Power Surge

Later In The Evening

Piper had finished up in the kitchen with the dinner dishes and pre-washed some vegetables for the next night. She was concentrating so thoroughly on keeping herself busy that Piper barely heard the knock at the front door. "I hope that's not some magical creature needing any help right now. We have more than enough to deal with as is," Piper spoke aloud to herself. The knocking continued once more. 'Phoebe must be on whitelighter duty still' Piper thought; otherwise the sound of 'I'll get it!' would have shrieked through the manor. Phoebe always made herself known.

As Piper was coming through the swinging kitchen door, Leo was walking off the landing of the stairs to go to the door. "I got it, honey," Leo told her as he caught his wife out of the corner of his eye. He opened the door revealing Eve, Ava's assistant. "Hello, Eve. Thanks for coming by. Come in." Leo greeted her. "Hi, Eve," Piper said to her. "Hi, Piper. Last time I saw you I believe we were trying to get you accustomed for the big home birth and using the birthing ball," Eve reminisced. "Yeah, don't remind me. I promise you it won't ever happen again. I'm having this kid in a hospital this time around...and no one is going to change it," Piper retorted firm in her conviction. Eve smiled. She knew Piper was right. It was hard enough to bear a child as is, but they had done it for thousands of years prior.
"I'm here for the sick one to do a preliminary check on her. Where would Paige be at this time?" Eve asked. "The barker is upstairs in bed where she belongs at this point...and stubborn as ever," Piper added. "We're never quite the same while sick, Piper," Eve told her as she headed for the stairs. "Well, let's just say Paige has many more issues at the moment than just being sick," Leo stated. Piper instantly fixed him with a look. "Like what?" Eve asked in curiosity. Piper mouthed, "Dammit, Leo!" as she left the room to begin a new project.
"Uh, well Paige is also pregnant and she and her husband had a little disgruntlement going on lately," Leo answered hesitantly. "Oh, well the less stress the better for Paige, and the child. Let's go and check on her," Eve said. Leo nearly let out a heavy sigh of relief. He thought for sure the twenty questions and answer ceremony would begin, considering that he was dealing with a gypsy psyche major.
"I'll escort you to her room," Leo said. "Thank you," Eve replied. "She was asleep last time I checked but...." Leo was cut off immediately as they heard a loud coughing fit. "I think she's awake," Eve stated. Leo was grateful for Piper being downstairs because Eve had left herself wide open to a sarcastic attack.
Leo and Eve entered Paige's room as Paige was sitting up reaching for her spit bowl. As Paige was ready to eject the unwanted resident from her mouth she noticed her visitors, who had not knocked to come in. She motioned for them both to turn around and spat out a mouthful. "Okay, you can turn around now," Paige hoarsely stated. "Hi, Paige," Eve said sympathetically. "Hi, yourself, " Paige retorted. Eve knew Paige wasn't in a good mood. "Ava sent me over to check you over before she comes in the morning. So, I need your blood pressure, just a little bit of blood from you, and your temperature and a small amount of anything you might expectorate."
"No shortage on the last part," Paige told her. "Okay, well I'm going to leave you two and go downstairs to see what else Piper might be up to," Leo told them. Just then Peyton started to cry, followed by Garrett. "Change of plans," Leo said as he went into the nursery to check on the kids. "Paige, I brought a butterfly needle to make it easier to draw your blood since the cough is so bad. But first I'm going to check your blood pressure," Eve proceeded.

Downstairs

As Leo descended the staircase with his son and niece in either arm, Phoebe orbed into the dining room. "Hello? I'm back. Anyone there?" Phoebe queried. "Hey, how are my charges doing?" Leo asked as he saw her. "They're great. I just came from the Seattle area. The witch there with the power to bend light was in trouble. I had to heal her, but in order to do so I had to save her first."
"What did you do?" Leo asked. "Ever seen a pregnant whitelighter high-karate a demon to the ground?" Phoebe asked. "No; but you'd better be careful! You're almost nine months after all," Leo reminded her.
"Yeah, I know...." Phoebe sighed.
"So, what happened?" Leo knew she was dying to tell the rest of the story. "She used her power to somehow capture the light, from a headlight of a car, no less, and concentrated it into a powerful ultraviolet beam. The demon literally boiled and burned alive until vanquished. It was gross but what a cool power. I asked her if she needed anything else because I needed to get away before the smell got to me. Vanquished flesh is not pleasant to the nose of a pregnant woman if you get what I mean," Phoebe explained. "Understood," he replied. "Where's Piper?" she asked. "I really don't know...but would you mind taking Peyton here for a moment and holding her? These two have slept most of the afternoon away and didn't eat dinner, so I'm going to give them a snack."
"Sure, Leo; and if you see Piper tell her I'm back," Phoebe said.
"Hello little Peyton. How are you my little precious niece? I could just kiss you all over!" Phoebe baby talked. "I still can't believe you're going to be a year old already in just a few months...heck I can't believe you were my sister at one time? Who's bigger now, Prue?" Phoebe joked. "Don't test the baby, Phoebe. She does have Piper's powers right now after all," Leo reminded her. "Haha! Yeah, I guess I forgot about that," Phoebe said meekly.
"Why don't you, and your next little addition to the family, go and rest for a little while. You've had a long day with our charges. My days don't even last that long, usually. Oh, by the way, Piper said you better eat a snack like the babies are or she's going to make you. She's doing some laundry right now," Leo said with a smile. "Some things will never change will they, Peyton?" Phoebe brushed the hair off of her niece's head with her hand as she handed her off to Leo and kissed Garrett, who affectionately called her "Peebee," and headed into the kitchen to get some chamomile tea and butter and crackers. Piper peeked into the kitchen to see Phoebe and commended, "Good girl!" Phoebe could only chuckle as she carried her tea and snack to the living area where she would sit in her favorite chair and read her magazine.