Disclaimer: All characters off Charmed are not mine, no matter how much I would like them to be.

CHAPTER 1

Paige sighed as a cry that was becoming unpleasantly familiar blared at her through the baby-monitor that sat on the coffee table next to her. Who could have guessed that temping as a nanny to four little children could be so difficult and so very stressful?

Paige had reasoned that she always loved taking care of Wyatt, so taking care of four kids should just be four times the fun. And it was pretty good money, for a temp job. Plus, another big advantage was that she had been here three days already and nothing out of the ordinary in a magical sense had shown up. It was already reaching the record for normality in her temp jobs.

The only problem, problems really as there were four of them, were her charges, the four little terrors. The six-year-old twins Brandon and Ryan seemed to attract trouble, three-year-old Milana was a hyperactive spoilt brat, and one-year-old Loren seemed to cry at the drop of a hat!

She was beginning to really tire of the lot of them, and her mind was inventing magical methods of dealing with the children. The only reason she was sticking with it was the hope that the kids would settle down once they realised she was going to stick out the entire month with them and causing trouble would just make it harder for themselves.

Thankfully, the two boys had school in the mornings, so she only had to take care of the girls. And this afternoon she was granted further reprise, as both boys had gone to a play-date and wouldn't be coming home until six, which was when Paige finished for the day.

So this afternoon she had actually had a slight chance-maybe half an hour- to recover once she'd managed to get both the girls to take a nap. Apparently that all too short respite was now over and it was back to work for Paige.

Paige hurried up the stairs to the nursery and scooped Loren up, holding her close and murmuring soothingly. If she was lucky the crying hadn't woken Milana up, which would mean she only had to take care of Loren and her everlasting cries. She thought she could probably manage that.

Unfortunately, it seemed Lady Luck was not on her side. A small head poked through the adjoining doorway to Milana's room, and the child herself soon bounded through it, coming to stare up at Paige with her fists on her hips.

"I wanna snack, now!" Milana demanded.

Paige felt a surge of irritation. The kid had only just woken up and she was already giving her orders! She sure didn't waste any time in asking nicely for what she wanted.

"You want to ask again, with a few manners?" Paige asked, keeping her tone as mild as she could.

The girl wrinkled her forehead in obvious displeasure at the request. "Can I please have a snack?" she asked again.

Paige supposed it was an improvement at least. She headed down to the kitchen with Loren bouncing on her hip, blissfully silent for the moment, and Milana bouncing along at her side in her cheerful 'I got what I wanted' way.

Paige sighed. Just as long as everything went exactly as Milana wanted it, the kid actually wasn't bad. Paige just wasn't used to keeping up with a three-year-old. Add spoiled to the equation and you had a tiring and rather frustrating job.

But on the upside, not one magical occurrence had taken place while she had been here. That meant it was well on its' way to the record for most normal temp job. She was enjoying not having to watch out for magical attacks ever five minutes' that was for sure. However, instead she had to watch for attacks by mischievous children. But at least that she could handle without resorting to powers!

"Cookie! Cookie!" Milana cried excitedly "I wanna cookie!" Paige noticed that even now the child was moving, hopping from foot-to-foot in impatience .It could be tiring just watching Milana. The child never seemed to stay still for longer than a few minutes!

"Hang on a sec!" Paige laughed. She had to admit that the kid's enthusiasm was kind of catching.

Paige paused. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea where the cookies were kept. It had never come up when she'd been discussing the things she needed to know with Mr and Mrs Thompkinson. The last couple of days they'd left snacks and lunch ready for Paige to serve, just on plates in the fridge. Today however, they'd been in a rush, and had just asked Paige to fix the kids what they wanted.

Lunch had been PB&J sandwitches, which Paige had thankfully discouraged Milana from making herself. They made enough mess eating the things. The materials for that had been easy, of course. Peanut Butter and Jelly from the fridge, bread from the bread box. But finding the cookie container was going to be a little more difficult.

"Where does your mom keep the cookies?" Paige asked Milana.

The little girl shrugged. "She moves 'em! She don't like Bran an' Rye knowin' where they are! They climb on the bench and eat 'em all up if they find them!"

Paige could really, really believe that. Both of the twins seemed to have incredibly sweet tooths. All they ever wanted to eat was candy. But Paige supposed that a lot of kids their age were like that. At least the boys weren't fussy, and would eat healthy food, even If they did complain.

So how was she going to find those cookies for Milana. She had all but said that the child could have one, and it would be a bad move to back out on that now, she was sure. That would just be asking for a temper-tantrum. And Paige did not want to have to handle that. Not to mention that it would break any sense of trust the girl had in here. Paige could remember how she hated people breaking promises to her, just because she was a kid. When you were a child, in your eyes, you were just as important as the adults.

"Hey, Milana, why don't you take Loren and go watch TV while I get your snack" Paige suggested, an idea popping into her head. She handed the baby to the little girl and waited until both were out of sight before quietly muttering, "Cookie Jar," and holding her hand out.

She wasn't sure if it would work, as she couldn't actually see what she was trying to find, but she figured it was at least worth a try. However, to her delight, she didn't have to try anything else. The cookie jar re-materialised in her hand in a sparkle of blue light. She almost dropped it, as she had not been expecting the sudden weight.

"Wow!" a small voice sounded from the doorway. "That was cool! How you do it?"

Paige winced at the sound. Oh no! Milana had come back, and she had obviously just seen the cookie jar orb into Paige's hand! What was she supposed to do now? She had just unwittingly exposed her magical powers to a three-year-old.

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