ACT IV

The drive to P3 had been uncomfortably silent. Piper didn't utter one single word to Phoebe, while Phoebe sat glumly in the back seat. Paige didn't say anything either; although she believed what Phoebe had seen, she really didn't want to get Piper any more upset than she already was.

At first, the girls didn't see anything as they rounded the corner of P3. Then, Paige noticed a woman kneeling on the ground far ahead of them.

"Look," Paige pointed at the woman.

The sisters ran to her. As they approached, the woman looked up, terrified. She stood up and backed away from them quickly.

"What do you want?" she asked, frightened.

"It's okay, honey," Phoebe assured her. "We're here to help." She looked at where the woman had been kneeling and saw scorch marks on the ground. "What happened?"

The woman hesitated before she answered. "I'm not sure." She started crying. "I don't know what I saw."

"Shhh," Paige shushed. "It's okay." She turned to her sisters. "We should take her home."

"Uh, yeah. Okay," Piper answered. Paige put her arm around the woman's shoulders and led her to the sisters' car.

Neither Piper nor Phoebe followed immediately after. Both seemed to want to say something, but neither could get the words out.

Finally, Phoebe commented, "I guess my premonition was right."

"About everything except for Robert."

Phoebe looked at Piper in disbelief. "He could have shimmered out or something before we came, Piper."

Piper didn't reply. She glared at Phoebe for a moment before turning around to head to the car.

Phoebe and Piper walked in with the woman while Paige closed the front door to the manor.

"Where am I?" the woman asked.

"You're in our home," Phoebe responded. "You'll be safe here, uh…" Phoebe realized that she didn't know the woman's name.

"Kayla," she said.

"Okay, Kayla," Piper began, "uh, why don't you sit here in the conservatory?"

"Okay, thanks." Kayla sat down in one of the chairs while Piper and chair took different chairs opposite from her. Paige remained standing.

"So, Kayla," Paige started, "you wanna tell us what happened?"

Kayla hesitated a moment before answering. "I was rounding the corner of P3 when I saw it." She stopped, as if she wasn't sure she should continue.

"Saw what?" Paige prodded.

"I saw… I saw her killed." She started crying again. "She was talking to someone… then he killed her. Oh, God. It was so horrible."

Paige handed her a tissue and knelt beside it. "Who killed her, Kayla?"

"I don't know," she sobbed. "It was, uh, two men. I heard them talking after… after she died."

"Did you see them?" Piper questioned.

"No. I stayed behind the corner until the voices went away. I was just so scared. I thought that they would do the same thing to me that they did to her."

"Shhh, honey. It's okay." Paige hugged Kayla as she cried.

Phoebe looked on silently at the scene before leaving the living room and heading towards the attic. Phoebe was desperate to find out who had really killed that woman.

Paige joined Phoebe as she reached the stairs. "Poor thing," she commented. "Seeing that woman killed must have really shaken her up."

"Yeah. What I'm really concerned about is who killed her."

Paige looked at her questioningly. "Do you still think it was Robert?"

Phoebe nodded. "Without a doubt."

Paige hesitated before saying, "Well, just to play the devil's advocate, but you didn't actually see Robert throw the fireball, right?"

"No, but I saw him there. He had to have done it."

"Well, Kayla said she heard two voices."

"Well, we know for sure that Robert was there. That's all I need to know." Phoebe was positive that Robert had killed that woman even if Piper didn't want to believe her.

Just then, Robert himself came in through the front door with a large teddy bear.

"Speak of the devil…" Paige murmured.

"More like demon," Phoebe corrected.

Robert spotted Phoebe and Paige on the steps. "Hey you guys!" He held up the bear. "What are you all up to?"

"Honey? Is that you?" Piper came out of the conservatory and joined Phoebe, Paige, and Robert at the stairs.

"Hey, baby," Robert replied. He gave her a quick kiss before saying, "This is for you." He handed her the bear.

"Oh, my God," Piper breathed. "It's so cute." Phoebe groaned inwardly.

"That was why it reminded me of you," Robert said, sweetly.

"Oh, that's so nice! Piper reminds you of a bear! Isn't that so sweet?" Phoebe said, sarcastically.

Piper glowered at Phoebe, then said to Robert, "You spoil me too much."

"Nothing's too good for my fiancée," he commented. "If you have time, maybe I can take you out to dinner again."

Piper smiled at him, but shook her head. "I would love to, but we have bigger problems right now." She glanced at Kayla.

Robert looked in her direction, also. Phoebe looked at his face carefully to see if she could detect just anything to help prove that Robert was there at the scene. However, Robert's face betrayed no emotion.

"What happened?" he asked. "There wasn't an attack, was there?"

"Well, not on us," Piper replied. "But there was a woman was killed."

"Do you know who did it?"

"Not yet," Piper responded.

"But we're close to figuring it out," Phoebe said, quickly. "Just to give you a warning."

"What?" Robert asked.

Piper glared at Phoebe. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Uh, okay," Robert commented, while Piper continued to direct her glare towards Phoebe. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Come up to the attic and help me look in the Book of Shadows," Piper said. "I could use a little help."

"Sure, honey," he replied.

Piper turned to Paige. "You and Phoebe stay with Kayla. See if you can get anything more out of her."

"Okay," Paige answered.

"Come on, sweetie," Piper said to Robert. They headed up the stairs together with Piper still carrying the bear.

Phoebe sighed and looked at Paige, glumly. "I can't believe how naïve Piper is being."

"Now you know how I felt about you and Cole," Paige said, quietly.

"Well, you turned out to be right, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it took you awhile to see it."

Phoebe was saved the trouble of answering when she saw Kayla heading towards the front door.

"Uh, Kayla?" Phoebe called. "Where are you going?"

Kayla stopped, but didn't face them. "I can't stay here," she said. "I just can't." She turned around to look at them. "I just want to go home. I don't want to do this now. I can't do this now."

"Kayla," Paige stopped her. "You can't just forget. We need you to help us so something like this doesn't happen again."

"I've told you all I know," she said.

"You can help us identify those two men," Phoebe offered. "You did hear them talking."

"Believe us, Kayla." Paige went over and put her arms on Kayla's shoulders. "You will be safe here."

Kayla didn't say anything; she just nodded.

"Good," Phoebe said. "Let's go see if Piper has found anything yet."

"Come on, Grams!" Piper said to the still Book of Shadows. "Help us out here!"

"Uh, Grams?" Robert asked coming up behind her.

"Yeah. Sometimes when we're stuck, Grams helps us out a little by showing us what demon we are looking for in the book."

"How?"

"Uh, by flipping the pages," Piper replied.

"Oh, okay," Robert said, still looking confused. "So you're dead grandmother helps you to sometimes find the demons and warlocks that are attacking," he glanced at the Book of Shadows, "by flipping the pages in a book full of spells that has been passed down through generations of witches?"

"Yup," Piper replied, nonchalantly.

"Wow," Robert breathed. "That sure is a lot to take in."

"Yeah, I know. It was for me, too. But you'll get used to it. I promise, or else my name isn't Mrs. Piper Blake."

"It's not yet," he commented, grinning.

"Just a mere technicality." She leaned up to kiss him.

Just then, Phoebe and Paige walked in with Kayla. "Have you guys found anything yet?" Phoebe asked, although she doubted it. Piper and Robert already looked very busy with something else.

Piper broke away from her kiss and turned to her sisters. "Uh, no, unfortunately. I think we should get Chris here." She turned to Robert. "Chris is our whitelighter."

"What's a whitelighter?" Robert asked.

Phoebe heard Kayla gasp and turned to look at her. Kayla was backing away from the sisters.

"Kayla?" Paige asked. "What is it?"

"Him," she pointed at Robert. "He was there. I'm sure of it."

Piper stared at her. "What?"

"His voice." Kayla's own voice trembled. "I heard him. He was one of them."

Piper turned to look at Robert. He had a shocked expression on his face. He glanced quickly at her. "I couldn't. I didn't!"

Piper looked from him to Kayla, still trembling, as if she wasn't sure what to believe.

"Piper, you've got to believe me," Robert pleaded. "I'm not a demon or warlock. I can't shimmer or throw fireballs or anything like that."

"How do you know demons can shimmer?" Phoebe asked.

"Or throw fireballs?" Paige added.

Robert looked to each of the sisters and Kayla. "Well, uh, Piper told me, of course."

"No, I didn't," Piper said. "I never told you what demons could do. Yet you still seem to know." Now Piper was the one backing away from Robert. "How did you know?"

"Come on, Piper," he implored. "You don't really believe I'm a demon. I just heard you guys all talking about that stuff before."

Piper relaxed. "Yeah. That must be it." She turned to Kayla. "I think you have the wrong person, Kayla. Robert is not a demon."

Kayla just shook her head. However, Phoebe responded, angrily, "Piper, I think it is you who has the wrong person." She glared at Robert. "He killed that poor woman."

"Now Phoebe that is enough!" Piper yelled, angrily. "I will not have you accu-"

"'Let the object of affection be revealed as we three witches see through this warlock's outer shield'," Paige interrupted with a spell.

Suddenly, white lights started coming out of Robert and Piper's bodies. They spun around them for a moment, while the two parties looked dazedly at the swirling bright lights. Finally, the bright lights exploded causing both Piper and Robert to be knocked backward.

"Piper!" Phoebe called. She and Paige ran to her.

"Are you okay?" Paige asked.

Piper didn't answer; she stood up and looked over at Robert. He was getting up, also. Piper glared at him for a moment while he looked steadily back at her.

"You bastard." Piper raised her arms and Robert suddenly exploded into dust.

The sisters and Kayla were silent for a moment as they stood looking at where Robert used to be.

"Uh," Kayla started, "can I go now?"

END OF ACT IV