A/n (10/22/06): Just a quick note here. This chapter references another story I wrote ("Some Days"), but it is not necessary to read that story to understand this.
Setting: March 2028.
Chapter Two - Stuck in the Middle
"Well I saw that coming," said Henry softly as the door shut behind Piper and Leo.
"Shh!" hissed Paige, although she privately agreed. She couldn't understand why Phoebe was gawping at the door as if she couldn't comprehend the fact that Piper and Leo had just stormed out. From the moment the word "destiny" had been muttered, Paige had known that this therapy session would end disastrously. Piper had too many issues built up over years of trials and Paige couldn't imagine for a minute why Phoebe had thought this was a good idea.
"I don't understand," said Phoebe, dropping down onto the couch next to Paige. "I mean, I guess I could understand Piper's reaction, but not Leo's."
"He's protecting Piper," said Paige.
"I know," said Phoebe, "but I still thought he'd be on my side. I mean, he came up with the idea for you to go back in time and see that your parents' deaths weren't your fault. And this isn't even as dangerous as that trip was."
Paige sighed. She had expected that memory to come up, but she still wasn't quite prepared for hearing the actual words. "I don't think it's the same," she said, trying to look at the situation objectively. "I mean, there weren't so many variables in that situation and Leo was positive that what happened wasn't my fault. With this...destiny quest thing...I don't know. What if Piper went back and saw that there was some way she could have prevented Prue's death? She would not be able to handle that."
"A destiny quest is meant to reaffirm one's destiny," said Annelise. "It is not meant to bring doubt."
"Can you guarantee that?" asked Paige.
Annelise furrowed her brow. "Well nothing is a guarantee," she said.
"That's what I thought," said Paige.
"Look, Phoebe," said Henry, "couldn't you just do this by yourself? You don't need Piper and Paige to do it, do you?"
"Annelise thinks that it would be better if we all did it, since our destinies are so closely tied together. We are the Charmed Ones."
Paige nodded, seeing Phoebe's point. "That makes sense," she said. "But there is no way you'll get Piper to agree to it."
"What about you, Paige?" asked Phoebe. She turned to face Paige on the couch. "Maybe if we approached Piper together..."
Paige shrugged. "I'd do it for you if you really wanted, Pheebs. But I'm pretty happy with my life and I'm not dying to have my destiny reaffirmed. And I'm not exactly eager to pressure Piper into this either."
Phoebe opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Henry cut in.
"I think Paige is right about Piper," he said. "I know that I haven't known her as long as you, Phoebe, but twenty-two years is still a pretty long time. Do you remember what Piper was like when Leo was gone? Or how about when the kids went missing? I love Piper, but I don't think that she's entirely emotionally stable."
"But that's why I think a destiny quest would help her," said Phoebe. "Piper is holding on to too much guilt and resentment. That's why she can't handle things. If she could just see that things happened the way they were meant to then I think she'd be a lot happier."
"All right," said Paige, letting out a small sigh. "I will talk to Piper for you. But you have to promise me that you won't pressure her and that if she still says no that you will let this go."
"I promise," said Phoebe. "I swear on my life."
"Okay," said Paige.
The drive home was quiet, but Paige wasn't entirely surprised. She knew her husband very well, and she was almost positive that he was slightly annoyed that she hadn't just told Phoebe to give up. Over the years he'd developed an overprotective older brother relationship with Piper. Paige thought that this was the result of a combination of events that all began the night she and Henry had found Piper crying in a closet. That had been over twenty-two years ago during the several months Leo had been taken away from the family, but she could still remember the night clearly. Henry had been highly disturbed by the fact that Piper was an emotional wreck. He had confessed to Paige later that Piper reminded him of his little sister, who had killed herself when she was only fifteen. After that night with Piper, he had always showed a great deal of concern that she was all right.
Paige had always thought that this was a blessing, since it balanced her similar relationship with Leo.
But despite any of their relationships to one another, she was still Piper's sister, and Henry had to recognize that she knew what she was doing.
"I'll be careful with Piper," she said. "You know that she'll be more willing to hear me out than she will Phoebe right now anyway."
"I know, Paige," said Henry. He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it. "And I wasn't thinking about Piper's well-being. Well, at least not at the moment."
"You weren't?" asked Paige, somewhat surprised.
"No," said Henry. "I was thinking about the fact that for as long as I've known you, you seem to be stuck playing peacemaker between your sisters. And I think you're amazing for putting up with it for all these years."
"Oh," said Paige softly.
"I love you, Paige. You know that, right?"
"Of course I do," said Paige. "And you know that I love you back." She said it as a statement, but a question was implied.
"Always," said Henry. "Always."
"Wil! I. Need. The. Car. Tonight."
Paige shut the front door and smiled at her husband. "Oh how I've missed this," she said.
"Yeah, sure," said Henry.
"I need the car too, Ellie. And I was home a whole forty-eight hours before you, so I think I called it first."
"Ugh!" came the disgruntled cry of Paige's only daughter. "I hate you sometimes!"
"Hello, children," said Henry as they came into the kitchen. "I see you're getting along quite nicely."
"Dad, tell Ellie that I need the car tonight."
"No way! I need the car!"
"Okay, guys, chill out," said Paige, setting her purse on the counter and leaning back against it with her arms folded across her chest. "This is the first time all four of us have been together since Christmas and I don't want to hear fighting the whole time."
"Well then tell your son that he's being unreasonable," said Ellie.
"All right, you two," said Henry, sounding slightly annoyed. "What's going on with the car? Who is going where with whom?"
"David, Marilinda, Julia and I are going to the movies," said Wil, "and I already told them that I could drive."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "But I already made plans with Lena to go to Ursula's and you know that Lena hates to drive unless she absolutely has to."
Henry looked at Paige and Paige shrugged. "I could always orb over to Piper's tonight," she said.
"Does that mean we can each have a car?" asked Wil hopefully.
"Yes," said Henry. "You can each have a car."
"Thank you," said Wil, and he grabbed an apple and walked out of the kitchen.
"I love you guys," said Ellie, giving Henry a big hug and then skipping out of the kitchen after her brother. "Hey Wil," Paige heard her call, "do you want to play Nintendo?"
Paige smiled as Henry let out a small groan and ran a hand through his hair. "Only two more months until they're home for the summer," she said.
"I can't wait," said Henry. And Paige knew that he meant it.
She orbed over to the manor after dinner and found Piper fuming around the kitchen making brownies. Her sister didn't even seem surprised at her sudden appearance, simply batting Paige's hand away when she reached to stick her finger into the batter.
"Still recovering from this afternoon, I see," said Paige, jumping up onto the island in the middle of the kitchen. Sometimes, sitting in the kitchen of the manor playing peacemaker between her sisters, she felt twenty-seven again instead of fifty.
"She just drives me crazy," said Piper, picking up the bowl and stirring the batter vehemently. "I swear that she doesn't have a brain in her head sometimes."
Paige shrugged. "She didn't mean to hurt you," she said. "I was talking to her after you left and she is honestly convinced that this destiny quest will be therapy for both of you."
"I don't need therapy," said Piper.
"Of course not," Paige lied. "But maybe it would give you some sense of peace about some of the things that have happened in the past."
"Or not," said Piper, not quite so angrily. She sighed and put the bowl down on the counter. "I just...I don't want to reopen old wounds," she said.
"I understand that completely," said Paige. "But are you sure the wounds ever closed?"
Piper stared at her and didn't respond. Paige nodded.
"Do you need some help with those brownies?" she asked.