A/N. Thank you for the reviews.
Just one thing, the Elders did realise Sarah and Nathan were dead, and they were the ones to send Phoebe the premonition, to ensure the sisters found Piper.
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Chapter 3"Grams what is it?" Prue asked, her brow creased in concern. She sat next to Penny and took her withered hand.
"You… I…" How could Penny tell them? They were likely to be devastated that they had been kept from the truth and who could blame them? Or they might be so angry they rejected Piper. And then what would happen to the Power Of Three? No, they were still too young, Phoebe was only sixteen for God's sake, she shouldn't have to fight demons on an almost daily basis. The troubled witch looked up as bright lights filled the room.
When they had dispersed, Patricia Halliwell stood in the centre of the room, smiling and wearing a long white dress.
"Mom!" Phoebe cried, flying into her mother's arms, oblivious to the pain hidden behind her mother's smile.
"Hello sweetie. How are you?"
"Great! I've got so much to tell you!"
"We'll talk later okay honey, right now I've got something to tell you."
"Sure." Phoebe nodded and stepped back to let Prue get a hug.
"Hey Mom."
"Hello darling." Patty tucked a strand of Prue's raven hair behind her ear in a motherly fashion, despite the fact that Prue was twenty and felt she was too old for such things. "How're things with Andy?"
Prue's eyes lit up at the mention of her boyfriend. "Better than ever."
"I'm glad. He's a lovely boy." Patty turned to her own mother and her smile vanished. She knew how hard it had been for Penny to keep Piper a secret all these years. It had been much easier for Patty, as she had died before Prue and Phoebe were really old enough to understand.
"I take it you're here to tell them," Penny said.
Patty nodded and tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.
"Tell us what?" Prue asked, glancing suspiciously between her mother and grandmother.
"It's about the vision I had, isn't it?" Phoebe's word came out as more of a statement than question.
"Yes. Yes it is." Patty looked at her mother, but she offered no help. It was up to Patty. "Girls, this is going to be, um, difficult to comprehend, but you have another sister."
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"So, what do you think?" The landlady of the apartment gestured around the living room as she turned to face Piper.
Piper considered the question, wanting to make sure she had found the right place. The apartment was two bed-roomed; perfect for when her baby was old enough to have its own room. Also, the apartment was on the ground floor, which meant no struggling up the stairs with a pram. "I'll take it," she announced, handing the landlady a wad of rolled up cash. "Here's the next month's rent in advance."
"Thank you miss Halliwell. If there are any problems please contact me."
Piper nodded silently as the owner of her new home strolled out, not trusting herself to speak. The young witch crumpled to the floor, a sob escaping her lips. She shouldn't be leaving home at only seventeen. She should be living at home and complaining about how much she wanted to leave. But what choice did she have? Her parents were no longer around, and Piper couldn't afford to stay at her old house. Besides, it wasn't healthy to stay there. She needed to move on, to concentrate on her baby.
Piper's stomach heaved and she darted for the bathroom to be sick. As she bent over the basin, Piper wondered one thing.
Why was moving on so hard?
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"What?" Prue cried. "If this is some kind of joke I…"
"It's not," Phoebe interrupted quietly.
"Excuse me?" Prue demanded, spinning to face her younger sister.
"It's not a joke," Phoebe repeated, her eyes swimming with tears. "I saw… I saw her being adopted."
Prue's incredulous eyes flicked to her mother. "Is that true?"
Patty nodded sadly, hating the pain she had caused her daughters, all three of them. "I'm so sorry…"
"Why?" Prue cut her off. "Why'd you do it?"
Patty sighed wearily and sunk into the opposite sofa. She knew this day would come. And yet she was totally unprepared for it. "I…" Patty began. "We, your father and I, had her adopted to keep her safe. To keep you all safe."
"From what?" Prue demanded.
Phoebe flinched at her sister's tone. "Prue, don't be so hard on Mom." The empathetic witch had felt her mother's great pain, could feel it now, still as strong as all those years ago and she didn't wish for that pain to become greater. Her mother was suffering enough.
"No, Phoebe," Prue snapped. "I want answers."
"Prue, calm down," Phoebe warned. Prue must have been furious if Phoebe could feel her anger, as members of the household had taken an empathy-blocking potion and only intense emotions could get through it, and Phoebe was concerned her usually rational sister might do something un-rational.
"I am calm." A vase flew from its place and smashed into a wall, causing the four women to jump and contradicting Prue's words.
"I think that vase would disagree," Phoebe said.
"It's okay Phoebe," Patty said. "Prue has every right to be angry."
"But…"
"Sweetie, let your mother finish," Penny interjected gently.
Patty smiled gratefully at her mother and carried on the explanation. " We wanted to keep you safe from demons."
"But we fight demons every week." Now it was Phoebe's turn to be confused.
Patty rubbed her temples, trying to find a simple way of telling her daughters about their destiny. "Prue do you remember the stories I told you when you were younger, about three witches?"
"Yeah, the Charmed Ones. But I don't understand how that's connected to our long lost sister.
"Well, the stories were real. Actually, not the stories, but the Charmed Ones really exist."
"Oh God," Phoebe gasped, her face paling. "And we're them. Prue, me and this other sister are the Charmed Ones."
"That's right."
"So let me get this straight." Prue said, her anger being replaced by bewilderment. "We're supposed to become the world's most powerful witches with a girl we don't know."
"She's not just a girl. She's your sister," Penny reminded them.
"Who we've never met before."
"Why didn't you raise us together?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, we have our powers, we're still witches."
"Because your father and I believed you were too young to cope with the Power Of Three."
"Then why didn't you just bind our powers? At least then we'd all be together," Prue pointed out.
"The Elders didn't want us to. They thought it better for you to be skilled in your powers when you became the Charmed Ones," Patty replied.
"I should've known they'd have something to do with it," Phoebe muttered, earning her a glare from Penny.
"So you went along with it?" Prue's tone was harsh and accusatory once more.
"I did what I thought was best for all three of you. So did your father."
"Mom this is a hell of a lot to take in," Phoebe said, as a way of explaining Prue's behaviour.
"I know it is sweetie. But you have to get used to it. Cry about it, get angry over it, but don't fight it. Your destiny awaits you." With those final words Patty dissolved in white lights, the words "Blessed Be," ringing in the air. As she left, she took once last glance at her daughters. Prue's face was angry, but Phoebe looked excited. Patty just hoped they could cope with the following few days.
"I cannot believe this. It's crazy! She just waltzes in here and expects us to be okay with this. Well I'm not!" Prue shouted, storming from the room. As she left, all the windows rattled and doors banged back on their hinges.
Phoebe turned to her grandmother, worried for Prue, but at the same time thrilled to learn of another sister. This surprised her. She had always thought she was happy with it being just her, Prue and Grams, but lately the two sisters had been fighting more often, and Grams was getting too ill to deal with them. Maybe another sister would help calm things between them. "What do we do now?" Phoebe asked.
Penny sighed and continued to stare after her eldest granddaughter. "Now we find your sister."