A/N: This is yet another chapter with something derived from personal memories. I'll explain more later.

Lucy Knight: The way Phoebe reacted to Pam dropping out is the way my mom would've reacted in a situation like that, so I guess I just momentarily turned Phoebe into my mom there! Sorry if it seemed out of character.

anonymous: Three sequential "really"s, wow... I love it when my stuff makes impacts like that... sorry for gloating here... I don't do it much, I swear I don't...

Mediatorsk: Ah yes, the angry review... I was waiting for one of these... as I mentioned before, I will "fix" everything, but not for a while. Heck, what kind of story would you have if Piper died one chapter and was brought back two chapters later?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Josh," Pam said, shaking him. "Josh!"

"What?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"Where's mom?" Pam asked.

Josh looked over at the spot next to him on the bed to discover that it was empty. "Honey?" he called. No answer.

"I went through the whole house, she's not here."

"Well, did she leave a note or anything?" Josh asked, sitting up.

"No, that's what scares me."

"Just calm down, I'm sure everything's fine."

"But what if it's not? Have you seen how she's been acting? She's like, dazed most of the time. She can't even focus on taking care of her daughter," Pam said. They both thought back to yesterday night when Phoebe was holding Allie, but not really holding her. The baby was starting to whimper, but she did nothing to comfort her. She just sat there and stared out the window. Finally Josh had to take Allie from her. "What if she ran away or something?"

"Phoebe wouldn't do that," Josh assured.

"How do we know?" Pam asked. "What happened yesterday really shook her. This is the second sister she's lost. She told me that if Piper died she didn't think she would survive." Josh looked over at a picture of her. He was starting to be a bit wary too. "I'm really worried about her. It was bad enough already, then I had to tell her I dropped out… I'm just really worried that something bad will happen, like she'll stop thinking rationally, or become an alcoholic, or act suicidal…"

"Okay, that's enough worrying. Why don't we go see if Leo or Paige know anything before we start to panic?"

"Alright."

"Come on. I'll get Allie."

……………………………….

"Hey guys," Pam said to Leo and Chris, who were watching TV in the kitchen.

"Hey," Chris replied unenthusiastically. He didn't even turn around; he just stared glumly at the cartoon sponge on the television.

"Have any of you seen Phoebe?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," Leo replied. "She and Paige are sleeping upstairs."

"Oh thank God. …Wait, what?" Pam asked.

"They've been there since before I woke up. I think they just wanted to be closer to their sister," Leo explained.

"Oh," Pam replied. "Then where did you sleep?"

"I fell asleep on the couch," Leo said. "Before they came in."

Just then, Phoebe emerged in her bathrobe and blue pajama bottoms. Behind her followed Paige in a pink set of pjs. Both of them looked rather tired, and their hair was disheveled. Phoebe mustered up a smile as she saw her family.

"Hi, baby," she said, taking Allie from Josh.

"Sorry we slept in your room," Paige apologized to Leo.

"That's okay. I don't even know if I can sleep there anymore."

"Where's Wyatt?" Phoebe asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Upstairs, looking through the Book of Shadows," Chris replied.

"Poor kid," Paige said. "He's gotta let it go. There's nothing anyone can do."

"Yeah, but he thinks with all his power heshould be able todo something," Chris explained.

"Have either of you talked to him?" Phoebe asked.

"Tried to, but he doesn't answer," Leo replied. "It's how he copes, I guess."

"Just like his mother," Phoebe recalled. "Always fighting."Saying that brought up a wave of sadness throughout the entire room.

"Oh good, you're here," Mark said, opening the back door.

"Mommy!" Stella said, running up and hugging Paige.

"Hey, sweetie," Paige replied. She looked over at Andy. "What, are big boys too grown up to hug their mommies?"

He smiled and came towards her. "No…"

"Come here, you," Paige said, hugging him.

"What are you doing over here?" Mark asked.

"Uh, I'll explain later," Paige replied.

"So, I guess we have some phone calls to make today," Phoebe realized.

"Yeah," Leo said, pulled out the address book by the phone.

"I'll call dad... um,my dad, that is," Phoebe said. She had to get used to the fact that she was the only one of Victor's daughters left.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Are you hungry?" Paige asked.

"Yeah," Phoebe replied. "Are you hungry?"

Everyone mumbled a collective "yeah."

"So then why are we all just standing here?" Pam asked.

"Because mom always used to cook breakfast," Chris said solemnly.

"Oh," Phoebe realized. "Maybe we should all go out somewhere to eat." Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," she offered. About a minute later, she returned with a tray. "Well, I guess this solves the mystery of breakfast." She put it on the counter. "Apple dumplings, enough for all of us."

"From who?" Paige asked.

"Mrs. Fitzpatrick down the street. Apparently she found out somehow and wanted to-" the doorbell rang again. "-offer her condolences…" Phoebe finished. "Wonder who that is." She left the kitchen once again. Leo followed her.

"I'm gonna go make sure I straightened out the sheets on Piper's bed," Paige said.

"What? Why?" Mark asked, following her.

Stella and Andy stayed in the kitchen, enthralled by the cartoons on the TV.

"Okay, who wants dumplings?" Pam asked, taking one.

"How can you just sit there and eat those like nothing's changed?" Chris asked.

She stopped just as she was about to take a bite. "This is how I cope with things. My mind pushes itself into a state of denial for a few months, and I don't feel like anything's really happened." She took a bite. "At least that's how it was when my grandma died. Foster grandma, that is. Even seeing her at the funeral, it still didn't sink in. The only thing that gets to me this time is when my mom cries."

"Lucky you," Chris replied, turning back to the TV.

"Here, have a dumpling," Pam said, handing one to him. "It's comfort food."

"Oh please. 'Comfort Food?'" Chris said, taking it. "For someone who's primarily a tomboy, you can act quite girly sometimes."

Phoebe and Leo came back in the kitchen and placed a casserole on the counter next to the dumplings.

"Where'd this come from?" Pam asked.

"Mrs. Peters," Phoebe answered. "Word's spreading fast. I suggest we clear a space in the fridge."

…………………………………

Paige walked briskly into the kitchen with some salsa and tortilla chips.

"Would people please stop bringing food!" She yelled in frustration, looking around for a place to put what she was holding. The counter was filled up, and there was no room in the fridge. People just didn't understand that they already had food in the house. "Okay, this stuff is going on top of the TV." She turned around to face Phoebe, who was sitting at the table. "You know, if the circumstances weren't so glum, this would be pretty funny."

"Piper knew a lot of people." Phoebe wiped her eyes as she put down the phone. "I just got done talking to my dad. He's coming later today."

"Good. Then we can all- go over everything," Paige replied, taking a piece of celery from a plate of chips n' dip.

"He's really upset about it."

"I don't blame him. We all are," Paige said solemnly, biting into the celery stick.

"I was thinking. Maybe we should all… move back in here," Phoebe suggested. "Without the Charmed Ones, we're not as powerful. There's bound to be demons attacking. We'll be safer together."

"Are you kidding? There's no room," Paige reminded.

"We'll think of something." She removed the saran wrap from a tray of brownies that were in front of her on the table. "We are gonna get so fat..." she said with her mouth full.

A/N: The thing with the food was what happened when my grandma was terminally ill, we had people bringing whole meals and turkeys and all sorts of stuff when we already had a full fridge... it was mild chaos. But not as bad as the situation my English teacher told us about last year. She was over the house of a woman in our town who's son had been killed in an accident (it was really tradgic), and everyone in town seemed to be bringing food, and it was being piled wherever there was room, including on the TV. My teacher (shout-out to Mrs. McDermott if you're reading! ...yeah right) said that the woman was getting really mad at everyone bringing food, and she said that watching the whole situation "it would've been funny if it wasn't such a sad time." So that's where Paige's line came from. Yeah, whatever, you guys don't care, you just want to find out when Piper comes back lol.