Author's note: This came out a tad longer than I expected, hee. And in
answer to a question posted in the reviews, yes, "I Want a Hippopotamus for
Christmas" is a real song. My mom has it on one of her Christmas CDs. I'm
pretty sure Gayla Peevey sings it, and it you can find it, I really
recommend it. It's adorable. ;)
**********
Piper awoke to find herself shivering. She pulled the comforter up around her shoulders and huddled under the covers, trying to warm herself up. Why is it so cold in my room? she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. After a few minutes, it became obvious that her teeth weren't going to stop chattering, so she climbed out of bed, tying her bathrobe around her waist. As she headed out of her room on her way downstairs, she managed to catch the clock out of the corner of her eye. It was only a little before seven, way too early for her sisters to be awake. It was technically too early for her to be awake, but she was too cold to even attempt to go back to sleep. As she quietly crept downstairs, she felt a tiny twinge of guilt. She had promised Phoebe that she wouldn't go downstairs without her. It was something they had done every Christmas morning ever since Piper could remember. The entire family waited until everyone was up, and they all went down together. But it was so cold that she at least wanted to check the thermostat. There had to be a reason why it was so cold in the house.
"Oh, no wonder it's so cold!" she grumbled as she turned up the heat. According to the thermostat, it was only fifty degrees in the house. As soon as she heard the heat turn on, she headed into the kitchen, intent on making a pot of coffee. Before turning on the coffee maker, she opened the blinds in the kitchen. The second she glanced out the window, her jaw dropped. What she saw wasn't possible. How could this be happening?
Excitedly, she raced back up the stairs, not caring if she made a lot of noise. Her sisters had to see this. Something like this came along once in a lifetime and she couldn't be sure if it would still be there in a couple of hours. She whipped Phoebe's door open and switched on her sister's bedside lamp. "Phoebe, wake up! Get up and look out the window."
"Piper?" Phoebe asked groggily. "What's going on? Why is it so cold in here?"
"Just come here and look out the window." She grabbed Phoebe's arm and tugged, trying to pull her out of bed. After a bit of fighting, Phoebe got out of bed and allowed Piper to drag her to the window. "Look at this," Piper said as she pulled up the shade.
"Oh my God," Phoebe whispered, her jaw dropping. "It's snowing!" The ground was covered with a light dusting of fluffy white snow and thick white flakes were still falling from the sky. The snow had to have been a wet snow because it was sticking to the trees and the rooftops, covering them with a thin white layer. "Piper, this looks like something off a postcard. This is impossible."
"Obviously not," Piper said softly. "Looks like your Christmas wish was something you could get after all."
Phoebe looked over at her sister and was surprised to see tears in Piper's eyes. Suddenly, she understood what was upsetting her. "Oh, honey." She wrapped her arm around Piper's shoulders and squeezed. Piper wanted her Christmas wish to come true so badly and seeing someone else get their wish had to be more than a little disappointing. "You could still get your wish, you know."
"How?"
She winced at the hopelessness in her sister's voice. "Magic?" After a moment, Piper smiled. Phoebe smiled back and brushed Piper's hair out of her eyes. "Is Paige awake yet?"
"I don't think so," Piper answered with a shrug. "We could go peek in on her and see for sure."
As she and Phoebe tiptoed to Paige's room, Piper was reminded of all those years when they would wake Prue up at five or six on Christmas morning. She'd be angry at first, annoyed at being shaken out of a sound sleep by her two little sisters, but after a couple of minutes, she'd be right by their side when they went into their grandmother's room.
They quietly approached Paige's bedroom door. Piper put her finger to her lips as she slowly opened the door and peeked in. Paige was still sound asleep, curled up under the covers. Piper pulled the door closed and tiptoed away a little bit. "She's out cold."
"So let's wake her up," Phoebe whispered.
"Phoebe! It's like, seven o'clock in the morning."
"Yeah, Christmas morning," Phoebe reminded her. "She's not going to care if it's Christmas morning. And if she's really that tired, she can take a nap later."
Piper sighed. "What are you, like, three? You want to rush downstairs?" Phoebe just grinned. "Okay, okay, fine," she said in resignation. "But if she gets mad, I'm blaming it all on you."
Phoebe giggled. "I'm okay with that." Piper rolled her eyes as she opened the bedroom door again. "Paige," Phoebe called, her voice verging on singsong. "It's time to get up."
Paige moaned and pulled the covers over her head. Piper and Phoebe exchanged a mischievous grin, raising their eyebrows at each other. Piper then walked into the room and sat down on the bed, pulling the comforter off Paige's face. "Paige, wake up," she said gently.
"What do you guys want?" she mumbled without opening her eyes. "It's like, way early."
"Paige, it's Christmas!" Phoebe exclaimed. She ran into the room and flounced onto the bed, causing it to bounce up and down. "You have to get up so we can go open presents!"
Paige smiled in spite of herself. She had never had siblings to wake her on Christmas morning and, though it was obnoxious, it made her feel like part of the family. She turned onto her back and stretched, finally forcing her eyes open. "Merry Christmas," she murmured.
"Merry Christmas to you, too," Piper said, smiling. "When you wake up a bit, you should look out the window."
"Will that explain why it's so cold in here?"
Piper nodded, grinning. "I did turn the heat up--"
"You went downstairs?" Phoebe asked, a pout on her face.
"Phoebe, I had to turn up the heat," Piper said, rolling her eyes. "You would have rathered I let us freeze to death?"
Paige giggled, kicked the covers off, and ran over to the window. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed when she saw the snow. "You guys, this is impossible. It's like . . . I don't know, a miracle or something!"
"A Christmas miracle," Phoebe said softly.
Paige smiled, ran her fingers through her hair to calm her tangles, and turned away from the window. "All right, you two got me up at the crack of dawn to open presents, so let's go downstairs and open presents."
Phoebe grinned and grabbed Paige's hand, tugging her out of the room. The sisters bounded down the stairs and headed into the parlor. After plugging in the tree, Piper turned to her sisters and smiled. "Okay, you two sit and get comfortable. I'm going to make some coffee and hot chocolate."
She headed into the kitchen, put a kettle of water on the stove to boil, and started the coffee machine. Sighing, she leaned back against the counter and ran her hand over her face. The holidays were rough for her. She missed her sister so much, and it was so much harder at Christmas. Christmas was Prue's favorite holiday. She loved decorating the Manor and she loved seeing other people's houses all lit up even more. Without Prue, Christmas was a little empty. It just reminded her that she and her sister would never be able to talk to each other again. Some days, all she wanted to do was just say hello to her. All she wanted was to hear her voice one more time.
"Piper, are you okay?"
Piper started and looked up. It couldn't be, could it? Paige was standing in the doorway, gazing at her with a concerned expression. Piper could only hope that Paige hadn't seen her face fall. "Yeah," she answered, clearing her throat.
Paige nodded in a way that let Piper know she didn't quite believe her and walked up to the stove. "Okay." She began pouring the water from the kettle, which was steaming, into coffee mugs. As she opened a couple packets of Swiss Miss, she looked over at Piper. "It's okay to miss her, you know. I always miss my parents more around the holidays."
"She loved Christmas," Piper said, her voice breaking.
Paige quickly wrapped Piper in a hug. After a moment, Piper hugged her back tightly. She cried into Paige's shoulder for a couple of minutes before pulling away. "I miss her so much," she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I thought it would get easier as time went on."
"It does," Paige answered, gently slinging her arm around Piper's shoulders, "but this time of year, it's like two steps forward, one step back. We're reminded everywhere we go that we should be thinking of family, and it's hard not to think about who we've lost."
"Does the sting ever go away?" She looked into Paige's eyes, hoping that she could provide her with an answer. It was amazing how much she had come to confide in Paige. She hated to admit it, but at first, she had resented Paige. She felt like she was trying to replace Prue, and she was now ashamed of how poorly she treated her when they first met her. But even through all that, Paige hadn't given up on her. She just quietly stuck by her until she was ready.
"It hasn't really gone away for me yet, but each year it hurts a little less." She smiled and tightened her grip on her sister's shoulders. "It'll get easier. It's just going to take some time, and that's perfectly okay."
"Thanks," she said, smiling gratefully. "I'm sorry for dumping this all on you, especially on Christmas."
"Piper, you're not dumping," Paige said gently. "This is what sisters do for each other. Especially on Christmas."
Piper smiled another thank you and set the hot chocolate and a couple of cups of coffee on the tray. "Come on. Phoebe's probably wondering where we are."
"Want me to carry that?" Paige asked, eyeing the tray. Piper's hands were still shaky from crying and the last thing she needed was to be cleaning up hot liquids from the floor.
"Sure," Piper said with a shrug. She led the way back to the parlor as Paige followed her with the tray in hand. Settling in front of the tree to distribute the presents, she waited until Paige was seated and comfortable before speaking up. "Okay, how are we doing this? Reverse birth order?"
Phoebe glanced at Paige and smiled, figuring that Piper suggested reverse birth order to make Paige feel included. "Fine with me. Hand her mine first."
Despite Paige's unwrapping the presents very carefully to make it last a little longer, the whole process was over in a matter of minutes. Phoebe's present to Paige was a glass suncatcher kit. It had both premade ones that she could paint and the supplies to make her own from scratch. Piper had given Paige some new paints and brushes, which she desperately needed. Paige and Piper had each bought Phoebe a good-sized crystal teddy bear. It was a set of two bears that Phoebe had seen in the mall one day and she had quickly fallen in love with it. Paige gave Piper the aromatherapy lotion set first, and when she opened the gift certificate for two massages at the gym that Phoebe had given her, she started giggling. "Are you two trying to tell me that I'm uptight?"
"No. 'Wound up' is the phrase I think I used," Paige grinned.
Piper playfully threw a wad of wrapping paper at Paige. Things calmed down a little, and Piper once again found herself thinking about Prue. Oh, Prue, I miss you so much, she thought.
"Oh, honey, I miss you, too."
Piper gasped and looked up at her sisters. "You guys heard that, right? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
Paige looked confused at first, but after a moment, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. When Piper looked at Phoebe, she saw that she had the same look of surprise and wonderment on her face. "Piper, turn around," Paige said, finally finding her voice.
Piper did as she was told and had to do a double-take. She scrambled to her feet and took a tentative step forward, unsure if she should believe her own eyes. What she saw was even more impossible than Phoebe's white Christmas. Yet, like Phoebe's white Christmas, it was standing right in front of her. "P-Prue?"
"Merry Christmas," she answered, a wide grin on her face. She held both arms out in front of her, welcoming Piper into an embrace.
Piper ran forward into her sister's arms, tears slipping down her cheeks. She half-expected to wind up hugging nothing but air, but when she felt her sister's arms wrap tightly around her, she collapsed against Prue. "Oh my God, I can't believe this."
"Believe it," Prue whispered. After a couple of minutes, Piper heard Phoebe get up off the couch and join the hug. "Oh, I missed you guys like crazy."
"You have no idea," Phoebe said, her voice cracking as she started crying.
Prue held them a moment longer, gave them both a kiss on the cheek, and then pulled out of the hug. Piper sniffled and followed Prue's gaze to Paige, who was standing up in front of the chair, anxiously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Prue stepped between Piper and Phoebe and walked up to Paige, smiling gently. "I'm so glad I can finally meet you."
"Me too," Paige said a little nervously. "I mean, I'm glad I can finally meet you, too."
Prue smiled, a little unsure how to act with her. She wanted to give her a hug, but she also didn't want to make her uncomfortable. She didn't want to push Paige into something she wasn't ready for, but she also didn't want to make it seem like she was ignoring her. "I, uh, I want to hug you, but if you don't want me to--"
Paige grinned and hugged Prue first. Piper smiled, wiping tears from her eyes as she watched her two sisters finally start to get to know each other. She wanted desperately to know how all this had happened, but she was afraid that questioning it would somehow cause it to disappear.
Phoebe, apparently, shared the curiosity, but not the fear. "Prue, how is this possible?" she asked.
Prue smiled and turned to Piper and Phoebe. "Well, you made a Christmas wish, right?"
"Yeah, but--"
"The Elders heard," she interrupted, grinning. "And They wanted to do something special to thank you for continuing with your destiny even though you didn't have to. You could have easily given it up right then and there, and no one would have blamed you. But you stuck with it, even with what you've lost, all three of you."
"So this is only for today?" Piper asked sadly.
"I'm afraid so. I have to go back at midnight and all the snow will be melted by morning."
Piper glanced over at Paige and caught the disappointed look that crossed her face for a quick moment. At first, she couldn't understand why Paige was upset, but suddenly it hit her. "Oh, Paige, your wish hasn't come true!"
"It's nothing," Paige shrugged, trying to smile. "Forget it."
"It's not nothing, Paige," Prue said, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. "But I have one more surprise. I brought a couple people with me."
Paige followed Prue's gaze just as her mother and father stepped into the room. Paige's face broke into a wide smile as she ran towards them, jumping into her father's arms. "Oh, God," she cried, squeezing tightly. "This is real, right?"
"Yes, sweetie, it is," her mother said softly. Paige let her father go and then wrapped her arms around her mother just as tightly. She hugged Paige back, then held her at arm's length, looking her over. "Let me take a look at you." She reached out and twirled a lock of Paige's short red hair around her finger. "What did you do to your hair?"
Paige giggled, self-consciously tugging her fingers through a couple of tangles in her hair. "I had a little potion accident, but then I decided to keep it like this. You like it?"
"I do!" she exclaimed, smiling. "You look beautiful."
Piper watched the Matthews family reunion with a proud smile. She was so happy that Paige got what she wanted. She was even happier for Paige than she was for herself. They had all had rough lives, but in a way, Paige had it the hardest. Piper couldn't even imagine what Paige had been through, from losing her parents so suddenly in an accident she was in as well to just as suddenly finding both her birth family and her bloodright. Plus, she and Phoebe hadn't really been all that fair to her, both at first and even to some extent now. She wasn't sure what that said about her and Phoebe, but the fact that Paige stuck with them through it all said a lot about her. Paige deserved a little bit of happiness and Piper was glad that she was finally able to get it.
She sidled up next to Prue and rested her head on her sister's shoulder. "This is amazing. This is honestly the best Christmas ever." She then lifted her head and looked Prue in the eye. "Are you sure They won't let you stay? I mean, imagine how strong we would be with the Power of Four."
"Piper," Prue said gently. She led Piper to the couch, sat her down sideways, then sat down herself, facing her sister. "I'm not here to stay. I'm not meant to stay. It's not my time here anymore. It took me a while to realize that, but it's true. It's time for you to be with Phoebe, Paige, Leo, and your daughter."
Piper put her hand over her stomach as her gaze fell to the floor. "Prue, it's not fair."
"You're right, it's not." She reached out and lifted Piper's chin with her finger so that she could look her sister in the eye. "But you know how you were talking with Paige earlier about the sting going away? It'll never get any easier if you can't accept that I don't belong here anymore."
Piper felt her eyes begin to tear up as she reached over and wrapped Prue in a tight hug. "I can't let you go, I just can't."
"Sweetie, you have to," Prue said softly, stroking her sister's hair. "It's hard, I know, but it's not doing you any good."
"Then why did They send you back to me if They're only going to take you away again?"
"Oh, honey, I was afraid it was going to be too soon for this." She let Piper go and put her hands on her shoulders, forcing her to meet her eyes. "I'm here to help you get a little closure. Everything happened so fast and we never got a chance to say goodbye." She smiled and wiped Piper's tears away with her thumbs. "That fight we had? Forgiven and forgotten. It was forgiven and forgotten the night we had it. I just wish I had a chance to tell you."
"I wish I had apologized that night," she cried, sniffling. "I didn't mean it, any of it." It was starting to come back to her. She still didn't quite remember how it got started, but she remembered calling Prue controlling and overbearing. She was pretty sure she then called her crazy or something equivalent to that, and that was what had hurt Prue the most.
"I know you didn't," Prue said gently. "And like I said, forgiven and forgotten."
Piper nodded, finally starting to calm down. After a moment, she smiled through what tears she had left. "Come on. We have all day and I want to make the most of it."
**********
Piper glanced up at the clock. Quarter of twelve, she thought sadly. The day had gone by so fast. Phoebe had made a few snow angels and wanted to take pictures of them and the snow in general. Once the camera was out, it didn't get put back. Pictures were taken of everyone and everything, from Paige and her parents in front of the tree to one of Prue and Piper that they had taken themselves to one of the four sisters. Piper just hoped that they would all come out. She was already planning to take them someplace in the suburbs to get them developed. That way, if she didn't know anyone, she wouldn't have to explain how people who were supposed to be dead were in her Christmas photos.
Piper and Phoebe had spent much of the day with Prue while Paige spent much of the day with her parents. They had all gotten together for dinner and for a couple hours afterward, but mostly, they had been apart. Piper had wanted to give Paige her space, but she hadn't wanted to make it seem like they were leaving her out. This whole blended family thing isn't easy, she thought, glancing up at the clock again.
"Piper, watching the clock isn't going to make time go by any slower," Prue whispered gently.
"I know," she sighed. "I just don't want to say goodbye."
"I don't, either," Paige murmured. She was nestled on the couch between her parents, her head resting on her father's shoulder. She closed her eyes and snuggled a little closer to him, making herself more comfortable.
"Are you tired, honey?" her mother asked.
Paige nodded, opening her eyes, and threw a teasing, accusing glare in Piper's direction. "'Cause they got me up at like, four in the morning."
"It wasn't four!" Piper exclaimed, grinning. "It was seven. We didn't even get up at four when we were little."
"Four, seven. At that point, it's all the same," she grumbled.
Her mother giggled, brushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "She's not exactly a morning person, is she?"
"I never was," Paige said, sitting up straight. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her legs out in front of her. "But you love me anyway."
Piper smiled and looked up at the clock again. Two more minutes. "Do you guys really have to go?"
"Yeah, honey, we do," Prue said, standing up. Everyone else stood as well and Prue crossed the room to stand next to Paige's parents. "Take care of each other."
"Wait!" Piper cried. She rushed forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Prue's neck one final time. She heard Paige run up to her parents, and a moment later, she felt Phoebe join her and Prue's embrace. As Piper pulled away, she was surprised to see Prue crying. "I'm so sorry, Prue," she said, sniffling. "I just couldn't--"
"It's okay," Prue assured her as she wiped her eyes. "That's the danger of being human, even for a day--human emotions." She gave both her sisters one last kiss on the forehead, then stepped back as the clock began striking midnight. Paige's parents also stepped back, joining Prue. "Goodbye, guys," Prue said with a gentle smile. "Be good to each other."
Piper closed her eyes, not wanting to watch Prue go. There was a soft but quick flash of light and when Piper finally opened her eyes, Prue and Paige's parents were gone. Her shoulders slumped as she turned to Paige and Phoebe, who both had tears in their eyes as well. "I'm, uh, I'm going to go sit in the sunroom."
"You want to be alone?" Paige asked her softly.
"Just for a little bit." She walked from the parlor into the sunroom and sat down in one of the wicker chairs. Her eyes welled with tears as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She gazed out the window, getting one last look at the snow. It was already starting to melt; she could hear it falling from the roof. Sighing, she buried her face in her knees. She was a little conflicted. On the one hand, she was so happy that she had gotten to see Prue again, but on the other hand, it was like she was back to square one. She missed Prue all over again, and in some ways, it was worse than before. There was something about getting only a small glimpse of something you wanted that made losing it so much harder.
She had no idea how long she sat lost in thought. She gave a start when she heard someone call her name. Looking up, she saw Phoebe standing in the doorway. "What?"
"I'm going upstairs. It's almost one."
"Okay," Piper shrugged.
"I just want to make sure you're okay before I go to bed," she said a little uncomfortably. "Because it's kind of like we lost her all over again."
"I'm fine," Piper said with a smile. She just hoped that Phoebe couldn't see through it.
Phoebe just nodded. "Oh, Paige conked out in front of the TV. Do you want me to--"
Piper shook her head. "Nah. I'll wake her up before I go upstairs."
"Okay." Phoebe gave her sister a kind smile. "Night, Piper. I'm here for you if you need to talk or anything."
I know. Thanks. Night, Phoebe." She sadly watched Phoebe disappear into the shadows of the stairwell. Sighing again, she leaned her head back against the chair. Why couldn't you let her stay? she thought angrily. I need her and you won't let her stay with me. Maybe her grandmother was right. Maybe it was better if they didn't see each other. At least then she wouldn't feel like any progress and had made in the past year was completely gone forever.
She sniffled and stood up. Her eyes were burning from crying, and it was making her tired. She walked into the parlor to find Paige fast asleep on the couch. The TV was on and the remote was still in Paige's hand. Piper called her name, but she didn't even flinch. Piper shook her head, smiling, slid the remote out of her hand, and turned off the TV. At the interruption of the sound, Paige started, her eyes opening slowly. "Hey, I was watching that."
"The only thing you were watching was the backs of your eyelids," Piper teased as she set the remote on the endtable.
Paige yawned and sat up. "I was awake."
"Paige, you were snoring," she said gently. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."
As Piper tugged Paige's hand to get her up, she used her free hand to rub her eyes. "I do not snore."
"And I am so not getting into this argument at one in the morning," Piper giggled. "Come on."
She helped Paige up the stairs, walking her to her room, and got her into bed. Paige closed her eyes the second her head hit the pillow and after Piper straightened the blankets around her shoulders, she began tiptoeing quietly to the door.
"Piper?"
She stopped short and turned around. Paige had propped herself up on her elbow, looking at Piper intently. "What?"
"Christmas is about miracles and what happened today was a miracle. I know it's hard, but try not to lose sight of that."
After a moment, Piper smiled, realizing what Paige was saying. "I won't, I promise. You go back to sleep now."
Paige nodded and laid back down, snuggling under the covers. "Night, Piper," she murmured.
"Night, Paige," she whispered back. She left the room, quietly pulling the door closed behind her. As she walked back to her own room, she thought about what Paige had said. Her point was basically that instead of focusing on the fact that Prue had left again, she should be focusing on the fact that she had come back in the first place. She had made an offhand Christmas wish, one she thought wasn't even possible, and she got it. And if that weren't miraculous enough, she got more than what she wished for. She had only wished for another moment with her sisters, and she got a little more than sixteen hours.
As she climbed into bed, she was filled with a sense of peace. Well, that's what miracles are supposed to do, right? she thought. Provide peace? She smiled, nestling herself under the covers. "Merry Christmas," she said, her eyes raised heavenward. She switched off her light, realizing that even though the Christmas had been quite an emotional roller coaster for her, she wouldn't trade it for anything else.
**********
Piper awoke to find herself shivering. She pulled the comforter up around her shoulders and huddled under the covers, trying to warm herself up. Why is it so cold in my room? she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. After a few minutes, it became obvious that her teeth weren't going to stop chattering, so she climbed out of bed, tying her bathrobe around her waist. As she headed out of her room on her way downstairs, she managed to catch the clock out of the corner of her eye. It was only a little before seven, way too early for her sisters to be awake. It was technically too early for her to be awake, but she was too cold to even attempt to go back to sleep. As she quietly crept downstairs, she felt a tiny twinge of guilt. She had promised Phoebe that she wouldn't go downstairs without her. It was something they had done every Christmas morning ever since Piper could remember. The entire family waited until everyone was up, and they all went down together. But it was so cold that she at least wanted to check the thermostat. There had to be a reason why it was so cold in the house.
"Oh, no wonder it's so cold!" she grumbled as she turned up the heat. According to the thermostat, it was only fifty degrees in the house. As soon as she heard the heat turn on, she headed into the kitchen, intent on making a pot of coffee. Before turning on the coffee maker, she opened the blinds in the kitchen. The second she glanced out the window, her jaw dropped. What she saw wasn't possible. How could this be happening?
Excitedly, she raced back up the stairs, not caring if she made a lot of noise. Her sisters had to see this. Something like this came along once in a lifetime and she couldn't be sure if it would still be there in a couple of hours. She whipped Phoebe's door open and switched on her sister's bedside lamp. "Phoebe, wake up! Get up and look out the window."
"Piper?" Phoebe asked groggily. "What's going on? Why is it so cold in here?"
"Just come here and look out the window." She grabbed Phoebe's arm and tugged, trying to pull her out of bed. After a bit of fighting, Phoebe got out of bed and allowed Piper to drag her to the window. "Look at this," Piper said as she pulled up the shade.
"Oh my God," Phoebe whispered, her jaw dropping. "It's snowing!" The ground was covered with a light dusting of fluffy white snow and thick white flakes were still falling from the sky. The snow had to have been a wet snow because it was sticking to the trees and the rooftops, covering them with a thin white layer. "Piper, this looks like something off a postcard. This is impossible."
"Obviously not," Piper said softly. "Looks like your Christmas wish was something you could get after all."
Phoebe looked over at her sister and was surprised to see tears in Piper's eyes. Suddenly, she understood what was upsetting her. "Oh, honey." She wrapped her arm around Piper's shoulders and squeezed. Piper wanted her Christmas wish to come true so badly and seeing someone else get their wish had to be more than a little disappointing. "You could still get your wish, you know."
"How?"
She winced at the hopelessness in her sister's voice. "Magic?" After a moment, Piper smiled. Phoebe smiled back and brushed Piper's hair out of her eyes. "Is Paige awake yet?"
"I don't think so," Piper answered with a shrug. "We could go peek in on her and see for sure."
As she and Phoebe tiptoed to Paige's room, Piper was reminded of all those years when they would wake Prue up at five or six on Christmas morning. She'd be angry at first, annoyed at being shaken out of a sound sleep by her two little sisters, but after a couple of minutes, she'd be right by their side when they went into their grandmother's room.
They quietly approached Paige's bedroom door. Piper put her finger to her lips as she slowly opened the door and peeked in. Paige was still sound asleep, curled up under the covers. Piper pulled the door closed and tiptoed away a little bit. "She's out cold."
"So let's wake her up," Phoebe whispered.
"Phoebe! It's like, seven o'clock in the morning."
"Yeah, Christmas morning," Phoebe reminded her. "She's not going to care if it's Christmas morning. And if she's really that tired, she can take a nap later."
Piper sighed. "What are you, like, three? You want to rush downstairs?" Phoebe just grinned. "Okay, okay, fine," she said in resignation. "But if she gets mad, I'm blaming it all on you."
Phoebe giggled. "I'm okay with that." Piper rolled her eyes as she opened the bedroom door again. "Paige," Phoebe called, her voice verging on singsong. "It's time to get up."
Paige moaned and pulled the covers over her head. Piper and Phoebe exchanged a mischievous grin, raising their eyebrows at each other. Piper then walked into the room and sat down on the bed, pulling the comforter off Paige's face. "Paige, wake up," she said gently.
"What do you guys want?" she mumbled without opening her eyes. "It's like, way early."
"Paige, it's Christmas!" Phoebe exclaimed. She ran into the room and flounced onto the bed, causing it to bounce up and down. "You have to get up so we can go open presents!"
Paige smiled in spite of herself. She had never had siblings to wake her on Christmas morning and, though it was obnoxious, it made her feel like part of the family. She turned onto her back and stretched, finally forcing her eyes open. "Merry Christmas," she murmured.
"Merry Christmas to you, too," Piper said, smiling. "When you wake up a bit, you should look out the window."
"Will that explain why it's so cold in here?"
Piper nodded, grinning. "I did turn the heat up--"
"You went downstairs?" Phoebe asked, a pout on her face.
"Phoebe, I had to turn up the heat," Piper said, rolling her eyes. "You would have rathered I let us freeze to death?"
Paige giggled, kicked the covers off, and ran over to the window. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed when she saw the snow. "You guys, this is impossible. It's like . . . I don't know, a miracle or something!"
"A Christmas miracle," Phoebe said softly.
Paige smiled, ran her fingers through her hair to calm her tangles, and turned away from the window. "All right, you two got me up at the crack of dawn to open presents, so let's go downstairs and open presents."
Phoebe grinned and grabbed Paige's hand, tugging her out of the room. The sisters bounded down the stairs and headed into the parlor. After plugging in the tree, Piper turned to her sisters and smiled. "Okay, you two sit and get comfortable. I'm going to make some coffee and hot chocolate."
She headed into the kitchen, put a kettle of water on the stove to boil, and started the coffee machine. Sighing, she leaned back against the counter and ran her hand over her face. The holidays were rough for her. She missed her sister so much, and it was so much harder at Christmas. Christmas was Prue's favorite holiday. She loved decorating the Manor and she loved seeing other people's houses all lit up even more. Without Prue, Christmas was a little empty. It just reminded her that she and her sister would never be able to talk to each other again. Some days, all she wanted to do was just say hello to her. All she wanted was to hear her voice one more time.
"Piper, are you okay?"
Piper started and looked up. It couldn't be, could it? Paige was standing in the doorway, gazing at her with a concerned expression. Piper could only hope that Paige hadn't seen her face fall. "Yeah," she answered, clearing her throat.
Paige nodded in a way that let Piper know she didn't quite believe her and walked up to the stove. "Okay." She began pouring the water from the kettle, which was steaming, into coffee mugs. As she opened a couple packets of Swiss Miss, she looked over at Piper. "It's okay to miss her, you know. I always miss my parents more around the holidays."
"She loved Christmas," Piper said, her voice breaking.
Paige quickly wrapped Piper in a hug. After a moment, Piper hugged her back tightly. She cried into Paige's shoulder for a couple of minutes before pulling away. "I miss her so much," she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I thought it would get easier as time went on."
"It does," Paige answered, gently slinging her arm around Piper's shoulders, "but this time of year, it's like two steps forward, one step back. We're reminded everywhere we go that we should be thinking of family, and it's hard not to think about who we've lost."
"Does the sting ever go away?" She looked into Paige's eyes, hoping that she could provide her with an answer. It was amazing how much she had come to confide in Paige. She hated to admit it, but at first, she had resented Paige. She felt like she was trying to replace Prue, and she was now ashamed of how poorly she treated her when they first met her. But even through all that, Paige hadn't given up on her. She just quietly stuck by her until she was ready.
"It hasn't really gone away for me yet, but each year it hurts a little less." She smiled and tightened her grip on her sister's shoulders. "It'll get easier. It's just going to take some time, and that's perfectly okay."
"Thanks," she said, smiling gratefully. "I'm sorry for dumping this all on you, especially on Christmas."
"Piper, you're not dumping," Paige said gently. "This is what sisters do for each other. Especially on Christmas."
Piper smiled another thank you and set the hot chocolate and a couple of cups of coffee on the tray. "Come on. Phoebe's probably wondering where we are."
"Want me to carry that?" Paige asked, eyeing the tray. Piper's hands were still shaky from crying and the last thing she needed was to be cleaning up hot liquids from the floor.
"Sure," Piper said with a shrug. She led the way back to the parlor as Paige followed her with the tray in hand. Settling in front of the tree to distribute the presents, she waited until Paige was seated and comfortable before speaking up. "Okay, how are we doing this? Reverse birth order?"
Phoebe glanced at Paige and smiled, figuring that Piper suggested reverse birth order to make Paige feel included. "Fine with me. Hand her mine first."
Despite Paige's unwrapping the presents very carefully to make it last a little longer, the whole process was over in a matter of minutes. Phoebe's present to Paige was a glass suncatcher kit. It had both premade ones that she could paint and the supplies to make her own from scratch. Piper had given Paige some new paints and brushes, which she desperately needed. Paige and Piper had each bought Phoebe a good-sized crystal teddy bear. It was a set of two bears that Phoebe had seen in the mall one day and she had quickly fallen in love with it. Paige gave Piper the aromatherapy lotion set first, and when she opened the gift certificate for two massages at the gym that Phoebe had given her, she started giggling. "Are you two trying to tell me that I'm uptight?"
"No. 'Wound up' is the phrase I think I used," Paige grinned.
Piper playfully threw a wad of wrapping paper at Paige. Things calmed down a little, and Piper once again found herself thinking about Prue. Oh, Prue, I miss you so much, she thought.
"Oh, honey, I miss you, too."
Piper gasped and looked up at her sisters. "You guys heard that, right? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
Paige looked confused at first, but after a moment, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. When Piper looked at Phoebe, she saw that she had the same look of surprise and wonderment on her face. "Piper, turn around," Paige said, finally finding her voice.
Piper did as she was told and had to do a double-take. She scrambled to her feet and took a tentative step forward, unsure if she should believe her own eyes. What she saw was even more impossible than Phoebe's white Christmas. Yet, like Phoebe's white Christmas, it was standing right in front of her. "P-Prue?"
"Merry Christmas," she answered, a wide grin on her face. She held both arms out in front of her, welcoming Piper into an embrace.
Piper ran forward into her sister's arms, tears slipping down her cheeks. She half-expected to wind up hugging nothing but air, but when she felt her sister's arms wrap tightly around her, she collapsed against Prue. "Oh my God, I can't believe this."
"Believe it," Prue whispered. After a couple of minutes, Piper heard Phoebe get up off the couch and join the hug. "Oh, I missed you guys like crazy."
"You have no idea," Phoebe said, her voice cracking as she started crying.
Prue held them a moment longer, gave them both a kiss on the cheek, and then pulled out of the hug. Piper sniffled and followed Prue's gaze to Paige, who was standing up in front of the chair, anxiously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Prue stepped between Piper and Phoebe and walked up to Paige, smiling gently. "I'm so glad I can finally meet you."
"Me too," Paige said a little nervously. "I mean, I'm glad I can finally meet you, too."
Prue smiled, a little unsure how to act with her. She wanted to give her a hug, but she also didn't want to make her uncomfortable. She didn't want to push Paige into something she wasn't ready for, but she also didn't want to make it seem like she was ignoring her. "I, uh, I want to hug you, but if you don't want me to--"
Paige grinned and hugged Prue first. Piper smiled, wiping tears from her eyes as she watched her two sisters finally start to get to know each other. She wanted desperately to know how all this had happened, but she was afraid that questioning it would somehow cause it to disappear.
Phoebe, apparently, shared the curiosity, but not the fear. "Prue, how is this possible?" she asked.
Prue smiled and turned to Piper and Phoebe. "Well, you made a Christmas wish, right?"
"Yeah, but--"
"The Elders heard," she interrupted, grinning. "And They wanted to do something special to thank you for continuing with your destiny even though you didn't have to. You could have easily given it up right then and there, and no one would have blamed you. But you stuck with it, even with what you've lost, all three of you."
"So this is only for today?" Piper asked sadly.
"I'm afraid so. I have to go back at midnight and all the snow will be melted by morning."
Piper glanced over at Paige and caught the disappointed look that crossed her face for a quick moment. At first, she couldn't understand why Paige was upset, but suddenly it hit her. "Oh, Paige, your wish hasn't come true!"
"It's nothing," Paige shrugged, trying to smile. "Forget it."
"It's not nothing, Paige," Prue said, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. "But I have one more surprise. I brought a couple people with me."
Paige followed Prue's gaze just as her mother and father stepped into the room. Paige's face broke into a wide smile as she ran towards them, jumping into her father's arms. "Oh, God," she cried, squeezing tightly. "This is real, right?"
"Yes, sweetie, it is," her mother said softly. Paige let her father go and then wrapped her arms around her mother just as tightly. She hugged Paige back, then held her at arm's length, looking her over. "Let me take a look at you." She reached out and twirled a lock of Paige's short red hair around her finger. "What did you do to your hair?"
Paige giggled, self-consciously tugging her fingers through a couple of tangles in her hair. "I had a little potion accident, but then I decided to keep it like this. You like it?"
"I do!" she exclaimed, smiling. "You look beautiful."
Piper watched the Matthews family reunion with a proud smile. She was so happy that Paige got what she wanted. She was even happier for Paige than she was for herself. They had all had rough lives, but in a way, Paige had it the hardest. Piper couldn't even imagine what Paige had been through, from losing her parents so suddenly in an accident she was in as well to just as suddenly finding both her birth family and her bloodright. Plus, she and Phoebe hadn't really been all that fair to her, both at first and even to some extent now. She wasn't sure what that said about her and Phoebe, but the fact that Paige stuck with them through it all said a lot about her. Paige deserved a little bit of happiness and Piper was glad that she was finally able to get it.
She sidled up next to Prue and rested her head on her sister's shoulder. "This is amazing. This is honestly the best Christmas ever." She then lifted her head and looked Prue in the eye. "Are you sure They won't let you stay? I mean, imagine how strong we would be with the Power of Four."
"Piper," Prue said gently. She led Piper to the couch, sat her down sideways, then sat down herself, facing her sister. "I'm not here to stay. I'm not meant to stay. It's not my time here anymore. It took me a while to realize that, but it's true. It's time for you to be with Phoebe, Paige, Leo, and your daughter."
Piper put her hand over her stomach as her gaze fell to the floor. "Prue, it's not fair."
"You're right, it's not." She reached out and lifted Piper's chin with her finger so that she could look her sister in the eye. "But you know how you were talking with Paige earlier about the sting going away? It'll never get any easier if you can't accept that I don't belong here anymore."
Piper felt her eyes begin to tear up as she reached over and wrapped Prue in a tight hug. "I can't let you go, I just can't."
"Sweetie, you have to," Prue said softly, stroking her sister's hair. "It's hard, I know, but it's not doing you any good."
"Then why did They send you back to me if They're only going to take you away again?"
"Oh, honey, I was afraid it was going to be too soon for this." She let Piper go and put her hands on her shoulders, forcing her to meet her eyes. "I'm here to help you get a little closure. Everything happened so fast and we never got a chance to say goodbye." She smiled and wiped Piper's tears away with her thumbs. "That fight we had? Forgiven and forgotten. It was forgiven and forgotten the night we had it. I just wish I had a chance to tell you."
"I wish I had apologized that night," she cried, sniffling. "I didn't mean it, any of it." It was starting to come back to her. She still didn't quite remember how it got started, but she remembered calling Prue controlling and overbearing. She was pretty sure she then called her crazy or something equivalent to that, and that was what had hurt Prue the most.
"I know you didn't," Prue said gently. "And like I said, forgiven and forgotten."
Piper nodded, finally starting to calm down. After a moment, she smiled through what tears she had left. "Come on. We have all day and I want to make the most of it."
**********
Piper glanced up at the clock. Quarter of twelve, she thought sadly. The day had gone by so fast. Phoebe had made a few snow angels and wanted to take pictures of them and the snow in general. Once the camera was out, it didn't get put back. Pictures were taken of everyone and everything, from Paige and her parents in front of the tree to one of Prue and Piper that they had taken themselves to one of the four sisters. Piper just hoped that they would all come out. She was already planning to take them someplace in the suburbs to get them developed. That way, if she didn't know anyone, she wouldn't have to explain how people who were supposed to be dead were in her Christmas photos.
Piper and Phoebe had spent much of the day with Prue while Paige spent much of the day with her parents. They had all gotten together for dinner and for a couple hours afterward, but mostly, they had been apart. Piper had wanted to give Paige her space, but she hadn't wanted to make it seem like they were leaving her out. This whole blended family thing isn't easy, she thought, glancing up at the clock again.
"Piper, watching the clock isn't going to make time go by any slower," Prue whispered gently.
"I know," she sighed. "I just don't want to say goodbye."
"I don't, either," Paige murmured. She was nestled on the couch between her parents, her head resting on her father's shoulder. She closed her eyes and snuggled a little closer to him, making herself more comfortable.
"Are you tired, honey?" her mother asked.
Paige nodded, opening her eyes, and threw a teasing, accusing glare in Piper's direction. "'Cause they got me up at like, four in the morning."
"It wasn't four!" Piper exclaimed, grinning. "It was seven. We didn't even get up at four when we were little."
"Four, seven. At that point, it's all the same," she grumbled.
Her mother giggled, brushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "She's not exactly a morning person, is she?"
"I never was," Paige said, sitting up straight. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her legs out in front of her. "But you love me anyway."
Piper smiled and looked up at the clock again. Two more minutes. "Do you guys really have to go?"
"Yeah, honey, we do," Prue said, standing up. Everyone else stood as well and Prue crossed the room to stand next to Paige's parents. "Take care of each other."
"Wait!" Piper cried. She rushed forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Prue's neck one final time. She heard Paige run up to her parents, and a moment later, she felt Phoebe join her and Prue's embrace. As Piper pulled away, she was surprised to see Prue crying. "I'm so sorry, Prue," she said, sniffling. "I just couldn't--"
"It's okay," Prue assured her as she wiped her eyes. "That's the danger of being human, even for a day--human emotions." She gave both her sisters one last kiss on the forehead, then stepped back as the clock began striking midnight. Paige's parents also stepped back, joining Prue. "Goodbye, guys," Prue said with a gentle smile. "Be good to each other."
Piper closed her eyes, not wanting to watch Prue go. There was a soft but quick flash of light and when Piper finally opened her eyes, Prue and Paige's parents were gone. Her shoulders slumped as she turned to Paige and Phoebe, who both had tears in their eyes as well. "I'm, uh, I'm going to go sit in the sunroom."
"You want to be alone?" Paige asked her softly.
"Just for a little bit." She walked from the parlor into the sunroom and sat down in one of the wicker chairs. Her eyes welled with tears as she pulled her knees up to her chest. She gazed out the window, getting one last look at the snow. It was already starting to melt; she could hear it falling from the roof. Sighing, she buried her face in her knees. She was a little conflicted. On the one hand, she was so happy that she had gotten to see Prue again, but on the other hand, it was like she was back to square one. She missed Prue all over again, and in some ways, it was worse than before. There was something about getting only a small glimpse of something you wanted that made losing it so much harder.
She had no idea how long she sat lost in thought. She gave a start when she heard someone call her name. Looking up, she saw Phoebe standing in the doorway. "What?"
"I'm going upstairs. It's almost one."
"Okay," Piper shrugged.
"I just want to make sure you're okay before I go to bed," she said a little uncomfortably. "Because it's kind of like we lost her all over again."
"I'm fine," Piper said with a smile. She just hoped that Phoebe couldn't see through it.
Phoebe just nodded. "Oh, Paige conked out in front of the TV. Do you want me to--"
Piper shook her head. "Nah. I'll wake her up before I go upstairs."
"Okay." Phoebe gave her sister a kind smile. "Night, Piper. I'm here for you if you need to talk or anything."
I know. Thanks. Night, Phoebe." She sadly watched Phoebe disappear into the shadows of the stairwell. Sighing again, she leaned her head back against the chair. Why couldn't you let her stay? she thought angrily. I need her and you won't let her stay with me. Maybe her grandmother was right. Maybe it was better if they didn't see each other. At least then she wouldn't feel like any progress and had made in the past year was completely gone forever.
She sniffled and stood up. Her eyes were burning from crying, and it was making her tired. She walked into the parlor to find Paige fast asleep on the couch. The TV was on and the remote was still in Paige's hand. Piper called her name, but she didn't even flinch. Piper shook her head, smiling, slid the remote out of her hand, and turned off the TV. At the interruption of the sound, Paige started, her eyes opening slowly. "Hey, I was watching that."
"The only thing you were watching was the backs of your eyelids," Piper teased as she set the remote on the endtable.
Paige yawned and sat up. "I was awake."
"Paige, you were snoring," she said gently. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."
As Piper tugged Paige's hand to get her up, she used her free hand to rub her eyes. "I do not snore."
"And I am so not getting into this argument at one in the morning," Piper giggled. "Come on."
She helped Paige up the stairs, walking her to her room, and got her into bed. Paige closed her eyes the second her head hit the pillow and after Piper straightened the blankets around her shoulders, she began tiptoeing quietly to the door.
"Piper?"
She stopped short and turned around. Paige had propped herself up on her elbow, looking at Piper intently. "What?"
"Christmas is about miracles and what happened today was a miracle. I know it's hard, but try not to lose sight of that."
After a moment, Piper smiled, realizing what Paige was saying. "I won't, I promise. You go back to sleep now."
Paige nodded and laid back down, snuggling under the covers. "Night, Piper," she murmured.
"Night, Paige," she whispered back. She left the room, quietly pulling the door closed behind her. As she walked back to her own room, she thought about what Paige had said. Her point was basically that instead of focusing on the fact that Prue had left again, she should be focusing on the fact that she had come back in the first place. She had made an offhand Christmas wish, one she thought wasn't even possible, and she got it. And if that weren't miraculous enough, she got more than what she wished for. She had only wished for another moment with her sisters, and she got a little more than sixteen hours.
As she climbed into bed, she was filled with a sense of peace. Well, that's what miracles are supposed to do, right? she thought. Provide peace? She smiled, nestling herself under the covers. "Merry Christmas," she said, her eyes raised heavenward. She switched off her light, realizing that even though the Christmas had been quite an emotional roller coaster for her, she wouldn't trade it for anything else.