Chapter 23

Confused, Crazy and Convincing

"Okay, you ready?" Prue asked in a cheerful tone as she parked her car up neatly against the kerb. She then happy with her parking let out a satisfied sigh and turned to Andy, who was sat in the passenger seat beside her, his mood definitely not cheerful. He simply grunted in response.

His attitude however didn't phase her; she just smiled wider as if in attempt to make up for his lack of enthusiasm. She couldn't blame him for his behaviour. Somewhere she knew she felt the same way but she unwilling to admit that, there was a greater good at cost then hers and Andy's pride. "Are you ready?" She repeated a little more firmness to her tone this time but her smile was still quite noticeably there.

"I guess…" He muttered while shrugging his shoulders. She nodded and started to undo her seatbelt when he suddenly started shaking his head. "Wait, no," he began slowly as if thinking something over. She raised an eyebrow at him, feeling puzzled. He then nodded to himself as if coming to a conclusion. "I don't want to do this," he stated firmly and gave a slight nod of his head as if to punctuate his point.

Prue was slightly surprised at his abrupt refusal. Of course she didn't expect him to be delighted but she did think he would understand…

"I just don't understand…" He started while scratching his head and letting a confused expression appear on his face as he looked at her. She didn't offer a reply so he continued in a slight harsh tone, "I mean why would you want us to go to Lindsay Taylor's house? I can sort of understand you helping her out the other day, she was alone and scared but don't you remember she made you feel like that not too long ago. Of course that was my fault too I know that but still she was a big part of it. And in the last about…oh say a year she has been the main reason you've been hurt or sad, hasn't she?" Prue only blinked a few times as he paused from his getting louder with every word rant.

He shook his head and went on, his voice had softened though. "And now you want us to go round to her house, maybe have a cup of coffee and we can chat about random things. Basically act like everything's okay, like we're all best friends," He mocked while clapping his hands together and putting on a fake happy smile, it quickly faded however and he caught Prue's eye, while turning all serious again. "Well I can't do it, but your welcome to, " He said bitterly and started to unbuckle his seatbelt impatiently.

"Do you know what it feels like to be alone, like completely alone?" Prue asked in a quiet voice as he fidgeted with his seatbelt. He stopped and looked up at her and shook his head silently, showing no emotion on his face at all. A small smile surfaced on Prue's face, "Yeah me either…but I can't imagine it would be nice." She raised an eyebrow at Andy almost daring him to object, he never, he sat remaining silent while listening to her. "Lindsay knows how it feels, she's going though it right now. I know I should hate her after all she's put us through and part of me does, it agrees with you, we should just leave her alone to struggle. But the other part of me is saying I can't turn my back and that part of me is right and deep down I know you know that too." She reached her hand across and placed it on top of Andy's smiling softly.

His face softened, "I'm sorry I snapped like that," He said in a small ashamed voice. He offered an apologetic smile. "And maybe I agree with you…you know deep deep deep deep down," he mumbled while fiddling with his thumbs.

She chuckled softly and smiled appreciatively at him.

He looked up at her and smiled warmly while gently brushing his hand across her cheek, "You are the most amazingly kind, sweet and caring person I've ever met," He said in an almost awed voice.

She felt her cheeks redden slightly, "You have to say that, I'm your fiancée," She mumbled looking down.

"No…you're my everything," He said softly in a serious tone as he lifted her chin up to meet his eyes.

She could barely contain the happy smile that spread across her face at those words. She hit him across the arm though.

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm and looked at her questioningly.

"That was for being so cheesy," She explained with a grin but it soon softened into a grateful smile.

"If you're sure this is what you want to do then I want to aswell," Andy told her referring to the Lindsay situation.

"It's the right thing to do," She simply replied and opened her car door.

"Wait…" She turned to look at him, he took a deep breath, "Would you mind if I went in myself?" He saw her confused look so offered an explanation. "Its just me and Lindsay need to talk alone first, our last conversation was not exactly friendly to say the least and we probably need to clear the air between us…you understand right?"

She nodded slowly, "if you think it'll be better,"

He smiled at her and leant over and kissed her cheek, "its something I've got to do right?"

"Right," she began slowly a thought coming to her. "You don't mind if I take off do you? Its just I have something I have to do too."

He looked curiously at her but didn't push the subject, "No go ahead, I'll come by the manor later though," With another quick peck on her cheek and her nod of approval he got out of the car. She watched him reach the door but drove off before Lindsay answered. Her fingers were crossed as she placed them on the steering wheel, just hoping things would go okay for them and also for the conversation she was about to have with when she got home.

"Don't you sneak away from me missy!"

Paige froze on the spot at the harsh tone of Prue's voice. Turning round to face her she smiled, a tint of obvious nervousness present. "Wh…what are you talking about? She asked innocently.

Prue narrowed her eyes; "you know what I mean. You have been avoiding me the last two days so we wouldn't have to have a certain conversation and to be honest I have to admit on some level I've been avoiding you too." She tilted her head to the side and a small smiled appeared on her face.

Paige sighed and smiled weakly; "I take it that conversation has been scheduled for now?" She asked in a small voice while looking at her feet and shifting them uncomfortably.

Prue took a deep breath and nodded, "shall we sit?" She gestured to the couch in front of them.

Paige reluctantly nodded and sat down at the opposite end of the couch to Prue, leaving a big gap in-between them, which Prue took note of but didn't say anything nor made any attempt to move closer.

"So…?" She began feeling much more awkward than she thought she would. This was a mother's job…but then they didn't have one so responsibility rolled on to her as the oldest sister. "How did this happen Paige? I didn't know you had…?

"Oh no, no!" Paige quickly answered shaking her head. "I don't have…well you know…" She trailed off as she shifted in her seat awkwardly, "this is just the result of a lot of spiked punch and a wild party," She explained cringing at the memory.

Prue nodded pityingly, "I'm sorry Paige. One little mistake and you end up paying a huge price for it," She said softly with a sympathetic smile.

Paige nodded and gulped.

"And I'm sorry you've had to go through this alone so far but that's going to change now, I'm here whenever you need me…and I'll repay all the times you've babysat Abbie for me," She said with a small smile.

"Well I don't think babysitting is going to be a problem," Paige mumbled looking away.

"What do you mean?" Prue inquired as a puzzled expression crossed her face.

"Well I'm not keeping the baby…" She frowned at the look of shock on Prue's face. "You didn't think I was, did you? I mean I just turned fifteen, I can't look after myself never mind a baby!"

Prue was taken aback to say the least, she blinked a few times while trying to process Paige's confession. She swallowed before speaking, "Paige…its just…I just couldn't imagine the idea of giving a baby away." Her voice was soft and caring but confusion clouded her eyes.

"I'm not you though Prue," Paige replied quietly. "Plus of course you feel that way, how could you not, you already have Abbie…but I don't know this baby yet and you can't honestly tell me you never thought about adoption when you were pregnant,"

Prue sighed, "I'll admit at first maybe…but as soon as I saw the baby's heartbeat in the doctors for the first time it suddenly felt so real…and right." She smiled at the memory.

"Prue you are so strong and you always had Andy whether you were together or not…"

"Glen would be there if you gave him the chance," Prue stated softly.

Paige brushed off her statement and continued, "I'm not denying that I care about this baby because I do and that's why I want to find it a good family,"

"We're a good family!" Prue protested in a loud voice.

"Oh come on Prue, we barely manage around here with just Abbie! Grams is already working overtime, you can't work because you have to look after Abbie and Andy still goes to school and I suppose he does have a part time job in Quake now but still money is tight. Plus Piper's in New York, its unfair to ask Phoebe to help too much so that would leave me…and I know I can't do it," She explained in a small voice while managing to avoid Prue's eye.

"Glen and his family would help too, just like Andy's do," Prue reasoned gently.

Paige smiled weakly and shook her head; "they don't need to know. I've already made up my mind, I'm giving it away…and this had to stay between me, you, Phoebe and Kyle…no point hurting everyone else."

"You might regret this later," Prue told her softly.

"Maybe," she shrugged feeling a tug at her heart at the look of disappointment in Prue's eyes.

"Paige…" Prue reached over and placed her hand on Paige's slight bump that was growing by the day to Paige's disgust. Paige immediately recoiled though and stood up with an expressionless face. Prue's concern grew when Paige then spoke with no emotion whatsoever in her voice.

"I don't want to talk about this now."

Prue sighed heavily as she watched her silently leave the room bumping into Phoebe on the way out, Phoebe made an attempt to smile but Paige ignored her and continued out.

Phoebe turned to Prue with an inquiring look, "Something I said?"

"No, something I said," Prue smiled weakly.

Phoebe nodded, "The word baby come up, huh?" She asked knowingly.

Prue nodded, "Yeah…I just have no idea what to do…do we betray her trust and tell Grams but then somehow I don't think Grams will be able to do that much to help either. Or do we trust her instincts?"

"I honestly have no idea," Phoebe admitted shaking her head and sighing.

Prue just buried her head in her hands. "Is anything ever simple in this family?"

"No," Phoebe answered simply, Prue looked up and caught her eye and despite the situation for a brief moment the two shared a small laugh.

"Andy?" To say Lindsay Taylor looked shocked to find Andy Trudeau on her doorstep would have been an understatement. Her tired eyes grew wide, clearly showing bloodshot lines. Her head tilted to the side, her limp messy ponytail of hair due to an obvious lack of washing fell to the side with it.

He offered a weak smile, "hi," was all he could think of saying at that moment.

She suddenly could feel his gaze on her. Self consciously she wiped her cheeks, which were noticeably tearstained and pulled up her sweatpants before running a hand through her hair and sighing in a defeated way when she realised what a mess she was in. "Wh…what are you doing here?" She stammered gripping the door as if for support.

Andy stepped forward slightly and smiled at her, "eh can I come in?" He asked in a way that showed he was not going away until she let him.

"Why?" She asked bluntly before she could stop herself.

He laughed a little at her tone and for a brief moment he saw her smile slightly but it just as quickly vanished; he sighed and turned serious. "I just want to talk,"

She eyes him curiously and stepped aside to allow his entry. He smiled as he stepped past her and followed her into the living room where he found nothing but mess. Baby clothes lying haphazardly about the floor and couch along with tissues and baby wipes. Empty containers from what looked like her meals the last few days were piled on the coffee table aswell.

"Sorry about the…" She trailed off but gestured to the mess and sighed. "Do you want anything…a drink?" Before he could answer a loud cry interrupted them. Lindsay threw her head back and closed her eyes tightly as if summoning strength. She mumbled something to Andy and left the room.

He watched her go, feel sudden sympathy. He moved towards the mess and bent down to clear it up, among the tissues he found a note. Without thought he started to read.

Lindz I know you don't feel the same way about me but I just want you to know I really care about you. Yes that's right even though you shot me down and were well pretty cruel about it I still care about you, which is weird I know but I guess we can't help who we fall for. Well I just want you to know that whenever you need me, I'll be there for you, always.

Love Chris.

"I guess he lied," Andy turned to see Lindsay standing in the doorway, a small baby in a blue baby grow in her arms. She smiled weakly at him and he could see her eyes water as she continued, "Because I need him now."

Her voice cracked and a slow tear trickled down her cheek as she rocked the baby in her arms.

"Lindsay…"

"Andy you don't have to say anything, its my fault he left I know. I pushed him away and now I pay for that. But I'm just so tired and he doesn't ever stop crying and I just can't do it all alone…" Her eyes grew heavy just as she was speaking and for a moment Andy thought she was going to collapse but she never. "I was blind back then…I didn't see what a good guy he was…now I guess I just miss him you know,"

And just like that, Andy understood Prue's strong need to help Lindsay; He just felt the need too. "I know," he smiled genuinely a sudden idea forming in his head. "Trust me everything is going to be okay though."

She eyed him curiously but before she could speak he did, "so this is your son eh?"

She beamed at the mention of her son, which Andy clearly noticed and smiled at. He moved towards the two and got a good look at Baby Taylor, his idea still swimming around his head.

"You want to throw her a party!"

Andy cringed slightly at Prue loud voice but kept his smile, "yes." He answered.

"Andy are you crazy? I said be nice to her, maybe a little supportive and this morning that was too much to ask now all of a sudden you want to throw her a party!" Prue exclaimed completely confused.

"Yeah I know but…well you should have seen her Prue, she's a mess, she's exhausted…she needs help. And she's all alone and we're the only ones who can influence people to change their minds about her. Since well we're the reason everyone thinks she's scum," He explained.

"And how are we supposed to change their minds?" She asked folding her arms across her chest and cocking her head to the side with a raised eyebrow. "Everyone hates her and how will she feel when she has a party and no one shows up?"

"I'm not too concerned with everyone else, just as long as I can get one certain person to show up," He grinned slightly mysteriously.

"And who's that? Andy Trudeau don't you grin at me like that! You are up to something…wait this wouldn't happen to be a certain footballer who moved to LA would it?" A grin had begun to appear on her face too.

Andy just grinned wider.

Grams was vacuuming the hallway when Phoebe entered the manor, a bouquet of different flowers in her hand. She smiled at Phoebe and turned off the vacuum; "oh they are lovely who did you get them from?" She asked.

"They're from Lee for our two month anniversary," Phoebe answered in a wary tone.

"Oh what did you get him?" Grams asked with interest while taking the flowers from Phoebe and neatly setting them in a vacant vase sitting on the side table in the hall.

Phoebe grimaced, "that's the thing, I had like absolutely no idea it was so I had nothing, I felt bad so I insisted on paying for lunch." She explained.

Grams laughed and shook her head, "Phoebe what are you like."

Phoebe tried to not laugh, "I know but my mind has just been all over the place lately."

"Or maybe it has been in one certain place," Grams replied with a vague tone as she arranged the flowers.

"It's not been on Cole," Phoebe stated with a firm tone.

"I didn't mention Cole," Grams turned around and smiled at Phoebe who was cursing herself for saying that. "They look lovely…I'll just get some water," Grams then walked off to the kitchen leaving Phoebe staring at the flowers deep in thought.

"You sure this is a good idea?"

Prue nodded in response, "lets do this," She opened the door and walked inside, a familiar feeling she hadn't experienced for a while and a flood of memories washed over her.

"How do you like being back in school?" Andy grinned while sliding his arm round her.

Before Prue could answer the bell rang and a crow of students filtered into the hall, all recognising their former class president and head cheerleader straightaway.

A lot of smiles, waves, shouts swept past them as they made their way down the corridor. Prue smiled appreciatively to all the people, grateful for the fact they were all being so kind to her.

"Oh my God!"

She suddenly came face to face with her two best friends, well they were her best friends but she hadn't actually seen them for ages.

"Kayleigh, Chloe," She greeted with a warm smile before they threw themselves at her, enveloping her in a tight hug while they squealed excitedly and Prue found herself fall back into her high school days and join in with their squeals.

When they came away from her, they smiled brightly, "What are you doing here?" Kayleigh asked happily.

"Not that we're not glad you're here," Chloe added.

"Well actually we came to hand out these," Prue smiled at Andy before handing a poster to each of them.

They read it over and looked up disgusted, "You want to throw a party for Lindsay Taylor!" Kayleigh exclaimed.

"Why?" Chloe inquired in shock.

"Because…because I want to. We want to," She looked at Andy.

Kayleigh and Chloe looked hesitant and still confused.

"Please just hand these out to everyone, try and convince them to go, it would mean a lot and I know you don't understand but just trust me okay?" Prue asked in a pleading tone.

They nodded slightly, "Okay but we're doing this for you."

Prue smiled gratefully and hugged them both, "Thanks you guys…you know we need to hang out again…I miss you both."

Andy smiled at the three hug and made a mental note to himself to take Abbie so Prue could go out with them.

Phoebe stood at the door of Paige's bedroom feeling slightly awkward, she knocked softly to get Paige who was sitting at her desk's attention. She turned around and smiled slightly at Phoebe.

Phoebe smiled slightly too, "So… Prue and Andy throwing Lindsay a party, strange huh?"

"Totally," Paige agreed and grinned a little.

Phoebe took it as an invite to advance further into the room, "So is there anything you want to talk about?" She asked nonchalantly.

"By anything you mean…the fact that I'm pregnant," Paige replied with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Well maybe…if you want to talk about that," Phoebe shrugged slightly and sat down on the bed picking up several pieces of paper and leaflets that lay there. She gasped in horror when she read the titles. "Adoption! Paige you can't be serious!" She exclaimed thrusting the leaflets in Paige's face.

"Deadly," Was all Paige replied in a dull tone.

"How…how can you be so blunt about this?" Phoebe asked shocked at her sister's lack of caring.

"Because Phoebe…look when you think about this baby you are an aunt but I would be a mum and well…I'm just not ready for that…I mean how can you expect me to be…I just turned fifteen!" She emphasised her age. "You know its simple really."

"No it's not," Phoebe said softly shaking her head, "far from it." Not quite sure if she could look at Paige right then she left the room, disappointment washing over her.

Paige watched her leave silently and found herself staring at the leaflet completely torn for what to do. She needed advice and so far two out of three of her sisters hadn't come up with it. Maybe it was up to the third sister. Too bad she was in New York and Paige was stuck in San Francisco…

Okay the last line gives you a little clue about the next chapter!