Pure white mist obscured the hooded assembly of the Council who reconvened yet again to attest that the Charmed Ones were following the same path to a much needed destination.

Some had never thought the day would come when they would have hope to see the Kingdom of Camelot rise once again, while others were worried about what would happen if history were to repeat itself. Arthur had been a great King; a soul that was rarely reincarnated and carried great value. Though his accomplishments could outshine most others, so could the tragedies and betrayals that he suffered. Camelot had fallen once, and they were worried it would happen again.

Among the council were a select few; Elders, Angels of Destiny and Cupids, the Cleaners, and making a rare appearance were the Finders. Only the most trusted of each group were charged with watching over the Charmed ones and their lineage in hopes of protecting them from any close by who would use their position to do them harm.

Phoebe rocked her son, tired and overwhelmed by parenthood. Her sisters provided some much needed help, either babysitting him when she needed to go to work or picking up his feedings, but still the absence of his father was felt every second of every day.

The fears; the anxiety that came with raising a child who would not only grow into his wiccan powers but possibly demonic ones as well was a constant visitor in her mind. Part of her wanted to argue that since Cole had been stripped of his demon half and DNA that her son could not have inherited any of the Source's powers. The other part of her knew that the Source's possession of her soul mate had been so strong that he had been able to use Cole's body to control those powers so there was a very real possibility that Coleman could inherit them since she had become pregnant during that time.

Even to this day, they were doing everything possible to make sure that her son would be good. Tomorrow would be his Wiccaning and the entire Halliwell-Warren line would be there to grant him grace and swear allegiance to protect him from the temptation of evil. All she could do was hope that their family love and magic was enough to protect Cole. He was all she had left.

Piper had said she was just going out food shopping, and hoped that her ability to cover her tracks were better than Phoebe's; her sister never could tell a lie—convincingly. Truth was, her husband and sisters had been busy trying to convince her that going to a Doctor was too risky. Still, she knew not going to a doctor could be worse for her baby and if push came to shove they could use a little magic to smooth things over.

Sitting in the waiting room, Piper thumbed through a home and garden magazine as she waited patiently for her name to be called. Looking around, she saw all of the other pregnant women and was instantly jealous; they had their husbands or partners there, supportively holding their hands and giddy with excitement. Rubbing a hand over her belly, she wished her sisters and husband could have managed to do the same for her but it became increasingly clear as her pregnancy advanced that Piper was fading into the background. They all had ideas over how she should do things but none of them seemed to think that her opinion—you know, as the mother—seemed to matter.

"Piper Halliwell," a nurse called and escorted her to an examining room. "How are you today?"

"Good. The nausea is finally passed and I'm not as tired as I was during the first semester."

"Now, you're about twenty-two weeks along, correct," the nurse asked.

"Yes."

"And have you seen us before today?"

"No," Piper admitted. "My family is really gung ho about having a home birth and I've been seeing a midwife. Recently I've been thinking it would be a good idea to be seen by a doctor."

Nodding, the nurse took Piper's height and weight as well as blood pressure and jotted some notes in her file and left it on the desk. "Well, we're glad to be seeing you. Dr. Rowland will be in to see you soon and to do a sonogram. You can take a seat over here. You won't need to undress for the sonogram or anything. She'll be right with you."

Piper hoisted herself on the exam table and waited for her doctor, glad to be seeing a woman. She had changed doctors after Phoebe's unborn child had nearly killed her previous one.

Walking in, the doctor was a young woman in her mid twenties with wavy dark hair and hazel eyes. "You must be Piper. I'm going to start with a sonogram to check on the development of the fetus. I just need you to roll up your shirt and we'll get started." Taking out a bottle, she squeezed gel on Piper's belly and took out the sonogram wand. "Now, the nurse tells me this is your first sonogram. Is there any particular reason why you haven't seen a doctor before now?"

Piper gave a small smile. "My family has been pushing me to see a midwife. They're all very new age."

"Most midwifes work alongside doctors," Dr. Rowland said. "At the very least they recommend sonograms during the course of treatment. Have you had any blood work done or other tests done to make sure that the baby is on track?"

"No," she said worried. "Could something be wrong with my baby?"

"We always try to safeguard a pregnancy against any potentially bad news," the Doctor said. "Looking at your sonogram I would say everything is alright with your baby. Would you like to know the sex?"

"Um, sure."

"You're having a bouncing baby boy," she said and printed up some pictures before turning the machine off. "Now we have to talk about you."

"What do you mean," Piper asked.

"During your exam with the nurse it was observed that you're blood pressure was above the normal range. Now, this puts you at risk for some different factors. The one I'm worried about is called Toxemia or you might have heard it called pre-eclampsia. I'm going to recommend a low sodium diet and reduced activity."

"What does reduced activity mean?"

"Well, you can still get up and go out but you need to avoid any stressful or anxiety causing activities to maintain a normal blood pressure. Also, you're going to need to be monitored so we'll continue to make bi-weekly appointments to make sure nothing changes. Now, if you don't have a blood pressure cuff at home then I'm going to recommend you buy one. They're easy enough to find and most drug stores sell them in the pharmacy aisle. You can check it in the mornings and before you go to bed and if you notice it staying elevated I want you to call me."

"Okay. What do I need to know to watch out for Toxemia?"

"There are warning signs that you will want to look out for; swollen feet and ankles, blurry vision or dizziness, as well as vomiting. If you start experiencing any of these you need to come in to see me, okay?"

"Alright," Piper agreed and allowed the Doctor to escort her to the reception desk to make another appointment.

"Piper, where have you been," Paige asked and noticed her sister didn't have any groceries with her. "What happened to going food shopping?"

"I lied," she said out right. "I went to go see a doctor."

"As in an obstetrician? What were you thinking; you could have gotten us exposed!"

"Last time I checked this wasn't your pregnancy," Piper said. "If I want to go to a doctor that's my choice."

"What did Leo say about all this," the youngest said; her panties still in a bunch.

"He didn't say anything because he doesn't know."

"And what—"

"Considering this is none of your business," Piper said, "I really don't feel like justifying my actions to you," and took her bags to her room, passing Phoebe on her way up.

"What's up with all of the yelling," Phoebe asked.

"Your sister went to see and OB/GYN," Paige responded and the two ran up the stairs to catch up to their older sister. When they caught up to her Piper was emptying the nursery of the bed sheets and decorations they had hung on the wall.

"Oh, my god. Is something wrong with the baby," Phoebe asked.

"As a matter of fact there is which I wouldn't have known if I didn't go to a doctor."

"There's nothing wrong with using Eva," Paige said. "You're probably stressed for no reason. There's no reason for us to see a medical doctor."

Piper turned and stared down her sister. "That's right. There's no reason for us to see a doctor because last time I checked you weren't pregnant or apart of this parenting team. You guys might think you've been doing me some big favor by telling me how to do things but at the end of the day my pregnancy is not about you. I have to make the decisions and you need to butt out," she yelled.

"Piper—"

"Don't 'Piper' me. This is the end of the discussion so whether you mind or not you need to get out of my room," she said ushering her sisters out and slamming the door in their faces.

Leo climbed the stairs after almost tearing his ears off at his sisters-in law rage induced rant. Entering the master bedroom, he saw Piper napping and looked around the room only to notice that Phoebe and Paige were right about the nursery being torn apart.

Sitting beside his wife, he rubbed a hand up and down her arm until she woke up. "What's going on Piper? I heard you went to go see a mortal doctor today. Is everything okay?"

Sitting up, Piper sighed. "No, Leo, everything is not alright. Everyone in this house seems to think that they make all of the choices about this pregnancy but I'm the only one who is pregnant with this child. I'm tired of being ignored and treated as if I'm just an incubator. We may be the Charmed ones but we are not co-parenting this baby with my sisters."

"Why haven't you mentioned feeling like this?"

"I've tried, Leo. No one has been bothering to listen, not even you."

"We're just worried about the baby. She's half whitelighter and we don't know what that means for her delivery. No one wants magic to be exposed."

"Well if that quack of a midwife knew anything she would have been able to tell us that this very special little girl we were preparing for is really a boy," Piper said.

"A boy? I'm going to have a son," Leo smirked.

"A bouncing baby boy who would have been a very big surprise in four months had I not went to see a real doctor. A doctor, by the way, who knows enough to realize that my blood pressure is high and puts me at risk for pre-eclampsia."

"I'm surprised Eva didn't catch that during your checkups," Leo said. "And blood pressure is a state of mind; I can't heal you if that's the case."

"And that's why I am now on a low sodium diet and need to be in a stress free environment."

Leo grimaced. "But how am I going to keep your sisters away from you for four months?"

Piper laughed and held his hand. "I need you to support me, Leo. I feel bad because I've already gone at Paige twice today but it needs to be you and me making these decisions."

"What are we going to if the baby is born in swaddling orbs?"

"We can cast an anti-orbing spell in the labor room for all I care. I can't risk my life or this baby's life because of exposure. Unless one of the Elders wants to come down and deliver this baby so we can be sure there's heavy duty healing power, I need to have this baby in a hospital."

Nodding, Leo pulled her in for a hug. "I support you, and I'll even take care of your sisters, but what are we going to do with all of this baby stuff we're not going to use?"

"I'll exchange it all tomorrow," Piper said. "Now that we know we're having a boy we need to come up with a better name than Prudence Melinda."