Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, or any of its characters. No copyright intended.

A/N: The plot goes along the idea that Prue is the sister that the Halliwells never knew, instead of Paige. This first chapter is only an introduction to explain why the sisters do not know that Prue exists.

Chapter One

1970 – San Francisco General Hospital

'Here is your beautiful baby girl,' said the doctor, presenting the baby to Patty and Victor.

Patty took hold of her first born daughter who was wrapped in a blanket.

'Look at her, Victor,' said Patty smiling.

The baby girl grabbed one of her mother's fingers.

'She is so beautiful,' said Victor. 'Do you still want to name her Prudence?'

Tears of joy were running down Patty's cheeks. The baby squinted at a box of tissues and a tissue came flying over to Patty. Victor took hold of the tissue before any member of the hospital staff could notice that it was floating and he used it to wipe the tears from his wife's face.

Patty nodded in reply to Victor's question. 'Yes. Prudence Halliwell.'

'Mrs. Halliwell, we need to take Prudence for a minute,' said the doctor. 'We will be back with her very quickly.'

'Why?' said Patty, holding Prue closer.

'There is nothing to worry about, Mrs. Halliwell,' said the doctor. 'We have to run a test on her to check that everything is well. We do not have that piece of equipment in this room though so we need to take her to the next room where there is one.'

'Honey, I will go with Prudence and the doctor,' said Victor.

Patty gave in and Victor took baby Prue from Patty's arms. The doctor and Victor left the hospital room with Prue, leaving Patty alone in the room.

Patty had just given birth to Prue. Penny Halliwell, Patty's mother, had been against the idea of a hospital birth. It was a well known fact that the first born in a family of witches would always be extremely powerful. Therefore, Penny had thought it would be best for Patty to have a home birth because there would be less risk of magic exposure. However, Patty and Victor had refused to have a home birth. For this reason, Penny had decided not to be present for the birth. Instead Penny had staid at the manor, working on a spell to make sure that no magic was exposed within the hospital during the baby's birth.

A nurse walked into the hospital room to check Patty's vitals. Everything was okay. The nurse left.

It had now been ten minutes since Victor had left with the doctor and baby Prue.

Patty was getting worried. She wanted Prue back in her arms.

Victor returned to the hospital room alone.

'Where is she?' asked Patty.

'The doctor is filling out the forms to discharge you from the hospital,' said Victor.

'No, not her. I am talking about our daughter. Our baby girl,' said Patty.

'Our baby girl?' said Victor puzzled.

'Yes! That is why we are here,' said Patty.

'Patty, you have been in the hospital for the past week suffering from stomach cramps,' said Victor. 'You have been recovering over the past few days. I thought the hallucinations caused by the fever had gone.'

Victor felt Patty's forehead, but she swatted his hand away.

'Stomach cramps! Stomach cramps! I have been pregnant for the past nine months and I gave birth this morning to our daughter,' shouted Patty.

'Patty, are you okay?' asked Victor, concerned. 'You were never pregnant.'

'Am I okay? Am I okay? You are the one who cannot recall me giving birth to Prudence!' shouted Patty.

The doctor entered the room. 'Is everything okay?'

'Patty seems to be a little delusional right now,' said Victor worried. 'She thinks she just gave birth.'

The doctor looked concerned. 'Oh. That cannot be good. I thought her fever had gone down.'

'What fever? I am not delusional. Where is my daughter?' shouted Patty.

'Mr. Halliwell, I think it might be a good idea if you leave,' said the doctor. 'I will not be discharging your wife just yet.'

Victor nodded. 'Bye, Patty. I will be back tomorrow morning. I will ask your mother to pop around later this afternoon to see you.'

Victor left the room.

'What is happening? Where is Prudence?' shouted Patty.

A nurse had walked in. The doctor muttered something to the nurse and the nurse came over to Patty, giving her an anaesthetic to calm her down.

Patty became unconscious.

When Patty woke up, she quickly became aware of her surroundings as the anaesthetic wore off. Therefore, Patty quickly remembered what had happened. Penny was sitting on a chair beside the bed.

'Mother,' said Patty. 'Where is my daughter? Why does no one remember her?'

Penny consoled Patty. Penny did not look pleased.

'I believe there has been magic at work,' said Penny.

'Are you trying to say that some demon altered my memories to make me believe I had a daughter?' said Patty in disbelief.

'No. The exact opposite,' said Penny. 'I have a feeling that the Elders have altered Victor's and the hospital staff's memories to make them believe that you never had a daughter.'

'Why would the Elders do that? Where have they taken Prudence?' shouted Patty, distressed.

'I don't know,' said Penny. 'I would like to find out. Sam has not been answering my calls.'

'He better answer mine,' said Patty. 'Sam! Sam!'

Nothing happened.

Patty sat up and looked up at the ceiling. 'Sam! Get down here now! Sam!'

In a flurry of orbs, Sam appeared in the hospital room. Guilt was visible on Sam's face. He knew why the two Halliwells had called for him.

'Sam,' said Patty, speaking slowly because she was so angry. 'What have the Elders done with my daughter?'

'Sam, answer her,' said Penny stubbornly.

Sam would not make eye contact with either Halliwell.

'The Elders decided to take her away from you,' said Sam slowly. He knew that the reaction to this reply would be fierce.

'What?' said both Patty and Penny Halliwell.

Sam went over to the hospital room door and locked it. As he walked back over to the bed, there were two glaring sets of eyes on him.

'You have to know that I am totally against their decision,' said Sam.

'Why did they take my first grandchild away?' said Penny.

Sam gulped. 'Apparently, the Elders suspect that Patty will bring the Charmed Ones into the world.'

'The Charmed Ones?' said Penny. 'I have heard of that prophecy. The Charmed Ones will be the three most powerful witches that the world has ever seen.'

'I have only one daughter,' said Patty. 'How can they know that I will have two more?'

'They refused to tell me what had led them to this idea,' said Sam.

'Even if Prudence was going to be the eldest of the three Charmed Ones,' began Penny. 'Why would they take her away?'

'The eldest child of a witch will always be the strongest,' said Sam.

'Yes, we know that,' said Penny.

'Well, if Prudence is also a Charmed One that will make her a target for the demons,' said Sam.

'The line of Warren witches has gone on this long and we have always been able to protect our young from demons without the Elders interfering like this,' said Penny furiously.

'Yes, but the Elders believed that it would be safest to bind Prudence's powers and have her brought up by a normal magic-free family. That will allow her to stay off the demon radar,' said Sam.

'How do they ever expect the Charmed Ones to be formed if they have separated the eldest from her own family?' said Penny angrily.

'The Elders said that if Patty's daughters do turn out to be the Charmed Ones, then destiny will take its path and the sisters will find each other,' said Sam.

Patty had been silent all this time, tears forming in her eyes.

'You can promise me that my daughter will be safe?' said Patty.

Sam nodded. 'Prudence will keep the same name and surname. The Elders have forbid me from telling you where she is, but I can tell you that I will always keep watch over her for you.'

Patty burst into tears. 'Why have the Elders done this to me?'

Sam leant forward to hug Patty, but Penny pushed him away. Penny sat on the hospital bed, trying to comfort her daughter.

1972 – San Francisco General Hospital

'Here is your beautiful baby girl,' said the doctor, presenting the baby to Victor and Patty.

The doctor wrapped the baby girl in a blanket and gave her to Patty to hold.

'She is so sweet,' said Patty as the baby girl opened her eyes.

'What are you going to name her?' said the doctor as he wrote some notes down on his clipboard.

'We have not discussed names yet,' said Victor.

Patty had been putting off the baby name discussion ever since she had found out that she was pregnant. She was so worried that the Elders would take this child away too.

'Well, I want it to start with a P,' said Patty.

'How about Prudence?' said Victor. 'You always wanted to use that name.'

'No,' said Patty. The memory of her first baby stung. Patty began to well up, but Victor mistook her tears for tears of joy.

'You always used to love that name,' said Victor.

'She does not look like a Prudence,' said Patty.

'Okay,' said Victor. 'What name do you think will suit her?'

'How about Piper?' said Patty.

'That is a beautiful name,' said the doctor.

Victor smiled. 'Welcome to the world, Piper Halliwell.'

'Okay. I just need to run some tests on little Piper,' said the doctor.

'Don't take her away from me!' said Patty, memories of Prue's birth coming back to haunt her.

'Don't worry,' said the doctor. 'I can fetch a porter to bring the equipment in here.'

The doctor left the room. Patty and Victor were now in the hospital room alone with Piper.

'I cannot believe we finally have our first child,' said Victor, smiling at his daughter.

That sentence upset Patty. However, at the same time, she was happy to be able to hold someone in her arms that she could call her daughter.

Victor took a tissue from his pocket to wipe away his own tears.

Baby Piper raised her hands and the tissue exploded.

Victor was shocked. 'Since when was that a family power?'

'I… I don't know,' said Patty. She had known that Prudence had received the power of telekinesis. Therefore, she had been expecting Piper to have the ability to freeze (the power that Patty possessed) or the power of premonition.

'Do you think Sam can explain this?' said Victor. He hated it when Patty called Sam for help. However now that magic would be concerning his child, he wanted explanations more than ever before, and Sam was the only person who could provide them.

'I… I don't know,' said Patty. She was too fascinated by Piper to care. She watched as baby Piper stared back at her.

Before Victor could persuade Patty to call Sam, the doctor had returned with the correct equipment.

Within an hour, Victor, Patty, and Piper had left the hospital to return to Halliwell manor.

1975 – Halliwell Manor

Patty went into labour too fast to be taken to the hospital. Therefore, to Penny's delight, Patty was going to have to have a home birth.

Victor had taken little Piper out to get an ice cream so as Piper did not have to watch her mother in pain. Piper was too young to understand how babies came into the world and they did not want to traumatise her.

Once the baby was out, Penny wrapped her in a towel and allowed Patty to hold her.

'She's a girl,' said Penny.

Patty smiled. 'Yes. And she has the power of premonition.' Patty remembered how this daughter had shared a premonition with Patty from within the womb.

'What are you going to name her?' asked Penny.

'Victor and I had agreed on Phoebe,' said Patty.

Penny smiled.

'So, you have had three daughters,' said Penny. 'The first with the power of telekinesis, the second with the power of molecular combustion, and the third with premonition powers.'

'Does that go along with the prophecy of the Power of Three?' asked Patty.

Penny nodded. 'It is in the Book of Shadows. The three phases of the moon: feeling, time, and phases of the moon.'

'Prudence's telekinesis was feeling. And I understand that Phoebe's premonitions are the phases of the moon,' said Patty. 'How can Piper's molecular combustion power be time? She should have the power to freeze like me.'

'Sam explained it to us after Piper's birth, remember?' said Penny.

'I know. The Elders told him that Piper's molecular combustion works on speeding up the molecules. That is how Piper's power relates to 'time'. What I do not understand is why she does not have my power to freeze.'

'Destiny works in mysterious ways,' said Penny.

'Now that it is clear that my daughters make up the Power of Three, do you think the Elders will let us have Prudence back?' asked Patty.

'You know they won't let you.'

Patty and Penny looked up to see Sam in the room.

'Don't you knock when you orb?' said Penny irritably.

'Sorry,' said Sam.

'Why won't the Elders give her back?' said Patty. 'They are dividing a family.'

'Like I told you five years ago, the Elders said that if these three are the Charmed Ones, destiny will bring them back together,' said Sam. 'Right now, Prudence is still safe. Without Prudence here, Piper and –'

'Phoebe,' said Patty.

Sam resumed his sentence. 'Without Prudence here, Piper and Phoebe are safe from threat of demon attack.'

They heard the front door open and shut, followed by hurried feet on the staircase.

Victor entered the room first. 'Is it okay for Piper to come in?'

Patty nodded.

Victor held the door open and Piper ran in.

'Meet your little sister, Piper,' said Victor.

'What's her name?' said Piper.

'Phoebe,' smiled Patty.

'So I am not an only child anymore?' said Piper.

Patty, Sam, and Penny did not reply. Piper's sentence had made their thoughts turn to Prue.

'No,' laughed Victor.

Victor took baby Phoebe in his arms and smiled at her.

Piper noticed Sam was in the room. 'Hi Uncle Sam! What are you doing here?'

'I was wondering the same thing,' said Victor, all delight had drained from his expression.

'I wanted to make sure that the birth went well,' said Sam. 'I will be off now.'

'I will see you out,' said Victor coldly, following Sam out of the room.

Piper followed them out, not wanting to let her baby sister out of her sight.

Penny and Patty were now in the room alone.

'What is going on between you and Sam?' asked Penny.

'What do you mean, mother?' asked Patty.

'I am not daft, Patty,' said Penny. 'Even Victor has noticed the tension between you and Sam.'

1977 – Halliwell Manor

Penny had managed to get Piper and Phoebe to go to bed. Sam had staid by Patty's side while she gave birth to their daughter.

Sam held their baby daughter in his arms.

'Paige,' he said, looking at her.

When Patty told Sam that she was pregnant with his baby, they had immediately agreed on a name.

Penny walked into the room. 'Is this my fourth granddaughter?'

Penny and Sam nodded.

Baby Paige let out a sneeze. As she sneezed, she orbed out of Sam's arms. Less than a second later, Paige had orbed back into his arms.

'Aaww,' said Patty. 'Paige is the cutest little thing.'

'You have to hurry up and decide what you are going to do,' said Penny. 'If you don't want the Elders to find out about your forbidden relationship, you are going to have to give Paige up.'

Sam and Patty exchanged glances.

'I am not losing another daughter because of those Elders,' said Patty.

'I agree,' said Sam. 'I don't care if they clip my wings. The Elders are not splitting this family up again.'

'I think you did that when you decided to have an affair,' said Penny coldly.

'Mother!' said Patty.

'Sorry, dear. After a statement like that, Sam was asking for it,' said Penny.

Sam shook his head. 'I never purposefully stole Patty from Victor. It just happened. Victor did not have to completely desert the girls either, but he did. Besides you never even liked Victor, Penny!'

'Can we get back to the main issue?' said Patty. 'I do not want to lose another daughter to the Elders.'

'I know, honey,' said Sam. 'That is why we won't let that happen.'

The door opened. A five year old Piper and an almost two year old Phoebe poked their heads in.

'Where's our new sister?' asked Piper.

'I want to see the baby!' said Phoebe.

'We thought she might want to have my old stuffed bear,' said Piper, holding up a toy bear.

Sam held Paige up so as she could see her two older sisters and the toy bear.

Paige held out her hand and gurgled a little. In a flurry of blue orbs, the toy bear disappeared from Piper's hand and reappeared in Paige's outstretched hand.

Piper smiled. 'Yay. She loves Mr. Teddy Bear!'

'I want that power!' whined Phoebe.

Penny shooed Piper and Phoebe from the room, saying 'Get to bed. It is late. You can see Paige in the morning.'

When Penny closed the door, she turned to see Sam looking distressed. Patty was looking at Sam.

'Have the Elders just called for you?' asked Patty.

Sam nodded. 'I think they know about Paige. Penny, I have to take Patty and Paige up there with me. Will you be okay looking after the girls?'

Penny nodded.

Sam orbed out of the room with Patty and Paige.

After a rampant discussion with the Elders, a decision was made. The Elders were going to clip Sam's wings as punishment. The Elders also requested that Piper, Phoebe, and Paige's powers were bound (including Paige's white lighter abilities). As long as Patty and Sam kept to these conditions, the Elders would allow them to remain a couple and to keep Paige.

After accepting the conditions, the Elders transported Sam, Patty, and Paige back to Halliwell manor.

'I will ask mother to start writing the power binding spell now,' said Patty.

'Patty,' said Sam, who was now human again. 'Now that I am no longer a white lighter, I cannot keep watch over Prudence.'

'I know,' said Patty.

In order to keep one daughter, she had had to sacrifice any connection with the daughter she hardly knew.

Patty left the room to give Penny the news while Sam placed Paige in her cot.

Sam sighed. 'You, Piper, and Phoebe will never know of your big sister, Prudence Halliwell.'

A/N: An explanation of why Piper has molecular combustion instead of freezing?: Without Prue as a Charmed One, one of the sisters needs the offensive power. Don't worry, Piper is going to develop the freezing power just before they reunite with Prue.

One shot? Or continue with more?