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Published: 28-3-2024

Chapter Three

Daughters, Mothers and Brothers

"I think Vicus is a good candidate," Piper suggested as she and Kate stood together over the Book of Shadows, one of them on either side. Wyatt, who had woken up from his nap while his mother and sister were passing by the bedrooms on their way to the attic, was playing with his teddy bear, Wuvey, on the rug. The less her children were out of her sight, the happier Piper was.

She wanted to be closer to her daughter, but Kate had flinched away when she just brushed against her daughter's arm, breaking more of Piper's heart. She hadn't dared reach out since, least she end up in tears. A child should never see their mother cry.

"I mean," the strained mother went on. "He's a demon known for kidnapping powerful magical children and turning them evil. It seems perfect."

"It doesn't fit, though," Kate argued back. "The seers and everyone all told me that Wyatt was kidnapped and the seed of evil planted in his soul, whereas Vicus turns kids by enchanting their favourite toy. They're completely different methods. Still," she added thoughtfully. "We can't rule him out. We should vanquish him just in case. Problem is, he turns invisible, and we'd have to vanquish the Collective to get to him. There's about fifty of them in my time."

"Phoebe could write a spell to make him reveal himself," Piper offered. "And Cole might have an idea about how to deal with the Collective."

"We can do that later, then," Kate nodded absently as she flipped a few pages. "But that's for later. Right now, I'm more concerned about some rumours in the Underworld that a group of demons called 'the Order' are organizing for an attack aimed at Wyatt," she said as she searched the Book. "I think it's definitely worth checking out. If nothing else, they're a threat that needs to be dealt with. I'll go to the Underworld after this and investigate some more."

"Go to the Underworld?" Piper repeated, panic and horror at the thought of her daughter alone in evil's territory gripping her. "Alone? No way! You can't!" Too late, she realized that forbidding her headstrong daughter from doing something would only anger her.

She winced at the indignation and anger that flashed across Kate's face at her reaction. "And why not?" She demanded. "You had no problem with it last week!"

"Last week, I thought you were a full whitelighter who could only be killed by a darklighter!" Piper argued, wondering how the civil conversation had descended into argument so quickly. Wyatt turned his head towards them, frowning.

"No, last week you didn't know I was your daughter, so I didn't matter!" Kate bit out in response. "It doesn't work that way, Piper. You can't think of your family as the only people in the world who are important! And you can't have double-standards for your family and everybody else, and yet that's all I've gotten from you!"

"That's not fair," Piper argued back. "I wouldn't want any nineteen-year-old on their own in the Underworld. I'd have put my foot down months ago if I'd realized that you weren't a whitelighter. I-"

"You don't have the right to put your foot down!" Kate exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air and making the window explode in a shower of glass. The pair instinctively ducked and covered themselves with their arms. When the shower of glass was over, they rose to their feet slowly, Piper carefully eyeing her daughter to make sure she hadn't been cut. Wyatt began to whimper, and Piper hurried over to pick him up and start to rock him.

"I'm sorry," Kate muttered. "I shouldn't have- I have better control than that."

"Accidental magic, it happens," Piper replied, giving her daughter a tentative smile as Wyatt rested his head against her shoulder. "You should've seen what I was like when I gained my exploding power. We were losing more furniture to me than to demons at that point."

Kate smirked a bit, and Piper went on tentatively.

"Look, Kate, I know we've messed up. We didn't understand, and we were selfish. Frankly, I suspect that's how Wyatt got kidnapped in your future. We were more consumed with being 'normal' than protecting him. But we are going to do better this time. We realize what's at stake now. And yes, I've changed how I look at you since finding out you're my daughter. How could I not? But I really would be horrified at the thought of anyone your age in the Underworld, especially alone. Please, can't we find a compromise?"

Truthfully, Piper didn't want Kate in the Underworld at all. But she wanted her to run off completely and try and save Wyatt herself even less, so she would force herself to treat her like an adult.

Kate scowled a bit but sighed, and Piper felt hopeful.

"Compromise how?" Kate asked grudgingly.

"Cole knows the Underworld very well," Piper pointed out, trying to hide her relieved smile. "When he gets home, you can go with him."

"Phoebe will complain that she wants him to do something with her," Kate replied, crossing her arms.

Piper shook her head. "He's been going into the Underworld daily for a few hours to try and find a lead," she answered. "Phoebe loves you and Wyatt. She'd rather miss him for a few hours than lose either of you, in any way."

Kate sighed and shrugged. "Fine," she grumbled. "I'll keep working on research until he gets home. But if he doesn't come, I'm going anyway."

Piper grimaced but she had faith that Cole would go. He loved his nephew (and his new/future niece) and both he and Phoebe were willing to do whatever necessary to protect them both. There would be plenty of time for family time and romance once The Demon had been vanquished.

Wyatt started to whimper again and Piper checked her watch. "It's lunchtime," she commented. "I'd better feed the two of you."

"I'm not hungry," Kate stated, looking uncomfortable.

Piper felt her expression fall. "You should at least eat a sandwich," she urged. "We've been at this for two and a half hours now."

Kate pursed her lips in a way that reminded Piper of Grams when she was debating a decision or being stern about something (yet again she wondered how had they not noticed? Now that they knew the truth, everything about Kate seemed to scream Halliwell. Unlike her older brother, who was Leo's clone, Kate was pure Halliwell. Her face was a mixture of Phoebe's and Piper's, her eyes and tunnel-visioned attitude were Prue's when she was focused on something, her smart mouth was Paige's and her devotion to her family was all of them. Piper felt like an idiot, and a terrible mother. How much had it hurt Kate that her own mother hadn't recognized her?). It hurt a bit (actually, a lot), that Kate was so hesitant just to eat with them.

"Fine," Kate huffed. "I'll eat."

Piper smiled widely and nodded happily. "What would you like on your sandwich?" She asked eagerly as she began leading the way downstairs. "Ham and cheese? Or PB&J? And I have some leftover vegetable soup in the fridge, would you like some?"

"I'll eat anything," Kate answered matter-of-factly. "Except shellfish. I'm deadly allergic."

Piper's eyes widened at the thought, and she immediately (mentally) swore that all fish would be tossed in the bin. Best to get rid of all fish, not just shellfish, just in case. She was taking no unnecessary risks with her babies.

Cole came home and stopped in surprise at the doorway to the conservatory. Kate and Piper were bent over the Book of Shadows and some papers, while Wyatt was playing with some toy cars in his playpen.

"Hey Kate, Piper," he greeted his niece and sister-in-law casually, as if Kate hadn't disappeared for a week and they hadn't been told the monumental news that she was Piper and Leo's daughter.

Kate glanced at him briefly and gave a curt nod.

"Hi, Cole," Piper smiled weakly, and he could see her fear of driving off her daughter in her eyes. "Uh, after dinner would you go to the Underworld with Kate to chase down some leads?"

"Yes, of course," Cole agreed easily. "But after dinner, please. I had to skip lunch for a meeting." He was mainly an ADA, a prosecutor, but since joining the Halliwell family and renouncing evil he also did pro bono work of all sorts for people who couldn't afford it (he had studied several types of law during his long life). Today he'd had a court appearance for an assault case and he had also met with a newly divorced mother who was trying to get visitation rights for her children removed from her abusive ex for their first meeting.

All in all it had been a long day and he'd prefer to take the night to rest and spend time with his family (especially his wife). But he couldn't let his niece go down to the Underworld alone, and anyway there would be plenty of time for family once Wyatt was safe (and Kate too, for that matter). Piper sent him a grateful look, though Kate looked irritated at the delay he'd insisted on. Still, she nodded in agreement, if grudgingly, so that was something.

"What would you like for dinner, Kate?" Piper asked brightly and hopefully.

"I'm fine," Kate answered dismissively. "I'm just going to keep working."

"You have to eat, Kate," Piper argued.

"I did eat," Kate replied, looking annoyed. "I had the soup and sandwich at lunchtime."

"That was just lunch, though!" Piper protested. "You need to eat dinner too."

"Piper, I've been living off much less than just one meal a day for years now," Kate scoffed. "Trust me, I'm fine. Cole, I'll see you in three hours." Then she grabbed her papers and disappeared in a swirl of orbs before Piper or Cole could respond.

Piper's shoulders slumped and she buried her head in her hands.

"You okay, Piper?" Cole asked sympathetically.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, sounding dispirited.

"Give it time," he advised the young mother. "It sounds like Kate's been doing things on her own for a while now. She needs to get used to having support again."

"But why has she been on her own?" Piper asked pleadingly, looking up at him. "Where was I, or Leo or you and my sisters? Why didn't we protect her? Why was my baby starving and fighting for her life?"

"I can't see any of us letting any of this happen if we were around to stop it," Cole said gently, revealing what he and Phoebe had quietly speculated on in their bed at night over the past few days.

Piper stared at him for a moment, understanding dawning. "You think we're dead," she stated, her voice shaking a bit.

Cole shrugged. "Do you have a better idea as to how it could have happened?" He asked with a heavy sigh. He loved the Charmed Ones, who had taken him in as one of their own and forgiven him the many sins he'd committed. He didn't take any joy in telling her what he and Phoebe suspected.

"That first day," Piper began haltingly. "She told me that she 'never got to know her family'. I said it wasn't our fault and she said 'not yet'. I was so indifferent to her, when all she's been trying to do is fix our mistakes and save her brother."

"We haven't put our best feet forward since she came," Cole acknowledged. "But we'll do better from now on. We just have to focus on helping her and showing her that she can rely on us. That's all we can do, really."

Piper gave a wan smile. "I know. Thanks, Cole," she sighed, rising to her feet. "I'll go put the dinner on. We're running low on groceries, but we still have mince left so I'll make hamburgers if that's okay with you."

"That's fine," Cole agreed. He didn't offer to help, knowing Piper would use making the dinner as a way to relieve her stress, and that she needed to be alone for that. "I'm just going to read for a while. If you leave Wyatt in here, I'll keep an eye on him."

Since learning what had happened, they didn't like to leave him alone least The Demon be tipped off by their investigations and try to snatch the baby earlier than in Kate's timeline.

She cast him a small, sad smile, then went into the kitchen. Cole grabbed his book from the table and settled in to read, keeping one eye on the happy infant in his playpen. It seemed impossible that the bright-eyed little boy could ever turn evil, but Cole of all the family knew that everyone had the potential to change moralities with the right trigger.

After all, Cole himself had changed from evil to good, so who was to say Wyatt couldn't do the opposite?