A/N: I must warn everyone, this is the first time I've ever made myself cry writing. Every Charmed fan should recognize the song I used in this chapter... "Calling All Angels" by Jane Siberry.
kendallpaigecharity: Yeah, I'm updatingquicker now because I've wrote like, six chapters ahead of this one.
Lucy Knight: You really, really want Pam to solve this thing, don't you?(This isn't supposed to sound agrivated or anything, just amused. When youtype things you can't really show emotion, hence that you might have misunderstood what I just wrote as an insult or angry comment!)
anonymous!: Well, here you go, next chapter right here:)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Piper turned the calendar a month forward so that it now said January. She walked over to the kitchen closet, managed to turn the doorknob with her wrists, and awkwardly took out the dustbuster.
"Piper, you better not be going to clean the house," Phoebe scolded from the table. "You have us to do that."
"I know, I know. I'm just going to clean up the curtain in the parlor a little bit. Ever since we got thicker ones, they seem to be dust magnets," Piper replied. She hated those curtains. To her, they were like hanging one of Leo's old army blankets in front of the window. They were thick and didn't let any light in. It gave the room quite a dreary appearance. But they really had no choice, what with Mrs. Henderson always looking in on them. They couldn't risk being exposed again. It had happened too many times before, with extremely grim consequences.
Piper walked down the hall slowly. She had to reserve her energy if she was to stay as active as possible. After the humiliation on the day of the family portrait, she refused to ever go near the wheelchair (which now rested in the closet under the stairs) again. She managed to grab onto the curtain successfully, so she kept a tight grip on it as she turned on the dustbuster. Unbeknownst to her as she began to dust it, a demon shimmered in behind her. As he crept nearer, however, he stepped on a squeaky floorboard. Piper dropped the dustbuster and whipped around. She instinctively held up her hands to freeze him, but had forgotten about her inability to do so. One hand maintained a firm grip on the curtain, and the other was held up in a fist shape. The demon smirked.
"Phoebe!" Piper shouted. Before she got another word out, the demon thrust an energy ball at her. She dove out of the way just in time, but hit her head and side on the piano in the process and brought the curtain crashing down with her. Phoebe entered the room at that moment and kicked the demon to the floor. He threw an energy ball up at her, and she used her Empath power to channel it straight back at him as he was getting to his feet. He burst into flames and disintegrated.
Across the street, Mrs. Henderson couldn't believe what she'd just seen.
"Oh God, Piper," Phoebe said, shaking her. She stirred, and Phoebe breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't dead. "Are you okay?"
"N-No!" Piper said, twisting her face into an ugly grimace. "It's my side!" She clenched her teeth as she cried out in pain. "And my head!"
"What's causing it?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know what's causing it!" Piper retorted.
"Okay, okay, just work through it," Phoebe stroked her hair gently. "Leo!"
Leo orbed in instantly. "What happened?" He asked as he bent down next to Piper.
"There was a demon attack," Phoebe replied. "I got him, I don't know if he got her."
"He didn't, I hit the piano!" Piper explained through the pain.
"I can't heal her, just as always," Leo exclaimed angrily. He'd give anything to save his wife from what she was going through.
Just then, Mrs. Henderson burst though the front door and into the parlor. "I saw it, I saw it all!" she exclaimed.
Phoebe looked up at the window, and then at the curtain on the floor. The phrase "uh-oh" instantly ran through her mind. "Mrs. Henderson," she said, otherwise speechless.
"There was another man here, and- oh my goodness," she gasped as she saw Piper. "What's wrong with her?"
By now, Leo was furious, both from not being able to heal Piper and towards this woman who had barged into his living room. "You just said you saw the whole thing, why don't you tell us?"
Phoebe's head spun as the fiasco that led up to Prue's death ran through her mind. She was getting overly-emotional, and that made it extremely difficult to control her Empath powers. She could feel the terrible pain Piper was in, the rage Leo felt, and the dazed and confused emotions of Mrs. Henderson. Phoebe knew that she had to do anything she could to keep this woman from telling about them.
"What are you?" Mrs. Henderson asked.
Phoebe sighed. "We're witches," she admitted.
"Have you always been them?" she asked with a shocked tone. "Since before I moved here?"
"Well let's see, that was right after the shape-shifting warlocks lived there, so yeah," Phoebe replied.
"The who?" Phoebe could now sense panic coming from the woman.
"Look, Mrs. Henderson, I know that on TV and stuff witches are evil, but trust me, we're not. That man who was here? He was a demon. I vanquished him. Piper tried, but he hurt her. Remember my sister Prue? Guess what killed her. This is the price we've paid over the years to protect innocent people, people like you. And if you go run and tell someone, we're not going to be able to keep protecting everyone. Look at her," Phoebe said, gesturing towards Piper. "Look at how much pain she's in. Just please, go back home and don't tell a soul. Let us try to save her."
Mrs. Henderson stared at the three of them, completely unsure of what to do.
"This is for the greater good here," Phoebe replied, an old but effective shtick.
"Okay," Mrs. Henderson nodded. "Okay." She left and hurried back across the street.
Everyone in the manor breathed a collective sigh of relief, and then Piper let out another cry of pain. "Dammit, why do we even have this stupid piano!" she yelled in frustration.
"I think she broke something. Orb her to the hospital," Phoebe instructed, using her Empath power to judge.
Leo obeyed immediately.
………………………………
By now, the family had been in the hospital waiting room so many times that it almost seemed like the walls were beginning to close in. Everyone just wanted to find out what kind of extra care Piper needed this time and leave as soon as possible. However, it wasn't as simple as that.
Dr. Reynolds approached them in the waiting room. Phoebe, Paige, and Leo instantly stood up.
"How is she?" Leo asked.
"She managed to break quite a few bones," Dr. Reynolds answered.
"All that from just falling on a piano?" Paige asked.
"Well, I tell you that her bones, organs, and tissue are deteriorating, didn't I?"
"Right. Sorry," Paige replied, a little ticked at the doctor's attitude.
"Well anyway, for someone in that condition, sustaining the damage she did is quite possible," Dr. Reynolds explained.
"How long is it going to take for her to heal?" Leo asked.
Dr. Reynolds sighed. Instantly, as if on command, Phoebe emotions did a complete flip-flop.
"I don't think she is going to heal," Dr. Reynolds said.
"What?" Leo asked. "Are you saying she'll be like this for the rest of her life? In chronic pain?"
"We're giving her some strong painkillers so that she doesn't feel a thing. But yes, her injuries probably won't have time to heal."
"Won't have time?" Phoebe asked with a wary tone.
"The deterioration has progressed significantly," Dr. Reynolds began. Everyone was on edge now; they could tell by her voice that she had something big to say. "Piper's vital organs are starting to shut down. We've done all we can, but things don't look very good. She may only have a few days left to live." Everyone's faces fell simultaneously. "I'm sorry," Dr. Reynolds finished as she walked away.
Paige covered her mouth in shock and stared at the floor. Mark walked up behind her and soundlessly embraced his wife, who didn't even flinch. Leo looked like he'd just been hit by a truck. Phoebe's lip began to tremble.
"Oh, mom," Pam said as she walked up to her. Phoebe took a deep breath, one that was warble-y sounding. She was obviously on the brink of crying. "There's nothing we can do." She put her arm around her mom.
"No, no, there has to be something," Phoebe argued, pushing away. "There has to be! Piper's the strongest of all of us. She can't die, she just can't!" By now, Josh had calmed Allie down enough to put her back in her carrier, and he was walking over to the rest of his family.
"Honey," he began, placing a hand on her cheek. Phoebe already knew what he was going to tell her. He didn't have to say a word. She burst out in uncontrollable tears and he pulled her into a hug.
Pam wiped some tears from her eyes and tried to keep herself together as she shuffled to a chair to watch over her sister.
Leo bit his lip as he sat down next to his boys. He took a deep breath as he prepared to explain the situation to them. He knew that whatever he said was immediately going to crush and change them both forever. And Chris was going to turn fourteen in a week. This was some hell of a birthday present.
Old man is placed upon the steps and a baby cries
High above you can hear the church bells start to ring
And as the heaviness, oh the heaviness
The body settles in
Somewhere you can hear a mother sing
Then it's one foot, then the other
As you step out on the road
Step out on the road
How much weight?
How much?
Then it's how long and how far and how many times
Oh, before it's too late
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
Walk me through this one
Don't leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We're tryin', we're hopin'
But we're not sure how
Oh and every day you gaze upon the sunset with such love and intensity
Why, it's a, it's almost as if you could only crack the code then you'd finally understand
What this all means
Ah, but if you could do you think you would trade it all
All the pain
And suffering
Ah, but then you'd miss the beauty of the light upon this earth
And the, and the sweetness of the leaving
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
Walk me through this one
Don't leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We're tryin', we're hopin'
But we're not sure how
Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Walk me through this one (walk me through this one)
Don't leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We're tryin', we're hopin'
We're hurtin', we're lovin'
We're cryin', we're callin'
Cause we're not sure how
This goes