The next morning at five AM, Piper drug herself out of bed and went down to the kitchen. As she walked past the living room, she saw Wyatt and Kendra cuddled together on the bed and Chris was curled up on the couch. She smiled at her children and headed into the kitchen. She measured out the coffee and water, then poured them into the coffee maker. She pressed 'on' and within minutes the familiar gurgling noise started up. Billie came walking in and gasped when she saw Piper. Piper spilled her coffee all over the paper.
"Shit!" Piper exclaimed. Billie rushed over.
"Oh! Piper, I'm so sorry! I didn't think anyone would be up yet!" Billie apologized. Piper waved away the apology as the two women cleaned up the mess.
"It's fine. Just tell me one thing. Why are you up at five in the morning?" Billie shrugged nonchalantly as she poured her own mug of coffee.
"I just couldn't sleep very well," she said, sitting across from Piper at the table. It was true; she couldn't sleep very well. It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth. Piper nodded sympathetically.
"I understand. I can't sleep either. It'll all work out, though."
"People seem to be saying that a lot in this house lately," a voice came from the hallway. Billie and Piper both jumped simultaneously. Kendra walked into their view.
"Sorry," she apologized, pouring her own coffee and adding more water and coffee grounds into the maker.
"It's okay. We're all a bit jumpy this morning it seems. We're going to need a lot of coffee today." Billie nodded.
"What are you doing up? I know you don't normally get up this early. Are you all right?" Piper inquired. Kendra nodded.
"I'm fine. Your son, on the other hand, is snoring." Billie snorted just as Coop came down the stairs.
"Well, isn't this quite the early morning party. Do people do this every morning? I wouldn't know. I have to stay quiet until your sister gets up or all hell will break loose." Kendra laughed. Phoebe was hard to wake up in the morning. Piper sighed.
"Oh dear. Chris only snores when he's worried," Piper started.
"Which is all the time," Paige cut in, walking into the kitchen. Coop smiled.
"My darling, neurotic son. Do you remember when he was our annoying, neurotic whitelighter?" Paige nodded.
"Even then, in that timeline, he was with Bianca. I swear, if we don't find her soon, he's going to bust a gasket." Billie nodded in agreement.
"Well, Mom, Chris and I had an idea," Wyatt said, walking in. Paige spilled her coffee.
"Damn it!" She cursed, cleaning it up with a wave of her hand. Coop smirked.
"What's your idea, hon?" Piper asked. Wyatt sat down.
"So, we kind of thought that it might be a good idea if Chris, Kendra, and I looked for Bianca today."
"What about the kids? Padma is supposed to be with you and Kendra, and Melinda is supposed to be with Chris, Billie, and Astrid," Piper asked.
"Mom, Melinda is fifteen years old," Wyatt pointed out. "She could help out Billie with Astrid and Padma. They'll stay here and everything will be fine. I really think it will give Chris some peace of mind." Piper considered the idea carefully.
"Well…"
"Please, Mom," Wyatt begged. Piper gave in reluctantly.
"Ok. But only if Billie agrees to it. We don't want to overwhelm her…" Piper trailed off, clearly not happy about the idea of her two sons and one of their girlfriends going out who-knows-where.
"Of course! Anything to find Bianca!" Billie agreed. Wyatt smiled. Just then, Chris walked in holding Prudence.
"Are you guys talking about me?" Chris asked. Prudence ran over to her father and started telling him about the morning she'd had so far. Piper kissed her son's head gently.
"And then, Mommy kicked off all of my covers!" Prudence complained. Paige stifled a laugh. Piper sighed.
"Be back by noon." Chris nodded.
"Of course!" Kendra and Wyatt jumped up, grabbing each other's and Chris's hands. Piper sighed again heavily as they orbed out.
"I have a really bad feeling about all of this," Piper said as Melinda orbed into the kitchen. Paige jumped and Piper knocked over her coffee.
"God damn it!!" She exclaimed. Paige orbed the mess away as Melinda sat down next to Piper.
"What's wrong, Mom?" She asked. Piper glared at her.
"Where the hell have you been?" Piper demanded.
"What're you talking about?" Mel asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't give me that crap. Why'd you orb in here? If you were just upstairs why didn't you walk downstairs?" Mel shrugged.
"Melinda" Piper warned. she sighed.
"All right, I was in the Underworld," she admitted. Everyone at the table instantly became very interested in their coffee.
"You. Were. In. The. Underworld?" Piper hissed. At that moment, the twins skipped down the stairs. Paige motioned for them to sit down and be quiet. The fourteen year olds sat down next to their mother. Piper was so mad she didn't even notice them coming in, followed by Henry.
"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WERE YOU DOING IN THE UNDERWORLD ALONE? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WERE YOU EVEN THINKING? WHAT THE HELL POSSESSED YOU TO GO DOWN THERE ALONE?" Paige tried to calm down her sister, but Piper shrugged her away angrily.
"YOU KNOW GOOD AND WELL THAT YOU DO NOT ORB INTO THE UNDERWORLD ALONE! YOU ARE NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT YOUR PARTNERS AT THE MOMENT! WAS BILLIE WITH YOU? NO! WAS CHRIS WITH YOU? NO! DID ANYONE EVEN KNOW WHERE THE HELL YOU WERE? NO! YOU ARE GROUNDED! AND I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ONE PEEP OF A COMPLAINT OUT OF YOU, MISSY! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Melinda nodded. Prudence burst into tears.
"Is Auntie Piper mad at me?" The eight year old whimpered. Piper's angry face softened as she looked at her niece. Coop rocked his daughter gently back and forth as Piper knelt down on the floor.
"Auntie Piper isn't mad at you, sweetie. Auntie Piper is angry with Melinda because she did something she knew she wasn't supposed to do. I'm sorry I yelled." She wiped the young girl's tears off her face. Phoebe trudged into the kitchen, followed by her two other daughters and Leo.
"Good lord, Piper. You could wake the dead," Phoebe mumbled, tripping over to the coffee maker and pouring herself a big cup. Piper ignored her.
"Leo. Would you like to know what your daughter did?" Leo looked down and gave Piper a kiss on the top of her head.
"Um, honey, I think the entire neighborhood knows what she did." Piper glared at him. "Melinda, that was very wrong. You know you're not supposed to go down there all alone. What were you thinking?" Melinda shrugged. Leo sighed.
"Any other mom would have smacked you silly for doing something like that," Piper said. Billie shifted nervously in her seat.
"Yeah, well, any other mom would let their daughter help out a little," Melinda retorted.
"Go to your room. NOW!" Piper yelled. Melinda started leaving, but then turned around.
"I hate you." Piper looked as if she'd been slapped. She stood up and silently slipped past Melinda, disappearing upstairs.
"Go to your room, Melinda," Leo said. Melinda gave him a pleading look.
"I mean it. Now." Melinda scowled and went upstairs. All the adults shared a look. This was going to be a really, really long day if Piper and Melinda were already fighting. It seemed as if every day consisted of Melinda disobeying her mother, Piper yelling, Melinda being rude, and Piper leaving the room in tears. Phoebe sighed, shaking her head.
"I'll do it. I swear, it's way too early in the morning for this. It isn't even six thirty yet." Coop shook his head.
"No, Phoebe. I'll do it." Phoebe jumped back in her seat, all too happy to let her husband, the epitome of love, go talk to her sister. Paige rested her head on her husband's shoulder and he hugged her close. Prudence slid out of her father's lap and into her mother's. Pandora went over to Billie and hopped onto her lap.
"Good luck," Phoebe called to her husband as he went upstairs.
"This is going to be a long day," Billie commented. Everyone nodded their head.
***************
Coop gently tapped on the closed door of Piper and Leo's bedroom. He heard the quiet sniffling of someone trying to stop tears.
"Who is it?" Piper's shaky voice asked. Coop opened the door.
"What do you want?" Piper asked. Coop sat down next to his sister-in-law without saying anything. Piper leaned over and started sobbing into his shoulder. Coop pulled her into his chest and gently rubbed soothing circles on her back.
"I'm a bad mom," she cried.
"No, you're not, Piper. You're a great mom," Coop argued.
"If I were a great mom, or even a good mom, my daughter wouldn't hate me." Coop shook his head.
"Growing up, especially when you were a teenager, did you ever feel like you hated your Grams? Especially during those teenage years where you weren't a little kid anymore, but you weren't quite old enough to have major freedom. Did you ever just feel like you absolutely hated your Grams?" Piper nodded.
"But did that mean that you didn't love her? Or that she didn't raise you well?" Piper shook her head.
"It just meant that you were starting to gain some freedom and you had bad days. It's the same thing with Melinda."
"But, what if…"
Henry Jr. stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen. Paige looked up.
"Hey, sweetie. What are you doing up this early?" He groaned.
"Who could sleep over Piper's screaming?" Paige laughed. Astrid came through the kitchen.
"Yeah, she totally missed her calling. She should have been an opera singer." Billie rolled her eyes.
"Or an editor," Padma added. Phoebe laughed.
"Or a parole officer," Henry Jr. supplied. Henry smiled. Leo shook his head. A minute later Coop and Piper came back downstairs. Piper gave her husband a shaky smile and sat down.
"Well, let's get ready. We have a lot to do today. We're all out of groceries, we have a really important food critic at the restaurant today so I have to be there, and I think we should try following a lead Wyatt found. Billie, could you do the grocery shopping?" Billie nodded. "All right, Phoebe you and Coop stay here, if Chris, Wyatt, and Kendra don't show up by twelve-thirty go looking for them. Melinda's in her room, if she tries anything send her to Magic School. Paige, you and Leo need to follow Wyatt's lead."
"Pandora, Patricia, and Henry Jr., how would you feel about hanging out at the restaurant?" They nodded eagerly. Piper glanced at Henry, who nodded.
"Ok, everyone go get ready, we'll meet back here in the kitchen at nine." Everyone rushed to try to get in the shower first.
"Chris, I don't think this is a good idea," Kendra said nervously, tightening her grip on Wyatt's arm. They were in a dark cave in the Underworld. The walls were covered in blood and the smell was horrible. Wyatt squeezed his girlfriend's hand reassuringly. Chris shook his head.
"I don't care. I have to look," Chris said. Kendra sighed. She knew that Chris may very well be right, but she didn't really like it too much.
"Chris, maybe we should give it a rest and go home. We'll try again later. We've been looking for hours," Wyatt tried. Chris shook his head vehemently.
"You and Kendra can go home if you'd like, but I'm staying. I have to find her." Wyatt shook his head, sighing. He knew that there was no changing his brother's mind now.
"No way, Chris. We're not leaving you alone. It's not safe, plus Mom would kill us." Chris nodded.
"Ok, so come on. Let's keep looking." A soft moan sounded through the cave. Chris stopped and looked around.
"Come on," Chris mouthed, motioning them forward. They followed a depressing tunnel through the cave. They finally came to a small opening.
"Chris… AHH!" She screamed in pain, which was followed by loud, racking sobs. Chris looked around frantically, before locating where the noise came from. When he finally found her he wanted to burst into tears himself. He grabbed onto Wyatt for support before running over to the small, shaking figure.
"Chris," She moaned before passing out. Chris gently scooped the women up into his arms.
"We need to get out of here and get her healed," Wyatt said. Kendra nodded worriedly. Chris grabbed his brother's arm, and the four figures left in a cloud of orbs.
A/N Sorry it's been so long. 2,141 words this time. Do you like the chapter lengths?
