Thank you to PrueAndyForever, lizardmomma, and Allen Pitt for your reviews and thank you to Dilzx33 for being our newest reviewer! Glad you guys liked our humorous twist in yesterday's selection -- we figured that they needed one of those light-hearted moments in the midst of all that has gone on so far.

Primrose and I are estatic that our statement yesterday regarding when and if certain characters are going to show up and whether their backgrounds may or may not be the same as they were in the OU didn't drive you, our loyal readers and reviewers, away from this fic.

To the folks who are still wondering, though -- one of our wonderful betas had this to say about that particular subject after we informed them of the same thing that we informed you of yesterday: "Paige will show up when she shows up. I've learned that characters do what they want, and authors know their characters better than readers, but even the authors don't always know what will happen next. I'm going to concentrate on what's happening now, because that is what I have in front of me." ;-)

So from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for sticking with this fic and for understanding who our main concentration is on, as far as the sisters go. :-)

Now without further delay, here is today's update for your reading pleasure.

PART FOURTEEN: "It should've been me..."

Meanwhile in the upstairs bathroom, Phoebe quickly washed up, then went back into her room to put on her dress and braid her hair back. She tried her best not to think of what's going to come. She didn't want to think about it; she couldn't or she'd break down and she wanted both Prue and Piper to be proud of her. She was just happy to know that both Prue and Cole would be there for her and Andy would be there for Prue.

She didn't think about Leo; she didn't want to think about Leo. Thinking about Leo would just make her think about Piper. And she didn't want to think about Piper. Not yet.

Once she was ready for the day ahead, she took a deep breath, and then headed for the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She couldn't get through this day without it.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she walked over to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup, wondering who had made the pot. Looking at the counter and the cupboard and stove, she blinked back her tears. No more home-cooked meals. No more Piper telling me to clean my room or chasing me out of the kitchen. No more Piper at all!

She dropped to a chair and set down her mug as the tears began to fall. Reality hit her like a ton of bricks in the stomach--she would never get to see Piper again!

Meanwhile, in the downstairs bathroom, Cole was finishing up. He ran a final comb through his hair and made sure his tie was nice and straight. Satisfied with his appearance, he left the bathroom and walked to the kitchen. Now for some much-needed caffeine, because today is going to be a long day.

Entering the kitchen, he spots Phoebe sitting at the table, staring down at her coffee mug, and sobbing. "Piper?" he inquired, a note of concern in his voice, doing his best.

She wiped a few tears away with her fingers, but they refused to stop. She acknowledged his question with a nod. "I just realized what is going to happen. No more Piper. She's been one of my big sisters my entire life. I've always had both her and Prue. But now there's no more Piper. And with her gone everything is going to go wrong. How can Prue and I get along without her? She's always been the voice of reason and the only one who can keep the two of us from tearing each other to shreds. Look what happened yesterday! This just isn't going to work!" Again she sniffled back her tears, but they kept rolling down her face in a never-ending stream, so she pulled a tissue from the box that had sat on the kitchen table since they lost Piper and dabbed her eyes with it.

He tried in vain to think of something comforting to say, but he was hopeless at this sort of thing. Instead he just went with his instincts. Hurrying over to her chair, he knelt down next to her and just wrapped his arms around the youngest Charmed One, letting her sob onto his shoulder.

She held tightly onto him as if she was afraid that he'd disappear, too. "Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't it have been me?" The words came out in hiccupping sobs as tears ran down her face and dripped onto his shoulder. "Prue and Piper have always been so close to each other. They never would've missed me. It should've been me who went through that wall, Cole. Not Piper."

He reached over and used her chin to raise her head so he was looking her right in her soft brown eyes. "And what would I have done without you? You're my salvation, Phoebe. I need you. And remember what Andy said. It was simply Piper's turn to go and be with your mother and your grandmother. Everything happens for a reason. We might not like it and we might not understand it, but there's a reason for why it happened."

She sadly sighed as she reverted her gaze back to the kitchen table and the slowly-cooling mug of coffee sitting on the coaster in front of her. Then she looked up at him as she finally caught her breath. "Yeah, I know Andy was right, but it's just gonna be so hard."

He nodded as he took her left hand in his and placed his right hand on top of hers in a comforting gesture. "But you'll make it. You'll make it because you still have me and Prue and Leo. Leo looked pretty bad last night. He's gonna need you guys a lot."

"Yeah, Phoebe, he's exactly right. I am going to need you and Prue. I'm going to need you two a lot. It won't be easy, but we'll get through this. We just have to stick together."

Please click that little button and leave a review! Thank you.