Paige Matthews woke up feeling unusually rested. This was a boon in itself, as baby Chris and Wyatt were keeping her up all night long. Stretching out, she glanced at the alarm clock.
"Damn it," she cursed and darted out of bed. Piper was going to kill her – Paige had promised Piper that she would help her with the P3 inventory. Normally, Paige avoided organisation like the plague, but she wanted to spend some quality time with Piper. However, Paige didn't think that being an hour late would speed up the sisterly bonding process.
Paige orbed downstairs in the kitchen, even though Piper frowned upon using magic in the house for non-serious, non-magical reasons. However, Paige felt that it was serious enough – anything to avoid being blown up by Piper for tardiness.
Paige rummaged through the cupboards for cereal, but all she could find was granola, Leo's favourite, and baby formula. She shuddered, wondering how Leo could stand eating what tasted to Paige like horse feed. Giving up, Paige took out the carton of milk and drank two glasses of it. She made a mental note to stock up on cereal bars – she didn't want to have to starve.
"Ooh, Chris, you're so delicious, aren't you, my sweet little boy?" Paige heard Phoebe cooing over Piper's 3 month old son. "I could just eat you up with a spoon, you know that?"
Paige peeked into the sunroom and saw Phoebe playing with Chris. Wyatt, jealous of the attention Chris was getting, orbed into Phoebe's arms. Phoebe smiled at this, and hugged the boys so hard that Paige felt that their eyes would pop out. She then set Wyatt back in his pen, and went about changing Chris' nappy.
"Chris, you have your auntie Prue's eyes, you know that?" Paige froze. She had never heard Piper or Phoebe talk about Prue in many months. Phoebe continued, more wistfully, "Your aunt had the same telekinesis as you will, and she hurt very bad demons very badly, as you also will. She would have loved to see you and Wyatt. See, this is what Prue looked like." Phoebe went to a side table and picked up a picture of Prue hugging Piper, in P3. "Can you say hi to Prue?" Phoebe gently picked up Chris' arm and made a waving motion.
Paige orbed back into her bedroom, slightly unsettled. It was extremely odd to hear Phoebe talk about Prue so much – she hadn't been mentioned at all, at least in front of Paige, for many months. Now Paige started wondering whether Piper and Phoebe were deliberately hiding the fact that they were remembering Prue, because they didn't want Paige to know.
Paige shook herself out of her reverie, certain that she was blowing things out of proportion. Yet a nagging doubt still lingered, a doubt that she squelched forcefully. She went back to looking through her cupboard.
"Ugh, ugh, yick, boring, ew, yuck, gross," Paige threw out every piece of clothing as she rummaged through her cupboard – either they were crumpled, or dirty, or just plain hideous. Even though she was going to seriously tick Piper off, there was nothing wrong with wanting to look good.
Paige's fingers connected with a box at the back of the cupboard. Wondering what it was, she opened it and grinned. At least she could now look presentable. Now all she had to was get to P3... and face Piper's wrath.
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"Where the hell is Paige?" grumbled Piper Halliwell, shaking back her long brown hair. Ever since she and Leo had made it official that they would stay together, she had been neglecting the club, and she needed Paige's help to restore it. Piper momentarily allowed herself to think about hers and Leo's situation. Although he was still an Elder and had to go Up There frequently, Piper didn't mind... too much. Back down on Earth, however, Piper still had a whole club to bring back into shape. Piper was cleaning the bar when a loud jingle caught her ear. She looked up in annoyance and froze.
Despite Paige's bright red hair (pulled back into a high ponytail), Paige looked like the spitting image of Prue. She was wearing one of Prue's favourite outfits – light brown trousers, black boots, brown leather jacket and a multi-coloured halter top, with all the matching accessories. Although Piper had thought about Prue often, seeing Paige in that outfit brought back all the memories.
"Sorry I'm late," apologised Paige, walking down the stairs and stumbling, just like Prue had done when she had first worn the boots. "The damn alarm clock didn't ring. Anyway, I'm here and ready to work!" When Piper didn't respond, Paige looked at her and saw disbelief all over Piper's face. "Is something wrong Piper?"
"No... no, don't be silly, Paige," Piper finally replied. "I was just thinking about... well, never mind. Um, could you bring out the glasses for me?" Paige was still unconvinced, but decided not to push it.
Hours later, P3 was finally back to Piper's spit-and-polish standards. Piper, however, was still miles away. Every time her eyes laid on Paige, Piper kept thinking about how Prue had worn that same outfit each time she got to photograph a young, handsome male, and it invariably got him chasing after her. Phoebe had jokingly knighted it "The Male Magnet".
It was apparent that even now, it had the same effect on men. Brian, one of the bartenders who had dropped in to help, had been flirting non-stop with Paige the whole day. Looking at her, Piper felt bad – the whole idea was to spend some time with Paige, but instead Piper had been avoiding her. She felt really silly about making a big deal – so what if Paige wore Prue's clothes? She may not have realised whose they were. Still, Piper couldn't stop the memories running through her mind – Prue whinging about her braces, helping Prue and Andy sneak up to Prue's room, Prue leading the trio to fight a demon or warlock...
"A penny for your thoughts," chirped a voice. Piper looked up and saw Phoebe smiling brightly.
"Phoebe! What are you doing here?" Piper gave her sister a hug. "Aren't you supposed to be on a date with Jason?"
"Yes, but that was a lunch date, and it's 5pm now," Phoebe said amusedly. She couldn't stop smiling now that Jason had finally accepted the fact that she was a witch. Although things weren't back to normal, Jason was not scared anymore. Now, Phoebe felt that she could be less guarded around him, even though he was still in the dark about much of her Wiccan past. "Anyway, before you changed the subject, what were you thinking about?"
Piper shifted uncomfortably. "Nothing important, really."
"Piper Halliwell, your powers may kick butt but your lying certainly doesn't. Now will you tell me what was bugging you or do I have to drag -" Phoebe stopped suddenly as she saw Paige. "Oh."
"Yes, oh," said Piper. "Seeing Paige in Prue's favourite clothes has just... brought back all these memories, you know? I –" She stopped as she saw Paige coming towards them.
"Hey Pheebs," Paige greeted her cheerfully, and then stopped short as she saw the exact same expression on Phoebe's face as Piper had. She now felt unsettled – what had she done wrong? Paige decided to have it out. "Okay, why do you and Piper look at me as if you've seen a ghost? Wait, bad analogy." She was babbling now out of nervousness.
"What!" cried Phoebe. "Don't be ridiculous!"
"Phoebe, you took a little too long to answer. Something is definitely up. Don't keep me in the dark here."
Phoebe and Piper looked at each other. Finally, Piper said reluctantly, "It's just... well, it's not a big deal really, I mean... okay, what I mean to say is that, um, the clothes you're wearing..."
"Yeah?" Paige asked warily.
"That was Prue's favourite outfit that you're wearing now," Phoebe finished off for Piper. "Wait, that sounded really insensitive-"
"No, it's okay. I understand," Paige interrupted softly. "I should have asked you guys. I would have never worn them if I'd known..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say. There was an awkward silence. Both Phoebe and Piper were avoiding looking at Paige, which did not help ease the tension. Finally Paige broke the silence, "Well, I'd better get going. I... forgot that I was supposed to meet a friend. Ciao!" She hurriedly orbed out. Piper and Phoebe looked at each other guiltily.
Back in her room, Paige collapsed onto her bed. She could feel all the old insecurities coming back. Ever since Barbas had trapped her in her own fears, she had been fighting to conquer her fears. She felt that she had been successful, but today at P3 was threatening to undo all that she had worked for.
Paige rolled onto her side and curled up. She didn't need a premonition to know that she had opened up a can of worms, putting her relationship with her sisters on the line.