When Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Cole walked back into the manner after breakfast they stopped short at the sight of bunches of boxes and bags piled at the bottom of the stairs.
"Umm Cole are those all yours?" Leo asked.
"No" Cole said looking confused.
"Oh no, I hope Paige hasn't decided to move out in protest or something" Piper said sounding exasperated.
"I did not mean to cause so much trouble" Cole said sheepishly.
"You're not causing trouble Cole" Phoebe said "Paige is… PAIGE!" she yelled
"What!" Came Paige's voice from up the stairs.
"Get down here!" Phoebe yelled.
"Alright, alright, alright" Paige muttered as she came down the steps. She stopped as she saw Cole, grimaced and then came the rest of the way down. "So what is it you want?" she asked.
"Are you moving out?" Piper asked sounding concerned.
"Oh, no, sorry about that I should have guessed you'd think that." Paige replied.
"Ok, so then what's with all the boxes? Trying to have a garage sale or something?" Leo asked.
"Oh no…. umm ok, now don't get mad or anything. I admit I should have asked you, but I just got so caught up in the idea and kinda forgot to ask… so ya" Paige said stalling.
"Forgot to ask what exactly?" Piper asked.
"Well I asked Glenn to move in with me. I want to try having a real relationship with him" Paige said.
Her response was met with silence. And finally Piper chose to reply. "Paige, I'm sorry to have to say this. But I really don't think that's a good idea"
"I knew you would be like this. I knew you wouldn't understand!" Paige snapped.
"Look, I understand you wanting to be with him, I truly do, and I sympathize. But it's just not safe for a mortal to live here" Piper said.
"Oh ya, so you can have Leo and Phoebe can move Cole in here on a whim, but I have to remain alone!" Paige practically yelled.
"You know that's not what I meant, it has nothing to do with wanting you to be alone, and everything to do with wanting your friend to be safe, its not safe in this house for someone without powers" Piper said in a reasonable voice.
"Oh really, but when Cole was human it was just fine, how convenient. And might I remind you that your dad was human and lived here and he is still alive and fine!" Paige snapped.
"Look Paige" Phoebe said "This just is not about that, and is not just about you. I mean obviously you care about him a lot, so then you shouldn't want to put him in constant danger. How would you feel if he got killed in a demon attack?"
"Oh stop being overdramatic. That won't happen." Paige said.
"It might, it can happen. In fact it's happened here before. To Prue…the man that Prue loved, a human, was killed here in a demon attack. And Prue never forgave herself for letting Andy get killed." Piper said sadly.
That made Paige pause briefly but then she said "Well that's just gonna be one more difference between us. I won't let Glen get killed. After all clearly she was careless, she got herself killed too now didn't she" Paige knew instantly that she had gone too far by the look on all four of the faces staring at her. "I did not mean that like it sounded…" she started only to be interrupted.
"How dare you! You know nothing about Prue, how dare you talk about her! You'll never be half the witch she was. She died to save us! That's not carelessness its sacrifice! Don't you dare talk about Prue like that!" Piper yelled!
Almost simultaneously Phoebe yelled "You bitch! Don't you dare talk about things you don't know! Prue was the best damn witch around! You are in no position to criticize her!"
All three of them stopped and looked rather shocked at what they had said. Piper bit her lip and looked away, while Phoebe looked everywhere but at Paige. Paige just stood there looking shocked and hurt. Finally Leo stepped forward and placed his hand on Paige's shoulder and said "Look girls, you're all upset, and saying things you don't mean. So maybe you should talk about this all later. For now let's just leave the Glenn thing alone, he'll stay until we can talk more rationally about this all. Is that alright?"
"Ya, ya of course. You're right Leo, we're just upset and saying stupid things, look Paige I didn't mean that. We love you just as much as Prue; we were just really upset to hear you badmouth her. We didn't mean it" Piper said.
"Ya, we weren't being serious, we were talking out of anger. We love you a lot" Phoebe said.
"Oh, ya, I mean of course, I never thought you were serious, of course not, nope, so ya, ummm lets talk later" Paige said clearly uncomfortable, but still with hurt in her voice...
"Ya, we'll talk later" Piper agreed.
The three girls embraced in an awkward loose hug that just felt fake. And then all three headed in different directions looking upset. Cole and Leo exchanged a look, both looking worried.
"Somehow I don't think that's the last we will hear of this, this is gonna cause problems, big ones, very soon" Cole said sounding worried.
"That's just what I was thinking. But at this point there is not much that we can do, the die is already cast. So for now let's just try to help keep the peace" Leo said.
"Alright, I'm going to go talk to Phoebe, she looked like she would need a shoulder to cry on" Cole said.
"Ya, I think I'll do the same for Piper" Leo said.
The men nodded to each other and went off in opposite directions in search of their girls.