounded shocked, but Paige was too preoccupied to notice.
Paige was going into commander mode and becoming rather bossy, but nevertheless, everyone was listening intently.
"Cole, Darryl, Sheila- you take the kids in the SUV back to the Manor, Mark and I will stay here and lock up, Phoebe and Leo can take Piper to the hospital."
"But I already tried orbing her and it doesn't work!" Leo yelled. His voice seemed panicked and his face was red.
"Take the car!" Paige shouted back and then something dawned on her. When her waters had broken before she had given birth to Laura, she could not orb either. But her initial thoughts of Decron putting an anti-orb spell on their location did not make any sense because she had just orbed the kids to the bar and when she had had Laura, Leo had orbed her to a hospital. Before Paige could say anything to warn her sisters, they had shot out of the door. Apparently she had been lost in thought for quite a while because it was now only she and Mark left in P3.
"Paige, are you okay?" He asked, putting an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek.
"Just thinking about stuff." Paige replied. Mentioning Decron would make things worse because she was probably just being paranoid.
"Decron?" Mark asked, as if reading her mind. Maybe she wasn't the only paranoid person.
Although he had not shown up for a year and three months, Decron still posed as a huge threat, especially to the Andersons. They had discovered no new information during their reckless searches through books and websites and nothing but a heading resided in the Book of Shadows. The two that remained in P3 had almost lost a daughter to this ruthless demon and the fact that he was still out there left their minds never at ease. For some reason, he had not shown up at the birth of MJ and he was unlikely to attack Piper in the middle of a busy hospital, but Paige and Mark could not push this horrible feeling out of their heads.
"Piper will be fine." Mark reassured his wife, "Now let's tidy up before we miss the birth of the latest Halliwell. Lord only knows we need more…"
"Hey!" Paige scolded him playfully. "But I suppose we should clear up. I'll go through the back and turn of the speakers and stuff, you wash the glasses- I know how much you love that job…" She grabbed a half full bottle of water from the counter and downed it, hoping that her dry throat would disappear.
"Yes Dear."
Mark's crooked smile lifted Paige's spirits as she made her way through to the back room. When she got there however, she found that she could not remember where the control system was.
"Aww crap! Good time to get forgetful Paige!" She muttered to herself.
"But don't all Halliwell women get forgetful when they're pregnant?"
Paige's breath caught in her throat and her heart began pumping in fear. She did not jump when the door slammed shut and was not surprised when she found she could not orb. The voice that had just spoken sent shivers up and down her spine. The voice that could only belong to the one thing she had been dreading since she had missed her period: the voice of Decron.
AN- Oooh, My first cliffhanger! DUN DUN DUN! I guess you'll have to wait until next time…but until then, you could always review! (Geez, I know how to be subtle…) My flying monkeys are currently holidaying in New York City, so I can't threaten you with them this week but I'd still appreciate a review anywayz! Lol! & I would be eternally grateful if someone could explain the American school system to me for later chapters- thanks muchly!