A/N: I'm bad. I wrote this while I should be studying Dutch literature. Instead, The Ring Around the Moon is back and with a lot of issues being resolved. It's drama to the third power. No, actually, it's drama to the power of four!

Chapter 5

"Now, dear, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Hesitating, Piper opted to take a long sip from her glass of iced tea to buy some time. As soon as she swallowed the cold, sweet drink, however, she realized her mistake. The belladonna. Almost instantly, she felt her body disobeying her and relaxing ever so slightly. Ever so slightly, however, was bad enough, she realized, as she felt her resolves starting to crumble along with her body.

Looking up into her Aunt Jet's caring blue eyes, Piper's brown ones started to fill with tears.

Immediately, Aunt Jet reached out across the table, taking her young cousin's hand and squeezing it. This, however, merely caused Piper to cry harder.

"Oh, sweetheart," Aunt Jet said softly. "My little witch… Tell me what's the matter, won't you?"

"Precisely that!" Piper choked out, burying her head in her hands. Outside, the other girls could be heard, laughing and screaming; a sharp contrast to her sad face.

"I don't want to be a witch anymore! It's just too much!" She sniffled and made to wipe her face on her sleeve. Aunt Jet produced a tissue seemingly from nowhere and handed it over, not saying a word. Piper blew her nose and continued, growing more frustrated with each word.

"You know, Aunt Jet, I used to love being a witch. It just made everything more fun, really… Do you know that we used to play with our powers all the time when Grams wasn't around? We'd play hide and seek, with everyone trying to cheat as much as possible. But Phoebe would win pretty much every time, even with Paige orbing all over the house and me and Prue trying to distract her from finding us. She'd always know where we were gonna hide before the game even started."

Piper smiled through her tears.

"Being a witch was a part of us, you know? And it used to mean a little extra fun when we were playing, flashy fireworks and getting to see our dead mommy once in a while. But now with Grams gone, all the fun has gone out of being a witch. I know we do a lot of good each day, and I'm grateful for that, but at the same time I feel like I'm constantly fighting demons, brewing potions, saying spells and orbing all over creation. And if I do get any time off, I'll spend it putting Paige through her freshman year, trying to manage an entire household all by myself while trying to finish college myself…"

She paused, looking up at her Aunt with teary eyes.

"And then, on top of it all, Prue breaks down and takes Phoebe down with her, leaving Paige distraught and confused and me trying to fit the pieces back together as usual. I'm just exhausted. I want a normal life. Or at least my relatively normal life back!"

Aunt Jet took her cousin's hand again.

"Oh, dear, I understand how you feel! If it weren't for your Aunt Fanny and Penny, God bless her soul, I'd have given up a long time ago! But I learned, as you must, that there is no escaping from our magic. It's not only a part of who we are, but it infuses our entire family, our entire world even. Even if you were to quit the wiccan life, magic would still haunt you day in day out. You'd see innocents suffering, and you'd feel terrible that you could be doing something about it. If you were ever to have children, they'd feel the burden and the blessing that is magic as well. And no matter how hard you would try and forget about it, you will never be able to look at the world in quite the same way. Believe me: I speak from experience."

"Really?" Piper asked, curious as to what could have possibly made her Aunt, who was practically one of the matriarchs of magic, want to quit practicing witchcraft.

"It's true, darling. I've thought about quitting several times: when poor Regina died, after your mother's murder, when my sister passed away... I even tried a few times, you know. Of course, Fanny wouldn't talk to me at all during those times, and I'd miss meddling in the affairs of the heart. Every night I'd sit by my window and smell the herbs from the garden, and my mind would wander to what wonderful potions I could concoct using them. I'd be sweeping the floor and I'd find myself doing it with reverence. I couldn't even look at an apple without thinking of the craft. And finally, I'd cave. I know now that magic and our family can never be separated, and I'm all the happier for it."

"Every gift comes with unwanted side effects, but I don't think I need to remind you about those. Instead I always like to think that what we receive in turn for those sacrifices, in the end makes it all worth it."

"Even being shunned by townspeople, or having no life?" Piper asked softly.

"Yes, dear." Aunt Jet replied. "Even those things. And what do you mean, no life? I have a life, and a very active one at that! How dare… These young people nowadays!"

Piper giggled, feeling the last remnants of her depressive mood vanishing.

"And now, young lady," Aunt Jet stood up, pulling Piper up with her, "you are going outside and spend some time with those pesky sisters of yours, while I put on some music to celebrate the beauty of life!"

She crossed the kitchen, opening one of the cabinets and strangely enough pulled out a phonograph that looked like it had seen several centuries. Piper grinned, wiping her face.

"Make it Aretha Franklin, Aunt Jet. To honour Grams's memory."

With that, she ran up the stairs to retrieve her bathing suit. Soon enough, Aretha's soulful music was blaring through the house. Piper didn't even question as to how Aunt Jet had gotten the ancient musical device to work, let alone play relatively modern music on it.

"It's magic!"

Piper quickly changed and bounded down the stairs, the lyrics of the happy song resounding in her mind.

"Looking out on the morning rain
I used to feel so uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day
Lord it made me feel so tired.
Before the day I met you,
Life was so unkind
You're the key to my peace of mind!

'Cause you make me feel,

You make me feel,

You make me feel like a natural woman!"

-PPPP-

Prue crept up the stairs leading to the attic silently, hoping against hope not to wake her sisters. She'd been talking to Sally in the kitchen, and neither girl had realized how late it had become until the clock in the living room had chimed twice.

As she reached the attic, she could vaguely make out the contours of her sisters' sleeping forms. Piper was sprawled out on top of the bunk bed, a contended smile on her face. Prue smiled, remembering how Piper, after a long and apparently meaningful talk with Aunt jet, had joined her sisters and Gilly in the garden.

Paige and Phoebe were lying side by side in the antique brass double bed, Paige on her back and Phoebe taking up about three quarters of the bed, limbs everywhere. Prue made her way across the darkened room, trying to make as little noise as possible, until she stubbed her toe rather painfully on a large chest.

"Ow! Damn!"

She hopped the rest of the way to the bunk bed, avoiding Piper's neatly stacked stuff and Phoebe's cluttered mess.

Suddenly, a small voice sounded from the double bed.

"Prue?"

Even in the dark Prue recognised the form of her youngest sister sitting up in bed.

"Paige, sweetie, what are you still doing up? It's past two in the morning!"

"You know, I could ask you the same thing. Who'd have known that you and Sals would make such party girls!" Paige replied cheekily.

"Paige!" Prue whispered, scoldingly.

"Alright, alright... Phoebe keeps kicking me outta bed. I fell out twice already, that girl just cannot stay still!"

"No kidding…" Prue groaned, getting into bed herself. Paige's reply was so soft she almost missed it.

"How would you know?" Even when whispered, however, there was no mistaking Paige's resentful tone.

"Excuse me?"

Paige's voice grew louder. "I said, how would you know! You've never gotten along with Phoebe! Where were you last year when she moved to New York, leaving all of us behind! Where were you when Grams tried desperately to get her to move back! We needed you, Prue, and you were always off doing something 'important'."

Paige angrily emphasised the important by making sarcastic quotation marks in the air.

"In fact, you're practically the one that forced her to move in the first place! And then, after Grams died, suddenly you're bossing us around, making us traipse all over the underground… Newsflash, Prue: you can't go from being barely there to being constantly on our backs. I know you're used to being Master of the Universe, but that's just not fair!"

Paige finished her angry rant, out of breath.

"Well, I'm sooooooo sorry for hurting your feelings, little Miss Know-it-all," Prue shot back, "but I was too busy trying to save all of our asses! Did you ever even consider I didn't want to be head witch? You guys practically forced me to. If I'm being bossy, it's because you three need, no, want me to be. I didn't see you stepping up and declaring: 'Who needs a life, I'm gonna devote my life to slaying slimy demons!' You were all too lazy, so I had to step up.
And it's not like Grams' shoes are easy to fill, either. You know what? I almost got fired because of this! You want me to be nice? Concerned? You think your life sucks? Try being me for a change!"

"O yeah, right, all hail the mighty Prue Halliwell, without her we'd all be dead! Well, I'm sorry if I haven't quite joined your little fanclub yet, Prue!" Paige retorted angrily.

"You know what? That's fine," Prue yelled, "it's not like you really belong in this family anyways, you egotistical little brat!"

The moment the words left her mouth, however, she regretted them. Paige didn't say anything, but Prue could see her baby sister's eyes glistening with tears before she dove under the covers.

"Paige…" Prue whispered. The only answer was a stifled sob from the other side of the room.

Prue got up and carefully made her way to the double bed where her sister's hunched up from could be seen shaking under the covers. She sat down on the edge of the bed, putting her hand on Paige's back.

"Don't touch me!" Came Paige's muffled cry. Prue, however, didn't remove her hand.

"Paige, sweetie, I'm sorry for saying that. I was outta line. It won't happen again."

"Yeah, that's what you said last time." Paige threw the covers off. Her round dark eyes were red rimmed. "You can't keep doing this, Prue. We can't keep doing this. It's not fair to any of us."

"I know," Prue replied. She started to tear up as well. "But I can't help it! I'm just so stressed out by everything."

"We all are," Paige whispered. "Grams' death took a lot out of all of us. But you need to get over it, Prue. We need you to become our big sister again, not just our leader. I need you to be my big sister again. I know you, Prue. You're not a quitter. You've never been a quitter. But you've never had to fight for anything either, like the rest of us have. And I don't think you know how to deal with that. I know I'm not Piper, but maybe I could help you with it. I'm pretty good at solving problems…"

"I really am sorry, Paige." Prue whispered. "You belong in this family as much as I do."

"Oh, we all know you belong in this family," Paige joked. "Stubborn, stubborn, more stubborn…"

Prue grinned. She could feel her sister's hand seeking hers in the dark and squeezing it.

"Yeah, well, I could say the same thing about you, missy."

"I know," Paige replied, suddenly serious again. "And I'm sorry too. I know you gave up a lot to be our head witch. And we all love you for it."

There was a moment of silence, before Prue softly replied: "Yeah, I love you too."

Paige faked an astonished gasp. "Prue Halliwell, was that… an admission of sentiment? Who are you, and what have you done to my sister?"

She was immediately punished for her cheek, however, when Prue grasped her foot and started tickling mercilessly. Paige cracked up, laughing wildly.

"No, no, I believe you!" She managed to say between cries of laughter. "You're Prue, you're my sister, my leader, my queen!"

Prue let go of her sister's foot. "Well, that's all I needed to hear!" She joked, lying down next to her sister.

"You know, Paige, you're gonna be a pretty good social worker…" She whispered into the silence. "Thanks," Paige replied, falling back onto the bed as well. "That really means a lot, Prue. Hey, do you wanna sleep here?"

"Yeah," Prue replied, "Cause it's sooo far to my own bed." She smiled. "OK, I'll stay."

She clambered over her youngest sister and lay down in the middle of the bed. Both sisters fell into a comfortable silence. Soon enough, Paige's breathing evened out, and she fell asleep. Prue rolled over to get more comfortable, only to get hit in the face by one of Phoebe's flailing arms. Prue swore softly under her breath, and moved away from the danger that was her sleeping sister, but bumped into Paige in the process, who crashed off the bed and onto the wooden floor.

"Ow! Damnit, Phoebe!" Paige yelled, angrily.

From the other bed came Piper's sleepy voice. Paige's pissed off cry had apparently been the final straw to wake her up as well. Only Phoebe proved to be such a deep sleeper that she wasn't disturbed by anything.

"Keep it down, will ya? People are trying to sleep over here."

Prue giggled. Paige grumpily clambered into bed again, and the three sisters already in the big bed were joined by Piper, so the bed was covered in a mess of limbs, dark hair, and tired faces. Paige snuggled close to her older sisters, still teetering dangerously close to the edge. Prue sighed happily. This was the way it was supposed to be.

A/N: All you expected? Less than satisfactory? Let me know, I thrive on reviews.