Chapter 4 - Faceless Villains and Sisters Dating

"Hi." Phoebe said quietly, walking towards the coffee pot.

Three days. Three days she's been gone.

"Hi." I murmured, taking another sip of my own coffee.

"Did ... you make this?" Phoebe asked suddenly, as Paige walked in.

"Um ... yeah." I replied.

"Piper! You're pregnant!" Phoebe cried. "You shouldn't be -"

"Phoebe!" I cried angrily. "I am allowed 'a maximum of three cups a day'." I quoted. "Patty has been missing for three days, I think I am entitled to a lousy cup of coffee!" I was shouting by now, and they both looked a little surprised.

"Ah - where's Prue?" Paige asked after several minutes of silence. Changing the subject. Which kind of disappointed me, for some reason wanted an argument, I wanted to focus my anger and frustration on something.

"She went to the station with Andy this morning. They're making lists of everyone we know. Apparently, it could be someone we know, someone we trust." Phoebe told me.

"How do you know?" Paige asked.

"I kinda heard them. You know, thin walls and all." Phoebe admitted.

"Ew. OK, Phoebe, I know when we were ... oh five and eight the whole listening in on our big sisters was fun, but now it's kinda creepy." Paige pointed out.

Phoebe stuck her tongue out. "Ha ha. No, I had a ... bad dream, and woke up." She admitted.

"What kind of dream?" I asked quickly.

"Nothing to do with Patty. At least, not directly.." She sighed. "No, it was just ... mum. And grams." She told us. Mum kept saying "She'll be back, I promise" and Grams told me we "couldn't do anything to stop it", to stop blaming ourselves. And ... and then Grams disappeared, really suddenly, like she didn't want to go, but something was - was making her, I guess. Then mum did the same."

I bit my lip. Phoebe was blaming herself?

"Are you?" I asked. She looked at me, and I realised my question didn't make sense. "Are you blaming yourself?" I asked, looking from her to Paige, who both looked at each other.

"Well ... of course we are." Paige said after a while. "We're her aunts, we're supposed to protect her."

"I sort of feel like I - I let her down." Phoebe admitted. "Like I didn't do enough to stop it, to save her."

I looked at them.

"I - I had no idea. I guess I didn't realise you felt the same."

"The same? As you?" Phoebe asked gently, I nodded, my eyes filling with tears.

"You might be her aunts, but I'm her mother. When we were with Dan, it was me and her, together. And them I ... moved on with it, had Wyatt and Chris and -" I placed a hand gingerly on my stomach. "And I ... did I push her out?" I asked quietly.

"What? No, of course not!" The both cried.

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe she just wondered out ..."

"Piper, you know someone took her." Paige said carefully. "She didn't want to go, she wants to come home."

I nodded.

"OK OK."

The next few moments happened quickly and confusingly. Phoebe touched my arm, gasped and closed her eyes, cried out, and reached for the edge of the table to steady herself.

"What? What did you see?" I asked quickly, as Paige asked if she was OK. I cursed myself for being selfish, and looked up at her.

"A - a demon. He threw a fireball at me -" She gasped. "I didn't see his face." She muttered.

"What does that mean? Are we going to be attacked?" I asked, panicked.

"I - I don't know." Phoebe bit her lip, looking somehow familiar ...

"Pheebs? What are you hiding?" I asked, as it hit me what she reminded me off. Herself, when she was younger, the "I've got a secret that might upset you/make you mad" look.

"I - I -" She looked at me awkwardly. Patty. This has something to do with Patty.

"I know there's something wrong." I warned. "Did you - did you see who has her? Where she is?"

"It's nothing. I just ... had this feeling it has something to do with Patty." She admitted.

"I'll check the book." Paige said, standing up. We all jumped as the phone rang.

"If it's Prue tell her to get back here -" I said, as Paige picked it up.

"Hello?" She said quickly. "Who? Henry? Oh! Henry. Yeah, I kinda am - OK ... OK ... I can't right now." She looked annoyed. "Henry, my niece is missing. I'm not even thinking about dating right now." She snapped. "Yeah, you do that." She hung up, still looking annoyed, but ... disappointed?

"Who was that?" Phoebe asked in confusion. I looked at Paige. Henry? Why did that ring a bell?

"He's a parole officer, Piper and I met him at the station yesterday. He got the number from Andy." That means Andy's in trouble, by the way. "Wanted to know if I wanted to do lunch sometime. Can you believe it! Anyway, Phoebe, that demon? What did he look like?"

"I told you, I didn't see his face. I think he may have had a mask on or something?" She screwed her face up trying to remember, but shook her head after a few moments.

"Faceless demon. Got it." Paige turned and walked out of the room.

"I'll call Prue." Phoebe said. "She should be on guard. You ... try to relax. Spend a little time with the boys." She said gently.

I nodded, but didn't move as she walked out of the kitchen.

I was so ... confused. I have to admit, a part of me still thought Dan was involved somehow ... but it's a demon?

I don't care. I don't care who has her.

I just want my little girl home.

I woke with a start, looking into the darkness. I had actually slept.

Which just mad me feel guilty.

Beside me, Leo and the boys were sleeping, an uneasy look on Leo's face. He was having trouble sleeping too, huh?

Slipping out of bed, careful not to disturb them, I checked my watch. One in the morning.

I had spent the day with Leo and the boys - something that we didn't do as often as we should, what with the magic stuff, and the club, ect. But it was hollow to us - we were missing Patty. It just wasn't right.

The boys had fallen asleep at eight o' clock, and Leo and I had gone to bed at around nine. For me, it was simply because I knew nothing more could be done to find her that night, and tomorrow we could try again.

Eventually I made my way into the kitchen, wondering if Prue and Andy had actually come home. The first thing I saw were two coffee cups in the sink. Yep, they're home.

And then I saw Paige, a half-empty cup by her side, the book laying open on the table - and her slumped over it, asleep. She must have spent the whole night looking, as well as yesterday. Why, I did not know ... Phoebe had said she didn't see the demon's face ... we weren't likely to i.d it.

I took a step forward, and tried to see the page she was on.

"To call a lost witch ..." I murmured. I'd tried that spell, Paige knew it.

Wait, what's that? Something sticking out from under her arm.

I reached forward, carefully pulled it out, trying not to wake her. It's a notebook, one she got in a set off of Leo for Christmas last year. The paper was pale pink, decorated with tiny little hearts. On it, it looked like she'd started to create a spell ...

"Hear the words of the witches, the secrets hid in the night, draw strength from the power of four, strength from our entire line, bring back Patty. Bring her back, to us." Around it she'd scribbled "Blood" and "something of Patty's?" I bit my lip as I put it back down next to her. She was trying so hard to find her ... And she's pretty much alone.

I mean, Leo and I have each other. Prue has Andy, Phoebe has Cole. But Paige doesn't have anyone. She doesn't have anyone to turn to when we're not enough. Anyone whose arms she can cry in when it all gets too much.

Then I started thinking about that guy who called earlier. Henry, was it?

Maybe she should take the chance there. Love always happens when you least expect it, and maybe this is it. No one expects it.

And who knows? He could do her some good. She's becoming as obsessed with magic as Prue. She was even talking about quitting her job the other week. Before all of this.

I picked up the pen as the side, flipped over the page.

"Call Henry." I scrawled. "Go out. That's an order. Piper x."

Then I too ka couple of biscuits from the jar and went back to bed, feeling better than I had in a while.

Of course we'll find her. Of course we will.