A/N. Thank you for the reviews.
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Chapter 6'Go away!' Piper willed silently, bringing her knees up to her chin. But the annoying buzz of her phone didn't stop, and Piper groaned. "Go away." She picked up a pillow from her sofa and launched it at the phone.
Finally it stopped ringing, and Piper breathed a sigh of relief. It had probably been Prue or Phoebe again. Prue had already rung twice, but Piper couldn't call them back. She was still getting used to the idea and wasn't ready to talk, especially not to strangers. But she would ring them. Soon.
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Prue stalked backwards and forwards, her feet slapping softly on her carpeted bedroom floor, making a dull thud in the silence. The eldest witch clung onto the phone pressed to her ear so tightly her knuckles were growing a ghostly white.
"Come on, pick up!" She muttered. The voice mail cut in, signalling that, just like the past two times, Piper was not going to answer. "Dammit!" Prue cast the phone onto her bed with a glare.
"Prue, sweetie, are you all right?" Penny's voice asked, floating in from the other side of the door.
"I'm fine," Prue lied, her tone falsely cheerful.
"Okay."
The sound of footsteps moving away told Prue that her grandmother was gone, and she flopped onto her bed with a sigh. Of course she wasn't okay! Piper hadn't answered any of her calls, and Prue was worried sick about her. But she couldn't tell Penny or Phoebe any of this. They would be so disappointed if Piper let them down again. No, it was better not to tell them.
Prue retrieved her phone, pressed the re-dial button firmly. Voice mail again. Maybe this time she should leave a message.
"Hi Piper, this is Prue. I know you must still be in shock, we all are, but I would really like to meet up again. Just to make sure you're okay. If you don't want me to bring Phoebe I won't, I know she can be a bit intimidating sometimes. Anyway, please just call back soon, so I know you're all right." Prue paused. "Bye then, I guess."
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Piper listened to Prue's voice, full of genuine concern. It wasn't fair for her to have walked out like that, and Prue really did sound worried. The prospect of talking to Prue alone was comforting. She didn't want to land into the middle of a whole family. But Piper couldn't find the strength to reach for her phone, to put Prue's mind at rest.
I can't, it's not fair on my parents. It's not right to just move into a new family. It's not right, and I'm not ready.
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"Where are you going?"
Prue spun around, her face guilty.
"Well?" Phoebe paced her hands on her hips and her eye narrowed to slits.
"I, uh, I'm going for a drive." Technically it wasn't a lie, as Prue was going to drive to find Piper, but she still didn't like telling little lies to her family. Prue just had to remind herself she was doing it to protect them.
"Can I come with you?"
"I need to be alone. To clear my head." That wasn't really a lie either.
"Oh." Phoebe's tone was hurt, but she shrugged like she didn't care. "Okay."
"I'm sorry."
"Whatever." Phoebe left the foyer and Prue exited the house.
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Piper was just drifting into an uneasy sleep; her eyes heavy and her mind in that peaceful place between dreams and reality, where neither can hurt you. Because of this sleepy state, Piper thought she was dreaming when the shrill 'ping' of her doorbell chimed through the apartment. A split second later it went again, jolting Piper wide-awake.
With a low groan she rolled off her bed, wondering who the hell it could be. She stalked over to the door and threw it open.
"Hey Piper!" Prue greeted.
"Prue!" Piper gasped. Her sister was the last person she expected to be at her doorstep. She had to get rid of her. She didn't want to talk. "I'm sorry, I can't talk right now." She pushed her front door, hoping Prue would get the message and leave.
Prue placed a firm hand on the other side and slid through the gap. "And I'm sorry but I'm not leaving until I get an explanation."
Piper sighed wearily and turned into her home. "For what?"
Prue crossed her arms over her chest and fixed her sister with a glare. "For why you bailed on me and Phoebe." Prue's arms fell to her sides. "We were worried about you," she added softly with a hint of concern.
"Yeah? Well don't be."
Prue flinched at her sister's harsh tone. "Please, talk to me."
Piper whipped around to face Prue, her chocolate brown eyes blazing with anger. "Why? You don't understand. No one under…" The end of Piper's sentence dissolved in a wail as tears began to roll down her cheeks and she collapsed onto Prue. "No… no one… un… understands!"
"Ssh, it's okay, it's okay," Prue whispered, smoothing Piper's silky hair while her own eyes glistened. Her heart was breaking for Piper, and she wanted to make the pain go away. "Everything will be okay."
Piper wrenched herself from Prue's embrace. "How can you say that?" She hissed. "Nothing will ever be okay again. They're gone. They've been there my whole life and I don't know how to cope without them. I need them!" Piper inhaled deeply and wiped her tears away harshly. "So tell me, Prue, how will everything be okay?" She spat.
"Because I'm here for you. I always will be," Prue answered quietly.
What could Piper say to that? Her sister, who she had known less than twenty-four hours had promised to always be there. Piper's heart ached a little less in that moment, because even though she would never see her parents again, she knew she would never be alone. There really were no words to express how she felt.
"Feel better now?" Prue asked kindly, producing a tissue and handing it to Piper.
"Yeah. Thank you. And sorry for running off the other day."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're okay."
"D'you want to sit down?" Piper sank into her sofa and tucked her knees under her chin.
"Sure. It helps to talk you know."
"So I've been told." Piper swallowed hard to force down the lump in her throat. "It just hurts so much."
"I know it does." Prue took Piper's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I remember when Mom died. I didn't think the pain would ever go away. I was only seven and a lifetime of hurt like that scared me more than the prospect of growing up without a mother. I didn't know then that the pain fades."
"Was your dad around then?"
"Our dad," Prue corrected.
"Our dad." The words stuck in Piper's throat. She had a father, and a really great one. She didn't want or need another.
Prue snorted as if the thought was preposterous. "For a while. But a few months after she died he left."
"Why?" Piper's heart went out to Prue. As hard as it was to endure her parents' death, at least she had known them. It couldn't have been easy growing up without a mother and father.
"Dad didn't want us to be raised as witches. Do you know about the Charmed Ones?"
"Oh yeah. That was a surprise."
"Tell me about it," Prue agreed.
"So I guess your, our, Grams wanted you to raised as witches?"
"Yeah. Dad left because, well, Grams knows how to win an argument, so we never saw him again. And he can stay away for all I care."
"You don't mean that. Family's important," Piper said, her eyes filling again.
This did not go unnoticed by Prue, and a terrifying thought crossed her mind. "You won't try anything stupid, will you?"
"Like wh… oh." Suicide. Prue thought she might commit suicide. Piper couldn't say she hadn't considered it, because she had. "I won't," Piper promised. "After all, it's not just my life." Oops.
"What? Oh. Oh my God. You're pregnant?"
"Yep. Two months," Piper confirmed. Well, what was the point in lying? Prue had already guessed, and it would be obvious in a few months anyway.
"Oh! Congratulations." Prue gave Piper a heartfelt hug. "My first niece."
Piper slipped from Prue's arms and raised her dark eyebrows. "Niece?"
"We only have girls in this family," Prue explained. "For roughly three hundred years it's been all girls. Ever since Melinda Warren, the first witch in our line."
"I'm having a little girl. I've always wanted a daughter!"
"Who's the father, I mean, is he around?"
Piper's joy at finding out she was carrying a girl disappeared and her eyes darkened. "No."
"He didn't take well to you being pregnant?"
Piper laughed bitterly. "He didn't take well to his baby and its mother being witches."
"Oh. Well if he can't except you for who you really are, he sounds like a jerk."
"Yeah," Piper agreed. "That's one word to describe Dan Gordon. Others would be; sensitive, romantic and sweet."
"Hmm. He doesn't sound that bad."
"Oh, for the first two years we went out he wasn't. He was perfect. But then he learnt of the real me, and bam! He doesn't want to know."
"If he can switch just like that I think you're better off without him."
"I am," Piper said confidently. "I am."
"Piper, I know Phoebe and Grams really want to meet you," Prue said suddenly.
Piper paused awkwardly. She didn't want to be rude, but she didn't know if she was ready to meet the whole family. "I… I don't know. I mean, you have your own little family, and I don't want to… ruin that."
"Oh, Piper. You're our sister. You're part of the family."
Piper nodded. Prue's words were genuine, and Piper must admit she was curious about her grandmother. "Okay. I guess I have to meet them sometime."
"How about I get Grams to cook next week," Prue suggested. "I would cook myself, but I don't want to give you food poisoning."
Piper laughed. "Next week sounds great."
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A/N. I hope you enjoyed that little Prue/Piper chapter. Please review.