Chaper 5.1 – Everyone's Here
Andy turned at the sound of Prue returning. When he realized that she was alone, he tried to look around her to see if maybe Phoebe and Cole were behind her. Surely she wouldn't look so unconcerned if her sister was in distress. They must be all right.
"Weren't you going after your sister and her boyfriend?" he asked, trying to keep the concern out of his voice.
"Those two," Prue shook her head with a smile.
At the sight of Prue's smile, Andy relaxed. Whatever's going on it's obviously not bad.
Hearing Prue's words, Piper laughed. "So those two are still those two, huh?"
Much to the confusion of the three Matthewses, Prue nodded in response to Piper's cryptic words. Andy got it, but then, he knew Phoebe. He didn't know Cole very well, but he knew Phoebe enough to get it.
"Yup," was the sole word that accompanied Prue's nod. She walked over to the table and took the free seat between Andy and Leo.
At the even more confused look on the faces of Paige and her parents, Leo stepped in. "Don't worry about it. Believe me, you don't want to know."
"Well, I don't much care what they are doing," Piper said, rising from her seat, "but I'm not holding breakfast for them. It isn't fair to the rest of you."
She walked to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up. "If you guys don't come down, you can't blame me if you have to fix your own breakfast!" then returned to the dining room, unconcerned. She sat back down and turned to her guests. "Feel free to start eating. They know better than to be late."
Paige held back a laugh as she glanced in the direction of the stairs. She turned back to Piper with a grin. "Far be it from me to disappoint the cooks."
It was only a couple of minutes later when they heard the sound of feet running down the stairs. "Slow down," could be heard from the other room. Cole's voice.
Soon Phoebe stood framed in the door way. She stopped and Cole almost ran into her. She turned around and chided him. "You, my love, are out of shape."
"Sorry," Cole replied, chagrinned. "Up until now, when I was in a hurry I just shimmered. It's going to take some getting used to, this needing to run. One hundred plus years of habits are hard to break."
"One hundred plus years," Paige mouthed, staring at him and then at Prue, who merely shrugged.
Phoebe turned toward her family in the other room and took a big whiff. "Wow, that smells amazing, Piper!"
Piper laughed. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you wanted me back solely for my cooking."
Phoebe shook her head quickly in denial. She quickly entered the room and almost ran over to where Piper was sitting. "No, no, no," she chanted as she hugged her big sister from behind. "I wanted you back; the cooking's just a bonus."