"No way! Did that seriously happen?" Prudence asked her cousin Melinda. They were only one year apart, and they were pretty much the best of friends.
"Yeah! Would I lie about something like that?" Melinda answered.
Phoebe couldn't help but smile. Teenagers. Prudence had obviously realized that the adults could hear everything that they were saying, so she grabbed Melinda by the hand and went into a different room.
Piper couldn't help but smile a bit as well. She was doing her best to put on a happy face. Besides, she was tired of crying. Although, whenever she thought that, she felt like a horrible person. How could you be tired of mourning over a death? The one thing Piper was grateful for, though, was that at least Wyatt, Chris and Melinda had friends to help them get through this. Wyatt was pretty popular; at least, that's how Piper saw it. Many people liked him, so many people were there for him when this happened, not just his family. Chris, well, Chris was a long story, to say the least. He had friends. He just didn't have the best personality. So he wasn't as well liked. And Melinda had so much charisma that she could never be upset for too long without cracking a smile. So she was fine, though sad.
All of them were upset, but Piper took it the worst, of course. But that was to be expected.
Piper looked at her two sisters, not really knowing what to say. "So…" she started, staring at Phoebe and Paige.
"What's up?" Paige asked, then regretting it. Hopefully they could avoid the whole topic of, well, Piper's poor baby dying, and have fun like they used to. 'Not even in your dreams, Paige', she thought to herself. She sighed and looked toward Phoebe, gesturing for her to answer the question before Piper had a chance to.
"Nothing much," Phoebe answered. "I've just been taking care of the kids and working a lot. Nothing special," she said, obviously not having much to say either. There was an awkward silence. Every time they had these conversations, things were awkward.
"Remember what it was like before?" Paige questioned, a look in her eyes indicating that she wasn't fully aware of what she was saying. She was too busy strolling down memory lane. And at that moment, the other two sisters started to as well.
Nobody had to say anything to understand what Paige meant. She meant before they all drifted apart. Phoebe and Paige had stopped coming to the manor for regular visits, because the Charmed Ones weren't needed, magically, as much as they usually were. They were actually somewhat retired, which was odd. They each adjusted to living with their new families; living with husbands, living with children, and not living with sisters. Although they still talked to one another, they didn't talk as often. Paige really wished they had kept in touch with each other more than they actually had. But maybe they could patch things up now.
"But things are different now," Piper said, leaving memory lane and entering reality.
"Yeah, but still, it would be nice to get back to the way it was," Phoebe added.
"I know, but we all have husbands now, and children. We can't go back to being the ass-kicking witches we once were," Piper said, her tone of voice showing that she was a bit aggravated.
Phoebe and Paige didn't notice, though, and kept prodding Piper. "But we could call each other more. And let the kids see each other more. We don't have to be like all of those families who just see each other on the holidays."
Piper just smiled a bit and nodded. Little did her two little sisters know that she was about to crack.
"It seems like Melinda and Prudence are really good friends, and I know that Sephy and Parker wouldn't mind coming over here more to hang out with their little cousins," Phoebe said.
"Yeah, and Henry Jr. likes hanging out with Chris and Wyatt, even though they are both way older. He doesn't like hanging out with the girls very much. He gets enough of that at home. And Isabel and Julianna really like having older girls around. Besides, they need to make friends. I don't want them becoming those types of twins that only talk to each other," Paige said.
Piper just sat there, her blank stare coming back.
Phoebe realized what was happening and went over to sit next to Piper on the couch. "Piper?" she asked, getting no answer.
Paige sat across from them, a confused expression on her face. "What is it?" she asked.
"What the hell do you think it is, Paige?" Piper said, completely snapping. She couldn't deal with all the small talk anymore. They were going to have to face the issue.
"Piper, just calm down," Phoebe said, pulling her a little bit closer.
"Just get the hell off me, okay?" Piper said, literally pushing Phoebe away.
"Piper!"
Apparently the guys had heard Piper get angry all the way from the other room, because Leo came running in with a worried look on his face. "Is she okay?" he asked, walking over towards the couch and sitting on the other side of Piper.
"Of course I'm not okay!" Piper said, blowing her cool yet again. This time, she pushed both Leo and Phoebe away, standing up. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and turned back toward her husband and her sister. "My baby. My beautiful baby girl. She's…dead!" Piper said, sobbing uncontrollably. At that moment, she stopped being angry and started mourning.
She just sat there, in the comfort of her two sisters, lying in her husband's arms, for what seemed like hours. They all shed tears, and all comforted one another. Paige finally broke the silence, hoping not to say anything stupid again.
"Piper?" she asked.
"What?" Piper whined.
"We're going to help you," she said, pulling her sister out of Leo's arms and into her own.
"Yeah," Phoebe said, laying a hand on Piper's head.
"Good," Piper sighed. "I'm going to need it. We all are."