A/N: So this might be my last update for a little while. We'll see how time goes because I'm off to work tomorrow. I just had the seven dwarf song pop in my head. You know; hi hoo hi hoo.
Sorry going way off topic; anyway hope you enjoy.
20. Potions.
"So, we have everything in the pot?"
Prue was stood behind the industrial size container, while Piper stood the opposite side, staring into the giant pot.
"All we now is the protein, and our friends shall have a nice balanced meal." Piper quipped.
They had both prepared the remainder of the ingredients and were now waiting for the others to return with the flesh. Prue smiled, satisfied with their accomplishment then made her way to the kitchen table.
"Good, now we just have to wait…" she replied a little disgruntled about waiting, "..How's baby today?"
Piper joined her at the table, placing a hand on her still flat stomach. "Baby seems quite content," she answered with a smile, "Made mummy puke once again, but other than that I believe she's having fun…actually I think that might be fun for her too."
Prue laughed, "I'm glad to hear it….Not the puking thing, the other one." she corrected herself, waving her hand dismissively. "Has Leo or anyone else noticed yet?"
"No, I've managed to hide it so far…" the younger witch replied sadly, "..Phoebe asked why I wanted ice-cream at three in the morning, I told her I had a nightmare, then she questioned me until I went back to bed."
Prue smirked, imaging the situation well.
"I don't know.." Piper continued, "..I want to tell them all, especially Leo. I feel guilty every time I'm with him." she sighed. "I can't win."
"Tell him." her sister told her, placing a comforting hand on top of Piper's, to which Piper shook her head. Prue heaved a sigh, wishing her younger sister would take her advice. "Okay, but I'm sure you can tell them all soon. I don't think the Source will wait around too long, with us skinning his demons and all."
"Argh, do you have to be so graphic?" Piper whined.
"I'm not, it's your imagination."
"I was always told I had none."
"You know that's not true. You always make spiders out to be ten times the size they really are." Prue jibed at Piper's fear of the spindly insect.
The pregnant witch glared at her sister for mocking her, but never argued. Prue argued to win, meaning she herself would at some point lose. Instead she decided it was the perfect opportunity to bring up yesterday's event.
However, she also knew the mere mention of the subject, Prue would close up and continually claim that she was fine. Piper took a deep breath, preparing herself for the difficult task. It's now or……later, she thought. She wasn't going to give up easily.
"You know what else isn't true.." she started, watching as Prue raised an eyebrow, "..What Dad said."
Piper was proved right, as Prue withdrew her hand from her sister's and sunk in her chair. She also avoided eye contact with Piper, trying anything possible to distance herself. Prue even considered using her invisibility power to run away, as she tried to evaluate her chances of making it out of the room.
At the continual silence and Prue's perfected art of shutting people out, Piper tried again. "Come on, Prue, you know it's not."
Prue raised her head but didn't allow her eye's to focus on her sister. "It kind of is." she stated softly. Piper went to argue, but Prue cut her off. "It is. In some way he confirmed what I was trying to hide from."
"But your not condemning us. Were in this together. Prue, you don't need to take responsibility for us. We make our own decisions, which means we take responsibility."
Piper had hated this aspect of her sister, not because of Prue, but the fact that her sister was always made to believe that she was responsible for the choices the younger siblings made. However now that they were older and more willing to take the responsibility, Prue was in too much of a habit to allow them to.
"I know that Piper, but I will never be able to remove that feeling. It's impossible. I'm supposed to protect you three and no matter what anybody tells me, I won't be able to remove the feeling that I'm at fault…..especially if I could have prevented it."
Piper sighed, knowing it would be impossible. It was apart of Prue now, it would be like having a completely different Prue as her sister. Something she really didn't want. For all of Prue's faults, she still loved her sister dearly and couldn't imagine her any other way.
"I don't want you to blame yourself if anything was to happen." the younger of the two moped.
"Nothing's going to happen because I won't let it." Prue responded determinedly.
"Well I know he was wrong and we'll just prove that to Dad when we all return home, safe and sound."
The eldest Halliwell smiled thoughtfully, "I'm not saying he was right to tell me Piper, it's just…I kind of agree with what he said. He's that part of my conscience I wish wasn't there."
"You might be forgiving but I'm not. He took it too far and I'm not to keen on being around him." Piper responded, resentful towards their father.
"I'm not forgiving, just accepting. Also as much as I would love to tell you that you are doing the right thing…I can't. It wouldn't be fair on your daughter, Victor might actually turn out to be a better grandfather than a dad." Prue reasoned.
"Prue, I can't do that…" Piper tried to argue, noticing her sister used Victor instead of Dad.
"Okay, you don't agree with what he did, let him know that but don't shut him out. That's my job."
Piper groaned, she wanted to support Prue but she also saw the sense in her sister's words.
"She'll thank you…no matter the outcome." her sister added, gesturing to Piper's stomach.
"Are you going to be okay with it?" the younger sister asked concerned.
"I'll be fine. I have way too many 'Victor Issues'. I don't want you two to have them too." Prue replied.
Piper smiled, wondering if her sister would ever stop looking out for them. "He's back to Victor?" she questioned carefully.
"For now." Prue shrugged, then she had a sudden thought. "If anything happens, he says something out of line. I want to know, okay?"
The second eldest moved over to her sister, giving her a hug. "Who else would I go to?" she smirked. Piper pulled away and grinned at her sister mischievously, "So…you never told me why Krolan was with you yesterday."
----------
Cole poked his head out of the small alcove that was hidden in the shadows. Light from torches hang on the wall of the large passageway, illuminated his features with an orange glow, as he watched an unknown demon pace the corridor.
He turned back within the alcove, meeting the anxious faces of Phoebe, Paige and Leo.
"Can you take that one?" Leo asked in a hushed tone.
"Of course.." Cole replied indignantly, still quiet so not to be heard, "..but that's not the problem. I don't know whether he's taken the oath or not."
They all exchanged glances, wondering how they were going to find out. Finally Phoebe found an idea that could work.
"Why don't we just ask him?"
"Sure Pheebs, we'll go up to him, say 'have you taken the oath to kill us because we kind of need your flesh, so we can kill the rest of your buddies'." Paige sarcastically spat quietly, rolling her eyes.
Phoebe rolled her eyes also, then went to explain. "No, what I meant was Leo can use his glamour thing, then disguise himself as a demon, then ask."
"Well you never said that." her younger sister replied.
They all shared a look, noticing they had nothing else going for them. Cole nodded to the whitelighter, who sighed. He hated demons, much less be one.
He stood back slightly and closed his eyes to focus. The rest of the group watched in awe and horror as he suddenly grew a foot or more taller, hair sprouted in patches over his body ashis skinturned piercing white. His eyes grew dark, contrasting with his skin, which was no covered in large boils.
By the end of the transformation, Leo was unrecognisable.
Paige and Phoebe grimaced at their brother-in-law, while Cole smirked. It wasn't exactly the ideal looking demon but it would do.
"How do I look?" even the sound of Leo's voice had changed to fit the character.
"Gross…which actually works." Paige answered and began to usher him out of the tiny space, "Now, you get your hairy ass out there and play demon." she whispered.
She turned back to Phoebe and Cole, while rubbing her hands on her jeans after touching Leo's back.
"Argh, I'm so glad we don't live with that." she stated.
"I know," Phoebe replied, "That's pushing the beauty and the beast theory." Cole gave her a perplexed look, causing her to clarify for him, "You know, the whole it's the inside that counts."
"He's pretending to be a demon, there's not meant to be a lot on the inside." he stated with a small smile.
"It's a good thing your half human then." she grinned back, tip toeing to give him a kiss.
Paige frowned, then noticed demon Leo return.
"He has." the whitelighter simply told them.
"Great.." the half whitelighter replied, staring at a huge boil on his neck, "..Now you can change back, your creeping me out."
Leo transformed back into his normal self and grinned at Paige, who visibly relaxed.
"I will never complain about the amount of time you spend in the bathroom again." she smiled back.
He grinned, then turned serious. "Right, can we get this over and done with. I want to get back, make sure Piper and Prue are okay."
"What could actually go wrong?" Cole asked as he stepped out of the shadows.
"You never know, all hell could have broken loose." he muttered, following them out.
----------
Prue and Piper were still sat at the kitchen table, waiting rather impatiently for the others return. In their boredom, Prue had retrieved the prophecies once again and Piper had a mixture of magazines and cook books. However ever so often she would decide to read through some of the ancient text her sister had.
"Prue, how do you even understand them?" she sighed, turning the text in a different angle, hoping it would suddenly become clear. At the moment she couldn't decipher whether this one was about the impending battle or the cheese in the refrigerator.
"It's not that hard…and some of it I'll understand more when it happens." Prue replied never looking up from her reading material. "Plus if the Source has his own, I want to know what he knows."
"I'm so glad I haven't got your job." Piper muttered, squinting to see if that helped.
"I'm a photographer, Piper." Prue still didn't meet her sister's gaze.
"You know what I mean. It's so cryptic."
"I had to deal withstuff similar to this when I workedat Bucklands and the museum. It kinda helps." she shrugged, but still remained focused on the page she had in front of her.
"Okay, how can you talk to me and read that all at the same time?"
"Practice."
Prue finally lifted her head and smiled at Piper. "I've also know this one of by heart." she handed it to her sister.
"'One will sacrifice oneself for the dream of others. But the dream will be complete when both hearts beat.'" she read out loud, "Is this the one you asked Krolan about?"
"Yeah, I can't seem to work out where it belongs."
"Well, maybe you should just forget it. Concentrate on the ones that make sense." Piper advised.
Suddenly the room filled with a mixture of orbs and shimmers, as the rest of the family materialized, all looking dirty and tired.
"Who want some shredded demon?" Phoebe held up the several long strips of the flesh they had removed from the demon.
"Phoebe, that's disgusting." Piper exclaimed, covering her eyes from the sight.
"Disgusting. You didn't see half of it. There was blood, screaming…." Paige was cut off by Prue, who held up one hand and covered her mouth with the other.
"Okay, we get the point. Piper's right anyway. That is disgusting."
Phoebe grinned mischievously towards Paige, then she lunged forward with the flesh held out in front of her. Both older sisters jumped up and huddled together.
"Phoebe Halliwell! Don't you dare!" Prue warned.
"Fine, but I don't see why Piper's squirming. She is a chef." Phoebe noted, placing the flesh on the kitchen side with the other ingredients.
"Was…and I've never cooked demon before." Piper shot back.
Paige clapped her hands. "Okay, my darling older sisters, shouldn't we be focusing on the potion." she was slightly bewildered as to why she was the one taking charge, although she had to admit she didn't mind it.
"Maybe we should take relay, so that way wekeep making the potion until we run out of that stuff." Prue scrunched up her nose as she pointed to the remains of the demon.
"Okay, you and Piper can take first relay. I need a shower." Paige answered leaving the room.
"Great, call us when your pots empty." Phoebe said, taking Cole's hand and leaving the room as well.
Leo looked at his wife, "Everything go okay why we were gone?"
"Yep." she replied.
He nodded and then glanced down at his filthy clothing and grimaced. "Sorry, honey, I've got to go shower."
The two eldest Halliwells looked at each other, then to the key ingredient.
"Who's going to cut it?" Prue asked.
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Piper suggested sheepishly.
"That never works."
----------
"Right, we have no more vials and we still have half a pot left." Piper stared into the large container. She couldn't believe of all things to forget, they would forget the vials.
"We didn't think this through well enough did we." Prue stated as she too glanced in the pot.
Leo walked into the room at that moment and Piper turned to him. "Did you find any more?"
"No, sorry honey." he replied offering a small smile.
"I can't believe it." she threw her hands up in frustration.
"I can't believe I cut up the demon flesh and it's not even going to be used yet." Prue whined.
"You got to use a knife and fork." Piper commented, with a hint of smugness.
"That's no consolation, Piper."
Leo sniggered at the two quietly. He knew if they heard him, he would regret ever thinking it was funny.
Just then lights appeared forming into a grinning Krolan. Piper actually considered blowing him up when she saw the happy-go-lucky grin. She even noticed her husband trying to warn the Elder, but he never noticed.
"I have something for you." he threw a small object towards Prue. She caught it and looked it over.
"Krolan, not that we're not grateful, but this won't get rid of what's left in there." she replied, holding a the vial out for everyone to see.
His grin broadened at the remark and he waved his hand over the table. Out of nowhere crates of the same tiny glass container Prue held, appeared. "Would these?"
The elder turned to face the two sisters. "Present from us."
"You are a life safer.." Piper announced as she walked over to the crates, "..Phoebe and Paige would have never taken their turn at making potion, if you hadn't have came."
Prue smiled at Krolan, which he returned. Then she went over to help Piper and Leo.
----------
"Do you wanna help me and Paige make potion?"
Phoebe was sat in her bedroom with Cole next to her. They had both showered and dressed, and were now enjoying their alone time, while they still could.
"I don't know. Paige might not like it." Cole replied.
"I would." she said, moving to lay on his chest.
"Paige doesn't like me, Phoebe."
In response Phoebe sat up and looked at the demon sternly. "Do you want Paige to accept you?"
"I don't know, but…"
"No buts.." she stated cutting him off. "..How can she accept you, if you keep avoiding her? She needs to see that she hasn't got anything to worry about."
"They all do really. I'm still a demon." Cole had considered stripping his powers but then he would be unable to protect himself and more importantly, Phoebe.
"But your good side is stronger, otherwise you'd be evil." she replied, giving him a small peck on the lips. "Anyway I love you. I just want everybody else to." Cole raised an eyebrow, causing her to rethink what she said. "You know what I mean."
He grinned, "I love you too."
They kissed briefly until Cole grabbed Phoebe and pulled her up on to his lap. "So which magazine did you read that from?" he asked.
"What are you talking about? That was all me."
"Well your very convincing because I'll help make potion….just don't expect me to get that close to the stuff, it still could do some damage." the demon smiled, although he was still a little nervous at the fact it had been his own vanquishing potion, before it had been adapted.
"You'll be fine." Phoebe replied, leaning in and kissing him. She began to unbutton his shirt as the kiss grew more passionate.
"Phoebe!"
She pulled away at the sound of her name and turned towards the bedroom door.
"Your turn in the kitchen!" she heard Piper shout up from downstairs.
"She's a real mood killer, huh?" Cole mocked, also staring at the closed door.
"Your telling me." Phoebe muttered.
A/N: It's getting there.
Thanks for all the reviews again. I love them.
emelie172; Thanks for adding me to your favourite authors list. Big hug. hehe.
Oh and if any of you are interested, there's a short one-shot I posted earlier. I'd really like to know what you guys think of that.
Press the button. Bye-bye.