Abby opened her eyes with a groan, kicking the sheet off her legs. She
glanced at the small digital clock on Prue's bedside table and groaned
again. The little red numbers read one o'clock. Prue had tucked her in at
ten and it seemed like all she had done in the three hours since was watch
the minutes tick by. She just couldn't fall asleep. All she kept thinking
about was the Halliwells' secret.
Magic was something she'd always believed in, though Peter had tried his hardest to convince her that it wasn't real. She never suspected, though, that the kind of evil the sisters were talking about existed. It was almost too much for her to think about. She couldn't imagine what they went through day in and day out, how scary it must be for them to be in constant mortal danger. Well, get used to it, she told herself. After all, if nothing got in the way, she'd be living in constant danger, too.
She wanted desperately to stay with the sisters. She was surprised by how close she felt to them, Prue most of all. There was something about them she couldn't explain. Maybe it was because they knew what she was going through. Maybe that was why it seemed they were reaching out to her just as much as she was reaching out to them. Perhaps they saw a little bit of themselves in her and her situation.
Sighing, she turned over and faced Prue. She wanted to talk to someone and have someone answer all the questions that were tumbling around in her head. Unfortunately for her, Prue was sound asleep. Abby called Prue's name softly. She didn't even flinch.
Abby rolled her eyes and reached over, shaking Prue's arm. "Hey, Prue?" Abby whispered. "Prue?"
Prue made a face and pulled her arm away from Abby's hand, mumbling something under her breath that Abby couldn't understand, but she didn't open her eyes. Abby sighed and turned onto her back, blowing her hair out of her face. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, then frowned and climbed out of bed, holding Amethyst tight against her side. She walked over to the door and stopped, her hand on the doorknob. Turning around, she glanced back at Prue to see if she had woken up. She hadn't. Abby sighed again and exited the room, pulling the heavy door closed behind her.
She stood in the hallway, unsure of what she was even doing out there. All she knew was she just couldn't lie in bed anymore. She would have driven herself crazy if she had. She headed down the hallway and was surprised to see a shaft of light under Piper's door. She crept up to the door and knocked quietly. "Piper?"
"Abby?" Piper asked, surprise evident in her voice. "Come on in."
Abby opened the door and entered the room shyly. Piper was sitting up in bed, reading. "Can I talk to you?" Abby asked, a little uncomfortably.
"Sure," Piper answered, patting the empty spot in the bed next to her. Abby grinned and climbed into bed. She settled under the covers and laid Amethyst next to her on the pillow. Piper smiled as she closed her book and placed it on her nightstand. "Is everything okay? Where's Prue?"
"She's asleep and I can't wake her up," Abby said, shrugging.
"Yeah, she can be a pretty deep sleeper sometimes," Piper said with a smile. "So what's up? You shouldn't be up this late."
"Nothing much," Abby said with another shrug. "I just can't sleep. Why are you up so late?"
"Sometimes I like to read late at night when everyone else is asleep. The house is so much quieter." Piper laid down on her pillows, facing Abby. "What's going on, honey?" she asked, brushing the little girl's hair out of her face. "Why can't you sleep?"
Abby looked over at Amethyst and began running the ribbon between her fingers. She suddenly realized that the rubbing the ribbon had become a nervous habit for her. She also knew from the look on Piper's face that Piper had realized the same thing. "I was just thinking . . . how do you guys live with the magic? I mean, right this very second, an evil guy could come here and hurt you, right?"
"Well, yes, but we can protect ourselves." Piper propped herself up on her elbow, looking Abby over. The little girl seemed nervous and just a little scared. "Like, if someone came and tried to hurt me right now, I could stop him with my powers. Then I'd wake up Prue and Phoebe and we'd get rid of him."
"Oh." Abby rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Can I see your powers?"
"We'll do that in the morning, honey," Piper said, smiling as she ran her finger down Abby's cheek. It was something she remembered her mother doing to her and her sisters to calm them when they were scared.
"Okay." Abby took a deep breath, wondering if she should ask another question. After a moment's hesitation, she drew in her breath and asked. "Piper, if I do end up staying here, will I still stay in Prue's room with her?"
"I don't know," Piper said thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure you'd have to have your own room. I'd have to talk it over with Prue and Phoebe, but more than likely, you'd get either my room or Prue's room and she and I will share a room again, just like when we were little."
"Okay." Abby said again. This time, though, her voice was noticeably softer.
Piper caught the change in Abby's expression. The little girl's face, which had been filled with confusion and a little bit of fear, now showed sadness and regret. "What's the matter?"
Abby sighed, closing her eyes. She brought Amethyst a little closer to her, squeezing the bear tightly. "Why doesn't Phoebe like me?"
Piper gasped in surprise. "What? Why do you think Phoebe doesn't like you?"
"She doesn't want me to stay here," Abby said matter-of-factly. "I heard her yelling at Prue, remember?"
"Oh, honey, she does want you to stay with us" Piper answered, gripping the girl's arm comfortingly. "She's just afraid that the evil people will hurt you if you stay. She doesn't want you to get hurt, is all, and she was just trying to get Prue to realize that there's a very good chance you could get hurt if you stay."
Abby smiled in relief. That made her feel so much better. Ever since she had heard the fight that morning, she had been afraid that Phoebe didn't like her and she just wanted to get rid of her like everyone else in her life had. Now she knew that wasn't true at all. She yawned again and her eyelids suddenly began to get heavy. "I'm getting tired, Piper," she said through another yawn.
"Your mind's clearing," Piper said with a smile. Abby nodded and closed her eyes. Piper leaned over and tucked the girl in tightly. "You try and get some sleep."
"Can I stay in here or are you going to take me back to Prue's room?" she mumbled as she pulled the covers up to her chin.
"No, you can stay here, honey." Piper reached over and switched off her bedside lamp, then nestled herself under her covers. "I won't go to sleep until after you do, okay? That way, if you think of any more questions, you can ask."
"Okay," Abby said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Night, Piper."
Piper smiled and gave Abby a quick good night kiss. "Night, baby. Sleep tight."
Abby smiled slightly and sighed. She was suddenly exhausted. Maybe Piper was right; maybe she felt better and more relaxed now that her major questions had been answered. At least I know now that Phoebe doesn't hate me, she thought right before she drifted off.
**********
Piper sat in the long green grass of the park, watching Abby do cartwheels about twenty feet away from her. The little girl was doing them one after another until she got so dizzy that she fell down. Piper picked at the grass as she took her eyes off Abby to stare up, watching the few wispy clouds that were in the sky roll past. There was something about a bright blue sky with cotton candy-like clouds that relaxed her.
With a small sigh, she looked back over at Abby, seeing as she was supposed to be watching the girl. Phoebe had just arrived with the small soft serve cone she had promised Abby. She handed Abby the chocolate one while keeping the vanilla one for herself. The little girl grinned a thank you and plopped down in the grass, licking the ice cream quickly before it could melt any further. Piper smiled and turned her gaze to Prue, who was sitting forlornly on one of the swings. She wasn't even swinging very much; she was pushing the swing back and forth without taking her foot off the ground, lost in thought. Piper dropped the blades of grass that were in her hand, stood up, and walked over to the swings, sitting down next to her sister. "Hey."
Prue started and looked over at Piper. "Oh, hi," she answered softly.
"What's up?"
Prue shrugged and started out at Abby and Phoebe. They were both eating their ice cream and telling jokes back and forth. She smiled slightly when Abby's giggles reached her ears. "Nothing."
"Yeah, sure, that's why you're giving me one word answers," Piper said with a gentle smile. She sighed, trying to pinpoint what was wrong with her sister. "Are you mad that Abby stayed with me last night? Because she only came to me when she couldn't wake you."
Prue shook her head. "No, I'm not mad about that. And I'm not mad at you."
"Then what's going on?"
Sighing, Prue gazed down at the ground, digging in the dirt at her feet with her toe. "I'm failing her, Piper. I'm supposed to be helping her find her mother. We tried everything, we even tried magic, and nothing worked. And instead of trying to think of something else to try, I'm just sitting here on a swing! She needs me and I'm not coming through for her. I mean, last night, she needed to talk to me and I couldn't even wake up for her." She stopped, shaking her head.
"Prue, listen to me." Piper reached over and rested her hand on Prue's knee. "You are not failing her. She's not just your responsibility, you know. She's all of our responsibility. Yours, mine, and Phoebe's. And just because we haven't heard from her mother yet doesn't mean the spell didn't work."
Prue just shrugged, a clear indication that Piper's pep talk hadn't worked. She lifted her head and fixed her gaze on Abby. "Look how happy she is, Piper," she said, nodding in the little girl's direction. "How can we tell her that with all we can do, with all the powers we have, that we can't find her mother? How do we tell her that she's an orphan even after we promised her we'd help her?"
"Honey, you need to relax." Piper removed her hand from Prue's knee and brushed Prue's hair behind her ear. She hated when Prue got so worked up over things she couldn't control. She did it all the time, and Piper had no idea how to explain to her that beating herself up over something like this wasn't going to help anyone. "Abby's a tough kid. She's not going to all of a sudden hate you because we haven't been able to find her mom yet. She's very attached to you, you know, and I know that you're very attached to her. She doesn't seem like she thinks you're failing her. I think she knows we're doing every possible thing we can."
Prue looked down again so that Piper couldn't see the tears in her eyes. After a long moment, she let out a heavy sigh and lifted her head. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but she shook her head, obviously changing her mind. "What did you guys talk about?" she asked instead.
This is what I've been afraid of, Piper thought. She didn't exactly want to tell Prue that Abby had thought Phoebe didn't like her because she knew Prue would get angry. The last thing she wanted to deal with was another fight between Prue and Phoebe. "Well," she said, hesitating just a little, "she asked about our powers and stuff. And she also asked why Phoebe didn't like her."
"What?!" Prue exclaimed, anger jumping into her eyes. She made a move to get off the swing and stomp over to Phoebe, but Piper grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Let me go," she said, angrily ripping her arm out of Piper's grasp.
"Prue, relax," Piper said loudly to get her sister's attention. "I handled it. I told her that of course Phoebe likes her and that she was only saying she didn't know if she should stay because of the danger we're always in. Abby accepted that no problem."
"I didn't want her thinking that any of us didn't like her," Prue said through clenched teeth. "She's been through too much to have to worry that we're going to abandon her, too."
Piper gently rested her hand on Prue's shoulder. "I know that, honey, but Phoebe does have a good point."
Prue jumped up, brushing Piper's hand off her shoulder. "I'm not sending her to an orphanage, Piper. I'm just not going to do that. I've promised her too much to just turn my back on her."
"Hey, don't yell at me!" Piper jumped off the swing, facing Prue. She met her sister's eye and smiled. "I'm on your side, remember?"
After a few seconds, Prue smiled back. "The question is, how do we get Phoebe on our side?"
Piper giggled and was about to answer when Phoebe ran up to them, trailing Abby behind her. "Guys, we have to go home," she panted. "I had a . . . thing."
"A thing?" Prue asked. She held her hands out to Abby and the little girl ran over to her, jumping into her arms. She scooped Abby up and rested the girl on her hips as she looked at Phoebe expectantly.
"Yeah." Phoebe's eyes darted back and forth, then she lowered her voice so that no one else could hear. "A premonition, and I don't think you guys are going to like it."
Magic was something she'd always believed in, though Peter had tried his hardest to convince her that it wasn't real. She never suspected, though, that the kind of evil the sisters were talking about existed. It was almost too much for her to think about. She couldn't imagine what they went through day in and day out, how scary it must be for them to be in constant mortal danger. Well, get used to it, she told herself. After all, if nothing got in the way, she'd be living in constant danger, too.
She wanted desperately to stay with the sisters. She was surprised by how close she felt to them, Prue most of all. There was something about them she couldn't explain. Maybe it was because they knew what she was going through. Maybe that was why it seemed they were reaching out to her just as much as she was reaching out to them. Perhaps they saw a little bit of themselves in her and her situation.
Sighing, she turned over and faced Prue. She wanted to talk to someone and have someone answer all the questions that were tumbling around in her head. Unfortunately for her, Prue was sound asleep. Abby called Prue's name softly. She didn't even flinch.
Abby rolled her eyes and reached over, shaking Prue's arm. "Hey, Prue?" Abby whispered. "Prue?"
Prue made a face and pulled her arm away from Abby's hand, mumbling something under her breath that Abby couldn't understand, but she didn't open her eyes. Abby sighed and turned onto her back, blowing her hair out of her face. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, then frowned and climbed out of bed, holding Amethyst tight against her side. She walked over to the door and stopped, her hand on the doorknob. Turning around, she glanced back at Prue to see if she had woken up. She hadn't. Abby sighed again and exited the room, pulling the heavy door closed behind her.
She stood in the hallway, unsure of what she was even doing out there. All she knew was she just couldn't lie in bed anymore. She would have driven herself crazy if she had. She headed down the hallway and was surprised to see a shaft of light under Piper's door. She crept up to the door and knocked quietly. "Piper?"
"Abby?" Piper asked, surprise evident in her voice. "Come on in."
Abby opened the door and entered the room shyly. Piper was sitting up in bed, reading. "Can I talk to you?" Abby asked, a little uncomfortably.
"Sure," Piper answered, patting the empty spot in the bed next to her. Abby grinned and climbed into bed. She settled under the covers and laid Amethyst next to her on the pillow. Piper smiled as she closed her book and placed it on her nightstand. "Is everything okay? Where's Prue?"
"She's asleep and I can't wake her up," Abby said, shrugging.
"Yeah, she can be a pretty deep sleeper sometimes," Piper said with a smile. "So what's up? You shouldn't be up this late."
"Nothing much," Abby said with another shrug. "I just can't sleep. Why are you up so late?"
"Sometimes I like to read late at night when everyone else is asleep. The house is so much quieter." Piper laid down on her pillows, facing Abby. "What's going on, honey?" she asked, brushing the little girl's hair out of her face. "Why can't you sleep?"
Abby looked over at Amethyst and began running the ribbon between her fingers. She suddenly realized that the rubbing the ribbon had become a nervous habit for her. She also knew from the look on Piper's face that Piper had realized the same thing. "I was just thinking . . . how do you guys live with the magic? I mean, right this very second, an evil guy could come here and hurt you, right?"
"Well, yes, but we can protect ourselves." Piper propped herself up on her elbow, looking Abby over. The little girl seemed nervous and just a little scared. "Like, if someone came and tried to hurt me right now, I could stop him with my powers. Then I'd wake up Prue and Phoebe and we'd get rid of him."
"Oh." Abby rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Can I see your powers?"
"We'll do that in the morning, honey," Piper said, smiling as she ran her finger down Abby's cheek. It was something she remembered her mother doing to her and her sisters to calm them when they were scared.
"Okay." Abby took a deep breath, wondering if she should ask another question. After a moment's hesitation, she drew in her breath and asked. "Piper, if I do end up staying here, will I still stay in Prue's room with her?"
"I don't know," Piper said thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure you'd have to have your own room. I'd have to talk it over with Prue and Phoebe, but more than likely, you'd get either my room or Prue's room and she and I will share a room again, just like when we were little."
"Okay." Abby said again. This time, though, her voice was noticeably softer.
Piper caught the change in Abby's expression. The little girl's face, which had been filled with confusion and a little bit of fear, now showed sadness and regret. "What's the matter?"
Abby sighed, closing her eyes. She brought Amethyst a little closer to her, squeezing the bear tightly. "Why doesn't Phoebe like me?"
Piper gasped in surprise. "What? Why do you think Phoebe doesn't like you?"
"She doesn't want me to stay here," Abby said matter-of-factly. "I heard her yelling at Prue, remember?"
"Oh, honey, she does want you to stay with us" Piper answered, gripping the girl's arm comfortingly. "She's just afraid that the evil people will hurt you if you stay. She doesn't want you to get hurt, is all, and she was just trying to get Prue to realize that there's a very good chance you could get hurt if you stay."
Abby smiled in relief. That made her feel so much better. Ever since she had heard the fight that morning, she had been afraid that Phoebe didn't like her and she just wanted to get rid of her like everyone else in her life had. Now she knew that wasn't true at all. She yawned again and her eyelids suddenly began to get heavy. "I'm getting tired, Piper," she said through another yawn.
"Your mind's clearing," Piper said with a smile. Abby nodded and closed her eyes. Piper leaned over and tucked the girl in tightly. "You try and get some sleep."
"Can I stay in here or are you going to take me back to Prue's room?" she mumbled as she pulled the covers up to her chin.
"No, you can stay here, honey." Piper reached over and switched off her bedside lamp, then nestled herself under her covers. "I won't go to sleep until after you do, okay? That way, if you think of any more questions, you can ask."
"Okay," Abby said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Night, Piper."
Piper smiled and gave Abby a quick good night kiss. "Night, baby. Sleep tight."
Abby smiled slightly and sighed. She was suddenly exhausted. Maybe Piper was right; maybe she felt better and more relaxed now that her major questions had been answered. At least I know now that Phoebe doesn't hate me, she thought right before she drifted off.
**********
Piper sat in the long green grass of the park, watching Abby do cartwheels about twenty feet away from her. The little girl was doing them one after another until she got so dizzy that she fell down. Piper picked at the grass as she took her eyes off Abby to stare up, watching the few wispy clouds that were in the sky roll past. There was something about a bright blue sky with cotton candy-like clouds that relaxed her.
With a small sigh, she looked back over at Abby, seeing as she was supposed to be watching the girl. Phoebe had just arrived with the small soft serve cone she had promised Abby. She handed Abby the chocolate one while keeping the vanilla one for herself. The little girl grinned a thank you and plopped down in the grass, licking the ice cream quickly before it could melt any further. Piper smiled and turned her gaze to Prue, who was sitting forlornly on one of the swings. She wasn't even swinging very much; she was pushing the swing back and forth without taking her foot off the ground, lost in thought. Piper dropped the blades of grass that were in her hand, stood up, and walked over to the swings, sitting down next to her sister. "Hey."
Prue started and looked over at Piper. "Oh, hi," she answered softly.
"What's up?"
Prue shrugged and started out at Abby and Phoebe. They were both eating their ice cream and telling jokes back and forth. She smiled slightly when Abby's giggles reached her ears. "Nothing."
"Yeah, sure, that's why you're giving me one word answers," Piper said with a gentle smile. She sighed, trying to pinpoint what was wrong with her sister. "Are you mad that Abby stayed with me last night? Because she only came to me when she couldn't wake you."
Prue shook her head. "No, I'm not mad about that. And I'm not mad at you."
"Then what's going on?"
Sighing, Prue gazed down at the ground, digging in the dirt at her feet with her toe. "I'm failing her, Piper. I'm supposed to be helping her find her mother. We tried everything, we even tried magic, and nothing worked. And instead of trying to think of something else to try, I'm just sitting here on a swing! She needs me and I'm not coming through for her. I mean, last night, she needed to talk to me and I couldn't even wake up for her." She stopped, shaking her head.
"Prue, listen to me." Piper reached over and rested her hand on Prue's knee. "You are not failing her. She's not just your responsibility, you know. She's all of our responsibility. Yours, mine, and Phoebe's. And just because we haven't heard from her mother yet doesn't mean the spell didn't work."
Prue just shrugged, a clear indication that Piper's pep talk hadn't worked. She lifted her head and fixed her gaze on Abby. "Look how happy she is, Piper," she said, nodding in the little girl's direction. "How can we tell her that with all we can do, with all the powers we have, that we can't find her mother? How do we tell her that she's an orphan even after we promised her we'd help her?"
"Honey, you need to relax." Piper removed her hand from Prue's knee and brushed Prue's hair behind her ear. She hated when Prue got so worked up over things she couldn't control. She did it all the time, and Piper had no idea how to explain to her that beating herself up over something like this wasn't going to help anyone. "Abby's a tough kid. She's not going to all of a sudden hate you because we haven't been able to find her mom yet. She's very attached to you, you know, and I know that you're very attached to her. She doesn't seem like she thinks you're failing her. I think she knows we're doing every possible thing we can."
Prue looked down again so that Piper couldn't see the tears in her eyes. After a long moment, she let out a heavy sigh and lifted her head. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but she shook her head, obviously changing her mind. "What did you guys talk about?" she asked instead.
This is what I've been afraid of, Piper thought. She didn't exactly want to tell Prue that Abby had thought Phoebe didn't like her because she knew Prue would get angry. The last thing she wanted to deal with was another fight between Prue and Phoebe. "Well," she said, hesitating just a little, "she asked about our powers and stuff. And she also asked why Phoebe didn't like her."
"What?!" Prue exclaimed, anger jumping into her eyes. She made a move to get off the swing and stomp over to Phoebe, but Piper grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Let me go," she said, angrily ripping her arm out of Piper's grasp.
"Prue, relax," Piper said loudly to get her sister's attention. "I handled it. I told her that of course Phoebe likes her and that she was only saying she didn't know if she should stay because of the danger we're always in. Abby accepted that no problem."
"I didn't want her thinking that any of us didn't like her," Prue said through clenched teeth. "She's been through too much to have to worry that we're going to abandon her, too."
Piper gently rested her hand on Prue's shoulder. "I know that, honey, but Phoebe does have a good point."
Prue jumped up, brushing Piper's hand off her shoulder. "I'm not sending her to an orphanage, Piper. I'm just not going to do that. I've promised her too much to just turn my back on her."
"Hey, don't yell at me!" Piper jumped off the swing, facing Prue. She met her sister's eye and smiled. "I'm on your side, remember?"
After a few seconds, Prue smiled back. "The question is, how do we get Phoebe on our side?"
Piper giggled and was about to answer when Phoebe ran up to them, trailing Abby behind her. "Guys, we have to go home," she panted. "I had a . . . thing."
"A thing?" Prue asked. She held her hands out to Abby and the little girl ran over to her, jumping into her arms. She scooped Abby up and rested the girl on her hips as she looked at Phoebe expectantly.
"Yeah." Phoebe's eyes darted back and forth, then she lowered her voice so that no one else could hear. "A premonition, and I don't think you guys are going to like it."