A/N. Thanks for the reviews. Please keep them coming.
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Chapter 5Piper shoved the box aside with a growl of frustration. That had been the tenth one she had searched, and she still couldn't find her phone. Why, oh, why had she taken all of this stuff from her old house? Most of it wasn't even useful, like a few items of her parents' clothing. But she had wanted something of theirs to remember them by.
Tears clouded Piper's vision and her hands trembled as she peeled back the sticky tape that held the lid of the box together. She blinked back the tears, refusing to cry. She had cried so much in the past two weeks, she couldn't believe she had any tears left.
Yes! There was her mobile phone, lying right at the bottom, switched off with probably a million voice mail messages asking if she was all right. She reached down, brought the phone up, and turned it on.
Sure enough, there was five messages waiting for her. Okay, maybe not a million, but still more than Piper wanted to listen and respond to. Even so, she flicked through the numbers. There was one from her Aunt July, two from her best friend and one from some journalist who most likely wanted a story about how she was dealing with the tragic event. But the last number Piper didn't recognise, so she decided to listen.
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Prue paced the length of the living room, running her hands through her hair. "I told you she wouldn't ring back."
"Sweetheart, it's been half an hour," Penny said reasonably from her position on the couch. "And she's just lost her parents, I don't think she's going to want to talk much."
"Maybe I should ring again?"
"Or maybe you should take your mind off things like Phoebe has. Go visit Andy," Penny suggested.
"But what if she rings while I'm out?"
"Then I'll be here to answer it," Penny replied. "Anyway, I thought you didn't want to meet her."
"I do want to meet her," Prue admitted, flopping onto the sofa. "It's Mom and Dad I'm angry with, not her." Prue sighed wearily. "I mean, it wasn't her fault we were kept in the dark, right?"
Before Penny had a chance to answer, the phone rang and Prue snatched it up.
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"Hello?"
Oh God. It was her, Prue. What the hell could Piper say? 'Hi, I'm your long lost sister'?
"Hello?" Prue repeated.
"Um, hi."
"Hello, who is this please?"
'Oh God, she doesn't know who I am. Wait. Why would she?' "It's, um, Piper Jones. You called…"
Piper was cut off by Prue whispering; "It's her! It's Piper!" And then by saying to Piper; "Hi."
'Well at least she sounds as nervous as I feel,' Piper thought, while racking her brains for something to say. "So you mentioned something about being, um, sisters?" Was it just coincidence Piper had got a message from her sister just an hour after learning about her? Or was it fate?"Yes! Yes I did. I have reason to believe, well, I know, that you're my… sister."
"Oh." 'Dammit Piper, you've just been told by a stranger that she knows you're her sister and that's all you can say?'
"Yeah. So I was wondering if maybe we could meet up to talk. And would it be okay if our other sister and Grams come too?"
Meet up? Piper wasn't sure she was ready. And her grandmother? Didn't her parents want to meet her? There was only one way to find out. "Sure."
"Great!" Prue exclaimed, sounding excited. "Do you know this place called Quake?"
"Yeah, I do." Piper more than knew it. She practically lived there until… well, Piper hadn't been there in a while.
"Excellent. Is one o'clock tomorrow okay?"
"That's fine. See you then."
"Bye."
Piper hung up the phone and stared at it for a few seconds. That had been the most surreal phone call of conversation of her life. Okay, so she had only arranged to meet someone, but that someone was a complete stranger. And Piper didn't usually arrange to meet strangers.
As she put the phone down and climbed to her feet, Piper's emotions were torn. She was excited and a little scared at the prospect of meeting her real family, but at the same time she felt like she was betraying her parents by meeting them.
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Prue tapped her foot against the side of the table and picked at her nails as she waited for Piper to show. Piper was ten minutes late and Prue didn't think she could stand much more waiting.
The telekinetic witch looked over at her younger sister – no longer her only one – and saw Phoebe staring towards the door. Prue followed her eyes and her heart nearly stopped.
A young woman with long, silky hair chocolate brown hair and a petite, slim build was just entering. It was obvious who she was, and not just because of the way she was wringing her hands nervously.
"Oh, you don't think that's…?" Phoebe asked.
Prue gulped. "It looks like it. Oh God, she's coming over!"
Piper approached the table, tugging at the hem of her moss green T-shirt. "Hi, are you Prue?"
"You look so much like Mom!" Phoebe cried, springing to her feet and nearly knocking Piper over as she hugged her.
"Err, thanks." I think." Piper's eyes were startled at finding her self in the arms of her younger sister, and it took her a moment to return the hug.
"Trust me. It's a compliment." Prue rose to hug Piper herself. "I'm Prue, and this is Phoebe."
All three sisters sat down, the air around them turning awkwardly silent.
"Grams would've been here," Prue said. "But she thought it better we meet together first. You know, because of the whole…" Prue trailed off. She could tell from her new sister's face that Piper understood.
Piper nodded. "That makes sense." Piper couldn't hold it in any longer. She just had to ask the question that had been burning in her mind. "Why… why did you find me? I mean…" What did Piper mean?
Phoebe looked shocked. "Piper, our sister. We wanted to find you. And not just because of the whole Charmed thing. Are you okay?"
"Um, yeah." But she wasn't. A sudden wave of nausea had washed over her; possibly due to morning sickness, possibly because of the emotions, questions and thoughts spinning around Piper's head were making her dizzy. "Um, your Mom…"
"Oh." Prue looked across at Phoebe, and her eyes matched the sadness in the eldest witch's "Piper, Mom died when we were young," Prue explained gently. "And our dad isn't around," Prue added bitterly.
"Oh. I'm… I'm sorry."
"You weren't to know. We're sorry to hear about your parents. That must be so hard," Phoebe said sympathetically.
"Yeah." Piper dropped her eyes, not wanting her Prue and Phoebe to see her tears and not bothering to ask how her sisters knew. Talking about her parents hurt so much, and she didn't want to talk, especially to these strangers who were sisters. She needed to take her mind off her parents before she broke down. "So, how did you… find me?"
Prue launched into the whole story with helpful interruptions from Phoebe.
"Right." Piper couldn't say much more. Her head was spinning, her stomach heaving.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked again.
"Yeah… no. I need some air." Half-falling from her chair, Piper managed to mutter; "I'll call you," before stumbling towards the door.
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Piper walked along the path, head bowed and arms wrapped around herself. She couldn't take it all in. Another dead mother… a non existent father. Still, she had sisters, and they were family. God only knows she needed someone. They were family…
Maybe that was why she felt so bad for bailing on them.
Piper had tried to go back in, she really had. But for some reason she couldn't. It was all too much; discovering she had no parents, meeting her sisters. Not to mention having to explain why she had fled. She wasn't ready. She just wasn't ready.