I don't own Twilight or Charmed...I'll be a lot richer if I did... Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry it took so long xoxox
How to Save a Life
Prue held her breath as she watched Mister Corso look through her portfolio. "Everything is shot in digital now, you know." He said.
She nodded even though he hadn't taken his eyes off the pictures. "Yeah, I'm equipped."
"Nice stuff," he said, pausing on a picture of a little boy. "Oh, I like this one. What lens did you use?"
"24f8." Prue said instantly.
"What shutter speed?"
"125."
Mister Corso looked away from the pictures for the first time since she handed him the folder when a photographer handed him another picture for him to look at. "Okay, lose the kicker, let the shuttle play there." He told him before turning back to Prue's work. "Hmm... Impressive."
"So, does this mean I get the job?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from sounding too excited.
"Based on your portfolio, yes. Based on your resume, no. Took a detour shutter bugger did you?"
"Mister Corso, I've changed careers, I'm not hiding that." Prue sighed. "But with all due respect, if you like my work that should be enough. I mean, you're hiring me, not my resume."
He studied her for a second before speaking. "You wanna shot? Get me a better one of Maggie Murphy. She's gonna be featured in our St. Paddy's day issue." He handed her a picture of a red haired woman. "Something about being the unluckiest woman in San Francisco. And she's Irish. Down the hall where they do the writting, they call that irony. Address is on the back. Up until three months ago, she was like a saint. Helping the homeless, volunteering, charity. Then like overnight everything started to go bad for her. Real bad." He explained. "I want what you have in here, Prue. Artistic, soulful, point. I want to see the inner Maggie in your photograph and I wanna see it by five o'clock today or don't bother coming back."
"Thank you." She smiled before walking out of the room.
...
When Prue parked her car, the first thing she noticed was a group of people crowded outside Maggie's building, looking up at something. She followed their gaze to see a red haired woman standing on the edge of the building, ready to jump off.
"Maggie?" Prue whispered, pulling out the picture of Maggie Murphy and her eyes widened when she saw that it was her. "Maggie, no." She gasped, closing her eyes and astral projected on top of the building behind Maggie. "Maggie." Prue called to her and Maggie turned to look at her, tears running down her face. "Just wait, don't."
Maggie frowned at her. "Where did you come from? How do you know me?" she asked.
"It doesn't matter, just step away from the edge and take my hand." She took a step closer to her but stopped when Maggie took a step away from her.
"Stay away from me!"
"Maggie. Please, I can help you."
"Nobody can help me!"
"Maggie, this isn't the answer."
"All I wanted to do was help people. Now all I do is hurt them." As Maggie cried she lost her balance and fell off the edge. Prue rushed forward and caught her arm. "Let me go, please." Maggie pleaded but Prue shook her head.
"I can't hold on much longer," she gasped as Maggie's arm slipped out of her hand and she fell. Prue quickly astral projected back to her body and used her powers to move Maggie so she landed on the canopy outside the front doors to the building. Maggie rolled off it and onto the ground, completely unharmed as everyone crowded around her.
...
"Hey," Phoebe said when she walked into the kitchen to see Piper writting a letter, "I thought you had inventory at the club."
Piper nodded. "I do."
"So, then what are you doing here?"
Piper sighed as Phoebe sat down opposite her. "Trying to figure out what to tell Dan."
"About what, honey?"
"Leo."
"Oh, that." Phoebe bit her lip as she looked at the piece of paper. "You're not actually writting him a dear John letter, are you?"
"No, of course not." Piper shook her head. "He deserves more than that. A lot more but it's just hard. I don't wanna hurt him. Dan's a great guy and he's been really good to me and we've never really had any huge problems."
"No, I mean the only huge problem is that you really love Leo and he loves you and he gave up his mortality for you."
"I know. Which is obviously good for us but I don't know, lately he just seems to be a bit reckless."
"That's probably just a whitelighter thing. You saw what Joey was like at the beginning but even he's calming down now. You're thinking too much again. Stop trying to predict the future, alright. That's my job. Just follow your heart, honey. Good things'll happen."
Piper smiled at her. "What would I do without you?"
"Oh, suffer endlessly, no doubt." Phoebe teased.
"Thank you. Alright, I'm going to the club." Piper got up and grabbed her coat and purse. "Love you."
"Love you too."
...
Prue walked into the manor just as Bella was making her way down the stairs, carefully so she didn't fall on her face.
"Hey," Bella smiled at her older sister. "How'd it go?"
"What?" Prue asked confused.
"The interview, y'know, the reason you went out in the first place." Bella said slowly, like she was talking to a three year old. "Did you get the job?"
"Yeah, I did."
Bella frowned at her. "Prue? What's wrong?"
"The woman that I am supposed to photograph, when I got to her apartment she was on the roof ready to jump."
"She didn't..."
"Yeah, actually she did. Luckily I was able to break her fall with my powers but just barely."
"You saved her life, barely or not. It's lucky that you got there in time."
"I keep on thinking that even if I'd been a minute later it would've been too late." Prue whispered to herself but Bella caught every word.
"But you weren't. That girl is alive because of you." Bella said as the phone started to ring.
Prue gave her a small smile and picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, Prue." Darryl said on the other end. "You weren't by any chance outside 413 North Fergus Ave this morning, were you?"
"Uh...why?"
"We got a Maggie Murphy here. She claims she was saved by some angel this morning. An angel that by her description bears no resemblance to Della Reese."
Prue sighed. "But does resemble me."
"Yeah, bingo. Of course, everyone around here thinks she's nuts."
"Hey," Prue heard Bella say and looked up to see her standing by the cupboard, holding a roll of film. "What's on this roll?"
"Uh, just some old photographs." She told Bella before turning her attention back onto Darryl. "Um, Darryl, is Maggie alright?"
"That's not for me to say. We have to send her over to psyche - " Darryl cut off and Prue could hear a loud bang in the background, followed by Maggie's voice, 'I am so sorry', "poor woman. It's like she's snake bit or something. Listen, Prue, you better stay clear of here so she doesn't ID you. I'll keep you posted, okay? Bye." He hung up. Prue put the phone down and grabbed her bag.
"Where are you going?" Bella asked.
"I'm gonna go see Maggie." Prue told her. "Something tells me that I may have stopped her but I certainly didn't save her."
"I'll come with you, and maybe I should ask Phoebe too aswell. Something from her psyche class could be of use." Bella suggested and Prue nodded.
"Good idea." Prue said, watching as Bella turned to the stairs.
"Joey! I'm going out!" Bella called upstairs but didn't get an answer. She rolled her eyes. "Just because you ain't a whitelighter anymore, doesn't mean that you can spend all of your time asleep! If I can't do that then neither can you! Get your lazy butt out of bed!"
"Okay woman!" Joey's muffled voice called back. Prue bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, they were like an old married couple already...
...
Stop staring at her legs...stop staring at her legs...man, they're good legs.
Leo's eyes were glued to Piper's legs as he sat on the floor, he was meant to be counting something for Piper, but got...distacted.
"That can't be right. How many swizzle sticks?" Piper asked, standing at the bar.
"Who's counting?" Leo asked and she looked down at him. Oh, him. "Uh, I don't know. You think you might of over ordered?"
"No, they over shipped." Leo handed her a box of swizzle sticks but the bottom fell out and they landed on the floor. Piper closed her eyes with a sigh.
"It's my fault." Leo said as Piper knelt down next to him and started to pick them up.
"What?" she asked when she noticed Leo watching her.
"Nothing," Leo said with a laugh but when he spoke again, his voice was more serious. "Piper, are you mad at me?"
Piper frowned. "No, don't be ridiculous. Why would I be mad at you?"
"I don't know, that's why I'm asking. What is it?"
"It's just...um...Dan." Piper said and Leo's face fell.
"Oh. Never mind, sorry I asked." He said, standing up.
"Um, he's-he's going to be..." Piper started, standing up and suddenly feeling very nervous, "he's going to be very upset when he finds out...you're the one that I really love."
Leo stared at her for a second, not sure he'd heard her right, before he smiled widely at her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Piper smiled back just before they kissed. Piper broke it off quickly. "Mmmm, no, wait, um, we can't do this."
Leo looked confused. "You just said..."
"I-I-I know, but I really need to talk to Dan first. So count." She motioned down to the swizzle sticks. "Count."
...
Prue lead Phoebe and Bella into the police station before stopping suddenly. "Alright, that's her." She pointed to the young redhead who looked very miserable.
"Any idea on what you're gonna say to her about the whole angel thing?" Phoebe asked.
Prue shook her head absently. "I'm not really worried about that, I'm more worried about her. I've been thinking. Maybe I could write a spell."
"A spell for what?"
"Help put a little good luck in her life."
"Prue, you can't keep using your powers to save her," Phoebe said softly.
"I know, but maybe it'll help her turning things around, make her see that life's worth living."
Just then a police officer went to walk past Maggie as she stretched out her legs, accidently tripping him. He knocked into the water cooler, breaking it, and the water splashed onto all the cords and cables. "Thanks alot." The officer sneered at her before walking off, leaving Maggie in tears.
"Jeeze, she's got worse luck than me." Bella breathed in amazement.
"You see?" Prue said pointedly to Phoebe who nodded. "Alright, I need your help. How do I do this?"
"You don't need our help this time, Prue." Bella told her. "This is your connection. It just has to come from the heart."
Prue took a deep breath. "Alright, here it goes... From the moment all your pain is erased, your bad luck aswell, enjoy your good luck Maggie, you're free from this hell." Stardust came out of Prue's hand and floated over to Maggie, unnoticed by everyone else but the sisters.
"Whoa." Phoebe and Bella muttered.
Maggie's tears stopped and she straightened, a small smile on her face as Darryl came out of the office and slipped on the water. Maggie grabbed him before he could fall.
"Thanks." Darryl said.
Maggie stared at him in awe. "Did I just do that? I mean, help you?"
"Looks like her luck's changing already." Bella smiled.
Darryl pulled his arm out of her grasp, looking a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, have a seat. You okay?"
Maggie nodded. "Yeah."
"Let's get out of here." Prue said, a smile on her face as they walked over to the door only for it to fade when she stopped suddenly.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, as she and Bella watched her in concern.
Prue was silent for a moment before shaking her head to clear it. "Yeah, just a chill." She muttered.
They walked out to the car, Bella beating Phoebe to the passenger seat leaving Phoebe in the back. Prue rolled her eyes at them as she got into the drivers seat and muttered, 'children' to herself.
"You did good for your first spell." Bella told her.
Prue just shrugged. "You told me to speak from the heart, I did."
"Still, it took me and Bells a few times before our spells actually worked." Phoebe pointed out, making Prue look at her in surprise.
"Mmm hmm." Phoebe and Bella nodded.
Prue smiled widely. "Well, it must be my lucky day." She backed out of the parking space and a police car ran straight into the back of them. "Is everyone okay?" Prue asked anxiously, turning into her seat and her heart dropping when she saw Bella lying unconscious in her seat, blood running down from the cut above her eye. "Bella!"
Phoebe leaned forward to see what was wrong and gasped when she caught sight of Bella. "Bella!"
...
"Piper, I'm going crazy here!" Leo almost shouted.
Piper rolled her eyes. "We're almost done."
"That's not what I meant." Leo sighed. "Look, you can't come in here and tell me what you just told me and act like nothing's changed. I mean, everything's changed."
"I know, believe me, I know. But Dan is out of town and until he comes back..."
"When? When he's coming back?"
Piper cringed, not meeting his eye. "Next Thursday."
"A week? Can't you call him or something? It's just, you know, I-I've been waiting for this, for us, for so long. I don't wanna wait any longer."
"Piper, are you there?" Prue called from outside and Piper let out a breath of relief.
"Prue?" Piper called back, turning away from the bar and Leo to see her sisters walking down the stairs, Prue and Phoebe keeping a hand on Bella who had stitches above her left eyebrow. "What happened?"
"We got into a car accident." Prue said, looking very guilty. "I wasn't looking."
"You guys okay?" Leo asked, straightening up.
Bella smiled. "Yeah, we're fine."
"Bella's got a concussion." Phoebe explained as they sat down.
"A mild one." Bella shrugged. "I would've gotten one eventually, sooner or later."
"Still, the doctor said that you should - "
"I'm fine, really. I just have a headache."
"Oh, we've got aspril around here somewhere." Leo began searching around through the boxes for the small bottle of pills.
"Bella, I am so sorry." Prue said again and Bella rolled her eyes.
"Prue, it wasn't your fault. It was an accident."
"Yeah, but you know, I should've been looking. I mean, I-I-I always look first... At least I didn't put you in hospital this time."
"You're lipstick smeared." Phoebe told Piper, quickly changing the subject, and Bella sent her a thankfull look.
Piper blushed. "It is?" she asked as Leo found the bottle of asprin. Prue took it off him but knocked a box of swizzle sticks onto the floor.
"Don't worry about it. I've got it." Leo said, moving around the bar to pick it up.
"Okay, I'm such a klutz. I can't seem to do anything right all of a sudden." She turned to Phoebe and Bella. "Do you think that that spell backfired on me?"
Phoebe shook her head. "Not possible, no personal gain."
Piper's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What spell?"
Before they could explain Prue's phone started ringing. "Hello?" Prue said, as soon as it was against her ear. "Yeah, Mr Corso, there was a problem with the...uh...photograph." She walked away, leaving Piper looking at Phoebe and Bella curiously.
"She got this gig photographing this girl named Maggie Murphy." Phoebe explained.
"The unlucky Maggie Murphy?" Leo asked, making them turn towards him. "I saw a piece on her on TV."
"She's not the unluckiest person anymore. Prue cast a spell to turn her luck around after she saved her from jumping off a roof." Bella told them and Piper's eyes widened.
"What?"
Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, pretty scary, huh?"
"That's more than scary."
"It got to Prue too."
Prue walked back towards them. "Alright, Mr. Corso said that if I don't get that photograph of Maggie, I can kiss my career goodbye." Prue sighed heavily. "Like that's what I wanna do right now."
"It'll give us a chance to check up on her, though." Bella pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna stop by the house - " Prue moved backwards and knocked over a table full of glasses, Piper freezed when before they could hit the ground.
Prue sent Piper an apologetic look. "It's okay."
"I'll drive." Phoebe offered. "Because you didn't get collision on the rental."
"Do you want the keys?" Prue asked.
"Yes." Prue handed them over. "Thank you."
Piper watched the three of them leave before turning back to the frozen glasses with a sigh. "Ugh." She groaned before unfreezing them, letting the glasses smash on the floor. She looked over at Leo to see him staring at the broken glasses. "What? I'll clean it up."
Leo looked away from it and over at her. "No, it's not that, I was just thinking about Maggie Murphy."
"What about her?"
"It's just that she was doing all these good things in her life and then all of a sudden her own life goes to hell."
"So, what…"
"I don't know. What if, you know, all these accidents in her life weren't actually accidents. I mean, what if something was trying to make her jump."
"Something like…"
"Like a Darklighter maybe."
R&R