A/N: Another chapter! I hope you enjoy it and I think you will, 'cause this one was fun to write.
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. I should, though. I totally should.
For the love of her sister
By the sixth shot, Paige's mind was starting to blur. She knew something was wrong, someone had hurt her, but she couldn't quite remember what…all the pain and anger bubbling inside her slowly eased away, leaving a dull emptiness that was oddly comforting.
Standing from her seat, Paige stumbled out of the bar. The sunlight was a sobering shock to her senses, wincing, Paige staggered down a deserted back alley and threw up.
Collapsing to her knees, dry heaves echoed around the alley and Paige barely noticed the blue-white orbs that appeared next to her.
-
"Leo! Leo!"
Phoebe paused with her scrying and looked up at Piper, "he's not coming, Piper. Stop calling."
Piper glared angrily at her younger sister, "then where the hell is he?"
Phoebe bit her lip and sighed, walking back over to the crystal and map, she resumed her attempts at locating the youngest Charmed One, "I think he's with Paige."
Piper briefly closed her eyes, she could think of no reply to that. Instead, she bit back another reminder at the pain she had caused her baby sister and walked over to Phoebe. "Any luck?"
Phoebe didn't answer for a few moments and Piper was about to repeat her question when the former youngest slammed the crystal down onto the map. "It's not working! I don't get it! It's like…like she's hidden from magic or something…"
Piper glanced over at the Book of Shadows and was surprised and somewhat relieved to see the triquetra unbroken.
The sisters sat in silence until Piper's unsure voice spoke up softly, "maybe…maybe we have to find Paige without magic."
-
Bright lights appeared before Paige's eyes and a comforting warmth started to seep through her. Immediately, that warmth was lost as Paige awoke to a thumping pain in her head and a tearing pain in her heart.
Everything came back to her in a moment: Piper and Phoebe's rejection, storming out of the Manor, the bar…
Paige groaned as another flash of pain struck her head.
"How are you feeling?" Leo's caring blue eyes gazed back at her.
"Like I go hit in the head with a hammer. So you can heal drunken idiots but not their hangovers? Figures."
Leo frowned and reached towards his youngest sister-in-law, "Paige, you-"
"Don't, Leo. Just…don't."
Leo sighed and sat down next to Paige in the dank alley, "they do love you."
Paige dropped her head in her hands an unsuccessfully tried to stop herself from crying, without the alcohol, or at least promise of alcohol, the pain was more raw than she could take.
'They don't love me. They never will. I'm the replacement, the half breed. I'm nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing…'
"Leo…" Paige tried to convey what she was feeling, but only ending up choking on her own tears. All the anger and hurt and pain was confronting her at once.
Pulling her knees to her chest, Paige started sobbing and Leo could only rub calming circles on Paige's back, not knowing how to help his charge or the tattered relationship she held with her sisters.
-
Phoebe looked up at her sister, "without magic?" A laugh, almost a sob, followed, "The whole reason we have to find Paige is because we've fucked up as sisters! We don't know her at all, so how can we find her, huh, Piper? Got any bright ideas?"
Piper sighed and stood up, "no, Phoebe, I don't have any bright ideas, I just…I don't think using magic is going to help. Like you said, it's the sister part we're mucked up, we've got no problems together as witches."
"You are both correct." An oddly familiar voice rang out, causing both Piper and Phoebe to gasp in surprise at its owner. "It's the 'sister part' that you need to fix. I knew I didn't raise stupid girls."
Piper took a step towards the figure, followed closely behind by Phoebe,
"Are you…?" Piper's voice was unsteady and shook with emotion.
"Really here? Of course! I'm a witch, am I not?" The figure paused and smiled, "hello, my darlings."
Piper and Phoebe ran towards the woman and threw their arms around her.
"Grams…" Phoebe breathed out, taking a step back from her grandmother before engulfing her into another hug.
"It's so good to see you," Piper added, "but without sounding rude, why are you here?"
"I'm here about Paige."
-
"Paige…" Leo whispered, he shook her gently and almost sighed with relief. She was asleep, or more accurately, she'd cried herself asleep. Now Leo just had to find somewhere to take her, as the first drops of rain hit his skin, he knew he'd have to think fast. The last thing Paige needed was pneumonia on top of everything else. But where could they go? Clearly the Manor was not an option.
"Maybe the Elders…?" Leo murmured.
"How about her old apartment?"
Leo almost jumped out of his skin, he hadn't realised he'd spoken aloud, but it was the figure that answered his question, which surprised him the most.
"What are you doing here, Prue?"
Prue smiled, "I'm here to help my baby sister, so, are you going to orb us or should we just get wet? I don't know about you, but being dead won't stop me getting a cold an I have feeling that Paige awakening to The Elders might freak her out a little. So," Prue helped pull Leo up, Paige still lent against him. "Do you know where it is?"
"Her apartment?" Leo frowned in confusion and gently lifted Paige into his arms, trying hard not to wake her. "But…she sold that months and months ago, after she first moved into the Manor."
Prue brushed a strand of red hair from Paige's face and Leo couldn't help but smile at the tender look on Prue's face, making her ice blue eyes soft and warm.
"I think there's a lot more about Paige that you don't know, my other sisters too." The rain started getting heavier, "Come on, Leo, orb. It's going to make Paige sick."
Leo obliged and allowed Prue to grab his arm as they disappeared in blue-white lights. A final thought crossed his mind, 'even in death, Prue, you're still the protective one.'
-
Dun, dun, dun!
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