*Here is the next chapter. It is based of off "Secrets and Guys" Thanks for all of the reviews (all four of them!) Georgia W, EsmeHollyElizabeth, Sammyl 123, and Guest reviewer. They really helped cure my writers' block. It also makes me so happy to know that people actually like this story and take the time to read it. I don't own anything. So once again thank you for your support (and patience) Enjoy :)

Another month has past since I found out Leo's feelings for me. There was only one more month until Mark came home. I decided that I only had one month to sort out my feelings. In order to do that I've been avoiding the sisters and Leo at all costs, just so I could try to figure out everything. Luckily for me, they didn't need my help with any demons. I still hadn't been able to face him or Phoebe for that matter-we never did finish our talk and I know what we will talk about if we ever did.

In order to successfully avoid my best friend and her cousin, I called Phoebe and told her I was really sick and that I was going to live at my in-laws house until I got better. She understood and wished me well. I also told her that when I got better we would finish our talk. She agreed and told me to call her as soon as I was back in town (I told her my in-laws lived in Los Angeles). As soon as we hung up, I started to cry, overwhelmed by my guilt of lying to my friend.

I busied myself with work so that I wouldn't be at my house that often. I had gotten yet another charge, another witch, and he was always under constant attack. I had spent most of the month watching over him.

I liked my new charge. He reminded me a little bit of Prue. I don't really know why, but he did. One day, I'll have to introduce the two of them. I think that they would really hit it off.

Prue and I had finally become friends and I'm pretty confident that she trusts me. Which means that I'm one step closer to telling the sisters about who I really am and we can all work together to defeat as much demons as we can. But, first, I have to get Paige to like me the same way her sisters did. After all, I was pretty confident that she still thought I was a warlock.

I slumped down on my bed. It had been a long day of demon fighting and charge protecting. All I wanted to do was sleep. Of course, I wasn't going to be able to. The Elders called for me at that exact moment. I quickly orbed up there to see what they wanted.

"Oh Piper, good, you're here. We need the Charmed One's help." "What do you need them for?" "There is a young boy, a young witch, who has been kidnapped. I'm sure you know this already?" "Wait, are you talking about Max, one of my charges. I haven't heard anything from him for the past week!" "You haven't been able to sense him?" "Yes, but I didn't think that he was in trouble or anything like that. What should we do?"

"Get the Charmed ones to help you find him and see if he is in fact in any trouble." "What kind of trouble? Like demonic trouble?" "No we think that a mortal took him. But if any thing happens to this boy-he has a great magical future ahead of him and we need to make sure he survives this whole ordeal so that he can fulfill his destiny." "I'll do what I can." "And Piper," "Yes?" "Try your hardest to gain the youngest, Paige's trust. We know of her suspicions. Don't worry, we won't scold you for them, their are not your fault. Now go. And remember to not reveal your identity."

I nodded and orbed away. I had no time to deal with their message about Paige. I still didn't understand why I couldn't tell the sisters the truth or why denying that whitelighters existed was such a big deal to Them. We, whitelighters, and witches, would get so much more accomplished if witches knew of our existence, especially when they were new to the craft. It's one of the many mysteries of this world that I'll never understand I guess.

I paced around my bedroom. The Elders didn't exactly give me any clues how to help Max, involve the Charmed Ones and also protect my secret. I groaned and flopped on to my bed. I closed my eyes and try to figure out how to approach this situation. I thought about all I had been trained to do as a whitelighter and every story I had been told by one of my colleges. I thought about it for an hour when finally I remembered a story that a fellow whitelighter once told me. I could use the sister's spirit board (they definitely had one of those, I mean I did see it in their attic the few times I had been in there).

I sat on the bed and began to meditate. Now, me meditating at this exact moment probably doesn't seem like the best way to solve my problems, but trust me it is. See when I meditate, I really clear my head and I can really focus and harness my powers to their full capacity. I needed all of the power I could tap into because I was going to send the sisters a message-through their spirit board. Before meditating, I sensed to see if the sisters were in the attic (near the spirit board). They were. So I closed my eyes and concentrated on moving the pointer to spell out "Help Max." I hoped that Prue would get my message, because she seemed like the one most likely to figure it out.

As soon as I spelled the message out, I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up and remembered every thing that happened. I had to go over to the Manor to make sure that the sisters got my message. I got up took a quick shower and headed to the Manor. I knocked on the door and Prue answered. She was holding the spirit board, which means that she got my message. "Hey your back. Are you feeling better? What was wrong?" "Yeah everything is okay now. I just caught some weird bug. Is that a spirit board?" "Yeah, just taking it to be appraised." "Is Phoebe here? I told her I would let her know when I came back." "She's around here somewhere. 'Phoebe. Piper is here.'" Prue called out.

I smiled and waited for Phoebe to answer. Prue turned to me and said, "Look why don't you come in and sit down on the couch. I'm sure Phoebe will be right down. I would like to stay and chat, but if I don't leave soon, I'm going to be late for work." "I don't want you to be late. Go. If Phoebe isn't available, I'll come back later." Prue nodded and said a quick goodbye before leaving. I turned to follow, when I heard Phoebe coming down the stairs.

"Hey Piper, you're back. How are you feeling?" She said before giving me a quick hug at the door. "Hi Phoebe. I'm better now. Thanks for asking." "Do you want some coffee or something?" "Um sure, why not. I mean I have nothing better to do. Besides we still never finished our talk from over a month ago." "You're right, we never did. But sadly, I have forgotten what we were talking about. Do you want to catch up instead?" "Sure."

We drank our coffee and Phoebe filled me in about her life in the past month. Like her old boyfriend Clay coming back from New York or all of her various jobs that she had. I smiled and nodded along. I prayed that she never brought up Leo or Mark. She never did. We talked for a whole hour. Then she got a call from Prue and we said our goodbyes. I walked out the door and orbed up there to tell them that Prue was working on finding Max. They told me to watch out for them. I nodded and orbed out.

I landed in my room and thought of what else I could do to help Prue and Max. I needed to look in the sister's book to see if there was anything to helped. I sensed for each of my charges-to make sure that they weren't in the Manor. All of them were gone so I quickly orbed over to there house. I flicked through the book, but there was nothing to help me. I was so immersed in my work, that I hadn't noticed that someone had walked in the attic. That person screamed when they saw me and I looked up.

It was Paige. Great, the worst possible person to walk in on me. She was already very suspicious of me. "What are you doing up here? Near the book?" "Paige, please calm down. I can explain everything." "I knew it, I knew you were a warlock." "I'm not a warlock I promise." "Then who are you?"

I paused. I had just been found out. I had two options. I could lie and protect my identity or I could tell the truth and risk losing my friends. I took a deep breath to calm myself. I decided to do what was right. "I'm a whitelighter."

Paige looked at me with confusion. "You're a what?" "I'm a whitelighter. It's kind of like a guardian angel, but for witches. I was sent here to help you and your sisters whenever possible. You weren't supposed to find out about my secret, at least not for a while." "Who sent you?" "They are this special group of whitelighters known as The Elders. It's all in your book if you don't believe me."

Paige stared at me. I waited for her to respond. She took a deep breath before responding. "My sisters are totally going to freak out when they find out." "No, you can't tell them Paige. Not yet anyways." "How am I supposed to keep this a secret from them? Does Mark know?" "Of course Mark knows. He's one too. Actually that's why he's gone all of the time. He has a lot of charges out of state." She nodded and paused before continuing. "I have so many questions for you." "I bet you do, but I think we should focus on why I am here. I was sent here to help lead you guys to Max." "You sent the spirit board message." "I did. Max is a witch that is new to the craft and I think he has been kidnapped." "Prue was going to the police station to find out all that she can about him."

"Ok good. Well, I better be going then. Please don't tell your sisters about me or my secret." "Piper, I really don't know how well I'm going to keep this a secret. See, I've kinda been ranting to all of my sisters and Leo that you're a warlock. If I stop that then that will make them suspicious." "Why did you think I was a warlock." "I don't know. I guess I've been a little on edge ever since we've started being the Charmed Ones."

"That's understandable. Demon fighting can be very stressful at times. But I'm always going to be here for you if you want to talk about all this-I mean without your sisters of course. In fact, I can also help you out if you have a problem that you don't think you can solve." "Thanks Piper. That means a lot. Especially because my sisters sometimes are a little overprotective when it comes to the demon fighting. I mean since I'm the youngest and only have the power to freeze and everything." "I'm sure they only mean well." "Yeah but they never let me go to the vanquishes unless its absolutely necessary. They normally stick me on book duty."

I smiled. It was nice to be this friendly and open with Paige. I felt that this was the start of a beautiful friendship. "You're a powerful witch too Paige, don't ever forget that. And one day, your sisters will trust that you can handle demons on your own. I mean this is all a new experience for everyone. It takes some time to adjust." "You're right. Thanks Piper. You're really good at giving advice." "It's all part of the job description. Now I better go." She nodded and I left (out the front door).

I had just left the Warren Manor when They called for me again. They asked me about the Max situation. I told them what I knew and They seemed pleased. I prayed that they hadn't heard my little chat with Paige. They didn't. Then they offered me a special job. I was going to leave in six weeks and be gone for two months if I accepted this job. I told Them that I would be honored. They nodded and I orbed away.

What had I just agreed to? Mark was coming home in a month and now we would only have two weeks together before I had to leave. I sighed. I couldn't worry about my marriage at that moment because I noticed that both Prue and Max seemed distressed (I could sense my charges emotions, especially if they were very strong ones). I started to panic, but a woman's voice filled the room. I turned and there was a ghost staring at me. "Hi, I'm Paulette. Max is my son." "Hi. Nice to meet you. How can I help you?" "My husband has just been shot by my son's kidnappers." "I'll heal him." "Wait, before you go. Can you give him a message? Can you tell him to head Prue's warning?" "I nodded and orbed to where the man was. I healed him and relayed his late wife's message to him. Then I orbed away.

I went home and slept. I woke up after only a few hours of sleep because of the fact that I had so much on my mind. This special assignment really couldn't have come at a worse time.

There was one thing that I needed to do before I left. I needed to tell the sisters and Leo that I was leaving in a few weeks. I was just going to tell them that I was going on vacation with Mark, to celebrate our anniversary. I got ready and headed over to the Manor. I knocked on the door, and Paige answered. She told that she didn't tell her sisters anything about her. I thanked her and she ushered me in the door. Before Paige could ask me anything, Prue and Phoebe came tumbling down the stairs. I smiled up at them before stating why I had come over. "Hey everyone, good you're here. I just wanted to tell you that in a few weeks time, I'm going to be going on vacation-like a second honeymoon with Mark." "Oh, Piper thanks for telling us. Hope you have fun." Phoebe said to me. I smiled at her.

"Do you have any plans for today? I feel like a mall day." Paige I asked me. "I don't have any that I can think of. I'm in." I replied. Prue and Phoebe, both clearly taken aback by Paige's sudden change of attitude towards me also agreed to come.

Before anyone else had the chance to say something else, Leo came through the door. My heart stopped. All three sisters shared a look before sharing a look with Leo. Then Phoebe calmly said, "Why don't we go to the mall later." The other two agreed and the three of them not so subtly left the room. I turned to Leo. "Hi. I think it's time that we talk." He said.