Chapter 5The Trouble With Sisters
Phoebe sat in the passenger seat, tear stains still visible on her face. She was still nursing the busted lip and throbbing eye. She couldn't believe this had happened. How could she be so stupid? How could she let this happen? She did find relief in knowing now this didn't have to be a secret. She was glad Prue knew. She felt safer in some small way.
Prue pulled the car in the driveway. She hesitated before unbuckling her seat belt. "Pheebs?"
"Yea." Phoebe answered without looking away from her window.
"Are you ok?"
"Yea. I'm fine."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Prue's voice had started to crack. She felt so guilty right now. How could she not have seen this? These girls were her responsibility; it was her job to protect them. She felt deep in side that this was her fault.
"I didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to hear you say I told you so. You never liked Charlie to begin with."
"Phoebe, look at me." Prue waited until her gaze was met by Phoebe's. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so hard on you, but this is hard on me too. I didn't mean to let you down." Tears now fell from her face.
Phoebe let out a sigh as she reached down to unbuckle her seat belt. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck. "You didn't let me down Prue." She rested her head on her sister's shoulder. She hated to see Prue cry. This was the first time since Grams died that she had seen her sister cry.
Prue gently pulled away from Phoebe's embrace. "The detective said to lay low for a while, until they find Charlie. Let's go in and get you cleaned up."
"Hey Prue?" Phoebe looked up, noticing something she didn't see a few seconds ago. "What's Piper doing home?"
Upstairs Leo and Piper were now opening the door to the bathroom. Leo stopped her before she walked in. "I just want you to know, whatever happens doesn't change anything. I love you, I always will." He hugged her tightly as they both took in a deep breath and walked in. There on the counter just in view was the test.
Piper reached out a shaking had and slowly picked it up. She looked at the test then back to Leo.
"Well?" He asked nervously.
"I'm not pregnant. Leo, I'm not pregnant." She shouted as she reached up and threw her hands around Leo's neck. The two stood there together, both relieved.
"Are you sure?" He asked, pulling her away from him.
"There's no plus sign. That means its negative and I'm not pregnant." She was grinning from ear to ear.
"You better be damn glad you're not."
Piper's smile faded as she turned to see a very pissed Prue standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.
"Uh oh." She mumbled.
"Uh oh, all you have to say is uh oh?" Prue asked as she stepped into the bathroom. Leo, seeing how mad she looked, took a step back, almost falling into the bathtub.
"Prue, now, uh, hold on a minute." Piper was stumbling over her words.
"Leo, I think this would be a good time for you to leave." Prue looked at him with a stare so hateful it sent chills down his spine.
"No problem." Leo turned to kiss Piper.
"I don't think so." Prue said as she put a forceful hand on his chest.
"Right." Quickly he turned and walked out almost running into Phoebe in the hallway. "What happened?" There was no way to miss the swelling and dry blood on her face.
Phoebe had been standing there listening to the whole thing. "I'll tell you later. Right now I think you better get out of here before Prue gets her hands on you."
He nodded and continued to the stairs. To be honest, Prue scared the hell out of him. She wouldn't hurt Piper, he knew that, but there was no guarantee she wouldn't tear him apart.
"That wasn't fair Prue." Piper couldn't hide the anger in her voice. "You had no right to do him that way."
"Really? Piper you're in here taking a pregnancy test. How the hell did you think I'd react?"
"First of all, I never meant for you to find out. Second, it's my life Prue, you don't have the right to tell me what to do, or to scare off my boyfriend."
"You're grounded, for a month." Prue turned to walk from the bathroom.
"You can't do that?" Piper protested.
"Watch me. What do you think mom would have done?"
"That's just it Prue, you're not my mom. You're not Grams, you're just my sister." Piper closed her mouth quickly. She didn't mean for that to come out as harsh as it did. To make matters worse, she could tell by Prue's face that she had hurt her. "Prue." Piper reached out to touch her arm. Prue jerked her arm away, new tears now forming in her eyes. She shook her head as she turned from Piper and walked to her room, slamming the door behind her. For the second time today she felt like she had let her Grams and her mom down.
Piper turned to see Phoebe standing there, shaking her head in disbelief.
She was mad at Piper for making Prue cry, but worse than that, she was mad herself. She turned from Piper without saying a word and walked to her own room.
Piper stood there in the hallway. She knew she had gone too far. Slowly she started walking to Prue's room. Taking in a deep breath she knocked gently before pushing the door open. There on the bed lay Prue. Piper could tell she was crying. "Prue."
"Go away." Prue didn't even turn to look at her.
"Prue please." Piper walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry. I never should have said that. I was just mad."
Prue turned to look at her sister. "I know you didn't mean it. But you guys don't understand what this is like for me." She couldn't fight her tears any longer. "I don't like being the bad guy. I don't like having to tell you what to do. I miss being a sister."
"I know. We don't make it easy on you."
"Yea well, this is my fault. I have one sister who thought she was pregnant, another who got attacked and was too scared to tell me that it happened before."
"Who got attacked?"
"Phoebe, that creep Charlie hit her. Apparently, it wasn't the first time."
"Charlie hit her?"
"Yea, she was pretty upset about it earlier." Prue looked up at Piper, the strain of the day very clear on her face. "What I'm saying is I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm trying to make sure that you, Phoebe and Paige…."
Piper cut her off. "Damnit, Paige."
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to go back and pick her up." Piper jumped up from the bed, heading to the door. "I'll be back in a minute."
Paige sat outside the school. She had been waiting for Piper now for over half an hour. It wasn't like her to be late. Paige looked down to check her watch again. "Where are you?" She looked around, hoping for any site of her sister. She was starting to feel a mixture or worry and anger. Slowly she gathered up her books and started walking toward the manor. "How could she forget me?" She mumbled.
"Hey." Paige turned to see Kyle jogging up behind her.
"Hey." She smiled back at him.
"Where's your sister?"
"That's a good question. My guess is, she forgot me."
"Who could forget some one as great as you?" He blushed a little after he said it.
"Evidently, Piper can."
"Well, I can walk with you for a little ways."
The two continued to walk talking about classes and teachers. Kyle worked up enough courage to reach his free hand down and coolly slide it into Paige's. She felt butterflies well up in her stomach as they kept walking. Both were a little startled when they heard a car as it slowed beside them.
"Paige?"
She turned to see Charlie. She didn't really like him. She had no idea what Phoebe saw in him.
"Hey, Phoebe asked me to come pick you up."
Paige eyed him suspiciously for a minute, not sure whether or not to believe him. "Where's Piper at?"
"She, uh, she had to take Phoebe home. They asked me to come by and pick you up. Hop in, I'll take you home."
"But.." Paige started to protest, but was quickly cut off.
"Look, if you don't want to ride, that's fine. But I'm not gonna be the one to explain this to Prue."
"I better go." Paige looked up at Kyle who really didn't like the idea of her leaving with him, you could tell it by his face.
"You sure?" He tightened his grip a little on her hand.
"Yea. I don't want Prue to get pissed. I'll talk you tomorrow." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "See you later."
He watched as she opened the door and climbed in. He felt an uneasy feeling as he watched them speed off down the road.
"So what's wrong with Phoebe?" Paige asked him.
"Uh, I'm not sure. Hey I have to make a stop before we head to your house." Charlie jerked the car into a different lane and turned down a side street.
Paige couldn't ignore the feeling now, something was definitely not right here.