Paige was convinced to call in sick that day and her sisters were cautious not to leave Paige alone in the manor. Phoebe went to her job in morning, finished the column by two and came back home, to let Piper run to the club to make sure everything was ok. When Piper returned home at ten, Paige was upside down on her head, watching "Kill it before it Dies", with Phoebe three feet from the screen. Piper put down the grocery bag she had in her hand, and starred at her two sisters.
"It's this all you guys did while I was gone?" Piper asked, sitting on the couch. "Watch this movie over and over? Because that was on when I left."
"Nooo…" Phoebe said, stretching out the word unknowingly.
"Yeah, we watched Emperor's New Groove when this one first ended. And then…" Paige said, losing her balance and falling onto her stomach. Piper smiled at her sister's goofy-ness.
"Phoebe, don't sit so close. There's a reason why you have glasses." Piper nagged.
"Fine…" Phoebe scooted back a foot and continued watching the movie.
"I got some strawberry ice cream."
"Ok…" Phoebe had been warped back into the TV.
"Pheebs, Billy is on the phone for you." Piper lied, seeing if anything would pull her back to reality.
"Could you tell him to hold for twenty minutes?" Phoebe mumbled.
"She's long gone…" Piper sighed, "How have you been feeling?" Piper asked, turning her attention to Paige.
"Ok I guess." Paige flipped back onto her head.
"And your stomach?"
"I only felt really awful once today."
"Good."
"Now, it's this headache."
"I wonder why… maybe it's because you're upside down."
"Maybe…"
"Oooh, getting a little pudgy I see." Piper teased, poking Paige's belly.
"Am not." Paige said, trying to swat away Piper's hand but fell over again instead. "So, where are we going tonight?"
"We're not going any where. We still don't know what's wrong with you."
"But I'm fine."
"Huh? Why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, last time you said that, a few hours later you were trying to suck our blood."
"Just throw that back in my face."
"Anytime…"
"I'm going to bed." Paige stated flatly. She got up and went to her room. Piper could tell that she was kind of disappointed. Piper didn't mean to be the mean mom person who said no, forcing her to stay home. Piper got up and went to Paige's room to smooth things out. She gently knocked on the door.
"Paige?" A faint yes was whisper from inside, "Can I come in?" Piper asked, slowly opening the door. Paige was sitting on her bed, Indian style, starring out the window. "Hey…"
"Hey…" Paige said, turning her head for a second toward Piper.
"I just wanted to say that I know you wanted to go out and that I'm sorry that you can't. We just think that it's too big of a risk if something were to happen to you."
"I know…" Paige replied solemnly. Piper knew that it didn't matter and she had to do something to make up for it.
"I got it, me, you and Phoebe can all hang out and play Monopoly or something. It'll be fun and give else a chance to hang out doing something else that doesn't involve demons." Piper offered, hoping Paige would accept.
"That's ok… I'm just going to get an early night. Thanks anyway." Paige replied, lying down on her bed.
"Oh, ok…" Piper answered, walking back out of the room. " Good night."
"'Night…" Piper walked back downstairs to see Phoebe just getting up from the TV that was displaying the end rolling credits.
"Where's Paige?" Phoebe asked.
"Upstairs… still kind of mad." Piper sighed frustrated.
"Oh… I hope she doesn't think were like, the wicked stepsisters."
"I know…"
Of course, Paige, being the kind of person she is, wasn't really asleep. She had been waiting for Piper to leave and sprung out of bed towards her closet. She picked out a long, red skirt with Chinese symbols all over it and a white silk shirt to match. She stuffed her bed sheets with her comforter just in case they went to check up on her and quietly orbed out.
****
Paige had arrived at La Boum, a new French club. She had no trouble getting in and had been there for approximately two hours now. Hooking up with a guy, Chris, almost ten minutes after she got in. Already gone through the basic stuff of, "what's your name? How old are you? What do you do?" kind of questions, they were just sitting at the bar getting a drink (not actually meaning an alcoholic beverage).
"Ready to dance again?" Paige smiled.
"Yeah. You're pretty peppy for it being one in the morning." Chris commented, walking back out to the dance floor.
"I didn't do much today, so I have plenty of energy." They began to dance to the music. The DJ was playing a fast, upbeat techno song. Paige began to slow down and swagger a little. She shook her head and began to massage her forehead.
"Whoa, you don't look to well." Chris commented. Paige tried to focus on something in the room but her vision was just becoming blurrier and distorted. Before she knew it, she blacked out. Chris caught her in his arms and ordered for someone to call 911.