Hello Again Prue

Back At Halliwell Manor- Several Hours Later

Phoebe looked up from the living room couch, where she had been watching television, upon seeing a flash of light in the dining room. "Piper?" she called, somewhat fearfully. Seconds later, Piper and Leo entered the living room, dragging an unconscious Paige between them. "What happened?" Phoebe asked worriedly. "Missy Paige passed out again, when we were nearly down here," Piper answered. "She's healed." Leo explained. "But she's still very weak; we have to make sure she stays grounded until she's stronger."

"If she gets any more whitelighter calls, she's not going alone." Phoebe stated firmly. "I've gotten used to having a younger sister, and I'm not prepared to give her up just yet."

"Phoebs, move it!" Piper ordered. "She's like a dead-weight, here!" Phoebe stood up quickly and helped Piper and Leo to lay Paige down on the couch. "Hello, sweet thing!" Phoebe cooed as she lifted Garrett out of his carrier. "Watch his head! You nearly smacked me in the face!" Piper snapped testily. "Sorry, sweetie." Phoebe answered.

"You lucked out, dear Phoebe." Piper began. "The Elders gave you the active power when they found

out about the Underworld's plans for Paige. That still doesn't excuse you from casting a spell that might have had personal gain repercussions, but we'll deal with that issue later, missy. For now, just promise me that you'll watch your hands and be careful that you don't hurt someone, until you can control it."

"I promise, Piper." Phoebe vowed softly. "I seem to recall your 'cleaning' out the basement when your powers first advanced," she added with a playful smirk.

"Funny, Phoebs." Piper retorted dryly. She then turned to her whitelighter husband and asked. "How are we doing over there, Leo?"

"She didn't faint." Leo stated. "She's just asleep...remember, we did have to wake her when we got Up There, and she was pretty out of sorts. I think I'll orb her upstairs and put her to bed so she can get some undisturbed rest," he added as he scooped Paige carefully into his arms. In a swirl of blue and white orbs, they were gone.

"How's my boy?" Piper asked as she looked at Garrett. In response, Garrett cooed happily in Phoebe's arms and kicked his feet, offering Piper a wide, toothless grin. "Mommy loves you, my little angel-boy." Piper stated as she leaned forward and kissed her son on the top of his head. "I hope Paige is better, now." Phoebe said quietly. "She should be, sweetie." Piper reassured her younger sister. "That was pretty scary, huh?" Phoebe asked with an involuntary shudder. "Well, she was running a pretty high fever, but other than that, her symptoms were pretty reminiscent of a virus," Piper replied. "Had her fever been higher than one hundred and four, I wouldn't have given a second thought to loading missy Paige into the jeep and taking her to the hospital."

"I wanted to take her anyhow." Phoebe replied. "Had we not been waiting on a demon attack, I would have carried her myself...she was so white it scared me."

"When Leo was trying to heal her on the couch, she still looked really pale to me." Piper stated. "After some rest, she should be fine, though."

"I hope the demon didn't hurt the baby." Phoebe fretted. "If he did, I swear I'll use the astral projection spell to get myself to the demonic wasteland, and I'll kill the bastard again!"

"Phoebe, she'll be fine." Piper stated firmly. "Just calm down. "Paige is fine, and so is our niece." She finished, hugging Phoebe tightly. "Great! Now you're calling the baby a girl, too? You're gonna get Paige's hopes of having a girl to such a height that she's not going to be able to recover when it's a boy and she crashes back into reality. Good going, sis!" Phoebe snapped, as she attempted to pull out of Piper's embrace.

"Phoebs, listen to me." Piper pleaded. "One of The Elders came up to me personally and apologized for doubting me and Leo with the whole Daniela fiasco. He told me I could ask one question of him, and he'd answer it. I asked if Paige and the baby were going to be okay, and in his words, he said this... " Piper paused for a breath and continued. "He said, 'your sister and your niece will be just fine, Piper; don't worry.' Now tell me I'm getting Paige's hopes up for nothing. Leo doesn't know, yet, and I think we should hold off telling Paige for as long as we can, too." Piper continued, as an evil smirk touched her features. "I want to see what kind of boy names she can come up with. Also, you two withhold so much from me that I feel turnabout is fair play."

"We do not!" Phoebe protested. "Oh, yes you do!" Piper retorted. "You and Prue used to do it, too, so don't even try to lie to me, Phoebs."

"Okay, so maybe we do, but you always find out eventually." Phoebe answered, giving Piper a tight squeeze. "Oh, go on!" Piper snapped as she let go of her sister. "I'm going to go and get some dinner started."

"See you later, sweetie." Phoebe called to Piper's retreating back. Piper waved a hand in response as she disappeared through the kitchen's swinging door.

Halliwell Manor-Paige's Bedroom - Four Weeks Later

"I can't wait to see you, either, Glenn." Paige said happily into the phone. "Has it been that long?" she asked. She listened for a moment, and then warned. "Don't be surprised when you see me; I'm pregnant." She listened again, and then answered. "Eight and-a-half months...yeah, it is pretty incredible... My baby's father lives in Australia... No, he's trying to make it here for the birth, but he keeps hitting snags along the way with Immigration... Okay, I'll talk to you later, honey... I love you, too, Glenn. Bye." As Paige laid the phone back in its cradle, there was a knock at the door.

"Paige?" came Piper's voice. "Dinner's ready...are you hungry?" As Paige was about to answer, her stomach gave a sickening heave. "Behave yourself!" Paige whispered sharply to her unborn child. "Paige?" Piper called a second time. "Come on in, Piper." Paige answered, and then swallowed hard. "Are you okay, honey?" Piper asked, upon seeing the pain-filled expression on Paige's face. "I don't feel very well, Piper." Paige whimpered. She held her stomach as it wrenched painfully. "Is the baby making you sick?" Piper inquired, as she sat down beside Paige and draped a comforting arm across her youngest sister's shoulders.

As Paige nodded, she swallowed hard a second time and then replied. "I'm starving, but I'm afraid to eat... I don't want to embarrass myself and gross everyone out if my stomach revolts at the table."

"If you keep swallowing like that, sweetie, you're not going to have to worry about making it to the table... You'll be lucky to make it to the bathroom before you throw up." Piper cautioned. "Trust me on that one... When I was carrying Garrett, I embarrassed myself one night, all over poor Leo, because I was comfortable in his arms and didn't want to get out of bed." Off Paige's wrenching grimace of horror, Piper continued, saying. "It will be just the two of us and Garrett at the table; Phoebe's at work, and Leo had a whitelighter call. Everything will be okay, Paige; if you get sick, you get sick," she added with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'll put a bowl next to you if you should feel the need for it."

"Thanks for being so understanding, Piper." Paige replied as she blushed a deep pink. "I made chicken and vegetables." Piper announced. "I'll wait for you downstairs. You should probably head for the bathroom and wait, sweetheart," she added gently. "Okay, I'll see you downstairs." Paige gasped as she hoisted herself off of the bed and headed for the doorway, as quickly as she could. "Oh, honey." Piper said quietly as she heard the bathroom door slam shut a few seconds later, followed by the sound of Paige gagging. Piper could feel her heart breaking for Paige, but at the same time, she knew that there was really nothing she could do to help her sister. 'If she'd have wanted you there, she would have asked you to stay.' Piper said to herself. 'All you can do is go downstairs, and be there for Paige when it's over.' With a heavy feeling in her chest, Piper made her way down the staircase.