After explaining everything to the Halliwell-Matthews, Melinda took her on a demon-hunt. 

Trixie easily fell into easy repetition: make potion, make spell, and scry. She used his necklace which had, apparently, fallen off. 

Phoebe walked into the attic. "One Dreylock vanquishing spell." She held up a piece of paper. 

"Dreylock potion is almost done!" Melinda said. She grabbed the paper, balled it up, and threw it into the pot. It blew up. "And the Dreylock vanquish is finished."

The crystal fell on the map. "One Dreylock location!" Trixie called. 

Melinda stood beside her as they orbed out. They reappeared in the underworld where Trixie threw the potion at the demon. It exploded and they orbed back up to the surface. 

"So... I don't want to see my mom again tonight. So... can I stay the night here?" 

"Of course!" Piper insisted. "I'll make up the couch." 

"Thank you, Mrs. Halliwell."

"I've told you, Bella. Call me Piper." 

*

The next morning, Trixie woke to the smell of bacon and was immediately on her feet. She rushed into the kitchen. She reached for the plate of bacon which Piper moved away from her. Jutting out her bottom lip, Trixie pouted. 

Piper grinned and held out a piece of bacon. 

Trixie perked up and plucked it from her hands. She took a bite. 

"You need to get dressed," Piper said. 

Trixie sighed and pulled a face. 

"None of that," Phoebe, ever the empath, ordered. 

A clay handprint behind Trixie fell from the wall. It broke upon impact with the ground. Piper make her usual hand motion at it and the molecules reversed, placing the clay back on the wall. 

"I know I need to, but I don't want to face my mother," Trixie grumbled. 

"I'll go with you!" Melinda volunteered. 

Trixie immediately perked up. 

Melinda held out her arm and the girls jogged across the road. "You know, Dreylock had eye-incineration," Melinda mentioned. "That must sting." 

"Yeah, well we didn't give him much chance to use it," Trixie giggled. She entered the house, saw Helen and Clarisse, and smiled dismissively. She turned to her friend. "You know, I'm sure I'll fit into your clothes." She turned to avoid the blonde. 

Melinda grabbed her. "No, you need to talk about this. Be the mature one," she insisted. 

"Playing on my need to appear better than I am," Trixie griped. "Bad form." She turned back around and saw both women standing. 

"We all need to talk," Helen said. 

Clarisse nodded. 

Trixie pulled a pathetic face. "I need coffee for this conversation," she whined. She walked over to the pot and poured herself a glass. Helen pulled out a chair, but the brunette just hopped onto the counter, automatically hooking her ankles together. 

"Let us explain," Clarisse requested, glancing at her ankles. 

"After the divorce, we all discussed it. Your father and grandmother both agreed to keep their distances so you'd both have normal childhoods." 

'That didn't quite work out, mom,' Trixie argued mentally. 

"You would be free of emotional complications tied to royalty. We were going to tell you when Mia was 18 years old, you - 16. But when your father died, things changed." When Trixie wouldn't meet their eyes, just kept covering hers and shaking her head, Helen insisted, "We wanted to protect you!" 

Trixie lifted her head from her hand slowly and met their eyes. "I don't feel protected," she spoke lowly. "I feel betrayed. Because for 14 years, all I knew was my dad wasn't around. I have lived one way for a decade and a half! Then, in less than 24 hours, you want me to cope, accept, and forgive the lies I have always been told. In 5 minutes, my whole world was flipped upside down. I have been to hell and back and the only thing that keeps me going is this family. And I don't even have it anymore. 8 letters have torn this family apart. And, just in case I'm not enough of a freak already, let's add a tiara." Not once did she raise her voice below her low whisper. It was that whisper that scared the other occupants shitless. When she got like that, everyone wished she would yell. 

Awareness and alarm raised in Clarisse's head. "What do you mean 'hell and back'?" 

"It's an expression," she whispered exasperatedly. 

Clarisse shook her head, redirecting her attention. "I know the plan was to wait until you are 16 to begin princess lessons, but I can't wait that long. Genovia needs to know there are heirs. True heirs!" 

Mia was suddenly sliding down the firemen pole, to Trixie's right. She spotted their  grandmother and groaned. "Oh, this is a nightmare." She turned around. "I'm going back to bed." 

"Why didn't I do that?" Trixie asked. 

"The three of us have to talk," Helen stated. 

Clarisse nodded again. 

Mia turned back around and the light empath could feel the sarcasm as her sister walked behind her. "Oh, OK. ls there something else about me and my life that just maybe I might want to know about?" She stopped and covered her mouth. "Oh, no. Are you two waiting to take me on a talk show somewhere to let me know I have a twin sister who's a duchess?" Mia grabbed a bottle of water. 

"You have a cousin who's a contessa. Fondly known as Bartholomew. Actually, we call him Pookie," Clarisse interjected, seemingly not picking up on the sarcasm. 

"Yesterday did not go well. Will you just listen to your grandmother?" Helen requested again. 

"Amelia, Bellatrix, in a matter of weeks we have an annual ball. I was- well, I am hoping that I may present you both to the press and the public on that occasion. However, you desperately need some instruction. I speak for the entire Genovian parliament and the royal family." 

"And I speak for this family," Helen added. 

Trixie waved her arms a bit. "Um... we don't have a family with either one of you, because you ignored us for 15 years and you lied to us. Families don't that, kay?" 

"What she said," Mia agreed, going back upstairs. 

Clarisse turned to Helen, looking back and forth at the retreating girl and the guilty mother. "Where is she going?" the English woman demanded. 

Helen nodded. "The tower." She stood up, calling, "Mia, you can't run from everything!" 

Clarisse turned to Trixie. "She has a tower?" 

"Why didn't I do that?" Trixie asked. 

"Because I asked you to be mature," Melinda reminded. 

"Well," Trixie hopped down, "we should go or we'll be late for school." She grabbed her bestie's hand and went to pull Melinda with her, but Melinda pulled back. 

"Help you mother. You understand how Mia is feeling better than they can." 

Trixie knew she was referring to her powers and groaned. It sucked being empathic. 

The three girls/women walked to Mia's room. 

Helen was on the stairs. "Please, just come down from there," she requested. 

Mia pulled the slide door back. "Most kids hope for a car for their 16th birthday, not a country." She slid it back shut. 

"See, I coulda done that!" Trixie whined, gesturing up there. 

"You'd be easier to talk down. All I'd have to mention is you-know-what," Melinda whispered. 

Clarisse was listening from behind them. 

Helen looked down at the Queen. "Just make yourself comfortable." 

Clarisse looked at the bed where Fat Louie detected their distain towards the woman and hissed. She jumped away. 

Trixie grabbed Fat Louie and put him on his tree. She gestured to the now-empty bed. 

"This is getting us nowhere. Talk to me," Helen pleaded. 

Mia pulled the door open again. "I can't- I'm late for a meeting with my guidance counselor," she snapped. 

"I'm late for a meeting with Spain and Portugal," Clarisse snapped in turn. 

Both sisters pulled incredulous faces. 

"You should've planned coming here on a not busy day. This might take all day," Trixie added, not looking at the woman. 

Clarisse blanched at the thought. "It's polite to look at someone when addressing them." 

"It's polite to know a person before dropping a bomb like this one on them," Trixie initially mocked her before getting more tonally aggressive. 

"I have a thought," Helen proposed. "The girls promise to attend princess lessons until your ball." 

"It's not my ball," Clarisse insisted, "it's Genovia's Annual Independence Day Ball." 

"Who did you gain independence from? I've never heard of Genovia!" Trixie added. 

"England," Clarisse murmured while Helen corrected, "The girls promise neither to accept nor reject your offer to be royal until this grand ball. Then they make their decision. Now, can you all live with that?" she asked. 

"It seems I have no option," 

"If I have to," Mia muttered. 

"I have a job!" Trixie pointed out. 

Clarisse pointed to both girls, turning to each. "But I want not one word of this until that evening, is that understood?" 

Trixie narrowed her eyes. "Duh," she commented crassly. 

"Well, let's not keep Spain and Portugal waiting," Helen said.  

"I can't do afternoon 'instruction'. I have a job and you almost chased away all of my customers yesterday," Trixie informed, pointing at Helen. 

"Can you manage to get up early enough to have an available hour before your schooling?" Clarisse came up with a compromise. 

"Yes," Trixie consented dully.