Piper clapped her hand over her mouth and she felt a lump in her throat. Tears were beginning to form, and her sisters' faces mirrored her own. "Are we dreaming?" she asked.

"If we are, I never wanna wake up," Phoebe said.

Prue shook her head no. "I'm really and truly back. Nobody is dreaming. Andy caught my kidnapper."

Piper and Phoebe immediately formed a Prue sandwich and the three of them hugged. Their emotions were in overdrive, and they were crying on each other's shoulders.

"I missed you so much," Phoebe wept. "All those times I told you to leave me alone, I was just mad then, okay? I'm sorry that I gave you such a hard time...I didn't mean it..."

Prue laughed weakly. "I forgive you, baby."

"Oh, Prue, you're freezing to the touch!" Piper noticed aloud and sniffled a few times.

"Sorry, Prue, I would have given you my jacket if I had one on," Andy said guiltily.

"I know, Andy." They shared a look not missed by the other two women.

"What happened to you? Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.

It looked like Prue had been in a car wreck, but Piper knew it was the work of the bastard who took her in the middle of the night five years ago. She'd have to talk to her man and Andy in private about Prue's condition. She didn't want to make Prue feel uncomfortable.

"I'm fine," Prue said, but her eyes were glued to the floor.

"You got a ring?" Phoebe asked and pointed to the piece of jewelry.

"I've been so overwhelmed with emotions that I completely forgot...it's been a habit to wear this..." Prue pulled it off her finger and threw it into a nearby trash bin. "That felt heavy, I'm so glad to have it off!"

There was awkward silence, and then Piper cleared her throat. "So, um, Prue and Andy, this is my fiancé, Leo," she put her arms around the blonde man, "and our daughter Melinda." She stroked the girl's dark hair. "Leo, this is one of my best friends, Prue, and our longtime friend Andy."

Leo shook Prue and Andy's hands, and then they knelt down to Melinda's level.

"Hi there, honey," Prue said with a smile and wiped her eyes. "You look so much like your mommy."

"Are you my auntie?"

"Yes, I'm your auntie."

"Mommy talked about you a lot. She was really sad. Why is she sad now? You're here."

"Those are happy tears, Miss Melinda," Andy explained.

Melinda spun around. "Ohhh...you wanna see my room? It's really cool!"

"Maybe they can see your room later, darling. Let them have a chance to meet Auntie Phoebe's husband and little girl, okay?" Piper could see that Prue and Andy were both tired and she just wanted them to meet everyone as fast as possible.

"Okay, Mama!"

"Prue, Andy, up here!" Phoebe turned her baby girl so she could face the newcomers.

"Who is this cutie?" Andy asked.

"How old is she?" Prue wanted to know.

"Her name is Prudence Johanna, and she's Melinda's age...three, but she's a month younger than her. I call her P.J. for short."

"Oh, hi!" Prue said to P.J. in a quiet, silly voice.

"Hi," P.J. replied, but it was almost inaudible.

"My husband is in the bathroom...oh, he just came out! This is Coop, you guys." Phoebe walked over to the dark-haired man and hugged him. "Yo, P.J.'s gettin' real heavy since I've been carrying her for so long. You mind takin' her?"

"Sure, babe." Coop took the small girl from Phoebe's arms and turned to face the newcomers. "Hey there!" He waved at the group and shook hands with Prue and Andy.

Piper looked over at her fiancé and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was. Besides the fact that Prue had been beaten up, she also looked way too skinny for a woman her age and height. She needed to see a doctor, and Leo would be a good one for the moment. "Andy, can Leo and I speak to you privately for a second?"

"Sure. We'll be back, Prue." The inspector followed the couple into the living room where they wouldn't be heard by the others.

"Andy, how bad is she?" Piper asked. To Leo, she whispered that Andy was a cop, Officer Trudeau.

"When I found her, she was locked in a basement and covered in bruises and scrapes. She doesn't appear to have any broken bones and I gave her some ice earlier. I asked her if she wanted to see a doctor, but she said no and that her wounds would go away on their own. I would still suggest a doctor for her, though, since who knows how far this guy went with her," Andy reported.

"No matter what she tells you, she needs a doctor."

"Leo is a doctor, so he knows what he's talking about. He does his work here at home sometimes," Piper said.

"Just by looking at her, she is malnourished and badly hurt, but doesn't really need a hospital. We'll take care of her. She needs a lot of rest, ice, and food in her belly right away," Leo said. "You've done your job well, Inspector Trudeau."

"Leo, we're buddies now. You can call me Andy."

"I have no problem with that. Now, Piper's never mentioned you before...you were a friend of theirs?"

"I was Prue's boyfriend and her, Piper, and Phoebe's childhood friend over thirty years ago, and then I lost touch with her and her homegirls."

"It was only Prue who would talk about you sometimes. Phoebe and I didn't want to make her upset or nothin'," Piper chimed in.

Andy shoved his hands in his pockets and raised his eyebrows at Piper. "She talked about me? What did she say?"

"Nothin' bad," Piper assured him. "I think it's time for us all to go upstairs since its late, especially for Melinda and P.J...and Prue needs her sleep. She's been through hell and back, I'm sure."

They walked back into the foyer when they overheard Phoebe and Prue talking to each other.

"Think you got him under your spell."

"It's been eighteen years, I don't think so." Prue's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she saw Piper, Leo, and Andy return. "Piper, what happened to your bangs?"

"I outgrew 'em..."

"Phoebe, you dyed your hair brown, I love it!"

"Thank you."

"Did you finally meet a special someone?"

"Yeah, Coop is the one!" Phoebe said excitedly. "Oh, hey, y'all!" The look on her face showed that she realized why Prue changed the subject so quickly.

Sorry, she mouthed at Prue, and Piper rolled her eyes at the fact that Phoebe never failed to humiliate the oldest of the three sisters, even after years of not seeing her. She thanked her lucky stars that Andy didn't seem fazed by what was said between her girls. Being the negotiator was sometimes difficult, but it was even harder to take a side when Piper loved both her sisters exactly the same but knew one was more right than the other. She was born in the middle and very used to it, but that didn't mean it wasn't annoying.

"Andy, you should get back home. I'll be okay here with my sisters," Prue said, relieving some of the tension in the room. "Thank you so much for everything." They embraced each other and Piper turned away to give them their privacy. She elbowed Phoebe as a sign to do the same.

"Good night, Prue, sweet dreams," Andy said, and Prue responded with, "You too."

The door closed, and then they faced Prue. She was just a bit livid and she tossed a glare at Phoebe. "Did you have to say that with him right in the next room? He might think I still love him, and I can't risk him knowing that I still have feelings for my high school boyfriend! I mean, how pathetic is that?"

"I'm sorry, Prue...you know me, the loudmouth."

"It's okay. I don't have the energy to fight anyway."

"Alright, let's get you to bed," Piper said and put her arms around Prue's shoulders.

"I'm afraid of falling asleep because I don't want to be taken from my bed in the middle of the night. Can I take a shower first? I just want to wash...everything...off of me."

"Of course you can," Phoebe replied and linked her arm through Prue's.

They heard the shower water running while putting the kids to bed. Piper set Melinda in her crib after changing her diaper and kissed her on both cheeks. She and Leo dressed their son in red footsie pajamas. Phoebe rushed into the nursery room with a flustered expression on her face.

"I feel so bad about what I did..."

"Don't worry, it's okay. I don't think Andy heard, and if he did, he didn't seem to think anything of it. Hey, let's make her a surprise breakfast in bed, her favorite, which is chocolate chip blueberry waffles, strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and syrup. She needs to eat a lot, she needs to be doted on, and she loves that shit."

"Just us two?" Phoebe wondered out loud.

"That's right. I know she hates being pampered, but she's been so badly damaged that she needs something good to happen on her first full day here."

"I will always remember today's date, January twentieth." Phoebe looked confused until Piper pointed to her watch. "It's already midnight here, and she just got here. We should probably dispose of these and write out flyers that say she was found on January twentieth, two thousand and one." Piper held up a wad of papers and they read the top line that was in all caps: Have you seen me?

Last name: Halliwell

First name: Prue

Last seen: March 4th, 1996

Gender: Female

Hair: Dark brown

Eyes: Bright green

Height: 5'3"

Race: Caucasian

Date of Birth: October 20th, 1970

If found, please call 911 and bring her to the address on the bottom of this page.

Additional Information: She has not called us or been seen since a few nights before her twenty-sixth birthday, and she was taken from her bed in the middle of the night. She has very striking green eyes.

Phoebe sighed with relief. "Glad we don't have to deal with those anymore."

"Me too. I'm so happy Prue is alive, though." They hugged each other tightly.

"I remember this picture of her...it was taken on your graduation day. She was so happy for you...and I loved her smile in the picture."

"I did too."

"We gots to be quiet, the baby is sleeping!" Melinda piped up and pointed to her cousin lying in the crib next to her.

"Oh right, in the middle of all this, I completely forgot that Coop put P.J. down for the night. Sorry, sweetie," Phoebe whispered, and Piper kissed her daughter goodnight.

"Night night, little baby, I love you." Piper cooed at Melinda.

"Nighty night, Mommy, love you too!"

Phoebe placed a Dora plushie next to the little girl and kissed two fingers and laid them on her forehead, which made her smile and mumble something like, "Love Auntie Phoebe."

Piper turned on the purple, cloud-shaped nightlight in the room, shut off the light, and closed the door halfway. The light from the hallway was left on.

"She's two and a half now, you gotta get her a big girl bed soon," Phoebe commented as they left the room.

"Are you kidding? She's so tiny, I'm afraid of losing her in a bed...maybe when she's like, four. That's when I started sleeping in a bed."

"How do you remember that stuff?"

"Grams' stories, ones you weren't there for most of the time, because you thought you were too cool for family," Piper said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I've matured."

"I know you have."

"Piper, come here..." Leo already had his shirt off, and Piper grinned. She could remember their first time in bed, when they had talked for hours and then had sex. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever done with any man in her whole life. Their talk would be in her mind forever. It was the thing that started their relationship in the first place.

She'd heard stories in the newspaper, that there was a car crash with two occupants inside, her handyman and his wife, and that the woman died on impact, but he had just suffered from a mild concussion.

"I kept thinking about what I could have done to save her, more than just CPR," Leo confessed to Piper with his chin propped in his hand as he laid on his side. She'd never seen this sensitive part of him before, and it made her want to hug him. "Lillian passed on way before her time, and she shouldn't have. I was the driver, you know, the controller of the car, and I couldn't stop her from dying. One minute, we're singing to our song, and the next, we're hit by a blinding light. That damn truck driver...but I should have been paying more attention! I should know there are drunk drivers on the road, especially after eleven at night! I'm training to become a doctor, I should be smart! They shouldn't have kicked me out of the army, because then I might have died before her! I was wounded and dropped from the war, but they could have let me keep fighting, then she'd still be alive!"

Piper reached up to stroke his face, to wipe his tears away, and she shushed him gently. "Stop blaming yourself for someone else's stupidity. You did everything you could. I got survivor guilt, too, you know. It happened in my freshman year of college. I had this friend, Mark, in high school, and I guess you could have called us two peas in a pod. One night when it was raining, this crazy psycho attacked him in a dark alley and killed him, one bullet, that's all it took to make him depart from the world. Sure, he was in the wrong spot at the wrong time, and I was angry at him for leaving me, but in the end, I blamed myself. I should have hung out with him that night...it was his birthday, and I wanted to take him out, but he wouldn't let me. He didn't want to celebrate his birthday, he just wanted to run away from home. I told him he could always be with me here. He never made it to eighteen, and I discovered that he had a lot of problems he never told me about. He always thought low of himself, and I thought I boosted his self-esteem enough, but I guess I didn't. I never told him this, but I loved him, Leo, he was the last thing I thought of when I closed my eyes every night, but I never got a chance to find out if he liked me the same way." She swallowed hard and let the tears fall.

"Of course he did, Piper, who couldn't love a sweet, caring girl like you?" Leo asked rhetorically. "You did nothing to cause his death, and I can understand why you were angry. I was angry with Lillian for leaving me...but then sadness took over. At the funeral, I could not say a speech. I couldn't say how much I loved her, because I was afraid I would just...break down in the middle of a sentence, or a word, even. So I just sat in the pews and cried while listening to others' speeches. I wondered how they could hold it together."

"At Mark's funeral, I did nothing but cry. I told my sisters that of course the only dude who ever worshipped the ground I walked on would have to die. I told them that I should just give up on romance, but they hugged me and took me to his grave all the time so I could place flowers by it and talk to him. Now, I can go there alone without sobbing hysterically."

"Lillian's grave is also decorated with flowers, and I spent a great deal of time with her every day. I tell her what I'm doing, and I just know she's having a good time in heaven."

Piper snuggled closer to him and let him put his arms around her so their bodies were fully touching. She basked in his warmth. "You know, you're the first man I've cherished since Mark. I had this image of him when I was sleeping...he told me he wanted to see me happy and move on with a nice, loving gentleman. I think you holding me is making him happy, and thank you for that."

"Right before Lillian died, she whispered to me to take care of myself and find a woman as good as she was. I bet she's smiling down at us now. You are my soul mate. We're two halves of a whole." Leo kissed her deeply and the lip-locking went further until he pulled a condom out of his pocket, and Piper knew at last she had found a man who adored her as much as she adored him. She just had to keep one thing to herself. Even though the safe sex felt good and the talk connected them more than ever before, she couldn't stop the nagging voice that kept going off in her head, but it silenced itself because she'd ignored it for so long. She would never talk about high school again to another man for as long as she lived.

Piper and Leo cuddled in bed together and then when all was quiet, they made love.

"Where have you been all my life?" he asked.

She smiled flirtatiously and rested her head on his chest. She glanced up for a split second and all of a sudden, she noticed something was off about their window. There was a strange noise outside, and she jumped.

"Honey, did you leave the window open? I love the window open when we have sex, because it cools us down."

"No, I didn't...it's open a crack, and I don't remember touching that-" Piper shrieked when her eyes landed on a slithering reptile that was traveling across their floor while hissing. She started to hyperventilate and pointed at the venomous creature. "Leo...Leo, there's a snake! Oh my god!" She threw the sheet over her body while trembling. At least it wasn't a spider, since those frightened her the most, so much that she'd have to leave the room and sleep downstairs.

Leo bolted up in bed and grabbed the first blunt object he could find, which was his alarm clock, and he beat the snake until it was dead. Piper was breathing hard behind him and whimpering.

"How the hell did that get in here?" Leo grumbled.

"Did you kill it?" Piper asked worriedly.

"Yes, I did...I will be right back." Leo put his boxers back on, tossed the snake out the window, closed it, and exited the room.

At once, Prue ran into Piper and Leo's bedroom. Phoebe joined them shortly after. Their eyes were full of fear.

"What happened?" Prue wanted to know.

"How did a snake get in your room?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know," Piper said tearfully. "The window was opened, and we didn't open it!"

"That's really creepy...remember when our door was unlocked and someone let a dangerous dog in our house when we were in college? We all locked the doors before we left for school, oh my god, is it happening again? Weird shit happening in the middle of the night?" Prue looked towards the window with a terrified look in her eyes.

Leo burst into the room, and the women jumped slightly. "Nobody's out there. I checked outside and went around the back of the house, and what I'm guessing is that it was just a stupid prank and the perp ran away when they saw me waving the baseball bat around."

"Ooh, I would just love to get my hands on that little-" Piper stopped mid sentence and growled. "Fuckin' scaring me to death..."

"Are you okay now, baby?" Leo asked Piper. She nodded and he held her close.

Prue and Phoebe kissed her on the head, and then they went back to bed.

The mansion had long gone quiet when Prue's shriek broke through the silence.

"Let me go! Stop, please!"

"I gotta go check on Prue," Piper told Leo as she quickly left their bed. She slipped on her nightdress and nearly bumped into Phoebe trying to get to Prue's room. They opened her door together and sat on either side of her bed. She was tossing and turning, and they were thankful it was just a nightmare and she hadn't been kidnapped again.

"Prue, sweetie, wake up, you're having a bad dream," Piper murmured and gently shook her. Phoebe stroked her hair and then Prue woke up sobbing.

"You're okay. We're all here." Phoebe soothed her. They both rubbed her back in calming circles.

Prue stared up at the ladies. "Now you're the ones who get to take care of me, and I couldn't feel any guiltier. I'm supposed to be the strong one..." she mumbled.

Seven-year-old Phoebe was crying. "Prue!" her shrill voice yelled out. "The boogeyman's gonna get me again! He's in the basement and he came up here!"

"Oh, Pheebs, there's no such thing as the boogeyman," Prue tried to reassure her youngest sister as she half-jogged into Phoebe and Piper's room. They were sharing a bunk bed.

"I want a hug and you and Piper to read me Cinderella, that makes him go away! Grams said she made him go away already, but I still see him..."

"Let go of me!" they heard Piper scream above them. "I'm ten, I don't wanna die, no! No!"

Prue was only thirteen, but she knew how to console both her sisters from their nightmares. She had defeated the Nothing at five years old, by repeating the mantra her mother had taught her when she was having a bad dream: you're not real, you don't exist. The monster would fade away if children didn't believe in it. She half-dragged Phoebe out of her bed and helped Piper down the ladder. They all went into Prue's room to sit on her bed and she told them to repeat after her.

"You gotta say the monster's name for it to work. Try it with me. Who wants to go first?"

"Me!" both Piper and Phoebe shouted.

"I guess we could all say it together. Close your eyes, imagine your monster."

Piper shut her eyes tight. "Go away, Wendigo, you don't scare me!"

"Not exactly. Mommy always told me these two sentences; they worked right away. You are not real. You don't exist."

"Boogeyman, you are not real, you don't exist!"

"Wendigo, you are not real, you don't exist!"

"Good, now repeat until you can't see him anymore."

After saying those sentences for about five minutes, the girls' faces lit up. "He's gone!"

Prue clapped her hands and looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you, Mommy, I love you!"

She gathered her friends in her arms. "How about we read The Hunchback of Notre Dame?"

"Yay!" Phoebe clapped her little hands.

"Yeah!" Piper cheered.

"You always have been strong, Prue, and it's hard to see you this way, but now it's our turn to protect you. Want us to stay here with you?" Piper asked softly, blinking back tears at the memory.

"No, it's okay, I'm sorry for waking you girls up."

"You sure?" Phoebe wondered aloud.

"Yeah, go sleep with your men. There's not enough room in your bed for all of us, anyway."

"Good night, we love you!" Piper whispered and they hugged Prue.

"You too," Prue replied and fell back to sleep.

The next morning, Piper and Phoebe were up early. They wouldn't let Leo and Coop help them with breakfast, as this was from them to their older sister. Piper mixed the dough while Phoebe handed her the ingredients. They both took a turn in spraying the whipped cream on top of the two chocolate chip banana blueberry waffles and then drizzling them with syrup. As a final touch, they sliced strawberries and put the bite-sized pieces of fruit around the plate. It was hot and it looked delicious. They made their way up to Prue bedroom.

"Here's to hopin' they ain't up yet." Phoebe crossed her fingers.

"They both had a rough night, I don't think they are," Piper assured her. She and Phoebe opened the door, and sat on Prue's bed with her breakfast.

Prue stirred and opened her eyes slowly. "Something smells wonderful," she murmured with a grin. She looked at her breakfast with delight. "Oh my, you guys cooked my favorite breakfast for me?" She rubbed her eyes open and stretched while yawning. "Oooh, yummy waffles and fruit and whipped cream, yay! I haven't been this spoiled since...I can't remember when! Thank you, sisters!"

"You're very welcome," Phoebe said, and handed Prue a fork so she could eat.

Later, the men came in with the little kids and breakfast, and they gave Piper and Phoebe breakfast, too. After everyone ate, they brushed their teeth. The adults casually watched the news while getting ready for the day, but a certain report stood out, about the wealthy banker Whitaker Berman and his arrest. Pictures showed on the screen while the newscaster spoke.

"The question still remains: where is his wife? What is a wig and a pair of sunglasses doing in their bedroom? Was the wife pretending to be blind, and if so, there must be nothing worse in the world than that."

The report showed Whitaker getting released to give his statement, and he said, "Whitney must have ran away when she realized her secret was out. She really played me because I thought she had two disabilities. When she took the wig off and started saying stuff and telling me she could see clearly, I was so heartbroken. Who would do that?"

"That stupid good-for-nothing asshole!" Prue yelled. "How could he say that? He's a criminal, if he's in jail, ya know...anyway, let's have girl talk."

Leo and Coop took that as their cue to leave the room and Prue turned off the television. She tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "So, how are you doing at Quake, Piper? Do you have a job yet, Phoebe?"

"I realized that my dream job wasn't there...but I still love to cook. I now own a dance club that I named P3, as a tribute to us." Piper smirked and nudged both Prue and Phoebe. The three ladies giggle.

"Attagirl," Prue said and hi-fived Piper.

"I actually went back to school. See, I quit in the middle when you left, since I couldn't concentrate on schoolwork when my big sister was missing. I'll be graduating soon, next spring, or the spring after. It depends how busy my life is with the baby and who knows, I may be expecting soon."

Prue's jaw dropped. "Phoebe! You used to be so...wild, did I miss that much? When did you girls meet Leo and Coop?"

"Leo was our handyman, and we had to sneak around Phoebe. We have been together for two and a half years, ever since I was pregnant with Melly-belly. We used a condom our first time, and he was really sweet and all...he still is..." Piper's voice dropped to a whisper. "I never told him my secret."

"What secret?"

"You know, that I was a dork in high school with pimples, glasses, and braces."

"Why not?"

"My ex-boyfriend, Dan Gordon, did not handle it well...we were next door neighbors, sometime after you were taken, Prue, and we dated for about a month or two before he broke it off."

"They tortured me, Dan, especially Missy...and Prue was basically my only loyal protector. There was Bernard, too, but they called him emo, and me Braceface the Ho. I had pimples, coke-bottle glasses, braces, a big pregnant belly filled with twins, and high school was a nightmare. I just think, if it hadn't been for Prue..." Piper broke off into tears while Robert just stared at her. "Say somethin'...anything..." She leaned into him closer for a kiss, but he pushed her off of him when she tried to scoot in his lap.

"Get off me, you disgust me! I don't wanna know you anymore, you shouldn't have told me that you were Braceface the Ho! Missy Franklin was hot, and I wanted to date her, but she must have been busy dealing with your gross self!" Dan yelled at her. Piper gasped and her heart hurt. It felt like she'd been punched in the gut, and she heard him slam the door behind him. A few days later, his house was for sale.

"He broke up with me because I told him I used to be a dork in high school. It burns me to this day."

"Jerk!" Prue said angrily.

"It didn't help that he like-liked Missy Franklin, of all people, as if I didn't feel awkward enough already."

They gasped. "Double jerk!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"And he was a baseball player for the Seattle Mariners."

"Triple jerk!" the men hollered from the kitchen, and the friends laughed.

"Men and their baseball," Phoebe groaned.

"It's like women with their shopping," Coop called back in a playful tone.

"Well, honey, if Leo still loved you when you were pregnant with Melinda and didn't leave you then he will accept your past." The sisters' voices went low again, since they didn't want Leo to hear.

"Yeah, she's right, big sister knows best," Phoebe muttered, and Prue beamed. Phoebe gave Piper a warning look, her don't tell look, and Piper just let Phoebe tell some of her story.

Piper came home from work to find Phoebe laying on her bed, depressed. She'd never seen her little sister like this, and she was a bit frightened.

"Phoebe, talk to me, what's up?"

"I'm pregnant," she moaned. "Cole and I hooked up at this wild college party...Paige warned me that he was bad news...why can't I listen to my best friend? She's younger than me with less experience, and she still thought he was awful. When I told him I was having his baby, he told me to abort it or he'd walk out of my life forever. I chose to keep the baby...he never spoke to me again...I thought he loved me...I feel so alone..."

Piper sighed and hugged Phoebe. Prue always knew the right thing to say, and Piper wished she were with them at the moment. She had no idea what to do besides just lay there with Phoebe while listening to sad music. She then told Phoebe the story of her and Dan.

"Why do we always get stuck with the losers?" Phoebe asked.

"Maybe the universe is trying to teach us lessons. For you, it's not saying yes to a guy until you get married. For me, it's keeping embarrassing secrets hidden forever. We'll learn quickly, Phoebe, but now, we need to take a break from dating. Let's just be two besties and go out for a night in the city, snack on ice cream, and watch chick flicks."

Phoebe wiped her wet cheeks with her sleeve. "Yeah, that would be fun."

A week later, Phoebe was experiencing great pain in her abdomen, so Piper took her to the doctor. She squeezed Piper's hand while listening to the dreadful news and watching blood run down her legs.

"I'm so sorry to tell you this Miss Halliwell, but you miscarried."

"This loser I met in college, Cole, didn't come to my twenty-first birthday party when he said he would...and I just knew somethin' was bothering him...I felt like I lost everything. How did I not see that coming? I wish I was psychic...anyway, this was just after Piper was heartbroken by Dan's rejection to her past, and we made a pact to swear off men until Piper met Leo and broke said pact. I didn't want them to date at all. When I found out they were seeing each other romantically in secret, I felt so betrayed, even more with Piper than with Cole."

"I'm sorry, Phoebe. At least you met Coop last year," Piper said apologetically. "They tied the knot even though none of Phoebe's children are his by blood."

"Wow, you've never been the settling-down type." Prue mumbled. "I just wish I could have attended your wedding."

"Oh...I'm sorry we didn't wait for you," Phoebe murmured.

"Don't be, it's okay that you moved on with your life," Prue told her sincerely. "Things really have changed..." she noticed aloud.

"It helps that I fell for a marriage counselor and Piper's with Leo, who fixed her heart along with this house."

"He's now going to be a doctor," Piper said proudly.

"Excellent! Tell him way to go for me!"

Piper beamed. "I will."

Prue sighed heavily. "Well, I need to job hunt. I don't wanna be home by myself all day. I don't feel safe being alone or around people who might take me back to my kidnapper..."

"You could always take our kids to daycare and help out there until you find a job," Phoebe said.

"Oh, I don't know...I may not be any good at that."

"You're excellent with kids, Prue. They're okay with volunteers, and you can even go with us in the morning so the teachers can meet you. It'll just be a part time job, like a babysitter, and you'll be around trustworthy people," Piper said.

"I don't trust myself to take care of kids," Prue admitted. "I...I love them and everything, but it's nerve-wracking when the two of us go anywhere together by ourselves. I'm so scared of letting go of her hand, and not just when we're crossing the street. Just keeping her in sight isn't enough. She's curious about the world around her and wants to explore. Imagine how I'd do with a child I don't know well." She gulped and wrung her hands which were shaking violently. "I know I had a beast restraining me, but what if the kidnapper just murders us both right away? I'd give my life for theirs, but...I can't let them grow up without their parents."

Piper and Phoebe looked at her sadly and put their hands over hers comfortingly. She had a long road ahead of her, but the women knew she would find her way. Prue needed help, though, and Piper and Phoebe would be there for her every step she had to take to make herself heal.

Piper had to go to the club late that night. Andy, Coop, and Leo were having a guys' evening out while Phoebe stayed at home with the children, so it was only Prue who came with her to have a drink. When Piper was closing up, her phone rang, so she answered it.

"Hello?"

There were a few deep breaths and then the person hung up.

"Who was that?" Prue asked.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Prank call."

"How annoying...at least your club is awesome!"

"Hell yeah, it is!" Piper agreed proudly. "Let's go home."

They put their arms around each other and headed towards the car. They heard strange noises and the trees cast shadows on the empty parking lot, but they assumed it was just their imagination trying to run wild. They got into Piper's Jeep and started the drive back to the manor. They played loud music, sang along to the lyrics, and laughed with each other. Piper finally had her big sister with her again, and it seemed like Prue was having fun. All they had to do was keep each other and the children free from harm.