Growing Pains

The sun rose above the tree line, casting a warm glow into the windows of the upper floor of the Halliwell Manor. It was a calm mid October morning and Prue was sitting cross legged beneath the sheets. She'd woken up a half hour ago and couldn't fall back to sleep. She held a photograph of her mother in her hands, tracing the delicate swirl of her hair as it gently framed her face. She couldn't help but think back to that day they'd finally seen her as a ghost. That had been five years ago. Had they really been witches for five years? Had Victor really been back in their lives for that long? As these thoughts continued to spin around in the fifteen-year-old girl's mind, there was a knock on the door.

"It's open," she called, not taking her eyes off the picture. The door creaked open and Victor walked in.

"You're up early," he commented, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Couldn't fall back to sleep," she answered, looking up to meet his gaze. Victor just nodded. He knew he shouldn't interrupt any of the girls when they were thinking. For all he knew they were devising some new spell or something.

"What are you thinking about?' he finally asked. Prue sighed and placed the picture back on the night stand beside her.

"Mom…Grams…all that's happened in the last five years. I mean it's been that long since Grams died and we got our powers," she rambled.

"That's a hell of a lot to be thinking about at…seven in the morning," Victor mused.

"I guess it is," Prue agreed. Just then there were stampeding feet and a slam of the door.

"Phoebe, get out of the bathroom!" Piper bellowed. Prue couldn't help but smile a little. Puberty was definitely interesting in this household.

"No," Phoebe replied, her voice sounding a bit shaky. Piper tugged on the doorknob to find it closed. Prue climbed from beneath the covers and went to join her thirteen-year-old sister.

"Let me try," Prue whispered, flicked her wrist at the door. She heard the lock unclick and she pushed the door open. She found Phoebe curled up next to the toilet, knees pressed to her chest.

"Phoebe what's wrong?" Prue asked, bending down to sit next to her sister. Piper followed, shutting the door but not locking it.

"Leave me alone," the ten-year-old sniffled.

"No, come on Pheebs. What's wrong?" Prue demanded. Phoebe's lip quivered as she pulled her legs away from her chest and revealed a small stain on her pajama pants. Prue smiled.

"You don't have to get all upset," she said gently, pulling her baby sister into her arms.

"It just…happened," Phoebe gasped.

"You're ok," Prue continued to console her sister.

"Yeah Pheebs, it happens to all girls," Piper added, squeezing her sibling's hand.

"Even to you?" Phoebe whimpered.

"Yep…even to us. Now come on. Let's get you cleaned up," Prue said and the trio of sisters stood up. Piper went to get a pair of clean underwear and pants while Prue explained the finer points of puberty to Phoebe. When they all arrived downstairs some forty minutes later, she had calmed down.

"Everything ok?" Victor asked over the sports page of the newspaper.

"Everything is fine," Piper answered as she got Phoebe a glass of orange juice. Victor seemed to buy the answer as nothing more was said over the morning meal. Just as they were putting their dishes in the sink, there was honk outside. They rushed to grab backpacks and head out to get on the bus.

"I can't wait until I can drive," Prue grumbled as they grabbed seats near the back of the bus.

"Me either. I don't like taking the bus," Phoebe muttered.

"It would be really nice. Then we could talk about…family stuff," Piper added. They fell into silence as the bus continued on its route, picking up other kids of various ages. They finally disembarked and went their separate ways, Prue heading for the high school and Phoebe and Piper for the junior high. The fifth grade had b een moved up to the higher level two years before Phoebe had gotten there. There was a distant ringing noise as Phoebe and Piper neared the front doors. Piper stopped and turned around, a loo k of expectation on her face.

"What is it?" Phoebe asked, trying to see what her sister was looking for.

"Nothing….I must have imagined it," she said hurriedly. Phoebe could tell, whether by sisterly instinct or empathy she wasn't sure, that Piper wasn't telling the whole truth.

"No…what was it?" Phoebe pressed as they started up the stairs.

"I just…thought I heard Leo orb," she mumbled. Phoebe wrapped an arm around Piper's waist as they finally reached the doors.

"I know you miss him," she said. Piper couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"I just don't understand why he's been gone so long," Piper sighed as they came to a stop at the first row of lockers.

"I'm sure he'll be back," Phoebe tried to reassure her older sister as they parted ways.

Over at the high school, Prue was putting books in her locker when he felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, instinctively ready to send whatever or whoever it was flying when she realized it was Andy. She blushed a bit and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Hi Andy. You scared me," she finally managed to get out.

"Sorry. Didn't meant to," he said, leaning on the locker next to hers.

"What's up?" she asked, staring to walked to her first class.

"Not much. Just felt like seeing you," he answered, trying to slip an arm around her waist. Prue knew that Andy liked her. He'd liked her for years. But she also knew that even though he knew Andy, Victor would not be pleased if she came home with a boy.

"That's sweet," Prue began.

"Prue," he interrupted her. She stopped walking and looked at him.

"I…I really like you and I really want you to be my girlfriend. But every time I try to do something nice you back away," he said, sounding frustrated.

"It's not that I don't like you…believe me I do. And I do want to date you but…my Dad is just really strict about that kind of thing," Prue answered. It was the truth.

"But your Dad knows me. We've been friends forever," Andy protested.

"I know that. How about…you come over tonight and we can talk to him," she suggested. He nodded and they finished their trek to class, making it to their seats just before the bell rang.

The morning passed by relatively uneventfully for Prue and Andy. They parted ways after second period, Prue heading off to English and Andy to Chemistry. She sat in class, trying to pay attention to the lesson when she got a very strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt like something was gnawing at her…trying to tell her something. Biting her lip she closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling herself leave her body. When she rematerialized she was standing in the nurse's office of the junior high. She looked around only to spot Phoebe sitting on a bed. The nurse didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"Phoebe?" Prue hissed, sneaking towards her.

"Prue…what are you doing here?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. I got this weird feeling in my stomach and I astral projected and ended up here. Is everything alright?" Prue answered, sitting on the bed next to her sister.

"I just don't feel good. My stomach hurts," Phoebe murmured.

"Cramps," Prue snickered, pulling Phoebe into a hug.

"They'll go away after a while. Just take some Advil and you'll be fine," she added and stood immediately. She heard footsteps.

"Thanks. See you tonight," Phoebe called as Prue disappeared.

That afternoon, the girls boarded the bus and Andy joined them. Phoebe looked tired but otherwise ok. Piper was staring out the window, looking forlorn.

"What's wrong with her?" Prue hissed in Phoebe's ear.

"She misses Leo," Phoebe answered. Prue placed a hand on Piper's shoulder, drawing her attention away from the people milling around outside.

"Huh?" Piper asked, startled.

"We miss him too," she whispered. Piper gave a weary smile but they all knew she wasn't really ok. It was obvious to Prue and Phoebe that Piper had harbored a huge crush on their whitelighter from the day they'd met him.

"This is our stop," Andy said, pulling the girls from their thoughts. They got off the bus and instead of parting on the sidewalk, all headed for the Manor. Victor's car was I the driveway. Even though the girls were all old enough now to be home alone, he'd still come home from work early to be there. It had become a habit over the last few years.

"We're home," Prue called, tossing her bag on the bottom of the stairs. Wordlessly Piper disappeared up the stairs. Phoebe headed for the kitchen.

"In here," Victor called and Prue led Andy into the sun room.

"Hey Mr. Bennett," Andy greeted.

"Hi Andy," he replied.

"Can Andy stay for dinner?" Prue asked.

"Uh…yeah I suppose," Victor answered.

"Thanks. We're going to do some homework," she said and the two disappeared. Phoebe soon replaced them, sitting down next to her father with a bowl of cereal.

"Cereal at this hour?" he asked.

"It's all I felt like eating," Phoebe muttered. She was nervous about telling her father what had happened that morning. She also knew he was going to ask about it.

"Want to tell me what happened this morning?" he asked. She fidgeted.

"It's girl stuff," she mumbled against her spoon.

"Oh. You can talk to me about that you know. I know you've got your sisters but I am here too," he said, squeezing her hand.

"But you're a guy," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"But I'm your Dad and I want to be there for you," he said. Phoebe nodded and went back to her cereal.

Upstairs Prue and Andy were sitting on her bed, staring at math homework. Neither of them was really interested in the assignment. Andy kept glancing at Prue who was intently listening to any noises that came from the next room. She figured Piper was probably crying. She'd seen her do it a lot lately when she was alone.

"I'll be right back. I just need to go check on Piper. She's been a little…down lately," Prue said hurriedly and slipped from the room. She walked into her younger sisters' room to find Piper coming out.

"Where are you going?" Prue asked, starting to follow Piper upstairs to the attic.

"I'm going to find Leo," she said firmly.

"What? You're going to scry for him? Haven't you already tried that?" the older of the two asked.

"Well I'm going to try again," Piper snapped, rolling out the map and grabbing a scrying crystal. Prue just watched her sister's fruitless efforts. Finally she walked over to the table and put her hand over Piper's.

"Maybe two of us will be stronger," she suggested. Piper just nodded and the crystal seemed to swing faster but still it did not land.

"Why is he doing this? He told us he would always be there when we needed him," Piper spat, tossing the crystal to the table.

"Maybe it's not Leo," Prue offered but Piper didn't seem to accept that answer. She started pacing in tight circles until she finally stopped and looked up at the ceiling.

"Leo!" she yelled as loud as she could. It felt as if the house itself shook with her emotion. Prue cringed at the look of anger of Piper's face. However, to both of their surprise there was a jingle and a swirl of blue and white lights. Once they had dissipated, Leo stood before them. Piper's eyes flooded with tears and she couldn't stop herself from falling into his arms.