A/N: Hey guys. I'm so sorry for the delay - I got sick these past few days (acute bronchitis) and couldn't really muster up any energy to update anything. I'm a little better now and thought I'd better post this next part lest I get worse again.

Thank you SO much for those who reviewed last chapter. You made my day.

Please, read this next part and feel free to review and tell me your thoughts.

Disclaimer: Twilight and Charmed do not belong to me.

Prue sighed as she walked into Quake. She had just returned from her time alone at the bridge where she'd gone to wind down after her interview at Buckland's and, almost seven hours after the horrific interview, she was still cringing at how badly it had went down. Obsessing over every part of her time at Buckland's, she kept going over every single detail from start to finish, beginning with the nightmarishly embarrassing phone call from Andy.

She started when she heard Piper's voice to her right. "Cindy, come on, your salmon's up. Hector, way behind – we need clean plates," Piper called out to the other employees under her supervision.

Prue steered and walked in her direction by the swinging kitchen door. She grabbed Piper by the wrist and turned her around to face her to get her attention. Grasping Piper's hands in hers, she fixed Piper with an almost desperate stare. "You didn't give Andy my cell phone number by any chance, did you?" she asked Piper, knowing how much she encouraged Prue reconnecting with Andy.

Piper and Phoebe were both eager for Prue to date him. Only Bella seemed a little distant when it came to Andy, feeling like it wasn't prudent to go out with him so soon. She was fine with casual dating but Prue had a much larger connection with Andy. Bella felt like this could be another potential Jeremy situation, only much worse.

Prue had reminded her of Andy's past with the family, but Bella hadn't been convinced. 'How much do we even know about warlocks?' Bella had asked. 'Do they come out of hell fully grown or were they evil babies at one point?'

Of course, Prue still hadn't listened to Bella. Her youngest sister could be doubtful all she wanted but Prue knew Andy's heart. He was a good man with a pure soul and there was no way he would want to kill her or anyone else, for that matter.

That didn't mean that she wasn't liable to a good panic when things had spiraled out of control on her first date with Andy after more than half a decade apart.

"No, why?" Piper asked, glancing at her curiously.

Prue shook her head. "Never mind," she muttered. If Piper didn't give him my number, maybe Phoebe did. She sighed. I'll kill her.

Piper's panic-filled voice pulled Prue back to the present. She watched on, amused, as Piper breathed heavily, as though to calm herself. "Remind me I wanted to do this for a living, right?" she asked. Her eyes swept across the restaurant in a frenzy as she tried to catch on to anything or anyone that might need her immediate attention while she and Prue walked away from the hectic kitchen.

Prue scoffed. "Looks like you're the only one of us who's going to be doing anything for a living," she sighed. "I think I blew my interview."

"I can't imagine you were less than stellar," Piper soothed, even despite her flustered state.

Prue smiled slightly in gratitude of her sister's faith in her, even if she knew that the interview had gone terribly wrong.

She opened her mouth to say something else when she noticed Phoebe sitting at a table across the restaurant. She was wearing a gorgeous dress and sitting next to a man Prue had never seen before.

Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "What's Phoebe doing here?"

Piper smiled knowingly as her eyes found Phoebe at her table. "The same thing Bella's doing – flirting," she replied, turning her head towards one end of the bar where Bella was seated on a stool, a man in his twenties seated next to her. Prue recognized the wide, charming smile spread on Bella's lips: it was her 'I want something and you're going to give it to me' smile most were unable to resist. She, too, was wearing a dress to kill though it was clearly less 'I'm-going-to-be-in-debt-for-the-next-year' expensive.

"Who's that guy?" Prue asked, feeling her head spin a little at how fast her little sister was moving from one guy to the next.

Piper shrugged. "I have no idea," she replied honestly. "All I know is that his name is Mitch, she met him in front of the church when she went with me to deliver food earlier, he gave her a ride back here, they stayed for a while, went out to God knows where and strolled back in here together over an hour ago and they haven't stopped talking and flirting ever since."

Shaking her head, Piper commented, "Frankly, I think her dating habits are getting a little bit out of hand."

"Yeah, no kidding," Prue muttered. Turning to Piper, she asked, "I thought she was seeing the bartender? What's his name again?"

"Javier," Piper nudged Prue and nodded in Bella's direction once more.

Prue turned back just in time to catch Javier carrying a tray of dirty dishes and glasses, walking past Bella and Mitch the mystery man. He glared at them as he passed but neither of them had even noticed his presence.

"She broke it off with him, apparently," Piper sighed, an amused smile on her face as she watched her younger sister place her hand on Mitch's forearm, her eyes glittering as she listened to him. It was obviously some sort of funny anecdote he was telling her because she suddenly threw her head back and laughed. Mitch continued to stare at her, mesmerized.

Prue blinked at Piper, incredulous. "After a day?" she asked, disbelieving.

Piper snorted lightly. "Yeah," jerking her chin in Javier's direction – he was clearing a table a couple of feet away from Bella and Mitch, and kept sending them murderous glares every few seconds. "I think he's about ready to stab either one or both of them."

Prue shook her head. I can't deal with this right now. But Bella and I are definitely going to have a talk about her dating habits later at home, she thought grimly, watching Bella and Mitch lean in close, big smiles on their faces as they whispered to one another.

Her head swiveling towards Phoebe once more, she wondered aloud, "She's wearing Armani…Where did she get that?"

"Not from my closet," Piper scoffed, shaking her head. She started when she saw Hector waving at her from the kitchen. "I gotta go," she said hurriedly before she rushed back towards the kitchen.

Which sister first…? Prue wondered to herself as she looked back and forth between Bella and Phoebe. Deciding that Phoebe's story was probably less complicated than Bella's man-hopping tendencies, Prue sighed and headed for the second youngest Halliwell sister.

Phoebe and the guy she was with looked up the moment Prue reached them. "Prue, hi," Phoebe said in an oddly cheerful manner, a contented smile on her lips. Turning to the guy she was with, she started the introductions. "This is my other sister," she explained to him. "Prue, this is Stefan, the photographer."

Stefan flashed Prue a smile. "Pleasure."

"Likewise," Prue said with a polite but indifferent smile, shaking the hand Stefan offered her. "Nice dress," she commented to Phoebe.

Phoebe, recognizing the slight in Prue's tone despite the friendly smile she wore, raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, it's not yours," she said, snubbing Prue right back.

"I know," Prue smiled. "I could never afford it."

Phoebe glared at Prue discreetly. "Will you excuse me for one minute?" she said to Stefan, her tone genial even if she was dying to burst out at her sister. "I'll be right back," she touched Stefan's hand for a brief moment. Whoa, felt kind of rough, she commented silently as she felt the rough texture of his hand. Maybe it's work-related…

She stood up, openly giving Prue a glare now that Stefan could only see her back, and followed Prue away from the table. There weren't a lot of places to go for privacy in a crowded restaurant so Prue did the best she could: the kitchen.

She and Phoebe walked past Bella as they headed to the kitchen – Bella was still sitting at the bar with Mitch, though it looked as though they were wrapping things up. Prue wrapped her hand around Bella's thin arm and pulled her off the stool, dragging her along.

"Hey!" Bella protested. Seeing that Prue wasn't going to let up, she frowned, annoyed, and turned to smile at Mitch. "You'll call me?"

"Oh, absolutely," he replied, grinning. "I'll see you around, Bella…"

She waved at him right before Prue hauled her into the stifling kitchen and the door to the kitchen swung shut.

"Okay, what the hell!" Bella scowled, hands on her hips as she rounded on her sisters. "I realize you two have many, many issues but try not to let your problems infect my life."

Prue and Phoebe ignored her. They faced off, both glaring and not giving into their staring contest. "How are you going to pay for that?" Prue demanded, referring to Phoebe's dress. "You're broke."

"Not for long," Phoebe answered, a little too smugly for Prue's taste.

"What does that mean?" A thought occurring to her, she asked angrily, "You didn't use your powers again?"

Phoebe shrugged, unflinching. "Maybe," she said vaguely. "Are you telling me you haven't?"

"No, I'm not telling you that but we're not talking about me, are we?"

Piper, as flustered as she had been ever since she started her job at Quake, came rushing up to them. "What are you guys doing in here?" she asked, panicked.

"Same thing they do at home," Bella quipped. "If it's all the same, I'd like to go n…"

She was interrupted by Prue's angry accusations at Phoebe, "What, did you go to the tracks, play the market, what?"

"The lottery," Phoebe answered guiltily.

Piper, who had previously been looking around them to check that no one was listening in on their little conversation, turned to look at Phoebe, shocked. "Phoebe!" she cried in a scandalized tone.

"Cool," Bella commented, her eyes lighting up. "Can I get a cut?"

Piper turned her shocked glare on Bella next. "Bella!"

Bella threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Hey, this is the first remotely interesting thing that's happened to us since we turned into witches. I'd like my share of the fun," she defended herself.

"Shh!" Piper hushed her. "Not so loud!"

"What did you want me to do?" Phoebe demanded, her eyes still fixed on Prue, and vice versa. "Ignore the premonition? Not help a needy family? That's what we're supposed to do, right?"

Prue shook her head. "No, we are not supposed to use our powers for our own personal gain. That's what it says in the Book of Shadows," she reminded Phoebe.

Piper leaned closer to her bickering sisters, whispering the same thing she had said to Bella harshly, anxiously, "Not so loud!"

Phoebe ignored her. In fact, her voice seemed to grow louder, "You said we needed money, right? Well, I'm getting some."

"Come on, you guys," Piper urged, wanting them to lower their voices and get the hell out of the kitchen. More preferably, out of the restaurant so that no one could hear their conversation.

Prue's glare was unrelenting as she snapped, "Well, get a job like everybody else!"

Bella quirked an eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest. "Why do you even bother?" she asked Piper. "You know they block out the rest of the world when they're fighting."

"I'm using my mind instead!" Phoebe practically yelled back.

Bella gave Piper a knowing look. "See?"

The kitchen door swung open, and Andy's voice called out, "Prue?"

All four of them turned in his direction only to see him bumping into one of the kitchen staff carrying a tall stack of plates.

"Watch it!" Piper cried out in panic, her hands flying out in instinct. Unable to help herself, or control her powers, Piper accidentally froze the entire kitchen. The plates froze midair before they could crash to the ground.

Piper stared in horror at the frozen room. Not a single person twitched, the usual sizzle as the dishes were cooked was gone and the clock on the wall had stopped ticking. "Oh, no," Piper started to panic, breathing heavily and pacing back and forth. "No, no, no, no, no. Not again!"

"Now look what you've done!" Prue accused Phoebe.

Phoebe stared at her, incredulous. "This is my fault!"

"You guys aren't frozen!" Piper asked, shocked enough by this new information to stop dead in her tracks.

Phoebe shrugged. "I guess it doesn't work on witches," she theorized.

"You see?" Bella said triumphantly, a scowl on her lips. "You see! This is why we have to learn how to control our powers!"

"Bella, this really isn't the time," Prue said dismissively.

Bella glared at her. "Then when is the time, Prue?" she demanded. "You never want to talk about it at home, and this is something we're all gonna have to face at some point, okay? Denial is only going to work for so long."

"It's worked for us so far!" Prue snapped.

"Really!" Bella gestured around them with a flourish of her hand. "Are you so disgusted by our heritage that you'd rather risk accidents like these? Accidents that, might I add, could very well expose us one day and wreak havoc on our lives."

"Like they haven't already," Piper muttered, continuing her pacing.

Phoebe, looking around at the frozen people around them, asked, "Piper, how long does it last?"

Prue hurried to the kitchen door, pushing it open slightly to glance outside. The hustle and bustle in the restaurant was deafening compared to the silence in the kitchen.

"I don't know," Piper answered frantically. "Not long."

"Uh, it doesn't work out there, either," Prue informed them.

"Oh, tell me this isn't happening," Piper looked to be on the verge of tears.

Phoebe grabbed hold of Piper's shoulders, trying to calm her down as they paced back and forth together. "Calm down, it's okay," she soothed. "It's all gonna be okay…"

Prue took another peek outside the kitchen and stiffened. "Oh, God. Andy's partner just came in and he's headed this way," she told the others frantically.

"What are we going to do?" Piper asked, her eyes trailing to the still-frozen Andy.

Bella straightened out her dress. "I'll stall him," she informed the others. "You guys try to calm Piper and unfreeze the room."

Phoebe frowned. "How are we supposed to do that?" she questioned.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I don't know," she replied cavalierly. "I have my job, you have yours. Get to it!"

Phoebe narrowed her eyes as she watched Bella breeze out of the kitchen door. "Easy for her to say," she scowled. "She got the easy job."

"Okay, focus," Prue said authoritatively. "Piper, you need to calm down, okay? Panicking isn't going to do anything. For all we know, you panicking is making them stay frozen longer."

Outside the kitchen, Bella jogged slightly in her heels towards the towering man she knew was Andy's partner. "Hey," she smiled at him, stopping right in front of him and halting his steps. "Inspector Morris, right?"

He did a double take when he saw her face. "Uh…Yeah," he blinked, looking a little enthralled by her. "How'd you know?"

"Oh, I've seen you around," she answered vaguely, flipping her hair over her shoulder and giving him one of her megawatt smiles. "I'm Bella Halliwell, by the way."

Morris blinked a few times. "Halliwell, right…" he shook his head, as though to clear the hazy fog that had settled in his mind. "That's right…Andy came in here looking for your sister. Is Trudeau in there?" he asked, nodding towards the kitchen.

"Uh, Andy?" Bella asked in a bid to stall Morris for longer, sidestepping to get in his way once more. "I don't know, is he?" Okay – lame, she chided herself.

They were startled when they heard the sound of a loud crash coming from the kitchen. This time, when Morris sprang into action and darted around her to rush into the kitchen, Bella didn't stop him.

That crash sounded like plates crashing to the floor so it's more than likely that the room had unfrozen, Bella thought, smiling victoriously at being able to distract Morris until necessary. Felt weird trying to flirt with him, though, she shuddered slightly. Guess it's good to know I'm not the type to go after married men.

She followed after him just to be sure, and walked in just in time to hear Andy say to Prue, "I really think we should…"

Andy noticed Morris standing behind him and gave him a confused look. "…Talk," he finished his sentence distractedly. "What are you doing here? I thought I had five minutes?" he asked his partner.

"Yeah, I gave you ten," Morris said, pointing at his watch.

Poor Andy looked a little too confused as he tried to figure out where the time had went. At Bella's meaningful look, Piper said loudly, "Guys, you know, we're really busy in here."

Andy gave her a slightly sheepish, still bewildered, smile. "Yeah, sure," he said, sounding deflated.

"Uh, I'll call you later, I promise," Prue said quickly, hoping to speed his and Morris' exit a little.

Andy nodded, a little more satisfied. "Okay," he gave her one last smile and turned to follow Morris out the door.

"Bye," Phoebe called out cheerily.

Bella sidestepped the broken plates on the floor, and Javier who was cleaning them up, and joined her three sisters a few feet away.

Piper, looking far too stressed out for someone who had just dodged a potential crisis, whispered harshly, "I hate being a witch."

Prue, Phoebe and Bella exchanged looks as Piper stormed off.

Piper had gone home after the almost-disaster with Andy, his partner and the frozen room, still shaken by the whole thing.

Her sisters had been absolutely no help. Phoebe had tried to soothe her further but reassuring words were meaningless to her at this point. Bella had shrugged and said, "Eh. It could've been worse."

Prue had stuck to her 'if we try our hardest not to use our powers, everything will be okay' line, and that had sparked an argument between Prue and Bella. Bella had called Prue naïve and Prue had called Bella reckless. At one point, Phoebe jumped in on Bella's defense.

It got so heated that Piper kicked all three of her sisters out of the kitchen. They'd left the restaurant altogether, still bickering loudly.

If anything, her sisters had managed to make things much worse for her.

After another few hectic hours at the restaurant, Piper had come home, exhausted from the dinner rush. She hadn't managed to get a break ever since lunch so she'd been starving but she was too wiped to grab some dinner. She'd fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

When she'd woken up the next morning – her day off, thank God – it was already nearing eleven and the house was quiet. Looking out the driveway, she couldn't see Prue's car so she assumed her elder sister was out somewhere. She couldn't find Phoebe or Bella anywhere so she assumed they'd gone out, as well.

Maybe it's a good thing to have the house to myself for once, Piper sighed, unable to help the desperate heaviness weighing down on her chest.

Her talk with pastor Williams had gone so terribly, and she hadn't gotten what she needed from him: his belief that she was evil and needed to be killed wasn't very reassuring. She really needed to find someone else to talk to but who could she approach? None of her sisters seemed like a good candidate. She already knew what they would say and she knew what they'd have to say wouldn't soothe her fears.

Staring at her unappealing breakfast, Piper sighed. She put down her glass of OJ, her stomach churning uncomfortably.

I can't do this, she decided. I need answers. And if no one has them, maybe I can find some from the Book of Shadows. It made sense, after all. The Book of Shadows was supposed to be a journal of sorts, according to Bella, documenting everything their ancestors had to say about their magic.

Leaving her breakfast on the kitchen table, Piper headed out the door and went up the three flights of stairs.

She was surprised when, upon entering the open attic door, she found Bella sitting on Grams' old armchair. She was seated horizontally on the chair, her back against one arm while her legs dangled over the other. The Book of Shadows was propped on her thighs and her eyes were fixed on the words on the page it was opened to.

"Hey," Piper called out as she approached Bella, who looked up, not at all startled by her presence. Piper gave her a small smile. "What are you doing?"

"Reading," Bella stated the obvious.

Piper nodded, sinking down on the wooden chair opposite Bella. "Oh, yeah? Found anything interesting?" she inquired.

Bella grinned. "It's actually a good read," she told Piper. "Like reading the Brothers Grimm, only it's all real."

Seeing the look flashing across Piper's face, Bella's wide smile dimmed slightly. She turned her body so that she was seated properly on the armchair, the Book of Shadows closed on her lap. "Piper, what's wrong?" she asked, her tone drenched in concern.

Piper gave her a shaky smile, shaking her head. "It's nothing," she tried to insist.

Bella blinked. "Bull," she said instantly. "Tell me," she urged softly, reaching out to grasp Piper's hand.

Piper squeezed her hand, grateful for the comforting gesture. Bella might not always have the softest approach and she was usually a little brash, especially for someone who wasn't used to her attitude, but when it came down to the people she loved in need of some help, she went at it fiercely.

"I've just been…" Piper exhaled loudly, to breathe easier, but her throat tightened even further. "I've been thinking a lot lately."

Bella quirked an eyebrow. "About what?" she asked, though the knowing glint in her eyes told Piper she knew the answer already.

Piper looked down at her lap. "About how totally screwed we are now that we're witches," she replied quietly.

"Piper, that's not true at all," Bella scoffed.

Piper shook her head. "You don't understand," she insisted.

Isn't that supposed to be my line as the moody, misunderstood teenager? Bella thought to herself.

"You don't think we are," Piper continued. "You're never afraid of anything. I envy that about you. I always have."

Bella smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, don't," she advised. "You don't wear rebellion as well as I do." When Piper gave her a watery laugh, Bella leaned forward slightly. "Piper, talk to me."

Piper shrugged slightly. "I don't know…It's like our whole lives we've been like everybody else. Rushing off to work, going out on bad dates, buying shoes…And suddenly we wake up one day and everything is different," she sniffled. "We're witches now. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," she admitted.

"Are you kidding?" Bella scoffed lightly. "Piper, this is the best thing that's ever happened to us. We're on a path to be kick-ass good witches, fighting evil sons-of-bitches."

"You don't know that," Piper countered immediately.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Piper – think," she urged. "These powers have been in our family for generations. Would Grams and Mom really have been evil?"

"We don't know that they even had powers, Bella," Piper reminded her. "For all we know, they didn't even know about all this. The fact is…We don't know anything about these powers. Why we have them, what they mean, where they even come from…I mean, how do we know it's not…"

She paused, taking in a deep breath. "How do we know it's not from evil?" she asked tearfully, finally voicing her biggest fear.

Bella sighed, putting the Book of Shadows aside so she could slide forward in her seat and take both of Piper's hands in her own. "Piper, we've been through this," she said gently. "We're good witches, remember?"

"What about Jeremy?"

"The freak you dated? What about him?" Bella scowled.

Piper shook her head at Bella's cavalier words. "How do we know we're not just like him? Or the other warlocks he said would be coming after us? This is what scares me, Bella. We don't know. I just wanna be normal again. As messed up as that was. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Yes," Bella's answer was immediate. At Piper's look, she said, "Piper, look, we don't know how to reverse the spell. Hell, I'm pretty sure we can't. And, frankly, I don't want to be normal again. Normal was boring and our family was practically torn apart. Everything's better now."

"Is it?" Piper challenged, swiping at her eyes. "I feel like a ticking time bomb, Bella. I wake up and I get two seconds of peace before my worries and anxieties about my power come rushing in. I spend the day completely terrified that I might use my power accidentally and that, someday, it won't be a temporary freeze. I go to bed getting nightmares about us being evil. I'm exhausted."

Bella gently ran the back of her finger down Piper's cheek before lifting her face up with her finger underneath Piper's chin. "Piper, listen to me," she said gently. "You are…The sweetest, most caring person I've ever met."

Piper scoffed tearfully, a shy smile on her lips as she shook her head slightly in denial.

"No, I mean that," Bella insisted. "You are. You're always there to help anybody – even total strangers. You've been doing it your whole life. So there's no way you've been given this…This gift if it wasn't to do good things with it. To protect the innocent just like the Book of Shadows said. If you can't trust your instincts, and you can't trust what we say, at least trust that…"

She reached out with one hand to pat the Book gently. "I know it's scary, Piper, and I know that you're even more terrified because you went through much more than the rest of us did last week, but you're a good soul, Piper," Bella insisted. Giving Piper a teasing half-smile, she added, "Besides, if anyone should be concerned about being bad, it's Phoebe, right?"

Piper laughed, shaking her head slightly.

"You've got nothing to be afraid of, Piper," Bella assured her. "Stop worrying so much about this. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack at twenty-three."

Giving Piper a kiss on the cheek, she shot up from her seat. "Alright, I'm gonna go get to my fifth job interview," she sighed. "I don't care if I have to wear a chicken suit. I have, literally, ten bucks left."

Piper laughed, watching Bella strut out of the attic door. Phoebe's beautiful, of course, but with her sudden physical maturity and her attitude, Bella would fit in as a model perfectly, she thought to herself.

She sat there in the attic, mulling over Bella's words for a long time after her sister had left. Picking up the heavy heirloom on the wooden table to her side, Piper flipped through the pages of the Book of Shadows, her eyes flicking over every word and drawing on each page. She reached the first page, with the spell calling for their powers, and ran her hand gently down the yellowed paper.

I need to know for sure, she thought determinedly. I've got to get back to the church.