Prue – 7

Piper – 5

Phoebe – 1(almost 2)

"Happy birthday to Prue! Happy birthday to Prue! Wake up it's your birthday! Happy birthday to Prue!" Piper laid on the bed next to Prue with her button nose pressed up against her sisters, whispering in a singsong voice the Happy Birthday Rhyme. She was not only excited because it was her big sisters birthday, but today was the birthday party, and Piper was going to be like one of the big girls and get to do everything they did. She had worked extra hard on her jump rope and hula-hoop skills so that she'd have a chance at a prize. Thinking of more ways to wake her big sister up, Piper noticed a tiny face peek around the corner of the door, Phoebe was awake. Pulling her baby sister up onto the bed she gently placed Phoebe on top of Prue and touched noses with her again, seeing if she would wake up soon.

Unbeknownst to Piper, Prue had woken up during the song she'd been singing. Keeping her eyes shut, she wanted to wait for just the right moment to surprise Piper. As soon as she felt the weight of Phoebe added to her, she knew it had to be soon. Sneakily without warning, Prue shot her eyes open and licked Pipers nose. Piper let out a screech and jumped back off the bed, while Phoebe applauded the scene; which she believed was there to amuse her. Prue pulled Phoebe onto the bed and tickled her, until the baby was squealing with joy.

Piper wiped the cooties off her nose and jumped on the bed to tackle Prue. The three sisters, though sometimes at odds with each other, could always be counted on to love one another. Soon after they'd finished wrestling around the three girls headed downstairs and smelled the sweet aroma of pancakes, eggs and croissants floating through the hall to guide them over to the table. Prue got her birthday kisses and hugs from her Mother and Grams and sat down to eat. Phoebe had already been set in her high chair in front of a large stack of pancakes. After everyone had said happy birthday, they began to eat. Penny and Patty neatly ate their small stacks, while Piper and Prue giggled about school while eating their breakfast. Perhaps the most comical of all was Phoebe, determined to get all of the pancakes into her mouth at once, and failing miserably.

"Phoebe baby, look at the nice pieces Mama cut up for you." Patty hoped that her daughter would slow down, but knew that she wasn't likely to slow down until Patty made her. "Okay Phoebe, Mama's going to feed you now."

Seeing the plate of pancakes taken away from her Phoebe frowned. She wanted to eat her "tancakes" like a big girl. "Mama, Phee tancake! No! Mama, Phee Tancake! For PHEE!"

Prue and Piper ignored the scene their sister was making, they were used to it and wanted to finish their breakfast so they could get dressed up for the party. Prue was the first one to reach the closet, and pulled out her favorite red party dress. It had a little pattern of birds on the short sleeved white blouse and the pattern repeated across the front of the dress that was about knee length. Piper wanted to be just like Prue, so she pulled out a red dress of her own. It was a long sleeved dress that was short and in style without a waist line. Prue combed her hair and Pipers, then the two joined hands and walked down the stairs to show off their pretty dresses. They hurried along, figuring that the faster they went, the sooner the party would be.

"Oh my beautiful girls, you look stunning in those dresses, whoever could have bought them for you?" Penny chuckled.

"Is it time yet?" Piper whispered. She didn't want Prue to hear her, but was hoping that it was family present time so that she could get the present she'd made in kindergarten.

Leaning down to Piper's level, Grams whispered, "Almost, why don't you go get your present ready to give to Prue."

"Okay!" Piper grinned and hurdled up the stairs and crawled under her bed to find the piece of construction paper she'd decorated for Prue's birthday. Pulling it out she admired it lovingly, brushing a little bit of dust off of a corner, and made sure that it was still as special as when she'd made it earlier in the week.

"Phoebe, are you done with your pancakes, baby?" Patty smiled at the 2 year old, who seemed to manage to get more pancakes on top of her head than inside her belly. Reaching down she picked Phoebe up and carried her upstairs; she needed a bath. "I'll just be a minute, Phoebe needs a bath and then we'll get to the presents, girls!"

Prue sat on the couch and swung her legs back and forth, scratching at her tights every so often; they weren't the most comfortable thing to wear, especially when one was waiting for presents. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine what kind of presents she'd get. Then began humming to herself, "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…"

"Mama look! Mama! Phee make spash!" And with that there was water all over the bathroom floor. Phoebe was so proud of herself that she went to do it again when Patty held onto her arms and quickly finished the bath. As she was being gently toweled off, Phoebe continued chanting, "Spashy, spashy, spashy, water!"

Dressing Phoebe in a yellow jumper, she carried the now clean baby down the stairs to where Prue, Piper and Grams were waiting. Grams had already put the blindfold on Prue, and Patty quickly helped get the presents set up around her. Piper was in charge of holding onto Phoebe as the presents were put on display in front of Prue. For Phoebe, this was an irresistible moment, she saw so many new things that she "had to have".

"Alright Prue, let's see what you got!" Patty said as she carefully removed the blindfold from Prue's eyes. In front of her there were a couple of little wooden horses, a new doll and several items of clothing. Prue wasn't sure where to look first, there was so much.

"Prue! Prue! Look at mine first! I made it for you all by myself in kindergarten!" Piper called out as she handed Prue the piece of red paper with the name "PRUE" printed in glue, and glitter. There were some other glittery clumps and stickers on it and Prue smiled and hugged her sister, then went on to her other presents. Piper beamed and squeaked to Grams, "She liked it!"

"Mom I love all my presents! Is it time for the party now?" Prue hoped that enough time had passed while she was looking at her presents so that her party would follow. She loved parties, especially when they were for her birthday.

"You party is in a couple hours sweetie, why don't you and Piper go play with your new doll?" Patty suggested; she knew she needed to get Prue out of the room so they could set up the decorations. Pulling Phoebe away from the bright shiny gifts, Patty put her into the playpen and gave her the doll she'd gotten for Christmas. As they hung the banners and streamers around the house, it began to look very festive. Being the bottomless pit that she was, Phoebe held onto her bottle tightly in one hand and drank until she fell asleep, curled up in a pretzel-like position.

As the two grown women hung the decorations, Patty glanced down at her baby in her playpen. She sighed softly, "Prue was that small once…" she continued staring at the sleeping baby.

"You too, were that small once you know. Kids grow up Patty and the sooner the better if you ask me." Grams couldn't help adding her two cents in, whether it was requested or not. She knew that they were going to be headed for a special destiny and they needed to learn about their powers at some point. The sooner they grew up, the sooner she'd be able to train them.

"You say that now Mom, but when Phoebe is Prue's age you'll wish she was a baby again too." She knew that while her mother was a strict woman, she also dearly loved her grandchildren and would miss the days when pulling one into her lap came easy. They both would. As she finished her sentence, and pulled up the last streamer she saw two big brown eyes looking up at her lovingly. There was a shy giggle and a sigh attached to the eyes, with a pair of rosy red cheeks puffed out by a grin. "Hi baby."

The toddler sighed again and reached her arms up to her Mother, who still remained perched on top of the ladder. "Hi Mama."

Looking over her shoulder as her mother watched with a chuckle, Patty climbed down the ladder and picked up the tiny girl. "Did you have a nice nap Phoebe?"

"No nap!" Phoebe chanted. She was occasionally a bit testy when she woke up from her naps, especially when there were bright colorful things to look at. "No nap, no nap, no nap!"

"But baby, you just had a nap." Patty smiled and tickled Phoebe's belly. The near two year old laughed and conceded to her mother's logic. She couldn't recall taking a nap, but accepted that this meant she wouldn't have to take one again for awhile. "Should we go get your sisters for Prue's party? Hmm?"

"Party!" Phoebe said, smiling. She was going to a party. Just as Patty and Phoebe walked over to the staircase the doorbell rang.

"Prue, Piper, the guests are here!" Patty shouted up to them. She opened the door and smiled and the adorable little boy standing in front of her in his cowboy hat and boots. He had a pair of nice pants with a freshly ironed sweater and the hat and boots clashed with the outfit he had on. "Hello Andy."

"Hello ma'am, thanks for inviting me to the party." He said politely, checking with his dad every couple seconds to make sure he'd said his line correctly. "Can I go play with Prue now?"

"May I…" his father started.

"MAY I go play with…" Andy began as Prue ran down the stairs, "Prue! Is anyone else here yet?"

Patty watched as Prue and Andy took off for the sunroom with Piper running close behind them. Phoebe struggled in her arms, trying to break free of the tight grip Patty had on her. "Too! Too!" she cried.

"No Phoebe, we have to greet guests. Won't that be fun?" Patty asked her baby daughter who was still wiggling her body around. "Phoebe needs to help Mama right now while Piper and Prue play with Andy."

"No play?" she asked with a frown on her face. Trying to remember the past hour was difficult for someone who was not yet two years old so she thought for a few seconds before stating, "Took a nap! Go play!"

Penny could see that her youngest granddaughter was about to have a fit and she rescued Patty by gathering Phoebe in her arms and taking her into the kitchen to check on the party snacks. This seemed to be an important job and kept Phoebe's attention just long enough for the other guests to arrive.

There were 8 children running around in the house, plus Piper who ran after them, loving the idea of being one of the big kids at the party. Then there was Phoebe who constantly attempted to chase them down, but her little legs just couldn't keep up very often. When it was time for presents and cake, Piper was the first one in the house. She wondered what toys her older sister would get, knowing that if Prue didn't like them she would most likely get to play with them. Even if Prue did like them she'd probably get to play with them. Sharing could be a lot of fun.

"Okay Prue, why don't you go ahead and open your first present, sweetie." Her mother suggested. She now had Phoebe in her arms and was bouncing her knees up and down to keep Phoebe entertained. She had never been very good at sitting still for long periods of time.

The first present was carefully unwrapped and Piper watched, holding her breath, as the pretty paper with the bright pink and green flowers was peeled from the gift. Inside was a little white box. Prue opened it hurriedly; one could only be so patient when presents were involved. Inside were 2 different Smurfs and Prue was stunned and delighted all at once. She had wished for Smurfs for forever. Piper was just as happy and hoped her sister would remember that sharing was important. "Thank you Carrie!" Prue squealed, as she moved onto the next present and Grams wrote down the present on a list.

The next three presents were equally exciting, a Skipper Doll, a Diary, and Roller Skates from the twins. There were only two more presents left and one of them was from Andy. Andy was Prue's best friend, but she knew he probably wasn't going to get her what she wanted. She slowly unwrapped the present from her friend Danielle, giving Andy a smile and sticking her tongue out at him. She knew that saving his present for last was torturing him and she loved doing it. Danielle had given her a coloring book and crayons, plus a kazoo for Piper. Prue smiled and thanked her friend, then said, "Well does anyone else have presents for me?"

Andy got up in a huff and marched over to where his present was sitting, handing it to her. He knew she was teasing him; but it was hard enough being the only boy around a whole bunch of girls that may or may not have cooties, much less have to be the last person to get their present opened! "Here Prue, you better like it!" he paused, seeing the stern look his father was giving him, "I mean, I HOPE you like it."

Prue opened this present much differently, tearing through the paper that wrapped it and ripping the top off the box. Inside was a little red purse that had a little yellow clasp on the front. She was so surprised that she didn't know what to say. It took some prodding from Grams before she finally picked her jaw up from off the floor and said, "This is the best thing you ever got me!"

"Yah, well…" he started, bashfully. Then changed his entire demeanor and said, "So when's cake?"

The little girls started asking the same question and Patty looked over at Penny who was picking up wrapping paper. They always saved the old paper, but never seemed to reuse it; it just lived in a box in the attic. Penny saw that her once excited and out of control granddaughter had now fallen asleep in her mothers arms and nodded her head saying, "Prue, Piper, why don't you show your guests to the dinning room."

There was no need for pause as the 9 children ran into the dinning room and took their seats, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the cake. Penny chuckled and held out her arms to Patty, offering to take the littlest one to bed while Patty got the cake ready for wishing.

"Thanks mom," Patty accepted, "I guess the presents were just too much for her."

Patty walked into the kitchen and took out the box of birthday candles. She placed 7 of them neatly on the cake and 1, to grow on, in the center of the cake. She poked her head into the dinning room and saw Inspector Trudeau sitting there, calmly watching the excited kids try and guess what kind of cake it would be. She flipped off the lights in the dinning room and began doing the match search. She could never find a box of matches when she needed one. She looked in the least logical place first, the place where match boxes belonged, and was surprised to find a fresh one sitting there.

"PATTY!" she heard her name being called from the stairs and heard someone rushing down them. Dropping the book of matches back in the bowl she ran out of the kitchen and through the dinning room, leaving a group of stunned children and Inspector Trudeau, wondering what was happening, in the dinning room. "PATTY! Quickly!"

"Mom, what is it?" she cried, rushing up to her mother who looked panicked. It couldn't be a demon; her mother was much calmer in demonic situations.

"It's Phoebe." Penny said, holding the baby in a blanket. "She doesn't look well darling. I think we need to send everyone home right now."

"What? Mother, she was fine a minute ago." Patty replied, pulling Phoebe away from Penny's grip. The once smiling face was now drained of all color, a pout sat on her face. Patty's heart skipped a beat when she moved the child and felt her body go limp. "Oh no, oh, what do we do? Mother we have to get her to a hospital, but I can't do this to Prue."

"Leave it to me darling," she reassured her daughter. "Let Prue have her party, I'll ask James if he can drive us to the hospital, you go now and get Prue's cake ready, alright?"

Patty couldn't keep her mind off of Phoebe, and she knew Prue was wondering where Grams and Andy's father had gone. Trying to pick up where she'd left off wasn't easy, but she got all the candle's lit and brought the cake into where the slightly more cranky children were waiting. They sang Prue her happy birthday song, but Patty sang with less enthusiasm then usual, and then after the wish was made she served it to the eager recipients. This was the main event of the party for them.

Prue looked up from her half eaten piece of cake and saw how distraught her mother was. She felt like there was a rock sitting in her stomach where the cake should have been and tried not to let the tears fall down her once rosy cheeks. Taking a couple more bites, she pushed the vanilla cake with chocolate icing away. The decorative icing rose sat untouched by the little girl who had been 'saving the best for last'.

"Don't you want your rose Prue?" Piper asked with her mouth full of cake. A small piece flew out of her mouth across the table and Piper giggled, covering her mouth with her napkin so that no more cake could escape.

"Ew! Piper that's gross!" the older guests said.

"It was an accident!" Piper stated clearly. She knew that other people had done things like that before too when they talked with their mouths full and it had only been accidental. "Can I have your rose Prue? Please?"

Prue sat embarrassed and sad that her party had gone from tons of fun to strange interruptions and pushed her plate over to her sister. "If you want it,"

Patty was relieved when the parents showed up to pick up their children a few minutes later and Prue stood sullenly at the doorway, handing out the party favor bags to each of her friends. When the last person had left, Patty went into the dinning room and did a quick cleanup before returning to where the three children sat, stuffed, sleepy and sulking. "Kids, we're going to take a little trip so we can meet Andy's father and your Grams, anyone who needs to go should go now." She said.

When nobody moved she reiterated, "Piper and Prue, go on upstairs and try to go, Andy we have a bathroom downstairs, why don't you go ahead in there."

When all the kids were in the car Patty sped off towards the hospital. It was not until they rounded the corner and reached the entrance that Prue realized where they were going. Piper had fallen asleep almost as soon as they'd gotten in the car, and Andy was trying to amuse himself with the toy gun he'd brought with him. "Mommy, why are we here?" she asked.

"Phoebe had to go to the doctor's, it's nothing to worry about," she lied. "Prue can you be my big helper and take care of Piper and Andy while I go look for your Grams?"

Prue pouted, but knew better then to argue with her mother. She didn't see why she should have to take care of Andy; he was a boy and he was older then her. She'd been to his birthday party. Still she sat in the waiting room with her little sister and best friend, looking at the other people, most who were at least 20 years her senior, and wondering if they had baby sisters that ruined their birthday parties too.

"Hello, my name is Patty Halliwell and I'm looking for my daughter." Patty rushed up to the counter. The woman sitting behind it was on the phone, but Patty didn't have the patience or presence of mind to wait for her to finish. She raised her voice slightly and said, "My daughter, Phoebe Halliwell, she's 23 months old and my mother brought her in, please tell me where she is!"

The woman, in a most frustrating manner, put her finger in the air to shush Patty. She wouldn't have any of that and took of down the hall, calling out for her mother and James Trudeau. Someone had to tell her what was going on. She needed to know if her baby was alright. "Mom? James? Mom?" she called.

"May I help you ma'am?" a resident stopped her in the hall. The woman at the desk hadn't even noticed that she'd entered an area she wasn't supposed to be in, she was so involved with the conversation.

"I'm looking for my daughter; my mother brought her in almost an hour ago." Patty sobbed, "She's only 23 months old and I'm afraid something is very wrong with her and THAT woman won't help me! Please just tell me where my daughter is!"

The intern put his arm around her in an effort to calm her down. He was short for a man, about her height, and had dark brown hair. His nametag said 'Dr. Levinson' and he felt a great deal of sympathy for the woman who he could tell was very worried about her daughter. "Ma'am I would love to help you out but I need to know a few things first. What is your daughter's name?" he tried not to sound condescending as he asked, but his training hadn't helped much.

"How many 23 month olds do you get in here?" Patty was exasperated.

"You'd be surprised, ma'am." He replied calmly.

"Her… her name is Phoebe, Phoebe Halliwell. She's a little under the growth curve but her pediatrician says that's okay and she's got the most beautiful big brown eyes." Patty cried into a Kleenex as Dr. Levinson nodded his head.

"It just so happens that I saw a beautiful 23 month old matching that exact description. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to her." He replied with a genuine concern for the young mother. It wouldn't be easy to explain to the woman, but he knew that sometimes letting mother's see their babies was a good way to allow them to calm down slightly before the news hit. "Now you'll need to prepare yourself."

"Oh my G-d." Patty whispered, stopping dead in her tracks. She hadn't even reached the room, just the words 'prepare yourself' made her lightheaded. "Prepare myself for what?"

"There are a lot of wires hooked up to Phoebe right now, but it's standard with cases like these." He paused, "I mean… it's perfectly normal when we monitor babies."

As they got to the room and saw Phoebe hooked up to a couple of different machines, Patty felt like her knees would fall out from under her. Penny spotted her and went out to hug her daughter. It was almost too much to handle. She didn't know for sure what was going on with her baby, but knew that something had to be seriously wrong. Inspector Trudeau came out a few seconds later and intercepted the three children who were running down the hall screaming different versions of the same 'hair pulling' incident at the top of their lungs. Andy continued with his explanation as his dad walked him away and out to their car, while Prue and Piper went silent when they saw their baby sister lying in a metal crib, hooked up to machines and things that made different sounds.

"Grams, what's all that for?" Piper asked in her best indoors voice. Grams took Piper and Prue's hands, but the eldest refused to leave.

"No, I want to know." Prue said indignantly. She held onto her mother's trembling hand and tried her best to comfort her.

"Me too." Piper said, as she grabbed Prue's hand. She didn't want to leave either of her sisters after such a nice day, but was feeling a little sleepy after running around with the big kids for so long, and after a couple minutes she pulled up a lap and settled in for a nap. Patty sat next to Prue, holding her hand still and waiting for the doctors to tell her what was wrong with her baby. The resident was too new and wasn't allowed to consult with the family so they were left sitting in the room for 20 minutes, waiting for answers.

"Mrs. Halliwell?" the doctor said as he approached the group. "I'm sorry for taking so long, we had a little bit of a mix-up here, I'm sorry about that."

"Mix-up?" she questioned in a tired voice. "What sort of mix-up?"

"Your daughter doesn't have meningitis." He said in a congratulatory tone. Judging by her reaction, he knew that he'd just given the poor woman information she didn't need to know. "It looks like your daughter got her hands on some children's vitamins. She's got Iron Poisoning."

"What?" Patty questioned. She knew better then to give Phoebe vitamins, and certainly so did everyone else in the house, didn't they?

Prue sat silently with her head down. In a nearly inaudible whisper she asked the doctor, "You mean the Flintstone kind?"

"Prue?" her mother asked, suddenly alarmed. The doctor, on the other hand, was very hopeful. If this had been the child to give the baby the vitamins then perhaps she'd know how many she'd taken. They had pumped the baby's stomach, but without knowing an accurate time frame or amount, things would be trickier.

"Shari gave her some. She called them candy and she was bugging everybody. You always say they're healthy for us so if she wanted to eat healthy stuff then how is that bad? Shari said her baby brother didn't eat them and I said that Phoebe thinks they're candy. I think she gave her 10, maybe 14. It was when you and Grams were talking to Mr. Trudeau." Prue sniffed out. She hadn't meant to hurt her baby sister, she just wanted her to be quiet and that seemed like the best way.

"It's alright baby, shh, shh, shh, it's alright." Patty said, comforting her daughter. "That must have been about 3 hours ago doctor."

"That's about what we figured." He replied. "We'll need to keep her here overnight, but she should be fine, it's a good thing you brought her in when you did."

"Thank you doctor." She said as the man walked out of the room. The four Halliwells sat in the chairs across from the baby. She was all of their baby in some way. To Grams she was her littlest granddaughter, the one who would complete the Power of Three. To Piper, she was her little sister; her chance to guide someone like Prue had guided her. To Patty she was the miracle baby; the one she thought would never be possible. To Prue, she was her baby, the one she would yell at and fight with, but never stop loving.