"NO! Get off me!" She screamed out as she kicked the blankets off her.
Phoebe bolted up as the perspiration ran down her. Her breathing ragged as her eyes focussed on the darkness around her.
She reached over and quickly turned on the light beside her bed. Pulling her legs close to her, as she wrapped her arms around them. Feeling alone she let out the cries that she had every night.
Piper had heard her sister cry out and quickly got up from bed and made her way down the hall. Seeing her baby sister sitting on her bed rocking back and forth brought tears to her eyes.
Gently sitting on the edge of the bed she reached out for Phoebe only to have her pull away. "Phoebs. Sweetie it's me Piper."
It was not the first time Phoebe had woken up like this, and it was starting to really scare both her sisters. She had told them it was just a nightmare. At first they thought it was a premonition and that they were meant to help someone somehow. But Phoebe had told them she wasn't sure what it was.
"Phoebs." Piper reached out again but this time Phoebe stayed where she was. Piper then knew it was ok to keep going. She pulled herself further up on the bed and wrapped her arms around her baby sister. "Ok sweetie I got you. Its ok now." She ran her hand up and down Phoebes back, the same as when they were kids, as she slowly calmed her baby sister down.
Later the next morning as Piper looked down at the coffee as it sat still in the cup. A small bit of the cream could be seen laying a thin layer on the top. Her thoughts were of the night before and her very frightened little sister.
"If you really concentrate Pipe it might start running around the table."
She had never seen her sister that frightened before. It was if something was reaching at her from the inside out.
"But then again it might even start performing its on magic. Hello Piper." Prue waved her hand in front of Pipers face.
"Oh. Jeez Prue your scared the crap out of me."
"I've only be in here for the last ten minutes trying to talk to you. What's the matter you look worried?" Prue sat across from Piper and reached for the toast on the table.
Piper looked back in her coffee.
"Piper?" Prue was really getting worried now. Piper didn't usually keep things inside, that was hers or Phoebes trait.
"Prue, she had another nightmare last night."
"What? What happen?"
"That's it I don't know. She pushed me away as she's done with us before. But then when she realized it was me she practically melted in my arms." Piper finally looked up at her big sister. "Prue I'm really getting worried. This has been going on for months and she won't talk about it. But she can't keep this up. She can't keep waking up in the middle of the night screaming and scared out of her mind."
Prue could sense the urgency in Pipers voice. It was one she had often though of herself. How much more of this could Phoebe take?
"Where were you last night anyway?"
"Working late."
"So you just got home?" Piper gave her sister a knowing smile.
"Yeah. Probably why I didn't notice. I'm guessing you spent the night in her room?"
"I couldn't leave her Prue. She was. I can't even describe it."
"Ok why don't we sit her down tonight and try and get her to open up."
Piper looked back in her cup seemingly satisfied with the answer that Prue had given her.
"Piper. We'll figure it out. All of it." Prue said as she stood up and kissed her sister on the top of her head. "I gotta run. Call me ok?"
"Ok. Love you."
"You too." Prue replied as she grabbed her camera bag and left the Manor. Her own worries for her sister now heightened at this yet another nightmare. "Phoebe what aren't you telling us?" She asked herself as she looked up at her sisters' bedroom window.
He walked down the corridor with new confidence. With every step he could taste his freedom, taste revenge. He got out on a technicality. First they said he was free to go. There were no witnesses. But then they dragged him back and convicted him of assault and rape. But the only person that saw him was a police officer. An officer that his lawyer had told him recently passed away. Now there was just her. But she hadn't seen him. But he swore to her his revenge. Now he would get it and he would finished what he started the first time.
The last door clanged open and revealed to him his freedom. Free at last.
"Now Phoebe Halliwell. I know where you went. Back to the beginning it shall be." He laughed as he got in the cab. "Airport please. Domestic flights." He smiled in spite of himself as he anticipated what would become.
Piper slowly opened the door to her sisters' room. Seeing that she was still sleeping, or seeming to, she walked quietly over to the bed and around the other side so she could see her sisters face. As Piper looked down she could see that her sister was not sleeping but awake and looking forlorn out the window. "Hey sunshine. How you feeling?"
"I'm ok."
"Yeah? You didn't look so hot last night. Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No. It's just a nightmare."
"Phoebe. You've been having this nightmare for over a month now. You can't keep doing this. Prue and I are getting worried."
"I'm fine Piper." Phoebe snapped back and rolled over to the other side of her bed and tossing back the covers. "I'm going to take a shower." She said back, though stopping before she left her room. "I'm sorry Piper. But trust me. It's just a nightmare. Nothing more." She then continued and walked out to of her room towards the bathroom.
Piper sighed as she watched Phoebe leave the room. She knew there was more to it then just a nightmare, but she would let Phoebe come to her in her own time.
--- ----
Phoebe walked down the stairs and saw Piper sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine. Taking in a deep breath she walked over and sat beside her sister. "Piper about earlier. I'm sorry."
"Its ok Phoebe."
"No I snapped at you when I had no right. Thanx for last night."
Piper put an arm around Phoebe and pulled her to her, "you're welcome honey."
They sat together as Phoebe rested her on Pipers shoulder thinking about her nightmare and everything that was going on around them right now. "Piper can I ask you something?'
"Sure honey." Piper looked down at Phoebe.
"Have you." She paused a moment before continued.
"What?"
"Figured out how to get Leo back?" she finished quietly not wanting to upset her sister.
Piper looked out the window as the rain started to bead against the pain. How had everything gone from so wonderful to so bad in the blink of an eye? "No. But I will." She answered quietly.
"No. We will. Come on; attic. If I can't be happy with a descents night sleep. Than at least you can, knowing that Leo is alive and ok and that the elders are just PMS'n." Phoebe said as she pulled Piper from the couch and started for the stairs to the attic.
"Piper? Phoebe? I'm home." Prue hollered throughout the Manor in search of her sisters. Making her way to the back she found Piper standing at the sink looking out the window to the back yard. "Penny for your thought."
"Isn't it thoughts."
"Well I had a feeling it was a thought, so, I went out on a limb." She said as she wrapped her arms around Piper from behind and rested her chin on her sisters' shoulder. "Leo?"
Piper closed her eyes and sighed. "I just can't help but think maybe it wasn't meant to be."
Prue stayed motionless as she tried to think of the right answer. If there was one. "Honey it is meant to be. I've never known two people more in love than you two."
"What about you and Andy?"
Prue stayed quiet for a moment remembering that time in her life when she had never been happier. "Sorry. Us too. So back to you."
"It's not worth fighting any more Prue."
"You love him Piper. It is worth fighting for. And Phoebe and I will be here for you every step of the way until we get him back."
Piper leaned her head back into Prue. "Thanx."
"For what?'
"Being my big sister."
"Well it wasn't like I applied for the job. I didn't even have any experience."
"Yeah well, you're doing a pretty good job for no previous experience."
She turned the page again though still not finding the answer she was looking for. "Damn it. This is ridiculous." She shouted as she slammed the book closed.
Pacing the attic she tried to think of something that would bring Leo back to her sister, though in the far reaches of her own mind she was still trying to work out her own problems.
Her hand brushed against an old box in the attic as her world suddenly turned black and white. 'Pain. Dirty. She felt him hit her over and over. She felt the pain of him entering her. And then more beating. Then she saw the glitter of the knife as he brought it down on her. Feeling ever cut ever slice. As her own world started to re-focus she saw the last thing he did. The letter P carved violently on her chest. Right before he thrust the knife into her.'
Her screams of pain could be heard throughout the Manor as her sisters quickly broke from their own thoughts and embrace as they ran upstairs to the attic. Only to find Phoebe passed out on the attic floor.