"All Too Human"
Disclaimer: The Charmedverse and all the magical and mortal beings that inhabit it are the creation of Constance M. Burge and the property of Spelling Entertainment. It's their playground, and I'm just a regular good gal who got sucked in and a-mused. No money to see here.
Summary: Post-"Sympathy for the Demon", Phoebe decides to pull the image of her eldest sister as Prue the super witch, back to down to earth. And maybe not just for Paige's sake.
She had managed to really laugh, and laugh frequently, during what remained of her date with Miles. God, it felt so good to laugh after staring down a demon -- and of course, today it hadn't been just any demon, it had been Barbas with Cole's powers.
Miles drove her home, and she entered the manor after soundly kissing him goodnight. The sight of Paige coming down the stairs with a triumphant smile greeted her. Phoebe smiled knowingly at her little sister.
"Did you have fun spending the evening home all alone?"
Paige smirked at the teasing, but her smile didn't falter. "I," she declared, jumping down the last two steps, "finally managed to get two doves out of Prue's animal conjuring spell."
"Oh, honey," Phoebe pulled Paige into a hug. "That's great."
Paige stepped back as her smile faded. "Yeah, maybe, once I can get, oh, five doves in thirty minutes, and not five days. Figuring out how to hold down a job at the same time would also probably be a really good thing."
"Paige…" The self-doubt Phoebe heard made her look at her little sister, really look at her, for the first time since their fear-filled ordeal started. And what she saw there unnerved her.
"I just want to be able to pull my own weight around here, you know? And I know its silly, but sometimes I think there's just one more thing, one more…" Paige broke off, unsure whether or not Phoebe wanted to hear her vent right then.
"One more quiz coming up?"
Paige nodded, without looking Phoebe in the eye. But Phoebe decided not to take the out this time. She was tired, sure, but she'd gotten what she wanted out of her evening. Paige deserved a sympathetic ear, and maybe today showed that leaving her without one brought real dangers.
She guided Paige to the couch and sat beside her.
"Honey, you know those days are behind you. And you know that Piper and I think you're just fine the way you are."
"I do know that," Paige shifted uncomfortably, "most of the time. But sometimes, I get this feeling you guys aren't thinking of me, just the role I'm supposed to play, and how well I'm supposed to be playing it."
Phoebe started to respond, to reassure her little sister like she had countless times before, but Paige's words reminded her of something, and she knew somehow it was connected with Barbas. For a moment, she didn't understand the connection. Then the memories hit her, full force.
"Gee, Prue, looks like being a hired killer agrees with you."
"Thirteen dead witches by midnight on Friday the 13th. Ring any bells?
"Barbas can paralyze you and use your greatest fear against you. You don't want to face that alone."
"Maybe he'll tap into some other fear. You can't defeat him alone."
Phoebe blinked a few times, surprised and a little overwhelmed by the power of the memory. Paige was eyeing her warily. "Hey there, Earth to Phoebe. You ok?" Slowly, she nodded.
"More than okay, I think." She turned toward Paige, and tugged a little on the shoulder strap of her aquamarine blouse before taking hold of Paige's hands. "I'm going to tell you a story." At Paige's dubious look, she went on, "it's the sort of thing we should've told you about a while ago, but with everything always going on, it never came up. And I'm really sorry about that."
She stopped and looked up. Paige's expression was almost unreadable, but Phoebe could see a bit of disbelief mixed with real longing. She smiled slightly.
"Let me ask you a question. When we were having that whole discussion about Barbas today --"
"The one where Piper read me the riot act and oh, didn't forget to me how much more experience you guys have with this?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Yes, that one. When Piper and Leo were telling you about Prue defeating Barbas by overcoming her fears, what were you thinking about?"
Paige was beginning to see where Phoebe was headed, but she didn't feel like giving her a lift just yet. "I guess my first thought was that there was no way we'd be able to defeat him if only Prue had before."
Phoebe nodded. "And?"
"And…I don't know. I kind of wondered how a demon could figure out what somebody's fears are."
Phoebe just smirked at her little sister. "C'mon, Paige! I mean, I know it must've felt like a pressure cooker or something, but weren't you even a little curious?" Paige gave her one of the blanked-faced oblivious looks Phoebe had become very fond of over the past fifteen months.
"Prue's fears, Paige. What Barbas used against her and what she had to overcome to defeat him. Or did you think Leo was making that up?"
Paige shook her head. "I guess I never thought about it, at all." She quirked a half-smile before looking up at Phoebe. "Okay. But one, how do you know for sure what her fears were? And, um, isn't this kind of like speaking ill of the dead?"
Phoebe squeezed Paige's clasped hands before releasing them. "No, it's not like that, believe me. These are things about her I know because she was my sister, because she had known me since I was born." Paige's face fell a little, and Phoebe quickly added, "You are her sister too, Paige, whether we all grew up together or not. And you deserve to know who she was, all of it. The great big stuff, the good little things, and the not so great stuff."
She took hold of Paige's hands again. "Okay, so the first time we faced Barbas, it had only been about six months since we had received our powers. He was really the first major demon we faced directly. I mean, there was this other one, Javna, who kidnapped young women and like sucked their youth away, and Kali, who was trapped in a mirror, but-"
"You only fought three demons in your first six months as witches? What else were you doing?" Phoebe almost laughed at the incredulous look on her little sister's face. "Well, they weren't the only evil we were fighting, first of all. You remember the warlock faction leaders?"
Paige wrinkled her nose, trying to remember. "Yea, they could blink and change shape. Wait, you were fighting warlocks?"
"When we weren't unknowingly dating or working for them, yes. Their whole goal is to steal powers, and who better to steal from than the Charmed Ones while they're new to the game?" She smiled sardonically before shaking her head. "But anyway, Barbas. There was this prophecy that he'd be released from the Underworld after 1300 years on Friday the 13th. The year we received our powers."
Phoebe paused and held her breath, watching for Paige's reaction out of the corner of her eye. Paige looked to be both wide awake and a little overwhelmed by all she had just heard, but she surprised Phoebe slightly by asking, "Did the prophecy say anything else?"
Exhaling slightly, Phoebe said, "that if Barbas could kill thirteen unmarried witches by midnight, he'd be freed from the Underworld to do his thing for eternity."
Paige actually did appear stunned by that part. Phoebe laughed a little uneasily, then stood up. "I think this might take a while to explain, so I'm going to get us some tea. Don't you move a muscle."
Paige managed through her astonishment to roll her eyes at Phoebe's moving back. "Only if you promise not to burn down the kitchen."
"Very funny."
Paige sat back as Phoebe went into the kitchen. She tried to sort through all of the conflicting emotions coursing through her after everything she'd heard. Gratitude that she was finally hearing about her sisters' wiccan past in a non-confrontational setting battled with some lingering resentment that she hadn't gotten to talk to either of her sisters like this in all the time they'd known each other. But more than anything, she just wanted to know more. Phoebe's teasing words came back to her, and suddenly she found that she was more than a little curious to know what Prue Halliwell had been afraid of.