We're so glad you like this story! Here's an extra long special. Note: I am sorry to announce that Immersed Emotions, and any of my other stories, won't be updated until July 21st. I will be at summer camp, and have no possible way of posting them :( I am truly sorry, but I will write at camp so that I'm not VERY behind.
I will probably end up getting at least one more post it, but that all depends. Thanks for your reviews, you guys ROCK!
It was twelve, midnight, or at least almost. 11:57 counted as twelve right? By this time Paige was slumped on her desk, her eyes blurred from reading tiny print over and over. By now she knew almost everything technical about John. There were small facts like he was allergic to strawberries, to big things like he almost died from pneumonia. She found a small picture of his sister, Maria, who had eyes as equally green as her brother's, but not her fathers brown hair, more of her mother's strawberry blond. She was very young in the picture, not much older than six. Another fact that interested her greatly was that his parents had divorced from each other and then gotten back together. There wasn't a date. Paige couldn't help but wonder if she was Nate's flame during the divorce, or when they were back together. She knew that it wouldn't matter anyway, that Nate was still a heartless jerk, and nothing would change what he said to her, or what he did to her. She looked around the office and, it was empty. No person in his or her right mind would want to stay this late. 'Of course,' Paige mused, 'I'm not exactly in my right mind, now am I?' She smirked to herself. Paige wondered whether she should stay at the office all night. She certainly had done it before. Her body told her no, and her back was aching for a bed. "Fine, you win." She said aloud. She packed the file into her bag, and picked up her jacket.
Paige yawned as she switched off the light, and locked the door behind her. It was a chilly night, and even with all the light pollution, she could see some stars. She could vaguely see Orion's Belt, and that was as far as she could go with constellations. To the universe, she was only one prick, only one little piece of a big plan. She knew this, but her problems felt like they could fill up the whole universe by themselves. Pulling her jacket tighter around her, she unlocked her green Bug and drove home.
Paige tiredly walked up the steps to her house, wondering if her sisters were still at the club. She noticed Piper's Jeep out of the corner of her eye and sighed. Tonight she would have to deal with her sisters. Again. Paige tried her best to sneak into the house without anybody finding her. Of course, as soon as she hung her jacket up she just HAD to trip over someone's briefcase. She rolled her eyes; she was such a klutz. "Shit," She silently swore.
"Nice one." Someone said behind her.
"Leo." She was caught.
"Paige, why are you coming home so late?"
"I don't know father, why am I?"
"Don't give me that tone, young lady." Leo smirked at her, his own green eyes sparkling. She was relieved that his eyes looked nothing like Nate's.
"Why must you keep me locked up like this?" She laughed.
"Hey, don't look at me, I'm just practicing my fathering skills." Leo grinned.
"Practicing? Is there something you're not telling me?" Paige looked at him suspiciously.
"See this is why you don't miss family meetings." Leo said, putting his arm around Paige's shoulder in a friendly manner.
"No one told me it was a family meeting. I know you're hiding something from me! Tell me."
"Hiding something from you? Pot calling kettle black." Paige gave him a little glare. "All right. I can't really keep it in anymore, can I?" He paused, as if waiting for a drum roll. "Piper's pregnant. She told everyone tonight." He could hardly keep the pride off of his face.
'Shit!' Paige slapped herself mentally, 'that's why she wanted me to come home so bad.' "Oh my god! Congratulations! That's amazing!" She hugged Leo, and kissed him on the cheek, "So is Piper still awake?" Paige really wanted to see Piper and congratulate her. Maybe the baby would be a distraction from Piper wanting to know what was going on with her all the time. Plus, Paige knew she would be an aunt, and that thought excited her. She couldn't imagine having someone like Johnny in her family.
"Yeah, I think she is. Prue and Phoebe haven't given her any time to breathe. They're really happy too." Leo said, "Piper just wishes that you had been there when she told everyone."
"I wish I had too." Paige said, frowning. If she had known the news was this important, she would've come, but she would have to risk her sisters seeing her tears.
"Leo!" Phoebe stumbled in the room looking deliriously happy. "Come in and celebrate some more with us!"
"You better not be giving Piper anything to drink." He said, menacingly.
"Of course not Leo!" She giggled, "We're not THAT stupid." She turned her big brown eyes on Paige, "Paige! You're finally back! Geez, all work and no play makes Paige a dull girl."
"Gee thanks." Paige rolled her eyes.
"Prue used to be like that." She stated, "But photography did wonders for her life. You should try it." She staggered a little, "So you heard Piper's news did you?"
"Yeah, I did, where is she?" Paige asked, and got her answer as Phoebe dragged her into the sunroom, which was dark because of how late it was, still the laughter in the room lit it up. Prue was sitting with a glass of champagne in hand, and talking endlessly with Piper.
"Guess who's here!" Phoebe said, plopping down next to Piper.
"Oh, hi Paige." Piper said, not looking at her.
"Pipe! Oh my god, I heard your news! It's great!" She watched Piper stare at her, and finally break into a smile. Paige hugged Piper. "Hey baby!" She said, waving to Piper's stomach.
"It's so exciting isn't it?" Prue got up, and leaned her head on Paige's shoulder, "Our little Pip is growing up." She turned to Piper who was rolling her eyes, "We always knew you would be the first one to have a kid."
Paige felt like crying. She had been thinking of herself all this time, but there was something bigger. She could put herself and the case aside to be excited for Piper's baby. "So do you know when the baby is due?"
"Well, it's October now so," Piper did small equations in her head, counting on her fingers. "Somewhere around June, but I think the doctor said, late May, early June like June 5th." Paige pecked her sister on the cheek.
"Wow, a baby in June. I hear summer babies get in trouble easily." She winked at Piper.
Phoebe jumped in, next to Paige, "I hope it's a girl, so I can dress it in cute outfits." She giggled uncontrollably.
"That's the last time I share my good champagne with you!" Prue smirked, and turned to Paige, holding up the bottle, "You want some?"
"Well, only if it won't tempt Piper." She said, giving Piper a small smile.
Piper laughed, "That's what I've been telling them, and they're like oh, well, you can have cider. It's my baby that they're celebrating."
"I take that as a no." Paige giggled.
"Nah, help yourself. I'm too happy to be jealous of your drinking habits." She squealed as Leo put his arms around her, and kissed her on the top of her head.
"We're," Leo planted one kiss on her neck, "Having," On her chin, "A" cheek, "Baby," He gave her a full kiss on her lips.
Paige felt jealousy flicker through her, but she knew Piper had worked hard to make her family happen, and she deserved this.
Paige threw her shirt into the laundry basket, and put on a big baggy one that said 'Med-O-Lark', her old camp. She picked up the baggiest pajama pants she owned, and put them on over her underwear. Paige peered at herself in the mirror. She saw the same person that she saw last time she looked. Her pale skin shown in the dark, and her normally red full lips were chapped. Her dark eyes had equally as dark circles under them, and her hair was thrown up into a bumpy ponytail, looking a bit ragged. She could remember the last time she had actually tried to look nice, with Nate. She had been obsessed with wanting him to like her, the way she looked. She wanted him to think she was beautiful. Usually with guys, Paige looked her best no matter what, but couldn't care less about her appearance. There was something about Nate that made her unstable. She disgustedly remembered the time when she had poked at the dimple in her chin, trying to make it disappear, because otherwise Nate would think it ugly. It hadn't worked, and Nate hadn't even noticed it, in fact, she was sure at one point that he complimented her on it. That wasn't the person Paige was. Although, at one point she was sure she loved Nate, she was almost certainly better without him. Almost.
She flopped back on her queen-sized bed that nearly took up a quarter of the room, and let her hair dangle off the side of the bed. Her sister's had gotten the bigger rooms, because they had been living in the Manor all their lives, and Paige was just a forgotten sister, waiting to be found. She wasn't the kind of girl to keep a diary, that girl was Piper, but if she had, the entry would be called, 'Top 10 Reasons My Life Sucks'. She could already think of the top five. "One," She said aloud, "I don't have a boyfriend. Two, my family thinks I'm dull. Three, I'm a bad person because I don't spend enough time with my family." She paused, twirling her hair with her fingers. "Four, the guy who I thought loved me, well it turned out he loved someone else. Five, I almost got kicked off my first case because I assaulted a guy."
The door creaked open, "Assaulted? Should I be coming near you?"
"Piper, hi." Her cheeks turned pink.
"Hey Paige." Piper sat down on the bed next to Paige, whose hair was still dangling over the side. "Aren't you going to sit up?"
"No." Paige looked up into the warm face of her sister. Piper always cared about Paige, she had always wanted to become closer. She had almost succeeded in this, but then Paige shut her out. Again. "Hey miss mommy, shouldn't you be resting? It's almost one."
"I should, but I feel it's more important to talk to my sister about what's going on in her life." Piper played with her straight hair, almost nervously.
Paige sighed, she loved Piper, she really did, but it was just sometimes, she was too concerned for her own good. "Why?"
"Because, Paige! We feel like we haven't seen you in weeks. You stay at the office all day and night. Y'know, Prue used to do it, and she felt like her life was wasted in that office." She her placid face had a look of worry, "Paige, you're a part of this family. And you're going to be an aunt soon. What will my kid do without Auntie Paige?"
"He or she'll do just fine without me."
"I'm serious Paige, what is going on with you?" Paige was silent. "Okay, let's start with the assault part, what happened there?"
"Piper, why don't you just get some sleep, and I'll tell you in the morning?" Paige felt smaller under Piper's glare. "Ok. So I started a case today,"
"Congratulations." Piper smiled a bit, happy to know that her sister was going to share some information.
"Thanks. So I started it, and it's an abuse case about this boy. So I visited the boy in the hospital, and his dad was there, and he just grabbed me, so I hit him out of self defense." Paige shrugged her shoulders.
"Okay, why did he grab you?" Piper asked, laying a hand on her non-existent stomach.
"He uh, knew me." She said, tiredly.
Piper looked at Paige, into her tired eyes and could sense the Pain, "He knew you?" She repeated. Paige nodded her head 'yes', as she looked up at the ceiling talking about all this made it so much worse, made it so much real. Sure, Piper, like all the sisters knew the pain that Nate had caused her mostly due to the fact they saw Paige at her lowest – an emotional mess. Not that she was much better now; she had just got better at hiding it from them, hiding it from herself.
"Talk to me" Piper said comfortingly as she lay down on Paige's bed, so they were face to face, she ran a hand softly through Paige's hair sensing the sister needed a comforting hand.
"Not that simple Pipe, I'm not even talking to myself right now." Paige explained, as she looked into the concerned eyes of a sister.
"Who was he?" Piper asked, lovingly, yet firmly.
"It's…" Paige pushed her hand through her hair again, and although she was tired there was know way she could do this without some help. "If we are going to do this do you mind if I grab a bottle of beer or something?"
"Go ahead, I'll be waiting right here" Piper said comfortingly sensing that this was a big deal for Paige, that there was something big going on right now.
Paige walked from the room, as she walked down the corridor she passed Phoebe's room to hear Phoebe and Prue still talking and laughing, still being happy. She lingered on the doorway a little, wondering why she had to go through this pain. Not just of the case, although this wasn't helping – it was like pouring salt in the wounds that were still open. She never before had let someone in so fast as she had with Nate, let him into her heart, her life she had given him everything. She looked up to see Leo stood looking at her from his doorway, "Hey dude, why don't you get over here and do your job, it's past there bed time in there… practice makes perfect!" she smiled lightly, a pain filled smile that she tried to cover up.
Leo knew that something was off, he had grown to know Paige as the sister she was, and he loved her in that way. As a friend and brother, he walked over and put a comforting hand on the sister's shoulder, "You're in good hands" He smiled knowing where his wife had gone, "Talk to her it'll help… her and you both. She's worried about you!" He didn't wait for an answer or reply; it was a statement, one to let Paige know that they cared about her. Leo gave her a warm smile before he turned to the door, he lifted his hand and brought it down rapping on the door firmly then he opened it a crack and looked in to see Prue and Phoebe sat on the bed laughing. "GIRLS! It's past your bedtime… GET some sleep and so help me… If I hear another word from you" He had his best authoritarian voice on.
Paige couldn't help but smile, she tapped him on the back, "Take it Piper's going to be the authority in the kids life huh? Dude face it once a pacifist always…"
Leo smiled at her, "Hey, they fear me" Paige looked past Leo, at Phoebe and Prue who were laughing at Leo looking over towards him.
"Oh yeah, fear!" Paige said as she walked away
"Don't walk away from me" He shot after he again with his scolding voice Paige shook her head as she hared Leo turn back to the sisters who were laughing and joking, happy and, wishing them a good night as they yet again congratulated him.
Piper looked up to see Paige walk in to the room with a bottle of beer open, and in her other hand a bottle of water. She threw Piper the water. The older sister who was setting on Paige's bed took the water, "Thanks."
Paige lingered back as she thought about running back to work burying herself in papers and files, and the case and never leaving again but she knew she couldn't go on like this. She couldn't keep running and maybe it'll help to talk about it. Just maybe she couldn't run from her sisters anymore she had to let them back into the heart which she had long ago frozen them out of – frozen everyone out of since Nate had hurt her so bad. She had to open up to them. She took a swig from the bottle as she lent against the now shut door, pulling the label off from the bottle as she spoke.
"I hurt you tonight huh? I pissed you off?" Paige asked, knowing the answer already, not needing conformation.
"Yeah a little, but I'll get over it. I just miss having my baby sister around" Piper explained, "I hate not been able to help her"
Paige had just detached the 'B' from the bud bottle and was well into the 'U' as she replied to Piper's words, "I can't even help myself" She explained, she looked up to her sister, "Why are they all bastards?" Paige asked.
Piper looked at her with a questionable frown, "Who?" She asked
"Men" Paige growled, with so much anger at the one word.
"There not all…" Piper offered, knowing that this was the score whenever a man hurt one of the sisters it was the job of the others to restore faith in them. At times, like with Paige, the job proved harder.
"You just got a good one" Paige explained, "Who by the way you should be with right now instead of in here with me"
"Honey, come lie down – You're tired" Piper could see it in Paige, the way she was acting, that was sleep trying to overcome her. Paige nodded, she couldn't fight it she was tired but she knew that if she slept she'd think back to a time when she was happy and wake up to this mess and that was never good. She walked over to the bed and Piper lay down and Paige took a seat next to her and lay against Piper who put a comforting arm around Paige's shoulders.
"So who is it? Who's the guy in the case… that has added to the belief of them all being bastards?" Piper asked as she held Paige close letting the youngest lean on her shoulder as she took another swig from the beer.
"Confidential…" Paige attempted, now not wanting to tell Piper who it was.
"Nice try, Paige were sisters. With us nothings classified…who?"
"It's… It's Nate" Paige explained reluctantly after a few moments of silence, "My first case is a case against my cheating ex"
Piper couldn't believe it, "Nate?" She asked, not needing clarification it just escaping involuntary in disbelief. Paige took a much-needed gulp of the bitter alcohol. She knew this wouldn't help much but it did a little, "And you took the case on honey…do you rally think that it's a good idea?"
"It's complicated Piper… The kid, I have to do something…"
"So is it Nate? Is he hurting the kid?"
"Who else" Paige offered, "I saw him stood there Pipe, and I swear to god it was like been kicked in the head. All the pain came back by ten. His wife, his kids- All the time and I didn't know. She's pregnant and all I could think about was if she was pregnant when I was with him… if…" Paige couldn't continue, she couldn't keep speaking anymore "He hurt me" Was all she managed as she lay with her sister.
Piper knew that Paige was holding back the tears, she knew there was so much pain and also knew that right now she didn't need Paige to tell her anymore. She had to comfort a hurting sister. She ran her hand over Paige's arm softly, "I'm here for you Paige…when ever you know that right?" Piper wanted to make sure the youngest did know that she had someone to turn to.
Paige nodded, she knew, always had but it was only now that she felt she could talk about this. Today she had given in, because she hadn't known what else to do. It was all so…unreal to her. "I loved him Pipe." Paige managed as a tear did in fact fall followed by more.
Piper hugged her sister as Paige buried her head into her sister's embrace and let her emotions free. Piper comforted the youngest that had been broken by that guy. She hated him for doing this. "I know you did honey- it's not your fault" Paige's body wrecked with sobs this been the first time in a long while that she had cried in front of her sisters, spoken to her sisters, let them comfort her.
Piper, after a few minutes noticed that Paige had stopped crying, she looked down to see she was running her fingers through the hair of a now sleeping sister. Carefully so not to wake her, Piper took the now empty and de-labeled bottle of 'bud' from her sister's hand, and put it on the side, turning the lamp off. The two were in a world of darkness. The moonlight flooded in, highlighting the two figures who were lay there, Piper holding Paige protectively.
Tbc.