The Ugly Truth

I stared down at my large stomach. I felt ready to pop but I still had 2 months to go. I could definitely say that I was ready to be finished with this whole pregnancy business. I still hadn't gotten up the courage to tell anyone, aside from Mom...and she was dead, that I had been raped. I was so entrenched in this lie that I found it almost impossible to admit the truth. It was like it wasn't the truth anymore. I was currently sitting on the couch, eating straight from the container of vanilla bean ice cream. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Phoebe walk in.

"So that's where the ice cream went," she muttered. I offered her the container but she cringed.

"I don't want that now. You've got your hormonal germs all over it," she giggle.

"I'm not contagious Pheebs. Seriously, you can have some," I said, patting the cushion next to me. She flopped down, sticking her spoon in.

"You're getting really big," Phoebe noted after a mouthful.

"You're not supposed to say stuff like that to pregnant people," I scolded.

"Why not? It's true," she retorted.

"Because it makes us feel really sad," I answered, sticking my tongue out at her.

"So does it hurt? When the baby moves around?" she asked.

"Sometimes. Not always though. And honestly, I'm pretty sure she has telekinesis," I answered.

"So does she have a name yet?" she asked. I sighed, not wanting to answer so many questions. I just wanted to relax.

"Yes, she has a name," I replied.

"So does that mean you're going to keep her?" Phoebe pestered some more.

"Not necessarily. People give up babies with names all the time," I tried to explain.

"But she has powers. Why would you give her up?" she questioned.

"Because I can't be a Mom right now. I'm not ready," I answered, standing up and walking out of th room. That was enough questions for now. I ended up in my room. I curled up as best as I could with pillow and ended up falling asleep. I must have been out a while before when I woke up Phoebe was staring at me, looking absolutely petrified.

"Phoebe, what's wrong?" I asked, sitting up. She took a step back. I raised my eyebrow at her but she still didn't answer. I got up and tried to pull her to me but she bolted from the room.

"Whatever," I muttered to myself, not following her. She was probably just mad that I snapped at her earlier. She'd get over it. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Andy took me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant.

"So have you thought any more about...you know?" he asked as the waitress brought out our dessert.

"You mean about adoption?" I clarified and he nodded. He seemed dead set against me giving this baby up.

"Well I am thinking that it seems like the right thing to do. Andy we're just kids ourselves. We have no experience raising kids," I continued.

"Prue, you practically raised Phoebe didn't you?" he interrupted.

"But she's my sister, not my daughter," I corrected him.

"Still, you know how to take care of a baby," he stated.

"No...I know how to feed and change a baby. And that's only feeding it with a bottle," I rebutted.

"Why are you so dead set against this?" I finally asked, taking a bite of pie.

"I can't believe I'm the one saying this but...she's a witch and if you give her up, how do you know she's going to have someone to help her when she you know...starts having powers?" he whispered.

"She has powers now. I can feel them. And yes I'm worried about that but...I just can't take care of a baby right now," I murmured. I knew she would have problems when she really came into her powers fully. Maybe it was selfish of me to only think of myself.. He looked at me, his eyes pleading with me to reconsider.

"Fine...I'll think about it some more," I told him. He smiled and flagged down our waitress to get the check.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he told me as I climbed out of his car.

"Bye," I said, leaning back in through the open window to give him a kiss.

I headed inside and heard voices drifting down from upstairs. Grams didn't seem to be around and so I headed upstairs. The voices were coming from Piper and Phoebe's room. I knocked twice before just going in. Phoebe looked up when she saw me and jumped.

"Pheebs, you've been acting strange today. What's going on?" I told her.

"Prue...she had a premonition," Piper began, not quite looking me in the eyes.

"Ok...demon? Innocent? What?" I pressed.

"About you. And from what she says it's really scary," she answered.

"Does Grams know...that you had a premonition?" I inquired, not wanting to talk about me.

"Yes. She's upstairs in the attic," Phoebe finally voiced.

"Uh...I have an idea. Why don't we all go up there...and find some way to have Phoebe show us what she's seeing," I suggested. They both nodded and we made our way up to the attic. Grams was bent over the Book.

"Grams," Piper called out.

"Oh...I didn't hear you girls come up," she said, jumping a little.

"Prue says we should write a spell so we can see what her premonition was," Piper informed Grams.

"Oh...alright," she murmured. I had to admit, Grams seemed pretty freaked out too. I thought for a minute and began to chant.

"Show us now, let us behold, what Phoebe has so far left untold. Reveal to us in entirety, let us see what Phoebe sees," I chanted. Phoebe glowed for a minute and suddenly there was an image being project through her onto the wall, like a film projector.

The minute the image started to move forward through time I knew what she'd seen. I don't know but she'd somehow gotten a premonition off of me. Normally it wouldn't bother me but this...this was different. This was the deep dark bad that I had been keeping inside of me for seven months. I wasn't ready to face it and I sure as hell wasn't ready for anyone else to see it. I tried to move but it was like I was rooted to the spot until the projection was finished.

I saw the image of the party before me, myself standing in the corner, holding the cup of punch. I saw the guy motion for me to join and I watched in horror as I crossed the room. That part I remembered. What I saw next was a shock to me. I saw him pick me up and slip out the back door of the house and dump me into his car. I stared as he drove out to the park and proceeded to rape me. By the time it was over, I was in tears and had collapsed to the floor.

"Prue," Grams said, her voice gentle. I couldn't look at her.

"Did this actualy happen?" she asked, bending down to my eye level.

"I'm sorry," I stammered, still not meeting her gaze.

"I shouldn't have gone to that party. It never would have happened," I sniffled. She did something I hadn't expected. She pulled me into a hug and didn't let go.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" she asked, stroking my hair.

"Because I was scared. I didn't know what to do. I still don't. If I'd just used my power he wouldn't have done this to me," I whimpered.

"Why didn't you use your power?" Grams questioned.

"Becuase I didn't want to sit through 'don't expose magic' speech again," I admitted.

"Did you really think I would do that if you told me what happened?" Grams asked, looking offended and I nodded.

"Prudence, you are my granddaughter and I love you. If you had a way to defend yourself, and it just happened to be magic, then go ahead, send the bastard flying," she breathed.

"I know I should have told you all of this sooner I just wasn't ready to face it myself," I explained and looked over at Phoebe. I motioned for her to join me. She slunk to the floor.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that like you did. I am so sorry that you had to even see it at all," I murmured, holding her close.

"Prue," Piper spoke up.

"The baby...she's not Andy's is she?" she asked. I took a deep breath.

"No...she's not. But I'm not going tot ell him the truth. It would hurt him too much. It's safer that he believe that the baby is his," I sighed. I know it wasn't fair to him, but it was the only way I could think of to protect him. It's the least I could do for Andy after putting him through seven months of this.