ChristineRudd, thanks... the quips make this story so much more fun to write. And if I had Prue and Paige become buddy-buddies, where would the fun be? :-P
WelshCanuck, yeah, the shopping was fun to write. I think Piper would be very frustrated at this point, don't you? XD Oh, your comment made my day!
CharmedNeptune47, the rant was a fun thing to put in, made me laugh, too!
PeterPanTinkerBell27, the store turned out be a funny scene, I think. Lemme know if you thought so, too... or not...
oooCharmedOneooo, ooh, a PL fan! I love PL, too, too bad not enough people write about them and stick with it. It's hard to write a fanfic, this was all because of summer boredom. ;-) I keep starting ones for UNDERWORLD and never continue them, so I thought I needed to start something new... and I love Charmed, so no harm done, lol
jiejei1, Grams was soooo cool and lovable, reminds me of my own grandma to an extent. Like I said, I would've brought her back, but I think it would have taken something away from Prue coming back.
piperspeanut, originally I had them hitting a vampire with a baseball bat, but my brother thought golf balls would be funnier, and I agree! The shopping scene is pretty funny, I guess...
PrueAndyForever, LOL, I agree they both want to be right... I am trying to write it so that Prue is a bit insecure and Paige is trying to prove herself... Anyway, yeah the shopping scene was fun to write so I hope you enjoy it.
Paige was in front with Henry, while Prue was sitting in the back, arms crossed. She was glaring at the back of Paige's head as if she could melt it if she tried hard enough.
"Stop glaring," Paige snapped. "If you squint your eyes any more, they'll get stuck like that."
"Do you have a hair color," Prue replied, "or does it change every year? Does it change with the temperature?"
"Okay, if we can stop the catty remarks for a second or two," Henry cut in nervously, "which supermarket do you want to go to?"
"Joe's – it's a block or so away."
"Uh, more like a reality away," Paige replied, annoyed, "it closed like, four years ago." Ignoring another glare from Prue in the back, Paige said to Henry, "Go to the usual one."
Ten awkward minutes went by, and they pulled into the parking lot. "I'll sit in the car," Henry said as Prue sprang out as soon as he had parked. "Unless you need someone to carry out the bodies."
"Not funny," Paige said, cutting her eyes at him. "Although, if we're still in here when it gets dark, you may need to start looking for a new wife."
"I wouldn't dream of it," he said, leaning over to kiss her. As Paige left the car, he added, "Who else am I going to find with such a variety of hair color?" Paige stuck her tongue out at him.
"I want chocolate chip cookies," Prue said.
"Too bad; I want Piper to make brownies." Paige grabbed a box of brownie mix. Prue magically put it back on the shelf. "Cheater!"
Prue smirked at her.
"Enough of this." Paige pulled out her cell phone and called Piper, who actually picked up. "Hey, Piper. We were picking up desserts, and I want brownies but she wants cookies."
"And? You two have to come to a—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But, uhm… which one would you rather make?" Piper hung up. "Frick," Paige said, closing her phone. "Fine," she said, sighing, "how about I pick the dessert and you can pick the bread."
"THE BREAD?"
Paige shrugged, pushing the shopping cart. "Wheat, white, whole grain, rye, pumpernickel, sourdough, dinner rolls, Italian bread…"
"To hell with the bread," Prue grumbled, walking briskly to the bread isle, picking up a random loaf, and chucking it in the cart.
"Fine, whatever," Paige said, rolling her eyes. She checked 'bread' off the list. "Milk," she read off. "Whole milk, 1, 2, skim, or soy?"
"Ew, Cole drinks soy milk," Prue said.
"Ugh, I know! When Phoebe married the guy and moved out, I was so thankful that that crap wasn't in our refrigerator anymore." Paige grabbed a gallon of whole milk and showed it to Prue for her approval, which Prue gave. "And the way that guy eats potato chips!"
"Oh, definitely. It's like, can you not shove a whole bunch in your mouth, please?"
They both laughed. "I should've known he was evil by the way he eats his ice cream," Paige giggled.
"I get what you mean! Cole cannot lick an ice cream cone to save his life! I remember once he was eating one and the whole thing dripped right on the table, left a big thing on the table—"
"And Piper made him clean it up?"
"Uh huh!"
"Yeah, she did that right after their honeymoon! If looks could kill!" They both were hysterical by now.
"Have you seen the way Cole folds laundry?" Prue gasped for air.
"If you want to call it that… He just kind of bundles it up into a ball and crams it into the laundry basket!"
"Oh, when Piper first saw that, she blew a gasket! She went to the laundry basket and there were all these balls of clothes in there, and she was ironing out those wrinkles for hours!"
"I can imagine!"
They both stopped their laughing to wipe tears from their eyes. There was a moment of silence.
Prue looked at Paige. "I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot," Prue apologized.
"No, I'm sorry. I haven't even considered how hard it would be for you, coming back after six years."
"It's me that wasn't considerate. I mean, here you are six years fighting demons with them, and I come along and tell you that you're not doing things right."
"I had no right to taunt you. You were their older sister; it's only natural that you would automatically assume the role of lead sister again. I should have been more understanding. There is more than one way to do something – if I've learned anything by now, it's that."
"But I was so immature about this whole thing, so stubborn and resistant. There was no reason for that."
"And there was no reason for me to do it, either."
Another silence.
"Man, Grams is really something, isn't she?" Prue chuckled.
"Huh?"
"I'm willing to bet my chocolate chip cookies that Grams put Piper and Phoebe up to this. Grams used to pull this stunt on Phoebe and me when we were growing up."
"Wouldn't surprise me." Paige smiled. "So they had this plan all along, even if we hadn't snapped at each other before."
Prue smiled back. "Mm hmm." She had an evil glint in her eye. "I say we get our revenge and get both the chocolate chip cookies and brownies."
"But… What about compromising?"
"I think we've worked out our differences," Prue said, grabbing a box of brownie mix and chocolate chip cookie dough. "Besides, Grams forgot one thing – when Phoebe and I were sent out shopping, we didn't have enough money to get what we both wanted. Now…"
"We do," Paige finished.
They continued shopping, without arguing over what to get or what not to get.
Phoebe and Coop were sitting in their condo. "I hope they don't kill each other at the market," Phoebe fretted. "Prue's got a temper and Paige is not much better."
"Maybe if they do, Piper could save some money on cereal."
"Ha, ha," Phoebe said, curling up to him on the couch.
Someone shimmered in behind them. Phoebe sprang up. It took a moment to recognize him, but the moment she did, she fell into her fighting stance. "Drazi," she greeted.
"Wow, you remember me, witch?"
"Why not? You went after the first Cupid I met." She looked at Coop. "Get out of here, now. This guy's not too partial to Cupids."
"I'm sure he's not too partial to witches, either," Coop responded. "I'm staying as long as you are."
"How sweet," Drazi said sarcastically.
Being the demon of hate, Drazi stuck his arm out. Phoebe felt a wave of anger and resentment flood through her, all of it directed at Coop. Coop face was contorted in rage as well, but a light red glow emitted from his ring, and his expression changed back. Phoebe's did not.
Drazi laughed maniacally. "How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it," he sneered, quoting Marcus Aurelius.
"Phoebe, snap out of it," Coop said as Phoebe approached him, still in her fighting stance.
"Prue and Paige scare me," Leo said. Piper laughed. "I'm serious. I've known both of them as long as they have been witches and both of them are dangerous if you push the right buttons."
"Right, it's a button-pushing contest," Piper said, cleaning up after the boys. "I just hope they don't kill each other deciding which to get, bacon or sausage."
A darklighter appeared next to Piper and before she had a chance to react, she punched her, sending her flying into the wall.
Leo recognized him after a few seconds. "Alec?"
Alec glared at Leo with enough anger to start a world war. "Hello, Leo," he said, his voice covered with hatred. "How are you and your girl doing?"
Piper stood up with a nice bruise on her face. "Alec, if you shoot him, it won't have the same effect; he's not a Whitelighter anymore."
"I know that," he said angrily, as if he was insulted that she would think he was that clueless. "But he won't survive if I shoot him straight through the heart!" A crossbow appeared in his hands and he aimed it at Leo, and fired in one fluid motion.
Piper immediately froze the room. She unfroze Leo. "Run, she told him."
"What? No, I'm not leaving you!" He moved out of the path of the arrow. Piper walk up to him to push him out of the room.
Alec fought the freeze and immediately shot another arrow at Piper. Having been focused on Leo, she didn't have a chance to dodge it and the first arrow hit Piper in the chest, the second one soared through the air and lodged itself in her arm. Piper fell backwards.
She got dizzy and nauseous as the blood flowed from the wounds. She tried to get the strength to blow Alec up, but could hardly stay conscious. She felt Leo drop to her side to help her, trying to keep her awake. She tried to fight it as the welcoming blackness slowly covered her in its blissful abyss.
"I think we got everything," Paige said, carrying bags to the car. "Ah, it's only Tuesday… we can always go back."
"Yeah, but I don't think Piper would be happy about it," Prue said, also carrying bags.
"Piper's not happy when there's smudges on the glasses," Paige replied. Two figures appeared behind them, but Paige and Prue pretended not to notice. In front of their bags, where the figures could not see, Paige held up one finger, then two, then three…
"Garbage can!" Paige called, throwing it at one of the figures, while Prue smashed the other one against the parking lot ground. Luckily, no one was around, since not many people went shopping at two o'clock on a workday.
Sprawled out on the ground, Gabriel stood back up. "Witch!"
Springing off the ground, Sykes growled something Prue couldn't understand.
Simultaneously, Prue and Paige asked, "Who are you?" at different demons.
Gabriel yelled and thrust his sword at Paige, who orbed to safety.
"Gabriel, a warlock whose sword makes him invincible," Prue said, dodging an energy ball from Sykes. "What's with the Belthazor-look-alike?"
"Uh," Paige said as the sword came at her again. She orbed away again. "Sykes, an upper-level demon."
"Damn it, then we need a potion," Prue said, evading another energy ball.
"Better idea," Paige said. She called, "Sword," and threw it at Prue, who realized what Paige had in mind. She waved it at Sykes, who exploded. "Not so tough now, are ya?"
Gabriel drew his sword back to him. "How will you kill me, witch?" he taunted. "There's only two of you, anyway!"
"Yeah, and you just pissed off the wrong two," Paige said. She glanced at Prue. Again, her eyes read. "Sword!" She passed it on to Prue.
"I think we need to make a point," Prue said, throwing the orbs at Gabriel, who also exploded, screaming in agony.
"Music to my ears," Paige said. They went to pick up the groceries, which they had dropped. "I think everything is okay," Prue said, checking the bags over quickly.
"Hmm," Paige said as they approached the car. "If we were just attacked, I wonder if…"
"…Piper and Phoebe were attacked, too?"
"Yeah," Paige said, pleasantly surprised they were already finishing each other's sentences. They ran to put the groceries in the car, briefed Henry on what was going on, telling him to stay put until things had been taken care of. Paige orbed them back to the manor.
Alec had just shot another arrow at Piper. Prue waved the arrow away from Piper, sending it into the wall. "Paige, go; this is a darklighter. Check on Phoebe." Without hesitation, Paige listened to her older sister and orbed to the condo to find Phoebe staring Coop down, seeming to ignore the fact that there was another demon in the room. "Plant," Paige called, dropping it on the demon's head, knocking him out.
"Paige, help," Coop said as Phoebe stepped closer to him.
Paige grabbed Phoebe. She had such anger in her eyes, anger like Paige had never seen before. "Phoebe, focus! Who is this guy?" She pointed at Drazi.
"Coop," Phoebe said, clenching her fists, about to punch him.
"No, the demon! Who is he?"
Phoebe's intense expression lessened a bit. "Drazi," she said, trancelike. Paige could see she was fighting whatever magic had been cast on her. "Demon of Hate…"
"Listen to me, he's put some whammy on you so you're angry at Coop. Look at him." Phoebe glanced over. "This is your husband, the man you swore to love, honor, and cherish. You have to fight whatever it is Drazi has done to you."
She could see Phoebe resisting.
"Fool," Drazi said. "You can't fight anger, anger feeds everything in the world. No one has been able to fight my power!"
"Guess again," Phoebe said, all anger gone. "You just made the wrong woman angry," she said, kicking him hard enough to send him into the wall. "How do we kill this guy," Phoebe asked out loud, even though those with her had not been with her the last time Drazi was vanquished. "He doesn't even have the ring!"
"Well, if he's the Demon of Hate, couldn't we just kill him with love," Paige suggested.
"Good idea," Coop said. He stuck his arm out, aiming his ring at Drazi. A bright pink stream of light shot out of the ring and hit Drazi. The magical pure love emitting from Coop's ring was more than enough to vanquish Drazi. He exploded in flames, shrieking in agony and howling in pain. Finally, the flames faded away with his screams.
"Yeah, that'll wake the neighbors," Phoebe said.
"Oh, the manor is under attack," Paige said, grabbing Phoebe's hand and orbing her to the manor.
Alec didn't let up, and he had a quick trigger finger. As soon as Paige had orbed out, he shot another arrow at Prue. She had been distracted with Paige, and narrowly managed to jump out of the way, and the arrow shot through the window.
"Maybe we could just seal the whole room off," Prue said, annoyed. She looked to the other side of the room, where Leo was bending over Piper. Prue couldn't see how badly she was hurt, but it must have been pretty bad because Piper wasn't getting up.
"Your time has come, witch," Alec taunted, firing another arrow.
Prue waved it back at him, but it didn't kill him; it flew and pierced his leg. He yelled in pain and anger. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that."
Piper finally got the strength to get back up, and Prue was able to assess Piper's wounds; an arrow in the chest and another in her arm. Alec tried to shoot Piper this time, but Prue pulled the crossbow out of his hands, and it clattered to the floor. Piper raised her good arm and exploded Alec. When his cries died away, Prue ran to Piper.
Paige and Phoebe orbed in. "Whoa," Phoebe said, the both of them also running to Piper's side.
"I feel like a pincushion," Piper whined, looking at the arrows sticking out of her.
"Well, you're a very cute pincushion," Leo said. He snapped the arrowheads off, so that when they pulled them out, it wouldn't hurt as much.
Prue used her power to pull the arrows out as quickly as she could, which caused to Piper to yelp in pain. Paige healed Piper.
"Ooh, that Christy," Phoebe huffed.
"We'll figure something out," Paige said, getting her cell phone to tell Henry it was safe – for the moment, anyway – to bring the groceries home.
"So, how was shopping?" Piper gave them both an amused look.
"Well, other than some fighting over brownies versus cookies," Paige began, dialing Henry.
"And the loaf of bread is a bit squashed," Prue said, smiling sheepishly.
"But I think we figured it out," Paige said. "Although, we have Cole to thank."
"Why?" Phoebe asked.
"We bonded over his idiosyncrasies," Paige grinned.
"Hmm," Phoebe said, "like the way he eats his ice cream?"
Everyone laughed.
"Oh, I got so mad at him – every time! EVERY TIME, he would drip on the damn table!" Piper fumed. "How can you live a hundred years and not know that you can bite the bottom of an ice cream cone?"
Cole shimmered in, and everyone gave him an amused look. "What?"
"Nothing," Phoebe answered. "We were just talking about… uh… ice cream."
"Oh, do we have any ice cream cones in the freezer?"
"No," Piper replied quickly, "and thank God for that."
Author's Note:
Okay, thank you to everyone for commenting. I had fun writing the shopping scene, hope you guys enjoyed it. This one was decently long and the next one should be about the same length...
As usual, don't hesitate to point about mistakes, criticize, ask about something, demand for something, or just leave a comment... Thank you for reading!
KateB819
