Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story, those belong to the WB. I do however, own the story and it should not be recreated without my permission. Thanks.

Phoebe looked up from the mug of coffee she’d been drinking when the back door opens and Piper reentered. Phoebe raised an eyebrow as Piper hesitantly walks back behind the counter and sets the muffins on the table. Phoebe paused, waiting for her sister to speak, when she doesn’t Phoebe does.

“Did you have Leo orb you there?” she teased, “because that’s cheating.”

Piper didn’t laugh, instead she slowly took a muffin from inside the basket and set it on a plate. She slid the muffin across the counter. Phoebe managed to catch the plate before it falls over the counter. Phoebe looked confused.

“Piper...what is this?”

“A peace treaty,” Piper replied evenly.

“Were we fighting?” Phoebe asked with a small smile.

“Can’t you just be serious for one minute?” Piper sounds strained, “you have done nothing but crack jokes since the funeral.”

“Whoa,” Phoebe holds up her hands, “did you meet another Fury on your way out? Because I thought we just had a moment, and now you’re spinning a three sixty on me.”

“See what I mean,” Piper swipes her hand through the air, gesturing. But her voice isn’t hard, in fact it’s gentle and sad.

“Well somebody had to keep the Grim Reaper away from this house,” Phoebe grumbled. Piper sighed and stared at her sister. Phoebe stared back at her and their brown eyes read each other. Phoebe noticed that Piper’s eyes were pooling, but for some reason she knew that they were not tears over Prue. They were tears over her.

“Do you even cry?” Piper spat, breaking the gaze, but her voice is desperate, almost pleading.

Phoebe was so confused, “Piper what is this?” she asked, sounding tired, “I don’t have time for more mind games. First you were hysterically depressed, then you were so mad you actually BECAME your anger. And now you’re....” Phoebe paused, “well now I don’t know what you are being.”

Piper was silent, she didn’t know how to express what she was feeling. She sighed and was about to pack up her muffins and dub the mission unsuccessful when she saw her younger sister part her lips.

“And I don’t understand why you’re trying to hurt me,” Phoebe whispered.

“That’s exactly it!” Piper explained, “you think I blame you.” Piper sighed again and took her younger sister’s hand in her own, the way Phoebe had done with her just a few minutes prior. “God Phoebe, how could you think I blame you?”

“Because I blame me Piper,” Phoebe replied with a shaky voice as she withdrew her hand from her sister. Phoebe stood up and backed away from Piper and began to pace the kitchen. All Piper could do was watch her sister, seeing the inner battle they were both fighting reflecting in her sister’s movements. “I have a feeling this isn’t what this is about. What is this about Piper? I’m tired of trying to figure you out.”

“I know,” Piper nodded, “but I just wanted to tell you that I don’t blame you Phoebe. I don’t blame you and you shouldn’t blame yourself either. Prue played that game and look where it got her.”

Phoebe’s looked pained when Piper mentioned their older sister’s name and for the first time Piper was struck by knowing that Phoebe was feeling the same things she was feeling. Phoebe missed their older sister too, Phoebe didn’t know how to live without her either. Piper shook her head and wrung her hands.

“Phoebe how do you do it?” she finally shattered the silence, “how do you keep it so together. I need to know.”

“I don’t know,” Phoebe shrugged, “I don’t really. This is not together for me Piper, I am actually taking charge and being responsible, you should know that is not together for me. But somebody has to do it. Prue is gone and that leaves everybody with this brokeness and everybody needs different things to try and fix it. You need me to comfort you, Leo needs you to talk to him, Cole needs me to help him understand, and Paige needs all of us to figure things out.”

Piper paused while she took in everything her little sister was trying to say. “And you?” Piper asked. “What do you need?”

“I need you to be there for me,” Phoebe’s voice was soft and Piper knew that what Phoebe was saying was not easy for her to say.

“I know you do,” Piper agreed, “and I try, I really do. But I just miss her so much,” Piper tried to explain as her voice cracked, “but it’s like when I lost her I lost the part of me that knew how to be a sister. And I don’t know how to get it back.”

Phoebe sighed. She knew what she was about to say was probably not a very smart thing to say. It was the kind of thing that she had avoiding saying ever since Prue took her last breath, but she realised at that moment, that it was exactly the thing that needed to be said. “You’re not the only one that lost her Piper.” Piper looked up sharply at that comment and Phoebe looked away, she was crying and she hated it, but she couldn’t stop then. “I miss her too dammit. Piper we all miss her. But now I have to miss you too, and that hurts just as much.”

“But I’m right here,” Piper whispered.

“You may be Piper,” Phoebe wiped at the tears tracing her cheeks, “but you are not my sister. I need you to be my older sister again. I think....” Phoebe sighed, she couldn’t say anymore, no matter how much it needed to be said. But luckily for her Piper said it for her.

“It’s your turn now?”

Phoebe let the breath she’d been holding escape and it sunk her into the kitchen chair as tears overwhelmed her. Piper stepped forward, trying to keep in her own tears. She knelt down in front of her sister and took Phoebe’s hands in her own, this time Phoebe didn’t pull away.

“Is that selfish?” Phoebe asked quietly. Piper didn’t respond.

Phoebe picked up on her sister’s silence and immediately got scared. She could barely hang on with the barely there Piper, but if Piper shut her off completely she knew that she would go over the edge. Phoebe rambled, “I hate the way it sounds....it’s my turn....but I just don’t know how else to say it and .....Piper listen, I’m sorry...I.”

“Phoebe stop.”

Piper’s voice was stern and Phoebe was scared for a minute before she continued, “Sorries are not helping anyone anymore. So let’s just stick with this moment okay? You’re crying and I’m here, let it happen.”

Phoebe nodded and for the first time tucked her hair behind her ears and let Piper see her cry. Piper smiled as she used her thumbs to wipe Phoebe’s cheeks. Then she pulled her younger sister up and into her arms. Phoebe sighed, a content breath as she laid her head on Piper’s shoulder. Piper scratched Phoebe’s back and rocked back and forth, letting her own tears cascade. Finally Phoebe started to pull away, but Piper held onto her arms as they stared at each other.

“Promise me that we will have moments like this,” Piper said, “because if we’re going to do this, forever, then we’re going to do it like that. It’s okay for both of us to crumble at the same time.”

Phoebe smiled, a wide grin that seemed to wipe away all aspects of the tears she’d been shedding. Piper felt envy bubble, because she knew she could never wipe all the evident of pain off her face. She had the urge to ask her younger sister where she’d learned to do that, how she ever found the strength to develop such a skill. But she didn’t want to ruin the moment they were in, and she had a feeling she knew her own answers anyway.

“I promise,” Phoebe vowed, “now you better get...before I decide to eat another muffin.”

Piper chuckled, “You want to come with me?”

Phoebe was tempted to say yes, but she stopped herself, “No, this is something that you need to do for yourself.”

Piper nodded, “Okay then, I’ll be back later. Stay out of trouble.”

Phoebe smiled and watched as her sister walked to the door. “Hey Piper?” Phoebe called.

Piper turned around, “Yeah?”

“Since I promised you something,” Phoebe said, “will you promise me something?”

“Sure,” Piper nodded.

“That no matter what,” Phoebe’s voice was timid, “that I’ll still be your little sister.”

Piper smiled sincerely and she spoke in the closest Phoebe had heard her come to normal since Prue had gone, “Always Pheebs.”