Disclaimer: I own nothing of Charmed :-( BUT; I do own the storyline :-)
Summary: Piper has started a game. The prize is great, the loss is greater and loosing isn't an option...
Timeline: Leo is just a Whitelighter, no Chris or Wyatt; Cole has 'normal' evil powers but is not evil.
Authors' notes: This is my first fan fiction so please be fairly nice!
Feedback: Would be very much appreciated, as would constructive criticism.
The prize
Chapter 1: Unnatural behaviour
Phoebe Halliwell danced in front of the bathroom mirror in the manor. The sweet, soulful rhythm of Usher's 'Yeah', reached her ears from the bright blue portable radio next to the sink. She ran a fingertip full of gloss across her bottom lip and then pressed her lips together in a kissing gesture. She winked at herself and then left the bathroom in search of her sisters.
She could hear her younger sister, Paige, singing to herself, badly, in her room. Phoebe knocked on the open door and let out a low whistle as she took in her sister's attire for their girls' night out.
"Wow…Paige…you looking to pick up a guy tonight?"
"You never know Pheebs, stranger things have happened," Paige smiled a wicked grin as she finished adjusting her blood red top with beaded spaghetti-straps.
"Should I change out of my dress and put on some pants? I don't want to be too different from you and Piper."
Paige gave Phoebe a once-over and smiled an approving smile as she surveyed Phoebe's plain black sleeveless dress.
"Pheebs, you're already different from Piper and me. I don't think dressing like us will help, at all."
Phoebe playfully smacked Paige on the upper arm, "Yeah, well you're going to have to tell me where you got the pin-striped pants because I love them."
"That's an easy one. I got them from your closet."
Paige strode past Phoebe trying to suppress her laughter as Phoebe's face expressed her unawareness. The two youngest Halliwell's left Paige's room seeking Piper. They located her in the living room stuffing a duffel bag with clothes. Piper was wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Phoebe's brow matched Paige's as they both stared at Piper in confusion.
"Um…Piper? We're having a girls' night out, not a girls' week out. Why aren't you dressed, and why are you packing?"
Piper stopped long enough to look at her sisters with tear-soaked eyes, "Phoebe, I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I can't be here right now. I need a break. I need to be away from the both of you and from Leo."
Piper walked past Paige and Phoebe who were both motionless with disbelief. They quickly regained their senses and followed Piper into the kitchen where she was putting matches, a flashlight and five bottles of water into her duffle bag.
Paige took a step toward Piper only to be met with a hand raised to warn her to stay away, "You two can't talk me out of leaving. I won't be gone forever. But I just need to leave. You have to understand that."
Phoebe was speechless, but Paige filled the void, "No, Piper, we don't have to understand anything! Two hours ago the three of us are laughing and talking about how much fun we are going to have tonight and now…you go psycho runaway on us? I don't think so. What gives?"
Piper raised an angry eyebrow, her brown eyes flaming in annoyance, "Paige, when you've been a sister to me longer, then you can demand answers from me, until then you are only my half-sister and I owe you nothing."
Phoebe stepped in front of Paige as though she could lessen the sting of Piper's words with her body. Phoebe could sense that behind her Paige was trying hard not to cry.
"Jesus, Piper! What in the hell are you attacking Paige for? What has gotten into you?"
"Back off little sis. Just back off. If it weren't for you none of us would be in this situation."
"What situation?" Phoebe demanded to know, her body shaking with the adrenaline of confrontation.
Piper looked as though she was about to say something and then she slammed her fist into the wall behind Phoebe and Paige.
"Damn it! Just back off. I need some time!" With that, Piper stormed out of the kitchen and into the cool San Francisco air.
Phoebe and Paige stood silent, stunned in the kitchen. Piper's malicious words and angry tone were resonating in their ears. Phoebe turned to look at Paige, who had not shed any tears although the temptation had been great. The youngest Halliwell, breathed in deeply before finally looking Phoebe in the eyes.
"Book of Shadows?"
"Hell yeah."
Piper got out of her car. It was night and the parking garage was dimly lit. She shut her door, leaving the keys inside the Jeep and holding the duffel bag tightly in one hand. Tears streamed down her face as she recalled every word she said to her sisters. Her heart beat ferociously with the knowledge of what she was doing.
Suddenly, she began to yell to the night air, "Okay, I'm ready, you bastard. I did what you wanted me to do, so come on, let's get this game started!"
As her words settled into echoes, a shimmer distorted the air in front of her. A frown deeper than the scowl that had plastered her face seconds before made its way across her face.
"Finally," she said as the shimmer took shape and formed into a man.
"If I were you I wouldn't be too testy, Halliwell. I hold your entire future with your sisters and Leo in my hands. It's up to you and you alone to save them."
"If you think that scares me, you have another thing coming, Cole Turner, but we had a deal. One year ago I made a promise to you that I would play this ridiculous game and now I will keep my word it if it means saving my sisters' life."
"That's a good girl, Piper." Cole held on to Piper's upper arm and together they shimmered away, leaving behind only the single car, in the lonely parking garage, in the cold, darkness of the San Francisco autumn night.
"Okay…Leo, if you don't know what's going on with your wife then why do you think we know?" Phoebe asked as she paced back and forth in front of the podium.
Paige was sitting on the small Victorian, red velvet sofa pushed against the wall of the attic. She watched Phoebe pace as a spectator watches a tennis game. Leo stood in the middle of the attic with both hands dangling at his sides looking at the floor.
"So you're telling me that your sister, my wife, stormed out of here tonight with no real explanation?"
Phoebe and Paige both nodded.
"I find that very hard to believe. Why would Piper do that?"
"I don't know Leo. All I know is one minute we're all happy and excited about our girls' night out and then the next Piper is throwing a serious hissy fit saying that she needs to be away from both me and Paige and away from you. When we tried to get her to explain herself, she basically said something very hurtful to Paige and then stormed out."
Paige stood up from the couch and stopped Phoebe from pacing by grabbing her by the shoulders, "Sorry, sis, but you were making me dizzy."
"Yeah, sorry, I'm just…"
"…Nervous? Worried? Yeah, me too. I know that Piper wouldn't have said those things if she didn't have to."
Leo turned his eyes toward Paige, "What do you mean?"
"Well…the only way Piper would be that mean is if either she was under a spell or demonic influence, or she had to say those things to keep us from following her or asking anymore questions."
Phoebe took off her glasses and sighed, "Well, it worked, I was so stunned by the things she said that I didn't even think to follow her."
Paige gave Phoebe a sympathetic smile. She knew she and her sisters had come a long way in building a relationship in the previous year. Paige also knew that even if Piper never said it, her oldest sister loved her.
"I didn't think about it either, Pheebs. It's not our fault she's gone."
Leo looked longingly at the book, "So it gave you no ideas?"
Both sisters shook their heads.
"What about you, Leo?" Phoebe asked, "Are you picking up anything on her from your Whitelighter radar?"
"No nothing. And you're sure nothing she said or did gave you any clue as to where she was going?"
Phoebe's voice was apologetic and worried, "No, I'm sure."
"I'm not."
Leo and Phoebe turned to look at the youngest Halliwell as she bit her bottom lip and held a finger to her chin in thought. Paige looked at Phoebe and Leo and nodded.
"Yeah, there was something strange," Paige, affirmed.
Phoebe shrugged her shoulders as she and Leo waited impatiently for Paige's revelation.
"Phoebe, what do you remember seeing Piper pack?"
"Clothes, I guess, what difference does it make?" Phoebe had an edge of irritability in her tone.
"I saw her putting five bottles of water, matches and a flashlight in her one bag."
"One bag?" Leo was intrigued. "Piper never takes one bag anywhere."
Phoebe nodded in agreement, "That is weird."
"And you guys are totally missing my point," Paige declared close to being angry. "The things Piper put in her one bag people…think about it…is she going camping? Who in the hell packs matches, a flashlight, and water to go to a hotel?"
Leo and Phoebe looked at Paige with expectant faces.
"What? That's all I've got."
"Well, it's not a lot," Leo scowled as he began to pace.
Paige was sombre, "Well it's better than what you came up with."
Phoebe looked from Paige to Leo with impatience, "Okay…so we know Piper wouldn't willingly go camping, so there must be a demon behind it."
Paige nodded, "That's my theory, too."
"And if Piper said the things she said to you, then we know that the only reason she's not here is because she's somewhere being forced to do something to save your lives or mine."
Phoebe and Paige stared at one another as Piper's words culled in their minds.
"If it weren't for you none of us would be in this situation. Paige, she was talking to me. If it weren't for me we wouldn't be in this situation. It's got something to do with me."
"The only demon I know that you know well enough to hold any power over any of us is Cole," Leo's words broke through to Phoebe and stung her heart with their honesty.
"And now he's back to the evil side, again and Piper's involved." Paige frowned at the thought of her big sister, alone in a place unknown to them, with Cole. Phoebe frowned about it even harder.
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