"Well, why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm sorry, Piper. I was in a bind, and I knew Darryl was at work for a little while longer, and I knew Sheila wouldn't be able to turn me away when I showed up on her doorstep with the boys. Even though Darryl doesn't want anything to do with us anymore, Sheila still knows that we are doing good things, and wanted to help in any way she could. But man, when Darryl came back, he must have hit the ceiling. I orbed in a few minutes after he got there, and he was livid. He was keeping his actions calm, so he wouldn't upset Chris, but his words were like ice. Piper, I don't think Darryl will ever be our friend again." Leo was visibly upset by what had happened the previous evening. He had sensed so much pain with the sisters, especially Paige, during her emotional breakdown the day before at P3. He really didn't have much time to react, he let his instincts take him to the Morris house. "I really hope this didn't cause a rift between Darryl and Sheila. They have enough in their own lives to worry about, they don't need to be fighting over us. I wish I could have come up with a better idea, but I didn't think there was enough time."
Piper sighed. She, as were her sisters, was so upset by Darryl's reaction to them, shortly before Prue came back. He had almost died by lethal injection, and of course magic was to blame. He told the sisters he just couldn't handle it anymore. He couldn't cover for them, and he couldn't be their friend anymore. Not only that, he didn't want anything at all to do with them again-ever.
"I'm sure they'll work through it. They've been through a lot together. I just feel so bad..." Piper's voice trailed off, and she momentarily got lost in thought. The boys were actually taking a nap at the same time, and since Phoebe had taken Paige to her first appointment with Dr. Scott, and Prue, of course out again with Dr. Scott's brother Alden, the house was quiet. For a moment, she was considering taking advantage of the situation and running upstairs with Leo, but then the front door opened.
"Well, we're back," Paige sighed as she hung up her jacket and purse. She and Phoebe walked into the living room where Piper and Leo were. Phoebe was kind of antsy, and Paige was, well Paige was Paige, or the Paige she had been for the last two weeks anyway. She looked at Phoebe, who was dancing around like she needed to go to the bathroom. Paige flopped down into a chair, and said, "Fine! Tell them already, before you burst!"
Phoebe braced herself. "Dr. Scott is a witch! And so is Alden!"
"What?" Piper gasped. "What are you talking about?"
Phoebe told them what happened near the end of the session. "But, Aiden, I mean, Dr. Scott, didn't know we were witches until I got that premonition, which means that Alden doesn't know Prue is a witch, and Prue obviously doesn't know that Alden is one, too! This is so soap opera-esque!" She finally sat down on the couch.
"So, are we gonna tell Prue?" Piper asked.
"No," said Paige. "It's Alden's secret to keep, just like it's Prue's secret. They'll tell each other when they're ready, but until then, I'm going to have to not talk to Prue about my sessions, or it might slip. And you know Prue, she'll get pissed that he didn't trust her enough to tell her, even though she was doing the same thing, and it will all blow up. I just don't want to deal with a break up right now. I know that sounds selfish, but Dr. Scott said I can be selfish right now."
"I know what you mean," said Piper. "As much as we love her, we all know how Prue can get."
"How can I get?" Asked Prue as she walked in.
"Oh, nothing," said Phoebe. "Just that you get crabby when there are no more grapes, and I ate the rest. So, I'm off to the market! Anyone coming? No? Okay," she squished up her eyebrows and walked away quickly.
"Paige, how was your session with Aiden? Or do you have to call him Dr. Scott?" Prue asked from the kitchen, checking on the grape situation. She found some in a bowl right in front. She rolled her eyes and grabbed them, returning to the living room.
"Well, we just talked about my background, mostly. Not about my problems. Not yet anyway. I'm going back tomorrow. Prue, I know you were just trying to help, and I'm grateful for it, but can you not talk to your boyfriend about my situation anymore?"
"I'm sorry Paige. I won't, I promise." She flopped down next to Paige in the overstuffed chair and offered her some grapes. Piper nudged Leo, and they took advantage of being temporarily forgotten by the two sisters, and ran upstairs to be alone while the boys were still napping. "And he's not my boyfriend, anyway." She smiled.
"Oh? Well you sure see enough of him! Two meals one day, a movie another, and didn't you just come from being with him?"
"Oh shut up!" Prue playfully smacked Paige with a pillow. "Just because we go out all the time, doesn't mean we're an item, yet."
"And aren't you afraid he might be a demon?" Paige asked, a little too matter-of-factly, since she knew for a fact Alden was not a demon, but a witch.
"No! Well, yeah. I'm thinking of asking Piper to help me with the test."
"Test?" Paige asked.
"Yeah, we used to do it all the time. She'd freeze someone, and then I'd prick him with a needle, and if he bled red, he wasn't a demon." Prue smiled smugly, and reached for the remote.
Paige wriggled out of the one person chair they were both sharing and moved to the couch. "And what if he doesn't freeze at all? Has that ever happened?"
"Well, no... But if he doesn't freeze, he's definately good."
"Isn't it just good witches that don't freeze?" Paige asked.
"Paige, are you trying to tell me something?"
"No, no. Nothing. Just curious." She stood up. "It's been a long day. I need a nap."
"Yeah, well why don't you take one in my room? I think there's some commotion going on in the room next to yours!" They both laughed, and Paige headed for the basement, where Prue shared a big room with Phoebe. Prue settled in to watch All My Children, which she rarely got to do these days.
That evening, Prue was, of course, out with Alden. Piper was upstairs, giving the boys a bath. There were bubbles everywhere, and the whole bathroom was wet from the splashing. Wyatt splashed some bubbles into Chris' eyes, and as Piper wiped them out, Chris squinted and threw a splash of bubbly water right into Wyatt's face. Wyatt started crying.
"Well," Piper said to Wyatt, wiping his eyes now, "That's what you get for picking on your little brother. Now you guys play nice. It's almost time for bed."
"No bed!" said the suddenly cranky Wyatt.
"Nonoonono!" said baby Chris, smacking his hands on the water, splashing some more.
Piper laughed, and bundled them both into hooded towels. She carried them into their room, and sat them on a bed. As she was drying them off, the phone rang. "Can someone get that?" No response. The phone kept ringing. "Oh for cryin' out loud! You boys BE GOOD! Mommy will be right back, okay?"
She ran to the hallway for the phone. "Hello?" she asked.
"Piper, it's Darryl."
"Darryl?"
"Yeah, listen, is Leo there?"
"No, it seems it's just me and the boys. I just got them out of the bathtub," she said, as she craned her neck to peek in at them, making sure they were still being good. Wyatt was squirting baby lotion all over the blankets. Piper rolled her eyes, wanting to get the mess cleaned up before it got worse, but very curious as to what Darryl wanted.
"Look, I just wanted to apologize to him for the way I acted last night. I know it wasn't your guys' fault that I almost got killed, but it was directly related to me being close to you girls."
"We understand, Darryl. We know what it's like, coming up with cover stories all the time. We know what it's like to lose someone to evil, too, and we don't want to lose you. We aren't upset with you for your decision." Now Wyatt was unfolding all the clean diapers and throwing them around. Chris was giggling gleefully, as Wyatt and put a clean diaper on his head, and started jumping up and down on the bed.
"Darryl, I really gotta-"
"Piper, just hear me out. I haven't changed my mind, I can't help you guys anymore, but I don't want to hate you anymore. I know you're doing good, and I know there would be a whole lot more trully unsolved cases if it weren't for you and your sisters. I just wanted to apologize to Leo, and tell you guys that I love you, but it's still gotta be over."
"Oh Darryl," Piper said, at a loss for words. Finally she said, "We love you too." She heard the click as Darryl hung up. She reflected for a moment, until she heard a loud thud, and then crying. Wyatt had jumped himself right off the bed.
"Wyatt! Are you okay? Wait a minute, what kind of question is that? Of course you're okay, you can heal yourself." She picked him up and rocked him back and forth. "Shhh, it's okay. You'll be okay. But no more jumping on the bed, okay?"
Chris decided to be jealous, and started whimpering. Piper waddled over to him and picked him up, too. She sat down with both of them in a rocking chair, and sighed. Then baby Chris pulled out the baby powder and squeezed. They were all covered in white powder. Piper let out a little sneeze, just as Leo walked in.
"What's going on here?"
"See? I told you these guys were gonna give me gray hair!" Piper laughed, imagining how she looked, covered in the powder. All of her hair must appear gray.
After the boys were tucked into bed, and Piper had relayed her conversation with Darryl to Leo, the phone rang again. Leo answered it, hoping to talk to Darryl himself. But it was Dr. Scott.
"Hello Dr. Scott. Paige actually was very tired and went to bed early. Can I give her a message?"
"Actually, I was calling for Phoebe."
Leo raised an eyebrow and handed the phone to her. After several minutes of giggling and small talk, Phoebe said, "Tomorrow sounds great. But I have to run it by Paige first. Okay, bye!" She smiled as she hung up.
"I have got a date with the very sexy, and very witchy Dr. Aiden!"
"Phoebe, keep your voice down! What if Prue hears you?"
Phoebe shook her head. "Paige already planted some seeds of suspicion in Prue's head. We can't keep this secret from her long, so the sooner she finds out, the better. Alden better be speaking up, cuz you know us, we can't keep our mouths shut!" Phoebe skipped out of the room, making a mental note to talk to Paige about her dating Dr. Aiden, first thing in the morning.
Meanwhile, Prue was out with Alden. Suddenly, his pager went off. He quickly skimmed the message. "Uh, Prue, I really gotta go. It's an emergency."
Prue narrowed her eyes in thought. "It gives off a different beep if it's a fire. What's going on?" Her little chat with Paige earlier had her being overly paranoid.
"It's a personal emergency. I gotta run!" He jumped up and threw some bills on the bar at P3, which Piper had decided to keep called P3. He ran up the stairs and out the door. Prue decided to do some spying. She followed him to what she assumed was his house. He stormed in the house, and she kept in the bushes. She peeked into the window and saw Alden with his brother Aiden. What were they doing? Why did it look like they were throwing a potion at a demon? The third man in the house exploded, with nothing but a scorch mark left behind. Prue stood up quickly. "Oh, oh. He IS A witch! I'm gonna KILL Paige! After I kill Alden!" She stalked right into the house.
"Alden! You've got some explaining to do!"
He and Aiden jumped at the sound of another voice in the house. They relaxed when they realized it was only Prue. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and had a very bad look on her face.
"Prue, I, uh, it's not what it looks like! We were just, uh, -"
"Yes," Aiden interruped, "it IS what it looks like. We vanquished a demon, we're witches, too."
"Aiden! You can't just tell her that! Wait, 'too?' What do you mean, 'too?'"
Aiden laughed, and invited Prue to sit down. He told them how he found out the sisters were witches, and told Paige and Phoebe he was a witch, too, hoping it would form a stronger connection between him and Paige. He really thought this connection would help her open up and heal better.
"And why didn't you tell me?" Alden asked.
"Because Paige asked me not to. Doctor/patient confidentiality," he laughed.
"And why didnt' my sisters tell me?" asked Prue.
"They said it was Alden's secret to keep, and you could relate. So, now that you know, are you pissed?"
"Yes! No. I don't know!" Prue laughed. "I guess I shouldn't be, since I was keeping a secret just as big from you. I've gotta let this sink in. Of all the people I've dated before, magical or not, I've never been with another witch before!"
"Well neither have I," Alden said, pulling Prue into a hug. Aiden rolled his eyes and quietly left the room. "I guess there's a first time for everything. Will the be a first time for us?" His blue-green eyes twinkled, and he leaned in to kiss Prue. "Let's get outta here. My place is ten minutes away."
