Family Tree
I just stared at my sisters for a minute before wildly looking around me. There was no one there. I was really confused now.
"What are you talking about, Phoebe?" I asked.
"I don't see Prue anywhere," I continued.
"No, Paige…not here….in her," Phoebe corrected me. I had no idea what she was talking about.
"We need to talk…upstairs," Piper ordered. Bree and I stood up, starting to follow but Piper shook her head and Bree stopped moving. We trudged up to the attic and they rounded on me. Before either of them could speak, I managed to get a word in edge wise.
"What is going on? I'm really confused. What does any of this have to do with Prue?" I asked. It was then I realized Piper was still holding Bree's file.
"Have you actually looked at this?" she asked.
"Her case history, yeah," I answered.
"Well perhaps you neglected to look at this," she stated, opening the folder and showing me Bree's birth certificate.
"You really shouldn't have gone through this. It's confidential information," I scolded them.
"Well next time don't leave it just lying around," Piper spat back. I bit my lip, not wanting to get her pissed off at me and looked down at the piece of paper. It had her name on it.
"What exactly am I…" I started to ask when it jumped out at me. There on the line for mother's name was written, Prudence Halliwell. I looked up at my sisters and down at the paper again. Was I really reading that right?
"You're telling me…Prue…had a daughter?" I stumbled over the words.
They both nodded 'yes'. I suddenly felt the need to sit down and managed to orb into a chair before falling over. Bree was my niece? This was all too much.
"Why would she…give up a child?" I asked. Piper and Phoebe shared a look.
"After Brianna was born, Prue sort of forbid any of us from talking about it. She just wanted to move on with her life," Phoebe answered me.
"That doesn't answer the question," I retorted.
"Paige this isn't easy for us to talk about. It's kind of been a sore subject for a while," Piper said.
"What is a sore subject?" I begged.
"When she was seventeen, Prue was raped. Brianna is his daughter," Piper finally answered. I cringed. I had no idea something that horrible had happened.
"That's horrible. Did she do anything about it?" I asked.
"She kept it a secret for a long time. She was so scared. I'm not sure ever would have told if I hadn't gotten a premonition of what happened," Phoebe added. I was speechless. In the course of a few minutes I'd learned I had a niece and that my oldest sister had been assaulted. I suddenly felt very overwhelmed.
"I think I just need to go lay down. This is kind of…"I trailed off.
"I know it's a lot to take in all at once. Finding out you have sisters and a niece in a matter of months is crazy," Phoebe tried to console me.
"Just…don't say anything to Brianna tonight, please. I don't want her to run away," I sighed and orbed downstairs to the couch.
The next morning I woke up to the sun streaming in through the window. I sat up, confused for a minute about where I was. When it finally sunk in that I was in the Manor I got up, heading for the kitchen. Piper was already up.
"Morning," I yawned, grabbing a cup of coffee.
"You have to tell her," were the first words out of her mouth.
"What?" I asked, still not entirely awake.
"You have to tell Brianna the truth. About us, about Prue…about who she really is," she answered.
"Can it wait until after she is done with school for the day?" I asked, sounding hopeful.
"You should probably call her in sick. This is going to take a lot of explaining," Piper answered. Groaning, I grabbed the cordless phone and headed upstairs to find the file with her school's number in it. I dialed the number and told the secretary that Brianna wouldn't be in school today because of some personal family related issues.
"And who are you?" the woman asked.
"My name is Paige Matthews, I'm her social worker," I explained.
"Alright, Ms. Matthews. We'll mark this down," the secretary told me and I ended the call. This was not going to be an easy conversation to have with Bree. I headed back downstairs to find the rest of the family, including Bree sitting around the kitchen table.
"Bree, I called you in sick from school today," I told her.
'Why?" she asked.
"There are some things that have come up that we need to talk about and they're going to take a while," I replied, sitting down at the small table. She just nodded and continued eating her cereal. The rest of breakfast passed by uneventfully. I led Bree into the living room and sat her down.
"What do we have to talk about?" she asked. Boy did I feel like that question had been asked a lot lately.
"Well it's something I didn't notice until last night," I began, pulling out her birth certificate.
"I just realized who your birth mom is," I continued, holding it out for her to see. She looked at it.
"She has the same last name as your sisters," she noted. I nodded.
"That's because she's their…my oldest sister," I answered.
"What…you mean….i have aunts?" she stammered.
"Pretty crazy huh?" I sighed.
"But why would she….why would they let her give me up?" she asked, her voice rising in volume. That seemed to somehow be Piper and Phoebe's cue to walk in. She turned to look at them.
"We really couldn't make her do anything," Phoebe said, sitting down next to her.
"I was only twelve when she had you. She was only seventeen," she added.
"Then why did my Dad want me?" she probed.
"Because he loves you sweetie. She loved you too…she just wasn't ready to be a Mom," Piper interjected.
"That's what Dad said. I didn't believe him," she murmured. Phoebe suddenly got up and headed into the hallway. She returned with a framed photo.
"This was taken a few days before our Grams died," she said, pointing to Prue. It was a nice picture. Bree smiled.
"She's pretty," she commented.
"Yeah, she is," I agreed, peering over her shoulder. My sisters looked so happy there.
"Where is she?" Bree blurted. I looked Piper, hoping she wouldn't burst into tears.
"She…died a few months ago. She was killed by a demon," Piper answered, managing not to cry. Bree paled and she didn't look like she was breathing. Luckily Phoebe pulled her into a tight hug.
"You've got us now," she promised.
"But my Dad is dead too. He was a cop and he died in action," She stammered. Phoebe and Piper shared another of their knowing looks. Sometimes I wished I wasn't so new to all of this.
"He was killed by a demon too. He was trying to protect us and your mom," Piper murmured, joining in the hug. I wasn't sure about Bree but I was ready to burst out crying. I knew the feeling to lose both parents and feel like you had no one.
"It's not fair," Bree sniffled, trying to fight off tears once again.
"I know sweetie. It's not fair. But you have us now. And we're not going to let anything happen to you," Phoebe whispered. I knew then and there that I needed to get Bree out of the foster system. If Piper and Phoebe were willing to take her in I could arrange it in the next day or two.
"I wish I could have met my Mom," Bree breathed, starting to regain her composure a bit.
"I wish I could have met her too," I admitted, finally joining in the group embrace.
"I'm sure she would be very proud of you," Phoebe assured her.
"What's to be proud of? I just scare people away," Bree spat.
"Because, deep down she thought about you every day for the rest of her life. She couldn't stop thinking about you," Phoebe answered.
"How do you know?" she asked softly.
"Well…it turns out I don't have a new power. My empathy is just getting more perceptive," Phoebe murmured, more to me and Piper than Bree.
"Because I can feel what other people feel. And she never stopped thinking about you," she explained.
As we all sat there together, arms wrapped around each other, a thought came to my mind. I don't know why it popped into my head at that moment but it did. I mouthed the words 'kitchen now' to my sister sand we all untangled ourselves.
"Do you want a glass of water?" I offered my niece. She wiped at her eyes and nodded. The three of us stood up, heading into the kitchen.
"What's up?" Piper asked. I hated when she did that.
"I just had a thought. Did Andy know what happened to Prue?" I asked. Phoebe looked very uneasy.
"It's complicated. Maybe we should just show you," she said. Piper raised her eyebrow at Phoebe.
"Remember the spell Prue cast on me to show you guys my premonition?" she asked and Piper nodded.
"Well why can't we cast it on ourselves to show Paige what happened," she stated.
"Ok…do you remember the spell?" Piper asked.
"I think so. Just have to tweak it a little" she answered, grabbing a pen and piece of paper. She scribbled madly and handed the paper to me.
"Go ahead, read it," she instructed.
"Show me now, let me behold, what sisters have so far left untold. Reveal to me in entirety, show me what my sisters see," I read aloud and watched as they glowed.