Piper was still sitting on the front step of the manor when Prue returned home from work. Prue stopped and looked at her with concern.
"Are you ok?" she asked as she quickly approached her sister. Piper nodded. She didn't know what to tell Prue. She was free from being a witch, but she wasn't quite free from the magical secret-keeping. It was weird to have to keep their magical background a secret from Prue.
"I… uh… forgot my keys," Piper lied. "I figured I'd just sit and wait for you or Pheebs to come home." Prue chuckled and pulled her keys from her pocket. Piper leapt to her feet and grabbed her purse while Prue opened the door.
"I thought I showed you where I hid the spare key," said Prue. "It's under that big stone under the hedges at the side of the house, remember?"
"Right," said Piper. She should have thought of a better excuse.
"How'd your date with Leo go?" Prue asked. Piper followed her sister into the parlour.
"Pretty good," replied Piper. She caught herself smiling. She missed post-date talks with Prue. The two of them sat on the sofa while Piper told Prue all about her date with Leo.
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Piper sat in bed, wide awake. She was too scared to go to sleep. What if this was the night that she returned to her own time and couldn't come back to Prue. The more she thought about it the more the line between dream and reality became blurred.
Maybe it was a spell that was making her think that Prue had died and that she had a new sister. Maybe it had all been a dream. Their mother was not the type to have an affair anyway and drowning was a much more believable death than being killed by a water demon. Paige didn't even have any features of the Halliwell family.
She decided to test her theory. She grabbed her water bottle from the bedside table and dumped its contents on the floor.
"Let the object of objection become but a dream
as I cause the scene to be unseen."
Nothing happened. The spell Paige had taught her didn't work. If witchcraft truly existed, the water would have disappeared. She grabbed a few tissues and cleaned up the mess.
Maybe she had imagined the demon in the alley too. The potion she had mixed should have at least smoked or popped when it hit the ground. She couldn't remember anything happening when the vial broke.
She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. Her dream world had totally taken over her daily life. The conversation with Leo obviously hadn't happened. They hadn't mentioned anything about magic. She could remember now. He didn't orb out of the room, he walked right out the back door. How could her mind have completely erased that memory?
Once she'd gotten back into bed she had made up her mind to see a psychiatrist. Mixing dreams with reality was definitely a problem that would need to be dealt with.
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Phoebe screamed at Leo as he lifted Piper off of the bed. Piper had stopped breathing, only this time startling her hadn't made her start breathing again.
"Do something!" Phoebe sobbed. Holding Piper in his arms, he carried her to the washroom. Both sisters followed close behind as Leo started the shower. Maybe shaking her wasn't enough to shock her into breathing again, but freezing water might.
It took a few seconds for the water to cool enough to an uncomfortable temperature. With Piper still in his arms he stepped into the shower and let the water hit her. Piper gasped and began coughing almost immediately. Her eyes opened, but she didn't move. Leo continued to hold her under the icy spray, hoping she would try to move away on her own.
"Come on Piper," said Leo. "Move something. Let me know you're here." He stared at her, waiting for her to at least look at him. She was blinking on her own, but she was staring blankly at the shower wall.
"Leo, her lips are turning blue," said Phoebe. "Bring her out." She grabbed a towel and waited for Leo to come out of the shower.
"Blink twice if you want out," Leo demanded. He was freezing from the water that was hitting him, he couldn't even imagine how cold Piper was. Trying to shrug off the cold he continued to stare at Piper, desperately waiting for her to blink for him. He could feel her body beginning to shake in attempt to warm itself involuntarily.
"Leo!" Paige shouted. "She's not there!"
"She's breathing now," said Phoebe. "That's good enough!" Leo sighed and turned the shower off. He stepped out of the shower and helped Phoebe wrap the towel around Piper. Paige threw a towel over Leo's shoulder and watched as he place Piper on the floor.
"At least her eyes are open now," said Phoebe as tried to warm Piper's hands in her own. "Maybe she's there, but can't do anything to let us know." She stared down at her big sister, watching every blink and every breath she took.
Paige watched Phoebe interact with Piper. She desperately wished her sisters would care about her like that. She really didn't want Piper to die. She had lost Prue before she could even meet her and she hadn't had the chance to bond with Piper yet. She didn't think she could be a source of comfort for Phoebe if Piper died. She had no idea how to be a sister. She still had so much to learn. Being a witch was easy. Her sisters were more than happy to train her in the magical arts. Training Paige to be a sister obviously wasn't something they had considered.
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Piper sat up in bed with a start. She couldn't believe that she had almost given up on Phoebe and Paige. She'd seen how much torture she'd put them through and she couldn't allow herself to let it continue.
She slid out of bed and walked slowly down the hall to Prue's room. She quietly pushed open the door and watched her sister sleep. She couldn't continue kidding herself. She had to let Prue go.
She wandered further into the room. She felt like she was walking the last few steps toward her own death, like someone on death row. She sat on the side of Prue's bed and put her hand on Prue's shoulder. Prue sat up, shocked to find someone in her bed.
"Hey Piper," she groaned. "Is everything ok?"
"I have to say goodbye," Piper whimpered. It was too hard to look Prue in the eye. She stared at the hardwood floor beneath her feet.
"Where are you going?" Prue asked. She sounded confused.
"I don't belong here," said Piper. "This isn't real… You're not real." She burst into tears as the last words she said rang through her head. Having to tell her own sister that she wasn't real was hard. She tried to picture the Source rather than her sister. She hated him for bringing her here.
"What are you talking about?" Prue asked once Piper's statement sunk in. "Of course I'm real."
"I'm sorry Prue," Piper sobbed. "I have to go." She leapt off the bed and ran to the corridor. Phoebe was standing beside the staircase looking concerned.
"Piper, are you ok?" she asked.
Piper pushed passed her and ran downstairs. She couldn't look at her sisters knowing it was the Source in disguise. She had to get out of the manor and figure out how to get back to Phoebe and Paige.
Both Prue and Phoebe were at the front door of the manor. They had their arms crossed and they looked mad. Piper turned and made her way to the kitchen. She would have to get out through the back door. When she got to the kitchen, Prue and Phoebe were standing in front of the back door, preventing her from getting out of the manor.
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Piper was breathing heavily and whimpering as Leo set her back in her bed. He and her sisters could tell something was going on. She was struggling against something. Phoebe grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.
"Come on, Piper," she coaxed. "You're almost there. Keep fighting him!"
"Do you think she's trying to come back?" Phoebe asked timidly. Phoebe nodded and sat next to Piper.
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Piper desperately tried to find away out of the manor. Everywhere she turned she found herself face to face with her sisters. They weren't her sisters anymore though. They both looked dark and evil.
As she was backed into a corner, she began thinking about the times she had gone back to her own time. Each time she had gone back, she had not left the manor. Her own mind had taken her back when she had gone to bed. She quickly sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes and covered her ears and desperately tried to picture herself with Phoebe, Leo and Paige.
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Piper suddenly stopped breathing. Her eyes closed and her head fell to the side as her entire body relaxed.
"No," Phoebe whimpered.
Before Leo could lift Piper in his arms to take her back to the shower she gasped for air and sat up. Leo and Phoebe quickly wrapped their arms around her and held her tightly.
"I'm so sorry," Piper sobbed.
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The three Halliwell sisters stood in front of Prue's plaque. Piper ran her fingers along the raised letters. She had told Phoebe, Paige and Leo about the world the Source had created for her and how she tried to stay with Prue.
"She's really gone," she sighed. Phoebe nodded and wrapped her arms around her sister's waist.
"I'm afraid so," Phoebe replied. "But we'll see her again. Once we've accepted the fact that she can't come back the Elders will let us see her again. Just like mom and Grams." Piper nodded. Phoebe glanced back at Paige, who was admiring the other plaques on the walls.
"But if we hadn't lost Prue, we never would have met Paige," Phoebe added. Paige looked startled. Piper smiled and looked back at her new baby sister.
"I know," she said. "I'm really sorry I haven't taken more time to get to know you Paige. I really haven't been myself since Prue died."
"Totally understandable," said Paige. "Don't worry about it."
"No," said Piper. "It's really not fair to you. We need to take some time out to get to know more about Paige." Phoebe walked over to Paige and put her arm around her shoulder.
"We should have a sisters' night out," Phoebe suggested. "We haven't done that in a very long time. Some sisterly bonding is definitely in order."
"I agree," said Piper. "I think we should grab a girly movie, give each other a manicure and pig out." Phoebe smiled.
"And the first thing you should know about being a sister," said Phoebe with a grin. "Is that we reserve the right to raid each other's closets."
"Well, if that's the case," said Paige. "There are a few articles of clothing that I've been dying to try on."
The three girls walked happily toward Piper's SUV, leaving Prue to rest and beginning a new generation of Halliwell sisterhood.
