AN: Okay, I'm sorry that not everyone was happy that Joey died but it was the most voted for on my poll so I went for it and Bella will be grieving but it her own way.
I do not own Twilight or Charmed, please read and review xoxox
Heartbreak
It was night when Phoebe walked into the manor and all the lights were out.
"Hello? Anyone home? Sister witches, guess what?" She called out turning on the lights, smirking when she saw Piper on the couch making out with a guy she had never seen before.
"Are you nuts?" Piper exclaimed.
"What are you doing?" Phoebe laughed as she saw Piper's expression.
"Hi." The guy said, looking flustered and Phoebe's smirk widened.
"Hi."
Piper froze the guy and walked around to Phoebe.
"Sister witches? I can't believe you said that! What's the matter with you?" she asked.
"How was I supposed to know that you were gonna be here with anybody? Last I heard that you were meeting a banker friend about the loan." Phoebe said glancing at the frozen guy before turning back to Piper. "Is this the credit check?"
"It's not what you think. We were just...we-we...were just kissing, that's all." Piper stuttered, blushing brightly.
"Piper, you don't have to justify it. You're single. You're responsible. You're way overdue in that department. I say go for it."
"I'm not way overdue. All right, maybe a little, but that's besides the point. I would never just sleep with a guy to get something. You know that."
"Piper, give yourself a break. You're going through a lot right now. No job, straining to buy the club, you haven't heard from Leo in weeks."
Just then Prue walked into the house, talking on the phone.
"All right, well, the preview is at five and the auction Sunday at eleven." She spoke to the person on the other side of the phone, not seeing the frozen guy on the sofa.
"Oh no, Prue. Go back outside. Go on. Hurry!" Piper said hurridly and Prue looked confused for a moment before doing as she was told. Piper quickly stood where she was before she froze him just before he unfroze.
"So, you must be Prue." He said standing up.
"Uh, no. Actually-" Phoebe cut herself off when Prue walked back into the house still on the phone.
"All right, great, yeah, I'll see you then." She said hanging up and turning to see the rest of the people in the room.
"She's Prue. I'm Phoebe." Phoebe finished.
"Rob, can we take a rain check on the rest of the evening? It's getting kind of crowded in here." Piper suggested and he nodded.
"Sure." He muttered grabbing his coat and heading for the door.
"So, did you get the loan?" Prue asked once he was gone.
"Hopefully. I'll find out tomorrow." Piper said looking nervous.
"Well, my fingers are crossed." Prue said as the two of them went to leave the room.
"Wait, you guys. Where are you going?" Phoebe asked confused.
"Well, I have an auction coming up. I have clients to call." Prue told her but Phoebe sighed.
"Don't either of you remember what day it is tomorrow?" she asked and Piper frowned.
"Of course we do. Bella's birthday, how would we forget out own sisters birthday?" Piper asked, looking slightly offended.
"But Pheebs, you know she won't want anything special. Especially after what happened to Joey." Prue pointed out.
"It's also the anniversary of us becoming witches." Phoebe told them.
"Tomorrow...really?" Piper said stunned.
"So?" Prue asked un-interested.
"So? So? It's a day to celebrate especially if Bella refuses to celebrate her birthday (I swear theres something wrong with that girl). And not just because it's our anniversary but because it falls on one of the most powerful wiccan days of the year. The autumnal equinox. Now, according to this witch that I met today at the bookstore-" Phoebe started but was cut off by Prue.
"A witch? You didn't tell her about us, did you?" she asked and Phoebe shrugged.
"Well, yeah, sure I did. Why not? I mean, I didn't tell her that we're magical witches, obviously. Look, I'm sorry but I think after everything we've been through it's important to learn as much as we can about who we are. Forewarned is forearmed."
"And I think we should leave well enough alone. We've been demon free for a month now and I'll like to keep it that way." Prue said firmly.
Before anyone could have said anything else a scream was heard from upstairs.
"Bella?" Phoebe called as the three of them ran as quickly as they could towards their little sisters bedroom.
They were not surprised however to see Bella thrashing around on the bed, tears running down the face.
"Please Joey, run!" She cried as Prue tried to hold her down while Piper tried to wake her up. Phoebe watched from doorway, her heart breaking for her baby sister.
"Bella, wake up! It's just a dream!" Piper yelled over Bella's screams but Bella continued to scream, even when she was awake, she couldn't seem to stop.
...
Bella struggled to keep her eyes open. It was five in the morning but she knew that if she went back to sleep she would have to watch Joey die all over again.
Unfortunately, Bella hadn't had much sleep in the past month so she kept dozing off.
Bella's eyes closed but before she could fall to sleep she heard Phoebe call from the attic.
"Prue! Piper! Bella!"
She was full awake now and rushed to see if her sister was okay. She entered the attic to see the pages of the book of shadows flipping on their own.
"What's going on?" Prue asked as she and Piper came into the room not long after Bella.
"Uh, I don't know." Phoebe admitted as the four watched the pages untill it stopped.
"Why does the book do that? How does the book do that?" Piper asked as they walked over to see what page the book had stopped on.
"Rit of Passage. Fight it with the power of one or else..." Phoebe read and suddenly a vortex opens in the wall and a gust of wind blows through the attic. The sisters eyes widened when they saw a demon sitting in the vortex looking pretty smug before he steals the book and the vortex closed.
"So much for being demon free."
...
"Did you find anything?" Piper asked Phoebe as she, Prue and Bella picked up pieces of paper of the floor while Phoebe searched the wall.
"Nothing. Whatever it was literally came out of nowhere and disappeared into nowhere." Phoebe told them.
"Well, it took the book of shadows somewhere and he must have been powerfull, no other demon has been able to steal the book." Prue pointed out.
"But if he's powerful why didn't he just kill us?" Bella asked.
"He probably didn't want to go up against you." Phoebe said and Bella frowned.
"Me? What do you mean?"
"That's what the book of shadows says. 'Fight it with the power of one'. That's got to be you, you are the most powerfull."
"Says who?"
"Says the book of shadows and every demon or warlock we have been up against." Prue said, agreeing with Phoebe.
"They're right." Piper said when Bella looked to her for support. "The power of one's gotta be you otherwise it would have said the power of four. The only question is how are you gonna find this demon. We don't know anything about him."
"Well, we better think of something fast because without the book of shadows, we're not the charmed ones anymore." Phoebe said but before anyone could reply the doorbell rang.
The sisters walked downstair together and Phoebe opened the door.
"Uh hi." She said when she saw a girl a little younger than Bella standing there.
"Can I use your phone please?" The girl asked, looking like she was about to cry.
"Uh, well, actually, we..." Phoebe trailed off, not really wanting to upset the girl even more.
"Please? It's an emergency, please." The girl all but begged and Phoebe crumbled.
"Okay. Come in, it's around the corner." Phoebe told her and the girl smiled gratefully before walking into the house.
"Are you out of your mind?" Piper asked quietly while the girl picks up the phone and started dialing.
"What was I supposed to do? Say no? Look at the poor girl!" Phoebe hissed.
"Jenny? Jenny come on talk to me." A male voice called from outside and Prue, Piper and Phoebe's eyes widened when a man appeared at the door.
"Woah!" They said in unison. The man was cute with blonde hair and a great smile.
"International Operator please. Saudi Arabia." Jenny said down the phone.
"Saudi Arabia?" Prue questioned stunned.
"I'm sorry. We're moving into next door, or atleast we are trying to. Our phone's not hooked up yet." The man said and Bella's eyes widened.
"That next door?" she asked, pointing in the direction of Joey's old house and the man nodded.
"The family that sold it to us gave us it cheap. Apparently their son went missing a month ago and when the police found his jacket in the woods they pronounced him dead. They didn't want to live with the reminder." He said completely oblivious to the pain Bella was feeling with each word he said.
"So, you're our new neighbours." Phoebe said, trying to chance the subject.
"Name's Dan. Dan Gordon." He said smiling at them.
"I don't care if the circuits are busy. I have to talk to my mom now." Jenny said down the phone and Dan sighed.
"And that's my niece Jenny, who's obviously not talking to me." Dan said sadly. "Jenny, sweetie, come on."
Jenny hung up the phone and stormed out without another word or glance at Dan or the sisters.
"I'm sorry. It's nice meeting you." Dan said walking after her.
"You too." Phoebe said before turning to her sisters once he was gone. "I saw him first."
"Demons now, drooling later." Piper said firmly but Bella was heading back upstairs.
"Where are you going?" Phoebe asked and Bella turned back towards them.
"I'm going back to my room." She told them blankly.
"The scariest demon we've ever run across opens up some portal in our attic and you want to lock youself in your room?" Phoebe asked and let out a sigh when Bella nodded. "No way! You may not want to celebrate your birthday but we are celebrating our aniversary! You are coming to the Equinox celebration whether you like it or not!"
Bella stared at Phoebe stunned but chose not to say anything.
"I can't." Prue said. "I have to get to the office before the preview."
Bella's eyes narrowed as she watched Phoebe just nod as Prue left the house.
"How come you didn't shout at her?" Bella asked but Phoebe just rolled her eyes.
...
"What are we doing here?" Bella asked as Phoebe dragged her towards the group of women surrounding an alter.
"Celebrating the Equinox. Can't you feel it? The energy in this place?" Phoebe asked, looking very excited.
"I thought we were supposed to be here to find your witch friend." Piper said, looking just as annoyed as Bella to be dragged there.
"We are. This is where she told me to meet her. Now, please relax."
"Relax?" Piper asked in disbelieve. "My life was a mess before this little wake up call this morning Phoebe!"
But Phoebe didn't reply. "Stevie!" She said excitedly when she saw the women before dragging her two sisters towards her.
"Phoebe, I'm so glad you could make it." Stevie said happily.
"Actually we are not here for this." Phoebe said looking regreatfull while her sisters look relieved. "These are my sisters Piper and Bella."
"Hi." The two of them said. Piper said it kindly while Bella said it tiredly.
"Hey, it's very nice to meet you. Are you two witches too?" Stevie asked, not looking atall bothered by Bella's attitude.
"Uh...sorta...maybe...I don't know. Is everyone here a witch?" Piper asked.
"No. It's just a group of believers, women who knew of this special place and have come to celebrate. By the way, happy aniversary." Stevie said and Bella scoffed.
"Trust me, there's nothing happy about it." Bella said and her sisters shot her a look which she ignored.
"Sorry about her, she has a multipal personality disorder." Piper said calmly and Stevie nodded in understanding.
"We actually wanted to talk to you about the aniversary. Why did you say today was going to be a powerful day for us?" Phoebe asked, shooting Bella a wary glance.
"Because your aniversary falls on the Equinox. Which is a powerful day in and of itself. For you, this convergence of powers is even stronger. The potential is greater. All you have to do is connect. Do you want to try it?" Stevie asked, nodding towards the alter while Piper and Bella shot Phoebe a pointed look.
"Try it? How?" Phoebe asked, not seeing the looks she was getting.
"Let us begin." Was all Stevie said before walking towards the other women.
"I don't want to connect." Piper said flatly.
"We have to connect."
"I want to go home." Bella said just as flatly as Piper.
"We have to because..." Phoebe trailed off.
"Why?" Piper challenged.
"What have we got to loose?" Phoebe asked and they turned towards the other women to see them taking off their clothes.
"Well apparently we have our clothes to loose." Bella said and Phoebe smirked.
"What difference would it make to you? You ran down the street naked when you didn't want a bath."
Bella blushed. "There is a difference between being naked in public at sixteen compared to being naked in public at three."
Phoebe just rolled her eyes before pulling her sisters towards the alter and began to undress.
"No! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?" Piper asked her eyes wide.
"When in Rome." Phoebe said taking off her top and her sisters looked horrified.
"Pheebs, we're not in Rome. This is California, it's illegal." Bella pointed out but Phoebe didn't seem to care.
"It's completely natural. Go for it, come on."
Piper and Bella shared a glance before reluctantly undressing.
"This is ridiculous. Can I keep my shoes on?" Piper asked as she pulled her top over her head.
"Yeah but thats it."
"And now we're naked." Piper said as both she and Bella blushed brightly.
"Shh." Phoebe said as she closed her eyes.
"The Power of Four." Phoebe heard a voice say and her eyes snapped open.
"Did you hear that?" she asked Piper and Bella.
"Hear what?" Bella asked confused and Phoebe closed her eyes again.
"The Power of Four." She heard once again and she gasped as she recognised the voice.
"Grams?" she questioned looking around frantically.
"What?" Piper almost screeched as both she and Bella tried to cover themselfs up while looking around as if Penny was watching them.
...
Prue walked into the room and looked around untill she found who she was looking for.
"Mrs Milton. Hi, I'm sorry to keep you waiting." She said when she was in front of the women.
"Oh, no problem. I was just looking around." Mrs Milton replied smiling slightly.
"Well, I think that we'll have a great turnout for the preview. We've been getting an excellent response to your husband's collection."
"I'm not surprised."
"Now, the opening bid prices may look a little low, but don't worry. It should attract a lot of buyers, which should result in a bidding war. It's the best way to sell inventory like this at top dollar. Is that all right with you?" Prue asked to make sure Mrs Milton was completely okay with this.
"I guess I'm having a little more trouble letting go of John's things than I thought." Mrs Milton admitted and Prue smiled sadly.
"That's only natural. It's not easy."
"I suppose that you deal with death quite a bit in your line of work, don't you? I mean, like this, auctioning off some poor widow's inheritance."
Prue's mind went back to that night a month before...Joey's scream...the flashback of when Andy died...Bella's accusing and betrayed glare...the pile of ashes-
"Miss Halliwell?" Prue was pulled back into reality to find Mrs Milton waving her hand in front of her face.
"Sorry, Mrs Milton. I was miles away." Prue said sheepishly. "Yes unfortunately, I do."
"I just keep going over and over in my mind the last time I saw him before the accident. And I keep thinking if only I'd done something or said something to stop him from getting in the car, maybe he'd still be alive." Mrs Milton said sadly and Prue cringed.
If she had used a shield instead of freezing up, Bella would still have her first love...while she couldn't have hers.
...
"You don't have to do this you know." Piper said as she and Bella walked down the stairs.
"It keeps me out of the way of Phoebe." Bella told her. "If she wasn't my sister, I would strangle her. She won't leave me alone."
"She just trying to help, sweetie." Piper reminded her but Bella shook her head, sighing.
"I want to deal with this in my own way."
Neither sister knew what to say after this and were both relieved they didn't have to when they came to the bottom of the stairs to find Rob waiting for them.
"Oh, god. Rob, I'm so sorry I'm late. I got stuck at this thing and then Phoebe needed a ride, and I'm screwed on this loan now, aren't I?" Piper said worriedly while Bella tried to calm her down.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm just looking around, checking things out." Rob said, looking amused.
"It needs a lot of work, uh, I know that. But that's not a problem and just because the last two owners went bankrupt, doesn't mean it can't work. I've done three separate marketing studies and found a 68% interest in the target clientele." Piper said quickly as Bella looked around the empty club.
"Piper-" Rob started but Piper was too nervous to notice.
"Plus, running a restaurant is very similar to running a club."
"You've already shown me all this. I've got it. I've got everything, except for an understanding of why you wanna put yourself in a position to fail like this." Rob said and Bella turned quickly, turning defensive when she saw her sister look extremely disappointed.
"I think she'll be good at it. She managed Quake okay." Bella pointed out. "And trust me, she's bossy enough to run her own place."
Rob smiled while Piper shot Bella a gratefull look before she realised what she said and the look turned into a glare.
"I'm just saying that clubs are extremely high risk business." Rob said and Piper sighed.
"Look, I know what I'm getting myself into. I know the risks and actually it's a lot less risk and a lot a less expensive than starting my own restaurant, which is what I really wanted to do. The point is, I'm tired of working for somebody else and helping them realizing their dreams. I wanna run my own place. This place. And I can do it, too. But not without your help."
It was silent in the room after Piper had finished before Rob let out a long breath.
"Well, at the risk of you never wanting to go out with me again... Congratulations." He said and Bella smiled slightly.
"I got it?" Piper asked, not daring to believe it.
"You got it."
"YES!" Piper screamed before pulling Rob into a hug and kissing him.
Bella's smile faded from her face and she turned away quickly.
"The Power of Four." She heard and she looked around frantically.
"Did you hear that?" Piper asked, moving away from Rob. She must have heard it too.
"The Power of Four." The two sisters heard again.
"Hear what?" Rob asked confused.
"Grams?" Bella whispered before a bang made her turn around. Her eyes widened when she saw Rob on the floor unconsious with someone standing above him...
"You're dead witches!" The man hissed, holding his knife towards them before Piper quickly froze him.
"Is that who I think it is?" Piper asked, looking as shocked as Bella felt.
"Jeremy."
...
Piper held the phone to her ear as she watched Jeremy's frozen form warily.
"Hello?" Prue said down the phone to her.
"Prue, thank god you're there. Jeremy just attacked me." Piper said quickly.
"Jeremy? That is impossible. We vanquished him a year ago." Prue said disbelieving.
"Well, apparently he got unvanquished somehow. And since we don't have the Book of Shadows, we're gonna have to remember the spell together. I'm conferencing Phoebe." Piper said pressing a button before putting the phone back to her ear. "Phoebe, are you there?"
"AT&T, the Power of Four." Phoebe said immediately.
"Okay, wasn't that it? The Power of Four will set us free?" Prue asked and Piper's eyes widened.
"Grams." She whispered and her eyes widened even more when Jeremy unfroze but he refroze before she could even hold her hands up.
Piper frowned confused but soon remembered that Bella had the same power as her.
"What's the matter?" Prue asked worridly. "Are you and Bella okay?"
"We're fine but he's-" Piper cut off when he unfroze once again.
"This guy is really starting to get on my nerves!" Bella snapped as she froze him once again.
"He's fighting through my freezes. He's adjusting or something." Piper told Prue and Phoebe while she tried to keep Bella close to her.
"Uh, okay, put us on the speakerphone. We have to say it together." Phoebe said and Piper quickly did as she was told as Jeremy unfroze for the third time.
"You're not getting away from me this time." Jeremy laughed as he dived for the two girl, missing them by inches.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Piper screamed as they backed away from him.
"Piper?" Phoebe called from the phone nervously.
"Hurry! We have to say the spell now!" Piper yelled as Jeremy walked towards them again.
"The power of four will set us free. The power of four will set us free. The power of four will set us free. The power of four will set us free." They chanted before Jeremy finally disappeared.
"Piper? Bella?" Prue called down the phone.
"It's okay. He's gone." Piper said relieved.
"Again."
R&R