Piper was lying in bed, waiting for her husband to finally show up. He was off orbing about somewhere and would no doubt not be home until very late. The hours of a Whitelighter were never quite normal. Feeling as if she was about to drift off to sleep any moment, but wanting to at least see Leo today (he'd left before she'd even woken up), she sat up. At that moment, blinding blue lights appeared on the bed beside her. Piper reached over and kissed him almost before he'd even fully materialised. He broke away slightly faster than she felt was necessary, looking serious.

"Piper, I'm here on official Whitelighter business," he spoke. She gave him one of her famous stares, daring him to continue speaking to her like that, like a charge. He changed his tone. "Why are you giving your younger sister such a hard time?"

"What? Phoebe's fine. Oh…" She said, suddenly realising that Phoebe was no longer the only younger sister she had. "You mean Paige." It was not a question, but Leo took the chance to interrupt anyway.

"The Elders are worried. You know how this works. The three of you are strongest when you're together, and your powers only work when you are close."

Piper pointed to the wall across the room. "She lives right on the other side of there. Could she get much closer?" she asked.

"You know that's not what I mean." Never had Leo seen Piper anything but warm hearted towards a family member. Even when her Dad left, she had found it hard to hate him. And now, well she didn't hate Paige, but she was certainly making it difficult for her to belong. There was silence for the longest time, neither mad at each other, but also both unwilling to be the one who might break that peace.

"I'm going to be compared to Prue every damn day of my life, the 'replacement' older sister who just can't live up to Prue. And I don't want to! I don't want to live at all if Prue can't." She regretted it the moment it left her mouth. She seemed to have that feeling a lot these days.

Leo looked at her with hurt in his eyes. She could barely look at him. He'd lost Prue too; she was like a sister to him. And now here she was, the woman he loved most in the world, suggesting that she too wished she were dead? No, she didn't actually mean that. They fought to save lives – it was their destiny. Prue didn't give her life so that Piper could give up on her own. Piper inched closer to Leo and laid her head on his chest. He kissed the top of her head gently and ran his fingers down her long, brown hair.

"You're every bit the woman Prue was," he whispered right into her ear, hugging so tight as if she might slip right through his hands. "But so is Paige."

Piper awoke the next morning and begrudgingly headed downstairs to make breakfast. It wasn't that she didn't love preparing the food for all the girls and Leo. She did. Cooking was one of her passions, and it also made her happy that she could provide for her family, like the eldest sister should. But some days she just wished someone else would do it. Piper hadn't even made it to the kitchen before she knew that today she had gotten her wish. The sweet smell of pancakes wafted through the Manor.

"Hey Missy, long time no see," she greeted her youngest sister when she reached the kitchen. She immediately began to help by setting the table, but Paige shooed her away. She sat down at the table as Phoebe walked through the door.

"Something smells amazing!" she announced, slightly taken aback when she noticed which of her sisters had created such delicious aromas. And even more taken aback to see Paige willingly in the same room as Piper. She picked up the plates Piper had placed on the bench. This time Paige did not object to the help. Phoebe held out each plate one at a time, while Paige flipped a pancake onto them.

"I talked to Prue last night," she hissed under her while pouring syrup proudly over her breakfast creations.

"WHAT!" gasped Phoebe, almost dropping the plate she still held.

"What's what?" asked a quizzical Piper.

"Nothing!" The two girls said at the same time. Phoebe was looking at Paige like she'd grown a second head. Paige was looking at her, trying to explain everything with her eyes. Phoebe seemed to get the message.

"Just what a beautiful job Paige has done on these pancakes. I can't wait to eat one. Yum, yum, yum! Thanks Paige!"

"Yes, thank you Paige, it's much appreciated," said Piper, seeming to have believed Phoebe's cover up. At that moment Leo and Cole entered the kitchen.

"Trust you two to join us as soon as the food's ready," laughed Piper, pulling her husband into the seat beside her.

"You didn't shimmer in," stated Paige, directing this at Cole.

"No, he spent the night here," explained Phoebe. A touch of pink touched her cheeks. Paige looked from her sister to the half-demon standing next to her then hurried to prepare another plate for Cole. Meanwhile Piper had gotten up from the table and was offering to make the coffee. The only problem with that was the last milk cartoon was sitting empty on the bench after being used in Paige's pancakes.

"Paige!" came Piper's voice from behind the fridge door. Evidently she'd just discovered there was no milk. Paige expected she might be in for a lecture, but Piper merely popped her head up over the door and asked, "Who wants juice?"

Leo smiled while Paige breathed a sigh of relief. They all nodded.

"So, Phoebs, you and Cole ready for that thing we've got to do today?" Paige asked, hoping her sister would catch on. Cole looked at Phoebe confused, who had the same look on her own face.

"What thing?"

Paige kicked her beneath the table.

"Oh yeah, that thing. Of course honey, how could we have forgotten?" Phoebe said a little too eagerly. Cole had still missed the point, but followed Phoebe out of the room to get ready anyway.

"We'll be out all day, sorry," Paige said to Piper and Leo. "So you'll have the whole house to yourself." And with that she flounced out of the room.

An hour later, Paige, Phoebe and Cole were standing in line at the movie theatre. Phoebe wanted to see some old B-grade horror movie, but had agreed to settle for a romantic flick. Paige knew either way she was going to be a bit of a third wheel. She'd wanted to talk to Phoebe about her conversation with Prue, but that would have to wait. They were next in line to book their tickets when Cole spotted a man on the other side of the street and insisted he had to leave for a minute. He ducked out of line and made his way across the road. He greeted the other man like an old friend and soon engaged in hushed conversation.

"Looks like it's just you and me, sis," said Phoebe. Paige was still watching Cole and his acquaintance. There was something off about this encounter, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Maybe it was what Prue had said putting doubts into her head, but things over there looked much too serious to be just a casual conversation.

"Popcorn or chocolate?" asked Phoebe for a third time, shaking Paige from her thoughts. She chose the popcorn and they hurried into the theatre.

The movie was a terribly sappy chick-flick – the kind you watched when you were feeling unlucky in love and needed a good cry but uplifting ending. Cole did not return for the entire length of the film, which Phoebe thought was probably best. Cole's half-demon demeanour did not make him overly sensitive and he would definitely have not appreciated the emotional impact of the movie. They left the theatre both filling positively uplifted, despite not being in an all together bad mood at the start. "Lunch date?" Phoebe asked. "Seeing as how I seem to have lost that boyfriend of mine, you can tell me all about your rendezvous with Prue. And let me in on why we're having this spontaneous adventure.

"Okay," Paige agreed, laughing. They wandered down the street and entered a small coffee place on the corner. Paige recounted every last detail of her eventful night over an espresso and a salad. Phoebe listened intently, barely touching her sandwich and hanging off every word. She wished she could have been there, but she understood why Prue had forbid it. She herself was not even sure she would ever be able to handle seeing her sister's ghost. Mutually they decided not to inform Piper of this meeting.

"So I dragged you and Cole out of the house this morning to give Piper some space and to put her in a good mood. She needs time to heal just as much as I need time to adjust to this new life. We could both cut each other some slack," said Paige, rising as she rose from her chair. With that they left; Phoebe suddenly noticing how extremely wise her sister was.

They arrived home late that afternoon after a wonderful day uninterrupted by demons or family drama. This was a rare occurrence and they were relishing every minute. Leo had not come to get them either, so they day at the Manor must have been just as uneventful magically. But when they walked through the door they found Piper alone on the couch.

"Where's Leo?" Paige asked.

"Oh he went up to talk to them about half an hour ago. And we were having such a nice day before that too." Piper winked.

Her sisters laughed and jumped onto the couch beside her, pretending to be disgusted by this divulgence of personal information. Piper opened her mouth to retort when two men materialised in front of them. One came in a swirl of blue light, the other in a shimmer.

"We need to talk," they said together.