A/N: Just so you all know, especially a specific Prue loving reviewer, things will have to get worse before they can even try to get better. I apologize in advance.

Change Happens

Chapter 11: Big Sister's Watching

Rolling gray storm clouds had settled heavily over the usually glowing blue skies of San Francisco. The skyline was nothing more than a streak of darkness, and what could be seen of the sky was bleak and sorrowful. The thick clouds were heavy with rain, which clearly threatened to fall at any moment and their distinctive fresh scent filtered the usually salty Bay air. It was as if the day was echoing the Halliwell family's world. The Warren line had lost one of its own, and the world had lost one of its greatest protectors.

Alone on last cement step leading up to the dusty rose colored Manor, Persia Halliwell sat with knees pulled to her chest in withering pain. Her long, golden-brown hair had been pulled into a tight and emotionless bun, which tugged harshly at her scalp. The physical pain seemed more welcoming than the pain in her heart, though. She rocked helplessly back and forth, burying her burning face between her knees as she did so.

"Persia?"

Persia's head snapped up, distantly hoping that the voice was that of her long lost aunt's. It wasn't meant to be, however. When she whipped her head around, she saw her Aunt Paige.

"Did I scare you?"

"Yeah," she lied, her teeth clattering as she spoke.

"What're you doing out here?" The witchlighter asked, as she steadied her heavily pregnant form against the doorway. Her normally vibrant brown eyes were tired and blood shot and her normally glossy dark hair was pulled into a haphazard ponytail, hidden beneath a black silken shawl. The ebony, ankle length maternity dress with the ruffled cuffs seemed to hide some of the weight of hew newfound pregnancy and her feet donned a pair of simple black satin slides.

The electric stood up and her layered black skirt fell in ruffles around her ankles. "I just...I..uhm, I just wanted some fresh air," she muddled. Using the sleeve of her black bell sleeved top, she wiped away the fresh salt droplets from her face and sniffed again. "Are we almost ready?"

Paige nodded sympathetically. "We're just waiting on Piper and Andy." She shifted uneasily. "Has your mother called?"

"They're gonna meet as there." The teenager wiped the corner of her eye.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine," the electric insisted, almost too defensively. "I'm going to go see if Uncle Leo needs help with the girls." She proceeded to slide past her aunt and head towards the stairs.

----

Cole stared somberly at his reflection, as he adjusted a black tie around his neck. Being an attorney, this usually came easy for him. Although this morning, well, this morning nothing seemed quite right. What he really wanted, what he needed, was to comfort his wife. He couldn't even get close to her, though. Neither could Pamela, for that matter. In fact, he'd spent the night in Pam's room, because she'd been too afraid to sleep alone with the way her mother was acting.

"Agh!" The half demon's fist exploded into the center of the floor length revolving mirror, spewing reflective shard across the room. He howled as he brought his arm back, revealing a small bloody gash across his palm.

"Daddy?" The small demon-witch appeared near the doorway. Dark circles cursed her eyes and her tiny pale lips trembled with a mixture of fear and tiredness. "Are you okay?" She stumbled forward, catching herself on a small dresser near the entrance. "I-I heard a noise." Her small eyes surveyed the gleaming shards, dotted with a fine spray of blood. "Daddy?"

"I'm f-fine," Cole replied, as he slunk onto the bed and pressed his bloody hand hard against one of the pillows. "Perfectly fine," he assured, motioning for the young child to come forth.

She did so, waddling over to her father and climbing into his lap, with a noticeable tremor in her large eyes. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she asked, "Is momma gonna be okay?"

The question seemed to hover in the air a moment, before Cole snaked his hand around his daughter's waist, securing his thumb around the strap of her black jumper, and pulled her close to his chest. "She'll be alright," he whispered. "Things like this, tragedies, just take time. Your mom will come around, I promise." He placed a dry kiss to her forehead and just held his daughter in the silence of the room.

----

"Are they gonna be down soon?" Pearl inquired, as she adjusted the wide brim of her black hat.

Glenn sighed, as he leaned into the back seat of Piper's van and adjusted his youngest niece in the car seat. "Pearl, you don't understand how tough this is on Andy and Piper." He shook his head, as he connected a few straps. "You need to be more patient, sweetheart." Leaning back, he inspected his work to make sure that his baby niece was securely within her seat. "Are you okay, baby doll?"

Prissandra's lip trembled, and she sniffled.

Glenn shook his head and retrieved a tissue from his pocket. "Hey now, it's okay," he gently wiped the tiny witch's nose, "it'll be okay."

"Dad?"

The mortal pulled his fingers together, tucking the dirty kleenex within them. "What?" He asked, whirling towards his daughter.

Pearl seemed to recoil, and walk backwards into the siding door. Her face scrunched as he hat tumbled from her dark hair and flitted a few feet across the driveway.

A pang seized his stomach, as he saw the look on his only child's face. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, as he snagged the hat from the ground. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," the Blessed One croaked. She wrapped her slender fingers around the velvet brim and yanked it from her father's grasp.

"What did you want?" His tone was considerably quieter.

"Nothing." She began to turn away.

"Pearl," the mortal pleaded, grasping her shoulder.

Pearlinda flinched, shaking away her father's hand. "I just wanted to tell you that I felt a raindrop," she hissed. Her voice was quiet, but angry. Anymore so and it was sure to crack. The witchlighter pointed a pale index finger towards a dark spot on the cement. "I-"

"Pearl-"

"I'm going to go find Phiona," the Blessed witch interjected, before hurrying off with her hat in hand.

The mortal heaved a painful sigh, as he turned to face his quivering niece. "Are you cold?" He pulled his legs onto the smokey gray carpet of the van and pulled the sliding door shut. "Prissy, honey?" He held out his hand in a desperate attempt to comfort the child.

Prissy sniffled again, as she wrapped her small fingers around her Uncle Glenn's large index finger and gave a small whimper of muted relief.

Glenn flashed a teary smile towards his niece, because for the first time in a very long time, he knew he'd been able to provide a comfort for Prissandra that he hadn't been able to for his wife or daughter.

----

"Phi?" Pearl poked her head around the corner of the attic door, staring blankly at the small glow of shafts of pale light coming from the stained glass windows. She could see her baby cousin perched crossed legged on the floor, with her head buried in her hands. "Phiona?" Amongst the quiet, she heard a distinct whimpering as she shuffled across the hardwood panels. "Hey," she soothed, "it's okay." The elder witch kneeled quietly, wrapping her arms around her cousin's waist and pulling her closer.

Phiona whispered something incoherent, as she nestled her wet face into her cousin's shoulder.

"Shhh."

"I m-m-miss her so much!"

"I know." Pearl tightened her grip around her cousin, as she felt body shake with boisterous sobs. She wished so much that she could comfort Phiona more; she wish she knew how. As far back as she could remember, she'd been closer to the Phi than any of her other cousins. In fact, Phiona Wyatt was more like a sister to her, rather than a cousin.

"It's not fair, Pearl," the younger Blessed One croaked. "I just don't understand." A heavy breath fled her mouth. "I thought they all had to vanquish The Source? I thought-I thought...that it took the Power of Four, not Aunt Prue?" Clear, salty bubbles dribbled in rivers down her cheeks as she leaned her weight into Pearl's chest.

"I guess," the elder cousin stumbled for the right words, "I guess there's more than one way." She swallowed painfully, thinking about the conversation that she'd stumbled upon just hours before her Aunt Prue's passing. She remembered hearing voices behind the door on her way to the bathroom, just minutes before midnight, and stopping to listen. She could remember how her blood had practically run cold, when she heard that it had actually been a spell written by Andy and cast by Pandora, which had truly been responsible for The Source's vanquish and her aunt's ultimate demise. I also know why they can never tell us. Pandora couldn't handle that kind of trauma. None of them could.

"Pearl?"

The eldest Blessed One shook her head, clearing her mind of the incriminating thoughts, at least for now. "What?"

"Nevermind."

Pearl pushed a strand of the pale brown, almost blonde, hair from her cousin's streaked face. "Come on, we don't want to be late to Aunt Prue's funeral." She took her cousin's hand and helped them both up. "In fact, we should probably be early. You know how prompt she i.." She shook her head, catching her tenses, "Was."

The corners of the younger witch's mouth lightly curved. "She'd probably haunt us from the grave."

Pearl's brown irises shifted upwards, eyeing the ceiling as if someone was actually there. "Let's not take any chances."

----

Leo stood rigidly outside of his and Piper's bedroom. He was fiddling uncontrollably with the black cuffs of his suit and trying desperately to ignore the irate ringing in his ears. The whitelighter couldn't believe that The Elders actually had the nerve to call him on the day of his sister-in-law's funeral. He stomped his glossy new black dress shoe against the floor and turned a rueful look towards the ceiling. "This is not a good time," he seethed. "I can't leave her right now!" Staring down at his hands, he could see small orbs sprouting around them and clamped his fist shut, making the orbs vanish in a frightful flurry. "I said no!"

----

Inside Piper's room, it was like deja vu. She sat blankly at her nightstand, running a brush through her long coco locks. It was an accustomed action lately. Robotic, really, for the witch to just come the brush through her hair day in and day out.

The events of the past week were like a video on a loop. After Prue's insistence of using her remaining strength to vanquish Huldra and Minerva, Piper had been at Prue's side every moment, right un until her sister had told her that she loved her and not to try and summon her after her death. She remembered Prue's labored breathing and how she'd said that she would refuse to come, because this was real and Piper had to accept that. Of course, she had not. Her and Andy both had refused. She remembered reading the summoning spell, but only getting a cold gust of wind that blew out her candles. Once, twice, three times. Then, without a word, she'd walked to her room and began to brush her hair.

Today's difference was that Andy happened to be sitting kitty corner of the room, lightly bouncing Pandora on his knee. The Inspector was dressed in a sharp black suit, crisp white dress shirt, and a satin red tie draped down the front of his shirt. He'd wanted to wear black, but Pandora had begged him to choose red, because she'd said that it made her think of Twizzlers that Prue loved to eat. He'd done it for Pandora, although it had hurt so much. His face was freshly shaven and hair neatly trimmed, only because Paige had threatened to use her magic to do it herself, if Andy didn't do it for Prue's funeral.

He loved Paige, maybe she was more of a sister to him than either Piper or Phoebe whom he'd ironically known all their lives, but it hurt him too much to be around her right now. Not only was she carrying his and Prue's child, but she was so like Prue that it hurt him to see her.

"Aunt Piper?"

"Yes sweetie?" Her tone was deadpan and she stared straight ahead, continuing to run the brush through her brown waves.

The telepath's tone almost quivered as she clung to her father's rhythmically thudding knee. "Why don't you miss mommy?"

Piper froze. Her muscles all seemed to fill with lead at the exact same moment and her breathing came to a screeching halt. To onlookers, it would appear that her own ability to freeze had backfired on her. Then her fingers seemed to loosen around the wooden brush, allowing it to free fall through the air until it came to an abrupt crash against the carpeted floor. Piper hung there for a moment, staring at her dead expression. Her eyes were practically gaping holes, her face pale, and her lips dry and chapped. Then, for the first time since Prue's demise, a single clear drop fled her eye and carved an agonizing path down her cheek until it dropped off and flew through the air, before finally hitting the floor and being absorbed by the fibers.

"Pandora," her voice was low as it threatened to crack, "who told you that I don't miss your mommy?" Her fingers flexed and she slid from the wooden chair, making a 180 turn to face her niece.

"Nobody," the little girl whispered. "I just knowed."

Another tear. "What?"

"You didn't cry for mommy," the telepath explained. She patted her curly raven head. "I didn't need to looks inside your mind to know you didn't care. Everybody who cared crieded for mommy. But," her voice dropped to just above a whisper, "not you."

"Pandora," Andy interjected, in a weak attempt to diffuse the situation.

"No, Andy-"

"Piper, please-" Andy's voice came to an abrupt halt and his knee leg stopped jiggling. His mouth hung open mid sentence, his eyes staring straight at Piper, but he did not move. The Inspector stood frozen in time.

Piper crossed over to the frozen man and his daughter, kneeling down to Pandora's eye level. As she locked eyes with her big sister's first born, she could feel her heart crumbling in her chest. How could she think that? Piper shook her head furiously, allowing her over brushed hair to tangle around her head. "That's not true, Pandora. You can't possibly believe that I don't care about your mommy." She gently took the telepath's hands in hers. "Sometimes Aunt Piper can't express her feelings like everyone else," she attempted. "Sometimes I bottle things up."

"Bowttle twings up?"

"Yeah," she faltered. "I, uhm, I don't show much sad I am."

"Why?"

"Because," the tears were coming now, "then I know that it's real."

Pandora slid her hand gently from Piper's and reached out to place a comforting hand on Piper's now dripping cheek. "I'm sorry."

"No baby, I'm sorry," she wheezed. "I shouldn't of acted like I did."

"Bowttling stuffs up?"

"Yeah." Her chest heaved, as she scooped the child into her arms and held her close. "I love you, baby."

"I wove you too, Auntie Piper."

"-let me handle this." Andy looked around, feeling a weight had been lifted from his leg. He heard soft moaning and saw his daughter clamped tightly in his sister-in-law's arms. "Piper.."

"I'm sorry, Andy." Piper whispered, as she stood up and handed Pandora back to him. "It's just-"

Andy cupped her hand in his. "I know," he whispered, "it's Prue."

----

A few quiet wraps and a subtle jingle of a handle, came just before the whisper of, "Pheebs?"

The psychic had been huddled in the corner of her expansive room, encircle by dirty white tissues and several photo albums. Dark black streaks of runny mascara were pummeling down her reddened cheeks, and her usually silky hair was matted to the sides of her wet face. The small television across the room was giving off an almost unheard hum, as a frozen picture of a long ago Christmas video flickered on the screen.

"Oh Phoebe," Victor Bennett whispered, bending to clear a path through the mountain of tissues. "Oh sweetie, why didn't you call me sooner? I could've taken an earlier flight."

Phoebe shrugged. She manically turned the page of her photo album, flicking it a page which displayed several pictures of Prue as a child. The first four pictures were simply of Patty and Prue, who was about a year old at the time. Shifting her gaze to the next plastic sheet, she now saw pictures of Prue with her hands over Patty's very pregnant belly, no doubt Patty had been heavily pregnant with Piper at the time those pictures had been taken. "It's not fair.."

"Of course it's not," Victor whispered, wrapping his arms around his youngest baby's shoulders. "But it was Prue's time, Phoebe. It was her time."

Phoebe's teeth clattered. She, nor the rest of the family, had told them about the backfired spell. Nor did she want to. "No," came her simple defiant remark. She turned the page, which now contained a picture of Prue sitting on the bed with Patty, and baby Piper in her arms. When she looked to the next one, it was Prue with an infant Piper in her arms. The third was a picture of Grams and Prue.

Victor gentle slid his hands over the sides of the photo album and flipped a few pages further. "That was Prue on her first day of Kindergarten," he explained. He inched his finger across the protective cover to a small figure in the background. "That was the day she met Andy. See, he's lurking there in the back." He gave a small chuckle. "The moment she came running up to me with him, I knew he was gonna be trouble."

Phoebe sniffled, her tears starting to subside. "Trouble?"

"He was going after my baby girl," Victor smirked. "Any father knows that's trouble."

Phoebe smiled meekly, trying to imagine how that scene would've gone.

Victor proceeded to change a few more pages, until Phoebe grabbed his hand to stop him. "What?"

"Look," Phoebe gave a wistful smile. "I took that picture when we traveled back in to the seventies to stop mom from blessing Nicholas' ring." She pointed to the picture where a 5-year-old Prue and 3-year-old Piper had placed their hands on Patty's still flat, but definitely pregnant, stomach. "That best damn picture I ever took of myself." She shifted a few more pages, until she came to one which sent another trickle of tears down her face. It was one of her, barely a few hours old, being cradled in Prue's arms. "There aren't a lot of pictures of me and Prue," she informed.

"You don't need them," the mortal assured, as he shut the album. "Everything you need to remember her is right here." He placed an index finger to each of her temples. "And she'll always be alive here," he said, pointing to Phoebe's heart.

"But-"

"Nothing." Victor scooped his baby girl off the floor and onto the bed. "You need to get ahold of yourself, Phoebe. Your family needs you right now. You husband, your sisters, and most of all your daughters. They're all struggling too, you know? And you can't be selfish." He snagged a tissue from the dresser and wiped away the dark smears of makeup. "I want you dressed in ten minutes and ready to go." He grabbed a black dress that Cole had hung on the closet and splayed it across the bed. "If I come back up here and find you still in pajamas, there's going to be problems." His tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and softened his tone. "I love you, Phoebe," he added with a kiss, before leaving the room and Phoebe to her own devices.

----

"Darryl, Sheila!" Paige gave her best smile, as she exchanged labored hugs with her old time friends. "I'm so glad you're offering to do this."

"You guys are like family," Sheila insisted. "We're happy to help in any way we can."

"I'm sorry about Ms. Halliwell," DJ whispered timidly, from his place behind his mother.

"Thanks," Paige said, turning a thankful smile to the young African American boy. "That means more than you'll ever know."

"Is there anything you want?" DJ ventured, coming into view and taking ahold of his mother's hand.

The witchlighter shook her head and gave the boy a reassuring pat on the back. "No, but thank you for asking." She placed a hand over her heavily pregnant stomach, sensing the high tension in the room.

"Where's Andy?" The Inspector asked, looking like he'd taken quite a beating over the past few days.

"Upstairs with Piper and Pandora." Her voice drifted to a steady low. "They're taking it the worst, Darryl, and understandably so.

Darryl nodded sympathetically. He never in his wildest dreams had imagined that he'd be standing with Andy at Prue's funeral. But then again, he had never dreamed that he'd see Andy again, after Rodriguez's murderous actions. "Are we the only ones coming?"

Paige shook her head. "No. Max and Pearl's friend Brandon we'll be meeting us there too. Besides them, it'll just be the High Priestess."

Darryl nodded. He glanced down at his watch, then shifted his brown gaze behind him to the window. He hoped that Piper and Andy would be ready soon, because he knew that today was bound to bring a rainstorm, and at an outdoor funeral that was never a good thing. "Paige?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I go un there?"

Paige seemed to chew her lip for a moment, before waving her hand. "Sure." She sucked in a breath of air. "It's the only door closed. In fact, I think Leo's near it."

"Thanks." With that, the African American Inspector headed up the stairs to find his partner.

Paige shifted uneasily. "I wanna thank you again," Paige whispered. "I know it's out of your way to come all the way out here just to pick Andy, Piper, and Pandora up."

"Nonsense!" Sheila Morris waved her hand dismissively. "Look, magical transportation is out of the question. I know you guys don't need anymore of that than necessary and they are not fit to drive themselves. And obviously," she indicated Paige's ever expanding stomach, "you're in no condition to drive and there just simply isn't enough room in Piper's van for everyone." She shook her head. "It's fine, Paige. Trust me. Besides, I know you'd do the same for us."

Paige flashed a sorrowful smile of thanks.

"Come here," Sheila whispered, wrapping her arms around the whitewitch and giving her a reassuring hug. "It'll be okay, just give it time." As she pulled away, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

The clomping of heels on the stairs alerted them to the presence of more people heading towards the room. Paige instantly straightened a bit, and faced the stairs. She knew it was Piper; she'd know the sound of Piper's shoes anywhere. "Piper," she exclaimed as her sister rounded the corner. "Are you-"

"I'm fine," the elder witch cut in. "Sheila, Darryl, thank you."

Sheila simply gave a somber nod in her direction, and another in Andy's. Her eyes trailed over the three adults, to the young child in Andy's arms. "Pandora?"

Pandora's eyes fluttered, as she stared blearily at Sheila from her father's arms. "Hi, Ms. Morris."

"Hey baby girl," Sheila said, walking over to greet them at the end of the stairway. "How you holdin' up, buttercup?"

Pandora let out a tired yawn and blinked several times. "I miss mommy."

Sheila could feel her heart tearing. "I'm sorry, sweetie." She gently stroked Pandora's raven curls. "We all do."

"I know." The telepath pointed to her head. She yawned again. "Are you and Mr. Darryl gonna take us to see mommy?"

Darryl and Sheila seemed to exchange looks.

"Actually, we're all going to go say goodbye to your mom, Pandy," DJ interjected, surprising everyone.

Pandora's eyes seemed to brighten at the young boy's voice. She'd always looked up to DJ. "Are you coming too?"

"If you want me to," the young boy offered.

"Daddy," Pandora whispered, "can I get down to see DJ?"

"Sure." He bent down and placed her carefully on the ground.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"Maybe can I," she began to pick at her cuticles, "can I wide wif DJ?" She knew that it had been planned for her to ride with them, while DJ road with her cousins, but she always felt more comfortable around DJ.

"Uhm, Pandora, we kind of-"

"No, Paige, it's fine. Sure you can, honey," Andy interrupted. "Just be careful."

"Pwomise!" She chewed her lip. And I won't bweak it like mommy, she silently vowed.

----1 Hour Later----

"That which belongs to fellowship and love. That which belongs to the circle, remains with us. The wheel turns. As life is a day, so our sister has passed into night. Nothing is final, and we who remain behind know that one day, we will once again share the bread and wine with our sister. O' blessed spirit, we bid you farewell, for you await a new destiny."

The cherry haired Priestess unites a silver cord and gently lays it into a golden chalice that is marked on one side with a pentacle and on the other with the Triquetra. She pulls back her long red locks and leans towards the white candles, exhaling to blow each one out, causing the smoke to rise and curl around her head, before disappearing towards the ceiling.

Pearl leaned heavily into Brandon, burying her face into his cotton shirt and began to quietly weep for her aunt.

In turn, Brandon wrapped his arms tightly around his best friend and began to draw his hands in massaging circles over her back.

Wordlessly, Max took ahold of Piper's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Blessed be."

Piper could feel the tears clouding her vision again. "Thank you." Blindly, she reached out her other hand for her husband, who took it willingly. She could feel her stomach sloshing, as she leaned her body frail form into Leo's strong arms.

Andy stood up, walking across the damp grass which had been previously sprinkled with water droplets throughout the service and stopped at the center of the left side of the ivory coffin. He remembered the grave site vividly, as the place where Prue was being laid was right next to the place in which he'd been laid to rest in 1998. Fortunately, because of the spell The Elders had given the sisters to erase his death, his headstone no longer remained, nor did any remnants of another grave ever existing next to Prue's freshly dug one.

"Daddy?"

Andy leaned down and scooped his daughter from the ground, adjusting her on his left hip. Peering over his shoulder, he motioned to Paige.

Paige waddled over to the coffin, tears threatening to spill as Andy reached out and squeezed her hand.

"It's time to say goodbye to mommy," he whispered into his daughter's ear and at the same time laid a comforting hand over the stomach which held his and Prue's unborn. The Inspector reached into his inner flap of his black blazer and pulled out a single red rose. He stared at the coffin for a moment, hesitating before finally laying the rose against the shiny ivory.

That was the moment that the sky finally tore open, releasing a torrent of cleansing droplets from the heavy black storm clouds and hazy gray mess above. They ripped through the air with a fury, soaking everything they came in contact with. It may have just been an optical illusion, but to onlookers it appeared as those it they came specifically towards the faces of Andy and Pandora, and possibly even Paige's pregnant stomach.

Pandora laced her tiny hand with her farther's and stretched out her arm to touch her aunt's stomach, as she relished the cold water on her body. "Blessed be, mommy."

TO BE CONTINUED...