"The
storm of the new century appears to be winding down," a voice
started. "After days of record rain and down right odd weather
for this time of year, the system finally seems to be moving on
towards the mountains. People in the Sierra had better watch out..."
Phoebe groaned as the radio
announcer broke into her sleep. She reached up towards Piper's
bedside table and felt around for the alarm clock. But unable to find
the snooze button, she knocked it off of the table instead, wincing
as it clattered to the floor beside her. But at least it was silent.
"Oh, that was nice," she
heard Prue mumble. Phoebe slowly opened her eyes and rolled over.
Prue was laying in a sleeping bag a few feet away, squinting up at
the morning light. She yawned then propped herself up with her hands,
eyeing the clock on the ground. "I think you're going to owe her
a new one."
"It'll be
worth it," Phoebe said, hugging her pillow as she smiled at
Prue. "Yesterday was far too long for us to be getting up this
early. We need to recharge the Wiccan batteries."
"Yeah, well tell that to Piper," Prue said as she stood.
Phoebe's eyebrows rose and she
rolled over again, reluctantly sitting up. She peered over the edge
of Piper's bed, a little surprised to find it empty. She and Prue had
sneaked in after Leo had left, just to make sure that their sister
was safe. Sure Faith had turned out to be friendly, somewhat anyway,
but old habits died hard.
"You're
telling me that after all that, she gets the chance to sleep in, and
she doesn't?" Phoebe's eyes widened as she leaned against the
side of the bed. "Now that's impressive."
"Yeah, well if she can do it, I guess there's hope for you yet."
"Not quite yet." Phoebe
shook her head and fell back into her own sleeping bag. She closed
her eyes and stretched, feeling the blood rush into her limbs. Then
she opened her eyes again, staring up at her older sister. "Hey,
did you hear her get up?"
"No," Prue said as she started out of the room. "It
must have been awhile ago though, because ..." she trailed off
as she turned back in the doorway. Phoebe didn't move for a moment as
she and Prue stared at each other.
"You're sure Faith was on our side right?" Prue said,
laughing a little. But her laugh was hesitant and she was obviously
worried. Phoebe knew that they were thinking the exact same thing. "I
mean, it's not like she would've been angry still..."
"No," Phoebe shook her head, rolling her eyes at Prue. But
as she did the room fell silent and they stared at each other for a
few seconds more. Then Prue abruptly turned back towards the hall as
Phoebe leapt to her feet. Together they raced for the stairs.
"Piper!"
"Piper!"
Prue grabbed the banister to steady herself as she leapt down the
remaining few steps. Phoebe was hot on her heels. As they stood there
for a moment, surveying the house, Prue bit her lip. It was silly,
she knew, pure paranoia. But still...
"Kit, I told you to stop it!"
Prue glanced over at Phoebe as she heard Piper's voice. Then she
turned slowly and started towards the kitchen, her heart sinking a
little. Prue came to a halt in the doorway and Phoebe nearly ran into
her. Prue heard her sister gasp behind her. But after a moment,
Phoebe started to giggle. Prue put her hands on her hips, not finding
it nearly as funny.
"Now you
erased Leo's house," Piper was saying. Prue could hear the
disapproval in her voice. "He's gonna be mad at you."
Prue stared down at her younger
sister resisting the urge to turn and run screaming. Piper was
sitting there in the middle of the floor, surrounded by various
bottles and bags. She had food coloring all over her fingers and as
Prue glanced around she saw red and green finger paintings decorating
the kitchen. All of the flour they'd worked so hard to clean up the
previous day was spread out around her and there were large white
streaks in Piper's ponytail and all down her pajamas.
Piper leaned forward over a pile of flour that she'd clearly been
drawing in. But now there were tiny footprints running across it and
Piper scrunched up her face in annoyance. Prue turned and sighed as
she saw her floury cat making a dash for the living room.
She whirled around then, pulling Phoebe back from the doorway. Panic
was setting in as she stared at her younger sister, trying not to
think about the sister they'd left in the kitchen. They didn't need
this. The kid thing should have been over and done with. The
supernatural world was not playing fair.
"What the hell happened?" Prue demanded, lowering her voice
to a whisper. "She's… she's-"
"She's just like we were," Phoebe said finally. "A
sweet little kid- well maybe not like you were."
"Oh God," Prue said. "This is like our punishment,
isn't it? Where's Danny? I think we'd better have a chat with him."
"No way, it wasn't him,"
Phoebe insisted. "He promised Piper he wouldn't mess with magic
anymore. I don't think he'd do this, especially not to her."
"So what do we do?" Prue
asked. "I mean, it'll wear off right?"
"I guess we'd better hope so." Phoebe smiled as she shoved
her sister back towards the kitchen. "Besides it can't be that
bad. There are two of us and only one of her."
"Uh-huh." Prue nodded, trying to convince herself.
"And you always liked playing mom."
"Nuh-uh." Prue shook her head. "It's your turn now.
We're going down the Halliwell line and your name's next on the
list."
She stopped in the
doorway, even as Phoebe tried to nudge her through. But Prue was
still hoping, still praying that there was some other reason for
Piper's behavior. Maybe her sister had just felt a little goofy this
morning. Finally, she reluctantly leaned into the kitchen.
"Piper, what are you doing?"
"Good morning!" Piper's head shot up and Prue could see
little blues lines of food coloring on both of her cheeks. Piper
grinned as she spotted her sister, then gestured towards her flour
masterpiece. Phoebe pushed past Prue and went over to Piper, kneeling
down next to her.
"What did
you make, sweetie?" Phoebe asked. Prue just crossed her arms as
she leaned against the wall. Somebody, somewhere was having a great
big laugh at their expense.
"That's our house." Piper pointed to a scribble she'd made
in the flour. "And that's Leo's and that's Kit's."
"And what's that up there?" Phoebe glanced up at a little
figure she'd drawn above all the rest. Piper's expression turned
thoughtful and she pressed her lips together for a moment. Then she
hugged her knees to her chest, giving Phoebe a shy little smile.
"That's Mommy," she
said. And then she gestured over to one other tiny dot that Prue
hadn't noticed. "And that's Faith. They're watching us now."
"I guess so," Phoebe
said finally as she glanced up at Prue. Their eyes met and Prue
sighed as she stepped into the kitchen. Well, it was going to be a
long couple of days, but at least it would be interesting. And it'd
be easier taking care of Piper. She'd always been the mellowest
child, never as strong willed as Prue, or as goofy as Phoebe, but
somewhere right in the middle where she had always belonged.
Prue crouched down next to Piper, putting her arm around her younger
sister.
"That's beautiful,
Piper," she said. "You did a great job."
"Thank you." Piper turned abruptly and threw her arms
around Prue, nearly knocking her over. "I love you," she
said, burying her head in Prue's shoulder. Prue held her tightly for
a moment, smiling over at Phoebe. Then Piper finally let go and
whirled around to hug her other sister. "And I love you too."
Phoebe started to laugh as Piper
kissed her on the cheek, then jumped to her feet, running out of the
kitchen.
"Oh," Prue
winced as she saw the flour-y footprints she was leaving behind. But
she didn't have the heart to stop Piper. Instead she looked over at
Phoebe, who was trying to rub the food coloring from her clothes.
"I hope Danny's still asleep.
I don't feel like trying to explain this to him."
"Especially when we don't even know how it happened."
"The spell must have gotten
cast again," Phoebe said as she rolled up the flour bag.
"Yeah, but who did it?" Prue said. "And why aren't we
affected?"
"I guess
we're immune now." Phoebe smiled. "And thankfully too.
Could you imagine all three of us...?"
Prue's eyes widened at the thought. "Well, it obviously could
have been worse."
The
doorbell rang. Phoebe froze as Prue turned to stare at her. For a
moment, the house was completely silent but then Prue heard the sound
of footsteps pounding down the stairs.
"Door!"
Piper's voice
echoed through the house. Phoebe scrambled to her feet, slipping on
the mounds of flour their sister had left behind. She glanced back at
Prue as she ran from the room.
"Oh, you had to say that didn't you?"
Prue just shrugged, refusing to get up. Let Phoebe take the first
shift, she thought. She could handle one little girl on her own.
And once Leo arrived, they could pass off the duty to him. After all,
whitelighters were supposed to take care of witches, right? He would
certainly take care of Piper. It would only be a matter of time
before the spell wore off. Soon enough, Prue reminded herself.
She could hear the front door open
then and the sound of laughter swept through the house.
"Hey, no!" Phoebe said. "No freezing the deliveryman!"
But the laughter continued and
after a moment Prue smiled. Leaning back against the leg of the
table, she sighed. It would all be okay.
"I
checked it over," Phoebe said, hefting a box into the living
room. She dropped it gently on the couch, then sat down beside it.
"No ticking, nothing demonic inside. Just a bunch of those
little Styrofoam thingys. Piper got really excited..."
Prue glanced up from her sweeping and regarded her sister. Then she
stepped over to the box, opening up the top flap.
"I think it's the photo equipment I ordered," she said.
"I'll worry about it later I guess. I think we'd better clean
this up first."
"Oh why
bother?" Phoebe asked with a smile. "We're witches.
Household destruction, it's all part of the game. And now with
Piper... I doubt the house'll stay clean for long."
"Where is she anyway?"
"Outside I think." Phoebe shrugged as she leaned back
against the couch.
"You left
her outside in the rain?"
"Oh
Prue, it's barely raining," Phoebe insisted. "She's not
going to drown."
"Well,
she could get lost," Prue put the broom aside and started
towards the hall. "Or kidnapped- again."
Phoebe laughed as Prue grabbed her jacket from the coat rack, and
threw open the door, feeling a light sprinkle of rain on her face.
She was about to go outside when she stopped, staring out towards the
street.
"My car!"
"What?" Phoebe rushed up behind her, trying to see past
Prue. "Did Piper take it? I told her not to touch the gear
shift!"
"No," Prue
gritted her teeth as she turned to face Phoebe. "No, she didn't
take it. But who gave her the keys?"
"Oh," Phoebe's expression turned sheepish. "I guess
that was a no-no, huh?"
"Uh-huh." Prue nodded and turned around again, her eyes
drawn to her precious vehicle. It was still in its place at the curb,
but the engine was running, the door was open, and the radio was
blaring, the sound reverberating all down the street. And there on
the front lawn was Piper, dancing under the misty rain. The first
rays of sunshine were creeping out from behind the clouds and shining
down on the city. And Piper seemed to be sucking it all in as she
twirled around, giggling with the music.
"The neighbors must love us this week," Prue muttered,
raising her voice to be heard over the radio. Then she crossed her
arms and stepped out onto the front porch. "Forget the
neighbors! Look at my car! The seats are getting all wet."
"Uptight again," Phoebe
said as she stood by her side. Prue rolled her eyes, shaking her head
at her sister.
"Phoebe, she's
going to wake up half the city."
"The city's already awake," Phoebe insisted, gently
grabbing her sister's arm and pulling her down the front steps. "And
besides, the storm's over. Everyone will be out soon."
"One more reason why we should be in." Prue stumbled along
beside Phoebe. "What are you doing?"
"It's time to dance," Phoebe said. But Prue shook her head,
trying to wriggle out of her grasp.
"No way, I don't think so."
"Come on," Phoebe smiled playfully at her, dragging her
onto the grass. She gestured towards their sister. "Do it for
Piper. Look how happy she is."
Prue stood there for a moment as Phoebe released her. She watched
Piper as the younger girl spun around, turning her face up to the
sky. The mist was slowly subsiding and the sun was growing ever
brighter. It was going to be a beautiful day.
"All right," she said finally, a smile spreading across her
face as she took the hand Phoebe held out to her. "But only for
you and Piper."
Phoebe nodded
as Piper came rushing towards them. They spent the next few minutes
dancing out on the lawn and playing with Piper, laughing as the
neighbors peered through their curtains. And somewhere along the way,
Prue realized that she felt happy, really happy, for the first time
in days. All of those images, all of those horrible thoughts of death
and destruction and the demons that had tried to murder their
sister...they had blown away with the storm, leaving only the three
Halliwell sisters, spinning around in the sunlight. She glanced over
at Piper, seeing for just a moment that little girl in the pigtails,
the girl she'd promised to take care of so many years before. Piper
grinned at her, then ran over and hugged her again. Prue smiled. It
really would be a beautiful day.
