Love's Intervention
Chapter Seventeen: Sisterly Knowledge
Piper trotted down to the Manor's kitchen, intent on a glass of water. Her footsteps reverberated around the house as she padded to the fridge and took out a pitcher. The house was dark and utterly silent.
Piper herself was slightly disappointed. She had half expected one of her sisters to be here, but obviously, she was wrong. She sighed as she headed back upstairs. Paige is probably over at Richard's, she thought. But most probably Phoebe was awake, lying in her bed, contemplating over her failed relationship. In the end, Piper thought grimly, Jason was not the one for her.
She wanted to go to sleep. She really did. But being by herself in a king-sized bed with only her covers to warm her made her feel like the loneliest woman in the world. Sure, before Leo used to always orb out in the middle of the night, but she had always known that he would be back with her, to hold her and love her, to be the wonderful husband he truly was.
Piper walked past Paige's bedroom door, but suddenly paused outside Phoebe's. She pressed her ear to the door. She did not hear a sound.
Maybe she really did fall asleep, Piper thought. Piper knew that was an anomaly; she had been keeping closer tabs on her younger sister than anyone knew, especially after Leo became an Elder.
Every since Leo had left her life, Piper had taken up to wandering her room, the hall, the kitchen—anywhere, as long as she avoided that vast, lonely bed until she was dragging her feet with tiredness. And it was this restlessness that caused Piper to be aware of Phoebe's. Whenever Piper was in the hall or particularly close to the wall that separated her and Phoebe's room, her sensitive ears would pick up a slight rustling sound that she quickly realized was the sound of Phoebe tossing and turning. Piper knew from their earlier years of sharing a room together (Grams always thought that they had to reach a certain age before they could have a room of their own) that Phoebe was always a sound sleeper unless something was bothering her. So Piper began watching her younger sister.
And as Piper watched Phoebe, she noticed many things that she had not noticed before. Her sister's newfound quietness and sobriety, Piper observed, and the slightly haunted look that Phoebe would have for the slightest of seconds. And Jason—Piper knew without a doubt that Phoebe did indeed love him, but even as the non-empath in the family, she knew there was a little something that Phoebe didn't feel for him, a little something that, try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to do.
Piper sighed inaudibly and leaned against the wall. If she thought back to it, she really had been insensitive to Phoebe. She had been so wrapped up in her own wonderful life—a child on the way, her and Leo—that she totally failed to see what Phoebe was going through. Oh, she had tried, but Piper didn't really understand the loss that Phoebe had suffered until she had suffered it herself.
And as she wrapped her arms around herself, as if to protect herself from coldness, she knew that it was only here, alone and in the dark, where she could admit this. In the morning, she would be back to supporting Phoebe through her breakup by supplying comfort food, telling her that she will find her one true love and actually believing it. In the unobstructed night, however, she knew the truth about her little sister as well as about herself. They were not going to find their true loves; they had already found them. Finding and keeping, however, were two separate things all together.
Slowly, Piper turned toward her room, her feet dragging; still not ready to face that vast emptiness by herself.
Phoebe sat in her manicure seat, staring pointedly at her customer's nails as she added the top coat. She was feeling more than a little conspicuous as most of the people in the salon were trying to pretend they were not staring at her while wondering if she was the same woman who ended up in the pages of yesterday's Banner-Herald.
She really was becoming a regular in that tabloid newspaper. Not only did she manage to find herself in the paper again, this time in forms of pictures taken while she was at P3, she had learned that a forum that discussed her and Cole's relationship was now up on the web. It seemed like all the people in the city knew about her—her classmates in college, her professors, the customers at Anne's—in fact, the only ones in the nail salon who seemed unperturbed were the two Korean sisters that owned the salon, only commenting blandly on her almost-punctuality.
Phoebe did not need a single wisp of magical power to know what the rest were thinking. Is that really her? Why is she working at Anne's Nails? Should I call Veronica Adams and tell her? Will I get money if I call Veronica Adams and tell her? Does Cole Turner know she works here? Should I ask for an autograph? How long will it be before Cole Turner cheats on her? Phoebe sighed and finished the pinky. "You're done," she said, smiling politely at the customer.
The customer nodded, paid and tipped, then gave Phoebe a final odd look before she left for the dryers. Phoebe slumped back in her seat and checked her watch. She was almost done. Almost…
"Phoebe?"
Phoebe turned her head upwards toward the voice that had called her name. She smiled as she saw the nice lady she had met a few days ago. "Marjorie?"
"That's me," said the woman kindly as she sat in the seat in front of Phoebe.
"Not that I have any problem with it or anything," Phoebe said, "but why are you back so soon?"
"Because of this." Marjorie placed her hands on the table and Phoebe saw that most of her nail polish had worn off and her nails were almost bitten to the core. Marjorie smiled sheepishly. "I had quite a few number of important meetings with important people over the past few days, and, you know, while in the waiting room—it's definitely a habit I should've kicked a long time ago. But no matter." She shrugged happily. "How are you?"
Phoebe laughed. "I'm good, all things considering," she replied.
"All things considered, huh?" Marjorie repeated, her eyebrows raised. "Now, its not my to meddle, and I'm not expecting any lurid details whatsoever, but I'm just curious to know—how many things written about you are actually true?"
Phoebe squinted slightly, as though thinking. "Some of its true, some of its false—there are a lot of blurry lines, which is the point I think. Sadly, though, I definitely did not go to St. Tropez with him." Which would have been a lot better the other places you've taken me, Cole, Phoebe thought grimly. Hell, the Wasteland, an Egyptian sarcophagus…
Marjorie grinned. "That's disappointing, I was going to ask you what St. Tropez is like. My sister's honeymooning there."
"Oh, really? Congratulations!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"Yeah, and the guy's not so bad either. I'm telling you, that orange juice revelation of hers—did her very well."
Phoebe suddenly remembered how Marjorie compared her to her sister the first time they had met. Phoebe looked at the older woman uncertainly, the question in her eyes but not on her lips. Minutes passed until Phoebe finally found the courage to speak.
"Marjorie," Phoebe began hesitantly. "Remember what you told me about your sister?"
Marjorie smiled. "Of course I do."
"Well," Phoebe said with a nervous chuckle, "what did your sister…well…realize?"
Marjorie looked at Phoebe with some surprise. "Well, dear, I would've thought that you'd figured it out already."
Phoebe looked at her Marjorie expectantly. Marjorie laughed. "Dear," she said. "It's simple really. She just realized that she was in love."
Phoebe was quiet as she finished Marjorie's nails and barely responded when Marjorie paid. All of this settled it. Phoebe knew what she had to do.
When Marjorie left, Phoebe stood up, nodded toward the Korean sisters to show that she was leaving, and grabbed her coat. Within seconds, she was gone.
A/N: Just in case you didn't get it, the first part of this story was Piper in the Charmed, magical world, and in the second part, it was Phoebe in the non-magical world. If you didn't get what I was talking about in the second part of the chapter though (with Marjorie), then you should check back to Chapter Ten. Another chapter of Twice Cursed is up as well. Happy New Year everyone!!