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Ski Trip
Phoebe sighed as she and Rion stepped into their room. "This vacation blows!"
"Yep." Rion threw herself down in a chair at the small table in the tiny kitchen. "I would have to agree with you."
"I mean, who would have thought coming to a ski resort would be so boring? No super hot guys. No really dangerous slopes. No Prue or Piper to worry with our dare devil antics on the slopes they do have. The only good part was the beers those salesman from Nebraska kept buying us."
"Yeah." Rion giggled. "We lucked out being here during their convention."
Phoebe narrowed her eyes. "Are you drunk?"
Rion shook her head. "Nope."
"Yes you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Well if I am, you are."
Phoebe giggled. "I know I am."
Rion laughed. "Then so am I."
Phoebe sat down across from her. "So, what do you say we do something to spice this place up a little."
"You mean balding, pot bellied plumbing supply salesmen aren't enough spice for you?" Rion giggled again.
"Knock it off!" Phoebe smacked her playfully. "I'm trying to be serious here."
"Sorry." Rion tried to keep a straight face.
"Come on." Phoebe stood up again. "We're not going to have any fun stories to share if something doesn't give pretty soon."
"All right. Let's say, for the sake of argument, I agree with you. What do you have in mind?"
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know."
Rion gave her a look. "Don't try that with me. You've got something cooking in that devious little brain of yours."
Phoebe's brown eyes twinkled. "Yeah, I do."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna like this?"
Phoebe came back to the table. "Oh, I have a feeling you're gonna love it."
Rion raised one eyebrow. "Oh really? Do you remember who had to beg to get Prue and Piper to say it was all right for us to come here? Who had to promise we wouldn't cause any trouble? Who swore on the Book of Shadows that she wouldn't let her little sister do anything stupid?"
"But it's not stupid. It's a surefire way to make things a LOT more fun around here."
"I have to hear it first, Pheebs."
"All right." Phoebe cleared her throat. "I think we should bring Freaky and Di here."
Rion's jaw hit the floor. "What?!"
Phoebe held up one hand to silence her. "Hear me out, here. I know we were under the influence of a demon last time, but we had a hell of a lot of fun. And I'd really like to get to know them. Wouldn't you?"
"I.... We promised Prue we wouldn't use magic."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Phoebe gave her a puppy dog look. "Please."
Rion sat back in her chair. "I don't know."
"Come on, Rion!" Phoebe sighed. "I hope you now I'm going to have to call you a wet blanket if you don't start cooperating."
Rion rolled her eyes. "Well we can't have that, can we?"
"Does that mean you'll help me?"
"Yeah." Rion smiled. "I'll help you. But if we get caught and you tell Prue and Piper I helped you, I'll kick your ass."
"Yea!!" Phoebe started dancing around the room, ignoring her sister's last comment. "We're gonna see Freaky and Di! We're gonna see Freaky and Di!!"
“Pheebs?” Rion said, her words a bit slurred as she looked at her sisters weaving form, “Are you sure you gots it this time?”
“I shink… think so.” She told her, tossing an empty bottle behind her.
For the last few hours, Phoebe had tried to recall the spell Freaky had used to bring them together, and now, the mini bar empty, she thought she had it. Looking at the crumpled papers scattered around the floor by the wastebasket, she picked up some blank papers, wadding them up and tried to hit the moving target.
“Pheebe’s? How come your in two pwaces?” Rion asked, leaning forward and squinting at her.
“Cause I’m special.” Phoebe told her, picking up the spell she had written. “Come hersh, and let shart the party.”
Crawling over to where Phoebe had set up the candles, she ploped down beside her, Rion tilted her head to the side, tring to make the words on the paper stop moving. “Weady!” she said, when her eye’s focused in on the paper.
Ancient spirits of time and space
Bring our friends to this place
Be they far or be they near
Tell them to get their asses here,
But if they can grown a beard,
We don’t want them to appear.
When nothing happened, the two looked at aech other and shrugged. “Musht be because we’s not talking so good right now.” Phoebe said, tring to figure out why her spell had failed. Pushing her self up, she grabbed Rions arm, pulling her up where she promptly fell onto the nearest bed.
“Maybe we should trys again?” Rion said.
“Not now, shee, the sun is comin out, we should… should…” she stopped, seeing the air around her start to shimmer, followed by the sound of several loud thumps and groans.
“What the….”
“Where…”
“OW!”
But what drew the attention of the two sisters was a startled shriek, and a pale form rushing past them. A door slammed shut, and from the other side they heard the sound of Pipers voice, “OH MY GOD!”
“Freaky! What did you do this time!” Adri said, turning to see her friend picking herself up off the floor on the other side of the room.
“Di! She has her sword, help!!” Freaky cried, pulling her infront of her, but as Adri took a step towards her, she dashed from the room, Adri right behind her.
“Someone better tell me what’s going on! And I mean RIGHT NOW!”
“Hi guys.” Rion said, waving her hand at where she thought the real Prue was standing, glaring at her.
“Opps.” Phoebe giggled.
“Man, there goes my lesson with Rick.” Di said as she turned and went out into the hall, trying to see where the Maineiac had chased the Nut. “It’s to early for this.”
Prue barely noticed the three of them leave the room as she continued to glare at her little sisters. "I think I asked for an explanation."
"Uh...." Rion rolled her eyes and tried not to giggle as she smacked Phoebe, who was cracking up. "We, um...."
"Sometime today, Rion!" Prue growled.
"We used a little...." Phoebe drew out the word as she held her right hand up, her thumb and forefinger barely a centimeter apart. "Uh...." She looked at Rion. "What was the question?"
Rion shrugged. "I don't know."
Prue looked at the two of them in disbelief. "You're drunk!"
"No we're not!" Rion narrowed her eyes. "At least I'm not." She frowned. "At least I don't think I am." She swayed as she looked at Prue. "Am I?"
"Yeah." Prue nodded sharply. "I'd say you are."
"ALL RIGHT!!"
They all jumped as the bathroom door suddenly flew open and a very angry Piper clad in a robe came storming out.
"What the HELL is going on?! One minute I'm in the shower with Leo enjoying some very needed alone time and the next I'm standing naked in the middle of...." Piper looked around the room. "Wherever this is!"
Phoebe snickered. "You were naked?" She put her hand over her mouth. "That is SO funny!"
"No it's NOT!!" Piper glared at her.
"You know," Rion squinted at her. "It can't be good for you to talk like that. With your jaw all clinched shut."
Piper turned toward Prue. "What's wrong with them?"
Prue watched as Rion flopped down on the bed next to Phoebe. "They're drunk."
Phoebe belched loudly, sending them both into hysterics.
"I think the technical term is stinking drunk."
Piper jumped when she heard the familiar voice. "Talula?"
Talula gave her a small wave from where she stood in a corner of the room. "That would be me."
Prue frowned. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to stay out of the way until Adri or Freaky or Di got back. But it was creeping me out that no one noticed me so I decided to say something."
"Hiya, Talula." Rion waved at her, almost falling off the bed. She and Phoebe cracked up again.
Piper ignored them. "So your friends are here too?"
Talula nodded. "Adri chased Freaky out of the room with her sword and Di followed them. But you were too busy being naked to notice."
As if on cue a very annoyed looking man in a suit appeared in the open doorway, Adri, Di and Freaky with him. "Do these belong to you?"
Phoebe snorted. "Yep."
"Then I'm going to have to ask you to keep them from running around screaming at the top of their lungs. And things like this...." He held up Adri's sword. "Are not permitted. I'm going to have to confiscate it until the end of your visit."
Freaky whispered, "Thank God!" which earned her a hard elbow to the arm from Adri.
The man frowned at the women before him. "Are you all staying in this room?"
Piper's eyes got big. "Uh...."
"Yes." Prue nodded. "My sisters," she pointed at Phoebe and Rion, "came here for a ski trip and my other sister and I," she put her arm around Piper, "decided to come and surprise them. We didn't know they had already invited our friends to join them too."
"Well we're going to have to charge you extra. Normally we would make you pay for another room, but since we're full from the convention I'll let it slide. Just keep these three under control."
"We will." Prue waved as the man walked away. "Thanks."
The man eyed her appreciatively. "No problem."
She shut the door as he walked away, instantly turning to Freaky. "What the hell did you do this time?"
"Nothing, I swear." Freaky felt everyone staring at her. "What?! I didn't!"
"She didn't." Rion giggled. "We did."
Phoebe nodded. "Yep. I still got that spell writing thing down to a science."
Piper and Prue shared a look as Di put her arm around Freaky.
"I knew you were innocent, pal."
"Ouch!" Freaky pulled away from Di. "Easy on the shoulder. Luke Skywalker there hit me a good one."
"Oh, stop your whining." Adri rolled her eyes. "It won't leave a permanent mark."
From behind Prue, a thud was heard, and looking towards the bed, they saw Phoebe peering over the edge of the bed, a surprised look on her face. "Wion?" she said, before she to seemed to slowly wilt.
“Oh, this is just GREAT!” Piper said annoyed. “First they get drunk and cast a spell, and NOW they both pass out!” Turning around, she stormed back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
“So, how are you?” Talula said, stepping over the sleeping Rion as she moved to the window to take a look out side. “I haven’t been able to talk to you all much since I graduated.”
“I was doing fine till Don Queote there hit me with that thing.” Freaky told her, ducking behind Di.
“It’s not a ‘thing’, it’s a boffer sword, it’s made with FOAM! for your information, and I was getting ready to… OH MY GOD!” Adri said, stopping with a shocked look on her face.
“What? What is it?” Prue asked her, spinning to see what she was looking at.
“Is that… that…” Adri stuttered, looking outside.
“YES! I can still go skiing!” Di exclaimed, seeing the pure white snow outside on the slopes. “This wont be so bad.”
“Snowball fight!” Freaky said, a grin splitting her face as she looked at the others, “You coming Batman?”
“Of course.” Di told her as they two ran from the room.
Taking one look at the remaining occupants of the room, Talula grinned as well before she too ran out the door to regain a bit of her childhood.
“Why me?” Adri cried, looking at the snow. “Does this place have a sauna?”
Out side, the kid slope was devised into two sides, Di’s and Freaky’s, and the sound of laughter could be heard from behind two ‘forts’ that the children had helped them build. Off on the side was another section, the designated out of bounds for anyone who wa... to go to ‘heal’.
“Ready?” Freaky asked the group of kids on her side as she peered over the top of her teams fort. “Just remember, try to get the big kid over there first.”
“Okay.” One little girl said, grinning ear to ear.
“Lets get them.” Freaky replied, picking up two big snowballs and launching them at her ‘enemy’. Soon the air was full of white bombs, splattering on the ground and on children and adults alike.
Di ducked behind the fort again as another volley of snowballs came her way. Somewhere along the way this had gone from being a snowball fight to a game of survival. Most of her little accomplices had abandoned her. The ones that were left were either too little to actually get a snowball anywhere near the other fort or getting pelted with too much snow to be of much use. It was up to her now. If she could take out Freaky, it would all be over.
"Uh oh." Talula ducked down next to her. "I recognize that look. You're up to something."
Di grinned. "Maybe."
"No maybes about it." Talula pointed at her. "That grin says it all. Spill."
"Well...." Di risked another look over the wall of snow, barely avoiding a faceful of snow. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're not doing so good here."
Talula looked down at her snow covered clothes. "Really?"
Di chuckled. "So I'm gonna do something about it."
"Like what?"
"Watch and learn, my friend. Watch and learn."
With those words she pushed herself into a crouching position and took off toward a row of trees running parallel to the snowy battlefield. In no time she had made her way to the other team's fort. What she saw when she did made her frown. There were several kids at the wall, hurling the snowballs that a group of kids were making for them. But there was no sign of Freaky.
"I knew you'd use the trees."
She turned to find her friend standing behind her, a cat who ate the canary grin on her face.
"We think too much alike."
"Yeah, we do." Di slipped her right hand into her coat pocket, glad to find the snowball she had stashed there was still intact. "I should have known."
"Yeah, you should have." Freaky rolled the snowball in her hand, making sure not to give away it's location behind her back.
"So, does this mean the war is over?"
"Nope." Freaky shook her head. "It just means the two generals have managed to find themselves face to face away from the main battle."
Di nodded toward the kids, hoping to distract her friend. "You had quite the system going over there."
"Wasn't my idea. Some super brainy kid came up with the system and gave everyone a job." Freaky never took her eyes off of Di. "All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the idea of you squirming over there."
"I wouldn't call it squirming."
"Whatever. I had you worried or you wouldn't have used the trees."
Di gave her a look. "You know me too well."
"Yeah, I do."
They moved at the same time, Di bringing the snowball out of her pocket and Freaky pulling hers out from behind her back. They could have won the gold medal for syncronized throwing.
"NO!"
Talula picked that instant to come at Freaky out of nowhere. She tackled her friend a split second before Di's snowball would have hit her in the shoulder. Di was too shocked to notice Freaky's snowball hitting her in the side as she watched her snowball soar through the air. She didn't even think to shout a warning as it slammed into an old man's head.
"What the....?" The man turned angrily.
Di had a deer caught in the headlights look as the man stormed toward her. She steeled herself for a lecture, but the man shot past her and headed for the kids instead.
"I don't know what you kids think you're doing, but it's time to stop!"
One little girl looked up at him, squinting her brown eyes against the sun. "You're not our boss!"
"No, but I AM the owner of this resort!"
The sound of Freaky and Talula laughing made Di miss what he said next.
"You took out the owner?! Good job, Batman!"
"Yeah!" Talula giggled hysterically. "Good job."
"Oh, that's it...." Di picked up an armful of snow and dumped it on their heads before throwing herself on top of them.
Prue sighed and looked around the room. Adri was sulking in the other chair and Piper had gone to the gift shop, hoping to find some clothes, while the other three were still AWOL. They had gotten Rion and Phoebe into bed and now all she could do was wait for them to wake up so she could lay into them for their carelessness. Looking at her watch, she sighed again before getting up and going to the fridge.
“Is there anything good to drink in there?” Adri asked her, seeing her staring into the little unit.
“Just some warm soda, they,” she said, pointing to her drunk sisters, “unplugged the refrigerator. I’m going to go get some ice.”
Picking up the ice bucket, Prue headed down the hall, searching for the signs that would point her in the right direction. Spotting the elevators she went past them to get to the cubicle she was searching for. Standing behind two woman dressed in designer ski clothes, looking like they had just stepped out of a salon, she could not help but overhear part of their conversation.
“Did you see what they did?” the bleach blond said to the redhead in a nasally whine.
“I know, can you imagine the gall! Making a display like that, and in a public place.” The other replied, in an uppity voice.
“I can not believe they let them do something like that.”
“And the manager, she just LET THEM do it.”
“We should talk to the owner, HE will put a stop to it I’m sure.” The blonde said, as they left the room, leaving Prue to wonder what that was all about.
After filling the ice bucket, Prue headed back for the room, seeing the two woman standing by the elevators, she had to stop as the doors opened and out tumbled three wet, snow covered forms, laughing and shoving each other.
“WELL! I NEVER!” the blonde said, staring at them.
“You should be ashamed.” The redhead said, pointing at the tallest of the trio, “To think they hired you.” And stepping past them, the two woman glared at the trio.
As the door shut, Prue groaned, seeing the fake innocence on the faces of Di, Freaky and Talula as they stuck their tongues out at the closed doors.
“OK, do I even want to know what that was all about?” she asked them, only to have Freaky collapse to the floor, holding her sides and laughing till tears rolled down her face. “She…. She…” Freaky managed to squeak out, pointing to where Di stood, leaning against the wall, her face in her hands as she tried to control herself.
“You, get back to the room now and tell us what the hell you did.” Prue said, glaring at all three of them.
“What did they do?” Adri asked seeing the storm cloud that was Prue’s face as she escorted her wayward friends into the suite.
“I don’t know, but, they are going to tell us, right now.” Prue said, shutting the door behind her. “Why did that woman think you worked here?” she said to Di.
“It was all her idea.” Talula said, pointing to Di, as she collapsed on the empty bed, giggling uncontrollably.
“What idea?” Adri asked, eyeing Di suspiciously.
“Well, we were just having a little innocent fun,” Di started to say, and look at Freaky as she snorted, trying to contain her laughter. “and those woman were giving us dirty looks, so…”
“So?” What did you say to them?” Adri asked, glaring at the taller woman.
“So, I… I…”
“You what!?”
“I walked the walk and talked the talk.” Said sheepishly, seeing her friends glare.
“You told her you worked here? You TRYING to get us kicked out?” Adri said. “In case you didn’t notice, WE” she said, pointing to the others, “don’t have any other place to stay.”
“Relax, I got it covered.” Di told her. “Remember what I do for a living.”
“Fine, but, if we have to sleep at a train station, I’m so going to kick your ass.” Adri said, flopping down into a chair.
“Whats with her?” Freaky whispered to Talula.
“You know her, she hates the snow, and, I think she’s just blowing off steam. I think she will lighten up when she sees what we did.” Talula said, starting to giggle again and Freaky joined her at the thought of it.
“OK, will someone tell me what those are!?” Piper said, bursting into the room and going to the window.
Seeing the others almost rolling on the floor, Prue and Adri went to see what Piper was talking about. Looking out the window, they didnt see what she was talking about at first, but then they saw it, a group of woman surrounding an object, pointing and laughing. As they move aside, their jaws dropped open, and they just stared.
Standing there in the shade of an evergreen tree was a giant snowman, his sculptured body shining in the sun. Unlike a normal snowman, this one was human shaped, his muscled torso and strong legs accenting the bright red swim trunks someone had put on it, but what really stood out was the package it seemed to hold. Someone had granted the snowman a godly sized gift.
“Who… what…” Prue said, trying not to laugh.
“Oh, that’s just Miguel.” Di said, straight faced as Freaky’s and Talula’s laughter filled the room.
“Ahhhhhh!” A voice croaked from the other bed, “please kill me now.” Rion said as she woke up, grabbing her head in pain.
"Oh, look who finally decided to rejoin the land of the living." Piper put her hands on her hips. "You've got some major explaining to do, missy."
Rion frowned. "Piper?" Her frown deepened. "How did you get here?" Her head lulled to one side when she saw everyone else standing around. "What the hell's going on?"
"That's what we'd like to...."
"Oh!" Phoebe groaned, interrupting Prue. "What hit me?"
Talula giggled. "Something called a mini bar."
Phoebe did a double take when she heard the voice. "Talula?"
Freaky threw her arm around her friend. "Live and in technicolor."
"And Freaky?" Phoebe sat up slowly. "Is Di here too?"
"Of course." Di put her arm around both Freaky and Talula. "Would Robin go anywhere without Batman?"
Phoebe grinned. "Cool."
"No, it most certainly is NOT cool!" Prue stormed over to the bed. "Do either of you realize what you've done?!"
Rion winced as she sat up. "No, but if you don't stop yelling I'm gonna have to hurt you."
"Yeah." Phoebe started to nod. "Whoa! I'm gonna blow chunks if the room doesn't stop spinning like that."
"All right. We're obviously not going to get anything out of them until they sober up." Piper sighed as she started toward the door. "I'll go get some coffee and..."
"Why do you need coffee?" Di shrugged as everyone looked at her. "Rion's a healer, right? Just work your mojo. Do your thing."
Freaky gave everyone a reassuring look. "Don't worry. I'm fluent in Di'ese. She means just use your powers to heal the two of you."
Rion furrowed her brow. "Can I do that?"
Phoebe shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"
"More than likely." Prue gave the two of them a look. "But I wouldn't recommend it. You're probably in enough trouble for casting a personal gain spell."
"What?" Phoebe managed to look up at her big sister without making the room spin too much faster. "What are you talking about?"
Di laughed. "You brought us here, pal."
"Oh yeah." Freaky smiled from ear to ear as Rion looked at them. "You're the spell casters this time. Not me."
"No way. We'd remember doing something like that." Rion swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up. "Oh..."
Piper caught her as she pitched forward. "Yeah. It looks like you'd remember a whole lot about what you did or didn't do last night."
"I might not remember what I did then, but I know what I'm gonna do now..." Rion threw her hand over her mouth and pulled away from Piper, making a beeline for the bathroom.
"Serves her right." Prue frowned when she felt Piper looking at her. "What? Like I'm supposed to feel sorry for her? They're the ones who cast the spell and we're," Prue pointed at everyone else in the room, "the ones who will more than likely face the consequences."
"Prue, stop blowing things out of proportion. So what if Rion and I cast a little spell last night." Phoebe sounded disgusted. "How does that classify as personal gain?"
"You brought Adri, Di, Freaky and Talula here, Phoebe! How would that NOT qualify as personal gain?" Piper shook her head.
"Uh, guys..." Talula watched Rion as she stumbled back out of the bathroom.
"It's not like we bought a winning lottery ticket or cured the common cold, Piper! We brought a couple of friends here. Big deal!"
Di leaned in close to Freaky. "I don't know quite how to take that."
"Guys, I think you should..."
"Not now, Adri!" Prue continued to glare at her little sister. "Phoebe, what the two of you did was stupid and immature and irresponsible!"
"Yeah!" Piper joined in. "Not to mention dangerous! What if you had summoned a demon?! Or worse yet, the Source?!"
"Give me a break!" Phoebe threw her hands in the air. "Even drunk I would never make a mistake like that!"
"Prue..." Rion's voice was little more than a whisper. "I..." Her voice died in her throat as she collapsed.
"Rion?!"
All thoughts of their argument were forgotten as all three sisters rushed to Rion, Phoebe still lagging a little behind as she tried to keep her balance.
"Timber!" Di giggled until she felt Freaky, Adri and Talula looking at her. "What?"
Adri frowned. "You find this funny?"
"Kind of. I mean, any minute now her powers will kick in and she'll be fine. But I bet she thinks twice about going on a bender with Pheebs again."
As if on cue blue light bathed Rion, and Phoebe, who was holding her hand.
"Hhmmm." Freaky looked confused. "I've never written that she could heal sicknesses."
Di shrugged. "So she's evolving as a character. Besides, her being sick would put a major crimp in us having any fun with her and Pheebs."
Freaky nodded. "Too true."
Adri shook her head. "I don't know about you two sometimes."
"Whoa." Prue put her hand on Rion's shoulder as she started to get up. "Maybe you should just stay down for a minute, squirt."
Piper nodded. "You weren't looking so good a second ago."
"I'm fine, guys." Rion smiled at them. "Really." She accepted Phoebe's hand up. "I'm starving. Who's up for breakfast?"
"Me!" Phoebe linked arms with her as they started out of the room.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." Di followed them.
"Oh yeah?" Freaky was at her side. "What kind? Paint? Palamino? Kentucky Derby winner?"
Di smacked her on the arm. "Smart ass!"
They both laughed and said, "Butterscotch ripple!" at the same time.
Piper furrowed her brow. "Did they just find a way to skip out on our lecture?"
"Yep." Prue shook her head as she watched them go. "But we'll get them later. Right now I could use something to eat."
Adri felt Talula looking at her as everyone else left the room and shrugged. "If you can't beat em, join em."
As the eight woman walked into the dinning room, they were meet by catcalls and whistles from the fully packed tables to one side. The conventioneers were in full swing, living up to their reputations as party animals. A few of the plumbers even went so far as to invite them over, but they declined and found a table in the back.
After ordering some brunch, the waited for the waiter to leave before Prue turned to her youngest sisters, her meaning clear as she waited for them to start talking.
“I’m sorry.” Phoebe said, looking at the papers she had brought with her, “but from what I can tell, your all stuck her till the spell runs it’s course.”
“And just how long will this one last?” Piper said, her mood slightly improved by the coffee she had in front of her.
“Well,” Phoebe said, fidgeting. “about 48 hours, I think.”
“You don’t know?” Adri said.
“No, not really. It’s kind of fuzzy.”
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to enjoy myself.” Di said, looking out at the ski slopes. “I mean, we are here, lets just have some fun.”
“Hey, you can teach me to ski now.” Freaky smiled, remembering the time she had gone ‘skiing’ with Di on the phone.
“You all ski?” Rion asked, suddenly excited.
“Well, not yet, but I’m ready to learn.” Freaky told her ”What about you two?” she asked Adri and Talula. Seeing the look she got from Adri, the table burst into laughter, drawing the attention of the men in the room, and not a few hopeful smiles.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their food, and as they ate, they decided to all head for the slopes with two exceptions, Prue and Adri were staying in the lodge. Charging the meal to the room, the six adventurous woman headed out to get equipped.
As they watched the other two walk towards the lobby, Di heard Rion whispering to Phoebe, and the words ‘Piper’, and ‘bunny slope’ reached her ears. Knowing that neither Freaky or Talula had been on ski’s, she could only guess that Piper was also a newbie to the slopes and she knew they had their work cut out for them. Luckily, she had help, in the form of the spell caster, and a healer, for any bumps and bruises that would happen.
“So, what do I need?” Freaky asked, as excited as a kid in a candy store as the entered the lodges ski shop.
Shaking her head, Di just laughed, and with Rion and Phoebe’s help, they soon had skis and poles for all of them, and with a wink at the youngster who had helped them, Di lead them outside to the beginners slope.
Half an hour later, Di reached out, helping Freaky to her feet yet again as the other frowned. “What did I do wrong THIS time?” Freaky said, dusting the snow off her pants.
“You crossed your ski’s.” Di told her, laughing as she saw Piper fall out of the corner of her eye, taking Rion and Phoebe down with her.
“OK, I think we need to take these rookies up the hill. We have taught them as much as we can, now it’s time to test it out.” Rion said, coming over to them.
“Are you sure?” Talula asked, looking at the tram system a bit nervously. “Do you think we are ready?”
“Well, do you trust us?” Di asked.
“Adri told me to never trust you after your last little stunt.” Freaky said, “but, I’m willing to risk it.”
“You have to admit, I got her good, and you too.” Di said, laughing at the memory.
“That you did, and I’m just glad it wasn’t me that you got.”
“Why is that?”
“Cause, Batman and Robin getting arrested would not have been good for our image.” Freaky laughed as they moved into line.
The line moved quickly and soon they were all riding the lift to the top. Watching as the others got off, Di failed to notice the placement of her ski’s. When it was their turn, she and Freaky put their ski’s down and started to get off, but their ski’s tangled, and without warning they found themselves in a heap in the snow, the sound of their friends giggles assaulting their ears.
"Damn it! I can't believe I did that!" Di gave Freaky an apologetic look, chosing to ignore their laughing friends. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Freaky nodded. "Nothing hurt but my pride." She held up one of her ski poles, which was now bent at an ackward angle. "And this."
That brought a fresh round of laughter from the peanut gallery. Di shot them a look. "We'll take care of that in a second."
Piper, Phoebe, Rion and Talula suddenly stopped laughing as a blond haired, blue eyed vision in red seemed to appear out of nowhere and rushed toward their friends.
"Here, let me help you up."
Di took his hand blindly, too busy trying to untangle herself from Freaky to notice who was helping her. "That's it. Move your left foot to the right and..." She smiled as she was pulled to her feet. "Shake it all about! You do the hookie pookie and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all ab..." Her eyes got big as she turned in a circle. "...out." Her mouth fell open when she saw the guy. "Holy ...!"
The guy grinned as he reached down and helped Freaky up. "Please, call me Joe. I try to reserve 'holy ...' for more formal occasions."
"Oh, man. He's hot AND has a sense of humor. Where was he last night when we were getting hammered with the plumbers?"
"Ssshhh!" Phoebe elbowed Rion. "I wanna see what's gonna happen."
"OK you two." Piper whispered as she came to stand behind them. "Which of you did it?"
Rion frowned. "Did what?"
Piper pointed at the guy. "Brought Frosty the hot guy to life."
Phoebe looked confused. "What?!"
"Oh come on, tell me you don't see the resemblance between him and the snowman those two made this morning."
"Hey, I helped with it too." Talula joined them. "And I don't see something like that mooning over me."
"Yeah." Rion nodded. "It's a coincidence."
"And we're in enough trouble for writing the spell that brought everyone here." Phoebe gave Piper her best puppy dog eyes.
"All right. I believe you." Piper gave the guy another look. "But you've got to admit there's a resemblance."
"Here." The guy handed Freaky one of the four poles he was carrying. "It was my uncle's." He indicated an older man a few yards away with a slight nod of his head.
Freaky frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah." The guy gestured with his hand. "We've been down the hill twice, so he's done for the day."
"Well we're just starting." Freaky snuck a look at Di as she grinned. "You could join us."
Di leaned in close so that the guy couldn't hear her. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Freaky returned her attention to the guy. "So what do you say?"
"Joe!"
The guy looked up when he heard his name, his blue eyes shining in the sunlight. "Sorry. I've at least got to get him back to the lodge." He smiled. "But maybe I'll see you in a little while."
"Sounds good to me." Freaky smiled as he jogged away. "You're welcome."
"Welcome?" Di gave her a look. "For what?"
Freaky rolled her eyes. "For helping you out." She looked at Di expectantly. "With the guy."
"How was your flirting helping me out?"
"Flirting? I wasn't flirting. I was getting him to agree to ski with us so the two of you could get better acquainted."
"It looked like flirting to me."
"All right!" Piper fell into her natural role of mediator. "If we're gonna do this thing, let's do it. Otherwise I'm going to change my mind and get back on that death trap," she nodded toward the ski lift, "and go to the lodge for hot chocolate." She grabbed Rion's hand. "Now buddy up. I've got the healer."
Freaky gave Di a look. "I'll go with Phoebe."
Talula went to Di. "Cool. That makes us buddies."
"What do you think, Di? Should we take them to one side or the other. You know." Phoebe shrugged. "In case they fall."
Di nodded. "Less chance of them hitting another skier."
"Sounds good to me. Come on, Piper." Rion took her big sister's hand and started toward the right hand side of the slope. "Now just remember, keep your balance, use your poles. And I'll..." She suddenly frowned. "Is that a cave?"
Piper frowned. "What?"
"Right there." Rion pointed to a dark patch just a little more to their right. "Listen. It sounds like someone's inside."
Piper grabbed her sister's arm as she started toward the dave. "What are you doing?!"
"Someone could need my help, Piper."
"Rion..."
"I can't just stand here and do nothing."
Freaky and Phoebe walked over to them. "What's going on?"
Piper looked at at Freaky over her shoulder. "Rion thinks she hears something in that cave over there?"
"Really?" Phoebe went to her sister's side. "Let's check it out."
Talula and Di joined them. "What's all the excitement about?"
Freaky grinned. "We're going for a little side trip."
Talula furrowed her brow. "What?"
Freaky nodded. "Rion hears something in that cave over there. We're going splunking!"
Piper sighed. "We most certainly are not. We're going to check it out. That's all."
Di grinned. "Yep. We're going splunking." She smacked Freaky on the shoulder, their tiff forgotten as she started toward the cave. "Race ya!"
Piper rolled her eyes as everyone else rushed away from her. "I'd like to know how I always get stuck baby-sitting." She started after them. "Wait up!"
Down at the lodge, Prue and Adri leaned back in their seats, the binoculars laying on their laps as they wiped the tears streaming down their faces.
“Oh, I so needed a good laugh.” Adri said, looking at the witch beside her. “I cant believe we pulled that off.”
“Me either.” Prue said, a smirk spreading across her face. “You don’t think they will suspect I had anything to do with that little ‘trip’ do you?”
“Hell no, they think we are dull. But, give me a few more of these,” Adri said pointing to her Kalula Sombrero, “and I might even have some fun in the snow.”
“I wasn’t sure I could use my powers over that distance, but I just barely moved that ski.”
“Hey, it was enough. But how come they got the cutie up there? How is it fair that we get stuck with the middle aged, potbellied, no butt plumbers, and THEY get the only good looking guy we have seen?” Adri said, looking at the figure in red getting off the lifts.
“I thought you were married?” Prue asked her, confused.
“I am, but it doesn’t mean I’m dead, or that I cant look.” Adri replied, ginning mischievously. Looking around, she spotted a waiter, holding up her glass and ordering another.
“Rion! Will you wait up!” Piper said, almost running to catch up. “You cant just go running into it blindly.”
“I’m not, but I know I heard something in there. What if it’s someone who’s hurt, or lost?”
“Oh, come on!” Freaky said. "There ARE six of us, and you three are witches, whats there to be afraid off?”
“So says the woman hiding behind me.” Di said, pulling her arm out of Freaky’s grip.
“So, Batman always leads the way. You have more gadgets on your belt.” Phoebe said, sticking up for her friend.
Just as Di was about to say something back, they all heard a sound coming from the darkness of the cave in front of them. If anyone had been close enough to see them, they would have laughed as they all cocked their heads to the side, listening, trying to hear better, but even funnier was Talula and Phoebe hitting each other as the turned.
“OW!” Talula said, giving her assailant a dirty look while rubbing her head. “I thought you were over there!”
“What? You hit me.” Phoebe said defensively.
“Quiet.” Rion hissed, trying to make out what was being said. “I think its a young kid.” She said, before she rushed into the darkness.
“Here we go again!” Piper said as they all followed.
Walking carefully on the uneven floor, the six intrepid would be rescuers inched forward, following the sound of singing. Being the tallest, Di brought up the rear, ducking her head now and again to avoid hitting it on the small stalactites forming on the ceiling. In front of her Freaky and Piper stopped short, causing her to bump into her, and they all stumbled, knocking the entire group down.
“Who is it!” a voice squeaked.
“Demon!” Rion and Phoebe shouted together
“Tourists!” the demon cried, turning to hid behind a curtain.
“Piper, blow him up!” Talula cried, grabbing her arm.
With out thinking, Piper flung out her hands, just as Talula grabbed her, and her shot went wide, hitting the wall on the far side. “UH-OH!” Piper said.
“What ‘UH-OH’?” Di said from behind her, just as they all heard and felt the loud rumbling from all around them. With out thinking, they all jumped up and turned to run back the way they came, but they didn’t get far before the shaking tossed them all back down to the rocky floor.
“Nonononono!” the demon yelled at them, as they started to pick them selves up again. “You hurt Morton!”
“Morton?” Phoebe whispered to the person beside her, not even sure who it was in the darkness.
“I don’t know.” Came Freaky’s voice.
“Is everyone alright?” Piper asked, taking charge. She might not be the oldest, but she had to make sure her sisters and their friends were ok because she didn’t want to have to face Prue, or Adri if they were not. From around her, she heard everyone answer, except for one. Rion’s voice.
“Rion?” she cried, scared for her sisters safety. “Phoebe, were is she?”
“She’s over here.” The squeak voice of the demon said. “Now be quiet, she’s taking a nap!” and with that, light flooded the darkness of the cave, and they saw her lying a few feet away, blood on her temple. Rushing over to her, they saw the blue lights of her powers kick in and breathed a sigh of relief.
“OH? Please tell me I’m not drunk again.” Rion said, holding her throbbing head.
“Your not. You can't drink here! My rules!” the demon said, rushing at them.
Instinctively, Piper waved her hands, but the demon kept coming. Stopping in front of her, he blinked several times as her hands waved at him before he jumped back in surprise.
“Why? Why you wave at me? Stop that, it’s not nice. Morton might not like it.”
“Who are you?” Piper asked, confused that her powers did not seem to effect him. She had tried to freeze him and he had kept coming so then she tried blowing him up, with the same results. “And who’s Morton?” she said as she looked around warily.
“Morton is my friend. You hurt him!” he cried, jumping forward at slapping Pipers hands. “You bad girl! Bad bad bad!”
“Piper, I don’t think he’s playing with a full spell book.” Di told her quietly, seeing the child like behavior.
“Please Prue, you HAVE to do it, just once.” Adri pleaded, almost begging the other woman.
“I don’t know, we are already in enough trouble, thanks to the others.” Prue told her looking around.
“But, it will be funny.” Adri told her, her eye’s dancing.
“OK, just this once, but remember, it was all your idea.” Looking up, the oldest Halliwell spotted her target. Walking away from them, his pants sagging, was a plumber and with a small, quick movement, Prue reached out with her powers and pulled.
“HEY!” the man cried, feeling his pants suddenly pulled down but when he looked around him, he didn’t see anyone near. Pulling his pant up fast, he held the waistband as he rushed from the room, while behind him the two woman under a table held their hands over their mouths, stifling their laughter till he was gone.
“There, now maybe they will pull them up.” Adri said when she was finally able to contain her self. “I so wanted to do that to one of those droopy drawered men for so long!”
“I got to agree. There is nothing as unsexy as seeing that crack when they bend over.” Prue told her, still chuckling at the memory.
"Morton? Morton, can you hear me?!"
The girls clustered together as the demon bellowed at the ceiling.
Talula looked upward too. "WHO is he yelling at?"
Di shrugged. "His imaginary friend?"
Freaky elbowed her. "What if there's another demon up there somewhere?"
Rion winced as she tried to look up too. "I don't think there is."
Piper watched her, concern stamped on her brow. "Is your head still hurting?"
"Yeah. It's like my powers are working at half strength or something."
Phoebe nodded. "Makes sense. Piper's powers usually would have blown this place sky high. Must have something to do with our friend over there."
"Morton, answer me!"
"So we're stuck in here with basically useless powers and a babbling demon?" Piper sighed. "How do we get ourselves into these messes?"
"By being where you don't belong!" The demon glared at them. "Everything was fine til you came around! I HATE tourists!!"
Di chuckled. "Now who does that sound like?"
The demon looked at her. "You hate tourists too?"
"Uh..." Di swallowed hard, not quite sure how to answer. "Yeah."
"Come here."
"No way." Phoebe stepped between her friend and the demon. "You're a..."
"I wasn't talking to you!"
The demon flicked his wrist and Phoebe found herself pinned against the roof of the cave.
"Hey!" Rion glared at him. "Let her down!"
"And you're not the boss of me!"
The demon flicked his wrist again, sending Rion threw a nearby stalactite and into the wall.
"Why you..."
Piper grabbed Freaky's arm as she started toward the demon. "I don't think that's such a good idea."
Di put herself between the demon and the remainder of her friends. "I'll come over there, but only if you promise to leave my friends alone."
"Yea!!" The demon clapped his hands like an excited kid on Christmas morning. "You're tall. Like Morton. I like tall."
"Yippee..." Di mumbled the word under her breath as she walked the short distance across the cave toward the demon. "All right, I'm here." She glanced up at Phoebe. "Now what about my friends?"
The demon made a show of waving his hand. Phoebe plummeted to the floor and Rion came flying back toward the group, landing in a heap at Piper's feet.
Freaky started toward the demon again as he reached for Di. "Watch out, Batman!"
Talula grabbed her. "Would you stop that? I don't think he's going to hurt her."
"She's right, Robin." Di gave Freaky a reassuring look. "Just make sure Phoebe and Rion are all right."
"Curls." The demon's eyes lit up as he ran one gnarly hand through Di's hair. "I like curls too!" He attempted what could have been described as a smile. "Wanna meet Morton?"
With those words he put his hand on Di's shoulder and the two of them disappeared. The remaining five woman looked at each other in shock.
“You know, this isn’t so bad.” Adri said to Prue, leaning back.
“What? Being here in the mountains, and the snow?”
“No, snow is still a bad word, but, at least this place has a hot tub.”
“True, so true!” Prue said with a grin. “I’ll take this over trying to break my neck any day.”
“You know, I might have been a bit grumpy when we got here, but…”
“A bit? You chased Freaky down the hall with sword.” Prue laughed, remembering the site.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her, to much.” Adri said laughing as well. “But I really needed this time, away from everything. I haven’t had a vacation in a long time.” With a contented sigh, she leaned back, soaking up the warmth.
As Di found herself standing in the sunlight, she grabbed a hold of the demon as her world shifted and a wave of dizziness swept over her. Groaning, she thought to herself that that was worse then getting tossed around on rough seas in a small boat. As her stomach settled, she realized what she was doing and released her death grip on the demons arm.
“Ah, you like me.” He said, “I knew you would. Those others are so mean. But, your like Morton, he’s my friend. Are you my friend?” the last was said almost in a whine.
“Ummm, sure.” Di told him, knowing she was in no position to offend him. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Question?” he said, then his face brightened as he walked forward. “Sure, sure, please. Morton doesn’t talk to me sometimes, so I get lonely.”
“What’s your name? I don’t want to just call you ‘hey you’ all the time.”
“Name??? Name, what was my name?” he said, muttering to himself. “I know I have a name. I DO have a name, don’t I?” he said as he looked up at her. “You are a tall one.” And with that, he walked off.
“Wait!” Di cried, trudging after him only to stop and stare as she came over the top of a hill. Looking around, she found herself standing at the top of a mountain, the valley far below. As far as she could see, the mountains spread out around her, the Rockie’s in all there winter glory.
“Come, come, I don’t want to keep Morton waiting.” He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him.
Walking briskly across the snow, he just about dragged her as she struggled to navigate the drifts he so effortlessly skimed over, how he was able to stay on top of the snow she didn’t know, but she wished she had Phoebe’s powers right then as it seemed to find its way down the back of her ski jacket.
“This! Is Morton!” he said, stopping suddenly.
“Where?” Di asked, looking around.
“Here, he’s right here!” he said, pointing to a rocky outcropping in front of them. “Morton, meet our new friend…. Whats your name?” he asked her.
“Di.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“No, my name is Di.”
“What a strange name.” He muttered to himself. “Morton, this is Di.”
“Ummm, hi.” She said, more confused by the demon then ever.
“Morton like you.” He said with a smile, listening to something only he could hear. “He wants to know if your going to stay with us.”
“I don’t know.” She replied “I still don’t know your name.”
“My name? Morton, do I have a name?”
“Well I KNOW everyone has a name!”
“Fine, be that way. Can you just tell me!”
Di looked around as he had a conversation with the rocks, looking for any sign of where they were, and more importantly, where she could find help.
Doof.”
“What?” she asked, looking back at him.
“My name, it’s Doof.”
“Hi.” She said, trying hard not to laugh and piss him off.
“You ready to go back now?” he asked her.
“Umm, I don’t know.”
“You want to stay here with Morton?” he said, leaning in so he could whisper. “He’s not much of a talker you know.”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t think how we got here agrees with me.” She told him, a plan suddenly forming.
“Then, how will we get back?”
“Why don’t you go back, and I will walk.”
“I don’t know, what if you get lost? I like, your my friend.” He told her, his eye’s downcast.
“Well, if you can just point to where the entrance to your home is, I can meet you there.”
“Really?” he said, brightening. “You want to come back to me?”
“Yes, your sweet.” Di said, trying a new tactic. Placing her hand on his arm, she smiled at him and batted her eye’s.
“You… I …. Me!?” he said, a green flush covering his face. “Th…that way. Honey.” He said shyly, pointing down the slopes. “I…I..I’ll be waiting for you.” And he vanished.
“OK, now to find some…” she stopped as he reappeared, a rose in his hand, and with a quick peek on the cheek, he vanished again.
“They will never let me live this down.” Di muttered as she made her way to the top of the slope.
“Where is she!” Freaky demanded when Doof returned, alone.
“She loves me.” Was the only thing he said as he skipped around the room. “She loves me.”
“What did you do with her!” Freaky demanded again, pulling away from the others, only to be stopped in her tracks when he turned and looked at them, his eye’s blazing.
“Your in my way.” And with that they all felt an invisible force push them back into a corner and a door formed, sealing them in.
“She’s fine." Piper said, going to Freaky’s side.
“How can you be sure?”
“She’s right, you know Di, she can sweet talk anyone.” Talula said, placing her arm around Freaky’s shoulders. “Hey, she got Adri to go to NYC, a demon should be no trouble.”
Di peered down the hill, trying to mark the best path. It would take to long to walk so she decided to reach back to her childhood for a way down. Satisfied that she could maneuver, she sat down, and, leaning back she pushed off, sliding on the slick surface of her jacket. Screaming out at the rush, she made her way down, faster and faster till she almost felt like she was flying.
Then it dawned on her, she was airborne and panicking, she uncurled, her feet still pointed down as the ground rushed up to meet her. Her vision filled with white as she hit, the snow cushioning her landing somewhat. As the snow settled, she tried to climb out of the deep drift.
“Oh, this is just great!” she said when she realized her feet were stuck fast.
Di's head snapped up when a shadow fell over her face. Standing a few feet away, squinting their eyes against the brightness of the sun on the snow were two little boys.
"Oh, thank God! You two have got to go get help."
The brown haired boy frowned. "Why?"
"Because I'm stuck."
The blond haired boy frowned too. "Why?"
"That's not important right now. What's important is I need help."
"Why?"
"Like I said, I'm stuck. And I have some friends that need my help."
"Why?"
"Because they're trapped in a cave."
"Why?"
"We were skiing and saw the cave and thought we heard someone inside who needed our help."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? There is no why. I just need you to go get your mommy or daddy so they can help me get out of here."
"Why?"
Di growled and was about to try again when blondie suddenly looked up.
"Uh oh. Gotta go."
"What?!" Di watched helplessly as they both ran off, quickly disappearing from view. "Hey!" She called after them, hoping someone else would hear her. "Hey! I still need help here!!"
"Hiya ladies."
Adri opened one eye when she heard the voice. She found herself nearly nose to nose with a smooth cheeked, balding man. "Who..."
"Paul's the name and plumbing is my game." The man flashed a crooked tooth smile as he stood back up, smacking the man next to him on the arm. "And this is Dean. We were wondering if we could join you."
Prue exchanged a look with Adri as the two men shrugged off their robes and started to climb into the hot tub. Paul was wearing light gray swimming trunks with little Elvis heads all over them, his prominent belly sagging over the waistband. Dean's attire was even worse, if that was possible. He wore a bright orange speedo, the color clashing horribly with the course black hair covering his legs.
"So." Paul smiled again as he got settled. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
Adri mumbled, "Oh, please," as Prue scooted a little closer to her.
"Hey..." Dean pointed at Prue. "Weren't you in the lounge last night? You and a brown eyed girl?"
"Uh, no." Prue shook her head. "I just got here today."
"Oh." Dean continued to look at her. "You sure do look like her. She was a spitfire, that one was."
"Dean!" Paul sounded indignant. "Stop talking about other women when we've got two fine specimens right here in front of us."
"Hey!" Prue suddenly slapped Dean. "Come on, Adri." She grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her out of the hot tub.
Adri stumbled along behind her as she stormed away. "I know they were gross, but what was that all about?"
"Something brushed my leg!" Prue gave her a horrified look as they got on the elevator. "And I'm not sure what it was!!"
"All I wanted was a little ski vacation." Di muttered as she used her gloved hands to dig at the tightly packed snow surrounding her feet. "Is that too much to ask for?" She took some of her frustrations out on a particularly hard clump of snow. "Ow!" She hissed as pain shot across the knuckles of her right hand. "I just had to be the hero, didn't I? I couldn't have gone back to the cave with what's his name and come up with a plan to escape with the others. NO! I had to try and outsmart a demon."
She was too busy belittling herself to realize that she could actually move her feet until she lost her balance and fell on her butt, pulling both of them free. The ridiculousness of the situation made her chuckle. Then her chuckle became a full fledged laugh as she tried to picture what she must look like, sitting there in the middle of an extremely deep snow drift talking to herself.
"Pull yourself together, Di. You've got a cave full of friends to help."
The packed snow that had been her enemy just a second ago was suddenly her friend. She shoved all of it she had moved to one side of the hole she was in and used it to climb out of the drift. She reached back into the hole and grabbed her jacket, knocking snow off of it as she took in her surroundings. She still had no idea where she was but at least she was a little closer to the lodge than she had been before. At least she hoped she was. She was about to start walking when a rumbling noise reached her ears.
"What now?"
She was about to look back up the slope when the earth moved beneath her feet. Literally. One dreadful word filled her mind as she felt herself being pulled down the slope. Avalanche!
“I guess he can somehow either slow, or shake off, our powers.” Phoebe said from Rion’s side. She watched as blue sparks seemed to pop out in random on her sisters body, making her look a bit like a christmas tree with twinkle lights strung on it.
“So that’s why its taking her healing powers so long to work? They are in super slow motion?” Piper asked from Rion’s other side.
“Yes.”
“Hey, no talking, I’m concentrating.” Doof said from his chamber. The could hear him puttering around, and the sound of pots ratteling had them a bit concerned.
“What are you doing?” Freaky shouted, trying to draw his attention.
“Shhhh, you’ll ruin my soufflé.” Doof told her, waving a spatula at them all. “How can I make a romantic meal for my sweety if you keep yapping? Morton like’s her too.” He said, as he turned and walked away.
“OK, did he just say he was cooking? For Di?” Talula asked as the others just stared open mouthed at the strange little demon.
Looking at her, they all turned back as Doof came in, whistling off tune and setting the candles in the room alight, casting a soft glow on the small table set with mix matched china. A bouquet of flowers took up the center of the table, the dried arrangement leaving small tokens on everything.
Di gave a little scream as she tumbled down the hill, panic gripping her as her life seemed to flash before her eye’s. She was not ready for it to end. As the whiteness covered her, she felt herself slam up against something hard and unyielding, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she found she could still see. She wasn’t buried.
Her relief turned to frustration as she soon realized she was once again trapped in the snow, it held her in it’s grip up to her waist. As she looked for a way to get out, she felt something cold and wet drip on her head and looking up she found herself snug against the wall of the hotel, the water from the roof dripping slowly onto her head.
“OH, this is just GREAT!” she said out loud. “Can things get any worse!” grumbling she closed her eye’s, wishing for once she had not teased Adri so much about wanting snow. She knew this was her ‘twins’ revenge. Slamming her fist down on the snow, she tried to loosen it but the only thing she did was cause the snow clinging to the gutters above her to fall, it’s descent broken on her uncovered hair.
“Looks like you could use some help.: a man’s voice said, and looking up the only thing she saw was a large Saint Bernard, just before the massive animal gave her a kiss, its rough tongue making her bangs stick straight up.
“Brandy! Your supposed to ‘help’ her.” The voice said once again, tinged in laughter. “I’ll have you out in a minute.” He said as Joe from earlier came into view.
Adri and Prue were sprawled on the beds, flipping aimlessly through the channels, trying to find something to watch as they waited for the others to return.
“Do you think we should go look for them?” Adri asked Prue, glancing at the clock on the side table.
“No, if something happened, they will let us know, and if they got into trouble, I don’t want to know.”
“What kind of trouble could they get into on the slopes?”
“With the two pairs of total trouble, they can find a way. They probably have the whole slope in traction by now.”
“I know what you mean, I’m thinking Talula and Piper are in traction, neither one has much experience.”
Just then the door opened and in strode Di, her hair matted with snow, her clothes soaked, and her mood dark. Unable to contain themselves, the two woman burst out laughing.
"Oh my God." Freaky made a face. "That has GOT to be the saddest thing I've ever seen."
Talula joined her at the door to their prison. "What?"
Freaky pointed at Doof, who was spinning crazily around the table he was setting. "That."
Talula frowned. "What's he doing?"
"I..." Freaky laughed. "I think he's trying to dance. But he's got two left feet."
Doof stopped what he was doing and looked down at his feet. "No, I have one of each." He glared at the girls as they both laughed. "Shut up! No more talking!"
Talula backed away from the door, Freaky continued to laugh. "Uh oh. I think I made him mad."
"I said to shut up!!"
Piper gave Phoebe a 'stay with her' look concerning Rion and walked to Freaky's side. "I think we all just need to calm down."
"I'm calm." Freaky nodded toward Doof. "He's the one having a conniption fi..."
"That's enough." Piper spoke through clinched teeth. "You're making him mad. Did you not see what he did to Rion and Phoebe when he was mad?"
"Morton likes you too."
Piper yelped as Doof suddenly popped up in front of the door.
"He says you'll help me." He opened the door and grabbed Piper before anyone could react. "You will help me, right?"
"I..." Piper yelped again as she was pulled from the cell. She quickly motioned for Freaky to stay where she was as Phoebe jumped to her feet. "It's all right, guys. I'll be fine."
Freaky hung her head as Doof drug her friend further away from them. "I've really gotta learn to keep my big mouth shut."
"Oh!" Prue put her hand on her stomach as she laughed. "I SO wish I had a camera right now."
"That's right." Di nodded. "Laugh it up."
"We are!" Adri wiped tears from her cheeks. "Do the others look as bad as you?"
"Does it look like they're with me?"
Prue suddenly turned serious. "They're not with you?"
"No. They're all stuck in a cave with a demon."
"What?!" Prue was off the bed in an instant. "They're WHERE?!"
"Hold it." Adri hurried after her, putting her hand on the eldest Halliwell's shoulder. "This has practical joke written all over it. Di, who probably came up with the idea, comes in here first to get us all worked up. Then, just when we're ready to go kick some ass, the rest of them come strolling in and they all have a good laugh." She eyed Di. "Isn't that right, Batman?" She emphasized the name.
"No!" Di looked at her in disbelief. "I wouldn't lie about something like this!"
Prue looked at Adri. "I think we should listen to her."
"All right." Adri sighed. "But I can go get my sword back any time, Di."
Di ignored her as she started her tale.
"What's going on?" Rion winced as she came to stand next to Phoebe.
Phoebe put her arm around her sister. "You shouldn't be up."
"Yeah, well there were three butts in my way. I couldn't see what's going on."
"Well. Doof is trying to learn to dance from Piper." Talula couldn't help but grin. "And it's like the blind leading the blind."
"All right. You're doing... Ow!" Piper bit her lip as Doof stepped on her foot for what seemed like the millionth time. It didn't hurt nearly as bad this time. Probably because her foot was getting numb.
"Sorry." Doof concentrated on his feet again. "How's that?"
Piper nodded as he managed a simple step without trodding on her. "Good! See, I told you you would get the ha..." She bit her lip again as he stepped on her other foot. "Hang of this."
"Morton says to try this." Doof gripped Piper's butt in one of his hands.
"Oh!" Piper's eyes got big.
"You like that?" Doof grinned. "How about this?" He put his other hand on her breast.
"Ew!" Piper shreiked as she looked down at the scaly, long fingered, taloned appendage gripping her chest. "That's not the kind of dancing I'm trying to teach you!"
"Oh." Doof let go of her. "Sorry. I..." His yellow face suddenly took on a blue hue. "Go back to the cell!" He pointed at Piper.
"Whoa!" Piper stumbled as she suddenly appeared next to Phoebe.
"I've got you." Phoebe reached out with her free hand to steady her sister. "What happened?"
Talula giggled. "I think she turned him on."
"No." Piper shook her head. "I think I embarrassed him."
"Whatever happened, it wasn't good." Freaky watched Doof as she pranced around the cavern. "Look at him."
"What should I do, Morton? Tell me what I should do!" He looked up at the ceiling expectantly. "Of course!! Why didn't I think of that?"
Rion frowned. "What's he doing?"
Freaky shrugged. "Closing his eyes. And I think me might be chanting something."
"Great!" Piper sighed. "Just what we need, chanting!"
"And then the avalanche came and Joe dug me out of a snow drift behind the lodge. As soon as I was free I ran here to get you two."
Prue shared a look with Adri. "Sounds pretty convincing to me."
"Yeah." Adri nodded. "Me too. Di, I'm..."
"Save it for later, Adri. Right now we need to..." Di cut herself off.
Prue reached for her as she swayed. "What's the..." Her mouth fell open as Di disappeared. "What the hell?!" She turned to Adri. "Where did she go?!"
Adri looked at the spot where her friend had been a split second before in disbelief. "I have no idea."
Piper paced back and forth behind the barrier, trying to find some way to get out of the cage. As she turned, she almost tripped over Freaky as she and Talula knelt on the ground peering at something. Stopping, she tried to see around their heads, but try as she might, she couldn’t.
“What about here?” Talula said, pointing to something.
“No, more over here… see, it’s looser here.”
“Your right, but how are we going to…”
“What are you doing???” Piper said startling them.
“Damn, DON’T do that!” Freaky said, jumping. “You trying to give me gray hair?”
“I’m going to give you a cuff up side the head if you don’t tell me what your doing.” Piper said, giving her a stern look.
“We might have found a way out.” Talula told her, smiling.
Di felt her self materialize, nothing supporting her body, and with a little shout she fell, landing with a thud on the couch. Glaring at the yellow demon standing before her, a goofy grin plastered on his face, “Why did you do that?” she said, rubbing her back side.
“Curly top Di, I knew you would come back.” Doof said, holding out his hand. He kept his clawed hand behind his back, hiding his surprise.
“I didn’t have much choice, you brought me back.”
“Morton told me too. He said I should court you.” And pulling his hand out from behind him, he held out a bouquet of stinkweed.
Di stood there looking at the less then fragrant offering trying to decide if she should take it or turn him down when on the bench beside her she spotted a large jar. Reaching out she snagged it up, handing it to him.
“Here, why don’t you get some water to put them in. They’ll last longer that way.” she told him. With a smile and a nod he scurried off. Going over to the alcove where her friends were trapped she was relieved to find them all still alive.
“Batman! When did you get back?” Freaky asked, happy to see her partner in crime.
“Just now. Don’t any of you use NORMAL transportation?” Di said seeing Phoebe levitating, looking at the ceiling.
“Why?” the youngest Charmed One asked. “What fun would that be?” Just then, her powers gave out on her, and with a thump, she landed on the floor, a cross look on her face.
“Give me boring over…… what ever it is ‘he’ uses.” Di told her, pointing to the other room.
“Can you open these ‘bars’?” Rion asked a bit shaky still as blue lights continued to spark on and off on her body.
“No.” Di replied after taking a look around. “Any ideas?”
“Sweet curly Q?” Doof called as he entered his ‘dining’ room. Hearing him call, Di snuck back in, acting as if she had been there all along.
“Oh, I see you found some water, but you know what would make them last even longer?” she said, trying to buy some time.
“What?”
“Mississippi river mud. Will you get some for me?” she said, batting her eye’s at him
“I don’t know? Morton? Do you think I should?” he asked, looking at the ceiling. “OK, OK. You don’t have to shout at me. Morton thinks it’s a good idea. I’ll get you some, but only if you promise not to leave. That would make me very sad.”
“I promise.” Di told him, crossing her fingers behind her back. “Oh. One more thing. It has to be from the Mississippi river delta. The closer to the middle of the river the better, right off the bottom. And…”
“And. Why and? I’m already going to have to get wet, what else do you want?” he told her, cringing a bit as he said ‘wet’.
“Wash up before you come back. I don’t want you to track mud all over this nice place of yours.”
Rion looked at Phoebe, “Oh, she’s good!” she said as they heard Di talking to Doof.
“That’s nothing.” Talula told them from where she was next to Freaky. “She deals with crazy tourists all day. That fruit loop of a demon doesn’t stand a chance.” Beside her Freaky snorted, covering her mouth so she wasn’t heard laughing.
After Di disappears from the, Prue and Adri got to work. Finding a trail map, the only map they could find in the room Prue tried scrying while Adri went to make travel arrangements. Having only ever skied once, vowing then to never make it twice, she went looking for Di’s ‘Joe’
Walking into the dining room, seeing all the plumbers sitting there talking loudly she knew for her friends sake she would have to do something that terrified her. Walking over to the maitrede’s desk she grabbed the mic.
“I’m looking for a guy named Joe.” She said and much to her dismay a good third of them stood up grinning drunkenly at her. Twenty minutes later she opened the door to the room they were all sharing, hoping she had the right Joe. Seeing Prue waiting anxiously for her, the trio set out to find the missing six pack.
It had been over an hour since Doof had returned. While he was gone they had come up with a plan to try and escape the cage, one that Di wasn’t to happy with. Knowing they had to keep him busy, Piper had all but ordered her to distract Doof, Freaky provided the answer as to how.
“Come on Di. Think of it this way, he like’s you, all you have to do is be friendly to him.”
Now, an hour later, Di was ready to kill something. At first it had not been that bad, but after telling him she liked music, it went down hill from there. His first serenade had been the start of the slide. Grinning he had told her he could sing, and, wanting to keep him busy, she asked him to. He had jumped up, and started right in, his voice squeaky and high pitched.
“I’m a little demon, short and stout!
Here are my talons, here is my snout.
When I sense witches, here me shout.
Turn me loose, I’ll take them out!”
Now, the music playing softly in the background, kids songs, he leaned against her, cheek to chest as he cavorted around the room with her. The only reason she let him was because she could see over his head that the others were making headway in the escape attempt, all the while giggling each time they looked up.
"I didn't think it was possible..." Adri cut herself off as she ducked to avoid a tree branch. "But this is worse than skiing!"
"And faster, Adri! Much faster!" Prue called over her shoulder before returning her attention to keeping their snowmobile in the path Joe was making for them on his own snowmobile.
Adri tightened her grip on the witch, hoping Prue wouldn't mind. The last thing she needed to do was go flying off. She wanted to be in one piece when they got to the cave. Afterall, she had to make sure her friends were safe so she could kick their asses.
"I'm through!" Freaky spoke in an excited whisper. She grinned, giving Di a little wave with the hand that was no out of the cage before pulling her dusty arm back into the cage. "And the wall is a lot softer out there. It shouldn't be any problem getting though."
"That's great." Talula looked around at her friends. "But who goes first?"
"Me." Rion tried not to wince as she straightened into a standing position.
"What?!" Piper looked at her like she was crazy.
"It might be taking a while Piper, but I'm still the healer."
"Whose still healing from being thrown into a wall." Phoebe shook her head. "I'm going."
Freaky frowned. "Why should you get to? Talula and I found the soft spot in the wall. I think it should be one of us."
Talula raised her eyebrows. "If you think I'm going out there first, you're nuts."
"Then I guess that leaves me." Freaky grinned proudly.
"Not if I decide I should go first." Piper gave her sisters a look as they both opened their mouths to protest. "I'm the oldest. And I'm the only witch in this cave that hasn't been tossed around like a rag doll today."
Freaky frowned again. "I'll arm wrestle you for it."
Di rolled her eyes when she saw them arguing. She had seen how easily Freaky put her hand through the wall. One of them should have been out of the cell by now. Heck, all of them should have been.
"What are you thinking of, my love?"
The sound of Doof's voice reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing. "Uh..." She locked eyes with Freaky, giving her a 'hurry the hell up' look as she wracked her brain for an appropriate answer. She wanted to keep him occupied but she didn't want another groping session. "You."
Doof smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah. Of course." She lifted one hand, making a shooing motion at her friends before running in through Doof's hair. She made a face when she felt how oily it was. "Why wouldn't I be?" She rubbed her hand on the back of his shirt, knowing he wouldn't notice one more stain on the already crusty garment.
Doof cupped her butt. "I'm glad to hear that."
Freaky suddenly fell to her knees and started digging again.
"Hey!" Piper stood over her.
"Arguing isn't getting us anywhere." Freaky grinned as the wall crumpled easily in her hands. "And I'm..." She squeezed through the hole she had made. "Already out!"
"Shhh!" Talula cast a glance at Di and the demon. "Not so loud!"
"What was that?" Doof started to lift his head.
"Nothing!" Di shoved his head back to her bosom. "Nothing at all."
"Morton says you're lying."
"What?"
Doof nodded, snuggling closer to her in the process. "He says you're hiding something."
"Yeah, well..." Di frowned as she watched Piper follow Freaky out of the cell. She had to keep this going for at least a few more minutes. "He's just jealous."
"Morton? Jealous? Of what? He's my best friend."
Di held him in place as he tried to lift his head again. "Yeah, but I'm..." She hesitated, not quite sure if she could say it or not. "I'm your girl. Many a friendship has been wrecked by a member of the opposite sex."
Doof made a noise that sounded something like a giggle. "You said the 's' word!"
"After you."
"No, after you."
"No, I insist. After you."
"Nope. After you."
"Knock it off you two!" Piper hissed the words as she helped Rion, who had just managed to crawl out of the hole, to her feet. "We don't have all day here!"
"Yeah." Freaky nodded her agreement. "Poor Di is dying out there."
"Oh, right." Talula made her way out of the cell.
"I'm coming." Phoebe barely waited for her to clear the hole before pushing her way through. "See, I'm out."
Rion gave her a look. "So now what do we do?"
Piper looked at them all, wide eyed. "I thought someone else had a plan."
"There!" Adri pointed over Prue's shoulder.
"Where?" Prue squinted as she slowed the snowmobile down.
"Right there! The pile of rocks with all the skis in front of it!"
Joe slowed down too. "Looks like we found the place, but that cave in looks pretty bad."
"Not for long." Prue cut the engine and quickly climbed off the snowmobile. She eyed the rocks for a second before waving her hand at them.
Joe frowned as he and Adri came to stand behind her. "What's she doing?"
Adri couldn't help but smile. "Just watch. You'll find out."
Prue frowned when nothing happened. "What the..." She concentrated harder and waved her hand again.
Joe cocked an eyebrow. "I'm watching, but I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be..." His voice stuck in his throat as a huge rock suddenly flew away from the entrance. "...seeing. What the hell was that?"
“How are we going to get rid of lover boy?” Freaky asked as the group peered around a pile of rocks, watching as Di and Doof ‘danced’ around the room.
“I don’t know, yet.” Phoebe said. “I don’t have any spells in mind.”
“How can she stand it!” Talula said, covering her ears.
“That song is just plain torture!” Piper agreed with her.
“Hey, it could be worse.” Rion said, leaning on her sisters as a spark of blue jumped on her nose.
“If it wasn’t for that demon, that would be really funny.” Phoebe teased her sister seeing her go cross eyed at the flickering light, a sour expression on her face.
“What is he doing?” Freaky said, her eye’s getting big.
Doof had put in a new tape in, and as the sounds of ‘Barneys’ theme song played softly in the back ground, he pulled her close, resting his head against her chest, a big grim plastered on his face.
“Ow!” Di said as she pulled her foot out from under Doof’s, yet again.
“My sweet, are you OK?” he asked looking up at her face. Before she realized what he was going to do, he grabbed her by the back of the head and drew her face down to his, kissing her.
“I don’t understand why it’s not working!” Prue said as she looked at the rock laying in the snow. “My powers are not working right.”
“Ummm, Prue.” Adri said looking from the dark hair woman to the blonde haired man beside her. “Joe is starting to freak on me here.”
Looking back at the other woman, Prue saw Joe standing there, his mouth opening and closing yet no sound coming out. As comprehension dawned on the oldest Halliwell she took a step towards the handsome skier only to stop and stare as he collapsed unconscious to the ground.
“That’s just like a man, falling asleep when there’s work to do.” Adri said, rolling her eye’s.
The five voyeurs stood there with their jaws hanging open as the two before them kissed. Talula had her hand over her mouth, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach while beside her Piper seemed to turn a bit green. Phoebe and Rion looked at each other, catching movement out of the corner of their eye’s they just managed to stop Freaky as she started to go and save her friend.
Pulling her down, the two witches knew they had no way to help their new friends, their powers did not have any effect on the loony little demon. They could only watch helplessly as the little Casanova used his other hand to pull her close.
Di saw red. She had put up with everything else he had done, from groping her butt to drooling on her ski jacket, which she now vowed to burn at the first opportunity, but this was the final straw that broke the Canuck’s back. Pulling back from him, she smiled sweetly at him.
“Doof?”
“Yes my loveeeeeep.” He said in a strangled sob, his face going a sickly pale yellow as pain spread through his entire body, his nerves screaming in silent agony and he folded in on himself, his hands dropping to the source of the problem.
“You lecherous little creep!” Di said, having driven her knee into the most sensitive part of the little ‘mans’ body. “Do you think that just because I was letting you paw at me that I would allow you to do that! I will have you know, I DO NOT like you, I DO NOT want to be here! AND! I DO NOT want you to touch me, EVER! Again!”
Getting no response from him, she looked down at her feet, seeing him curled up in a fetal position with his hands clutching his jewels.
“I took out my brother like that, and I can take out you too! Next time, if there ever IS a next time, remember this!” she said, her temper flaring. “Woman are NOT your toys to do with as you want! And, that goes for your pal Morton too! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!” the last was said as she stood there glaring down at him, her hands on her hips.
“Oh, that was priceless!” Rion said as they all ran up to her.
“You showed him Batman.” Freaky told her, clapping her hands.
“I never thought to use that method to take out a demon, but it works for me.” Piper said, agreeing with Freaky.
“Replay! Replay!” Phoebe said, a mischievous grin on her face.
“Ummmm, guys” Talula said as she looked at Doof. “He’s trying to get up.”
“OH no you don’t!” Di said, grabbing the vase of flowers from the makeshift table and bringing it crashing down on his head. As the little demon slumped bonelessly to the floor, black mud forming a puddle around him, Di wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Let’s get out of here. My knee hurts, I really need a drink, and a tetanus shot.”
“What about him?” Talula asked as the others all headed for the tunnel out.
“He’s harmless. I just can’t bring myself to vanquish the poor pathetic little guy.” Piper told her.
“Besides, I don’t think he will feel ‘up’ to bothering anyone for a long time.” Freaky said with a smirk, putting her arm around Di’s shoulders, “First rounds on Adri when we get back.” she laughed.
"Whoa!" Adri put her hands up to shield her face as the mountain of rocks before them suddenly went flying. "I take it your powers are working again?"
Prue nodded. "I think you could say that."
In no time at all she had the entrance to the cave cleared. She stepped closer to the darkness before her and started to call out to her sisters. Adri stepped up beside her and yelled for her friends at the same time.
"Pi..."
"D..."
They gave each other a look before trying again.
"Pho..."
"Frea..."
They both paused to give the other an opportunity to speak up before trying one more time.
"Ri..."
"Tal..."
Prue chuckled and was about to tell Adri to go ahead when a strange light flickered on somewhere in the depths of the cave.
"Wow!" Rion stumbled as her powers kicked back in full force, bathing her in a soft blue light.
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."
She frowned. "Shut up, Freaky!"
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."
She turned her frown on the now grinning Di. "Oh, not you too!!"
"Stop it guys." Talula giggled. "It's not Rion's fault we could use her as a flashlight."
"Hey!" Phoebe threw her arm around her sister's shoulders. "Stop picking on her, guys. I personally think she's the coolest shade of blue I've ever seen."
Rion rolled her eyes. "Thanks a million, Pheebs. That helped a whole lot."
"Why don't all five of you stop before I..." Piper never finished her threat. "Is it my imagination, or do I see daylight?"
Talula followed her gaze. "I hope it's not your imagination cause I see it too."
Rion squinted. "And isn't that Prue and Adri?"
That was all it took for all six of them to take off. Piper, Phoebe and Rion found themselves rushing into Prue's waiting arms. Di, Freaky and Talula came to a stop in front of Adri.
Adri gave them each a once over. "Are you guys all right?"
"Yeah, but I think Di could use a toothbrush." Talula elbowed her friend playfully.
Di chuckled. "And about a pound of mouthwash."
"And a tongue scraper." Freaky grinned. "Don't forget the tongue scraper."
Adri raised her eyebrows. "What happened in there?"
"You don't wanna know, Adri." Di patted her on the arm. "You really don't wanna know."
"Yeah." Freaky nodded. "Let's just say she's gonna need some extra TLC from Miguel when she gets home."
"Ugh. What..." Joe picked that moment to sit up. "What happened?"
Freaky's face lit up when she saw him. "Or a certain snow bunny that happens to be right here." She grabbed Di, shoving her toward Joe. "Go get him, tiger."
"Hey... Hi!" Di offered him a hand up as she stumbled to a stop beside him. "Came to my rescue again?"
"Yeah." Joe looked around as he stood. "At least that's what I thought. Then again I thought the entrance to the cave was blocked."
"Nah." Di shook her head. "Just a few small rocks. Nothing a couple of he-women like Prue and Adri couldn't handle."
"Right." Joe smiled. "We should get you all back to the lodge."
"I call shotgun with Prue!" Adri hurried over to the snowmobile they had used earlier.
Talula grinned. "And I think Di should get to ride with Joe."
"Yeah." Freaky grinned too. "After all, she's had a very trying ordeal today."
"But what about the rest of us?" Piper threw her hands in the air. "How are we supposed to get back?"
Rion had a cat who swallowed the canary smile on her face as she picked up her skis. "We still have these."
"But..."
Phoebe put her arm around her big sister's shoulders. "We don't really have a choice, Pipe. Not unless you wanna walk back."
"Fine." Piper growled. "But I am SO never coming to another ski lodge!"
Joe turned to look at Di as Prue and Adri took off and everyone else but their skis on. "You ready back there?"
"Yeah." She nodded as she tentatively put her hands on his sides.
"Here." He moved her hands so that they were circling his waist. "The ride back might be rough. You'd better hold on tight."
Di smiled. Now THIS was her kinda guy.
Prue and Adri were waiting for the others as they came in the lodge, wind burned but happy. On the table in front of them, close to the large fireplace was a tray holding large mugs. Moving over to them, Phoebe picked up her mug, smelling the contents.
“Hot Toddies?” she said, looking at her oldest sister.
“Adri got them, as a pick me up, and a warm me up.” Prue told her, taking a sip.
“Thanks. It is getting a bit chilly out now.” Talula said, holding the warm mug in both hands.
Freaky and Rion moved over to stand close to the flickering flames while Piper claimed the seat next to Prue. Turning, Freaky warmed her backside, scanning the room. A frown creased her brow when she noticed one of their number was missing.
“Where’s Di?”
“I thought they were following you.” Adri said, sitting up to look around the room.
“No, she and Joe left right after you did.” Talula told her, getting on the coffee table to look over the room.
As they all got to their feet, fearful that Doof had come to take his ‘love’ away they spotted her coming across the lobby, looking for all the world like the cat that ate the canary. Seeing them all looking ate her, she sauntered up to them.
“Hi.” She said
“So, where have you been?” Adri asked, looking at her tousled hair.
“Around.” She said evasively.
“With who?” Freaky said, picking a twig out of Di’s hair, grinning from ear to ear.
“What? I didn’t go anywhere.”
“So then, what took you so long to get back? And why does Joe look so smug?” Talula said, spotting Joe walking towards the elevators.
“We got lost on the way down, and then we stopped to look at the view.” Di told them, blushing slightly.
From by the fireplace they heard the sounds of snickering as Rion and Phoebe shared a look. “Yeah, sure you did.” They said as one, breaking down into hysterics.
“Did you two have ‘fun’?” Freaky asked, sitting down as she to started to join the younger sisters.
“Hey, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” Di told them as she turned to take one last look at Joe’s retreating form.
As the others all shared knowing looks, Di grinned, knowing that even thought she had had to deal with a demented hermit demon, she still had a good time. She had not spent her birthday alone but with her friend, new and old, and that in the end, that’s all that mattered.
Feeling someone tap her on the shoulder, she turned, only to jump back a bit as a shrouded figure loomed over her.
“Di. I have come for you.” The specter of death said, pushing her down onto one of the couches. Handing her a dozen balloons, he stepped back, placing a CD player down on the coffee table. Hitting the play button, music started to play.
From behind her she heard the sound of seven voices making cat calls and whistling as the Grim Reaper started dancing. Wagging his hips, his robe swirling around him, he gyrated in front of her as he stripped to the music of The Phantom of the Opera. Removing his robe he was dressed in a tight black tux, accenting his chest and well muscled legs. He removed one article of clothing at a time, draping it on Di as she both grinned and blushed until he dropped to one knee before her in just his trunks and mask.
“Happy Birthday.” He said as he pulled a dozen roses from a sack he had dropped when he approached her. Reaching up, he pulled the skull mask from his face and Di found herself staring into Joe’s big blue eye’s.
“You?” Di said, blushing a deep red.
“If I had know when they contacted my company, I would have done it for free.” He told her, kissing her hand while behind her the others just stared.
The next morning found them waiting for the inevitable.
"So." Piper looked at her friends. "How do you guys explain this kind of thing when you get back?"
"No explanation necessary. No one seems to notice that we're gone." Talula gave her friends a look. "At least that's how it is for me. Please tell me that's how it is for you."
Adri laughed. "It is."
Prue nodded. "Must have something to do with the magic used to bring you here." She frowned. "It's taking those four an awfully long time to get coffee, isn't it?"
As if on cue the door to the room opened and a laughing Phoebe, Rion, Di and Freaky stumbled in.
Adri instantly frowned. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." Freaky tried to look innocent.
Talula rolled her eyes. "You might as well tell her. She'll get it out of you eventually."
"True." Di continued to laugh. "Look out the window."
Piper sighed as they all did as they were told. "Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?"
Prue pulled back the curtain to reveal the snowman the girls had made the day before. But the face now had an uncanny resemblance to Joe.
Phoebe busted a gut. "Hey, Di had to leave a present for Joe, didn't she?"
"Yeah." Di tried to defend their actions. "Besides, Miguel will forgive me."
Prue put the curtain back and looked at Freaky and Di where they stood with Rion and Phoebe. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I am so glad you don't live anywhere near San Francisco."
Everyone laughed this time.
"Well..." Adri looked at her watch. "It's almost time for us to go. At least we get to say goodbye this time." She gave Prue a fond look. "Thanks for putting up with us."
Prue smiled. "No problem."
Talula sighed. "I really hate to go. Being here is much better than job hunting."
"Hey, move to San Francisco." Piper grinned. "I'll give you a job at P3."
Talula chuckled. "Don't tempt me." She looked over at the other foursome. "Aren't you guys going to say goodbye?"
Rion grinned. "Nope."
Prue frowned. "Why not?"
Phoebe waggled her eyebrows. "Cause Di and Freaky aren't going anywhere."
Adri frowned too. "Excuse me?"
"Yep." Di flashed them a brilliant smile. "We've got another 48 hours."
Freaky nodded. "Thanks to our two Wiccan friends. And we're going to Disneyland!"
"What?!!" Prue started to say more but the four of them started to fade from view. "Rion, Phoebe! You two are in BIG trouble!!"
"Cya!!" Di waved at the four of them as they disappeared, already conjuring up images of all the fun they were going to have in Mickey Mouse land.