Who Knew?

Disclaimer: ……………

"…Come to me,"

Piper's eyes quickly opened at the commanding voice. At first, she assumed it was a demon, and tensed where she stood.

"…I summon thee,"

Suddenly then she remembered the common spell she had used so many times before. It sounded like the simple summoning spell that was written in the Book of Shadows. But who was reading it?

"…Cross now the great divide!"

While Piper was still trying to figure who the voice belonged to she was suddenly encased in millions of white orbs. She cried out, before reappearing in front a young woman. She frowned, and looked into the stunned eyes of what looked like a younger version of Phoebe.

"It worked…" The girl whispered, not seeming to know what to do next. Piper looked at herself in the mirror that was conveniently placed behind the stranger, and gasped. There was a faint, glowing light outlining her figure, and her body was almost transparent. She managed to suppress a scream, but the girl most have noticed her silence because she took a deep breath and began to explain to Piper. "Are you… are you Piper?" The girl hesitated.

Piper frowned, and then slowly nodded.

"Wow…" The stranger gulped, fingering her long, light brown hair. Then Piper decided to take control of the situation. It was obvious this girl wasn't a demon, and that some how Piper was a spirit.

"So… lets start with your name…" Piper began, questioningly. She desperately wanted to discover the reason for all this, and try and undo what ever had caused it.

"My… my name…?" The girl hesitated, Piper nodded sternly, "Erm… it's Melissa … My name is… Melissa."

Piper nodded slowly, and then froze as another girl charged into the attic. This girl had much darker hair than Melissa, and she wore it in a high ponytail instead of loose, as Melissa wore hers. It only took Piper a moment to realise that these two young women must be her sisters' daughters. But there were only two, and it was easy to see that they were Paige and Phoebes' not Prue's. What had happened to the eldest sister?

"Melissa…?" The new girl began warningly. Melissa quickly averted her eyes from the young Paige look a like until she suddenly gasped.

"Pi… Piper?" The girl gasped, grabbing to the wall for support.

"Maggie, calm down…" Melissa said, slowly standing from her kneeling position and walking to the other girl's side. By now, Maggie's breathing was quickening, and Piper was worried that the girl was having a heart attack.

"Maggie, calm down, breathe slowly…" Piper commanded. Soon the colour returned to Maggie's cheeks, and her breathing slowed. Melissa glanced thankfully at Piper, who nodded back.

"Oh God, Aunt Piper…" Maggie gasped, stumbling towards the spirit. This confirmed Piper's theory of them being her nieces, "Wow…" And then she quickly turned to Melissa, "How did you summon her? Mum and the aunts have been trying since she died."

"Well…" Melissa began.

"Mel…" Maggie began warningly. Melissa cast an annoyed glance at Maggie.

"I didn't use dark magic! My mum and yours gave me a long enough lecture last time!" Melissa stated. So, they were cousins, Piper thought, figuring out the puzzle, piece by piece.

"Mel, I know you'd never want to but… sometimes your not… your not yourself."

"Oh yer, just cause my father's a demon, I'm one too now?" Melissa cried angrily, pushing her cousin against the wall.

"No, Mel, you know I've never thought that!" Maggie cried, suddenly panicking again as Melissa wrapped her fingers around her neck.

"STOP!" Piper screamed. Suddenly Melissa's expression changed, and she dropped her cousin in shock.

"I'm sorry," She whispered backing away. Piper remembered Phoebe's demon husband, Cole, often saying that after he'd become the Source, suddenly Piper began to wonder if somehow, Cole had returned. Melissa had said herself that her father was a demon.

"Well, and this is the attic…" A deep male voice interrupted, Piper caught sight of both Melissa and Maggie staring, horrified, at the opening attic door. A tall, dark haired man slowly entered the room, but his head was turned away from where the three women stood.

"Chris…" Piper whispered quietly but still her voice caught her youngest son's attention. After a slight hesitation, the man turned his head. Piper gasped as she caught sight of a tear beginning to trickle down his cheek, before he cast an angry look towards Mel and Maggie, who both turned from his blazing eyes. Piper bit her lip as he hastily wiped his cheek and ushered the people who stood just outside the door, back downstairs.

Piper frowned down at her nieces.

"I think it's better that you explain how… why I'm like… this!" Piper ordered.

Slowly, Maggie raised her blue eyes to Piper and licked her lips. Finally she sniffed and began to explain.

"Aunt… Piper…" She gulped, "Well… you… you died in that cave. Mum and Aunt Phoebe and Prue were all hurt so they would never tell us the whole story. But, one day, aunt Prue took me into her room and showed me some pictures of you." Melissa gasped in shock and stared at her cousin, but Maggie just shook off her gaze, "It was when I was five, but I cast a spell many years ago so I'd never forget. Well, when Prue showed me the photos, I had a premonition. It was simple but painful. It was the pain you, Aunt Piper, felt, through your eyes."

Piper sighed and turned away from her niece's watering eyes. Suddenly the room was filled with blue and white orbs, and three women formed behind Melissa and Maggie. They all froze as Piper recognised the women as her sisters. She sighed at the sight of Prue, quickly ridding her head of the fears she had had. Then Piper thought of the shock and how much trouble the cousins would be in if Prue, Paige and Phoebe caught sight of her, if how Chris had reacted was anything to go by.

"Oh Prue, it'll work out…" Phoebe whispered soothingly to the eldest sister, who seemed to be crying, even though they had their backs to Piper.

"But, Phoebe, it's all my fault!" Prue gasped.

"No, Prue, the doctor said you couldn't blame yourself," Paige explained.

"Yer, he said you'd been born without the ability to conceive." Phoebe finished for her sister. But Prue still shook her head.

"Prue, its okay… we'll work out a way to get around…" Phoebe hesitated.

"Pheebs, you know as well as I do," Prue argued, "That we'll never fix the next Power of Three without Piper. It was her destiny to have Melinda, and now it's my fault that's she's dead!" Suddenly Prue collapsed to her knees in tears, "I was stupid to think I could ever replace her daughter's destiny."

Piper couldn't hold it in any longer; she gave out a cry at the thought that she was destined to have a daughter! All the Halliwell sisters spun around to face her, and each face's expression was frozen. Paige's eyes quickly went angrily to her daughter and niece and Phoebe's face was just expressionless in shock. But it was Prue's expression that touched her the most. Even the tears seemed to freeze, and her eyes just hardened. It took all Piper's strength not to run into her eldest sister's arms and hug her.