Prue pulled her Miata into the driveway, that went with the cabin. Her mind drifted back to a few summers in high school when Andy and her would come up there. She never thought she would be up here again after they split and he went to Portland. And she never thought she would be up there again with anyone other then Andy: Especially Phoebe.
The four-hour drive, had been longer then Prue had remembered. First there was just the uneasy silence of the two of them just not talking. Then Phoebe had drifted off to sleep leaving Prue to her own thoughts. Now as she shut the engine off she looked over at her sleeping sister. She had to smile at the sight. Whenever she looked down at Phoebe sleeping it always reminded her of when she was a baby and she would curl up next to her. There were times that she wouldn't even sleep unless Prue was holding her. "Where did those days go Phoebs?" she asked quietly as she brushed a stray piece of hair from her sisters' face.
Knowing that they need to get the car unpacked, Prue gently shock her sister awake. "Phoebs. We're here." She spoke softly enough so as not to startle her sister.
"Mmmm. Go away Prue. I want to sleep."
"Come on, you can go back to sleep after we unload the car. Come on honey." Prue tried again to wake her baby sister. Of the three of them, Phoebe was always the hardest to wake up
Phoebe let the words penetrate to her brain as she blinked her eyes a few more times before leaving them open. Seeing the tall trees and low lying shrubs outside of the vehicle she knew that they had arrived at the cabin that belonged to the Trudeau family. "How long was I asleep?" She sat up and unbuckled her seatbelt before she exited the car.
"A few hours. But you said this morning that you had been up all night so I let you sleep."
"Did I miss anything?" Phoebe asked, though only really trying to make small talk with her big sister as she grabbed her pack from behind the seat.
"If you count a mother and her two bear cubs then yes. If not. No."
"Awwww and you didn't wake me?"
"Phoebs. They were gone long before you would have even stirred if I had tried." Prue answered in her own defense
Not much was said as they unloaded the car. Though just as they had, the first clap of thunder was heard above them, not that far in the distance.
"Where did that come from?" Phoebe asked, as she looked outside trying to see the storm coming.
"They come from everywhere and nowhere up here. Andy and I were stuck inside for four days once.
Phoebe looked over at Prue, "Oh that must have sucked." She said cheekily.
"Actually it kinda did." Prue looked at her sister and saw the subtle smile on her face, "Ok, after the three days." Prue added on. "Even we got tried of being cooped up for that long."
"Well it better not last that long with us, or we will kill each other within a few hours." Phoebe replied quietly, but still loud enough for Prue to hear her.
Prue shared an uneasy look at her younger sister before pulling the cooler from the trunk of her car and making her way inside the cabin and to the kitchen. As she unloaded her thoughts turned to what Piper had in mind. Sit down and discuss things between them. How was she supposed to start that? She felt her mind wander to when they were younger.
"Come on Phoebe you can do it. Come to Prue." Prue held out her hands out, as her baby sister stood holding on to the couch for dear life. She looked at Prue not sure if she should reach out for her or not.
"Prue don't push her."
"I'm not Piper. She wants to walk. Look at her looking at us." Prue said as she turned her attention back to her sister, "come on honey. Come to big sister." Prue tried again holding her hand just far enough away from Phoebe that she would have to take one small step to reach Prues hand.
Phoebe looked at Prue and then her outstretched hand, and to both Prue and Pipers surprise she took one tiny hand off the couch and reached out to Prues open hand. She had stretched as far as she could and still couldn't reach. She let her other hand go from the couch as she stretched a bit further. Holding her balance, Prue watched as she held in her breath waiting for her sister to take that first little step.
But not today, as Phoebe bent down on her knees and crawled over to Prue. Curling up in her sisters lap, she wrapped her tiny arms around Prue neck.
"Beebee wuv Pwue." Was all she said as Prue and Piper laughed. She had fooled them again. Getting right to the point when they thought she would step, before dropping to her knees and crawling to them
"Hey where do you want." Phoebe stopped her sentence as she noticed Prue seemingly deep in a thought. "Yo. Big Sis. You here or there?"
"Huh? Oh sorry Phoebe. I was just remembering something. You get some wood yet?"
"Was just about to ask you where you wanted the first pile." Phoebe explained, though really wanting to know where Prue had gone.
"Um. Fireplace first. What do you think?"
Phoebe was a bit taken back that Prue had asked her for her opinion. "Um yeah. I'll get a fire going before the rain makes it to cold in here." She answered before turning around to the front room.
Phoebe sat cross-legged in front of the blazing fire, the heat from it she could feel intensely. She thought if she sat there any longer she would get a heat burn; but she stayed. She always liked the feel of the fireplace burning beside her.
Her mind drifted with each crackle of the flames, each spark that rose up the chimney.
"Phoebe I'm so sorry. Please, don't you leave me, you hear me. I'm sorry I yelled at you, I'm sorry for everything." Prue seemed to whisper to her, as she held her small hand against the hospital bed, the voice was so far off, "I love you Phoebe Halliwell." Prue said even quieter, almost afraid of what might happen, when she confessed her love for her baby sister.
"Prue what happen?" Phoebe said quietly to herself, as she recalled the faint memory
"Sorry?"
"Huh?" Phoebe shot her head up to see Prue walking in the living room, "Oh,43 I was just thinking out loud." Phoebe covered, "that dinner?" Phoebe asked questioning her big sisters cooking skills.
"All Piper sent us with. Things we could cook without killing ourselves with."
"How could she even think we would burn the food?"
"She knows us, that is why she gave this. Easy cooking." Prue commented as she set the plate down. "Hot dog on the fire?" Prue handed Phoebe a dog before picking up one for herself. Placing it on the screwier resting beside the fire she placed it over the roaring fire
There were no words before, during or after dinner. Just two sisters fighting their own inner demons, to face why they were really there. To face their problems together, without the intervention of Piper.
--- ----
Phoebe moved around the kitchen as she cleaned up from the dinner. Her thoughts fell once again to the complicated relationship she had with her oldest sister.
"Phoebe did you put the screwier away?'
"Yes."
"Ok cause if anything happens up here Andy will kill me."
"So once again the truth comes out." Phoebe whispered.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing." Phoebe tried to cover.
"No. Phoebe you said something what was it?"
"Prue I'm really tired and I don't want to get into this right now." Phoebe tried again, but she steadied herself for what she knew would come.
Prue glared across the counter at her sister. Once again she knew everything was about to explode and this time there would be no stopping them
"Phoebe just let it out. Isn't that the whole point of this little trip?"
"Ok you wanna know? You came in here not to help me. Not to see how I was doing. But to see how Andy's precious screwier's were. His freaking screwier's Prue! Now you tell me that you trust me. Because that is not a sign of trust."
"That is not why I came in here."
"Oh. Then why? Did you come in to help with the dishes? Then here, " Phoebe tossed a dish cloth at Prue, "then help."
"Why is everything about you?" Prue grabbed hold of the dish cloth.
"Me? How did this become about me?"
"You naturally figured I had come to help you."
"Oh no. That would never happen. I can't ever recall a time when you came to help me Prue. Even as kids. If it wasn't one thing it was something else."
"Where is this coming from?"
"From Mike. Last night on the beach. He told me what you said to him, after that night you dragged me from that party. Why can't you ever let me judge people for myself?"
Prue stood back in mere shock as Phoebe words penetrated her brain. "You think that what I said to him, was me not trusting you?"
"Well what was it? The one guy I liked and you pushed him away."
Prue started out of the kitchen then quickly turning back to her sister. "Phoebe if that is all that is between us, then Piper was right to send us out here. Because you should know the other side of the story." She finished, as she walked from the room leaving her sister wondering what Prue meant.
"That is not all Prue. You never trusted me. What about Roger? You believed a guy that you had known for what? Three years over me. Your own sister."
"Phoebe, at that point I had no reason to believe you. Or trust you." Prue shot back with daggers as she spun around, her sister digging to a more recent wound between them.
The thunder started outside. At some points it was hard to hear the thunder over the yelling in the small cabin. One sister accusing the other and then back again. No one getting the upper hand on the other. Everything seemed to come out before suddenly there was silence. Silence other then the thunder that was soon followed by the crack of lightening.
Phoebe sat on the front steps as the rain fell harder. She wiped away another fresh batch of tears. She could feel the burning in the back of her throat from yelling and crying. She had let everything out, and it had hurt her as much as she knew it had hurt Prue. But as she looked out through the rain she tried to take everything in, but all she felt was the same anger as the storm that gathered around her. A storm that was yet to reach its peak.
