When the Earth Moves:

"That's not awful." Leo Wyatt informed his wife, leaning against the door frame and watching as she dressed their two sons in matching outfits. He groaned, folding his arms and shaking his head lightly.

"Yes it is, Leo!" She snapped helplessly, vigorously rotating the cap that sat atop her eldest son's head. She refused to look at her husband, switching the end of the cap first left, then right. "Wyatt, buddy, do you really need this?" She sat back on her legs, putting her hands in her lap and waiting for the cheerful little boy to respond.

"Yes!"

"Uh, well fine." She sighed, directing the bill of the hat towards the front and shrugging. "Then you'll wear it like that." She took a moment before standing up and finally staring at her husband. "Look Leo, I love you, very much, and children are a blessing." She nodded carefully. "Yes. It's just...I'm not ready for this. Not now."

"I don't think you are being very fair." He passed her, picking their youngest son up from the floor and bouncing him lightly on his hip, using the tips of his fingers to separate the little boys bangs. "Wyatt and Chris are very happy. We're very happy. Everyone is very happy. It's not awful for you to be pregnant again."

"Yes." She tilted her head. She felt like crying, or putting her children to rest and taking a long walk by herself. She eyed her husband intently. "I'm happy, yes. I just didn't want it to change this quickly."

He came close to her, kissing the little brunette's forehead and gingerly handing him to his mommy. Piper accepted him, holding him close to her chest and fixing the bangs that she had combed early that her husband had thoughtlessly destroyed. "I understand." Leo told her. He had nothing else to say.

"I don't want to tell anyone."

"Than that's your choice."

&

Phoebe Halliwell sat in the middle of her living room, on the floor, in an Indian-style sitting arrangement. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and fluttered them open. She'd been sitting here for two hours straight, smirking, and refusing to get up whether or not the phone on the coffee table rang once or a hundred times.

While on this floor she'd accomplished a lot of things. She'd read a whole chapter of a James Patterson book she had originally started reading a year ago, picked two shades of dark purple that would soon be found in the guest bathroom, and had enough time to polish her nails a bright florescent red.

Her hair sloppy in pigtails, she was simply breathing in and out now. Her arms resting on her bow-like legs and her thumb and middle finger connecting in a double-jointed looking way. "I am happy and healthy." She smiled, repeating this exercise now for the fourth time. And just like she'd been with the phone, there was a knock at the door, which she refused to get. At first.

"Phoebe! Open the door." Paige Matthews stood outside, rapidly increasing the number of times she'd connected her fist with the door. She tapped her foot impatiently, staring at the door handle and not looking the least bit pleased. "Don't make me orb in there!"

Phoebe stood, forehead scrunched. She stumbled a bit, her feet had probably fallen asleep sometime within the last forty-five minutes. She sighed, turning the knob and looking her baby sister in the eye. "What?"

"Well nice to see you too sunshine." Paige put her hands on her hips, taking in her sisters attire and letting out a gentle laugh. "You look..." Paige covered her mouth, thinking for a moment. She briefly remembered what had taken place days earlier and quickly thought of something less pointed to say. "You look very...creative sis."

Clad in navy blue leggings, light blue shorts and a tight yellow t-shirt, Phoebe frowned. "Oh yea? You look like hell too." She poked out her bottom lip, stepping aside and letting Paige into her completely spotless, very unlike her, household.

"So what're you up to?" Paige took a seat on the couch, seeing the phone on the tables antenna flashing red. "No wonder I couldn't get hold of you. You're not picking up the phone either?"

"No." Phoebe shook her head, sitting on the coffee table in front of her sister and relaxing her face. "I was just trying to spend some quality time. Alone. Is that so horrible?" She twisted her left pigtail with the tip of her finger.

Paige smiled. "No, it's cute. It's so awkward to see you so..."

"So what?"

"Mommyish."

"Oh. How's that awkward?" She raised her dark eyebrow, narrowing her eyes at the same time. She grinned, watching her sister shrug. It was such a comforting feeling, to be so peaceful as she felt today. Eight years of fighting, of tears and struggles. All to serve reverence to this. "I'm just happy, Paige. I'm happy and healthy."

"We all are." Paige sat back on the couch. Her maroon hair in a tight bun and her black slacks draping over the side of the couch. She enjoyed her sister's mood today more so than the last. For things were looking up for her as well. She was unerringly grateful for everything she had. Paige used her mustard eyes to stare into the chocolate ones of her sister. "The best is still yet to come."

"Oh really?" Phoebe looked down at the floor, past her bare feet to admire the pattern of the wood that she had found so soothing only minutes before. "I don't think it can get much better."

"I do."

&

He stepped over the orange tape, careful not to attract the attention of a bystander to the left of him. He thoughtfully rubbed his hand under his nose, afraid that he would forget his surroundings and inhale the fumes that were so vulgarly testing his limits and making him sick to his stomach. "Danny, can you hand me that?" He pointed to a small silver bottle cap located next to the corpse of a middle-aged woman.

The bearded man sighed, nodded, and with a shaky hand reached across the body and retrieved the rusted top. "Blood spots. Probably all that's left of her." He pursed his lips, shaking his head sadly and mused, mostly to himself: "The perp is a nasty one this time. Really got his eyes on those innocents."

Henry eyed the cap with great concentration, flipping it over and turning it side to side. He wearily frowned and slipped the item in a baggy marked "contaminated" He inserted the holder inside his large coat pocket. He glanced around the area. The trees, the quiet sounds. Not one thing but a simple coke can top could be found to help investigate the murders of women being incinerated alive. Nothing at all.

"Thanks, Dan."

"Anytime, Henry. Anything I can do to get this guy locked up...anything...you just let me know."

Henry nodded, making his way over the tape again, feeling like there was nothing more he could attribute to. He went back to his car, got in the drivers seat, and sped away, in lue of a body. Or a clue.

&

"So what do you do?" Billie Jenkins timidly threw a pebble into the pond with force, smiling over to her companion. She admired the woman's beauty. She was older than her, surely, but no less attractive.

"I'm...uh...a teacher I guess you could say." Kiera looked around. She seemed so bewildered and lost to Billie. Yet this was a quality that Billie admired. She was feeling the same way. Kiera tossed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you do anything?"

"No." Billie shook her head. "I'm a student. Do you teach around here?"

"Um..oh. Well, no." Kiera effortlessly skipped the pebble over the water. Smiling to herself as it bounced for seconds on in and finally dived into the water. "You're probably in highschool." She looked at Billie, seriously now. "I shouldn't be talking to you."

"I'm in college." Billie stared into the brown eyes of the girl. So pretty as she was. "I'm glad that you're talking to me."

&

"Coop, what do you want?"

"I want a job."

"A job?"

"Yes. That's what I said." He raised his voice, becoming more persistent. He slung a leg onto the bar stool, staring blankly at his sister-in-law from the other side. "I need a place to work."

"You have a place to work." Piper gently held a cup in her hand, rubbing it with a towel and removing any drink spots it may have once had. "Aren't you still a cupid or whatever?" She turned the glass upside down, instructing it to fill in an empty spot in a row of twenty. "Why would you want to work in a night club anyhow."

"Well, I don't. But Phoebe doesn't think I have any choice. Being a cupid wouldn't exactly look nice on a resume." Coop told her pointedly, putting his elbows on the bar and practically pushing off a martini glass.

Piper caught the poor object and set it back in it's place, rolling her eyes at him. "What do you know about working at a bar?" It was said snootily. She wasn't at all feeling her best and unfortunately could see that her brother-in-law paid no mind to it.

"I know how to dial a telephone. You know, just in case we get some crazy drunks on our hands." He smirked, reaching over the bar and taking the handset and pretending to poke at the numbers. "See."

"Not funny." She took it from him. "I don't think you can work here."

"I've asked Henry, Leo, Paige, You, even Phoebe." He bit the inside of his jaw. "None of you will give me a chance. I can be good at this, Piper. I know I can."

"I'm sorry, Coop. There are tons of people who want work that are qualified for it. You're family, I know, but you can't work here. I'm sorry." She saw the gloomy look on his face and automatically suggested: "You should go to school."

He'd already managed to get off the bar stool and make it to the bottom of the steps. He turned on his heel, glaring at her and giving her a "I'm useless" look. "If you haven't noticed, going to school in the 1700's is a bit different now. I don't have any records or anything."

"We could make some up. Hasn't Leo ever told you about the time I changed his date of birth...to go on a vacation?" Coop shook his head. "Oh, well, I did. I'm sure we could magically whip you something up too."

Coop looked unsure, but agreed. "I'll talk to Phoebe about it. It's probably not the best timing in the world to go to..uh..school. I just want to be able to support Phoebe, my own way. I have a new baby I need to think about. And that alone totally blows my mind. I want to do something to prove that I'm a man, and I can stand on my own two feet. Besides being a cupid."

"Well I have faith that you'll find whatever it is that you're looking for." Piper smiled at him softly. Nodding her head up the steps. "Phoebe's called twice. You might want to head home."

"Alright." Coop started up the steps. He stopped mid-way. "Hey, Piper?"

"Yea?" She looked up at him, placing her hands on the rim of the bar.

"You okay?"

"Yes." She said confidently. "I'm fine."

A/n: Reviews are loved, my sweeties. Tell me what you like, don't like, or want to see more of.