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A/N: Yes, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. I've *finally* gotten around to updating. Sorry for the long hiatus; I've been working busy with other projects. And, yeah. Stuff. Anyhoo, enjoy.
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Paige woke up with a start. She sat up and looked around. It was dark, pitch-black. The bright green numbers on her alarm clock read 2:00. What was she doing up this time of night?

Then she remembered.

Her first thoughts were of Piper. Then, one by one, the events of last night came back to her, ending with Prue's spirit.

Paige knew she'd never get back to sleep now. Carefully, so as not to wake anyone else, she crept out of bed and went downstairs to the living room.

There was a fire burning in the fireplace. Paige squinted. As her eyes grew accustomed to the light, she realized there was someone sitting on the couch by the fire.

Prue.

Paige gasped. Her older sister heard her and looked up, smiling warmly. Prue gestured to Paige, indicating she should sit in the chair opposite her's.

"I take it you couldn't sleep, either?" Prue asked gently. Paige shook her head. "I don't blame you. You must've been so scared."

Paige nodded again. "I... I thought Piper was going to die." she said, her voice slightly wavering. "And then you came and.... No offense, but how did you come? I mean, when I suggested calling for you, I wasn't sure if it would work, because you never came before. Why did They let you come now?"

"I couldn't come before because Piper and Phoebe still hadn't accepted the fact that I'm gone." Prue explained. "I'm sure you must have noticed."

"They were always comparing me to you. I know they didn't do it on purpose. I mean, I guess I did it, too. I tried so hard to be like you." Paige admitted.

"You wanted them to accept you." Prue said. "I know how hard it must be, how left out you must feel."

"No," Paige protested, "it's OK, really. I mean, when I came, they'd just lost their big sister..."

"I'm your sister, too." Prue pointed out. She looked up, her eyes filled with love for the sister she never knew.

"I know," Paige said, "I know. And as jealous of you as I was, and as angry as I was that I couldn't be like you, I've always just... I really wanted to meet you, to get to know you as my sister instead of just the memory of some super-witch I have to compete with."

Prue smiled at this description. "Paige, I was hardly a 'super-witch'. You should have seen me right after we got our powers; I didn't want to admit I was a witch at all."

"I guess I can understand that." Paige said. "I was... beyond freaked out, at first. I guess the only reason I really went along with it was to get close to my sisters, and you already were..."

"Are you kidding?" Prue asked increduosly. "I mean, yeah, toward the end we were close, but it wasn't always like that. Phoebe and I used to fight all the time; Piper was afraid to leave us alone for too long, in case we ripped each other's heads off. What have Piper and Phoebe told you, anyway?"

"Not much." Paige admitted. "They never really got around to talking to me about... You know, family stuff. I never brought it up, I guess I just figured they'd talk to me when they were ready."

"Paige, honey," Prue began gently, "why is it, so you think, that they never talk about it?"

Tears sprang to Paige's eyes. "I keep trying to convince myself that they will, eventually, but it's been over a year and they still don't accept me. They still don't think of me as a sister."

Prue held out her hands, and Paige crossed over to the couch, next to her eldest sister. Prue hugged Paige and stroked her hair, the way she had done for Piper and Phoebe when they were little and one of them got upset. "Oh, honey, no. They do think of you as their sister. Honey, they love you."

Paige still wasn't convinced. The talk she'd had with Piper two nights ago seemed like a century away. 'Had Piper really meant it, when she said she loved me?' Paige wondered.

Prue looked down at Paige, the baby sister she'd watched for more than a year now, the sister she'd yearned to meet and talk to and protect. She hated that Paige was feeling this way, and partly because of Prue's own death.

"Sweetie," Prue began, searching for something comforting to say. "After Mom died, I had the hardest time saying 'I love you', to anyone. I was so afraid that I'd lose everyone I cared about the way I lost her. It didn't mean I didn't love anyone, only that I was too scared to admit it. I think that's what Piper and Phoebe are going through. They're scared honey, that's all."

"You think so?" Paige asked. Somehow she felt much more comfortable with Prue now than she had with Piper and Phoebe in the beginning.

"I know it. We love you, Paige."

Paige noticed the way the older witch had worked the word 'we' into that last sentence. "I love you too, Prue." she said sleepily.

The two shifted positions so that they were both lying down on the couch, and fell asleep just as the fire died out.