Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or anything related to it.
Author's Note: My very first Charmed fanfic. I've been intrigued by something Piper said in an episode in season two, and of course I can't remember the title. Oh well, here's the story. Let me know how I did on portraying the characters if you have a minute!
Prue and Piper had always been the closest of the three Halliwell sisters. Their bond grew even larger the night Prue's innocence came to an abrupt halt.
The first that came to mind when recalling that night was a very simple detail. It was dark, unusually so for mid-July. Normally, it was very light outside, even at night. The moon resting comfortably amid the faded white clouds and the sparkling stars. But not during the hours of darkness on that particular night. Piper had grown suspicious around nine but said nothing of the feeling. That was just about the time that Prue snuck out each night to meet with her boyfriend, a bad boy who drove a motorcycle and gelled his hair back. The middle Halliwell child didn't know if their Grandmother was aware of what Prue was doing, but considering that Grams had raised teenagers before, she probably did. And if she didn't feel the need to stop Prue from sneaking out and seeing the boy, Piper decided just to ignore the voice that was telling her not to let her sister leave.
"See ya later," Prue smiled. Watching her older sister slip out the window, that was the last Piper ever saw of her sister as she had known her.
With a sigh, the brunette climbed into her bed and turned on the light next to her bed so she could read. Before long, she had lost herself in the descriptive words of the story. She pulled the covers tighter around her slim figure and returned to the words displayed before her.
Piper couldn't exactly recall what time she had fallen asleep, but she did know that she hadn't been slumbering long. The light next to her bed was still on, which meant that Grams had not yet been in to turn it off. She was a strict woman who believed that if lights where meant to be left on while one was sleeping, the sun would not go down each day. Blinking rapidly, the young girl sat up and looked around her room for any signs that Prue was home. No shoes were by her bed, no jacket was tossed carelessly over the radiator. All the missing things led Piper to see that her older sister was not yet back from her evening escape.
Just as Piper had settled back down into her bed, a very faint tap came from the window to her right. She wasn't startled by this; Piper often couldn't get the window back open upon her return and would knock to wake her younger sister up to let her in. Forcing her best stern look, Piper jumped out of her bed. She was diligent to keep quiet the padding of her bare feet on the hardwood floor, not wanting to wake Grams up and get lectured by her at two in the morning.
As she yanked the window open, Piper immediately noticed that something was wrong with her sister. The older Halliwell's shirt was hanging off of her left shoulder, exposing her lightly freckled skin. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying, and she was shaking.
"Get in here," Piper quickly whispered. She helped Prue into their shared bedroom, taking her hand to offer her a steady grip as she climbed over the windowsill. "What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me, Prudence." She knew how much Prue detested her given name and using it usually persuaded her to comply with whatever was going on.
Prue shut the window behind her, double checking the lock before turning back to her sister. She looked distraught and scared, two expressions Piper had never seen on her sister's face. Prue was always the strong one; she was not the frightened one of the sisters, so this display of emotion came as a shock to fifteen-year-old Piper.
"Can we just go to sleep?" The tallest of the brunettes was almost begging for an excuse not to talk. She attempted to walk away in a normal fashion, but ended up limping over to her bed. Piper was growing more worried by the second as she watched her older sister collapse onto the bed with a whimper.
"Prue." Piper put her hands on her hips, a gesture that signified she was not going to sleep or do anything else until she knew what was going on. "What is wrong?"
Prue saw the look in her younger sister's eyes and gave in. Tears silently streaming down her cheeks, her explanation was simple. "He tried to attack me."
"Attack? Care to tell me anymore?"
"What sort of attack do you think I could've gotten this from?" Prue yanked her shirt to the right, revealing a disgusting looking cut. The blood had dried as it trickled down her skin, and was obvious that it hadn't happened very long ago.
Piper clasped her right hand over her mouth in shock. Both to keep her scream from erupting and to keep the bile rising in her throat at bay. No… it couldn't be. Had Prue been raped? She silently contemplated the question, not daring to voice any inappropriate inquiries. With a sigh, she slowly walked toward her sister and joined her on the bed as Prue covered the wound with her shirt.
"I'm going to wake Grams. She'll know what to do," Piper nodded smartly.
Prue shook her head nervously. "No! Please, don't. I don't want her to know."
The younger Halliwell sister looked up at her wide eyed sibling in confusion. Why didn't she want Grams to know? She could fix everything! "Prue, you need to have that looked at," Piper motioned to the abrasion on her sister's shoulder.
"No. Let's just go to sleep, okay?"
Something about the look in her sister's eyes made Piper give in. She stood, being watchful of her footsteps, and started for her own bed. Three steps away from the foot of Prue's bed, the older brunette whimpered again. "Will you sleep here, with me? Please, Piper?"
For the first time in her life, Piper actually heard Prue sound like a child. Like a little girl who had fallen off of her bike and just needed a hug. But something in Piper's mind told her that a hug wouldn't fix this problem, whatever it was. Being very careful not to hurt her sister in any way, Piper sat next to her silent sister and slowly lay down beside her. Prue immediately turned onto her side so her back was to Piper, and moved backward, forcing the younger brunette to wrap her arms around the eldest Halliwell.
"Prue?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Prue swallowed her tears as she fought back all of her emotions. She couldn't drop this sort of thing on her younger sister's shoulders. It just wouldn't be fair to do such a thing. "I'm fine, Piper," was her soft reply.
Unconvinced, Piper loosened her hold on her sister for fear that she was embracing her too tightly. Just as she had done so, Prue softly cried out at the sudden loss of contact. This scared Piper, so she instinctively wrapped her arms around her now trembling sibling.
"Don't let go, okay?" Prue whispered, her voice breaking throughout her short sentence.
"I won't," Piper replied in the same quiet tone. "I promise, I won't let go."
The silence engulfed them within seconds but neither seemed to mind. Prue felt safe with her little sister lying next to her and Piper was happy to help her sister feel better. Piper had just allowed her eyes to close for a moment when they quickly opened again. A faint groan escaped the lips of the brunette in Piper's arms, and she simply copied the things she remembered Prue doing for her. She gently tucked Prue's hair behind her ear, and quietly soothed her. It appeared to work and within seconds, the older sister was asleep once again.
Finally calm enough to sleep, Piper rested her head on Prue's shoulder. She allowed her brown eyes to close after a second and before she knew it, she was fast asleep. And just as quickly as her dreams had arrived, they vanished.
"Piper? Please wake up."
The first thing the brunette heard was the scared voice of Prue. She bolted upright, afraid she had furthered her sister's pain. But as she looked down at the bed, Prue was not lying there.
"Prue? What's going on?" Piper sleepily inquired.
"I can't sleep in these clothes," Prue hurriedly explained. "They're disgusting."
Piper rubbed her eyes to try and stay awake. "Well, change them."
The eldest brunette ran her hands through her hair, looking incredibly exasperated. She blinked rapidly to keep her tears from falling and darted her gaze from the bedroom door to the windows. She didn't feel safe in her own room.
Piper sensed how upset Prue was. "Let's go get Grams. You need to go the hospital, alright? Come on."
Much to her surprise, Prue complied. She nodded, making her shirt slide off of her shoulder a bit more and almost instantly, Piper felt awful for not waking their Grandmother earlier.
"I'll help you up the stairs."
Prue put her arm around Piper's shoulders and the two slowly set off toward Grams' room. With each step, Prue moaned in pain and it scared Piper more than she could hide.
"I just want to take a shower and go to sleep," Prue groaned after a few moments of silence.
Piper, taking over the role of the voice of reason, shook her head. "After Grams' takes you to the hospital, then you can get a shower."
"Will you go with me?"
"I have to stay here with Phoebe," Piper softly replied. "But I'll be waiting in the living room for you."
Neither said another word, not wanting to make things anymore difficult than they already were. But as they reached the landing of the third floor, Piper stopped walking.
"Prue, you're going to be okay. I'll take care of you." Piper gently hugged her older sister as a reassuring gesture.
Now having seen a situation through the eyes of her sister, Piper understood why her sister had gone into her rebellious phrase with such enthusiasm. It was finally her chance to be a kid again, to not have to worry about taking care of other people. The thing had that had set her free had just pushed her right back to where she was before; only now, she needed people to take care of her, instead of the other way around. Piper's mind was overflowing with thoughts as they finally separated from the long embrace.
"Come on," Prue whispered as they pushed the door to Grams' room open. "Let's get this over with."
They entered the bedroom together, an older sister accompanied by her younger sister and best friend. But when the time came for them to leave, their bond had increased, along with their trust in each other. They were considerably more mature as they stepped out into the hallway after alerting their grandmother of the situation, and were no longer convinced that the world was such a good place. As the eldest Halliwell sister started on the road to recovery with her grandmother and siblings, they all had aged, whether it showed on their faces or not. And no two siblings' appreciate for the other could've been stronger than that of Prue and Piper. They had survived a tragic occurrence together during their teen years. Little did they know, content on enjoying what little bit of their childhoods they had left, that was just the beginning of their struggles.
Thanks for reading!