Title: "I love you too"
Summary: A short drabble preceding the season one episode "From Fear To Eternity". The first time Prue cannot say "I love you too"
Rated: K
Author: Fairycake
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue I own nothing but a beanie monkey and a kick-ass pair of boots.
We always shared a bed. Ever since I can remember I had bunk beds with Piper, but I slept in Prue's bed every night. I think she got her own bed as compensation for being the eldest and having to endure all the responsibilities that carries, especially after mom died. But if she ever wanted me to sleep in my own bunk she never said so, she just shifted her little girl body to accommodate my toddler sized one, her arm around me sometimes, stroking my hair other times. I felt safe next to my eldest sister, it was my most favourite place in the world, Prue would protect me from anything. Every night we'd whisper the same thing:
"I love you, Prue."
"I love you too, Pheebs."
After mom died, Gramms offered Prue the room, she was doing well at school, which meant she needed space to continue studying hard, and three little sisters crammed in one room seemed silly when there was a spare one. But Prue told Gramms she didn't want the room, she needed to stay close to Piper and me, to make sure we were okay. Really, she didn't want to live in the room still rife with memories.
I was still very young the day she died, but I still remember Prue was suffering majorly from shock, curled up in the corner of her bed shivering, tears streaming silently down her cheeks, not speaking to anyone. I did what I always did, I got into bed beside her, but this time it was me holding her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of my eldest sister sobbing in the middle of the night, this time I was brave for her, I held her and held my own tears back. Piper had stayed in Gramm's room tonight and I had no doubt they were both still wide awake too. I was the youngest little Halliwell, but even I knew things were going to be completely different from now on. Especially for Prue, I knew from such an early age that she would change the most, she would be most affected by mom's death and the one who could not show it, had to be brave for her little sisters and aging grandmother.
That night I leaned over and kissed the tears away from Prue's cheeks, kissed her lips and held her very tightly. "I love you, Prue."
"Yeah, you too."