A new Power of three Part 8:
Meghan

2037, Saturday

Brianna still sat in the living with her mom, chatting away. Michael had changed Hope and now was tucking her in. Meghan had excused herself and had gone to the backyard. Lily for almost 30 minutes was pacing the kitchen while she was discussing on the phone. Michael softly knocked on the door frame of the living and Prue smiled a little as she looked up at him

"No need to knock"

"Hope is asleep" he informed them and sat down on the armrest of Anna's chair "where is everyone?"

"Lily's in the kitchen, discussing with some guy at hunter liggett, because he won't let her talk to Kevin" Anna said and received a small kiss from her fiance

"You two really make a great couple" Prue told them

"Thanks, mom" Anna answered and leaned her head on Mike's body

"And Mags?" Michael asked looking up as he heard Lily yelling

"Seems like it's not going well" Michael commented

"Meghan's outside. She needed a break" Anna answered rolling her eyes

"Do I have to understand what that was all about?" Prue asked, raising an eyebrow

"She smokes" Anna said shortly

"Annie!" Michael warned

"What?!"

"It's none of your business"

"It's mom from the past, Mike. She'll do a memory spell once she returned. So there really is no harm done"

"Memory what?"

"There's a spell in the book of shadows… kinda a guidance book for witches… I cast it and it'll erase my memory" Prue explained

"Aaah. Okay." Michael nodded and then looked back at his girlfriend "Well I am going home now. Leave you guys some space..."

"No, c'mon… you can eat some pizza with us..."

"I'd really love to, but I want you to enjoy this, honey. Spend some time alone. Just you, your sisters and mom. Just like on family nights, remember?" he asked and tucked her hair behind her ears

"well I'll say bye then" Prue said, got up and hugged Mike quickly "I'm gonna see to Meghan. See you tomorrow, Mikey" she told him with a grin before she went to the backyard to leave the lovers time to say goodbye

"Just like your father" Prue told Meghan, startling her as she stepped up to her

"Mom! Oh… umm..." she stuttered while she searched for a way to hide her cigarette. Prue just stifled a small laugh for her attempt

"You're grown up… do what you want to do" she told her and sat down beside her "When did you start?" Meghan just shrugged her shoulders, relaxing a little again

"I don't really remember" she said "I don't do it regularly… just when I'm overly stressed. It calms me." Prue just nodded

"Like I said, just like your dad"

"Dad smoked?"

"He did on college and ever since he buys himself a package like once a year, so he'd got something at home when he's stressed out"

"I never noticed..." Meghan said, turning silent and again inhaling "I'm sorry, mom. I really didn't want you to see this… but since you're gone… I dunno. Sometimes I feel like I lost the most. Anna and Lily always were more independent from you guys… but I… becoming an early mom wasn't really easy..."

"You're a mom as well?" Meghan smiled at the question and nodded

"Justin's 18 and Jenny turns 16" Meghan noticed how her mom took long and deep breathes to calm herself down and so sighed "Like you. 18 and a couple… but it… we.." Meghan sighed again. She felt like the teenager from almost 20 years ago again. That teen who told her mom she was pregnant.

"Meghan, it's okay. Really. My Meghan's still so small. It really is difficult for me to even think of you being her. You can tell me anything, really" Meghan just looked down and nodded, but before she could say anything more they heard Anna clearing her throat at the door

"Lily's finished on the phone. Well she hung up. Someone – hopefully Kevin – will call her back later. Mike went home already and some pizza is already on the way. Are you guys coming?"

"Yes of course" Meghan said and turned off her cigarette. Once the four woman had settled in the living room with the huge party pizza and some whine in the middle of the coffee table. Prue looked back at Meghan

"So what's the story? What about your kids?"

Meghan sighed and looked down. Naturally she had to go first. She took a big sip of her whine and looked again at her mom, just to look down again and pick her cuticles

"It wasn't like you and dad" Meghan said lowly. Prue really could feel she was ashamed of the whole thing. She felt how her daughter – well all of them – wanted to make her proud and telling the story of a pregnant teenager wouldn't be exactly what would make a mother proud of her daughter

"Oh no?" Anna shot, what made Meghan glare at her. A million daggers flying towards Anna with only that look

"No!" Meghan defended.

"Oh there we go again" Lily mumbled sighting as she hid her face in her hand, pinching the bridge of her nose in a lame attempt to stop a migraine from rising. "Could you two just simply cut it?!" she asked, then looked back at her sisters, glaring first at Anna, as she had started this and then to Mags. Then continued to look between them as she continued to speak

"Anna, really, just shut up! This is Meghan's story. Mom wanted to know her point of view. Not yours. And Mags, please, just ignore her! You know how she is when she's nervous… can't you finally accept that in one another and finally get over this permanent bickering over each other?" Lily told them seriously. She was so happy their mother was there for tonight and she knew exactly, if she didn't put a stop to this now, it would go on all night and ruin this perfect moment. They had waited so long to talk to their mother. Tell her all that happened since she died. They could even tell her more now, but that didn't matter. Meghan and Brianna both looked guiltily down.

"We're not always like that, mom, really. Normally we get along just great. A perfect team as we add up on one another's flaws and each of us has it's pros and cons. Normally we know and respect them. Help each other in what we're not good. But my sisters had some bitching going on when they were teens, because they were so completely different in character. You see, Meghan was always a very outgoing and open person and Brianna is not as loud and colorful, sometimes pulles back into her room completely closing everyone and everything out."

"You're good in that one, too" Anna just remarked, what got Lily to glare at her again

"It got better when we grew older. But my dearest Anna here has a tendency to get into fights, when she's upset. And unlike me Mags plays the game cause she's used to from when they were teens..."

"Hey!" Anna and Mags said out of one mouth and looked each other in the eyes then both chuckled a little. Prue watched them in amusement and just nodded

"Don't worry girls, I have sisters as well, remember?" she just told them. Silence fell for a second, then Meghan continued

"As I was saying, it wasn't like you and dad" she said and looked at Anna, seeing if she had anything to say, but Anna just took a big sip of her glass and gestured her to go on "It wasn't our first time and it wasn't unprotected either. But when we wanted to dispose the condom we noticed it leaked." Meghan explained, stopped picking her cuticles and finally looked at Prue again. "9 months later Justin was born. I stopped school and Robbie practically moved in, as his parents weren't exactly okay with the situation"

"That really is an understatement"

"Robbie?" Prue asked, as she never had heard that name before

"My boyfriend" Meghan answered with a small smile

"For more than 20 years now" Lily told their mom

"And more than happy. We all don't get why you guys don't finally marry…" Brianna said smiling a little

"Don't start it, Anna. We discussed this at least a million times. We're happy the way we are. Why change it?" Meghan asked her, what caused Anna to look down again, knowing exactly she shouldn't have started the topic again "I obviously didn't go to college, as I stopped school to be home with Justin. Robbie didn't either. He trained to be a mechanic to pay for our living. Justin and me stayed living in the attic for a year, then rented a small flat. But we often were here. Sometimes even more than at home. Especially when Robbie's on tour"

"Robbie sings and plays guitar in a band. They're quiet good" Lily explained

"That's how we met. I played piano" Meghan told her mom smiling a little as she remembered the good old times

"Their duets are amazing" Anna added, as she noticed how Meghan set herself back.

"Well, now I'm only a groupie anyway" Meghan said laughing a little "I did some evening classes and got my degree after all. We moved to our own house when jenny was three and I'm working in a fitness-studio for almost five years now. I do spinning and step aerobic classes"

"She's a real bitch when you have her as trainer" Anna added and looked at Lily afterward kinda confused, as she noticed their little sister constantly looking out of the window. She, too, took a quick glance at the window

"You weren't there for fun, now where you sis?" Mags teased the younger one and Anna's attention snapped back to Meghan and Prue, sticking her tongue out at Meghan

"I was aching for a week!"

"Love you, too" Meghan grinned

"Well sounds like I have every right to be proud of you." Prue told Meghan, who wasn't really paying attention, as she now had also noticed how Lily starred to the window. Prue followed her daughters' gazes "What is it?"

"Lily?"

"I… I don't know… but I could swear there's something at the window" she told them. Meghan again looked back at the window as well, just to see the face of her son on the window for a split of a second, but he ducked right away again. Meghan placed her glass back on the coffee table and furiously got up

"I am SO gonna kill him!" she said angrily and already was on her way to the backdoor. Prue, Brianna and Liliana continued to look curiously at the window, not getting what made Meghan this furious in a split of a second. Then suddenly the three remaining women noticed a bright purplish light. And a second later Meghan ran into their view

"Okay. We're the only ones to astral orb and that definitely wasn't Meghan!" Anna said confused as they watched Meghan look confused around and then headed back in

"He's gone! Just simply vanished! I can't believe how fast that kid is..."

"Who is?" Anna asked

"Who? Didn't you see Justin at the window?"

"Justin has his powers?" Lily asked confused

"What?" Meghan asked, still pretty upset

"Someone just astral orbed at the window, Meghan" Anna answered her sister.

"But..." Meghan's mouth opened and closed several times, absolutely out of words

"What is it?" Prue asked even more confused than her daughters

"We never have seen our kids with magic. You cats a spell at the christening of Justin and Jenny and Meghan did it on Hope's. They would only receive their powers once they were 'ready' to use them." Lily explained like usual "Seems like Justin is ready to have them, honey" Lily continued gently, looking at her oldest sister

"But… he… he never said a word" Meghan said helplessly

"But obviously he has them" Anna argued with her in the same gentle voice as Lily. Prue kept completely out of the discussion. She turned silent. Instead she searched for a sheet of paper and scrabbled something down. Once she was finished she handed it to her oldest. Meghan just looked confused from the sheet of paper back to her mom

"Brianna used to astral orb god knows where when she was a little over a year. I barely slept through a night, worried she'd go somewhere unnoticed. We were always scared she'd go somewhere dangerous… so aunt Phoebe rewrote a spell from the book. We always used it to get her back"

"See… you always were a pain" Meghan teased Brianna again

"That's why you bound their powers… you always used to say they wouldn't need their powers for defense anymore these days. You told Meghan, it was best, as magical children were a real pain in the neck" Lily concluded. Prue nodded, first smiling sympathetically at Brianna and then looked at Meghan

"Go ahead."

"Magic forces
black and white
reaching out through
space and light
be he far or
be he near
bring me my child
Justin here" Meghan read the spell out loud and smiled in triumph as Justin formed in front of their eyes a second later

"What…?" Justin started to ask confused, but stopped as a second later Meghan's hand landed forcefully in his neck. Justin's face immediately messed in pain "aaaa!" Justin cried out. Meghan completely ignored his reaction and after 'slapping' him in the neck she grabbed him there with one hand. Justin almost immediately pulled his shoulders up to loosen her grip on him "Ouch! Aaah! Ouch! Mom…!" he squirmed under her rough touch

"Justin Andrew Trudeau!" Justin shrugged together as good as possible at hearing his full name "I thought I made myself more than clear about you coming along!" she scolded

"I… ouch! Mom… ouch! Let go" he whined again as he swatted her hands away from his neck. Meghan finally let go off his neck and looked at him, her hands immediately pressed to her hips

"You only said I couldn't meet grandma. You didn't say I couldn't see her!" he told her in defense

"You are twisting my words Justin!" she told him, her voice evidently showing her anger "besides, when the hell did you get your powers?!"

"I astral orbed the first time about two years ago. Grandpa showed me how to use them"

"Grandpa knew about this?! I don't believe it..." Meghan freaked "why didn't you tell me? Why didn't grandpa?! Ooooh, dad!" she growled the last, looking at the ceiling

"Don't be mad at grandpa. I asked him not to tell you. I… I wanted to master them before I told you… and I almost did… but then grandma died and they got all wonky..." he started to confess

"Wait a second… that fire in the woods? You have got to be kidding me! You had school at that time, Justin!" Meghan interrupted him

"School's…" Justin started as Prue cleared her throat

"You two can handle this later. Alone. Now please stop the yelling Meghan and let me take a proper look at my grandson" Prue said and stepped between them. She looked at Justin head to toe. She couldn't believe it. When she looked at Meghan it was almost like she'd look into a mirror, but looking at her grandchild almost made her cry. He resembled Andy that age exactly. She was speechless. And just starred at him for a second, as images crossed through her mind from Andy. She started to smile a little and put a hand to his cheek

"Your grandfather's jacket really suits you" she said proudly as a tear rolled down her cheek, then she pulled the 'boy' into a hug. She felt how he slowly relaxed in her arms and then almost clung to her. But Prue was completely caught off guard as she suddenly felt hot tears in her neck, as Justin started to sob into her shoulder

"hey, hey… shshsh… it's alright" she tried to sooth him. She pushed the weirdness aside quickly. After all she just comforted her 18 year old grandson, when his mother – to her – was only 6 years old! When Justin had calmed a little, he was placed on one of the sofas right next to Meghan

"Dad helped to deliver him, that's why Andrew" Meghan explained "Someone was in a hurry… you and Robbie didn't make it to the hospital" she added as she started to play with Justin's hair, like she used to when he still was a little boy

"Mom, stop!" Justin protested and tried to pull away, what caused the others to stifle a small laugh

"Justin almost grew up here. First we lived here, then we were here a lot because of Robbie and then Jennifer was born when he was two. She was a preemie and while I was at the hospital you took care of him as well" Meghan continued and while speaking again started to look down and pick at her nails

"Jenny almost didn't make it. She only weighted 600g when she was born" Brianna filled their mother in, knowing how hard it was for Meghan to talk about these worst days of her life. Meghan glanced thankfully at her sisters, who just nodded

"I remember times, he didn't want to go home anymore. He just pretended he lived here. Totally ignoring Mags and Robbie when they wanted to pick him" Lily said smiling, now adding to Justin's anguish by messing his hair completely

"Hey, hey, hey! Could you all just stop messing my hair" Justin whined and combed through it with his own fingers in try to safe his hairstyle

"Oooh, I see. Sounds like your grandpa and I never really got bored on our old days, huh?" Prue asked as her daughters tried their best not to laugh about Justin's behavior. Justin just shrugged his shoulders and grinned sheepishly

"Guess not"

"He's a great kid though" Lily said helping her nephew out there

"Yeah, when he's not getting into fights, skips school once again or lies to his mother" Meghan said raising her eyebrow at him as well as her voice

"School's boring, mom… and you know exactly I'm not starting these fights… well mostly..." he added quickly as he saw his mom glaring at him

"That's no excuse Justin and you know that"

"Hey, you can't blame him for being a smart kid, Meghan" Anna jumped in for her nephew as well and then looked at her mom

"You mean a smart arse" Meghan nodded, teasing her son

"So did you start college already, Justin?"

"No. I only applied to a few. Only going in fall." Justin answered truthfully

"How's that going anyway?" Lily asked

"Everyone will want to have you. He's got straight A's" Brianna said and informed Prue

"Umm..." Justin looked down and then turned red when his aunt told his grandma about his marks

"He didn't decide yet" Meghan told her sisters

"Actually..." Justin stuttered, feeling how his mother's gaze intensified on him. "I… I signed up for police academy"

"You did what?" Meghan asked, not believing her ears. She knew Justin had closed up to her, especially after Andy had clipped his wings, but that she knew absolutely nothing about her son was shocking her. She turned almost completely white. Brianna and Liliana exchanged glances, trying to figure a way to somehow safe this conversation

"Kevin will be disappointed" Lily finally said. "He thought you had fun the week he took you to the fort. He really looked forward to having you there"

"I did have fun, but I figured it was in time there was a Trudeau back at the police station again" he said lowly. He could feel he really hurt his mom and he felt bad about it. Prue just nodded

"but don't you have to have your college degree therefore?"

"i called and informed myself. I found an academy, which will let me do my college degree during the training. They just wanted to see my grades and then agreed."

"but that'll be hard for you college and training a job..." Meghan said lowly

"but I can't deal something school alike any longer. I hate just sitting there whole day and be bored, mom."

"where is this anyway?" Meghan asked

"Chicago..."

"Excuse me, what?"

"Chicago" Justin said again, what caused Meghan to laugh almost hysterically

"Did he just say Chicago?" she asked looking at her sisters

"It's some kind of residential school" Justin said lowly, still looking down

"You're only 18, for Christ's sake..."

"You moved with 19" Lily said matter of factly

"But not almost across the country! And it was a week before my 20th"

"Calm down, Meghan, he's a big boy. And he can astral orb. He's not out of the world!"

"Your grandpa would be really proud on you. Just like your great grandpa." Prue then told him and looked at Meghan, who was just about to start to argue with Anna again. Meghan and Prue looked each other in the eye for a second. What calmed Meghan down a little and caused her to look down and nod lightly as well.

"Um Justin, listen, aunt Lily, your mom, grandma and me want to have something like a girl's night, but we agreed on having tomorrow a brunch with everyone, okay? So I guess it's best you go back home now." Anna said carefully eyeing Meghan as she talked to Justin. Justin just nodded and got up to look at his mom

"I'm sorry mom, I didn't want to disappoint you" he said lowly Meghan finally looked at him and her face softened a little

"you didn't disappoint me, baby" she said softly as she got up as well and hugged him "you never could! I'm even somewhat proud on you. I mean… you worked this out all alone. But I just thought I knew you better. And now it turns out I know nothing about you..."

"I'm sorry. I just… there never seemed to be the right time to tell you about it..."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? Now. You astral orb safely?" she asked him, not wanting him to end up wherever

"Yes" he nodded

"Okay, then home with you and to bed. Dad will be worried about you already… he went after you to talk to you… but I guess he at most found purple lights?" Justin looked down again and nodded "Right. Then please, tell him you're back home." Justin again nodded "Straight home Justin, understood?"

"Yeah" Justin nodded again. And looked back at his aunts and grandma "Night"

"Night honey" Lily said softly

"Night" Anna said as well

"See you tomorrow, buddy" Prue added. Justin gave Meghan a quick kiss on the cheek before astral orbing again

"Don't take it that hard Mags, just think about when you were 18… I don't think you told mom and dad everything you did back then either..." Anna tried consoling her sister

"But I would have told them, if I chose for a college" Meghan protested, still hurt

"You knew he had pulled back a lot since dad clipped his wings. It hit him hard" Lily tried as well

"Gosh, guys I know that. Being the smart arse he is, he never had many friends. And dad enjoyed playing his friend and somehow also dad-role as he finally in some kind of way had that son he always dreamed of… but I never realized how far he was away from me..."

"But just cause he didn't tell you about police academy yet… c'mon sis, it's only been a week..."

"He didn't even discuss any possibilities with me or Robbie!" Meghan told them

"I didn't talk to mom and dad when I went off to college either" Anna argued

"Yeah, that explains a lot. You two are the same nerds when it comes to school" Meghan said stifling a laugh