Kindred Sisters
Kinship. Love. Trust. Magic. Paige learns that some bonds can transcend anything. Can someone who she has never known show her? And will she accept the help she needs in return? All four sisters.
A/N: Hi, this is the story Ive had in my head since I was halfway through Problem Paige. Anyway,it flicks between the time periods of end of Season1 and Season 4 (During the time Paige was suspicious of Cole) and which I will refer to as the present.It will all make sense,I promise...As alwaysfeedback is much appreciated :) and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own Charmed, never have, never will...
Chapter 1: Deja Prue All Over Again
Year 1999
THE WHOLE SKY cast a veil of grey over the green haven, a rare place of tranquillity in the sprawling metropolis that was San Francisco. The heavy air seemed to respect a heart of sadness; it unknowingly provided her with comfort, the outer stillness tempering the whirling that was inside. Clouds hung low, coating everything in a fine mist, everything except for the solitary figure taking refuge on the wooden bench. Crouched on one end, the small figure wrapped her arms protectively around her knees hugging them tightly, a careless onlooker would do a double-take so small and child-like was the posture. It was pure frailty for all to see.
Raven hair fell right across her face. It was still holding onto dampness as it hung in loose waves, revelling in the chance to rebel against its usual poker straightness. Although the rain had stopped hours ago, the drops of water that had spattered and run down her face had been replaced by salty ones that leaked freely from her eyes, running everywhere. Dripping off of the end of her nose, they coated her hands from when she had attempted to stem the flow, she could taste them on her lip, feel them on her chin and watched them soak into her clothes as they continued to fall.
Prue Halliwell had finally let herself cry.
The grieving little girl had finally broken through the armour of the grown woman who to all around her so strong and so brave. She was finding out the hard way that this is what happened every time you loved someone, that you would eventually lose them.
Her whole life was testament to the inevitability of this statement.
The crisp air slapped her face sharply. She wasn't sure if it was that making her shiver or the replaying of the memory that just wouldn't go away. She had kneeled over his still, lifeless body, whilst the tornado of raging emotion was numbed by sheer reality of the fact that Andy was dead. She had savoured the last touch of his gentle lips on hers as much as her mind played the moment over again. The pretty white rose that she had placed on top of the hard polished coffin was both too little and too much. She knew that the single bloom could never convey the depth of her love for him, but when the delicate flower was swallowed by the ground and suffocated in dark brown earth, it was too much to bear that this tangible representation of their love would be buried along with him. She wondered where the hell was all her love supposed to go. For now, it remained within as a hurt, a constant pain in her stomach radiating through each of her limbs, the fact that it had no escape left a terrible aching behind.
Piper had been at her side every moment since. Hundreds of cups of sugary sweet tea sat cold and untouched on every flat surface of the Manor. Although she had sat on the sofa, on the love seat, at the dining table, in the conservatory no matter how much she sat still in thought, or restlessly moved, everything had still been the same. Still and quiet she couldn't bring herself to talk about it even when faced with two pairs of worried brown eyes that stared at her in concern. She sought solace in the quiet dimness of the attic; surely the Book of Shadows had a solution or some way to bring him back? Well, she would have done had she not collapsed over the magical book with exhaustion long-lost sleep taking over her body. It was only when she was woken by Piper, to find the day gone dark, had she allowed herself to give up, only in such a sleepy state did stubbornness seem to lower its guard. It was lowered so much that she didn't protest when Piper and Phoebe crawled into bed at each side of her, whispering in her ear, clutching her hands and stroking her hair.
"It's okay to cry Prue" Phoebe's incessant sympathy was driving her crazy. She knew that it was only because her baby sister cared, but what use were words? What use was comfort? It made no difference. They couldn't bring him back, nothing could.
Prue had remained tearless. She had to, she was the strong one. She couldn't fall apart it would leave them all vulnerable. She'd made that promise a long time ago...
---
The bundle of blankets whimpered softly and as Prue and Piper let go of Grams and crept up towards their mother who rocked softly in the wooden chair.
"Girls, this is Phoebe, your baby sister." Patty beamed, and she radiated happiness even though her dark hair was still sweat-soaked and her pale face worn. Prue stood on hertip-toes, peeking through a dark fringe at the fresh pink face that poked out from its wrapping, a shot of chocolate coloured hair wispily covering the smooth baby head. The tiny child opened her baby-grey eyes widely, blinking up and letting out a gurgle.
Piper toddled up to her big sister's side and sighed in confusion, "Me is da baba-sista shtill?" Patty chuckled softly, shifting her newborn slightly, to affectionately pull on her now middle daughter's soft brown pigtail.
"No, baby, you're a big sister now" Patty said seriously, "Remember Piper? Just like Prue…"
"Like Pwue" And three-year-old Piper seemed satisfied with this answer and her new responsibility, "Hold, Mommy?" She asked stretching out chubby toddler arms expectantly in front of her.
Once little Piper had climbed onto a chair, her mother placed the baby Phoebe carefully in her lap making sure she clutched her newest daughter in the proper way. Prue looked on silently, before Patty interrupted her. She patted her knee and allowed Prue to sit on her lap, the raven haired five-year-old snuggled into the warmth of her mother who placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"My darling Prudence" Patty whispered, "You're a big sister again, now, my eldest baby. Do you know that being the eldest is a very important job?"
Prue nodded with all her five-year-old might.
"Well, then you know that big sisters help their little sisters, they look out for them, they cuddle them and help to keep them safe and because of that, big sisters are very, very special. Prue sweetheart, you think you can be a good big sister to Piper and Phoebe?"
Prue looked at her two baby sisters huddled together. Piper's pigtails dangled over her lap as she placed a sweet kiss on baby Phoebe's forehead.
"I Promise Mommy"
It was a promise that she had kept to this day and it was one she was terrified of being unable to keep.
---
Her normally clear blue eyes were clouded with emotions, each one trying to fight for prominence. She wrestled with rage that took on a life of it's own inside her; surrendered to numbness when it froze her body to stony stillness, recoiled as guilt poured into the gaping void Andy had left behind; she quivered with fear as she imagined losing anyone else, Piper and Phoebe, her family, she couldn't let that happen.
Prue would fight the whole world and its army in a bid to keep anyone she loved safe but she hadfailed. Failed someone that she loved and it repulsed her it was eating away at her very core absorbing all of her bravado, strength and gusto. What was the point in being powerful if you couldn't save those that you loved the most.
Magic got her into this mess, taking over her normal life and ruining it in the process.
She didn't want to do it anymore.
Screw this Charmed life, her magical destiny was over, it had been over ever since Andy's last breath had floated from warm breath into cold air. What was the use in having to power to protect the innocents when she couldn't protect anyone from the greatest demon of all: death, it was still out there claiming people. And she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
She hated to be helpless.
Lost in her torturous thought, Prue was oblivious to the figure that appeared out of the air at her side.
Present
"I'm sorry I don't trust him"
As soon as the confession left her lips Paige felt every last one of the daggers that sprang from Phoebe's withering glare as painfully as if real knives were piercing her skin. The look of contempt in her dark eyes gave way as a flush of hurt crept into her big sister's face causing a jolt of pain to wash through the youngest Charmed One.
"So am I" Phoebe uttered out into the air, before she turned on her heel, swinging her dark locks over her shoulder and strode out of without looking back.
"Why can't you be happy for her Paige?" Piper muttered quietly, throwing an unsympathetic glare at her little sister and she too crossed the club following the path that Phoebe had cut through the crowded club seconds earlier.
Even though Paige was surrounded by people, she had never felt so alone. She'd found it hard to get used to being a sister but now, Piper and Phoebe were her family, her friends, her shoulders to cry on, her clowns to laugh at and the critics that kept Paige's inner child in check. Of course, she thought to herself, I was going to screw it up at some point. She had just had to let her suspicions of Cole get the better of her. The blunt honesty that caused all her problems had slipped over her lips again. It was only because she cared about Phoebe, but the hurt that had crossed her sister's face was real and the fact that she was the cause made guilt crawl all over her skin.
What was she supposed to do now?
---
PIPER HUMMED ALONG to the radio, dancing between the stove where her breakfast pancakes were browning to perfection. As the music got more upbeat she twirled around to the sideboard flicking on the coffee pot getting through her kitchen chores with remarkable style. Phoebe emerged in the doorway and stood silently, smiling at the sight of her big sister getting her groove on in the kitchen.
"Wow, 7am and you're already busting a move" Phoebe grinned. "Someone's a little cheerful this morning…"
"Well I've got good reason"
"Whoa, say no more, I think I got it" Phoebe's eyebrows quirked as she shot a devilish look at her older sister.
"Get your mind out of that gutter Pheebs" Piper rolled her eyes but failed to disguise a pink blush which crept on her cheeks. Phoebe giggled.
"Good for you, sister and" She pulled a face "…Leo, I guess." She sighed happily. It was a well known fact that Halliwell women went through the mill when it came to love and finally they were getting some happiness between them. Phoebe knew that Leo made Piper so, so happy. It was even better that Phoebe has had a fair share of her own happiness recently, with the man whohad invaded her thoughtfrom the very firstsecond she met him. Cole. She was going to live the fairytale, and nothing was going to get in the way.
"Morning Paige" Piper said without hostility but in a cheerless tone which hid nothing of her feelings as her youngest sister crept into the kitchen. Paige let out the breath she'd been holding when Piper smiled up at her, albeit weakly she headed to her place at the table before the scraping of Phoebe's chair on the floor caught her attention.
"I'm not hungry" Phoebe muttered flatly, pushing forcefully away from the table and standing up avoiding Paige's eye.
"Pheebs, I…" Paige began.
"Phoebe" Piper started, anxious to diffuse this argument before it did any real damage.
"NO!" Phoebe yelled, her dark eyes were flashing dangerously, as she lowered her voice to a whisper that was much more venomous than her raised voice, and "If she can't trust Cole, then I don't think she can't trust me…" As her big sister blinked her eyelids erased all her anger, leaving an empty coating of unshed tears behind that transparently revealed fresh pain. Phoebe's body succumbed to it. Her arms fell heavily by her sides and she slowly walked away and she didn't have to storm, the ache Paige knew she had caused grew more acute with every step that she saw Phoebe take. Through the silence, Piper flashed a guilty look at her younger sister before hurrying after Phoebe.
"…I'm sorry" Paige's apology had faltered. She pulled her arms closely around her as she swallowed hard against the emotion that swelled into her throat, tightening its hold on her breath so it escaped in a whimper. Not since she had lost her parents had she felt so alone. Paige had the kind of independent streak that almost twenty-five years as an only child would instil in anyone, but once she had found her family: her sisters, Piper and Phoebe and despite the odd miscast spell and botched potion a had found a love, a home and a bond that she never was missing.
Now she had screwed it up. Phoebe would hate her forever…and probably Piper too; she could feel a big hole growing inside her swallowing up all her organs. Why couldn't she do anything right? Why didn't Phoebe realise that Paige just wanted to protect her? Paige would do anything for her sisters, just as they would have done anything for her…she shuddered at her past tense. At times like this she often thought of Prue, the sister she had never met, fate and his cruel hand had seen to that…but as she had heard, the eldest Halliwell had been the strongest and the greatest, she would be able to fix this Paige thought of the famous raven hair and clear blue eyes that she had only seen in flat pictures, her imagination and her dreams. As much as Piper and Phoebe missed their oldest sister, little did they know it was as much as their baby sister had longed to meet her.
Her sisters. The most important thing in her whole world to her. Everything faded and one thought was left in her mind.
She had to fix this.
---
THE ATTICWAS only lit by a single candle. She knew that after today they wouldn't bother to find her, but all the same, she couldn't risk being disturbed. Paige found that the dim light fitted her mood and the eerie shadows, somehow were good company, well, at least she didn't feel so alone.
Paige stood before the famous book, with her spell finished it had taken long enough; finding that the concentration had given her fuzzy vision. She lit three more candles around herself; she wasdetermined to make it right.
She sucked in a deep breath and pushed her dark hair of her face. Here goes. Paige drew her blood and let it drip onto the circle she had drawn on the floor.
"My bloodlike yours... Your bloodlike mine... Take me back to the moment in time, where I can heal my sisterly crime...Ancient powers heed my call; send me there to fix it all"
And it was working… her insides swirled, and there was whirling and dizziness. Then the cold, hard wet hit all her limbs as she landed in a heap on the ground.
If you got this far, hope you liked...Please review, its the only way I know if you want it to carry on...or to stop hehe :)