A Shorter chapter this time but I hope you like it anyway.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.
And Cole is not going evil in this fic just to keep that in mind, he was Phoebe's soulmate and he always will be. Due to him not going evil a lot of the Season 4 after the next chapter will be skipped. Again I do not think I will include the last season so just keep in mind Henry might pop up in the Season 6/7 arc (never liked Richard anyway).
Please Read and Review.
And Trigger Warnings for this chapter for miscarriage. Please be aware.
Some chapters will involve a time jump including skipping episodes. Just keep that in mind.
In case it's not clear I DESPISE the Elders. There is not one redeeming quality about any of them. I personally was routing for Piper to drag Prue and Phoebe on strike with her in Season 3 when they took Leo away, I was kinda routing for it in Season 7. Let the Charmed Ones go on strike and see how long they last I say.
Also this is a short chapter but there are three maybe four left of Season 5 so plenty of time.
Mother Of Invention
Chapter 11-We Said Some Things
Billie and Paige alongside the Charmed Ones get a crash course into Gypsy magic. Phoebe's powers are on the blink since her miscarriage and Piper needs a Doctor.
Gypsy magic. She did not know what it was about such things that was so shocking. After all if Wicca could have magic running down it's lifeline why not gypsies? Paige thought about it as she watched Lydia stir turmeric into the potion she was making. Billie who had been sat watching TV when they had come back from the funeral was watching with vivid eyes little notepad at her side happily taking notes. For a girl who had to be prodded and poked into getting her homework done the fact that this was what she was taking notes on was rather funny.
Billie caught her eye and then looked away and Paige blinked. She was not sure when the change had happened, not sure when the change had taken place but she was sure that something was going to happen. She could feel in the air the thing that had happened to her daughter in the air. There was something that had changed between them and she didn't know what but she knew that she did not like it.
But pressing things (and she was ashamed to say it) but pressing things had gotten in the way. There had been Phoebe and her lack of powers and there had been the nightmare of the row that had happened when Cole and Leo had found out that had eclipsed anything that could happen between Phoebe and Paige and Piper who was now in maternity clothes and hating every damn second of it.
It had been hard for Paige to see her eldest sister in maternity clothes. It was hard for her to talk about her pregnancy when Piper had asked her questions because it was so long ago. It was hard for her to talk about her mourning sickness and her cravings and that feeling when her baby had moved inside of her because she couldn't remember all of it. The truth of the matter was that she had been there but not aware of the entire thing. So much of her pregnancy with Billie had tied into being homeless, the loss of her parents, the loss of the world that she had grown up in, the terror of weather or not she had been assaulted and had been too drunk to realise it…she did not know even now what had happened.
All in all when Piper had fired off questions at the breakfast table there was only so many times that she was able to answer. She didn't remember what had triggered her mourning sickness, she had been barley in bras before her own breasts had started to hurt always been too small to need them. She had never worn maternity clothes, she had taken clothes out of the charity box two, three sizes to big for her and had worked around that. She had been lucky in terms of assistance and foster homes but so many girls in her situation had not been. It was hard not to look at Piper who had everything that she needed financially, emotionally, spiritually and listen to her when she bitched about how hard her life was now she was pregnant.
It was the little things, in that contradictory nature of sisters buts right now she looked at her daughter who was writing down what to use turmeric for (apart from Indian food) and she thought to hell with it all. She wanted another go of it. The loss of her sister's baby, Piper having one, hers growing up into a young woman ready to take on the world…the underworld and whatever came next was making her broody. She was broody for another baby.
"You know" Lydia said as she poured a steeping pot of tea and passing around the mugs. "Phoebe is not the only one whose powers are suffering"
"Who?" Billie asked looking at her mother who shook her head. "Ours are working perfectly"
"Oh for now" Lydia said sagely. "For now they are working fine but there is only so much hiding of what you can want before your gifts come to be affected by it. I know that you think you can bury your feelings and your wishes and what you want and what you desire but you cannot. This entire thing is predicated on you being honest with each other. Phoebe is living proof of what happens if you don't talk"
"But Cole and I are talking"
"Yes, and that is a start. Give it time. Magic, the mind and the body work in tandem with the other. For one to be at it's best the other two have to support it. Talking is the best thing that you can do in this situation. Talk to each other. Mothers to daughters, sisters to sisters, that is how your gifts, your magic, your…connection is passed on. Regardless of what happens next. Talking is the only way that you can do it sometimes"
For a second she let them acknowledge that bombshell and then she drained her own mug trying to swirl her tea leaves around. Phoebe then took a turn reading it, anything to get a premonition Paige thought. She too was only realising now just how long it had been since her sister had, had one. Certainly she'd had nothing since the miscarriage. It was funny the things that you forgot about when you were so consumed in your own life. After all…how long had it been since she had heard from Sam?
And then when you thought of that you had to think about weather or not she wanted to hear from Sam. She had never considered her biological father at all. When she had always imagined her biological parents (even before she had learnt that shew as Charmed) she had never imagined her father. Only her mother.
"So what do you see?" Billie said her chin on her hand watching, waiting, learning.
"What looks like a lightening bolt—"
That apparently did mean something because suddenly there was a flash of light and Lydia was gone and by the time they found her at Ava's hospital she was already gone. Orion was already after the Evil Eye, already had the eyes to see and it was down to the woman who did not believe to believe for them all.
Yeah…Paige had been there.
"Kinda reminds you of when we were new to this life" Billie said as they helped Ava cover the photos of the family members that she had lost. She like the Halliwell's had lost countless family members to a fight with evil that wasn't won just delayed for another generation, another generation after that and so forth.
"It does" Paige said nodding and then she turned and walked into the kitchen and Billie followed shutting the door behind her as Paige began to ruthlessly go through the fridge throwing things away that were close to going off.
"What did Lydia mean Mom? What do you want?"
"I…it doesn't matter what I want"
"It does" Billie argued. "You and I can talk to each other about everything. That is what you said. That is what you always say. That we can talk. And if we can't talk about what is bothering us then what can we talk about?"
Damn her daughter weaponizing her own words against her.
"Billie…we are not going to talk about this right now"
"Why not?"
"Because…because…you wouldn't understand. Besides…what's been on your mind?"
"Don't change the subject Mom"
"Billie—"
"Fine, I'll tell you mine even though you won't tell me yours. I want to find my Dad"
Of all the things that she could have said to stun her into silence nothing quite did the trick other than that.
She had never expected that. She had never expected her daughter to ask that.
"Personal gain" she croaked and Billie rolled her eyes.
"Jesus Mom I wasn't planning on using the book to do it. There are other ways and—"
"No"
"Why?" Billie asked and she narrowed her eyes and suddenly her resemblance to Paige when she was a teenager was striking.
"Why not Mom? What's so wrong with that?"
She didn't know what to say to that. Didn't know what to say because Billie was looking her with those eyes that had become hard.
"I want to know Mom" she said quietly. "It's time we figured it out. If he's not mortal—"
"You think—"
"At this point would it surprise you?"
Paige opened her mouth and then closed it. She had never considered that, she didn't want to. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't…she couldn't…
No.
No.
No.
"No" she said finally. "No"
She didn't know what was so bad about the thought to her, she didn't know what is was that sent terror and fear and panic down her spine. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't human, if he came back and she had to vanquish him. If he was human and if he did want to know and that came with a set of consequences that she did not know if she was ready for.
It was fear plain and simple and with fear came anger and with the fear and the anger came the need to escape and so that was what she did.
It was habit with her after all.
She had just thought that she had outgrown it when she had outgrown her need for the blue eyeliner pencil.
And with that she turned on her heels and left the kitchen.
"Won't change anything" Billie said after her causing Ava to look at them. "Won't stop me! You don't get to stop this one Mom!"
But Paige was already out the house and walking down the street. Phoebe could call her if she needed help and she would come back. Right now Paige wanted to orb until she couldn't orb anymore. Or at the very least until she could forget everything that had happened tonight.
"So what she just walked off?"
"Yeah and Billie stomped off upstairs and wont come out of her room to help with the vanquish."
Piper swore. "You know what is was that started it?" Phoebe shrugged. "I mean we don't need them for the vanquish" she said quietly. "I just…I don't know what is going on, I don't know how we can help. Mothers and daughters…mother and daughter relationships…I don't know weather or not we can add anything to this. How can we?"
She trailed off before either one of them could comment on the fact that they had no idea what they were doing because they had no idea what a mother and daughter relationship looked like other than Paige and Billie. At least not a Charmed one.
"We don't need Paige for this" Phoebe said quietly. "We just need Ava to help us defeat the demon. I can get her up to the book and we can…take it from there"
Piper said nothing.
"You want to tell me where you have been?"
"Orbing"
"Where?"
"All over. Did you need me?"
Piper shot her sister a look. Paige had come in through the back door cold to the touch and was looking like all she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and stay there.
"No we got the job done without you or Billie. You want to talk to me about what happened?"
"No"
"Paige we can't keep secrets—"
"Yes we can Piper, you can't help with one, you can't help with what she wants or what I want or what was said, you can't help me fix this one, I have to work through it on my own, I'm sorry, I get that you trying to be a big sister but this is something between me and Billie and we need to sort it out ourselves"
"What is it?"
"She…she wants something that I am not sure I am ready to give. And I think if I don't do…Piper I need to think it through on my own. Please can you respect that, please…I need you and Phoebe and Cole and Leo to respect that."
And with that she swept past her sister back upstairs to her room and past her daughters own room that was closed and she slammed the door to the bedroom shut and neither one of them came out all night. This wasn't a Halliwell thing she told herself flopping down on the bed. This was a Matthews thing and for the first time since she had been passed her baby girl in the hospital she knew that she was on her own and she had no clue where they went from here.
And there you are.
Next Chapter-The Matthew's girls are fractured, Billie wants answers, Paige asks Cole a question after a demon makes her feel insecure and Piper gives birth on the day that the magic died. Literally. Oh and there's a demon step grandmother in the works as well.
