ACT II

"Don't you guys feel a bit guilty about just letting that demon go?" Paige asked. She, Piper, and Phoebe had just walked into the crammed P3 for their dinner date with Dan.

"We did not just 'let the demon go', Paige," Piper countered, adjusting the strap of her cherry top. "We went to Parker's Central, and we searched all over, but we didn't see the demon or any other clues. What else would you have us do?"

"I don't know. It just seems that we gave up too easy."

"Well, we're already late, so after dinner, we can go check it out again if you want to," Phoebe responded. "Maybe by then Chris will have something else to help us."

Paige sighed. "All right," she conceded.

Piper looked all around the crowded club. "I don't see him," she said."

"Well, no wonder," Phoebe remarked. "Your place is packed, Piper." That was no understatement. Dozens of bodies grooved to the music of The Bungees. Others milled around or sat at the bar.

Piper looked at her watch, anxiously. "Maybe I should call home and see how Darryl and Wyatt are doing as long as we are waiting. We kind of stuck this whole baby-sitting job on him quickly."

"I'm sure they're fine, Piper," Phoebe reassured her.

"I know. I just want to check and make sure they're doing okay."

"Well, what happens if Dan-?"

"There he is!" Paige interrupted, pointing to the far left of them.

Piper looked around, anxiously. "Where?"

"Oh, I see him. Dan!" Phoebe called.

Dan looked up and around to see who had called his name. Finally, he spotted the sisters. Phoebe waved vigorously so he could see them easier. Dan got up and started making his way through the crowd to where the sisters stood. By the looks of things, it was going to take him a while.

"How do I look?" Piper asked, frantically, smoothing her top and skirt. "Is my hair okay? Is there anything on my face? Is there anything in my teeth?" Piper turned to Phoebe and smiled so Phoebe could look at her teeth.

"Great, yes, no, and no," Phoebe replied, answering each one of Piper's questions. "Don't worry. You look wonderful."

"Okay, good." Piper turned back to greet Dan.

Paige nudged Phoebe. "So what are we going to do if Dan, inevitably, mentions you-know-who?" Paige said into Phoebe's ear so Piper couldn't overhear them

"I don't know," Phoebe answered. "We can't keep on avoiding it. They'll eventually figure out that something's up." Suddenly, a light bulb lighted up in Phoebe's head. "Wait, I think I have an idea." Phoebe quickly turned to Piper. "Uh, Piper, what's that on you face?"

"What do you mean?"

Phoebe peered closely at Piper's face. "It kinda looks like… I don't know, toothpaste? Whatever it is, it's really nasty, isn't it, Paige?" Phoebe gave her a look, hoping that she would catch on.

"What? I don't see anything."

"It's right there. Maybe you should take Piper to the bathroom while I wait here with Dan, okay?"

"Oh!" Paige said, finally catching on. "Oh, now I see it. Eww, let's go get that cleaned up, Piper."

"I thought you said I didn't have anything on my face!" Piper responded.

"Well, the light changed and now I can see it. You better hurry and wash it off before Dan gets here."

"Fine. Tell Dan we'll be right back." Piper followed Paige to the bathroom.

Just after Piper and Paige left, Dan got to where Phoebe was left standing. "Hey, Phoebe," he greeted. "Where did Piper and, uh…?"

"Paige," Phoebe finished.

"Paige, right." Dan shook his head. "Where did they go?"

Phoebe smiled. "They went to the bathroom. You know us women and the bathroom!"

Dan chuckled. "Right." Dan started to look around the club for a few seconds before asking (a bit too off-handedly), "So, uh, will Leo be joining us later?"

"Uh, no, he's not. And while we're on the subject…" Phoebe looked around to make sure that Piper was nowhere in sight. "Leo probably won't be around anymore. At all."

"Oh, really?" Dan said, still trying to appear casual.

"He and Piper had a bit of a messy and painful divorce. He-"

"Let me guess: it was all those secrets he had, right?" Dan guessed.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's it." Phoebe felt a little guilty about sullying up Leo's name by letting Dan think that, but that provided a good reason for the divorce.

Dan shook his head, disapprovingly. "That's what I thought. I mean, I tried to hope for the best, I truly did. But Leo just wasn't who he said he was. No marriage can survive for very long on secrets and lies."

"Uh, yeah," Phoebe said again. "Anyway, the divorce was really painful for Piper. She just breaks down every time someone mentions Leo."

Dan nodded. "That's understandable."

"So, if you could just not mention the divorce or Leo tonight, that'd be really great. I just don't want Piper to be upset and our evening ruined. Is that okay?"

"Totally. I don't want to ruin our evening, either. But it must've been horrible for her. I know what it's like to lose someone you love."

Before Phoebe could respond, Piper and Paige rejoined them.

"Phoebe, there was nothing on my face," Piper told her.

"Oh, must've been the light. Anyway," Phoebe continued before Piper could answer, "let's find our table now, shall we?"

"Do you guys want any drinks?" Dan asked them.

"Just some water," Piper answered.

"Same here," Phoebe said.

"I'll have some iced tea," Paige told Dan.

"Okay, I'll get them. You guys just find a table."

"Will you be able to find us?" Piper questioned.

"As long as you don't become invisible or anything." Dan smiled at her.

Piper returned his smile. "Okay. Thanks."

The sisters and Dan split up as the girls headed to find a table. Finally, they found an empty one near the stage where the band played.

As they sat down, Piper kept adjusting and fidgeting with her dress, although there was nothing wrong with it. Phoebe noticed this and asked, "Piper, what are you doing? There's nothing wrong with your dress."

Piper continued to adjust her dress, and, without looking up, replied, "Well, Phoebe, after tonight, I don't think I really should trust your judgment about my appearance."

Phoebe was about to respond when Piper interrupted. "Plus, I just want to look nice for Dan, you know? I mean, we haven't seen him in- what? Two years?" She turned around and looked at the crowded bar where Dan stood waiting for their drinks. She turned back and leaned in closer to Phoebe and Paige. "He has gotten cuter, hasn't he? I love what he's done with his hair, don't you?"

"Uh, I guess so," Phoebe answered, uncertainly. She hadn't really thought about it too much.

"It's kind of weird, though," Piper continued. "Do you know that I can't even remember why I broke up with him in the first place?" She swiveled around before either Paige or Phoebe could answer to look at Dan again as he finished getting their drinks. This time, it was Piper who waved her hand to show Dan where they were. Dan saw and headed over toward their table.

"Uh, Piper?" Phoebe questioned.

"Yeah?" Piper answered as she turned back once again.

But Phoebe wasn't even sure about what she wanted to say. As she searched for the right words, Dan joined their table.

"Okay, so water for you-" he handed the water to Piper, "-and you." He handed the other one to Phoebe.

"Thanks," Phoebe replied.

"And here's your iced tea, Paige."

"Didn't you get yourself a drink?" Paige asked as she took her iced tea.

"Nah. I had one before you all arrived," Dan replied as he took the seat between Piper and Paige.

"Oh, yeah," Piper replied, sheepishly. "Sorry about that. We-"

But Dan shook his head. "No, no. It's okay. At first, I thought you guys probably couldn't find me in this dense. Your club is doing pretty great, Piper. It's hard to believe that just a few years ago this club was an empty building, which no one even knew about."

Piper nodded. "I know. It's unbelievable. I guess hard work really does pay off, after all."

"I know things can't have been really easy for you with Prue's death and the divor- I mean, the discovery of your half-sister."

Phoebe breathed easily. At least, Dan had remembered not to mention Leo. That was one thing off her mind.

"So, uh, how did you find out about each other?"

"I'd like to call it a magical intervention," Paige responded.

"It was pretty much luck," Piper said quickly, as she glared at Paige. "Paige came to Prue's funeral, and, um, her father was also there, and-"

"It's really complicated," Phoebe put in.

"Well, it's nice to see some things never change, huh?" Dan replied to that comment, looking right at Piper.

Paige looked from Dan to Piper while Phoebe cleared her throat uneasily. Piper stared down at the table, feeling a bit guilty. When Piper and Dan were together, their whole relationship had been filled with lies and complications. Piper's constant disappearance and avoidance of Dan's questions always bothered him very much. Although Piper hated lying to him, she knew for a fact Dan would never be able to take it if he found out that she was a witch.

"So, uh, Phoebe," Dan started after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, "I heard about your advice column, 'Ask Phoebe'. It seems that it's been doing pretty good so far."

However, Phoebe wasn't listening. Behind Dan, Phoebe spotted sparkling, blue lights appearing in the corridor that led to the restrooms. A moment later, Chris's head poked out of the hall. He scanned the club until he caught sight of Phoebe. He beckoned a little to her then disappeared back into the entry.

"Phoebe?" Dan questioned.

Phoebe turned back to the others and noticed that they were all staring at her with an inquiring look on their faces. Neither of her sisters seemed to have seen Chris orb into the club.

"Phoebe? Are you alright?" Paige asked.

"Um, sure!" Phoebe tried to cover up. "I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom." She stood up, quickly.

"Now?" Piper asked.

"Well, you never know when nature is going to call," Phoebe replied. "Excuse me."

Phoebe quickly hurried to the restrooms. When she got there, she saw Chris leaning against the wall. He straightened when he saw her.

"The Elders think that it was, obviously, a demon that attacked the woman. They believe that the demon was after something the woman might have had."

"Might have had?" Phoebe repeated, questioningly. She thought of the shiny object that the woman had had in Phoebe's premonition. Could that have been what the demon was looking for? Phoebe asked herself. But, if that was true, why had the demon just turned and run away?

"The Elders want you guys to go to the woman's address and see if you can find anything there."

Phoebe nodded, distractedly. "Okay. I'll go get Paige and Piper." Phoebe headed back towards the floor, but just at the end of the corridor, she hesitated. Phoebe turned back to Chris.

"Chris?" she asked.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"When you were up there with the Elders… um, you didn't happen to see Leo, did you?"

Chris's face was a blank. "No, I didn't, but, as you know, 'up there' is a pretty big place."

Phoebe stared at Chris's nonchalant face for a moment. Although what he said made sense, she still got the feeling that he wasn't telling her everything. However, she just nodded and continued her way back to the table.

When she reached the table, Phoebe saw Piper and Dan laughing over something while Paige just sat in her seat, looking extremely bored. Just then, Paige looked up and spotted Phoebe.

"Phoebe!" Paige exclaimed. "You're back! Sit down… please," she added, almost begging.

"We've got to go." Phoebe turned to Dan. "Sorry, but it's a family emergency."

Dan nodded, although he didn't seem too happy. "Right. Of course. That's okay."

Piper also looked disappointed. "Do we really have to? I mean, can't you and Paige can handle it without me? I don't want to just leave Dan here by himself."

"But Piper-" Phoebe started.

"Sure!" Paige interrupted. "We can do it! Let's go. Bye!" Paige quickly started putting on her coat.

Phoebe was still unsure about leaving Piper here with Dan alone. What happens if Dan slipped and mentioned something about Leo?

But Paige was practically pulling Phoebe toward the exit so she couldn't say anything against Piper staying.

Once Paige and Phoebe had left, Dan turned to Piper and said, "Hey, do you wanna get out of here? Maybe we could go get some coffee or something. Anywhere that is a little more quiet and a little less crowded.

"That'd be great," Piper replied.

As she and Dan stood up at the same time, her shoulder brushed intimately against his. Piper and Dan glanced at each other for just a moment before quickly stepping adverting their eyes and putting on their coats. Nevertheless, in that one moment, Piper had felt a whole rush of feelings that hadn't been felt in a while.

I haven't even been with anyone since Dan and I broke up, she thought to herself. Wait a minute… have I? Piper wasn't even sure herself. She couldn't remember the last time she had had these feelings for someone. All she knew was that, lately, she had felt as if there was something, or someone, missing from her life. At first, she didn't know who or what it was. But maybe that was because what was missing from her life all along wasn't there.

Until now.

END OF ACT II