The Talk
I was the last one down the stairs as we went in search of Piper. I hoped she wasn't going to overreact about the plates. She seemed to overreact too a lot of things since I'd met her. We finally found her and Leo in the sun room.
"Sorry about the plates," Bree apologized. Piper looked up.
"It's not the first thing to break in this house because of magic," she sighed. A part of me wanted to know what she meant. But I didn't want to look stupid in front of my first innocent. Leo looked between us and stood up.
"I'll let you girls handle this," he said and headed for the kitchen. I joined Piper on the couch and Phoebe did the same, pulling a chair over for Bree so she could sit down.
"Gosh, where should we start?" Phoebe sighed.
"Have you always been able to move things with your mind?" I asked. Bree looked at the ground. This was going to be like pulling teeth.
"I don't know," she answered with a shrug.
"Well it's not like you would not notice it," Piper retorted.
"Piper…we're trying to help not scare her," Phoebe scolded.
"It's ok if you don't know," I tried to assure Bree.
"Just because we've had our powers all our lives doesn't mean everyone has. I mean look at Paige," Phoebe added, pointing to me.
"You weren't always a…witch?" Bree asked, looking at me.
"Well it's kind of complicated. I didn't know I was a witch until recently. I guess I always was one, since my Mom was a witch," I answered, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
"Maybe I was too. I don't remember moving stuff," Bree stated.
"So is that all a witch can do…move stuff?" she asked after a brief pause.
"No, witches have all kinds of powers. I can see things that have already happened and are going to happen. I can also levitate," Phoebe explained.
"Aren't you developing a new power?" I prodded.
"Well…I'm not sure what it is yet…so I'll let you know when I figure it out," she whispered.
"Piper can freeze things and blow things up," I continued to explain. Piper just smiled.
"What can you do?" Bree asked me.
"Well you and I sort of have the same power. We can both move things with our minds. But I'm part whitelighter so I make things orb," I answered. I sounded so confident to have only been doing this for a few months.
"A what?" she questioned, looking confused.
"Leo!" Piper bellowed, making all of us jump. Instead of just walking in from the kitchen, he appeared in orbs, eliciting a squeak from Bree.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Meet our resident whitelighter," Phoebe said with a small laugh
"How…how'd you do that?" Bree stammered. I just looked at her. I couldn't blame her for freaking out. After all, I'd done the same thing not too long ago.
"Whitelighters are like angels to witches. And….they orb," I mumbled an explanation.
"It's our way of transporting ourselves when our charges need us," Leo expounded and I nodded.
"I can do that too since I'm half whitelighter," I added.
"Guys, let's not overwhelm the kid," Piper shot.
We fell into silence for a while. I watched Bree closely, hoping she was taking this all in. She seemed to understand it all.
"Why can't we tell anyone?" she blurted. I looked over at Piper and Phoebe. They could answer that question better than I could.
"Well because some people would use our magic for bad things. It's just very dangerous," Piper explained.
"And not everyone believes in magic," Phoebe added.
"So it's a secret? Does anybody know?" she murmured.
"Well we have a friend who is a cop who knows we're witches. We help him with cases sometimes," Phoebe replied.
"But there's a lot of evil out there. A lot of it would try to take advantage of your gift," she added. Just then there was a shimmer and Cole appeared. This was not what I needed right now.
"There's some evil in here too," I mumbled.
"Well it's nice to see you too," he called. Bree turned around to look at Cole.
"How'd he get in here?" she asked, still a little shell-shocked.
"That would be an example of something evil," I told her with a smirk.
"Bree, this is my boyfriend, Cole," Phoebe introduced.
"Cole, this is Bree. She's an innocent and a new witch," she addressed her boyfriend. I just cringed.
"But Paige said he's evil," Bree interjected.
"Cute kid. Look, Phoebe I can't stay long. Bounty hunters and all but I just wanted to see how you were doing," he said, ignoring her comment.
"I'm fine. I wish you didn't have to stay down there. It's not safe," Phoebe sighed, wrapping her arms around him. I couldn't help but smile as Bree looked disgusted.
"It's not safe up here either," he murmured, kissing her.
"Ok…do you have to do that now?" I interrupted them.
"Oh were we bothering you?" Cole snickered.
"Cole, be nice," Piper snapped. He gave her a smirk and shimmered out.
"So…was he evil?" Bree questioned again.
"Yes…well he was evil. I mean…he's a demon but he's only a half demon. And he's on our side," Phoebe rambled.
"That's really confusing," Bree sighed.
"Ok…I think that's it for today. You've had a long day and we don't want to overload you with all this information. Besides, you have school in the morning," I interjected.
"Can't I stay up? I'm not six," Bree protested.
"I know but we have some things to do. You don't have to go to sleep just…get ready for tomorrow," I insisted. She let out a groan but stood up. She headed for the stairs. Once she was out of hearing range I turned to face my sisters.
"So am I supposed to feel this confused?" I asked.
"You'll get used to it…having to explain to innocents about magic," Phoebe answered.
"But I just feel like there's more that she's not saying. I know she is still upset over her dad dying. Maybe I should try and get her to talk. Maybe if she works through some of those issues she can start to control her powers?" I rambled a little.
"If you want to," Piper muttered, pushing herself up from the couch. With a nod I headed upstairs and knocked on the door. Bree pulled it open.
"Hey…I was hoping we could talk about something," I said. She let me in and once more we found ourselves sitting on the bed.
"What?" she asked.
"Well…I know you've had some problems…dealing with your dad's death," I began.
"He was like my best friend. I never really got along with my step mom," she replied.
"Yeah…I didn't always get along with my parents either," I agreed.
"My Dad told me that he was my real Dad…my biological Dad," she continued. I looked at her, puzzled. There was nothing in the paperwork that indicated her adoptive father was her biological father as well.
"He told me that he adopted me when turned eighteen. My birth Mom didn't want me," she murmured. I couldn't help but pull her into a hug. She didn't resist like I thought she would. She wrapped her arms around me and allowed me to comfort her. She sniffled a little and I could tell she was on the verge of tears.
"It's ok. You can cry. Let it all out," I prompted her and she quickly complied, letting the tears fall, soaking the shoulder of my shirt.
"Why wouldn't she want me?" she sniffed.
"Well it sounds like you parents were young when you were born. It's hard to raise a baby," I answered, rubbing her back.
"I told him I hated her," she admitted.
"Hate is a strong emotion, Bree. But I know how you feel. I always wondered why my parents gave me up too," I told her.
"Did you ever find out?" she asked me.
"Yeah…they weren't supposed to be together. My mom was a witch too. And my dad was her whitelighter. They weren't supposed to be together so they had to give me up," I explained. It still hurt to talk about my birth parents. I'd finally met my birth mother, granted she was dead.
"Seems like we have a lot in common," she giggled slightly.
"Yeah I guess we do. Guess that's why you're my innocent. I'm supposed to help you and I guess I can…I know what you're going through," I responded. What happened next was not something I had anticipated…at all. Piper and Phoebe had come across Bree's file that I'd left sitting there. The next thing I knew the door flew open and Piper and Phoebe were standing there, just staring at Bree open mouthed.
"What's going on?" I asked, letting Bree go.
"I see it now," Piper murmured. I wrinkled my forehead. What the hell was she talking about?
"See what?" I asked. Before she could answer, Phoebe opened her mouth.
"Prue," she breathed.