Piper rolled over slowly, trying to keep her eyes closed. She figured if she could keep them shut long enough then maybe the sun would leave and she could go back to sleep. The previous night had not been the most restful of her life, what with the storm and the visitor from afar. She was ready to make up for it. But she knew that in an hour and a half a very grumpy deliveryman would be standing at the door to her nightclub. And she doubted he'd take her creepy night visitor excuse as a reason for tardiness.
Piper groaned, wishing that she'd fought harder to sleep in her bed. But her sisters had insisted she be near them even if the floor wasn't exactly the optimal place for a good night's rest. Finally she opened her eyes, squinting in the brightly lit room. It was definitely morning. She blinked for a moment as her eyes focused on the object directly in front of her.
"Oh, foot in the face, foot in the face!" Her eyes widened as she shoved Phoebe's foot away. She heard a sound from the bed above and then she saw Phoebe peering down at her. Piper sat up in her sleeping bag, frowning at her sister. "I knew you couldn't keep all of your limbs up there."
"Be glad I didn't roll off completely," Phoebe said, stifling a yawn. "Hey, I offered the bed."
"No, you offered to let me sleep on it with you," Piper said. "But I know you. You do aerobics in your dreams."
"I do not!"
"She's right." Piper heard someone mumble. Suddenly, the blankets popped up on the other side of the bed and Prue stuck her head out from under them. "It's not aerobics. It's more like kick boxing, really vicious kick boxing."
"With all the demons I gotta practice sometime," Phoebe said. "And I think I'm getting better." Prue scowled at her as she sat up slowly. Brushing her hair out of her face, she stood, then looked down at Piper.
"Now I remember why I always took the sleeping bag."
"Here's a question," Piper said. "Why doesn't Phoebe ever take the sleeping bag?"
"That is an excellent question." Prue looked over at Phoebe who was still tucked comfortably under her blankets. "We've had hundreds of Halliwell sleepovers and not once has Phoebe ever taken the floor."
"Hey, my bed, my room, my tradition."
"Well, was it your demon or whatever that caused this whole mess?" Piper glanced up at her. "Because you were kind of hazy on that part last night."
"Yeah Pheebs, maybe this morning it's time to make with the details." Prue yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Sharing a room is fun and all, but I think I bruise too easily."
"I'm sticking with storm jitters," Piper said, trying not to remember the events of the previous night. Already the image of that woman standing by her bed was beginning to fade. She was more than willing to call it a nightmare.
"This coming from the girl whose scream made a run at the sound barrier." Phoebe looked down at her. Piper sighed. She should have known that Phoebe would keep pushing the issue.
"It was a dream." Piper rolled over onto her stomach and closed her eyes. The deliveryman would just have to wait. "I doubt it warrants the full out Wicca mode."
"It's probably one of the few normal things to happen to her this week," she heard Prue say.
"Yes, thank you Prue," Piper mumbled, not bothering to open her eyes. "That puts a nice perspective on my few moments of midnight terror."
"I'm always here to help," Prue said. Piper could hear the door squeal as she opened it and walked out into the hall.
"Great, next demon we get I'll send him your way!" she called after her. Piper hugged her pillow and tried to go back to sleep. But already she could feel her younger sister's eyes boring into her. Yep, she thought. Pheebs is still worried.
"Piper that wasn't any nightmare last night," she said finally.
"And here I thought Prue was the designated worrier."
"I'm serious," Phoebe pressed on ahead, despite her sister's attitude. "Something was in your room. I saw it."
"Well go ahead. It's share time now." Piper didn't bother to hide her lack of enthusiasm. "What was it?"
"I don't know," Phoebe sighed in frustration. "I didn't actually see, you know, it. I just saw you."
"Me?" Piper opened her eyes again and squinted up at her sister. Phoebe had rolled over and propped her head up on her pillow. Now she was staring down at Piper, a concerned look on her face. Piper hated that look.
"Yeah. You were sleeping with that cute little frog that Leo gave you, you know the one with the ribbon and-"
"Okay." Piper stopped her quickly. "And exactly what part of this image set off your demon radar?"
"I had the premonition for a reason."
"Yeah, but you didn't really see anything."
"I saw you," Phoebe insisted.
"Yes, but in my room, in my own bed, seeing me isn't really that strange."
"It's just a feeling, okay?" Phoebe sat up abruptly, and Piper could hear the annoyance in her voice. "I mean I know my power isn't all active and exciting like yours, but occasionally it can do some good."
"I didn't mean that your power-"
"No, it's okay. You just don't trust me."
Phoebe stood and grabbed her robe off of the chair. Piper groaned and slowly got to her feet, just in time to intercept her sister on the way out the door. She really didn't feel like getting into this now, but she wasn't about to let Phoebe go away mad. Her sister was worried about her. Piper knew that she'd feel the same way if the situation were reversed.
"Phoebe, you know that's not true. Of course I trust you." Piper reached out to touch her arm, but Phoebe looked unconvinced. After a moment, Piper glanced down and sighed. "It's just I'd kind of rather have it be a nightmare. Everything's been going so well lately, demon wise. We're kind of in the summer lull here and I'm not really ready to give that up yet." Piper let go of Phoebe and sat back down on the bed. "You like going after the demons. I don't."
"Piper, I don't like going after the demons," Phoebe said. "But I do like being a witch. And I know sometimes you don't."
"And this is one of those times." Piper fidgeted nervously, twisting the ring on her finger. Part of her wanted to tell Phoebe everything, but she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Talking about it was like opening the floodgates, releasing all that sadness again. She wasn't going to do that to herself or to them. She looked up at Phoebe finally, meeting her eyes. "My nightmares don't need to be real."
"What exactly did you see last night?" Phoebe asked, sitting down next to her. Piper looked at the ground again, trying to avoid Phoebe's curious stare. Her sister had always found this witch stuff interesting. Piper on the other hand found it to be scary and sometimes painful. She just needed to forget the whole thing.
"I don't remember." She shook her head, then knelt down and started to roll up the sleeping bag.
"Well I'd say that whatever you saw is the big danger Leo put out the APB on. And I'm guessing that since it chose your room for the party, that it was looking for you." Her sister sounded downright enthusiastic about the whole thing. Piper knew it wouldn't be long before Phoebe clamored up the stairs in search of the Book of Shadows. Piper didn't even look at her as she continued. "Which means we have to do something."
"No." Piper stood and watched as Phoebe got to her feet also. She handed her the rolled up sleeping bag, which Phoebe promptly tossed on the bed. "I don't have to do anything right now except get to work."
"But Piper-"
"Phoebe, listen to me on this one." Piper looked straight at her sister, wanting her to understand. "Whatever was in my room, it wasn't a demon, and it wasn't a warlock, okay? And I doubt it's anything that would earn the Big Danger title that everyone is so fond of throwing around."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I just am, all right? Trust me." Piper said. "You and Prue have much better things to do than baby-sit me all night."
"Aw, but we like babysitting you," Phoebe did her best baby voice, and as much as she tried not to smile, Piper couldn't help it. She broke into a grin as Phoebe reached out to hug her. "We just want to make sure you're okay."
"I know."
"Because we love you."
"Yeah." Piper laughed a little. "I know that too." But as she closed her eyes the image of the woman suddenly reappeared in her mind. She tried to push it out, but she couldn't. For just a second she was back in her bedroom and the woman was standing there, her cold eyes staring straight into Piper.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
The image disappeared as she heard Phoebe's voice.
"I'm fine." Piper opened her eyes as her sister let go of her. She nodded as if to reassure Phoebe, but more and more she knew that she was only trying to reassure herself. "Every-everything's fine."
dddddddddddddddddddddddd

"I already told you to look in the Book," Prue said, lowering her voice as she passed through the hallway. She quickly moved her cell phone from one ear to the other, trying to avoid the weird stares from her coworkers. The hall was filled with people and Prue was not exactly inconspicuous. "Look, I really have to go."
"This is an emergency, Prue!" Phoebe said. "Something's after Piper. She knows it, but she won't do anything. She's taken a one way trip to denial land."
"Nothing is after Piper," Prue insisted as she slipped into one of the conference rooms. "And besides that, I already learned your definition of emergency yesterday. And it didn't seem very emergent!"
Prue glanced around, checking to make sure that the room was empty. She wasn't even supposed to be in the building, but her editor had called her back to talk to her about a photo shoot. Of course, she could always count on Phoebe to make her late for that.
"Well, we've got to do something."
"Phoebe, Piper's an adult who can freeze things at will." Prue was beginning to lose patience with her youngest sister. Now she knew what Piper had been complaining about all through their breakfast. "Look outside. It's broad daylight, and hey, she's awake. So I think we're safe for now."
"We're never safe," Phoebe said. "I thought you knew that by now."
Prue's eyes widened as she heard the door open behind her. She turned slowly just in time to see her very angry boss, Mr. Corso, standing in the doorway.
"Thanks for reminding me," she muttered. She abruptly flipped the phone shut and lowered it back into her purse. She smiled nervously at her boss, but he didn't smile back. Instead he looked from her, to his watch, then back to her again.
"You're late."
"But I'm here," Prue said a little too quickly. "In the building. Just not in your office."
"Yes, well next time give me the heads up, and we can do another little goose chase," he said. "I just love searching the building for my photographers. Gives me that nice mouse in the maze feeling."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. You always are." Mr. Corso's tone turned a little gentler as he took a seat at the table, then nodded for her to do the same. He slapped a file folder down, then opened it, flipping through the various papers inside. "Another family emergency?"
"Something like that," Prue admitted. "But it's taken care of. And I sit here ready for my assignment."
"Then here it is." The man pulled an article out of the folder and slid it her way. "A church over in Marin is rededicating their community center."
"A community center?" Prue couldn't quite hide her disappointment.
"It's brand new and will house their expanded theater facilities," he said. "Their theater used to be run by Faith Evans."
Prue's head jerked up as the name registered in her brain. But if her boss noticed her added attention, he didn't show it. He simply continued on.
"You might remember the story. She was killed last year in some weird altercation with a priest."
"Yeah." Prue swallowed hard as her mouth went dry. "I heard something about that."
"Anyway, the church members say she was some kind of miracle worker, helping the sick, feeding the hungry, you know a perfect member of the church." He nodded towards the paper he'd given her. "They're dedicating the new facility in her honor. I thought you might get some good shots for the article. Maybe you could even talk to a few people, get the scoop off the record."
"But I'm not a reporter."
"You are today, Prue." Mr. Corso leaned over and smiled at her. "And this is quite the story. A perfectly nice woman, beloved by everyone in her church, attacks a priest then ends up dead. The information on who killed her is never released, and the church continues to cherish this woman, even as their priest leaves the congregation."
"You sound like you could write the story yourself."
"Well, I've got to admit, I'm curious. A mysterious murder at a church right before Christmas..." The man sat back and folded his hands. "What more could you ask for?"
Prue didn't have an answer for that. She just looked at her boss, trying to match his smile. But inside she felt nauseous. Glancing down at the file, she saw a small black and white picture of the dead woman, Faith Evans. Someone had paper clipped it to one of the articles. Prue sucked in her breath, trying not to make her anxiety obvious. But she couldn't help it. Now, six months later, she was going back to the scene of the crime……….