Chapter 4
- Reunions Part Two-
Even before the car had come to a complete standstill, Gilly yanked the back door open and launched herself at the cousin who happened to be closest. Paige laughed as Phoebe was completely smothered in squeals, red hair, and a giant hug. On the front side of the car, Sally was now hugging Prue as Piper rushed into the embrace of Aunt Jet. Gilly, who had finished hugging Phoebe crawled into the car, planted a kiss on Paige's cheek and started talking enthusiastically. "O my God, you guys, I'm so glad you're here! Pheebs, you are never going to believe what happened to me this year!" Climbing out of the car, the two cousins linked arms and practically skipped towards the house. Paige climbed out separately, to immediately greeted by the sight of her Aunt Frances, arms open wide. Paige slid gratefully into her embrace, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply. Immediately, it was as if they'd never been gone. The smell of the sea, mixed with flowers from the garden and her Aunt's hair, which had always smelled like rosemary was a very welcome change indeed from the stuffy air in the car. Aunt Frances pressed a kiss to Paige's temple, then held her at arm's length.
"Now, darling, let me look at you! You're hardly the little girl we waved off last time!"
Paige grinned, spreading her arms and spinning around. Aunt Frances took in her appearance carefully. "You look wonderful, sweetheart. I see your sisters have been taking good care of you. Just like they ought to," she added for good measure as Prue walked up to them and flung her arms around her sister's neck. Paige laughed as Prue stuck her tongue out at their Aunt playfully, after which the two sisters linked arms with their Aunt, one on the left and one on the right, and they set off towards the house.
"Now, Prue, darling… What on earth have you done to your hair!"
"Hey!" Piper yelled, "Now who's going to help me unpack the car!" Piper groaned and leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the car door. Judging from her sisters' nonexistent response (Paige was laughing as Prue got a thorough scolding about cutting her hair from Aunt Frances, and Phoebe was already nowhere to be seen), it was probably up to her. Again, seeing as she'd been the one to pack the entire car as well. "Ah well… Might as well get started," Piper grumbled to herself. She turned around to find her cousin standing there, hands on her hips. "You know, you'd think I'd have gotten used to the entire ignoring thing. God knows I get enough of that every day!" Piper blushed. "Sorry, Sal… I guess I was a little preoccupied with the fact that none of my sisters," Piper raised her voice, hoping against hope that Prue or Paige might hear her, "apparently is going to help me unpack." She walked around the car and hugged her oldest cousin tightly. Sally grinned. "Dearest cousin, look no further!" She let go of Piper, walking to the back of the car. "Owens Inc., for all your packing, unpacking and whatever else you need!" She reached down to open the trunk. "Actually, Sal," Piper injected, "I'm not so sure that's such a good idea, seeing as…"
Sally opened the trunk. Immediately, she was showered in brightly coloured stream of clothes, various assorted toiletries and, to top it all off, several rolls of toilet paper.
".. Paige never bothers to close her suitcase." Piper finished her sentence sheepishly, as Sally's disheveled dark head emerged from the enormous pile now lying on the grass. "Or pack at all, actually. I don't even know if she even owns a suitcase, come to think of it…"
"It's ok, Pipes," Sally puffed, blowing a strand of wayward hair out of her face as she scrambled up onto her feet again. "I live with Aunt Jet, remember. And Gilly is exactly the same. Thank the Gods for Aunt Frances. Come on, let's get this stuff to the house."
-PPPP-
"So why am I the only one who inherited the pale-skin gene?" Paige complained, turning to look at Prue. Both sisters were lying on blankets at the far end of the large Owens garden, soaking up the sun. Prue lifted her head, looking at her baby sister who, despite her desperate attempts to get tan, was still as white as a bottle of milk. "It's not fair!" Paige continued, pushing her gigantic sunglasses up into her hair. "I mean, Piper has darker skin than me, Phoebe, well, I'm not even gonna get into that," Prue lifted her head, looking at Phoebe who was walking towards them in a bright pink bikini, deeply tanned, as usual. "Even you tan easier than me!"
Phoebe plopped down next to her two sisters, setting down a flask of homemade apple cider. "Hey, you guys, what's going on?" She asked happily, spreading out a blanket of her own.
Her happy face turned into a frown, however, when she spotted Paige's back which was slowly turning beet red. "O my God, Paige, you're burning! You look like a lobster!" Prue sat up, trying to inspect the damage to her sister's porcelain skin. "She's right, Paigey. Phoebs, do you have the sunblock somewhere?" "See, this is what I mean!" Paige stated loudly, yelping as Phoebe poured a large quantity of sunblock onto her back. "Wow, that's cold." Phoebe started laughing as Prue, in response to Paige's outburst, poured even more of the ice cold liquid onto her sister's back and started spreading it out.
"Hey, that's not funny!" Paige's indignant voice floated through the garden. Piper looked up from her space in the herb garden where she'd been spudding up weeds with Aunt Jet. She smiled at her sisters'antics. Prue had covered Paige in sunblock completely, and was now threatening to do the same to Gilly, who had joined the three Halliwells on the grass, and who had, as Paige put it, thankfully inherited the pale skin gene as well.
"Why don't you join them, dear?"
Aunt Jet's voice startled Piper out of her reveries. "No, that's okay, Aunt Jet, I'm fine here." She bent down and started pulling out a particularly vicious weed. She could still feel her Aunt's gaze, however. Apparently, Aunt Jet was not easily fooled. She was an Owens, after all, her instincts sharply in tune, with the added bonus of clairvoyance backing her up.
"Really," Piper tried again, "I'm fine. I like working in the garden with you." To demonstrate, she started to pull out another weed. This one, however, would not budge. After several tries, Piper let out an angry cry, throwing out her hands as if to simply blow up the thing, but a stern look from her Aunt had her dropping her hands again in defeat.
"Piper, sweetheart," Aunt Jet's voice was kind but allowed no room for argument. "I know when something's wrong with my girls. Not only do I sense your troubled emotions, that is also the first time I have ever seen someone getting so angry at a harmless plant. Now, why don't you and I go to the kitchen, I will fix us some iced tea and we will have a nice chat."
While talking, Aunt Jet had pulled Piper up from her crouching position and steered her towards the veranda and into the house, which was empty save for a black cat that was snoozing in Aunt Frances' knitting basket. Aunt Frances and Sally had gone out on an errand, leaving Aunt Jet and Gilly to entertain their guests.
The cool air inside the dining room was a welcome change from the stuffy air and burning sun outside. Aunt Jet set down her straw hat on the dining table in the middle of the room, then led her young cousin down the hall towards the kitchen. Piper sat down at the table next to the window while Aunt Jet doubled back to the pantry to receive some ingredients for the tea. She looked around. The Owens kitchen, like the rest of the house, was magnificent: all of the kitchen cabinets were painted white with hand-blown glass panels allowing her to see inside. The large table in the middle held a great assortment of things ranging from seedlings soon to be transferred into the garden to cookbooks. A large door led to the conservatory, where the Aunts kept plants that were too sensitive to be outdoors, and beyond the sink the wooden stairs leading into the lighthouse could be seen. The main fixture, however, was the large AGA stove which was currently housing only an empty kettle, but was frequently put to use to bake large batches of brownies, or to cook up some complicated potion or lasagna.
Aunt Jet re-entered the kitchen with a large basket of dried strawberries and a small flask containing small purple crystals. She opened the fridge and got out a large jug of iced tea. She threw in some of the strawberries and several purple crystals, then poured it into two tall glasses. Setting one down in front of Piper, she took a large gulp out of her own glass and then sat down at the table as well.
"Now, dear, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
A/N: So… tell me what you think! I know, I know, it took a while for me to get this thing up… But it seemed to have a mind of its own, and it was hiding under the bed for a while. Anyways, I managed to trick it into letting me finish it, so… voila! Please, please, review!