Charmed: Heritage - 107 - Morality Bites 2: Biting Back ~ P1

[StoryGirl83]

Charmed: Heritage
Episode 1X07 - Morality Bites 2: Biting Back ~ Part 1

Prologue – Melinda’s Last Hope

Sat, Feb 13, 2027

The Wyatt household had never been one that was very loud. In fact the house Leo Wyatt shared with his only child, his daughter, Melinda, was generally very quiet. Today was no different. For all that it was the day before Valentine’s Day, neither father nor daughter had a sweetheart to give alter to their days.

Melinda paced the floor of her father’s house as she talked on the phone with one of her very few friends. Her brown hair, hung loose around her shoulders as the newly twenty-four-year-old walked in circles. “I know. My dad is really protective of me. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the divorce and we both know how long ago that was.”

Behind her current path, the sound of the door opening and closing barely registered. A moment later her father, Leo Wyatt, walked into the room. He looked defeated.

“I don’t see Mom much these days, but . . .” Melinda’s voice halted as she saw her dad. “Dad’s home. I’ve got to go. Bye.” After listening to her friends response, she hung up the phone. As soon as it was in its cradle, she rushed over to her father’s side. “Dad, dinner’s ready. I finished it about.”

“Melinda, not now,” Leo’s words were a little harsher than he meant them to be. “Your Aunt Prue called. They lost.”

“They lost?” Melinda repeated confused. Those were words she never heard in regards to her mom and aunts. “Are they all right?”

Leo shook his head, sorrow welling up with in him, for everything that had just happened and everything that had happened over the years from the moment Phoebe’s friend had been murdered more than seventeen years before to this very latest death, the one that hurt him the most. “No, Melinda. They aren’t all right.” He inhaled a shaky breath. “The battle was in an anti-orbing zone, so they couldn’t call me or your uncle. Prue managed to get far enough away that she could call Andy, but Paige and your mom are dead.”

“Dead?” Melinda stared at him in disbelief. “They can’t be dead. They’re the Charmed Ones. The Charmed Ones can’t die.”

“Your Aunt Phoebe died,” Leo reminded her, softly.

“But that was years ago,” Melinda protested, as if that made a lick of difference. “It’s been seventeen years since they burned her. Mom can’t be dead.”

Leo hugged his daughter to him and they stood there, silent for a minute.

When Melinda pulled away there were tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She took in a shaky breath and swiped at the tears, for once not so concerned that she missed most of them. Finally, she looked at Leo. “Where’s Aunt Prue?”

“She’s at home,” Leo informed her, suddenly apprehensive, though he could see no reason. “Andy wanted her to stay put.”

“Then, I’m going to see her,” Melinda declared. “Do you want to come?”

Leo shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do.”

“All right,” she conceded, tears flowing once again. “I’ll see you later, Dad. Food’s on the table. I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, Melinda,” Leo returned, hugging his daughter once more. “Be careful.”

Melinda nodded and drew in another shaky breath. She wiped away the remainder of her tears and composed her face. “I will.” With this words, those final words, she orbed out.

---

Most of the time, it takes hours to get from San Francisco to Boston, or even days if you took a car. Melinda was there in seconds.

Prudence Victoria Halliwell-Trudeau, Prue to those who knew her, was almost unrecognizable to even her closest acquaintances as she sat on one end of a couch in her living room sobbing. Her clothes were torn, having refused to allow her husband to fix those. She wanted her sisters. Blood, not all hers, was caked onto her clothes in different places, thought the wounds that had caused the blood were gone.

Her husband, Andrew David Trudeau, Andy to those close to him, had his arms wrapped around her, trying in vain to give his wife some measure of comfort. As it was, he simple held her as he had ever since he had arrived home with her.

On the other end of the small couch, Prue and Andy’s two daughters, huddled in each other’s arms, both crying hard.

Patricia Phoebe Trudeau, called Pat by most people, was the older by two years. All of fifteen, she at that moment wasn’t feeling that being oldest was a good thing. It meant she had to show some sort of control for her younger sister.

Victoria Penelope Trudeau, Vicki to all, was all of thirteen. The loss of her two aunts had hit her hard, but right at that moment as she sobbed, her head was being invaded by bizarre images, things she didn’t want to see. Her mother called it her power, but Vicki failed to see the usefulness of seeing events that never happened to people who didn’t exist. It seemed to happen most when she was emotional, very happy, or like now, very sad.

When Melinda orbed in, no one looked up. “Aunt Prue?”

The sound her niece’s voice caused, Prue to look up. “Melinda. You shouldn’t have come.” Realizing how that sounded she tried again. “Are you all right? Did Leo tell you?”

“He told me,” Melinda admitted, “but I won’t accept it. We will fix this.”

“We can’t, Melinda,” Prue informed her. “They are gone.”

“I’ll write a spell,” Melinda declared. “I’ll take us back in time. I’m twice blessed. It has to be good for something.”

Pat let go of her little sister and stood up. She looked at Melinda, her eyes red. “Melinda, think. You might make things worse. You might end up getting Mom killed, too.”

Melinda shuddered. “Then, I’ll have to make sure I word it right. Won’t I?”

Still on the couch, Vicki looked at her pleading. “Time travel’s tricky, Mel.”

Not permitting herself to admit that this could fail she looked at her aunt. “Can you get the Book of Shadows? It is here, right?”

Prue nodded and she stood. Without a word, she walked out of the room.

“Uncle Andy?” Melinda looked at her uncle questioningly. “What’s wrong? I can tell you have something you want to say.”

“No,” Andy denied. Other than the obvious, nothing is wrong. What do you need to make this work?”

Melinda considered the plan roaming through her brain. “Chalk and a blank wall.”

Andy nodded. “Upstairs then. There is a blank wall in Vicki’s room.”

“Dad!” Vicki exclaimed, though it was only a token protest. She wanted her aunts back, too.

Andy smiled. Seeing that he was serious about her wall, Vicki sighed and left the room. Andy, Melinda, and Pat followed her out.

---

About half an hour later, Vicki and Pat sat on Vicki’s bed. It really was a sparse thing, with no pictures, posters, or even colorful paint on the walls.

Andy was sitting on a chair near his daughter’s bed. He didn’t want to interfere as his wife and niece worked.

Prue and Melinda were in the midst of drawing a triquetra on the wall. Prue didn’t think it appropriate. “It’s the symbol of the power of three, which is no more.”

“It’s the symbol of the Halliwells,” Melinda argued. “It had been on the Book of Shadows for generations. Besides we have no other symbol to use.”

Prue sighed as she relented. “Did you fix the spell how you want it?”

Melinda nodded as she put the finishing touches on the triquetra. “I think it should work.”

“In that case, let’s do this.” Prue saw no point in delaying it. Unlike Melinda, she wasn’t confident it would work, but it was better than nothing and if there was the slightest chance she would get back her sisters than she would do whatever she had to.

Melinda picked up a sheet of paper lying on the bed next to Vicki. “Will you say it with me, Aunt Prue? Pat and Vicki, too. We need all the power behind it that we can get.”

Pat looked at her parent for permission as Vicki stood and walked over to Melinda’s side. At Prue’s nod, Pat joined her mom, sister, and cousin.

Melinda held out the paper for all to see, silently begging for it to work.

Andy stood from his chair and walked over to them. He put a hand on his wife’s shoulder, to comfort, to give strength and support.

Pat and Vicki joined hands. Vicki’s left hand rested on Melinda’s arm.

Prue held the edge of the paper with her right hand. Her eyes closed briefly, wishing, hoping.

As one the four remaining Halliwell witches read allowed the words on the page. “In this time of darkest need, we call upon the Warren seed. Let those within this building dwell, save the Charmed Ones with this spell. Take us to a place where we’ll be close enough to save these three.”

As they finished reading, Prue turned to Melinda a frown on her face. “That’s not a time travel spell.”

Before Melinda could respond, the triquetra on the wall glowed blue and all five were pulled into the unknown.

Credits Roll

---

If you haven't read the previous episode, click here and enjoy.

This chapter like the last one of the previous story takes place in an alternate reality. It tells the end result of the battle discussed there. Eventually their will be an actual story detailing that situation, but for now enjoy the story.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter One – Home Invasion, Halliwell Style

Back in San Francisco, though not Melinda’s San Francisco, Wyatt Halliwell was sitting on the couch in the living room of the apartment he shared with his brother. He flipping channels on the TV, but no remote was in sight.

From the kitchen, his younger brother, Chris, called to him. “I think that’s a little thing called personal gain.”

Wyatt looked straight ahead, across the room into the kitchen, where his brother stood in the doorway. “No, it’s not. All these channels and there really is nothing on. No gain, personal or otherwise in that.”

Chris gave him a look. “Then, stop flipping the channels.”

Wyatt looked at the TV and it shut off. “I need to practice. I’m years behind you.”

Chris entered the room. “Please, you got the hang of that a month ago. Are you going to ready to go in five minutes? Mom wants us there to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her restaurant.”

“Says the guy who a month and a half ago couldn’t remember she had a restaurant,” Wyatt shot back, though a grin was on his face.

“Very funny,” Chris quipped. “I remember now. My memory is fully intact.”

On the opposite wall from the TV, the one that had a window to the outside, to the left of Chris and the right of Wyatt, a triquetra faded onto the wall between the window and a bookcase. Then, when it was fully there it glowed blue and dumped five people out of it onto the floor.

Wyatt and Chris stared at them in stunned silence. What was going on?

Melinda was the first one to get up. She stood and looked at the brothers for several seconds. Unsure what else to do and on the verge of tears, again, she turned around to look at her aunt, uncle, and cousins, her cousins huddled together, her aunt and uncle staring up at the two boys. “You’re right, Aunt Prue. I messed up. Now, we’ll never get them back.”

“Prue?” Chris mumbled to himself, recognizing the name.

Hearing his brother, but not understanding the name from all the way across the room, Wyatt looked at Chris. Then, he looked at the small crowd now in their apartment.

Deciding that it would do no good to stick around until they knew who these were, Andy stood and tried to orb Up There. He figured that based on their reactions, these two knew about magic at least. When nothing happened, he looked down at his wife. “Prue, move something. I can’t orb.”

Prue looked across the room and tried to move the rarely used remote with her eyes, her normal way of controlling her power. When that didn’t work, she stood before she waved her hand and still nothing happened.

Pat and Vicki watched their parents and both tried orbing. Vicki’s power wasn’t exactly active and Pat’s would have been a little destructive, so both girls stuck to orbing.

Melinda frowned, but unlike the other four she didn’t do anything to test her powers. She had a feeling that it would be futile. She looked at Wyatt and Chris, accusation in her eyes. “What did you do to our powers? Is there an anti-orb spell on this apartment?” She knew there wasn’t, or if there was it blocked other things, too, since Aunt Prue’s power had nothing to do with orbing.

Instead of answering right off, Wyatt blinked and a book orbed into his hand. “Hardly. Who are you and why are you here?” The last was directed not at Melinda, but at Prue.

When Prue realized she was being asked she set her eyes on Wyatt. “My name is not important and it is none of your business why we are here.”

I beg to differ, Wyatt thought. Considering this is our home I think we have every right to an explanation. He sighed, impatient. Then, he blinked and a phone appeared in his hand. “Chris, call mom and tell her we’ll be late.”

All things considered, Chris walked across the room and took the phone out of Wyatt’s hand. He pushed a button on it. “Mom.”

Wyatt looked back at the group. “Well, I guess you had best have a seat.” He waved his hand in the direction of the two couches and two arm chairs scattered around the room.

Pat and Vicki squeezed onto one of the chairs. Andy only moved far enough to stand next to his wife.

Melinda folded her arms in front of her and glared at Wyatt. She knew if she let her guard down she would be in tears once more. Mom.

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and decided to take that as a challenge. “How about you? What’s your name?”

Melinda ignored him and turned to Prue. “Maybe we should try calling Dad.” She had an ominous feeling that this too would prove impossible.

Realizing, that she was not going to get information without asking these two young men, Prue turned to Wyatt. “What’s the date?”

Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “How about you tell me your name and I’ll tell you the date?” To forestall the potential repetition of known information he added, “And I know your first name.”

Prue decided telling him her name was unlikely to cause too much trouble. “Prue Trudeau.”

Chris hung up the phone as she said this. His eyebrows shot up at the name.

“Trudeau,” Wyatt repeated. “That sounds very familiar.”

“The date,” Prue requested having held up her part of the “bargain”.

“February 13, 2027,” Wyatt informed her before adding, “Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day.” A bad day considering last year I had Amber and this year, no one even knows what happened to her.

“The date’s right,” Melinda realized, slightly depressed. “That means we didn’t travel back any.”

“Time travel’s tricky,” Chris informed her, unknowingly parroting Vicki’s earlier words. “Believe me, I know.”

“That’s what I told Mel,” Vicki informed him, her eyes settling on him for the first time.

“What’s your name?” Chris asked, hoping he had found someone who would talk.

Vicki was silent for a moment before she answered. “Victoria Penelope Trudeau.” With a half attempt at a smile despite eyes still red from crying she added, “People call me Vicki.”

Chris grinned, an idea forming in his mind, the names were just too much of a coincidence. “That is a mouthful.” He tried to pay attention to everyone as he said, “I’m Christopher Perry Halliwell. People call me Chris.” He wasn’t disappointed as all eyes, other than Wyatt’s, were at once on him.

“Halliwell?” Prue questioned, her thoughts warring.

Chris nodded. “Halliwell,” he confirmed. Trying hard he thought back to what little his mom had told him about his aunt Prue. “We had an Aunt Prue, you know. She died years ago, though.”

Shocked, Prue turned to Melinda. “Melinda Wyatt, what have you done?”

“Hear that, Wy?” Chris asked his brother, not bothering to pretend it didn’t matter. “Her last name it Wyatt. I think we need to get Mom and Dad.”

Melinda’s head almost whiplashed and she turned to look at him. Why does he feel the need to involve his parents? “Who are your parents?”

Chris hesitated. I could be wrong. It can happen, easily enough, too, but what if I’m right? Deciding to take the chance he said, “Same as yours, I’m guessing.” Drawing on a memory not from this time line, but the other, he said, “I remember Aunt Phoebe telling us about the time she went with Aunt Prue and Mom to the future. In that future Aunt Prue was alive, Wyatt and I didn’t exist, and Mom and Dad had a girl named Melinda.”

Vicki turned her head to look at Pat. In a whisper she announced. “His name is Wyatt.”

Wyatt remembered hearing the same story, though in this time line, since he only had one set of memories. “I think Mom said that Aunt Prue was blonde and Aunt Phoebe was burned to death for killing someone with her powers.”

“I’ll be right back,” Chris informed anyone who actually cared. When no one replied, he orbed out.

Melinda watched him go wordlessly until he was gone. “Where did he go?”

“To the manor,” Wyatt informed her. “Mom and Dad are waiting for us.” Looking more closely at Melinda he thought about what his mom had said about this sister he never had, or more likely the child his parents never had because they had him instead. “So you’re Melinda? I’m Wyatt.”

Trying to comprehend what was going on, unsure if she was unable or unwilling to believe it. “So if I’m dead, who is the power of three?”

“Mom, Aunt Phoebe, and Aunt Paige,” Wyatt informed her.

By the doorway to the kitchen, Chris orbed in hugging both Piper and Leo. He let them both go once they were materialized to allow them their own assessment of the situation.

Leo looked better than he did in Melinda’s reality, happier. Still to Melinda’s eyes it wasn’t exactly a good change. She wanted him happy, but she wanted him hers and much as he looked like him, this wasn’t her dad.

After catching her balance, Piper surveyed the room. Her eyes stopped and fixed when they say Piper. She stared, motionless for a several seconds. “Prue!” Piper ran over to Prue and hugged her tight. After she let go she looked around at the others. Her eyes stopped on Andy. She frowned, confused. “Andy?”

If things were as they appeared, Andy realized that she probably still thought him dead and only that. Once the thought was in place, it felt awkward to face her, as awkward as it had been the first time she had learned he was still about, probably more seeing as he had been dying that first time around. “Hello, Piper.”

Piper looked at her sons. “Wyatt? Chris? I can understand why you might summon Prue, but Andy? I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Wyatt and Chris looked at each other. Chris motioned for Wyatt to answer. Wyatt shook his head and indicated that Chris should talk. Chris scowled and looked at the five people from the other reality. Chris waved a hand in Melinda’s direction. “Ask her. She seems to be in charge here.” Not exactly true, but she did seem to be the one who came up with the plan that ended them up there.

Piper looked at Melinda. “All right. What is going on?”

Melinda glared annoyed at Chris and Wyatt. “That is not fair play, Mr. Halliwell.”

“Mr. Halliwell?” Piper mouthed.

Melinda turned and faced Piper. She took a deep breath. She gulped and finally talked, her eyes glued on Piper and Leo. “Dad got home earlier and told me that my mom and one of my aunts were dead. I wanted to fix it.”

Piper looked at Prue. “Translation?”

Prue searched for words, the right ones to fit the suspicion she had been harboring. “Alternate reality?”

Inhaling a harsh breath, Piper pointed at Melinda. “Who is she?”

“Your daughter,” Prue informed her, “Melinda.”

“You aren’t a ghost, are you?”

Prue shook her head. “No.”

Piper looked at Pat and Vicki. “And they are?”

“My daughters,” Prue informed her proudly, “mine and Andy’s.”

Piper looked at Andy, startled. “You’re not dead either?”

Andy shrugged. “Well, yesterday, I was a whitelighter, if that helps.”

Piper stared at the five of them, each in turn. After several moments of complete silence, Piper said the only thing that came to mind. “Can I keep you?”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Two – Nowhere to Go

Piper’s words seemed to break the ice, at least for one person. Vicki climbed out of the chair she shared with her sister and walked over to Piper. “Hello, Aunt Piper. I’m Vicki. My real name is Victoria Penelope Trudeau after Grandpa and Grams, but everyone calls me Vicki and,” she pointed at Chris, “he says that’s a mouthful.”

Piper smiled. “Yes, I supposed it is.”

Vicki gave her a curious look. “Do you think you’re anything like my other Aunt Piper?”

Piper looked over at Prue, unsure how to answer.

Prue walked over to her daughter. “Oh, sweetheart, she can’t be the same, not exactly, but there is so much that is.”

Vicki looked up and hugged her mother’s torso. “Are we staying, Mom?”

What I wouldn’t give to say yes, Prue thought as she considered what that would mean. A world without witch hunts. Yes, Pratt’s finally gone, but what he started may never end. A world where Piper, Paige, and even Phoebe are still alive. Phoebe. Wow, I miss her. A world where we haven’t lost so many friends, that we no longer even try to make new ones, where maybe we can even make some new ones. A world where . . . The thought was so strong, that she voiced it without realizing it. “Dad?”

Piper looked at her surprised. “What about him?”

“Is he alive?” Words she hadn’t even dreamt of saying in the more than thirteen years since he died. Here, was he alive?

Piper nodded.

It was at if a weight she hadn’t known she carried was lifted off her chest. “I’d like to see him. I don’t know if this will last, Piper, and I want to see him, alive.”

“Last I checked,” Piper began, still surprised.

Prue shook her head. “Last you checked it was a different reality than mine.”

“So you and Dad made up?” Piper asked, hopefully. It was one thing she knew her Dad regretted, that he had never truly made up with Prue before her death.

Prue’s shoulders slumped. “Somewhat, but it wasn’t until I lost him that I really got it. I miss him, Piper. It’s too late, far too late, but I miss him. He had started coming around a lot, especially after Pat was born, so I think we might have gotten back on good terms, but then he was dead and it was too late.”

“Pat?” Piper hadn’t heard the name since her arrival.

Prue looked over at the chair where Pat still sat. “My older daughter. We named her Patricia Phoebe after Mom and Phoebs, but we called her Pat since Mom was Patty.”

Pat got up from her chair. “Does this mean we get to meet Aunt Phoebe?”

No one seemed to notice as orbs formed in the doorway to the hallway. While, Piper, once more at a loss as to what to say, tried to think of something, the orbs turned into Kevin Sheppard, a very young looking elder. In fact, he hadn’t aged since he was fifteen, despite his unique position as a living whitelighter elder.

“I don’t know,” Piper admitted, “but I don’t know why not.”

“Unfortunately,” Kevin informed them, making his presence known, “I do.”

Everyone turned to look at him. Wyatt groaned in acknowledgement of yet another person in their small apartment living room.

Piper recognized him first. Her eyes widened as she realized that the “teenager” in front of her was about forty-years-old and an elder. “Kevin?”

Kevin grinned. It was the first time in the twenty-five years he had been an elder that he had been permitted to make contact with the Charmed Ones, the very ones who had given him this opportunity. He hadn’t even known them a day and they had changed his life. “Yes, it’s me.”

That confirmed, Piper thought about what he said. “Why can’t she meet Phoebe?”

Kevin’s face fell. He looked grim as he announced. “Because you have about twenty-four hours before they’re gone and Phoebe seems to have dropped off everyone’s radar.”

Piper’s disappointment was obvious as she stated what she believed to be obvious. “They have to return to their reality.”

Kevin shook his head. “No.” He was hesitant before he added, “They have nowhere to go.”

“Then, why can’t they . . ?” Piper began.

Melinda interrupted, terrified. “Nowhere to go! You mean I killed all of them?”

“No,” Kevin corrected. “You ended what never should have been. You, and they, don’t exist.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Melinda asked, upset, coming toward him.

Kevin looked down. He hated this. “I’m sorry.”

“Aren’t I?” Melinda repeated, yelling this time.

Kevin nodded. “Yes, but not for long.”

“So change it,” she directed. “Let us go back.”

“I can’t,” Kevin told her, a catch in his voice. “Melinda, your world, your reality, no longer exists. And you . . .you’re already fading away.”

Melinda poked him in the chest. “Does that feel like someone who’s not there?”

Kevin forced himself not grim. This wasn’t a time to be grinning, not even if her action made him want to laugh. He wasn’t happy, so smiling wasn’t what he even wanted to be doing. This family had helped him and now he was breaking their hearts. “Not yet. Kind of hurts, actually, but unless you find some way to keep it from happening, in twenty-four hours you will be gone.”

[StoryGirl83]

In case you can't tell by this chapter, I have a lot of fun with the idea of Kevin being both a witch and an elder.

---

Chapter Three – The Exception

Prue hugged Vicki to her side and pulled Pat into a hug as well. When Andy came up behind her and hugged her, Prue drew strength from him. Though all of her was focused on her family she turned her eyes to Kevin. “I won’t accept that.”

“You need not accept it I suppose,” Kevin proffered, “but unless you change it, and I know of no way to do that, it will happen. They will be gone.”

No one else seemed to notice his choice of words, but they caused Chris to frown as he began to watch the young elder more closely. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Listen, young man,” Prue began.

“Uh, Prue,” Piper interrupted her, hesitantly.

Prue turned to look at Piper. “What?”

“He’s not a young man,” Piper informed her, remembering him looking exactly the same before her sons were born.

“He sure looks it,” Prue commented looking at the young elder who looked no older than her older daughter.

“Would you prefer that I glamour to look closer to my age?” Kevin offered.

“Glamour?” Prue repeated startled. “You’re a whitelighter.” Shaking her head, dismissing the thought as amusing and ridiculous she added, “They’re sure recruiting young.”

“No, Prue,” Piper replied, amusement in her voice. “Actually, he’s not a whitelighter.”

“Not a whitelighter,” Prue easily believed it, “but is able to glamour. Not a demon or you wouldn’t trust him. And he didn’t enter through the door.” She eyed him curiously. “So what are you then?”

“An elder actually,” Kevin informed her, knowing that if she couldn’t believe he was a whitelighter, she was unable to believe that. “Never a normal whitelighter, seeing as I’ve never died, but I’d have to argue that I’m more whitelighter than her boys, for all that I’ve still a witch as well.”

Prue stood silent a moment, trying to figure out what he just said. “You’re one of Them? But a witch as well? And not dead?”

Kevin nodded. Even now his fingers itched to draw, but it was clearly not the time. “Trust me when I say I have the most bizarre concoction of abilities of any one Up There. Still, unless you would like me to make myself look older of have me prove I am a witch, I don’t see the point in talking about me. You need to know what’s going on.”

“There’s more?” Prue had figured he had delivered all the bad news he could. A feeling of dread seemed to envelope her.

When Kevin didn’t answer it was Chris who spoke. “Explain something to me if you would.”

Kevin turned his attention to Chris. “What’s that?”

“When you were talking to Melinda, there,” Chris inclined his head in the direction of the dark haired young woman, “you told her she was fading, that in twenty-four hours she would be gone.”

Kevin nodded. He knew what Chris was asking.

Prue’s eyes widened as she too understood the implied question. Kevin hadn’t told her that she would be gone. He had told her that they would be gone. She darted her eyes behind her at Andy and hugged her daughters close.

“Yes, I did,” Kevin admitted. “I think,” he hesitated as he looked straight at Prue, “you will not like what else I have to say.”

“Just say it,” Prue told him, wanting whatever bad thing he had to say done with.

It was nothing like she expected. “You exist here still.”

“Meaning what exactly?” Prue asked, her confusion written all over her face. “After all Andy exists here, too.”

Kevin shook his head. “No. About seventeen years ago, this reality lost him to a darklighter.”

“That doesn’t mean he no longer exists,” Prue protested, “just that he is dead.”

“To a whitelighter that is more than just death,” Kevin informed her. “They do not just cease to be a whitelighter. Unlike most death, they can never again be summoned, not,” he added wryly, “that summoning a whitelighter in that manor is possible, but there is absolutely no way to find them. They pass on into their next life and retain nothing of the last with the exception of karma.”

Prue looked at Andy before replying. Turning her eyes back to Kevin she asked, “You are telling me that my husband is in the body of some teenager?”

Kevin chuckled at that. “Not necessarily. It may be that he is in the body of a toddler or that the person that will be his next life has not yet been born. That part of things goes on as it normally does, it is merely that his ghost no longer exists. Because of this, it is of no help to him. Though, unlike the girls, he did exist. He no longer does, so his fate will be as theirs.”

“But not mine,” Prue said softly. “What exactly will happen to me?”

“It has already begun,” Kevin admitted. “By the end of the same period of time, you will have merged with the ghost of your counterpart in this reality. Whether you remain alive or not is up to you. Should you choose death, this reality’s Prue will be the dominant personality, and should you choose life, you will.”

“And what about her choices?” Prue demanded, thinking of this alternate version of her as a different person despite almost thirty years of shared memories. “This other me from this reality? Does she have a choice?”

Kevin shrugged. “I believe she took no longer to make that choice than was necessary to form the words. Until you are fully merged you will gain none of her memories or should you choose death, she will gain none of yours, but by the end of twenty-four hours you will be one person once more. I grant you, half of your life will be rather confusing, but I am told the transition will be much smoother than Chris’.”

Prue frowned and looked at Chris, the question of what would happen should she not choose lost in the newest question. “What does he mean, exactly?”

Chris shrugged. “I have the memories of two life times, only the last month and a half having just one. I merged with my alternate self at that time, so until then I had only one set. It was a,” Chris frowned as he searched for the right word, “poor transition. A demon tried to mess with my head. Quite painful, in more ways than one.”

Even more curious, Prue asked, “You have experienced something like this then?”

Chris shook his head. “Nothing like this. He tried to change the past and did so completely. How I came to have his memories is a mystery to me.” He looked at Kevin, questioningly. “Unless you wish to shed some light on that?”

Kevin shook his head. “Whatever happened to you was not at the elders’ instigation, so I am afraid I know nothing on it.”

“Pity,” Chris replied, not surprised. It would have been far too easy. “I will keep looking, but now, as you say, it not the time.” Not an exact quote by any means, but it conveyed the point.

Prue looked at Andy and then at Piper. Finally, she looked down at her daughters. “I won’t lose you.” Looking at Kevin she informed him that, “I don’t want to be here without them.”

“On that you have no choice,” Kevin argued. “No matter what you do will remain in some form or another.”

“Then, I will find a way to keep them,” Prue informed him a second time. Looking at Melinda, she told her, “All four of you.”

There was a slight smile in Kevin’s eyes as he said, “Then, I have helped you all I can.”

“What help?” Prue asked exasperated. All he had done was impart bad news.

“The other elders didn’t want to tell you,” Kevin relayed reluctantly, “or at least those that did were outnumbered. I refused to accept no for an answer.” It was such an interesting experience being the only witch elder in one of those meetings. It was probably why they refused him entrance to most of them. They knew where his loyalties lay.

“Must have been a short meeting,” Prue retorted, “seeing as we just got here.”

“Catastrophe meetings generally are,” Kevin agreed, recalling the other two he had been to and how little he believed that those were catastrophes.

“Catastrophe?” Prue asked. Yes, it was to her and her family, but hardly to the world.

Kevin was once more grim. “An alternate reality created because of something they did proves in the same second that it did exist and ends, I’d say that qualifies.”

Melinda’s eyes squeezed tight at his words, as if closing them would eliminate the words.

“It’s really gone?” Prue asked the question she dreaded.

Kevin nodded, choosing to remain silent.

“No going back, no chance of it even to save them?” Prue asked, just to be sure.

“I’m sorry,” Kevin told her sincerely. “I wish I could say it still existed, but once it came in contact with this reality for the second time, it ended. There is no way to save it now.”

“And my family?” Prue needed to know.

“That I don’t know,” Kevin admitted. “I know of no way, but you have twenty-four hours to prove me wrong. I hope you do.” That said, Kevin orbed out.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Four – Desire to Live

There was silence for several seconds. Finally, Vicki looked up at Prue. “Mom, what are we going to do?”

“We are going to fix this,” Prue stated firmly. She looked over at Melinda. “And not with time travel.”

Melinda looked downcast at her aunt’s words. “I’m sorry, Aunt Prue. I can’t believe that spell did that.”

“I know you are sorry,” Prue told her, her voice soft, “and we don’t have time to dwell on it. I wasn’t trying to make you feel worse, just warning you not to try it, again.” Much as I love you, sweetie, you seem to think it is a valid response to almost every calamity. I just don’t let you act on it. And this time, Prue sighed, this time I don’t know if that was the wrong answer or the right one. I guess the next twenty-four hours will tell.

“I understand,” Melinda told her without looking up.

Prue looked over at Piper. “Where do you keep the Book? Still at the manor? Or did you move it?

“At the manor,” Piper informed her, smiling. I missed you so much, Prue.

“And how far is that?” Prue asked, looking toward the window. Since it was several feet away, she didn’t see much and certainly not a landmark.

“A few miles,” Piper told her. “The boys both have cars, so we can drive there.”

“Or we can orb,” Prue suggested, a bit impatient to get started. “They both can orb,” or I assume they can since they are yours and Leo’s and Mel can, “and so can Leo.”

Piper shook her head. “Leo is . . .”

When Piper couldn’t seem to finish, Leo finished for her. “I’m mortal, Prue. For the moment let’s just say I have a major falling out with the elders and leave it at that for now.”

“You will tell me what happened later,” Prue informed him.

Leo smiled. “We’ll see.”

“Back to the problem of getting to the manor,” Wyatt announced, drawing attention to himself. “I would have to agree with,” he hesitated as he finished with unfamiliar words, “Aunt Prue.”

Prue looked at Wyatt. In a whispered she voiced the beginning of a thought that had just occurred to her. “Another nephew.”

Andy hugged her. He knew what thought plagued her, remembering what had happened to Paige’s little son over a decade before. “Don’t worry. He clearly turned out all right.”

“Debatable,” Chris teased.

Wyatt smacked Chris’ shoulder. “Hey!”

“Can’t even cook,” Chris continued in mock disdain.

“It’s not like it’s a crime,” Melinda protested.

“Can you cook?” Chris wanted to know.

“Well, yes,” she admitted, “but it was that or starve. Dad can’t cook worth anything.” Melinda’s face fell as she realized just what she had said and that though her dad stood in front of her, the first eighty of so years of his life identical to what her father had faced, the years that had comprised up her entire life where completely different for him. “Dad.” She looked at Leo, tears shimmering unshed in her eyes. She inhaled sharply before addressing him. “If we figure out a way to do this, to keep us here, can you do something for me?”

“What’s that?” Leo asked, his eyes on his daughter. His daughter. Piper had wanted this girl so badly, not just a daughter, though certainly that, but this girl. For the entire time Piper had been pregnant with Wyatt they had though he was Melinda and now here she stood in front of him. His daughter, his and Piper’s.

“Tell me stories,” Melinda requested.

Leo was confused by the request. “Stories?”

Melinda nodded. “Of things that happened before,” she hesitated, “before the realities split, things that you knew in my reality, too.”

Leo smiled. That he could do. “Deal.”

Andy let go of Prue and walked over Leo. “Hello, I’m Andy.” It seemed funny to say that to someone he had known for years, but there it was. “When I was alive, we never really got the chance to meet and then after I became a whitelighter, I was forbidden to contact any of you, so to you I’m pretty much a stranger. In my reality, I considered you a friends and I hope to get the chance to become that again. For now, though I think we’d better get to the manor by whatever method we can and figure things out there.” Andy held out his hand for Leo to shake.

Leo smiled as he accepted the proffered hand and shook it. Letting go, he turned to his sons. “Boys, you are the ones that can orb. Why don’t you take your mother, Prue, and two others and I will borrow someone’s car to get the other two back to the manor. That will give Piper and Prue and chance to get straight to work on this.”

Chris held out his hand and for once too impatient to follow his own rules, orbed the phone onto his open palm. Turning to Wyatt he said, “Work out the details with them. I’m calling Drinka to explain why the guest of honor is going to be absent.”

“Guest of honor?” Prue’s ears pricked as she looked around. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing more important than this,” Piper informed her.

“Piper.” Prue’s voice demanded an answer.

“I own a restaurant, The Manor. We are having a party tonight to honor the fact that it had been twenty years since we opened. Of course I can’t go now.”

Prue stared at Piper for several seconds. In those seconds she made a decision. She turned to Wyatt and Chris. “One of you, take Piper and Leo to her restaurant. This is something special for her. She needs to at least make an appearance. If she doesn’t want to stay beyond that, bring them back to the manor. The rest of us will drive there.”

Chris grinned. I like her. He raised an eyebrow at his brother. “Wyatt, your choice.”

It was obvious to Wyatt what he was being asked. “Trick question.”

“Not really,” Chris told him blandly. He knew much as Wyatt loved their parents he was still on a magic high and wanted to be where the magic was. “I guess I’ll give Drinka your regrets.”

“As if Drinka cares where I am,” Wyatt retorted.

True. “Not really,” Chris admitted, “but she is the only one who works there that I can actually explain to.”

“True enough,” Wyatt concurred. “I’ll see you at the manor.”

Pat raised an eyebrow at Vicki. “I think I just missed the decision part there.”

“They are brothers,” Vicki shrugged. “I think they just know each other that well.”

Chris looked at his mom. “Ready to go, Mom.”

“I said I wasn’t going,” Piper reminded him, slightly annoyed that her older sister had clearly overridden her, but not much since for that to happen, her older sister had to be there.

“I think you have been outvoted,” Chris commented. “Besides, as,” he hesitated, the unfamiliar name on strange on his lips, “Aunt Prue said, you don’t have to stay long. We may well beat them to the manor if we go now.”

Piper looked around the room. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to go, it’s just she wanted to be with Prue more. Finally, she relented, “Fine, but I’m not staying.”

“Fine with me,” Chris agreed, easily. “Innocents, family or not, come first, but we do have twenty-four hours and we can do this while they drive to the manor.” Looking at Wyatt he grinned. “See you there.” Chris hugged his mom to him and waited for Leo to join them. As soon as he had his other arm around Leo, he orbed them out.

Wyatt turned his eyes to the five strangers. “Hi, I’m Wyatt, though I think you probably caught that. It is nice to finally meet you, Aunt Prue, though I didn’t expect it to be under circumstances like this. It is nice to meet the rest of you also. I’ve heard a little about you, Andy, Uncle Andy, I mean, from mom, Aunt Phoebe, and Mark and Beth.”

Andy frowned at the unfamiliar names. “Mark and Beth? Who are they?”

Wyatt frowned. He knew there was no way they were getting either sibling up there before the day was over, at least it was unlikely while they were focused on finding a way to keep them from fading away. Explaining the situation to them would take time, possibly more than they had and he’d never met Mark and Beth’s parents. If they were to get a chance to meet Andy, then surely their dad, Andy’s brother should. With regret he decided it was best not to even explain, maybe later in the day when they had more of an idea of what they were doing. “People who only know you through stories. Chris and I met them a couple of weeks ago when a demon was targeting them.”

Andy regarded him thoughtfully. He didn’t know what, but he knew that Wyatt was keeping something from him. “Keep your secret for now.”

“Not so much a secret,” Wyatt informed him, “as something that might distract you. If . . . when this works, I will tell you. Fair enough?

“Not really,” Andy countered, “but we should probably get on the road, anyway.”

Wyatt nodded. “My Mustang is down in the parking lot.” Wyatt headed into the hall.

Andy looked at his family before following him. He wanted this to work and the sooner they started the sooner they would know.

Vicki was next through the archway. She wanted to believe this would work, not so much for her, though she wanted to live, but for her mom, because for whatever reason it appeared that her mom would live and she knew her mom would hate it without them. It wasn’t as important for her, because if it failed she would never knew, but her mom would.

When Pat didn’t move, Prue took her hand and moved toward the doorway. When Pat still didn’t move she stopped.

Melinda looked at her aunt and cousin. With a sigh, she headed through the doorway and followed the others out.

Prue looked at her older daughter. “What’s wrong, Pat?”

Pat wasn’t sure what to say, so she just started talking. “Vicki is taking this like Vicki takes everything, eager for adventure, curious about what’s around the corner. Dad knows these people somewhat and so do you. Mel won’t let something like that stop her, but Mom, I’m scared. I don’t want to stop existing. I want to live and if here is the only place I can live, then I want to live here.” A slight smile formed on her lips as she added, “Besides, from the sound of it, no one is hunting down witches like Pratt was. We are safer here, if we can only stay, but I’m afraid it will all disappear when I walk out that door.”

Prue looked at her daughter, unsure that she heard her right. “You are afraid that this is a dream?”

“Strange, isn’t it?” Pat admitted. “Our whole world has ended and I want this to be real.”

“Not strange,” Prue decided. “It will be a huge adjustment for all of us, but I think if we figure out how to make all of us remain, it will be better.” She smiled. “And my sisters aren’t dead, none of them, not even Phoebe. Let’s go find a way for you to stay. The child elder may not know a way, but there has to be one, there just has to be.

Pat’s lips quivered, a smile pulling at them. “Let’s.” Feeling better she walked out of the room ahead of Prue.

Prue didn’t follow her out immediately. She looked around the room for a few seconds, looking for something to give her some insight into these two young men that where Piper’s sons. Her face was thoughtful as she finally left the room through the archway.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Five – Making an Appearance
and customers

Chris had orbed them to the back of the restaurant, a fact that seemed to annoy Piper. “Explain again, why we orbed to the back parking lot?”

Chris hid his grin. “No security cameras and no people.”

“Do you want me to take some of them down for you?” Piper asked sarcastically.

Chris grinned. “Na.”

“Good.” She wouldn’t have anyway. “Let’s get this over with then.”

Chris chuckled. “I can’t believe you said that.”

Piper stopped and turned to look at her son. “Why should you be? Prue is here and alive. And Melinda. I met her only for a moment before, but she’s my daughter, Chris, your sister in a way. I want to keep her. I want to keep all of them. Trust me, this party in no way compares. I want to go in there, make an appearance, and get out. I’m only here because you insisted, you and Prue.” Piper stopped talking at people walked by.

A couple stopped in front of them. The man smiled as he greeted Piper. “Mrs. Halliwell, thank you for having us.” He turned to Leo without waiting for a response. “Mr. Wyatt, how are you?”

Leo smiled back. “Just fine, thank you.”

“Twenty years is a long time,” the woman commented. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Piper replied politely.

The man and woman walked into the restaurant.

Piper looked at her husband and younger son. “Do either of you know who they were?” When both Leo and Chris shook their heads, Piper walked toward the doors and inside.

---

Inside The Manor Drinka Deguilio, Piper’s main hostess, was signing people in. The dark haired gypsy looked up as the doors opened. Seeing Piper, Leo, and Chris she smiled. “’Bout time you got here. Your sister called to say she was running late.”

“Which sister?” Piper asked, though she had a guess.

“Paige,” Drinka informed her with a slight shrug. “I haven’t heard from Phoebe, but didn’t you say she was on vacation or something.”

“Right,” Piper agreed. “I’m afraid we won’t be staying long. A family emergency.”

Drinka scowled. She had heard that phrase only rarely until recently, but she knew what it meant. “You’re kidding. Tonight? You’d think they would afford you . . .”

“No, Drinka,” Piper interrupted, “a real family emergency.” No demon attacks, no unrelated innocents, this was purely a family emergency.

“Then, why are you here?” Drinka wanted to know.

Piper rolled her eyes, “Said family insisted, but I’m not staying long.”

Drinka nodded. “In that case, best get started. I’ll go introduce you, you thank everyone attending, and then you can get out as soon as you can get away from people. Work for you?”

“It will probably still take longer than I want,” Piper admitted, “but it will have to do. Thanks, Drinka.”

Drinka stepped away from, the podium and headed into the main room.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Six – Ready to Go Home

Piper smiled as she looked over the faces of the people seated at the tables and booths. “It is really nice of everyone to be here,” she told them. A quick scan around revealed, what she already knew. “I don’t recall inviting this many people though.”

Laughter rippled through the room.

She smiled. “I am pleased that so many people wanted to help me celebrate this occasion. It’s been twenty years since I opened and while I love to cook, I never would have made it this long if you didn’t love my cooking.”

“When you cook like you do, what do you expect?” A man in the audience yelled at the stage.

More laughter rippled through the crowd.

Piper managed to keep from laughing herself. “Thank you. I’m glad you think that.” She wondered how long she had to keep talking. Under normal circumstances she would have only been slightly uncomfortable; public speaking never had been her favorite thing. Had everything been normal she would have been glad to be there, enjoying all the well wishers, but everything was not normal.

Right at that moment, though, all she wanted to do was go home. Home to where her beloved older sister finally was; to where the childhood playmate she used to tag along with while he played with her sister was, alive, but for how long? She wanted to go home to where three very special family members she’d never known, except for that brief minute or so that she had her daughter, were, not wanting to waste any time if this was all the time she had.

She smiled at the crowd and just wished that they would all go away. Much as she loved her restaurant, she loved her family more and right now, they needed her. She couldn’t leave soon enough.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Seven - Calling in Reinforcements

Several minutes later Wyatt’s blue Mustang pulled up in front of the Halliwell manor. The car stopped and the doors opened. Prue, Pat, and Melinda climbed out of the back while Andy helped Vicki climb out of the middle of the front.

“Dad, I can get out on my own,” Vicki informed him teasingly.

Andy dropped his hands, though he was smiling. “Alright then, Sweetheart.”

Wyatt climbed out of the driver’s seat. “Do you remember where everything was when you first got your powers, Aunt Prue?” Though still unfamiliar, the name was becoming easier on his tongue.

“Vaguely,” Prue admitted. “It’s been about twenty-eight years.

“Well, chances are everything is still there,” Wyatt informed her. “Mom likes things organized.

“Sounds like Mom,” Melinda retorted.

Wyatt looked at her. That’s right, she’s Mom and Dad’s from this other reality. What does that make her to me? My sister? Weird. Without audible comment he headed toward the house.

The others followed him up the steps.

---

Just inside the manor the answering machine sat on a small end table blinking. The door opened allowing Wyatt followed by the other five into the building. Wyatt saw the blinking answering machine and pushed the button as Prue shut the door behind them.

“You have one new message,” the answering machine informed them. “Message one. Six-fifty-five PM, Saturday.”

The voice on the answering machine changed to that of Wyatt’s aunt, Paige Samantha Matthews-Mitchell as the message began. “Hi, Piper. It’s Paige. I just called the restaurant, but Drinka said you hadn’t arrived yet. We’re running kind of late. The elders decided they needed Hank for something.”

At the name Hank Prue’s eyes widened. Is it the same boy our Paige lost so many years ago, or just someone with the same name? And if he’s the same boy then how do they handle his powers?

While Prue thought of the little boy her sister had lost at the young age of four in her reality, or former reality as it was appearing, Paige’s message continued. “I’m not sure whether I should be just annoyed or if I have reason for concern. What do they want with my teenage son? Oh, we also have the minor problem of Janice needing to change, but that we’ll fix soon.”

This time it was Vicki who frowned at the machine.

Having recorded this several minutes before Paige continued unfettered. “We will probably not get out of this house until seven-thirty. Sorry, but I’ll see you there.”

Paige’s message complete the machine beeped and announced, “No new messages.”

“Janice?” Vicki whispered, a memory from one of her latest dreams filling her mind. “That name was in my dream.” It wouldn’t be so weird except in the dream Janice had been the name of a girl who had been Aunt Paige’s daughter. That wouldn’t be so weird either . . . except Aunt Paige, her Aunt Paige, had no daughters, only the one son, long dead.

“What’s that?” Pat asked, hearing her sister, but not understanding the words, they were so softly spoken.

“I’m not sure,” Vicki admitted. “Something I have to think on.”

Wyatt didn’t notice the whispered conversation between the sisters. “I think I’m going to call Aunt Paige,” he announced, “see if I can catch her before she leaves.” Looking at Prue, he added, “If you want you can head on up to the attic. I’ll meet you up there in a short while.”

“Mind if I stay down here?” Vicki asked, looking at him.

Wyatt shook his head. “That’s fine, I guess.” He picked up the corded phone next to the answering machine and dialed a number as behind him Prue, Andy, Pat, Vicki, and Melinda all headed into the front room.

On the other end, Alanna Samantha Mitchell stopped short as the phone rang. She glances across the room at where her twin sister, Janice Patricia Mitchell, was busy cleaning off her clothes. The clothes had been covered with food earlier when their younger brother, Hank, had been startled by something. Alanna picked up the phone without bothering to look at the picture ID. “Hi, you’ve reached the Matthew-Mitchell residence. How may I direct your call?”

Wyatt smiled. “Hi, Alanna. It’s Wyatt.”

Alanna looked at the phone surprised. “Hey, how come you’re calling? Are you at Aunt Piper’s restaurant?” She looked at the picture ID and saw that the call was coming from the manor.

“Something came up,” Wyatt admitted. “Is your mom available?”

“Sure,” Alanna told him as she walked out of the room in search of her mother. “I’ll get her,” she started, but spotting her mother she laughed, “never mind. Found her. Here.” She held out the phone and hand it to her mom.

“What?” Paige asked her daughter before taking the phone and putting it to her ear. “Who is this?”

Wyatt smiled at the sound of a familiar voice. “Hi, Aunt Paige. It’s Wyatt.”

“I called to explain that we were running late,” Paige reminded him.

“I know,” Wyatt admitted. “I just listened to the message. Something came up. We need you at the manor.”

“First Hank,” Paige mumbled. “Now this. What’s going on?”

“It’s not really something I think I can explain over the phone, but we need as much help as possible and we have less than a day before we are out of time.”

“A day is a long time,” Paige told him, surprised that he would sound so concerned with so much time.

“Trust me,” Wyatt assured her, “we don’t want to waste any of it.”

“All of us,” Paige asked, deciding to humor him, “or just me?”

Wyatt smiled. “As many of you that will come, even Uncle Henry.”

“Weird,” Paige commented with raised eyebrows. “Not too dangerous I take it. Let me tell Henry where I’m headed and I’ll bring Alanna with me. Janice still isn’t ready to go and Hank’s not back.”

“Thanks, Aunt Paige,” Wyatt grinned as he added, “See you soon.” He hung up the phone and walked into the front room. Inside he at first thought it was empty, then he noticed Vicki standing by the window. “Is everyone else upstairs?”

“Headed that way,” Vicki agreed.

Wyatt looked at her curiously. “Sure you don’t want to join us?”

“I’m sure,” she confirmed. He was about half way up the stairs before she spoke, again. “It’s more colorful, somehow.”

Wyatt stopped and looked at her confused. “What?”

How do I explain? Vicki thought as she looked at him. “I haven’t been here much,” she paused searching for the right words, “in my reality, I mean, but the manor just somehow seems more colorful, like someone turned up the lights and brightened the colors.” She shook her head. “You must think I’m silly.”

Wyatt hesitated. “I don’t know. It does seem kind of odd that you would think the room brighter, but for all I know, maybe it is. The wallpaper could be different.”

“The same,” Vicki argued.

“Less faded, perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” Vicki conceded. “You really don’t mind me wandering around down here?”

“Not really,” Wyatt smiled. “The things that could get someone in trouble are upstairs.”

“Yeah,” Vicki smiled. “I know about those things. Pat and I were forbidden to mess with them. It was just too risky if we were caught. We had more freedom with magic then Mel did though.”

“Oh?” Wyatt queried.

Vicki nodded. “The source of the witch hunts, Pratt, lived in San Francisco, which is where Mel lived. We lived nowhere near there.”

“We’ll have to teach you some magic then,” Wyatt offered, before remembering that there was a very real possibility that she wouldn’t be around long enough for him to teach her anything.

“Oh, I know some magic,” Vicki informed him. “I saw it in my dreams.”

Wyatt smiled. “Hate to disappoint you, but dreams aren’t real.”

“Mom said it was my power,” Vicki told him, “though she didn’t understand what it was. I’m beginning to think that my dreams where showing me here.”

“Here?” Wyatt queried confused. “As in at the manor?”

“No,” Vicki informed him. “This reality. I don’t know for sure though.”

Wyatt looked at her for several seconds, wondering what exactly she saw in her dreams. “I’m going to head upstairs. If you change your mind, you know where to find us.”

Vicki smiled as Wyatt headed up the stairs, once more. Once he was out of sight she looked around and sat down in one of the arm chairs. Please, please, let this work.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Eight – Getting Started

Upstairs in the attic, Prue was flipping through the Book of Shadows. She looked at home, standing there.

Andy was standing next to her, reading the titles silently as the pages turned. He didn’t know if he would spot something his wife had missed, but he needed something to do and this seemed to be the most useful.

Pat was sitting on the edge of the couch. Her eyes were wide as she looked around the attic. Though not a common visitor to the Halliwell Manor, she easily recognized that time had made a huge difference between this attic and the one in her reality.

Melinda, like Andy, wanted to be useful, so she was looking at the potions lining one wall. She read each name wondering if any of them would prove helpful. So far, none had.

Wyatt walked in from downstairs. “Aunt Paige said, she’ll be here soon.”

Prue looked up. “Did you call Phoebe?”

“Not yet,” Wyatt admitted. “She kind of left a few days ago and they don’t have phones with them.”

“They?” Prue queried, not used to associating the plural word with her younger sister.

“Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop,” Wyatt informed her before wondering if he should have.

“Uncle who?” Prue asked.

Wyatt smiled. “Uncle Coop. He’s a cupid and he’s married to Aunt Phoebe. They have three daughters.”

“Well, then call their daughters,” Prue instructed. “Maybe they can find them.”

Before Wyatt had time to answer blue-white orbs appeared in the center of the room turning into Chris, Piper, and Leo. Once they had fully materialized, Chris let go of his parents.

“I need to give that girl a raise,” Piper announced to no one in particular.

“What girl?” Prue asked, smiling at her sister.

“Drinka,” Piper informed her. “She’s my hostess and she was amazing with the crowd. She got us in and out faster than I would have thought.” Spotting the open book she asked, “Find anything yet?”

Prue shook her head. “I haven’t been looking long yet. To be honest, I’m not sure I expect to find anything. I think we are going to have to figure this one out on our own.”

“Perhaps some sort of conjuring spell,” Piper suggested, trying to think back to anything remotely similar. “I seem to recall fairytales coming to life.”

“We aren’t exactly fairytales,” Prue pointed out, “and we are already here. The point is more to keep us here.”

“Maybe something that makes things real,” Melinda suggested. “I mean that’s what they are saying isn’t it? That we aren’t real, that we don’t exist.”

“That’s certainly worth looking into,” Piper agreed, warmth in her voice.

“How can I help?” Chris asked, eager to get something done, never liking to stand idle.

“What are you good at?” Prue asked, used to being in charge.

“Magic,” Chris informed her. It wasn’t exactly bragging. It just was.

Prue raised an eyebrow, wanting an explanation.

“In general,” Chris added. “I’ve had lots of practice.”

“So lucky,” Melinda commented. “I’ve had almost none.”

“That’s right,” Piper said, remembering. “I made you promise not to use your powers, to protect you from Nathaniel Pratt.”

Melinda looked at her startled. “You remember that?”

“I only have a minutes worth of memories with you,” Piper reminded her. “I remember every second.”

Melinda grinned and looked over at Prue. “Aunt Prue, we have to make this work. I want to stay.”

Prue looked around the room. A slight smile formed on her lips. “Let’s get to work then. Someone find something to write on. We need to write down any idea that comes to mind. We’re going to try them all.”

“Even the dumb ones?” Pat asked.

“Pat,” Prue warned.

Pat shrugged. “When you’re brain storming, there’s bound to be something strange that comes out of someone’s mouth.”

Andy chuckled. “Your mother said all, so we will try them all.”

Prue shook her head, smiling. “We’ll try the more likely ones first.”

Pat nodded as around her everyone started to find something to do.

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Nine – Reflection

Downstairs, Vicki was sitting on the couch, looking at a photo album. She had found it on the bookshelf in the corner of the room. It was almost frightening to look at the familiar faces in it, not the ones that should have been familiar such as Aunt Piper or Aunt Paige, or even Uncle Henry and Uncle Leo. No, it was the eerily familiar pictures of Paige’s twin daughters, Alanna and Janice and the full grown pictures of their younger brother, Henry Jr., Hank as they called him. It was the pictures of Aunt Phoebe with her husband, Coop, and three daughters. People she shouldn’t have known; people she didn’t know. And yet, their faces had haunted her dreams for almost three years since she had come into her powers.

Melinda walked down the stairs, behind her. A stair creaked under Melinda’s none too silent feet.

Vicki looked up at the sound. “How are things up there?”

“Hectic,” Melinda informed her, looking weary. “I was in the way, so I thought I’d come check on you.”

“I’m fine,” Vicki told her, her face worried, “but I’m sure you weren’t really in the way.”

“Maybe not,” Melinda admitted, trying to look brave, “but after what happened the last time I tried to fix things, I thought maybe I should rest. Mom said I could use one of the bedrooms upstairs.”

“It’s not even eight yet,” Vicki told her, glancing at the clock in the wall.

Melinda shrugged. “It’s just been one of those days.”

“Oh no,” Vicki contradicted her. “This tops any of those days.”

Melinda smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She turned to head back up the stairs. She stopped almost before she took a step and looked back at Vicki. “Aunt Paige is coming soon right?”

Vicki nodded. “That’s right. She’s bringing one of her daughters with her, I think.”

“I’d like to meet her daughter,” Melinda informed her, smiling. “Mind sending her up when they arrive.”

“Sure,” Vicki agreed. She watched as Melinda headed back up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Vicki looked down at the album in her hands. The picture was of Aunt Paige’s and Uncle Henry’s three children. Her finger touched the picture, almost of its own accord, and rested on the image of Hank. His death had happened when she was only a few months old and no one would talk about it. It was so unfair that here he had lived when in her reality he had died. No one would talk about it, but she had heard enough to figure out that his power had been something the underworld coveted and in taking his power demons had killed him.

Vicki closed the album and stood. She put the album down on the coffee table in front of her before walking over to the stair case and sitting down on the bottom step. She looked around the room silently.

She sat there for several minutes just thinking. She remembered the manor enough to know this was different, brighter like she had told Wyatt, but it was more than that. Given her dad’s official status as dead, it had seemed a good idea to avoid places where he would be recognized, especially San Francisco where the witch hunts were centered, so Vicki hadn’t seen the manor often. Usually Aunt Piper and Aunt Paige had brought their families to Boston.

The doorbell rang and Vicki stood. She walked into the hall and over to the door. In a soft voice she asked, “Who’s there?”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Ten – First Impressions

When there was no response Vicki decided she hadn’t spoken loud enough. It wasn’t easy to disregard a lifetime of quite submission to rules and regulations for safety’s sake. Even answering the front door of their house in Boston had been forbidden. If her parents weren’t home strangers were not to know that the girls were there. “Who’s there?” she asked again, this time louder.

“Paige,” the confused voice of her Aunt Paige responded. No, not her Aunt Paige. Her Aunt Paige was dead, gone forever, as was her entire world. All her friends. Everything. Still, the witch trials were no more and while this wasn’t the same Aunt Paige, it was, after a manner of speaking, her aunt Paige. She had the same life as her Aunt Paige did up until just about twenty-eight years before. The experiences that truly had shaped her aunt were the same as those of this woman’s.”

“Hello?”

Vicki realized she had been drifting off into another world, her world. She shook her head a little and straightened her shoulders. Then, she took the door knob in her hand, turned and pulled the door back. Paige Matthews-Mitchell stood there with one of her twin daughters. Vicki looked closely and seeing a slight color to the older teen’s cheeks she smiled knowing it was Alanna. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.”

Paige looked at her curiously. “Who are you?”

Vicki nodded as if this confirmed something. She stepped aside and let them in. “I think I am supposed to let Mom tell you or one of the other adults,” she told them as she shut the door behind them.

Paige frowned. “Should I know you? There is something familiar about you.”

“You have never met me,” Vicki assured her. I’ve met you, but you have never met me.

“Are you certain?” Paige asked, again. There was something very familiar about this girl.

Vicki nodded. “Alanna, I believe my cousin would like to speak with you. She said if you or Janice came to send you upstairs.”

Alanna frowned. “How do you know I am Alanna and not Janice? We are identical.”

“Not fully,” Vicki informed her. “There is a subtle difference in your hair colors and your cheeks usually look warm, while she often looks cold.”

Alanna blinked at the odd referencing to her powers and that of her twin. “Our powers show in our appearance?”

“To me,” Vicki commented with a shrug. “Pat always says she doesn’t see it when I say things like that, so I am unsure if it is only me or really there.”

“What,” Alanna began before asking, “who’s Pat?”

“My sister,” Vicki told her with a smile. “I’m Vicki, if you are interested. Victoria Penelope Tru . . .” she sighed and stopped. “Melinda will want to see you I think.”

“Melinda?” Alanna asked, confused again by an unfamiliar name.

“My cousin,” Vicki informed her. “She is upstairs in one of the bedrooms. I am not sure whose room is whose or anything at this point.” She looked up suddenly at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. She peaked through the doorway into the front room to see who was coming.

Her father, Andy, walked down the stairs toward her. Seeing her he smiled. “Vicki, are you sure you don’t want to come upstairs with us?”

Vicki nodded. “There is nothing to fix it. Everything and everyone we know is gone except for us five.”

Paige had walked over to the archway and looked at Andy with a frown. “Who are you?”

Andy looked at her surprised. “Paige.”

Paige gave him a dubious look. “Yeah. And you are?”

Andy sighed. “Sorry, this will take some getting used to.” I only hope I get the chance to get used to it. Andy looked at his daughter. “We can’t go back. They say we have nowhere to return to. That isn’t what we are trying to do upstairs. We are trying to stay.”

“Stay where?” Paige asked, confused. “They who?”

“They,” Andy said, pointing up, “said that myself, my wife, my two daughters, and my wife’s niece have nowhere to go, since we seem to have crashed our reality. We are trying to figure out a way for us to stay here.”

Paige gapped at him. “Start over.”

Before anyone could answer, Piper came down the stairs . “Paige, you made it.”

“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Paige looked at them pleadingly.

Piper looked at Andy with a frown. “You didn’t tell her?”

“I just got here. I was looking for Vicki.”

Piper sighed. “Paige, you had better find a seat. This is a doozy.”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Eleven – The Short Version

Paige sighed and walked into the sitting room and sat on one of the couches. Piper sat on a nearby chair. Alanna walked over to the window and looked out, unwilling to show an interest in the strange events. Vicki stood in the doorway, watching. Andy stood nearby.

“Well?”

“A couple of years before Prue died and we met you Phoebe had a premonition. It took place far in the future and showed Prue and me standing there letting Phoebe die. To find out what happened we cast a time travel spell. This took us ten years in the future. Phoebe was in jail for using her powers to murder a man. I was in the middle of divorcing my husband, Leo, by the way, and giving him custody of our seven-year-old daughter, Melinda. Prue owned the auction house she worked at and had no social life to speak of. We didn’t know you or at least we didn’t encounter you.”

“I know that,” Paige protested. “Why is this something I need to sit down for?”

“Because when we left, we left behind the reality there. Though we changed what we did and never reached that point, they went on from there. Phoebe burned to death. Prue was alive. I was divorced and had only one child, my daughter, Melinda. They already knew you, but they didn’t find out until after Phoebe’s death that you were their sister. You and Henry were already married at that point, had been for a few months. Time went on and so did the witch hunts.”

“Witch hunts? Like burning at the stake and drowning?”

“And a powerful mortal siding with demons to gain more power,” Vicki added. “Witches weren’t his target you see. Halliwells were.”

“And today he got his revenge,” Andy added sadly.

“Wait,” Paige said looking at them wide eyed. “You two are from there, aren’t you?”

Vicki nodded. “Yes, I am,” after a slight hesitation she added, “Aunt Paige.”

Paige’s eyes widened even farther. “Aunt Paige? I’m your aunt? That’s why you know this is Alanna with me. You’re family.”

“Yes,” Vicki began, “and no. I didn’t know Alanna, not precisely. She didn’t exist, but I did know of her. My powers, you see. And then I’ve spent the better part of the last hour poring over pictures.”

“Alanna didn’t exist,” Paige repeated softly. She looked over at Andy. “And who does that make you?”

“Your brother-in-law, actually.”

“And your name?”

“Andrew Trudeau, Andy.”

“Trudeau. Prue’s ex-boyfriend. Prue’s dead ex-boyfriend.”

Andy nodded. “That would be correct. I am dead.”

“A whitelighter?”

Andy grimaces. “That is up in the air at the moment, but I was this morning. Here it seems that out powers don’t work and They tell us we don’t exist. Well, They say my wife exists, but the rest of us . . .” He trailed off, not really wanting to finish.

Paige’s mind was elsewhere. As he spoke she realized one very important implication and it was that the played center in her mind. “If you are here, then Prue . . .” she let her voice trail off as well.

Alanna was watching from the window, giving up the pretense of a lack of interest. She was very curious about the topic at hand.

“Prue is upstairs in the attic.” Andy looked in the direction of the stairs. “She is the only one of us They seem to agree on. While in this reality she is dead, she still exists. They are willing to allow her to retain her life should she choose and perhaps her powers, though that wasn’t mentioned. As for myself, I no longer exist here. I was killed a second time by a darklighter about eighteen years ago.”

“Oh.” Paige wasn’t sure what else to say.

“The girls have never existed here,” he told her as he looked over at his younger daughter, “and Melinda is in the position of having the powers that here belong to another.”

Paige looked at him confused. “Meaning?”

“Meaning Melinda and Wyatt share the same powers,” Piper told her. “I bet the elders are at a loss as to what to do about two twice blessed witches.”

Paige giggled at that. “She’s twice blessed like Wyatt?”

Piper nodded. “Yes, but like all of them she seems to have lost her powers, so who knows what will happen, if we succeed.”

“Can I see Prue?” the question on her mind since Andy confirmed that Prue was there. She didn’t know what would happen when she met her, but she wanted to. She wanted to meet this sister that still had the ability to choke Piper and even Phoebe up when she was brought up. She wanted to meet this person who after nearly thirty years garnered such loyalty from her sisters, the sisters they shared. She wanted to meet her sister.

Piper nodded unaware of the thoughts running through her sister’s head. “Come with me.”

Piper and Paige both stood. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look at Vicki. “Are you sure, you don’t want to come up, Vicki?” Piper asked.

Vicki nodded. “I am sure. There is nothing for me to do in the search they are on.”

“Then, go up there merely because you are their daughter and sister,” Piper urged. “They do not need you to help them look. They need you to be there. They have lost almost everything, Vicki, still could. We will try to fill in the blanks, but with you they are already filled. They need you.”

Vicki considered this and finally smiled. “I think I like you, Aunt Piper.”

Piper smiled back at her. “Thank you, Vicki.”

“I will come.” With that Vicki headed up the stairs and into the attic of the Halliwell Manor, a new frightening world. A world were magic was okay to use and Vicki must learn to control the very thing she had been forbidden to use her entire life. Magic.

[StoryGirl83]

A lot of fanfics have their Prue and Paige's first meeting. In this chapter I have two: Prue meets Paige and Paige meets Prue.

---

Chapter Twelve – Two First Meetings

Flashback

Upstairs in the attic, Pat sat on the couch a notepad in her lap and a pencil in her hand. She was glaring at Wyatt. “Where did that idea come from?”

Wyatt scowled back at her. “Just write it down. Your mom said every idea gets tried.”

Pat wrote on the pad and turned her annoyed eyes back at Wyatt. You think you’re so smart. This is just going to waste out time. It’s insane. You can’t do that. It’s impossible. “Satisfied. I wrote it down.”

Wyatt smiled. “Good.”

Chris chuckled. “You have to admit, it’s a pretty odd idea.”

Wyatt shrugged. “Well, I happen to think it will work.”

“Any more ideas?” Prue asked everyone.

“None,” Wyatt announced. In truth, he had only had the one.

“I think that’s about it,” Chris agreed, “but I’ll tell you if I come up with another one.”

Leo sighed. “Other than seeing if we can get some more info from the elders, no.”

“You saw how helpful they were,” Chris scoffed. “Even Kevin, who was trying to help, couldn’t tell us much and I got the impression the elders didn’t really want him there.”

The door to the attic opened allowing first Piper, closely followed by Vicki and Andy into the attic.

Paige brought up the rear. She stopped just inside the attic and starred at Prue. It was the oddest thing, finally seeing her. She’d seen pictures, but Prue had been younger then. Prue’s face showed signs of stress brought on by whatever she had been through in this other reality both Piper and Andy mentioned. One thing was for certain though; she hadn’t died at thirty. In a whispered voice that bordered on awe, Paige called the one name she never thought she’d be able to. “Prue.”

Thought she hadn’t heard her name whispered, something caused Prue to look up. Waves of emotion swept over her as she grieved the quirky, independent sister she had lost, this face so familiar. She remembered all too well, the first time she had met Paige in her reality.

---

“That’s him,” Phoebe informed Prue and Piper. “That’s the boy in my premonition.”

“He doesn’t look dangerous,” Piper commented, eyeing the blond haired boy.

Phoebe gave her a look. “Did I ever say he was?”

“I believe she said he was in danger, not dangerous,” Prue told Piper.

“She also said that he started a fire,” Piper reminded her.

“As I recall when I first got back my powers I knocked down all the medicine off the shelves at the drug store,” Prue grinned. “We don’t always decide how we learn our powers.”

A dark haired woman walked over to the boy. She knelt down next to him. From where they stood they couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it seemed to calm the boy down a little.

“Should we wait until she’s gone?” Piper asked, watching the woman with the boy.

“Can’t say I relish the idea of risking his wrath while he doesn’t know how to control his power,” Prue muttered. “I don’t think we should risk the social worker though.”

“I’ll be right back,” the young woman called to the boy as she walked away.

The three sisters looked at each other before they started toward the boy. He saw them coming and his eyes turned weary. Phoebe stopped and looked at her sisters. “How about you let me talk to him?”

Prue sighed, but said nothing.

Piper nodded. “Try it.”

Phoebe walked the rest of the way without them. She stopped by where he sat, his legs swinging from the chair. She smiled, tentatively at him. “Hi. I’m Phoebe. What’s your name?”

He didn’t say anything.

Phoebe frowned. “You’re in trouble, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he informed her.

“Did I say you did?”

“Yes,” he insisted.

Phoebe shook her head. “Nope. I said you were in trouble. I didn’t say you were the trouble. I see things and I saw a man and woman attack you.”

“My foster parents,” he informed her.

“Not exactly normal foster parents,” she commented. “They had balls of energy in their hands.”

The boy frowned. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I want to protect you from them,” she told him, “but you’ll need to come with me.”

“He’s not going anywhere with you,” a voice behind her informed her.

Phoebe turned her head enough to see the dark haired young woman behind her. She managed not to grimace, barely.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the dark haired young woman demanded.

“I want to help him,” Phoebe insisted.

“I think it’s time you left,” the dark haired woman instructed.

Several feet away Prue and Piper watched the exchange. Piper’s fists kept clenching as she tried not to freeze the scene. Enough was enough she decided and waved her hands, freezing the room. Except things didn’t go the way she planned. The young woman kept moving.

The boy’s eyes grew wide as he noticed something very strange. “Miss Matthews, they quit moving.”

“Miss Matthews” looked in the direction the boy was looking. Her eyebrows both rose as she saw that there appeared to only be five people moving in visible range. She turned angry eyes to Phoebe. “What did you do?”

Piper turned freaked out eyes to Prue. “Okay, she’s either a witch or a powerful demon. Which? What do I do?”

“What did you say?” Miss Matthews glared at her. “What did you call me? I am not a witch and how could you call me a demon? Those things, if they exist, aren’t even human.”

“You’ve got that right,” Prue informed her. “Demon’s aren’t human. The way I see it, the fact that you weren’t affected by the freeze means you are either like us or you are more of a danger to that boy than anyone else here. Either way, I think both of you had better come with us. I don’t want innocents involved when someone tries to come after the boy.”

“Come after him? What are you talking about?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Phoebe offered. “Someone wants him dead.”

“And you want me to believe it’s not you.”

Before any of the three sisters could answer, the boy pointed at the door that had just opened allowing to people in. “No, it’s them.”

---

Prue smiled as she remembered that. Tyler was an amazing kid. He’d been freaked out by the whole thing at first, but he’d been more scared of his demon bounty hunter foster parents then he had been of them, so at his insistence, both he and Paige had come with them. They’d almost lost him that day, but in the end they had managed to save him and win a friend in Paige.

At his insistence Piper had bound his powers and then he had disappeared into the foster care system. They hadn’t seen him for a few years after that, only to have him appear on their doorstep the day Phoebe had been burned. He’d informed them that if he was going to be hunted down as a witch, then he at least wanted his powers so he could defend himself.

[StoryGirl83]

I didn't finish posting this yesterday, but I got so into the story that I reread to the end of part one. It's fun remembering writing this. I'm not sure if I have read it since I wrote it over five years ago.

---

Chapter Thirteen – Never Summoned?

A shudder ran through Prue’s body as she remembered the last time she saw Paige, her body laying at a funny angle, her open eyes glazed over. Piper had been lying next to her, so still. Prue had crawled, hoarsely calling out her husband’s name until she had seen orbs in front of her and known she was out of the anti-orb zone, known she was where her husband could once more hear her call. Once she had known that she had collapsed, waking later to the worried faces of her husband and daughters. It had been a long day. She had lost two sisters and yet somehow gained them back with interest, but if they didn’t stop it she would lose her family yet again, just a different part of it.

Vicki walked over to her mom and put her hand on her arm. “Mom?”

Prue looked down. She heaved in a deep breath and looked back up at Paige. “Hi, Paige.”

“Wow.” It expressed everything Paige was feeling in just that one word.

Prue chuckled. “What?”

“I don’t know,” Paige hedged, not sure what to say. “After all this time, I guess I never thought I’d meet you.”

“Never?” Prue questioned, stunned. “You never summoned me as a ghost?”

Paige faltered. “Right. You’re from some sort of alternate reality.”

“We tried,” Piper added quickly. “We tried more than once. Always when we did, it was Grams or Mom who came or no one at all.”

“Never,” Prue repeated, hardly believing what she was hearing. “We saw Phoebe, after she died.”

“Wait,” Paige looked startled and confused. “What?”

“I told you,” Piper reminded her. “In the future we went to, Phoebe was burned to death.”

Paige looked across the room at Prue. “Did you know me there?”

Prue smiled and nodded. She walked over to Paige and pulled her into a hug.

Paige was hesitant at first, but the warmth she felt emanating from her oldest sister, overcame her hesitation and she soon hugged her back. It felt good to be hugged by Prue, even if to her she was all but a stranger.

Prue let go and stepped away. “We met you six years before Phoebe’s death. We just never knew you were out sister until after she’d been dead a few weeks.” Remembering she looked over at Wyatt. “Weren’t you going to call her?”

“I can try,” Wyatt agreed, “but Cilly said she and Uncle Coop would be gone a while.”

“Silly?” Prue repeated the name, curious. “Is that a name?”

Piper chuckled. “Her name is Pricilla, but Cilly is what she goes by.”

“Does she live by it?” Prue wanted to know.

“When she can,” Wyatt told her with a laugh, “but she knows when to be serious.” Cilly did love fun. Wyatt held out his hand and blinked. A phone appeared in his hand.

Melinda stared at it. “Whoa! How’d you do that?”

“You saw me orb the book earlier,” Wyatt reminded her, a little surprised himself. “This surprises you.”

“I guess I was a little distressed at the time,” Melinda admitted, remembering now the book he had orbed to prove that it wasn’t all orbing that was disabled, only theirs. “And the book came from the shelves. Where did that come from?”

It was Chris who answered as he looked at the phone and chuckled. “My guess it his pocket. That’s his cell. Wyatt, you really need to watch that personal gain, especially right now.”

Wyatt scowled. He pushed some buttons on the phone and put it to his ear.

[StoryGirl83]

You've already met Cilly. Now you get to meet her sisters, Ladybug (Prudence Brianna, known outside the family as Rudy, but prefers Ladybug) and Hope (first name Pearl).

---

Chapter Fourteen – Talking Yourself Cilly

On the other end of the phone Prudence Brianna Halliwell, fondly known as Ladybug and her two younger sisters, Cilly Halliwell, and Pearl Hope Halliwell, who went by her middle name of Hope, were watching a movie on TV. Since it was Cilly’s turn to pick it, the movie was The Littlest Rebel in its original black and white.

The phone started to ring, startling Ladybug. Cilly and Hope didn’t seem to notice. “Hope, would you get the phone?”

Hope looked at the phone and frowned. When she looked back at Ladybug she shook her head. “Not supposed to.”

“Why ever not?” Ladybug asked exasperated.

Hope shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just not. Mom’s orders.” Phoebe had a tendency to treat her youngest like a baby for all that Hope was ten.

“Orders?” queried Cilly, pulling her eyes away from the very young Shirley Temple on the screen. “Mom doesn’t really order.”

“Really strong suggestion with a threat,” Hope altered. Sounds like an order to me.

Ladybug gave her a skeptical look as the phone continued to ring. “Mom threatened?”

“No spell lessons for a month after they get back,” Hope informed her sisters.

“Fine,” Ladybug conceded, knowing how much her little sister loved spells since she hadn’t actually come into her powers yet. “Cilly?”

Cilly didn’t bother answering. She stood and walked over to the still ringing phone, wondering why Ladybug didn’t get it herself. “You got Cilly.”

Back in the attic, Wyatt smiled at his cousin’s words. “Good to know, Cil. Have your parents left yet?”

“Three days ago,” she confirmed.

“Any idea how I can reach them?” Wyatt pressed.

“Nope,” Cilly denied. “They didn’t leave contact info. Dad said there weren’t any phones anyway.”

“Not even a way to contact them in an emergency?” Wyatt returned a bit weary.

“Is it an emergency?” Cilly asked a little concerned. Ladybug and Hope looked at her, also concerned.

“Yes,” Wyatt confirmed. “A family emergency.”

Cilly cringed at the words. She never heard them used for an actual situation, but she knew what they meant. “Why are you talking in code? It’s not like the phone is bugged.”

“Trust me,” Wyatt assured her wryly. “This is a family emergency.”

“Someone dying?” Cilly asked, concern now lacing her voice.

Not wanting to try and explain the exact situation, Wyatt just said, “They will be if we don’t figure out a way to stop it. And they are family.”

“Is something wrong with Aunt Piper?” she asked, figuring his mom was the most likely if he was calling there.

“Mom’s fine,” Wyatt assured her quickly. “Dad and Chris are too before you ask.”

“Aunt Paige or any of her family?” Cilly asked. They were the only other family she knew of outside of Grandpa and that wasn’t to be born. Mortal family like Grandpa and Uncle Henry were not allowed to be harmed by magic since they didn’t have and never had any magic.

“Aunt Prue,” Wyatt informed her, his eyes casting across the room at his newly met aunt.

“Beg pardon?” Cilly was stunned. “That’s impossible. She died before any of us were born. She can’t be dying.”

“She’s not,” Wyatt admitted. “She’s here, though. It’s the people with her. They are the ones that are going to die if we don’t stop it. Except, it’s worse than death, to us. To them, if we fail, they’ll never know. To us, if we fail, we’ll forever know that we caused them to cease to exist.”

“You lost me a long time ago,” Cilly admitted, “but it sounds bad. “Is there anything we can do?”

“Find your mom,” he urged her. “Find her and get her here.”

“And if we can’t.” Even with as little of the situation as she got, the thought weighed on her.

“Then, get yourselves here, so you can at least meet them.” He didn’t want that to be all. He wanted them to save them. He barely knew them, but already they were become more than just innocents to save.

“You need the power of three,” Cilly said in realization.

“I don’t know,” Wyatt admitted. Maybe that would work. Maybe.

“I’ll try and find her,” Cilly promised.

Having obtained her word on the matter, Wyatt said, “Bye,” and hung up.

Cilly stared at the phone for a few seconds before she too hung up. She turned to her sisters.

“What’s wrong?” Ladybug inquired.

“Movie’s over,” Cilly announced unceremoniously.

“This must be bad,” Hope declared.

“I don’t know,” Cilly admitted, “but we have work to do.”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Fifteen – Briefing Paige

Back in the attic Wyatt turned to Prue as he put his phone back in his pocket. “I talked to Cilly. She says that they will try and find Aunt Phoebe. Usually if they try hard enough they can use their powers to find Uncle Coop and he’ll know where Phoebe is.”

Prue nodded. “Good. Thank you.” She turned to look at Paige next to her. “We’ve been brainstorming about how to . . .” She trailed off and frowned. “You probably want to know what the problem is before I ask for help solving it.”

Paige looked at Piper. “Is this where I sit down, again?”

Behind them the door opened and closed at Alanna entered.

Piper nodded, not having noticed Alanna. “Probably a good idea.”

Paige sat down on the couch next to Pat. She looked at her, but didn’t say anything, though she was curious who this girl was. Seeing Alanna by the closed door, she beckoned her daughter to her side. “This is my daughter, Alanna. I’m told you don’t know her.”

“That’s right,” Prue agreed. She’d only know Paige’s small son. “It’s nice to meet you, Alanna.”

Alanna gaped at her, realizing that this really was her Aunt Prue, her dead Aunt Prue.

“I suppose you didn’t really expect to meet me,” Prue offered, smiling a little.

Alanna shook her head. “These things are more Janice’s realm.”

Prue raised an eyebrow. “Explain please.”

“Janice is my twin sister,” Alanna informed her, not sure what she did or didn’t know. “She has a tendency to have amazing things happen to her. She’s never met you before though. She will be sorry to have missed that.”

“It is our hope that we shall be around for a good long while,” Prue informed her, a bit of longing in her voice.

“You mean you can stay,” Paige stated a little stunned at the idea.

The room was silent for several seconds before Prue responded. “That is our hope, but we have been told it is impossible for all but me. I don’t think I could stand to loose them.”

“Who told you it was impossible?” Paige asked, her voice a bit deflated.

“Kevin,” Piper informed her. Somehow the fact that it had been Kevin, a friend among that group, it rang more true.

“Kevin?” Paige asked, having forgotten the teenage boy from so long ago.

Piper smiled, remembering the day they had met him. “Remember the witch who could draw things to life, the one that turned us into super heroes?”

Prue’s eyebrows rose at the comment.

“The one that got the powers of the elder that died?” Paige asked, remembering.

“That’s the one,” Piper confirmed.

“I remember.”

“That’s Kevin,” Piper informed her.

“Oh,” Paige sounded a little disappointed. “I wouldn’t think he would try to hinder us.”

Piper shook her head. “I think he was trying to warn us that time was limited.”

“He did wish us luck,” Pat offered.

“That’s right,” Vicki agreed. “He wants to be wrong.”

Paige turned to Pat, surprised, as if until now she hadn’t really registered in Paige’s mind. “Who are you?”

Instead of being insulted, Pat grinned. “I guess you wouldn’t recognize me, Aunt Paige, but I’m your niece. My name’s Pat, after Grandma.”

Vicki beamed as she added, “Dad said if they ever got a boy, he got to choose the name since both Pat and I are named after Mom’s relatives.”

“But no brother,” Pat informed her with a sigh, “so Dad didn’t get to name anyone after his family.”

“We want to stay,” Vicki told her, “but unless we do something, He says we will cease to exist.” It wasn’t entirely accurate, but Vicki refused to believe that at current they didn’t exist. As Mel had said, they were here weren’t they.

“He?” Paige asked, confused.

“Kevin,” Piper informed her, slightly amused at how they seemed reluctant to actually say Kevin’s name.

“I made a list of all our suggestions,” Pat told her, holding out the pad she had written on. “If you have any suggestions feel free to add to it.”

Paige took the pad and looked at it. She scanned the page, doing a double take as she read the last idea, Wyatt’s idea. “What on earth?” That sounds dangerous.

Wyatt turned a wry look at his brother. “Why do I get the idea she just read my idea?”

“Because your idea is crazy?” Chris suggested.

“Nope,” Wyatt disagreed, good naturedly. “You just think it is.”

Paige handed the pad back to Pat. “Nothing I can think of, but I’ll tell you if I come up with anything. What do we know?”

Prue’s face fell, for though it was the most needed topic at the moment, it was the last she wished to talk about. “Our world is gone. We have no place to go back to. I still exist here, as a ghost, but I’m still here.” She cast a sad look at her husband. “Andy was killed by a darklighter, so apparently he no longer exists and is in the same position as the girls. Pat, Vicki, and Melinda have never existed here, and He says They believe they never will.”

Paige gave Piper a curious look. “Why does she keep referring to the elders that way?” When Piper shrugged, Paige turned her attention back to Prue. “And who’s Melinda?”

A smile spread on Piper’s lips. Before Prue could answer, she did. “My daughter.”

Paige looked at Piper stunned. “When exactly did you have another kid?”

“She’s not exactly a kid, Aunt Paige,” Wyatt informed her. “She’s my age.” To the day, he thought wryly. It had been odd finding out on the way here that not only had Melinda just celebrated her twenty-fifth birth the same as he had, but she had done so twelve days before on the second of February, Wyatt’s birthday.

“Don’t you think we should start trying these ideas?” Leo suggested, forestalling more conversation on Melinda’s age, though that wasn’t the point. The point was that time was limited.

“Yes,” Prue agreed readily. “We certainly should. The sooner we start the better chance we have to try enough ideas that something works.”

“Exactly how will we know that it worked?” Wyatt wanted to know.

“I’ll know,” Chris volunteered. He sounded confident, but he was far from it. He had been sensing something odd whenever he was around the different people from the other reality.

Prue looked at him sharply. “Exactly how will you know, young man?”

“I’m half elder,” Chris stated simply. At least he thought that was the reason.

Prue stared at him stunned. “Half . . .”

When she couldn’t finish the statement, Chris finished it for her. “Elder.”

Prue looked at Leo. Apparently it hadn’t fully registered earlier when Piper had mentioned the topic. “You’re one of Them?”

Leo shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ve been mortal for most of their lives.”

Prue stared at Chris. “How does that help?”

Chris frowned, not sure how to explain what he didn’t understand himself. “You’re different. I can’t exactly explain it, but there is a difference of some sort. I can almost not sense Melinda, Andy, and Pat’s presence.”

“What about Vicki and me?” Prue had to know, especially about her younger daughter. Had they unknowingly found a way to save at least Vicki?

“You’re there,” Chris confirmed. “Vicki’s,” Chris frown deepened as he tried to figure out how to explain what he felt around Vicki. Finally, he settled for “Chaotic. Sometimes there, sometimes not.” He finished with simply saying. “I’ll know.”

Prue nodded, finally. “All right. Pat, what’s the first idea on the list?”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Sixteen – First Attempts

Pat looked down at her list. “Power of three spell.”

Prue looked at her two sisters and sighed. “That will have to wait.”

“Why?” Paige wanted to know. The power of three once included Prue. Perhaps we could harness it with her since Phoebe isn’t here yet.

“I have no powers,” Prue reminded her, “so I’m pretty sure that I can’t call on the power of three. And besides that, here, I am no longer part of it. We’ll have to wait for Phoebe.”

“It’s worth a try,” Paige insisted.

Prue looked at Paige for several seconds and finally nodded. “Who wants to try writing one?”

“I’ll try,” Chris offered. He walked over to one of the shelves and reached up on top. Normally he would have orbed it down, but right now he weary and didn’t want to risk it being a problem. He pulled out another pad of paper and a pencil. It was one of the things he actually used that had belonged to his alternate reality self. On top of the shelf next to the notepad and pencil was a small box filled with spells, demonic descriptions, and the most depressing, something he never wanted Wyatt to see, a death list of those killed by his brother in the other reality. Near the end were two names, one that Wyatt wouldn’t know, since in this time line none of them had ever met her, but the other. . . Chris sighed as he turned to face everyone. Wyatt must never know her name was on there. “Just one?”

Prue shrugged. “Write however many spells you think you can think of, power of three and other ones. We’ll try them all, if we need to.”

Chris nodded as he walked over to the couch and sat down on the other side of Pat.

“What’s next?” Prue asked her older daughter.

Pat looked down at her list. “A potion that makes inanimate objects real.”

Prue looked at Piper. “Do you have one made up?”

Piper nodded. “I think so.” She walked over to the wall of potions and started looking through the names.

“While she’s looking, what’s third?” Prue asked, turning her attention back to her daughter.

Pat looked down at the list. “A summoning spell.”

Prue frowned. “What are we supposed to be summoning?”

Pat shrugged. “Us, I think.”

Prue sighed. That was what she figured. “Chris?”

Chris looked up. “Huh?”

“Can you try to write something like that?”

Chris nodded. “Sure. Writing one shouldn’t be too hard, not sure how well it will work though.”

“All ideas,” Prue reinforced, almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

“Right,” Chris said monotone. At least it was probably harmless if it backfired.

Piper walked over with a potion bottle. “I found one. Who wants to try it?”

“Any chance it will harm them?” Prue asked a bit apprehensive.

“Stomach ache, maybe,” Piper offered, unconcerned, “but other than that, no.”

“You drink it?” Vicki asked disgusted.

Piper gave her a wry look. “Considering it makes inanimate objects live, no.”

Vicki frowned, confused. “Then, why would it give you a stomach ache?”

“It kind of smells bad,” Piper admitted.

Vicki laughed. “I’ll try it.” She held out her hand to Piper.

Seeing the extended hand, Piper quirked her brow. “What?”

“You just have to break it, right?” Vicki asked for conformation. When Piper nodded she added reasonably. “Then, I’d rather I was the one to break it.”

Piper handed the potion over to Vicki.

Vicki walked over to the far corner of the attic away from everyone. She held the potion high and dropped it.

At the sound of breaking glass, Chris looked up. He tried to sense a change in the teen, but she seemed to be in one of the times when she was even less there to his senses than any of the others. Why is she like this? I’d say it was a power thing, except she doesn’t have hers right now . . . does she?

Smoke and fumes filled the air around Vicki and she wrinkled her nose. “You’re right, Aunt Piper. It reeks.”

Prue turned anxious eyes at Chris. “Chris?”

Chris shook his head. “No change.” She was still utterly chaotic.

Prue sighed. “Do you have a power of three spell for us to try?”

Chris nodded as he stood and walked over to his mom. He handed the spell to her.

Piper looked at her son, a smile on her face. “Thank you.”

Paige stood and walked over to Piper.

Prue stepped away from the podium and walked over to Piper and Paige. She looked at the spell in Piper’s hands. Prue grasped Piper’s free hand in hers.

Piper handed the spell to Paige and grasped Paige’s hand.

Paige held out the spell for the other two to read.

As one they chanted the spell Chris had written. “We call upon the power of three. Keep those we love where we want them to be. New reality, blend with old. Make their lives more than stories told.”

Once the spell was said, Prue turned her eyes to Chris. There was question in her eyes as she looked across the room at him.

Reluctantly, Chris shook his head. “Nothing new.”

Prue looked at Piper and Paige. “You can try it again when Phoebe gets here.” She looked over at her older daughter. “Pat, what’s our next idea?”

[StoryGirl83]

Chapter Seventeen – Exhausted

A few hours, and several failed attempts later Vicki was curled up on the couch next to Pat. Her eyes were tightly shut.

Pat had her list in one hand, lines drawn through most of the current page. Her other hand was covering a yawn.

Chris took up the rest of the couch. His own notepad had several pages flipped over the edge to make way for new spells.

Wyatt, ever stubborn, was sitting on the ground near the couch hard at work on his idea, more or less ignoring everyone else. He had pages of paper spread out in front of him. No one had really paid attention to him in over an hour.

Andy paced the attic. The inactivity had long ago started to get to him.

Leo was standing by the podium, looking through the pages of the Book. Like the two sisters on the couch, his eyes were showing signs of fatigue.

Piper was working on a potion. Prue and Paige stood on either side of her, talking to her in whispered tones.

Alanna was nowhere to be seen. Melinda was likewise still missing.

“Mom,” Pat’s voice showed signs of fatigue, too.

Prue looked over toward the couch. “Yes, Sweetheart?”

“I’m tired,” Pat told her, covering another yawn. “I know we don’t have a lot of time, but can we please get some sleep?”

Prue looked at Piper. “She’s right. Nothing we have tried so far has worked and we are all tired. Do you have some place we can sleep here? We’ll still have most of the day, tomorrow.”

Piper nodded.

“We still haven’t heard back from either Phoebe or her girls,” Paige pointed out.

Piper nodded. “I’ll keep the phone by my bed in case they call. We’ll call again in the morning.” She looked over at the couch. “Boys, do you want to spend the night?”

Chris looked over at Wyatt. “I’m staying here in case something happens.”

Wyatt shrugged. “You don’t exactly have a whole lot of beds,” he reminded his mother, “three bedrooms. Five beds. Two couches. Possibly half a dozen sleeping bags. Excluding decorative and couch pillows, six pillows. Eleven people. I’m going to sleep in my bed at the apartment.”

“I’ll go find Alanna and head home,” Paige added. “I’ll be back in the morning with anyone who wants to come.”

“Point taken,” Chris told his brother. Turning to his parents he said, “I’ll see you in the morning, Mom, Dad.” He put down his spells on the floor by the couch and stood. Once he was standing, he orbed out.

Wyatt put down what he was working on and stood. “Good night, Mom, Dad, Aunt Paige, Aunt Prue, Uncle Andy, Pat, and Vicki.” Wyatt walked toward the door.

“Good night, Wyatt,” Piper told him as he passed by her.

Wyatt grinned and headed out the attic door. He had a car to pick up downstairs.

Piper turned to Prue as Paige followed Wyatt out the door. “Come with me, and we’ll see what we can do about getting you guys places to sleep.”

To Be Continued . . .

---

The story's not over yet. If you'd like to see what happens next just click here and enjoy.

[StoryGirl83]

CREDITS:

Created by:
Constance M Burge

Written by:
StoryGirl83

Edited by:
StoryGirl83

Main Cast:
Wes Ramsey as Wyatt Matthew Halliwell
Drew Fuller as Christopher "Chris" Perry Halliwell

Co-Starring:
Holly Marie Combs as Piper Melinda Halliwell and Piper Melinda Halliwell (AU, Flashback Only)
Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt and Leo Wyatt (AU)
Callum Keith Rennie as Steven "Steve" Kessler (Warlock)

Recurring Guests:
Mia Maestro as Drinka Deguilio
Andrew James Allen as Kevin Shepperd

Special Guests:
Keaton Tyndall as Alanna Samantha Mitchell
Ted "TW" King as Andrew "Andy" Trudeau
Kylie Tyndall as Janice "Jani" Patricia Mitchell
Missy Peregrym as Melinda Halliwell Wyatt
Rose McGowan as Paige Samantha Matthews-Mitchell and Paige Samantha Mitchell (AU, Flashback Only)
Alexa Nikolas as Patricia "Pat" Phoebe Trudeau
Adair Tishler as Pearl Hope Halliwell-Hart
Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Penelope Halliwell (AU, Flashback Only)
Camilla Belle as Pricilla "Cilly" Venus Halliwell-Hart
Olivia Thirlby as Prudence "Ladybug, Rudy" Brianna Halliwell-Hart
Shannen Doherty as Prudence "Prue" Victoria Halliwell-Trudeau
Liv Hutchings as Victoria "Vicki" Penelope Trudeau
Stephen Bender as Henry "Hank" Wallace Mitchell, Jr.

Guest-Starring (alphabetical):
Alex Black as Tyler Westcott (AU Teen, Flashback Only)


“Charmed” is a trademark of Spelling Television Production
Charmed and all related elements © Spelling Television Inc, and
TheWB Television Network, in association with Paramount Pictures.

All rights reserved.

This is a non-profit fanfiction, and is in no way affiliated with
any of the copyright holders. No copyright infringement is
intended nor implied. The multimedia on these pages is provided
solely as an entertaining resource.

Story © CHARMED: Heritage 2006-2016