TWO

"Hey, sis, how ya' doin'?" asked Paige as she bounced into the living

room.

"Pretty good," said Piper, putting her magazine down. "My stay at the

'hospital' doesn't seem to have done me any permanent harm. Even considering

what I almost did."

"Not your fault," said Paige. "The Source was using your dreams against

you. That could have happened to anyone."

'Yeah, but I almost cost us our powers," said Piper. "It's frightening

how close we came to being just normal mortals."

"We all have dreams," said Paige. "It's just that if ours come true a lot

of innocents can be harmed. But like I said, it's not your fault. You thought

your dream was real. Anyone would have done the same thing in your place."

"I suppose," said Piper. "Where's Phoebe?"

"She and Cole wanted some alone time," said Paige. "They figured that

since we had some down time from demon attacks it was a good time to spend some

quality time together."

"Good for them," said Piper. "I know we don't really trust Cole."

"He's a demon, for crying out loud," said Paige. "It's not like we don't

have good cause."

"I know," said Piper. "But he is trying to be good. And Phoebe loves

him. Maybe we should give him a break?"

"Maybe," said Paige. "I'll have to give that some thought. Trusting

demons isn't exactly natural for us."

"Tell me about it," said Piper. "Most of them want to kill us. Not real

conducive to a trusting relationship."

"Where's Leo?" asked Paige.

"He's up there," said Piper. "Something about attending a meeting. I

guess it's a weekly thing with them. The White Lighters all get together and

exchange notes or something. He really won't tell me what goes on during these

meetings."

"It's probably about their charges," said Paige. "You did say he wasn't

allowed to tell us anything about his other charges. Maybe they get together

and discuss what's going on with their charges and trade recipes or something."

"Recipes, right," said Piper, smiling at the joke. "He should be home

soon. I was thinking maybe we could go out for dinner tonight. I'm not really

in the mood to cook."

"That sounds great," said Paige. "There's this restaurant I've been

wanting to try. One of the girls at work raves about it and I figure it's time

I found out what all the ranting was about."

"Which one?" Piper asked.

"It's called Quake," said Paige. "It's over on...."

'I know where it is," said Piper. "I used to be head chef there. Before

I opened the club. Actually, the food is pretty good. Not as good since I

left, of course, but still not bad."

"Not bad?" Paige asked. "That's high praise from you."

"I know I'm kind of picky," said Piper. "But I always insisted on serving

only the best to my customers. I had a reputation to maintain and I was very

proud of it."

"I know, I know," said Paige. "So what do you say? Shall we visit the

old stomping grounds tonight?"

"That's not a bad idea," said Piper. "I can say hello to some of my old

friends. I haven't seen some of them since I quit there."

"Great," said Paige. "I'll call and get us a reservation"

"Use my name," said Piper. "And if Peter answers the phone, let him know

I'm going to be there tonight. He was always my favorite and he'll make sure we

get a good table."

"Sure thing," said Paige.

"And could you bring me some aspirin?" asked Piper. "There should be some

in the cabinet in the bathroom."

"You okay?" Paige asked.

"Just a slight headache," said Piper. "Nothing to be concerned with.

Probably just a left over side affect from my 'hospital' stay."

"Maybe you should call Leo," said Paige. "His healing should be more

affective than some aspirin."

"I don't think that's necessary," said Piper. "It's very mild. Just get

me some aspirin if you would. I'll be okay in a little while."

Paige turned and headed up the stairs. As she did, neither she nor Piper

noticed a shadow separate from the dark corner in the entryway. It hovered for

a moment and then simply faded from view. Within seconds it was completely gone

with no indication that it had ever been there.