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Please note! Unlike the flashbacks previously used in this fic, two of them used in today's update did not come from Charmed, nor are they what Primrose and I think happened after the end of "All Hell Breaks Loose." They're what we think might have happened, had Piper been the one who was the most hurt, not Prue.
Happy reading and hope you enjoy!
PART NINETEEN: "...Details At Ten"
Start Flashback (Episode 3.22 All Hell Breaks Loose -- modified for this fic by JustEs and Primrose Empath)
(The whole day resets and Prue and Piper are back in the manor before Kernus attacks.)
Prue: Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save.
Dr. Griffiths: They?
Prue: Yeah, demons. Uh, more specifically, Kernus.
Dr. Griffiths: Hold it, I get it. This is a practical joke, right? Do you have a hidden camera here? My second wife put you up to this? Ah, it's just like her. (He laughs.)
Prue: O-o-okay, Dr. Griffiths, listen to me, this is anything but...
(She stops.)
Piper: What?
Prue: I don't know, I just felt a chill. Phoebe? (No answer.) Phoebe, are you there? (A tornado of wind twists through the front door.) Phoebe, where are you?
(The tornado knocks Prue and Piper to the floor. A clap of thunder is heard, the tornado calms down and Kernus appears. He is a somewhat tall demon and is black and gray all over save for his skin. Grayish hair, gray unbuttoned shirt, black long pants. He wears glasses and has an evil smirk permanently plastered on his narrow pointy face.)
Dr. Griffiths: Dear God.
(Before she can get her hands up to either try to freeze or explode him, Kernus throws an energy ball at Piper and she literally crashes straight through a wall.)
Prue: Piper!
(Prue gets up and Kernus throws an energy ball at Prue which she deflects back at him, but before she can send him flying, he throws another energy ball at her, also sending her crashing through the wall and landing next to Piper. Kernus turns to Dr. Griffiths.)
Dr. Griffiths: What are you?
Kernus: The end.
(He throws an energy ball at Dr. Griffiths and he crashes through a window. Kernus looks around. He looks at Prue and Piper unconscious on the floor. Pleased with what he's done, Kernus turns back into the wind and flies out the front door. The glass on the door smashes as it slams shut.)
End Flashback
Just a couple seats over, memories of that fateful day were also playing though Phoebe's mind as she stared past her hands and down at her shoes.
Start Flashback
(Cole shimmers in, his arms wrapped around Phoebe. She sees the destruction caused by the recent attack, including the rather large hole in the wall. She lets out an audible gasp and her eyes open wide in panic.)
Phoebe: Oh, no.
(She wriggles out of Cole's arms, leaving him standing by the remains of the doorway and sprints over to the hole where she sees her sisters. They are surrounded by debris and both appear to be unconscious, while Prue is copiously bleeding.)
Phoebe: Oh, God. Leo! Leo! Leo! LEO! (Leo orbs in) Hurry! It's bad!
(Leo is in shock at sight of the destruction but Phoebe's panicked voice draws him out of his daze and he hurries over to join her by her older sisters)
Leo: What happened?
Phoebe (rapidly shakes her head as her eyes move back and forth between her two sisters): Never mind, just heal them. Quickly, come on.
(Leo kneels down beside her and places his left hand above Piper and his right one over Prue. Neither hand begins to glow.)
Phoebe: What's wrong? Why isn't it working?
(Leo places the hands on both hurt sisters' chest. With a low, anguished moan, he immediately orbs out, leaving a flabbergasted Phoebe by the destroyed wall.)
Scene: The Manor. Phoebe is still standing right where she was. Leo orbs back in. Phoebe opens her mouth to yell at Leo, but seeing the devastated look on his face, she stays quiet
(Leo takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, then he once more puts his right hand over Prue and his left one over Piper. Again his hands glow and again the glow surrounds both sisters' bodies. Again the light surrounding Piper goes out, while the light surrounding Prue dims. Leo gasp in agony even as the line in his forehead grow deeper as he continues to concentrate and finally the light surrounding Prue begins to brighten, concentrating on her head, finally glowing a bright gold, and her breathing becomes deeper. Tears of relief come to both Phoebe and Leo's eyes as the bright golden light spreads to completely envelope her entire body.)
(After another moment, the blood surrounding Prue disappears as she is completely healed, and her eyes start to flutter as she slowly regains consciousness. She slowly sits up, groaning and shaking the cobwebs out of her head. Phoebe wraps her arms around her big sister.)
Prue: (looking at Leo) The doctor?
Cole: (standing by the doctor's body) He's already gone, Prue. I think he died right away. Leo? How's Piper?
(Both sisters turn towards Leo and look on with shocked expressions and tear-filled eyes as Leo stays knelt down beside Piper and now holds both hands above her. Immediately the light in his right hand goes out. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and concentrates as hard as he can, harder than he ever has before, but still nothing happens.)
(While he's doing this, Prue and Phoebe pick through the debris and kneel beside Piper, opposite Leo, tears streaming down their faces.)
Phoebe: (taking one of Piper's hands in hers) What's the matter? Why isn't it working?
Prue: (pulling Piper's upper body into her lap and begins stroking the top of her head) Leo?
(Leo gives a world-weary sigh as he shakes his head in anguish and frustration. Tears are now forming in his eyes.)
Leo: I can't heal the dead.
(Prue and Phoebe are completely stunned at this news and start to cry harder. Prue refuses to believe him. She grabs his hands and put them over Piper's heart herself, but they stay dark.)
Prue: Yes, you can! You've got to heal her... You've done it before! Now heal her, goddammit! NOW! You've got to heal her! You've got to!
Phoebe: This is Piper, Leo! You can't let her die!
Leo (still shaking his head as tears now rolls down his face): Phoebe, don't you understand? She's already gone. Just like the doctor--she was gone before you even got here. I tried to bring her back, I did, but I was too late. She's dead. Piper is dead. My soulmate is gone, and there's nothing I can do to bring her back--not this time--not ever!
Phoebe: You tried to save her?
(Leo nods)
End Flashback
Next to Phoebe, Leo was also remembering that last day and his desperate attempt to save Piper's life.
Start Flashback
Scene: The "between realm" -- the realm where Leo brought Piper back to life after she had died from the Arroyo fever. Leo orbs in.
Leo: (looking around frantically) Piper! Piper!
(Looking straight ahead he moans as he sees a brightly-glowing Patty and Penny Halliwell with their arms wrapped around Piper who also begins to glow as they welcome her into the Light...he's two seconds too late! As much as he wishes he could follow her, he knows he can't. Utter devastation washes over him.)
Piper (turning in her mother and grandmother's arms to smile brilliantly at Leo): I love you! Now go save Prue!
(Prue! In Leo's hurry to save his soulmate, he has totally forgotten the other hurt sister. His devastation turns to horror as he realizes that doing this might have also caused Prue to die.)
Piper (waving her hands in typical Piper-fashion): Go! Go! Go!
(With one last sad look at her, Leo orbs out.)
End Flashback
Even as tears rolled down the faces of those remembering Piper's last day, they hear Pastor Williams calling Darryl's name, so they all come out of their daydream to listen to Darryl's eulogy.
Darryl slowly walked up to the podium, looked at those in the front row, and then spoke.
"Good afternoon. My name is Darryl Morris, and I'm an Inspector with the San Francisco Police Department. I only really got to know Piper Halliwell the last couple years, but I've known about her for a lot longer than that. That's because my first partner, Andy Trudeau, grew up with the Halliwells. And although Andy moved to Portland and married a non-Halliwell, he never talked about his ex-wife or Portland, he just talked about the Halliwells. So I felt like I knew Piper and her sisters, Prue and Phoebe, long before I even met them. From what Andy told me, I never thought that Piper could be half the person that Andy made her out to be. But when I met her, I found out that I was wrong. She was twice that person.
"If Andy was still around, I'm sure he would be the one telling you these stories, but you guys are kinda stuck with me. I'm doing it for both of them, my first partner who was my friend and who is gone, and Piper, who was also my friend and who is also gone, and who we both looked at as our own sister.
"Everyone knows about Piper's wonderful cooking. My wife Sheila and I will miss the fantastic dishes that Piper would send home with me, just like I know that you all will. And most of you know how much she wanted to be a chef, how she was a manager at Quake before she and her sisters bought P3 and that her biggest dream was to one day open a restaurant of her own. But how many of you know that that desire to be a chef started very early in life?
"Once after Piper had left one of her wonderful cakes at the station house for all of us inspectors, Andy told me that as a child, Piper's favorite plaything was the Ez-Bake Oven that "Santa" had bought her one year. Andy told me that she made some of the best things from that oven--and that even back then, she didn't like the idea of only dumping the box of mix into the pan, adding water and sticking it in the oven. Not Piper! She was always going to ask their grandmother for extra stuff from the kitchen that she could throw into the mix. And Andy said everything she tried always tasted great.
"Speaking of their grandmother, Piper spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her, and Andy said that Grams, as everyone called their grandmother, always said that she was never sure who was teaching who!
"Speaking of Grams, as most of you know, the Halliwell sisters didn't have a very happy childhood. Their father left them when they were very young and their mother died just a few years later, the reason why Grams had to raise them. But I think this just made them stronger and closer to each other, even if you'd never believe it if you ever heard Prue and Phoebe going at it! Andy said that even as kids, Prue was always the one who followed the straight and narrow, while Phoebe was always the one who would constantly push the limits as much and as often as she could! And shy quiet little Piper was the one who with just a few words would be able to remind them just how much they truly loved each other, something she did all of her life, the reason why Phoebe is here today and not living in New York, since she took off shortly after Grams' death.
"Shy quiet little Piper. Somehow that doesn't sound anything like the Piper I met, and yet everyone insisted that that's what she was like as a child. Like the time that she ran for class secretary and couldn't even finish her speech. Hearing the way Piper could give someone what-for makes that hard for me to believe, but Andy insisted that it was true."
"Another story that he insisted was true happened back when they were kids. The girls and Andy had always been close. He was sort of like the brother they never had. Just today I found out that they also have a second-cousin who also played that role. But Andy never mentioned him--probably didn't want to admit to me that they looked at anyone else as their big brother.
"Anyhow, when Piper was very young--about 5 or 6, she developed a crush on him, and for a good couple weeks that summer, she followed him around like a puppy dog. He pretended like he didn't notice, since she was more like a little sister to him than anything else, but he knew that she was still suffering from losing her mother shortly before this, so he figured if having a crush on him helped her to recover from that sudden loss in her life, that was fine with him.
"However, he didn't want her to suffer the endless teasing at the hands of her sisters if they found out--which, of course, they eventually did. You can only imagine how hard her sisters teased her! And poor sensitive Piper was so upset! It took all the power of both Andy and Grams to get Prue and Phoebe to knock it off! But even as Andy laughed about that, he admitted to me that seeing that little girl looking at him with stars in her eyes was by far one of the sweetest things he had ever seen. And you know something, I can agree with that--I saw the same look in Piper's eyes just a few months ago when she and Leo got married.
"Thank you for everything you did for all of us, Piper. Thanks to you, I now have a new friend who I'm almost as close to as I was to Andy, and that's Leo. You were a very, very special woman, Piper Melinda Halliwell-Wyatt, and we'll never forget you."
Once Darryl was done and had returned to his seat, Pastor Williams said a few more quick final prayers over Piper and everyone there, and then Victor walked up to the podium. "First I want to thank all of you for your love and support during this extraordinarily difficult time for my family and me. Next, as most of you know, we've asked that the burial itself be private, for just family only.
"Then, usually there is a meal of some sort in the church cafeteria after the burial or a meal back at the house, but we've decided to do things just a bit differently. Since Piper left us, many of the bands who played at P3 have contacted my daughters and asked if there was anything they could do. P3 was so special to Piper and since so many of you knew Piper through P3, we've decided to hold a celebration of Piper's life at P3 tonight. A lot of these bands will be playing, and all food and all drink will be on the house in her honor.
"All of you who are here today are welcomed to come to that celebration, although there is an entrance fee of sorts." Lifting up one of the programs, he continued, "Prudence made sure that all of you were given a copy of the beautiful program that she created. If you look on the back, you'll see that there is an area for you to share one of your favorite memories of Piper. Tonight, bring the program with that area filled out and you'll be allowed into P3. During the night, between acts, we, Piper's family, will be reading the various memories, so it will truly be a celebration of Piper's life. We hope to see all of you there."
As Victor returned to his seat, the organist began to play again and the pallbearers left their seats in the front row and lifted the coffin of their employer onto their shoulders and carried it down the aisle, following Pastor Williams and the ministers. Slowly her family left their seats, following the pallbearers in the same order that they'd come in, followed by the rest of the mourners.
The hearse was already parked at the door and the back of the door was open. Once Piper's family was all gathered around the back, the pallbearers carefully slid the coffin into the hearse, before once more Leo, Prue, Andy, Phoebe and Cole formed their "comfort-sandwich" and headed back towards Prue's car to follow the hearse on Piper's final journey.
After the burial, which was very sad for all involved, Andy drove them to a nearby mini-golf place. Mini-golf was one of Piper's favorite "non-cooking / non-magic" activities and they'd agreed beforehand to play a round in her honor. But on the way there, Phoebe suggested stopping somewhere to get something to eat first--after all, none of them had had anything to eat since the dinner the previous evening--they'd only had coffee before the funeral. Of course the two whitelighters and the half-demon didn't need food, but Phoebe's tummy was growling and Prue admitted to the beginnings of a hunger headache.
Although it wasn't planned, it just somehow seemed right that the first restaurant they came to was Quake. The restaurant where Piper was once both chef and manager before becoming the owner of P3 just seemed like the right place to have their post-burial meal. Naturally being there brought back all sorts of memories, and everywhere they looked, they could see Piper doing her thing, but somehow it was nice to do that...it seemed like they were doing what Pastor Williams had told them to do...continue to remember and tell stories of Piper.
Only one story made all of them laugh until the tears rolled down their faces. That was when Phoebe and Leo told them about the time when...
Start Flashback (Episode 1.14 Secrets And Guys)
Scene: Quake. Piper comes out of the kitchen and goes towards Leo.
Piper: Sorry. Small mutiny in the kitchen. (She sits down.) Where were we?
Leo: Piper there's something I need to tell you.
Piper: Yeah?
Leo: Uh, look. Forgive me, but I could be summoned at any moment, so I have to tell you this now. I can't…I can't, uh…I can't believe how much I missed you.
Piper: Well Leo, I missed you too, but what do you mean "summoned"? Summoned where?
(Harry comes out of the kitchen and stands by the door.)
Harry: Hey, uh…Piper. No respect I can live with, OK, but where the hell is my coriander?
(He goes back into the kitchen.)
Piper: OK. That's it. I'm ending this now.
(Piper gets up and heads towards the kitchen. Phoebe enters.)
Phoebe: Oh my gosh. You know.
Piper: Of course I know. The whole restaurant knows. Didn't you hear him scream it across the room?
Phoebe: (To Leo.) I thought it was a secret.
Leo: Phoebe...
Piper: I wish. It will probably be in the newspaper tomorrow.
Phoebe: No. It can't be. Look Piper, he never meant to hurt you.
Piper: Phoebe, please. You haven't even met the manic yet. What's gotten into you?
(Piper goes into the kitchen. Phoebe looks questionably at Leo.)
Leo: She's talking about the new chef.
End Flashback
Despite ordering their favorite items on the menu, both Prue and Phoebe only ate one or two bites before putting down their forks. Immediately the others began cajoling them into eating a bit more, asking them what Piper would think about them turning down food, especially food at Quake, and the two sisters managed to eat half of what was on their plates before insisting that they couldn't swallow another bite without becoming ill. So after trying to pay the manager who had taken over after Piper left, who insisted that it was on the house, Andy drove them to the mini-golf place.
Playing the simple, mindless game gave them a chance to forget what was going on for awhile, even as they laughed as they remembered certain things that Piper had done or said on the course, especially remembering her reaction towards particularly bad or good shots.
But they were only able to play 3 or 4 holes, before they admitted that they were so exhausted that without saying a word, they all agreed that just going home and getting some rest before the celebration of Piper's life at P3 was the best thing for them to do. So they all returned to Prue's car and Andy drove them back to the Manor, where they all headed upstairs to try to get some much-needed rest.
The only one who didn't stay in one of the bedrooms was Leo. He couldn't stand to lie down on the bed that he'd once shared with Piper. So instead he headed back for his favorite sanctuary...the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
A couple hours later, Phoebe wandered into the kitchen. She didn't really want to go there; it reminded her too much of her lost sister. But after only having coffee that morning and hardly eating any of her dinner at Quake, her tummy was growling and there was only one place in the Manor where she could find food...the kitchen.
She knew there would be plenty of food at P3 that night, but she also knew she wouldn't get much chance to eat any of it...she and Prue and the others would be too busy playing hostess. Prue was going to play MC for the bands while she was going to stand at the door with Cole and Joe, one of P3's bouncers who had also been one of the pallbearers, making sure that only those who had the funeral program with a Piper-memory and their name and address already filled out would be allowed in. Before she'd laid down to rest, she'd made a spreadsheet of all of the mourners who had signed the guest book so Joe could make sure each participant was on the list. No freeloaders were going to get free food and free entertainment at Piper's expense!
Phoebe hoped that that young girl, the one who looked so much like Piper, would decide to come back so she could apologize for scaring her like that.
As she looked around the kitchen, trying not to see her sister everywhere she looked, Phoebe heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she smiled wanly at her big sister. "So you got hungry, too, huh?"
Prue nodded her head in agreement and returned Phoebe's smile with one of her own. She gazed around the kitchen and sighed. No other room in the house said "Piper" as much as this one.
"Eating the wicker furniture wasn't a really appetizing option," she half-joked. "So what are our choices aside from one of the six gazillion casseroles that the neighbors keep bringing over?"
Phoebe shrugged. "One of the casseroles sounds good to me. Should I close my eyes and grab one and stick it in the oven? That's all you gotta do, right?"
Prue began to chuckle. "For normal people, sure, but not for you. You can go ahead and pick one, but I'll be the one sticking it in the oven."
Prue's chuckle had made Phoebe's eyes grow wide with shock. Now Prue's words touched off Phoebe's temper. "And why you and not me?"
Prue was sure Phoebe was simply joking with her and laughed even harder. "Because fire and you are an accident waiting to happen, and the last thing we need tonight is for you to burn the house down."
"Hey!" cried Phoebe, much more sensitive than usual and now horribly insulted. "That's only my past lives or in the future! I'm not that bad! I can most certainly stick something in the oven. How hard can that be?"
Prue shot her sister a bemused look, still not aware of how hurt and angry Phoebe was. After all, Phoebe's cooking abilities, or lack thereof, had been a running joke in the family for years. "For you? Incredibly hard," and with a smirk, she added, "Little Miss I-Can't-Boil-Water-Without-Burning-It. So keep dreaming, 'cause there is no way you are getting anywhere near that oven."
That was the last straw. "Says who, Miss Does-This-Button-Light-the-Stove-or-the-Oven?" Phoebe was beginning to scream. "You're just as likely to blow us all to kingdom come as I am to light this place on fire!"
"Excuse me?!" Prue countered as she shot an indignant glare in Phoebe's direction. "And just what did you mean by that little statement?"
"Exactly what I meant!" Phoebe screamed back. "You know as much about that oven as I do! I happen to know it's a gas stove which means if you're not careful you could blow us up just as easily as I could burn us out of house and home using the top of the stove!"
"Hey!" cried Andy as he walked in. "What's going on in here?"
Both sisters turned to face him. "Shut up!" before Phoebe turned on Prue. "Don't you get it, Prue? Without Piper here, we're gonna starve!"
Andy tried to be conciliatory. "Of course, you're not going to starve."
Phoebe spun on him. "I thought we told you to shut up!"
Prue's eyes opened wide in shock. Immediately she jumped to Andy's defense, totally forgetting that she had yelled at him moments earlier. "Hey!" she screeched, her voice rising in pitch with each syllable. "Don't you dare talk to him that way!!"
"I'll talk to him however the hell I want to!" Phoebe kept on screaming at her sister, taking out her pain of losing Piper on Prue. "And if you don't like it, just try to stop me!" Then seeing Prue begin to raise her hand, Phoebe growled, "Just remember, you use your power on me, you'll be as helpless as I am! So don't even think about it!"
Prue sighed reluctantly as she slowly put her hand back down by her side. Maybe she couldn't use her power on her sister, but she could sure use her voice. "You most certainly will not talk to him 'however the hell you want to', Phoebe Penelope!" she retorted in a low venomous tone as her eyes flashed green. "What on earth did he ever do to you to deserve that? Hmmm? Tell me." Arms crossed and eyebrows raised, she leaned against the kitchen island and awaited Phoebe's response to her verbal challenge.
"I most certainly will, Prudence Victoria!" Phoebe screamed right back, in absolutely no mood to be reasonable, especially when Prue had used her full name, which she hated as much as Prue hated hers. "He stuck his nose in where it doesn't belong and that's quite bad enough, thank you!"
Even as the sisters continued to scream at each other, each word louder, higher and filled with more venom, Andy watched in a total quandry, trying to figure out how to stop this quickly-escalating argument. "Sisters Break Up over Casserole--Details at Ten." If it wasn't so tragic, it would be humorous, but neither of these two are in the mood for jokes right now. And I've already seen what trying to jump in and reason with them will do. He tapped his chin in thought. There's gotta be a way to stop this...but how when the only person that could bring these two back to their senses is no longer here? Looking up for a millisecond, he quietly whispered, "Some help would be much appreciated right about now."
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