A/N: So sorry for not updating sooner. I didn't mean to leave you guys hanging, but school work has just been insane.
FanficFemale: Yes, you're never too old for advice from family. Glad you liked it, hope you like this chapter!
Shadow Cat17: Thanks. Hope you like this chapter!
stephanie1994: You'll just have to read and find out! Lol. Hope you like the next chaper!
lizardmomma: Yes, it's true. I always liked Grams in the show. Glad you liked it, hope you like this chapter!
Charmed4Life322: Thank you so much! I would never break up Phoebe and Cole. That was one of the things on the show that I hated. Hope you like this chapter!
Chapter Nineteen
'What am I doing here?' Piper thought for the millionth time that day.
It had been a week since Grams had appeared in the attic and gave her a heart-to-heart. Piper hadn't told Prue, Paige, or even Leo about it. She wasn't sure why. It just didn't seem right. Almost as though she would be doing Phoebe a great injustice by doing so.
Of course that made no sense either. Grams had said she'd gone to see Phoebe. Phoebe was feeling the same way as Piper was, so what was the big secret? Piper didn't know.
And so that was how she found herself standing just outside Phoebe and Cole's apartment, working up the nerve to knock on the door. A million questions were forming in her head, and Piper was no longer sure this was a good idea. What if Phoebe didn't take kindly to her arrival? Would she kidnap her and drag her to the Underworld where Cole and all his minions would torture her and eventually kill her? That was ridiculous. Phoebe would never allow that to happen.
She hoped.
Piper suddenly wished that she had told someone where she was going. At least that way if she mysteriously went missing, everyone would know where to look. Knowing it was too late to do anything about it, Piper closed her eyes and silently willed herself to raise her arm and knock on the door.
At first she thought the knock on the door had come from the inside, and her eyes flew open, thinking that Phoebe had found her standing outside. But when she saw the door firmly closed, she knew that she had been the source of the knocking.
A second later the door flew open, and Phoebe stood behind it, her dark hair up in a messy bun. She was wearing some sort of silk robe that only went to her thighs. Even at the early hour, her eyes were rimmed with eyeliner, and Piper could detect the subtle hints of foundation.
When Phoebe realized who her visitor was, her expression softened slightly.
"Piper. What are you doing here?" she asked.
Despite having prepared herself for an encounter, Piper was caught off guard. She stared at her younger sister and tried to find some remnants of the lost sister Grams had described last week.
"I, uh," Piper began lamely. "I...just thought I'd drop by."
"Right." Phoebe stared disbelievingly at her older sister, and looked as though she were about to slam the door shut in her face. But to Piper's surprise Phoebe opened the door wider so that she could enter. "Come in."
Piper did her best to hide her surprise, but she could tell Phoebe wasn't fooled. She stepped inside and was immediately blown away by how pristine and valuable it was. Everything looked as though it cost more than five grand.
"I didn't know being the rulers of the Underworld paid so well," Piper said under her breath.
"Yeah well, innocents leave their things behind when they die. It's best not to let them go to waste, don't you think?" Phoebe replied from behind her.
Piper whirled around to face her. "That isn't funny."
Phoebe let out a soft laugh. "I was kidding, Piper."
Phoebe didn't offer any other explanation for her expensive apartment, and Piper wasn't about to ask.
"So...want anything to drink?" Phoebe offered after a brief awkward silence.
"Yeah, sure."
"What do you want? Tea, coffee, water, soda..." Phoebe trailed off, gesturing her hands with every suggestion she made.
Piper shrugged. "I can just get my own glass of iced tea." But she said this a little too quickly and high pitched.
Phoebe gave her a look, filled with impatience and hurt. "I'm not going to poison you, Piper."
Piper blushed and felt rather guilty for even having thought it in the first place. "I know. But it's no trouble..."
"Piper. This is my house and you are my guest. I think I can get you a simple glass of tea. Safe iced tea," Phoebe snapped and disappeared in the kitchen.
Way to go, Piper, Piper thought angrily to herself. Way to start things off on a good foot. She sat down on the sofa in the center of the living room, and tried desperately to calm down.
Phoebe returned a moment later with two glasses of tea. She handed one to Piper as she sat down. "Want me to taste yours first before you take a sip?" she asked bitterly.
Piper shook her head helplessly. "I'm sorry for thinking that you...well, you know."
Phoebe shook her head. "Forget about it. I'm sorry for being so...different. It's just that I keep forgetting that I'm not one of the Charmed Ones anymore. You guys don't see me as the same person."
"Oh Phoebe, it's not that. We know you're still you, it's just that...well...everything is different now," Piper said, not expecting this to be so difficult.
"Yeah, like me," Phoebe retorted.
"I think we're all a little different. A lot has happened in three years."
"Are you talking about the other one?" Phoebe asked, much more softly than before.
Piper frowned. "What other one?"
"You know," Phoebe went on, her expression darkening slightly. "The...sister who replaced me."
Realization struck Piper, and she nodded in understanding. "You mean Paige." It wasn't a question, and yet Phoebe nodded.
"How did you find her? How is it even possible we have another sister? I don't remember Mom being pregnant," Phoebe pointed out, sounding much like the sister Piper remembered.
"Well, we wouldn't, would we? You were two, and I was barely five. Mom didn't keep her long enough that she would've made any impression with us," Piper explained.
Phoebe took a long sip of her tea before responding. "Grams could at least have mentioned her."
"Would it have made any difference? It's not like Grams knew where Paige lived. She was adopted into another family. If it hadn't been for...the circumstances being what they were, I don't think we would've been able to find her," Piper replied.
"So what's she like? Paige, I mean. Did she get my powers when you reconstituted the Charmed Ones?" Phoebe wondered.
Piper hesitated for just a moment before replying. "In a way. It works a bit differently since she's part Whitelighter, and..."
"Whoa, wait a minute. She's half-whitelighter? How is that possible?" Phoebe interrupting, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Do you remember Sam?"
"Mom's Whitelighter Sam?"
Piper nodded. "He's Paige's father."
Phoebe's eyes opened wide. "How is that possible?"
"Do you really expect me to answer that?" Piper asked.
Phoebe smiled grimly and shook her head. "No, of course not. It's just a lot to take in, especially all at once."
"I understand. I feel the same way. But Paige isn't the reason I came over," Piper said, deciding that it was finally time to talk about Grams and what was going to happen next between them.
"Why'd you come over then?" Phoebe wondered.
Piper took a deep breath and dove in. "Grams came to see me last week. She said I should come see you and that it would do us both some good."
Phoebe made eye contact with her older sister. "Grams? Came to see you? You make it sound as though her visits happen everyday."
"Phoebe, I'm serious. She said that she saw you too."
Phoebe sighed. It was quite apparent that she hadn't expected the conversation to turn in this direction. "That was different. I was going through the Book," she stopped to judge Piper's reaction at the mention of the Book of Shadows. When she didn't respond Phoebe continued. "I was going through the Book, and said a spell. She appeared after that."
"So you summoned her?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes and stood up. "No, I didn't not summon her! She came to me."
"What did you guys talk about?"
Phoebe shrugged, suddenly looking quite secretive. "This and that. Do you really have to know?"
Piper shrugged and sat back on the rather comfortable sofa. "Grams was the one who told me to come talk to you. I don't know why, but it must mean something, if for no other reason than to bring us back together."
Phoebe looked down at her feet. "That might have something to do with it."
This time Piper waited for her younger sister to elaborate. She looked up at her expectantly.
Phoebe looked up and began pacing. She raised a hand to her forehead, looking as though she might have a headache. "After the speech on why I shouldn't be Queen of the Underworld and that I should leave Cole, she told me that you guys might give up on me."
Piper looked at her, puzzled. "Why would she say that?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Phoebe snapped. "You guys have done nothing but try to save me from Cole. What's going to happen when you finally realize that I'm not going to?"
Piper crossed her arms. "I think it's going to take quite some time before that happens."
"How long?" Phoebe demanded.
"When I'm ninety, I think I'll reconsider," she threw back.
Phoebe's frown disappeared and she stopped pacing. "You really aren't going to stop?"
"No, and I can't believe that you would even entertain the idea that I would. We won't ever stop, Phoebe. If Grams said that we would ever give up on you, it was obviously a scare tactic to get you to come back to us. But Prue and I and even Paige love you, and we would never just leave you out there wen we know that you're in danger."
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "And here we go again. I've already told Grams this, and now I'm telling you. I'm not leaving Cole. I'm not renouncing my crown, and I'm not going back to being a Charmed One."
"Why?" Piper demanded, her temper flaring for the first time since her visit. "Was it really that bad being a Charmed One? I remember that you were the first one to embrace being a Charmed One in the first place! You convinced Prue and I that we were meant to do this. I don't remember a time where you didn't enjoy every minute of it! And now you're telling me that you're just going to give it all up?"
"What do you want me to say, Piper? All of that's true. But it's just not who I am anymore," Phoebe said.
"I don't believe that. I know you better than anyone, Phoebe, and I know that you don't have an evil bone in your body. You can't kill an innocent; you can barely step on an ant! What makes you think that you're Queen of the Underworld material?" Piper asked impatiently.
Phoebe opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She picked up her tea glass and finished it off. Finally, after a minute or so, she spoke. Her words came out quiet and collected. "Things aren't as black and white as they used to be. I realize that now. I may not be a Charmed One anymore, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still good. Just like you're a Charmed One, but that doesn't mean that you don't still harbor some pretty nasty thoughts every once in a while. You're never one hundred percent good or evil."
"Try telling that to your demon minions," Piper retorted.
"I'm not going to. They'd never be able to understand. They're still of the mindset that good and evil is either-or," Phoebe explained, sitting back down beside Piper.
Piper frowned. She had a feeling those three sentences were indirectly directed at her, Prue, and Paige. She met Phoebe's gaze and saw that she was smiling.
"Come on, Piper. I don't expect you guys to change your views overnight. I'm just asking for you to consider it."
"Consider that evil can be good?" Piper asked disbelievingly.
"Well, yeah. Just look at Cole. He started out evil, recruited by the Triad to kill us. But his love for me overcame that. Love is a good thing, and yet he still harbors the traces of evil," Phoebe explained patiently.
"And yet he's the Source of All Evil," Piper countered sharply, more than she had intended.
"That doesn't mean that he's all evil," Phoebe argued.
"Yes it does, otherwise he'd be called the Source of Most Evil and Some Good," Piper replied sarcastically.
"Piper, even if you're not serious, I am, and until you realize that, I think it would be best if you leave," Phoebe said, careful to control her emotions as she stood up again.
Piper looked up at Phoebe, and when she realized that she was serious, she stood up too. "Oh come on, Phoebe. I am serious. I'm sorry."
"Still, Cole's coming home soon, and I don't want him to know that you were here."
"All right. But this conversation isn't over. Why don't I come back, say tomorrow?" Piper offered.
Phoebe shook her head. "No, Cole's going to be home all day. We could go somewhere public, like a restaurant. How about Buddy's?"
Piper was about to argue, but decided against it. "Fine. Is noon okay?"
Phoebe nodded. "Yes."
She led Piper to the front door. She opened it and stood aside so that Piper could get through.
"Thanks for coming over. It was nice to see you without the dramatics," Phoebe said just as Piper turned to go.
Despite herself, she smiled. "Likewise. I'll see you tomorrow."