A/N. Thank you for the reviews. Sorry about the mistake in the last chapter and thank you to Monkeywand for pointing it out, it should have been "Melinda snapped the locket closed." Not "Matthew snapped the locket closed."
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Chapter 15 – One month later"I can't wait to meet her." Leo gently ran a finger down Piper's expanded stomach. The couple were enjoying a rare alone moment, away from sisters, charges and demons. They sat cuddled together on the sofa.
"Me neither. I'm a little scared though."
Leo shifted position so he could look straight into Piper's eyes. "Why?" He asked gently.
"Oh, I'm just being silly. It's not important." Piper waved her hand dismisively.
"Honey, if it's important to you, it's important to me," Leo insisted.
Piper sighed, knowing she couldn't get out of this one. "It's just, with all the demon attacks…" How could she put it?
"You're worried the baby will get hurt," Leo realised.
"Yeah," Piper admitted.
"Oh sweetie, we wouldn't let anything happen to her. With all the witches in the house we'll be able to protect her."
"I know. But she'll be so small and vulnerable."
Leo laughed lightly. "Small maybe, but not vulnerable. She has a force field remember?"
Piper nodded and the couple fell into a comfortable silence until Piper spoke again. "You know, you can never have too many people protecting a baby."
"You're right," Leo agreed. Then his eyes widened as he caught Piper's hidden meaning. "You mean…"
"Yep," Piper said happily. "I mean, you practically live here anyway, and we've been seeing each other for three months. It just feels right."
"What do your sisters and Penny think?"
"They think it's a great idea, especially with the baby coming."
"Okay, I'll move into the manor." He leant in for a kiss. The witch and whitelighter broke apart as the doorbell chimed through the house.
"I'll get it!" Penny called, scurrying past the living room. The ageing witch reached the door and pulled it open. A man in his mid to late forties with salt and pepper hair and a tall, strong build stood on the porch, smiling down expectantly. "Victor!"
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Prue sighed wearily, closed her tired eyes and dropped her head onto folded arms. She was exhausted after spending a morning traipsing all over the city, gathering photos for her project. And now she was sat in the campus library, trying to summon the energy to put all her research into something presentable.
Prue's ears picked up on a noise that seemed like a scuffle, and her head shot up. This time she heard a low grunt and she spun in her chair in time to see a man of about fifty be pulled around a corner. Deciding something wasn't right, she jumped out her seat and sprinted to the bookcase where the man had been taken.
Prue poked her head around the bookcase and her heart thudded. The innocent was sprawled on the floor, presumably a demon bent over him. The demon held lime green hands over the man's chest and a light red mist was rising from the innocent and seeping into the force of evil.
As Prue stepped into full view, the demon shifted his head sharply to look directly at her. Prue almost stumbled back in shock. The demon's skin was all a dull green and his eyes glowed blood red. It's teeth were razor sharp and revealed in a snarl.
Prue glanced around her. The whole library seemed to be empty. The eldest witch raised her arm and the demon sailed through the air, shimmering away before he could hot anything. Prue rushed to the man and knelt beside him. With a closer look, Prue realised the man was the librarian. She was even lectured by his daughter, who would be devastated if anything happened to him. Luckily he was fine, just unconscious, so Prue called for help and ran from the scene before anyone could connect her with the incident.
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"Hello Penny. Long time no see."
Penny grabbed hold of the doorjamb to stop herself falling down. How could he be back? After all these years, how could her ex son - in - law be back? "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"I've came to see my daughters," Victor Bennett answered coolly, as if he's only been gone a few days instead of thirteen years. "Where are they?"
"They're… they're out," Penny lied. She couldn't let her granddaughters see their father. He would just desert them again and what would that do to them, especially Piper? She already had two dead parents and a dead birth mother. How could she cope with more abandonment?
"Grams, who is it?" Piper called.
"Not home?" Victor asked smugly, while silently Penny cursed. "Are you going to let me in?"
"No," Penny answered bluntly. "You have no right to be here."
"Grams?"
Penny turned to her middle granddaughter standing in the living room doorway, gazing at Victor.
"Phoebe?" Victor breathed, his eyes wide with amazement. His little girl was a teen mom?
Piper's eyes flicked from Victor to Penny. "Grams, who is this?"
Penny sighed in resignation. "Piper, this is your father."
"My father?" Piper repeated incredulously. This man was her biological father? He was supposed to be God knows where. So what was he doing here? Piper inhaled deeply and stumbled backwards. This was way too much to handle.
"Piper?" Victor murmured. The young woman standing in front of him was the baby girl he had given up seventeen years ago. For all those years he had imagined this moment. And her she was, a beautiful young woman expecting a baby of her own.
"How…why?" Piper stammered.
"Piper, I know this is hard…" Victor began.
"How could you?" Piper interrupted. "Has this ever happened to you?"
"Well, no," Victor admitted.
"Maybe we should sit down," Penny suggested.
"Just one second," Piper instructed. She turned on her heel and stalked into the living room. "Leo we, uh, have a family… situation."
"Charmed?"
"No. I promise to explain everything later, but right now it would be best if you left."
"Okay," Leo agreed, rising from the sofa and pecking Piper on the cheek. "Just call if you need me."
Piper marched into the foyer as Leo orbed out. "I'm not going to ask why you gave me up for adoption," Piper told Victor. "I've already heard from Patty, and as a an expectant mom I can understand your reasons. I just want to know why you're here now."
"Don't we all," Penny mumbled. "I'll call Phoebe," she offered in a normal tone. "Phoebe!"
The youngest witch cam bounding down the stairs almost immediately. "What is it?"
"Phoebe, this is your father," Penny replied softly.
"What?" Phoebe's excited eyes darted to Piper, who nodded, and then at Victor. "Dad?"
"Hello Phoebe. Don't I get a hug?"
"Err, sure." Phoebe was pulled into an awkward embrace, which she quickly broke free of. "I'm just surprised you're here. Why are you here?"
"Does a father need an excuse to see his daughters?"
"When they haven't see each other in thirteen years, yes."
The front door burst open and Prue marched in. "Demon. Book Of Shadows." She strode all the way to the bottom of the stairs where she realised no one was following her. "What's the problem?" She twisted around and her eyes fell on Victor. "Oh God."
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"We don't have time for this." Prue thrust the attic door open and stalked to the Book Of Shadows. "We have a demon to find."
Phoebe scurried after her oldest sister, struggling to keep up. "Prue, our father, who we haven't seen in over a decade is downstairs!"
"I know that Phoebe," Prue said irritably. "We can deal with Victor as soon as we've dealt with the demon."
"Victor? Prue, he's our dad."
"No, dads raise, love and care for their children. They don't abandon them when things get tough." Prue flipped open the Book Of Shadows and began searching the sepia stained pages.
"Don't you think we should at least give him a chance?"
Prue looked up from the book to glare at Piper, who had just made it up to the attic. "He didn't give us one."
"Prue, I know how you feel," Piper confessed. "I'm not looking for another father. But don't you want to know why you left?"
"I know why he left," Prue replied. "He left because he's a spineless coward who obviously never loved us."
"You don't know until you talk to him," Phoebe said.
"We've got a demon to vanquish," Prue reminded them.
"Please, just give him a chance," Phoebe begged.
"You two talk to him. I've got a job to do."
Phoebe sighed with resignation and shrugged at Piper. What could they do?
Prue kept her eyes focused on the page in front of her as her younger sisters left the attic. She couldn't understand why they wanted to give Victor a second chance. She remembered when he left, remembered how confused and sad Phoebe was when Daddy didn't come home. She flipped over the page, forcing Victor out of her mind as she gazed down.
That was him! The demon on the page was the one she was looking for. Trox, his name was. As Prue read down the page, her heart pounded. Trox lived off a father's love.
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Prue jogged down the stairs and into the conservatory just as Piper and Phoebe sat down.
"Had a change of heart?" Victor asked hopefully.
"No. We need to get you out of here."
"What?" Phoebe gasped. "No."
"Phoebe, the demon I saw earlier feeds off a father's love. They drain it, eventually killing the father."
"So you admit that I love you," Victor stated.
"No, I don't think you do. If you did you wouldn't have left. But you're a father and that makes you a target for Trox," Prue told him. "And we don't lose innocents."
"I'm not going," Victor argued.
"You have to," Phoebe insisted. "We've only just found you. We can't lose you again."
"They're right," Piper agreed. "We'll call you after the demon's vanquished so we can talk."
"Bt won't I be safer with you?" Victor asked, desperate now. He couldn't just leave when he knew his daughters could get hurt. "I mean, if the demon comes after me, you can protect me."
"He has a point," Penny realised.
"Okay," Prue finally agreed. "But you have to stay out of our way and let us do our job."
"Of course." Victor took a seat to reinforce his words.
"Great. So what do we do now?" Piper asked.
"There's a pretty simple vanquishing potion. We make that and take things from there," Prue answered.
"I just love an easy vanquish," Phoebe murmured as she followed her older sisters out of the room.
Victor watched his daughter's go. "They're pretty used to this, huh?"
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"Potions ready," Piper announced, corking the vial containing the aqua blue liquid.
"Great." Prue picked up a filled glass and pocketed it.
"So do we summon the…"
"Demon!"
Prue, Piper and Phoebe shot panicked glances at each other before racing into the conservatory. Penny said protectively in front of Victor, her arm raised. Trox was growling deeply and advancing threateningly. As soon as the Charmed Ones barged, the demon recognised Prue. He launched a neon blue energy ball at the eldest witch, who stretched out her arm and deflected it with her powers.
The demonic arsenal hit Trox square in the chest. He flew backwards and smashed into the living room door. As he fell down a few ornaments and a picture toppled on top of him.
"Now!" Penny ordered.
Prue slipped the potion from her pocket and hurled it at Trox. It hit the floor in front of him and a plume of smoke surrounded the demon. With a howl of pain, flames engulfed Trox. The magical fire burst outwards, sending sparks and ash all over Penny's Oriental rug.
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Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Victor sat in the living room, each feeling lost for words.
"So, uh, do you face demons a lot?" Victor asked awkwardly.
"Only every other day," Phoebe replied with a strained smile. When her dad had turned up she was excited at the prospect of getting to know him and willing to forgive. But so far Victor hadn't done anything to show he deserved her forgiveness.
"That must be tough."
"It is," Prue said coldly.
Victor coughed lightly to cover the icy atmosphere. "When's the baby due Piper?"
"In roughly three months."
"And do you know if it's a girl or boy?"
"Well, we assumed it's a girl. All Warren witches have girls."
"I remember your mother telling me about that," Victor told them. "I was thrilled to have daughters. And to give you away Piper…"
The middle sister nodded mutely, her throat tight. She knew why Patty and Victor had given her up, and she understood how much pain it must have caused, but what could she say?
"And it broke my heart to leave you two," Victor added.
"So why?" Prue demanded.
"I… your Grams wanted to raise you as witches, but I wanted you to grow up as normal little girls," Victor explained.
"Don't you dare blame Gram," Prue spat.
"Prue, it's what Grams always told us. Maybe it's the truth," Phoebe said softly.
"If it is, then why didn't you keep in touch?"
"Because I was scared. Scared you wouldn't be the little girls I left behind and scared that you'd reject me. And believe me, that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life."
"So why come back now?" Piper asked.
"I was back in San Francisco on a business trip, and I missed you girls so much," the mortal replied.
"Are you leaving soon?" Phoebe wondered, surprised that she felt disappointed.
"In a few days, I promise to keep in touch." And this time he meant it. He was not going to let his daughters down again.