Chapter 3 Talking

It was a rainy Saturday morning, almost afternoon really. Phoebe was finally awake and sitting in front of her mirror looking at her now very black eye. "There's no way to hide this." She sighed as ran her hands through her dark brown hair. She was thankful that Prue was still at work. She knew she'd have to deal with her, but at least she didn't have to do it right now. She jumped at the sound of knocking on her door. Quickly she picked up a pair of sunglasses and put them on.

"You up?" Piper opened the door.

"Yea."

"Want some breakfast?"

Phoebe turned to look at Piper. There was something different about her today. Her face looked slightly blushed, in fact, she looked like she had a glow to her. "No thanks." Phoebe still couldn't figure out what was so different about Piper.

"You ok Pheebs? What's up with the shades?" Piper walked closer to her.

Phoebe began to get nervous. She couldn't tell her the shades were hiding a black eye. She knew Piper would freak. "I'm fine, my eyes are just sensitive this morning." She could tell by the look on Piper's face that she wasn't buying it. Quickly, she changed the subject. "How was your night?"

Piper couldn't help but smile a little. She shook the thoughts of Leo from her mind. "Fine, we just watched a movie."

"Must have been a hell of a movie."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, when Charlie dropped me off this morning, Leo's car was still here. I just figured you two, ya know?"

"That would be none of your business." Piper snapped. It was then that she looked more closely at her sister. She could see that something wasn't right. "Pheebs, take of the glasses."

Phoebe's heart began to race. "Why?" Her voice was trembling a little.

"Pheebs." Piper reached over and took the glasses off. She gasped at the sight of the bruise on her sister. "What happened?" She looked closer inspecting every inch.

Thoughts raced through Phoebe's mind. She wanted so bad to just tell her, but she knew she couldn't. She had to talk to Charlie first. He had never hit her before, she thought maybe it was just a slip. "It's stupid really, I hit my head when I was climbing back in last night." Phoebe watched, trying to see if her sister actually bought it.

"That's a pretty bad shiner honey, why didn't you say anything about it earlier?"

"How could I? Prue lit into me no sooner than I got here."

"Speaking of Prue, she'll be home pretty soon. You know she's pretty pissed."

"I know." Phoebe stood up and started to pace. "You don't understand Piper, I'm not like you. I don't want to just hang around here and be boring."

"I'm not boring." Piper's voice sounded hurt. "There's a difference in being boring and being careful. You know Prue has to work hard at keeping custody of us. We'd be in foster care if it weren't for her."

"I know, but that doesn't make it fair." Phoebe didn't want to think about it anymore. She walked to the door and opened it. "What's for lunch?" She asked as Piper followed her lead and got up to walk down stairs with her.

Paige was already at the kitchen making a sandwich. She looked up as her sisters walked in. "Hi." You could barely understand her with the mouth full of food.

"Gross." Phoebe rolled her eyes as she walked past.

Paige swallowed hard, taking a drink of her water to wash the bite down. "I made you a sandwich." She slid a plate to the middle of the table that had two sandwiches sitting on it.

"Thanks." Piper smiled at her. Paige wasn't really much of a cook.

The three sat there eating lunch, the two older sisters trying to avoid any conversation that mentioned last night. They were laughing together when they heard the door open. Phoebe felt her heart skip. She knew it was Prue. She looked up and watched as her sister came around into the kitchen. Prue didn't even stop to make a snack. She looked from Piper to Phoebe. "Who wants to go first?"

"Piper does." Phoebe shouted as she quickly stood up and headed for her room.

"Don't go to far missy." Prue shouted behind her.

Piper was glaring at her younger sister as she watched her climbed the stairs.

"Well, I think I'll go watch TV." Paige quickly walked from the kitchen, she could feel the tension between the two.

"Anything you'd like to say?" Prue pulled out a chair and sat down as she watched her sister nervously fidget.

"No." Piper could feel the sting in her cheeks as her face blushed.

"Do you want to tell me what happened last night?"

"Not much, we just watched a movie and fooled around a little."

"Piper, I know when you're lying. I'm not asking for any kind of details, I just want to know the truth. Did you two..." There was really no easy way to finish that question.

Piper could see how difficult this was for Prue. "Yes." Her voice almost sounded like a whisper.

"I'm not going to lecture you, you're old enough to know what you want to do. I just hope you're smart enough to be safe about it. You were safe about it, right?"

Oh shit. She's talking about a condom. I don't even remember.

Piper was interrupted by her thoughts. "Piper!" Prue was now watching her sister carefully almost as if she was trying to read her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. Yea, sure, we were safe." Piper was trying hard not to stumble over her words.

"You're sure?" Prue didn't sound convinced by her answer.

"I'm sure. I promise. I'm not trying to change the subject, but how about you let me talk to Phoebe?"

"Why?"

"Prue you didn't even notice she had a black eye. Apparently she hit her head trying to sneak back into the house."

"Why didn't she say something?"

"Did you give her a chance?"

Prue thought about that for a minute. She knew the answer. She hadn't really given her sister time to say much of anything.

"Prue let me talk to her. If things don't change, then you can try. Please?"

"Ok, but you have to make me a promise."

"What's that?"

"No more over night visits with Leo when your little sisters are home. I don't think that sets such a great example."

Piper let out a reluctant sigh. "Deal." She turned to go up the stairs. She knew she had to call Leo, but first she needed to talk to Phoebe. She walked up the stairs trying to put the thoughts of Leo to the back of her mind. Gently she knocked on Phoebe's door as she pushed it open. She could hear Phoebe talking so hesitated before saying anything.

"I know Charlie, it just scared me. Yea, I had fun too." Phoebe looked up and saw Piper standing at the door. "Can I call you back?" She hung the phone up. "Hello? Privacy?"

"Sorry." Piper walked further in. "What scared you?"

"As you said earlier today, that would be none of your business. What do you want?"

"Look, you don't have to get an attitude with me, I talked Prue into letting me talk to you instead of her. I can go get her if you want."

"So, talk."

"Pheebs, can you at least pretend to listen? I know how you feel. I don't like having to listen to Prue boss me around either, but it really is better than going into a foster home. She's worried about you, that's why she's so hard on you."

"Well, she doesn't have to be so mean about it. She's not mom Piper."

"I know that. But, it is her job to take care of us, like it or not. We have to set examples for each other. Wouldn't you be worried about Paige if she was staying out till three in the morning?"

"I guess you're right." Phoebe let out a defeated sigh. She knew Piper was right. No matter how much she hated to admit it.

"Well, I'll let you go back to whatever you were doing." As she walked out the door her cell phone rang. It was Leo. She had completely forgotten about him. Quickly she rushed to her own room, locking the door behind her. "Hello."

"Hi there."

Piper could tell he was smiling just from his voice. She hated having to ask him, but she knew she had to. "Leo, about last night…"

"Please tell me you don't have any regrets, I don't. At least I didn't have any."

"No, it's not that. I just needed to ask you something."

"Oh, ok."

"Leo, I just needed to know, see I don't really remember, did you use anything last night."

As soon as she said it Leo's jaw dropped on the other side. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. He knew he couldn't lie to her. He had to tell her. Slowly he forced out the word. "No."