A/N: Hey guys! Ugh, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in, like, 2 weeks. Things have been crazy and, for the first time since chapter 2, I've had writer's block! I think I've finally gotten through it, though.

CharmedOpal: Lmao. Yuppp, they did! NO, don't fall! That would be so bad. Too much paperwork and such :)

lizardmomma: I hope it's good!

Now, I've wrapped up all my other incomplete fanfictions, so I can now devote my time solely to this one. Hopefully that will mean more updates, faster!

Okay, so, here you guys go!

(PS: Sorry if the end of this chapter is slightly abrupt! I wasn't really sure where I wanted the story to go next, and I figured it leaves a clean slate for whatever will happen in chapter 12... Mwuahahah! Lol)

...

Rebecca had locked herself in Katelyn's room, and was refusing to come out.

Piper, Phoebe, Corrine, Melinda, and Katelyn all either stood or sat in the hallway, in varying states of impatience, while Paige tried to convince her daughter to come out.

Leo had healed everyone who needed it, then gone up to the Elders to find out more about this new demon.

"Come on, Bex," Paige begged. "Please? I know this is a lot to take in – trust me, I felt the same way!"

Silence.

Katelyn sighed and stood from where she had been sitting with her cousins on the floor across the hall. "This is getting us nowhere. Why don't we just leave her alone, and she'll come out when she's ready?"

Everyone murmured their agreement, and began making their way downstairs.

"Rebecca?" Katelyn knocked. "We'll be downstairs, okay? Come out when you're ready to talk." Silence followed this statement, and Katelyn joined her family in heading downstairs, to give Rebecca some space.

...

"Okay, so," Melinda began, once they were all settled in the living room. "Will someone please explain, now who they are-" She shot Paige a look. "-And why Kat got that vision about them? Who are they, and who is trying to attack them?"

Piper and Phoebe exchanged uncertain looks. This was the moment they had been dreading. They had managed to avoid the question this whole time, and now they had to fess up. The look they exchanged said it all: Corrine was NOT going to like the idea of someone replacing her mom.

Corinne caught the look, and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's going on? You two have been acting strange."

Paige glanced uncomfortably from Piper to Phoebe, then glanced at the girls before quickly looking away.

"I had that vision for a reason," Katelyn prompted. "And there is definitely something more than just the usual going on here."

"Well..." Piper began, trying to choose her words carefully. "Paige is... Uhm... She's our..." She glanced at Phoebe.

Phoebe sighed. "Look, there isn't any easy way to say this. So I'm just going to say it." She paused, glancing at Piper, then Paige, then the girls. "Paige is our half-sister. And, therefore, a Charmed One."

The silence and tension that filled the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Melinda and Katelyn glanced uncertainly at Corrine, waiting for...

"No!" Corrine spat, standing so quickly, she nearly lost her balance. "No one can replace my mom! No one!" She shot Paige an evil glare, tears glistening.

"I'd never try and replace your mother," Paige said softly, consolingly. "No one can ever take her place."

"Shut up," Corrine snarled.

"Corrine Grace Halliwell!" Piper snapped, standing and crossing her arms. "I know you are angry and hurt, but you do not speak to people that way!"

Corrine gritted her teeth, ready to snap back at Piper. But instead, she turned and bolted from the room. After a few minutes, they could hear her door slam upstairs.

Piper sighed and sat again, putting her head in her hands.

"We know this isn't easy," Phoebe said to Melinda and Katelyn. "We all miss Prue. Nothing will change that; nothing will make her loss easier, and no one will ever replace her. But Paige and Rebecca are family."

Melinda and Katelyn exchanged looks, then glanced at Paige.

"I'm sorry for our cousin's behavior," Katelyn finally said. "She's just..."

"I know," Paige said with a soft smile, apology accepted. "She has a lot going on, and she thinks I'm here to replace Prue. It's... a lot."

"That doesn't excuse her behavior," Piper said. "I'm sorry, girls, we should have told you sooner, given you time to prepare."

Melinda shook her head. "I don't think anyone can prepare for news like that... Corrine, especially."

Leo orbed in at that moment, saving them from more small talk and awkward silences.

"What did you find out?" Phoebe asked.

Leo could sense the tension in the room, but he ignored it. "Well, the Elders don't seem to know who this demon is," he replied with a shrug. "You'll have to check the Book of Shadows. They believe it might just be a lower-level demon, hired by someone higher up. They think he's after Rebecca because whoever hired him is hoping to prevent the Charmed Ones from Reconstituting."

"But we've already done that," Piper reminded him.

"Except you're still weak right now," Leo pointed out. "You don't know what Paige's powers are, and she doesn't know how to control them. Taking out the Next Generation would distract you from learning how to work as the Charmed Ones together, leaving you vulnerable for attack."

"So you think they're going to send more demons?" Phoebe asked, alarmed. "After Corrine, Melinda, and Katelyn, too?"

"They'll likely keep trying for Rebecca, because she doesn't have her powers yet," Leo replied, giving Paige an apologetic look. "The sooner she comes to terms with her heritage, and comes together with the other girls, the sooner her powers will awaken and she can begin to train, to learn to defend herself."

"The Next Generation?" Paige asked, uncertainly.

Leo nodded. "The Power of Four."

...

After sobbing into her pillow for who knew how long, Corrine stormed out of her room and ran to Katelyn's door. She used her telekinesis to open it, then stalked in and slammed it shut behind herself, fully intending on reaming Rebecca out – despite knowing, deep down, that none of this was Rebecca's fault. (She needed SOMEONE to blame, though.)

But when she spotted Rebecca, laying on Katelyn's bed and staring at her, startled, tears sliding down her face, she deflated.

They stared at each other for a long time, awkward silence filling the room. Neither one knew what to say.

Corrine knew that Rebecca had nothing to do with what had happened to Prue. She hadn't even known about witches and demons until today. But she was angry and mourning the loss of her mother. She couldn't scream at Paige, though she'd like to. She had to vent her frustrations to someone, or she felt as if she would burst.

Rebecca didn't believe in witches and magical powers. How could she? She was shocked her mother believed in it all; Paige had always seemed so reasonable. But everything that had happened... Well, it made it hard to argue with them, though she'd like to.

Corrine and Rebecca were silent for a long time, their thoughts jumbled and confused, trying to figure out what to say to each other, trying to work out their confusion and fear and pain.

Finally, both girls made eye contact and, at the same time, said "I'm sorry."