Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or anything remotely official.

"Piper, no one can save you now. Your precious sisters are gone." She struggled to scale the rocky cliff. If she could just get her footing, she could grab onto the ledge. It loomed above her, as if taunting her inability to make it to the top. She could hear him coming up behind her, telling her she'd never make it. Tears rolled down her face, making her vision blurry. If only she'd listened to them, she wouldn't be in this predicament. If only she'd heeded their advice. She couldn't think about that, she had to get to the top. She gathered what little strength she had left and continued climbing, hoping to make it before he did. With a new found willpower, she climbed and climbed, the top coming into view closer and closer. She neared the top and reached her hand out to grab a hold of the edge when she felt herself yanked back. This is it. It's all over. She thought about her sisters and hoped they'd be okay without her. She thought about all the good times they'd had as kids and hoped they'd find a way to make new ones. She felt herself falling faster and faster and feared the rocky bottom she would land on. After what seemed like forever, she finally reached the end. Right before she made impact with the ground, she was tugged from her reality. She heard a voice calling to her from somewhere, telling her it would be okay. She sobbed even harder, unsure of what was going on. Was she dead? She wasn't ready to go yet. She felt two arms wrap around her. He'd found her even in her death. She struggled to get away. The voice came louder and louder and more urgent. The arms shook her and the voice became familiar. What was going on?

"Piper! Piper, wake up!" She shook her sister once more, hoping she would wake up. It must have been some dream.
"Piper, honey, wake up. That's it. You're safe." She held the sobbing, shaking bundle of her sister in her arms and whispered soothing words that she hoped would bring her sister out of her dream. Slowly, her sister calmed down, knowing she was no longer in danger.
"Piper? You in there?" She waited for what seemed like hours, for her sister to open her eyes and meet her gaze.
"Prue?" She looked up at her sister hovering over her. She felt relief wash over her, as she knew she was safe.
"Yeah, it's me. Some dream, huh?" Seeing her little sister nod, she patted her leg. When Piper made room for her to sit, she took her place on the bed next to her sister. She could tell Piper was still scared and shaking uncontrollably. It was a cool night and the room was chilly.
"You want to change into some dry clothes? Yours are all sweaty hon. You'll get sick." She watched her sister get up and pad into the bathroom to regain her composure. Thinking she didn't get any clothing, she grabbed some dry pajamas from the drawer and opened the door enough to give them to Piper.
"Piper. Come out when you're ready. We don't have to talk about it. We can just sit. I won't leave you, I promise. I'll be in here when you get out." She took her place once again on the bed and grabbed the blanket that had been thrown onto the floor. A few moments later, Piper sat down beside her. The two sat there in silence until one spoke.
"It was so real. I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you both."
"We'll always be here. You know that, right?" Seeing her sister wasn't ready to answer, she continued.
"Piper, whatever happened in your dream was just that. A dream. I'd never let anything happen to you. Phoebe... now everyone knows not to mess with you or they’ll meet her wrath. There's no way anyone would get to you with us here. We have to stick together. That's what grams and mom would have wanted. For us to watch out for each other." She wrapped the blanket around her sister and rubbed her arms to warm her up.
"I know that. I just...sometimes I think about all the close calls and I wonder if it's just around the corner. If, one day, something is going to happen and someone won't be there when it's all said and done. In my dream both of you weren't there. I was so scared. I didn't care about myself. My only thoughts were of you guys." She played with the fringe on the blanket, afraid to look at her sister.
"Piper, look at me." When she did, she continued.
"Piper, we've had close calls before. Lots of them. Someone is watching over us. I believe that. Mom, grams, our ancestors. They're all watching over us, making sure nothing happens to us. They wouldn't let the power of three be broken. It's our destiny. It's okay to be afraid. It's only human. But when you feel afraid just call me. I don't care what I'm doing, call me. Or...call Phoebes. Call one of us. Call both of us. We'll get through it. Nothing's more important than knowing you're okay." She saw her sister shift lower onto the bed and lay her head on the pillow.
"Now, get some sleep, okay, squirt?" She ruffled Piper's hair and saw her giggle.
"You haven't called me that since we were kids. No one called me that but you. It made me feel good, like it was only for me." She slowly closed her eyes and let herself fall back asleep, unafraid of the demons in her dreams. She felt safe and protected.
Prue watched Piper fall asleep, thankful that she was okay, at least, for now.
Early the next morning Piper awoke with a weight on top of her. She cracked open her eyes and found Prue’s arm over her protectively. She smiled to herself, feeling safe and secure for the first time in a long time. She’d had that dream so many times. It had finally gotten bad enough to where she had woken up Prue. Maybe it was better that she knew what was going on. Piper felt so helpless when she had those dreams. She felt like her whole world was collapsing around her and she was going to wake up and find herself alone. That was scarier than the dream itself. She eased herself out of the bed, careful not to wake her big sister. Stretching her tired limbs, she walked downstairs to the kitchen to make some coffee. Seeing Phoebe hadn’t been up yet, she filled the coffee maker with water and put the filter in before filling it up. She flipped the switch and walked down the hall to the door to retrieve the paper. Picking it up, she glanced at the front of it to see what recent events had taken place in the city. Seeing nothing too horrible, she sighed with relief. She liked to catch up on the news but hated all the violence she saw when she opened up the newspaper. She walked over to the table and spread the pages out to read them. As she started reading, she found herself drifting off to sleep. Having not gotten enough sleep the night before, it only took her a moment or two before she was asleep. That’s when it happened.
She started climbing up the side of the mountain, fearing for her life. She could hear the small pebbles falling down with every step he took. He was gaining on her and the scraping sounds his feet were making on the rocks were getting louder and louder. She knew it was only a matter of time. Consciously, she knew she was dreaming, but she had no control over what she saw. She couldn’t stop what was happening. She glanced back and saw something shimmer. She squinted to see what it was. A knife. Before she could react, she felt a blinding pain in the back of her right calf muscle. Gasping in pain, she grabbed at her leg. AS she did so, she lost her footing and tumbled down the side of the cliff. She kept falling and falling, unable to grab a hold of anything. Frantically she reached out for something. A twig, a branch, something that would stop her fall. Nothing appeared, though, and she saw the ground approaching quickly. If only she’d gotten a chance to say goodbye. She’d just seen her sisters and told them she was going rock climbing. Prue had been worried but Phoebe had told her to have a good time. So, she’d grabbed her bag of chalk and started up the side of the mountain. The demon came out of nowhere, and Piper had been too afraid to let go to use her powers. Her mind was racing as her life flashed before her eyes. She could see the trees below, growing bigger and bigger. She prepared herself and waited to meet her demise. She wasn’t ready to go yet. She reached the bottom started to cry as she hit the ground. The impact made her scream out.
She opened her eyes and looked around her. She was not in the wilderness, but her kitchen. The trees had turned into a light brown tile, and the rock face their refrigerator. She lay there panting, unsure of her surroundings. She heard heavy footsteps upstairs and within seconds Prue came bounding down the stairs. She picked her jaw up off the floor and made her way over to her sister.
“Piper, are you okay? I heard you scream. Was it a demon?” She looked over her sister for injuries and found none.
“Get away from me!” She quickly backed away from Prue and found herself glued to the corner of the room. She didn’t want to be anywhere near her.
“What? What did I do?” She couldn’t figure out what Piper’s deal was. She was bound and determined to get to the bottom of it, though.
“Just stay away, Prue. You let me die! You promised you would always be there and you weren’t! Get away from me!” She started sobbing uncontrollably and buried her face in her hands. She heard soft footsteps nearing her and she was too weak from emotion to stop their approach.
“Piper, I’m just going to sit here beside you.” As Prue neared her sister, she hesitated before laying a hand on her shoulder. She was shaking like a leaf. She sat down on the floor, watching her sister. She didn’t know how long she’d been down there before Piper looked up.
“I’m sorry. I had another dream.” She wiped away a few stray tears, but left the rest.
“It’s okay. Now I understand why you were so upset. Want to talk about it?” She hoped the answer would be yes. Seeing Piper nod, she waited for her to talk.
“I was being chased by a demon. I don’t even like heights so I don’t get this part, but we were out in the middle of nowhere and I told you I wanted to go rock climbing. Me, rock climbing. Crazy, huh? Anyway, you had your reservations, because, well…you’re Prue. Phoebe got you to let me go and so I did, but this demon came out of nowhere and started following me. I couldn’t get away he was so fast. And I turned around at one point and he had this really big knife and before I knew it I was falling. I couldn’t stop I just kept falling and falling and I always wake up when I hit the bottom. And I just keep thinking how much I never get to say goodbye.” Her voice grew silent and she was no longer able to speak. She stared down at the floor.
“Piper, I’m so sorry, honey. I bet that was scary. Right now I don’t know if I could say anything to make you feel better. I love you and Phoebe so much and it hurts me to see you hurt. I can’t save you from your dreams, but I can be there when you wake up. Like I am now. I think you’ve been really stressed lately and with all the demon attacks we’ve had this past week I think it’s really got you thinking about things. Maybe that’s why you’ve been having these dreams. Being a witch is dangerous work, but someone’s got to do it.” She laughed and saw Piper grin.
“I know. You’re right. I guess I just got to thinking about how scary it would be to lose you or Phoebe or both of you and I just didn’t know how to handle it. I worry so much sometimes and I can’t help it, Prue.” She felt her sister’s arm wrap around her and pull her into an embrace.
“I know that, and I don’t expect you to be able to. You don’t need to defend your feelings, Piper. And even when you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I usually have a good idea what’s going on in that head of yours. I’m Prue. I know all. And right now I know that if I stay here on the floor it’ll take a forklift to get me back up.” She grimaced as she thought about how old she felt just then. How sad. She let herself be pulled up and the two went back to the table. They swapped sections and chatted about what was going on when.
“Hey, Piper. Here’s one for you. The Ultimate Outdoor Experience. Complete with hiking and um…rock climbing. Kidding!” She ducked the rolled up newspaper section her sister pretended to hit her with. It was good to see Piper laughing. Somehow, they both had a feeling Piper wouldn’t be having anymore dreams.