The Story of The Twice-Cursed Child

[Esmeralda]

THE STORY OF THE TWICE-CURSED CHILD

Written by StoryGirl83 and LexiCharmed
Edited by Esmeralda and Silverstar03

Disclaimer: We do not own anything Charmed. If we did, the end of Season Five and the beginning of Season Six would've been more like this. This story takes place in an alternate universe starting ten months after the events of "Necromancing the Stone", and ignores all episodes after it, including the Charmed comics.

Warren, the Twice-Cursed Child, is our own creation and can not be used without one of our permission.

PROLOGUE

MAY, 2004

Ten months have passed since the wiccaning of Wyatt Matthew Halliwell and things have been going pretty good for the Halliwells.

Piper and Phoebe have slowly but surely accepted the fact that Prue is truly gone, while Paige finally feels like a sister, and not just a substitute for Prue in the Power of Three.

Leo is busy with his charges while still making a lot of time for his wife and son. Piper herself has accepted the fact that it's just as important for Leo to take care of his charges as it is for him to be her husband and Wyatt's daddy. She's busy with P3; Paige has decided to go back to social work rather than temp jobs; and Phoebe is busy with "Ask Phoebe"...and Jason.

Although Phoebe knows that she will never completely forget Cole, she also knows that she has once more found love, this time with Jason. It took Phoebe a long time, but she finally admitted to herself that she loves him and decided to let him in on the family secret a couple months ago. And Jason loves her enough that he accepted it right away and didn't immediately print it on the front page of The Bay Mirror. His connections have actually helped her and her sisters save a number of innocents. Now she is expecting a marriage proposal at any time, and when it happens, she plans on accepting.

But what none of them know is that while they have been building their lives, power has been building up in the Underworld. Power in the form of two very patient and as-of-yet-unknown demons.

Ever since the final vanquishing of Cole Turner, another powerful being has become the vessel for the essence of the Source of All Evil. This demon not only holds the powers of the Source, but also has an advisor of his own. She is the sister of the previous Seer and is determined to succeed where her sister failed.

Even before this demon became the Source, these two have been watching the Halliwells for many years, ever since the sisters first became Charmed. These two watched as the original Source failed; they watched as the possessed Cole and the Seer's sister failed.

Now, two years after the Source's ultimate demise, they are ready to act. It is their mission to counteract the Twice-Blessed Child by bringing forth the Twice-Cursed Child, the child prophesied to be born from an unholy union between a Charmed One born from a forbidden union and a great evil--the child destined to destroy the Warren line once and for all.So, what do you think of that as a setup?

[Chrisaholic]

Not again. I already commented twice and you know where!!

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER ONE: The Power of Four

THE SEER'S LAIR

The Seer stood, her eyes opaque, watching in her mind's eye as the half-whitelighter walked out a very recognizable front door. Satisfied with this turn of events, she pulled herself out of the vision and to see the large, dark, robed-covered shape of Kernus, vessel of the essence of the Source of All Evil, staring back at her impatiently.

“Are the signs lining up?” he demanded.

The Seer smirked. “Quite nicely, Master. Today is definitely the day. And in a few hours the half-whitelighter will be going to the beach. Alone." She emphasized the last word to assure Kernus that nothing would interfere with their master plan. Although powerful as a group, the Charmed Ones were vulnerable when separated. Kernus need only prepare his spell in the location she would provide.

“You have the spell?”

“Yes. If all goes well on this powerful day of evil magic, the Charmed Ones will be no more, and one of them will be forever evil, a half-warlock, half-darklighter rather than a half-witch, half-whitelighter. Enjoy yourself, Master."

“Oh, I shall. I definitely shall.”


BEACH ON THE BAY

A flash of flame and Kernus appeared on the beach, supplies bundled together in a blanket. He spread out the blanket enough so he could access the supplies and started working, putting cursed talismans on a long string. It seemed like trivial work, but he trusted no one but himself to get the job done properly. Nothing could interfere with the day’s events.

Hours later, just as the sun began its ascent, the long line of string and talismans formed a circle and were hidden neatly under a thin layer of sand. With a pleased smile, he flamed out.


THE MANOR

Paige sat on her bed, talking on the phone. “Thanks. There’re just a lot of things going on lately, and I really appreciate you giving me some time off, Mr. Cowan.” What she heard next made her grin. “Yeah, I'm glad I decided to come back, too. I'm so much happier and I really appreciate this opportunity. Thanks again. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She waited a moment before hanging up. Then, picking up her art supplies, she walked out of her room and down the stairs. Just as she reached the foyer, Phoebe walked in from the kitchen with Wyatt in her arms. “Isn’t it a bit early to be going out?”

Paige shook her head and pursed her lips in a small frown, as she set down her supplies so she could grab a light jacket.

Phoebe gave her a knowing smile as she readjusted Wyatt on her hip. “Finding out that Glen and Jessie are going to have a baby getting to you?”

“Yeah. Even though they said that they were going to name it Paige if it's a girl, it still hurts thinking that she could've been mine.”

Phoebe, remembering the feeling of being pregnant with the child of the man she loved, nodded. “I understand.”

“I convinced Mr. Cowan to let me have the day off. I just want to go to the beach and paint for a while, get away from people. I just need some time in my own head, you know?"

Phoebe nodded. “You deserve that time off, Paige. Enjoy it. See you tonight?”

Just as Paige nodded, Wyatt waved his little arm. “ByeBye."

Paige chuckled as she clucked him on the chin. “Bye, Wyatt. You be a good boy now.”

She grabbed her painting supplies and headed towards the door as Phoebe turned towards the living room, telling Wyatt, “Good thing I have the day off with both of your parents working and now Paige gone, too. I know that Piper can always call your nanny - thank God she's come back since we've hardly had any d-e-m-o-n attacks since your mom told off that nasty old crone - but you'd rather have one of us, right?"

“FeeFee! FeeFee!” and that made her grin.

They could hear the door shut behind Paige as Wyatt looked up. “PayPay," he said, making Phoebe laugh as she walked over to the TV, turning it on and then flipping through the channels, looking for a cartoon show to entertain her nephew. But Wyatt wasn't watching the TV; he had his neck craned to the wall behind his Aunt Phoebe’s head.

Had she turned around, she would've seen a distortion ripple against the wall before a demon flamed out.

P3

Piper was busy in her office, having come in early so she could catch up on her books, when her door opened. She smiled when one of her bartenders stuck his head in. "Hey, Piper."

"Hey, Brad. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was in the neighborhood, so I decided to tell you in person rather than call you on the phone. Something's come up and....."

He didn't have to finish. Brad was one of Piper's first P3 hires and had always done his job well. She couldn't remember the last time he'd made a request like this, so she interrupted with a smile. "No need to continue. Go ahead and take the night off. We can handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. See you tomorrow night."

Brad grinned. “Thanks,” and he closed the door before making his way into the empty nightclub. With a sinister grin, he flamed out.

BACK TO THE BEACH

Kernus, AKA Brad the Bartender AKA the Source of All Evil, flamed in, checking to make sure that all of the talismans were still in place. After doing a once-over, he picked up the two ends that formed the circle and waited. Eventually, the sound of light footsteps on the sand reached his ears.

Seeing the half-whitelighter walking down the hill toward the beach wearing a sad smile on her face made a large one beam on his. He watched as his target walked across the beach and across his string before setting up her own supplies, including a half-finished painting of the peaceful scene. He couldn’t help but note that the Seer’s predictions had been faultless. His circle of talismans fit perfectly around his target.

Smiling evilly, Kernus connected the two ends and tied them together. The visible talismans glowed red for a second before returning to normal. Reaching into his blanket knapsack, he pulled out a large crystal which he placed on the ground outside of the circle.

Then he started to chant.

Paige added several more strokes to her painting, mirroring the scene in front of her. She was so caught up in what she was doing, she didn't see a shaft of dark light shoot down from the sky, striking her and coursing through her body.

She paused, dropping her paintbrush as a strange feeling welled inside her. For a moment she struggled to fight it, but the urge to fight disappeared just as soon as it had appeared. Then a malicious look crossed her pretty face. After a moment, she picked the paintbrush back up and started painting again.

Having seen that change in her expression, Kernus stood and dusted himself off. He waved a hand, disguising the crystal as a rock, before he walked across the barrier towards her.

As he approached her, she stopped painting and turned around. Seeing him, she set down her paintbrush before standing and stepping into his waiting arms. “What took you so long?"

He pressed his lips against hers. “You weren’t ready for me.”

“I’m ready now,” and she pressed her lips against his, moving her hands down so she could pull him tight against her. “More than ready.”


BACK TO THE MANOR

Wyatt sat on the floor of the conservatory, playing with a rattle. Maybe he was already a year-and-a-half old, but the toy had always been one of his favorites, mainly because he could use it to attract the attention of the adults of the household, the same way continuing to talk baby-talk got his messages across loud and clear.

Phoebe marched in, holding the spirit board under one arm. A look of relief crossed her face at the sight of her nephew. “There you are! That's no fair, Wyatt Matthew! I can't orb, so what are you doing playing impromptu games of orb and seek?”

Wyatt looked up, innocently. “Or an See?”

Phoebe couldn't help laughing as she shook her head and sat down on the floor with the spirit board. “I don't think I'll ever forget the first time we used this thing, Wyatt, long before you were born, and how surprised we were when it suddenly started spelling out things.”

She turned the board over and read the words she'd read so often:

“To my three beautiful girls.
May this give you the light to find the shadows.”

She sighed. “And it has. A lot. We don’t use it all that much anymore, but maybe we should.” She reached out to touch her finger to the word “Mom”. “I didn’t know her, not at all. We saw her when we went to the past and when she came to your mom and dad's wedding, but that's still not enough.”

She gave Wyatt a conspiratorial look. “Let’s see if she will talk to us, shall we?”

Wyatt shook his rattle.

Phoebe laughed, taking that as his assent, and put her fingers on the pointer. Her laughing abruptly stopped, however, when the pointer pulled her fingers across the board to the “S”. Her eyes grew wide in surprise. “Apparently she does.”

As she watched, the pointer spelled out “SUMMON". Phoebe looked at Wyatt. “Summon? Summon who?” even as the pointer pulled her fingers again. This time it landed on “P”, “R”, “U”, “E”.

“Prue?” Phoebe cried. “Summon Prue!” She hadn’t thought about summoning Prue in quite some time. In truth, a small part of her believed that, unlike her grandmother and mother, she would never be allowed to summon her oldest sister. But the spirit board had spoken, and who was she to argue with the dead? She grinned at her nephew. “Hey, Wyatt, how would you like to meet your Auntie Prue?”

"Pwoo?" Wyatt asked.

Phoebe laughed then stood before reaching down to scoop up Wyatt. Leaving the board and pointer behind, she hurried towards the foyer and the phone. “Who do I call first, Wyatt? Your mom will want to see her and I think your Auntie Paige will. And so will Grandpa...well, I’m not sure about him. The ghost part might bother him.”

“PayPay!” chanted Wyatt. “PayPay!”

"Paige?" Phoebe laughed. “You really think your Auntie Paige would want to meet Auntie Prue?”

“PayPay!” Wyatt insisted. “PayPay!”

She started laughing again. "Very well. Paige it is.” But although Paige's phone rang and rang and rang, there was no answer. “Sorry, Wyatt, Auntie Paige must be out of range. How 'bout we call your mom instead?"

“MaMa!”

“Yup, Mama it is.”

“DaDa?”

“Nope, sorry. I'm afraid I don't have a phone number for your dad – he doesn’t have a cell phone. And if he's not around, that means he's with a charge, and I don’t want to interrupt him. It sounds like Mom wants us to summon Auntie Prue now, so we better not wait. Or maybe it's Auntie Prue who wants us to summon Auntie Prue now. Maybe even Grams. Whoever, we better not wait,” and she made another call.


AT THE GROCERY STORE

Piper, finished with P3's paperwork, was doing the weekly grocery shopping. When her cell played out Phoebe's ringtone, she quickly grabbed the phone, worried about Wyatt. “Phoebe?”

“I was showing Wyatt the spirit board and...”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Unless this is an emergency, start over with 'Hi, Piper', or I'm gonna start panicking.”

"Hi, Piper. I’m summoning Prue.”

Piper’s eyes widened and she nearly dropped the phone. She vividly recalled the last time she attempted to summon her dead older sister. “Phoebe, we’ve never been able to do that. What’s so different now that makes you think this will work? And why the sudden interest? Did something happen?”

“I tried to tell you. I got a message on the spirit board. It said 'Summon Prue'. Piper, it should be okay. It's been three years!”

“You should call Paige.”

“Already did that, but she didn't answer her cell.”

“You called Paige first?!”

Phoebe had to chuckle. “Your son's idea. Anyway, I need to get off the phone, so I can set things up. I'll try calling her again,” and Piper agreed.


AT THE MANOR

But there was still no response from Paige. “Crap! I was gonna ask her to orb here so she could watch you.”

“Or an See! Or an See!" and with that Wyatt orbed out.

Phoebe sighed in frustration. “Yes, exactly. The game would be a bit more fair if you were playing it with someone who could also orb!” Even as she grumbled to herself about her lack of active powers, she yelled out, “Leo!”

Immediately blue-white orbs appeared and formed into her brother-in-law. He looked around, anxious. “What's wrong? Where's Wyatt?”

No sooner did he speak than Wyatt orbed back. “DaDa!”

Leo grinned, reaching down to pick up his son. “There's my little buddy. Have you been a good boy for Auntie Phoebe?”

“FeeFee! FeeFee! Or an See! Or an See!”

Leo looked Phoebe, confusion etched over his face.

“Orb and seek, which is exactly what your son has been doing.”

“You called me because my son is playing a game?”

“Pwoo!”

“Prue?” Leo asked. “Why would Wyatt be saying Prue?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you. I got a message on the spirit board to summon Prue. Know anything about that?”

Leo stared at her in shock, even as his heart ached at the thought of the charge he had lost. “No. I didn't think you girls were allowed to see her yet. So what did she have to say?”

“I don't know yet. I'm trying to set up the crystals, which means I can't keep an eye on Wyatt, especially when he keeps orbing out! I'd call his nanny but only Piper or you can do that. And Paige isn't answering her cell and Piper is on her way home. "

“Phoebe, if someone wants you to summon Prue, you need to do so at once, not wait.”

“You think it’s that important?”

“Ghosts don’t tell you to summon them on a whim. Usually they wait for you. It’s a lot easier.”

Even as Phoebe's eyes grew large with worry and a bit of fear, Leo added, “I was with a charge, but he doesn't really need me. Let's go up to the attic and do this.”

“MaMa!" Wyatt insisted. "PayPay!"

"Wyatt's right, Leo. We should let both of them know that if they want to see Prue, they better get here as soon as they can."

Leo had to agree. "You finish setting up the circle; I'll phone Piper and Paige."

BACK TO PAIGE AND KERNUS

Paige and Kernus were still kissing, passionately now. Paige was running her fingernails up and down Kernus’ bare back as he began pushing up her t-shirt. For the second time her phone began to ring insistently, but Paige kept right on kissing Kernus as she shoved her hand into her pocket, pulled out the phone and threw it down the beach as far as she could. Then she turned back to Kernus, lust on her face. “Now where were we?”

Kernus leaned in and began kissing her even deeper as he removed her t-shirt and tossed it aside.

Paige murmured against his mouth, reaching out to undo his shirt buttons. “Oh, yeah.”

UP IN THE ATTIC

Phoebe put down the last candle and holder. She began to light them as Leo walked in with his son in his arms. “I couldn't get a hold of Paige," he told her.

"Can't you sense for her?" Phoebe asked. "Or should we scry for her? I'm not sure how much she'd like to meet her oldest sister, but Wyatt's insistent...”

"PayPay!"

“Well, I can sense her, but I can also sense that she's not alone," Leo told her. "Better see what Prue wants."

Phoebe nodded with an anticipatory smile as she began lighting the candles.

Wyatt shook his rattle. “Pwoo!”

Phoebe grinned as she looked back at her nephew. “Sometimes I think that kid understands us more than we think he does.”

Leo's grin was even bigger. “My boy is smart,” and Phoebe grinned back as she lit the last candle and stood up.

“Ready?” she asked even as Wyatt shook his rattle chanting “Pwoo! Pwoo!”

Leo nodded and Phoebe began to chant:

“Hear these words,
Hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side.
Come to me -
I summon thee.
Cross now the great divide.”

White orbs of light filled the air and the ghost of Prudence Halliwell appeared in the center of the candles.

Phoebe couldn’t take her eyes off her sister. She was wearing the same clothes she was wearing when they buried her, even the same hairstyle. Phoebe took a moment to rememorize every detail of Prue’s face.

Meanwhile Prue was looking at the three of them, her eyes lighting up at the sight of Wyatt. “Oh, Leo, he’s so beautiful! Things down here are a bit blurry up there.”

“Pwoo!”

Prue laughed. "Exactly.”

“Prue, I don't think you had Phoebe summon you just so you could meet my son, much as he is a delight.” Leo’s face was set in his business-as-usual expression, despite the ache he felt in his heart at seeing his lost charge.

Prue nodded, her face growing somber. “Right. Paige…”

“Paige?” Phoebe asked. “We couldn't reach her.”

“Of course not. I can’t believe we trusted a demon like that!”

Both Phoebe and Leo stared at her, startled. “Prue!" cried Phoebe. "Why bring that up now? It's been almost two years since we vanquished Cole!”

Prue rolled her eyes, very annoyed with both of them. “I didn’t know that, but of course I’m not talking about Cole. I’m talking about the demon who’s with Paige right now. At least, I think he's a demon. He might be a warlock. Whatever he is, he's trouble. More trouble than Cole ever was.”

“What demon?” Phoebe demanded, pushing thoughts of Cole far from her mind.

“Are you saying that Paige is under attack?” Leo asked at the same time. “Where? I don’t sense—“

Prue had to snicker. “Oh, I wouldn’t say under attack, exactly. He must be a warlock because he did something to her and last I checked they were…kissing.”

Phoebe stared at her in disbelief. “Paige was kissing a warlock?”

“Hey, little sis, you're not the only one attracted to the dark side!”

“Yeah, but Paige??”

Prue shrugged. “I think he cast some sort of spell on her. He must be a warlock. Maybe he's both. At any rate, he was chanting something about a powerful day of magic.”

Leo frowned. “I’d better go check with the Elders," and he handed Wyatt to Phoebe before orbing out.

Prue focused back on her younger sister. “You have to find a way to stop that warlock before he gets whatever it is he wants from Paige.”

Suddenly Phoebe grinned as she made the connection. “It’s that bartender at P3, isn’t it? Brad?"

Prue nodded, smiling appreciatively.

“I knew there was something off about him,” Phoebe grumbled. “I've never seen him with anyone - male or female - and I don't know how often I flirted with him before I met Cole and before I met Jason, but he never once gave me the time of day!”

Prue shook her head, laughing over the fact that her little sister hadn't changed much. She started to give her a bad time but all of those thoughts vanished from her mind when the door opened and Piper ran in.

A broad smile bloomed on Piper's face. “Prue! Oh, Prue! I've missed you so much!”

Prue smiled sadly, desperately wishing that she'd be allowed to be corporeal so she could hug her sisters. “I've missed you, too, Piper. You have a beautiful little boy.”

Motherly pride made Piper glow. After all, starting her own family was what had helped her finally move on after Prue’s death. “Isn’t he though? Looks just like his daddy!” She looked around. “Wait, where's Paige? Is she on her way?”

Prue slowly shook her head. “Actually that’s why I’m here. That warlock you have working for you is trying to seduce her to the side of evil.”

Piper stared at her in shock. “What? Paige would never...”

“Oh, yeah? Well, she was lip-locked with the warlock, and I think you need to hurry.”

Piper nodded. “Of course. Where are they...and...warlock?” Prue’s words had finally sunk in and Piper looked to Phoebe for answers. "What warlock?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “You know that bartender of yours who has never given me a second look? Well, now we know why.”

Piper turned her shocked face from one sister to the other. “Brad?! You must be joking!"

“Piper, this is no joking matter," Prue insisted.

Piper stared, stunned. “But Brad? He's the very first person I ever hired!”

“Looks like he's been spying on us,” Phoebe growled.

“Wouldn’t be the first time demons infiltrated our work lives,” Prue reminded them, thinking back to Rex and Hannah.

Piper was still thunderstruck. “Brad? He never struck me as...wow. I never saw that one coming.” She let out a deep sigh. “All right. Where is he and what’s he doing to her?”

“An empty beach on the bay,” Prue replied. "And you don't want to know what."

Piper’s eyebrows rose as she captured Prue’s meaning.

“She told me she was going to go work on some paintings,” Phoebe told them.

“Oh!” cried Piper. “I took a peek at the one up in her room last night. I recognized the scene – she did such a great job with it. It’s down by the cove where Mom used to take us swimming."

Prue nodded. “Good. I have to go in a moment, but I know you’ll set things straight. I love you guys.”

Tears filled Piper’s eyes. “Wait, Prue!” she begged. “You just got here! Please don’t go.”

“I'm sorry, Piper, but I have to. But now that it's okay for me to visit, if you need me, just summon me. Also, just know how very proud I am of all of you. Be sure to tell Paige that she doesn't have to try to be me – she's wonderful just being her.”

Piper smiled, knowing how much that would mean to their youngest sister. “We'll tell her.”

“If we can get her away from that warlock before she turns evil!” Phoebe added.

“You will. If Piper and Paige could save you from Cole when he was possessed by the Source, you guys can certainly save Paige from a plain, old, ordinary warlock!” and that made Piper snicker.

Not Phoebe. She could still remember the pull of evil all too well. Subconsciously, her hand drifted to her stomach. Sometimes she could still feel the sting of the evil fetus that once grew inside of her. At other times she wished that fetus hadn't been stolen from her. She remembered the potion that the Seer made her drink. She was certain that without its influence and through the power of her own love she could've raised that child to be good.

“Now go find her. I love you,” and Prue left, surrounded by the white circling lights, just as behind them Leo orbed in. Piper spun around at the sound of her husband orbing.

He looked sadly at the empty circle. “I see Prue’s gone.”

Piper nodded. “She said we really have to find Paige.”

“She was right, and we don’t have much time. The Elders told me that today is a powerful day for evil magic, so powerful that it can turn powerful good into powerful evil, permanently, or until the next time the signs align, which in this case might as well be permanent. If Paige is under the influence of evil, then you have until sunset to reverse it. And you have to get her away from the demon responsible before you can reverse the spell."

“Of course we do,” Piper retorted sarcastically, wondering why the Elders always waited until the last minute to give them this sort of news.

Leo’s words, however, had pulled Phoebe from her reverie and she was trying to catch Piper’s eye, horrified at what might happen to their youngest sister. “Let's go!”

“No, I should go,” Leo told them. “You don’t want him to know that you’re onto him until you’re ready to vanquish him and you can’t do that until you know what type of warlock he is. I can sense her and orb to her. It will be faster.”

Phoebe wanted to go right now and save her younger sister, but she knew that Leo was right. "All right,” she sighed. “You go, but take a camera so we can ID him in the Book."

“Good idea,” Piper agreed as she reached for Prue’s old digital camera, which was sitting on a shelf. She held it out to Leo. “Here. Let’s see what we’re up against.”

Leo nodded and then orbed out.

“Book!”

“Book?" Piper asked, looking at her son. "You want us to read you a story?”

Wyatt shook his head and pointed at the Book of Shadows. “Book!”

Phoebe grinned. “Wow, little guy, you really are the smart one."

"Must come from being Twice Blessed," Piper said proudly. "Because you're both right. That's a very good idea. "

Phoebe nodded as she carried Wyatt over to the pedestal, telling him, "Let's see what the Book of Shadows can tell us about this evil day of magic.” She opened up the Book and wasn't the least bit surprised when it flipped to the right page. She looked up. “Thanks, Prue!”

"Pwoo!"

Piper smiled at her son’s word while Phoebe quickly scanned the page. "Well, Piper, it looks like your son and Prue led us to some interesting stuff, but nothing about our demon.”

BACK TO THE BEACH

Leo was happy that he could still sense Paige. It meant she was still salvageable. He orbed in some distance from where he could sense her and looked around. In the distance, he made out two figures on the beach, obviously doing more than just kissing, but it was through reeds and weeds, so it was hard to see clearly, which was just fine with Leo, who was starting to feel a bit like a peeping Tom. He started toward them, but something on the ground caught his eye. Stopping short, he squatted down and noticed the long line of talismans attached to a string. Deciding it was definitely something for the sisters to check out, he quickly took a picture, happy when he was able to quickly figure out how to do that with the digital camera.

Then he began walking around, looking for a better view of the couple, specifically the man’s face. When he finally found one, his face went beet-red. Paige and Kernus were falling down onto a blanket, both wearing only underwear. Just like Prue had said, their lips were locked, hands roving.

For just a moment, Kernus broke the kiss so he could look Paige right in the eye as he began pushing down her bra straps.

Leo took a quick picture of his face and orbed out as fast as was physically possible.


BACK TO HALLIWELL MANOR

Piper was brewing a potion while Phoebe had the Book on the kitchen table, nervously tapping her fingernails. Wyatt was on the floor, still playing with his rattle, making sure his mother and his aunt were aware that he was there.

“Okay, Phoebe, I've got the potion going,” Piper announced as she walked over to the table. "Now show me what you found.”

“Book!” cried Wyatt, shaking his rattle. “Pwoo! Book!”

Phoebe grinned. “Yes, Wyatt. You and Auntie Prue found the page in the Book for us.”

Piper looked at the opened pages. “Most magical days. And it's written by Melinda Warren's mother, Charlotte." She began to read:

“There are two days of powerful magic.

One is for good. One is for evil. They happen so very rarely that most people forget they exist, but now I know that nine months before my daughter was born, they overlapped, and I shudder to think what might have happened had the Charmed Ones not been here to ensure that she will be raised good.

It will be over three hundred years before those days overlap again. When they do magic can be accessed in ways it normally cannot.

I only hope that when that day returns, my descendants, the descendants of my little Melinda, are there to be sure that they protect the good.

Blessed be.
Charlotte Warren.”

Piper looked up. “So the last time this happened was when we were in the past helping her give birth to Melinda in safety.”

Just as Phoebe nodded, Leo orbed back in. “You’re back.” Piper said “Did you get a picture?”

Leo took the camera off his neck. “Yes. Come and check out the screen. But one of you is going to have to work it.”

Phoebe hurried over, taking the camera from him and shaking her head at him. “Leo, I know you lived in the 20's and 30's, but you really have to come into the 21st century," and despite the concern she was feeling for her sister, Piper had to laugh, too.

Phoebe quickly glanced through the pictures Leo had taken. “Oooo! Now this guy is hot! He doesn't look anything like Brad the Bartender!”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Phoebe...” but when she saw the pictures, her eyebrows also shot up. Tall and dark and muscular, this guy was a hunk. She could see how Paige could be attracted to him, even if her sister wasn’t under magical influence.

“I think I recognize him from the Book,” Phoebe told them and quickly walked back to the table. Even as she did, the pages began flipping again. "Thanks, Prue!"

“Gwam!” Wyatt insisted. “Gwam!”

Phoebe looked at him. "Grams? Well, Prue was confused. Maybe Grams isn't." She started reading. "Oh! No wonder Prue was so confused. Piper, Leo, this guy is the Demon of Confusion!”

Leo was shocked. He'd heard of the Demon of Confusion and this wasn't good news at all.

“Like brainwash on steroids!” Phoebe continued. “His name is Kernus and he can take on the illusion and the powers of just about anything evil you can think about! That's why he could cast a spell like a warlock. In fact, the Book says that his powers makes him so powerful that the Source was afraid of him.”

“So why didn’t the Source just vanquish him?” Piper demanded.

Phoebe read a little more. "Couldn’t. He kept confusing the Source into thinking that he was a different form of evil so the Source kept vanquishing the wrong being. They finally came to a truce, with the Source agreeing that Kernus would inherit the Source’s power after the Source was vanquished, which, of course, the Source never expected to happen, but Kernus somehow must’ve known would. Piper! This guy is the new Source and has been since we vanquished Cole the first time!”

Leo nodded. “And right now he’s lying down on the beach with your sister wearing nothing but his underwear – if he's still wearing those…” and his face went beet-red again.

“How close can we get to them?” Phoebe wanted to know.

"Can you make it go back a picture?”

“Sure,” she replied as she did. “Why?”

“Well, you can get within about thirty feet before you run into these,” and he used his finger to trace the talismans on the string. “If I'm not mistaken, I think you do that and you hit a magical alarm. I didn’t test it, but if I’m right it will be too risky to test until we are ready to do something.”

“So when we cross it, we'll have to be ready.” Piper put in.

Phoebe nodded. “He’ll probably want to flame out with Paige.”

Leo shook his head. “He can't. I got that much from the Elders. He may want to, but in order to influence Paige to the side of evil, he would need to use something to concentrate the day’s magic, and you know it's not something he's hiding in his underwear."

Of course Leo didn't mean that the way it sounded, but that didn't stop the girls from giggling.

Leo rolled his eyes in response, and then turned serious again. "But he has to keep her near that magical amplifier until sundown,” he soldiered on. “Find that and you’ll loosen his hold. Not break it, mind you, but loosen it enough to get her away from him."

He reached down to pick up his son. “Do you know that today is a day of both powerful good and powerful evil magic?”

Phoebe nodded. “We found it in the Book,” and she went on to explain everything she'd read in the Book of Shadows.

“That will definitely make it more difficult to vanquish him,” Leo sighed, trying to imagine the Demon of Confusion with the extra punch of the Source casting spells during this special day.

“But how?” Phoebe asked. “There’s no vanquish for him in the Book.”

“Well, a Power of Three spell may work, but you’re down one witch for that. Even if she were willing, Paige can’t help while evil.”

“What about Prue?” Piper asked, hoping for a chance to see more of her beloved older sister. “We could summon her back.”

“That won’t work either,” Leo insisted. “Prue is no longer a Charmed One - not since Paige became Charmed. She no longer has any of her powers since Paige has it. As you know, there's no such thing as a Power of Four.”

Phoebe sighed, defeated. “Anything else we need to know?”

“You need to take the exact spell cast and cast a specific one to undo it.”

Suddenly Piper’s eyes went wide as an idea hit her. “Phoebe, do you think you’d be able to get a premonition from the amplifier?”

"You mean of the past? That's not a premonition; it’s a vision."

Piper glared at her impatiently. "You know what I mean."

Phoebe shrugged. “They don’t just come at will, Piper; you know that. And I’d need to touch it in order to get the answers we need.”

“I'm not certain if you’d be able to get a vision off the amplifier,” Leo admitted.

“But it might.”

Leo agreed. “The only problem is that if you destroy it, he’ll know and have no reason to stay once you do. He needs to stay on Earth until sunset because the magic won’t work anywhere else. Even if Paige turns good again when you destroy the amplifier, if he goes anywhere, he’ll probably take Paige with him.”

“Right,” Piper nodded, realizing that saving Paige wasn’t going to be so easy. What was it with her sisters and an attraction to the dark side – and not just any dark side, but the ultimate Source of all Evil? “Well, I guess I’d better call Nanny for Wyatt.”

BACK AT THE BEACH

Leo orbed himself, his wife and her sister just outside the boundary line. A few feet away, they could see two figures standing in each other’s arms, faces pressed together, obviously kissing. Leo diverted his eyes, still embarrassed by what he had seen earlier. At least they were fully dressed again.

“Where’s the amplifier?” Piper wanted to know, checking out the ground as best she could, while trying not to think about what Kernus was doing with her youngest sister.

“Maybe it’s hidden by magic,” Phoebe suggested before quickly chanting:

“Magic hides and magic reveals.
Show to us what magic conceals.”

A few feet away, the crystal reverted to its normal form, right in the line of Phoebe's vision. “It’s there!” she cried, trying to keep her voice to a whisper but happy that her spell had worked.

“And it's on our side of the barrier,” Leo added with a smile.

Phoebe quickly made her way to the crystal and bent down, cautiously placing her hand on it. She gasped as she was pulled into a vision of the past.

Once she came back to herself, she quickly returned to the other two while reaching into her jeans pocket to pull out the pad and pen she always carried with her in case she was inspired to write a spell.

“What did you see?” Piper asked.

“Do you remember when we went to the past that Halloween? The festival and Ruth Cobb’s house? Do you remember the talismans?”

Piper rolled her eyes. “How could I forget? I still remember the punch they packed! Although on that day, magic was doubled on top of being Halloween.”

“But remember this is one of those special days,” Leo reminded his wife while his sister-in-law jotted down something. “They’ll still pack quite a punch now if you try to get through them.”

“This is the spell he used on the talismans,” Phoebe told them as she passed the pad to her sister.

"Remember," Leo warned them, "you need to write the opposite - you need your counter-spell to say something about turning her good. And remember the crystal. He’ll know when you do something to it but you need to in order to weaken it enough to say the counter-spell.”

“And you said we also have to get her away from him,” Piper nodded. “Although we don’t know how far.”

“I think as long as they’re not touching, that will be enough,” Leo speculated. “Maybe you can freeze him,” he suggested, reminding his wife of the power she usually forgot.

Phoebe shook her head, even as she worked on the revised version of the spell. “I don’t think so. Remember: he’s taken over as the new Source.” Then her eyes brightened. “But, Piper, maybe you could blow him back. I’ll cast the spell while you take care of him.”

“And the crystal,” Piper sighed. “I’ll have to explode that to weaken it.” She nervously waved her hands in front of her. "How far do you think this shield of his goes?”

“It will probably be a dome,” Leo answered. “Which brings the question of how will you get Paige out.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” Piper decided with a labored sigh. “First let’s get her back to good and thinking clearly.”

“So then the spell,” Phoebe agreed, as she held up the pad of paper. "How's this?"

Piper quickly read the spell and then nodded with a grin. “That should do it.” She glanced back at Paige and Kernus through the reeds. At least they were dressed. That meant they wouldn’t be dealing with a naked Paige running towards them - Piper was still haunted by the time they had orbed into her apartment before she agreed to move into the Manor.

“Well, if we’re gonna try it, we’d better do it now,” she decided, looking down at the crystal. “Get ready to cast the spell.” And with that, Piper flicked her wrists, shattering the crystal and sending shards flying everywhere but towards the couple who were so in to each other that they didn’t even notice.

“Nice work," Leo grinned at his wife.

Piper nodded. “And now for Kernus,” and she flicked her wrist, not exploding Kernus, but knocking him away from Piper’s sister. “Phoebe, now!” so Phoebe began chanting the spell:

“Before the setting of the sun,
Let the evil in our sister run.

Kernus jumped up and ran towards Paige, so Piper flicked her hands again, knocking him back while Phoebe kept chanting:

Turn her back to an agent of good.
Return the balance to be the way it should.”

They watched as Kernus jumped up and headed towards Paige, but their half-sister backed away from him even as a dark light coursed through her from her feet up. The dark light shot into the sky.

Suddenly Paige put up her hand and called out something, although they were too far away to hear her. It must have been the demon because orbs surrounded him and he flew towards Paige before she ricocheted him a few feet down the beach.

Even before he had fully formed, Paige started running away from Kernus. “Get away from me!” they heard her scream.

“Paige!” Piper shouted just as Kernus pulled himself from the ground. “This way!”

Paige turned and, seeing her sisters, she gave out a small whimper and began running towards them. Just as Paige drew close, Piper held up her hands. “Freeze!”

Paige stopped in a panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Talismans,” Phoebe quickly explained. “They’re all around you.”

With Paige stationary, Kernus was moving closer, certain to grab and shimmer out with the young half-whitelighter. Piper quickly flicked her wrists again, shoving him back again, even as Paige stuck out her hand this time, calling out, “Talisman!”

Orbs surrounded one of the talismans on the ground. Paige held up her hand, ready to ricochet it, but the talisman didn’t move. The orbs vanished and the talisman was still right where it was, shocking everyone, and now Kernus grabbed Paige. Piper quickly flicked her hands and again he was shoved back, but how were they going to rescue Paige?

“Talisman!” Paige called again.

This time, before either of her sisters or Leo could protest, just as the orbs surrounded the talisman, Paige ran across the string and into Phoebe's arms. She wasn’t sure what had just happened to her, but she knew she had to be safer with her half-sisters.

“Let’s get out of here!” Phoebe cried, hugging Paige in relief, just as the talisman reappeared in the sand and Leo grabbed Piper’s arm and orbed out with her.

But something in the back of Paige’s head was urging her to stay. She glanced back at Kernus who was once more running towards them.

“Paige!" Phoebe screamed. "Orb! Now!” so Paige shook the thought out of her head and orbed out with her sister.

Kernus growled in frustration and flamed out, leaving behind his useless talismans.

BACK TO THE ATTIC

Leo orbed in with his wife in tow. Piper instantly looked around the room. “Paige and Phoebe!” she panicked just as orbs filled the room, revealing her sisters. She quickly ran to her youngest sister and hugged her tightly. “We were so worried when Prue told us!”

“Prue?” Paige asked, confused, as she looked between her two sisters, still trying to process the last hour. “Prue came here?”

“We summoned her,” Phoebe explained, before hunching her shoulders. “She kinda told us to.”

“She said if we need her again we can summon her,” Piper quickly told Paige, seeing the surprise on Paige’s face. Piper wasn’t too sure whether it was a good surprised look or a bad one; she knew how much Paige initially felt like a replacement for Prue.

So did Phoebe. “She also said that she’s been watching all of us,” she grinned. “And you don’t have to try to be her – you’re wonderful as you!”

Paige’s cheeks went scarlet at these words from the big sister she had never met but sorta wanted to and sorta didn't want to. She wasn’t sure what she felt about Prue watching her, but her oldest sister had helped save her today and she couldn't help feeling grateful. She supposed there were all kinds of guardian angels.

“Anyway," and Piper went into mother-mode. "Let’s get you changed into something besides that,” indicating Paige's clothing.

Paige looked down and immediately felt her face go red as she could now recall all the details of her “encounter” with the demon. She then turned up her pert little nose. “I think maybe I’ll burn them.”

Neither of her sisters could help it. Paige's words made both of them break into laughter, happy that their younger sister still had her sense of humor despite her experience.

“Okay, we can do that,” Piper chortled. “How about over his ashes after we vanquish him?”

Paige joined the laughter. “You've got yourself a deal.”

Phoebe sobered up. “At least we know who the demon is," as she broke into a proud grin – after all, she had been the one who found him. Well, with help from Prue and Wyatt. Thinking about Prue helping them save their youngest sister made Phoebe decide that Leo was wrong - the sisters had put together a pretty cool power of four – even if Prue was no longer Charmed.

“So we go back and vanquish him?” Paige asked, hope gleaming in her eyes. But the hope turned to disappointment when she saw both of her sisters and Leo shake their heads.

“Vanquishing him today isn’t an option,” Piper admitted. “We first have to figure out how. Even the Source couldn’t vanquish him and now he is the Source.”

“The Source?” Paige groaned. “I thought we got rid of him. Twice!”

“No,” Piper told her. “This is a new one.”

Suddenly, Paige felt even worse. She thought her brief time as a vampire had been bad, but she had never felt more violated than she did right now. She almost recoiled at the idea of being so close to the Source of All Evil.

Phoebe looked sympathetically at her little sister. She wouldn’t wish her experience with the dark side on anyone, least not her younger sister.

“But the good news is that you three have vanquished two Sources in the past,” Leo pointed out, trying not to linger on the fact that one of those Sources had had Prue killed and the other one was Phoebe’s husband at the time. “So you will be able to do it eventually. Just not tonight.”

“Tomorrow then?” Paige asked, causing her sisters to laugh again. At least she was back to her usual, witty self…well, at least on the outside.

Suddenly little Wyatt orbed in. “PayPay!” he squealed in delight, making Paige smile. “PayPay!” Wyatt instantly orbed so that he was standing at Paige’s feet. Looking up, he raised his arms hopefully.

“Hey, sweetie,” Paige smiled as she scooped up her nephew. “How’s my favorite boy?”

“Wuv PayPay!” and Wyatt wrapped his little arms around Paige’s neck.

“I love you too, Wyatt,” and Paige hugged him back.

"Kiss?" Wyatt asked, puckering up.

Paige laughed as she planted a huge smacking kiss on his lips.

Just then Wyatt's elf-nanny appeared, as usual looking like she had just swallowed a lemon. "Wyatt Matthew Halliwell!"

Wyatt looked down at her. "PayPay!"

"Please forgive him, Nanny," Piper begged. "Paige has been missing and we just got her back. Wyatt was worried about her."

Nanny glared at her. "There better not be more demon trouble in this house! I warned you when I came back…"

Piper put her hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. "No, Nanny. No demon problem at all. Just a beloved missing auntie."

Nanny again glared at her. "Hurrumph!" and she vanished, making all three sisters laugh as Paige hugged Wyatt again.

Just then the grandfather clock began bonging. Piper sighed. "I almost forgot; I've gotta get to P3. Are you girls gonna come tonight? You know who's playing!"

Phoebe bounced happily. "Oh, yes! Jason and I have been looking forward to this for weeks." But her bouncing subsided as her eyes turned once again to Paige. Would Kernus try anything else tonight?

"Piper, if you don't mind, I feel like staying in tonight. I feel like a night in with my favorite little guy," and Paige planted another smacking kiss on Wyatt's lips.

Even as Piper and Phoebe gave her a questioning look, Paige just shrugged. She wasn’t sure how much Piper and Phoebe had witnessed down at the beach. Even if they were ignorant, she still felt violated. She knew a long, hot shower wasn’t going to be enough to vanquish her memories, but she might as well try. A night at home to collect her thoughts couldn’t hurt either.

Besides, she had to mull over the appearance of yet another family member - Prue. She had to deal with the fact that Prue was back…sorta. Until now, her sisters couldn't summon their oldest sister, but now they could.

But she didn't want to ruin her sisters' night with her worries and fears about something they wouldn’t want to hear about, especially not when they had been looking forward to this concert so much.

"PayPay! Wy an PayPay!"

Piper smiled. "I understand. And I'd just as soon not call Nanny again. But maybe Leo should stay here with you. Kernus is still out there, and for whatever reason, he seems to have targeted you. Leo?"

“No, no, Leo; you should go," Paige insisted, turning to Leo with Wyatt in her arms. "The Manor is the safest place for me. After all, it’s where we’re the strongest. Besides, I have Wyatt’s shield, and I can call for you if anything seems off.”

Leo gave her his best concerned whitelighter look. Above all else he did not want to lose another charge or force his wife to lose another sister. Seeing Prue had been a harsh reminder of the time he didn’t do his duty and had lost a charge.

“Really, Leo, go!” Paige insisted. “Have some fun with your wife."

Knowing that the Warren women always got their way in the end, Leo turned his attention away from Paige and back towards his wife, a questioning look in his eyes.

Piper, who had been looking forward to a date-night with her husband, smiled her consent. Then it faded as she turned back to Paige, going back into mother-mode. "Are you absolutely sure you'll be okay?"

"Go," Paige insisted. "Have fun. You enjoy those guys while I enjoy time with your little guy," and now Piper's smile returned.

DOWN IN THE SEER’S LAIR

The Seer stood, an evil smile on her lips, as a very angry Kernus flamed in behind her. "Your plan failed, Seer."

The Seer slowly turned around. "Did it, Master?"

"Her sisters rescued her before the sunset. She's back to being good."

"Oh, we do not need the Charmed One to make my vision of the future come true. She would have only been a bonus."

"Damn your illusive chatter! You obviously did not tell me the whole thing. So tell me this plan of yours now. I’m ready to destroy them."

The Seer smirked evilly, ignoring the Source’s outburst in a way only a practiced Seer could. "And destroy them we shall, although not right away I fear. The Twice-Cursed Child is now on his way. But he must be raised evil in order for him to fulfill his destiny by destroying his mother – and the Charmed Ones."

"But the half-whitelighter is now good! She will never raise him evil!"

"No, Master, she won't. But we will!" At that, the duo laughed sinisterly and began plotting their next move.

MEANWHILE AT P3

What Kernus and his Seer and the Charmed Ones didn't know was that while Kernus was seducing Paige and her sisters were discussing how to rescue her, a young dark-haired, green-eyed man had stepped through a triquetra-shaped portal into the back room of P3. Since then he had been wandering around San Francisco, trying to figure out what was going on. He'd found a newspaper which had given him the shock of his life. He wasn't where he was supposed to be; he wasn't even when he was supposed to be.

Thinking over the spell that had brought him here, he couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. His brother had written it, and all of his spells always worked. Why hadn't this one?

Worst of all, he wasn't sure how to get back home or even if he should go back.

Finally returning to P3, the young man walked down the steps into the club and then froze at the bottom of the steps as he spotted Piper and Phoebe with Leo and Jason.

"Dad!" he murmured, staring at Leo. "You're alive!"

So?? What do you think of that Power of Four???

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER TWO: Happy Birthday, Dear Angel

THE NIGHTCLUB PART OF P3

A week later, Piper and Phoebe were getting P3 ready for a party with help from their dad, Victor Bennett. The sisters had been on edge all week, but so far no demons had attacked and a party was just what they needed to blow off some steam.

Up on the stage, Piper and Phoebe were rolling out a huge banner while Victor was trying to play with a fussy Wyatt, who was throwing a magical tantrum, making orb bubbles appear all over the club.

"Dad," Piper called. "We could use your help unrolling this banner. I want to see what it looks like."

"Good. I could use some help with my favorite grandson. I think someone needs a nap."

"No!" demanded Wyatt, conjuring another flurry of orb bubbles. "No nap!"

"C'mon, sweetie; you can just barely keep your eyes open," Piper cajoled, but Wyatt firmly shook his head. So she set down her side of the banner and walked over to the bar. There she reached under it to open the small fridge and bring out a bottle of milk. She brought it over to Victor and Wyatt, handing it to her son who immediately threw it to the floor."

"No, MaMa! No nap!"

Piper reached down to pick up the plastic bottle while Victor picked up Wyatt and kissed him on the forehead. "Night, baby. Have a nice nap. Love you."

"Love PaPa! No nap!"

Victor chuckled as he passed Wyatt off to Piper before heading over to the stage to try to help Phoebe with the banner. Piper also kissed her son's forehead, then sat down and stuck the nipple of the bottle into his mouth. At first Wyatt fought her, but he finally began drinking and the orb bubbles stopped appearing. Meanwhile Victor picked up Piper's end of the banner and began helping Phoebe unroll it.

Piper stood up with Wyatt. "I'm going to put him in the back."

The other two agreed and continued the work of unrolling the banner. Piper carried her son towards the back room, singing a lullaby as she did. As she neared the back room, there was a faint sound of orbing, but Piper was so busy singing to Wyatt that she didn't notice it.

But Wyatt did as he spit out the nipple. "DaDa!"

Piper laughed. "No, honey, Daddy's not going to put you to bed; I am," and she put the nipple back in his mouth as she used her hip to nudge open the door to the back room.


THE BACK ROOM OF P3

Piper continued to sing to her son, smiling to see that his eyes were beginning to droop. She carried him over to the crib standing in the corner and settled him, covering him with a very special blue blanket decorated with an embroidered triquetra. She continued to lean over the crib, still crooning the lullaby, as Wyatt closed his eyes and fell asleep. After softly kissing her son's forehead, Piper turned on the baby monitor sitting on the changing table next to the crib. Then taking the receiver, she headed back towards the nightclub, eager to see Paige's artwork.

After a moment, the young dark-haired, green-eyed man who had arrived in this room via the triquetra portal just a week earlier orbed back in, sighing with relief at not being caught. Then he spotted the baby monitor and put his hand over his mouth. He walked over to the crib and then waved his hand in front of the monitor. It glowed golden for a moment. He smiled down at the sleeping Wyatt, lovingly telling him, "Now our mother won't hear anything but your soft snores."

Suddenly there was a different sound and the young man spun around to see a tall, blond-haired, brown-eyed man appear. There was something off about him--he looked like he was halfway between orbs, and his eyes screamed urgency. "Chris! I finally found you! Are you alright?"

"Wy!" cried the brunet. "What are you doing here? And how did you get here?"

The blond shrugged. "A spell and a potion and I orbed just my astral self to you. I'm checking up on you. Mom insisted. Let me tell you, bro, we were all pretty upset when you just chanted my spell and stepped through that portal and now everyone is very worried that you didn’t return right away."

"I'm not sure if I'm okay or not, Wy. What the hell am I doing here? I was supposed to go back to when the trouble started! I thought it would give me a chance to save Aunt Paige from him! But..."

Chris waved a hand in the direction of the nightclub, where the sounds of laughter could be clearly heard, especially Piper's.

"That sounds like Mom!" cried Wy. "But she sounds so young!"

"I know. I went back a lot farther than I thought, Wy. It's 2004."

"2004! What the hell are you doing in 2004?"

"Damned if I know. But if the spell brought me here it must mean that something happened that affects what happened in our time and I'm not going back until I find out!"

Suddenly Wy noticed the child in the crib. "Wait. If this is 2004, then...?"

Chris smirked. "That’s you, big brother. Not so big now."

Wy stared in shock when some more of the laughter from the nightclub drifted back. "What's going on?" he wanted to know.

Chris gave him a sad smile. "They're getting P3 ready for Dad's surprise birthday party. It's May 6, 2004, Wy."

"2004? Dad's 80th? The party Mom always told us about...Then that means it's another week before they came. Our father..."

Chris nodded. "I know. I'm trying to decide what to do about it."

"Christopher, it doesn't matter what time period you landed in. You find out who he is and why he hates us so much and then you get yourself back to our time so we can fix it. If you change anything else it's hard to say what that will do to the future."

Chris shuffled his feet. "I know, but..."

"You gotta be careful, bro. You can't change anything. Just think of the future consequences if you did!"

"I know, Wy. I will. Mom pounded that into our brains often enough. But, Wy, Mom almost caught me. I can't stay here at P3 much longer. And I won't come back home until I succeed!"


KERNUS' CAVERN

Kernus was sitting on his throne when the Seer shimmered in. She bowed before him. "You called for me, Master?"

"Everything is as you foresaw, Seer. The two older Charmed Ones, their father, the whitelighter, and the Twice Blessed Child are the only ones in P3."

"And the half-whitelighter?"

Kernus snickered. "She is due in court shortly. She will not be able to join the others in P3 in the near future."

The Seer nodded. "Perfect. Now we merely need to keep those within P3 distracted."

"Others have tried to do so, but they have failed," Kernus growled. "The Charmed Ones have merely used the Power of Three to escape."

The Seer smirked again. "But what if they do not know that they have the Power of Three? What if they think that there has always been only the two of them? And what if the world on the outside, including the half-whitelighter, also thinks that there have always been only two--the other two? Then we could take what we need from the half-whitelighter without any threat from the Charmed Ones."

"But, the oldest sister..."

"Did you cast the spell that I suggested?"

"Yes, I did. It should take effect very soon."

"Good. Then let us watch the way we have watched for the last five years."

Kernus waved his hand and a picture of the closed door leading out of P3 appeared on the wall. The Seer smiled evilly. "Very good. Now watch and see, Master. Watch and see."


BACK TO THE NIGHTCLUB

As they watched, a distortion rippled the door and then began rippling down the steps.

Even as it did, Piper was returning to the nightclub where Phoebe and Victor had managed to hang the beautifully-painted banner reading "Happy 30th Birthday, Leo!"

Piper, who was seeing the finished product for the first time, gasped with pleasure. "Oh, Paige did a beautiful job painting the banner! Even better than I imagined."

Phoebe nodded. "If she didn't love her social work so much, I think Jason would ask her to draw ads for the paper."

"But why 30?" Victor wanted to know.

Phoebe snickered. "Well, she couldn't very well put down 80, could she?"

"No," Victor admitted.

"When we went on our honeymoon, I had to forge his birth certificate." Piper blushed, having to admit this to her dad. "I changed 1924 to 1974..."

Victor shook his head at his daughter's forgery deception, but then smiled. In the scheme of things, changing a little 2 to a 7 wasn’t the end of the world. "So that makes him 30 now."

Phoebe nodded, laughing. "Especially because he looks too old to be 20 and not old enough to be 40."

Victor nodded, still smiling. "So 30 works great. Piper, you know how much I didn't want you to marry a whitelighter," and Piper slowly nodded. "Now I'm glad you did. I'm proud to have him as my son-in-law," and both Phoebe and Piper broke out in smiles.

Just then Paige orbed in, her purse dangling from her arm. She looked around, clapping in delight. "Oh, you guys! Everything looks great!"

"Paige!" cried Piper. "I thought you're supposed to be in court!"

"Well, the judge gave us a 15-minute recess and I had to come see!"

"Well, as long as you're here and only have 15 minutes, here!" and Phoebe threw a roll of crepe paper at Paige. "Grab some crepe paper," and Paige grinned as she caught the roll as they continued their preparation.

So busy were they with the preparation and they were having so much fun that they don't even notice the distortion which had crept down the stairs and was now slowly flowing across the nightclub. Each thing it touched changed: wallpaper, curtains, table spreads, the carpet, even Wyatt's magical orb bubbles changed. Most changes were subtle, but evident.

Even as it grew closer to the stage and the group, they could hear the jingling of incoming orbing again.

"Oh, no!" cried Paige, using her sensing ability. "Leo! He'll ruin his surprise!" and the youngest Charmed One ran towards the sound of orbing. Just as Leo was beginning to appear, she jumped at him, attempting to orb both of them to Halliwell Manor.

But it didn't work.

Right when Leo was halfway in and Paige was halfway out, the distortion reached them. When it went through their combined orbing, for a moment both manifestations were no longer visible. Then Leo was simply there, while there was absolutely no sign of Paige or either of their orbs.

The distortion continued to pass through the entire building, continuing to change everything else it touched, including the group's clothing, and even the sisters’ hairstyles. Again, most of the changes were subtle, but evident.

Leo looked around. "Happy birthday to me?"

"Oh, no!" cried Phoebe. "It was supposed to be a surprise!"

"And why shouldn't we, Mr. Handyman?" Piper asked with a smile at her husband. "After all the stuff you've fixed at the Manor..."

Leo stared at his wife. "Mister what?"


BACK TO THE BACK ROOM

Like in the nightclub, there were now subtle but evident changes to the back room, especially Chris, who was wearing different clothes and even sported a different, more stylish haircut. Wy's astral projection, however, looked exactly the same. Chris was looking into the crib with his back to Wy.

"Did you see that, Chris?" Wy asked.

Chris turned around, startled. He thought he and the occupant of the crib were alone. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what are you doing here?"

Wy stared back at his brother in shock.


BACK TO THE NIGHTCLUB

Unlike before, P3 now looked exactly like it did before the distortion wave went through, except it was completely empty, or it was until Paige orbed back in. She looked around, confused. "P3? What am I doing in P3? I'm supposed to be at the Manor. And where's Leo?

Slightly confused, she called out her whitelighter's name.

But Leo didn't show up.

Now more than a bit confused, she called out, "Leo?"

Nothing.

Now she was frightened. "Leo!"

Still nothing.

Now she was angry. "Leo! Okay, this isn't funny. You're supposed to come when I call!"

And still no one came.

She looked around, the lack of people now soaking in. "Phoebe? Piper?! Victor?! Where are you guys?"


BACK TO KERNUS' CAVERN

"This did not work out as you foresaw, Seer!" Kernus growled. "The whitelighter and the half-whitelighter both know what happened before."

The Seer smiled serenely. "No, Master. This is happening exactly as I saw in my vision. Keep watching. The moment is drawing closer."

But when they turned back to look at the wall, to their surprise there were three pictures, not just one or the two which the Seer expected to see – Paige alone in P3, Leo with Piper, Phoebe and Victor in the altered version of the nightclub, and two young men, one blond, one brunet in what they recognized as P3's back room.

"Who are they?" Kernus demanded.

"I do not know," the Seer admitted. "But I shall find out," and even as her eyes turned white, Kernus steadied his gaze on the two young men occupying P3's back room.


BACK TO THE BACK ROOM

Wy frowned as he stared at his brother. "What did you say?"

Chris sighed impatiently. "I asked you who you are and what you're doing here."

Wy's frown grew larger. "Is this some sort of game, Chris?"

Even as he asked, Wy began to note the little changes in Chris’ appearance. Still he had to be sure. "I’m Wyatt. You call me Wy. Now, did you see the wave or not?"

Now Chris folded his arms, beginning to grow angry. "I didn’t see a wave. I don’t know you. And I don't call anyone Wy."

Now all Wy could do was stare at his brother in hurt shock.


BACK TO THE ALTERED NIGHTCLUB

Piper stared at her husband with concern. He’d never objected to the nickname before and she wondered why he suddenly found it objectionable. She was proud of the work he'd done, but right now, something was clearly wrong. “Leo?” she asked tentatively. “You okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”

Leo walked over to the bar, so focused on Piper’s strange words that he hadn’t yet noticed her altered appearance. “Not quite,” was his ambiguous reply as he looked around. Phoebe and Victor were looking at him curiously, but where was...“Where’s Paige?”

“Who?”

Her question didn’t register as Leo continued to look around, muttering to himself. “I could have sworn I saw her running at me when I orbed in.”

That started Piper laughing. “Orbed in? Leo, honey, you’re not a whitelighter. You came in the same way everyone else does,” and she pointed. “Right down those stairs.”

Leo was sure he had heard wrong. “I’m not a whitelighter?”

“No,” Piper assured him, shaking her head.

“Are you sure?” he asked, trying to get the thought through his head. After over sixty-one years as a whitelighter, the very idea was foreign to him.

“I’m sure,” she replied as she led him to one of the bar stools and directed him to sit down. “Did you hit your head or something?”

“Maybe I did,” Leo conceded, rubbing his head, feeling for bumps. “Maybe when Paige...”

"There you go again," Piper interrupted. "Should I be jealous of this Paige?" she asked, only half-joking.

"Jealous? Of your sister?"

"My sister? Leo! Is this some sort of weird payback because we didn't tell you we were planning a party?"

“Of course not.” Leo was totally bewildered now, wondering if maybe his wife was possessed. But neither Phoebe nor Victor was coming to his defense.

“Then, what are you talking about?” Piper demanded as she waved her hand towards Phoebe. “My sister’s over there, and her name isn't Paige; it's Phoebe, as you well know. Now tell me, who is Paige?”

“No, no, not Phoebe,” Leo laughed. “Of course I know Phoebe. I’m talking about Paige, your youngest sister.”

Now Piper was sure he had hit his head on something. She began to speak very slowly, as if speaking to a very young child. “Leo, listen to me. I only have one sister. I have always had only one sister. Her name is Phoebe. I call her Phoebs. It’s why we named our club P2.”

Leo stared at her in shock. He turned to look at the sign above the stage. Sure enough, it now read “P2”.


BACK TO PAIGE IN THE EMPTY NIGHTCLUB

Paige stood near the stage of the totally empty P3, very confused. Pulling out her cell phone, she made a quick call, very disappointed when no one responded. "Piper? This is Paige. I’m at P3, but it’s empty. I thought I was orbing Leo to the Manor but instead I ended up back at P3, and I'm all by myself. Where are you guys? Call me. Please?"

Sighing heavily, she began pacing around the room as she flipped her cell phone close. “No one is answering their phones," she muttered. "Leo disappeared right in front of my own eyes and now he's not responding to my calls. And I think I'm orbing home and instead I end up in a totally empty P3! What’s going on around here?!” she exclaimed in frustration.

Her thoughts began drifting to her demonic experience the previous week and she quickly scanned the room for any sign of demonic interference.

There was only silence.

Suddenly she stopped. Shivers ran up and down her spine and she hugged herself in comfort as she sat down on one of the stools. “And now I feel like someone just walked right through me! I gotta find someone who can help me.”

“But who?" she groaned. "My whitelighter's not answering - who else would hear me?”


BACK TO LEO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN "P2"

A just-as-frustrated Leo was sitting on the same stool as Paige. Suddenly, he frowned.

Phoebe, seeing the look, walked over, Victor following her. “What’s going on?” she asked Piper.

Piper shrugged. “Not sure,” she admitted, uncertain what to think about Leo’s assertion that she had a second sister. She looked at her husband questioningly.

“I know you won't believe me, but I thought I heard a charge calling,” he informed her. “I’m pretty sure it was Paige. But when I tried to figure out where she is, I couldn’t.”

Phoebe looked at Piper with wide eyes and mouthed, “Has he lost his mind?”

Piper sighed. “That’s the problem.”

"Who's Paige?" Phoebe added in a whisper, but Leo heard her.

Leo stared at Phoebe with something bordering on shock. “You, too? Are you kidding me? Even if this is P2 and not P3, of course you know Paige. She’s your sister, one of the Charmed Ones.”

Now everyone in the group was looking at Leo, pity in their eyes, certain he had lost his mind. Phoebe spoke very slowly, just like Piper had done earlier. "The Charmed Ones? Leo, the Charmed Ones do not exist. Maybe in the future they will if you and Piper have three daughters or if Jason and I do, but not yet. How can we be the Charmed Ones when our mother is dead and she only had two kids - us?”

“But...but...what about Prue?” Leo asked, still feeling the pain of losing a charge.

“Prue!” Piper exclaimed, starting to feel the green monster welling up again. “Now who is Prue?”

Leo was beginning to lose it, something completely foreign for the whitelighter. “Who’s Prue?! Piper! You’ve got to be kidding! Right?”

Phoebe frowned at Leo as Piper could only shake her head with deep concern, trying to figure out what had happened to her husband.


BACK TO PAIGE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN P3

Paige was so busy mumbling to herself that she didn’t hear the sparkle of blue-white orbs filling the air nor did she see a female whitelighter appearing in their place. The whitelighter glanced around the room for a moment with a frown before smiling when she spotted her charge. "Phoebe Penelope Halliwell! There you are!"

Phoebe? Paige looked around but saw no signs of her older sister. Turning towards the female whitelighter Paige realized that the newcomer was looking directly at her. "Who? Me?"

"Well, of course I am talking to you. Have I not been your family whitelighter most of your life? Now what are you doing here? You were supposed to be home hours ago!"

"Excuse me, but you must be mistaking me for someone else, like my sister. Her name is Phoebe Halliwell. I'm Paige Matthews. And we've never had a family whitelighter, well, not unless you count Leo. And who exactly are you?"

"Did you hit your head or something, Phoebe? Now let us go back to the Manor immediately. Prudence is very worried."

Prudence? Had this whitelighter really just said Prudence? But before Paige could protest, the whitelighter grabbed her arm and orbed out.


BACK TO "P2"

“There’s never been a Prue in our family,” Piper informed Leo, trying to calm him down, “at least not since Melinda Warren’s daughter, Prudence. And there’s never been any Paige at all.” She turned to look at her sister and her father. “He thinks he’s still a whitelighter, and we're the Charmed Ones.”

“Leo, did you hit your head?” Phoebe asked, concerned, while Victor just looked bewildered.

Leo stared at the group, trying to figure out if maybe they were right and he was losing his mind. “I’m fine. I did not hit my head.” He looked at his wife. “Piper, if I’m not a whitelighter, then why am I here? If you weren’t assigned as my charges, I never would have met you. You weren't supposed to know that I was your whitelighter, but you found me out.”

Piper started laughing. “Of course we found you out, Leo. But you haven't had your wings since you saved me when I died of Oroyo fever. The Elders punished you by taking away your wings. And we've had close to a normal life ever since. You never wanted them back, remember?.”

Victor smiled. "After hearing that story, that's when I knew you were the man for my daughter."

"B...b..but I got my wings back!" Leo exclaimed. "When I demanded that the Elders give me back my wings so I could save Prue from the darklighter!"

"Prue?" demanded Victor. "Who's Prue? One of your innocents?"

"No, Victor! Your daughter! Your oldest daughter! The one you always called Prudence!"

Now all three of them were staring at him, deep concern wrinkling their foreheads.

“But the Elders must've given me my wings back!" Leo insisted. "What about the demons? Since you're Charmed, they'd want me to help protect you.”

"There you go with the demon-talk again." Now Piper was becoming afraid, totally convinced that her husband had either lost his mind or was playing a horrendously bad joke on them, something she'd never known him to do. "Why would demons ever come after us?"

Phoebe could see the fear in her sister's eyes and reached out to rub her hand in comfort before turning to her brother-in-law. "Leo, she's right. Demons have never come after us, even when you had your wings. Why should they? So what if I can see the future and Piper can freeze time? Lots of witches can do that. Why would demons ever want our powers?

"Leo, we know the prophecy. Yes, those are two of the prophesied powers, but no way can we be the Charmed Ones unless there’s three of us, unless we have a sister who can move things with her mind. And we don’t.”

Leo looked at them each in turn. Suddenly he relaxed. “Oh! I should've guessed.”

“Guessed what?” Victor wanted to know.

Leo smiled. “You guys are playing a trick on me, because I found out about your surprise party. So is Paige hiding in one of the booths or in the back room?” He raised his voice as he called out, “Okay, Paige, you can come out now.”

Victor glanced at Piper and Phoebe. Clearly neither of them was having any success with convincing Leo, so he decided it was his turn. “Leo, we aren’t playing a trick on you. Why would we? We’ve never even heard of this Paige.”

Leo could only sigh with frustration, wondering what in the world had happened and why they couldn’t remember. With another glance at the three sets of worried eyes focused on him, Leo also wondered what he was going to do in order to fix it.


BACK TO THE BACK ROOM OF "P2"

Wy was now convinced that Chris wasn’t playing a game, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. "This isn’t funny, Chris."

"You’re right. It’s not. If you don’t tell me who you are and why you’re here, I’m going to go get my mom."

"Chris, you can't!" Now Wy was frantic. "She doesn't even know you’re here!"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Of course she does. She asked me to watch Meli while they set up for Dad’s party."

"Meli?" And again, all Wy could do was stare.


BACK TO KERNUS' CAVERN

Kernus and the Seer turned to look at each other. "Wy?" Kernus asked. "The eldest living sister's son grown?"

"So it would seem. And the other is his brother, also grown. And it appears that before the wave went through, the brother was here in the past. We must keep watching..."


THE CONSERVATORY AT HALLIWELL MANOR

When Paige could see again, she was first surprised to find herself in the conservatory of Halliwell Manor, but was then even more surprised to see a certain sister standing in front of her. Prue Halliwell, the sister who she had never met, was staring at her, looking very worried but nevertheless very much alive.

Prue brightened when she saw her younger sister. “Hey, Phoebs, there you are!”

Paige stared at her stunned. “Prue?! You’re alive!”

“Last time I checked.” Prue grinned but confusion was filling her blue eyes. “Are you okay, Phoebs?”

“Why are you calling me Phoebs?” Paige demanded.

Prue glanced at the female whitelighter, who shrugged. “I think she must have hit her head.”

“Are you okay?” Prue repeated, the worry returning to her eyes. “I was worried when you didn’t show up, so I sent Natalie looking for you.”

“I found her in what looked like an empty nightclub."

“Of course," Paige told them. "I was at P3.”

The other two looked at her questioningly. “P3?”

Paige tried to jog their memories. “Piper’s club.”

Both stared at her for a few seconds, and then Prue burst out laughing. “Piper’s club?! Are you serious? She’s only in first grade, sweetie.”

“How can my older sister be in first grade?”

Certain she was joking, Prue continued to chortle. “Of course, I'm not in first grade, Phoebs. Haven't been in decades. It's my daughter who is.”

“Why does everyone think I'm Phoebe!" Paige demanded. "That’s what she called me. And she says she’s our family whitelighter but I’ve never had one.” Suddenly more wary of her current situation, she glanced furtively around the room.

During this entire time, Natalie’s mouth hung open in surprise, looking back and forth between the two.

“Sweetie, are you feeling alright?” Prue asked, moving towards Paige, her arm outstretched and her face full of concern.

Again Paige shook her head, this time hard, her voice rising in panic. “Now why would I be alright? My eldest half-sister who I don’t know because she is dead is telling me my name is Phoebe and that I have a niece named Piper when Piper and Phoebe are my other half-sisters and I don't have a niece but a nephew! Now why on Earth would I be alright?”

This was too much for Natalie, “I must report this to the Elders,” and she orbed out.

Meanwhile the concern on Prue’s face only grew. “Maybe we should forget about shopping today. You sound like you need rest.” Even as Prue spoke as calmly as she could manage, her mind raced. What was happening to her little sister?

Paige backed away. “I do not need rest. I need to find Piper, Phoebe and Leo. Where are they?”

Prue stepped forward, trying to give her baby sister a hug, but she was pushed away. Fear welling up inside of her, she tried talking sense into her sister. “Your name is Phoebe – you were named after Mom’s great-aunt – Piper is my daughter.”

Paige stared at Prue stunned. She heaved in several deep breaths, trying to collect herself. Last week her sisters summoned Prue in ghost form and this week she was standing in front of her, arms outstretched like everything was peachy.

But everything was not peachy.

Slowly, Paige began running through a list of possible scenarios: an alternate reality like the one where Cole had been vanquished; warlocks impersonating the Halliwell women; a spell gone awry, or maybe they were right and she really had hit her head and had experienced actual head trauma. Paige tried not to think about that last possibility. She was pretty confident that insanity wasn’t the problem. In all truthfulness, she would have been more comfortable with the idea that Cole was behind this, however impossible that explanation seemed.

All the while Prue was watching her with concern, trying to figure out what was wrong with her only sister.

Paige noticed her oldest sister’s uncertainty and decided that the emotions flashing across her face were in fact real. So when, at a loss for words, Prue reached out to give her another hug, this time Paige let her. The warmth, love, and sisterly-bond she felt when wrapped in Prue’s arms rang true, despite Paige’s confused state.

So if this whole situation was real, then what had occurred to bring Prue back from the dead? And how come she was here with Prue when Piper and Phoebe weren’t? And where the hell were Leo and Victor?

These questions rained down as Prue comforted her little sister. “Why don’t you sit down, Phoebs, and then I can find Mom.”

Paige let Prue lead her to the couch, but felt like her head was about to explode. Why did Prue keep calling her Phoebs? Her name was Paige. P-a-i-g-e. What was so hard about that?

In fact, nothing here was making any sense. Leo was not her whitelighter or her brother-in-law, Prue was very much alive and..

Wait a minute.. Did she just say Mom?


BACK TO THE NIGHTCLUB PART OF "P2"

Victor sighed. "I'll admit it. None of this makes a lot of sense, but it's obvious to me that we don't remember the same things you do, so you better tell us what you do remember."

Phoebe stared at him in shock. "Dad! You don't really believe him?"

Victor laughed. "No, of course not, but it appears that something has happened to his memories. If we can find out what he thinks he remembers, maybe we can figure out what has happened to change them."

Very un-Leo-like, the whitelighter was becoming annoyed. "My memories have changed? Try yours!"

Phoebe shrugged. "In this case, you're out-numbered."

Leo sighed impatiently, standing up. "Look. I'm still a whitelighter. Watch."

Everyone stared at Leo, but nothing happened. "Well?" Victor asked. "Watch what?"

Again Leo sighed impatiently. "I probably can't orb for the same reason that you guys can't remember that I'm your whitelighter and you have two more sisters, Prue and Paige!"

It was Phoebe's turn to roll her eyes. "Well, Mr. Whitelighter, I still think you hit your head somewhere along the line, so I'll bet you'll tell us quite a tale."

Leo glared at Phoebe, now starting to get a bit angry, also very unusual for him.

Piper reached out to rub Phoebe's hand placatingly. "Phoebs.” Then, she turned towards her husband, “Leo, just tell us what you remember."


THE LIVING ROOM IN HALLIWELL MANOR

As they walked out of the conservatory and into the living room, Paige managed to speak. “Did you mention Mom before? Mom’s alive, too?”

“Of course she is," Prue smiled as she gently pushed Paige into a sitting position on a well-used and familiar couch. “I’m sure she’s with Grams in the kitchen.”

And Prue left, leaving behind an extremely confused Paige.

Moments later, before Paige had a real chance to contemplate her situation, she heard rushed footsteps in the foyer.

“Phoebe?” Patty’s voice called out as she rushed into the room.

Paige stared before finally pulling herself out of the shock of seeing her deceased mother alive. “Didn't Prue tell you? I’m not your Phoebe. My name is Paige.”

“Oh, Phoebs!” and Patty came over, sat down and hugged Paige.

Paige hugged her back as tightly as she could. "I...I wish...You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Mom. I wish things were different."

"What are you talking about?"

Paige could do nothing but sigh. "Maybe it's best if we wait for Prue and Grams. I'd rather tell you all at the same time."

Patty considered it and then nodded. If this was some kind of spell affecting her daughter, then four Halliwell heads were better than one for figuring it out. "Why don't you rest and I’ll go make us all some tea."


BACK AT "P2"

The small group was sitting around a table, everyone silent, Leo watching the others. Everyone seemed to be looking anywhere but at him, but when his eyes reached his wife's, she stared right back.

Piper took a deep breath. "Let me get this straight. You are from some other reality where we have two more sisters, but one of them is dead. But after she died we found a half-sister who's half-whitelighter. The three of us remaining are the Charmed Ones?"

Leo nodded. "The second set of Charmed Ones. You, Prue and Phoebe were the original set."

"So why do you remember this and we don’t?" Piper demanded, wondering if a demon was impersonating her husband. His eyes, however, still held that angelic, honest quality that had always been there. She couldn't help trusting him, and she'd never known him to lie.

"I don’t know."


BACK TO THE LIVING ROOM AT THE MANOR

Before Paige knew it, Patty was on one side of her offering hot tea and Natalie stood off to the side, lost in her own thoughts.

Paige could only guess that Prue was off consulting with Grams, but she couldn’t move from the couch without verbal backlash from the whitelighter.

From time to time, Natalie glared in Paige’s direction with a huff. The Elders had no idea what was wrong with Phoebe, and Natalie did not like it one bit. She could not discredit any scenarios, however, and was determined to keep her eye on Phoebe in case the women was not what or who she seemed.

Although her whitelighter senses told her that this was in fact the real Phoebe, a magical or demonic explanation could always prove her wrong.

And she did not like to be wrong.

Her other charges, however, were, as usual, more cavalier in their attitudes towards the unknown.

When another presence entered the room, Paige couldn't help staring at her grandmother. Despite being older, she looked so much younger and less-stressed than the ghost Paige knew as Grams. The difference was even more pronounced when Prue entered the room and stood next to her grandmother.

"Phoebe!" Penny Halliwell exclaimed. "Care to explain why Natalie is so worried about you?"

Paige sighed, although pleased to see the woman she had learned to call Grams once again. "Oh, God, I wish I could. But this isn't right. What I remember is so different than what's right in front of my eyes."

Patty reached over to hug her daughter as Paige desperately hugged her back. Although she couldn’t understand what was going on, she knew that an opportunity to interact with dead loved ones didn’t come up as often as one might like, even when living in a magical household.

"Yes. Prue said that there must be something wrong with your memory, and your mom says that you think your name is Paige, not Phoebe. Why don't you tell us what you remember and maybe we can figure out what's wrong?"

Paige had been thinking about this while she was waiting for the group to gather. She was certain they'd think she was even crazier than they already did, but maybe, just maybe, by telling them, they'd remember.

Although how could ghosts who weren't ghosts remember anything?

Paige had been thinking about this while she was waiting for the group to gather. She was certain they'd think she was even crazier than they already did, but maybe, just maybe, by telling them, they'd remember. Although how could ghosts who weren't ghosts remember anything?

Shaking her head at herself, she smiled tremulously at them all. "Okay. Grams, sit down, please. I’ll try to explain. It's going to sound really, really weird, but it's for real. I swear, it's for real."

As Penny found a chair to sit on, Paige tried to compose herself.

"What did you mean earlier?" Patty asked. "Why would you wish things were different?"

"I believe I shall I find a pin and test to be sure that she is truly Phoebe Halliwell and not a warlock," Natalie stated. "That would be the proper procedure in a case like this."

"Natalie!" Prue exclaimed.

Paige sighed and stared at the three generations of Halliwells. Faces so familiar and yet strangers all. She had seen Penny and Patty as ghosts, but Patty’s ghost looked so much younger. When her mother died, she was close to the same age that Paige was now, but this woman was at least twice her own age.

And Penny’s ghost had more worry lines and looked less healthy than the woman now standing in front of her. And then there was Prue, who Paige had only met in pictures, but who looked happier, more settled somehow.

Finally there was Natalie. Paige had thought the name sounded familiar. Now she remembered her sisters telling her the tale of the whitelighter who had taken Leo's place for a short time and who had put her sisters through what seemed like witch's boot camp. But that Natalie had been killed.

Yes, she was surrounded by dead people who were no longer dead.

"Will you allow me to talk without interruption?" she asked after a pause.

"I think you’d better just get on with your story," Penny told her.

"Mother!"

"Really, Patty. Something is obviously wrong and I think we need answers."

Patty sighed, but didn’t respond.

"Phoebe....or should we call you...what was the name?"

"Paige. My name is Paige." When Penny nodded, Paige exhaled slowly. "No interruptions?"

Penny harrumphed which made Paige smile – now she sounded just like the Grams she knew. "Fine, just start talking."


BACK TO LEO AND THE OTHERS AT "P2"

Victor sighed as he stood up. "Well, you guys can figure this out. I'm afraid I have a business meeting I can't miss." He reached over to hug Phoebe. "Good seeing you again, baby!" then put a hand on Piper's wrist. "Good luck, sweetie – I know you'll be able to figure it out."

Finally he turned to gaze at Leo. "And I'm sure you will, too, Leo," although his voice didn't sound convincing as he headed for the stairs.

Leo had been thinking this whole thing out and now spoke out loud. "I know you guys don't believe me, and I can't say I blame you. If you really don't remember being Charmed or having two other sisters or the fact that I'm still your whitelighter, I must admit my story would sound pretty fantastic. But just for an instant, please, pretend I told you the truth."

Piper and Phoebe looked at him and then at each other and then both slowly nodded. Leo smiled his gratitude. "I could've sworn I saw Paige right in front of me when I orbed in, and yet I'm here and she's not, and you don't remember her while you partially remember me. Whatever is affecting you must have happened then."

"Affecting us?" Phoebe asked. "Try affecting you!"

Leo gave her an "I thought you were going to pretend" look just as Piper reached out to quiet her when they heard someone call out, "Hey!"

All eyes turned to the steps as a very frantic Victor ran down them. "I can't leave!" he exclaimed. "It’s like there is an invisible wall."

Piper and Phoebe turned to look at each and then they and Victor all turned to look at Leo.

He shrugged in his self-depreciating way. "Believe me yet?"


BACK TO PAIGE AND THE OTHERS AT HALLIWELL MANOR

“Natalie called me Phoebe Penelope Halliwell,” Paige frowned at the whitelighter and then back at her ‘family’. “That must mean I’ve always lived here.”

Penny snorted. "Well, of course you do."

Paige shook her finger at her. "Uh, uh, uh! You promised no interruptions," and again Penny harrumphed, but nodded.

“That’s not the way I remember it.” Paige told them and continued with the story her adopted parents had always told about her being left at a church.

"That's not true, honey!" cried Patty, unable to stop herself. "Sam and I would never give you up!"

Paige noticed the pain that was evident in her mother’s eyes at just the thought of giving up her daughter at birth. So this was the Patty she had never known.

"Well, maybe you should've," Penny told Patty, unable to stop herself. "Then the Elders wouldn't have found out about Phoebe and recycled him. He would still be your whitelighter."

"Yeah," laughed Prue. "I remember when Sam was our whitelighter when I was just a kid. He was a lot more relaxed about the rules than you are, Natalie."

"And that is why I was assigned to your family when he was taken away."

Patty wasn't listening to them; she was glaring at her mother. "And have someone else raise my daughter?"

"They did a really good job, Mom," Paige told her. "I love them very much. But I know that you and Sam loved me, too. I know you did it to protect me."

"Wait a minute, young lady," Natalie interrupted. "You certainly seem to know your mother and your grandmother and your sister. You act as if you live here. What about these adopted parents of yours? I thought I have taught you not to lie. Especially not to me!”

"I'm not lying!" Paige insisted, although she’d gladly produce any lie if it would shut up Natalie. "When I was a teen my adopted parents died in a car wreck and I went to live with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave, my adopted mom's brother. I didn't come to live here until three years ago, after Prue's..." She turned to look at her oldest sister,and their eyes locked. . "Until after," now Paige had to look away. "your, your.."

"My death," Prue nodded in her matter-of-fact manner, remembering her younger sister's outburst, although her tone said she didn't believe it, couldn't believe it.

Paige nodded. “Yes. It was then I learned you and your younger sisters, Piper and Phoebe, are my half-sisters."

Prue shook her head, now disagreeing with Paige’s story, “No, you’re my only sister. I’ve never had any full sisters. Piper is my daughter and you’re my half-sister Phoebe. And you’ve lived here your entire life!”

"Not the way I remember it," Paige insisted. "Now you see why this is all so confusing to me."

Prue slowly nodded. "Well, it would certainly explain your reaction when you first spotted me, also when you first spotted Grams. But in your memories, how did I die?”

Paige sighed. "As the Charmed Ones, you, Piper and Phoebe were on every demon's hit list."

Four sets of eyes widened. "She is correct on that," Natalie admitted. "Were there such a thing as the Charmed Ones, the Source of All Evil and all of his minions would most definitely attempt to destroy them and take their powers."

“So if we’re not the Charmed Ones, does that mean that since those other two were never born, that there won’t even be any Charmed Ones?”

Penny jumped to her feet. "Of course not! I’m sorry, Phoebe, but I can’t accept what you’re saying. This cannot possibly be true. You two were never meant to be the Charmed Ones--if you were, Patty would have had another daughter!”

"Grams, please," Paige begged. "I’m not making this up. Let me continue."

Penny frowned and looked at her two granddaughters. Her eyes locked with Paige’s.

"Mother, sit down," Patty insisted. "I want to hear what my daughter has to say."

Paige smiled. "Thank you, Mom."

Prue nodded quietly. "Yes, continue. What happened after I died?"

So Paige explained the story of Shax, the demon that succeeded in killing Prue, and how Piper tried in vain to bring her big sister back, and how instead, the spell to call a lost witch helped them find Paige.

She continued without interruption until she started to explain how they were getting P3 ready for Leo’s birthday party. Then she stopped, hesitatingly, as she realized she might be stepping on toes, but then said it anyway. "since he is our whitelighter."

That caught Natalie’s attention. "Leo?" she asked. "Leo Wyatt?" When Paige nodded, Natalie shook her head wonderingly. "Leo Wyatt trained with me, but he simply disappeared over thirty years ago. No one knows what happened."

Thinking about it, Paige asked, "In 1973?"

Natalie frowned as she thought about it. Finally surprise lit her eyes. "Yes. It was 1973. During the spring, I believe. How did you know?"

Paige smiled. "Piper was born in August, 1973. I'm guessing that maybe that's where my memories and your memories start to differ."

Both Patty and Prue turned to look at each other. "Piper?"

Paige nodded.

"I believe her," Patty told her mother, and Prue nodded.

"Why? What did she say?"

"Well, as you know, when I first married Victor, I told him about our tradition of naming our children with names starting with P. He suggested we look through the family tree and he fell in love with the name Prudence, Melinda Warren’s daughter, which is why we gave our oldest daughter that name. But during the start of 1973, I became pregnant again and he again came up with a name. Do you know what name he chose?"

Prue nodded. "Piper. But you lost that baby in that car accident that killed Dad – also in the spring - and I always felt bad that I didn't get to have a younger sister so close to my own age. Nothing against you, Phoebs, I mean, Paige, but when Mom and Sam had you, I was already 8. I always missed that younger sister who I never got to know. It's why I named my own daughter Piper."

Penny shook his head. "So that mortal of yours had some use after all. I never would have believed it."

Patty just shook her head, almost affectionately. "Mother!"

Penny shrugged. "Well, I wouldn’t. Men don’t have much in the way of uses, and mortal men have less than most."

Even as Patty rolled her eyes saying, "Oh, Mother!", both Prue and Paige giggled. This was so the Grams they both knew.

Now Penny turned on Paige. "You mentioned this Piper and a different Phoebe a number of times. You have also mentioned Natalie and Prue and even Leo Wyatt. But you have not mentioned me or your mother since you mentioned her and Sam bringing you to that church. Is there a reason?"

Paige sighed. "Are you sure you want me to tell you?"

Patty considered it and then nodded. "Yes, I think we do."

Paige sighed and grabbed her mother's hand and held it tightly before explaining about how they had died before she even had a chance to get to know them. As they asked for details, Paige explained about the heart attack that Penny had suffered and how Patty had died shortly after Paige’s birth. It was only because she had seen them as ghosts, that Paige knew who they were.

Paige even told them of the stories she had heard from Piper and Phoebe about how Penny had raised them with their destiny – that of being Charmed – in mind.

Penny rolled her eyes. "Well, with that much stress, no wonder I died!"

Even as Patty rolled her eyes at her mother, she looked at her younger daughter. "And me?"

Paige took a deep breath. "There was a water demon up at Camp Skylark."

Patty nodded. "Yes. It was eating the children. So I went up and electrocuted it."

Paige now understood that this Patty had succeeded since Sam had already been recycled, however she now related how she'd been told that Sam was there and distracted Patty, so the demon got to her first. Paige quickly added the story Piper and Phoebe had told her about how they and Prue had finally vanquished the demon with Sam’s help.

Patty reached over to hug Paige. "Oh, my darling, I'm so sorry for the life you've had to live!"

Somewhat wistfully, Penny sighed. "It would've been worth it in order to deliver the Charmed Ones who could get rid of the Source of All Evil."

Paige smiled as she looked up while still hugging her mom. "Yes, it would."

Prue also nodded. "Much as I'd hate losing you and Grams, Mom, she's right."

Patty also nodded, ignoring her mother’s claim as the one who might have been the mother of the Charmed Ones. "Yes, you're all right."

Even Natalie smiled. "For once I can honestly say that I am proud to be your whitelighter."


BACK TO THE NIGHTCLUB AT "P2"

Even as the others stared at Leo, they could hear a phone ringing. Piper recognized it as hers, but looking around, she didn't spot it, so she kept looking for it. As she did, Victor turned to look at Leo. "Leo, since you obviously know more about this than we do, any ideas?"

Leo looked at him in surprise, still not used to this complete acceptance from Piper's father. "You’re asking me?"

Victor nodded. "Yeah. Any ideas?"

Leo shook his head. "I wish I did. Maybe we can see if there is a magical way to get through that door." He had to smile when the phone stopped ringing. It was starting to irritate him a bit.

Then Piper asked, "Sweetie, any idea why my phone is in Meli’s diaper bag?"

Leo's eyes almost popped out of his head. "Meli?" But he quickly stopped himself, deciding he could figure it out later. "No. Sorry, I don’t know," even as Piper flipped her phone open.

Piper shrugged. "I guess, I’ll turn it off...or not."

"Piper?" Phoebe asked.

"I have message. And it's from Paige Matthews."

"What?!" cried Phoebe.

Her sister ignored her as she called up the message and listened, everyone watching her. Once the message was over, she pushed the button to replay it and handed the phone to Leo. At her husband's surprised look, she told him, "Just listen."

Leo smiled as he heard Paige's frantic message. "Yes, that's Paige."

"Our sister?" Piper asked, turning to stare at Phoebe.

Leo nodded. He almost told them that she was actually their half-sister, but looking at Victor, he quickly decided against it, especially when Piper smiled.

"I think we just found the first step in our plan," and she retrieved her phone from Leo and pushed the return call button before putting the phone to her ear.


BACK TO HALLIWELL MANOR

Prue turned to Paige. "But, Paige. What about my daughter? Who takes care of her? And did I still name her Piper after my sister?"

Even as Paige smiled at Prue calling her Paige rather than "Phoebs, I mean Paige", she hated having to tell Prue this part even more than she hated telling her mother and grandmother about their deaths. But she knew she had to. “You don't have a daughter, Prue. You never married. So far Piper is the only one to have a child.”

Prue nodded, slowly taking in the information as she stood and made her way across the room, stopping at the fireplace. She stared at a framed picture sitting on the fireplace for a few moments then picked it up. Pulling open the frame, she reached behind the family picture and pulled out some photos, then crossed back to the bed, handing the photos toward Paige. "As long as you’re here."

Paige accepted them with a smile, then looked at the first one, a photo of Penny, Patty, a young Prue and a very young Paige – she had to be around five or six. She smiled then moved the picture to the back of the stack before staring at the next photo, a smaller copy of the large picture Prue had been looking at. Paige stared at the image of Penny, Patty, Prue, Paige and a man holding a very young girl, her resemblance to Prue striking.

Paige recognize the man from pictures as Andy Trudeau, and faintly remembered Phoebe telling her about Andy and their ordeal with Tempus, but decided against revealing that bit of information to Prue.

After staring at it for a long time, Paige looked up at Prue. "May I keep this one? If we can fix this and it's my memories that are correct, our two sisters would love to see it."

Prue grinned. "Sure. Mom? Grams?"

"I am not sure the rules would allow this," Natalie warned.

Penny shrugged. "Tough!"

Patty also agreed, so after grinning gratefully, Paige stood up and crossed to the small desk where Prue had sat down her purse. Putting the picture into her purse, she dug out her own wallet, then returned to the couch. Opening it up to the center and the pictures, she handed it to Prue.

Prue took the wallet and stared at the first picture - a copy of the picture of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe that Penny had taken the day she died. Prue looked over at Paige but didn’t need to question as Paige explained who they were.

Prue slipped the picture out of its plastic holder and held it out towards her mother. "Look, Mom. My sisters. I always knew I was supposed to have a sister named Piper! And now I find I had a younger one, too."

Patty took the picture and stared at it. She looked at her two daughters, her oldest and her youngest, and then looked at her two middle daughters in the picture. "They’re beautiful. I have four beautiful daughters." She looked towards Penny who was still sitting in her chair, a very uncomfortable Natalie still standing next to her. "Look at my daughters, Mother, your granddaughters. This picture proves that they exist somewhere. Paige could not imagine a picture. They exist, or they did, and now they don't. We have to fix this. In the world Paige talks about we may be dead, but we still exist. We still exist in my daughters, your granddaughters. If we don’t fix this, two of my daughters are gone."

Natalie gasped in horror at the rules that were about to be broken. Immediately Penny glared at her. "You think we are going to leave the universe in disarray; well, I've got news for you, no matter what the Elders say! Obviously there is someone evil behind this, someone who does not want to deal with the Charmed Ones."

She now smiled proudly. "My granddaughters are Charmed. I can’t very well let them not exist."

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER THREE: PUTTING THE WORLD BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

Penny now turned towards the alternate version of her younger granddaughter. "Paige, any idea who might be behind this?"

Again Paige smiled at the use of her name, but her smile faded as she processed Penny’s question found herself having to shake her head. Before she could speak, however, the sound of a phone interrupted her. She startled, surprised to realize that it wasn't just her own cell phone; it was her sister's ringtone. She quickly returned to her purse and dug out her phone, answering the call. "Piper!"

Prue had been looking through the pictures in Paige’s wallet and then handing them to Patty, who handed them to Penny, who tried to hand them to Natalie, who refused to look at them. Now she looked up in surprise.

“Is this Paige? Paige Matthews?”

After everyone calling her Phoebe, it seemed strange to hear Piper’s voice calling Paige by the right name. It sounded even stranger to hear Piper sincerely expecting her to say no. “Yes! Of course it is!”

“So you know who I am?”

Again Paige was disappointed to hear no recognition in her sister’s voice. That was almost worse than having one of her sisters think she was someone else. And if Piper didn’t remember her, what had made her pick up the phone and return her frantic message?

But at least they’d made contract! It had to mean that somehow this whole mess could be fixed. Very excited and very relieved, she cried out, "Of course I do! You’re my older sister, after all! I thought I’d lost you, but I’m so glad to hear you’re okay. Is Phoebe there, too?”

“Yes, she is." Piper's voice sounded very uncomfortable and distant. "And, well, yeah, maybe you have kinda lost us, because, well, you see it appears that we don’t remember you.”

“You don’t?” Paige gasped, before sighing. “I guess I understand. Prue doesn’t remember you and Phoebe and neither do Grams and Mom.”

“Grams?” Piper asked. “Mom?”

Paige’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember them!”

She could almost hear the wheels turning in Piper’s head. “Of course I do. But how can you be talking with them? They’re both dead.”

“No,” Paige told her, “Whatever changed things…At present they’re alive, all three of them. And they think you two were never born. They think that my name is Phoebe Halliwell.”

AT THE MANOR AND AT "P2"

In “P2” Phoebe, Leo and Victor stared at Piper. Piper turned her head to look at her sister, moving her cell away from her mouth. “Phoebe, do you remember Mom or Grams?”

“Sure. They were the ones who raised us. But they're both dead.”

“She says they’re alive, but according to them, you and I were never born!” Even as both Phoebe and Victor gasped, Piper turned to look at what she now knew was an alternate version of her husband. “She also said that Prue is alive.”

For a moment Leo just stared at her. Then his mouth moved but no sound came out. Finally, he found his voice. “Prue’s alive?!”

Piper nodded. “That’s what Paige says.”

“May I talk to Paige?”

Piper stared at him for a moment and then returned the cell phone to her face. “I’m putting Leo on. Is that all right?”

“Sure. Does Leo remember who I am?”

“Yeah. He’s the one who told us that something was wrong.”

Paige was thrilled that she wasn’t the only one who knew that something was wrong. She waited for Piper to pass the phone to Leo but there was something she needed to ask to make sure Leo had the same memories she did. “Where did I first meet my half-sisters?” she asked as soon as Leo was on the line.

“At Prue’s funeral. Why?”

Paige sighed with relief. “I was just checking.”

The two quickly caught each other up, relieved that they were indeed the brother-in-law and sister-in-law who they remembered. Leo was most interested in hearing about Prue, Andy and the little girl named Piper, while Paige was surprised to find out that rather than Wyatt, it appeared that Leo and Piper had the little girl Piper had told her about.

Afterwards, Paige sighed. “Oh, Leo, I wish I could leave things be, but I know I can’t. Besides, I want Piper and Phoebe back.”

But both struggled with how to do that. Paige had Prue and Patty convinced that she was legit and Patty had finally convinced Penny that Paige wasn’t lying. Meanwhile, Leo had Piper, Phoebe and Victor convinced, but no one knew how to fix this problem. Although Penny could definitely help them sort things out, they were--for lack of a better word--clueless.

“Penny, Patti and Prue?" Leo questioned. "They do realize that if they help, they will be dead, right?”

"Do you really think so? How can that be if they're alive now? Couldn't this be another dimension where Piper and Phoebe were never born so Prue, Grams and Mom never died?" Yet silently, Paige agreed with Leo and wondered if this version of her family really knew the consequences of helping her return things to normal.

"Yes, I suppose it might very well be. But if we fix this, they would still be dead to us."

Paige sighed heavily. "Yes, you're right."

The conversation paused as Paige considered just how different this conversation would be going if Piper or Phoebe were in her place. They’d definitely find it harder to let Penny, Patty and Prue go.

Especially Prue.

But there was nothing she could do about that now, while maybe there was something she and Leo could do to fix things. So she asked, "Do you even have a guess as to what is going on?”

"That's fairly obvious. As usual, someone or something wants the Charmed Ones out of the way. My guess is that someone cast a spell on P3, assuming that you would be in here, too. Everyone in here has forgotten everyone outside and vice versa. We seem to be in alternate dimensions where a piece of history was re-written. In your case, Piper and Phoebe weren’t born. In my case, you wand Prue weren’t. I'm curious about something. How much mobility do you have where you are?”

“Huh?” Paige questioned, confused by the quick change of topic.

“Well we can’t leave P3,” Leo told her. “The door has an invisible barrier.”

"No, I haven't encountered any barriers. But P3 was totally empty," and the memory sent chills running up and down her spine.

“P3 was empty?”

“The furniture was there but no people.”

"So no one remembered my birthday?" Leo was starting to hate his birthday this year. He now knew that his lost charge was alive, but he couldn’t even see her. And if he could somehow get Piper and Phoebe to remember their real lives, he knew how much they would hate knowing that they'd missed the chance to chat with Prue. Especially since she was actually alive and not a ghost.

“Leo, I think we have bigger problems than your birthday,” Paige replied, although she understood how disappointing the day must be for him. Apologetic, she added “Can't you orb out and see Prue?”

“No. According to everyone here, I’ve lost my wings. I was beginning to think they were telling the truth."

"No, I can reassurel you that that's not true. But why would they all remember something different and we don't?"

"I wish I knew."

“Well, I’ll see if Grams, Mom and Prue can come up with anything. You see if Victor, Piper and Phoebe can.”

AT JUST THE MANOR

After saying their goodbyes, Paige closed her phone and turned back to her family.

“Was that Leo Wyatt you were talking to?” Natalie asked, and Paige nodded.

“And he’s more than your whitelighter, isn’t he?” Prue asked, a smile in her voice. She held up the picture in her hand - Piper and Leo’s wedding picture. “He’s your brother-in-law. He married Piper!”

Patty stared at Prue in shock. “One of your sisters married your whitelighter and he’s still your whitelighter? He wasn't recycled? He’s still a whitelighter!”

“Never!” Natalie jumped up in protest; this was too much for her. “Phoebe Penelope Halliwell, I thought I told you not to lie! You know that this is totally against the rules! Just like your parents! If what you say were real, as soon as the Elders found out, They would’ve recycled him immediately just like they did your father! Now stop this lying immediately!”

During all of this, Paige couldn’t help giggling. Her sister, mother and grandmother were staring at her in shock, so she relayed the story of how after Piper and Leo had saved the Elders, they gave Piper and Leo their blessing and even let both Penny perform the ceremony and Patty return corporeal for it.

“Ghosts corporeal?" Natalie grumbled. "Totally against the rules.”

“Unless it was that special of an occasion,” Penny pointed out. “Then, yes, I could see them making that exception.”

Prue could not help herself and handed Natalie the picture, asking who the groom was. Glaring at her, Natalie took the picture. After looking, she was even more annoyed. “Yes, that is Leo Wyatt.”

Prue was staring at the next picture. “And who’s the adorable little boy?”

Paige had a hunch who it was, but she glanced at the picture first, smiling to see Piper and Leo with Wyatt. “That’s their son, Wyatt.”

“SON?” cried Penny. “I have a grandSON?”

Paige could not help but smirk as she explained about Wyatt’s powers and his Twice Blessed status. As she expected, Penny had a conniption fit, insisting that only girls could have Warren powers.

“We think it’s because of Leo, because he’s a whitelighter. But you love him, Grams; really you do. You performed his wiccaning, welcoming him into the family.”

While Patty concentrated on the fact that in another dimension she had a grandson who was half-Charmed and half-whitelighter, Penny went back to the family, starting to ask about who the third sister of Paige’s married. “One of the Elders?” she asked sarcastically.

“No, no. I can’t see any of us doing that, “Paige giggled. “Phoebe’s boyfriend, Jason, is mortal.” She quickly decided that she was not going to tell them anything about Cole. She didn’t want Grams to have a heart attack.

“And you?” Prue questioned with a smile.

"I don't have a boyfriend." With a smile, she added, "I'll only marry once I find a guy who is as nuts over me as Leo is over Piper and Jason is over Phoebe."

“Well, now that sounds like my sister, Phoebe.”

"That's because I am your sister but we just have different memories, just like Piper and Phoebe do. I'm just glad Leo and I have the same ones or I would think I'm going crazy."

Patty continued to stare at the picture of Piper, Leo and Wyatt. "If you didn't have these pictures, I'd wonder, too. You very obviously belong in that other dimension."

"No, because in that dimension, they don't remember me or Prue and they barely remember you two!"

Penny nodded. "No, you and this Leo belong in a totally different dimension, a dimension that includes the Charmed Ones, a dimension we have to bring back so we can send you two back to it."


MEANWHILE AT "P2"

Piper took her phone back from Leo then decided, "Well, while you guys figure out how to fix this, I’m going to go check on Chris and Meli. They’re being awfully quiet, and you know how fussy Melinda was earlier."

Leo stared at Piper, totally confused, mouthing the words "Chris? Melinda?"

Phoebe nodded. "Maybe Chris managed to make her calm down. He’s always good at that."

Victor laughed. "Without us hearing a sound? I know he’s magical, but that would be some talent."

Leo had to ask. "Who’s Chris?"

Piper turned to her husband, shocked. "You know all these things about us that we don’t recall, but you don’t know who Chris is?"

Leo shook his head, completely bewildered again. He also wanted to know about Melinda and why Piper hadn't mentioned Wyatt, but, well, one thing at a time. "No. I’m afraid not."

Piper shrugged. "Well, Chris is our son and he’s in the back room with Melinda."

"We have a son named Chris and he's watching our daughter Melinda?"

Piper nodded.

"So where's Wyatt?"

"Wyatt? Who's Wyatt?"

Leo reached up to hold his pounding head. "Okay, let me get this straight. We've already been married long enough to have a son who is old enough to watch our daughter, but you don't know where Wyatt is."

Phoebe smirked at Piper. "Oh, right. He thinks he doesn't know. C'mon, Leo, certainly you know that Chris is from the future. He's back here trying to save you from the Titans."

Leo stared at her as if she was out of her mind. "Save me from the who?" at the same time Victor demanded, "What?"

"Oops!" cried Phoebe. "Sorry, Dad, we really weren't supposed to mention it to you. And, Leo, well, if you don't know that, maybe we better not tell you. Future consequences, you know."

Piper smirked at Phoebe repeating the line they'd heard Chris say so often, then turned to her husband. "Well, why don't you come back with me and see him? Maybe that will help you get your memory back."

And all Leo could do was agree, still trying to figure out who was trying to drive them all crazy and how he and Paige would ever be able to fix this mess.

Victor also stood, just as curious as Leo, but Phoebe convinced him to stay put.


IN "P2's" BACK ROOM

Hearing the approaching voices, including Piper's, Wy looked around and ran toward his mother's desk.

"Where are you going?" Chris demanded.

"She can’t see me," Wy insisted.

Chris rolled his eyes, growing very impatient. "Why ever not? If you don’t pose any threat, then why not?"

"Because she’s not supposed to know I’m here at all," Wy insisted. "I only came to visit you. I’d say not to tell her why you’re here, but I get the idea you don’t know why you’re here either."

Again Chris rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? Of course I know why I'm here. Just like they know. I’m here to save my father."

"Shh!" Wy insisted. "I’ll explain later. Just don’t tell her that I’m in here. Please?"

Chris stared at him for a second—this stranger was asking him to lie for him, but something about the stranger made Chris want to help him, as if he truly did know this man. The voices in the background were growing closer, close enough that Chris could clearly recognize them as his parents', and Chris made his choice.

Even as the doorknob started to turn he gave Wy a tiny nod and his visitor scrambled under his mother's desk.

The door opened as Chris turned around to face his parents. He couldn't help noticing the curious look on his dad's face.

"Chris, did you manage to get Meli to sleep?" his mother asked and Chris nodded, not trusting his voice quite yet.

"Hey, Chris," Leo managed.

Chris grinned. "Hey, Dad! I see you found out, huh?"

"About the party?" Piper sighed. "Yeah, he found out. Chris, have you noticed anything odd in the last, say fifteen minutes?"

Chris hesitated. Thinking about all the strange stuff with the stranger who called himself Wy, he most certainly had seen something odd, but he also promised not to give Wy away. But he could never lie to his mother and he slowly nodded.

"Care to share with your folks?" Piper asked while under her desk, Wy was growing pale in fear.

Chris felt very uncomfortable, unable to look his mother in the eyes. "Would it be okay if I didn’t?"

"It’s kind of important," Leo told him, wondering if the strange thing this supposed son from the future had seen had anything to do with whatever he and Paige were trying to fix.

"I really don’t think this will help," Chris insisted.

Piper looked her son in the eye and after a moment smiled. "All right, but it better not be the missing piece we need to solve this."

"Amen," Leo fervently added.

"To solve what?" Chris wanted to know.

"Someone is trying to make us forget things and they would have succeeded if it weren’t for your dad and Paige remembering."

"Paige?" Chris asked. "Who’s that?

With a slight smile, Piper told him, "My youngest sister, your youngest aunt. And don't ask, because I don't remember her any more than you do. But since you managed to get Meli to go to sleep, why don’t you come out with the rest of us and I’ll explain more of what’s going on? Maybe with your knowledge of the future, you can help us figure it out."

Chris considered it, giving Wy's hiding place a quick glance before shaking his head. "No, I think I’ll stay here with Meli. If someone wants us to forget, who knows why? Meli might need an extra eye on her."

Piper nodded, a huge smile on her face. "That's my boy. Just be careful, sweetheart."

Chris grinned back. "I always am, Mom; you know that. See you later. Bye, Dad."

Piper turned around and left the room, but Leo lingered for a moment, staring at Chris, seeing the resemblance between him and Piper, and even more, between him and Prue, except for the fact that his own eyes were staring back at him. He knew that Piper and Chris had to be telling the truth as they knew it.

He walked over to the crib to look down. In it was a young girl, the same age as Wyatt, but looking like Piper rather than himself. This had to be the little girl who Piper had seen in that future, the little girl she thought she was going to have, perhaps the daughter they would've had had Prue not died, had the sisters not vanquished the Source, had they not agreed to continue their destiny, had Wyatt not been born Twice Blessed.

As he stared at his beautiful daughter, love filled Leo's heart, even as it ached thinking that he might never get a chance to hold his beloved son again.

Chris watched, wondering why his dad was acting as if he'd never seen Meli before, but when Leo just turned to smile at him, Chris simply smiled back, watching as Leo left and closed the door.

Once he could no longer hear his father's footsteps, he watched as Wy came out from his hiding space. Chris glared at the usurper, certain that he had something to do with this whole mess and determined to find out what he had done and how to fix it.

"Okay. I want to hear your story and I want the long version."


BACK TO KERNUS' CAVERN

The Seer and Kernus were also listening as Wy told Chris his story. When he finished, Chris might have been skeptical, but the Seer was not. "He is telling the truth," she told Kernus. "And I have also foreseen that he will succeed."

"So all our plans will be in vain?" Kernus roared. "I will not allow it!"

As always, the Seer was still serene. "You do not need to. This visitor from the future has not even been conceived yet. If something happens to his father as would've happened had this visitor not arrived..."

The two exchanged evil grins as they began to plot and plan, patiently waiting for their big moment.


BACK TO THE MANOR

As they tried to figure out a way to fix things, Penny momentarily left the room. Natalie remained with Paige, Prue and Patty but was obviously annoyed by it, refusing to do anything to help. Paige and Patty did most of the brainstorming while Prue continued to look through the small photo album, a small smile on her face. Since Paige didn’t know her older sister that well, she couldn’t tell if it was a sad smile, or a one of joy.

“We could try a portal spell,” Patty suggested. “It might open a portal between the two dimensions.”

“But wouldn't that just let me go back to their dimension?" Paige wanted to know. "It still wouldn't bring back the dimension that Leo and I remember."

Patty sighed. "You're right. Besides, you can already communicate via the cell phones."

“Is this Jason with Phoebe?” Prue interrupted, showing Paige a picture. “He’s very good-looking. Not as good-looking as Andy, of course, but still…” and Paige grinned. Then Prue looked at her mischievously. “So where’s the picture with your boyfriend?”

Even as Penny returned to the room, carrying the Book of Shadows, Paige told Prue, “No. I told you, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Just as well,” Penny stated. “Men are trouble,” and Paige grinned while Prue rolled her eyes at the oft-heard words.

Seeing Penny with the Book made Natalie glare again. “Penelope, you are not really planning on going through with this, are you?”

Penny turned to glare at their family whitelighter. “Did you miss everything we said earlier? This is my family. In some other dimension, my granddaughters are the Charmed Ones. How could you possibly think I wasn’t going to try to figure a way to send them back to their own world?”

Natalie sighed. “I thought that you at least would listen to reason.” She turned to look first at Patty, then at Prue. Not seeing what she wanted, she sighed. “I am going Up There to inform the Elders of this situation. I am certain that they will agree that yours is not the proper course of action.”

“Well, I’m curious what the proper course of action is,” Paige retorted. “Maybe you can tell them what’s up and they can come up with a way of sending me back to my own world."

Natalie turned to glare at her. “I do not intend to help you carry out this crazy plan of yours.”

Paige wanted to know what plan Natalie was referring to. All that had been suggested was orbing to P3 since that was where the others were and orbing was the quickest way. Natalie could not help pointing out that it was an empty lot and had been very surprised to sense Paige there earlier.

“There must be a reason for that.” Prue mused. "Don't you think, Natalie?"

Natalie continued to glare. “I am not helping you. You cannot expect to mess with reality and not discover severe repercussions.”

Paige had to wonder how many times she needed to explain that she was not messing with this reality; she was just trying to return to her own reality. She looked back at Prue, Patty and Penny knowing that she was making a lot of sacrifices doing this. She just needed help.

“I will see how the Elders react, but I do not think that they will approve. Do not do anything before I return.” And with a final disapproving glare, Natalie orbed out.

Paige watched Natalie's disapproving orbs vanish. "I guess I'll just have to orb you guys to P3 myself."

Penny shook her head. "No, I think you should only take Prue. However you decide to attempt to fix this, I'm certain you will need The Charmed Ones for that. Perhaps then we will have a chance to continue to live in this reality."

Paige stared at her in shock. So they did realize that helping her might result in their reality ceasing to exist. "But Prue!"

Prue shrugged. "It sounds like I gave my life to save an innocent in your reality. If helping you means that I can help save our family in your dimension, a family that includes the ones you showed us, then I have to do what I can."

Paige smiled. This sounded so much like the big sister she had heard about since she became part of the family. She wasn’t even thinking of her family, of Andy and her little Piper. She was only thinking of Paige’s family, of Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Wyatt. "But your family!"

Prue paused, a pained look in her eye, but soon it was replaced by determination. "It's not easy to say good-bye to everyone, but if we weren't meant to live... And at least Piper will be allowed to live."

Paige gave Prue a long look before reaching out to place her hand over her oldest sister’s. “I think you were meant to live, even if only to give me the chance to finally meet you.”

Then she turned to Penny and Patty. “To meet you all,” she added.

Penny smiled, flustered for a moment, before shaking the feeling off and pressing forward. "Don’t you worry, I’ve read a lot about alternate dimensions and it’s very possible that once things are returned to normal, we’ll continue living out our lives in this dimension. Prue will still be with her family after you save yours."

"She's right, sweetie," Patty agreed, although Paige knew that they all had their doubts. "In the meantime, we'll look through the Book and see if we can find anything that might help."

Penny nodded. "And if we do, we'll use The Spell to send us to you two."

"Spell?" Paige asked. "What spell?" as Penny stared at her in surprise.

Prue grinned. "When we were little we used to play with magic and I came up with a spell that we liked to use a lot. We got in so much trouble when Mom found out, but sometimes it really comes in handy, so we'd still use it." She started snickering. "We used it so often that Grams started calling it The Spell."

"But what does it do?" Paige wanted to know.

"It lets us hear the other’s thoughts, like a magical telephone, from a long distance," Prue explained, pride in her voice. "I modified another spell to create it."

"Will that work for you?" Patty asked. "We can contact Prue easily enough through that."

Paige considered it. "I guess so."

Penny nodded. "Then you’d best be off."

Paige looked from one to another. At the thought of leaving them, sadness flooded her soul. If things worked out, she would never be with them in this way again. And they would never be with her, the sister, daughter, and granddaughter that they had known all of their lives.

Very reluctantly, she agreed with a nod of her head and began hugging her mother and grandmother. No one commented on the tears that were filling all of their eyes.

"Be happy, sweetie," Patty whispered. "I love you!"

"I love you, too, Mom. I'll miss you. But I'm glad I got a chance to know you."

Patty started at this comment, still trying to wrap her head around the idea that her daughter did not know her.

"I hope you and this whitelighter of yours are right about all of this," Penny grumbled.

Paige grinned. "Well, he's my whitelighter, but he's more Piper's since he's her husband.” As she spoke the word “husband” Penny frowned and Paige grinned wider. “Don’t worry, we’re right. I love you, Grams!"

Next Prue hugged the two of them. "I just wish Andy and Piper were here,” she whispered in her mother’s ear. “It seems wrong to leave without saying goodbye to them. You know, just in case…”

"Don’t you worry about that, honey. They’ll be waiting for you when you come back to us," Patty insisted, wiping the hair out of her daughter’s face.

"Well, just tell them that I love them, especially Andy" Prue asked, and in a moment the pain and fear she felt as she looked at her mother vanished.

"He knows you, sweetie, and he loves you. He'll understand. And you know that he'll take good care of Piper while you’re gone."

"Yes, I do. That's why I can do this. I love you."

"Love you, my beautiful oldest daughter, always."

"We'll see you soon," Penny insisted and that made Prue smile. Then Penny turned to Paige. "Blessed be, Paige."

Paige smiled at Grams once more calling her by her true first name. As she orbed out with Prue, she told them, "Blessed be, Grams. Blessed be, Mom."


When Paige could see clearly again, they were back in P3. While Prue looked around the unfamiliar building in awe, Paige started walking around.

"What are you looking for?" Prue wanted to know. When they first orbbed in she was on edge, but now that she saw them empty club, she wondered if P3 was really the answer to their problems.

Paige shrugged, admitting, "I’m not sure."

Prue also shrugged. "Okay. Let me know when you are ready for helping."

While she waited, Prue began to walk around the bar. That's when she noticed the pad of paper sitting next to the phone. At the top of the pad was a logo that read "P3" while below it were words written in a fancy script: "Piper Halliwell, owner". She stared at it in shock. "Look what I found. Everything you said. It's real."

Paige couldn't help smirking. "So you still didn't really believe me, huh?"

Prue shrugged. "No, I guess I didn't. It's just weird seeing something that proves that in some dimension, I'm really dead and Grams and Mom are really dead when I don't feel dead. And seeing my daughter's name as the owner of a club is simply....strange."

"Well, believe me, if we can figure out a way to keep all of you alive, especially you, we'll do everything we can--we all want that," and that made Prue smile.

"How 'bout you?" Prue asked. "Did you find anything?"

"Not really," Paige sighed. "It all looks the same, just the way I remember it," she added as she continued to walk around, not really knowing what she was looking for.

Suddenly her smile becomes a frown.

"What is it?" Prue asked.

Paige began to get excited. "I think I found something here."

Prue walked towards her sister but frowned at the place Paige was referring to. "Really?" She shook her head. "All I see is an empty nightclub that was never here."

"Still, something’s different than the last time Natalie and I were here."

"What's that?"

"Well, the nightclub still looks the same, but there's something about this particular spot that feels different.”

Prue raised her eyebrows questioningly and Paige shrugged. “Call it whitelighter sense or a Charmed feeling, but I can't put my finger on it. It just feels different."

Suddenly Prue held up her hand. "Wait."

"What?"

"Mom. They found something. See if you can find any other spot where you feel strange while I talk to her."

Paige smiled – this Prue, taking control, was the one she'd always heard about, and she loved getting to watch her in action. She watched as Prue quickly returned to the phone, grabbing the notepad she found earlier and the pen sitting next to it.


MEANWHILE, BACK IN "P2"

Piper was pacing impatiently while Leo roamed around the nightclub. Every now and then he stopped, trying to orb, but had no luck.

Victor, sitting on the stage with Phoebe, watched him for a few minutes before asking, "What are you doing?"

"I was thinking about what Paige said, about how she could orb out of her version of P3," he explained. "So I'm trying different spots to see if I can orb out."

Victor nodded. "Okay, that makes sense."

Suddenly Phoebe gasped and her eyes widened as she was thrown into a vision of the past. When she came out of it, she wobbled, then stared at Leo, stunned. "Oh!"

"Phoebe!" cried Victor. "Are you all right?"

"She's fine," Piper told him as she hurried over to them, grabbing Phoebe by the shoulders. "Phoebs? What did you see?"

And Phoebe told them what she'd seen - how she, Piper, their dad and another woman, who must be this Paige, were getting P3 ready for Leo's birthday party, just like she, Piper and their dad had earlier. But then a distortion came through, like a wave over the club, and it changed everything it touched.

She also told them about it passing through Paige and Leo just as Paige was trying to orb Leo out and Leo was trying to orb in.

Leo stared at Phoebe in shock. "So you saw what happened?"

"Maybe," Phoebe admitted. Relief hit Leo as she slowly nodded. They might have finally figured out what caused this mess, and if they knew the cause then they were closer to finding a solution.

"Yes," Phoebe told him, her voice more firm. "The spot where Paige tried to orb you out, Leo, is right where you were standing--that's when I got that vision. It's got to mean something."

Leo nodded. "Maybe if I try to orb out at that spot...." and he began to orb out, but Phoebe shook her head.

No, not there; a little closer to the stairs." But when he moved a bit closer to the stairs, she added, "Now a bit closer to the bar."

Leo took two steps before Phoebe shouted, "Stop! No, you didn't stop fast enough. You have to take a couple steps back."

Piper couldn't help laughing. "I feel like you're playing 'Hot and Cold' – 'Am I getting warmer?"

"Piper!" both Leo and Phoebe cried out.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still finding it hard to believe all of this."

"Well, believe in my power, sis, because you know that's real!"

Meanwhile, Leo had taken another step back. "Here?" he asked.

"Just a bit to your left," Phoebe told him. When he did, she grinned. "That's the spot! Try it!"


MEANWHILE, BACK IN P3

Prue busily scribbled on the pad while Paige continued to watch, too fascinated in watching The Spell in action to continue wandering around.

"Okay, Mom," Prue was saying. "I'll tell her."

"Tell me what?"

"Grams and Mom found something similar to this but different. They think that if the two dimensions touch, maybe they'd return you and Leo back to the way things originally were, also letting me remain here in this dimension with them."

Paige sighed, relieved at the possibility but completely unsure of where to go from here. "But how do we make the two dimensions touch?"

"I don't know," Prue admitted. "Wait!"

"Now what?"

"You said that you orbed Leo out at the same time that he was orbing in."

Paige nodded. "That's right. Oh! Maybe that's the spot where I felt strange."

Prue grinned. "Maybe if you try doing that again on that spot..."

Paige grinned back. "I might be able to get there. And if I get there and join them, maybe I'll stay there and Leo and I can figure out how to fix this and things will be okay again."

Watching the sadness take over Prue's face, she quickly apologized. "Well, not okay, but, well,"

Prue managed a weak smile. "I know what you mean. And if you can go there and stay there, then that means that I will stay here, even if it might mean me losing my baby sister."

"But it might not. It might mean that your sister Phoebe will be returned to this dimension and the version of Leo of that other dimension will be returned to theirs. I'm praying that that's what happens."

Prue nodded. "So am I. Go ahead and try."

Paige walked around until she felt that feeling again. "This is it."

"Try it! Good luck!"

Paige started to orb out, but then stopped and looked at her big sister, the big sister she had never had the chance to know, her heart in her eyes. "I love you. Now I know how much I missed not getting to grow up with a big sister. I did with Piper and Phoebe, but it's not the same, not the same as having someone who really remembers growing up with me."

The same look stole across Prue's eyes, too. "I love having a little sister. I can't imagine having more than one."

Paige smiled. "Piper and Phoebe said you did a great job with it. You were like the mother they never knew."

"I love you, too. Now go ahead and try it before I try to talk you out of it," and they both shared a poignant look.

Paige heaved a huge sigh. "Okay. Here I go," and she orbed out.

To Prue's shock, a moment later the man from one of Paige's pictures, Leo Wyatt, orbed in in the same exact spot. Before he totally formed, his eyes opened wide and then he orbed back out. The surprise in his eyes was identical to...


BACK AT "P2"

...the shock in Piper's eyes. "Guys. I just saw something."

All eyes turned to her. "What did you see?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"Just as Leo orbed out, a woman orbed in, right in front of me. She had reddish-brown hair, pale skin, and she looked like she was trying to orb in here."

Leo smiled. "Paige. You saw Paige at the same time that I saw Prue."

Piper and Phoebe looked at each other as they both said. "Paige. Our sister. She's real."

"I think we need to try calling her again," and the others agreed as Piper drew out her phone again.


BACK IN P3

Prue was still staring at the spot where Leo had appeared as Paige orbed back in, grinning. "It worked! I saw them!"

Prue nodded. "Yes, and I saw Leo.".

"You did?"

"Yes, right after you orbed out, he partially orbed in. He looked at me in surprise and then he was gone."

"Same thing happened to me. Unfortunately I could only see them for a matter of seconds."

Even as she spoke, her cell phone began to ring, so Paige quickly fetched it, glanced at the Caller ID and answered. "Piper?"

"Yeah, we just saw you, and Leo just saw Prue."

"I know."

"Something else. Phoebe had a vision."

"She did?" Paige asked, while Prue impatiently tried to find out what was going on and Paige tried to keep her quiet so she could listen. Unbeknownst to her, Phoebe was doing the exact same thing to Piper.

"Yeah, she saw what happened," Piper told her.

"So what did she see?" Paige wanted to know. After Piper told her, she nodded. "That jives with what Grams and Mom told Prue. Both of us orbing must've made a hole of some sort between where we are and where you are."

She could almost hear Piper nodding. "That's what we're thinking."

Paige sighed. "If we only knew where you are or where we are, maybe Leo and I could get back to where we belong."

"Leo thinks we're all in the same place," Piper told her, "but in different dimensions."

Paige nodded. " That makes sense. Because I can swear I can tell where you guys are--I can feel you, even if I can't actually see you."

"Yeah, Leo says he can do the same thing. It's sensing – he thinks it's due to him being a whitelighter again and you being half-whitelighter."

Paige wondered about the "again", but decided that was something that could be figured out later.

Suddenly she heard the sound of orbing. Spinning around she watched as Leo partially orbed back in and stared at Prue who was busily writing something. Knowing the guilt Leo still had in his heart after he had lost one of his charges, Paige understood that look totally.

Leo was there for there for just a moment before he orbed out again. "Leo."

Piper smiled. "Yeah, he just tried it again."

"But again he was only partially here."

"Well, maybe if both of you keep doing it, the hole will get bigger," Piper suggested.

Paige nodded. "Yeah, then I can actually stay there with you guys, even if it means leaving Piper and Mom Grams. Then maybe Leo and I can figure out how to return to our real dimension."

"Well, that seems awful weird to me, since to me this is my real dimension, but if it means being able to leave P2, then that would be a good thing. I don't want to be trapped here forever."

"Well, maybe if I can be all the way there, we can use the Power of Three to bring it back," Paige suggested, liking the idea of Prue being able to stay here with Penny, Patty, Andy and little Piper .

Piper couldn't help smiling. "Oh, yeah, that's right. You and Leo think we're The Charmed Ones.

Paige grinned. "Well, that's because we are. I'm going to try it."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later."

Paige grinned. "Okay, hopefully I can talk with you there."

"Yeah. Talk to you then."

So both Leo and Paige tried orbing, but still the others could only partially see them. While they did, Prue finished writing a quick note to her baby sister and then ripped out the sheet and walked over to Paige's purse. Taking out the picture and wrapping the paper around it, she put it back in the purse. The next time Paige orbed back in, Prue handed her the purse, "Um, you almost forgot something..." and Paige grinned as she took it.

Even as Paige began to orb out, Prue cried out, "Wait!"

Paige orbed back in then asked, "What?"

"I've been using The Spell to tell Grams and Mom what's been going on, and they used that to check the Book."

"And they found something?"

"They think so. They were thinking maybe it's because you and Leo are orbing too quickly - you're instantaneously going from one dimension to the other, while if you met halfway, maybe it would work."

Paige nodded. "A way of bringing the two dimensions back together and then maybe sending us home. That makes sense. But how do I change my orbing?"

"That's why I didn't say anything before and why they just got back to me. They found a spell that they think might work. The only problem is it's a Power of Three spell, meant for when The Charmed Ones appear," and subconsciously, she reached down to touch her tummy, since she'd always wondered if someday she would be the mother of the Charmed Ones.

"But we don't have the Power of Three, not in either place."

"But we do have The Power of Two Times Two," Prue pointed out with a smile. "Maybe we can figure out a way of adapting it. Although I've never been very good with spells."

"Neither have I. But Phoebe always has. Let's see if she can help out," and after Prue wrote down the spell on the handy notepad, Paige quickly phoned Piper and told her. Piper passed this on to Phoebe and the resident spellwriter quickly figured a way to modify the new spell into a Power of Two by Two spell.

While she did, Prue wrote down The Spell for Paige, happy that she could give this version of her baby sister something she herself had come up with.

So Paige asked Piper to put Leo on the phone and when they both chanted the spell, despite the fact that Leo wasn't a witch, they found that they could both hear each others thoughts.

Then with the use of The Spell, the four Charmed Ones, two in each dimension, cast the new spell.


BACK AT "P2"

"It's working! I can hear Paige's thoughts! We're going to try it again."

They watched as Leo orbed out and were all very disappointed when only Leo orbed back. "It worked!" he cried. ""We were both in the same spot in some between-dimension - we were even able to touch!"

Piper sighed. "But it obviously didn't work, because I still don't remember an older sister named Prue or a youngest sister named Paige."

Phoebe also sighed. "Neither do I. Why can't we make this work?"

"Maybe it's because the wrong people are meeting in the middle."

At the sound of Victor's voice, everyone turned to look at him. "What do you mean, Dad?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, if I've got this figured out right, neither Leo nor Paige were actually changed by the wave - they both remember the way things were in their original dimension." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, maybe if one of you who's inside P2 and doesn't remember your other two sisters and the sister who's inside P3 and doesn't remember you two touched, then it would separate the dimensions and send Leo and Paige back to their own dimension and bring our Leo back to ours and Prue's Paige back to hers."

"Dad, that's brilliant!" cried Phoebe.

"Except our powers won't bring us to that between-dimension," Piper pointed out.

"But I can orb one of you and Paige can orb Prue," Leo pointed out and the others very excitedly agreed. "If I've got it figured out properly, I think it would work best if I took only one of you, and I think it should be Piper. Phoebe and Prue had problems growing up while Prue and Piper were always very close."

Of course, Leo also knew how much getting to see Prue would mean to his wife, hoping that she would remember what had happened after they fixed this.

Phoebe nodded. "Then it's Piper who should go. Go ahead, Leo, tell Paige."


BACK AT P3

Paige listened to Leo’s thoughts about the plan and nodded, assuring him that she would tell Prue. When she finally drew her attention to her sister, tears were in her eyes. She quickly told her sister about the plan, silently worrying that Prue might get stuck in the between-dimension.

"Prue, I hate this idea. I want to find another solution. Desperately! No way I want to be the reason why you're part of changing this back. It might mean that you won't be able to stay here in this dimension, be able to continue to live this life that is obviously so good for you."

But Prue took these new developments in stride, reaching out to hug her baby sister. "Yes, there's a huge chance that when we do this, that this dimension will never exist at all, so I might be gone no matter where I am. I don't like that idea - I don't - like I told you at the Manor, I love Andy and I love Piper. But someone did this for a reason - to prevent the Charmed Ones from being together. Maybe someday I would've had two more daughters, had this dimension's version of the Charmed Ones, or maybe Phoebs would've had three daughters. But maybe not. We know for sure that you and your half-sisters are. So let's do this."

Paige gave Prue a huge hug and with tears still in her eyes, the two walked over to the special spot. Thanks to The Spell, Paige knew that Leo and Piper were doing the same thing.


IN THE BETWEEN-DIMENSION

Leo and Paige orbed out, taking Prue and Piper with them, and all four met in the between-dimension. Everyone was so amazed at seeing each other that they only had eyes for eachother. As Prue and Piper reached out to touch, none of them noticed a stranger standing in the between-dimension nearby, chanting a spell.

The Seer.

She'd been watching everything with Kernus and now, even as the moon rose high in the sky, he had used his magic to send her into the between-dimension. Now she was chanting her spell even as Prue and Piper reached out to touch:

"Let the little children come to me,
For the kingdom belongs to such as these,
Give me strength, and give me might,
To steal a child in still of night.
Darkest forces let it be,
Here my plea,
Bring life to me."

She finished chanting just as Prue and Piper touched. There was a huge bright flash of light and suddenly everyone and everything was back to normal--including Prue gone.

Well, not quite everything.

Paige was feeling a bit dizzy and needed to sit down. Piper knelt down to hug her. "Paige, are you okay?"

"I think so. Do you remember what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Piper asked. "We were just in the midst of decorating for Leo's party and..." Suddenly her eyes grew wide when she spot her husband. "Oh, no!"

Leo smiled. "Yes, I know about the party. And Paige and I also know a lot more," and he and Paige quickly told the other two what had happened.

Both Piper and Phoebe stared at them in shock, having no memories of what had happened at all.

"That seems so weird," Phoebe said. "Had we continued remembering those memories, whoever's behind this would've succeeded. We never would've realized that we are The Charmed Ones."

“I guess there’s a new evil in town,” Piper commented as she wrapped her arm around Leo.

“Or one that we’ve already come across,” Phoebe replied, thinking back to Paige’s demonic experience the other week.

Paige slowly nodded even as she glanced at the In Memoriam picture of Prue hanging in its special spot at P3. She didn’t want to think about demons and evil – she wanted to think about family. "Even though I got to see Prue and Mom and Grams, I wish you two had been on the outside, so you could’ve seen her again."

Piper shook her head. "No, this was for the best, Paige. You never got to see them alive, knowing that they’re your family. I’m glad you had that chance."

But even though she meant every word, Piper couldn't prevent the sigh. "But I got to touch her and I didn't even know that it was Prue, my older sister, my best friend. I wish I could remember doing that, knowing now who she really was to me."

Paige smiled. "Maybe you can." And even as Piper stared at her in shock, Paige walked over to where she'd dropped off her purse and began digging through it.

For a moment she was frightened – she couldn't find the picture and she was afraid that like her grandmother, mother, father, big sister and niece in that other dimension, it was gone.

But then her hand found a square that was the right size, but it felt like paper. She pulled it out and unwrapped the paper, very happy to see the picture. She looked at it for a moment wistfully before walking back to Piper and handing it to her. The fact that the picture still existed gave Paige hope that everything was fine in Prue’s dimension, too.

Piper stared down at the picture and when Phoebe walked over, Piper held it out so that Phoebe could see it, too, while her arm snaked around Phoebe's waist.

While Piper and Phoebe stared at this photo of their sister with a family they had never known, Paige unfolded the piece of paper and began to read quietly to herself. In her head, she could hear Prue's voice:

My dear little sister,

Since our memories do not overlap I began to think of all the stuff you are missing, all the childhood memories of school, magic, and other stuff. I don’t know how to describe a life time of memories in one short letter, so I will tell you this: I love you, Paige. You are very special to me, Sis.

Since I doubt you ever got a letter from the me you knew, I wanted you to have one letter from me, as your sister, to you, one little letter telling you how much you are loved, even though you already know that. Live well and live long and kick some demon a$$ for me.

All my love,
Your big sister,
Prue

Suddenly Leo heard something. "Wyatt!" and he hurried towards the back room to fetch his son, even as he already missed his daughter. Thinking of little Melinda reminded him of the young man he'd seen in the back room. When he entered the back room, he looked around for Chris, not knowing that his son had just barely managed to orb out. And Chris had slipped away, having no idea that his father now knew who he was.

Not seeing Chris, Leo sighed his disappointment. He couldn't help wondering if the end of the spell meant that Chris had been returned to his own time. He figured it was something he could figure out later.

Right now he was just happy to have his baby son back and he proudly carried Wyatt back to the nightclub where all three sisters were staring at the picture of a different version of their family, while Paige still hugged a letter to her heart.

Leo looked up at the birthday sign. "I don't know about you guys, but much as I appreciate it, I'm not really in the mood for a party."

Paige, as emotionally exhausted as he, had to agree. Piper and Phoebe, although disappointed to delay the celebration, understood that Leo and Paige had been through a lot this afternoon.

So they quickly called everyone who was invited, telling them that Leo's work had summoned him out of the country to help fix an emergency situation, so the party had been postponed until further notice. Then they all finally headed for home.


KERNUS’ CAVERN

During all of this, Kernus and The Seer watched everything on the wall, including everything that happened in both dimensions. "They returned things back to the way they were," Kernus growled.

The Seer nodded. "Yes, just as I predicted. And it kept them distracted long enough that they have no idea what we did," and her hand curved protectively around her stomach.

Kernus smiled as he placed his hand over hers. "Yes. Now we can raise my son to be the Twice Cursed Child. I believe we shall name him Warren, since he is the one destined to destroy the Warren line."

The Seer smiled. "Yes, but we won't. I will," and before Kernus could react, she tapped into the power of the child within her and Kernus was enveloped in flames.

In an instant he was gone, vanquished.

The Seer smiled. "Now, I don't care who your blood parents are, my son. From now on, it's just you and me!"

[Chrisaholic]

Still, getting a headache while reading it. lol

[Esmeralda]

Decided to post the rest of this here. Hope you guys like it!

CHAPTER FOUR: The Visitor From the Future

THE BACK ROOM OF P3

Chris was pacing when he heard that odd sound again. But this time he knew exactly what and who it meant.

“Wy, where did you go?” Chris asked, not giving Wy a chance to say anything. “You were here and the next minute…well…”

“Wait, so you actually know who I am now?” Wy questioned, curious and yet cautious.

“Of course I do!" Chris exclaimed. "Why wouldn’t I?”

"That would take too long to explain. Just tell me. Why are you here?"

Chris rolled his eyes impatiently. "To find out why that guy hates our family so much and hopefully bring back our Aunt Paige and the Power of Three."

Wy sighed with relief - this was very good news considering the news he had to break to his brother. “I had to go back into my body so I could see if there was something from our time that could help with what was happening back here. Remember? I told you that.”

But when he saw the confusion return to Chris' eyes, Wy waved him off. “Never mind. That’s not important, but this is.”

Wyatt took a deep breath before he continued. This was not easy for him but it needed to be said. It needed to be fixed. “Our future’s been changed. I think you did something that changed it and now you ned to figure out a way to change it back.”

“What?” Chris demanded. “How do you know?”

Wy waved off his brother again. “My Twice Blessed powers, but that’s not important. This bit is. It’s Aunt Phoebe.”

“What about Aunt Phoebs?” Chris demanded, now worried about his favorite aunt.

"Chris, she's no longer part of the future. She's gone. So is Uncle Jason. So is Prudie."

"But, but, how?"

“I asked Mom about it, what she remembers. Chris, she doesn't remember what we remember happening during this time at all. I guess the only reason why I remember is because I've been astral projecting back here."

"Wyatt. What does Mom remember about Aunt Phoebs?"

"She was injured in an attack by the Titans,” Wy's voice cracked as he finally let go the grief he was facing, “She held out long enough until they were gone but…but…”

“Wy, what happened to her?” Chris walked to his brother, glaring into his eyes. “You’d better tell me that Mom and Aunt Paige got her to the hospital or…” Chris stopped talking as Wy slowly shook his head.

“Mom said the wounds were too much,” Wy broke the worst of the news, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks, “She bled out the whole time. She wanted to make sure the Titans were gone - you know how stubborn she is - always thinking of innocents before herself.”

Chris nodded numbly. He did know. It's why she was his favorite aunt - he always wanted to be just like her. “Can anything be done?” he demanded.

“She’s gone, Chris. I saw Prudie disappear right in front of me. She no longer exists in our future. I didn't see Uncle Jason, so I imagine the same thing happened to him ”

“I did this,” Chris shook his head, panicking now at the thought of another family member being killed. His Aunt Phoebe had been killed by the same hands that had killed his father! “I did this!” And thanks to that, Uncle Jason, the only father-figure he'd had growing up after his grandfather died, was also gone. So was his little cousin, Prudie. It was all his fault!

Chris looked into Wy’s tear-filled eyes. Tears were filling his own. “I gotta fix this!” and before Wy could say a thing, Chris sensed for his family and orbed straight to them.

"Christopher Victor!" Wyatt yelled. "Get your a$$ back here right now! You could just make things worse!" and wanting to find out what exactly had happened to change things, Wy returned to his own body in the future.

IN THE MANOR'S LIVING ROOM

The Charmed Ones and Leo slumped around the living room, all of them exhausted from Leo's party. Leo still hadn't told them anything about Chris and was still debating if he should.

Suddenly the young man in question orbed into their midst, panic in his green eyes, tears undried on his cheeks. He didn’t give them a chance to say anything.

“I screwed up!” he screamed. "I screwed up and you gotta help me! You gotta fix it right now! The Titans! It wasn't supposed to be until next week, but they've already been released! They’re gonna murder the Elders and if you don’t stop them, your entire future is gonna go straight to hell!”

“What the...” Piper jumped up from the couch, her hands ready to blow up the newcomer.

At the same time, Leo also jumped up, staring at the young man who he knew was his future son. “Who did you say will attack?”

Piper turned to glare at Leo. “You believe him? He's a perfect stranger!”

“The Titans!" Chris ignored his mother and concentrated on his father who for some reason seemed to believe him. "Please, you gotta believe me! They’re gonna kill the Elders!”

Now Phoebe and Paige also stood, unsure of the scene that was unfolding, but still certain that this young man was either evil or totally nuts.

“The Titans?” Paige started laughing, sure it was some joke. “As in Greek mythology?”

“Yes, as in Greek mythology!” Chris rolled his eyes at his Aunt Paige and then turned back to his father. “They're real and they have to be stopped. They’re attacking way too early and it’s gotta be all my fault!”

“Alright," Piper started. "Enough of this…”

“I’ve got to warn the Elders!” and Leo started to orb out.

Piper stared at her panicked husband even as Chris screamed out "Da..No!" almost giving away his secret.

Leo orbed back. "Why not?"

Chris shook his head violently, remembering the stories he had heard as a child. Maybe this wasn’t what he had come to the past to change, but as long as the sequence of events had already been changed, he could at least try. “Your orbs will let them pinpoint your location," he warned. "You could be killed and the Titan who kills you will use your powers to go Up There and kill the Elders!”

“Leo,” Phoebe demanded, looking between Leo and the crazy newcomer. "What is he talking about?"

“I’ve got to warn them. Without the Elders, the whole magical world will go into chaos.” Even as Chris started to protest, Leo orbed out.

Chris screamed, jumping at the orbs, trying to stop his father from orbing, but it was no use. Leo was gone and Chris could only hope that the Titans didn't already have the power to follow him. But he was still extremely worried about his dad, the dad he'd never known growing up.

“No, no, no, no, no! He shouldn’t have gone. If something happens to him…I could have messed everything up again! I could've made it worse! I never should've come back!”

The Charmed Ones looked at Chris and then at each other, unsure of what to do or say. They had no idea what was going on. The Titans? Did they really exist? Were they truly as dangerous as dangerous Leo and this strange young man were making them out to be?

Could they really murder the Elders?

Yes, there were times when each of them wished that the Elders were gone from their lives, but despite being annoying, they'd always shown themselves to be basically good.

Chris paced the floor as he muttered to himself. He needed Wy - Wy would know what to do. His mom from this time was going to kill him when she found out that he was the reason why both her husband and her sister were going to die.

And if she didn't, his mom in the future most certainly would.

Of the sisters, Phoebe was the first to react, her tender heart aching at his obvious pain. She quickly crossed to him to stop his frantic pacing. “You should sit down.”

He brushed her hand off him, not even registering which sister has spoken to him, “I completely messed up everything! If something happens to him…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence in fear that it would come true.

“Nothing will happen to Leo, sweetie,” Phoebe crooned comfortingly and grabbed both of his arms to stop him from pacing. She put a hand under his chin, bringing his head down so she could look directly into his green eyes. “Sit down; everything will be okay.”

Chris paled as he realized who was speaking. A fresh wave of grief swamped him as the truth finally hit him - if he went back to his own time now, she wouldn't be there. If he didn’t stop the Titans from attacking, not only would he never see her again – he would never have a chance to get to know her, based his own life on her, as he grew up. Everything would be different. Tears fell down his cheeks.

“I can’t sit down,” he sobbed. “Nothing is going to be okay!”

He continued to pace the floor, unable to get the thought of losing his dad out of his head. The fact that losing his dad could also cost him his aunt was also terrifying him. If he could just figure out a way to keep his dad alive, even if his Aunt Phoebe was hurt, his dad would be able to heal her.

He glared at the sisters, who had sat back down themselves. They didn't seem concerned at all.

“Sit down!” Piper barked. “Your pacing is making me dizzy.”

Chris glanced at her sheepishly. “Sorry, M…” again almost slipping up but stopping himself in time. “Sorry, I’m just worried,” and he perched on a chair.

The Charmed Ones tried to distract him by asking questions, but outside of telling him his name was Chris and he was from the future so he knew what he was talking about, he refused to tell them anything, afraid that by telling them anything he'd just make things worse. Right now he needed to know that Leo was still alive and had not been caught by the Titans.

Suddenly orbs filled the room and the three sisters stood, waiting for Leo to fully form. Chris froze, color leeching from his already-pale face, He remembering the stories his mom had told him and Wy when they were young. He was terrified that rather than Leo, it would be the Titan who had stolen his father's powers who would appear.

He sighed with relief as the orbs revealed themselves to be Leo and was even more relieved as he realized that Leo was worried.

“What is it?” Paige asked, since even the three sisters could sense just how worried Leo was.

“The good news is the Elders believe you,” Leo told Chris, ignoring Paige. “And they’re very concerned.”

“Because the Titans have attacked?” Paige wrinkled her nose at the impossibility of it. “They’re concerned about figures from Greek mythology?”

Chris rubbed his temples in frustration.

“He's right, Paige. The Titans are real.” Leo turned to look at everybody in the room in the eye. “Two whitelighters aren’t heeding the Elders' calls.”

"No wonder they're concerned!" Phoebe gasped even as Piper wrinkled her brow. "Why would a whitelighter ignore calls from the Elders? And how can that have anything to do with mythological beings?”

Realizing that his mother still didn't believe him or Leo would've normally irritated Chris, but he was too frightened. Whitelighters were already ignoring the Elders' calls. So far, history was repeating itself, just the way he had been told, except it was a full week early.

“The Titans suck the powers from whitelighters, killing the whitelighter. They want to get to the Elders and they do it. There's three Titans and they each kill a whitelighter, taking their powers.” As he spoke, he did his best not to look at the Titans' third victim – his father.

“Wait, that sounds familiar.” When her sisters turned to stare at Paige in shock, she continued. "That sounds freakishly similar to dreams that I’ve been having the last week.”

“Dreams?” Phoebe frowned at her younger sister. “You’ve been dreaming of Titans killing whitelighters?”

Piper glared. “You didn’t think about telling us this?”

Paige shrugged. “I thought they were just dreams. After all, I’m not the psychic one. I just thought I had an overload of magic on my brain after what happened with that demon. But I saw it, you guys."

"What did you see?" Piper demanded.

"There was a this big woman dressed in..” She stopped as she looked at the floor sheepishly before muttering, “Well, actually, she looked like she was dressed in a toga. She sucked something out of a female whitelighters, which turned the whitelighter to stone.”

“That’s exactly what the Titans do!” Chris exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "That something was her life force – and her powers, which the Titan now has," and he couldn't stop his shudder as images of the stone statue-like form of his father invaded his mind. It had stood in the attic all those years, his mom never once giving up on the belief that somehow she would be able to bring him back to life.

Piper folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you should explain to us exactly who the Titans are.”

“Well, we don't know exactly who they are or where they were originally from, but the ancient Greeks called them gods.” Chris started his explanation from the beginning, having no idea how much the sisters already knew. “They weren't exactly like the myths – they didn't have kids who became the Greek gods that the myths tell about - but the myths are based on them. But they went power-crazy and the only way the Elders could stop them was by entombing them. And now they've been released!”

"But all of that was in the past!" Paige exclaimed. "If it happens again in your past, our future, how will the Elders stop them?”

"Not the Elders," Leo realized. "The Power of Three."

Chris nodded, unable to say anything.

"So we went after them?" Piper asked. At Chris' nod, she asked, "So did it work?"

“I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Well, the way I always heard the story is that the Charmed Ones succeeded. But something has changed. I don't know what, I don't know how, but, but it's changed and somehow it has to be changed back!"

Phoebe could see the panic begin to steal over him again and she jumped up, grabbing him by the shoulders, forcing him to look in her eyes. "What changed, sweetie?" she gently asked. "Tell us."

Chris blinked fresh tears from his eyes as he looked at the floor again, unable to look at his beloved aunt. He was still reeling from Wy's announcement – how could he share it with his family?

But Phoebe had seen the look in his eyes before he looked down and she understood. “I die."

As the tears trickled out of his eyes and down his cheeks, Chris could only nod. Everyone in that room knew that Phoebe meant something special to him in the future, even if only Leo knew exactly how. Paige couldn't help wondering if in the future, either her sister had a thing for young men or if this young man was her own son.

Phoebe shrugged. “It’s okay. That’s okay; I’ll be saving innocents. I can make that sacrifice.”

Piper stared at her, her face growing pale. She hated the idea of losing another sister, especially the one who had always been her baby sister and that last of her original family, but if it meant saving innocents...

"No!" Chris exclaimed, turning from his mother to look at the aunt he didn't want to lose. "It's not okay! You didn't die the first time and you guys still vanquished the Titans! Something else changed; something that has to be changed back!"

“Besides, Phoebe, if you die then we won’t have the Power of Three,” Paige was desperately trying to find a logical reasons for Phoebe to not sacrifice her life. "It will be a lot harder to save innocents if it's just Piper and me!"

“But there’s innocent lives at stake here,” Phoebe argued.

"No, there aren't!" This time it was Chris who grabbed Phoebe by the arms, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Listen to me! You're trying to be brave and honorable but it's not necessary! We can save you without letting innocents die, just by you guys getting rid of the Titans like you did the first time, something they couldn't do alone!" He shook her shoulders. "Listen to me! Something else happened, and that's what we have to stop."

“Well, let’s not forget the Elders," Phoebe reminded them. "Leo, didn’t you say that without the Elders then the whole magical world will go into chaos?”

"So we stop them from being murdered!" Chris exclaimed. "You guys stop them from being murdered! That's all you have to do! You did it the first time; you can this time! I'm sure of it!"

"Yes, but if we can't..."

Before anyone could say anything else, Leo did. "I have to go," and he began to orb out.

"Why?” Chris demanded.

"Lorna, my charge. She's in trouble."

"No!" Chris screamed. "You can't go! That's gotta be when you die! And if you live, you'll be able to save Phoebe! You have to stay!"

"I'm the third victim?" Leo asked, and when Chris nodded, Leo finally understood his son's earlier panicking.

Piper went pale. "This is a nightmare! You're trying to tell me that if I lose my husband I'll also lose my sister?"

"Not if he doesn't go!" Chris insisted, pleading in his voice.

But Leo knew what he had to do. "My charge needs me, Chris. I can't ignore a charge's call!" and before Chris or Piper could say another word, Leo orbed out.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER FIVE: Fate of My Father...

STILL AT HALLIWELL MANOR

"NO!" Both Piper and Chris freaked out.

Piper reached out for both Phoebe's and Paige's hand. "Follow his orbstream, Paige! Now!"

And even as Chris screamed "NO!" again, the three orbed out. Chris began orbing after them when he heard that strange sound again which stopped him. Soon Wy's astral projection appeared. "No, Chris! You have to stay here!"

"But.."

"No buts! That's what changed things! I returned to my body so I could ask Mom what she remembered of the day her sister Phoebe died. She said that a strange young man orbed in, telling them about the Titans."

"Strange young man? Wait a minute! Wy, are you trying to tell me that this isn't the first time I went back?"

"Exactly. How else could things change?"

SOMEWHERE ELSE...

Meanwhile, the three Charmed Ones appeared to find a witch dead on the ground and a man sucking something out of Leo who was down on his knees.

"NO!" Piper screamed as she blasted the Titan. But the blast had no effect - it simply annoyed him, and he spun to send a stream of energy at Piper.

Piper screamed and without even thinking about it, panic-froze the energy even as Paige called out, "Titan!" summoning the Titan to her before ricocheting him away from Leo, but not as far as she usually could.

"That's it!" cried Phoebe. "Piper, freeze him!"

"I can't freeze upper-level demons," Piper reminded her sister even as she did. "And these guys definitely qualify, even if they're not demons."

"But you can for a short time! Just keep refreezing him! I can't come up with a vanquishing spell, but remember the spell to vanquish the Source?" When the others nodded, she quickly added, "If it could vanquish the Source of All Evil, it can certainly vanquish a Greek god who isn't even really a god!"

BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM

Meanwhile Chris was staring at Wy in shock. "So what does Mom think happened the second time?"

"Well, she only remembers one time and what she remembers isn't what we were told about that day. I guess I still remember because of my astral projecting and my Twice Blessed powers."

"Stop stalling, Wy. What does Mom remember about the strange young man?"

Wyatt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "When they went to try to save Dad, that strange guy followed them. You remember that Mom tried to blast the Titan."

"Yeah, but it didn't work, so she froze her instead."

"Well, this time, before Mom could freeze her, that strange young man tried to stop the Titan, so she went after him instead."

"So the Titans killed me? But..."

"No buts, Christopher! Aunt Phoebe thought she was going to kill you and pushed you out of the way."

Chris understood. "And she died instead. And without her to say the spell with Mom and Aunt Paige..."

Wy slowly nodded. "They couldn't save Dad, nor could they save the Elders. The Titans are in charge of the world now and it's even worse than the world that we remember. To top it off, Mom says that when Dad died, that young man faded out of existence, just like how I saw Prudie fade out."

"What?!"

"Mom's not pregnant with you yet, Chris. We always figured that you were her 80th birthday present to Dad and that hasn't happened yet. If Dad dies today..."

"I cease to exist. But if I don't interfere..."

Before Wy could reply they could hear the sounds of orbing and Wy quickly returned to his body, hoping to find everything now fixed.

When Chris only saw one large orb, he felt the color leech from his face. Shouldn't there be an extra orb? Shouldn't his father be orbing in, too? He wondered if he had now faded out of existence but could somehow still see what was going on.

That worry faded when the orbs revealed Paige and her sisters and all three looked right at him. But he had to know.

"Da . . . he began, before stopping abruptly. "Dat's good. You're okay. Leo?"

"He's okay," Phoebe reassured him. "He went to check on the Elders."

"So the Titans are vanquished?"

"Titan," Paige corrected. "There was only one, a man."

So where are the other two? And Chris immediately knew as he realized that he might fade out of existence at any moment after all. "What if the other two are going after the Elders? Leo tries to save them and he's gone!"

Piper paled. "Paige! Take us Up There right now!"

"But..."

"We did it before with Prue when we saved them from Eames! We can do it again! Now let's go!"

And once more the three orbed out. Chris almost orbed after them, but remembering what Wy had told him, he quickly decided to stay put.

UP THERE

Meanwhile, Paige had orbed her sisters into the Heavens and they were looking around. Piper noted to herself how different it seemed from the last time she was there with Prue and Phoebe. It was darker now and rather than clouds, the whole place was shrouded in dark grey smoke.

It was then that she spotted some of the bodies that laid on the ground and realized why. “Oh no!” she gasped. "The Elders!”

“What happened?” Phoebe asked, taking a step forward.

“NO!” a voice called out.

A figure dressed in Elder robes jumped out from behind one of the pillars and pushed Paige out of the way. Suddenly, fire appeared from behind another pillar and hit the Elder in the chest. Even as the Elder sank to the ground Paige saw a large female Titan step out from behind the pillar.

“Titan!” she yelled as she stuck out her arm. The Titan flew to her in the midst of orbs before Paige ricocheted her through the air, making her smash into one of the supporting structures in the Heavens, the structure crumbling.

“Leo!” Piper called out, hoping that her husband, her love, wasn’t one of the bodies on the ground.

Paige scrambled across the ground to the Elder's side, while Phoebe grabbed Piper's arm. Paige placed her hands over the Elder's wound, hoping that as a half-whitelighter she’d be able to heal a full Elder, but she could see from the glazed expression on his face that it was too late.

“We need to vanquish the Titans, Piper.” Even as she spoke, Phoebe looked around since there had to be another Titan around somewhere. “We need to say the spell.”

“Where's the other Titan?” Piper asked. “I only see one.”

Suddenly an electric bolt jolted through the air, hitting Piper's shoulder. She hit the ground, crying out in pain.

“Piper!” Paige cried out, scrambling to her fallen sister before looking around and spotting the third Titan, another male, but this one looked both bigger and stronger than the other male - Paige rightly guessed that this was the leader.

“Titan!” she called out as she summoned him to her before throwing him in the direction of the other Titan. She didn't have time to wonder whether that was a smart choice.

“Are you okay to say the spell?” Phoebe asked Piper, thanking God that the bolt had just hit her shoulder.

“I'm fine,” Piper nodded and then froze the two Titans before they could do anything, grateful that Paige had kept them close together. “Quick! We don't have long until they unfreeze.”

Paige nodded and began to chant. “Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda...”

“Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace...” Phoebe continued.

“Halliwell women stand strong beside us...” Piper chanted, glaring at the two Titans who had dared to do this to the Heavens.

“Vanquish this Evil from time and space.” The Charmed Ones finished their spell, then cast it two more times.

The two Titans unfroze just as a wave of energy surrounded them, but there was nothing they could do to prevent their vanquishing. The energy shot through their chests and then made the largest explosion the sisters had ever seen or heard. It sent an earthquake across the whole of the Heavens, collapsing all the still-standing pillars. All the Charmed Ones could do was huddle together until the area settled again, until they knew it was finally over.

Once it was, they began looking around the area, but all of the Elders in the Heavens were dead.

Piper checked each face carefully, relieved when she didn't see Leo's beloved face, but still concerned for her husband. Just when she was truly getting scared, a huge orb cloud appeared, soon dissipating to reveal the Chief Elder and a few more Elders, along with a large group of whitelighters, including Leo.

Piper screamed in delight and ran to hug him. Seeing the Charmed Ones, Leo himself sighed with relief and reached out to return the hug. Then he spotted her wounded shoulder and quickly healed it, her smiling in gratitude.

Leo smiled back, but the smile faded as he looked around, sorrow filling his eyes. His eyes stopped on one Elder and he quickly ran over to check on him. Finding him dead, Leo began to cry. He felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder and he looked up.

Piper was standing there, her eyes filled with sympathy.

Leo reached up to cover her hand with his own before answering the unspoken question in her eyes. “He was my mentor. I told you that I trained with...well, never mind that.”

Piper just gave him a sad smile, knowing perfectly well who he meant.

“Well, I told you that we trained together, well, he's the one who trained us. His name was Gideon.”

"He saved my life!" Paige breathed as she realized that this was the Elder who had pushed her to the ground.

Leo smiled softly. "He was a very good man. The best. He might have been Chief Elder someday."

Piper sank to her knees next to him and hugged him. He buried his face in her hair and silently wept.

Even as she attempted to comfort her bereft husband, the Chief Elder turned his attention to the two other Charmed Ones. “Once more we are in your debt,” and the two smiled back. “But I must ask you to collect your sister and return home.”

“Leo?” Phoebe asked.

“Not yet. I must ask Leo and the other whitelighters to stay just a bit longer.”

Hearing him, Piper looked up, glaring at him suspiciously - she never had and never would trust an Elder - but after a moment's indecision, she gave her husband one last squeeze and waited for him to pull himself together before they both stood up as Piper reached out for Paige's hand.

BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM

Meanwhile, Chris had almost worn a hole into the carpet as he paced back and forth waiting for the return of the Charmed Ones. He kept getting more and more tempted to orb Up There and find out what was going on but he kept convincing himself not to. Just when he was certain that all four were dead and that he'd have to figure a way of getting rid of the Titans himself, once more only the sisters orbed back.

Before he could say a word, Phoebe did. “Leo's fine. The Elders aren't. Most of them are dead.”

“No!” Chris screamed, knowing that the future had been changed and it couldn't be good. “The Titans?”

“Vanquished,” Paige smiled, then the smile faded. “They're gone, but...”

Chris understood. “So are most of the Elders. Where's Leo?”

“The Chief Elder wanted him to stay there with the other whitelighters. We don't know why.”

"Well, what else happened Up There?" Chris demanded. "I've been here going nuts wanting to know what happened. Maybe if you told me, we'd be able to figure out why they've kept him."

All three sisters simultaneously rolled their eyes at him, then turned their backs on him and continued their own discussion, not trusting this stranger to be able to help them despite the fact that him telling them about the Titans had.

Chris opened his mouth to ask another question when suddenly they heard the sound of an incoming orb. This time the orbs whirled around to reveal Leo. Chris sighed in relief at the sight of him.

Piper ran to her husband and hugged him tightly, but then she looked closely at him. He still looked saddened at the loss of the Elders, especially that of his mentor, but there seemed to be something else that was bothering him. “Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice. "What did they want?”

“Why wouldn’t they let you leave with us?” Phoebe demanded.

Paige didn’t say anything, but she was very relieved at the sight of him, but also very concerned.

Leo looked at each of the sisters and then gave the young man he knew was his future son a glance. "There's something I have to tell you."

At the tone of his voice, Piper started getting scared. "Tell us."

"The Chief Elder told us that since so many of the Elders were killed, new ones are needed."

Phoebe understood immediately and was horrified. "No! No! They can't turn you into an Elder! You have a wife! A family!"

"That's not your destiny," Paige added. "Your destiny is to be our whitelighter."

And my father, Chris silently added to himself.

Leo was shaking his head. "Of course they can't turn me into one, any more than they could turn me into a whitelighter. I have the choice to become an Elder, just like I had the choice to be a whitelighter. I turned them down. But I had to let you know. A number of my fellow whitelighters took him up on his offer, but I said no. He begged me to reconsider, said that the Powers of Good need me..."

"But we need you more!" Phoebe exclaimed.

Paige didn't say anything. She'd noticed that during this whole time, Piper hadn't said a word. Turning towards her sister, she saw Piper hugging herself as a single tear rolled down her pale cheek. "Piper? What's wrong?"

"Piper?" Leo asked.

"The Chief Elder's right. The Powers of Good need you more than we do, more than I do."

"Piper, no!" Phoebe screamed even as Paige and Chris stared at Piper in shock. Chris began to feel, he wasn't quite sure what the word was – fuzzy? "You can't mean that!"

Piper slowly nodded her head even as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Yes, Phoebe, I do. I remember when Wyatt changed our bodies and I found out how much a whitelighter's charges need him. If that's the case, how much more does the Power of Good need someone like Leo to help lead them? Can you think of anyone better than Leo?"

And all Phoebe could do was slowly shake her head.

"Besides," Piper added, as always during one of her darkest moments, her own special form of snarky humor shining through, "the Elders could use someone like you, someone who can show them that the Grand Design ain't all it's cracked up to be, and maybe let them see that we don't have to be fighting evil for them all the time, that we can have our own normal life once in awhile."

Even as Phoebe and Paige cracked a smile, Leo stared at his wife as if she was someone he had never known. "But, Piper!" he protested. "I don't think you understand. If I become an Elder, I'd have to stay Up There. I'd never be able to be with you, be with Wyatt," and his eyes quickly glanced over at Chris who began to feel a bit better.

Again Piper nodded as the trickle of tears became a stream. "Yes, I do understand that. And I'll miss you, more than you can possibly imagine, just like I know that Wyatt will. But I also know you're the best person for the job of helping the Elders lead the powers of Good against Evil."

She looked at each of her sisters and then at her husband. "If there was a burning building and you had a choice between saving a sister - or a spouse or a child - or five strangers, who would you save?"

They each knew the answer to that question and each slowly nodded.

"For the sake of all the Powers of Good, this is for the best."

Even as Chris berated himself for not having told them about the Titans earlier – if they could have saved the Elders, this would not, could not be happening – Leo very slowly nodded and then leaned over to kiss his wife good-bye before orbing out.

Chris could actually feel himself start to fade, knew that he was only moments away from no longer existing, that he would the moment that his father became an Elder and could no longer return to his family. Even as his aunts ran to hug his mother and try to comfort the mourning woman who no longer had to pretend to be brave now that her husband was gone, he turned towards the kitchen, hoping that maybe his brother, the Twice-Blessed Child, could somehow save him.

Then he heard the sound of orbing again and turned back. Of course he knew how slow time moved Up There, but maybe the Chief Elder somehow knew what Leo's decision would be, because when Leo reappeared, he was already dressed in the robes of an Elder, his hair had streaks of white, and he absolutely glowed like an Elder.

Chris stared at his father. He couldn't understand why Leo was back, but he also knew that he felt a lot better than he had five seconds earlier.

Seeing the way his wife was mourning, Leo ran over to her and held her tightly, kissing her hair, knowing how much she loved him because she was willing to let him go no matter how much it would hurt her. He swore to himself that he would be absolutely the best Elder he could possibly be just to justify her sacrifice.

Even as Piper buried her face into his robes, she murmured, "Why did they let you come back? I thought..."

"I thought so, too. But they wanted me to introduce you to my replacement."

"Replacement!" Phoebe protested. "No one can replace you!"

"We don't need a replacement!" Paige agreed. "I'm half-whitelighter – I can do anything that's needed!"

Leo smiled at her. "Just because you have whitelighter powers doesn't make you one, Paige. You haven't earned your wings yet and you won't while you're still alive. This person has earned hers."

"Hers!" Piper looked up, glaring at her husband. "Well, it better not be someone like Natalie!"

Remembering the whitelighter she'd met in the other dimension, Paige nodded. "No way! We'd protest!" and Phoebe nodded, too.

"If she is, I'll give up my powers," Piper threatened. "I swear it!"

Leo smiled. "No, believe me, she's not like Natalie at all. You'll be her very first charges."

Now Paige was insulted. "They're giving us, the Charmed Ones, to a rookie?? Someone who just died?"

"No, she died a while ago. And when she did, she was offered her wings, but turned them down, one of the very few people who ever turned down that offer."

Piper and Phoebe stared at him, an idea coming into both of their heads.

Seeing the looks, Leo smiled then continued his story. "But with so many Elders dead and now so many whitelighters promoted to Elders, that's left a large void in whitelighters, so the Chief Elder offered a number of ghosts the chance to become whitelighters, and that ghost agreed – as long as she could be whitelighter to the Charmed Ones."

Even as he spoke, that someone else orbed in – Prudence Victoria Halliwell!

Piper and Phoebe screamed and ran and hugged their older sister, the first time they had been able to do that since her death, three long years earlier, and Prue hugged them back even as she laughed at her near-inability to breathe right when she was finally able to breathe again for the first time in three years.

Leo stood back, smiling, finding some comfort in the fact that although he had lost Piper and she had lost him, at least she had gained back her beloved older sister.

The only ones who weren't celebrating were Paige and Chris, Paige once more wondering if Prue was going to replace her, and Chris disappointed that his reprieve had been so short – he was certain that as soon as his father left, he would fade away without ever finding out why that spell had sent him to this time or why that warlock in his future had killed his Aunt Paige while swearing his hatred of all things Halliwell, and who had sworn he'd kill Wyatt next if the Twice Blessed Child didn't become evil like him by killing his own brother.

After a bit, Prue let go of her sisters and turned towards her youngest sister. "I'm not replacing you, Paige," she told her. "I'm replacing Leo. I don't have any Charmed powers – I lost them when the three of you stood under the chandelier and reconstituted the Charmed Ones - and had you not, we wouldn't be here now because our sisters would both be dead. I've been watching all of you and I'm so proud of all of you, but especially you. I wish you could've grown up with us, because I already love you."

Paige stared at her. It suddenly hit her that she no longer had to be jealous of her older sister or try to replace her, that indeed she never had. Remembering the older sister she had met in the other dimension, she now realized that she loved her big sister, too, and ran to hug her.

Even as Phoebe reached out for Piper, so the two could share this moment, the way they had shared watching their mother welcome Paige into the family, Leo also reached out for his wife. "I love you," he whispered. "And I want to show you how much, one last time," and even as that special light of love and desire that he always loved seeing light his wife's eyes lit them one last time, Leo sent a special glance towards his future son and as Chris' panic finally settled down, he felt better than he had in a long time, knowing that he still had a chance to fulfill his mission.

Chris watched them go up the steps, glanced at his three aunts chattering away, and with a smile, he headed for the kitchen, hoping to find Wy there, hoping to find out that now that the Titans were gone, maybe everything in the future was now okay – maybe now that his favorite aunt would be alive again in the future since he’d helped save her back here, maybe she and Wy had found a way to save Paige so that warlock would no longer be part of their future, and he could go home.

But when he reached the kitchen, Wy wasn’t there. He stood there for a few moments, waiting for Wy’s orbs, but they didn’t come. Then it hit him. Maybe Wy was afraid that if he came back in the kitchen that their parents or aunts would spot him. Maybe Wy was waiting for him in P3’s back room.


P3'S BACK ROOM

When Chris appeared, he sighed disappointedly to see that the room was empty.

Even as he tried to figure out what had happened, he heard a jingling noise behind him. He knew that sound was an incoming whitelighter, but which one? Now that his Aunt Prue was back, it could be either her or his Aunt Paige.

Turning around, he smiled to see the new family whitelighter standing behind him. “Had enough of them already?” he smirked.

Prue smiled. “I could never get enough of family. Which is why I’m here. You are family, after all.”

Chris opened his mouth and was about to protest against Prue’s comment, but she wasn’t going to let him argue. “I know you’re family, Chris. I’ve been watching you ever since you first walked through the triquetra portal into the back room of P3. I knew that had to mean you were family from the future. I've also heard your conversations between you and your brother, Wy, who is Piper and Leo's son. I know exactly who you are, and I might even know why you're here in this time period even better than you do.”

"What do you mean?"

"Well, ever since I was told that my sisters have accepted my death enough that I would be allowed to watch them, I've been doing just that. Chris, I heard what Leo told you and my sisters about the wave that divided the world into dimensions, and from Up There, I was able to see both of them."

"So you even got to see the other you?"

Prue sighed. "Yeah, I did, and it made me wish more than ever that I could've lived." She quickly shook it off. "But that's not important. What I saw in the between-dimensions is."

"The between-dimensions? You mean when they touched and fixed this mess?"

"Yeah. And I also saw something they didn't see."

"And what was that?"

"At the same time they appeared, so did a woman dressed in black. She started chanting and just as that other Prue and Piper touched, a light shot out of Paige's stomach and into that woman's stomach, and then she vanished."

Even as Chris stared at her, she asked, "Tell me, Chris, what was the spell that your brother wrote supposed to do?"

"It was supposed to let the caster keep his powers, something you usually don't get to do when you go to the past."

Prue nodded, thinking about how surprised she was when she and her sisters found themselves powerless in the Seventies.

"And it was also supposed to send him back to a time when he could protect all other family members hurt by the one behind this. I thought it would send me to the time when that warlock killed Aunt Paige, so I could stop him."

Prue paled. "That warlock killed Paige?"

Chris nodded. "So we don't have the Charmed Ones in the future. That's what I was trying to fix."

"He could've try killing any of the sisters," Prue mused. "Did anyone see him do it?"

Chris looked down. "Not in time to save her. I heard her scream and by the time I orbed there, she was already dead and he was standing over her, telling her that 'Your damned family rejected me and now you're going to pay for that mistake'."

Prue nodded as she put all of the pieces together. She held out her hand. "Come. We have to tell my sisters right now."

"Why?" Chris demanded.

“Maybe rather than you, it’s up to the Charmed Ones to figure that part out. Maybe after you tell them everything you know, you should go back to your time and...”

“I can’t leave it to them,” Chris insisted. “I told you. The evil has already killed Aunt Paige. The Charmed Ones…”

“Have something here that you don’t have there," Prue reminded him with a smile. "The Power of Three," and Chris sighed in defeat, admitting that she was right.

“You need to leave it to me and the Charmed Ones to change the past and save the future," she insisted, "or you will just set up an everlasting time loop. You'll be coming back here and changing something only to have to come back again and change it again forever. Do you really want that? Besides, you stay here, there’s too big of a chance that someone who wasn’t supposed to die will.”

Remembering what had happened to his Aunt Phoebe, Chris sighed again, this time in defeat. “Yes, you’re right, and I’d never want to do that. Mom would kill me, and if she doesn’t, my mom in the future most definitely would. But how do I get back? The spell I cast was a one-way door.”

Prue smiled. “I think I know of a way, but first we have to tell them everything,” and she held out her hand for him to take.

"Including who I am? Wouldn't that change things? It's why I haven't."

"Knowledge won't - just what you do with it, the way that you telling them about Leo and the Elders helped to save them, and save Phoebe. You telling them who you are will help them change our present which will help save their future - your present."

"But I'm not sure how to go home," he admitted. "Wy never wrote a spell that would send me back...we always assumed that once I changed the past that I'd just pop back in my future."

"Remember, I think I know how to handle that," and again she reached out her hand.

This time he took it.


BACK TO THE MANOR

Chris felt the common feeling of orbing and then found himself back at the Manor - in the living room and in front of his mother and aunts.

“Prue! Chris!” Piper exclaimed, looked both frightened and determined, a look that both Prue and Chris loved seeing on her face. “Is there another demon?”

“No.” Prue shook her head. “You’re just going to send Chris home to his family.”

Piper looked at Chris, thought about it, and then slowly nodded. He had helped them save her family, even if it did mean that Leo was now an Elder. But thanks to that, she now had Prue back and she could take some comfort in knowing that Leo was alive and doing what she felt he was always destined to do, even if he was millions of miles away from her.

“Have you got a spell to cast?” Phoebe asked their visitor, who shook his head.

“My spell was a one-way door,” he admitted with a shrug. “Prue said that she had something.”

Prue smiled at both Piper and Phoebe. “Do you remember the spell that Mom used to send us home from the 70's?”

“The one that she asked Little Us to say with her?” Piper now asked and smiled when Prue nodded. “I think I still remember it.”

“I do,” Phoebe grinned, remembering her very first spell – even if she technically hadn't chanted it.

“Well, can you teach it to Paige?” Prue queried. “I think that’s the best way to get Chris back to his own time.”

Phoebe nodded, and then quickly took out the pad of paper and pen that she always had with her in case she was inspired.

"Wait," Prue told her. "Before you do that, there's something else you need to know. Chris' work here isn't done yet."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.

Prue smiled. "The reason why Chris is back in the past is that there are no Charmed Ones to protect innocents in his future."

"Something happened to us?" Piper asked, her face paling.

"Just one of you," Chris told them. "But that's enough to end the Charmed Ones, and since then evil has run rampant."

"But why are you way back here?" Paige wanted to know.

Chris sighed impatiently. "That's what I want to know. I thought my spell would take me back to the time when the warlock killed you, Paige, but instead it sent me way back here."

"Me?" Paige squeaked. "A warlock killed me?" She threw her hands up in the air, making Chris jump away in surprise. "Why always me? First a Demon of Confusion puts some spell on me and now I find out I'm going to die. Why always me?"

Chris raised his hands defensively before glancing at Phoebe. "It's not always you."

"Well, that's not going to happen," Piper insisted. "Neither of those are going to happen. So what exactly was this spell of yours supposed to do?" she asked Chris, her eyes narrowing.

"Not mine, my brother's," and he explained to them the way he had explained it to Prue, confusing them just as much.

"But there's more, " Prue told them, and she told them what she had seen from Up There.

Phoebe's face paled. "This woman chanted and then a light went from Paige's stomach to hers? You guys, that sounds like what happened when the Seer stole my baby!"

Prue's brow wrinkled. "You had a baby?"

Phoebe nodded and quickly told her about her experiences as Queen of the Underworld, even if it now embarrassed her to remember how she had turned her back on her sisters in order to go with her husband, the husband she now knew was possessed by the Source of All Evil.

"And because Chris showed up at the same time that Kernus cast that spell to turn you evil, Paige..." Prue mused.

Paige paled. "You think that in the future I was murdered by my own son?

"My cousin!" Chris cried out, so shocked by this news that he just blurted out the words. "That warlock's my cousin?"

Now it was the three Charmed Ones' turn to be shocked. Prue just stood there smiling, wondering how long it would take before Chris' secret was revealed. She was betting on Piper, but Phoebe was the one who started jumping up and down, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Oh my God! You’re Piper and Leo’s son!”

“What!” Piper exclaimed.

“It fits,” Phoebe told her older sister. “After all, he orbs so he can't be my son and if this warlock is Paige's son, and if he's the warlock's cousin, he can't be hers, so it must mean..."

“She’s right,” Prue nodded with a smile. "He’s your son, Piper.”

"You mean you're Wyatt grownup?" Piper still hadn't quite caught on.

Chris shook his head, even as his face turned red. "Uh, no, you haven't had me yet. But you will in about nine months."

Even as Piper's hand went to her stomach, she turned on her older sister. “How did you know?”

“Well, you must know that once I had permission, I’ve watched you guys as much as I could from the other side, just like Mom and Grams were always keeping an eye on us when I was alive. And I overhead him talking with," and she smiled at Piper, "Wyatt grownup. But now that you guys know, it's time we send Chris back to his future before you guys vanquish the Seer.”

"No!" cried Paige. During all of this time, she'd hardly listened to the others at all. The fact that Chris was her nephew seemed unimportant compared to the fact that she had been pregnant and didn't even know it, and now that evil, coniving, baby-stealing woman was pregnant with her son who must've been raised evil to have done all that he'd done. "I want my baby back first!" she exclaimed. "I may not have known about him but that doesn’t mean I don’t want him!"

Piper turned to look at her. "He's also the son of a Demon of Confusion," she reminded her.

"I don't care!" Paige insisted, her eyes blazing passionately. "He's also my son which means even if he has demon powers which he can use for evil, he must also has whitelighter powers that he can use for good! She must've nutured his inner demon; I'll nurture his inner whitelighter!"

Phoebe nodded. "I've always believed that if I'd had a chance to raise mine and Cole's child without the Seer's tonic of evil affecting the two of us that I could've and would've raised him good."

Piper turned to look at Prue. "Is there a way to transfer the baby back into Paige?"

"I don't know," Prue admitted. Then she grinned. "It looks like I get my first chance to play messenger. I’ll see if the Elders can tell us anything.” Then she stopped to think about it. "Well, probably not, but I'll try anyway," and her sisters giggled while Chris rolled his eyes. "But first I think you three should send Chris back."

"But, Prue!" Piper protested. "I just found out that he's my future son! Don't I get to find out anything about what happens in the future?"

Chris was the one who shook his head. "Sorry, Mom, but the more you know about my future the more likely you might do something that will mess it up." He shufffed his feet, remembering the death of Phoebe. "I kinda did that while I was back here and I'm afraid I might do it again. So let's just say I'll see you in about 20 years, in hopefully a much better future."

Piper sighed, not happy about it, but seeing his point. She reached out to hug him, surprising her sisters since she wasn't a huggy-type person. But this was definitely different. She then passed him to Phoebe who also hugged him. She, Prue and Paige finished playing "Pass the Nephew" and then Chris stepped back from them.

Phoebe now took her writing pad out of her pocket and passed the pad over to Paige. Paige read it and then nodded that she had it, while Piper took a quick glance at the paper, refreshing her own memories. Then the Charmed Ones held hands, looked at Chris and chanted:

“A time for everything
And everything in its place.
Return what has been moved
Through time and space.”

Chris waved as white lights circled around him and transported him back to his own time.

Phoebe waved back at her nephew from the future and then sighed. “I just hope that he goes back to a better future.”

“I have a hunch he will,” Prue smiled. “If we can put his cousin back where he belongs. Speaking of, those Elders better know how to do that or I'm going to be upset!" and as her sisters giggled, she orbed out.

The others were in the midst of discussing alternate plans when Prue returned. She smiled at Paige. "The Elders didn't know, but Grams did. She said there's a special ritual for just such an occasion in The Book of Shadows."

"I don't remember seeing anything like that," Phoebe protested.

"You three have to say a special spell that will reveal the ritual. But it needs to be done during a full moon."

"Well, that’s tomorrow night!" Phoebe announced with a grin. She was looking forward to saving her nephew and the rest of her family and all of the innocents she and her sisters would be able to save in the future.

“Well, since we can't do anything else about it until then, I think I’m going to go make us some supper,” Piper decided.

“Oh, that sounds great!” cried Phoebe. “I’m starving!”

"Me, too," Paige added.

"Food," Prue smiled. “I haven’t had one of your fantastic meals in three years! But while you're doing that, I want a chance to hug my other nephew, the one who's already born. You said Dad decided to look after him as a present for Leo's birthday, right?"

"That's right," Piper grinned. "And by the time you get back, your favorite meal should be ready!"

But, before either had a chance to do anything, there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” Phoebe wondered.

Paige rolled her eyes. “With our luck, it’s a magical problem.”

Piper shook her finger at her. “Don’t even think that!”

The four were exchanging grins even as Piper opened the door. There stood a tall, blonde, wringing her hands in despair. She couldn’t have been more than 16 years old, so the sisters really wanted to find out what she was doing at their door.

“I’m so sorry for disturbing you,” the girl apologized. “I just need your help, well, the Charmed Ones' help, that is.”

Piper narrowed her eyes at the girl. “How do you know we’re the Charmed Ones?” she demanded.

“Sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Mary Stu," and she began coughing. When she caught her breath, she stated, "I mean it's Mary Stuart. I’m a witch.”

“You have a demon after you?”

“Not quite. I need help finding my sister. She went missing ten years ago when she was only eight years old and I was six. My parents always said that she was kidnapped, but I’m sure they’re leaving something out.”

Paige shook her head. “I think you're asking the wrong people. We deal with magical problems. You need the police for missing persons.” She turned to her sisters. "Should we call Darryl?"

“Let her finish, Paige!” Prue waved her sister off and then turned back to Mary. “Why do you think you need the Charmed Ones’ help?”

“I was sharing a room with her that night and I remember hearing screaming and an evil laughter,” Mary explained as her eyes started to well up from the memory. “She had the top bunk and I slept on the bottom and I remember seeing claws slice through the bed.”

She wiped the stray tears that slipped down her cheeks before continuing. “My mom and dad said that it was just a nightmare and I was seeing things, but I know it was real. I didn’t know about magic back then; I only just recently found out that I'm a witch. I think she was taken by a demon, but I need help finding her.”

When the Charmed Ones said nothing, Mary’s body shook. “Please. I just want my big sister back.”

Phoebe nodded as she glanced at her own big sister, about to say something, but Piper beat her to it. "Come on in and we’ll see what we can do.”

Prue sighed. "Well, here's hoping those Elders are more helpful this time. But I'm definitely not counting on it." And even as her sisters giggled, she orbed out.


Once the others had Mary settled on the couch, Piper headed towards the kitchen while Paige summoned the Book of Shadows and started hunting through it for anything that resembled the small description that Mary was able to give.

Soon Piper returned, holding a steaming cup of liquid, which she handed to the girl. “What did you say your sister’s name was?”

“Harriet, but I always called her Harri.”

"So Mary Stuart and Harri Stuart, but you aren't twins, right?" Paige asked.

"No, Harri's a couple years older than I am."

Piper noticed the look of sadness that crossed Mary’s face whenever she talked about her sister. It was obvious that the girl had not gotten over her sister’s disappearance, especially now that she knew that something supernatural might have been the reason behind it. “I can’t promise that we’ll be able to find her, Mary,” she admitted. "It’s been a long time since she went missing.”

Mary nodded. “I know; I understand. I just want some sort of closure if nothing else.”

“The Elders don’t have much to go on yet,” Phoebe sighed as she walked into the room with Prue behind her.

"Do you have any idea what her powers are?" Prue wanted to know.

"Powers?" Mary shook her head in puzzlement. "I didn't even think about that."

"What are your powers?" Phoebe wanted to know. "Maybe Mary has the same ones."

"I don't have any. I can cast spells and make potions, but that's about it. So does that mean that Harri didn't have any either?"

"It might," Prue admitted. "But I don't think demons would've kidnapped her if she didn't."

After some thought, Mary shrugged with a sigh. "All I remember is a lot of fires popping up around our house, especially when Harri would get mad. That hasn't happened since Harri went missing."

Piper nodded, remembering Tyler. "That sounds like a firestarter. Which would also explain why the demons would kidnap her - firestarters were used as the Source's bodyguard."

Prue also nodded. "The Elders said that kidnapping a witch so young usually means an attempt of brainwashing her so she'd use her powers for evil.”

“Brainwashing?” Mary looked at Prue, clearly frightened. "You think my sister's been turned evil?"

“However, because she was eight when she was taken, there’s a chance that it didn’t take,” Prue continued. “Which might be why you haven’t heard anything from her in the last ten years."

Mary nodded slowly as she tried to take everything in.

Piper realized that this was definitely not something that the teenager wanted to hear. “Hey! That’s a good thing!” she reassured their frightened visitor. “And even if something did happen, we’ll help you make it all right. You came to the right people.”

“Right." Paige turned to Mary, obviously trying to help take the conversation off the current subject. "I found three demons with claws on their hands or that they use for hands. I know memory can be unreliable but see if you think that any of these look familiar.”

Mary shook her head with uncertainty in her voice, as she flipped between the three sections Paige had marked off. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure."

“That's okay," Prue told her. "You were awful young when it happened."

"Why don’t you sit in the other room and look through them?” Piper suggested. “We’ll talk about what we can do afterwards.”

Mary nodded and walked into the conservatory, taking the Book of Shadows with her.

Piper watched her leave, then looked at each of her three sisters. “So what do we do?”

Before any of them could respond, suddenly a portal opened by the mantelpiece and all eyes turned towards it. A tall, young strange dark-haired man stepped out and looked around the room, his eyes falling on the four women.

As soon as he saw Paige he rushed at her. "I will not allow you to change what has happened!" the stranger roared. "My mother will not allow it!"

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SIX: And the Truth Shall Set You Free

STILL IN THE LIVING ROOM

Paige quickly figured out who this young man must be. "She isn’t your mother," she told him. "I am."

"No, you aren't!" the newcomer growled in disgust. "You didn't want me. You abandoned me."

"What!" Paige exclaimed, "I would never..." then she suddenly realized that the Seer had told her son lies. "If you heard that, then it must've been a lie," she told him, sincerity ringing in her voice. "I would never abandon my own child, no matter who your father is. If I was given the chance, I would have loved you and raised you just the way you are. You could've grown up with a mother and aunts and uncles and cousins who all would've loved you and wanted you to be part of this family."

He shook his head defiantly. "That's a lie. You were given the chance."

"No, I wasn’t," she argued back. "You were stolen from me before I even knew I was pregnant."

"No, my mother saved me!" he insisted, still glaring at Paige in disgust. "You left me and she found me and took me in, something she didn't have to do! And now I must stop you from doing anything to stop what must be."

He held out his hands, ready to use his powers against his mother and aunts, but a voice stopped him.

"Wait!" Piper shouted. "Wait! Maybe we can help prove that Paige is telling the truth."

"And how would you do that?" her nephew demanded sarcastically, not believing a word.

"We can bring the ones you count as your parents here," Piper suggested. "And you can find out for yourself just who is telling the truth."

"You can't bring back my father," the young man growled. He pointed at Paige. "She killed him right after they made me!"

His words gave the Charmed Ones and Prue some relief, especially Paige. Although they knew that they hadn't vanquished Kernus right after he had seduced Paige, they were now certain that he was gone. They wouldn't have to worry about how to vanquish yet another Source of All Evil.

"That is definitely a lie," Prue told him quietly. "Your father was the Source of All Evil. It would've taken all three Charmed Ones to vanquish him, not just one. So let us bring the one you think of as your mother here so we can also prove her lies."

The young man didn't believe a word Prue told him. But as much as he wanted to follow the orders of his mother, he also wanted to find out the truth about the woman who had abandoned him as a baby and murdered his father. It was one of the reasons why he had come back - he really wanted to hear why she did it from her own lips.

Maybe bringing the current version of the woman he considered his mother here would force his blood mother to give him those answers. "Fine. You’ve got five minutes."

"It might take us longer than that to summon her here," Prue cautioned but then realized that she shouldn’t have when she felt his glare.

Phoebe was busy writing. "I've got a spell that will bring her here right now. Just be ready to freeze her if you need to, Piper."

Piper simply nodded while Phoebe rattled off the spell to summon Belthazor, with a few words changed. Sure enough, there was a huge puff of smoke and when it dissipated, a woman appeared between the sisters and the newcomer.

All four sisters gasped - the Charmed Ones because she looked so much like the Seer who had stolen Phoebe's baby, and Prue because she was the woman she had seen in the between-dimension.

The newcomer looked around, shocked to see the Charmed Ones, including the one she thought was dead, and then she saw the newcomer, who she immediately recognized from her own visions. "Warren, my son!"

"Mother!" he cried. "You haven't changed a bit!"

That made her grin. "My boy! You’re all grown up!"

"Give me my baby back!" Paige demanded, glaring at the woman she was now thinking of as the Seer - that evil, conniving baby-stealing Seer.

The Seer simply smirked. "You didn’t even want him!"

"I don’t even know about him! You took him from me before I could know!" the youngest Charmed One insisted. "Now give him back to me right now!"

"You’ve must've lied to him his whole life," Prue quietly added. "At least, your future self will. Now why don’t you tell him the truth about what really happened? Why don’t you tell him how you stole him from his real mother and then vanquished his father?"

"You are all lying."

"No, we’re not and you know it," Piper insisted. "You brainwashed my nephew, and he’s already killed one of my sisters in the future, and it’s all because of the evil that you’ve planted inside his head and inside his heart."

"You don’t know what you’re talking about," the Seer insisted, growing angry by the fact that the Charmed Ones had figured out what had happened. "You didn’t want him but I do; I love him for who he is! I don’t care if he’s half-demon while you turned your back on him due to his heritage!"

But no sooner were those words out of her mouth than electricity shot out of the Seer’s stomach, electricity that Warren instantly recognized as his own original power, power that he had always shot out as a child when he was angry, power now fueled by the Seer's own anger. He now realized which one of these women had actually given birth to him, and which one had never known that he had existed.

He spun to glare at the Seer as he suddenly realized that he had been lied to all his life.

The Seer was thinking fast. Those sparks of electricity and the glare told her all she needed to know. She needed a way around it, and fast! But before she could open her mouth, she saw Warren wave his arm. She had no time to react as she felt herself flying through the air, hitting the Grandfather clock hard, smashing it into pieces and knocking her out cold.

Piper glared at Warren. "You had to aim for there, didn’t you!" She threw her arms up in the air. "Especially now when Leo can't fix it!"

Warren hunched his shoulders. "Sorry."

"That's 'Sorry, Aunt Piper'."

That put a small smile on her future nephew's face. "Sorry, Aunt Piper," and that smile was reflected on his mother's and his three aunts' faces.

"Now what do we do?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"I'll show you," Paige stretched out her arms and called out, "Cage crystals!" After they orbed into her arms, she had her sisters help her put them around the Seer's prone body, setting up the crystal cage. She then turned to smile at her future son. "That will hold her until the full moon tomorrow night. And then we'll put Past You back where you belong – inside me!"

"Perhaps we should move her and the cage up to the attic," Piper suggested.

Phoebe looked at her, puzzled.

"Well, sometimes neighbors can be nosy and if after she wakes up, she makes enough noise or something, someone might come over and look in the window and see this woman surrounded by crystals that makes electricity when she tries to leave them."

"True," Prue admitted. "Although the Manor is so far away from the street, don't you think the likelyhood of that is rather low?"

"Also true," Phoebe agreed.

"But do we want to take chances?" Piper asked.

"No, but how can we move the cage and her up there?" Paige asked.

"You don't," Warren told her. "I do." And walking over to the cage, he kicked aside one of the crystals, deactiviating the cage, before picking up the woman he had thought was his mother and throwing her over his shoulder as if she was a piece of garbage. "Grab the crystals and show me where's the attic."

After they'd returned from relocating the Seer and the cage, the four sisters sat on the couch and began discussing how they were going to put Fetus Warren back where he belonged, while Warren just stood watching with his arms crossed. He knew he no longer trusted the Seer, but he still didn't know if he could trust these four women who he'd been taught to hate his entire life.

Even as the four sisters talked, Mary Stuart wandered back into the room. She had been waiting in the sun room while all the commotion was going on. Even though she was a witch, she could tell by what was said that this was a family matter. But now that everything had settled down, she wanted them to help her own family. "I think I found the demon," she hesitatingly told them.

"Mary!" Phoebe exclaimed. With everything that had been going on, she had completely forgotten about the girl who they had been trying to help.

"Oh, no!" Piper put her hands to her mouth. "I’m sorry, but we can’t help you now! Not with this…"

"Piper!" Prue exclaimed, shock in her eyes.

"She’s right, Prue," Paige agreed. "With Warren and the Seer and Chris…God knows who else might show up - we just don’t have the time."

Prue folded her arms across her chest and glared at her family, unimpressed with how her sisters were handling the situation. "You know that your powers were given to you to help innocents, not just your own family. Mary’s sister could be in real danger and the Stuarts really need your help."

"Prue’s right," Phoebe agreed, since she really wanted to help this girl’s family now that she'd been reminded of them. "We need to find and save Harri Stuart."

"But we don’t even know where the demon would have taken her," Piper sighed.

"There’s plenty of ways to do that," Paige told her, still feeling the sting of her newly-found oldest sister's rebuke. "We can scry or use a summoning spell. Mary could even do a blood-to-blood spell."

"You mean you're going to use your powers to help someone you don't even know?" Warren asked, his face screwing up at such a horrible notion.

"Of course," Paige told him. "That's why we were given our powers."

"But it's so much more fun to use them to help yourself!"

Prue held up her hand before Paige could reply. "Remember how he's been raised, Paige. This all must be foreign to him. He has so much to learn. Fortunately he will now learn it growing up."

She then turned to her nephew. "I know this seems strange, but, please, just let us do this our way. We don't want to have to lock you up in a crystal cage of your own, but we will if we have to."

Warren stared at Prue, surprised that someone would talk to him like that, but feeling Prue's glare and seeing her tap her foot, he slowly nodded.

"You really think Harri will be left unprotected?" Piper wanted to know, looking at each of her three sisters as she put them back on track.

"Can’t we just try?" Mary pleaded with the Charmed Ones.

Piper turned to look at the teenager and saw the misery in her eyes. She then looked back at Prue, remembering what it was like to lose her and now getting to see her again after so many years.

For Mary, it had been even longer.

Prue was right. Their powers were given to them to save innocents and Harri Stuart was an innocent, no matter what the demons had done to her or tried to do to her. She was a true innocent the same way Warren was, no matter what he had done. If they could help save her nephew, they could definitely help save a stranger.

She reached out to hug Mary, again surprising everyone. "Of course we can try," and that made everyone in the room smile except Warren, who still couldn't understand why they would want to help someone they didn't even know.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times Mary tried the blood-to-blood spell, it didn’t work. Piper watched as the 16-year-old became more frustrated by the second. She glanced over at Prue, remembering the pain of the spell not bringing her big sister back to her, even if it did bring her youngest sister to their family, something that eventually had brought her older sister back today.

"It doesn’t work!" Mary whined. "I’m never gonna find my sister."

"Don’t say that!" Phoebe comforted the girl. "It just means that magic is stopping you from getting her. She’s probably in a part of the Underworld that’s protected from this type of magic."

"So what else can we do?" Mary now looked at each of the four sisters.

But to everyone's surprise, it was Warren who answered her with a question. "Why not try reversing it? So it sends Mary to Harri? That's how I was able to send myself here." He turned to look at Paige. "After that dark-haired man came through the portal and told me that I would soon truly be his cousin and that our whole family would love me, I used a blood-to-blood spell to send myself to you, to prove that he was wrong. But he was right."

His words made everyone smile, happy to know that Chris had succeeded in his mission to help save his own present by going to back to it, everyone but Prue, who hardly heard a word he said. She was still concerned about their innocent. "But that would leave Mary unprotected. You're safe here with us, Warren, at least unless you try something, but Harri's in the Underworld. If Mary sent herself to her sister, I wouldn't be able to sense her in the Underworld."

"Neither would I," Paige added.

"We can’t have that," Phoebe shook her head adamantly. "We need to be there because we have no idea how many demons will be around or whether they succeeded…" Phoebe trailed off as she saw the look of panic growing in Mary’s eyes as she considered the fact that her sister could be evil - or dead.

Even as they talked, Piper had been thinking about it and now looked directly at the two youngest Charmed Ones. "How did you guys save me from the Underworld?"

"Which time?" Paige wanted to know with a smile. "We’ve had to retrieve you from the Underworld a few times."

Piper rolled her eyes, then clarified. "The time the Source kidnapped me. When I nearly relinquished our powers."

Prue's eyes almost popped out of her head. "You almost relinquished our powers? Piper!"

"Don't blame her, Prue," Paige told her. "She really took your death hard. She's only recently been able to come to terms with it." She looked down. "And it might have been partially my fault. I told her that it was okay to hate you for dying the way I hated my parents for leaving me. That just made it worse."

"She's right, Prue. Only when I realized that all I was doing was feeling sorry for myself rather than trying to make you proud of me by being the best leader of the Charmed Ones that I could possibly be was I finally able to come to terms with your death."

Prue slowly nodded. "I understand, Piper, really I do. It's the same way I felt when I lost Andy. And I also wanted to give up my powers because they couldn't save him. So I shouldn't expect any more from you. But now our powers might be able to save Mary's sister."

"And I think Piper was right," Phoebe told them. "Using the the mind-to-mind spell is a great idea," and she kept flipping the pages of the large family tome to find the spell in question.

"But how will that help?" Prue and Mary both asked at the same time, and Warren was interested, too, even if he still thought that helping someone he didn't even know was a complete and total waste of time.

"Well, you’ll go into Harri’s head and see what she’s seeing," Piper explained to the teenager. "But your body will stay safely here. Then when you come back, you can tell us what you saw and hopefully one of us will have an idea of where she is, and then we can orb there."

"But, Piper, I don’t know the Underworld," Prue pointed out. "I’ve never been down there."

"No, but I know it." Paige grinned at the thought of knowing something that Prue didn’t. "Hopefully, I’ll recognize something and be able to orb everyone there."

Prue just nodded, smiling proudly both at Piper for coming up with the idea and at Paige for stepping up when needed.

"I found it!" Phoebe exclaimed triumphantly. "Let's go up to the attic. We're more powerful there. We can set the candles in place so Mary can cast the spell."

They all agreed and trooped up the stairs.


UP IN THE ATTIC

Once they walked in, Warren glared at the Seer, still lying on the floor of the crystal cage, still unconscious. "What about her?" he asked, hatred and bitterness in his tone.

Paige touched his arm. "Don't worry. She's not going anywhere."

Phoebe placed the candles in a circle in the middle of the attic, where the group had migrated, and then lighting each one. Mary just watched, gnawing her lower lip nervously, having no idea what was going on.

Once she was finished, Phoebe set the Book of Shadows in the middle of the circle, still opened to the proper page, before stepping out of the circle, next to Mary. "Okay, you just sit in the circle and cast the spell by chanting it."

"That’s it?" the young witch asked, clearly frightened.

"That will take you into your sister’s head." Phoebe smiled when she saw Paige quickly grabbing the cushions from the old couch; she'd forgotten that the person who cast the spell would fall into a deep sleep. Once Paige had them arranged, Phoebe turned back to Mary. "Once you know where you are, come back to us and tell us. Then we’ll be able to help you get your sister back."

"How do I get back?" she asked, still gnawing her lower lip.

"Oh, I can’t believe I forgot that!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Not the only thing you forgot," Paige smirked at her sister and then turned to Mary. "There’s a reversal spell. You’ll need to memorize it before you go in."

Mary just nodded and walked into the middle of the circle next to the Book of Shadows. Sitting on the floor, she silently prayed that this was the right thing to do, still desperately wishing that the blood-to-blood spell had worked.

After reading over the reversal spell a few times to make sure it was stuck in her head, Mary began to chant, casting the other spell:

"Life to life and mind to mind,
Our spirits now will intertwine.
I meld our souls and journey to,
The one whose thoughts I wish I knew."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the young witch collapsed on the cushions and all the four sisters could do was watch and hope and pray.

The young man with them simply sat, watching Mary, watching the sisters, unable to understand why they seemed so worried. But remembering what Prue had said, he kept quiet.

"What if she doesn’t see anything that you recognize?" Prue asked her youngest sister.

"I didn’t think that far," Paige admitted and then turned to look questioningly, hopefully, at Piper and Phoebe.

"Well," Piper sighed, hoping that there would be something that at least one of them would recognize. "I guess we just hope it doesn’t come to that. And if it does, well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

After what seemed like hours, Mary slowly opened her eyes. Phoebe rushed forward. "Mary?"

"It worked!" she told them excitedly as Phoebe helped her to stand up. "I found my sister! I can’t believe that she’s still alive!"

"That’s great," Piper grinned. "Where did you find her?"

"Well, she was wandering around," Mary told them, trying to remember what she had seen out of her sister's eyes. "Going up what looked like a long dark tunnel of rock. And she was muttering to herself. You guys, I don't think my sister's, well, all the way there."

The Halliwells looked at her, sympathy in their eyes. Warren just frowned, having no idea what she was talking about.

"But that might be good," Paige told them. When the others turned to look at her, surprise and confusion in their eyes, she continued. "I've seen this a lot at social services, where someone who has been by themselves for a long time will start talking to herself. And if she's been alone for a long time, that probably means that she's not evil – that she's been hiding out from the demons, trying to figure out how to get out. She might be perfectly okay once we get her out of there."

Mary sighed in relief, then continued. "She finally ended up in what looked like a cave, with boulders all around."

Piper sighed. "That sounds like every room down there."

"There was a water pool and the water was green, at least there was something that made it look like that," Mary continued.

Prue nodded. "That's definitely different."

"The Sea Hag’s cave?" Paige looked at her two sisters, questioningly. It was the only place where they had faced demons that included water.

"Maybe," Piper nodded. "But I didn't think that her cave was part of the Underworld. Maybe that's why Harri had to walk up that long tunnel to get to it."

"So you know where this place is?" Prue asked Paige.

"Definitely," and deep inside Paige was happy that she knew something that Prue didn't.

"We’ve got to try," Phoebe insisted matter-of-factly. "We know Harri is alive so we have to try to save her."

Piper nodded. "Then let’s go to the cave," and she held out her hand for Paige to take. Paige took both hers and Phoebe’s hands and began to orb out.

"What about me?" Mary suddenly asked, realizing that she was going to be left behind.

Paige brought her sisters back, a frown on all three faces.

"You can’t come," Phoebe insisted. "It’s too dangerous."

"She’s my sister."

Piper glanced over at Prue. She understood the want to save her own flesh and blood. Nodding, Piper looked back at Mary. "Okay, but you do exactly as we say," and the young witch quickly agreed and grabbed Piper’s hand.

"What about me?" Warren demanded, feeling antsy with all the frustration building up in him. This day hadn't been going the way he planned it at all.

Paige stopped and looked at him. "I'm sorry, but you need to stay here."

"But I might be able to help," Warren informed her. He hoped that he could punch some demons into the middle of next week. It might help with the frustration in a way they'd be okay with.

"You can't do anything," Paige told him, sorry that she had to. It might be nice to work with her son, show him what she did.

"But why?" Warren complained, not used to being told no.

"You can't," Paige repeated. "If someone from the future does something in the past," she added, remembering the earlier conversation, "it could mess up the whole timeline."

"The timeline's already messed up," Warren snapped, annoyed at not being included even as he shot a glare of pure hatred at the Seer for what she had done.

"Believe me," Paige said, trying to be patient even as she knew they had to get going, "it could be messed up worse."

Prue smiled at the mother and son as Paige stretched her parenting wings and Warren finally backed down. She turned to look at the group as a whole and told her sisters and their innocent's sister, "We'll wait here for you."

It was going to be interesting.

The four nodded and Paige quickly told Mary, "Hold on tight," before orbing herself and her three passengers out.


THE SEA HAG'S CAVE

Paige took them to the place where Piper had been taken over eighteen months earlier, when Wyatt was still in her womb. She was lucky she was invisible at the time; otherwise she would have been killed. Paige shivered from the thought as the orbs disappeared around the group.

"This is the place!" Mary exclaimed as the Charmed Ones looked around. There was no sign of anyone else.

"Harri!" Mary called out. "Harri! It's me! Mary!"

"Mary, sh!" cried Piper, but it was too late. A whole big bunch of fierce-looking demons shimmered in.

Piper immediately flicked her hands, hoping to explode all of them, but only succeeding in exploding one. The others laughed evilly as they closed in on the Charmed Ones.

"More of them!" a voice could be heard, echoing around the cave. "They won’t make me hurt her! They won’t!"

"What is that?" Piper asked, even as she exploded the demon nearest them.

"It’s Harri," Mary explained, before calling out, "Harri! Harri, it’s Mary!"

"They won’t make me," the voice whispered again but then it turned to a shout. "You won't make me!" Then there was a giggle and then a figure jumped out from behind a large boulder.

It was a woman, no older than 21, but she looked like she had been homeless for the last decade. Her hair was knotted and damaged and there was no way of telling the color since it hung in greasy strands around her filthy face. Her clothes were ragged and torn and looked like they were several sizes too small for the much-too-thin body.

The three sisters realized that this young woman had been living in the Underworld for years and had just been doing anything to survive.

"You won’t make me hurt her!" The young woman glared at the group of demons who were between her and the Charmed Ones and Mary. "I won’t. I won’t! I won't!"

Suddenly all of the demons grabbed their stomachs, writhing in agony. Within minutes they all burst into flames and were gone.

The three sisters looked at each in shocked surprise. "I guess we know how she managed to survive," Piper quipped.

Even as they nodded, Paige suddenly grabbed her own stomach in agony.

"Paige!" cried Phoebe.

"I'm burning!" she screamed. "My insides are boiling!"

"Harri!" Piper exclaimed. "She's using her power to set fire to her insides, just like she must've done to the demons!"

"Now we know for sure how she has survived this long," Phoebe commented, even as she and Piper ran towards Paige.

"No, wait!" Mary cried out as she ran to her own sister. "Harri, no! It’s me! It’s Mary and they’re not here to harm me or make you kill me."

Harri glanced at Mary, but quickly then turned her attention back to Paige, who was the first to appear and must be the leader. "You’re not Mary. Mary’s six."

"I was six!" Mary exclaimed. "I grew up. I’m 16 now. Just like you’re not eight anymore."

Harri looked at Mary again but shook her head. "You won’t make me hurt her."

"Harri, please," Mary now let tears fall down her cheeks, feeling like she was never going to get through to her clearly-insane sister. "It’s me. It's your baby sister. It’s Care Bear."

That fully caught Harri’s attention and she stopped using her power on Paige. Paige fell to the ground in relief, no longer feeling like her insides were burning; although she was exhausted from her ordeal.

"Care Bear?" Harri asked, then started talking to herself while shuffling around the cave. "My Care Bear. Only Mary knows Care Bear."

"That’s right," Mary smiled. "Only I know you called me Care Bear. Mom and Dad always called me their Mare Bear, but you always called me your Care Bear. Not even Mom and Dad knew about that." She prayed that this would work, even as she wished she’d thought of it sooner.

BACK AT THE MANOR

Warren sat with Prue as she told him the the story of his family up until now. It was his first chance to hear the truth about how his mom and aunts became Charmed and how Prue had died.

Although it all still seemed strange and foreign to him, the story made Prue's future nephew smile as he found himself liking and respecting his true family more and more. This was the family he wanted to be a part of.

Suddenly orbs filled the room and Warren and Prue jumped up from the old couch. There were a lot of lights and Prue realized right away that there was an extra person compared to the people who had left. She smiled; she knew her sisters would be able to save their innocent.

As the orbs materialized, Harri rushed away from the group and hid behind the podium of the Book of Shadows. The Charmed Ones, having seen what Harri could do, all gasped, worried about what she was going to do. They were also worried about how the Book was going to react.

Phoebe grinned when the Book did nothing and Harri just crouched down at the foot of the podium, scared of the extra people in the room, but not using her powers. “They can’t get me. They won’t get me – I won’t let them. And I won’t let them hurt Care Bear.”

Before Harri could hurt anyone, Mary ran over to her, “No, they’re not here to hurt anyone. They’re friends, like the Charmed Ones, the ones who helped take you away from that scary place.”

“Friends?” Harri questioned, glaring at Warren the most. Warren shifted uncomfortably; he didn’t know anything about the girl and he knew he had the power to stop her from doing anything, but he just didn’t like the look in her eyes.

Mary nodded. “Yes," she said firmly. "Friends. Friends won't hurt you. Friends won't hurt Care Bear. So we don't hurt friends.” Mary stayed at her sister’s side, while she searched for a way to help her.

Phoebe frowned as she thought of something that would help the Stuart sisters. She instantly turned to her new whitelighter. “Can you heal her?”

“Heal?” Prue asked. “Is she hurt? You should have said something!” Prue rushed towards Harri but Phoebe reached out to stop her.

“No,” Phoebe shook her head. “She’s not hurt; not physically. Mentally she’s hurt.”

Prue took a step back and sighed, really wishing that she could help in some way. “But that isn’t magical, Phoebe.”

“It is! Demons did this to her!” Phoebe argued, wanting to help the innocent as much as she could. This was helping her remember why she loved being Charmed and why she had agreed with Paige to keep her powers when the Angel of Destiny gave the Charmed Ones that choice nearly three years earlier.

“If she wasn’t taken then she’d be fine,” Piper agreed with Phoebe. “Magic has to be able to help her.”

Prue shook her head, feeling guilty that there was nothing she could do. “Whitelighter powers can’t help mentally; only physically.”

“There’s got to be something we can do,” Paige now chimed in.

“There’s nothing you can do.” Prue shook her head again dolefully. “There’s nothing any of us can do.”

"How about time travel?" Warren suggested. "You can just go back to before Harri was taken and vanquish the demon when he tries kidnapping her."

"You cannot solve everything with time travel!" Prue glared at her nephew. "Messing with time is bad and it could set up an everlasting time loop! Why does everyone in your generation think that all you have to do to fix anything is go back and fix it when it usually just makes thing worse?"

Piper and Phoebe couldn't help smirk at Prue's scolding voice; they had been on the receiving end too much while growing up.

"Well, from what you told me, you guys have done it often enough," he grumbled.

"Yes, we did," Prue agreed. "But always when it was the Elders who sent us back, never on our own. They can see the big picture, not just the hre and now, like we do. Each time you try to do it on your own, there will just be bigger problems."

Mary was starting to panic. All she'd wanted to do was get her sister back, but she needed her back to normal; she needed her real big sister back. “Isn’t there anything?”

“There is something that you can do,” Prue nodded, which comforted Mary. “You can help her like you did when you told her that we were friends, and you can love her. It will take all your love and support of you and your parents to get her through this.”

“But, can’t magic help?” Mary questioned.

Once again, Prue shook her head. “She needs to work through this naturally. That is the only way she will get over what happened to her.”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SEVEN: All's Halliwell that Ends Halliwell...

STILL IN THE ATTIC

"However there is something that we can do that might help," Paige suggested.

"What's that?" Mary wanted to know, and so did the Halliwells.

"We can temporarily bind Harri's powers," Paige suggested. "Without them it will be a lot easier for you and your family to give her the love and the care she needs," and Prue smiled proudly at her youngest sister. "And then once she's well and can properly handle her powers, if she ever wants them back, we can unbind them."

Piper smiled, thinking of another firestarter. "And also that would mean that the demons wouldn't come back after her. She'd be safe from them."

"Oh," cried Mary. "That would be wonderful!"

So the sisters quickly bound Harri's powers the same way they had bound Tyler's powers. Then after Mary hugged each of the sisters, thanking them profusely, she led her sister out the door.

Now that the Halliwell sisters and their half-sister had helped the Stuart sisters, it was time to focus on their own family and save their own future. It meant that they needed to wait for the full moon the next night, but that was okay. It gave Piper a chance to make Prue her favorite supper while Phoebe drove Prue over to their father's townhouse for an extremely emotional reunion between Victor and Prue before they brought Wyatt back home.

Wyatt was very excited to see "Pwoo" and not concerned when he didn't see his daddy, since he was more than used to Leo being gone when he was helping his charges. But Piper knew she'd have to tell her son eventually. She just wish she knew how.

Shortly afterwards everyone went to bed, Prue crashing on the living room couch and Warren on the one up in the attic.

For Piper, it was the first time she had slept alone in years and she finally totally realized just what she had given up. As the tears dampened her long hair and her pillow, she could only hope that somehow it would all be worth it.


THE NEXT DAY....

The next day quickly went by. First the Charmed Ones had to call everyone and let them know that due to circumstances beyond their control Leo's birthday party had been postponed indefinitely. They were tough calls to make, but ones that had to be made. Then the Charmed Ones and Prue made plans for the transferring of the fetus and the vanquishing of the Seer.

Suddenly Warren stepped forward. “I'm going to vanquish the Seer,” he announced.

“No,” Piper disagreed. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Warren demanded as he stood tall – he was not used to being told that he couldn’t do something that he wanted to do, and he was getting sick and tired of hearing it from the Charmed Ones and their whitelighter.

“Don't you ever listen?” Piper demanded right back, throwing her hands up in the air. “Remember what Prue said about the everlasting time loop possibility? You're not part of this time period. You can't do anything that will permanently change the future outside of advising us what to do. Only we of this time can do something that will change our own time, and that's us Charmed Ones.”

"Yeah, right," Warren muttered, thinking of the things Prue had told him. "Just like you guys didn't change anything when you went back in time to save Melinda Warren or to get your powers back from Nicholas."

When Piper glared at him, he raised his chin. "Aunt Prue told me all of the stories."

"Didn't you heard what we told you before when you suggested using time travel?" Piper growled. "In both situations we were sent back in time by the Elders to fix something. We didn't do it on our own."

"Elders," Warren grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Well, she's the one who messed up my life and I should be part of getting rid of her. Once I get rid of her, it won't affect your lives, but it will affect what I remember and I want to remember killing her with my bare hands before vanquishing her."

"And when we went back it was not for personal gain!" Piper exclaimed. "Isn't that why you want to do this? Just for your own personal satisfaction? Are you looking for a backlash, buster? Certainly Prue told you about that!"

Phoebe and Paige were smirking at Piper’s tone, grateful that they were not the ones on the receiving end, while Prue just smiled at the motherly tone – she knew that her two sisters were going to have to put that to use a lot in the future, if the current versions of Chris and Warren were anything to go on.

Now Wyatt was a little angel...

Meanwhile, Piper's words just made Warren growl. This not doing something because it was for personal gain was the part he was having the hardest time with. But Prue had told him about all the backlashes and he had no idea what all of his actions had caused. "Yes, Aunt Piper," he muttered.

“We will vanquish the Seer,” Piper contiuned. “You will stay there and watch and do nothing. Understand?”

“Yes, Aunt Piper,” Warren muttered, still sulking.

"What about Wyatt?" Phoebe asked, bouncing her nephew on her lap.

"Pwoo!"

"Wyatt's right," Prue smiled. "I can't do anything about this - it's all up to you guys," and she reached out for the toddler who happily went to her. "Wyatt and I will just watch. Just like you, Warren."

UP IN THE ATTIC

Later, when the moon was rising in the sky, Prue, holding Wyatt, led her sisters and future nephew into the room where the Seer now sat in the crystal cage. She had tried everything she could think of to get out of it but had not succeeded.

The Charmed Ones walked over to the Book of Shadows. Grams had told Prue that they would have to say a spell to make the spell that would allow them to transfer Paige's baby back to her appear. The only ones who were surprised when the pages flipped by themselves were the Seer and Warren. Even Wyatt called out "Gwam!"

The Charmed Ones quickly chanted the spell on the opened page:

Guiding spirits, lend us an ear
Make the spell we need appear

Now not even Warren was surprised when words began to write themselves onto the page while the Seer just glared at all of them. Piper and Phoebe both hugged Paige before they stepped aside to join Prue. All they could do was watch - it was up to Paige to cast this particular spell.

Paige glanced at her future son and winked. “Let’s hope this works,” and Warren returned the wink, for the first time in his life feeling just a bit shy.

Then Paige turned to glare at the evil, lying, conniving b!tch who had dared to steal her baby before taking a deep breath. Then she began to chant:

Let the little children come to me,
For the kingdom belongs to such as these.
Give me strength, and give it soon,
To give me back my child in the light of the moon.
All things good, please hear my plea,
Bring my baby back to me.

White lights circled around the Seer’s stomach and then shot across to Paige's.

“No!” The Seer screamed out as she watched the lights disappear from her own body and into Paige’s.

The Charmed Ones had won.

As the light settled, Paige grinned up at her tall son, who now smiled down at his mother. Then to the Charmed Ones’ surprise, Warren started to disappear in front of their very eyes. Prue just smiled, as she realized what was happening.

Warren looked down in shock at his disappearing feet. “What’s going on?”

“It looks like it worked,” Phoebe grinned as she caught on.

“What?” Warren was starting to panic. “What does that mean for me?”

“It means you can no longer exist as you are now," Piper explained, also catching on.

"WHAT?" Now Warren was terrified as he watched his legs vanish.

"It also means that you'll have a brand-new future," Paige finished with a smile, her hand going to her stomach. "Starting in about nine months."

Warren looked at Paige, totally confused, but it slowly sank in. Even as his body began to totally fade, for the first time in his entire life, Warren actually smiled with love, not hate and anger, his eyes on his mother. "I’ll be your son not hers,” and he glared at the Seer, the disgust and hatred returning to his eyes.

Paige nodded with a grin. “And I'm going to love you so much, my son. We all will.”

Now they could no longer see the him, but they could still hear Warren's voice. "Thank you. For everything that you have done.”

“We love you," Piper called after her nephew.

“We love you so much!” Phoebe cried out, excited that the future really had changed and could be saved.

"Love you," Prue chimed in.

"Wuv you, Wowen."

They heard his voice say, "I love you all," and then he was gone.

But the work of the Charmed Ones was not finished. The four sisters now turned their attention to the Seer, who glared at each one in turn. “You can’t vanquish me.”

“Oh, yes, you’ll find that we can,” and Paige nodded for Piper and Phoebe to join her at the Book which was already flipping over to the correct spell.

Prue gave Wyatt a big hug and then took a step back, allowing her sisters to do all the work, much as she would've liked to be part of it.

The Charmed Ones smiled when they saw what page the Book was now opened to. Piper had to take the time to look up to grin at her big sister when she noticed the slight change in the spell. She nodded at her younger sisters and then they began to chant:

Melinda, Cassandra, Beatrice, Ann
Patricia, Penelope, Astrid and Grace

The Seer caught on fire and began to scream as the sisters continued to chant:

Halliwell witches stand strong beside us,
Vanquish this evil from time and space.

The Seer screamed as she clutched her chest. A bright light shot out of her, causing the Charmed Ones and Prue and even Wyatt to cover their eyes. The Seer exploded in dark black pieces and then each piece just disappeared.

Once everything had settled down, the four sisters looked at the spot where the Seer once stood, then they turned to smile at each other and high five - even exchanging high-fives with Wyatt. The evil had been vanquished and the future had been saved.

THE NEXT MORNING

Prue and Phoebe smirked as Paige and Piper both walked into the kitchen, holding their stomachs.

“Why didn't anyone warn me about the morning sickness,” Paige grumbled as she sat down at the table.

Prue placed a cup of herbal tea in front of her. “This might help. It’s peppermint,” she said as Phoebe gave Piper her cup.

“I hope so,” Paige groaned before taking a sip. She smiled as even just the smell helped to calm her queasy stomach.

“How about I look after Wyatt for the day?” Phoebe suggested to Piper.

Prue raised her eyebrows. “I thought you had work.”

“I’ll work from home. It’s fine.”

“No, you won’t,” Prue argued with her sister. “You are going into work and I will look after my nephew.”

The stern look on Prue’s face was not something that Phoebe was going to argue with. Paige chuckled at Phoebe’s sheepish look.

"No," Piper quietly told them. "I'll watch Wyatt today. It will help."

Her sisters looked at her, sympathy in their eyes. They all knew that Piper had finally realized that she had lost her husband, but none of them quite knew what to say.

Even as they tried to figure it out, orbs appeared into the room. All four sisters frowned at the blue and white lights – who could be orbing in now?

Piper dropped her cup of tea as the figure became clear in the orbs, the cup shattering, but for once the neat freak of the family didn't even notice. "Leo!”

“Piper!” and Leo hurried over and hugged his wife tightly.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t think you could be here.”

“Well, after what you four have accomplished, the Elders agreed to let me come and speak to you – all of you.”

“All of us?” Paige questioned.

“Are you coming back?” Phoebe now asked – excited that her brother-in-law was back but scared that she was going to lose her big sister again so soon after she'd gotten her back.

“Not quite,” Leo shook his head. “I'm still an Elder and Prue will remain your whitelighter.”

“So why are you here?” Piper frowned as she stepped back from her husband.

“Well, partially to tell you that but also to tell you that I will be able to see you from time to time.”

“What?” The four sisters exclaimed in surprise.

“After everything that you guys did – saving the future and the present, the Elders agreed that I could come back down to see you. Every birthday, every anniversary - I even get to be here for Chris' birth, and for every important event in his and Wyatt's life.”

“Really?” Piper grinned.

“Really. You may even be able to finally throw me that birthday party!”

“That’s great!” Piper hugged her husband tightly.

“I’m so proud of you,” Leo laughed as his sisters-in-law joined the hug, “All of you." Then he sighed. "I have to go back, but I will be back, I can promise you all that.”

“I know,” Piper grinned. “And I'll look forward to each and every time.”

Leo kissed his wife passionately before whispering to her, "And I'll be back to properly celebrate my birthday tonight," and Piper hugged him tightly, promising herself that she would make this birthday that had been so dreadful for her husband the best it could possibly be.

Then he hugged each of the sisters. He saved Prue for last, whispering to her, “You’re doing a great job as their whitelighter,” and she grinned.

With a final smile, Leo orbed out and left the four sisters behind. Prue, Phoebe and Paige all hugged Piper tightly as she grinned with happy tears rolling down her cheeks. Even though she now knew that her husband's destiny was indeed to be an Elder, she knew that he was watching over her and their family and that he hadn't turned his back on their family – he might not be as much of a member as she would've liked, but he'd still always be a member.

At the same time, she had her sister, all of her sisters. No matter what the future held, she knew that they would all be sisters forever.

THE END

[Chrisaholic]

Hehe, so was BK (or Kernus) beaten!! lol

[merry71]

kudos

[Esmeralda]

Thank you!