Chapter Five - Questions, Pain and Jealousy

The Kitchen, Halliwell Manor

Later that day, while Piper cooked up lunch, Scully asked the sisters countless questions.

"So how do I know what my power is - if all this really is true?"

"I don't know, we didn't know ours either till we got them."

"Hell, I didn't even know I was a witch until two years ago!" Paige threw in.

"Then how did you know your powers"?

"I didn't, but Piper and Phoebe told me that in the Book of Shadows, it lists the three powers the three Charmed Ones should have. The ability to freeze time - that's Piper's; the power of premonition is Phoebe's; and the ability to move things with your mind - telekinesis - that was Prue's before ... " She trailed off, not wanting to cause Phoebe pain once more.

"Before what?"

"Before she died. Prue was the eldest, the strongest in the Power of Three but a demon killed her two years ago - just before we found out Paige existed."

"How could you not know your own sister existed?" Mulder asked

"Well you see ... our mother fell in love with her Whitelighter - we'll explain that later." Phoebe added, noticing the confusion on both Mulder's and Scully's faces. "And back then, such a relationship was forbidden so when mom fell pregnant with Paige they felt the only way to keep all of them safe was to give her up for adoption."

"That way, the Elders couldn't clip Sam's wings and the demons that were after Piper, Phoebe and Prue almost all our lives - till Grams bound their powers - wouldn't go after me..."

"Didn't work very well though, did it?" Phoebe laughed.

"Nope, guess I have too much of the Halliwell blood to have enough sense to steer clear of trouble instead of running into it!" Paige replied, laughing too.

Mulder excused himself, saying he had to go to the bathroom and left the girls to tell Scully everything else they knew.

"Okay, rewind. What the hell are Elders and Whitelighters?" Scully queried, impatiently, still unsure of what to believe.

"Oh... yeah, well Whitelighters are kind of like guardian angels for witches. They'll give us advice, heal us when we're hurt..."

"Then leave us alone to bring up their children." Piper threw in bitterly before storming out of the kitchen.

Scully looked like she wanted to go after her and at least try to comfort her.

"If you want blown up, go ahead. If not I'd leave her be to cool down. She's been pretty pissed off since Leo got promoted..." Phoebe began

"He was our Whitelighter, now he's an Elder." Paige explained.

He walked across the landing, and stopped outside one of the doors when he heard a sob. Knowing it was probably Piper; he hovered outside the room debating whether or not to enter. Well... if she really did have the ability to blow things up on impulse, he didn't really want to risk it. But he just had to open the door; he stood in the doorway

"Piper? Are you okay?"

"What do you think? No I am not okay!" She yelled.

She threw her hands up in temper and the light above her bed shattered around her. Whoa! Mulder thought, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But, for some reason, he was drawn to her. He slowly walked into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her and she leaned into him. He wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders and held her as she sobbed. Her shoulders shook with each sob, her breathing was labored and eventually her tears ran dry. Mulder continued to run a gentle hand up and down her back, in an attempt to sooth her. When she began to breathe normally again, he wiped away the tears, that were still on her cheeks, with his thumb, and when she looked up at him the pain that was in her eyes shocked him. He hadn't heard Piper's comment about Leo and wondered what could have happened to cause her to hurt so badly.

"Okay... I'm listening." He told her plainly

"You wouldn't understand." She replied, pain and anger still evident in her shaky voice.

She tossed a teddy bear across the room - one that Leo had given her before they'd gotten married - froze it in midair them promptly blew it to pieces. Another sob escaped Piper's throat and Mulder pulled her close, running his hand down her back to comfort her. Scully, who'd gone to look for her partner, saw them sitting on the end of the bed like that. They looked so close, and comfortable in each other's arms and for the umpteenth time in the six years she'd worked with him, felt that familiar pang of jealousy. She was reminded of when Diane Fowley and Phoebe Green had been around, how close they seemed to Mulder, wishing that it was her being held in his strong arms.

Omg sorry this took so long! I've been debating whether or not to keep going as this so isn't going how I planned it would!! Hope you like it.