A/N: A month and a half of not updating this has seemed longer than it actually was. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter Thirty Five: Awakened (And Closed Spaces)

It had been approximately six months since Prue, Piper, and Phoebe had found out that Leo was Paige's adoptive father. The New Year had been and gone and it was now early February in the year 2000.

Over that stretch of time Leo had kept to his word of being their whitelighter and nothing more. Piper appeared absolutely fine with this arrangement as she was busy focusing her attentions on her blossoming relationship with Dan and on the club. Meanwhile Paige found it strange having so little contact with Leo over such a long period of time, but with work keeping her busy and always having family present in the form of her sisters, she did not have too much time to spare on worrying. Then there were Prue and Phoebe, who from the beginning had only seen Leo as their handyman-whitelighter-family friend, and therefore, were least affected by Leo's sudden lack of presence.

Over those five and a bit months (rounded up to six), demonic activity had been relatively low. Prue had been able to focus on her photography career in Portland, visiting San Francisco for family meals regularly with Andy; Piper was focusing on P3 more and more; Phoebe was still jobless, but had been contemplating returning to college for the last few months, weighing up the positives and the negatives; and Paige was able to focus on not disappearing unexpectedly from work.

Paige had not heard from Derek at all in those months. She still had the copy of the spell that he had wanted her to recite in her room. She did not find it strange that he had been gone for so long. She had come to terms with the fact that this disappearing act was a habit of his. However she did not like how their last conversation had ended. The two of them admitted they had feelings for one another, only to be followed by an argument where Paige refused to say the spell that would give him his powers back.

At this particular moment in time, Paige found herself standing in a quarantined hospital room trying to contain her overwhelming terror. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were in the same situation, but did not seem anywhere as near fazed as her. Each sister was wearing hospital garments. All four of them were healthy and well, but here they stood imprisoned in a quarantined room within the isolation ward of San Francisco Memorial Hospital.

The youngest Charmed One thought over everything that had led the four of them to this situation: Piper catching Arroyo fever from a sand fly that was found in the illegal Kewano fruit; Piper refusing healing from Leo; Piper's condition deteriorating; on the sisters going behind Piper's back to call Leo, the whitelighter saying that he was not allowed to heal Piper; the three healthy Charmed Ones casting a personal gain spell to take the disease out of Piper; the spell successfully allowing Piper to magically recover; the sudden spread of the initially non-contagious disease around the hospital; and the decision of the infectious disease specialist, Dr. Williamson, and the Centre for Disease Control to bring Piper back in along with her sisters for quarantine.

The only positive that Paige could come up with as she stood surrounded by four walls in a locked room was that Phoebe had chosen this time to tell her sisters that she had finally enrolled at the local college and would be starting in a few days time.

In the quarantined room was one hospital bed, some switched-off electrical hospital equipment (a heart monitor, for example), and a screen (which would usually be pulled across by a doctor when trying to examine a patient in privacy).

Piper was pacing the quarantine room. 'How did a non-contagious disease suddenly become contagious?'

'It must be a consequence of the awakening spell,' said Prue.

'The spell must have awakened the disease as well as you,' Phoebe added.

'I really really don't like this,' said Paige, who was standing in the middle of the quarantined room. They had been locked in there for almost an hour now.

'None of us do, Paige,' said Prue. 'We just need to stay calm and figure out how to get out of this.'

'You don't understand,' said Paige, looking from wall to wall of the quarantined room. 'I don't like being in here.'

Phoebe looked over at Paige, a little puzzled. 'Paige? Are you okay?'

'I just want to get out,' said Paige, her breath quickening. 'The walls seem a little too close to each other. There's not enough air in here. It's too crowded.'

Piper approached Paige and asked with concern, 'Are you claustrophobic?'

'She can't be… Her bedroom is smaller than this…' Phoebe pointed out.

'Yeah, but I am never locked inside my bedroom,' Paige said, trying not to hyperventilate, but definitely starting to panic a little. 'I know I cannot get out of here, and… and… Please can someone distract the people outside so as I can orb out?! I want to leave! You know what? Can't we just try to convince the doctors that whatever gene that helped Piper recover so quickly is inherited from your dad's side of the family? That way I can leave and just get out of this locked room!'

Prue put her hands on Paige's shoulders, turning Paige to face her. 'Paige, listen to me. We need you to calm down. Breathe more calmly. Try to take your mind off where you are. We need you thinking logically. We are not going to be in here for much longer, I promise.'

Prue let go of Paige's shoulders. Paige sat down on the hospital bed, trying to think of anything else other than where she was. She didn't even process Phoebe saying to Prue, 'You don't think we're going to be here long?' or Prue replying with 'I really don't know how we are going to get out of this one.'

Paige closed her eyes and began to try and imagine that she was in an open space… Possibly a big open field with the sun shining down on her, except she was sitting in the shade beneath a tree… The sounds of hospital treatment in the background were replaced with the sound of tweeting birds and leaves rustling in the wind…

Someone was knocking on glass… on one of the hospital room's window. Paige opened her eyes, as the sounds and images of the quarantined hospital room returned around her. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were also staring at the source of knocking on the window.

Andy was standing there. No hospital staff were in the corridor outside the quarantined hospital room at the moment.

'Prue!' Andy shouted through the glass.

Prue ran over to the window and put her hand to the glass next to where Andy's head was.

'Andy!' said Prue.

'What? I can't hear you, Prue!' said Andy. Unfortunately the glass was one-way. The sisters could hear what was going on outside their room, but an intercom was needed for those outside to hear inside.

'There's a button for an intercom on your side!' Prue shouted back, but realised he would not hear that either.

Prue tried indicating this to Andy through pointing. Whether Andy understood the message or not, they did not get a chance to find out. An intern and two male nurses had come along the corridor and seen him.

'Excuse me, Sir!' one of the nurses said, getting Andy's attention. 'You shouldn't be in here! This whole ward is under isolation!'

'My wife and her sisters are in that quarantined room!' Andy said. 'They look perfectly healthy to me, so let them out!'

The intern frowned and said, 'Sorry, Sir, but we can't. One of them could be a carrier for a mutated form of a previously non-contagious disease.'

The second nurse then added, 'Due to procedures, now that you have entered this isolated ward, we cannot let you leave. We can let you sit in the waiting room for now though.'

'If I can't leave, can I at least join them in there?' asked a disgruntled Andy.

'Sorry, Sir,' said the intern.

'Why not?' asked Andy.

'It's against the rules,' replied the intern.

'Let him talk to us!' Prue shouted, hitting the window to try and get the hospital staffs' attention so as they would turn the intercom on.

The first nurse noticed, pressed the button, and said, 'Miss Halliwell, Dr. Williamson will be back later. He is just caring to other patients who have caught the disease at the moment.'

'Can you at least let me speak to my husband?' Prue asked.

'I am sorry, Mi – Mrs. Halliwell,' the first nurse said, correcting himself halfway through. 'I have strict instructions.' The nurse turned off the intercom and turned back to Andy. 'I am sorry, Sir, but no one other than staff are allowed along this corridor. My colleague here will direct you to the isolation ward's waiting room.'

The second nurse began to guide Andy down the corridor until he was completely out of sight. Prue turned away from the window to face her three sisters who were all staring at her.

'Are you okay, Prue?' Piper asked quietly.

'I don't know… I just don't know…' said Prue. 'If this is all a consequence of the spell we cast, it's still better than what the outcome would have been if we had not cast it…'

Phoebe and Paige agreed. Piper, however, remained silent.

After a few more minutes of silence, Prue – who had not moved from her position by the window – suddenly said, 'Screw it. I am going to go and speak to Andy.'

'How do you propose to leave the room without them noticing?' asked Piper.

'I'll orb us to the waiting room!' suggested Paige, thrilled by the idea of leaving the locked room for a few minutes.

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. 'How do you think Piper and I are supposed to explain your disappearing acts to the hospital staff when they notice?'

'Er…' was Paige's only reply. Personally she did not really care. She just wanted some fresh air.

'There won't be any disappearing acts, because I can do this alone,' said Prue. 'Or at least, A.P. will do this for me.'

'A.P.?' said Piper, puzzled.

'I find it very very strange when you refer to A.P. as a separate person,' said Phoebe, smiling. 'Are you sure you're not slightly schizophrenic?'

Prue smiled. 'Did you choose psychology as an elective? If you didn't, you sound like you should have.'

'Hello? What's A.P.?' asked Piper, annoyed at being left out of the loop.

'Not what, Piper, but who,' Phoebe answered, a little unhelpfully.

Prue rolled her eyes. 'Now who's the one giving A.P. a separate identity, Pheebs?'

Phoebe held her hands up innocently. 'I was just defending A.P. from being objectified, but if you don't want me on A.P.'s side, then that's your loss…'

Piper was getting annoyed now. 'Will someone just tell me who A.P. is?'

'Astral Prue, Piper,' said Paige, becoming a little frustrated with the fact that she could not leave the room that seemed to be getting smaller and lacking more oxygen every second she spent in there. 'Do you really have to astral out?'

'It's less noticeable than orbing,' Prue pointed out.

'If you are going to astral out, at least lay down on the hospital bed in here so we don't have to explain why you are standing up with your head slumped forward,' said Piper.

Prue nodded and did as Piper had suggested. Prue closed her eyes. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige exchanged glances, wondering whether Prue had astralled out yet or not.

'Prue?' Piper said. When there was no reply from the eldest Halliwell, the three youngest sisters made the decision that astral Prue was elsewhere in the ward looking for Andy.

The next twenty minutes or so were spent with Piper and Phoebe discussing possible ways of them getting out of this situation. However towards the end of those twenty minutes, their conversation turned towards the topic of how long until Prue would come back. Meanwhile Paige spent these twenty minutes pacing from wall to wall, trying to tell herself that the room was bigger than it seemed to her at the moment.

The corridor outside the quarantined room had been relatively empty over the past five minutes or so. However Dr. Williamson suddenly came running through the corridor and straight into the quarantined room.

He was halfway in through the door when he asked the question he had rushed there to ask. 'How did Prue get out..?' Dr. Williamson trailed off as his eyes darted over to the bed where Prue was blatantly lying in her unconscious state.

Piper flicked her wrists, freezing Dr. Williamson. Phoebe quickly pulled the bed sheet over Prue to cover her up from view. Meanwhile Paige went over to the door and stepped out into the corridor.

'Paige! Get back in here!' Phoebe hissed.

Paige had heard this from the corridor, but she did not care. She was taking in long breaths, happy to be out of the contained room.

'Paige!' This time Paige felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Phoebe behind her. 'Paige, we have to go back in there!'

Paige frowned. 'Why? We can leave… We can go…'

Phoebe sighed. 'Don't you think if we were going to run from this using magic, we would have asked you to orb us out by now?'

Paige grimaced. 'So we have to go back in there?'

'Yes, Paige. The only reason Piper froze Dr. Williamson was because by the sounds of it they've seen astral Prue wandering around out in the ward. We don't want to expose magic by letting him see that Prue's still in here despite what he's seen,' explained Phoebe.

'I – I – but I really don't want to go back in there…' said Paige. 'I quite like it out here in the corridor.'

Phoebe shook her head apologetically. 'I am sorry, Paige, but you have to come back in here. I know you don't like it, but for now there's nothing we can do, okay?'

With a disappointed expression, Paige followed Phoebe, past the frozen Dr. Williamson, back into the quarantined room. Piper was already standing back in the position that she had originally been standing in. Phoebe and Paige returned to the positions that they assumed they had been in when Piper had frozen the room.

Piper flicked her wrists which unfroze Dr. Williamson. He frowned and blinked a few times.

'I swear I just saw Prue on that bed…' said Dr. Williamson. He looked around to see Piper, Phoebe, and Paige standing at various positions in the room. 'Who's under the hospital bed covers?'

'Just some pillows,' lied Phoebe. 'We had to make it look like Prue was still in here, but asleep to avoid arousing any suspicion that she had gotten out.'

Dr. Williamson furrowed his brow. 'How did she get out?'

'She wanted to see her husband and your staff would not let her,' Phoebe continued. 'One of your staff came in here to check on Piper. Prue managed to sneak past while the door was open.'

Dr. Williamson seemed to believe Phoebe's story. He nodded.

'So… If you found her out there, what stopped you from bringing her back here?' Piper asked out of curiosity.

Dr. Williamson ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. 'Your sister… She's very stubborn.'

Phoebe smiled. 'It's a family trait.'

'She refuses to leave Mr. Trudeau's side,' continued Dr. Williamson.

'Detective,' Paige corrected the doctor.

'The point is that we have decided she can stay with her husband for now as long as she does not leave the ward,' said Dr. Williamson. 'I will be back here to speak to you three later.'

Dr. Williamson walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.

Phoebe turned to Piper and Paige, and said, 'Did you notice how the doctor said that Prue's refusing to leave Andy's side?'

'Yeah…' said Paige. 'What's so weird about that? We know that Prue wants to speak to Andy.'

'Yes, but that's not what he said,' Phoebe continued. 'He said that Prue wanted to stay with Andy, not speak to him. Dr. Williamson also said that it was fine as long as she did not leave the ward… I remember them telling Andy that he could not leave the ward now that he had entered it…'

Piper grimaced. 'So what's changed?'

Phoebe wandered over to the hospital bed where Prue lay unconscious and concealed by the covers. 'I wish Prue could tell us what's going on over there.' Phoebe removed the sheet from the hospital bed, revealing the unconscious Prue. 'Come on, Prue. What don't we know?' As Phoebe moved the sheet again, her hand brushed against Prue's arm. Phoebe let out a gasp as she was pulled into a premonition.

When Phoebe came out of her premonition, she had gone pale.

'Pheebs, is everything okay?' Paige asked.

'What did you see?' Piper asked.

Phoebe blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the reality of what she had just witnessed. 'Andy… He's… He caught it…'

'Caught what?' Paige asked, not wanting to believe the only thing that Phoebe could be referring to.

'Andy is unconscious and he's caught Arroyo fever,' Phoebe began. 'Prue's by his bedside at the moment.'

Piper lost her footing at this news, falling onto the floor, remaining on it in a sitting position. She had not fallen due to any illness, but due to her surprise and self-blame. 'All of this is my fault…' Piper looked up at Phoebe and Paige. 'We have to reverse this spell – before it's too late.'

A/N: Please review.