C.C. McKenna

Blood on the Field

Chapter Twenty

Trust

Prue left the hospital to go find a lawyer. Piper stayed to take care of her sisters, which seemed to be an easy task, but it was a hard and distressing job. Phoebe had woken up and didn't want to leave her baby sister's side. No matter what Piper said to convince her; she remained in the same spot; never releasing Lexie's hand.

"Ok" Piper whispered. "I'm going to the cafeteria to get you something to eat; how does a big cup of hot coffee and butter croissants sound?" She ran her fingers through Phoebe's hair and gently pulled it away from her eyes. The latter didn't answer; Piper had to settle for a simple nod.

"Be right back" She gently kissed both sisters on their foreheads and left the room in a hurry.

As soon as Piper closed the door; Alexia opened her eyes; she slowly scanned the room but it didn't look familiar. She slid her eyes and fixed them on her sister's swollen, sad, and empty ones. She wanted to smile and say something to Phoebe, but the tube inside her throat didn't allow her.

Phoebe slowly got up from the stiff chair and rubbed her back. "Lexie... you have to listen to me sweetie; wake up, I need you" She walked to the sofa and clumsily bumped into it. "God... I need to be more careful" Phoebe got up and slowly examined the area with her hands. Lexie saw the sofa on Phoebe's way before she ran into it but she couldn't make a sound to warn her; she startled when she saw her sister falling but quickly calmed down when she saw her back on her feet again. Lexie closed her eyes to make her blurriness go away and opened them back in time to see Zinnlar shimmering in front of her.

Alexia opened her eyes wider and wanted desperately to scream or just to make a simple sound but she wasn't able to do it. Desperation and fear quickly filled her veins; traveling rapidly straight to her chest. The heart monitor quickly registered her beats and Phoebe reacted fast.

"Lexie!... are you awake?" She unsteadily walked to her sister's side and reached out to hold her but Zinnlar grabbed her arm and violently pushed her back to the sofa.

"She's awake witch!" Zinnlar's deep voice suddenly filled the room. "Say the relinquish spell and I'll spare her life" He chuckled.

"You better stay away from her!" Phoebe nervously raised her voice. "Don't you dare touch her."

Zinnlar smiled and turned to Lexie. "That sister witch of yours really makes me laugh" He pointed her finger to Phoebe and smiled again. "What is it honey?" He slowly bent over and placed his ear near Lexie's mouth. "Do you want to say something?"

Lexie's eyes quickly turned misty and watched closely Zinnlar's hand slowly approaching to her face. He grabbed her respiration tube and harshly pulled it away with one single stroke. Piper opened the door just in time to see her sister bending over in pain and coughing blood. She dropped the coffee tray and quickly threw her hands on the air to blow him up. He was hit by Piper's powers but only disappeared for a second or two. He materialized again and laughed at Piper's attempt.

"I told you... you can't do anything against me, stupid witches; but I can" He scornfully turned to Lexie's bed and grabbed her throat. "I could easily kill her right now if I wanted to" He smiled. "But I'm going to wait patiently a few more days... I'll give you some extra time for you to think about it; I need the Charmed powers; and you are going to give them to me!"

Nurse Patty opened the door and walked inside in a hurry. She stared at the evil creature grasping the frail girl's throat and threw herself against him without thinking twice. He stared at the daring nurse with disbelief and glared back at Piper.

"She has to be kidding me... right?" Zinnlar rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in a few days... think about it witch... next time I won't be so condescending" He released Lexie's neck and quickly shimmered out.

Patty quickly lowered Lexie's body against the bed and pressed the emergency button. In a matter of seconds, a complete emergency medical team was by the young girl's side. Phoebe and Piper were pulled outside the room so that the doctors could work freely on the young girl.

"Do I want to know?" Patty looked directly into Piper's eyes as she opened the door and stood by the doorframe; waiting patently for her reply while the doctors attended Lexie.

Piper smiled nervously and bent down her head, trying hard to come up with a nice good explanation.

"It's ok... you don't have to say anything if you don't want to" Patty whispered. "My cousin is a witch too, you know; so I think I understand what's going on here" She spoke almost to herself; staring back at the crowded room.

"What's going on?" Prue arrived and stood by the opened door of her sister's room; she didn't wait for an answer and decided to go in instead, but Patty seized her before she went through.

"I'm sorry Miss Halliwell... but it's best if you wait outside"

"But what happened?" Prue's heart was beating frenziedly inside her chest and her respiration quickly started to sound heavy and uneven.

"She's awake Prue" Piper quickly hugged her sister and pulled her close to her.

"But why all that fuss around her?" She insisted to go inside the room but Piper held her tighter.

"Prue... She's ok, please, calm down and let the doctors work on her"

Prue finally realized her sister's words and leaned back on the doorframe. She silently stared at the crowd around her sister and swallowed hard; not knowing what was better; her sister being unconscious but by their side or fully awake, but taken away by the Juvenile court. She shook her head and slowly looked to her side, finally spotting Phoebe.

"Phoebe... honey" Prue hastily slid towards her distressed sister, wrapping her shaky arms around her. "Phoebe you don't look good... I'm going to have to ask Piper to take you home; you need to rest"

"No" Came the cold reply as she gently wiped some tears from her eyes.

"You don't have any options Phoebe. You're going home and that's it" Prue spoke calmly but with authority; not giving Phoebe a chance to retort. "Piper; take Phoebe home and get her into bed; you too should try and get some rest... take a shower and don't think about getting back in here, well, not until later on this evening"

Piper didn't complain; she knew she didn't stand a chance when the eldest had her mind made up; so it definitely wasn't worth defying her. She nodded and walked defeated towards Phoebe.

"Come on Phoebes, lets go home" She grabbed her sister's arm and softly pulled her close to her.

"But I don't want to... damn it Prue!" Phoebe walked reluctantly beside Piper; not wanting her sister to hold her arm to guide her.

"Phoebe, honey, you don't know your way around this place; you might get hurt"

"I don't give a damn... just don't ... don't touch me, please" She shoved away her sister's hand and unfolded her cane. She wasn't mad at Piper, not even Prue for that matter; she was absolutely pissed off at herself; she had so much anger inside her for not being able to help Lexie. She hated her blindness, she hated her uselessness, but most of all... she hated Phoebe Halliwell.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

One of the doctors went to the waiting room, where Prue was absently seated.

"You can go in now, Miss Halliwell" He stood in front of her and politely helped her to get up.

"Thank you" Prue whispered without even looking at him.

"She's out of the coma, but she harmed herself; we shouldn't have left her alone, she pulled out the breathing tube, and she damaged her esophagus and her vocal cords"

"I see" Prue turned to look at the doctor and nodded. "But she will be ok, isn't she?"

"Of course; she just needs to rest her voice... keep quiet for a day or two and no solid food for the moment, that's all"

"Ok" Prue replied again before opening the door to her sister's room. "Thank you doctor" she whispered softly and went inside.

"Hi baby" Prue smiled widely and hastily approached her sister's bed. "I'm so glad you're back; we all missed you very much" She carefully bent down and kissed her sister with so much love that she even amazed herself. "You scared the hell out of us." She added.

Lexie slowly opened her mouth to speak but Prue quickly stopped her by gently placing her hand on her sister's lips. "The doctor said you should remain quiet... no talking for at least a couple of days" Lexie closed her eyes and nodded; realizing that she couldn't had been able to speak if she wanted to.

"Ok, Lexie... I have some questions, but you can't give me the answers right now; so I'll try to be quick and not wear you out" Lexie closed her eyes again and nodded.

"When you are able to speak again, you are going to explain to us what in the world were you thinking... I mean, why did you lie to us about your heart condition" Prue fixed her eyes on her sister's and waited for her reply. Lexie closed her eyes and nodded.

"Ok" Prue took a deep breath. "We also know about your addiction to methamphetamines;

and let me tell you, dear sister, that that's maybe the stupidest thing you had ever done in your life!" Prue walked away from the bed, trying to keep her self-control; she brushed back her hair and returned to her sister. "I don't understand why do you take that trash if you are under heart medication" Prue shook her head with annoyance. "That's stupid, stupid, stupid!" Prue closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose. When she opened them, she gazed into her sister's eyes and realized she had been a little out of place.

She walked to her sister and held her hand tightly. "I'm sorry honey, it's just that I can't stand the thought of loosing you because of some stupid drugs"

Alexia widened her eyes, not understanding her sister's words. She squinted and shook her head, trying to let her sister know about her disagreement; but Prue didn't understand her desperate frowns. Prue kept on scolding, yelling, admonishing and reprimanding her upset sister until Lexie closed her eyes tightly and refused to open them.

"Lexie... I'm talking to you; open your eyes and look at me!"

Lexie shook her head and remained motionless, shutting her eyes tighter than ever.

"Lexie... I know I'm being harsh on you, and I'm sorry, but honey, it's just that I don't know how to tell you that... you must know that... the doctor who treated you reported you to the Juvenile Justice System, and they have issued an arrest warrant for you.

Lexie opened her eyes and stared shockingly at Prue; hoping that her sister was meanly joking or just being cruel to her for not telling the truth about her heart illness.

"I know honey, I know... but I promise I'm going to get you out as soon as I can; I've already hired a lawyer... he's the best... and... and... he's going to take care of everything" Prue wiped her face and tried to smile, but her sister's shocked eyes didn't seem to agree. Alexia shook her head in denial and swiftly sat up; there was absolutely no way for her to accept Prue's statement, so she had to do everything she could to straighten the stupid misunderstanding.

"No, no, no, no... no!" Prue was quick by her sister's side. "Lean back and relax; you're not supposed to do any kind of exercise... your heart... you know" Prue smiled sweetly. Lexie nodded, but not just to go along with her sister, but because she felt a little string pulled inside her chest.

"Don't worry... our lawyer should be talking to detective Stern as we speak." Prue tried to sound unruffled, but Lexie just couldn't accept what was going on. Prue saw the desperation in her sister's face and she lovingly comforted her. "You'll be fine... I promise; now try to rest... just get some sleep" She whispered.

Piper and Phoebe finally returned to the hospital. Phoebe was anxious to find out how was her baby sister doing and Piper wanted to talk to Prue about Lexie's drug problem. When they entered the room, they saw Lexie deeply asleep and Prue resting as well on their sister's bed. She was sleeping too.

Piper warned Phoebe about not making any noise to startle their sisters and she obediently sat down to wait for either of them to wake up.

Patty silently walked in and when she saw the girls sleeping, she barely waved her hand to call Piper's attention. Piper raised her eyebrow and followed Patty outside the room.

Patty stood outside the room and waited for Piper to close the door. "Detective Paula Stern is here to take your sister away, but we convinced her to wait until a day after tomorrow; I think she accepted; but she wants to speak to Prue." Patty lowered her head.

Piper nodded and deeply sighed. "Ok; ... I'll get Prue... and Patty... thank you so much"

She smiled and softly squeezed the nurse's arm.

"Its ok" Patty whispered sadly, and unwillingly left in search for the detective. Piper stood in the same spot for a couple of minutes, trying to gather strength and courage to go back into the room; Finally, she took a deep breath and reluctantly walked inside.

Piper walked slowly towards the eldest sister and gently patted her shoulder. "Wake up Prue" She gently shook her.

"What?" Prue slowly raised her head and quickly turned to see Piper. "What is it? Piper?"

"Prue... Detective Stern is here, and wants to talk to you." Piper gazed at Lexie and gently caressed her face. Prue hastily got up and walked outside to meet the undesired visitor.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What do you mean you are going to take her to the Juvenile Hall? Prue was furiously talking to detective Stern. "That's absolutely outrageous!"

"Miss Halliwell, I am very sorry but it's the law"

"Well screw the law!" Prue threw her hands to the air and pulled back her hair with annoyance.

"Calm down Miss Halliwell, I know how you feel, but believe me, there's nothing much I can do about it; I'm coming back early tomorrow morning to transfer your sister to the infirmary of the Juvenile Hall"

"Prue knew she wasn't going anywhere with her bad temper, so she finally accepted the detective's announcement. "Will she be able to go out on bail?"

"I'm sorry, but she's already been sentenced by the Juvenile Court and there are no bails in there, so she will be transferred to the Youth Authority; She's been sentenced to 18 months without bail, under welfare and institutions code 707; maybe her Probation Officer will change her recommendation and your sister could be transferred to a County Camp or Ranch, these are like prisons, but she'll have a little more freedom than she would at Youth Authority; She'll live at the ranch or camp, and will not be allowed to leave – that is why

they are called 'secure facilities' If the judge is sending her to a ranch or a camp then you should be grateful"

"Oh yeah, you just can't imagine how grateful I am" Prue spoke sarcastically. "Eighteen freaking months for taking a couple of methamphetamines?!?!... You've got to be hallucinating!"

"It's not just that miss Halliwell; the police found a significant amount of those pills and a large amount of money in her lockers; and some students confessed that your sister was the only drug supplier in the Faculty...and the urine sample she gave before her last game, turned out to be positive on methamphetamines"

"That's ridiculous... my sister is not a dealer...or... or... a junkie, I'm sure there's got to be a huge misunderstanding... I sure would like to meet those unrestrained cooperative students"

"Your lawyer has all the facts and legal documents, and since you gave him complete power over your sister, he's already accepted and admitted the charges"

"WHAT!?!?" Prue spat with anger.

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to talk to him"

"Oh you bet I am!"

"Miss Halliwell, just a small, off the record, advice; please ask your sister to be polite and respectful, to stay calm and in control, do not argue, keep her hands where the police can see them and to not runaway, resist, or even touch a police officer; she can avoid many problems if she follows these rules."

Prue nodded. "Is this going to be all?"

"Yes... I'm afraid it is; see you in a couple of days" Detective Stern walked away confidently and left Prue standing fuming in the middle of the waiting room.

Tbc