Author's note: Thanks for the reviews on Chapter One. In case you're confused, this story is set mid to late season 5 with some slight changes (call it artistic licence) so it won't necessarily always fit exactly with what was seen on screen. I really wanted to do a little more with Cole before we said goodbye to him for good. All three Charmed Ones share the limelight in this one, it isn't focused on any one of them particularly.
Jenna smiled in satisfaction as she surveyed the scene around her. Everything was in place, and the coven was waiting eagerly for her to begin the ritual. Her friends, her sisters, all of them were dressed for the occasion in their ceremonial robes. They had wreaths of blossom in their hair – no mean feat in December, but it was essential to be correctly dressed if the ceremony were to be successful. As High Priestess it was her duty and her honour to preside over the ceremony. To most ordinary people, December 21st, the shortest day, was seen as a gloomy time, but Jenna knew better. The Winter Solstice was a time of joy and celebration, a recognition that soon the dark days of winter would give way to summer's light.
She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, savouring the crispness in the evening air. In a few hours time the Holly King's reign of darkness would come to an end, and his brother the Oak King would take over, leading the world in to the light. On midsummer's day the positions would be reversed, and the Holly King would once again reclaim his throne. It was nature's cycle, a clever balancing act of darkness and light.
As was the tradition, the coven had gathered to celebrate the Solstice, to mark the passing of the darkness, and to welcome the return of the sun. Jenna opened her eyes and glanced around at the coven, her coven. Her heart filled with pride at what they had achieved over the past five years. They had a key role to play in the fight against evil, and so far they had fulfilled their duty admirably, but there was still more to be done if the Charmed Ones were to remain protected.
The fire, the symbol of their coven was burning brightly, orange flames lapping hungrily at the wooden pyre they had assembled. Jenna smiled. The brightly burning flames provided a welcome splash of colour in the dark night sky, lending a little warmth to what was an unusually chilly evening. She took a deep breath, savouring the distinctive smell of woodbine and coriander intermingled with the magics in the air around her. She nodded her head at the coven members, indicating they should take up their positions.
Everything was as it should be. Silently she watched, waited, until at last she saw the first tendrils of light breaking through the darkness. It was time. Picking up the candle she moved to the centre of the circle and began to recite the incantation. She was dead before she had even completed the first sentence, the energy ball leaving scorch marks on the grass where only moments earlier she had been standing.
Screwing up her face in concentration, Paige Matthews made careful notes on the paper in front of her. Her lips moved soundlessly as her finger traced the lines of text. The early fog had dissipated, late morning sunlight streamed through the open window, and a slight breeze rustled the pages of the Book of Shadows. Cross-legged on the attic floor, surrounded by boxes, candles and other more bizarre odds and ends necessary for witchy endeavours, Paige was almost hidden. She liked it that way, cause right now she didn't want to be found.
It wasn't just the mess, although Piper would have a fit if she saw the state the attic was in - pages and pages filled with her large, slightly untidy handwriting, now covered the floor around her. Neither was it the solitude, although that was a precious commodity in this house – what with two sisters, the obligatory husbands and boyfriends, plus all the demons, warlocks, darklighters and whatever else team evil chose to throw at them, her life at the Manor was seldom peaceful. Moments of solitude didn't happen that often and Paige was astute enough to know that this particular moment would not last long. As such she was determined to make the most of it.
But no, it wasn't the mess or a desire for solitude that made Paige want to hide. She had a secret, a secret she wasn't ready to share. Right now Paige was working on a little something of her own, and it was something she had no intention of telling her sisters about until she was sure she'd gotten it right. Okay so Phoebe and Piper were big on the sharing, but she'd been an only child for most of her life and she was used to her independence. It was kinda nice to have a project all her own, even if she was a little stuck right now.
Paige let out a breath and stretched her stiffening muscles. Slowly she reached over and picked up her mug of coffee, never once taking her eyes off the book. She took a sip of her coffee and then screwed up her face in disgust. She'd been so engrossed in her task that she'd let it get cold. Setting the mug back down, she risked a glance at her watch and was surprised to see that most of the morning had slipped away without her noticing. She sighed heavily. She'd promised Piper she'd pick up the groceries, and she was supposed to be helping Phoebe with the Christmas decorations for P3.
Reluctantly Paige put down the book and considered her situation. Piper was currently who knew where enjoying a rare day out with Leo and wasn't expected back for hours, so that left plenty of time for grocery shopping. Phoebe on the other hand was a different matter entirely. She was due to meet Phoebe at her office at the Bay Mirror at around one. Paige calculated quickly. If she orbed there instead of driving, she would cut half an hour out of her travel time, and that would give her at least another forty-five minutes alone with the Book.
It wasn't exactly personal gain, Paige rationalised to herself, given that what she was doing had everything to do with safe guarding the future of the Charmed Ones. It wasn't like she was looking through the book to conjure up an instant wealth spell, or trying to summon Mr Right, though god knows she'd been tempted. Nope this one was strictly legit, which meant she was perfectly within her rights to travel via her own magical means.
That decided she turned her attention back to the book. She wasn't really sure that the answer she was looking for was even in the Book of Shadows, but it seemed as good a place to start as any. She'd been working on this for a few weeks now; grabbing any opportunity she could to hide herself away with the book.
She felt a little guilty lying to Phoebe and Piper about what she was doing. Only last night she'd told Piper that she was going to bed early to catch up on some sleep, when in reality she'd been awake until the early hours reading and making notes. Still if this worked it would be worth it, and she was sure her sisters would forgive her a few white lies.
She'd already been through the book from cover to cover several times, but she wasn't ready to quit, not yet. This was way too important. They were vulnerable right now and with Piper so close to her due date, and Phoebe so overloaded at work, it had naturally fallen to her to make sure the Charmed Ones were ready for whatever came their way next.
Usually Piper was the witch in charge, but now that she'd entered the third trimester of her pregnancy, Piper's priorities had changed. The rest of the family had stepped admirably in to the breach, making sure that Piper had nothing more troubling than deciding on baby names to occupy her time. Although she was excited at the prospect of becoming an aunt, Paige had to admit she was a little uneasy at the fact that Piper was taking such a backseat when it came to their Charmed duties.
Piper's explosive powers had saved the day more times than Paige cared to remember. Sure impending motherhood was important, but as far as Paige was concerned their work as witches had to come first - evil wasn't gonna take a time out just because Piper was pregnant. They were the Charmed Ones, and their success depended on the power of three, not the power of two.
She sighed and chewed the end of her biro thoughtfully – or should that be the power of one? Because in all honesty Phoebe wasn't much help right now. What with her incredibly demanding job at the newspaper and her continual love/hate relationship with the ex- DA/demon Cole Turner, Phoebe tended to cram vanquishes in between meetings; running between home and the office, at the perpetual beck and call of her editor.
Although Phoebe was preoccupied with keeping Piper and the baby safe, she had so little free time that the actual burden of figuring out how that task would be accomplished had landed squarely on Paige's shoulders. It was only fair since Paige didn't have a job right now. She'd given up a promising career in social work to devote herself to her witchcraft, and boy had she needed that extra free time. She'd had to get her abilities up to speed real quick, talk about a steep learning curve. Sometimes she still worried that there were things she hadn't learned well enough, it had all happened so fast. Still Phoebe seemed happy enough to leave her with the lion's share of wiccan responsibilities right now. For the last few weeks that was how they had worked it. Whenever the next demonic threat presented itself, Paige came up with the plan and Phoebe and Leo stepped in to provide the magical assist, all three doing their best to ensure that Piper remained completely oblivious, and out of harm's way.
Somehow, despite the almost overwhelming pressure, Paige had so far managed to come up with the goods, providing a kick-ass plan just in time to save the day. Although she was really kinda pleased, not to mention mighty relieved, by her performance so far, she had to admit that they hadn't faced anything really big. Lately though Phoebe had been troubled by a sense of impending doom in the form of a recurrent nightmare. Maybe it was her power, a by-product of the premonitions, or maybe she'd been eating too much cheese right before going to bed.
Whatever, she had managed to get Paige spooked too, so much so that Paige was no longer happy to take their usual reactive approach- wait for the bad guys to attack and then respond. Instead she felt that it was time for a pre-emptive strike to take out any threat before it had a chance to attack. Phoebe wasn't so sure, she didn't wanna go stirring up trouble this close to Piper's due date. Instead she insisted that they work on becoming extra vigilant, do what they always did, just do it better.
Paige didn't agree, and so she felt that it was up to her to do something about it. She was sure that Phoebe would thank her for it later, but just for the moment it was better to keep it her little secret. She had decided that she Paige was going to take the responsibility, to take charge. She had to be the leader of the Charmed Ones, stepping into the shoes of Prue Halliwell. Boy, were they big shoes to fill! Paige had never met Prue, but she'd certainly heard enough about her. To listen to Piper and Phoebe talk, you'd think that Prue was Xena Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dark Angel all rolled into one.
Prue had been the ultimate demon fighter, and even now after all this time Paige couldn't help feeling as though her sisters saw her as a poor substitute. She'd figured that Piper's pregnancy would bring them closer together, help in someway to redress the balance. After all Piper and Leo's baby would be half-witch-half-whitelighter just like Paige herself, and that should count for something. But instead there had been numerous evenings reminiscing over old photos of Prue, Piper and Phoebe as kids, reliving memories that Paige couldn't share.
In fact Piper hadn't really talked to Paige about her pregnancy at all. Sure she knew all the little stuff, like the magical side effects, and about Piper's dislike of maternity clothes, but she didn't really know the stuff that mattered, like what Piper was thinking or feeling, and that hurt. She'd really thought that she'd gotten over this, had settled in, become part of the family, but Piper's pregnancy had stirred up all her insecurities, and the feeling of being an outsider was stronger than ever. So Paige had devised a plan, a plan that would prove that she was more than a match for Prue Halliwell, that she truly deserved the title 'Charmed One.'
If she could make this work then not only could they all breathe a big sigh of relief about Piper and the baby, but she would finally feel like a real member of the family, she was sure of it!
To Be Continued …