Disclaimer: The Charmed Characters are the property of Aaron Spelling and Constance Burge. I just borrow them for your enjoyment and my writing addiction.
Warning. Do not read while at work or while eating. Spontaneous laughter may incur
Phoebe sat on the floor hugging the pillow as she starred into the blazing fire. Once again Clay had come into her life, and taken her heart when they parted. Their relationship was always complicated but this time now he left knowing their secret. A secret she knew he would keep.
Prue walked in the room and saw Phoebe sitting in front of the fire, knowing Phoebe was thinking about something, she usually did when she was siting starring at the flames.
"Hey sis. You sit there and think to much you might set off the smoke alarm." Prue looked down at Phoebe as she slide down on to the couch. "You ok sweetie?"
"Yeah. It's just how I always feel when Clay and I go our separate ways."
Prue watched as Phoebe moved slightly and leaned against her one leg that was still hanging over the side of the couch. Out of instinct Prue reached down and ran her hand over Phoebes shoulders, trying to ease any tension. She felt Phoebe relax slightly after a few minutes under the touch of her magic fingers.
The front door opened as Piper walked in seeing her two sisters in front of the fire. "Did I miss something?" she asked as she took her coat off and walked into the living room.
"No Phoebe was just missing Clay."
"Ah. Well then I might just have the cure. Be right back." She jumped back up and headed to the kitchen.
A few minutes later she came back in with three glasses and a bottle of wine from the rack. Along with some munchies that went with the white she had chosen. "Wine anyone?" she smiled as she poured three glasses.
Prue placed her glass on the end table as she placed her hand on her youngest sister again. "I'm sorry."
"For what. You didn't leave." Phoebe tipped her head back and looked up at her sister.
"For not knocking." Prue gave Phoebe a weak smile.
"Oh that." Phoebe had to chuckle slightly. "Not the first time you caught me in an embarrassing position."
Piper laughed as she set her glass down. "Got that right, but then again I believe you caught Prue a few times too."
"Or you." Phoebe laughed.
Prue cringed as her sisters minds where now focused on her.
"Oh yeah, I remember when I saw her and Andy kissing. I think I was like eight. So you were what Prue, 10, nearly 11?"
"Oh Piper don't you dare." Prue looked at Piper almost daring her to start a tale that Phoebe didn't know about her big sister and was more then embarrassing.
Piper made her way through the park with her friends, with Grams and Phoebe some ways behind her. She wanted time away from Phoebe for a little while. She loved her baby sister but having your five-year-old sister always tagging along can get a bit much for anyone.
Piper ran up the steps to the wooden pirate ship in the middle of the playground. She could hear her friends' steps right behind her.
"Piper lets go inside." Her friend said as she started for the small hole in the wood that went underneath the ship.
Piper was never sure about going inside. She knew that some time bigger kids were in there and never wanted the younger ones down there. Even Prue told her to never go to the underneath of the wooden ship.
"I don't know Sally."
"Come on Piper. Your Grams is right there. Nothing is gonna happen."
Piper looked at Grams as she pushed Phoebe on the swing before she turned and followed after her friend. As she got to the bottom the darkness took over, but she could still make out two figures sitting down leaning against the walls.
"Prue!?"
Prue broke away from the kiss Andy was giving her as she looked up at her younger sister.
"Piper?" she started to get up but Piper was already gone.
"GRAMS! Prue is under the boat kissing ANDY!" she yelled as all the parents in the park turned at the sound of the yelling girl. Then they turned as they saw the two young kids coming out from inside the wooden ship. Some chuckled slightly and some were mortified. Kids that age kissing.
Grams looked up and saw Prue standing on the ground with Andy next to her. She looked around the playground and saw some of the parents looking at them all. She casually made her way over to her oldest granddaughter, "Go home now." Her voice was strong and it was one Prue knew not to argue with. She turned and ran all the way home. Not sure if she as more embarrassed that her sister had announced to the whole park about her and Andy, or that Piper had seen them at all.
Prue grabbed the nearest cushion and tossed it over at Piper, "Oh I could have killed you then." As she laughed at her own memory.
Phoebe on the other hand was holding her side from laughing so hard.
Prue looked down at Phoebe who was still trying to stop laughing. Her tears where rolling down her face. "You think that's funny little missy? What about you and your first drunk?"
"What I was 16. Who doesn't get drunk at 16 for the first time?"
"I wasn't talking then." Prue laughed as her own memory took hold.
Prue walked in the house from her day at school anxious to see her little sisters. Piper was home sick and Phoebe was being her usual three year old self. Running around playing and getting into everything. She looked up and saw Phoebe waiting for her at the top of the steps. "Hi baby."
"Pwue!" Phoebe reached her arms up for her sister to lift her up.
Prue lifted up Phoebe as she made her way into the house. "Piper still sick baby?"
"Yeah. And I had no one to pway with."
"Well what about Cousin Tom?" Prue ruffled Phoebes curly hair as she set her sister back down. Normally Phoebe was Tom's shadow when he watched them, whenever Grams went away for a few days.
"I guess."
"Tom I'm home." Prue made her way to the back of the Manor finding their cousin leaning against the kitchen counter.
"Prue hey. Hi Phoebe." He reached down and tickled his little cousin. "So big cousin I need a favour. Some of the guys are helping a friend down the street move, but they don't have any power yet. I told them to come by for lunch and a few breaks. Favour is./"
"Don't tell Grams. Its ok Tom, your friends are always welcome here." Prue smiled as she wrapped her arms around her cousins' waist.
"Thanx Prue. So can you help me keep Phoebe out of mischief?"
Prue looked down as Phoebe who was sliding across the kitchen floor pretending to be a mermaid. "Sure. How's Piper?"
"Still sleeping last time I checked on her, but in know you will go anyway." He chuckled as Prue ran from the kitchen to find Piper.
Prue was sitting later at the kitchen table finishing her homework as Toms friends came and went during the move.
"Prue you seen Phoebe?" Tom asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Not since the last time I was outside. I had to finish my spelling work." Prue looked up a little worried about her little sister, even though she knew her baby sister wouldn't get far and that all of Tom's friends would watch out for her.
Phoebe sat in the back of the yard with three of her teddy bears, and it was there Prue spotted her. It was soon after Prue spotted Phoebe, that Phoebe spotted Prue. The youngest Halliwell stood up and started for her big sister, but Prue looked on with concern, something wasn't right.
"Tom." Prue took hold of her cousins sleeve ands pulled his attention to Phoebe.
Tom looked up to where Prue was looking and watched as his little cousin staggered across the yard.
"Is she Drunk?!" The voice came in from behind them as Phoebe stumbled down in a step and started laughing for no reason, as she lay on the ground.
Tom and Prue turned and looked up to see Grams standing at the edge of the patio. She wasn't mad, more just shocked that her youngest granddaughter found herself drunk.
"Auntie Penny. No um she's…Um..."Tom struggled for a word but he knew it was no use.
"Drunk. Tom I am surprise at you. I left you in charge of my grandchildren and I come home and find a three year old Phoebe staggering around the back yard. I gave you permission to have your friends by as they helped Darwin move. But what happened?"
Tom looked around at the few friends that were there. No one had seen anything, but Prue did; now.
"Um Grams I think I know." Prue started back towards the back yard where Phoebe had been playing with her bears.
Grams looked down at Phoebes lilttle gathering. "She didn't?" Grams picked up one of the beer bottles only to have nothing come out of it. "She drank the last dregs from the bottom of the bottles."
Piper laughed, she had heard stories as they got older and she remembered Prue reminding Phoebe when she got drunk at 16, but Piper doubted her sister remembered.
"You were so sick the next day. Though not very mobile I might add." Prue laughed, as Phoebe wanted to sulk.
"OK that isn't fair. I was three. Like I remember." Phoebe said as she took a sip of wine sticking her tongue at her sisters.
"Well we should have known then you would be a handful Phoebe. Piper laughed.
Prue looked at Piper and laughed, "Piper careful you were not angel that everyone thought you were."
"At least I wasn't drunk at three." She laughed again as she took a sip of her wine.
"No, but you were into nude men." Prue laughed, but she saw Pipers face go almost horrified. She wasn't sure if it was the memory or that she had gotten away with it all this time. Or so she thought she had.
"What?" Phoebe looked up at both her sisters as her own memory of something came up.
Prue knocked on her sisters' door before she turned the handle and walked in. she saw Piper leaning against Phoebs bed but to her she seemed nervous.
"Hey Piper, what's up?"
"Nothing Prue. Why?"
Prue looked suspiciously at her sister, "No reason. I was heading to town. Thought you and I could escape our baby sister a few hours."
"Um yeah sure that would be great." Piper stood up and grabbed her wallet as she left the room.
Later that day as Grams made her way around the Manor gathering laundry, "Oh Piper. I told you to strip your bed for me." She spoke to no one as she took the task to herself, but as she did she heard the soft thud of something landing on the floor. Looking at the side of the bed she bent down and lifted up the book that was safely tucked in-between the mattress and the box spring. Though as she saw it she felt an inner anger boil, "PHOEBE! GET UP HERE NOW!" her voice echoed off the walls as the youngest Halliwell almost cringed at the tone from her spot down stairs in front of the TV.
14 yr. old Phoebe looked up the stairs at the sound of her name, "What did I apparently do now?" She said as she got up and started up the staircase, passing by portraits of her family. Sometimes she felt as if they were watching her, spying on her.
Walking in her room that she shared with Piper she saw her Grams standing there glaring at her. "Grams?"
"Don't Gram me young lady. Explain this." Penny tossed the magazine on to Pipers bed as Phoebe looked down.
At first was shocked then blushed. "I can't."
"Oh you can't, but you felt the need to hide it in Pipers mattress. Did you think that way I wouldn't find it? Or did you think if I did, that maybe Piper would get blamed?"
"No I don't; honest. That isn't mine." Phoebe protested.
"Phoebe you are grounded until I see fit. You are constantly pushing my buttons and I have no idea why."
"But Grams honest. It isn't mine." Phoebe felt the tears trickle down her face
"Phoebe I will not have you lie to me on top of bringing that, pornography, in this house do you hear me? You are far to young to be looking at pictures of nude men." Grams left her in her room alone. Facing a punishment that wasn't hers to take.
Piper and Prue came in the Manor as Grams was walking down the stairs, with the laundry and the magazine on the top of the pile. Placing it down to sort out she looked up at her older two granddaughters. The magazine that was now sitting on the table caught Pipers eyes and she felt her heart start to race.
"Grams, what…" she didn't want to say any more for fear of giving herself away. But she feared that was too late.
"That? That is something your baby sister decided to bring into this house and I will not stand for it. You are to both leave her alone tonight, and she is grounded until I feel she is no longer grounded.
Piper made her way to the back yard but felt her older sisters' presence. "Piper."
"Yeah?"
"You have to tell her it was your magazine. You can't let Phoebe take the fall."
How did Prue know? But she couldn't. "How?"
"I saw it when I came to get you today." Prue said as she sat beside her sister
"I can't Prue. She'll go mad." Piper replied as she sunk down into the lawn chair.
Prue sat beside her sister, "And what about Phoebe? When she finds out you let her take it?"
"She can handle it. It isn't like she hasn't been grounded before. And it will get her back for other things she's got away with that no one knows about."
Prue thought a minute but wasn't sure what to do. In some ways Piper had a point, but not really. Piper still needed to fess up to her actions.
"I'll give you to the end of the week to confess that that 'Men's nude' magazine was yours." Prue said as she got up and left Piper to her thoughts.
Phoebe glared over at Piper as she cringed back against the chair she was sitting in.
"YOU!? I was grounded for TWO months because of that!" Phoebe wanted to kill Piper then.
"Well it wasn't like you didn't deserve it anyway."
"That isn't the point!"
Prue looked over at Piper and then Phoebe, "Piper you told me you told Grams, and that she grounded you. I even remember you not going anywhere and coming straight home after school."
"Yeah well, I didn't I just made it look like she had."
Prue was shocked but Phoebe was still furious, though Prue could see her sister was calming some what.
"Say Phoebe you can't tell me you didn't deserve it. What about that fire right before all that happened?" Piper reminded her sister as Prue looked over with curiosity.
Prue looked over and saw Phoebe turn ten shades of red, knowing she was about to get it from Piper
"No Aaron we need a fire for the fort."
"What? We going to light a fire in the middle of the city Phoebe?"
"Sure. We aren't going to let it get out of control or anything. But if we plan on camping out we need heat and something to cook marshmallows on."
Her friend wasn't as convinced as she was but he pulled out his matches anyway, setting light to the small fire they had built. What they didn't do was clear back the leaves and brush, and as they talked the fire got bigger and before they realized it had gotten out of hand.
Piper had been walking past the woods around their elementary school. When she saw her baby sister running out of the wood and her friend Aaron right behind her. When she realized what was going on she took off for home, not wanting any part of her little sisters crime.
Not that long after, she had heard the sirens and cringed everytime the door opened. She half expected it to be Phoebe and the police.
"Piper?"
Piper looked up to see Phoebe standing there with her trademark grin on her face.
"What happened?"
"I told them I saw some kids running down the street from the fire."
"WHAT? Phoebe you can't do that."
"Well I did. I didn't want to get in any more trouble." Phoebe replied as she changed her clothes, "Piper you can't say anything. Please. Grams will ground me for the rest of my life."
Piper was torn to what to do. She knew what Phoebe did was wrong. On the other hand she also knew that lately Gram and Prue had been hard on the poor kid. "Ok."
"Thanx Pipe. You are the best." She placed a kiss on Pipers cheek before starting down the stairs as if nothing happened.
"You set that fire?" Prue looked over at Phoebe shocked but some how she wasn't surprised. Then she turned back to Piper, "And you kept that from us?"
"Look Prue, she was young it wasn't like she meant to. And you would have killed her if I told you."
Piper got up and headed for the kitchen for another bottle of wine but came back into laughter. "Well I see that fire incident wore of." She laughed as she topped up her sisters' glasses.
"Oh yeah, Prue was telling me about your worst moment in school." Phoebe tried not to laugh at Piper but couldn't help it.
Piper looked at Prue and glared, "You did not tell her that?" she saw the confirmation in Prue's eyes.
Piper sat through another boring lecture on how to brush your teeth. She knew how and she felt this whole thing was stupid. Piper was at the peek of her shyness stage and just let every one talk around her, but her Grams had taught her manners and it was then she listened, but her manners came to effect. She had to go to the bathroom but didn't want to interrupt the teachers special guest. She also didn't want any attention brought to her.
As she sat there she pulled her legs closer hoping she would make it just a little longer. Then she would make the mad dash for the bathroom. As she waited for the lady to stop talking so she could raise her hand and ask permission to go to the bathroom her world around her crumbled. She tried harder to hold it but it still got away from her as she felt the warmth on her leg as sit ran down her legs and started a small puddle on the floor.
She couldn't wait any longer as she looked over at her teacher with pleading eyes as she thrust her hand in the air. The teacher looked at her and as she got up soon saw the problem. As she took Piper, some of her classmates also saw the same thing as they started laughing and pointing at her. Calling her a baby because she had peed her pants in class.
"I had to get out of class and take her home." Prue laughed as she tried to fill he glass.
Phoebe was now rolling on the floor. She wasn't sure what was funnier any more. A night where everything seemed to come pouring out.
"Oh sure laugh all you want Prue. Bet you never told Phoebe about. Mark?" Piper looked at her sister with a knowing grin.
Prue almost choked on her sip of wine as she looked at Piper, "NO way!" she glared at Piper.
Phoebe looked at Piper, though caught Prue from the corner of her eye. "Oh…You got her to spit and choke.. Do tell." She leaned forward ready for the tale Piper would spin.
Piper walked through the halls of Baker high and could hear the odd chatter and laughter, but none took her more by surprise then those of the cheerleaders talking about her oldest sister. Prue was the cheerleading captain, how was it they were laughing and talking about her?
"Piper tell your sister, 'Nice One'." She heard, as more laughter followed.
Piper wasn't sure she wanted to know what was going on but she was curious. These were her sisters' friends. But as she got close to class she felt the hand on her arm. "Piper, have you heard?"
Piper turned around and saw her friend Nancy. "What?"
"You haven't heard?. There was a party this last weekend. It appears your sister kissed like three or four guys. And rumour has it she 'kissed' them."
"What about Andy?"
"Oh he was one. But what got all of us. Was she got down and dirty with Mark."
"MARK? As in most nerdiest, geekiest kid in the school. As well as probably the area?"
"One and only."
"Wow." Was all Piper could manage. This would hurt her sisters' reputation for that she was certain.
The news spread like wild fire through the school. By the end of the day it had even reached down into the higher grades of the elementary school.
Prue was snickered at, at each turn in the halls as she made her way through the school. She had her mind set on one thing and one thing only. To kill Mark Stanford.
She burst into the boys change room at the end of last class and grabbed Mark by his T-shirt and shoved him against the lockers.
All the boys in the locker room were hoping to get a sight full of the rumour that was going around.
"Tell them the truth you little worm." She sneered at him as he felt the warm liquid start down his leg.
He had started a rumour around school that Prue Halliwell had kissed him with everything she had at the party. But now as he felt his fear he had to tell the truth. She had kissed him but she was to drunk to realize. In fact she had called him Andy when she did.
"You kissed the geekiest kid in school?" Phoebe laughed more.
The night had turned out better then she had thought it would. A night where she started thinking of Clay had turned into a night of memories, of laughter and embarrassing moments for her and her sisters.
"Laugh it up drug dealer." Prue said to Phoebe as the laughter continued.
Prue wasn't even sure when in the night Phoebe had crawled off the floor and was leaning against her on the couch. She placed her arms around her baby sister as the night rolled on. Laughter not stopping as they talked and reminisced to all hours of the night.
Memories of childhood and antics that were done. Secrets between some that help form the bond that made them who they were now. Charmed.