Chapter 8:A Conversation Of Sorts

I can't believe this Phoebe thought. She suddenly realised that she was grinning like an idiot at the little girl. Good going Miss Phoebe, way to put her at ease.

"uh hi, I'm Jo" Jo replied her voice barely a whisper.

"of course you are"

"what?"

" I mean would you like a drink?" Phoebe babbled, without waiting for an answer she turned on her heal and marched back to the kitchen, calling for Piper as she went.

"what?" her older sister asked as she came through the back door. "is there a demon attack? Is it Chris?"

She eyed her younger sister who had a weird half smile on her face.

"No" She said. "Go into the living room and tell me what you see."

"Phoebe I really don't have time for this.."

"Please…"

"Okay" Piper dropped the empty laundry basket on the side and trudged into the front room. She saw a raven haired girl with her back to her sat on the sofa.

So this must be Paige's new 'project'. " Hi I'm Piper"

The girl turned round, " I'm Jo"

Piper caught sight of her face. "oh my…" she backed away and returned to the kitchen, leaving Jo to wonder if all the adults in this house were insane.

"Well?" Phoebe was on tender hooks as Piper bowled through the kitchen door.

"That girl…" Piper began. " she looks exactly like Prue…."

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Paige carried the last of Jo's bags over the threshold and dumped them inside the manor hallway.

"Hey" She found Jo sat on the edge of the sofa nervously playing with the hem of her skirt.

"Did you meet my sisters yet?"

"uh huh they seemed…." Weird, crazy, bizarre "uh nice"

"cool. Well lets take your stuff upstairs shall we?"

Relieved to have something to do, Jo leaped up, grabbed her bag and followed Paige up the stairs.

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" I know" Phoebe agreed excitedly " and you know what this means?"

"That the Elders have recycled Prue's soul somehow?"

"No!" Phoebe sighed "work with me here Piper, who out of the 3 of us is physically the most like Prue?"

"Paige" Piper replied slowly.

"so?"

"So?" Christ her sister could be dense sometimes. Phoebe continued " and who out of the 3 of us has a long lost 10 year old daughter?"

"Oh" The penny finally dropped for Piper. " You don't mean, .."

"yep"

"that she's…."

"Yep"

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Upstairs Paige guided Jo towards the spare bedroom, " You'll be here" she explained "and I'll be just next door" Paige pushed the door open to reveal a Chris shaped figure laying on the bed.

"whuh?" the young whitelighter woke from his doze. "sorry" he heard his aunt call as he struggled to open his eyes. He blinked as he noticed the small figure stood at her side. Wait was that?..no it couldn't be her …he thought…I guess I'm still a bit woozy from that attack…. "s'alright," he muttered as he rested his head back on the pillow, perhaps this will make more sense after a nap.

"who is that?" Jo asked as Paige closed the door gently behind them.

My 22 year old nephew from the future. " a relation" Paige replied. " looks like you're rooming with me"

She placed Jo's bag down on the bed.

"I can't take your bed" Jo said aghast " I don't want to be a problem, I'll sleep on the sofa honestly I.."

"Nonsense" Paige interrupted. " It isn't a problem, look" Paige lent down, lifted the bedcovers and gave a tug to reveal a roll-a-way bed. "See, perfect for the overnight guest". She smiled, "why don't you unpack some of your clothes and I'll go get us a sandwich"

"Ok" Jo agreed as she began to unzip her bag.

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Back down in the kitchen Phoebe and Piper were engaged in whispered debate

" do you think she really is Paige's daughter"

"she has to be" Phoebe replied. " look at her! I can't believe Paige hasn't said anything"

"Probably because she doesn't realise who she is" Piper reasoned.

"hasn't realised" Phoebe hissed. "a little girl turns up who is her carbon copy, which.. "

"Which to Paige is probably just a cruel irony" Piper finished.

"We've got to tell her" Phoebe insisted.

"whoa, wait now, do we have any actual evidence apart from their physical likeness that this is her daughter?"

"well, no, but "

"No, 'buts', we need proof before we breathe a word of this to her"

"But that's my point, we confront Paige and then we can get a DNA test and"

"and..thats one conversation I do not want to be having over the dinner table…hey Paige, you know your dead daughter, the one you grieved over, the one whose death you blame yourself for? Well guess what? she's not so dead, so you suffered all those years in vain. Isn't that great? So can you pass the salt?" Piper dead panned.

"ok, so we …."

"hey" Paige entered the kitchen to an awkward silence. "please, don't stop talking on my account"

Piper and Phoebe remained mute.

" a girl could get paranoid y'know" Paige joked as she started making two sandwiches" What were you talking about?"

"Chris" Piper said as Phoebe cried "Cole"

"what?"

"Chris and Cole," Phoebe corrected herself. "ugh, Chris said that he might have seen Cole in the underworld when he was last there"

"really?" Paige was busy placing food on the plates so fortunately didn't notice the look of relief that passed between the two elder siblings.

"So" Phoebe began in what she hoped was a neutral voice "that Jo seems nice"

"she is" Paige agreed "she's great"

"funny isn't it?" Phoebe continued.

"what?" Paige paused in her attempt to butter multiple slices of bread.

"How much Jo looks like you"

"Don't" Paige's voice was firm.

"what?" Phoebe feigned innocence.

"don't even go there" Paige repeated.

"I was just pointing out that .."

"I know what you were doing Phoebe, and don't you think I didn't notice it myself. Don't you think I didn't pause for the briefest of all seconds to wonder what if…? But I can't do that. I've seen my daughter's face in other peoples children millions of times over the years, and each time it reminds me of what I've lost. I refuse to do it anymore, to put myself through that pain each and every time I see a young girl with long dark hair and brown eyes. So whatever you were planning on saying save it, I don't want to know ok?".

Phoebe looked as if she wanted to reply but an angry glance from Piper silenced her. Paige finished making her snack. After what seemed an eternity she finally spoke again

"I'll take this up to Jo" she said simply as she walked out the door.

"Phew" Piper breathed when Paige had vanished upstairs. "that was close!"

"too close" Phoebe concurred.

"look perhaps we should just leave this daughter business, its like Chris said, they're destined to be together, lets just watch and wait, and we don't want to upset Paige again.

"No" said Phoebe stubbornly " I want some answers, and I'm going to make sure I get them"

TBC

Coming soon chapter 9: His Father's Son, Her Mother's Daughter