"What!" Piper screamed "how is that possible?"
" it's a long story" Chris hedged.
"Well you'd best start talking mister!" Phoebe ordered.
"Its not really my story to tell, its complicated, its" Chris babbled.
"I don't care!" Piper began to get annoyed. " You're going to sit your butt down there and tell us"
Chris looked up at his mother, who stood over him, arms folded, mouth set in a line. He'd seen that look many times in the future, especially the time she caught him hanging out of his bedroom window having a secret cigarette, and realised that there was no point in arguing.
"Alright, Alright" he raised his hands in mock defeat. " I shouldn't be telling you this but here goes.."
Over in the hospital, Paige, after a hushed conversation with Mr Cowan, knocked on the door of the little girls room, and walked in.
"Hi" she said, after getting no response other than a brief nod of the head, Paige grabbed a chair and pulled it up along side the bed,
"nice hair colour" she said indicated, " I know they say that blonds have more fun, but I think us red heads are the best ", she thought she saw a small smile appear on the girls face, but it was hard to tell through all the hair. " I might change it again soon though, I'm always experimenting,…. this one time in high school, I had peroxide streaks put in the front and I ended up looking like a cross between the bride of Frankenstein and a badger!"
"its not real" the girl muttered.
"no?" Paige asked, pleased that the girl had at last started to speak.
" No, I went to a sleepover last night, me and my friends put one of those temporary mousse things on"
"well that's sensible" Paige replied, "after all choosing one's hair colour is a serious business, you can't rush into these things"
"I guess"
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude , I haven't introduced myself, I'm Paige, Paige Matthews" Paige said, hoping to perhaps coax a name out of the girl.
"There's a girl in my class named Paige" the girl replied.
'Not the answer I was expecting but at least she's still talking' Paige thought.
"Really?" Paige said." I've not met many other Paiges. I'll let you into a secret though, I used to hate my name. When I was your age I used to try and get people to call me by middle name, Olivia, because I thought that Olivia Newton-John was so glamorous in Grease. My parents refused though, kept insisting on calling me Paige, at least now I know why"
"I never liked my name either" the girl admitted "its too boyish, I was named after a character in Little Women"
"Which one" Paige was curious
"Josephine, I'm Jo, Jo Jenkins" said the Girl.
"well, hello Jo" Bingo, Paige smiled.
" Right" said Chris " Poppy didn't die, she was taken away by the elders, and given to another family, she…"
"wait a minute, rewind" Piper interupted."What have the friggin Elders got to do with this? They didn't even know Paige existed, let alone her daughter"
"That's not entirely true" Chris explained. "you see, Paige, like Wyatt, being the child of a witch/whitelighter, is more powerful than your average witch. When Wyatt was born, you had that magical blackout, now that didn't happen exactly with Paige's birth, as the power increases with each generation, so she is not as powerful as Wyatt will be, however there were a couple of seconds of a power blackout, more of a glitch really. Anyway the Elders tried to find out what had caused it, they investigated, but couldn't find anything, so the matter was put on a backburner so to speak. Now, after your mother died, they began to notice that she was watching over not only you three girls, but another little girl as well. Then after Sam's fall from grace, he began drinking heavily, and he was often heard telling stories about the little girl that he lost. Pretty soon the Elders put 2+2 together, and found out who Paige was, although they later denied this."
"But what has this got to do with Poppy" Phoebe asked.
"I'm getting to that part" Chris replied. "Anyway, the Elders decided to keep an eye on Paige, they were concerned, that as she wasn't growing up in a 'good' magical family that she maybe corrupted and convinced to use her powers for evil, especially as at the time there was no knowing that Prue was going to die, or that Paige would ever come and seek you guys out and learn to use her powers for good"
"hold on" it was Piper who interrupted this time. "Paige didn't have her witch powers growing up? It was Prue's death that released them?"
"No" Chris pointed out. "Paige always had her witch powers, it was Prue's death that unbound them, but a witch's powers can also be unbound by an upper level Demon, which is what the Elder's most feared. Unfortunately for Paige, they guy she slept with at the party, was the grandson of a witch, he didn't know it, as the grandmother decided to raise her daughter, his mother, outside of magic, however the powers were still in his bloodline, they were just dormant. So when Paige got pregnant, the Elders decided to take action"
"what do you mean take action?" Phoebe asked.
"They thought that one witch who was unaware of her powers thus open to possible corruption was hard enough, but two of them together would be too big a risk, so they decided to take 'damage control' as they put it, and separate the two."
"But why tell Paige the baby had died? Why not convince her to have it adopted?" Piper puzzled.
"because they knew that Paige would never agree to it. She was adopted herself, she knew all to well about that hollow feeling that there is inside, the part of you that knows deep down that somewhere, there's someone who didn't love you enough to keep you, that they 'rejected' you when you were a tiny baby. Besides, if Paige was forced to give her child up for adoption, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't go looking for her child later in life. The elders thought it would be easier, to let her think the baby had died, that way she could grieve, and eventually get some closure on the whole affair"
"easier!" Piper fumed. "easier, they let her think her child was dead! She went down the road of drink and drugs and almost got swallowed up by it all! As for closure, we're here 11 years later and she still can't talk about it without being consumed by guilt and grief."
"look I know your angry, but don't shout at me" Chris told his mother. "I'm just telling you what I was told ok. I was barely 2 years old when all this came out"
"So she finds out then?" Phoebe interrupted.
"evidently" Chris drawled, his voice dripping in sarcasm.
"How?"
" I can't tell you futur.."
"don't even think about saying it!" bellowed Piper. " you have to tell us, this isn't some random person on the street, this is our baby sister, you aunt"
"I know" Chris cut her off. " but I've already said too much. You have to trust me, Paige and Poppy will find each other eventually, they're destined to."
"But" Phoebe began.
"No buts" Chris said firmly. " it will all work out, now promise me you won't say a word to Paige."
"I don't know.. I…we…alright.." Piper said slowly, not at all convinced, but wanted to avoid a showdown with her son.
"Phoebe?" he turned to his aunt.
"ok, I won't" she said, Chris sighed relieved, and turned his back to pour a glass of water.
"for the moment" she muttered to Piper, who nodded her head in agreement.