Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2015 14:07:44 GMT -5
With the recent sad news of Shannen Doherty's breast cancer diagnosis, I thought I should share one of my favorite fanfics from the past. I normally don't post things I didn't write, but this story was hard to track down, and the site may not be up for much longer, so I'll post it here.
I don't want to give too much away, but it was written during Season 3, and you can definitely tell. Still a great story, though!
I don't want to give too much away, but it was written during Season 3, and you can definitely tell. Still a great story, though!
Together We Stand
By Jillian
www.angelfire.com/tv/charmedfanfiction/Jillian13.htm
By Jillian
www.angelfire.com/tv/charmedfanfiction/Jillian13.htm
Prue took another sip of coffee. She was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Phoebe to come down to breakfast. She loved spending time with her baby sister now that Piper was busy with everyday married life. Prue had the day off from the magazine. Piper was already at the club that morning, while Leo was in a whitelighter staff meeting. Phoebe had no classes. So the day was for Prue and Phoebe to share together.
The only obligation either of them had for the day was Prue’s yearly physical at her doctor’s office later in the afternoon. They had decided to bond over shopping with Prue’s credit card to be followed by a late lunch of ice cream and chocolate toppings.
The day had gone smoothly. Prue felt closer to Phoebe than she ever had. She dropped Phoebe off at the manor before heading to her 4pm doctor’s appointment. She looked at her sister and felt so proud of her and so protective of her all in one glance. She reached out to Phoebe before Phoebe had a chance to open the door, and she pulled her close and held her tight.
“Woah, sis, what’s the hug for?”
“I don’t know Phoebe, I just felt this tremendous urge to tell you how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Prue. I’ve had the best day today.”
“Me too Pheebs, now get out of my car I’m going to be late,” Prue said jokingly.
She watched Phoebe in the rear view mirror as she headed toward the doctor’s office. She was a beautiful little sister and Prue felt somewhat proud of the fact that she had something to do with that. Phoebe had been through so much growing up without Patty. Prue was just glad that she had always been there to help her and would always be there to act like a surrogate mother to her.
She pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and locked the BMW. In the waiting room she was glad to see only a few people which meant that she wouldn’t have to wait long. She had promised Phoebe that they’d spend some quality time together watching movies and pigging out. She wanted to not only keep her promise but make it happen as quickly as possible.
“Prue Halliwell?”
Prue stood and followed the nurse into the exam room. She was always nervous when it came to yearly exams but this time she had a new doctor and it made her even more nervous. Of course it was not her nature to show any form of fear. She changed into the thin backless, paper gown and sat on the table waiting for the doctor. Nearly ten minutes went by waiting in the cold sterile exam room before the doctor finally came in.
Prue was relieved to see that her new doctor was a woman.
“Hi, Prue Halliwell, I’m Doctor Kreeger. Are you ready for the hell we like to call the physical exam?”
Prue relaxed a little at the doctor’s playful sense of humor. She lay back on the table while the doctor examined her breasts. Prue watched the doctor’s eyes carefully. At one point she thought she saw Dr. Kreeger furrow her brow but then she moved on. Prue tensed during the rest of the exam including the pelvic exam. She always hated that feeling of not having the control. She always felt so vulnerable during exams. This time the exam was quick and painless.
“Okay Prue, we’re done here, go ahead and get dressed and I’ll be back in just a minute and we’ll go over your exam.”
Prue dressed very quickly and sat in the wooden armchair while she waited for Dr. Kreeger to return. It was only minutes before she did. Prue looked at the doctor’s face and was concerned by what she saw.
“Is something wrong?”
Dr. Kreeger sat in a chair facing Prue.
“I don’t want you to be alarmed at all, but while I was doing your breast exam I noticed a lump.”
Prue’s heart doubled its rate of beats per minute.
“A lump?”
She felt the walls closing in around her. Of course, this is how it’s going to be. I am my mother’s child. I will die young. The demons can’t touch me so THEY’ll make it happen some other way.
“Yes. Have you noticed it before?”
“No. Never.”
“Okay, well, I want to set you up for a biopsy as soon as possible. I think with someone as young as you we’ll get some good news from the biopsy, but we always need to be on the safe side. Let me call downstairs to the outpatient center and see if we can’t set up a good time for a biopsy. I want to go ahead and set it up for tomorrow sometime. Is that okay with you?”
Prue was speechless so she merely nodded her head. She really wanted nothing more than to run from the room. Okay Prue, she told herself, stop thinking so negatively. You heard the doctor. It’s probably nothing. She told herself a lot in those few minutes the doctor was gone to set up the biopsy. She even thought about crawling into Phoebe’s arms and shaking in fear when she got back. The doctor returned to the room and confirmed a 9am appointment for a biopsy.
Prue’s drive home was filled with thoughts both negative and
positive. When she saw Phoebe waiting for her on the front porch the way she did as a child, she knew she couldn’t tell Phoebe what was happening, she was supposed to protect Phoebe, to see her through her life troubles, not the other way around.
“Hey Prue, I’m glad you’re back so fast. How did everything go?”
She managed to smile at Phoebe, “Oh, it was your typical exam, nothing strange or phenomenal. I did get a call from 415 though.”
“No Prue. Tell me you don’t have to go in tonight, please.”
“Okay, I don’t have to go in tonight, but I do have to be there before 9am tomorrow.”
“Oh that sucks. But I at least have you for tonight, don’t I?”
“Of course. You have me forever, Phoebe, my little cutie.”
Prue tried to force herself to be happy and cheerful. She did not want to let Phoebe in on her fears or the situation that had come to be the foremost thought on her mind. Did she or did she not have cancer? Only tomorrow would tell.
Before leaving for the doctor’s the next morning, Phoebe begged Prue for another movie night. Prue couldn’t resist the pleading of her youngest sister.
“Oh, Piper will be joining us tonight by the way, she told me as she was leaving this morning that she missed us and that Leo was out on an assignment all night. She is taking off from work about 5pm so we can go get an early dinner and then swing by the video store. So we can be the three musketeers once again. Oh…um…but this time, Prue, I get to pick out the movies. Those you picked out for yesterday were so pointless. What has you on this whole action kick anyway?”
Prue knew Phoebe was right. Ever since the triad had disappeared she had wanted to watch every blow-something-up movie made.
“As if you can talk Miss Kill-It-Before-It-Dies.”
Phoebe laughed with Prue and for the first time in 12 hours Prue felt good about the event before her. She knew that all she had to do was remember Phoebe’s smile and hear Piper’s calm voice and everything would be fine.
She still hadn’t mentioned anything to Phoebe. Prue had decided that if it were bad news then she’d handle it alone. Only if it were good would she share her scare with her sisters. We all have enough trouble with demon hunting without me having to make them feel worse, Prue thought as he headed to her car. She waved bye to Phoebe who had gone out to water the flowers. Prue took note that spring had begun to show its presence in the lily blooms around the porch. Lilies had always been her favorite flowers.
The hospital loomed before her. She parked in the deck and walked across the pedestrian bridge to the second floor outpatient facilities. There were very few people there and the sight of all the empty chairs made Prue feel more alone that she had on the drive to the hospital. She signed in and waited patiently for her name to be called. It didn’t take long before once again she was following a nurse into a waiting room. She sat again on the table.
“Okay, honey, you need to put…”
“On the gown yeah I got it now, thanks.”
The nurse looked at Prue with disdain and Prue felt bad for being so snappy with her but this wasn’t exactly how she had expected to spend her Saturday off. The doctor was in within minutes of Prue sitting again on the exam table wearing nothing but a backless, paper gown. Prue immediately noticed the long needle the doctor placed on a table full of instruments.
“Are you going to use that?”
“Don’t worry Miss Halliwell, we’ll use a much smaller needle to deaden the area first and then we’ll go in and extract whatever may be in the lump.”
“What’s good and what’s bad?”
“Okay, good is clear, the we know it’s just a cyst of some kind. If there’s nothing then it could go either way. But if it’s filled with dark liquid then we’ll have to test it and if it is indeed cancer then you’ll be handed over to an oncologist who’ll take it from there. But first we need to do this ultrasound and see the exact size and location of the lump.”
Prue watched as Kreeger turned on the machine and she felt the coolness of the roller on her skin. She couldn’t interpret anything she was seeing. Dr. Kreeger turned the monitor away from Prue so she could see to work.
Prue prayed and prayed for clear liquid. As she felt her skin numbing in the area of the shot on her right breast she knew she would have answers in just minutes. She tried not to watch as the doctor inserted the long needle into the soft tissue of the breast. It was a moment of truth. As the doctor pulled back on the needle, Prue watched with tear-blurred eyes as a dirty, dishwater-looking liquid filled the syringe
“Okay, Prue. We’re sending this down to the lab now to get the first set of results. Now normally we don’t have results back so quickly but today is a chance day that we happen to have both a lab technician and an oncologist on staff. It’ll take an hour or so for the results, if you want to go get something to eat maybe call your family.”
Prue didn’t eat. She sat in the waiting room staring out the window until she heard her name called again. She followed the nurse again to a different room and Dr. Kreeger soon came in followed by another doctor, a balding man with thin glasses. They took a seat opposite Prue and Dr. Kreeger spoke.
“Okay, Prue. The results came back as cancerous. Meaning, you do have breast cancer. This is Dr. Lowe. He’s the best oncologist we have. He wants to handle your case.”
Prue couldn’t speak, nor did she dare to cry. Cancer. Demons,
she could fight demons they were real to her, they were killable. But cancer…
“Prue? Would you like to call someone in to be with you?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t…”
“You’ll need to talk to someone Prue. This is not something you should try to handle alone.”
“Dr. Kreeger’s right Miss Halliwell. Cancer can be beat, we do it all the time, but you have to help us fight it. You have to be strong and be able to lean on others for support when you’re weak and tired. We need to talk about actions we want to take.”
“Actions?” It was the only thing Prue could utter.
“Yes, we know by the ultrasound the size of the lump is pretty big. We want to do a mastectomy.”
Prue’s world was spinning. She was too young for this. She hadn’t even had her 29th birthday. There were too many things she had to do and get done for work and for witchcraft. She didn’t have time
for cancer. She felt her lungs tighten and her breath felt labored.
“Miss Halliwell are you alright?”
“When? When do you want to take it off?”
“As soon as possible. That way we can know exactly what we’re dealing with and what type of chemo or radiation to use, possibly even both.”
“Chemo and radiation?”
“Yes, but let’s deal with the tasks at hand first. We want to set you up for surgery within two weeks.”
Prue got the information she would need for the surgery and she set up an appointment time for her surgery. She would be in the hospital for at least three days. How was she ever going to explain that to Piper and Phoebe?
Prue had been distracted throughout the entire evening while she, Piper and Phoebe watched movies. It had been hard throughout dinner to fake a smile and pretend to laugh but she did it and she could tell they were none-the-wiser.
She looked at the back of her sisters’ heads as they sat in front of her watching the latest comedy Phoebe had picked out. She wanted to tell them, she wanted them for once to hold her, but she was too old for that kind of attention, she was too motherly to be mothered so she decided once again it was not necessary for them to know. Before Phoebe had a chance to put in the last movie, One True Thing, Prue made up an excuse about being tired. She kissed Phoebe and then Piper on the cheek and headed off to her room. She knew what the movie was about. A woman gets cancer and dies. She wasn’t ready to deal with that kind of emotion.
Although Prue had told them she was tired, she tossed and turned for hours before falling into a restless sleep. She dreamed too many things that night. She dreamed about missing the birth of Phoebe’s first child and missing the first day of school for her niece Melinda. She dreamed about things that had yet to happen. But she dreamed them as if they were real and she awoke crying, as though she was already mourning souls she would never know.
Prue woke Sunday morning with a headache and knew it was from crying and lack of sleep. She heard Piper in Phoebe’s room but couldn’t quite make out what they were whispering about. She never liked to be the odd man out so she sneaked out of her room and down the hall to stand outside of Phoebe’s door.
“I don’t know Piper, but I know it was definitely not my imagination.”
“Are you sure Phoebe, I hardly ever cries.”
“Not that we know of but how many nights could she have possibly cried alone in her room and we would have never known about it?”
“Okay…can’t argue with you there. I just don’t think…”
Prue interrupted Piper by knocking on the door as she entered.
“I couldn’t help but hear you guys whispering in here.”
“Prue, Piper and I are just worried, I thought I heard you crying and…”
“You did hear me crying. I had a dream about Andy.”
Prue hated to use Andy’s death as an excuse for anything, especially to hide the truth from her sisters. She sat next to Piper on the edge of Phoebe’s bed and Phoebe crawled out of the covers to join them.
“Still gets to you huh?”
“Yeah, it does Phoebe.”
Prue wanted so badly to lay in her sisters’ arms and tell them the truth. She wanted to tell them about the cancer and the mastectomy. There was no way she was going to put them through that kind of pain. She would find a way to get through the surgery without their help. She would be okay, she knew she had to be. The power of three depended on it. Her sisters needed her.
Sundays at the manor were usually filled with cleaning and cooking. Leo would be in later to eat dinner with them then he had to leave once again on assignment. Prue wondered more than once if she should tell Leo and see if he could heal her, but she knew the Elders would never agree to that. It was what was meant to be. She knew they would probably say that.
Prue decided that she needed to get away from the manor for a while. She drove to the lake where she had watched her mother perish. When she sat on the docks she remembered a time when she fought so hard to not be like Patty, but now in the midst of all that troubled her she prayed that she had the courage and strength that Patty had. The water shimmered from the cool breeze that gathered off the coast and swept inland. Prue let the breeze mingle with the sun upon her face as she breathed deeply the scent of the forest that surrounded the lake. If she could just freeze time she would stop it here, with the breeze and the sun and the memory of her mother lingering on her mind.
Piper and Phoebe had cleaned the majority of the house when they realized they had done it alone.
“Can you believe that doody skipped out on working around the house?”
“Now, Phoebe, you said it yourself that she sounded more than just a little sad last night.”
“I know. I just like it when the three of us get time to play together.”
“You and Prue have gotten really close huh?”
“Yeah. I don’t know Piper, it’s like none of that stuff with Roger ever happened. She, along with you of course, is my world. You guys are my reason for being. And I could tell it in her eyes
yesterday at dinner that something wasn’t right you know?”
“Okay, Phoebe, you have a point there. She was acting a little goofy. And did you see how she’d flinch every time she moved, like she was hurt or something.”
“You don’t think she was attacked by a demon and didn’t tell us do you?”
“No way, Pheebs, why would she do that?”
Phoebe and Piper moved to Prue’s room and continued to dust and clean as they continued their discussion.
“I don’t know why Piper. Why does Prue do a lot of things? Hormones, PMS? It’s all a mystery to me.”
Piper cleaned the dresser while Phoebe moved clothes from a chair. When she removed a pair of jeans a brochure slipped to the floor.
“Phoebe what would Prue possible gain from hiding anything from us and what could it possible be?”
“Maybe this.”
Phoebe held up a brochure about breast cancer and mastectomies. She could see Piper’s eyes and knew they were thinking the same thing.
“Oh God Phoebe, you don’t think…”
“Why else would she have the brochure, Piper? And the flinching at the dinner table…”
Phoebe read the beginning of the brochure.
“The flinching, Piper, would be because she had the biopsy yesterday. I knew she was acting a little weird after her physical Friday and then yesterday she supposedly had to go to work, I guarantee she was at the doctor’s then getting the biopsy.”
“Phoebe we can’t let her know that we know right now okay.”
“Yeah, I agree. Let her tell us own her own time.”
“Okay, but we have to find out what’s going on as far as the mastectomy and when it is.”
“Wait, Piper call Leo now and ask him if it’s possible to heal her.”
“Good idea. Leo! Leo!”
The lake had calmed and the shimmer on the water had disappeared. The temperature had dropped and still Prue sat on the dock. She let tear after tear come as she found it easier to embrace her sadness while alone. She had never felt more alone than she did at that moment. Her desperation grew stronger as she thought about following her mother’s memory into the water. She thought about the struggle ahead of her and knew that it would be difficult. She thought about losing her breast and her hair. She thought about the exhaustion she would feel after every treatment, and for a second, for a second that chilled her to the bone, she thought about ending it all. She cried harder when the cell phone rang jerking out of her reverie. She slowly flipped the receiver and nudged it against her ear.
“Hello?”
“Prue. Where are you sweetie, Pheebs and I were getting a little worried.”
“I had some thinking to do.”
“About what?”
“Oh you know, this and that.”
“Right…Prue…” Piper paused and Prue could imagine the tear rolling down Piper’s cheek for the sadness in her voice with the simple saying of her sister’s name revealed all that she knew. “Prue…why don’t you come home, Phoebe and I made an incredible meal.”
Prue took a deep breath. She was thankful that if Piper knew anything she wasn’t going to confront her with it over the phone. She was thankful that when she did finally tell them the truth they’d be there to comfort her and to hold her for once in her life.
“Okay, Piper. I’m on my way.”
Prue returned the phone to her coat pocket and stood to leave. She looked back one more time at the still water and took a deep breath. She pushed the idea of what she had fleetingly thought of doing, to the back of her mind. She would never leave Piper and Phoebe willingly and this cancer was going to have to be some monster to take her away from them.
The ride home was hurried and anxious for Prue so wanted to be in the warm kitchen sitting with Piper and Phoebe and Leo for dinner. When she stepped into the kitchen they turned and looked at her. Prue immediately saw the brochure open on the table. She took a deep breath. Piper and Phoebe stood, Leo stood back and Prue fell hard into her sisters’ waiting arms.
“Why didn’t you say something Prue? Even a day without support is hard when it comes to these things. You know Phoebe and I are here for you don’t you?”
Prue wept and could not utter one word. She just tightened her embrace around her sisters and sobbed heavily. Minutes passed and they finally settled onto the sofa in the living room. Prue took her time and when she was ready her scared, nervous voice filled the air.
“I didn’t want you guys to worry. It’s my job to worry about you. Not the other way around. Right?”
“Wrong. Piper and I do need you that is true, but the job is we all take care of each other. Without each other we are easily conquered, by demons or by fate, is that understood?”
Prue nodded and looked to Leo, a prayer in her eyes. Leo could say nothing he just merely kneeled in front of her, took her hands and shook his head.
“He can’t heal you Prue. We’re sorry.”
“It’s okay, Leo, I knew it was a long shot.”
“Prue, when is the mastectomy?”
Prue shuddered at the word. Leo, feeling uncomfortable for Prue’s sake, excused himself and went to the bedroom he and Piper shared. Prue looked to the window and although the night had swallowed the day she stared as though she could see every detail of the road beyond.
“Prue, when is it?”
“Thursday. They actually were able to fit me in Thursday. You know, hey Miss Halliwell, you have cancer we’re going to take off
your breast Thursday, is that okay with you?”
Prue’s voice rose in anger and she stood taking a picture of herself from the mantle of the fireplace and hurling it across the room. Phoebe looked away from Prue, tears streaming down her face. To see her sister losing herself was almost unbearable. Piper walked to the broken glass and removed the picture from the floor. She gently put it back on the mantle and spoke to Prue as she stared at the picture.
“You know, Prue, this isn’t going to change your soul. You know that right?”
“Maybe not Piper but it sure is going to change my body. I’m going to be a freak.”
Prue was yelling and with every word Phoebe flinched. She wondered what Prue would do if she left the room. She decided to stay. It would be too selfish to walk away when Prue needed them both
so much. She watched Prue continue to scream.
“Why?! Why Piper? Why is this happening to me? I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”
And with that she sunk to her knees. She held her head in her hands and barely audible above the broken sobs came the words that Piper and Phoebe both wanted to hear and what Prue needed to say…
“I don’t want to die.”
Thursday came too soon for Prue as she woke and trudged slowly to the bathroom. She was in no way prepared for what awaited her. As she opened the door there were balloons covering the ceiling, streamers were hung from every possible place. Red, white and pink. Prue smiled at the bathroom and the atrocity it had become. Her sisters were lifting her world. We love you glared back at her from the bathroom mirror, written in bright red lipstick. Phoebe’s, Prue thought as she walked to the shower door. Inside the shower she noticed to envelopes and pulled them out before turning on the hot water. As she waited for the water to heat she read the cards, one from each of her sisters.
Dear Prue,
Times are tough for you I know. And I also know they will get tougher. Please believe with every breath you breathe that I am forever here. I may not always be the most dependable or the most serious but I am always good for a laugh. It was you who made me so comfortable with myself and who made me believe that I was worth my weight in gold, and now I want to return the favor. You’re my oldest sister Prue and with that I know there had come a lot of responsibility. You have been my sister, my friend and my mother. Even when the road was hard and I continuously let you down, you continuously held my spirits up. You have been so forgiving of all my mistakes and no matter what I will always love you for that. But know this…in the next few months lean on me and lean on me heard, because I can take it. You have made me strong and for that I want to make you strong. I love you more than you will ever know, and today isn’t the end of anything. It’s only a second chance of life.
Love always,
Phoebe
Prue couldn’t contain her tears as she slipped the gold embossed card back into the envelope. She loved Phoebe so much. And she loved Piper. She thought about Piper’s sweet smile as she slipped her baby blue card from the plain white envelope.
Dear Prue,
God, the thoughts that have run through my head in the last four days. The only thought that never crossed my mind is the one of losing you, because I know we won’t. Today is the beginning of a battle but it’s one we are going to fight together. No matter how sick you get or how tired you become always remember that Phoebe and I will be here for you. You know you don’t have to be strong for me. When you feel pain, I want you to tell me. When you want to cry I want you to use me as your shoulder and when you feel like you can’t go any further take that next step toward me and Phoebe because we’ll be there to hold you up. It’s okay to be afraid Prue, please don’t think you have to hide fear. It’s okay to worry and to wonder about what comes next, but whatever you do, do NOT give up. I love you Prudence and with my heart and soul I will stand with you and be with you until we are two old grannies sitting in our rockers on the front porch.
Forever,
Piper.
Prue closed the card and sat on the floor and clutched her sisters’ words to her heart. She knew she’d make it through the surgery fine and she knew the battle was going to be long and hard. She just hoped she could let go of the control enough to hand her heart over to Piper and Phoebe. It was going to be hard, but she knew that not giving up was better than just letting go.
Piper sat close to Phoebe in the waiting room as the three-hour surgery progressed. Phoebe looked as though she hadn’t slept and Piper let her lean her head on her shoulder as they waited for the surgery to come to an end.
“How long has it been, Piper?”
“Just an hour since she went under the anesthetic, Pheebs.”
“Oh, seems like forever already. Are you hungry?”
“Not really but let’s go down to the cafeteria. It’ll do us some good to stretch our legs and clear our minds for a minute.”
“Believe me Piper, there’s no way Prue is going to leave my mind for one second.”
“Me neither, Phoebe, me neither.”
Piper led to the way to the hostess desk to leave word that the Halliwell family would be in the cafeteria if any news arrived while they were gone. She and Phoebe took the elevator to the basement level and then found themselves standing in front of the cafeteria. Phoebe took a step back.
“Piper, you know I’m not really hungry either.”
She took Piper’s hand and led her back toward the elevator.
“Where are we going?”
“Let’s go up to the maternity ward and see the babies in the nursery window.”
Piper looked at her little sister strangely but did not dare to argue. She knew Phoebe was trying her best to be strong for Prue’s sake but she also knew that Phoebe was fragile on the inside. The elevator doors opened on the second floor and they stepped to the window. Inside there were five babies. Piper looked at their tiny hands and feet. She smiled. That’s when she felt Phoebe take her hand. She looked at her and saw that Phoebe was crying.
“She’s going to be okay Phoebe, we have to believe that.”
“It’s not that Piper.”
“Then, what is it?”
“I just wanted to come see them. The babies, the beginning of life. This is where is all starts. Prue was one here, one of God’s special angels.”
“She’s still one of his angels Phoebe, she’s a charmed one isn’t she?”
“I know. I’m just worried that we’ll never see her have a child, or she will never see one of us become a mother. It really scares me to think about going through all of life’s major things without Prue.”
“We won’t have to. Let’s go back down to the waiting room before the doctor’s finish up.”
Phoebe began to follow Piper to the elevator when her world turned shades of gray, black and white. She was having a premonition that was so strong she had to grab Piper’s arm to balance herself.
“What, what is it Phoebe? What did you see?”
“Me, holding a baby, Piper I think one of us is pregnant."
“Pregnant?!?!? Phoebe, are you sure? How is that even possible?”
Piper stepped off the elevator and walked with Phoebe back to the waiting room.
“Well, Piper you see there is this thing called an egg and then a man has a…”
“You know what I’m saying Phoebe, maybe it’s a far in the future premonition.”
“We didn’t look much different than now.”
“Ugh, Phoebe, you and your foreseeing. Okay, which one of us is it?”
“I don’t know, I mean I was holding the baby but that might not mean anything.”
“Where were you when you were holding the baby?”
“In a garden, maybe, I don’t know there were flowers. It happened so quickly, I just couldn’t grasp onto the feeling of it you know. I can’t tell if it was happy or sad, fun or boring.”
“Well, when we get home we’re both taking pregnancy tests. You’ve never been wrong about a premonition before and this is one I don’t want to wait and see with, you know?”
Piper and Phoebe took their seats in the waiting room once again with a whole new set of worries in the back of their minds, but their primary thought was that of their big sister. Two more hours passed before the doctor finally came out to speak with the younger Halliwell sisters.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Lowe, your sister’s oncologist. We were able to do just a partial mastectomy, the tumor wasn’t as large as we had originally thought. We’re pretty sure we got it all. We took the first lymph node under her right arm. That’s usually where the cancer spreads too first. We saw no evidence that the cancer had even gotten that far.”
“So, now what?” Phoebe was anxious to hear what came next.
“Well, we need to find out what kind of cancer it is to determine what course of radiation and chemo to take. I think it’s going to turn out okay.”
“What about her breast?”
“Right. Well, there is reconstruction, which these days returns the breast to a perfectly normal appearance. It’s all up to Prue now, and up to you guys to take care of her. She’s going to need a lot of support from the both of you. When she gets into her radiation and chemotherapy the radiologist will be able to explain the side effects to you more clearly. Do either of you have any questions for me?”
“When can we see her?”
“We’ll be moving her to her room once she’s out of recovery. Maybe another hour or so.”
“Thank you Dr. Lowe, Phoebe and I really appreciate everything.”
“You welcome and everything is going to be okay. Trust me.”
Phoebe relaxed for the first time. She and Piper knew that the first leg of the ordeal was over. The hard part would come next. And hopefully so would the truth to Phoebe’s premonition.
Prue’s world was fuzzy and tilted. Her entire body ached and her mouth was dry like cotton burning in the hot Southern sun. She felt her sisters’ presence and tried to speak. Immediately both of her hands were occupied with the warm touch of Phoebe and Piper holding tightly to their sister. Their hands intertwined and their minds mingled as they all thought the same thing. What did it look like?
Dazed and confused, Prue tried to speak.
“I want…need to see.”
“Prue honey, Piper and I think you should wait until you wake
up more. The anesthesia is just wearing off and you aren’t in a clear state of mind.”
“Phoebe’s right Prue, just go back to sleep. Don’t fight the drugs okay?”
“Definitely not a hard task,” Prue muttered as she sunk back into a calm state of sleep.
Piper and Phoebe took seats in the two chairs that sat on the sides of the bed like guardians. Prue did eventually wake through the foggy mist inside her head to see her sisters side by side in the hard wooden chairs, asleep and holding hands.
“Piper, Phoebe? Wake up.”
Phoebe jumped to her feet. Startled by the raspy voice that filled Prue’s throat. Piper smacked her playfully on the arm.
“Geek,” She whispered smiling at Phoebe. “Hey Prue, how are you feeling?”
“What time is it?”
“Two. In the morning. Would you like anything? I can go get you something while Pipe stays here with you.”
“No, I don’t want anything.”
She looked toward her breast and noticed they were both flat.
“Oh my god, did they have to take them both?”
“No sweetie. They put a special bra on you and some bandages to give it time to heal.”
“Yeah, so now you look like Piper.”
Prue managed to laugh although the pain was starting to shadow her movements. Piper once again smacked Phoebe on the arm.
“I want to see it.”
“The doctor said you’d have to wait until tomorrow, he wanted to be here to explain exactly what he did during the procedure”
“Yeah, oh but Phoebe has some really interesting news about a premonition she had.”
It was Phoebe who slapped Piper’s arm this time.
“I don’t think now is the best time Piper.”
“Phoebe, if there’s one thing I’ve learned that you and Piper should know by now is that there is no time like the present.”
“Okay, if you say so. I had a premonition while Piper and I were upstairs at the nursery and…”
“One of us is pregnant.”
“I thought I was supposed to tell her Piper.”
“What do you mean one of you is pregnant? Am I supposed to guess or are you going to tell me?"
“Well, truth be known we have no idea who it is.”
“Huh, could you explain Phoebe?”
“My premonition gave me no other feeling except that I was holding the baby of one of us.”
“Well, we know it’s not me, they would have known with all
the tests I’ve been through.”
“Yeah, we figured as much, so If one of us is pregnant than it’s either me or Piper. In the premonition I was holding the baby so maybe…”
“Maybe that means nothing Pheebs. It could just as easily have been Piper’s. You said yourself that you didn’t get a true feeling with the premonition.”
Prue yawned and although she wanted to talk more she drifted back to sleep.
“Poor thing, Piper I really don’t think we should have laid this on her.”
“I think if one of us is pregnant it’s going to make her very happy. She really wants to see us having kids you know.”
“So, should we take the tests we bought earlier and go to the restroom with them now?”
“Maybe have some news for Aunt Prue when she wakes up?”
“Yeah, you go first Piper.”
“It was your premonition. You go first.”
“Fine, I will.”
Phoebe stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She emerged minutes later saying she was done.
“Now you go Piper and we’ll wait the ten minutes together.”
Piper took her turn and then returned to Phoebe who now sat on the floor outside of the bathroom. They looked from each other to Prue and could not help the tears that flowed simultaneously from their eyes. Phoebe glanced at her watch and noted that the ten minutes were up. They both walked slowly into the bathroom and read their own results. One nodded to the other who was shaking her head no. One of them was indeed pregnant.
Prue roused from her dream state to see the room was empty. Her head took a moment to clear from the drugs and that’s when she noticed the light coming from the bathroom. She could hear crying and knew her sisters were there. They knew which one of them was carrying a baby. Prue could tell the sound of happy tears. She wanted to stand up and cheer, she wanted to yell at the top of her lungs that she was so happy that she was going to see her niece or nephew born.
“Phoebe, Piper.”
They came out of the bathroom both with tear stained faces, both taking a hand of Prue’s.
“You took a test didn’t you?”
They both nodded.
“So who is it that’s going to make me an aunt?”
Piper leaned in close to Prue and kissed her cheek. And then whispered in her ear.
“Phoebe’s going to have your niece.”
Prue smiled ear to ear and asked Phoebe the dreaded question.
“Who’s the father?”
Prue could see Phoebe swallow hard and knew the answer before she spoke.
“It’s okay, Pheebs, he’s good now, I know that, and this baby will be a good witch.”
Piper walked around the bed and gave Phoebe a big hug, followed by a second one.
“That last one was from Prue.”
Prue drifted back to sleep. The thoughts of nursery rhymes and diapers hung heavily on her mind as she lay with a smile on her face.
“You’re going to be an incredible mother, Phoebe.”
“I don’t know Piper, what if I’m not ready. What if…”
“No, no what ifs, tonight we celebrate two things, new life
and life reborn. Prue and your baby are going to be two miracles this family will not miss out on.”
Phoebe had an appointment with the OB/Gyn on the second floor at 2pm that Friday. While she was gone, Piper sat with the still sleeping Prue. Prue had come in and out of sleep to take more painkillers and then drift once again into that alternate reality known as dreaming. Piper held Prue’s hand while she laid her head on the bed beside Prue’s leg. Minutes after Phoebe had left for her appointment for an official pregnancy test Prue woke and squeezed Piper’s hand.
“Hey there, sleepy head. Enjoying the high dosage of mega-sleep?”
“Hmm…hardly. Where’s Phoebe?”
“She’s downstairs at the women’s clinic getting a test.”
“Good.”
“So are you really happy Prue?”
“About the baby? Yes. But I don’t think I can quite grasp it
with everything else going on.”
Her gaze drifted to her tightly bandaged chest. She tried to
pull herself up but the muscles in her right arm were stiff and useless. Piper saw Prue flinch.
“It’s okay sweetie. The doctor said that the muscle would take some time to heal. They had to cut into a lot of it to get to the lymph nodes.”
Prue nodded and watched the door. She had heard footsteps. And within seconds Dr. Lowe appeared.
“Good morning ladies. Where’s the third one?”
“Hey doc. Phoebe is downstairs, we just found out she’s pregnant.”
“Well, congratulations to you Aunt Prue. But how are you feeling?”
“Like crap that had the crap kicked out of it.”
“Uh-huh. Not exactly medical terminology, but I get the point. So, would you like to take a look at what we did or would you rather wait until your other sister gets back?”
“She’ll understand let’s do this now.”
“Prue, I’ll be just outside if you need me.”
“No, Piper, please stay, it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Please.”
Piper did not hesitate to plant her feet firmly on the floor next to Prue’s bed. Prue rarely asked for anything and Piper would not deny her the one time she did.
“Okay, Prue I’m just going to unwrap this and then cut this…”
Dr. Lowe unwrapped and then cut the bandages and then removed the special bra. Prue was not disgusted nor overjoyed with what she saw. Just simply numb. There next to her perfectly normal left breast was a mound of flesh with a soon to be scar running through the center. She felt maimed, she felt cheated, but she felt alive.
“Okay, see here’s where we went in. This little tube with the pouch on it is the drainage tube for where we removed the lymph node. When you leave here it will be on a few more days just to be sure all that nasty fluid that has built up has a chance to leave your body and not cause any infection.”
Piper looked on in amazement. Aside from the scar it didn’t look that bad to her. Just strange that there was only one breast and then next to that nothing but a mound of skin covered tissue.
“Now you see Prue you were lucky because we were able to do a partial mastectomy on you, meaning we didn’t have to take out the muscle too. That’s why you still have the shape of a breast, we did have to take the nipple because the cancer sat very close to that. Would you like to hear what I think about your cancer?”
“I don’t know, I think so.”
“I think you’re going to beat this easily. The carcinoma you had was a slow growing one. I think with about five weeks worth of chemo and radiation we won’t see any chance of a second growth anywhere.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, definitely good news, Prue, but I want to tell you right now that you’re in for a big uphill climb with this therapy we’re going to do. You will most likely get sick, lose your hair and feel like you’re never going to eat again. But hear me out when I say even when you are throwing your guts up you’re going to have to try to eat something. You need to try to lead a balanced normal life. Don’t shrink into your house and never go out. You wake up and if you don’t like the bald look, put on a cap and go to work. I read in your chart that you’re a photographer?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. You’re going to be amazed at what your mind will open to once you’ve gone through all of this. Nothing will seem impossible. And once that’s all done then six or seven months down the road we can talk about reconstruction.”
“Rebuilding the breast?”
“Yes. It’s amazing the things these plastic surgeons can do. Amazing. So with in a year I say your body and you health will be back up to speed, but your mental and emotional state…well, that’s up to you and your sisters, think you can keep her spirits up, umm… Piper, isn’t it?”
“That’s me. Yeah, I think keeping her spirits up is going to be easy. With a new baby on the way, I think it won’t be hard at all.”
Prue smiled and with that Phoebe walked into the room. She took a seat silently next to Prue’s bed. She remained silent. The doctor gave his congratulations to Prue and then to Phoebe before he left. After he was gone Prue and Piper both realized Phoebe hadn’t said a thing.
“Okay, Pheebs, why the silent gig?”
“Well, Piper, the test was definitely positive. I am about 2 months along.”
“So why the long face sweetie? Piper and I are ecstatic about this little munchkin.”
“I know you are Prue, and I am too, but I started thinking about Cole on the way up and I don’t know how he’s going to deal with this. I mean for God’s sake, half the population of the underworld is hunting him. What kind of atmosphere is that to raise a child in?”
“Phoebe, don’t think about that right now. Just concentrate on the happiness of it all. Prue just got the best news that within a year her life can be back to normal, well normal for us, and you are caring the first in our line of children, sweetie come one it's going to be okay.”
“Piper, I guess logically I know that, but I have this feeling, something about my premonition. It isn’t going to be okay for someone we love, and I just can’t figure out who yet.”
Prue sat on the edge of the tub trying to grab a hold on her spinning world. Two weeks had passed since she began radiation and chemo treatments, which had quickly been nicknamed RC treatments because Prue was tired of hearing those words. At first, the RC didn’t make her sick, she took it in stride and continued about her normal routine around the manor. The site of surgery was healing nicely and the pain was minimal as the muscles healed within. But suddenly as she began her second week of RC, the sickness overwhelmed her. Now, at the end of the second week she clung to the porcelain tub with every fiber of her being trying to balance precariously her world and the world of sickness. Oh, God, she thought, I can’t possibly have anything left to give. I have thrown up since we got back from the hospital. A wave of nausea struck her again creeping its way from her stomach to the back of her throat. Just let it go, she heard herself say, just let it go. And with that she moved!
from her perch on the tub to her place on the floor in front of the toilet.
Piper and Phoebe sat in the living room. They had taken the day off because they had quickly realized how sick Prue was going to be.
“Where’s the Fenagrin?”
“The what?”
“Fenagrin. Piper it’s her anti-nausea medication. If we can get it into her and get her to not throw up for at least an hour maybe it will help.”
“Okay, all her medicines are in the bathroom where she is right now. Do you want me to go up and try to give it to her?”
“Nah, that’s okay Piper, let me do it. I have an idea.”
Phoebe ascended the stairs that led to the very sick Prue. She knocked lightly on the bathroom door.
“Prue? It’s Phoebe, can I come in?”
Phoebe heard Prue mutter from within. She opened the door and entered the bathroom shutting herself inside with Prue.
“Feeling pretty crappy huh?”
“You could say that.”
Phoebe scanned the medications that sat on the counter. Finding the plastic bottle of Fenagrin, she wrangled open the childproof cap and poured one of the pills into her hand. She kneeled down on the ceramic tile and felt the coolness through her jeans.
“Hmmm…cold ceramic tile, hurling in the bathroom, reminds me of those days I used to party hard and you’d cover for me with Grams. “
Prue managed to laugh at Phoebe.
“Do you think RC is her way of punishing me for lying to her?”
“Hmm…kind of makes you wonder huh? Nah, I think Grams was happy that you cared that much about me.”
“Did you ever go a day when you didn’t feel like I loved you?”
“Let’s not talk about that now.”
“I want to talk about that Phoebe, I’m sick and I feel like talking about it, it’s the least you can do while I sit here waiting for another round with the toilet.”
“Fine we can talk about it but first you have to take this pill and not throw up for at least an hour.”
“I’ll try.”
Prue swallowed the pill and then leaned against the bathroom door with Phoebe sitting next to her. She placed her head on Phoebe’s shoulder and asked the question again.
“Now, did you ever go a day when you didn’t feel like I loved you?”
“Honestly…yes. I went six whole months thinking that you didn’t love me. But I realize now that I didn’t love myself and that it had nothing to do with you.”
“When you were in New York?”
“Yep.”
“That had a lot to do with me Phoebe. I was very selfish and way too demanding of you. I just didn’t want you to have an easy ride because I never had one. It was so awful of me, but I would never wish anything bad to happen to you Phoebe.”
“I know that Prue, that was then and this is now. We are very strong and able women. We have grown closer in the last three years. We’re the sisters we’re meant to be now.
“I love you Phoebe, so much and I want you to know hat even if I’m sick and getting comfortable on the ceramic tile, I will always be your big sister and will always want you to come to me when you want to talk.”
“I love you too, and you have to know that when you are sick, you have to lean on me as much as I leaned on you when we were kids. Understood?”
“Fair enough. So…have you told Cole yet?”
“No, I haven’t seen him. I went to the crypt the other day to try to call him out and tell him, but I couldn’t reach him. He must be hiding deep.”
“Must be. You know, I really think he has a good heart Phoebe. And if you tell him I said this I’ll kill you, but I think he’ll be a great dad.”
“Yeah, I do too, if he stays alive long enough.”
“Have you thought of any names yet?”
“I have a few in mind. If it’s a boy I want to call him Patrick Cole, it’s the masculine of Patricia, he’d have a peace of mom with him, you know? And of course Cole for his father.”
“Could we nickname him Trick?”
“Why Trick?”
“Because it sounds so cool with the last name Turner. Trick Turner.”
“Who said they would have Turner as a last name?”
“Okay, Trick Halliwell is pretty cool too.”
Phoebe laughed with Prue as she took her big sister’s hand.
“And what if it’s a girl?”
“If it’s a girl I want to name her after you.”
“Oh please don’t give that poor child Prue as a name, do you know the flack I took for that in elementary school?”
“Not Prudence. I’m going to name her Love. Love Halliwell.”
“Really? How is that after me?”
“Because you represent to me what love is. The things you do for me and for Piper, have done for us in the past, it’s always been out of love, so I want my daughter to carry your tradition. The tradition of love.”
“Hmmm…Love Halliwell? It’s growing on me. So basically we are going to either have Trick or Love in the manor in about six months?”
Phoebe smiled and stroked Prue’s hair as Prue laid her head in Phoebe’s lap. The Fenagrin had taken its effect and as a side effect left Prue sleepy. Instead of trying to wake or move Prue she stayed there hand in her hair. Unbeknownst to either of them Piper sat on the floor on the other side of the door hearing every spoken word. She too liked the idea of Love Halliwell.
It had been three weeks since the first day of her RC treatments. She had just finished the first day of week four. Only two full weeks she reminded herself. I can do this. She wanted to jump in the shower and rinse off the feel of radiation. Although there was no actual residue from radiation, Prue always felt somehow pasty after a treatment.
The warm water ran through her hair. So far she had lost minimal amounts. She knew that sometime. RC treatments had different effects than on others, but she knew that with two full weeks left it was only a matter of time before she would lose it all. She had gotten it cut shoulder length two days earlier to help ease the shock for herself, if it did indeed fall out. She rinsed the soap off her body and then smelled the strawberry fragrance of her shampoo as she massaged it through her hair. As she rinsed the shampoo away she looked at her hands, in each hand there was a clump of raven colored hair. Tears streamed down her face as she realized what that meant. She sat on the floor of the shower and cried a thousand tears for the appearance she was losing. She knew how shallow it was because she was alive at least, but still she cried and wondered again how something this horrendous could ever happen to her.
She finally stood and turned off the shower. She stepped out and wrapped an oversized towel around herself. She wiped the fogged mirror with a hand and surveyed the loss. There were two spots on each side of head that were devoid of hair. She knew that it wouldn’t take long for the rest to fall as well. She sat again on the ceramic floor and cried. She wished Piper and Phoebe were home from work and class. At least they’d be home in time for lunch. They’d know how to help her. Meanwhile to stop the anxiety of waiting Prue went to her room curled up under the sheets and down comforter and drifted to sleep.
It was close to 11am when the doorbell awakened Prue. Afraid of being seen with hair missing she quickly put on a baseball hat and went downstairs. In the foyer she passed the table with the mirror on it and noticed her pale, thin skin. She thought she looked sicker than she felt, which to her was not the best thing. The doorbell rang again.
“Who is it?”
“A delivery for Prue Halliwell.”
Prue opened the door and a man with a large bouquet of red roses entered the room. He sat the roses down on the mirrored table and then turned to leave.
“You have an ice day ma’am.”
Prue smiled at the big bouquet and smelled a bright blood red bud. The scent calmed and relaxed her. She opened the card thinking it had to be from one of her sisters if not from both. But the card revealed otherwise.
Dear Prue, I hope you feel better soon. You take care of my heart, Always, your secret admirer.
Prue had no idea from whom the roses could possibly be, especially since she hadn’t been out since she found out about the cancer. She would have to ask Phoebe and Piper when they came home for lunch. With that thought, Prue heard car doors opening and shutting. She heard Phoebe and Piper giggling as they walked in the kitchen door. She met them in the kitchen with a smile on her face.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you two giggle like that.”
“Just a joke I got emailed today at school. What’s with the hat Prue?”
Prue removed the hat and looked into her sisters’ unsure faces.
“It’s okay, we knew this would eventually happen.”
“Yeah, but are you okay Prue, it had to be sort of shock.”
“Funny you should ask. At first I was horrified and I cried, now I just want one of you to get out the electric razor and go to town on it.”
Piper looked at Phoebe and Phoebe looked at Piper.
“You do it.”
“Uh-uh Phoebe, You do it.”
“Come on upstairs to the bathroom and you can both help me do it. There’s no way you can mess it up, we’re going for the Sinead O’Connor look remember?”
Phoebe relaxed a little, “Yeah, this could actually be fun. Kind of like that doll we use to have, what was it cut and grow?”
Piper followed her sisters warily into the foyer and noticed the flowers.
“Oh…who are these for?”
“Me.”
“And who might I ask sent you, one, two, three, four, five…two dozen roses, Piper what does the card say?”
“Secret admirer? Hmmm…”
“Yeah, I was hoping one of you guys might know something.”
Piper and Phoebe shook their heads in the negative and shrugged their shoulders. They then followed Prue up to the bathroom where they got the razor from the drawer.
“Are you sure about this Prue?”
“Just do it Phoebe, before I cry again.”
Piper held Prue’s baseball hat in her hands while Phoebe turned on the razor. Prue closed her eyes and felt the razor brush her scalp. The whirring of its motor filled her mind relaxing her. She felt Phoebe’s hand run across her head as she brushed away the loose hair she had shaven. When finally the buzzing stopped, she heard Phoebe and Piper both sigh. She was afraid to open her eyes.
“It’s okay sweetie open them. You look better than Demi Moore as GI Jane.”
Prue opened her eyes and focused on her image in the mirror. She let her hand float to her scalp and felt the smoothness of her skin. She looked at the overall appearance and realized that it didn’t scare her half as bad as she thought it would. She smiled.
“Thank you guys for going through this with me. I wouldn’t have been okay alone.”
“No problem. Phoebe did all the work.”
Phoebe took a short bow and laughed. I wish I could look that good without hair. You know what the problem is now?”
“What?”
“Prue, your showers are going to be even shorter than they used to be which means you’re going to have even more reason to nag me about how long I stay in there.”
They laughed and walked back toward the kitchen as the doorbell rang yet again. Piper opened the door to find a UPS man standing in the typical brown attire. She gave her signature and then shut the door.
“Nice shorts. Here Prue it’s another delivery for you.”
Prue took the small square box from Piper and went to the kitchen for scissors. Phoebe and Piper followed closely. She opened the box to find a bright blue LA Dodgers baseball hat.
“Now…who would know to send you a hat?”
“Here’s a card.” Prue read aloud, “Thank you for always watching out for my soul. Your secret admirer.”
“This is strange.”
“Yes, definitely strange Piper, I mean who would send me this stuff? Not that I mind, it is my favorite team and all, I just wish I knew who was thanking me and exactly what soul I watched out for, you know?”
Phoebe slipped out of the room and crept up the stairs to her room. There she let out a low whistle and Cole shimmered into the room.
“Hi.”
“Hi yourself. Did Prue get my gifts yet?”
“I figured it was you. Are you being sincere with these gifts or are you just kissing ass?”
“Being sincere. Look, ever since Prue deemed me innocent status I feel, I don’t know, grateful. I feel like she’s looking out for you and I want to thank her for that you know?”
“Yeah, I do. Listen Cole, there’s something we need to talk about. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you but it never seemed like the right time.”
“You aren’t breaking up with me are you Phoebe, please don’t be doing that.”
“No, I’m not breaking up with you, in fact I’m binding myself to you for all eternity.”
“Excuse me?”
Phoebe took Cole’s hand and placed it where their baby now sat inside the walls of her body. Together their three hearts beat as one.
“Cole, I’m having a baby.”
“You mean you’re…my baby. How far?”
“Three and a half months.”
“So I’m going to be a daddy in five and a half months?”
Phoebe shook her head and welcomed the accepting embrace from Cole. She was happy that he was so ecstatic. She knew Prue was right, he was going to be a great father.
“I just want you to know that this baby will have the Halliwell name regardless okay?”
“I don’t care Phoebe, as long as the baby is part you and part me I don’t care what last name you give it. Damn.”
“They’re looking for you again?”
“Yeah, I don’t know when I’ll be back. But when I do I want to take all of you out to celebrate. I want to see if Prue would like to drive down to LA for a Dodgers game, maybe the four…five of us can rent a convertible drive down.”
“What a great plan, don’t you dare wait any amount of time before you get your butt back here.”
“I won’t. I love you Phoebe.
“I love you too.”
Phoebe smiled as she watched Cole shimmer from the room. She left the room and returned to the kitchen where Prue and Piper were making lunch.
“Hey Pheebs, where did you go?”
“I just had a visit with Cole.”
Prue sat next to Phoebe at the table while Piper stood behind Prue’s chair.
“So, did you tell him?”
“Yes Piper, I told him.”
“And…” Prue and Piper spoke in unison.
“And he’s extremely ecstatic. He wants to take all three of us to a Dodgers game.”
Prue glanced at the hat on the table and knew what Phoebe was saying. She traced the trim of the lettering and smiled back at Phoebe. She was glad that her niece would have two parents with two good souls.
Prue had completed her last RC treatment and was ready to celebrate, although she was a little weak and tired. She decided that the next day, Saturday would be the perfect day for a Dodgers game. She called Phoebe to come downstairs.
“Hey Prue, what’s going on? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes I never felt better. Today was my last RC.”
“Really? That’s cool.”
Prue was shocked that Phoebe hadn’t even remembered her last treatment and that she was so nonchalant about the whole thing. The woman who was going to name her daughter after her, who she took care of growing up…
“Right. Well then have you seen Piper?”
“I think she’s in the kitchen.”
Phoebe merely shrugged her shoulders and walked back up the stairs. Prue was quickly coming down from her celebratory high. Her baby sister might not care that she was done with RC but Piper would. She walked into the kitchen to find Piper putting a tray of cupcakes into a picnic basket.
“Are those for me?”
“Nope, sorry Prue, they’re for the club, someone is having a birthday party there and they asked specifically for my cupcakes.”
“Oh, well aren’t you going to say congratulations or you go
girl or anything?”
“Ummm…for what honey?”
Prue was once again shocked by a reaction. She was about to explain for the second time that it had been her last RC treatment and that she wanted to go out and celebrate, but she was interrupted by Leo orbing into the kitchen.
“Hey, Piper, are you ready?”
“Ready? Wait where are you two orbing off to together?”
“I was running late so Leo decided to orb me over.”
Piper, Leo and the picnic basket disappeared. Prue was in utter disdain so she walked to the living room and sat next to the window. She marveled at her accomplishments physically in the last few months, but neither of her sisters seemed to care. She took off her LA Dodgers cap and ran her thin hand over her smooth, bald head. She knew it would start growing back soon. She was tired and fell fast asleep in the chair, cap in hands, hands on heart.
She woke nearly thirty minutes later when she heard Phoebe calling to her from upstairs.
“Prue!? Hey Prue can you help me out up here?”
“What is it?”
“I just really need your help with something.”
Prue stood and slowly, wearily ascended the stairs.
“Oh sure I have to help you but you can’t even say you go Prue, congratulations, I’m glad you won’t be puking anymore, oh no it can’t be like that huh?” Prue whispered to herself all the way up the stairs to where Phoebe stood at the bottom of the attic stairs.
“Okay, Prue you go up first.”
“Why what’s up there?”
“I don’t know but he was big and scary and mean.”
Prue cautiously climbed the stairs to the attic door and placed her hand on the knob. She turned to look at Phoebe to make sure she was a good ways down the stairs, She didn’t want anything to happen to Phoebe or the baby that lived inside her. She nodded at Phoebe as a signal to get ready. Prue paused to listen to a noise coming from inside the door. She then jerked the knob and swung the heavy attic door forward. What she saw next could not have shocked her more.
In front of her stood Piper, Leo, Daryl, and Cole. Streamers hung from every rafter in the attic, balloons floated in every corner. Prue took a deep breath and tried not to let tears flow from her shimmering eyes. She felt Phoebe’s hand on the small of her back and then words whispered in her ear.
“You go Prue, congratulations, I’m glad you won’t be puking anymore.”
Prue flushed with a twinge of embarrassment. Of course her sisters remembered. How could I ever believe they would forget?
“Scared you there for a minute didn’t we Prue?”
“Yeah, you may have botched every surprise birthday party I was ever supposed to have but this more than makes up for those. Thank you guys so much.”
“Well, Phoebe and I know how important this day was to you, it marks a milestone in your life.”
“Yeah, it does, it actually means that I’m going to have a life.”
Daryl stepped forward and gave Prue a kiss on the cheek and a hug.
“I’m sorry I can’t stay, I’m on duty, but I just wanted to be here to tell you that I knew you could do it and if you need anything…”
“I’ve got your numbers.”
Prue smiled at him and gave him another hug before he left. Cole waited his turn and then stepped forward.
“I’m not going to hug you, I don’t want to get decked.”
Prue smiled.
“But, I did bring a surprise for the five of us.”
Prue raised an eyebrow with a questioning look.
“Downstairs, it’s outside right now.”
The five of them walked to the front porch and Prue smiled and laughed to herself when she saw what Cole was pointing to. In front of the manor on the street was a long, boat sized, pink Cadillac.
“Thought maybe you might want to catch the Dodgers play this afternoon and thought maybe we could all drive down and eat our picnic lunch on the way?”
Prue smiled at Cole’s kindness. She knew that Phoebe’s heart had found a heart very similar to itself. Cole had a goofy grin on his face and seemed completely at peace with the world when Phoebe wrapped her arms around his waist. Prue smiled and let the morning sun fall on her face. She was ready for this family outing.
“I’ll get my camera, you guys get the food in the car.”
Piper noticed Prue wrap her arms around herself. She knew the night would grow a bit chilly but Prue wanted so badly to get out of the house and on the road, so instead of warning Prue about the weather, she merely grabbed her jacket from the coat hanger. Phoebe grabbed her Dodgers hat from the living room where Prue had left it earlier.
“Now, we’re ready.” Cole said behind the steering wheel smiling admiringly at the woman in the passenger seat, the woman who had fought all sorts of demons, including cancer to be there for his wife and unborn child. He loved Prue like the sister he had never had, and wished he could tell her that. And he watched her sleep as Leo, Piper and Prue sang California Dreamin' from the back seat. Cole was happy that Love would have a family like this in her life everyday. The test had not been done yet but Prue was so sure it was going to be a girl and he hoped she was right.
The game had just gotten underway, when the five took their seats in the bleachers.
“I’m sorry you guys, even with all my evil connections I still couldn’t get us box seats.”
“That’s okay, Cole, Prue likes the bleacher seats the best anyway.”
“Yeah, I do. That’s where the game really is, in the fans. Isn’t that right Leo?”
She laughed at Leo who had a mouth full of hot dog.
“Never mind, Leo, you keep on chewing.”
Piper laughed at Leo as well, before dragging him off to find some beer.
“I think I’m going to the ladies room,” Phoebe said. As she stood to leave she noticed how tired Prue looked.
“Do you want me to get you anything sweetie?”
“No babe, I’m okay right now.”
“Not you Cole! I was talking to Prue.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes and then turned her attention back to Prue.
“That’s okay sweetie, actually if you could get me a root beer I think I’d be doing just great.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a few. You guys try to play nice please.”
Phoebe wandered off and Prue watched the teams change out.
“Ummm…Prue, since it’s just us here, I was wondering if I could talk to you?”
“Sure Cole.”
“Well, I don’t know where to begin.”
“The beginning is always good.”
“Right. Well, you know how much I love Phoebe. And of course how much I love the baby.”
“Yeah, I think I can imagine.”
“Yeah, I know you can. I just wanted to say thank you for always begin there for them when I can’t.”
“That’s my sisterly duty, Cole. I don’t need thanks for that. It’s not a task or a favor, but it’s pure love that makes me do that.”
“I’ve offended you. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to say that…let me start over. I want to say that I see everything that is good in your heart and I see where Phoebe learned that from and I just hope that Love Halliwell has the same attributes.”
“I’m sure she will, you and Phoebe are going to be great parents Cole. You’ll see.”
“You really mean that don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“Can I tell you something else?”
“Go ahead.”
“I love you like the sister I never had. Prue, the way w fight and argue, it’s all because we both love her so much, we both want what’s best for her, but you have always been the best thing for her.”
“You too are the best thing for her Cole. You are the person she is in love with. So in love with that she never blinked twice at having your child. And if she loves you Cole then I love you too.”
“Would it be okay to hug you?”
Prue wrapped her arms around Cole in a family-style hug. Phoebe watched from a few feet away. Tears came to her eyes.
“Woah, break this up or you guys are going to have me in the hospital with a heart attack. Was that really a hug I just saw?”
Prue looked up at Phoebe from her seat in the bleachers and smiled through teary eyes.
“Let’s just say that Cole and I came to an understanding.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
Cole tugged the bill of Prue’s hat and laughed. Together, Prue, Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Cole enjoyed their Pink Cadillac kind of day. Unbeknownst to them they were watched from high above. Binoculars pointed at them from a windowed box seat.
“Oh look at them…such a happy family.”
“Don’t worry Herrut, we’ll just break up that happy family.”
“Yes, Faison, we must strike just after the oldest has surgery again. I believe she will have that…what does her medical file say…reconstruction surgery…”
“That sounds painful.”
“Shut up. She will have that in three weeks. We will have to attack before she regains her strength. I’m afraid we missed out on her first medical miracle, but we can get her while she’s still weak from her second. She will make herself weak with surgery, it lessens our workload see?”
“Right, except what about the other two and the men?”
“The other two? Well, the middle one, she’s easy to break, we just kill the whitelighter. The youngest one is with child. She too will soon be weak, and the other male, why my friend, don’t you know, it’s Belthazor? Not only do we get the victory of taking down the Charmed Ones, but, also. we get the underworld’s most hunted traitor. We’ll be heroes.”
“When, Herrut, when do we attack?”
“Hmmm…we attack in one month, the youngest will be six months by then, in human terms the baby will not have much chance of survival, and if attacked and caused to go into labor with no medical help…the mother won’t have much chance of survival either. Meanwhile we’ll keep quiet of Belthazor’s whereabouts, we want him for ourselves.”
“But Herrut, what about the oldest?”
“What is with the questions Faison? The oldest will still be recuperating in a month’s time. You really must follow more closely.”
The drive home was quiet and peaceful. Prue slept with her head on Phoebe’s shoulder. They had talked about the reconstructive surgery that would take place three weeks from that Monday and they talked about the ultrasound that Phoebe would be having next week to see the sex of the baby and its progress. She had talked with the wind blowing over her bare scalp, hat in hands. Talked until she fell asleep. She was warm, snuggled in the back seat with her sisters. Warm and for once in several months, happy.
The ultrasound had proven Prue’s intuition to be correct. Inside Phoebe was a little girl. And Phoebe was a month further along than they had originally thought. She was six months pregnant. Only two people besides the doctor and Phoebe were allowed inside the room while the ultrasound was done. Cole had been gone again running from demons so Prue and Piper accompanied their baby sister. On the screen the blurry black and white image filled Prue’s mind and she gently touched the screen as the echo of the baby’s heartbeat reverberated throughout the room. Piper held Phoebe’s hand and together, they cried the greatest tears of joy they had ever known, while Prue watched the screen tears falling, smile ever widening.
Another two weeks passed and Prue had her surgery. It was a success. The shape returned to normal. They did an ultrasound on her left breast while she was in the hospital to check for any signs of mass or lumps and the image was clear. Prue was well on her way to recovery. The time had gone quickly and the cancer had been easy to overcome. While she was in the hospital, Prue had seen what cancer could do to people. She had run into a woman, 45 years old, who had cervical cancer. The woman’s cancer was not caught in time and for her, the recovery floor had become death row. Prue cried for that woman the night she got home from the hospital after her surgery and she cried for what could have happened to her own body. She cried that the powers-that-be had given her a second chance and not that woman with two teenage kids and a husband that adored her. And she cried because accepting that she had the right to be alive was the hardest thing to do after talking to a woman who was s!
o kind, so giving, a woman who was dying a slow and painful death.
But the same night she cried in sadness she cried again in joy. Phoebe settled next to Prue on Prue’s bed and took her hand. Phoebe then placed Prue’s hand on her ever-swelling belly.
“Do you feel that?’
Prue jumped at the faint motion beneath Phoebe’s skin.
“Is that Love?”
“Yeah, she wanted to say hi to her aunt Prue.”
“What about her Aunt Piper?”
Piper stood at the doorway and then walked to Phoebe and placed her hand next to Prue’s on her stomach.
“Her Aunt Piper too.”
The three girls snuggled into bed with one another. Piper missing Leo who had been gone for two weeks on assignment, Phoebe almost 7 months pregnant and missing the running Cole, and Prue, bandaged and weak, yet joyful and more alive than she had ever felt.
Another week passed. Leo was still on assignment and Cole was yet to be heard from. The girls sat in the living room discussing their plans for the evening.
“Prue are you sure you’re up to going to a movie?”
“Yes, Piper, I want to get out of the house. It’s a Friday night, my hair has grown into a rather nice Charlize Theron boy-cut, and I want to get jiggy-with-it.”
“Okay, Prue, first of all it’s a movie not a night club there will be no getting jiggy with it. Second of all, you’re hair looks much better than Charlize and third of all…”
“Third of all? Prue have you ever heard of third of all? That sounds weird, Phoebe don’t say that…”
“Okay, hush now Piper, I’m counting points and if I lose count then it’s all over, and fourth of all…okay see Piper, my train of thought just jumped the tracks. What are you doing to me here?”
“I think it’s hormonal, what do you think Prue?”
“Oh yeah, definitely. Love? Quit playing with your mommy’s emotions in there okay?”
“Funny, really you two, ha, ha. Get in the car now!”
The movie was a comedy and Prue was weak still from the surgery and weaker even from laughing so hard. She, Piper and Phoebe had parked two blocks from the theater. Friday nights usually meant more traffic and fewer parking places.
“Are you sure we aren’t going to get a ticket for parking in an alley, Piper?”
“No I’m not sure. But would you have rather walked half a mile instead of just two blocks.”
Prue was tired and drug behind slightly.
“Sweetie, how are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Just ready for bed.”
“Well then, Piper, what do you say we get our big sister here home and tuck her in?”
“Pheebs, I really don’t think tucking me in is going to be necessary.”
“Please, I need the practice.”
“Okay, but if you make me sleep with a nightlight, for practice, I’ll have to kill you.”
The Charmed Ones rounded the corner to see two very large, ugly men waiting for them. Phoebe jumped, Prue, as weak as she was, pushed Phoebe behind her. And Piper stopped in her tracks.
“Oh…don’t kill your little sister, that’ll take the fun out of us getting to do it!”
“Piper…”
“Prue, I’m trying to freeze them but it isn’t working. Can
you move them?”
Prue threw her hand up and with a wave hoped she would toss the men to the ground, but nothing happened.
“Uh-oh, mine’s not working either.”
The largest of the men grabbed Piper and held her while the other man, struck Prue in the chest knocking the wind out of her and tearing open her still fresh stitches. Prue slid to the ground in pain and agony, while she watched the man who hit her grab Phoebe in a struggle. Phoebe made quite a good attempt at defending herself, but somewhere in the fight she took a blow to the stomach, she doubled over. Piper screamed. Prue watched in horror as a small pool of clear liquid gathered at Phoebe’s feet.
“Phoebe?!?”
“My water, Prue.”
Phoebe managed to inform Prue with those few words between gasps that her water had broken and she was going into premature labor.
“Oh god Prue do something.” Piper fought against the man that held her.
Prue slowly stood, blood seeping through her shirt.
“Want more huh, Prue, is it?”
“Leo! Leo!” Piper screamed into the clear night sky.
“That’s right call your whitelighter, we’ll finish him off too.”
Prue felt the alley closing in on them. Her vision grew darker as she felt the warm blood against her cool skin. She noticed a lead pipe to her right and she pretended to fall in pain. As she hit the ground she grabbed the pipe. Coming up with more energy than she knew she had she nailed the man who held Piper in the head. He screamed in pain and released his grip long enough for Piper to run to her baby sister who was now on the ground on her side crying tears of fears and doubt that she or her baby would make it.
Prue lifted the pipe to strike again when the smaller man brought his foot to her stomach. She fell again to the ground. He pummeled her while the larger man stood between Prue and her sisters. Prue watched as strike after strike the vision of her sisters dimmed. Then from the corner of her eye a shimmer and then Cole.
“Hey, why don’t you two pick on someone your own size?”
“Oh, Belthazor, what an honor to meet such a well-known traitor. Stand in line human, you’re next.”
Prue saw the smaller man walk toward her sisters. While their attention was diverted she slid her cell phone out of coat pocket and dialed 911. She had the GPS tracking equipment so the ambulance would be able to track the exact location of the phone. She hit send and then hid the phone under a box as she slowly used the wall to help her stand. She watched the larger man pick Piper up by the hair and then throw her across the alley. She landed hard into the wall. The smaller man picked his foot up again in a kicking motion.
“No sir! I don’t think you need to touch her. You see that’s my child she carries and if you hurt her or my child you will pay dearly.”
“Oh Belthazor when will you ever learn that you can’t beat us as such a sickly human. And I bet you made a promise to the big sister over there to never be a demon again haven’t you?”
Prue looked up to find Cole’s eyes searching for an answer from her.
“Kick his ass Cole.” Prue managed to whisper under shuddering breath.
Cole transformed into Belthazor and immediately threw a fireball into the smaller demon. Before the fireball reached him, the smaller demon managed to throw a lightening bolt hitting Prue. She sank to the ground succumbing to the darkness unaware of the miserable event that unfolded in the next ten seconds. The only person who saw what happened in those next ten seconds was Phoebe.
One month later:
Piper and Leo stayed close together during the service. Spring tulips, red, yellow, and white filled the air. Mingling with the bagpipes that called out to Amazing Grace. Phoebe held Love in her arms tightly, never wanting to put her down. It was her one true connection to love. The baby looked so much like Prue it was phenomenal. Phoebe gently kissed the baby’s forehead and watched the bright blue LA Dodgers cap floating through the crowd toward the coffin. The hand that held it shaking wiping at tears that were never expected. The cap was placed gently on the coffin, accompanied by a fallen tear.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
No more than a whisper, not to be heard above the gentle breeze. Phoebe let the tears fall as she watched the moment. As she watched the ground placed over the coffin and turning the bright blue cap into a brown, fading memory. She remembered the wind blowing in the convertible, the look in his eyes as he watched Prue sleep, his hand on her belly, the hand that carried the cap to Prue’s coffin.
Epilogue:
It had been a month since that fateful night in the alley. A month they had mourned the loss of their sister. Phoebe had been the only one conscious at that fatal last precious moment. Prue had sunk silently to the ground, Piper unconscious, and Cole giving off one last fireball. The force of it, knocking him into the wall and knocking him out. In ten seconds, Phoebe saw Prue’s spirit rise from her body and pass over the damage that had become the alley. She stood above Phoebe.
“It’s okay, Love will carry on my work. My soul.”
And with that, with no good byes, no I love you’s, Prue’s spirit entered into Phoebe’s body and ultimately became Love’s soul. The sirens whined in the distance, Piper groaned into the darkness and Phoebe cried for the loss of her sister. But she knew that there was a choice Prue made that night. There was only room for four good souls in the alley that night, so she sacrificed hers so that, Love could live, and love did live…everyday as they all watched the future grow in their very home.
The only obligation either of them had for the day was Prue’s yearly physical at her doctor’s office later in the afternoon. They had decided to bond over shopping with Prue’s credit card to be followed by a late lunch of ice cream and chocolate toppings.
The day had gone smoothly. Prue felt closer to Phoebe than she ever had. She dropped Phoebe off at the manor before heading to her 4pm doctor’s appointment. She looked at her sister and felt so proud of her and so protective of her all in one glance. She reached out to Phoebe before Phoebe had a chance to open the door, and she pulled her close and held her tight.
“Woah, sis, what’s the hug for?”
“I don’t know Phoebe, I just felt this tremendous urge to tell you how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Prue. I’ve had the best day today.”
“Me too Pheebs, now get out of my car I’m going to be late,” Prue said jokingly.
She watched Phoebe in the rear view mirror as she headed toward the doctor’s office. She was a beautiful little sister and Prue felt somewhat proud of the fact that she had something to do with that. Phoebe had been through so much growing up without Patty. Prue was just glad that she had always been there to help her and would always be there to act like a surrogate mother to her.
She pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and locked the BMW. In the waiting room she was glad to see only a few people which meant that she wouldn’t have to wait long. She had promised Phoebe that they’d spend some quality time together watching movies and pigging out. She wanted to not only keep her promise but make it happen as quickly as possible.
“Prue Halliwell?”
Prue stood and followed the nurse into the exam room. She was always nervous when it came to yearly exams but this time she had a new doctor and it made her even more nervous. Of course it was not her nature to show any form of fear. She changed into the thin backless, paper gown and sat on the table waiting for the doctor. Nearly ten minutes went by waiting in the cold sterile exam room before the doctor finally came in.
Prue was relieved to see that her new doctor was a woman.
“Hi, Prue Halliwell, I’m Doctor Kreeger. Are you ready for the hell we like to call the physical exam?”
Prue relaxed a little at the doctor’s playful sense of humor. She lay back on the table while the doctor examined her breasts. Prue watched the doctor’s eyes carefully. At one point she thought she saw Dr. Kreeger furrow her brow but then she moved on. Prue tensed during the rest of the exam including the pelvic exam. She always hated that feeling of not having the control. She always felt so vulnerable during exams. This time the exam was quick and painless.
“Okay Prue, we’re done here, go ahead and get dressed and I’ll be back in just a minute and we’ll go over your exam.”
Prue dressed very quickly and sat in the wooden armchair while she waited for Dr. Kreeger to return. It was only minutes before she did. Prue looked at the doctor’s face and was concerned by what she saw.
“Is something wrong?”
Dr. Kreeger sat in a chair facing Prue.
“I don’t want you to be alarmed at all, but while I was doing your breast exam I noticed a lump.”
Prue’s heart doubled its rate of beats per minute.
“A lump?”
She felt the walls closing in around her. Of course, this is how it’s going to be. I am my mother’s child. I will die young. The demons can’t touch me so THEY’ll make it happen some other way.
“Yes. Have you noticed it before?”
“No. Never.”
“Okay, well, I want to set you up for a biopsy as soon as possible. I think with someone as young as you we’ll get some good news from the biopsy, but we always need to be on the safe side. Let me call downstairs to the outpatient center and see if we can’t set up a good time for a biopsy. I want to go ahead and set it up for tomorrow sometime. Is that okay with you?”
Prue was speechless so she merely nodded her head. She really wanted nothing more than to run from the room. Okay Prue, she told herself, stop thinking so negatively. You heard the doctor. It’s probably nothing. She told herself a lot in those few minutes the doctor was gone to set up the biopsy. She even thought about crawling into Phoebe’s arms and shaking in fear when she got back. The doctor returned to the room and confirmed a 9am appointment for a biopsy.
Prue’s drive home was filled with thoughts both negative and
positive. When she saw Phoebe waiting for her on the front porch the way she did as a child, she knew she couldn’t tell Phoebe what was happening, she was supposed to protect Phoebe, to see her through her life troubles, not the other way around.
“Hey Prue, I’m glad you’re back so fast. How did everything go?”
She managed to smile at Phoebe, “Oh, it was your typical exam, nothing strange or phenomenal. I did get a call from 415 though.”
“No Prue. Tell me you don’t have to go in tonight, please.”
“Okay, I don’t have to go in tonight, but I do have to be there before 9am tomorrow.”
“Oh that sucks. But I at least have you for tonight, don’t I?”
“Of course. You have me forever, Phoebe, my little cutie.”
Prue tried to force herself to be happy and cheerful. She did not want to let Phoebe in on her fears or the situation that had come to be the foremost thought on her mind. Did she or did she not have cancer? Only tomorrow would tell.
Before leaving for the doctor’s the next morning, Phoebe begged Prue for another movie night. Prue couldn’t resist the pleading of her youngest sister.
“Oh, Piper will be joining us tonight by the way, she told me as she was leaving this morning that she missed us and that Leo was out on an assignment all night. She is taking off from work about 5pm so we can go get an early dinner and then swing by the video store. So we can be the three musketeers once again. Oh…um…but this time, Prue, I get to pick out the movies. Those you picked out for yesterday were so pointless. What has you on this whole action kick anyway?”
Prue knew Phoebe was right. Ever since the triad had disappeared she had wanted to watch every blow-something-up movie made.
“As if you can talk Miss Kill-It-Before-It-Dies.”
Phoebe laughed with Prue and for the first time in 12 hours Prue felt good about the event before her. She knew that all she had to do was remember Phoebe’s smile and hear Piper’s calm voice and everything would be fine.
She still hadn’t mentioned anything to Phoebe. Prue had decided that if it were bad news then she’d handle it alone. Only if it were good would she share her scare with her sisters. We all have enough trouble with demon hunting without me having to make them feel worse, Prue thought as he headed to her car. She waved bye to Phoebe who had gone out to water the flowers. Prue took note that spring had begun to show its presence in the lily blooms around the porch. Lilies had always been her favorite flowers.
The hospital loomed before her. She parked in the deck and walked across the pedestrian bridge to the second floor outpatient facilities. There were very few people there and the sight of all the empty chairs made Prue feel more alone that she had on the drive to the hospital. She signed in and waited patiently for her name to be called. It didn’t take long before once again she was following a nurse into a waiting room. She sat again on the table.
“Okay, honey, you need to put…”
“On the gown yeah I got it now, thanks.”
The nurse looked at Prue with disdain and Prue felt bad for being so snappy with her but this wasn’t exactly how she had expected to spend her Saturday off. The doctor was in within minutes of Prue sitting again on the exam table wearing nothing but a backless, paper gown. Prue immediately noticed the long needle the doctor placed on a table full of instruments.
“Are you going to use that?”
“Don’t worry Miss Halliwell, we’ll use a much smaller needle to deaden the area first and then we’ll go in and extract whatever may be in the lump.”
“What’s good and what’s bad?”
“Okay, good is clear, the we know it’s just a cyst of some kind. If there’s nothing then it could go either way. But if it’s filled with dark liquid then we’ll have to test it and if it is indeed cancer then you’ll be handed over to an oncologist who’ll take it from there. But first we need to do this ultrasound and see the exact size and location of the lump.”
Prue watched as Kreeger turned on the machine and she felt the coolness of the roller on her skin. She couldn’t interpret anything she was seeing. Dr. Kreeger turned the monitor away from Prue so she could see to work.
Prue prayed and prayed for clear liquid. As she felt her skin numbing in the area of the shot on her right breast she knew she would have answers in just minutes. She tried not to watch as the doctor inserted the long needle into the soft tissue of the breast. It was a moment of truth. As the doctor pulled back on the needle, Prue watched with tear-blurred eyes as a dirty, dishwater-looking liquid filled the syringe
“Okay, Prue. We’re sending this down to the lab now to get the first set of results. Now normally we don’t have results back so quickly but today is a chance day that we happen to have both a lab technician and an oncologist on staff. It’ll take an hour or so for the results, if you want to go get something to eat maybe call your family.”
Prue didn’t eat. She sat in the waiting room staring out the window until she heard her name called again. She followed the nurse again to a different room and Dr. Kreeger soon came in followed by another doctor, a balding man with thin glasses. They took a seat opposite Prue and Dr. Kreeger spoke.
“Okay, Prue. The results came back as cancerous. Meaning, you do have breast cancer. This is Dr. Lowe. He’s the best oncologist we have. He wants to handle your case.”
Prue couldn’t speak, nor did she dare to cry. Cancer. Demons,
she could fight demons they were real to her, they were killable. But cancer…
“Prue? Would you like to call someone in to be with you?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t…”
“You’ll need to talk to someone Prue. This is not something you should try to handle alone.”
“Dr. Kreeger’s right Miss Halliwell. Cancer can be beat, we do it all the time, but you have to help us fight it. You have to be strong and be able to lean on others for support when you’re weak and tired. We need to talk about actions we want to take.”
“Actions?” It was the only thing Prue could utter.
“Yes, we know by the ultrasound the size of the lump is pretty big. We want to do a mastectomy.”
Prue’s world was spinning. She was too young for this. She hadn’t even had her 29th birthday. There were too many things she had to do and get done for work and for witchcraft. She didn’t have time
for cancer. She felt her lungs tighten and her breath felt labored.
“Miss Halliwell are you alright?”
“When? When do you want to take it off?”
“As soon as possible. That way we can know exactly what we’re dealing with and what type of chemo or radiation to use, possibly even both.”
“Chemo and radiation?”
“Yes, but let’s deal with the tasks at hand first. We want to set you up for surgery within two weeks.”
Prue got the information she would need for the surgery and she set up an appointment time for her surgery. She would be in the hospital for at least three days. How was she ever going to explain that to Piper and Phoebe?
Prue had been distracted throughout the entire evening while she, Piper and Phoebe watched movies. It had been hard throughout dinner to fake a smile and pretend to laugh but she did it and she could tell they were none-the-wiser.
She looked at the back of her sisters’ heads as they sat in front of her watching the latest comedy Phoebe had picked out. She wanted to tell them, she wanted them for once to hold her, but she was too old for that kind of attention, she was too motherly to be mothered so she decided once again it was not necessary for them to know. Before Phoebe had a chance to put in the last movie, One True Thing, Prue made up an excuse about being tired. She kissed Phoebe and then Piper on the cheek and headed off to her room. She knew what the movie was about. A woman gets cancer and dies. She wasn’t ready to deal with that kind of emotion.
Although Prue had told them she was tired, she tossed and turned for hours before falling into a restless sleep. She dreamed too many things that night. She dreamed about missing the birth of Phoebe’s first child and missing the first day of school for her niece Melinda. She dreamed about things that had yet to happen. But she dreamed them as if they were real and she awoke crying, as though she was already mourning souls she would never know.
Prue woke Sunday morning with a headache and knew it was from crying and lack of sleep. She heard Piper in Phoebe’s room but couldn’t quite make out what they were whispering about. She never liked to be the odd man out so she sneaked out of her room and down the hall to stand outside of Phoebe’s door.
“I don’t know Piper, but I know it was definitely not my imagination.”
“Are you sure Phoebe, I hardly ever cries.”
“Not that we know of but how many nights could she have possibly cried alone in her room and we would have never known about it?”
“Okay…can’t argue with you there. I just don’t think…”
Prue interrupted Piper by knocking on the door as she entered.
“I couldn’t help but hear you guys whispering in here.”
“Prue, Piper and I are just worried, I thought I heard you crying and…”
“You did hear me crying. I had a dream about Andy.”
Prue hated to use Andy’s death as an excuse for anything, especially to hide the truth from her sisters. She sat next to Piper on the edge of Phoebe’s bed and Phoebe crawled out of the covers to join them.
“Still gets to you huh?”
“Yeah, it does Phoebe.”
Prue wanted so badly to lay in her sisters’ arms and tell them the truth. She wanted to tell them about the cancer and the mastectomy. There was no way she was going to put them through that kind of pain. She would find a way to get through the surgery without their help. She would be okay, she knew she had to be. The power of three depended on it. Her sisters needed her.
Sundays at the manor were usually filled with cleaning and cooking. Leo would be in later to eat dinner with them then he had to leave once again on assignment. Prue wondered more than once if she should tell Leo and see if he could heal her, but she knew the Elders would never agree to that. It was what was meant to be. She knew they would probably say that.
Prue decided that she needed to get away from the manor for a while. She drove to the lake where she had watched her mother perish. When she sat on the docks she remembered a time when she fought so hard to not be like Patty, but now in the midst of all that troubled her she prayed that she had the courage and strength that Patty had. The water shimmered from the cool breeze that gathered off the coast and swept inland. Prue let the breeze mingle with the sun upon her face as she breathed deeply the scent of the forest that surrounded the lake. If she could just freeze time she would stop it here, with the breeze and the sun and the memory of her mother lingering on her mind.
Piper and Phoebe had cleaned the majority of the house when they realized they had done it alone.
“Can you believe that doody skipped out on working around the house?”
“Now, Phoebe, you said it yourself that she sounded more than just a little sad last night.”
“I know. I just like it when the three of us get time to play together.”
“You and Prue have gotten really close huh?”
“Yeah. I don’t know Piper, it’s like none of that stuff with Roger ever happened. She, along with you of course, is my world. You guys are my reason for being. And I could tell it in her eyes
yesterday at dinner that something wasn’t right you know?”
“Okay, Phoebe, you have a point there. She was acting a little goofy. And did you see how she’d flinch every time she moved, like she was hurt or something.”
“You don’t think she was attacked by a demon and didn’t tell us do you?”
“No way, Pheebs, why would she do that?”
Phoebe and Piper moved to Prue’s room and continued to dust and clean as they continued their discussion.
“I don’t know why Piper. Why does Prue do a lot of things? Hormones, PMS? It’s all a mystery to me.”
Piper cleaned the dresser while Phoebe moved clothes from a chair. When she removed a pair of jeans a brochure slipped to the floor.
“Phoebe what would Prue possible gain from hiding anything from us and what could it possible be?”
“Maybe this.”
Phoebe held up a brochure about breast cancer and mastectomies. She could see Piper’s eyes and knew they were thinking the same thing.
“Oh God Phoebe, you don’t think…”
“Why else would she have the brochure, Piper? And the flinching at the dinner table…”
Phoebe read the beginning of the brochure.
“The flinching, Piper, would be because she had the biopsy yesterday. I knew she was acting a little weird after her physical Friday and then yesterday she supposedly had to go to work, I guarantee she was at the doctor’s then getting the biopsy.”
“Phoebe we can’t let her know that we know right now okay.”
“Yeah, I agree. Let her tell us own her own time.”
“Okay, but we have to find out what’s going on as far as the mastectomy and when it is.”
“Wait, Piper call Leo now and ask him if it’s possible to heal her.”
“Good idea. Leo! Leo!”
The lake had calmed and the shimmer on the water had disappeared. The temperature had dropped and still Prue sat on the dock. She let tear after tear come as she found it easier to embrace her sadness while alone. She had never felt more alone than she did at that moment. Her desperation grew stronger as she thought about following her mother’s memory into the water. She thought about the struggle ahead of her and knew that it would be difficult. She thought about losing her breast and her hair. She thought about the exhaustion she would feel after every treatment, and for a second, for a second that chilled her to the bone, she thought about ending it all. She cried harder when the cell phone rang jerking out of her reverie. She slowly flipped the receiver and nudged it against her ear.
“Hello?”
“Prue. Where are you sweetie, Pheebs and I were getting a little worried.”
“I had some thinking to do.”
“About what?”
“Oh you know, this and that.”
“Right…Prue…” Piper paused and Prue could imagine the tear rolling down Piper’s cheek for the sadness in her voice with the simple saying of her sister’s name revealed all that she knew. “Prue…why don’t you come home, Phoebe and I made an incredible meal.”
Prue took a deep breath. She was thankful that if Piper knew anything she wasn’t going to confront her with it over the phone. She was thankful that when she did finally tell them the truth they’d be there to comfort her and to hold her for once in her life.
“Okay, Piper. I’m on my way.”
Prue returned the phone to her coat pocket and stood to leave. She looked back one more time at the still water and took a deep breath. She pushed the idea of what she had fleetingly thought of doing, to the back of her mind. She would never leave Piper and Phoebe willingly and this cancer was going to have to be some monster to take her away from them.
The ride home was hurried and anxious for Prue so wanted to be in the warm kitchen sitting with Piper and Phoebe and Leo for dinner. When she stepped into the kitchen they turned and looked at her. Prue immediately saw the brochure open on the table. She took a deep breath. Piper and Phoebe stood, Leo stood back and Prue fell hard into her sisters’ waiting arms.
“Why didn’t you say something Prue? Even a day without support is hard when it comes to these things. You know Phoebe and I are here for you don’t you?”
Prue wept and could not utter one word. She just tightened her embrace around her sisters and sobbed heavily. Minutes passed and they finally settled onto the sofa in the living room. Prue took her time and when she was ready her scared, nervous voice filled the air.
“I didn’t want you guys to worry. It’s my job to worry about you. Not the other way around. Right?”
“Wrong. Piper and I do need you that is true, but the job is we all take care of each other. Without each other we are easily conquered, by demons or by fate, is that understood?”
Prue nodded and looked to Leo, a prayer in her eyes. Leo could say nothing he just merely kneeled in front of her, took her hands and shook his head.
“He can’t heal you Prue. We’re sorry.”
“It’s okay, Leo, I knew it was a long shot.”
“Prue, when is the mastectomy?”
Prue shuddered at the word. Leo, feeling uncomfortable for Prue’s sake, excused himself and went to the bedroom he and Piper shared. Prue looked to the window and although the night had swallowed the day she stared as though she could see every detail of the road beyond.
“Prue, when is it?”
“Thursday. They actually were able to fit me in Thursday. You know, hey Miss Halliwell, you have cancer we’re going to take off
your breast Thursday, is that okay with you?”
Prue’s voice rose in anger and she stood taking a picture of herself from the mantle of the fireplace and hurling it across the room. Phoebe looked away from Prue, tears streaming down her face. To see her sister losing herself was almost unbearable. Piper walked to the broken glass and removed the picture from the floor. She gently put it back on the mantle and spoke to Prue as she stared at the picture.
“You know, Prue, this isn’t going to change your soul. You know that right?”
“Maybe not Piper but it sure is going to change my body. I’m going to be a freak.”
Prue was yelling and with every word Phoebe flinched. She wondered what Prue would do if she left the room. She decided to stay. It would be too selfish to walk away when Prue needed them both
so much. She watched Prue continue to scream.
“Why?! Why Piper? Why is this happening to me? I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”
And with that she sunk to her knees. She held her head in her hands and barely audible above the broken sobs came the words that Piper and Phoebe both wanted to hear and what Prue needed to say…
“I don’t want to die.”
Thursday came too soon for Prue as she woke and trudged slowly to the bathroom. She was in no way prepared for what awaited her. As she opened the door there were balloons covering the ceiling, streamers were hung from every possible place. Red, white and pink. Prue smiled at the bathroom and the atrocity it had become. Her sisters were lifting her world. We love you glared back at her from the bathroom mirror, written in bright red lipstick. Phoebe’s, Prue thought as she walked to the shower door. Inside the shower she noticed to envelopes and pulled them out before turning on the hot water. As she waited for the water to heat she read the cards, one from each of her sisters.
Dear Prue,
Times are tough for you I know. And I also know they will get tougher. Please believe with every breath you breathe that I am forever here. I may not always be the most dependable or the most serious but I am always good for a laugh. It was you who made me so comfortable with myself and who made me believe that I was worth my weight in gold, and now I want to return the favor. You’re my oldest sister Prue and with that I know there had come a lot of responsibility. You have been my sister, my friend and my mother. Even when the road was hard and I continuously let you down, you continuously held my spirits up. You have been so forgiving of all my mistakes and no matter what I will always love you for that. But know this…in the next few months lean on me and lean on me heard, because I can take it. You have made me strong and for that I want to make you strong. I love you more than you will ever know, and today isn’t the end of anything. It’s only a second chance of life.
Love always,
Phoebe
Prue couldn’t contain her tears as she slipped the gold embossed card back into the envelope. She loved Phoebe so much. And she loved Piper. She thought about Piper’s sweet smile as she slipped her baby blue card from the plain white envelope.
Dear Prue,
God, the thoughts that have run through my head in the last four days. The only thought that never crossed my mind is the one of losing you, because I know we won’t. Today is the beginning of a battle but it’s one we are going to fight together. No matter how sick you get or how tired you become always remember that Phoebe and I will be here for you. You know you don’t have to be strong for me. When you feel pain, I want you to tell me. When you want to cry I want you to use me as your shoulder and when you feel like you can’t go any further take that next step toward me and Phoebe because we’ll be there to hold you up. It’s okay to be afraid Prue, please don’t think you have to hide fear. It’s okay to worry and to wonder about what comes next, but whatever you do, do NOT give up. I love you Prudence and with my heart and soul I will stand with you and be with you until we are two old grannies sitting in our rockers on the front porch.
Forever,
Piper.
Prue closed the card and sat on the floor and clutched her sisters’ words to her heart. She knew she’d make it through the surgery fine and she knew the battle was going to be long and hard. She just hoped she could let go of the control enough to hand her heart over to Piper and Phoebe. It was going to be hard, but she knew that not giving up was better than just letting go.
Piper sat close to Phoebe in the waiting room as the three-hour surgery progressed. Phoebe looked as though she hadn’t slept and Piper let her lean her head on her shoulder as they waited for the surgery to come to an end.
“How long has it been, Piper?”
“Just an hour since she went under the anesthetic, Pheebs.”
“Oh, seems like forever already. Are you hungry?”
“Not really but let’s go down to the cafeteria. It’ll do us some good to stretch our legs and clear our minds for a minute.”
“Believe me Piper, there’s no way Prue is going to leave my mind for one second.”
“Me neither, Phoebe, me neither.”
Piper led to the way to the hostess desk to leave word that the Halliwell family would be in the cafeteria if any news arrived while they were gone. She and Phoebe took the elevator to the basement level and then found themselves standing in front of the cafeteria. Phoebe took a step back.
“Piper, you know I’m not really hungry either.”
She took Piper’s hand and led her back toward the elevator.
“Where are we going?”
“Let’s go up to the maternity ward and see the babies in the nursery window.”
Piper looked at her little sister strangely but did not dare to argue. She knew Phoebe was trying her best to be strong for Prue’s sake but she also knew that Phoebe was fragile on the inside. The elevator doors opened on the second floor and they stepped to the window. Inside there were five babies. Piper looked at their tiny hands and feet. She smiled. That’s when she felt Phoebe take her hand. She looked at her and saw that Phoebe was crying.
“She’s going to be okay Phoebe, we have to believe that.”
“It’s not that Piper.”
“Then, what is it?”
“I just wanted to come see them. The babies, the beginning of life. This is where is all starts. Prue was one here, one of God’s special angels.”
“She’s still one of his angels Phoebe, she’s a charmed one isn’t she?”
“I know. I’m just worried that we’ll never see her have a child, or she will never see one of us become a mother. It really scares me to think about going through all of life’s major things without Prue.”
“We won’t have to. Let’s go back down to the waiting room before the doctor’s finish up.”
Phoebe began to follow Piper to the elevator when her world turned shades of gray, black and white. She was having a premonition that was so strong she had to grab Piper’s arm to balance herself.
“What, what is it Phoebe? What did you see?”
“Me, holding a baby, Piper I think one of us is pregnant."
“Pregnant?!?!? Phoebe, are you sure? How is that even possible?”
Piper stepped off the elevator and walked with Phoebe back to the waiting room.
“Well, Piper you see there is this thing called an egg and then a man has a…”
“You know what I’m saying Phoebe, maybe it’s a far in the future premonition.”
“We didn’t look much different than now.”
“Ugh, Phoebe, you and your foreseeing. Okay, which one of us is it?”
“I don’t know, I mean I was holding the baby but that might not mean anything.”
“Where were you when you were holding the baby?”
“In a garden, maybe, I don’t know there were flowers. It happened so quickly, I just couldn’t grasp onto the feeling of it you know. I can’t tell if it was happy or sad, fun or boring.”
“Well, when we get home we’re both taking pregnancy tests. You’ve never been wrong about a premonition before and this is one I don’t want to wait and see with, you know?”
Piper and Phoebe took their seats in the waiting room once again with a whole new set of worries in the back of their minds, but their primary thought was that of their big sister. Two more hours passed before the doctor finally came out to speak with the younger Halliwell sisters.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Lowe, your sister’s oncologist. We were able to do just a partial mastectomy, the tumor wasn’t as large as we had originally thought. We’re pretty sure we got it all. We took the first lymph node under her right arm. That’s usually where the cancer spreads too first. We saw no evidence that the cancer had even gotten that far.”
“So, now what?” Phoebe was anxious to hear what came next.
“Well, we need to find out what kind of cancer it is to determine what course of radiation and chemo to take. I think it’s going to turn out okay.”
“What about her breast?”
“Right. Well, there is reconstruction, which these days returns the breast to a perfectly normal appearance. It’s all up to Prue now, and up to you guys to take care of her. She’s going to need a lot of support from the both of you. When she gets into her radiation and chemotherapy the radiologist will be able to explain the side effects to you more clearly. Do either of you have any questions for me?”
“When can we see her?”
“We’ll be moving her to her room once she’s out of recovery. Maybe another hour or so.”
“Thank you Dr. Lowe, Phoebe and I really appreciate everything.”
“You welcome and everything is going to be okay. Trust me.”
Phoebe relaxed for the first time. She and Piper knew that the first leg of the ordeal was over. The hard part would come next. And hopefully so would the truth to Phoebe’s premonition.
Prue’s world was fuzzy and tilted. Her entire body ached and her mouth was dry like cotton burning in the hot Southern sun. She felt her sisters’ presence and tried to speak. Immediately both of her hands were occupied with the warm touch of Phoebe and Piper holding tightly to their sister. Their hands intertwined and their minds mingled as they all thought the same thing. What did it look like?
Dazed and confused, Prue tried to speak.
“I want…need to see.”
“Prue honey, Piper and I think you should wait until you wake
up more. The anesthesia is just wearing off and you aren’t in a clear state of mind.”
“Phoebe’s right Prue, just go back to sleep. Don’t fight the drugs okay?”
“Definitely not a hard task,” Prue muttered as she sunk back into a calm state of sleep.
Piper and Phoebe took seats in the two chairs that sat on the sides of the bed like guardians. Prue did eventually wake through the foggy mist inside her head to see her sisters side by side in the hard wooden chairs, asleep and holding hands.
“Piper, Phoebe? Wake up.”
Phoebe jumped to her feet. Startled by the raspy voice that filled Prue’s throat. Piper smacked her playfully on the arm.
“Geek,” She whispered smiling at Phoebe. “Hey Prue, how are you feeling?”
“What time is it?”
“Two. In the morning. Would you like anything? I can go get you something while Pipe stays here with you.”
“No, I don’t want anything.”
She looked toward her breast and noticed they were both flat.
“Oh my god, did they have to take them both?”
“No sweetie. They put a special bra on you and some bandages to give it time to heal.”
“Yeah, so now you look like Piper.”
Prue managed to laugh although the pain was starting to shadow her movements. Piper once again smacked Phoebe on the arm.
“I want to see it.”
“The doctor said you’d have to wait until tomorrow, he wanted to be here to explain exactly what he did during the procedure”
“Yeah, oh but Phoebe has some really interesting news about a premonition she had.”
It was Phoebe who slapped Piper’s arm this time.
“I don’t think now is the best time Piper.”
“Phoebe, if there’s one thing I’ve learned that you and Piper should know by now is that there is no time like the present.”
“Okay, if you say so. I had a premonition while Piper and I were upstairs at the nursery and…”
“One of us is pregnant.”
“I thought I was supposed to tell her Piper.”
“What do you mean one of you is pregnant? Am I supposed to guess or are you going to tell me?"
“Well, truth be known we have no idea who it is.”
“Huh, could you explain Phoebe?”
“My premonition gave me no other feeling except that I was holding the baby of one of us.”
“Well, we know it’s not me, they would have known with all
the tests I’ve been through.”
“Yeah, we figured as much, so If one of us is pregnant than it’s either me or Piper. In the premonition I was holding the baby so maybe…”
“Maybe that means nothing Pheebs. It could just as easily have been Piper’s. You said yourself that you didn’t get a true feeling with the premonition.”
Prue yawned and although she wanted to talk more she drifted back to sleep.
“Poor thing, Piper I really don’t think we should have laid this on her.”
“I think if one of us is pregnant it’s going to make her very happy. She really wants to see us having kids you know.”
“So, should we take the tests we bought earlier and go to the restroom with them now?”
“Maybe have some news for Aunt Prue when she wakes up?”
“Yeah, you go first Piper.”
“It was your premonition. You go first.”
“Fine, I will.”
Phoebe stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. She emerged minutes later saying she was done.
“Now you go Piper and we’ll wait the ten minutes together.”
Piper took her turn and then returned to Phoebe who now sat on the floor outside of the bathroom. They looked from each other to Prue and could not help the tears that flowed simultaneously from their eyes. Phoebe glanced at her watch and noted that the ten minutes were up. They both walked slowly into the bathroom and read their own results. One nodded to the other who was shaking her head no. One of them was indeed pregnant.
Prue roused from her dream state to see the room was empty. Her head took a moment to clear from the drugs and that’s when she noticed the light coming from the bathroom. She could hear crying and knew her sisters were there. They knew which one of them was carrying a baby. Prue could tell the sound of happy tears. She wanted to stand up and cheer, she wanted to yell at the top of her lungs that she was so happy that she was going to see her niece or nephew born.
“Phoebe, Piper.”
They came out of the bathroom both with tear stained faces, both taking a hand of Prue’s.
“You took a test didn’t you?”
They both nodded.
“So who is it that’s going to make me an aunt?”
Piper leaned in close to Prue and kissed her cheek. And then whispered in her ear.
“Phoebe’s going to have your niece.”
Prue smiled ear to ear and asked Phoebe the dreaded question.
“Who’s the father?”
Prue could see Phoebe swallow hard and knew the answer before she spoke.
“It’s okay, Pheebs, he’s good now, I know that, and this baby will be a good witch.”
Piper walked around the bed and gave Phoebe a big hug, followed by a second one.
“That last one was from Prue.”
Prue drifted back to sleep. The thoughts of nursery rhymes and diapers hung heavily on her mind as she lay with a smile on her face.
“You’re going to be an incredible mother, Phoebe.”
“I don’t know Piper, what if I’m not ready. What if…”
“No, no what ifs, tonight we celebrate two things, new life
and life reborn. Prue and your baby are going to be two miracles this family will not miss out on.”
Phoebe had an appointment with the OB/Gyn on the second floor at 2pm that Friday. While she was gone, Piper sat with the still sleeping Prue. Prue had come in and out of sleep to take more painkillers and then drift once again into that alternate reality known as dreaming. Piper held Prue’s hand while she laid her head on the bed beside Prue’s leg. Minutes after Phoebe had left for her appointment for an official pregnancy test Prue woke and squeezed Piper’s hand.
“Hey there, sleepy head. Enjoying the high dosage of mega-sleep?”
“Hmm…hardly. Where’s Phoebe?”
“She’s downstairs at the women’s clinic getting a test.”
“Good.”
“So are you really happy Prue?”
“About the baby? Yes. But I don’t think I can quite grasp it
with everything else going on.”
Her gaze drifted to her tightly bandaged chest. She tried to
pull herself up but the muscles in her right arm were stiff and useless. Piper saw Prue flinch.
“It’s okay sweetie. The doctor said that the muscle would take some time to heal. They had to cut into a lot of it to get to the lymph nodes.”
Prue nodded and watched the door. She had heard footsteps. And within seconds Dr. Lowe appeared.
“Good morning ladies. Where’s the third one?”
“Hey doc. Phoebe is downstairs, we just found out she’s pregnant.”
“Well, congratulations to you Aunt Prue. But how are you feeling?”
“Like crap that had the crap kicked out of it.”
“Uh-huh. Not exactly medical terminology, but I get the point. So, would you like to take a look at what we did or would you rather wait until your other sister gets back?”
“She’ll understand let’s do this now.”
“Prue, I’ll be just outside if you need me.”
“No, Piper, please stay, it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Please.”
Piper did not hesitate to plant her feet firmly on the floor next to Prue’s bed. Prue rarely asked for anything and Piper would not deny her the one time she did.
“Okay, Prue I’m just going to unwrap this and then cut this…”
Dr. Lowe unwrapped and then cut the bandages and then removed the special bra. Prue was not disgusted nor overjoyed with what she saw. Just simply numb. There next to her perfectly normal left breast was a mound of flesh with a soon to be scar running through the center. She felt maimed, she felt cheated, but she felt alive.
“Okay, see here’s where we went in. This little tube with the pouch on it is the drainage tube for where we removed the lymph node. When you leave here it will be on a few more days just to be sure all that nasty fluid that has built up has a chance to leave your body and not cause any infection.”
Piper looked on in amazement. Aside from the scar it didn’t look that bad to her. Just strange that there was only one breast and then next to that nothing but a mound of skin covered tissue.
“Now you see Prue you were lucky because we were able to do a partial mastectomy on you, meaning we didn’t have to take out the muscle too. That’s why you still have the shape of a breast, we did have to take the nipple because the cancer sat very close to that. Would you like to hear what I think about your cancer?”
“I don’t know, I think so.”
“I think you’re going to beat this easily. The carcinoma you had was a slow growing one. I think with about five weeks worth of chemo and radiation we won’t see any chance of a second growth anywhere.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, definitely good news, Prue, but I want to tell you right now that you’re in for a big uphill climb with this therapy we’re going to do. You will most likely get sick, lose your hair and feel like you’re never going to eat again. But hear me out when I say even when you are throwing your guts up you’re going to have to try to eat something. You need to try to lead a balanced normal life. Don’t shrink into your house and never go out. You wake up and if you don’t like the bald look, put on a cap and go to work. I read in your chart that you’re a photographer?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. You’re going to be amazed at what your mind will open to once you’ve gone through all of this. Nothing will seem impossible. And once that’s all done then six or seven months down the road we can talk about reconstruction.”
“Rebuilding the breast?”
“Yes. It’s amazing the things these plastic surgeons can do. Amazing. So with in a year I say your body and you health will be back up to speed, but your mental and emotional state…well, that’s up to you and your sisters, think you can keep her spirits up, umm… Piper, isn’t it?”
“That’s me. Yeah, I think keeping her spirits up is going to be easy. With a new baby on the way, I think it won’t be hard at all.”
Prue smiled and with that Phoebe walked into the room. She took a seat silently next to Prue’s bed. She remained silent. The doctor gave his congratulations to Prue and then to Phoebe before he left. After he was gone Prue and Piper both realized Phoebe hadn’t said a thing.
“Okay, Pheebs, why the silent gig?”
“Well, Piper, the test was definitely positive. I am about 2 months along.”
“So why the long face sweetie? Piper and I are ecstatic about this little munchkin.”
“I know you are Prue, and I am too, but I started thinking about Cole on the way up and I don’t know how he’s going to deal with this. I mean for God’s sake, half the population of the underworld is hunting him. What kind of atmosphere is that to raise a child in?”
“Phoebe, don’t think about that right now. Just concentrate on the happiness of it all. Prue just got the best news that within a year her life can be back to normal, well normal for us, and you are caring the first in our line of children, sweetie come one it's going to be okay.”
“Piper, I guess logically I know that, but I have this feeling, something about my premonition. It isn’t going to be okay for someone we love, and I just can’t figure out who yet.”
Prue sat on the edge of the tub trying to grab a hold on her spinning world. Two weeks had passed since she began radiation and chemo treatments, which had quickly been nicknamed RC treatments because Prue was tired of hearing those words. At first, the RC didn’t make her sick, she took it in stride and continued about her normal routine around the manor. The site of surgery was healing nicely and the pain was minimal as the muscles healed within. But suddenly as she began her second week of RC, the sickness overwhelmed her. Now, at the end of the second week she clung to the porcelain tub with every fiber of her being trying to balance precariously her world and the world of sickness. Oh, God, she thought, I can’t possibly have anything left to give. I have thrown up since we got back from the hospital. A wave of nausea struck her again creeping its way from her stomach to the back of her throat. Just let it go, she heard herself say, just let it go. And with that she moved!
from her perch on the tub to her place on the floor in front of the toilet.
Piper and Phoebe sat in the living room. They had taken the day off because they had quickly realized how sick Prue was going to be.
“Where’s the Fenagrin?”
“The what?”
“Fenagrin. Piper it’s her anti-nausea medication. If we can get it into her and get her to not throw up for at least an hour maybe it will help.”
“Okay, all her medicines are in the bathroom where she is right now. Do you want me to go up and try to give it to her?”
“Nah, that’s okay Piper, let me do it. I have an idea.”
Phoebe ascended the stairs that led to the very sick Prue. She knocked lightly on the bathroom door.
“Prue? It’s Phoebe, can I come in?”
Phoebe heard Prue mutter from within. She opened the door and entered the bathroom shutting herself inside with Prue.
“Feeling pretty crappy huh?”
“You could say that.”
Phoebe scanned the medications that sat on the counter. Finding the plastic bottle of Fenagrin, she wrangled open the childproof cap and poured one of the pills into her hand. She kneeled down on the ceramic tile and felt the coolness through her jeans.
“Hmmm…cold ceramic tile, hurling in the bathroom, reminds me of those days I used to party hard and you’d cover for me with Grams. “
Prue managed to laugh at Phoebe.
“Do you think RC is her way of punishing me for lying to her?”
“Hmm…kind of makes you wonder huh? Nah, I think Grams was happy that you cared that much about me.”
“Did you ever go a day when you didn’t feel like I loved you?”
“Let’s not talk about that now.”
“I want to talk about that Phoebe, I’m sick and I feel like talking about it, it’s the least you can do while I sit here waiting for another round with the toilet.”
“Fine we can talk about it but first you have to take this pill and not throw up for at least an hour.”
“I’ll try.”
Prue swallowed the pill and then leaned against the bathroom door with Phoebe sitting next to her. She placed her head on Phoebe’s shoulder and asked the question again.
“Now, did you ever go a day when you didn’t feel like I loved you?”
“Honestly…yes. I went six whole months thinking that you didn’t love me. But I realize now that I didn’t love myself and that it had nothing to do with you.”
“When you were in New York?”
“Yep.”
“That had a lot to do with me Phoebe. I was very selfish and way too demanding of you. I just didn’t want you to have an easy ride because I never had one. It was so awful of me, but I would never wish anything bad to happen to you Phoebe.”
“I know that Prue, that was then and this is now. We are very strong and able women. We have grown closer in the last three years. We’re the sisters we’re meant to be now.
“I love you Phoebe, so much and I want you to know hat even if I’m sick and getting comfortable on the ceramic tile, I will always be your big sister and will always want you to come to me when you want to talk.”
“I love you too, and you have to know that when you are sick, you have to lean on me as much as I leaned on you when we were kids. Understood?”
“Fair enough. So…have you told Cole yet?”
“No, I haven’t seen him. I went to the crypt the other day to try to call him out and tell him, but I couldn’t reach him. He must be hiding deep.”
“Must be. You know, I really think he has a good heart Phoebe. And if you tell him I said this I’ll kill you, but I think he’ll be a great dad.”
“Yeah, I do too, if he stays alive long enough.”
“Have you thought of any names yet?”
“I have a few in mind. If it’s a boy I want to call him Patrick Cole, it’s the masculine of Patricia, he’d have a peace of mom with him, you know? And of course Cole for his father.”
“Could we nickname him Trick?”
“Why Trick?”
“Because it sounds so cool with the last name Turner. Trick Turner.”
“Who said they would have Turner as a last name?”
“Okay, Trick Halliwell is pretty cool too.”
Phoebe laughed with Prue as she took her big sister’s hand.
“And what if it’s a girl?”
“If it’s a girl I want to name her after you.”
“Oh please don’t give that poor child Prue as a name, do you know the flack I took for that in elementary school?”
“Not Prudence. I’m going to name her Love. Love Halliwell.”
“Really? How is that after me?”
“Because you represent to me what love is. The things you do for me and for Piper, have done for us in the past, it’s always been out of love, so I want my daughter to carry your tradition. The tradition of love.”
“Hmmm…Love Halliwell? It’s growing on me. So basically we are going to either have Trick or Love in the manor in about six months?”
Phoebe smiled and stroked Prue’s hair as Prue laid her head in Phoebe’s lap. The Fenagrin had taken its effect and as a side effect left Prue sleepy. Instead of trying to wake or move Prue she stayed there hand in her hair. Unbeknownst to either of them Piper sat on the floor on the other side of the door hearing every spoken word. She too liked the idea of Love Halliwell.
It had been three weeks since the first day of her RC treatments. She had just finished the first day of week four. Only two full weeks she reminded herself. I can do this. She wanted to jump in the shower and rinse off the feel of radiation. Although there was no actual residue from radiation, Prue always felt somehow pasty after a treatment.
The warm water ran through her hair. So far she had lost minimal amounts. She knew that sometime. RC treatments had different effects than on others, but she knew that with two full weeks left it was only a matter of time before she would lose it all. She had gotten it cut shoulder length two days earlier to help ease the shock for herself, if it did indeed fall out. She rinsed the soap off her body and then smelled the strawberry fragrance of her shampoo as she massaged it through her hair. As she rinsed the shampoo away she looked at her hands, in each hand there was a clump of raven colored hair. Tears streamed down her face as she realized what that meant. She sat on the floor of the shower and cried a thousand tears for the appearance she was losing. She knew how shallow it was because she was alive at least, but still she cried and wondered again how something this horrendous could ever happen to her.
She finally stood and turned off the shower. She stepped out and wrapped an oversized towel around herself. She wiped the fogged mirror with a hand and surveyed the loss. There were two spots on each side of head that were devoid of hair. She knew that it wouldn’t take long for the rest to fall as well. She sat again on the ceramic floor and cried. She wished Piper and Phoebe were home from work and class. At least they’d be home in time for lunch. They’d know how to help her. Meanwhile to stop the anxiety of waiting Prue went to her room curled up under the sheets and down comforter and drifted to sleep.
It was close to 11am when the doorbell awakened Prue. Afraid of being seen with hair missing she quickly put on a baseball hat and went downstairs. In the foyer she passed the table with the mirror on it and noticed her pale, thin skin. She thought she looked sicker than she felt, which to her was not the best thing. The doorbell rang again.
“Who is it?”
“A delivery for Prue Halliwell.”
Prue opened the door and a man with a large bouquet of red roses entered the room. He sat the roses down on the mirrored table and then turned to leave.
“You have an ice day ma’am.”
Prue smiled at the big bouquet and smelled a bright blood red bud. The scent calmed and relaxed her. She opened the card thinking it had to be from one of her sisters if not from both. But the card revealed otherwise.
Dear Prue, I hope you feel better soon. You take care of my heart, Always, your secret admirer.
Prue had no idea from whom the roses could possibly be, especially since she hadn’t been out since she found out about the cancer. She would have to ask Phoebe and Piper when they came home for lunch. With that thought, Prue heard car doors opening and shutting. She heard Phoebe and Piper giggling as they walked in the kitchen door. She met them in the kitchen with a smile on her face.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you two giggle like that.”
“Just a joke I got emailed today at school. What’s with the hat Prue?”
Prue removed the hat and looked into her sisters’ unsure faces.
“It’s okay, we knew this would eventually happen.”
“Yeah, but are you okay Prue, it had to be sort of shock.”
“Funny you should ask. At first I was horrified and I cried, now I just want one of you to get out the electric razor and go to town on it.”
Piper looked at Phoebe and Phoebe looked at Piper.
“You do it.”
“Uh-uh Phoebe, You do it.”
“Come on upstairs to the bathroom and you can both help me do it. There’s no way you can mess it up, we’re going for the Sinead O’Connor look remember?”
Phoebe relaxed a little, “Yeah, this could actually be fun. Kind of like that doll we use to have, what was it cut and grow?”
Piper followed her sisters warily into the foyer and noticed the flowers.
“Oh…who are these for?”
“Me.”
“And who might I ask sent you, one, two, three, four, five…two dozen roses, Piper what does the card say?”
“Secret admirer? Hmmm…”
“Yeah, I was hoping one of you guys might know something.”
Piper and Phoebe shook their heads in the negative and shrugged their shoulders. They then followed Prue up to the bathroom where they got the razor from the drawer.
“Are you sure about this Prue?”
“Just do it Phoebe, before I cry again.”
Piper held Prue’s baseball hat in her hands while Phoebe turned on the razor. Prue closed her eyes and felt the razor brush her scalp. The whirring of its motor filled her mind relaxing her. She felt Phoebe’s hand run across her head as she brushed away the loose hair she had shaven. When finally the buzzing stopped, she heard Phoebe and Piper both sigh. She was afraid to open her eyes.
“It’s okay sweetie open them. You look better than Demi Moore as GI Jane.”
Prue opened her eyes and focused on her image in the mirror. She let her hand float to her scalp and felt the smoothness of her skin. She looked at the overall appearance and realized that it didn’t scare her half as bad as she thought it would. She smiled.
“Thank you guys for going through this with me. I wouldn’t have been okay alone.”
“No problem. Phoebe did all the work.”
Phoebe took a short bow and laughed. I wish I could look that good without hair. You know what the problem is now?”
“What?”
“Prue, your showers are going to be even shorter than they used to be which means you’re going to have even more reason to nag me about how long I stay in there.”
They laughed and walked back toward the kitchen as the doorbell rang yet again. Piper opened the door to find a UPS man standing in the typical brown attire. She gave her signature and then shut the door.
“Nice shorts. Here Prue it’s another delivery for you.”
Prue took the small square box from Piper and went to the kitchen for scissors. Phoebe and Piper followed closely. She opened the box to find a bright blue LA Dodgers baseball hat.
“Now…who would know to send you a hat?”
“Here’s a card.” Prue read aloud, “Thank you for always watching out for my soul. Your secret admirer.”
“This is strange.”
“Yes, definitely strange Piper, I mean who would send me this stuff? Not that I mind, it is my favorite team and all, I just wish I knew who was thanking me and exactly what soul I watched out for, you know?”
Phoebe slipped out of the room and crept up the stairs to her room. There she let out a low whistle and Cole shimmered into the room.
“Hi.”
“Hi yourself. Did Prue get my gifts yet?”
“I figured it was you. Are you being sincere with these gifts or are you just kissing ass?”
“Being sincere. Look, ever since Prue deemed me innocent status I feel, I don’t know, grateful. I feel like she’s looking out for you and I want to thank her for that you know?”
“Yeah, I do. Listen Cole, there’s something we need to talk about. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you but it never seemed like the right time.”
“You aren’t breaking up with me are you Phoebe, please don’t be doing that.”
“No, I’m not breaking up with you, in fact I’m binding myself to you for all eternity.”
“Excuse me?”
Phoebe took Cole’s hand and placed it where their baby now sat inside the walls of her body. Together their three hearts beat as one.
“Cole, I’m having a baby.”
“You mean you’re…my baby. How far?”
“Three and a half months.”
“So I’m going to be a daddy in five and a half months?”
Phoebe shook her head and welcomed the accepting embrace from Cole. She was happy that he was so ecstatic. She knew Prue was right, he was going to be a great father.
“I just want you to know that this baby will have the Halliwell name regardless okay?”
“I don’t care Phoebe, as long as the baby is part you and part me I don’t care what last name you give it. Damn.”
“They’re looking for you again?”
“Yeah, I don’t know when I’ll be back. But when I do I want to take all of you out to celebrate. I want to see if Prue would like to drive down to LA for a Dodgers game, maybe the four…five of us can rent a convertible drive down.”
“What a great plan, don’t you dare wait any amount of time before you get your butt back here.”
“I won’t. I love you Phoebe.
“I love you too.”
Phoebe smiled as she watched Cole shimmer from the room. She left the room and returned to the kitchen where Prue and Piper were making lunch.
“Hey Pheebs, where did you go?”
“I just had a visit with Cole.”
Prue sat next to Phoebe at the table while Piper stood behind Prue’s chair.
“So, did you tell him?”
“Yes Piper, I told him.”
“And…” Prue and Piper spoke in unison.
“And he’s extremely ecstatic. He wants to take all three of us to a Dodgers game.”
Prue glanced at the hat on the table and knew what Phoebe was saying. She traced the trim of the lettering and smiled back at Phoebe. She was glad that her niece would have two parents with two good souls.
Prue had completed her last RC treatment and was ready to celebrate, although she was a little weak and tired. She decided that the next day, Saturday would be the perfect day for a Dodgers game. She called Phoebe to come downstairs.
“Hey Prue, what’s going on? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes I never felt better. Today was my last RC.”
“Really? That’s cool.”
Prue was shocked that Phoebe hadn’t even remembered her last treatment and that she was so nonchalant about the whole thing. The woman who was going to name her daughter after her, who she took care of growing up…
“Right. Well then have you seen Piper?”
“I think she’s in the kitchen.”
Phoebe merely shrugged her shoulders and walked back up the stairs. Prue was quickly coming down from her celebratory high. Her baby sister might not care that she was done with RC but Piper would. She walked into the kitchen to find Piper putting a tray of cupcakes into a picnic basket.
“Are those for me?”
“Nope, sorry Prue, they’re for the club, someone is having a birthday party there and they asked specifically for my cupcakes.”
“Oh, well aren’t you going to say congratulations or you go
girl or anything?”
“Ummm…for what honey?”
Prue was once again shocked by a reaction. She was about to explain for the second time that it had been her last RC treatment and that she wanted to go out and celebrate, but she was interrupted by Leo orbing into the kitchen.
“Hey, Piper, are you ready?”
“Ready? Wait where are you two orbing off to together?”
“I was running late so Leo decided to orb me over.”
Piper, Leo and the picnic basket disappeared. Prue was in utter disdain so she walked to the living room and sat next to the window. She marveled at her accomplishments physically in the last few months, but neither of her sisters seemed to care. She took off her LA Dodgers cap and ran her thin hand over her smooth, bald head. She knew it would start growing back soon. She was tired and fell fast asleep in the chair, cap in hands, hands on heart.
She woke nearly thirty minutes later when she heard Phoebe calling to her from upstairs.
“Prue!? Hey Prue can you help me out up here?”
“What is it?”
“I just really need your help with something.”
Prue stood and slowly, wearily ascended the stairs.
“Oh sure I have to help you but you can’t even say you go Prue, congratulations, I’m glad you won’t be puking anymore, oh no it can’t be like that huh?” Prue whispered to herself all the way up the stairs to where Phoebe stood at the bottom of the attic stairs.
“Okay, Prue you go up first.”
“Why what’s up there?”
“I don’t know but he was big and scary and mean.”
Prue cautiously climbed the stairs to the attic door and placed her hand on the knob. She turned to look at Phoebe to make sure she was a good ways down the stairs, She didn’t want anything to happen to Phoebe or the baby that lived inside her. She nodded at Phoebe as a signal to get ready. Prue paused to listen to a noise coming from inside the door. She then jerked the knob and swung the heavy attic door forward. What she saw next could not have shocked her more.
In front of her stood Piper, Leo, Daryl, and Cole. Streamers hung from every rafter in the attic, balloons floated in every corner. Prue took a deep breath and tried not to let tears flow from her shimmering eyes. She felt Phoebe’s hand on the small of her back and then words whispered in her ear.
“You go Prue, congratulations, I’m glad you won’t be puking anymore.”
Prue flushed with a twinge of embarrassment. Of course her sisters remembered. How could I ever believe they would forget?
“Scared you there for a minute didn’t we Prue?”
“Yeah, you may have botched every surprise birthday party I was ever supposed to have but this more than makes up for those. Thank you guys so much.”
“Well, Phoebe and I know how important this day was to you, it marks a milestone in your life.”
“Yeah, it does, it actually means that I’m going to have a life.”
Daryl stepped forward and gave Prue a kiss on the cheek and a hug.
“I’m sorry I can’t stay, I’m on duty, but I just wanted to be here to tell you that I knew you could do it and if you need anything…”
“I’ve got your numbers.”
Prue smiled at him and gave him another hug before he left. Cole waited his turn and then stepped forward.
“I’m not going to hug you, I don’t want to get decked.”
Prue smiled.
“But, I did bring a surprise for the five of us.”
Prue raised an eyebrow with a questioning look.
“Downstairs, it’s outside right now.”
The five of them walked to the front porch and Prue smiled and laughed to herself when she saw what Cole was pointing to. In front of the manor on the street was a long, boat sized, pink Cadillac.
“Thought maybe you might want to catch the Dodgers play this afternoon and thought maybe we could all drive down and eat our picnic lunch on the way?”
Prue smiled at Cole’s kindness. She knew that Phoebe’s heart had found a heart very similar to itself. Cole had a goofy grin on his face and seemed completely at peace with the world when Phoebe wrapped her arms around his waist. Prue smiled and let the morning sun fall on her face. She was ready for this family outing.
“I’ll get my camera, you guys get the food in the car.”
Piper noticed Prue wrap her arms around herself. She knew the night would grow a bit chilly but Prue wanted so badly to get out of the house and on the road, so instead of warning Prue about the weather, she merely grabbed her jacket from the coat hanger. Phoebe grabbed her Dodgers hat from the living room where Prue had left it earlier.
“Now, we’re ready.” Cole said behind the steering wheel smiling admiringly at the woman in the passenger seat, the woman who had fought all sorts of demons, including cancer to be there for his wife and unborn child. He loved Prue like the sister he had never had, and wished he could tell her that. And he watched her sleep as Leo, Piper and Prue sang California Dreamin' from the back seat. Cole was happy that Love would have a family like this in her life everyday. The test had not been done yet but Prue was so sure it was going to be a girl and he hoped she was right.
The game had just gotten underway, when the five took their seats in the bleachers.
“I’m sorry you guys, even with all my evil connections I still couldn’t get us box seats.”
“That’s okay, Cole, Prue likes the bleacher seats the best anyway.”
“Yeah, I do. That’s where the game really is, in the fans. Isn’t that right Leo?”
She laughed at Leo who had a mouth full of hot dog.
“Never mind, Leo, you keep on chewing.”
Piper laughed at Leo as well, before dragging him off to find some beer.
“I think I’m going to the ladies room,” Phoebe said. As she stood to leave she noticed how tired Prue looked.
“Do you want me to get you anything sweetie?”
“No babe, I’m okay right now.”
“Not you Cole! I was talking to Prue.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes and then turned her attention back to Prue.
“That’s okay sweetie, actually if you could get me a root beer I think I’d be doing just great.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a few. You guys try to play nice please.”
Phoebe wandered off and Prue watched the teams change out.
“Ummm…Prue, since it’s just us here, I was wondering if I could talk to you?”
“Sure Cole.”
“Well, I don’t know where to begin.”
“The beginning is always good.”
“Right. Well, you know how much I love Phoebe. And of course how much I love the baby.”
“Yeah, I think I can imagine.”
“Yeah, I know you can. I just wanted to say thank you for always begin there for them when I can’t.”
“That’s my sisterly duty, Cole. I don’t need thanks for that. It’s not a task or a favor, but it’s pure love that makes me do that.”
“I’ve offended you. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to say that…let me start over. I want to say that I see everything that is good in your heart and I see where Phoebe learned that from and I just hope that Love Halliwell has the same attributes.”
“I’m sure she will, you and Phoebe are going to be great parents Cole. You’ll see.”
“You really mean that don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“Can I tell you something else?”
“Go ahead.”
“I love you like the sister I never had. Prue, the way w fight and argue, it’s all because we both love her so much, we both want what’s best for her, but you have always been the best thing for her.”
“You too are the best thing for her Cole. You are the person she is in love with. So in love with that she never blinked twice at having your child. And if she loves you Cole then I love you too.”
“Would it be okay to hug you?”
Prue wrapped her arms around Cole in a family-style hug. Phoebe watched from a few feet away. Tears came to her eyes.
“Woah, break this up or you guys are going to have me in the hospital with a heart attack. Was that really a hug I just saw?”
Prue looked up at Phoebe from her seat in the bleachers and smiled through teary eyes.
“Let’s just say that Cole and I came to an understanding.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
Cole tugged the bill of Prue’s hat and laughed. Together, Prue, Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Cole enjoyed their Pink Cadillac kind of day. Unbeknownst to them they were watched from high above. Binoculars pointed at them from a windowed box seat.
“Oh look at them…such a happy family.”
“Don’t worry Herrut, we’ll just break up that happy family.”
“Yes, Faison, we must strike just after the oldest has surgery again. I believe she will have that…what does her medical file say…reconstruction surgery…”
“That sounds painful.”
“Shut up. She will have that in three weeks. We will have to attack before she regains her strength. I’m afraid we missed out on her first medical miracle, but we can get her while she’s still weak from her second. She will make herself weak with surgery, it lessens our workload see?”
“Right, except what about the other two and the men?”
“The other two? Well, the middle one, she’s easy to break, we just kill the whitelighter. The youngest one is with child. She too will soon be weak, and the other male, why my friend, don’t you know, it’s Belthazor? Not only do we get the victory of taking down the Charmed Ones, but, also. we get the underworld’s most hunted traitor. We’ll be heroes.”
“When, Herrut, when do we attack?”
“Hmmm…we attack in one month, the youngest will be six months by then, in human terms the baby will not have much chance of survival, and if attacked and caused to go into labor with no medical help…the mother won’t have much chance of survival either. Meanwhile we’ll keep quiet of Belthazor’s whereabouts, we want him for ourselves.”
“But Herrut, what about the oldest?”
“What is with the questions Faison? The oldest will still be recuperating in a month’s time. You really must follow more closely.”
The drive home was quiet and peaceful. Prue slept with her head on Phoebe’s shoulder. They had talked about the reconstructive surgery that would take place three weeks from that Monday and they talked about the ultrasound that Phoebe would be having next week to see the sex of the baby and its progress. She had talked with the wind blowing over her bare scalp, hat in hands. Talked until she fell asleep. She was warm, snuggled in the back seat with her sisters. Warm and for once in several months, happy.
The ultrasound had proven Prue’s intuition to be correct. Inside Phoebe was a little girl. And Phoebe was a month further along than they had originally thought. She was six months pregnant. Only two people besides the doctor and Phoebe were allowed inside the room while the ultrasound was done. Cole had been gone again running from demons so Prue and Piper accompanied their baby sister. On the screen the blurry black and white image filled Prue’s mind and she gently touched the screen as the echo of the baby’s heartbeat reverberated throughout the room. Piper held Phoebe’s hand and together, they cried the greatest tears of joy they had ever known, while Prue watched the screen tears falling, smile ever widening.
Another two weeks passed and Prue had her surgery. It was a success. The shape returned to normal. They did an ultrasound on her left breast while she was in the hospital to check for any signs of mass or lumps and the image was clear. Prue was well on her way to recovery. The time had gone quickly and the cancer had been easy to overcome. While she was in the hospital, Prue had seen what cancer could do to people. She had run into a woman, 45 years old, who had cervical cancer. The woman’s cancer was not caught in time and for her, the recovery floor had become death row. Prue cried for that woman the night she got home from the hospital after her surgery and she cried for what could have happened to her own body. She cried that the powers-that-be had given her a second chance and not that woman with two teenage kids and a husband that adored her. And she cried because accepting that she had the right to be alive was the hardest thing to do after talking to a woman who was s!
o kind, so giving, a woman who was dying a slow and painful death.
But the same night she cried in sadness she cried again in joy. Phoebe settled next to Prue on Prue’s bed and took her hand. Phoebe then placed Prue’s hand on her ever-swelling belly.
“Do you feel that?’
Prue jumped at the faint motion beneath Phoebe’s skin.
“Is that Love?”
“Yeah, she wanted to say hi to her aunt Prue.”
“What about her Aunt Piper?”
Piper stood at the doorway and then walked to Phoebe and placed her hand next to Prue’s on her stomach.
“Her Aunt Piper too.”
The three girls snuggled into bed with one another. Piper missing Leo who had been gone for two weeks on assignment, Phoebe almost 7 months pregnant and missing the running Cole, and Prue, bandaged and weak, yet joyful and more alive than she had ever felt.
Another week passed. Leo was still on assignment and Cole was yet to be heard from. The girls sat in the living room discussing their plans for the evening.
“Prue are you sure you’re up to going to a movie?”
“Yes, Piper, I want to get out of the house. It’s a Friday night, my hair has grown into a rather nice Charlize Theron boy-cut, and I want to get jiggy-with-it.”
“Okay, Prue, first of all it’s a movie not a night club there will be no getting jiggy with it. Second of all, you’re hair looks much better than Charlize and third of all…”
“Third of all? Prue have you ever heard of third of all? That sounds weird, Phoebe don’t say that…”
“Okay, hush now Piper, I’m counting points and if I lose count then it’s all over, and fourth of all…okay see Piper, my train of thought just jumped the tracks. What are you doing to me here?”
“I think it’s hormonal, what do you think Prue?”
“Oh yeah, definitely. Love? Quit playing with your mommy’s emotions in there okay?”
“Funny, really you two, ha, ha. Get in the car now!”
The movie was a comedy and Prue was weak still from the surgery and weaker even from laughing so hard. She, Piper and Phoebe had parked two blocks from the theater. Friday nights usually meant more traffic and fewer parking places.
“Are you sure we aren’t going to get a ticket for parking in an alley, Piper?”
“No I’m not sure. But would you have rather walked half a mile instead of just two blocks.”
Prue was tired and drug behind slightly.
“Sweetie, how are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Just ready for bed.”
“Well then, Piper, what do you say we get our big sister here home and tuck her in?”
“Pheebs, I really don’t think tucking me in is going to be necessary.”
“Please, I need the practice.”
“Okay, but if you make me sleep with a nightlight, for practice, I’ll have to kill you.”
The Charmed Ones rounded the corner to see two very large, ugly men waiting for them. Phoebe jumped, Prue, as weak as she was, pushed Phoebe behind her. And Piper stopped in her tracks.
“Oh…don’t kill your little sister, that’ll take the fun out of us getting to do it!”
“Piper…”
“Prue, I’m trying to freeze them but it isn’t working. Can
you move them?”
Prue threw her hand up and with a wave hoped she would toss the men to the ground, but nothing happened.
“Uh-oh, mine’s not working either.”
The largest of the men grabbed Piper and held her while the other man, struck Prue in the chest knocking the wind out of her and tearing open her still fresh stitches. Prue slid to the ground in pain and agony, while she watched the man who hit her grab Phoebe in a struggle. Phoebe made quite a good attempt at defending herself, but somewhere in the fight she took a blow to the stomach, she doubled over. Piper screamed. Prue watched in horror as a small pool of clear liquid gathered at Phoebe’s feet.
“Phoebe?!?”
“My water, Prue.”
Phoebe managed to inform Prue with those few words between gasps that her water had broken and she was going into premature labor.
“Oh god Prue do something.” Piper fought against the man that held her.
Prue slowly stood, blood seeping through her shirt.
“Want more huh, Prue, is it?”
“Leo! Leo!” Piper screamed into the clear night sky.
“That’s right call your whitelighter, we’ll finish him off too.”
Prue felt the alley closing in on them. Her vision grew darker as she felt the warm blood against her cool skin. She noticed a lead pipe to her right and she pretended to fall in pain. As she hit the ground she grabbed the pipe. Coming up with more energy than she knew she had she nailed the man who held Piper in the head. He screamed in pain and released his grip long enough for Piper to run to her baby sister who was now on the ground on her side crying tears of fears and doubt that she or her baby would make it.
Prue lifted the pipe to strike again when the smaller man brought his foot to her stomach. She fell again to the ground. He pummeled her while the larger man stood between Prue and her sisters. Prue watched as strike after strike the vision of her sisters dimmed. Then from the corner of her eye a shimmer and then Cole.
“Hey, why don’t you two pick on someone your own size?”
“Oh, Belthazor, what an honor to meet such a well-known traitor. Stand in line human, you’re next.”
Prue saw the smaller man walk toward her sisters. While their attention was diverted she slid her cell phone out of coat pocket and dialed 911. She had the GPS tracking equipment so the ambulance would be able to track the exact location of the phone. She hit send and then hid the phone under a box as she slowly used the wall to help her stand. She watched the larger man pick Piper up by the hair and then throw her across the alley. She landed hard into the wall. The smaller man picked his foot up again in a kicking motion.
“No sir! I don’t think you need to touch her. You see that’s my child she carries and if you hurt her or my child you will pay dearly.”
“Oh Belthazor when will you ever learn that you can’t beat us as such a sickly human. And I bet you made a promise to the big sister over there to never be a demon again haven’t you?”
Prue looked up to find Cole’s eyes searching for an answer from her.
“Kick his ass Cole.” Prue managed to whisper under shuddering breath.
Cole transformed into Belthazor and immediately threw a fireball into the smaller demon. Before the fireball reached him, the smaller demon managed to throw a lightening bolt hitting Prue. She sank to the ground succumbing to the darkness unaware of the miserable event that unfolded in the next ten seconds. The only person who saw what happened in those next ten seconds was Phoebe.
One month later:
Piper and Leo stayed close together during the service. Spring tulips, red, yellow, and white filled the air. Mingling with the bagpipes that called out to Amazing Grace. Phoebe held Love in her arms tightly, never wanting to put her down. It was her one true connection to love. The baby looked so much like Prue it was phenomenal. Phoebe gently kissed the baby’s forehead and watched the bright blue LA Dodgers cap floating through the crowd toward the coffin. The hand that held it shaking wiping at tears that were never expected. The cap was placed gently on the coffin, accompanied by a fallen tear.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
No more than a whisper, not to be heard above the gentle breeze. Phoebe let the tears fall as she watched the moment. As she watched the ground placed over the coffin and turning the bright blue cap into a brown, fading memory. She remembered the wind blowing in the convertible, the look in his eyes as he watched Prue sleep, his hand on her belly, the hand that carried the cap to Prue’s coffin.
Epilogue:
It had been a month since that fateful night in the alley. A month they had mourned the loss of their sister. Phoebe had been the only one conscious at that fatal last precious moment. Prue had sunk silently to the ground, Piper unconscious, and Cole giving off one last fireball. The force of it, knocking him into the wall and knocking him out. In ten seconds, Phoebe saw Prue’s spirit rise from her body and pass over the damage that had become the alley. She stood above Phoebe.
“It’s okay, Love will carry on my work. My soul.”
And with that, with no good byes, no I love you’s, Prue’s spirit entered into Phoebe’s body and ultimately became Love’s soul. The sirens whined in the distance, Piper groaned into the darkness and Phoebe cried for the loss of her sister. But she knew that there was a choice Prue made that night. There was only room for four good souls in the alley that night, so she sacrificed hers so that, Love could live, and love did live…everyday as they all watched the future grow in their very home.
