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Chapter 3 - Lean on Me
Humming slightly, Piper finished brushing her hair and looked over her reflection in the mirror. She almost felt pretty. "Morning." She said breezily to Prue as her older sister walked back into the room they shared, fresh from the shower.
"Can't talk, I'm really, really late." Prue said quickly, grabbing her own hairbrush and trying to detangle her hair.
"I can see that." Piper replied, walking out of the room and starting down the stairs. "Hey, Grams," she said as she entered the kitchen, "do we have any cheerios left, or has Paige eaten them all?"
Wincing, her hand over her chest, Grams shook her head. "I - don't know." She wheezed. "Look in the -"
"Grams? Are you O -" Piper dived forward suddenly, catching Grams just before she collapsed. "Prue! Prue!" She screamed, sitting Grams in a chair. "Prue get down here, it's Grams!" She turned back to her grandmother, the woman who had raised her, who was now gasping for breath. "Grams, can you hear me? Grams?"
Prue ran into the room that minute, Phoebe and Paige right behind her. "What is -? Grams!" Prue darted forward, and knelt in front of her. "What's wrong? Grams? What happened?"
"She just - just - I don't know -" Piper stammered, glancing over at her younger sisters. Phoebe was pale and looked terrified, but Paige looked - scared, of course - and almost interested.
"She's having a heart attack." She said simply. "Call an ambulance."
"A - what - how do you know?" Prue asked.
"I saw it on T.V." Paige shrugged. "Shall I call the ambulance?"
"No, I'll do it." Prue pushed past them and walked into the hall.
"Grams, come on, breath." Piper whispered.
"Girls, there's something I have to tell you." Grams said quietly, her voice shaking, her face tear-stained. "It's your mother."
"What? What is it?" Seven-year-old Piper asked, looking up quickly from the toy cars she was racing with Leo. Over in the corner, Prue was crying.
"She ... she's ... Honey, remember how mummy explained me and her fight bad guys? With magic?" Piper nodded. She loved the stories her mother would tell her about fighting demons. "Well, mummy was trying to fight one ... but she ... she ... the demon was too strong." Piper froze, her insides turned to ice.
"Is she OK?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'm sorry, she's ... gone. She's ... dead." Grams barely choked the last word out, but Piper couldn't hear properly anyway. There was a loud roaring in her ears, and her heart was beating so fast and hard it hurt. She was aware of Prue crying harder, and yelling "No!" over and over, aware of Phoebe crying as Grams gently explained her mummy wasn't coming home, and off little Paige, crying, even though he couldn't know what had happened, she was only one year old.
But it couldn't be real, none of it. Her mum couldn't be gone, any minute now she'd walk through the door, smiling and hug her daughters. She looked at Leo, who looked back at her in shock, then hugged her fiercely.
"It'll be OK, Piper, I'm here for you."
It was real. Mummy was ... gone.
"Grams, come on, we can't lose you too!" Piper cried, as a knock sounded at the door. It was Leo, she knew, but she couldn't leave Grams alone, even though all she wanted to do was hide in his arms and have him tell her it would all be OK.
Grams slumped forward, as Prue walked back into the room, followed by Leo. Piper barely registered it.
"Grams! Grams! Don't leave us, please!" She was sobbing heavily, sure her grandmother was dying. And then, he was pulling her back, turning her to face him and hugging her, stroking her hair.
"Shh. I'm here for you." He whispered. But he didn't tell her it would be OK - they had both long ago lost their childish optimism, and realised that anything could happen.
She wasn't sure how long she stood there, being comforted by her best friend in the whole world, but after what felt like an eternity, paramedics bust into the kitchen and got to work.
"We think she's had a heart attack." One of them said to Prue. "We'll have to take her to the hospital -"
"Can we come?" Phoebe asked.
"Yes, but you can't all fit in the ambulance. There isn't enough room."
"Piper, you go in the ambulance with Grams. I'll follow behind with Phoebe and Paige in the car." Prue said quickly, as they started carrying Grams out of the room on a stretcher.
Piper nodded, then grabbed Leo's arm. "What about -"
"Take him with you." Prue nodded, then, to Phoebe and Paige, "Shoes, jackets, quickly!"
Piper ran after the paramedics, dragging Leo behind her.
"Sit there." One of them said. "Talk to her, OK?" Piper nodded.
"Grams ... Can you hear me? Come on Grams, you can beat this, you're so strong ..." She choked. Beside her, Leo squeezed her hand.
"Hey, Penny, it's me, Leo, remember?" He said, knowing Piper couldn't talk anymore. "You better hope I don't get in trouble for not going to school, huh? At least if I fail anything, I can say it was because of you, right?" He joked. Piper gave a small, desperate laugh. And he was off, talking to her grams about anything, joking and laughing for all the world as though Penny was able to hear him. Leaning heavily on his shoulder, Piper raised a smile every now and then, trying to force the images of her mother's funeral from her mind. She couldn't think about losing Grams ... She couldn't ...