Paige's POV

The light is too bright its burning my eyes, I try to move but whenever I do I hear a deep voice hiss, "Keep her still!" and hands grab me, manicured nails digging into my arms…manicured?

I open my eyes against the burning light, its subsiding, and so is the fogginess of my brain, I feel like a ship coming into the harbor, the light lessens even more and the pain in my stomach is…gone? How is the possible? Am I dead?

Someone laughs, "No silly, you're safe." I hadn't realized I said that thought out loud. I open my eyes and the light is fading away even more now, the skin on my stomach feels icy hot, but almost in a way that is relief, if that makes sense. I try to prop myself up but, but Phoebe's concerned face comes into view and she pushes me back down.

"Take it easy," she says, her voice wobbly. I note tear tracks on her face. She scrubs her cheek with her hand, trying to hide it. I force a smile on my lips.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Phoebe's voice is thick, like she's been crying.

"Pain," I say. "Red faces. A knife. Chanting. Oh god," the feelings and memories hit me, like a wall. The fucking pain, and worse than that, the fear of dying when I wasn't ready, never seeing my sisters again.

"Yeah," Phoebe said. "So, there's a lot we need to talk about. But I just want you to relax right now." She seems weird, more grown up somehow? Advising me to take it careful. Pheebs can almost read my mind.

"I felt your pain Paige—" she cocks her head and smiles sadly at my confused expression. "I'll tell you how…later. But the fact is, I felt you dying, so yeah I may not feel like being as reckless as before."

She takes my hand in hers and bring her head so close to mine, gently pressing her forehead into my own, I close my eyes, feeling the closeness of this, her sweaty fingers curled around mine tight, tight. "Why did you…" she trails off and shifts out of the way. I am about to ask the remainder of her question when a man with lines in his face, green eyes and a white shock of hair comes into my vision. I blink.

"Hi Paige," he says voice rough. He was the one telling Pheebs to keep me still earlier. "How are you?" he asks.

"Good," I venture, looking at Pheebs, she seems relaxed around him so I take her cue to not panic. Truth is, I'm not in the mood for meeting new people or introductions. I want to go back home…speaking of, where are we? I twist my head around and take in a small room, wooden walls, books scattered everywhere.

"This is where I live," the man says quickly, as if to reassure me.

"Paige, we're at Camp Skylark," Phoebe says quietly. Wait...

"Where Mom?…"

"Yeah," Phoebe says.

"Oh," I say.

"Sam here," Phoebe points to the man. "Healed you. He has…special powers."

"I don't understand…"

Sam shifts quickly, his moves nervous and jagged. He grabs a pillow from an armchair to my left and places it behind my back. Him and Phoebe help me sit up. Phoebe takes my shirt…not my shirt, I realize. It's an old camper t-shirt, which is too big for me. Faded printed green letters read Camp Skylark on the soft mustard yellow. Phoebe pushes my shirt up and I peer at my stomach…it's whole. Not ripped to shreds. No scars or anything.

"How…"

"Magic," Sam says, his eyes twinkling. I look at Phoebe and she just nods.

"I don't…"

"It's a lot," Sam interjects. "In fact there's a lot you don't know that you need to know."

"But we can talk about that later," Phoebe cuts in. Sam falls quiet. There's a flash of annoyance in her eyes. She physically blocks Sam from my vision and puts hands on either side of my face.

"I'm so fucking glad you're okay."

"Me too Pheebs, and look I'm sorry I…"

Phoebe shakes her head. "No, you have nothing to apologize for. It was me who fucked up…like usual…"

We are silent, marinating in the dark cabin, there is a peek of light through one of the drawn curtains. It's soft and dim. Almost sunrise. That's when I feel it in my bones, the exhaustion. There is no pain to keep me alert anymore. There is only space inside my body and slowly that empty space is being filled with exhaustion and emotional drainage. I don't know the phycological effects of what I've gone through, I don't have words for them, but right now I don't feel much. Just tired and numb. And I'm grateful, I don't think I ever want to feel that much again.

"It's okay," Phoebe whispers in my ear, pulling a strand of hair out of my face. "Go to sleep."

Just as I am slipping away I hear the squeak of the screen door. Phoebe shifts on the couch beside me to look away, I see two heads and hear Phoebe's voice.

"Prue, Piper!"

And as much as I want to hug my older sisters and say thank you thank you for saving my life I can't hold my eyes open and I finally drift into a blissful sleep.

Phoebe's POV

Paige passes out just as soon as Prue and Piper walk in the door of Sam's cabin. Great timing, Paigey. But I don't blame her at all. She was having a hell of a time in the car, she went from whimpering to screaming as soon as we pulled into to Camp Skylark. I was yelling at Sam to drive faster, he said he could heal her, I made him promise me over and over. He said we couldn't go a hospital, what would we say? Prue would be in trouble, we would be taken away by social services. But, what could Sam do? I couldn't stop thinking of the feeling I had in my vision of Paige dying, her getting weaker and weaker. If we didn't do something soon, there wouldn't be a connection between us anymore and I need Paige like I need air, a fucking lot.

We made it to the cabin, Sam carrying Paige in his arms, me practically kicking down the door. Sam lay Paige on the couch, she was moaning at that point. I tried to soothe her while Sam stumbled around his book shelves, pulling out old books, flipping through pages.

"Sam, hurry!" I had yelled, crying hard at this point. Paige was gripping my fingers, her face was white, she looked ready to pass out. I could see in her eyes she wanted me to end it all. Hold on, I kept telling her over and over. I wanted Prue and Piper there. It was becoming too much. And I couldn't watch Paige die. No fucking way would I ever recover from that one.

That's when Sam stopped rifling and came to kneel over by Paige. He closed his eyes, placed his hands inches from her stomach and went completely still. I watched in part awe/part horror as a yellow light came from the palm of his hands directly over Paige's stomach. Her cuts started to close, the blood started to disappear, she started stirring, her whimpers dying down to soft breathing. He was healing her. I wanted that fucking power.

"She's okay," I tell Prue and Piper as they slam the door. Prue goes directly to Paige, kneeling over her, placing a hand on her cheek, staring incredulously at her stomach. Sam stands in the background. I run to Piper and she takes me in her arms. We stand like that, hugging tight.

"We took care of you know, them," Piper tells me. I feel a pressure release from my head, my shoulders relax. The static in my brain lessons, that background feeling of dread is still there, but it its quiet at the moment.

"Were they…" Prue asks, quiet. She isn't facing me, but she's talking to me.

"If they had a human form, then yeah," I say into Piper's shoulder. I close my eyes and breathe out a breath of hot air. "It was them." The person in the park. Small beady eyes. Hands ripping clothes. I cut off the memory.

"They're gone," Prue's voice is low but angry. "Piper and I took care of it, they won't hurt Paige or you ever again. I promise." Her conviction is a fucking foundation I can build my life on. It's so sincere, so strong.

"Prue," I pull away from Piper. Prue turns her head to look at me, her black hair falling loosely over her shoulder, wavy and tangled. Bags are pushed deep under her eyes. "It wasn't your fault…what happened to Paige and I."

Those words transform Prue's face into a crumpled mess. Her eyes become shiny. "I…" her voice catches. "I'm so fucking sorry."

A few tears slip out and she sits on the floor and puts her face into her hands. I sit beside her, place a hand over her shoulder and pull her into me. She shakes in my arms. I can feel all the resolve, the hard shell that I am so used to Prue having slip away, melting into oblivion. She becomes like butter in my arms. She feels like my sister again. Piper kneels on the floor and places her head beside Paige's. She places a hand on my knee. I hug Prue tighter.

"It wasn't your fault," I say again. Because I want her to believe it, need her to believe it. It wasn't her fault, it was no one's, it was a terrible thing that happened, but it happened. Those…monsters…demons…are dead. Thanks to Prue. She saved us. "It's okay," I say. To anyone, everyone or just me, I don't know. But it seems like something good to say, to wrap up these last few days, hell, this last fucking year. All the walls are coming down, all resolve is melting away, we are connected now, I feel that. Whether it's the powers and the magic or just the fact that we are sisters again, I don't know, but something's shifted. Whatever happens now, happens. Whatever comes, will come. It won't be easy, I don't think. Paige needs to know about everything…her father, the magic. She needs to heal, recover. I need to heal and recover. But we'll do it together.

It's a quiet, peaceful night. Prue and Piper are running around the front yard. Grams and Patty sit on the porch, Phoebe on Gram's lap, Paige on Patty's. Both are fast asleep. Grams and Patty are rocking gently, watching Prue and Piper chase the fireflies around the front yard. Piper's freezing the bugs as Prue's gently pushing them into a glass jar with her powers. When they unfreeze they are safe in the jar.

"I'll miss this," Patty says quietly. Grams smiles at her. "It's to protect them, you know that."

"I swear, Nicolas will pay for what he has cost my girls," Patty says.

Grams smiles sadly but does not deny the truth. "Let's enjoy this last night of magic, shall we?"

Patty smiles back and settles into her chair, rocking three-month old Paige. She looks over at two-year-old Phoebe, cheeks squished against her grandma's chest, then out into the yard at seven year old Prue and five year old Piper running around with the fireflies. Would they ever find out about their heritage? The magic that lives inside their blood? Would Paige ever find out about Sam? Patty's heart broke that they had to break up, witches and white lights forbidden to be together and all. Her mother and she would protect her girls…it didn't matter if they had magic or not, they were her daughters and she would die for them.