The Power of Three (Plus Two)

by Anagram RMX

The Manor's been a little off since Grams died, but when Phoebe returns, strange, magical things start happening, which wouldn't be a big deal if Dean and Sam hadn't been hiding the life of hunting from their cousins, and of course if they could control their new powers. Or The first ten episodes of Charmed if Dean and Sam were Halliwells.

7. A Mis-Spelling

***NOTICE: with finals coming up, I'm really swamped and I'll be incredibly busy until at least May, so I feel like I won't write anything quality until then. So, I'm declaring a hiatus. I promise I'll be back, at least to finish this story arc if not first season. Hiatus ends in June. Thank you for reading***

*******UPDATED NOTICE (6/11/2014): Hey guys, I just wanted to give y'all an update. I'm not abandoning you, and I promise that I am still working on this story, but I've been super blocked lately and I just haven't been able to get anything decent written. I'm going to keep plugging away at it (maybe marathon Charmed to see if I can get back in the spirit), but it'll probably be a little later than previously expected. I'm hoping for July, and will put another notice up if it goes longer than that. Thank you for being patient, and if you have any words of encouragement, or tricks to get rid of writers block, please don't hesitate to message me. I want to get this next chapter up soon, just like you do, and I'm so sorry that it's taking so long.*******

**********Final Updated Notice (8/10/14): Alright, so Hopefully this will be an unnecessary update, but I finished chapter 8, and am back into motion on writing chapters 9 and 10. 8 should be up within the week, if my beta gets back to me by then, though I can't promise when 9 and 10 will be up. I'm really excited about both of them, though. One will round out the Rex story arc, which will have so many impacts on Sam's future, and we'll get some Angel interaction. The other get's a guest star from Supernatural in her teen years, although maybe not using the name we know her by. Thanks for sticking with me!*************

A/N: Welcome to Chapter Seven, A Mis-Spelling, the transition chapter, and an introduction on how almost none of the Halliwell's friends are actually human!

As you've probably noticed, Prue and Andy's relationship is not going the way of canon. This is mostly because I decided to skip two episodes that largely pointed to how Andy was getting suspicious of Prue. I'm also kind of bad at writing relationships going sour like they do in real life (I'm working on it). Because of this, I decided to lead into the Truth spell episode with the obligatory Magic Gone Wrong episode.

Ah, so I'm not really happy with this chapter, and I still need to look for a beta, but please enjoy this chapter anyway.

(-:-)

Prue could not believe that Andy had gotten a reservation here.

They were at one of the most exclusive restaurants in San Francisco. The food was phenomenal, the atmosphere that surrounded them was warm, romantic, and the building was decorated beautifully from top to bottom. It was no wonder that the restaurant was so popular, and tonight there was a full house.

Despite the other guests that surrounded them, Prue only had eyes for him. Every time she looked over at Andy, he would smile at her sincerely and gently squeeze her hand. She could not help but smile back as she started to feel more and more relaxed. It was everything she needed: a break from her responsibilities at home, a break from the stress at work. And Andy was everything she wanted.

Their food was getting cold by the time they finished it, and Andy said, "I'm glad you could make it tonight."

The smile on Prue's face faltered a little, and she looked across the table guiltily. Over the past few weeks, she had been dodgy with him. Things at the manor were strange these days. Phoebe had nearly broken her wrist last week trying to swing an axe, and the month before that, Prue had been possessed by a demon. These oddities were starting to be a regular thing, something to be expected when you were from a family of monster-hunting witches.

"I'm sorry…" she said, pursing her lips apologetically. "It's just been…its family stuff…you know?"

He laughed a little. "You don't have to apologize."

She shook her head. "But I feel like I-"

"Prue, you're taking care of a teenager and I've seen the kind of chaos that Phoebe and Dean can cause. Life gets a little hectic," he said.

The sincerity in his words pulled at her heartstrings. He was so open with her, and it killed her to know that she was not as truthful with him. "You're too good to me," she muttered.

He shrugged, shaking his head a little. "I'm just telling it like I see it."

A waiter came by, and they both fell quiet, glancing at him as he took their plates, saying he would be back with the bill in a moment.

When Prue looked back at Andy, he had a look in his eye that made her cheeks flush.

"So I was thinking that we…"

He was cut off by the sound of Prue's ringtone, and the atmosphere that had captured them broke. They both knew that if someone was calling her this late, something was wrong.

Prue looked murderous as she pulled her phone from her purse. She did not even look at the caller ID before hitting answer.

"Hello?" she asked sharply.

Andy could hear the voice on the other end of the line. It was male, so it was probably Dean.

The conversation made Prue look even more irritated. She answered the caller with short words, no, yes, probably. And it was not until she was about to hang up that she sighed and said, "Okay, I'll be home in a bit. Thank you for calling me."

Andy's heart fell a little, but he couldn't find it in him to be angry.

Prue looked up at him with nothing but regret on her face as she hit the end button on her phone.

"I am so sorry…"

(-:-)

When Prue got home, Leo was walking out the door.

He looked anxious, maybe a little disturbed, and he was definitely relieved when he saw her. "Hey…I'm sorry for-"

"Its fine," Prue interrupted, despite how upset she was about having to leave Andy. "What happened?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know…" he said. "One minute we were all okay, and then we heard Sam screaming." He paused, looking over his shoulder, and towards the second floor where he knew Sam's room was. It was if he was still expecting to hear the youngest Halliwell's shouts. "He just woke up. I thought I'd get out of here, let him have some privacy with you guys…"

Prue pursed her lips, but nodded at him. "Thank you for calling me."

"No problem," he replied, before turning and walking towards his truck.

Prue went the other direction and walked into the house. She quickly made her way to Sam's bedroom, and was unsurprised to see that the others were in there too. Phoebe was sitting at the foot of the bed, reading out of the Book of Shadows while Dean checked the room for any supernatural causes of this event. Piper was sitting next to Sam, trying to convince him to drink a glass of water.

Physically, Sam did not seem to be harmed in any way, but something was definitely wrong. His eyes were wide, and his forehead glistened with sweat. He was trying to tell the others to stop worrying, but it was not very convincing when he seemed just as panicked they were.

"Piper, I'm fine," he choked out, right before he saw Prue. His expression shifted guiltily when he saw her. "Oh man, please don't tell me you left Andy because of this?"

The others all looked around sharply, and looked similarly distressed to see her there. They had all been doing their best to make sure that Prue got to spend time with her boyfriend. That was why Leo had been the one to call her; none of them wanted to be the one to ruin her date.

But that didn't mean that she should not have been there. Prue sighed and said, "Of course I did Sam. You expect me to sit around when I hear you might be hurt?"

"It was nothing…"

"The hell it wasn't," Dean grumbled, looking back at his brother sharply. "Dude, we were about to take you to the hospital."

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean while Prue sat on top of Sam's desk. "What happened?" she asked.

"Its not-"

"Sam was having another nightmare," Piper said, ignoring it when Sam glared at her.

Since receiving their powers, Sam had been having several problems, one of which was strange dreams. He had not told his family much about them. Seeing as it wasn't even the worst of their magical problems, he hadn't thought that there was much of a reason. Sam hated that they called them nightmares, though, and he was pretty sure that was not what they were anyway.

Tonight's dream had not been much like the ones he had had before, though.

"It wasn't a nightmare," Sam protested, crossing his arms, looking at the wall petulantly.

Piper looked at him seriously. "Sam, you were screaming loud enough that the neighbors heard. What else would you call it?"

At that, Sam actually looked embarrassed, but he didn't say anything to correct her.

Prue wanted to roll her eyes. She was not in the mood for him to be prideful. "Come on Sam," she sighed. "The sooner you tell us what happened, the sooner we stop asking."

He looked up at her and huffed a little. "Okay…I fell asleep, and there was this guy," he started.

Dean, who had checked the entire room twice, stood next to Prue. "What guy?" he asked. "Give us specifics."

Sam shrugged. "I dunno, just a guy. He appears with a different body in all of my dreams. He usually a little old, and he's got yellow eyes. Anyway, he showed up at the beginning, which was weird, because he usually only shows up at the end to wake me up. He said something about getting my dreams to stop and then he started rattling off in Latin."

"And then you started screaming," Piper prompted.

He looked embarrassed again. "Yeah…"

Dean turned to Prue and added, "We tried to wake him up for twenty minutes before he finally snapped out of it."

"What happened to the man in the dream?" Prue asked, looking over at Sam, who shrugged again.

"He stopped chanting, the pain stopped, and he vanished," he said.

"And you're sure you don't know who he is?" Phoebe asked, looking up from the book.

"I would have told you if I did," he grumbled.

Prue let out a long sigh, trying to think. "So we have a body-stealing creep with yellow eyes attacking you in your sleep," she grumbled. "Wonderful." She looked over at Phoebe, who still had the book in her lap. "Have you seen anything like this guy in the book?" she asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't think so, no."

"Then we also have nowhere to start. Even better."

"That doesn't mean that we can't do anything," Phoebe argued lightly, looking around at all of them.

"I don't see what else we can do," Piper replied. "So far, Sam is the only one who has seen him, and even then, it was only in a dream."

Phoebe opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated. She looked back down at the book before hopefully muttering, "We could try a spell."

The room got quiet, and all eyes turned to her in surprise. They had used spells before, but not on each other. For the most part, they had been trying to avoid using magic if their lives were not in immediate danger.

Prue's eyes narrowed. "Phoebe…"

Phoebe put a hand up, stopping her. "No-no, hear me out," she said. "I get that you're worried. Our powers have been unreliable, but we're getting better, right? None of you guys have accidentally used your powers in weeks."

Sam looked at the book, intrigued about using a spell, but Prue shook her head. "No. No way."

"Oh come on, Prue…" Phoebe sighed. "We've been training in hunting stuff. Why shouldn't we try to train as witches too?"

"We aren't supposed to use magic willy-nilly," Prue responded, her tone making it clear how she though there was no room for debate. "Plus, I'm not letting you use any kind of spell on Sam. What if something goes wrong and you don't know how to fix it?"

"We won't know unless we try," Phoebe said, but Prue just responded with a hard look.

"No spells, and that is my final answer…"

When Phoebe tried to say something else, Prue glared at her, and Phoebe backed off with a frown. So, Prue looked back at Sam. "Are you going to be okay for the rest of the night?"

Sam nodded.

"Tell us if you have any more dreams about this guy," she said, before standing back up. "In the meantime, I have to call Andy…"

The look on Sam's face became guilty again. "Did…did he get upset at you for leaving?"

Prue stopped before she made it to the door, and let out a long sigh before turning back around. The rest of her family all looked as sorry for her as she felt for Andy. "No…" she grumbled. "He actually wanted to come over and help."

Piper grimaced, knowing that his offer had only made things harder on Prue. "Prue, I know you've been putting it off, but maybe it's time to tell him. You can't just keep running out on him without any explanation."

"I know…" Prue grumbled. "I know. But this isn't like telling him that I don't like the Lakers. It's big." She shook her head a little. "Not to mention dangerous."

"C'mon, Prue, how bad can it be?" Phoebe asked brightly. "Andy's a good guy. He's not gonna start screaming that we should be burnt at the stake."

It was supposed to be a joke, but when she looked around the room for support, no one was laughing. Especially not Prue, who turned and left the room without another word.

(-:-)

"So I think that we should try making a potion."

Piper grit her teeth, and looked around the restaurant quickly. She knew she was being paranoid. It was still two hours before the lunch rush, and even though Quake opened at nine thirty, they didn't serve breakfast. The restaurant was empty, so there were hardly any eavesdroppers around.

Even so, she looked back at Phoebe sharply. "What have I told you about talking about this in public?"

Dean rolled his eyes before waving a hand around at the restaurant. "Who's gonna hear? C'mon, Piper. Chill out a little."

"I will not chill out," Piper responded, keeping her voice low. "What if someone hears you?"

"Then they'll think we're joking or something," Dean replied, shrugging. "Anyway, Phoebe, what's this about a potion?"

Phoebe smiled at Dean for his support before looking at Piper. "So, I get why Prue might not want us to use a spell on Sam, but I really think that we should start practicing magic more often."

Piper visibly tensed when she heard the m-word, but she didn't say anything about it as she leaned on the bar they were sitting at. "So you'd rather make a potion than cast a spell?"

With a nod, Phoebe shifted in her seat so that she could pull a crumpled piece of notebook paper out of her pocket. "Well, yeah. It's just like a recipe in a cookbook."

The doubting look on Piper's face made it obvious that she didn't think that was any better. "Because you're such a great cook."

Phoebe smiled. "No, but you are," she said brightly, handing the scrap of paper from her pocket over to Piper. "I looked up this recipe in the Book of Shadows last night. It's got complete instructions, and Grams even made notes about how it was supposed to look in the end. Dean and I can pick up the ingredients and then we can mix it once everyone is home."

"What's it for?" Dean asked, looking at the paper curiously.

"It's supposed to be a magical pain killer," Phoebe said. "Even if we don't use a spell on Sam, maybe it'll help for his headaches."

Dean nodded, giving his assent to the idea before looking up at Piper. "Sounds good to me," he said. "You in?"

For a moment, Piper kept looking at the recipe, frowning when she saw the second step. The recipe required heat, which meant that it would have to be done on the stovetop. There was no way that they were going to mess up her kitchen, so she nodded. "I guess," she decided, handing the paper back to her sister. "I'd really hate for you guys to blow the house up."

She got a snort from Dean in response, and Phoebe grinned while she stood up. "Great," she said cheerily. "We'll go ahead and go shopping then. See you at home." She tapped Dean on the shoulder, who sort of shrugged and waved at Piper before they both walked towards the door.

Piper shook her head as she watched them leave, then looked away to get back to work.

The next time she glanced up was when the door opened again, the bell heralding their first customers of the day, and she smiled when she saw that Leo had walked through the door.

She opened her mouth to greet him, happy to see the man she admittedly had a crush on, but froze when she saw that he was not alone.

Right behind him was a woman. She was a couple years older than Piper, with shoulder length blonde hair. She also had on a nice suit, and was standing very close to Leo. Far closer than Piper would have liked.

Piper took a moment to breathe before putting an, admittedly, less exuberant smile back on her face. She was at work, after all. She needed to be professional.

As she walked over to seat them, the blonde woman's eyes focused on her sharply. It looked like she was trying to size Piper up, and it was a struggle for Piper to keep the smile on her face.

"Hi, Leo. Table for two?"

The woman at Leo's side smiled stiffly. "Yes, please."

A puzzled expression appeared on Leo's face when he glanced at his companion, and he shook his head at her before Piper led them to their table.

Once they were seated, the woman stopped focusing on Piper, instead watching Leo intently. He didn't seem to notice, instead looking up at Piper.

"So did everything last night work out?" he asked, his expression mildly concerned. "Sam's okay, right?"

Piper glanced at Leo's lady-friend briefly before nodding. "Yeah, as far as we know, he's fine," she said.

Leo smiled as if he were relieved. "That's great," he said brightly. "Really, I was worried."

The woman at his side spoke up. "His entire reason for eating here was to ask about him."

She sounded like she was trying to make a point, which Piper was apparently missing.

"Um, I'm sorry, I don't think we've met," Piper murmured, putting the menus down on the table and looking at the blonde warily.

The woman looked away from Leo, and set her piercing gaze on Piper once more. "We haven't."

She didn't offer her name.

Leo cut in. "Uh, Piper, this is Hester. She's a friend of mine. I might have mentioned you to her a few times."

"I see," Piper said tersely. Perhaps she was reading too far into it, but this friend certainly seemed far more like a jealous girlfriend. She tried to stay professional, but she knew that the look on her face was not going to hide her disappointment from anyone. "Well then, Hester, what can I get you to drink?"

Hester offered a slight, forced smile. "Water for both of us."

With a curt nod, Piper turned around and walked away. She was unsurprised when she heard Leo huff a little and get up from the table, knowing something was wrong.

"Piper…Piper, wait a second…"

She kept walking, not speaking to him until she had reached the bar. "Can I get you something else?" she asked as she reached for the glasses.

"Wha-no, I just…did I say something?" he asked. "Did Hester…"

When she looked up at him, she was unsurprised to see that he looked legitimately worried that he had messed up. She couldn't help but smile up at him sweetly, even though he was here with a different woman.

"It's nothing you said..." she assured him.

"You can tell me," he insisted. "If I crossed some kind of line telling her about Sam…"

"Look, you were worried, it's fine. It's not you," Piper said, sighing just a little. "Could you tell your date to be a little less frigid, though?" She turned back to the glasses in her hand, and completely missed the look of confusion that appeared on Leo's face.

"Wait, you think…Hester-"

Piper shook her head and cut him off. "It's none of my business, Leo. Really," she assured him. "Now, go sit down, I'll bring you your drinks in a minute…"

She didn't look up.

For a few moments, Leo stood there and opened his mouth, just not sure what to say before letting out a long breath. "Ah…okay then…" he muttered before turning around and walking back to the table.

Hester was watching him intently, and a little disapprovingly, when he sat back down. The look he gave her wasn't much different.

"You need to spend more time among mortals," he said flatly. "Your demeanor leaves something to be desired."

"As does yours," she responded sharply. "This assignment should not be treated with such informality. It's too important for any dalliances."

He looked up at her seriously. "Trust me," he said shortly. "I know what I'm doing."

(-:-)

Once they arrived at The Other Side, the occult store Dean frequented, Dean was quite happy to see that his friend Eric wasn't working that day. It left him and Phoebe free to peruse the shelves at their leisure.

Needless to say, it was an educational experience for both of them.

Dean hadn't been much into potion making before, even when hunts called for it, they both got to be surprised at the sheer variety of ingredients available. There were at least five different types of sage alone, and the rack of oils was a nightmare to sort through. At one point, they got stuck on what type of beeswax they needed, and stood trying to figure out what the difference was for at least ten minutes. Then they saw the dried animal parts shelf, and neither of them was entirely fond of that.

"You know what I don't get?" Phoebe asked after a bit, stopping to look at the list when she reached a selection of comfrey leaves.

"What happened to the rest of the chicken?"

Phoebe paused, and laughed when she looked over at Dean and saw that he was still stuck on the animal parts. "Oh come on," she chuckled at him. "No, what I mean is that so few people know about magic. Shops like this exist. Hunters exist. Obviously there are people who know, so why should it be a secret? Why should it be such a big deal to tell Andy about what we are?"

Dean shook his head and walked over to her. "It hasn't always been," he said, shrugging a little. "Back in the day, everyone knew. Everyone was afraid of werewolves, people took precautions against ghosts. But things changed…" he shrugged a little. "Bobby told me all about it once, why most humans don't believe. Ask him next time he's in town."

A frown appeared on Phoebe's face. "And the witch trials sent all of us into hiding…" she grumbled. "What about hunters? How do they tell people what they do?"

"Mostly, they don't," he answered, shrugging a little as he got a bag out for the comfrey. "If it has to do with a hunt, then yeah, you're supposed to give it to them straight and get it over with. But most hunters don't have friends and family."

"You're exaggerating, right?"

Dean shook his head. "Nope. Hunting is a hard job. It takes a lot of time; you've seen how often my dad visits. Eventually, people just give up on you, and it's really hard to get out once you've started. No one really wants to bring in someone new either…"

Phoebe leaned onto the counter next to him, holding their shopping basket against her hip while she thought about what he was saying. "Then…why did he tell you two?"

At that, there was a pause. Dean made a face, and for a few moments he seemed to be trying to find the words. "Okay, well, he didn't actually tell either of us," he sighed. "We kept it from Sam until he was nine, but he stole dad's journal. Remember that Christmas when he refused to come downstairs?"

Phoebe's face scrunched up, remembering how Sam had locked himself in his room for the entire week. Dean and Grams were the only two people he would unlock the door for. "Yeah…"

"Well, that was the day when he read the entry about how our mom didn't actually die in a fire," Dean said. "Something killed her. He took it pretty hard."

"Oh…" Phoebe looked at the spice rack again, wondering if she would have reacted the same way. A few weeks ago, she had thought it was it was unbelievably cool that magic was real. She doubted she would have been as excited if she had found it out by reading how something had killed her mother.

"What about you?" she eventually asked.

Dean shrugged. "I was four when mom died. Old enough to understand the word monster when Dad was yelling it into the phone at Grams."

"That's awful. No wonder you wouldn't talk to any of us when you moved in…"

"All things considered, we didn't have it that rough," Dean continued. "Some hunters take their kids on the road with them. Dad always told us he was lucky Grams was around. She knew what monsters were out there, so she could protect us, and he didn't want us in any more danger than we had to be."

He went quiet after that, and finished filling his bag with leaves. After tossing them into the basket, he looked at Phoebe. "What's next on the list?"

Phoebe stood up straight again and pulled the list from her pocket. "Ah…angelica root powder," she said, before walking towards the next segment of counter. She leaned against it, looking up at the ceiling introspectively before asking, "So do you think it's a good idea? Prue telling Andy?"

Dean followed her, and ducked to look at the premeasured bags of root powder under the herb trays. "I think she should be careful, but it's not something that she can keep from him much longer," he said, shrugging just a little as he picked out a bag and held it out for her. "Dude's a cop. He'll eventually figure it out himself."

Phoebe's lips twitched to the side pensively for a moment. "And what happens if he reacts badly?"

"I wish I knew."

(-:-)

Andy looked up when the door to the elevator chimed, letting him know that he had reached the twelfth floor. The doors slid open to admit him into the hallway, where he had to pause, and bite his lip, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

Technically, he knew he wasn't in the wrong. Prue had been doing what she could, but dinner the night before was not the first date that she had left because of a "family issue". Andy had tried being patient and understanding, he wanted to be there for her, really wanted to make their relationship work, but he wasn't a saint.

If they were going to be together, he needed answers.

He grew a little bit more confident at that thought, and after shaking his shoulders, he went ahead and walked into Buckland's.

The lobby was empty when he walked through the main doors, except for the secretary. He smiled at her before walking towards the doorway that led to the offices, where he thought he would find Prue.

Instead, the first thing he saw was an angry red head, whose voice was so close to a shout that he winced.

"You are going to get that out of my face right now…" the red head growled at a short man with light brown hair, who scoffed and waved a mouse trap in front of her nose.

"This wouldn't be inyour face, if you had left it in the fridge where you found it! Which by the way…"

Andy recognized them from a few of Prue's dramatic tales from the office. The red-head had to be Hannah, one of the assistant-specialists, who Prue said had far too many closed-door conversations with their boss. She never sounded exactly nice, and the way she was yelling showed it. The man was Laurie, one of the appraisers. Prue had told several stories about him, mostly involving some sort of prank on the accountants.

They continued bickering in the center of the hall, and though Andy tried to find a way around them, there was just no way he could see. Eventually sighed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling before asking, "Is there a problem here?" in his best cop voice.

The two turned to him, both making faces as if wondering what on earth he was doing talking to them.

"I'm sorry, do you work here?" Hannah asked through gritted teeth.

Laurie rolled his eyes. "Of course he doesn't, he's Prue's boyfriend, remember?" he said. "He was here last week…" A spark went into his eyes, and he lit up a little maliciously. "Hey you're a cop right? Tell me: is setting a mouse trap in a refrigerator an act of assault?"

Andy wanted to just say no, now get out of my way, but Hannah spoke before he could.

"If you intend for a person to get caught in it, then yes you demented tick!"

And really, Andy was curious. "You set a mouse trap for a person?" he asked dubiously.

A far too enthusiastic smile appeared on Laurie's face. "Someone keeps stealing my doughnuts from the fridge," he explained. "Does that change my question?"

Hannah snarled, and was about to reach out and smack him when someone turned around the corner at the end of the hall and sharply yelled, "Would you two mind keeping it down?" although it sounded more like Knock it off!

The three of them looked up, this time to see Prue poke her head around the corner, looking slightly confused when she saw Andy. The lines on her face which had previously been from the stress of keeping her temper, were instead replaced by something worried.

She slowly started to walk towards them, narrowing her eyes. "Please don't tell me someone called the police because of that damned mouse trap," she sighed.

Andy had to laugh at that, and he went ahead and shimmied between Laurie and Hannah to give his girlfriend a hug in greeting. "No, this isn't police business. I wanted to see if you were free for lunch."

The suspicious look left Prue's face, and was replaced by one that was fondly touched. "I am actually," she said brightly, wrapping her arms around him before there was a cough.

They turned around and glared at Hannah, who was looking at them disapprovingly. "If you wouldn't mind taking that out of the office."

Prue looked at her darkly, but nodded, and glanced at Andy before saying, "Let me get my purse," and walking back down the hallway.

While he waited for her, Hannah smacked the mouse trap out of Laurie's hand, and Andy was incredibly happy when they were able to leave, so that he didn't have to break up that fight.

(-:-)

The restaurant they went to was about two minutes away from the office, within walking distance. Once they got there, Andy of course asked whether everything at home had been okay the night before, and as expected Prue looked flustered and guilty when he brought it up. But when she looked up at him afterwards, Andy knew that he wasn't quite going to get a real answer.

"I can't apologize enough for that," she said, swallowing hard, eyes widening a little. "A pipe broke in the basement and it was an enormous mess…"

Andy could see the signals of a lie on her face, and he pursed his lips. He shook his head, wishing that she would just be honest. With a sigh, he asked, "Why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

When he looked back at her, Prue's shoulders were tense. "Wha…what?" she stammered, breathing nervously.

He huffed a little. "Prue, I'm a detective, I can tell that you're lying." He couldn't help the anger in his tone, and part of him wasn't sorry. If his girlfriend wasn't being truthful to him, it was as good a reason as any to be upset.

Prue's face fell, and she looked down at the table. "Andy…" she breathed. "It's not…I can't…"

"Why not?"

She looked up at him, and she opened her mouth like she wanted to answer, but she just couldn't find the words, so she pursed her lips.

Andy grit his teeth, regretting bringing this up at all if he wasn't going to get anywhere. "You keep cancelling dates, you're lying to me about why…Prue, I just want to know what's going on," he said.

For a few moments there was silence. Prue looked at him for a while, and for a moment, she looked like she was about to say it. There was a flash of confidence that passed over her face, but before she actually said it, the look fell away.

"Andy, I'm just…I…" she stammered, looking at him pleadingly. "It's a family thing, and it affects all of us. Not only me, but Piper and Sam, and Phoebe and Dean. We just aren't ready to tell anyone. I'm sorry."

He wanted to say that it wasn't enough. He deserved to know what it was that kept driving her off when they were supposed to be taking time for them.

But he looked into her eyes, and saw actual fear in them. The thought that whatever she had to say could be that bad caused his chest to tense. The police officer in him flared up, wondering what was so terrible that she was afraid to tell him.

The boyfriend in him just wanted to make that look go away.

So he caved, and he sighed, and reached out to squeeze her hand. "Then, when you finally are ready," he said slowly. "Just remember that I'll be here ready to listen."

Prue looked at him regretfully, but nodded.

And for now, Andy would just have to deal with that.

(-:-)

The discussion with Andy continued to float through Prue's head for the rest of the day, and she was still wondering about what she was going to do when she got home. It wasn't like this was the first time she and Andy had been interrupted because of magic. She was pretty sure it would not be the last either.

But Andy was starting to catch on. He knew something was up, and her excuse of "I'm not ready to tell anyone yet" was not going to work for very long. The problem of how to tell Andy that she was a witch had been festering for weeks, and she still didn't know how she was going to fix it.

Knowing that it was a family matter, she walked through the front door of the Manor completely intending to ask the others what their thoughts were.

Until she smelled smoke.

They can't have messed something up two nights in a row…

She stormed towards the source of the smell in the kitchen, and promptly heard Piper grumbling at the others. "I told you to tell me if it was boiling over!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it until it was too late." Sam sounded like he was defending himself, and when Prue walked into the kitchen, she was relieved to realize that Piper was just complaining about something burning. Then she realized that there was a cauldron sitting on the stove, and she was concerned all over again.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Dean, who was standing nearby but as far from the stovetop as possible, looked at her with a slight smile. "Um, making a potion?"

Prue's brow furrowed sharply. "Why are you making a potion?"

"Because," Phoebe answered, closing the refrigerator door, "whether you think so or not, we need to practice magic more often if we want to get the hang of it."

"But I said-"

Phoebe put a hand out, stopping her. "Tut-tut-tut, you said no spells."

Prue made a face, and was about to respond when Sam spoke up. "Prue, come on. It's a pain relief potion for my headaches. Can we at least see if it works?"

She turned around to look at her cousin, and was unsurprised to see that he was looking up at her with big puppy-dog eyes. As much as she wanted to make them stop playing with magic, she couldn't actually tell him no when he was pleading for his headaches to stop hurting. She sighed a little before joining Piper at the stove top.

"Fine…" she grumbled, looming over the cauldron. She frowned when she saw that it was full of a very thick goop, tinged yellow, with bits and pieces of plants mixed in. Prue certainly hoped that they wouldn't have to drink whatever it was.

Phoebe moved to join Sam were on the opposite side of the kitchen island from Piper and Prue, measuring out ingredients. On the counter next to her, Piper had the book propped up against the wall so that she could read the recipe.

Piper, who had been trying to wipe up as much of the spilled goop as possible, apparently saw the look on Prue's face. "You're supposed to use it like an ointment," she informed her sister, before she walked towards the laundry room to rinse off the towel she had used.

Prue was not exceptionally relieved by that though, and looked back to the others as Sam tossed a yellow powder into the cauldron. "Could you stir that?" he asked.

She didn't even think about it before she started stirring Piper's wooden spoon through the goop. Sure, she hadn't wanted to help with this project, but at least they were making something helpful.

"How long is this supposed to take?" she asked, looking up at Sam.

Before she could get an answer, something exploded right in front of her. A yellow cloud burst in her face, the force blowing her back, slamming her into the fridge. She coughed, sputtering and trying to get her breath back.

"Prue!" Dean shouted. He rushed over and hauled her upright, immediately looking over her for any injuries.

The door to the laundry room slammed as Piper rushed back in. "What happened?"

"The potion blew up," Sam explained quickly as he and Phoebe rushed to Prue's side. "Are you okay?"

Prue continued to cough. "I'm…I'm fine…" she sputtered through the hacking. "What the hell-"

"It wasn't supposed to do that, I swear," Phoebe said, waving a hand through the cloud, carefully not breathing as she pulled the Book of Shadows off of the counter top. She looked over it as she walked back over to the others.

Piper pulled a chair over so that Prue could sit down. She was still having problems breathing when the smoke cleared, and Piper went to check on what was left of the potion. What had once been a yellow, waxy goop had turned into black tar.

"Whatever went wrong, it completely ruined this batch," she informed them.

Phoebe pouted a little as she looked over the instructions. "I don't get it. We followed all the instructions."

"Well something wasn't right…" Dean muttered, looking over her shoulder. "Maybe we got an ingredient wrong…"

"We got everything, though…" Phoebe asked. "Beeswax, calledula leaves, arrow root powder-"

Dean made a face. "Wait-arrow root powder?"

Phoebe looked up at him, nodding for about two seconds before pausing. She stood up and pulled the list she had made earlier out of her pocket. She groaned when she saw that she had gotten an ingredient mixed up with one from the next page. "That's it…" she grumbled.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I mixed up an ingredient," Phoebe admitted, looking at Prue guiltily. "We picked up angelica root powder instead of arrow…"

Prue groaned a little. "Phoebe…"

"I'm sorry!" Phoebe blurted. "It's not like you're hurt, though. At least not badly."

"I could have gotten a concussion…" Prue pointed out, coughing a little.

"But you didn't," Piper said. She walked around the counter, standing nearby to be the rational, non-partesian voice. "Look, it was a simple mistake. No one's hurt, it's not a big deal. Everyone good?" She looked between her family members.

No one responded.

"Good, now help me clean up this mess."

(-:-)

When Sam went to sleep that night, he was more than a little disappointed that the potion hadn't worked.

He had been looking forward to making their first magic potion. With his powers on the fritz as it was, he had decided against trying magic out by himself, and he had been happy that his family was trying to figure it out. The fact it had blown up was sure to make Prue less amenable to trying again, and it was a bit of a disappointment.

But of course, his main reason for being frustrated with it was because his headache escalated painfully after the incident in the kitchen. His skull was pounding within an hour or two, and when Prue saw him wincing, she sent him to bed regardless of the fact that it was only eight-thirty.

Despite the time, though, he was eager to get the headache to go away, so he quickly dressed for bed and crawled under the covers. He laid in the dark for a while before he finally fell asleep, and his visions began as soon as he drifted off.

Unlike the night before, he went through most of the night with the same visions he always did.

The brunette boy drifting falling asleep in the middle of class.

The ROTC jock at target practice.

The blonde runaway hiding out in an alleyway.

Images of them and so many other teenagers flipped through his mind in bursts, one or two seconds focused on each. He was starting to recognize their faces, although he couldn't reach out or speak to them.

Once he got close to a waking hour, though, the yellow-eyed man appeared again.

In his sleep, Sam couldn't speak to the man, but he wanted to ask so many questions. What happened last night? What's wrong with me? Who the hell are you? What is going on?

He couldn't ask any of them, so the man just shook his head, smiling like a parent trying to convince their seven year old to eat his carrots.

"Time to wake up, Sammy-Boy."

Sam jolted back to consciousness in an instant.

Despite the fact that he hadn't been afraid, his breath came in short gasps, and his neck hurt as if he had been tossing and turning all night. He grit his teeth, and laid back against his pillows as he calmed himself.

This was how he had woken up for weeks now, and after the event the night before, he doubted it would go away any time soon.

After a bit, he climbed out of bed, throwing on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt before wandering downstairs. Most of his family was already in the kitchen. Piper was cooking breakfast. Phoebe was reading something she had found in the attic, and Dean looked like he was ready to fall asleep on top of his half-eaten plate.

He assumed Prue had already left for work.

"Morning," he greeted them.

Piper turned, smiling as she went to pull out another plate. "Good morning," she greeted softly. "Did you sleep well?"

Sam was pretty sure that she was actually asking if he had had another 'nightmare'. Since, technically, they weren't nightmares, and since he had not told them about his rough awakenings yet, he nodded.

"Yup."

He went and sat down at the table. Piper swept by him with his plate a few moments later, and began clearing up the stove.

"I was thinking that we could try the potion again tonight."

Sam instinctively looked up at Phoebe, thinking that she would have been the one to suggest it. But the youngest sister looked surprised, and was looking over at Piper.

"You do?" Phoebe asked.

Piper turned around as she put one of her skillets into the sink to be washed. "Mmhmm," she replied. "I said last night that it was a silly mistake. We just got an ingredient wrong."

Dean made an amused, but still sleepy, grunt. "Well look at you, all gung-ho for magic now that you found something you're good at."

Piper rolled her eyes and looked like she was about to throw the dish-sponge at him for his comment. She stopped when a form appeared near the door.

"Why is Piper gung-ho?"

Everyone turned around, and immediately felt concerned when they saw it was Prue.

Something wasn't right about her. The drowsy expression on her face put Dean's to shame, and she had barely put in the effort to brush her hair, let alone put on makeup. She swayed a little as she walked through the door, moving to pour herself a cup of coffee. They saw that the buttons on her blouse she was wearing were misaligned, and it looked like she had spilled some water on it already.

Also, she had to be at work in fifteen minutes.

Piper's eyes widened a little. "What are you still doing here?"

"I got a late start," Prue yawned. "I'm just…" She paused, pulling away from the coffee maker and taking a sip from her cup. She didn't finish the sentence when she pulled back, as if she had forgotten that she had been speaking.

It wasn't like her, and the look Dean and Phoebe shared showed that they were worried. "Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.

Prue nodded. "I'm fine," she assured them half heartedly. "I'm just not moving very fast this morning…"

"I dunno, Prue, you aren't looking great," said Dean. It earned him a sharp look from Piper, but he didn't seem to notice. "The explosion last night might have done something we missed."

An expression of concern immediately popped onto Piper's face. "Oh no…should you even be out of bed if that…"

"I'm just tired," Prue replied, waving a hand dismissively. "You're probably right that this is because of the potion, but I don't have time to figure out a way to fix it right now. We'll worry about it when I get home, okay.

"Prue, you don't know that," Piper started, but Prue interrupted.

"I don't have time to argue," she told her sister, as forcefully as she could muster. "I have to get to work…"

The younger Halliwells all looked at each other in concern, but no one said anything, or went after Prue as she turned around and walked to her car.

Secretly, Prue knew something was wrong, too.

(-:-)

The building in which Buckland's was situated was always busy, and normally Prue was okay with that.

Today, though, the swirl of people made her dizzy, and every time the elevator stopped on a floor, she lurched like she was about to throw up. The sensible part of her brain told her that turning around and going home was the smart choice, but the workaholic in her said that magic-gone-wrong was not going to interrupt her work life like it had her date.

She did her best to smile at the secretary when she walked inside, and was greeted brightly by her boss Rex halfway down the hall. He was talking to Alan, looking incredibly amused about something.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, walking towards Alan's office, staggering a little when she stopped.

Rex looked at her curiously for a moment before pointing at Alan, and Prue had to stifle a weak laugh when she saw that Alan's mouth was stained bright blue, and so were his hands.

"What happened to you?"

"I ate a doughnut," Alan answered in a grumble.

There was a chuckle from the office across from Alan's. "And not just any doughnut," Laurie announced smugly.

Apparently, he had found a way to catch his refrigerator thief.

Alan sneered at Laurie, who only smiled back, and Prue actually managed a laugh. Just the force of air leaving her lungs made her wobble, though, and Rex put out a hand to catch her. A look of concern appeared on his face and he glanced over her concernedly.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You look pale…"

Prue swallowed thickly and nodded. "I'm fine," she assured him. "I'm just…just a little dizzy…"

"Rex is right," Alan added. "Are you sure you should be in today?"

She tried to nod, but the second she bobbed her head, it started aching like she had been head-banging for an hour. She couldn't stop herself from stumbling into the cubicle wall, squeezing her eyes shut against the wave of pain and nausea that swept over her.

Alan put a hand out, trying to catch her. "Prue!" he blurted.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, what's going on?" Laurie asked, quickly rushing out of his office to see. "Is she alright?"

Prue opened her mouth to say that she just needed to sit down, but the sick feeling overtook her the second her mouth was open. She slid further down the wall, and privately started to panic.

"I'm calling nine-one-one," Alan announced, rushing into his office.

Laurie put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her down slightly so that she was sitting on the floor. He put a hand on her forehead like he was checking her temperature. A confused expression came over his face before his hand touched her throat to check for her heartbeat. "Something isn't right," he said, looking up at Rex. "Her pulse is actually too slow…what even…"

Rex shook his head. "I'll go to the hospital with her and call her family," he said. "You stay with her till the paramedics arrive." He turned around, going to his office to get Prue's emergency contact sheet.

"I…I don't know…" Prue started, looking up at Laurie fearfully.

"Shh-sh-sh, don't strain yourself," Laurie said quickly. "Just sit back, let us handle the circus. Alright?"

She tried to nod again, but the ache in her head returned with a vengeance, and she groaned as her vision started to darken.

Laurie snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Ah-ah-ah! C'mon Prue, stay awake for just a little longer…"

She couldn't help it, though. Her eyes slid closed.

Laurie sighed a little before sitting back on his heels. His amber eyes looked over her carefully as he muttered to himself, "What spell did you newbies mess up this time?"

(-:-)

The magic shop wasn't exactly what Piper had expected.

It wasn't like Dean had ever described the place, but she would have thought it was a dim single room with the smell of incense thick in the air. Instead it just looked like any other specialty store she shopped at for herbs. It barely took her two minutes to get in and get out with a bag of arrow root powder.

As she left the store, she pulled her phone out and started searching for Dean's contact listing. She reached his number just as she reached the sidewalk, but she walked into something solid before she could hit talk.

She looked up to see a blonde woman with a familiar face.

Hester narrowed her eyes. "Piper Halliwell," she said dully.

Piper smiled, attempting to be friendly. "Ah, Hester. Hi," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Attending to some business," Hester responded.

There was a pause, and Piper looked at her, expecting her to elaborate, or at least act cordially, but the woman merely looked at her.

Piper pursed her lips. "Well, good luck with that…I guess," she muttered, starting to walk around her, continuing towards her car. "It was good seeing you. Say hi to Leo for me…" She turned around to walk away, and missed how Hester's shoulders straightened, and her eyes narrowed.

"Can I ask you something, Miss Halliwell?"

Piper came to a stop, and her eyebrows lowered in confusion before she turned around. "I don't see why not…"

"Good," responded Hester. "You and Leo. How do you define your relationship with him?"

For a few moments, Piper's chest tightened, and she wanted to slink into a hole for having a crush on another woman's boyfriend. "Oh-we…we're just friends."

The serious expression didn't leave Hester's face, but she looked vaguely smug. Despite that Hester was entirely in the right, it made a bubble of resentment well up in her stomach. "Be sure it stays that way," she replied.

Piper's lips tightened. You don't have to be rude about it, she thought pointedly.

"Leo is very fond of you and your family," Hester continued, her voice flat. "But he cannot afford any dalliances." She looked over Piper once, as if sizing her up again, before nodding slightly. "Good day."

She turned around, and Piper let out a shaky breath. She turned around, and was trying not to get angry about whatever had just happened when her phone started buzzing. After staring at it for a moment, having forgotten she was holding it, she hit answer.

"Hello, this is Piper," she said.

"Ms. Halliwell, this is Rex Buckland, I work with your sister, Prue. Something's happened."

Piper's eyes went wide. "Wha…what do you mean?" she started stammering. "Is-she's okay, right?"

"We aren't sure. She's being taken to San Francisco General Hospital as we speak."

"Oh-oh god," Piper choked out, starting to scramble to get into her car. "I'll be there in a few minutes…"

(-:-)

Something was obviously wrong when the front office called Sam out of his second period class. There was no other explanation for it, after all, and when he reached the front of the school, he could see the worry written on Phoebe and Dean's faces.

They arrived at the hospital within a few minutes, and in the waiting area of the emergency room, they found Piper sitting next to a man they had never met before.

"Has there been any news?" Dean asked sharply, using the commanding voice that his father used when they were on hunts.

Piper's eyes were wide and wet, as if she were on the verge of crying. She stood up and walked over to them. The man who had been sitting next to her followed. "Not yet," she said. "Everyone, this is Rex, Prue's boss."

Rex nodded at all of them, and they could see that he was worried as well. "Sorry we met under such disconcerting circumstances," he said.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Phoebe asked nervously. "She didn't look good when she left the house, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"I don't think she did either," he replied. "She was barely in the office for two minutes before she collapsed. She came in and out of it when we were in the ambulance, but wasn't able to tell us what was wrong. The four of you are sure you don't know of anything that might have caused this?"

Piper looked at the others nervously as Dean put a comforting arm over her shoulder, and all of them silently agreed that the potion had to be the reason this was happening. All the same, they couldn't very well say that in front of Rex, so Phoebe shook her head, as a man in a white coat walked into the waiting room.

"I'm looking for the family of Prue Halliwell," he announced.

The group snapped to attention and immediately rushed over to him.

"That's us," Piper said. "Did you find out what's wrong?" She visibly tensed when the doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid we haven't," he said direly. "I would have presumed that she was just suffering from exhaustion, but she isn't responding to any treatment and many of her vitals are staggeringly low. We're running her blood through several tests to see if she might have been introduced to a toxin that we aren't familiar with."

"But you're going to figure it out, aren't you?" Phoebe asked.

The doctor looked at her, and his face said that he was not optimistic at all. "At this point I can't say."

It wasn't an encouraging diagnosis, and Piper bit her lip. "Can we see her?"

The doctor nodded. "I can let two of you back there at the moment."

The Halliwells all glanced at each other for a moment. The second Dean caught the look in the girls' eyes, he put a hand on Sam's shoulder and nodded at them. "You two go first."

Piper nodded thankfully before turning back to the doctor, and asking him to lead the way.

It was a quick walk to the room where they were keeping Prue. It was small, with several diagnostic machines in the corner. Prue was lying on a hospital bed in the center of the room, looking worse than she had that morning, she was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot. To Piper's relief, though, she was at least awake, if only barely.

"Prue..." Phoebe breathed before rushing to her sister's side. "Oh my god, I am so sorry..."

Even in her exhausted state, Prue managed to roll her eyes at her sister. "You didn't do anything," she said softly.

"I know but...but..." Phoebe moved her hands, waving at the hospital bed and all of the machines, unable to find the words for how awful the situation was.

Piper moved to her sister's side as well, her forehead creasing with worry. "The doctors say that they're going to look into this," she told Prue.

Prue nodded. "I know, they told me about looking for something," she muttered. "You think they'll figure it out?"

"I don't know, but if they don't, we will."

Prue looked up at her sister with a questioning eyebrow while Piper looked at Phoebe.

"If this is because of that stupid powder, then there has to be a way we can fix it," she said determinedly.

"You don't know that for sure," Prue said, her eyes drooping tiredly. "This might not be something we can get out of with help from the book."

"The hell it isn't," Phoebe said sharply. "Prue, you're going to be okay."

Prue looked at Phoebe pointedly. "Phoebe…" she started.

Her younger sister just shook her head. "No," she said. "Do not try to tell me that we need to be ready for the worst. We are going to-"

"To be practical."

Prue wavered a little from the force it took to speak over Phoebe, and Piper put a hand on her shoulder. "Do I need to call a nurse?" she asked.

For a moment, Prue didn't answer, closing her eyes and laying back. "I'm fine…" she eventually rasped. She eventually blinked her eyes open, and looked at her sisters. "I don't want to think about it either, but this is moving too fast. If you can't fix this in time, you need to be prepared."

The words made Phoebe's eyes well with tears, and she bit her lip to keep from speaking out again. She wanted to say that Prue should be fighting this; should be telling them to save her before it got any worse. But exhaustion was spread across Prue's face, and Phoebe knew that she just didn't have it in her to fight.

Piper nodded. She was still dead set on finding out how to save her sister, but Prue wanted to know things were taken care of for right now. "What do you need us to do?" she asked.

Prue closed her eyes, falling back onto the pillow more comfortably. "Call the attorney; make sure that Sam's custody won't be an issue. They also have a copy of my will. You know who handles the insurance." She paused, and Piper nodded.

"I'll do that while the others look for a way to fix this," she promised her sister.

Prue didn't look relieved, though. She looked like she was falling asleep, and Piper looked over at Phoebe for a moment, sharing her worry with a glance.

"Is there anything else?" Phoebe asked.

Prue was quiet, but she pursed her lips a little.

"Call Andy?" she eventually responded softly. "I want to see him…"

Phoebe's heart dropped again thinking about how heartbroken he would be, and a single tear ran down her face as her sister drifted off again.

(-:-)

As the girls followed the doctor out of the waiting room, Dean tried to give Sam a reassuring glance. The younger boy kept looking at the door his cousins had just gone through, frowning with worry.

"I'm sure they'll find something to help her," Rex told them, reminding Dean that he was there in the first place.

Dean looked over at Prue's boss and smiled charmingly. "Thanks man," he replied. "So do you have to head back to the auction house anytime soon?"

"I probably should, but I think I'll wait for them to get back to give me a proper report." Rex waved a hand haphazardly in the direction that Piper and Phoebe had just walked off in. Dean nodded before looking back to Sam. It seemed that his little brother had tuned into their conversation, but without something to focus on, a weary look had come over his face.

Dean's brow knitted with worry. "Hey, you okay?"

Sam nodded, but he winced a little, and for a second Dean was worried that Sam had been affected by the explosion just like Prue had. He felt a little better, though, when Sam said, "I'm fine, I've just got another headache…"

While Rex's eyes narrowed slightly at the statement, Dean just nodded. "I'll poke around for some Advil and a bottle of water," he told his little brother, before glancing up at Rex. "Hey, you want some coffee?"

Rex shook his head, and with that, Dean shrugged and walked off on his quest.

For a moment, Sam bent his head down, and rubbed at his temples fruitlessly before looking up again, and catching Rex's eye. The older man was looking at him with a strange expression on his face. It wasn't exactly predatory, but it creeped Sam out all the same.

"Ah…let's sit down…"

He went ahead and turned back to the waiting area, finding a seat before Rex could say anything to him. He was aware of the man following him, though, and the back of his neck prickled like Rex was only staring harder.

When he looked back up, though, Rex had turned away, and looked just as congenial as he had earlier. "You don't have what Prue has, do you?" he asked.

The question was a bit of a relief, and Sam felt mildly less concerned about the situation knowing that Rex was only worried that someone else was sick. He fought the urge to nod, knowing it would only make the headache feel worse, answering, "No. It's nothing like that. I've just been getting a lot of headaches lately."

"Ah, I see," Rex answered, his voice tinged with sympathy. "Do you know what's causing it?"

Magic, Sam thought irritably, although he said, "No."

He looked ahead, not noticing how Rex's eyes narrowed slightly. "You've at least gone to the doctor though, yes?" he asked.

Sam's brow wrinkled. That was a little too personal to explain by concern. "Uh…yes?" he answered, although it was a complete lie.

Rex nodded, and looked forward contemplatively. "That's good then," he said shortly.

It was an odd conversation, and Sam looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. But Rex didn't say anything more, and neither did Sam.

(-:-)

It was a few minutes later that Dean came back with coffee, and a few after that that Piper and Phoebe returned from Prue's room, reporting that she had fallen asleep, and probably wouldn't be able to speak to anyone for a while.

Piper spoke to a nurse, making sure that she had all of their contact information so that they could be called if anything changed. She also told the nurse to expect Andy to come by.

After that, they left.

Half an hour later, when they walked through the doors of the manor, none of them were entirely sure what to say. Piper's eyes were red as she looked around at the other three. She knew that they had to do something, but this was not something they had dealt with before. There was no warlock that they could banish with a spell, or a ghost that they could talk into moving on, or salt and burn.

Instead, they had an illness that none of them knew how to cure, and they didn't know how much time they had.

Since eventually someone had to say something, Sam coughed and asked, "So what are we going to do?"

For a moment, Piper didn't respond, taking a calming breath before finding the words. "I am going to make some calls like Prue asked, and you three are going to the attic to try and figure out what is going on. Dean..."

The eldest boy nodded, cutting her off. "I'll go ahead and call Bobby," he said without prompting, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket. "If he doesn't know what's causing this, then he'll at least be able to point me to someone who does."

Piper nodded as he started to walk away, and then looked at Phoebe. Her sister however, had already walked off, heading towards the stairs, and the book.

That left her and Sam together. Her younger cousin looked confused. "What did Prue ask you to do?" he asked warily.

Piper pursed her lips, dreading the chores that she was about to undertake for her sister's peace of mind. "She...she wanted me to call the attorney," she admitted to him quietly.

The way Sam's face soured as soon as the sentence was out of her mouth. He knew exactly why Prue had asked Piper to take care of it.

Half a year ago, when Grams had died, the attorney was the last thing that the Halliwells had been thinking about. There was too much stress in the house, and at the time, the idea that Sam could be taken away from them wasn't even something they thought was an issue.

They were wrong, and John had barely arrived in time to keep the city from dragging him off.

"Sam, it's just in case."

He looked up at her, and there was a mix of irritation and terror on his face. "I know," he replied with a wobbly voice. After saying it, though, he shook his head, taking a breath and repeating himself, saying, "I know," as assuredly as he could. "We won't need it anyway. We're going to fix this."

Piper gave him a tiny, weary smile. "We are," she agreed, moving forward, and giving him a hug, just as much to reassure him as to reassure herself. "We better."

(-:-)

The hospital was a lot louder than Andy remembered it being as he sat in Prue's hospital room. The intercom went off every few minutes out in the hall. The beeping of the heart-rate monitor was starting to annoy him.

He was stationed right next to Prue's bed, just like he had been for over two hours; staring at her hand, tracing the lines on her palm as she slept.

Earlier, he never would have imagined that his day would end up here. When Piper called him, he had even been happy about it, thinking that she was inviting him over for dinner. The truth had been like a punch to the throat, and he had gone to the hospital immediately.

It didn't help anything though. When he arrived, he found out that Prue had been in and out of it for the majority of the afternoon, and that the periods between her waking states were getting longer and longer. The nurses didn't seem hopeful as they led him to her room, and he understood why when he finally saw her.

She looked like the victim of some horrible crime, lying weak and broken in the hospital bed. Andy remembered seeing similar patients when he had to interview them for cases, but it was different when it was Prue. It hurt more.

It seemed like a dream at first. There was no way she could be dying, not when he had only taken her to lunch the day before. He kept wishing she would blink awake and be completely fine, for her to smile at him and say she was okay.

She hadn't, though. And she had yet to wake up for the entire time he had been there.

The door to her room opened quietly, and Andy turned to see a doctor walk in, glancing at him briefly and nodded. They had met briefly when he arrived, and he wasn't surprised to see that Andy was still waiting.

The Doctor walked over to the machines monitoring Prue's vitals, glancing at them, beginning to look pensive about the numbers they were showing.

Andy coughed. "Is it looking any better?" he asked.

It took a moment for the doctor to look back at him. "I don't believe so," he responded grimly.

Andy clenched his jaw, and looked down at Prue again. "And you still don't have any clue what's happening?" he asked, holding her hand just a little bit tighter.

"Not yet."

The doctor moved towards the door just as Prue's hand twitched slightly between Andy's, and she shifted slightly on her pillow.

The two men both looked at her in surprise as she slowly blinked her eyes open and looked around the room.

When her eyes met Andy's, she smiled weakly.

"Miss Halliwell, it's good to see you awake," the doctor said softly, walking back over to her. "Do you feel any change from before?"

Prue shook her head slightly and her smile slipped into a dismal line of exhaustion. "The same as before," she croaked out, looking a little surprised when she heard how rough her voice sounded. Andy squeezed her hand again, trying to be comforting, but it didn't seem to help.

"I see," the doctor responded, looking down to take a note on his clipboard. "We have some leads that might help us with your condition, but we still aren't entirely sure. I'll have the nurse send in something for you to drink and come see you if we learn anything more."

"Thank you, Doctor," Andy said, nodding as the doctor walked out of the room before he looked back at Prue. She tried to smile at him again, but it fell a little short as her eyes drooped.

"You came…" she said.

Andy smiled at her, bending over so that he was just a little bit closer. "Of course I came," he said. "I couldn't stay away."

Prue actually did smile at the joke, but she wound up coughing when she tried to laugh. He sat back frowning and feeling useless as she managed to get herself breathing regularly, and he couldn't hide how worried he was when Prue finally settled back on her pillows and looked back at him.

The wear on her face was obvious, and he just didn't know what to do to help.

"Andy," she eventually started. "If the doctors don't figure this out, I want to tell you…"

It took a moment for Andy to register that she was talking about the secret she had been keeping. He immediately sat up a little straighter. "Prue, no…"

Prue tried to shake her head, but it was obvious that even the thought made her head hurt. "I want to tell you," she repeated. "After everything, you deserve to know, and I can't…"

"No," Andy interrupted. "Don't talk like that. You're going to make it. You're going to, I know it…"

"I might not." There was something sad in her eyes when she said it, but she knew that there was nothing she could do to fight against it. "Andy, if I don't…you are the only person…"

She trailed off again, and took a shuddery breath as if she couldn't keep going.

"It can wait," he said. "I want you to tell me when you're ready to tell me…not because you think you're on your deathbed, and I say think because you are going to pull through this." He made an effort to give her a big smile, and she had to smile back at him, despite the fact that her eyes were watery and tired.

He leaned over, kissing her forehead softly before pulling back and looking her in the eye. "I'm not going to let you leave me yet," he breathed. "I love you."

The smile on Prue's face grew slightly at the same time as her head started to droop, and her eyes started to close. "You…" she started, her voice slow and sleepy. "You too…"

She drifted back off right as the nurse walked in.

(-:-)

The attic looked like a college library during finals week.

The four healthy members of the Halliwell family had practically taken apart Grams' bookshelf to find the materials they needed. Although Phoebe was dutifully poring through the Book of Shadows, Piper and Sam had both started going through books of potion making and herbs. Even Dean, who hated the book work that came with hunting, had picked up a book on magical illnesses, hoping there was something in there.

Their only real lead so far, though, had come from Bobby Singer.

When Dean called him, it turned out that Bobby was on a hunt, and sadly, that meant away from his cabin in South Dakota where he stored one of the best private libraries in the world. Even so, he had quickly been able to tell them that Grams' "Pain Reliever Potion" was no such thing.

"It's an old healing potion that yer Grams watered down so you kids wouldn't notice that she was using magic," he told them. "It doesn't work on mortals though because it pulls magic out of the user to heal their wounds. The version she mixed does the same thing, but at a smaller rate so that it just disinfects, and negates any negative energy. Either way it ends up soothing the nerves at the point of contact, so she renamed it as a pain reliever."

His language of course was interspersed with a few more gruff words and an anecdote about how Grams had tried making some for him every few years. Because he wasn't a witch, and didn't have any magic to pull from to help him heal, it always made him sick. It sounded to him like Prue had a similar affliction, and that he hoped they could figure it out from there.

They thought they could, but it was still a few hours later when Piper blurted. "Guys-guys I found something!"

Everyone looked up dazedly, surprised by the sudden noise, but their eyes went wide when they snapped out of it and realized that someone had something. "What's up?" Sam asked hopefully.

Piper held up the book she had been reading, letting it face her cousins so that they could look at a page that seemed to be dedicated to the use of stabilizing ingredients. "The powder mix-up isn't what's causing this," she said, refuting one of the ideas they had in the beginning. "The original ingredient was just supposed to stabilize it, but when we forgot it and started stirring, something else in the potion reacted badly."

Despite the fact that this meant that they were knew more than before, Dean looked terrified at the prospect that they had to look at the entire ingredient list instead of just the one this time.

Sam perked up though. "Really?" he asked brightly, turning back to his book and starting to flip quickly to one of the ingredients that he had marked.

Phoebe looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What are you so happy about?"

"Because at least this makes sense now!" Sam continued, before reaching the page he wanted. "I was confused earlier because I didn't get why angelica root would have reacted badly, but if it was two of the others, it's pretty easy." He flipped the book around, pointing to a picture of a flower. "We added the bluebonnet seeds right before we added the angelica. That's the ingredient that causes the magic of a person to flow like the potion needs. Normally, it's kind of like a magical adrenaline shot, where it lets you be a little bit more powerful, but then you crash later. Aaaaaaaannd-"

He trailed off flipping through the pages again until he found a picture of a tree, "the essence of an ashen tree, was before that, which makes certain magical effects less obvious, but they last longer," he explained before looking up brightly. "Without the arrow root to temper it, it must have gone haywire, and now it's forcing her to expend magic that she doesn't have. I mean, I don't know why it exploded like it did, but at least this explains Prue's condition. She's magically exhausted."

"So then all we need to do is counter those two ingredients and she'll get better?" Phoebe asked hopefully.

"It sounds like it," Sam shrugged. "Maybe there's something in the book about doing that?"

Piper shook her head. "I haven't seen anything like that," she said, looking back to her book. "But it can't be that hard if you find the right ingredients and then see how to make them their most effective…"

"Piper, are you really thinking about making your own recipe right now?" Phoebe asked sharply.

"Why not?" Piper asked, making a face. "If you just let me look-"

"Ah, Piper," Sam interrupted, "it took you two years to perfect your lasagna recipe. I don't think we have time for you to figure out a recipe to fix Prue."

"Which is all fine and dandy, because I have another fix."

They turned to Dean, who seemed mildly surprised that he had anything to add. He was looking at the wall as if he was having a hard time remembering the details of something.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Did you see a potion for it earlier?"

Dean shook his head. "No, I don't think so at least," he said. "Me and dad were working a case last February and some friend of his was being stupid and thought he was under a hex. We went to help him out, but when we actually tracked the witch he was blaming, it turned out that he had tried to mix a potion to kill her and messed it up. She did some kind of spell and it fixed him."

"Does that mean you can call her then she can tell us what the spell was?"

"Not really an option, the dude shot her," Dean said, shaking his head. "Point is, we looked at her book and it was some kind of magical cleanse or something. Grams had to have a spell for that."

Phoebe perked up and stood to rush over to the Book of Shadows, where it was resting neatly on its podium. The others stood up and moved to follow her as she flipped through the pages, and looked at them brightly as she stopped at a page.

"I found it," she said excitedly. "We can fix Prue!"

(-:-)

It was a simple spell, thankfully, and all the things they needed were already at the manor. They were out the door within ten minutes of finding the solution, but once they left the house, and their relief passed, and the atmosphere around them became far more solemn.

It was the only option that they had found, but now that they were on their way, all of them were thinking about the same thing: what if this didn't work? What if they tried it on Prue and it only got worse? Would the magical exhaustion kill her? Would it go away on its own? Was there anything they could even do at all?

They were almost afraid to get out of the car once they reached the hospital, and the expression that appeared on Phoebe's face when she got ready to get out was downright depressed.

"I hate that magic caused this…" she murmured.

It made their stomachs all drop a little. Phoebe was the only one of them that had endorsed using their powers from the beginning. It wasn't reassuring when she was the one that was most upset about this.

Sam shook his head. "That doesn't mean we should give up on it," he said.

Piper took a deep breath. "That's right," she said. "Magic might have made Prue sick, but it also might be the only thing that can help her."

It seemed to steel all of their resolves, and they walked inside the hospital together, quickly finding Prue's room.

They were a little surprised to see that Andy was there, sitting at Prue's bedside and looking at her forlornly. At first, no one wanted to go inside and interrupt, but they knew what they had to do.

"Hey Andy," Phoebe greeted, looking nervously at her almost comatose sister.

"Hey," he replied weakly. "The doctors say there hasn't been a change."

"We didn't think they would," Dean muttered, putting a comforting hand on Andy's shoulder.

There was a moment of heavy silence before Piper stammered his name. "A-Andy, would you mind leaving? We just…we need a minute…"

Andy's shoulders slumped, and he considered how they must be having a harder time than he was. He nodded, not even thinking about it. "Yeah, sure…" he muttered quietly.

Despite his acquiescence, though, he held onto Prue's hand for a few seconds longer. His heart clenched as he started to stand, and he couldn't help but lean forwards and kiss her forehead.

It was hard to force himself to let go of her, and to leave the room. He didn't look at any of the other Halliwells as he left, and he slumped even further as he left the room.

Inside, though, the Halliwells stood a little straighter the second the door closed behind him.

"Let's get started before someone else comes in," Phoebe said quickly, and Piper slung her purse onto the foot of Prue's bed.

With shaking hands, she pulled out a candle and a tiny phial of oil. After carefully balancing it on top of Prue's lap, she poured the oil into the melted pit at the top. Phoebe dipped her fingers into the oil and rubbed a symbol onto Prue's forehead. Sam quickly pulled out a piece of notebook paper, and laid it out so that they could all read it as Dean lit the candle.

Lastly, Phoebe held out her hands, linking together with Sam and Dean. "Alright, let's do this…" she breathed.

The boys took her hands, then offering theirs to Piper, who let out a breath. He hesitated for a moment, bracing herself before starting the spell. "The power of love I evoke this day, come to this place, take her pain away."

As she spoke, the flame of the candle grew. It sparked and sputtered, taking on a bright green hue. The color was reflected in Prue's skin, and it made her look even sicker than she was.

Piper could feel Dean's hands shaking as he started his part of the spell. "The power of might I evoke the same," he chanted, his voice low, and on the verge of cracking. "Heal this woman in magic's name."

The candle's flame grew again, changing to the size of a golf ball, and glowing bright blue. The light reflected off of all of their faces. For a few moments, the hospital room looked like a scifi-horror movie. The nerves creeping into their throats made it feel like one.

Phoebe steeled herself before she did her part. "Also to earth, I ask for help. Heal her now; make her well."

The flame seemed to grow again, and this time cast a blood red glow around the room. No one was willing to break their concentration on the candle as Sam started the final chant.

"Cleanse this place of sickness and pain. Allow us to see her smile again."

When the last words were out of his mouth, the flame died completely, but the light remained.

It slowly turned white, and started consuming the candle, growing and starting to wrap around themselves and Prue.

"Cleanse this body, cleanse this mind," They continued, now speaking in tandem. "Cleanse this body, cleanse this mind."

They repeated it, again and again and again.

Piper started shaking harder as the light spread over her sister, obscuring her face.

Without warning, the glow flashed bright yellow, making spots dance in front of their eyes and they were forced to break the circle, covering their faces from the power they had sent to Prue.

Dean recovered first, and looked at Prue hopefully.

She was still silent, though, laying with her eyes closed.

"Prue?" Sam asked, his voice cracking with worry.

They crowded in closer, hovering over her.

She still didn't move.

A whimper escaped from Piper's mouth, not willing to believe that this hadn't worked. Phoebe put a hand on Prue's shoulder, as if trying to wake her, and Dean stumbled back, staring at the scene disbelievingly.

"Prue?" Sam asked again. His voice shook as he gripped the railing of her bed.

When she still didn't respond, Piper nearly crumpled over onto the bed. "Prue?" she pleaded. "Prue, wake up!"

No response.

Dean shook his head, swallowing hard while he stared at Prue. "Guys…" he started, his voice breaking a little, making him cough before he tried again. He forced himself to look away from her, and he missed it when Prue's eyelids fluttered slightly. "Guys if this didn't work we need…"

"This was our only shot," Piper rasped standing back up as a tear rolled down her face. "What else can we do?"

Prue's head began to drift over the pillow, tilting as she shifted because of the noise. Yet it went unnoticed as Phoebe pulled herself away from her sister. She looked around at her family members as she searched for the confident words that she just didn't have this time. "We…we can't just give up…" she tried.

"Can't just give up on what?"

The voice was drowsy and they all looked in shock at the bed. Prue was frowning, and through half lidded eyes was looking uncomfortably at the candle resting on her chest. Even so, she looked more awake than she had been that morning, and the fact that she was annoyed about the candle could only mean that she was feeling better.

The other Halliwell's paid that no mind, though, and all gaped at her in relief. "You…It…" Phoebe stammered, completely at a loss.

Sam just dove at her for a hug, much to Prue's dismay when she groaned.

"Guys!" she grunted. "What's going on? What just happened?"

It didn't make Sam let go, and he completely ignored her questions. "Thank god you're okay," he gasped, holding onto her chest.

Prue looked up at Phoebe, who was on the opposite side of Sam, but her sister held no answers either. There were happy tears rolling down Phoebe's face, and when she glanced at Piper, it didn't look like she was doing much better either. Piper reached out a hand, grasping Prue's with her own.

"We found an answer in the book," she told her sister. "I told you we would…"

"You could have gotten us caught…" Prue mumbled halfheartedly, squeezing her sister's hand.

"But you're okay now, aren't you?" Dean asked, beaming at her. "That is the only thing that matters."

Despite her complaints, Dean was right, and Prue couldn't help but smile as the others dove in for another hug.

(-:-)

Rex leaned back in his chair, looking pensively at the desk while Hannah sat across from him. She looked disappointed at what Rex had learned from observing Sam at the hospital, and she sighed. "Then the ritual didn't work…" she grumbled.

"Apparently not," Rex answered. "We should have asked him to stay long enough to verify it was done."

"He wouldn't have stayed either way," Hannah answered. "He doesn't answer to us. You know that."

Rex's eyes narrowed at her. "But it's his blood that we need to fix his problem."

The way Hannah glared at him suggested that she was hardly impressed with the way he was speaking about their boss. "You are the one that didn't want to do this the direct way," she reminded him sharply, leaning back in her chair.

The way she slouched reminded him how she did not like this mission in the least. She despised the idea of playing an up-tight office worker so that she wouldn't draw attention, hated how she had to wear pantsuits and glasses. She had wanted to get in and get out, regardless of how much attention it drew.

"Doing this quietly is the best way to keep the Halliwells from finding out the end-game," he rebuked. "The sooner they know of our plans, the sooner they will start trying to put an end to it."

"Well the sooner we're done here, the sooner we can actually start those plans," Hannah grumbled.

Rex rolled his eyes. "You are far too short sighted, my dear," he sighed. Hannah gave him a tight, sarcastic smile in response.

Sitting back up straight, Rex opened one of the drawers of his desk, and pulled out an old chalice. "We need to call him," he said, placing it in the center of the table.

At this, at least, Hannah smiled. She stood up quickly, and strutted over to the records closet that Rex had in the corner of his office.

It held no records, though, and when she opened the door, the limp body of a man fell out. He was dazed, drugged beyond belief for the specific purpose of being silenced while he was in their keep. His eyes widened in horror when he saw them but he couldn't utter a sound.

"You're in for a treat, cutie-pie," Hannah chirped excitedly, pulling him off of the floor with inhuman strength.

Rex had to grin at the display. He pulled a push dagger out of his desk as well before standing up, taking the cup with him as he walked over to her. "Hold him still," he ordered.

She didn't need telling twice, and grinned as she grabbed the man's head, tilting it back enough that it was exposed for Rex. The man squirmed slightly, but not enough to break the hold as Rex adjusted his grip on the knife.

Before Hannah could even whisper a witty joke into their victim's ear, Rex had thrust the knife forward, slashing across his throat without a moment's hesitation. Blood started spilling from his neck and the man choked slightly as the gore filled his esophagus, dripping into his lungs and spreading through his mouth.

Rex held the chalice to the man's neck, catching what blood he could while Hannah grinned mercilessly. Neither of them paid any attention to the man as the cup filled, and Hannah let him fall to the floor as soon as they had enough.

They walked back to the desk, and Rex set it down before dipping his finger in. He ran it around the edge of the cup, saying, "Tire quiero patem me a di."

There was a moment's pause before the blood began to bubble, jumping in tiny spikes as the connection was made.

Rex smiled nastily. "Azazel," he greeted. "It's Rex."

(-:-)

Piper looked at the cauldron on the stove warily as she added the arrow root powder to the potion. The other three Halliwells present stood as far away as possible, watching nervously in case the potion blew up once more. They were being as careful as possible, only letting one of them work on it at a time. Piper was even wearing a painter's mask.

There was no bang, or puff of smoke, though, as she stirred the powder through the mixture, and they all let out a breath of relief.

"Does that mean we did it right this time?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Don't know yet..." Piper muttered, pulling her mask down, and swiping some hair way from her face. "I still need to say the incantation..."

Phoebe crept a few inches closer to the stove while Piper looked intently at the book., drawing her focus before she put her hand back on the spoon. She stirred it three times clockwise, then twice counter clockwise, repeating the rotation as she spoke. "I bless this potion for healings sake, help it mend both bruise and break."

As soon as she was finished, she drew away from the cauldron slightly, just in case.

Still, no explosion, but the bubbling brew in the cauldron began to shift colors as she continued stirring. A purple hue permitted the yellow beeswax, spreading slowly throughout. When the entire batch took on the tone, she stopped stirring and looked hopefully at the others.

"It's done."

They walked across the room and all looked curiously at the mixture, and Sam looked up at Piper hopefully. "Can I try it?"

Piper shook her head, but looked amused. "At least let it cool down."

Sam frowned, which made Dean laugh.

"Come on Sam, you've gone this long," Phoebe joked. "You can go a few minutes more."

Sam shot her a look that only an annoyed sibling could have pulled off. "When you have killer headaches, then you can talk to me about waiting a little while."

He shook his head, and instead of laughing, Dean and Piper shared a worried look over the youngest Halliwell's head. He didn't notice, and went ahead and pulled the spoon out of the cauldron. It was coated in a thin layer of the potion, and he tentatively tapped his finger against it, checking to see just how hot it was.

Apparently it wasn't quite hot enough to worry him, because he went ahead and scraped some of it off before wiping it on his forehead. They all looked at him curiously, wondering there would be obvious signs that it was working.

After waiting for a few moments, there was no flash of light or glow. Sam turned his eyes towards the ceiling, as if he were trying to see his forehead. Eventually he frowned.

"Is it working?" Phoebe asked.

Shaking his head, Sam looked into the cauldron, wondering if maybe he needed more. "No…" he said despondently.

"Bobby said that it was subtle," Piper suggested, though it didn't look like she was convinced. "Maybe it takes a few minutes to work?"

Sam looked regretful. "Or maybe this is something that we can't fix…" he muttered.

And no one had any answer for that.

(-:-)

Of all the places where Prue wanted to spend time with her boyfriend, the hospital was not one of them, yet, it definitely had its perks.

Since she had been admitted, Andy visited her regularly, and for the first time in a long time, no one called to interrupt them. Together, they complained about the hospital cafeteria food, and went through all of Prue's get-well gifts. They talked about everything and nothing, and watched bad TV while cuddling on her hospital bed, and waiting for the doctors to tell her that she could finally be released.

In a way, Prue thought it was cute. The hospital had been the place where they reconnected after years of separation, and now the hospital was a way for them to reconnect after a few days of trouble.

She looked across the room with a smile as he went through the latest delivery from the nurses, holding up a white pastry box with amusement.

"Looks like your friend Laurie sent doughnuts," he announced, holding the box open to reveal a couple of chocolate covered doughnuts with "Get Well Soon" and "What did you even have?" written on them in blue icing.

It made Prue snort, and Andy grinned at her as he set the box back down. He walked back across the room to her, taking a seat next to her bed. "You've gotta admit it's a good question," he said after a moment.

Prue's laughs died down, and she raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"What did you even have?" Andy quoted from the pastries. "It still seems weird that you recovered and the doctors still don't know what the problem was."

He wasn't wrong.

In the past three days she had been in the hospital, the doctors had been baffled by everything that had happened. They were still running tests, reluctant to send her back into the world with a mystery disease.

Prue tried to keep smiling as she thought about it. Lying to everyone in the hospital made her skin crawl, and being kept under observation when she knew she was healthy made it worse. The only thought that made it okay was the idea that it was keeping her family safe as long as they kept their secret.

Yet every time she thought about that, she just felt guilty again.

Andy had been there by her side the entire time, been patient through all of the drama, kept up with her crazy life and brought her back up when she had been feeling so low.

And she was lying to him.

He deserved to know their secret. Keeping it from him any longer would never be fair.

For now, though, she smiled at him, and he smiled back.

She would tell him when she was ready, but not today.

(-:-)

Leo frowned as he looked around the white expanse that he called the Clouds. It wasn't quite heaven, but it wasn't quite Earth either.

Everything the eye could see was a bright white color, shrouded in mist. There were figures flitting around, most of them wearing white robes. They had hoods low over their eyes masking their faces unless spoken to directly.

Even Leo was told to wear the robe, and he didn't fight it.

He pulled his hood away from his head, though, when he saw a selection of figures walking towards him.

The one closest to him was Hester, an elder amongst his peers, wearing a white robe much like he was.

The other two stood out quite a bit.

One of them was an older man, wearing a suit. The dress code was beneath him, although he probably did not care for the suit he was wearing either.

The other being defied description. It was enormous, and it radiated light as if it were a star. He could see something resembling wings on one of its sides, and where a head should have been was an amalgamation of shapes that Leo couldn't quite understand. It had been a long time since he had seen an angel in its true form, a sight he never would have been able to survive as a mortal.

"Hester, Zachariah," he greeted.

"Leo," the old man, Zachariah, responded. "I have brought another member of the Host to observe as I work. We are considering giving him an assignment on Earth soon. This is Castiel."

Leo vaguely wondered if that was a threat. He knew Hester thought very little of his work with the Halliwells. Maybe she had voiced her opinions to their bosses. Maybe they were considering replacing him with this Castiel.

All the same, he looked up and smiled at the being. He doubted that it would appreciate the human gesture, but Leo couldn't help himself. "I see," he said. "You wanted to speak with me about my assignment?"

"That I do," Zachariah responded. The angel clasped his hands behind him, and he took a step or two closer. "Hester has voiced some concern that your relationship with Piper Halliwell is of a romantic nature."

Upon hearing her name, Leo's chest constricted a little. Of course Hester would have picked up on that. Piper hadn't exactly been subtle in flirting with him over the past few weeks, and if he were honest with his bosses, he would tell them that he had been wishing he could ask her out.

But he knew better than that.

"I assure you, I've been endeavoring to keep my relationship with all of the Halliwells entirely platonic," he answered.

Zachariah raised an eyebrow at him, as if he was about to give him a lecture on how tempting humans could be.

Before he could say anything, though, a noise erupted from Castiel. Leo's human ears heard a terrible screeching noise, something loud and awful, like a garbage disposal full of scrap metal and some sort of screeching animal.

He would have flinched if he didn't hear the same noise on the angelic spectrum.

Heard correctly, Castiel's voice was beautiful.

"You are aware that relations with mortals are forbidden, then?"

No matter how harmonious Castiel's voice was, there was no way to take the implication in a good way. Leo fought down the rebellious thoughts in the back of his head that told him he should quit while he was ahead, get away from this assignment before he was compromised.

Instead, he averted his eyes, nodding while he said, "Of course," and tried not to think about Piper.

When he looked back at the other two beings, Hester still didn't look convinced, but Zachariah was smiling. Either he did not need much convincing, or he really did not care that much. "Good," he said brightly. "Now onto the important questions. Prue is alright now?"

"It seems like it," Leo informed him. He had kept himself distanced from his charges, although it went against everything in his nature. He had been asked to stand back, watch and see if they could solve their problems on their own, and he had been impressed how quickly they had figured out how to save her. They were stronger than they realized. "I believe they found a cleansing spell in the book. Between the four of them, it was enough power to rival our ability to heal."

"Mmm, remarkable," Zachariah responded. His eyes drifted off slightly, and he seemed incredibly pleased with the news before he asked his next question. "And Sam. Have they figured out what's causing the recoil from his powers?"

Leo frowned, shaking his head. "Not yet," he answered, rather disappointed that he hadn't figured anything out yet. "I've been through our archives as well as their Book of Shadows, but I can't find any explanation. All powers of premonition are a little unpleasant, but nothing like Sam is experiencing."

"It could be something unique to him," Hester suggested, her brow wrinkling as she considered the problem. "Perhaps his father attempted to remove his powers but made a mistake.

Castiel rejected the idea, saying, "If that were the case, then his brother would have the same affliction."

Leo had considered that idea as well, and come to the same answer. There was just no natural cause he could think of that would make sense for Sam's problem. He looked to Zachariah, and asked, "Do you have any ideas, sir?"

From the expression on his face, Zachariah didn't seem to have any ideas either. He was looking at them all thoughtfully, but to Leo's relief, he didn't seem upset that no one knew what was wrong with his charge.

Actually, if anything, Zachariah seemed pleased.

"I think that, at the moment, it's not an excessive problem," he responded lightly. "So far, Sam's difficulties haven't interfered directly with any of their work, and I'm sure that you will come across the answer soon."

Leo didn't think so, but he nodded anyway. "I hope so."

Zachariah gave him a smile. "Relax a little," he told the whitelighter. "Really, in ten years, these headaches probably won't even be the biggest magical problem he's dealt with.

(-:-)

A/N: Again, there are a lot of things that I'm not happy with in this chapter. I really didn't work on the main plot hard enough and I probably should have gone further with Leo and Piper's relationship/Hester a little longer, but I really wanted to just be done with this chapter so that I can move on! The next two episodes I think I'll have a lot of fun writing, and the third will cap off the Rex storyline.

But! It was mostly to lead into a few side plots that I'm going to cover after the Rex story line is complete, like the angels and Laurie.

Just for the record, Hester is not an angel here. I'll explain the entire hierarchy/power structure later, but right now, all I want to say is that whitelighters are former humans who get their powers from angels by a small transference of grace. They get stronger as they get older and older, eventually becoming Elder whitelighters. Angels are their bosses.

Right now, Hester is merely an elder. She hasn't been on earth since before God left, though, and she deals with angels more than she does her subordinate whitelighters, so her people skills suck.

Also, Hannah isn't exactly the same Hannah from Charmed. I'm bringing her back later because of reasons, so I changed her characterization.

To those who reviewed (and who I haven't already responded to):

Anthony: I kind of wanted to kill you when I saw you reviewed without a way for me to respond. The second I finished reading it, my head started spinning with some possibilities for the angelic hierarchy that I hadn't considered. I'm not saying I'm using your ideas, but it got me thinking, and if you'd like to talk more about the world building, I would love to have someone to use as a sounding board.

RHatch89: You don't really say much, but thanks for diligently telling me that you enjoy my updates. It makes me happy.

Next Chapter: Truth spell. Leo being a sweetheart, Prue deals with her issues about Andy, Sam starts a fight he can't win, Rhonda Hurley makes a brief appearance for the lulz, and Piper gets disappointed.