The alley behind the hospital was dark and quiet. One of the janitors opened a back door and pushed a cart full of garbage bags into the alley. He propped the door open with an empty milk crate and began tossing the garbage bags into the large, green trash bin next to the door. He pushed the now-empty cart back through the door, kicked the milk crate aside, and let the door close behind him.
As soon as the door clicked shut, the alley was illuminated with a bright, white light. Leo, Prue, Phoebe, and Piper materialized from within the glow and soon found themselves in the dark as the light from Leo's orb disappeared.
They began walking around the building toward the front door. Phoebe held Piper's hand as they walked through the alley. Piper walked slowly beside her; her head was bowed and she wasn't fighting back at all. She'd given up and was going to do whatever Loki and Odin told her to do in hopes that they would take her powers and let her go home.
They entered the large building and walked straight into the elevator. Piper leaned back against the wall of the elevator and watched as each numbered button lit up during their ascent. She sighed as the doors slid open and she was led back into the Psychiatric ward.
Leo, Sheila, and Daryl stood in the corridor, looking into Piper's room as Phoebe and Prue sat Piper down on the bed.
"Is she ok?" Sheila inquired softly. She could tell something was different about Piper. She no longer looked angry and hateful; she now looked tired and heartbroken.
"She's given up," replied Leo. "Whoever took her was trying to break her. They wanted her to give up her powers."
Daryl frowned and looked at Leo. "Couldn't they just take her powers?" he asked. "I don't really know much about magic and witchcraft and stuff, but I thought demons had the ability to take powers if they wanted to."
"They can," Leo replied. "I'm guessing they wanted the satisfaction of having her surrender her powers to them instead."
Sheila cupped her hand over her mouth and looked back at Piper. "She held out this long?" she gasped. Leo nodded sadly.
---
Piper walked around in a fog for the next few days. In order to keep herself and others safe, she had been given heavy sedatives at night, which didn't completely wear off until around noon the next day.
Holding onto the dresser for balance, Piper pulled her things out of its drawers and packed them away into the suitcase that Prue and Phoebe had brought for her. She only had a few changes of clothes and a few pairs of pajamas to take home with her.
She glanced out her window and waited for her vision to focus enough to read the time on the clock tower outside. Her sisters would come to pick her up within the hour. She closed her suitcase, tossed it onto the foot of the bed, and curled up beneath the sheets to wait until they came to get her.
She'd spent a total of twenty-six days in the Psych ward of the hospital. Sheila had finally decided that Piper could be trusted at home with the help of the sedatives. Unable to keep her eyes open any more, Piper drifted off to sleep.
Prue, Phoebe, and Leo arrived at the hospital five minutes early to pick Piper up. By the time the paper work was completed, visiting hours had commenced and Piper had woken up.
"You ready to come home, Piper?" Phoebe asked. She grabbed Piper by the hand and pulled her toward to exit. Leo grabbed Piper's suitcase and followed close behind the three sisters.
The Psych ward receptionist grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk drawer and removed the bracelet from around Piper's wrist. Sheila handed Piper's medication to Prue and explained when to give it to her before leading them to the elevator.
"Get better, sweetie," said Sheila as she put her hand on Piper's shoulder. "Don't come back here, ok?" Piper nodded and followed her family into the elevator. Prue wrapped her arm around Piper's waist and pushed her hair behind her ears so she could see her face.
"How are you doing?" she asked softly. Piper kept her head down and was staring at the floor. She mumbled a quiet, unenthusiastic response to Prue's question. Prue tried to smile, but it killed her to see her little sister in the state she was in. She looked so tired and fragile, having only gained a few pounds since Daryl had found her. She was currently at an unhealthy ninety-eight pounds and it showed. When Daryl had brought her to the hospital she was only ninety-four pounds.
The foursome walked casually out of the hospital and into the alley. When they were certain they wouldn't be seen, Leo put his arms around the three sisters and orbed them back to Halliwell manor.
---
The girls worked together to clear the table following their dinner. They had opted to order out rather than cook that night in order to avoid have to use too many sharp utensils. Piper tossed the small, cardboard boxes into the trash and quietly left the room.
"Good night, Piper," Prue shouted as she watched Piper slip out of the room.
Piper wandered up the staircase and pushed open the door of her bedroom. She stopped short when she saw Leo standing next to the bed with her back to her. He had just gotten out of the shower and was changing into his pajamas for the night. Piper stood motionless at the door and gazed at Leo.
Feeling as though he was being watched, Leo turned around and saw Piper standing at the door. He quickly pulled his pajamas on and invited her into their room. Piper hesitantly stepped into the room and opened one of her dresser drawers to collect her pajamas.
"Do you want me to leave so you can change?" Leo asked uncertainly. He wasn't sure how he should act around Piper. Did she want everything to go back to how it was before she was taken or did she want to be left alone?
Piper shrugged and turned her back to Leo while she changed. Leo looked over at the bed that he and Piper had once shared. He'd been sleeping in it alone every night when Piper was gone and imagined that she was next to him. Some nights he even thought he could hear her breathing beside him.
"Do you want me to sleep on the sofa tonight?" Leo asked softly. Piper looked at the bed then over at Leo.
"It doesn't matter," Piper replied. She crawled into the bed and wrapped the blankets tightly around herself. Leo stood and thought for a moment before crawling into bed with her, leaving a large gap between them in order to give Piper her space.
"Did you take your medication?" Leo asked. He remembered the bottle of sedatives that Sheila had given them on their way out of the hospital.
"I don't want to," Piper sighed, knowing she didn't really have a choice. She waited for Leo to get up and leave the room to get the sedatives, but he remained motionless. She frowned and waited for some type of response from him.
"Let's see how you do tonight without them then," he suggested.
---
Piper slowly opened her eyes, allowing them time to adjust to the light. She looked around at her room and slowly sat up in bed. She immediately noticed that Leo was no longer sleeping at her side. She had fallen asleep so quickly that she couldn't tell if he had stayed with her through the night or opted to sleep on the sofa.
She remained sitting up in bed and listened to the familiar sounds of the manor. The demons had created an illusion so authentic that they even had the creaks of the floorboards right. Everything was exactly as she remembered it.
She could hear one of her sisters padding quickly through the corridor outside her room. Her bedroom door burst open suddenly and Phoebe ran inside with a huge smile on her face. She leapt onto the bed and sat with her legs crossed at the end of the bed. Prue followed Phoebe into the room at a much less erratic pace and sat next to Phoebe.
"I know you don't like us yet, but I'm dying to know what you got for Christmas from Leo," Phoebe babbled excitedly.
"Phoebe!" Prue scolded with a slight laugh. "She'll open them when she's ready."
Piper looked over at the corner of the room where her presents had been stacked. There were nearly twenty gifts crammed together in a pile. The colour of the gift wrap had faded from their exposure to the sun over the years. She looked back at her sisters questioningly.
"Better open them, Piper," Prue warned. "Or Phoebe's going to keep bugging you until you do." Phoebe scrambled off of the bed and lifted one of the smaller presents off of the pile.
"This one first," she squealed. "It's from Leo."
Piper stared at the package for a moment before tearing off the paper. She opened the small, silver, vinyl box she had unwrapped and gazed at its contents.
"Leo doesn't make any money," Piper stated, looking from the jewelry to her sisters.
"He worked as a bartender at P3 while you were gone," Phoebe blurted. "Everything he made went into gifts for you. Can I see?" She crawled next to Piper and looked at the necklace within the box. She let out a gasp of surprise and smiled.
"It's beautiful," she exclaimed. Piper lifted the necklace from the box and admired the interlocking heart pendant. One heart was speckled with diamonds, the other a brushed gold.
"Wow, is that Chanel?" Prue gasped. Piper nodded and clipped the necklace around her neck. After staring at the jewelry for a few moments, Phoebe crawled off of the bed and grabbed another present.
"Next," she giggled, placing the gift in front of Piper.
---
Piper looked down at all of the gifts her family had bought her as she ran her brush through her wet hair. Her sisters had gone downstairs to prepare breakfast, leaving Piper alone to shower and get ready for the day.
She set her towel on the edge of her bed and pulled one of her new shirts over her head. It was a little baggy, but she would grow into it once she gained her weight back. She had to admit, Loki and Odin either had great fashion sense, or they had really done their homework and studied her sisters.
She pulled open one of her dresser drawers and grabbed a pair of jeans. Once she was dressed, she pulled open her top drawer where she kept her makeup and hair accessories and stopped short when she noticed a stack of black and white speckled writing pads.
Sitting on the end of her bed, she opened one of the writing pads and looked down at Phoebe's handwriting. There were pages and pages of letters that Phoebe had written for her.
As she read through the letters, her mind flashed back to the message she had written on the wall of the cave. She could feel Loki grab her by the neck and push her against the stone; his insistence that she tell him what she had written.
She clasped her hand over her mouth and blinked back the tears forming in her eyes.
---
"Do you think we maybe should have waited for Leo before getting Piper to open her presents?" Phoebe questioned as she sliced apples for her fruit salad. Prue rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Could you have waited?" she asked sarcastically.
"Nope," Phoebe giggled. "I can't believe Leo's taste in jewelry. Those pieces were amazing! I didn't know he had it in him."
They both stopped what they were doing and looked over at Piper as she wandered into the room. Tears were streaked down her cheeks and she was clinging to Phoebe's writing pads.
"Piper?" Prue gasped. "Honey, are you ok?" She rushed to Piper's side and wrapped her arms around her.
"They couldn't read," Piper sobbed. Phoebe quickly washed her hands and ran to comfort Piper.
"Who couldn't read, sweetie?" Phoebe asked sympathetically.
"The demons," Piper whimpered. She passed the writing pads to Phoebe. "The two demons that took me. They couldn't read or write."
Phoebe stared down at her writing pads and let her jaw drop. She had forgotten about them after she had placed them in Piper's drawer. After all the time they spent with Piper, all it took was for her to read what Phoebe had written to realize she was really home.
Using the front door, Leo and Cole walked into the manor. They had spent the morning checking up on P3 and grabbing some groceries for the girls. They walked into the kitchen and stared questioningly at the girls.
"What happened?" Leo asked. He set the bags of groceries on the kitchen cupboard and took Piper by the hand. He smiled when he realized she was wearing every piece of jewelry he had bought her.
"Oh, god!" Piper gasped suddenly. She cupped her hand over her mouth and stepped away from Prue. "I stabbed you!"
"It's all right," Prue laughed. "Leo fixed it."
"I'm kind of lost here," Cole muttered. "What happened while we were gone?"
Prue wrapped her arm around Piper's shoulder and squeezed her tightly.
"Piper's back," she said with a smile.
---
Well peeps, that's the end. I hope you enjoyed. I apologize for the ending. I really, really suck at endings. Hopefully that's a skill that develops soon. .
Thanks again to everyone that has reviewed this story. They were great to read and really kept me motivated. Let me know what you thought of this last chapter or the story as a whole (and if you have any suggestions as to how I could improve with my endings, feel free to let me know).
Thanks for reading!!!!