Disclaimer: The Charmed Characters are the property of Aaron Spelling and Constance Burge. I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction. Parts of this part are from the first episode in season 2
I was experimenting a little a long time ago and I penned this under another name...It is also a lost bet fic so it will be a little out of the box.
Phoebe lay in bed thinking about what had happened earlier that night as Prue and Piper walked to their places in the Manor. How could they not be excited about today? It was their anniversary.
She didn't even move when she heard the faint knock on the door. She wasn't sure if she should even answer it. She knew it was probably Piper, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to even talk about it.
"Phoebs." She called out as she slowly opened the door; "Can I come in?"
"You are already. Why ask?" Phoebe replied not looking at her sister.
Piper took in a deep breath as she made her way and sat down on Phoebes bed. "Hey. It's not that we don't care. It's just nice to have some quiet time for us lately. And lately we've been pretty lucky."
"I know. I just thought you guys would be happy."
"We are honey. It's our witchcraft that brought us back together. I would hate to think where you and Prue would be now if you had not read that incantation that night." Piper said with a smile. "But I think right now Prue is still trying to deal with Andy."
Phoebe fell quiet not knowing what to say. They had all been hurt when Rodriguez killed Andy, but Prue had lost the man she would always love. She had been hurt the most of all of them.
"Get some sleep. I'm sure she'll come around in the morning." Piper said as she leaned down as placed a kiss on Phoebes forehead. "Night honey."
"Night Pipe." Phoebe answered as thought of what they had all become in the last year.
Prue ran out of her room nearly colliding with Piper as they both headed for the attic hearing their youngest sister, Phoebe, calling out for them to come.
Once again the books pages were turning on their own, stopping at the page it was looking for.
Just as Phoebe started to read the passage they watched as the vortex opened on the wall. The wind swirled around them as they were pushed back against the wall. Prue looked up at the demon standing there reaching out for their most prized family heirloom; The Book of Shadows.
They watched as the vortex closed once again leaving the wall, as it had been, for the many years the Manor had stood on that spot.
They stood there not believing what had just happened. A demon had taken the book from the house. How was that even possible?
Demons appeared from nowhere and from out of the woodwork it seemed. First it was Piper and Jeremy, and then the Woogyman. They never knew who to expect next, or where. They came back from the hell they had sent them too. Back to finish what they had started. Learning from their past mistakes and getting the feeling of a vanquish as the result of their failure.
What had it taken for one of them to finally give up? Not want to play witch anymore.
Phoebe watched helplessly as Prue walked out the hospital doors. Her big sister had almost died and now she acted as if she didn't care at all about being a witch. She felt as if her own world was starting to spin off its axis as the one thing she had ever truly believed in and felt that she could do as it came naturally to her; was walking out of her life and their was nothing she could do.
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Piper and Phoebe made their way up the stairs to the Manor. They knew that Prue had not returned home, for her car was nowhere to be seen. Phoebe had dropped her bag and started for the kitchen in search of the few resources they had to yield their magic.
"Piper. What if she doesn't come back?" Phoebe asked yet again as the clock struck eleven. She had turned every page in the magic books they had and she had still found nothing.
"She'll come back Phoebs." Piper said as she fussed about in the kitchen
Phoebe continued to look through the book. Abraxus. That was all the Spirit Board would tell them. Now without their own book they felt lost. Phoebe looked up once again from her books , " We're screwed, you know."
Piper walked past her towards the fridge, "No, we're not. There's a window, we'll find it."
"That's not what I meant." Phoebe replied as she turned towards Piper.
Piper knew right away what her sister was talking about, "She'll come around."
"By sunrise? You know how Prue is when she makes up her mind about something. That's it. We're screwed." Phoebe turned back in her chair to the books on the table.
Piper tried to forget what Phoebe was saying, trying to push her own worries aside, "And we're out of wine."
Phoebe quickly turned at the sound of the doorbell ringing, "I'll get it. You keep dreaming." She said back as she got up and walked out to the foyer.
Opening the door she is surprised to see her neighbour Dan there, holding a bottle of wine. "Oh, hi..." she looked past him. She had hoped it was Prue and that maybe she had just forgotten her key
"Dan." He finished for her. He was new to the neighbourhood and he hadn't truly expected her to remember his name right off the bat.
Phoebe laughed slightly as she knew his name, but was to wrapped up in hoping it was her sister to actually say it, "Dan, right."
Dan looked down at her, "You're Phoebe. Jenny told me. I hope it's okay to stop by."
"Of course, uh, we were just doing some reading." She covered. Not sure what to do about neighbour Dan. They had a demon to vanquish, a book to retrieve and a sister to find.
Dan fidgeted slightly, "Well, I just wanted to give you this." He handed her a bottle of Chardonnay. "To say thanks. You know, for talking to Jenny. Or better yet, for getting her to talk to me."
"That's really sweet. And timely too. But it's not necessary."
"Well, to be honest, I was sort of hoping to get something out of it. I mean, you know, for Jenny. Just in case she needs a woman to talk to again."
Phoebe laughed at the man before her. Every guy squirmed when it came to the certain subject and it would seem that her neighbour was not to be different from the crowd. "Ah, of course. Any time. She seems like a great kid. So, did she...tell you what the problem was?"
The two continued to talk before Phoebe excused herself, and Dan left feeling relieved that his niece would have at least three women to talk to. Though not even Dan would guess how wrong his thinking was.
She drove around for what seemed a lifetime. Maybe because that's what she had playing in her mind: her life. She pulled her Miata in front of the police station and slowly made her way up the steps. It was the first time she had been there ever since. She closed her eyes as her heart felt the pain of loss once again.
She had spoken with Darryl, and he had tried to explain to her what Andy had told him that morning. The morning before he was killed.
"It wasn't your fault Prue. He wanted. He needed you to know that. He also wanted me to tell you that he loved you with everything he was."
"I can't Darryl. He came to save me."
"He went to do his job Prue, he knew you would try that card. But doing his job is who he was. I don't care what you and your sisters are into. All I care about is you and your sisters. If there was something more he never told me and I didn't ask."
Prue embraced Darryl one more time before getting up to leave.
"I'm sorry Darryl. But I can't right now." She turned and walked away. Leaving Darryl just as confused as before but also just as worried about his friend.
Every time she turned around someone was after her to be responsible. To protect her sisters. To be the best at her job. To get the most money on an artifact. To watch out for everyone she loved. She couldn't do it any more. She needed her own time. Her own time to just be her. To be Prue Halliwell.
She had no control over where she went. She didn't even see the road signs as her car soon found its way on the freeway heading south. Away from her responsibilities, away from her pain, away from witchy duties and away from her sisters. She had long forgotten about what was happening to them. About what could happen to them if and when Abraxus read the last incantation, the one that gave them their powers. The one that if read backwards, could take their powers way. Leaving them all vulnerable to the evils of the underworld.