[clyde]

Last night, I fell asleep on the couch. This morning, my wife reported that around 2:00 one of our daughters took a shower. When the shower water turned on or shortly after, my wife was woken up by a loud noise and discovered that the cold water handle from the bathroom sink had popped off and water was flowing from the cold water pipe where the handle should have been (the mater sink area is open and exposed to bedroom with a door between it and the shower/toilet area). She turned the cold water off and cleaned up the water. She told me the hot side still worked.

When I brushed my teeth this morning and turned on the hot water handle, water began flowing from the cold water pipe area where the faucet handle. I closed the handle the water stopped. I looked in the cabinet under the sink and there was a sizable puddle. I mopped it up and looked at the exposed cold water pipe where the handle should be and saw that water was still flowing very slowly. I turned off the hot water under the sink and was able to turn the cold water knob a little further than it had been.

I don't know anything about plumbing, but what's happening here? What could have caused the cold water faucet handle to pop off? Why would water flow form the cold pipe when the hot side is turned on? Is there a connection to the shower? What do I need to do to fix?

I haven't looked closely at the faucet handle to see if anything visibly broke. if something did and it's not obvious to an idiot, I don't know that I'll recognize it.

Any ideas?