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 "Prue! Prue!" 15-year-old Piper Halliwell shouted, as she raced through the Baker High School parking lot towards her big sister on a springy Friday afternoon. Prue, who was 17, was standing next to their car.
 "What? What?" Prue asked, echoing Piper's enthusiasm, "Get another A? No wait, you've made a potion to make Phoebe disappear, right?" Prue asked, almost hopefully.
 "Ha ha. Like I'd do that. Prue, you are so down on her sometimes. She really looks up to you, and all you do is push her away." Piper said, watching Prue's face for any signs of emotion. Since their mother had died when Piper was 6, the girls' grandmother had taken care of Prue, Piper, and their 12-year-old sister, Phoebe. Prue had been like their second mother, and had completely shut herself off from her emotions. She got angry, but she never, ever cried. Not even when she was nine, and broke her arm. Piper thought.
 "I know, but she's just so hard to live with. She..oh never mind. Come on, we've got to pick up Phoebe." Prue said abruptly, as she got in the car. Piper sighed, and climbed in the car, too.
 Prue and Piper rode in silence through the familiar streets of San Francisco, until they stopped at Camden Junior High to pick up Phoebe. The baby of the Halliwell sisters climbed into the car in a whirlwind of noise and energy. "Hey, Piper, Prue, guess what? Today my friend Rose and I were paired together on a project, and we made it really nice, but then this really stupid kid, Kirk- but we call him Kirk the Jerk- came over and spilled purple and orange paint on it, and then I jumped up and painted his face red with my paintbrush, and then the teacher got mad, and she yelled at me and Kirk, even though Kirk started it, and then...." Phoebe prattled on.
 "Phoebe, can you be quiet? I've got a really bad headache, and your lip flapping is making it worse!" Prue snapped, trying to maneuver her way out of the parking lot.
 "Good!" Phoebe shot back.
 "Phoebe!" Prue barked louder this time.
 Phoebe looked at Piper with wounded eyes. "It's okay, Pheebs, Prue's just tired from the long week. I've got some great news by the way. For cooking class we're supposed to bake a meal- a full meal, too, not just macaroni and cheese- for our family." Piper said, absolutely beaming. She loved anything that had to do with cooking.
 "Hey, sweetie, that's great. This is the next step in your dreams of being a chef. What are you gonna cook?" Prue asked, cheerful all of a sudden.
 "Well, I wanted it to be something really special. Maybe a soufflé or a roast or something." Piper said, scratching her chin in thought.
 "Are you serious? A soufflé? Better go with the roast, sister dear." Prue advised.
 "What's a soufflé?" Phoebe asked from the back.
 "It's kinda like a pastry dish. It's extremely hard to make, because it rises only to a certain point, and then collapses. You have to catch it before it does that, and for inexperienced people, it's nearly impossible to do." Prue explained.
 "Inexperienced? You think I'm inexperienced? We'll just see about that! I'm gonna make you guys a soufflé, and you will love it!" Piper huffed, and turned towards the window.
 "Whatever you say." Prue said, and shifted her attention to the road. Phoebe giggled in the backseat. "What's so funny?" Prue asked her sister.
 "Nothing." Phoebe answered, and turned towards the window, You wouldn't think it was funny anyway. Phoebe thought.
 "Grams, we're home!" Prue called, as she and her sisters walked in the door of their Victorian home.
 "Great, girls, I'm off. The number where I am is on the refrigerator, no friends over, no late nights, don't eat too much junk food, and most importantly, have a good time!" Grams said, kissing each of her granddaughters on the head, and leaving the house.
 "Woooohooooo!" Phoebe hooted.
 Grams popped her head back in, "I heard that!" she said, looking sternly at Phoebe.
 "Phoebe's just excited, because she gets to stay home all weekend with her
wonderful older sisters." Piper said. Phoebe rolled her eyes.
 "Okay, well, listen to Prue, okay, and be good." Grams said, and she left the house again.
 "Okay, supper's coming right up!" Piper exclaimed, and she ran into the kitchen. Prue smiled and headed upstairs, while Phoebe took her favorite position, parked in front of the television.
 "Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!! It collapsed AGAIN!!!!" Piper screamed with frustration an hour and a half later. Prue came down the stairs and into the kitchen, to find Piper nearly in tears as she dumped the ruined soufflé down the sink.
 "Piper, honey." Prue said, as she went over and wrapped her arms around her sister, "Honey, I think maybe you should switch to something easier. Try something like some lemon chicken or pork chops. Something simpler." Prue suggested.
 "I don't want something simpler. I want something hard. So I can.. make you proud of me." Piper said, desperately trying to hold back the tears.
 "Oh, honey, I am proud of you. Just the way you are. I can't cook anything, and Phoebe's too young, so you're the cook of the sisters, and you make me proud all the time, even when you make Phoebe a hot dog. It's that simple gesture that makes you Piper, and I love that. I don't need a soufflé or anything fancy to be proud of you. Honey, do your nerves a favor, and make us something less challenging, okay?" Prue turned Piper to face her, and ran her fingers along her sister's cheek
 Piper sniffled. "Okay, want some lemon chicken?" she asked.
 "Definitely. I'm gonna go finish my homework, and then you, me, and Phoebe are gonna have a fantastic dinner. And then we'll get Phoebe to clean up the mess afterwards." Prue grinned.
 "I heard that!" Phoebe called from the next room.
 "Oops. Okay, I'm going." Prue raced out of the room, and up the stairs, pausing only to tug Phoebe's hair as she ran by.
 30 minutes later, Phoebe decided she was bored of the television. She could smell chicken baking, and followed her nose into the kitchen where Piper was cleaning up the utensils she had used for the soufflé.
 "I'm hungree!" Phoebe whined.
 "Nice to meet you, Hungry. Have you seen my sister, Phoebe, around?" Piper asked, with mock seriousness.
 "Piperrrr! I'm Phoebe!" Phoebe giggled.
 "Oh, that's right, you are. Sorry, didn't recognize the whiny voice." Piper said, scrubbing a pot vigorously with a sponge. She rinsed it out, and set it aside. "Hey, I've got to run downstairs for something. Will you watch the oven, please?" Piper asked.
 "Sure. Be careful, the Woogyman might get you!" Phoebe called after her sister, as Piper descended the basement stairs, and dropped out of view. Almost as if on cue, smoke began leaking out from the oven door.
 "Uh, Piper? There's smoke coming out of the oven. Piper?" Phoebe called uncertainly. She crept towards the oven. "Piper?" she called again. Then her fears all left her as her curiosity took over. Phoebe opened the oven door.
 Prue was circling her answer to a Geometry problem, when she heard a bang from downstairs. She was out of her seat and out the door in two seconds, "Piper? Phoebe?" she called. As she raced downstairs, the smoke alarm went off.
 Piper was rooting through the jars they kept in the basement when she heard the bang. She noticed smoke billowing at the top of the basement door as she raced up and through the door into the kitchen. There, the door to the oven was wide open, and flames were shooting out.
 "PRUE!!" Piper screamed, as she raced for the fire extinguisher they kept in the cabinet by the door. Prue raced into the room, and helped Piper put out the flames.
 Piper coughed over the smoke, "Prue, where's Phoebe? She was in the kitchen when... Phoebe!" Piper called.
 "I didn't see her in the living room. Phoebe?" Prue called, and headed into the dining room, as Piper rounded the corner of the island.
 "PRUE!!" Piper screamed again. "Prue, get in here! She's hurt!"
 Prue's mind was racing double-time as she ran back into the kitchen to find Piper cradling their unconscious baby sister in her arms. "Oh, my God. I'll call 911." Prue said, and raced for the phone.
 Later at the hospital, Piper sobbed in her big sister's arms, "Oh, God, please let her be okay!" The paramedics had just wheeled Phoebe into the emergency room. "Prue, this is all my fault. I left her with the chicken. How could I be so stupid? If she dies, I don't know what I'll do. Prue, she won't die, will she?" Piper asked, looking up at Prue with wounded, tearful eyes.
 "Shh, honey. Phoebe's too stubborn to leave us. That's in the Halliwell gene, stubbornness. I'm sure she'll be fine." Prue soothed her sister, who buried her face back into Prue's shoulder.
 "This is all my fault." Piper cried.
 "Piper, look at me. Look at me, sweetie. This is not your fault. Like you told me, Phoebe must have opened the oven. You couldn't have known it was going to blow up in her face. This is absolutely not your fault, okay, please don't blame yourself for it." Prue soothed her. It's not your fault, it's mine. I should have been there watching, instead of leaving you in the kitchen by yourself. Prue thought, as she kissed her sister on the top of her head.
 Piper was nearly dozing when a doctor finally approached. "Phoebe Halliwell's family?" he asked.
 "Yeah. How is she? How's my baby sister?" Prue asked.
 "Your sister should be just fine. She has a mild concussion and second degree burns on her face and arms, but she's stable and they're moving her into her own room in the pediatric wing now. You may go see her if you'd like." the doctor told them.
 Prue breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on, Piper, let's go see our baby sister." Prue said, getting up, and pulling Piper along with her.
 Prue opened the door to Phoebe's room softly. She and Piper walked towards the bed, and Prue began stroking Phoebe's hair. Piper climbed on the bed, and lay next to her sister, holding her hand, and caressing her cheek.
 "We're here, Phoebe." Prue whispered.
 "I love you, Phoebe, I'm sorry." Piper whispered.
 Phoebe stirred a little. "Prue? Piper?" she asked, drowsily, her eyes still closed.
 "Shh, baby, just rest. We're right here." Prue answered, softly. Phoebe smiled and took a deep breath, calmed by the fact that her sisters were with her.
 The next morning, Piper awoke to find herself still on the bed with Phoebe, who was sleeping peacefully. Prue was asleep in a chair next to the bed, and Grams was asleep on another chair closer to the door. Piper grinned as she snuggled in closer to Phoebe and remembered the conversation they had all had last night. Grams had asked her granddaughters what lessons they had learned from all this, and Piper had said, "For one thing; don't leave Phoebe alone in the kitchen, and two; sisters are more important than dumb soufflés." Phoebe had smiled at that, and kissed her sister.
 Piper kissed her sister now, and repeated, "Sisters are more important than anything!"