The Secret

Part 1

It was early morning in San Francisco. The sun rose slowly and began to light up the city. It gave a natural tranquility to the street. No people were to be seen. There were no cars to hear, only the chirping of the birds. Everyone still slept and stirred in their dreams.

The sun shone through the window and illuminated the room. On the wall hung a picture, on the floor lay many magazines, on the strewn across the stool lay a dress left from the previous evening in P3. She lay on her large bed, recovering from the long night with her sisters. Her quiet sleep however was soon be visited by a dream.

In a hospital a nurse carried a baby to its mother and lays it in her arms. The mother, a lovely woman, smiled at the child with love. After a few minutes the door of the room opened and two nurses stepped inside. They caught sight of the mother with her small sweet girl and could not believe that they soon had to separate them.
"I'm sorry miss, but we must bring your baby into another room now. Her adoptive parents are already waiting."
When the mother saw the sad sight tears formed in her eyes, so she hugged her baby tightly and handed her over to the nurses. It was already decided and could not be changed. The nurse took the baby and looked into her eyes.
"She has your eyes miss."
After a short moment she sighed and told the mother that she had to leave now.
"Don't worry, your daughter will be in good hands. The Towner family are very kind people. They will take excellent care of her. I'll be going now. Good bye." The nurse said and turned to leave.
"Wait. Can you tell them that my baby should have this necklace? It is my favorite one. Please."
She held up the necklace. It was a silver chain with a blue pendant with a reflection of the ocean. The nurse took the necklace.
"Of course. I'll see you later."
The two nurses left the room. The mother couldn't hold it in much longer, and she began to cry, great, shuddering sobs that seemed to tear at the very fabric of her soul. She stared unseeing into the distance and spoke words that had no meaning, into the unforgiving air, stark white walls reinforced the enormity of her decision and her lack of human support.
"Okay stop crying…" she sobbed "I hadn't another choice. It is the right decision. The right de...ci...sion. No…no" she said as her voice got quieter and she fell into a fitful sleep.
She woke up suddenly from her sleep and looked with eyes full of tears.
"My baby!" she cried to herself.

Every morning in the Halliwell house one of the sisters will always be already sitting at the table ready to inform the others of the latest news from the paper, they sip their coffee, which makes the entire kitchen smell of its fragrance. Phoebe had come down very sleepily. She sat down on the stool next to her sister.

"Morning" she murmured after she yawned. "What are you grinning about?" she asked when she saw the wide smile on her sister's face.
"It looks like somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed." Her sister said with a laugh.
"Mmmh." Phoebe said and considered what she should say. She decided on the superb come back of…saying nothing, "Did you sleep well?" Phoebe asked after a while.
"Hmm. I slept okay. I had a bad dream, but after a cup of coffee I'll be wide-awake", her sister answered. She wondered what her younger sister meant when she said "Mmmh."

"You probably didn't sleep well, you look very tired. Don't tell me you have been studying all night for college, Phoebe?", she asked looking her directly in the eyes.
Phoebe smiled at her sarcastically.
"Phoebe" she said a little bit upset.
"What?"
"You know we don't like when you overwork." She said.

The third Charmed One heard them talking in the kitchen and murmured, "Morning" as she walked in and went over to the coffee maker to pour herself some. When both sisters looked at her they noticed that she didn't sleep well either.
Phoebe spoke first and asked "You didn't sleep well either?"

But her sister didn't answer instead she just stared at her mug, which was filled with coffee, and felt the warm steam as it hit her face. She wondered how to tell them about her dream and the truth it contained.
How can I tell them? Should I say anything at all about it? I have been keeping it to myself all these years. What should I tell them? Will they notice something is wrong if I don't speak? Why did I even have that dream? It's been so long.

Phoebe looked at her sister, who was sat in front of her and asked her what was wrong. Then she walked over to her sister at the coffee maker and put her arm around her. "Is there something wrong, honey?" she finally asked.

She turned to Phoebe and looked into her eyes for several minutes before she said a word.
"I must tell you something." she finally said. She looked at her sister, who stood up from the table wondering what she was about to tell them.

"What?" they both asked quietly, and no one noticed the nervousness behind that simple question.
Phoebe hated when one of her sisters said, "I have something to tell you." She knew it always meant something bad was about to happen, but usually it was her who spoke the dreaded words, not her sisters. And certainly not HER!

Oh god. How am I to tell them, she asked herself as she walked to the center of the kitchen, then turned to her sisters, and looked them in the eyes. "It concerns…my" she began to say, but it seemed that she could not bring herself to say the next word, "…daughter." She finally uttered.