Disclaimer: The Charmed Characters are the property of Aaron Spelling and Constance Burge. I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction.


Separated by Danger

The moon shone down on the city, as the evening summers night sky held the scattered look of a billion stars. Like little fireflies on a black cloth that always held a special draw to man and animal a like. But on this night the animals were restless as they were strewn through out the forest floor. As the lights flickered down the street you could hear the dogs howling as the cats were hissing, a sound that preceded something was about to happen


She lay there awake as if she was expecting someone to enter her room. She looked over at the clock. 4:12AM. Oh sleep. I need sleep she thought as she rolled over once again. Hoping that the new position would help her sleep faster, but as she got comfortable her world shock. She was now wide-awake as the bed beneath her shock wildly and then eased to a shimmer before stopping.

Letting out the breath she didn't even know she was holding she tossed back the covers and was about to get out of bed. But she soon saw her own door throw open as a figure ran quickly through the darkness and practically leaped on to her and under the covers. As she turned to the one frightened sister she heard the sound of the other one running through the doorway, as she too flew onto her bed.

At the first shake of the Manor she knew she would be tending to her sisters she just hadn't expected it so soon. As she turned to say something the Manor shock slightly again. Causing her frightened sisters to huddle together under the sheets.

"Oh you two give me a break. It wasn't that bad."

"For you maybe. But for me, the ground is not suppose to move, thank you very much." Phoebe snipped back.

"Whatever." She said as she cuddled next to her sisters. Praying that the earthquakes would stop at the two they already had.

---

1989 was the last time San Francisco had a major earthquake. It had rocked the World Series into postponing a game while the fans and commuter's made there way safely home. The damages then, after the 7.1 quake, were more then enough damage to make people realize once again if where they actually lived. On one of the most lively faults in the world.

---

As Prue slide back into bed, she pulled Phoebe into her arms with Piper snuggled in behind her, as the three of them slept peacefully that night, with only Piper waking once at what she thought was the bed shaking.


"Well there doesn't seem to be any damage." Piper said has she picked up the magazines which had fallen on the floor of the solarium, the next morning.

"Ok guys I'm late for my shot. I'll see you later at P3?" Prue said as she picked up her camera bag

"Oh sure guys, just leave me here after an earthquake. You know in case we have another and I'm trapped in the Manor alone. Remember what happen last time we had an earthquake in this house." Phoebe pouted

Prue wrapped her arm protectively around Phoebe. "You'll be fine honey. And there won't be anymore. If there was we would have had it already."

"Yeah Phoebs. Besides you know the spell to vanquish the Woogyman if he gets out." Piper kidded her. She was almost afraid of another one as Phoebe. But even as kids Phoebe was the most afraid of earthquakes.

"Ok gotta go. I'll see you two later at P3." Prue picked up her camera bag and was gone.

Piper looked over at Phoebe, "Phoebs she right you know."

"I know. I'm just worried."

"I know. Look I gotta go too. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah. Later at P3. Love you."

"Love you too."


Prue stepped into the station house that was used for turning around the cable cars that ran throughout the city. The old brick building had with stood many an earthquake as Prue looked up at its structure. Nothing seemed to bother it as the old brick held its place.

"Prue."

"Sally hi." Prue picked up her camera an adjusted the lens in time to get a shot of her friend walking towards her.

"Hey, your suppose to be taking pictures of the Turnhouse not me." She laughed

"Yeah well I couldn't resist. Knowing how much you love having your picture taken."

"Funny Prue." She said as she playfully hit her friends arm. "So you get the day off at Bucklands to do this?"

"Sort of. I took a sick day." Prue said with a cheeky smile. "I think Phoebe being back is starting to wear off on me."

"Good for Phoebe." Sally looked at Prue suspiciously. "So you two haven't killed each other yet?"

Prue looked through the lens of her camera and focused in on the cable car that was sitting on the track ready to turn around. "Actually Sally believe it or not but I think her coming back was the best thing to happen in our sisterly relationship. I mean we are closer now then even I thought would ever be possible."

"Well it has been just over a year Prue."

"I know. She still does things that drive me crazy and I want to kill her but then it all seems stupid soon after." Prue didn't want to tell her friend that most of the connection she had between Phoebe and Piper was the fact that they were now witches and they depended on each other for survival. She often wondered what would have happened if Phoebe had not read that incantation in the BOS that night.


Piper walked down the steps to P3. She still couldn't believe that Prue and Phoebe had gone and taken the second mortgage out on the Manor to help her live a part of her dream. She looked around at the work they had all done. Their start had been slow but they had managed to pull it of. And P3 was now one of San Francisco's hottest clubs.

She picked up a few of the chairs that had fallen off the tables in the earthquake they had that morning, but other then that the club survived its first quake. Well almost, as she walked behind the bar and spotted the broken glass on the floor.

"Ok well we almost made it." She said to no one.

"You talking to your self again."

She spun around and glared and teh man behind her. "Leo. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Piper scolded as she turned and looked at Leo behind her.

Wrapping his arms around her, "No."

"Then don't sneak up on me like that." she replied as she leaned into his embrace

"What happened in here?" Leo surveyed the broken glass and a few of the chairs that Piper hadn't picked up yet.

"That is what happens in this city when the ground moves."

"Earthquake. Not to bad though."

"No but you should have seen Phoebe and I go running to Prue."

"Scared of earthquakes?"

"A bit. Phoebes the worst one. Sometimes I think that's why she went to NYC. No quakes there."

"Well as long as you stay away from glass and anything that could fall on top of you, there's no problems."

"Easy for you to say. If the ground starts shaking you can just orb wherever it is you go and watch us all run around screaming our fool heads off."

"Not quite. But ok. I'll make you a deal. The next time there's an earthquake. I'll stay here with you and experience it as a person, not a whitelighter."

"Deal." Piper quickly accepted knowing now; the next time at least Leo would be there with her.


Phoebe made her way around the Manor picking up the odd fallen book or other article that was sitting to close to an edge when the Manor shock. She made her way to the kitchen and paused at the door that led down to the basement. Resting her hand on the door she felt a shiver run down her spine as she recalled the last time they had an earthquake and the Woogyman possessed her.

"Ok just stay out of the basement and everything will be fine." She said as she stepped away from the door.

As she made her way to the fridge she pulled out the bottle of water. She turned with her water and went and sat in the solarium where she thought back to earlier years she had shared in the Manor with her sisters. Even the bad memories weren't that bad now. She looked back and they all seemed like such petty little fights. And as she remembered the good times they all had now it made her once again glad she had come home.

"Even if this city has a tendency to move when you don't want it too."

It was then she stopped. Almost holding her breath at the sound she thought she heard. At first it was faint and distant, like a truck driving by. But then it got louder and what she thought she heard and started to feel was real as the Manor started to shake. She started to rise but she quickly fell to the ground as she heard the glass in the solarium break under the pressure. She quickly shielded her face and head with her arms but she could feel the glass landing on her as the ground shock more violently.

She tried to get up to get away from the glass, finally managing to crawl to the kitchen. It was then she realized to late that that was not the safest place in the Manor as the pots from atop the center island fell around her. She could feel where shrouds of glass had penetrated her clothing and skin, as she could feel the sting of the cuts.

She tried once more to get up to get to the doorway but as she stood she was thrown against the counter once again falling to the ground. Hitting her head on the counter on the way down her world soon went black as she landed on the kitchen floor, as the Manor continued to shake.


Prue took a few more shots of the cable car before it pulled out of the station. A few minutes after it left was when she felt the jolt of the earth beneath her feet throw her off balance.

Quickly trying to find shelter she ran for the nearest doorframe. Only to be stopped by a falling beam that was heading straight for her and Sally. Pushing Sally out of the way the beam hit her in the side pushing her back against the far wall and pinning her beneath its weight, as the old brick building shock under the violent protest that the earth was giving off.

Sally watched her friend helplessly as some of the bricks started to fall to the ground.


Piper had just finished cleaning up the last few bits of the glass that had broken. Leo had just been called but he promised to be back as soon as he could. It was then that she slammed into the bar as she tried to stay on her feet, with the ground shaking under her.

She could hear the bottles falling off the shelves as they smashed against the floor. A place she soon found herself as the ground tilted upward sending her to her knees involuntarily. Slowly making her way out from behind the bar she managed to get under one of the tables, as the stools crashed around her. She heard the ceiling light crash on the table above her head as she let out a startled scream. Praying that it would soon stop and that she would see her sisters again.


As the ground slowly stopped to shake there was an almost erie calm over the city of San Francisco. It was something that the city was used to, and the occupants of the city all knew they only a few precious moments to find those they loved before another one hit them.