Paige poked her oldest sister playfully and smiled.
"Piper, you said we could go out for a drink, just us three, you promised!"
Piper nodded and smiled at Paige,
"I do remember, Paige, but…are you sure you don't want Leo to come?"
"Piper!"
"Ok, I'll let him know, they can have a lads night in, not a problem."
Paige then nodded and walked out of the kitchen where Piper was arranging flowers. It was a new hobby she had taken up, for some reason it relaxed her almost as much as cooking did. Currently she was planning where to place the roses with regards to the lilies. Red and white. They seemed to go together very well and were her favourite combination, even though the smell of the lilies gave her a headache.
It was Phoebe's turn to get the drinks in so she was standing at the bar, bent over slightly, showing a little extra flesh to get some money knocked off the next round, or possibly just extra drinks.
Paige and Piper were talking about different flower combinations. For some reason Piper had no energy to talk much. She had very little motivation. Paige sighed.
"Come on Piper, do flower combinations really matter? We're out to get drunk…well, you know, have a good time," Paige rolled her eyes slightly, having still not touched alcohol in a very long time. At least now she didn't keep count of how many months…etc, like recovering alcoholics did. Piper smiled and nodded, then suddenly went very pale, stood up and ran to the bathroom. Paige shook her head as Phoebe came back.
"Someone can't handle their drink." She laughed. Phoebe nodded whilst taking a sip from her drink, a double…something or other; she couldn't remember what she'd ordered.
When Piper came back she looked dreadful and asked nicely if her sisters wouldn't mind if they went home.
It had been four months since Piper had been admitted to hospital. Leo had very rarely left her side and her room was decorated with roses that Leo always brought in whenever he went to see her.
One sunny Sunday afternoon Paige had entered the room the visit her dieing sister. Leo had just left to get himself a drink. Piper was looking better today but Paige forced herself not to be hopeful that Piper might recover. The doctors had already checked and double-checked, and there was only a very, very small chance that Piper would pull through.
"Hey you," Paige said putting on a bright face. Piper smiled at her sister using as much energy as she could muster.
"Paige," Piper whispered – it was all she could manage, "I want to tell you something," Paige nodded and sat on the side of Piper's bed where Leo had previously been sitting, and took a tight hold of her sisters hand. "Remember all my flowers that I used to love arranging?" Paige nodded, nervously anticipating what her sister was going to say. "I don't want flowers at my funeral Paige,"
"Piper-"
"Paige, please. Promise me I won't have flowers at my funeral."
Paige said nothing.
"I think that having flowers would remind you of me. Every time you saw flower arrangements…I don't know…maybe you would think of me killing time in the kitchen?"
"Piper, why would I not want to be reminded of you?"
"Paige…" Piper was getting weak. "One…single…rose, please…" Suddenly she closed her eyes and the room was suddenly filled with a single beep coming from a heart monitor machine. Paige jumped up immediately and placed her hands on Piper's heart and tried to heal her, bring her back, even if it was just for one more moment.
Leo opened the door and rushed over to Paige. Fighting back tears he pulled her hands away and shook his head.
"This isn't fair. We can't help her any more. I promised her that if it happened one more time then we shouldn't wake her up."
Paige put her hands to her mouth to stifle the crying that she was inevitably doing. Leo turned and put his arms around Paige and joined her in crying.
The nurses and doctors rushed in to do everything they could but with out the power of Whitelighters aiding their work, they were trying to save Piper in vain.
Piper never opened her eyes again.