-1Chapter Four (Hospital)

Piper paced impatiently up and down the waiting area. It had been an hour ago now that the doctors had whisked Paige away and Piper wanted answers. Phoebe sat silently on one of the plastic seats watching Piper.

"What the hell is taking so long!" Piper snapped suddenly with tears in her eyes. Phoebe got up and wrapped Piper in a warm embrace.

"It's ok, Piper, She's going to be ok…" Phoebe rubbed Piper's back soothingly and kissed her on the cheek. Piper started to cry.

"I knew something was wrong but I let Leo convince me she was fine. Why didn't I insist he sensed for her? Why didn't I do something?" Piper sobbed louder and clung to Phoebe.

Phoebe held Piper at arms length, "Piper look at me, you had no way of knowing what was happening. This isn't your fault. You hear me? You can't blame yourself!"

Piper hung her head, "But I'm the oldest sister. I'm supposed to protect you both."

Before Phoebe could answer a doctor approached them, "Are you Paige Matthew's sisters?" They nod . "My name is Dr. Phillips, I've been working on your sister."

"Is she going to be ok?" Piper asked anxiously.

"She's going to be fine. She was beaten up pretty badly though. Her left wrist and her nose is broken and it also appears that she was stabbed several times in the abdomen which caused some internal damage. We operated and repaired the damage though. I've taken the liberty of calling the police. They'll need to ask her a few questions when she comes round from the anaesthetic."

"Police?" Phoebe looked at Piper worriedly.

"Of course Miss Halliwell, I don't think I need to remind you that your sister was viscously attacked. We need to catch whoever did this in case they attack someone else."

"When can she come home?"

"Well, ideally I'd prefer it if she stayed in for a week so that we can keep an eye on her"

Piper shook her head, "That won't be necessary, we're quite capable of looking after her at home."

"Well, I'm not too happy with the idea but if that's what you'd prefer and if Miss Matthews agrees then that should be ok. You'll need to sign some release papers though."

"That's not a problem"

"Ok then, well you can take her home in a couple of hours, I'd like her to rest a while seeing as she's had surgery. You'll need to bring her back in two weeks to get the stitches removed and then back again in five weeks to get her cast removed."

Piper was silent for a minute then said quietly, "Can we see her?"

Dr. Phillips smiled and nodded "Of course." He led them to a small private room where Paige was lying. Her cuts and bruises stood out boldly against her pale skin and her red hair was messed up with bits of dried blood still in it. Her left wrist was covered in a cast and she had a row of stitches going from above her right eye down to the top of her cheek bone. She was hooked up to a drip and looked so fragile and vulnerable that Piper wanted to cry. Dr. Phillips left them alone and went off to see to his other patients.

Piper sat on a chair on Paige's right side. She held her hand and kissed it, whispering reassuring things to her. Phoebe sat on a chair to Paige's right and stroked her hair gently.

Half an hour later Paige started to stir. Her eyes flickered open and she frowned as she tried to get her vision to focus. She felt pain ripple through her body and she winced.

"Piper…? Phoebe…?"

Phoebe smiled in relief, "We're here honey, you're safe."

Piper squeezed her hand, "How're you feeling?"

"Tired… And thirsty."

Piper got up to pour her a glass of water while Phoebe helped her to sit up a bit. Paige winced again and clutched her stomach where she'd been stabbed.

Phoebe looked concerned, "Does it hurt a lot?" Paige nodded, "Yeah… but not as much as it did." She smiled gratefully at Piper as she approached with the glass of water and helped her drink a few mouthfuls.

Phoebe climbed onto the bed and sat next to Paige with her arm round her shoulder comfortingly. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

Paige closed her eyes and a few tears escaped, trickling over her bruised face. Piper wiped them away gently. "Honey, if you don't tell us then we can't help you. Please, Paige, Who did it?"

Paige sighed. She knew they wouldn't give up until she told them. Taking a deep breath she said the one word that she knew would push Phoebe into guilt and Piper into fury. "Cole."

"WHAT!" Piper yelled furiously, "Cole did this!"

Phoebe covered her face with her hands, "Oh my God, this is all my fault!"

"I'm gonna vanquish that sadistic bastard if it's the last thing I do!"

"He's trying to get back at me by hurting my sisters!" Phoebe got off the bed and started pacing the room.

Paige shook her head, "No, Phoebe. He wasn't trying to get back at you."

Piper looked at her, "Well then why did he do it?" Phoebe sat back in the chair and looked at Paige expectantly.

Paige took a shaky breath, "He said that it's my fault he and Phoebe never worked out and that if I was out of the picture he'd have a better chance at winning her back. So he tried to beat me to death." Paige began to cry.

Piper sat on the bed next to Paige and held her in her arms while she sobbed. Paige lent into her and eventually her crying lessened and she fell asleep. Piper gently lowered her back onto the pillows and then walked round to where Phoebe was sitting.

"Need a hug, sis?" Piper smiled kindly.

Phoebe got up and fell into Piper's arms. "It doesn't matter what she says. This is still my fault. At least it is on some level."

"How'd you figure that?"

"Well, if I'd never left Cole he wouldn't have done it. I should have given him another chance, then none of this would have happened!"

Piper looked at Phoebe in shock, "Phoebe you can't blame yourself for any of this! You didn't go back to Cole because he's evil! You didn't make him attack Paige, he did that all on his own. None of this is your fault!"

They're interrupted by a knock at the door. They open it to find Daryl standing there.

"Hi guys, I came as soon as I heard. How's Paige?"

"Hey Daryl, Paige is ok. Well… She's not ok obviously because she's in here but she's ok considering how bad things could have been…"

Piper looked amused, "You're rambling Pheebs."

Daryl came into the room properly and shut the door behind him. "The doctor called the police station about the attack but I offered to come in, in case it was supernatural or something and you needed me to cover for you."

"Thanks, Daryl. We'll need to take you up on that. It is kind of demonic so we'll need to deal with this on our own."

Daryl nodded, "Ok, Piper, no worries. I'll just say that she didn't see who attacked her and that she was knocked out or something. Tell Paige I said hi." Daryl smiled at them both and then left the room.

Phoebe looked thoughtfully at Piper, "You know sometimes I don't know what we'd do without him.

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A/N: Ok people, you know the drill! Whether you liked the story or not please leave a review as it encourages me to write more. If you don't like it then review and tell me what it is you don't like and how I could improve. I really appreciate any comments that are left!