Prue Halliwell bent down to her baby sister’s level and absently straightened out her dress, smoothing out the crumples and tucking the stray hair behind her ear.

“Ok sweet heart. You ready?”

Little Phoebe gave the eldest a gummy grin. She looked tiny in the oversized uniform and suddenly more innocent than ever. Her long hair was pulled into two tight piggy-tails, her eyes were huge with excitement and her tongue poked out between the gap where she was missing her two front teeth. Prue kissed her forehead and stood up, gently taking the little hand inside her own.

“Come on then or we’ll be late.”

Prue lead the youngster down the hallway, smiling, as Phoebe skipped along beside her, taking in the new surroundings, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

“Where’d Piper go?” It had suddenly just dawned on Phoebe that the middle Halliwell was no longer with them. She had been so caught up in all the excitement that, she hadn’t even noticed her big sister leave.

“She went to her class…just down there.” Prue pointed to a room at the other end of the building and then came to a stop outside the door of the kindy.

“Ok baby girl, this is it.” Prue took a deep breath and pushed the little girl inside. She watched as Phoebe’s face lit up. She looked fit to burst.

“Prueee! Look at all this stuff!” Phoebe’s eyes darted between the toys and the paints, not sure where to let her vision settle. She was about to take of in the direction of the books, but felt Prue pull her back.

“Hold on there Missy. We have to go meet your teacher first!”

Phoebe frowned, but let the oldest drag her towards the other side of the room. She smiled up at the kind face, her warm smile matching that of her sisters. Prue pulled Phoebe in front of her and mindlessly ran her hand through her hair.

“Hi Prue. Oh! This must be Little Phoebe Halliwell! I’ve heard so much about you! My names Mrs Williams.”

Phoebe’s eye brows hiked up, her arms folded over her chest incredulously. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing!

“I am not little! Me big girl!”

Mrs Williams felt the corners of her mouth tug up as peered down into the serious face of her new student. She did not look impressed.

“I’m sorry, my mistake. My, you’re practically a lady!”

Phoebe gave her a half smile and uncrossed her arms, leaning back into her sisters leg.

“That’s ok. Peoples make mistakes.”

Mrs Williams chuckled. She already liked this kid.

“Ok Phoebe.” The teacher motioned for them to follow her. “This is going to be your locker. See, it has your name on it and we’re going to take a picture of you and stick it on there to help you remember.”

“Oh that’s nice isn’t it Pheebs? You’re very own locker!”

Phoebe nodded eagerly and ran her hand over her name tag. She grinned.

“Look Prue! It’s pink! Our favorite color!”

Prue couldn’t help but roll her eyes. It had only become Phoebe’s favorite color after she had discovered Prue had a liking for it too. “See?” She’d say. “Me and Prue are the same!”

“This is the bathroom. Now before you go, you need tell teacher, just so she knows where you are. And we have to make sure we wash our hands when we go to the toilet. Do you know why?”

“Yep. Prue tolded me is so we won’t get sick.”

“That’s right! Your big sister is very clever.”

Phoebe shrugged.

“Most of the time. ‘sept she finks that boys are cute but they’re weally icky!”

Prue clamped a hand over her baby sisters mouth and blushed. At only five years old, she had yet to learn the concept of confidentiality and could never keep a secret.

“Hahaha….adorable isn’t she?”

Mrs Williams laughed and patted the little one’s head.

“Extremely.” She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly 9 o’clock. “Alright well, it’s almost time for us to start, so if you want to say goodbye to eachother, we can begin.”

Prue nodded and pulled her sister with her to the door.

“You’re not staying?”

Phoebe stared up at the 12 year old, suddenly sounding not so sure of herself. She hooked her hands around Prue’s neck and felt the familiar arms hoist off the ground and into the air.

“I can’t babe. I’ve got to get to my own class. But I’ll be right down the hall if you need anything. You just tell Mrs Williams that you want to see me and I’ll come back as fast as I can.”

Phoebe looked doubtful as she pushed her face into her big sisters shoulder.

“Don’t want you to go.”

“I have to. I bet you’re going to have lots and lots of fun. And at 2, I’ll be here to pick you up and you can tell me all about your day.” Phoebe shifted in her big sisters hold and rested her cheek against Prue’s face. “It will be ok baby, I promise.”

Prue kissed the little girl quickly, feeling a lump beginning to form in her throat. She put Phoebe back on the floor and enveloped her in a long hug.

“Bye Phoeebs. Love you.”

Prue smiled from her crouched position on the floor as Phoebe flashed her trademark toothless grin, her confidence suddenly regained.

“Bye Prue. I’ll see you at two, right?”

Prue nodded, not trusting her own voice and watched as her baby girl headed off into the crowd of children, not looking back. She stood up and closed the door, leaning heavily against the wall. She heard the sob escape her throat and felt the warm tears trickling down her face. She looked in, her fingers presses against the plastic window, her sister was already talking with another little girl her age.

This was one of the hardest things Prue Halliwell had ever had to do. She had been there for the first word, the first step and the first scraped knee. She had held her little sister when she was sick, or scared, fed her and bathed her every day since their mother had died. She frightened away the woggyman and made owies go away. Her little girl was growing up, and there was still a long road to go. But for the first time every, Prue released her grip a little, and began the journey of letting her go.