Eight

[Astral Vision]

The Invisible Woman

November 15th 2005

Paige was at the precinct, making herself some coffee in the office kitchen. Turning around to leave the kitchen, she almost bumped into Henry.

"Oh, hey," said Paige. "I thought you'd left for your lunch break."

Henry shrugged. "I was about to, but then I wondered why you hadn't left for yours yet."

Paige also shrugged. "I'm in the middle of reading one of your parolee's case files. I thought I'd grab myself a quick drink and then dive straight back into that case file."

"Which one?" Henry asked.

"The one about Marshall Jones."

"Oh," Henry realised. "I don't think that's a good enough reason to skip lunch though. Let me take you out for a bite to eat."

Paige smiled. "Thanks, but I've brought a lunch pack from home. My sister would kill me if I let it go to waste."

Henry looked amused. "Your sister makes your lunch for you?"

"She's been cooking a lot more than usual recently. She's in the process of opening her own restaurant, so she's experimenting with menu options. I will never complain, because her food is delicious," Paige explained.

"I see," said Henry. "Enjoy your lunch pack today. How about I take you out for a meal one evening though?"

"To discuss a case file?" Paige asked.

Henry slowly shook his head, a sly smile on his face.

Paige's eyes widened. "Henry, are you asking me out on a date?"

Henry rubbed his head a little nervously. "Yes…"

Paige cringed a little as she avoided eye contact with him.

Henry wiped his brow, embarrassed. "I sense an impending rejection…"

"No… Well, yeah… I'm sorry," said Paige hesitantly. "It's just… It's nothing against you… I just don't date work colleagues… It's a rule I have… I'm sorry…"

Henry smiled at her, trying to protect his pride. "That's fine. We're cool. I can totally understand your point of view. Let's forget I ever said anything. Deal?" He held out his hand for her to shake.

Paige smiled, hoping to save their friendship. "Deal," she said, shaking his hand.

Another parole officer poked his head into the kitchen area. "Hey Henry! Me and the other guys are heading out for lunch. The offer is still open for you to join."

Henry took one last unnoticed imploring look at Paige before turning to his male work colleague.

"I've got nothing better to do," said Henry. He looked at Paige once more before leaving and said considerately, "Don't work too hard."

Paige nodded as Henry left the kitchen with the male work colleague.

A cat suddenly jumped through the open window, landing on the kitchen counter. In the process of landing, it had knocked over the pot of instant coffee powder that Paige had not yet put away. Before Paige could start clearing the powder up, the cat was quickly moving its paw through the powder.

Paige almost dropped her coffee cup when she saw what the cat had drawn in the powder:

The triquetra.

...

Piper and Leo were sat in the dining room. The table was covered from one end to the other with paperwork, including advertisements of buildings for sale, draft mock ups of menus and lots of calculations of bills and costs. On one end of the table sat the baby monitor.

Holding one of the building for sale adverts in his hand, Leo said, "This one looks good. It's big, all on one floor so easily accessible to all, and it is in a central location."

Piper shook her head, crossing it off of a list she had in front of her. "Have you seen the rent price for that place? Even if we were able to open the restaurant within the first month of the lease, there's no way we'd be able to cover the cost."

"That's why we can haggle," Leo said.

"If that's how high their asking price is, I can't see them dropping much lower. It's completely out of our budget," Piper pointed out. "What's the next one?"

Leo put the advert down on a reject pile and picked up another from halfway across the table.

"This one…" he said. The couple went quiet as Piper located the building on her list and Leo began to read the description of the building.

The silence was broken by the following emanating from the baby monitor: "Puh-puh!"

Piper and Leo looked up from their perspective reading and smiled at one another.

"Chris," Piper said proudly.

Leo nodded, just as proud. "His first word."

The two immediately made their way upstairs to the nursery where they found Chris standing up in his cot.

Leo picked Chris up, beaming at him.

"Did you just say your first word, Chris? We're all so proud of you," Leo said.

Phoebe walked into the nursery.

"Hey guys. You might want to come back downstairs," Phoebe began.

"Chris just said his first word," Piper suddenly burst out.

Phoebe beamed. "Oh my gosh! He did? That's so great! I can't believe I missed it! What was his first word?"

"Papa!" Leo said, smiling.

Piper furrowed her brow. "No. He said Piper."

Phoebe looked from her sister to her brother-in-law awkwardly. Trying to break any mounting tension, she said: "The reason I came in here was to point out that there's some random cat in our living room."

"Probably just a stray that came in through the cat flap," said Piper, while Leo placed Chris back into his cot.

"That's what I thought at first," Phoebe said. "Until it used one of its claws to scratch a triquetra into our living room wall."

"What?" Piper said in disbelief (or anger, considering she had just been told that a cat had vandalised her family home's wall).

Phoebe beckoned for Piper and Leo to follow her as they went downstairs to find the cat.

An ordinary-looking tabby cat was sitting on the coffee table, staring at the three of them as they entered.

Piper ran straight over to the bit of wall where the triquetra had been carved. Meanwhile Leo approached the cat. The cat did not move a muscle other than to blink.

"It has no collar," Leo observed.

Piper frowned, turning away from the triquetra. "So it doesn't have an owner that we can charge for the cost of repairing our wall."

"Don't worry about it," Leo said. "A quick bit of plaster and a repaint and that wall will be as good as new."

"What do you think its intentions are?" Phoebe asked. "Is it good or evil? I can't tell if it's trying to warn us with the triquetra…"

"If it knows about the triquetra, it's most likely a witch's familiar that knows about the Charmed Ones," Leo said.

"Or it's a demon or warlock in disguise that's trying to catch us off guard," Piper said, glowering at the cat that had still not moved from their coffee table.

"Why would it have let us know that it knows of magic and us if it was evil?" Phoebe mentioned. "If it was evil, it would have been better off pretending to be some random ordinary stray that made its way into our house."

"Have you tried to get a premonition from it?" Piper asked.

Phoebe picked the cat up and stroked it as she held it. "I'll see if holding her will trigger any premonition."

"If she is a familiar and you can't get a premonition, maybe we should call Katrina," Piper suggested. "Katrina might be able to tell us why this cat came here and what the cat's trying to tell us by carving our symbol into our wall."

"We don't need Katrina," said Phoebe stubbornly.

"Did you have a premonition?" Piper asked.

"Not yet," Phoebe said, still holding the cat. "That doesn't mean we have to bother Katrina for an answer though. We can figure it out on our own."

"I agree with Piper. It would be faster," Leo said. "And Katrina could possibly easily figure out what the cat knows."

The appearance of orbs and therefore the arrival of Paige caught everyone's attention.

"Paige," Piper began, but stopped when she saw the cat that Paige was holding in her hands. It looked identical to the tabby cat that Phoebe was currently holding. "Don't tell me. Did that cat come to the station and carve a triquetra in your office wall?"

"More like draw the triquetra in coffee powder," Paige corrected. "How did you know? Did Phoebe have a premon –" Paige had looked over to Phoebe and noticed the identical cat in her sister's hands. "Oh. So you had a similar occurrence here."

"I guess you're just as clueless about what the cats want as we are," Phoebe said.

Before Paige could confirm that she was just as clueless, the two cats jumped out of the two sisters' embraces and pounced at each other. Instead of colliding, the two identical cats fused into one as the now one tabby cat landed onto the coffee table.

The tabby cat stared indifferently at the Charmed Ones and Leo as they gawked at it.

"What just happened?" Paige asked.

"Can familiars have magical powers like that?" Piper asked Leo.

"I really don't know enough about familiars to be able to answer that," Leo said. "I think we're definitely going to have to ask Katrina."

"No," said Phoebe. "The cat obviously wanted to get all three of us together. That's why she somehow duplicated herself so as she could get our attention and bring Paige back here. So all we need to do is figure out what she wants."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Piper asked. "None of us speak cat and I doubt the cat speaks English."

The cat jumped off the coffee table and ran out of the living room.

The sisters and Leo found it waiting patiently at the front door.

"I guess we have our answer," Paige said. "We follow her."

...

After a long walk through many neighbourhoods, the cat came to a stop at the door of a house. As soon as the three sisters were caught up (Leo had stayed behind to look after the boys), the cat went into the house through the cat flap.

"This must be our final destination," said Piper, stepping forward and knocking on the front door.

No one came to answer the door.

Paige tried peering in through one of the downstairs windows. "It seems dark inside. I don't think anyone's in other than the cat."

The three sisters made their way through an open gate to the house's back garden. Piper tried to open the back door, but it was locked.

"Great," Piper said sarcastically. "The cat brought us to an empty house."

"The cat brought us here for a reason," Phoebe said. She looked at Piper. "We need to get inside."

"What are you looking at me for?" Piper asked.

"You were the one who got us into our innocent's house the last time no one answered the door," Phoebe said, flicking her wrists to depict what she was implying.

"Oh no. Not again. I'm not going to use my powers to break into a house again," Piper said.

Paige took Piper and Phoebe's hands. "If we're not going to break in, I guess we'll settle for just trespassing."

...

Orbing into the kitchen of the dark house, the three sisters began to look for any signs of life.

Phoebe noticed the opened mail on the table. "Someone's been here recently. They've opened some letters that were dated for yesterday."

Piper opened the fridge. "The fridge is stocked and there's nothing expired in here, so someone is definitely living at this house."

"Yes, but are they a friend or a foe?" Paige wondered. "The cat could have taken us here to help an innocent or to face a threat."

"Or a bit of both," Phoebe added.

The sisters were interrupted by a meow. The tabby cat was stood by the kitchen entrance. When the sisters noticed it, the cat began to wander into another area of the house. The sisters followed.

The cat led the sisters into a dark living room. Phoebe found the light switch and turned it on.

"There's no one but us in here," Phoebe said, looking around. "What is in here that the cat thinks requires our attention?"

Suddenly one of the cushions on a nearby sofa dropped to the floor and footsteps could be heard running across the room.

"Do you think we've got ghosts to deal with in this house?" Paige suggested.

"Or an invisible demon," Piper proposed.

An adjoining door slammed shut.

The sisters made their way towards the door and Paige tried to pull it open. Someone was trying to keep it shut on the other side, so the door wavered between the force of both sides.

"Go away," a female voice said from the other side of the door. "Leave me alone."

"We're here to help," Paige said.

"Help? You thought I was a demon or a ghost!" the girl complained, not giving up on holding the door shut.

"Well, your cat didn't tell us why we were here," Paige said. She stopped trying to open the door from their side. "You're clearly not a demon. Which means you're our innocent. Please open the door and let us see you."

"I don't think that's possible," the girl said.

The tension holding the door shut was released. Paige opened it to reveal no one.

"You're invisible," Phoebe stated.

"Not quite," the girl said.

"Not quite?" Piper questioned.

The girl suddenly became visible (and fully-clothed). She had long straight blonde hair and looked to be in her early twenties. Timidly, she said: "The invisibility comes and goes."

"Your outfit was invisible with you?" Phoebe asked.

The girl blushed. "Yeah. The invisibility affects whatever I'm wearing too… Luckily the clothes also reappear at the same time as I do."

"Why? Is this a spell gone wrong?" Paige asked. When the girl shook her head, Paige guessed again: "A new power that you can't quite control?"

The girl shook her head. Her left hand was already beginning to fade away. "It's about to happen again. I never stay visible for long…"

"Why is this happening to you?" Piper asked.

The girl sighed and said: "I'm cursed."

…

[Astral Vision]

Leo opened the front door of Halliwell manor, welcoming in Katrina.

"Leo! It's so nice to see you! How are Piper, Phoebe and Paige? And the boys? How are they?" she began saying before they had even finished walking to the solarium.

"Everyone is fine," Leo said. "And yourself? Still teaching familiars?"

Katrina smiled as they reached the solarium where Wyatt and Chris were sat quietly on a play mat with a number of toys.

"Yes I am," she said, going over to the boys and ruffling Wyatt's hair.

"I'm sorry we haven't invited you around since Wyatt was little. Things have been hectic here," said Leo.

Katrina smiled. "I did live here for a while when I was a cat, remember? I understand how hectic it can be, but my offer is still open if you ever need a babysitter for your boys."

Leo nodded. "We didn't want to burden you. And their grandfather loves seeing his grandsons whenever it's too dangerous for them to be here."

"Oh, it would never be a burden," Katrina said, smiling. "Wyatt's grown so much since I last saw him. And this other one must be Chris."

Leo smiled proudly. "That is Chris. He actually said his first word this morning."

"Oh, that's so precious!" Katrina said joyously. "What was his first word?"

"Papa," said Leo.

Katrina smiled. "You must be so proud."

Leo nodded and then sighed. "Unfortunately, I didn't invite you around here just for pleasantries."

"Piper, Phoebe and Paige have a problem?" Katrina asked.

"Yes," Leo said. "A familiar showed up here…"

Leo's exposition stopped as the two adults turned to see Paige orbing in.

Paige smiled at Katrina. "Hi! It's been a long time!"

"Hello Paige," Katrina greeted.

"Where are Piper and Phoebe?" Leo asked.

"I'm going back for them when they call," Paige said. "They just wanted a quick look around Susan's house."

"Is Susan the name of the cat or an innocent?" Leo wondered.

Paige pointed to her right. "This is Susan. She's a fellow witch and she's our innocent."

Leo and Katrina looked to where Paige was pointing, both looking confused.

"Where is she?" Leo asked.

"Right here," said Paige, motioning to her right again. "Don't be shy, Susan. This is Leo. My brother-in-law and ex-whitelighter. And this is Katrina, my ex-familiar."

"Hi," Susan's voice said out of nowhere.

"Hi Susan…" said Leo. "Do you have the power of invisibility?"

"No," Susan said as she became visible next to Paige.

"Ah, there you are," said Katrina. "It's nice to see you."

"I wish that would the case all of the time," Susan said quietly.

"She has a problem. She keeps fading in and out, reappearing and disappearing, becoming visible and then invisible again etcetera," Paige explained. "One moment she's standing right next to you, the next she isn't."

"So the cat that came here, was that your familiar?" Leo asked.

Susan nodded. "Her name is Tilly. She frequents my house a lot."

"She must have seen that Susan was having a visibility problem and thought the best people to help was us," Paige said.

"Tilly," Katrina said, recognition on her face. "Leo, is Tilly the familiar you invited me here to ask about?"

"Yes," Leo said. "We all witnessed her special talent."

Katrina smiled knowingly.

…

Piper and Phoebe were looking around Susan's living room where she kept most of her magical items. Phoebe was looking through a small notebook which appeared to be Susan's own small Book of Shadows, whilst Piper was looking through a cabinet containing several small potion vials.

"She's well stocked to defend herself against any low level demon attacks," Piper commented, closing the cabinet.

"She's written a detailed account of every demon and warlock she's ever encountered in this notebook," Phoebe said.

"That could be useful for helping her," Piper said.

Phoebe nodded. "Should we get back to the manor?"

"I don't think we're going to find out much more by staying here," Piper said. "Paige!"

Paige orbed in. "Hey. Did you find anything out?"

"Nothing yet," Phoebe said. "This notebook might be helpful though. How about you? Did you get a chance to look in the Book about curses?"

"Not yet," said Paige. "I was catching Leo up on everything and getting information about Tilly the cat."

On saying this, Paige went over and picked the cat up.

"Did Leo suddenly remember something about familiars with magical powers?" Piper wondered.

"No. Our visitor explained everything," Paige replied.

"Our visitor? Susan?" Phoebe asked.

Paige smiled. "No. An old friend. You'll see."

Phoebe grimaced, guessing correctly. "Katrina."

…

Susan was sat at the kitchen table. Leo passed a freshly brewed cup of coffee in her direction. Susan reached out to take it with her left hand, but before she could, her left hand began to fade away. She put her left hand down, hiding it beneath the table and took the coffee cup with her still-visible right hand.

"Thank you," Susan said, taking a sip of coffee.

Leo sat down opposite her. "Does it always start with your hands?" he asked respectfully.

Susan nodded, noticing that her right hand had now disappeared too. "I disappear gradually, but then when I become visible again, I reappear all at once."

"When did this start?" Leo asked.

"It's been happening for a little over a month now," Susan said.

"Does your whitelighter know about this?" Leo wondered.

Susan sighed. "I told him when it first started happening. He told me he wasn't sure what to do and that he'd go and check with the Elders."

"What happened next? Did he get back to you with anything useful?" Leo asked.

Susan managed a shrug as her reply just before she completely disappeared. She said: "He hasn't come back with an answer yet. I have tried calling for him since, but I've had no reply."

Leo frowned. "I'm sorry that your whitelighter hasn't been any help. I'm sure he's been preoccupied by other charges. No whitelighter would intentionally ignore a charge."

"When did you stop being a whitelighter?" Susan asked.

"Huh?" said Leo.

"Paige said you were her ex-whitelighter," Susan reminded him.

"Oh yeah. The Elders forced me to choose between my family and my whitelighter duties. I chose my family," said Leo, sighing.

"Do you regret choosing family over your duties?" Susan asked.

Leo looked surprised by this question. "Of course not! I love my family!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It's just that you look conflicted about it," Susan said.

Leo looked ashamed. "My family are the most important thing in my life, but now that I've had time to spend several months as a mortal, I know that I can handle both. I'm just waiting for the Elders to realise that."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige along with the cat walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Leo," Piper said. "Where's Susan?"

"I'm here," said Susan, pushing her chair backwards as she stood up to give the sisters an idea of where she was positioned in the kitchen.

"And Katrina?" Piper asked.

"In the sun room, keeping an eye on the boys," Leo said.

Piper nodded and turned to Paige. "Paige, can you go upstairs and check the Book of Shadows about curses? It would be great if we can figure out a way to reverse this as soon as possible," Piper said. She turned to Phoebe. "Pheebs, could you go into the solarium with the cat and speak to Katrina? We need to find out if the cat knows anything more about the events behind the curse."

"Can Paige do that? I'll go up and check the Book about curses," Phoebe said.

Paige shrugged. "I don't mind asking Katrina more about Tilly."

"Okay. Leo and I will stay here and chat with Susan," Piper said.

Phoebe and Paige nodded in agreement before leaving the kitchen for their respective destinations.

Piper smiled at Leo and said, "Thanks for inviting Katrina."

"No problem. I knew she'd be able to help us out," said Leo. "I was a little surprised you didn't call her yourself."

"Phoebe rejected the idea," said Piper.

"Why?" Leo wondered.

"If you don't mind continuing to chat with Susan," Piper said, turning to smile friendlily at Susan who was now visible again and sitting on the same chair as before. "I'm going to go upstairs and ask Pheebs exactly that."

…

In the attic, Phoebe had the Book of Shadows open to a page on curses and was jotting some spells down onto a piece of paper.

Piper walked into the attic.

"Hey Piper," Phoebe said. "I'm just writing down some potential curse reversals that have been written in the Book by our ancestors. I was also thinking that we should try out the spells that Paige tried when I was turned invisible on my w –" Phoebe stopped there, realising what she was about to reference.

"Pheebs, this is exactly what I came up here to speak to you about," Piper said.

"Yeah, the curses. What else would we be here to talk about?" Phoebe said, shutting the Book and trying to move towards the attic door.

Piper stopped her. "We're not done talking about this."

"About what?" Phoebe asked. "The innocent downstairs is a bit more important."

"She's in no immediate danger," Piper said.

"Piper, there's nothing to talk about," Phoebe insisted.

"You were annoyed that we wanted Katrina to come here to help us. And you were even more annoyed to find out that Leo had gone and invited her here despite the fact that you'd already rejected that plan before we went off to follow the cat," Piper exposited.

"Yes I was, but only because we don't need her help and I didn't want us to burden her by getting her involved in this," Phoebe said.

"We do need her help and she would have said if it was a burden," Piper said. "This is about Cole and you know it."

"What? Cole? What? How did you get from Katrina to Cole?" Phoebe said, flummoxed. "Katrina has nothing to do with Cole."

"No, but the situation is similar," Piper said. "You know that we need to summon Cole in order to find out who's powerful enough to go in and out of the Wasteland."

"Yes, I know, but we're looking for an alternative, remember?" Phoebe said.

"Just as you were trying to look for an alternative to asking Katrina for help," Piper pointed out. "Katrina was the best choice in this scenario and Cole's our best choice in our ongoing situation."

"We still have time to find an alternative to summoning Cole from limbo for answers," Phoebe said.

"You can't know that," Piper said. "That woman could attack us again at any time. We need to be more prepared and the only way we can do that is by knowing more about her. The only way we can find out more about her is by asking Cole some questions."

Phoebe took a sharp intake of breath, showing her discomfort with the conversation topic.

"And yes, we will give some of the invisibility curse reversals a go that failed when you turned invisible on your wedding day," Piper finished bluntly.

…

[Astral Vision]

Paige was sat in the solarium with Katrina. Wyatt and Chris were playing quietly with their toys on the play mat. Tilly the cat was sitting on Katrina's lap.

"I am so proud of you, Tilly," Katrina said to the cat. "You made the best choice for Susan by getting the Charmed Ones involved."

"How come you never had special powers when you were a familiar?" Paige asked.

Katrina smiled. "It's rare to come across a familiar with a power of their own. Tilly is only one of two familiars that I train that has a special power."

"What power does the other one have?" Paige asked.

"He has increased agility and speed," Katrina said.

"Why do some familiars have special powers whilst others don't?" Paige asked.

"Who knows?" Katrina replied. "Some say that it takes centuries for a familiar to learn a power that will best protect their witches, but that's just a myth."

"Centuries? Do familiars live that long? Are you -?" Paige stopped herself. "Sorry. That would have been very rude of me. I was about to ask your age."

Katrina smiled, but made no reply.

...

Piper and Phoebe walked into the kitchen to find Leo and a visible Susan deep in conversation.

"A warlock cursed me," Susan said. "In the week before the curse began, I fought a warlock. He got away. A week later, he came back out of nowhere and began chanting a spell, this curse. Since then, I've been unable to stay visible for long."

"Do you know this warlock's name? Or his background? He might be used to cursing witches," Leo said.

Susan shook her head only moments before turning invisible again. "No. I don't have some big encyclopaedia of demons and warlocks to refer to. I only write down what I've witnessed from my own demon battles."

Leo nodded. "We'll compare your notes with our encyclopaedia of demons and warlocks: the sisters' Book of Shadows. Hopefully, we can narrow down who did this from that."

"Before that, though," Piper edged into the conversation. "Let's see if we can reverse this curse so Susan no longer has to be the Invisible Woman."

Phoebe went over to the cupboard under the sink and took out a metal dish, a candle and some matches. She placed them on the table.

"Should we start with the reversal to the vanishing spell or with trying to annul the magic?" Phoebe asked Piper.

"Annulling the magic," Piper said.

Phoebe nodded. She lit a candle and waited for Piper to begin.

...

In the solarium, Paige had continued onto the next part of her discussion with Katrina.

"Are you able to communicate with the familiars?" Paige asked.

"Are you asking whether I speak cat?" Katrina asked with a smile.

"Well, you did used to be one, so you might still know the language," Paige replied light-heartedly.

Katrina shook her head. "I don't need to know how to speak to them. My familiars and I only need to know how to understand one another. So, no I don't speak cat." Katrina paused, now becoming serious. "What is it that you need me to find out from Tilly?"

"Susan doesn't know the name of the warlock that cursed her," Paige explained. "If she happened to be passing through the neighbourhood that day, Tilly might know."

Katrina looked at Tilly, tilting her head inquisitively. "Were you there, Tilly?"

Tilly let out a humble meow.

Katrina nodded, looking back over at Paige. "Tilly was not there on the day that the warlock cursed her. Yesterday was the first day that she had had the chance to visit Susan in a while."

Paige looked impressed. "You got all that from one meow?"

"It's not just the words, Paige. You have to read a familiar's facial expression, body language, the intonation in their voice, the size of their eyes… Those are just a few of the signs that you need to read in order to understand a cat," Katrina clarified.

Tilly let out another meow.

Katrina turned to Tilly. "Could you repeat that, Tilly?" Katrina said now that she was focused on the cat.

Tilly meow-ed again and Katrina nodded, concentrating on understanding the familiar.

"The last time Tilly saw Susan, she was fighting a warlock that got away. This was about six weeks or so ago. She says she can go into greater detail, but there's no point if this isn't the correct warlock," Katrina said.

"The timeline seems to fit," Paige said.

Chris began whinging and this caught both Paige and Katrina's attention. Wyatt was also blubbering a little.

...

In the kitchen, Piper, Phoebe and Leo were looking at the spot where an invisible Susan was possibly standing.

"Still no change," said Phoebe.

"Please tell me that you still have more spells to try," Susan said.

"We do. Don't worry," Piper said. "And if none of our spells work, then vanquishing whoever did this will."

"Susan, for this next spell, I'm going to need you to take my hands," Piper said.

"Okay," said Susan, taking Piper's hands.

Paige and Katrina walked into the kitchen. Paige was carrying a sleepy Chris and a tired-looking Wyatt was holding Katrina's hand. Tilly the cat followed closely behind them.

"Piper, I think it's time for their naps," Paige said.

Leo stood up from his seat. "I'll take them upstairs."

Leo took Chris, holding him in one arm and took Wyatt's hand. The father and his two sons left the kitchen, heading for the nursery.

"Does Tilly know anything?" Piper asked Paige and Katrina.

"Before yesterday, the last time Tilly saw Susan was about six weeks ago during a fight with a warlock," Paige said.

Turning to Phoebe, Piper asked: "Do you still have Susan's notebook?"

"Yes I do," said Phoebe. "According to Susan's notebook, she fought a warlock that got away approximately six weeks ago."

"Yes, that was the warlock that returned a week later to curse me," Susan said.

"Does Tilly know the name of the warlock?" Piper asked.

Katrina turned to Tilly and looked at her. The cat made no sound. She only stared back at Katrina.

Katrina nodded. "Yes, Tilly does."

"Would the two of you like to follow Phoebe and me to the Book of Shadows?" Paige asked Katrina and Tilly.

"Of course we shall," said Katrina, picking Tilly up.

Phoebe and Paige left the kitchen. Katrina remained behind for a second longer to say to Piper: "Leo told me about Chris saying his first word. You must be so proud."

Piper smiled. "I am."

Paige poked her head back into the kitchen having overheard this part. "Chris said his first word? Why wasn't I told about this?"

Phoebe came back into the kitchen. "Oh, I'm sorry. So much has happened this afternoon that I forgot to mention it."

"What did he say?" Paige asked.

"That's a tricky one to answer," Phoebe said, looking uncomfortable.

"No it's not. He said my name," Piper said.

Katrina looked embarrassed. "Oh, I must have misheard Leo earlier. I thought he said Chris' first word was 'papa'."

Piper did not looked pleased to hear this.

"I told you the answer to that question is tricky," Phoebe whispered to Paige as the two of them quickly went to leave the kitchen, ushering Katrina and Tilly along with them.

Putting her annoyance aside, Piper turned to a presently visible Susan.

"Shall we continue?" Piper asked, taking Susan's hands to try the next spell.

...

Now in the attic, Paige was slowly turning the pages of the Book whilst Phoebe was simultaneously perusing Susan's notebook. Katrina, with Tilly in her arms was standing behind them, looking over their shoulders.

Phoebe summarised the account:

"So according to this particular warlock encounter, Susan was walking down her street one dark evening on her way home when she heard a man's voice chanting down an alleyway. Compelled to find the source of these words, she walked over to the alley's entrance. Inside she saw two men. One of the two men was trapped within a circle drawn from chalk whilst the other was chanting. He happened to be holding an athame and that's when she realised he was a warlock and assumed the trapped man was a fellow witch. She interrupted the ritual by attacking the warlock. Whilst the warlock was getting back to his feet, she managed to break the chalk circle, freeing the other witch. Before Susan or the other witch could prepare themselves to face the warlock, the warlock left the scene in one swift blink…"

Paige looked over at Katrina and Tilly. "Does that match the event that Tilly witnessed?"

Katrina looked at Tilly and nodded. "Yes, it does."

"Please, Tilly, give us a name," Phoebe said.

Tilly meow-ed. Katrina interpreted: "Winthorpe. Apparently he's quite well-known for his curses and rituals."

"Then let's hope one of our ancestors encountered him," Paige said, beginning to flip through the Book.

Paige's page flipping was cut short by her phone ringing. Paige removed her phone from her pocket and looked at the display to see who was calling. Instead of answering the phone call, she put it back in her pocket, letting it continue to ring, and went back to searching through the Book.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Phoebe asked.

Paige shook her head. "No. It's just Henry. He's probably wondering where I disappeared to since the lunch break that I was never planning to take is long over by now."

The phone had stopped ringing by now.

Phoebe looked concerned. "Didn't you want to at least answer it to let him know you had to go home?"

"No," said Paige. There was a brief pause while Paige decided how best to phrase her thoughts. "I mean, normally I would, because I wouldn't want him to worry or to think that I've just taken the afternoon off because I didn't want to work, but…"

Phoebe looked at her sister. "What happened?"

Paige blushed. "He asked me out earlier. And I said no."

The phone made a beeping sound, indicating that she had received a voicemail message.

"Do you not like him in that way?" Phoebe asked.

"It's not that I don't. It's that I have a rule when it comes to dating. Never date work colleagues," Paige said.

"If you can't already tell from my list of recent ex-boyfriends, I don't see anything wrong with dating a work colleague. However, if that's your rule, then stick to it. Don't do something that would make you feel uncomfortable," Phoebe said.

"If the relationship doesn't work out, you can't go back to being friends and it makes working together impossible," Paige said. "I rejected him earlier and wanted to make sure everything was okay between us. I'm worried that he might think the reason I've taken the afternoon off is because I want to avoid him after he asked me out."

Phoebe nodded. "I understand, but you can't avoid speaking to him forever. He has to know that you're not avoiding him – even though you technically are after ignoring that phone call. The sooner he knows that, the less awkward things will be between the two of you."

Paige rolled her eyes and said wittily, "I thought you'd quit being an advice columnist."

Phoebe smiled. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop dolling it out."

...

Some fire erupted from the metallic dish in the kitchen. This was quickly followed by a burst of smoke enveloping the room, leaving the kitchen occupants unable to see.

Coughing, Piper asked, "Are you okay?"

Susan confirmed she was fine whilst Piper opened the window in an attempt to clear the smoke from the kitchen.

As the smoke began to clear, Piper looked around the room to spot a presently visible Susan.

"Do you feel any different?" Piper asked.

Susan shook her head. "We won't know whether it's worked until I do or don't turn invisible again. I don't normally stay visible for long, so we should know within the next ten minutes."

Piper nodded. "Then I'll start preparing the next spell just in case."

"Do you need a hand?" Susan asked.

Leo walked into the kitchen. Piper briefly looked at him before turning back to Susan.

"No. You can go up to the attic and see if Phoebe and Paige have found your warlock," Piper said. "Come straight back here if you start seeing signs of your invisibility returning again."

"Okay," Susan said. "To get to the attic, I…"

"Go up the stairs and when you reach the upper landing, the next set of stairs are just along the corridor. That will take you to the attic," Piper said.

Susan nodded and made her way out of the kitchen.

Piper put the metallic dish into the kitchen sink and turned the tap on, filling it up with water.

Leo approached her.

"Don't come closer," Piper said, not turning around from the sink. "I'm mad at you."

"What'd I do?" Leo asked.

"Katrina told me that you told her that Chris' first word was 'papa', which I'm pretty sure wasn't what we'd agreed on," Piper said, turning to face Leo.

Leo frowned. "We haven't agreed on him saying 'Piper' either, yet you're so adamant that that's what he said."

"That's because it's what I heard," Piper said. "It makes more sense than him calling you 'papa'. No one has ever called you that in front of him."

"And what backs up him saying 'Piper'?" Leo asked.

"His future self called me by my first name all the time until we found out he was our son," Piper pointed out.

"Big Chris calling you by your first name wouldn't affect his baby self who wasn't even born at the time," Leo said.

"Fine. If you want another valid reason, my name gets called out in this house all the time. All of our names do," Piper said.

A loud explosion sounded from upstairs.

"Piper!" Phoebe was heard yelling.

"See. My point proved," Piper quipped before running towards the noise.

Leo followed her towards the stairs, but Tilly stood at the bottom of the stairs, blocking their way. Piper tried to step past Tilly, but Tilly would not let her.

"Let me through. We have to help the others," Piper said to Tilly.

Tilly tilted her head, let out a meow and ran towards the front door, stopping there to stare at Piper and Leo.

"I think she wants us to follow her," Leo said.

Piper looked conflicted, looking between the staircase and the cat at the front door.

Piper sighed, turning towards the front door. "She better have a good reason for taking us on a detour."

…

[Astral Vision]

Phoebe and Paige were standing in a half demolished attic – the walls and floor were all still in one piece, but the contents were either charred or in pieces. The two sisters were stood protectively in front of Susan, Katrina and Tilly.

Facing them was a man with dark messy hair, thick bushy brows and a scowl that showed his current anger. His face matched the image of the warlock on the page of the unharmed Book that Paige was holding.

"How dare you undo my curse," Winthorpe the warlock said, seething with anger.

"We didn't undo it. Our sister did," Phoebe said. "You'll meet her any second now. If she didn't hear me calling for her just a second ago, she would have at least heard that explosion you caused. That was a big explosion by the way. Did you drop a potion in here the moment you blinked in or was it a spell?"

"I don't need potions," the warlock said. "Spells and rituals are my talent."

"Don't forget curses," Paige said. "It took us a while to break that curse of yours. It wasn't good enough to need the Power of Three though. You, on the other hand, according to our Book, do."

"Good for me that there are only two Charmed Ones in my presence then," Winthorpe said. "No third Charmed One, no Power of Three, and no vanquish for me."

Winthorpe muttered a quick spell under his breath, conjuring fire that he threw in the sisters' direction.

Not being able to duck or orb out of the way as there were innocents behind them, Paige did the only thing she could think of and held the Book protectively in front of herself like a shield. Fortunately, the Book's magical self-preservation kicked in. As the fire hit the Book, it flared up but remained unaffected by the fire, persisting against it.

…

Following the cat out of the house, Piper and Leo found themselves wandering around to the side of the manor.

There on the grass, immediately visible to the both of them, was a chalk-like outline. It was being drawn magically, extending around the manor.

"The warlock's trying to encircle the manor, so as he can put a curse on all of us," Leo realised.

"He's just causing a distraction by attacking in the attic," Piper said. "We need to vanquish him before this circle is complete."

Leo shook his head. "At the speed that chalky outline is moving, there won't be time."

"Then we will have to slow it down," Piper said, flicking her wrists at the outline. Nothing froze and the line continued to extend.

Leo picked up a rock and tried to block the moving line's path with it, but all the line did was draw itself over the rock as it continued.

Piper knelt onto the grass and tried to wipe away at the chalk-like line. She immediately retracted her hand.

"Ow! That burns at the touch!" Piper said, looking at her fingers that were already beginning to blister.

"Look at the line!" Leo said. Although Piper's actions had had no effect at wiping away the line, her touch seemed to have stopped the line from moving.

"So that's it? Contact with the line cancels the spell?" Piper wondered. As if to answer her question, the line resumed its motion, continuing to draw itself around the manor. "Or just delays it for thirty seconds…"

Leo leant down and placed his hand in the line's way.

"Leo!" Piper said with concern, trying to pull his hand away. Leo would not let her.

Trying not to show his pain as the chalk-like line made contact with his hand, Leo said, "Get to your sisters and vanquish that warlock. I'll stay here and hold the line."

Piper sent Leo one last worried look before running back towards the front door. Tilly followed her.

…

Continuing their fight against the warlock, Phoebe jumped up and grabbed the attic rafters. Hanging onto these, she swung forward, landing a kick in the warlock's face. The warlock stumbled backwards.

Jumping back onto the floor, Phoebe took the chance and knocked the warlock off his feet with one swift kick. While he was down on the ground, Phoebe turned to Paige.

"Paige! Orb Katrina and Susan out of here!" Phoebe said.

Paige nodded. "Nursery!" she shouted, causing Katrina and Susan to disappear in a cloud of orbs.

"Why did you choose the nursery?" Phoebe wondered.

"Well, Wyatt and Chris may as well have people to watch them whilst there's a warlock in the house," Paige explained.

Tilly had remained in the attic with the two sisters. As the warlock attempted to get up, Tilly pounced on him, hissing.

Phoebe began placing crystals around the warlock. Tilly jumped out of the way just before Phoebe placed the last crystal, trapping the warlock inside.

The warlock stood up within his crystal confines.

"I'm not the only one trapped," he said.

"I wouldn't be so certain about that," Piper said, walking into the attic.

"Piper! Where've you been?" Paige asked, glad to finally see her sister show up.

"Tilly decided to show me and Leo something," Piper explained. "Do you have a vanquishing spell?"

"Tilly? She was here the whole time. Oh," Phoebe said, suddenly remembering the cat's special ability.

The other Tilly walked in behind Piper. On spying the attic-Tilly, the two pounced at each other, merging into one.

"Okay. Enough about the cat," Piper said. "Let's vanquish him."

"What's the rush? We've got him trapped," Phoebe said.

"Leo's outside trying to stop this warlock's curse taking effect," Piper said. At Phoebe and Paige's stunned expressions, Piper added, "No time to explain! Vanquish, please!"

Paige held up the Book of Shadows to the correct page between herself and her two sisters. The three sisters began to chant the Power of Three spell that would vanquish that warlock.

With the vanquish over and the warlock gone, Piper ran straight out of the attic. Exchanging no words and only stopping to put the Book down, Phoebe and Paige followed.

…

Outside in the garden, Leo was sat, leaning against an outdoor wall of the manor. He was massaging a visibly red and blistered hand. The chalk outline that had begun to circle the house had now completely disappeared.

Piper came running over to him.

"Leo! Are you okay?" Piper asked.

Leo gave Piper a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. It just stings a little. The warlock's gone?"

Piper nodded. "He's gone."

Leo smiled and Piper hugged him.

Phoebe and Paige rounded the corner, Tilly trailing behind.

"Is everything okay?" Phoebe asked.

"It is now," Piper said.

Katrina and Susan wandered into the garden. Katrina was holding Chris, rocking him gently. Susan was holding Wyatt's hand.

"Wyatt? Chris? Are they okay?" Piper asked.

"They're fine," Katrina said. "The noise of the warlock attack woke them up. I thought seeing that their parents are fine would help calm them down."

"Aaww, Wyatt," Leo said, taking his eldest son and giving him a cuddle. "Everyone's fine and we're all safe now."

Paige turned to Susan. "Hey. Do you need a lift home? Your visibility problems are gone. And that warlock won't be coming back anytime soon."

Susan smiled. "Thank you. And please, it's a bit of a long walk."

"My car's parked on the street. Let's go," Paige said. The two of them left the garden.

Piper took Chris from Katrina. "I'm so sorry that mean warlock woke you up, honey."

"I apologise about the first word misunderstanding that occurred earlier, Piper," Katrina said.

"Firstly, don't apologise. You have nothing to be sorry for," Piper said to Katrina. "Secondly, there's no misunderstanding. Leo and I have agreed that Chris' first word was 'papa'."

"You have?" Phoebe asked, surprised.

"We agreed?" Leo said, just as confused.

"Oh, that's great," said Katrina, smiling.

"Yes, it is," said Piper, taking Chris over to his father. "Chris knows just how much his father does to keep this family safe. That's probably why he said his name."

"Piper," Leo said. "You don't have to agree with my opinion on his first word just because I helped to postpone the warlock's curse. You, Phoebe and Paige did the actual deed of stopping the curse circle being completed by vanquishing the warlock."

"Yes, but we vanquish demons and warlocks most days of the week," Piper said. "You don't tend to – and shouldn't – put yourself in harm's way like you did today."

"I had to, for you, for our family," Leo said.

Piper nodded. "That's why I'm agreeing that Chris said 'papa', okay? Can we agree on that without starting another argument?"

Leo smiled. "I think so."

Chris suddenly began to struggle in Piper's arms. He had noticed Tilly and was trying to point at her.

"Yes, Chris, what is it?" Piper asked.

"Puh-puh!" Chris said, pointing at Tilly.

Piper and Leo exchanged a confused look.

"That's what he said earlier," Piper said and Leo nodded in agreement.

Chris repeated it again, pointing at Tilly still.

"Did Tilly scout the entire manor before I spotted her earlier this afternoon?" Phoebe asked Katrina.

Katrina looked at Tilly, awaiting a response. Tilly wiggled her nose. Katrina understood this.

Katrina nodded. "Tilly did."

"So she probably wandered through the nursery within Wyatt and Chris' sights," Phoebe said.

"What are you getting at?" Piper asked.

"Erm, Piper, Leo," Phoebe began. "I hate to break it to you, but I think Chris might have his animals mixed up, which means that he didn't say either 'Piper' or 'Papa' earlier…"

"Puh-puh!" Chris said again, pointing at Tilly.

"He's saying 'puppy', isn't he?" Piper realised.

"No, Chris, that's a kitty," Leo said. "Can you say that? Ki – tee?"

"Puh-puh!" Chris repeated.

Everyone present (except Wyatt) could not help but laugh at Chris' cuteness.

…

Half an hour later, Paige returned to the manor. As she entered the living room, she found Phoebe.

"Hey. Are Piper and Leo in?" Paige asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "Piper and Leo went to give Katrina a lift home. They took the boys with as they were planning on spending the rest of the afternoon together as a family."

Paige nodded and sat down on the sofa, looking conflicted.

"What's wrong?" Phoebe asked.

"Nothing," Paige said. "I just got offered a job."

"That's great! I'm so happy for you!" Phoebe expressed. "Unless you turned it down? Did you?"

"No, I said yes," Paige said. "It's at the South Bay Division of Social Services. I had an interview with them a few days ago. They phoned just after I dropped Susan off at her house to offer me the job."

"Then why don't you look very happy?" Phoebe asked, concerned.

"After finishing the phone call with the division, I remembered that Henry had left a voicemail message, so I listened to it," Paige said.

"What did he say?" Phoebe asked nosily.

"I'll play it for you," Paige said, quickly getting her phone out.

"Hey Paige," Henry's message began. "I hope everything's okay. I'm not sure why you had to leave suddenly, but I hope you're alright. Anyway, I'm not phoning to check up on you. I'm just phoning to let you know that I've just had a phone call from some guy that was asking for me to give a reference for you. I'm taking that as good news that they're probably quite close to offering you the job. I thought I'd give you the heads up on that one. Oh, and don't worry, I only told the guy positive things about you. Anyway, let me know if you do get the job. Erm, that's it. Speak to you later, I guess? Or tomorrow, if you decide to come in… Though you probably won't if you're starting a new job… Anyway, bye."

The message ended there.

"I don't know how to respond," Paige said.

"Do you want to go out with him?" Phoebe asked.

Paige looked shocked by Phoebe's bluntness.

"That's not my current dilemma, Phoebe," Paige said.

"Oh, what is?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm glad that I'm going to have a job with an actual income, but it will be weird not going to the station five days of the week, seeing him there…" Paige said.

"Then ask him out," Phoebe said frankly. "He won't be a work colleague anymore, so it won't be against your rule."

Paige shook her head. "No. I can't…"

"Why?" asked Phoebe. "He's admitted to you that he likes you. And I can tell that you like him."

Paige was turning bright red with embarrassment. "I can't. I – I –" she stammered, trying to find the right words to say.

Paige suddenly noticed the open Book of Shadows that Phoebe had on the coffee table in front of her. It was open to the Belthazor page. Next to the Book was a notepad on which Phoebe had scrawled some notes.

"Why are you looking at that entry?" Paige asked.

"Whilst you sit around avoiding your future boyfriend –" Phoebe began.

"Henry's not my future boyfriend…" Paige mumbled.

"– I'm looking for ways to speak to my late ex-husband," Phoebe explained. "Before Piper left with Leo and the boys, she assigned me the task of coming up with the ritual to summon Cole for questions about whoever is after us," Phoebe said.

Paige nodded. "So we're no longer looking for an alternative to summoning Cole?"

Phoebe sighed. "I've come to the realisation that there may be no getting out of having to see him again."

[Chrisaholic]

Hey Astral Vision,

good to hear Chris's first word and the parents' disput over it. lol And in the end, it was the cat!
Paige and Henry are getting closer and also good with Paige going back to her roots.
Nice to have Katrina back again. And also that the sisters could save their innocent.

Good work!

[Astral Vision]

Turner of the Century

December 2nd 2005

"I'm Cole Turner, A.D.A. And you are?" Cole asked.

"Cole!" Phoebe said, grabbing the man's hand.

The two of them were in an undefined, unimportant location. It could have been a street? A hospital corridor? Or maybe it was a forest? It really did not matter.

"I've been looking for you, Cole! I need to take you to my sisters! We've been trying to summon you!" Phoebe said, dragging Cole into the manor kitchen.

She let go of his now red hand and turned to see Belthazor looking at her.

"Piper! Paige! I've got Cole!" Phoebe called.

She shrugged when there was no reply.

"Maybe they're in the attic," Phoebe suggested and took Belthazor's hand again.

Taking only one step, Phoebe and Cole found themselves at the attic entrance. Phoebe tried to usher Cole into the attic, but he shook his head.

"I can't go in there," Cole said. "I'm mortal now. Mortals can't go in the attic."

"Oh yeah," Phoebe said, looking away from Cole towards the attic. "I'm not sure how we can fix that."

"We can go in there now," said Cole's voice, a little colder than before.

Phoebe turned back to see a tall hooded figure standing where Cole had been. The Source.

Phoebe smiled. "Let's find Piper and Paige then."

As Phoebe entered the attic, the Source was back to being Cole again. Phoebe frowned. Piper and Paige were not in the attic.

"Where are they? We need to summon you," Phoebe said, frowning.

"It's okay. I can wait. Nothing can kill me now," Cole said.

Phoebe nodded slowly.

The light dimmed in the attic, leaving them in pitch black darkness, unable to see –

Phoebe lifted her head up from her pillow and looked around her dimly lit bedroom. She was all alone. She sat up. On her bed was the Book of Shadows opened to Belthazor's page and a piece of paper on which she had written a ritual.

Phoebe sighed. She must have fallen asleep part way through writing the spell. She squinted at it in the dim light of dawn.

...

Later that morning, Piper was in the kitchen, making breakfast. Leo was sat at the table, finishing his own breakfast.

"So I'll probably be out for most of the day," Leo said.

Piper nodded. "That's fine. It's about time for you to get back in contact with local ex-charges if you're going to start proving a point to the Elders."

Leo smiled. "It is. I'm just glad that these few ex-charges were simple to get in touch with and agreed to meet for a catch up."

Phoebe made her way into the kitchen.

"Morning, Phoebe," said Piper. "What do you want to eat? Eggs? Waffles? Toast?"

"I'm not really hungry," Phoebe said, sitting down at the counter.

Piper looked at her sister, concerned. Phoebe was wearing dark pink track suit bottoms, a pale pink vest top with a dark pink jacket on top. This was a direct contrast to Paige's attire, who walked into the kitchen at that moment, wearing a blazer on top of a white top and a pencil skirt.

"Pheebs, what's up?" Piper asked.

"Nothing, I'm just a bit nervous," Phoebe said. "And tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, so that's adding to my loss of appetite."

"What have you got to be nervous about?" Paige asked whilst plating up some breakfast from what was cooking on the hob.

Phoebe sighed. "Nothing more than every night so far, I guess. The prospect of seeing Cole again is really making me uncomfortable."

"We've been trying one new spell every evening for the past two weeks with no luck yet," Piper said. "None of us want to see him again, but if we're to find out who's after us…"

"You've been losing so much sleep, staying up to write a new spell for the next day every single night," Leo said. "You may feel like giving up, but –"

"This isn't me giving up," said Phoebe. "I'm just tired. I'm sick of having Cole on my mind and in my dreams."

"We've all been so wrapped up with this plan that he's on all of our minds," Piper pointed out. Piper pushed a plate of breakfast in front of Phoebe. "I'm not taking no for an answer. You need your food."

Phoebe sighed, but thanked her sister and began to eat.

"Leo, you don't need to drop the boys off at Dad's this evening," Piper said. "I'm going to drop them there early in the afternoon so as they can spend the entire day there. You'll be out with your ex-charges until at least after ten o'clock tonight, won't you?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to meet up with them individually and then invite them out for drinks later."

Paige looked at her watch and stood up. "I need to get to work. I finish at six and should be back here by six thirty. Are we planning to do the spell at seven like usual?"

Phoebe nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you later," Paige said.

...

A man in his late thirties opened the door to his flat to let Leo in.

"Hi Ed," said Leo.

"Come on in, Leo," said Ed. "Ignore the broken furniture. Fought some warlocks in here last night."

Leo nodded, noting the fresh gash that Ed had down the side of his face.

"Did the warlock do that?" Leo asked.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. It stings real bad and I haven't had a chance to go to the emergency department to get it sorted out yet, but I can deal."

"What about your whitelighter? Have you tried calling him or her to heal it for you? You got it from fighting evil, so they should be allowed to heal it," Leo said.

Ed shook his head. "My absentee whitelighter is no use. I met her once, but I haven't seen her since. I haven't often needed to call for her help anyway. The few times I have, she hasn't shown up. Not that she'd be any use if she did anyway. I don't think she can heal."

Leo frowned. "I know it's none of my business and against charge-whitelighter confidentiality rules for me to ask this, but who was assigned to be your whitelighter after I left?"

"You probably know her. You're married to a Charmed One, right?" Ed said.

"Paige," Leo muttered, disbelief on his face. "She wouldn't ignore a charge's calls…"

"Well, she's ignored me the few times I've tried calling," said Ed.

...

At the South Bay Division of Social Services, it was just after midday and Paige was busy typing up a document on a computer in her small office.

Paige's desk phone rang. She picked it up and said: "Good afternoon, Paige Matthews speaking."

"Hey Paige, it's Henry," Henry said.

"Henry? I didn't know you had this number," Paige said.

"I don't, but I was phoning your cell and you wouldn't pick up," Henry said.

Paige blushed. "Sorry. It's on silent. That doesn't explain how you managed to call my work phone."

"I got the number for the Division – phoned the reception and told them I was a parole officer and one of our cases overlapped and said that I needed to be patched through to you," Henry explained.

Paige smiled. "You'd lie about a case just to speak to me?"

Henry laughed. "I called to ask whether you had any plans for tonight. Me and a group of guys are going out tonight. I wondered whether you wanted to come along, you can bring a group of friends too."

"What time were you thinking of meeting?" Paige wondered.

"Nine-ish," Henry said.

"I should be able to make it by ten o'clock," Paige said.

"Cool," Henry said. "I'll text you the details and I'll see you later."

"See you then," Paige said, putting the phone down, smiling as she did so.

The smile disappeared and she immediately reached into her purse, pulled out her own phone and dialled a number.

"Phoebe… pick up," Paige muttered.

...

Piper walked into the manor.

"Hello! Anyone home? I've just dropped the boys off at Dad's! Hello? Pheebs?" Piper called out, beginning to make her way to the staircase.

The sound of Phoebe's cell phone ringing resonated from within Phoebe's locked bedroom.

Piper reached the bedroom door and knocked.

"Hello? Phoebe? Are you in there?" Piper asked.

The phone stopped ringing, but no other sounds were heard.

"Phoebe?" Piper called again with increased concern.

Piper opened the door and found Phoebe lying down on her bed, eyes closed, dreaming peacefully.

Piper smiled and quietly shut the door as she left her sleeping sister in peace.

...

A twenty-something year old waitress in a diner put a plate down on a customer's table. As she looked up from the table, she noticed Leo walk in and sit at an empty table.

The waitress smiled and approached him. "I'm glad you could come despite me not being able to get a break to chat with you."

"Hi Nancy," said Leo. "That's fine. If your boss asks, we'll just pretend I'm asking what the specials are today. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine," Nancy said. "I'm getting better at finding and helping innocents."

"That's great to hear," Leo said.

...

Piper was in the kitchen, making herself a late lunch, when Phoebe walked in. Phoebe had replaced her track suit jacket with a woolly jumper.

"Hey Pheebs," Piper said. "Had a good nap?"

"Nap? Oh… yeah," Phoebe said, a little zoned out.

"Are you feeling up to tonight?" Piper asked.

"Tonight, yeah," Phoebe said quietly.

"Do you want some lunch?" Piper asked. "It may be almost three o'clock, but I'm only just finding the time to eat something."

"Yes, please," Phoebe said. "If you make the food, I'll make us some coffee."

"Fine by me," said Piper. "The boys are at Dad's, so after we've finished eating, we should start preparing for the spell. We'll be ready to start when Paige gets in."

Phoebe nodded. Her cell phone suddenly began to ring and she answered it.

"Hey Paige," said Phoebe. "What's up?"

"Hey. Are you okay? I've left quite a few missed calls on your phone and you never got back to me," Paige said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Phoebe said, a little groggily. "I'm sorry I missed all those calls. I've had a really long… nap."

"I need to ask you something," Paige said.

"Oh, are you about to ask me about joining you for that thing with Henry and his friends tonight?" Phoebe said, perking up a bit.

"How did you know..?" Paige wondered.

"Cliff notes' version: premonition," Phoebe said. "Moving on from that, you are going tonight. Whatever happens with the Cole stuff doesn't matter. You're still going to see Henry, tonight, okay? I'm not letting anything get in the way of that."

"Uh, okay. Thanks, I guess," Paige said. "Does that mean you're going to come too or not?"

"I promise you that either Piper or me will go with you tonight," Phoebe said.

"Okay… Anyway I told Henry I'd meet him at ten. So once we've summoned Cole, got answers and sent him back to where he can no longer bother us, we can get ready to go," Paige said.

"Okay. We'll talk more later," said Phoebe, grimacing as she put the phone down.

"What's with the face?" Piper asked. "Do you not want to go?"

"Oh, of course it would be great if I could go," Phoebe said. "I've just got the Cole situation on my mind."

Piper sighed. "Let's try and look past that. Once the spell's over, he'll be out of our lives for good."

...

A man in his early-forties was pumping air into a bike's tire on the driveway of his house. As he finished the task, he handed the bike to a little boy.

"Your bike's as good as new now," the man said. "Just be careful with it, okay?"

The little boy nodded excitedly. "Thank you, Bert!"

Bert smiled. "No problem."

The little boy rode away on his bike. Bert was about to return to his house when he noticed Leo walking towards him.

"Hey Leo!" Bert said. "It's been a long time."

Leo nodded. "Good to see you too."

"What have you been doing with yourself?" Bert asked.

"Not much. Spending time with my family, mostly," Leo said. "And you? How are things along with home schooling your kids?"

"It's going well – can be stressful sometimes, but that's life," Bert said. "They're really starting to come into their powers."

"That's wonderful news," Leo said. "How's Harriet?"

"She's doing fine. She's at work today. So I had to pick the kids up from school an hour ago, and now I've got to get their dinner prepared," Bert said.

"Do you have any plans tonight?" Leo asked.

Bert shook his head. "Harriet will be home by six thirty and other than putting the kids to bed, we didn't have any plans."

"I only ask because I'm planning to meet up with a few ex-charges for drinks later," Leo said. "Want to join us around seven?"

"Sure," said Bert. "Just tell me where."

...

Paige entered the manor at six thirty to find no lights on except for in the living room.

All the furniture had been moved to one side, freeing up space in the middle of the living room for a circle of currently unlit candles. The curtains were taped shut. A metal dish had been placed on the floor. Three athames, a large candle and a matchbox sat in the dish.

Piper and Phoebe looked over at Paige.

"Hey Paige," said Piper. "Are you ready to begin? Or would you rather get changed first?"

"I think I'll change out of my work outfit for this," Paige said. "Give me ten minutes."

Within the next fifteen minutes, all three sisters were present in the living room and ready to begin.

"Remember, whatever happens, you don't blame Cole," Phoebe said. "Whatever happens is not his fault."

"Phoebe, what do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Let's just do this," Phoebe said, passing the matches to Paige.

Paige nodded and began to light each candle that made up the circle.

Phoebe picked up the large candle from the metal dish and said, "All three of us must hold onto this while we recite the spell. Whatever you do, don't let go of it whilst he is here."

"You mean "if" Cole's here," Paige said. "This could fail, like the last twelve times we've tried summoning him."

"Thirteenth time's a charm," Phoebe said wearily.

Piper nodded. "Okay, but are you alright? You seem tenser than any of the other times we've tried summoning him."

Phoebe frowned. "I'm just nervous."

Piper took Phoebe's hand and squeezed it. "We'll be fine."

Phoebe nodded. "We will."

Paige had finished lighting the circle of candles. She passed the lit match to Phoebe who lit the large candle she was holding.

The three sisters took hold of the large lit candle and, keeping hold of it, pointed it towards the circle.

"The Power of Three calls upon the spirits that be. Take the candle light in place of the request of a being, of whom we have no intention of eternally freeing. Bring us the one once known as Belthazor, we do beseech. So as we may ask questions whilst he is within our reach."

A breeze made its way into the room. The living room lights began flickering. The breeze turned into quite a forceful wind. The path of the wind centred on the circle of candles. Every lit candle in the room remained intact.

The wind began to settle and as it did so, a being began to form within the circle. At the same time, the wick of the large candle in the sisters' hands went out. As instructed, not one of them broke their hold on that candle.

The being turned to face the sisters. Wearing a smart-looking dark grey suit, Cole Turner turned to face the sisters, a smile on his face.

"In the eternity I have left in limbo, I never thought I'd live to see this day," Cole said.

[Astral Vision]

All three still had a grip on the candle, but their sights were set on Cole.

Piper was the first to speak. "Cole, let's make this quick so as you can return to limbo. What do you know about evil beings that are able to wander in and out of the Wasteland whenever they like?"

"Do we have to jump straight into the questions?" asked Cole. "No greetings? No thanks for the help I gave you last time, Piper?" He looked at Phoebe. "I hope you've been well, Phoebe. I never got to say goodbye to the real you last time…" He turned to Paige. "And Paige, I'm sorry for dragging you into that alternate reality. It was unintentional."

"It was only unintentional, because my presence there was the only thing that brought the Power of Three back together to vanquish your butt. Vanquish you for good," Paige replied. "Enough digressing. Answer Piper's question."

Cole sighed. "I've heard theories about demons that know how to get out of there. In fact, I was one demon that found a way out of there, as all of you know. I also know that on Halloween the veil between worlds is thin enough for demons to escape the Wasteland. However, I don't know of any demon that's been able to freely walk into the Wasteland without getting vanquished first."

"Well, this was a waste of our time then," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "Can we send Cole back now?"

"Hang on, do I even get to know why I'm being asked these questions?" Cole asked.

"You don't know?" Piper asked, surprised.

"Contrary to your belief, despite my past affection for Phoebe, I don't spend my time at the Halliwell home, watching your daily lives," Cole said. "I haven't been here since that time you almost died, Piper. Before that, the last time I was here was when I got vanquished in the alternate reality. Despite what the three of you think of me, I have a life and a job to get on with in limbo which does not revolve around you."

"Well, then you don't need to know," said Paige.

"If you give me more context, I may be more useful," Cole said.

Piper sighed. "He's right."

"Fine," Paige said huffily. "Some woman is trying to kill us. We don't know what she is or who she is. Whoever she is, she managed to promise some Phoenix witches a power that could only be gotten from the Wasteland."

"Which means she is able to get in and out of there at will," Piper finished. "Is that enough context for you?"

Cole looked thoughtful as he considered what the two sisters had told him. "I think I know who it is, but I can't quite recall the being. Can I see the Book of Shadows? I don't have to touch it and you can keep watch over me the whole time. The answer's on the tip of my tongue. Seeing the Book may help to jog my memory."

Piper and Paige looked to Phoebe, the one sister who had not yet uttered a word since Cole's summoning. Phoebe was staring at Cole with a grave expression.

"We know there's an entry on her in the Book. Cole knows that if he finds the right entry, he'll be able to point out it's her," Phoebe said. "We're going to have to let him see the Book."

"Okay, but how are we going to do this?" Piper asked. "I'm sure Cole's not allowed to leave the circle or he'll disappear and the three of us can't split up, because we have to keep hold of this candle for the spell to continue."

"We also don't want to all go upstairs and leave Cole by himself down here," Paige said. "Whether he's trapped in that circle or not, I don't trust leaving him alone."

"Me neither," said Piper. "Can you orb the Book down here?"

Paige nodded and called: "Book of Shadows!"

In a flurry of orbs, the Book fell to the floor in front of the three sisters.

Piper stared at the Book, annoyed. "This isn't going to work. Each of us has one hand on this candle. None of us could pick the Book up one handed and start flipping through it for Cole."

"You're not suggesting we let Cole touch it?" Paige asked.

"Of course not!" Piper said.

Phoebe had gone quite pale by now. She looked Cole in the eyes and said: "I guess it's my turn to say it, Cole. This is goodbye."

"Goodbye? I just got here," Cole said, confused.

"I wasn't clear about the spell earlier, was I?" Phoebe said to Piper and Paige. "If we let go of the candle, it won't automatically end the spell. It will just prolong it until the three of us are holding the candle again to say the reversal spell."

"Why'd you say goodbye then?" Cole asked but continued to be ignored.

"You told us not to let go," Paige pointed out.

Phoebe gulped. "I did, but we have no choice now. On the count of three, okay?"

Piper and Paige agreed.

"One," said Phoebe.

Before she even got around to saying two, Phoebe let go of the candle. The moment she did so, all lights in the room went out.

"What happened to counting to three?" Piper said, letting go of the candle (it was heard dropping to the floor, indicating that Paige had also decided to let the candle go) and making her way through the darkness to find the light switch. She gave it a flip.

Piper turned around to see both Paige and Cole still there but not Phoebe.

"Phoebe?" Piper called. "Where'd she go?"

Piper and Paige directed their glares at Cole.

"This was you, wasn't it?" Paige said. "You always do this. You manipulate a situation to your own advantage."

"Why would I make a plan that involves Phoebe going who knows where?" Cole asked incredulously.

"Hang on, before we start blaming Cole, can we figure out where Phoebe has gone?" Piper pointed out.

"Considering Cole's still here, I'd guess she's been sent to limbo instead," Paige said.

"Then our next question is why?" said Piper. "Phoebe said that letting go of the candle wouldn't break the summoning spell, which it didn't since Cole's still here. So why did it send Phoebe in his place?"

"Phoebe's spell… Did it say something about the light of the candle being the replacement for Cole whilst he was here?" Paige asked.

Piper nodded. "It did. So, because we let go of the candle, the link was broken, so one of us had to be taken in Cole's place until this spell is reversed."

"Except Phoebe let go first," Cole said. "She knew this would be a consequence… That's why she said goodbye now?"

Piper and Paige exchanged looks.

"She has been acting weird all afternoon, ever since she woke up from an afternoon nap," Piper said.

"Are you sure it was a nap? She knew about my plans with Henry before I had the chance to mention them," Paige said. "Are you sure this all wasn't part of a premonition?"

Cole stepped forward, out of the circle.

Piper looked at him. "You're not supposed to be able to do that without breaking the spell."

"I was hoping that me stepping out of the circle would break the spell, sending me back and bringing Phoebe back to you," Cole said, disappointed. "I wonder if I'm corporeal."

Cole bent down and picked up the large candle that the sisters had dropped.

"So I am," he muttered, dropping it back to the floor.

"Phoebe did say that all three of us are going to need to be holding the candle again if we are to reverse this spell," Piper said.

"And reversing this spell is probably the only way we're going to get Phoebe back," Paige said.

"Except, we can't reverse this spell without her here," Piper said.

"Without who here?" a familiar voice uttered.

Piper, Paige and Cole turned to see Phoebe standing at the doorway to the living room. Unlike the Phoebe that had just disappeared wearing the woolly jumper, this Phoebe was wearing the track suit jacket that she had been wearing first thing in the morning.

Phoebe suddenly noticed Cole and went wide eyed. "Cole…" She turned to Piper and Paige. "It worked. One of our summoning spells finally worked. What day is this?"

"Judging by your outfit, this is the same day that you've come from, just a few hours later, Pheebs. You're having an astral vision right now," Piper realised. "And I thought you were just sleeping in your room when I saw you earlier…"

"That's why she knew about Henry," Paige mumbled to herself.

"And that's why Phoebe knew there'd be a consequence for letting go of the candle," Cole said.

"There's a consequence to the ritual I wrote last night? If you've only just summoned Cole, where am I? I must have been here to say the spell with you," Phoebe said. "Why would I just leave?" Phoebe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh wait, don't answer that. Cole's here. My job was done in helping to summon him and I probably couldn't stand being in the same room as him."

"Hey!" Cole said, annoyed.

"We wish it were that simple, Pheebs," Piper said.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.

"Knowing yourself, you know that you'd stay to hear Cole's answer to our questions so as we can send him back to limbo as soon as possible," Paige pointed out.

"Then where am I?" Phoebe asked.

"Can we tell her? This is sort of like time travel, isn't it? We don't want to mess up the past by her knowing too much," Paige said to Piper.

"She obviously knew that this would happen, since she was secretly fretting about it all afternoon. Why else would she have been so nervous?" Piper said. "So we can at least tell her why she's not here."

"What happened?" Phoebe repeated, more seriously.

...

Leo placed four beverages down on a table where his three ex-charges were already sitting.

"This round's on me," Leo said.

"Cheers," said Bert, taking a swig of his pint. "It's not like you get to sit around having a couple of beers with your whitelighter on a normal day and their other charges."

"Ex-whitelighter and ex-charges," Ed corrected bluntly before taking a drink from his bottle of beer.

"I think what Ed meant to say was that we miss having you as our whitelighter," Nancy said.

"You can't speak for me, you only just met me ten minutes ago," Ed said agitatedly.

"Don't take what Ed says personally," Leo said to Nancy. "He had a tough day yesterday and he's having problems with his new whitelighter."

"Of course I'm having problems!" Ed said. "She's a useless whitelighter!"

"Hey! Don't speak about her that way!" Leo said defensively.

"What? Just because she's related to your wife, she can't be useless at her job? She just has to be perfect? Is that supposed to be a Charmed One trait?" Ed said unsympathetically.

"You've got a Charmed One as your whitelighter now?" Bert asked, intrigued.

"No need to be jealous. She's too busy with Charmed One stuff to actually help her charges," Ed said, finishing off his bottle of beer and standing up. "I'm going to buy another of these. Anyone else want another drink?"

...

"So the spell that I wrote, the one that brings Cole back has one major flaw…" Phoebe muttered after hearing about what had happened to the other Phoebe.

Piper nodded. "Yes, but now that you're here, we may be able to get you back."

Phoebe nodded. "Only after we find out what Cole knows. Otherwise when we get me back, we might lose contact with Cole."

"On that note, we should get around to the part where Cole gets to look through the Book," Paige said.

Piper nodded. "Okay. Pheebs, I hope you understand why I'm doing this, but since I don't want to throw off the timeline, I don't want you to be around when Cole tells us who it is that's after us. If you learn from this astral premonition who that woman is, you might be inclined to stop us from summoning Cole, but if that happens, who knows what alternate timeline we'll be thrown into…"

"And I've had enough of alternate timelines involving Cole for one lifetime," Paige said.

"That was once," Cole protested.

"Once is more than enough," Paige said. Looking at Piper and Phoebe, she said: "Phoebe and I will stay down here and figure out how to get our Phoebe back."

Piper picked the Book up from the floor and turned to Cole. "I'm taking this up to the attic where we have the bookstand that this can rest on and crystals that I can put out if I think you're up to something you shouldn't be. Follow me."

Not waiting for a response from Cole, Piper walked out of the room. After taking one last look at Phoebe, Cole followed Piper.

"So, how are we getting the other me back?" Phoebe asked Paige.

"Well, the three of us need to be holding that candle again to recite the spell that will return Cole," Paige said. "That theoretically should bring the other you back."

"That would be simple if it wasn't for the fact that my astral self isn't corporeal," Phoebe said, passing her hand through a chair to prove a point.

"So we need a spell that will temporarily make you solid so as you can hold the candle with us," Paige said.

Phoebe nodded.

"Do you think…? Nah," Paige said, rejecting the thought.

"Do I think what?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, you – your future self – knew this was all going to happen," Paige said. "She's already been in your non-corporeal shoes."

"And you think that I'd leave us a few handy hints for getting through this evening," Phoebe caught on.

"Where would you leave those sorts of clues?" Paige asked.

"Follow me," Phoebe said.

...

Piper turned the pages of the Book of Shadows. Cole stood behind her, looking over her shoulder.

"Can you turn the pages a little slower?" Cole asked. "You're turning them so fast I can hardly see what's on each page."

"I am turning faster on pages that only consist of spells," Piper shot back. "I'll slow down when I get to info pages about demons."

Cole rolled his eyes. "You don't need to be so irritable with me. I'm doing you a favour by agreeing to help. I get nothing out of being here."

"You get to spend a little time out of limbo," Piper pointed out.

"Believe me, of all the places to spend my time, I'd rather be back in limbo," Cole said.

"Then on behalf of Phoebe and Paige, I can tell you that we're all in complete agreement," Piper said.

"Wait, stop there," Cole said.

"Where? Here?" Piper asked, holding a page open.

"No. Go back one," Cole said.

Piper moved back one page.

"There," Cole said.

"Which one?" Piper asked.

This was one of the many reference pages, which – rather than being completely dedicated to one individual being – listed many different types of beings, each followed by a brief description.

"The third one down," Cole said.

Piper went quiet as she began to read the small paragraph.

"That being fits the bill perfectly," Cole said after a little while. "Your woman may be one of the few of those that exist."

"This woman. She can cross between so many planes. Phoebe's in limbo. Is she vulnerable there?" Piper wondered.

Cole shook his head. "Phoebe may be in limbo, but she's still alive, so she's safe whilst she's there."

Piper nodded and her focus returned to the paragraph in the Book.

"That last sentence…" Piper muttered.

"Yeah, the last sentence is written in different handwriting to the rest of the paragraph," Cole noted. "One of your ancestors must have updated the entry."

"Not an ancestor. A sister. That's Prue's handwriting," Piper stated. "Prue added to the entry at some point."

Cole looked at Piper. "When did Prue face a being like this?"

"I don't know, but if Prue knew about this being, then it seems the woman's been watching us for longer than we realised," Piper said.

"Well, you know who's after you now, so I guess it's time for me to go back," Cole said.

Piper nodded slowly, preoccupied by the small paragraph in the Book.

"I'll start heading downstairs then…" Cole said, not wanting to disturb her. He walked out of the attic.

...

Phoebe and Paige were in Phoebe's room. The top drawer of Phoebe's dresser was open and had been ransacked by Paige searching through the clothes to find nothing unusual in there, except an athame that Phoebe kept there for safe-keeping. Paige was now bent beneath Phoebe's bed.

"Are you sure it's under here? All I can see are shoe boxes and a lot of dust," Paige said, exaggerating a cough at the end of her sentence.

"It's definitely under there," said Phoebe. "It's a small wooden box. And if the other me stored any clues in there for us then the box should be within your sight."

"Found it!" Paige said, coming out from under the bed with a small box in her hands.

Phoebe smiled. "That's it."

Paige sat down on Phoebe's bed and opened the box.

"Hey, there's an envelope with my name on," Paige said.

"Well, I guess that's the first thing on my to-do list when this premonition is over," Phoebe noted. "Read it out."

Paige had opened the envelope to find a sheet of paper in it. She began to read aloud: "Paige and… me, I can't remember the letter word for word from my premonition, but I guess that doesn't matter since I'm the one who wrote it, so whatever I write will be what you read for me to hear to write again from memory… I think I'll stop rambling now – otherwise I'll use up the whole piece of paper writing about how weird this all feels to me."

Phoebe had gone red. "I can't believe how stupid that letter makes me sound."

Paige laughed and then continued with the first page: "So far, Cole is back and you've all realised that I've gone to limbo in his place, and whilst Piper and Cole are up in the attic looking through the Book, you and I have decided to find out if I left any hints as to how to send Cole back. And now you know that I have in left a hint since you've found the letter. The first thing I will say is to myself: Phoebe, make Paige go to – Hey! No! I'm not reading anymore of this."

Paige had stopped reading now, annoyed at what she had just read.

"What did it say?" Phoebe asked. "You can't just stop there!"

Paige glared at Phoebe. "It's your moronic insistence that I go and see Henry tonight despite the fact that what's going on here is more serious."

"If the future me is insisting, then maybe it already happened for her, so we now have to do it to keep the timeline in check," Phoebe pointed out.

Paige sighed and as she skimmed over the next couple of sentences in the letter, her glare returned to her older sister's astral form.

Phoebe smirked. "Did the next couple of sentences say 'shut up, Paige and listen to Phoebe'?"

"Words to that effect," Paige grumbled. Skipping over the aforementioned sentences, she continued to read the letter. "Cole cannot be returned to limbo until midnight, however much you reject the idea, but that's fine, because you've got an innocent to help tonight. And hopefully after the innocent-helping, you'll have enough time to go and see Henry before midnight. Though my premonition ends whilst you're still helping the innocent, so I don't even know if it's going to be that simple."

"Why won't we be able to send him back until midnight?" Phoebe wondered.

Paige shrugged. "You don't seem to provide an answer. I wonder who our innocent is. And why you want me to go and see Henry so much tonight."

"I just want you to be happy," Phoebe said. "You can't hide behind the not-dating-work-colleagues excuse now that you don't work with him."

Paige rolled her eyes.

"What else does it say?" Phoebe asked. "Does it say anything about making me corporeal for the spell, even if we have to wait until midnight to do it?"

"Your letter says not to bother trying," Paige paraphrased. "I guess that means that the spell keeping Cole here and Phoebe there wears off at midnight."

"Hi. Am I disturbing you?" Cole asked, peering into the bedroom.

Phoebe and Paige turned to the door.

"Yes," Paige replied. "Did you and Piper find anything?"

Cole nodded. "Go upstairs and see Piper. I think she needs someone to talk to."

Phoebe went to move towards the door, but Cole shook his head. "You're not supposed to know what's going on just yet, remember?"

Phoebe sighed, but agreed.

"Besides, I was hoping we could… talk," Cole said.

Paige looked at Phoebe. "Will you be alright down here with him?"

"I'm fine, Paige," Phoebe assured her. "Go and see what's going on with Piper."

Paige nodded and left the room.

"So…" said Phoebe now that she was alone in a room with Cole for the first time in years.

"So…" Cole said, a little lost for words himself. His eyes scanned Phoebe's bedroom. "This place hasn't changed one bit."

"Maybe we should talk in the hallway," Phoebe said, a little uncomfortably.

"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it," Cole said. "I just didn't know what to say."

"You're the one who said you wanted to talk," Phoebe pointed out.

"Right," Cole said. "I know. It's just after how we last left things, I don't know the safest way to start."

"The last time we spoke was four years ago, Cole," Phoebe said. "And that wasn't the most pleasant of times. I don't think there is a good way to start."

"I wanted to start with an apology, but I don't think the apology should be one-sided," Cole put calmly.

"I understand." Phoebe hesitated. "Neither of us reacted well to each other's actions and decisions back then."

"Would you like to discuss what happened? Or is it best for the both of us if we just move on?" Cole asked.

…

[Astral Vision]

Leo sat in the club with his three ex-charges. He stood up, saying: "I'll get the next round of drinks. Does everyone want the same as before?" When they all nodded their approval, Leo went over to the bar.

Leo stood at the bar, waiting to get the bartender's attention.

A man sat by the bar caught Leo's eye. He wore a hat and had a scarf wrapped around his neck. The scarf covered the entire bottom half of his face. This made his intense, piercing eyes stand out.

"Did you want to order something?" the bartender asked Leo, turning his attention away from the man with the intense eyes.

"Oh, yeah, can I get… er…" Leo began.

The man with the intense eyes stood up from his seat and walked away from the bar. Leo watched as he left through the fire exit.

"Did you want to order anything? I've got plenty of other customers waiting," the bartender repeated annoyed.

"Oh, sorry," Leo said. "I would like…"

A few minutes later, Leo returned to his table with a tray of drinks. He noticed that Ed was no longer there.

"Where'd Ed go?" Leo asked.

"He lied and said he was going to the bathroom, when he so obviously slipped out the fire exit," Bert said. "He really didn't seem to be enjoying this meet-up."

Leo dropped the tray on the table and headed for the fire exit. Not sure what had led to Leo's unease, Bert and Nancy followed their ex-whitelighter.

Out in the alley, they found Ed in the middle of a fist fight with the man with the intense eyes. Ed grabbed hold of the man by his scarf. His fist collided with the wall as the man blinked out of his grip.

"He's a warlock!" Nancy said.

The man reappeared behind Bert, who let out a pained gasp as he felt an athame pierce his back. Bert fell forward.

"Bert!" Leo said, catching his ex-charge as he fell.

The warlock walked past Leo, Nancy and Bert, back towards Ed.

"Why'd you do that?" Ed yelled. "This is between you and me. Those three are innocents in all of this!"

The warlock dropped his athame. He removed his hat, revealing a bald head. He removed his scarf, revealing the absence of a mouth. He grabbed Ed and the two of them vanished in a flash of light from the alley.

Blood was slowly covering Leo's hand as he tried to put pressure on Bert's fatal wound.

"Go call an ambulance!" Leo told Nancy. She nodded and ran back into the club. "You're not going to die, Bert. You're going to be just fine." With one hand still on the wound, Leo pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled. "Hi Piper. I know you might have some Cole-related problems, but I need at least one of you here, right now."

...

Back at the manor, Piper walked back into the upper hallway where Phoebe, Paige and Cole had congregated.

"Who called?" Paige asked.

"That was Leo. One of his ex-charges has been stabbed by a warlock. Another ex-charge has been kidnapped by that same warlock," Piper said. "He said he needs one of us to get there right away."

"And that would be the innocent-helping that Phoebe mentioned in her letter. I should go since I'm the one that can get there fastest," Paige guessed.

"I should come with you," Piper said. "Leo seemed deadly worried about this warlock. I don't want Leo to get hurt."

"Do we need any particular vanquishing spells or potions for this guy?" Paige asked.

Piper shrugged. "Leo said something about it being a Warlock of No Words, whatever that means."

"I've never had the delight of facing one, but I've heard a lot about them," Cole said.

"What about them?" Phoebe asked.

"They're a small clan of warlocks that made a vow. They took an oath to never speak spells aloud again. As a result, they lost their mouths, but their ability to use non-verbal spells has made them quite powerful. Not powerful enough to face the Charmed Ones – together or individually – or face a demon as powerful as what I was, but powerful enough to easily take out a common witch," Cole explained.

"So do we need a vanquishing potion or not?" Paige asked.

"You don't. I think him going up against you three and me will be more than enough," Cole said with a smile. "Just like old times."

"No, this isn't just like old times," Piper said quickly. "You are staying here. Surrounded by crystals. Paige and I are going as soon as we've checked the Book for a spell. Pheebs, I'm sorry, I really hate to ask this, but are you okay to stay here and keep an eye on Cole? Since you're not corporeal, we can't orb you with us, and I'd really rather not leave Cole alone in the house."

"It's okay," Phoebe said. "You go and help your husband. I'll babysit my ex."

"Thank you! I owe you one!" Piper said.

"I'll set up the crystals while you look for this wordless warlock clan in the Book," Paige said to Piper.

"Crystal cages. I've missed those," Cole muttered sarcastically.

...

Minutes later, Piper and Paige ran out of the club's fire exit into the alley. Nancy was keeping pressure on Bert's wound. Leo was pacing.

"Piper!" Leo said.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Piper asked, noticing the blood all over his hands and shirt.

"I'm fine. It's not my blood. It's Bert's. He's not fine," Leo said, distraught. "He doesn't have much time."

"Where's his whitelighter?" Piper asked. "Shouldn't his whitelighter show up and heal him?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know, but we've called an ambulance. They'll be here any minute now. Which means you've got to vanquish the warlock fast. Before they get here. Otherwise we'll have to wait until they're gone, and I'm not sure how long Ed can hold the warlock off."

"Where's the warlock?" Paige asked, looking around at the empty alleyway.

"He's here. Along with your charge," Leo said.

"My charge? Which one?" Paige asked.

"Ed Smith," Leo said. "He said he'd been attacked at his flat last night. I think this might be the warlock that attacked him. When he saw the warlock had shown up here, he must have followed him out here to continue their fight."

"What makes you think they're still here?" Paige asked. "The warlock could have taken them anywhere with his power to blink."

"The Book said something about these types of warlocks being able to shift between two planes. This one and another," Piper said. "Is that what you're thinking the warlock has done, Leo?"

Leo nodded. "We disturbed their fight. All the warlock needed to open the portal to the other plane was a life on the brink of death." Leo looked down at Bert as he said this. "That's why he stabbed Bert, but we're not going to let Bert die."

"Of course we're not," Piper said. "I found a spell in the Book that will let us bring the warlock and his victim back to our plane, but it needs to be said from whatever plane he's on. I don't even know how we're going to get to that plane in the first place, but it would be good to know which plane. The Book didn't say. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, it's limbo," Leo said.

"Phoebe," Paige said and Piper nodded in agreement.

"What about Phoebe?" Leo asked, but the presence of paramedics on the scene stopped the sisters from providing an answer.

The paramedics ran over to Bert and Nancy stood up to get out of their way.

"Looks like we'll have to wait a little longer before we help Ed out," Paige said quietly.

...

At the manor, Cole sat inside a crystal cage in Phoebe's bedroom. Phoebe, meanwhile, paced the room, staring at her many possessions.

"Where do we begin?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. I think a more appropriate question is: Where do we end?" Cole said.

Phoebe nodded.

"I guess we should get this over with. I think everyone's been waiting years for the two of us to have a proper farewell," Phoebe said.

Cole smirked. "Everyone? Piper and Paige couldn't care less. And Leo would most likely try to stay neutral in a topic as controversial as me."

Phoebe walked through the crystal cage (the cage was no barrier to her non-corporeal being). She sat down next to Cole.

"When I first met you, I thought my biggest problem would be keeping the secret of being a witch from you," Phoebe said. "I never imagined that it could get more complicated than that."

Cole sighed. "What can I say? From the very beginning, we were both lying to each other."

"And then, when you were the half demon who wanted to be good and wanted us to be together, that was great," Phoebe reminisced. "I felt like we'd already gotten over the biggest hurdle in our relationship."

"That respite really didn't last for long," Cole said. "It wasn't long before my demonic powers were stripped. I thought that would be the best thing that could happen to us. I thought it could only help our relationship, but –"

"You missed being magical," Phoebe finished for him. "And then you became the Source of All Evil."

Cole closed his eyes. "When I took in the Source's powers, I thought I'd be able to control them. It was like a power boost. But the power-obsessed demon half of me took over completely and that demon was now the Source."

"The demon in you didn't have complete control, did he? You almost gave up your powers to that wizard, but I stopped you. You needed saving, and you almost saved yourself, but I – the person who's supposed to help others – stopped you from stripping yourself of those powers," Phoebe said.

"Don't blame yourself, Phoebe. The Seer tricked you. She tricked us both," Cole said.

"Don't do that," Phoebe said.

"Do what?" Cole asked.

"A bad habit that both of us have in common," Phoebe said.

Cole looked confused.

"At the slightest bit of trouble, we've always been quick to point the finger at others. Including at each other," Phoebe said. "Yes, the Seer had a hand in it, but I was also to blame. I believed her."

Cole sighed. "When I came back from the Wasteland, our relationship was more than over. I really wasn't helping you move on by being around. I'm sorry. I would love to blame it on my influx of demonic powers causing me to obsess over you, but since we're trying to not make excuses – I guess the only valid reason I can think of for why I acted the way I did when I came back was because as a demon, you were the first love that I'd ever had. And I guess, I didn't know what I'd do without you. That in no way excuses what I did, and I am very sorry. I have matured since then and I know now that I shouldn't have tried to change your mind about us."

"You were my first long term relationship, Cole," Phoebe said. "The break up was difficult for me. And my instincts were telling me to hate you when you came back. So much anger. So much hurt. So many memories."

"I'm sorry," Cole said. He sighed. "Do you think it would have been different if we were both non-magical?"

Phoebe sighed. "I would never have been at the crime scene that we met at in the first place, if that had been the case."

Cole nodded. "And I would have been long dead by the time the year 2000 came around, considering when I was born."

The two briefly sat in silence.

Cole was the one to break it. "What's bothering you? I can see from your face that there's more you want to say. Let it all out."

"The last time I saw you before today was when you tried to absorb the power of the shadow in the basement. I banished the shadow and the ground swallowed you whole, but you still came back alive," Phoebe said. "But that's not your last memory of me, is it?"

"Nope. I'm sure Paige told you about the alternate reality thing, which is where the alternate you along with your sisters vanquished me once and for all. That should have been the end of it," Cole said. "And it was, until last year. I'm sure you know that I was lurking around the manor when Piper briefly visited limbo last year."

"And that's the last time you saw me?" Phoebe asked.

Cole looked sheepish. "No. I mean, the last time I saw you was that same day, but not at the manor… Remember Drake?"

"You know Drake?" Phoebe asked tentatively.

"I knew Drake, yes," said Cole. "And I was present to say goodbye to him when he died at Magic School. And you just so happened to be in the next room. That was the last time I saw you."

Phoebe gasped. "Drake said that someone sent him my way. That was you?"

"Are you annoyed?" Cole asked.

"Yes and no," Phoebe said. "Drake did help me get through a rough patch, but it shows that you've not outgrown your old manipulative ways."

"I am sorry," Cole said. "I only did that, because I wanted to try and redeem myself."

"Redeeming yourself shouldn't involve sending guys my way," Phoebe said.

"I know," said Cole. "And I can promise you that for the rest of my eternity in limbo, I will never play Cupid for you again."

"How can I believe that when our relationship – both as a couple and as exes – has always been built on lies?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't ask you to believe me or have faith in me," Cole said. "Just know that this is probably the last time we will ever see each other."

Phoebe stood up and walked out of the crystal cage.

"Maybe for you. From what everyone's saying, I'll see you again for the first two minutes after we summon you," Phoebe said.

Cole nodded. "You will."

"I'm going to have to say that spell. I can't even tell my sisters about the consequence of my ending up in limbo. There's no way Piper would let it go ahead if she knew that," Phoebe said in a flustered manner. "I just hate that I'm going to have to spend the afternoon and early evening lying to them. And I don't even know why I put the stupid midnight note into that letter. It makes no sense. Why will the spell only resolve itself then?"

"It's probably because I tell you," Cole said.

"Excuse me?" Phoebe said.

"Midnight. Existing between night and day, it's like a limbo of its own," Cole said. "Any magic existing around limbo comes undone at midnight."

Phoebe shivered.

"Are you okay?" Cole asked.

Phoebe smiled. "From the moment we met, we were never going to work as a couple, were we?"

"No. Not a chance," Cole said, smiling back. "Did it really take us a failed marriage followed by years of hate to realise that?"

Phoebe shivered again. "We've matured over the years."

"You may have matured. I'm just getting old," Cole said, good-humouredly. "Are sure you're okay? Are you cold?"

"I'm fine. It's been good, just talking like this. I think we were always too busy blaming each other for our wrong doings to sit down and talk like adults," said Phoebe, smiling softly. "I'll see you when we summon you."

Cole nodded. "Hey," he said, smiling. "I get what you said earlier now."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.

Cole smiled. "It's my turn to say it this time. Goodbye, Phoebe."

"Goodbye, C –" Phoebe vanished mid-sentence, her premonition over.

...

Piper and Paige watched in silence as Bert was taken away by the paramedics on a stretcher. Leo was talking to Nancy.

"Go with Bert to the hospital," Leo said to Nancy, handing her a note. "Here's his wife's number. Her name is Harriet. Phone her as soon as you get there. We're going to stay here and help Ed."

Nancy nodded and followed the paramedics.

Leo went over to Piper and Paige. "We probably don't have long before police show up asking questions about the incident in this alley."

"Right, so time's not on our side," Piper said. "That seems to be the theme of the night."

"Do you think Phoebe's here?" Paige asked.

"Well, when I was stuck in limbo with Cole last year, we were able to see everything going on with you guys," Piper said. "I couldn't leave the living room, but Cole could go wherever. Since Phoebe's taken his place, I assume she can also go wherever she wants."

"Phoebe has no reason to worry about leaving her astral self alone with Cole, since she's already lived through that," Paige said.

"So there's no reason she wouldn't have followed us here," Piper concluded. She looked up, holding a piece of paper out, and said into the empty alley: "Pheebs, if you're here, you already know the story. All you've got to do is read this spell out!"

"Why's Phoebe in limbo?" Leo asked Paige.

"Shush, we'll explain later," Paige said, looking around for any sign of the warlock.

A bright light flashed in the alleyway and two figures tumbled into view.

...

Cole inhaled and stood up within the confines of the crystal cage as he began to fade away. He smiled.

...

A third figure tumbled out of the portal. The light faded away and Phoebe swung a kick at the warlock, knocking him away from Ed.

"Phoebe?" Paige said. "I didn't know she could come through with Ed. It's not midnight yet, is it?"

"No, it's only ten," Piper said.

Before Piper or Paige could step in to help Phoebe fight the warlock, Ed stabbed the warlock in the back with an athame.

Phoebe jumped back in surprise as the warlock disintegrated into ashes.

Ed remained where he was, panting, not putting his athame-holding hand down.

"Phoebe!" Piper said, running over to her sister.

"Ed?" Paige said, cautiously approaching her charge. "It's okay. Your threat is gone now. You did it. You vanquished him."

Ed turned to Paige, glaring at her. He dropped the athame to the floor.

"Why are you even here?" he asked. He glanced over at Leo angrily before leaving the alleyway without uttering another word.

"Paige?" said Leo.

"Are you wondering why I didn't know that one of my charges was attacked last night?" Paige asked.

Leo nodded. "It's not that I think you're a bad whitelighter. It's just he's an angry guy and you shouldn't just give up on a charge because of their bad attitude."

"Leo, I never gave up on him. He hasn't been my charge for weeks. That's why I would never have sensed that he was under attack last night. He's been making contact with warlocks for a couple of months now. The Elders believe he's switched sides and that it's not safe for him to have a whitelighter if his main company consists of warlocks," Paige said. "I guess he still has warlock enemies too, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

Police sirens were heard in the background.

"We should go into the club before we find ourselves answering questions about what happened to your friend, Leo," Piper suggested.

…

[Astral Vision]

Inside the club, the three sisters and Leo were sat at a table. Leo had covered up his blood-stained shirt with his jacket.

"When I sold P3, I thought I'd completely finished finding myself in a club at this time of night," Piper said.

"Do you miss it?" Paige asked, amused.

"Being up until way after midnight most nights? No way," Piper said. "Speaking of which, it's nowhere near midnight yet. I thought you wouldn't be able to come back until midnight?"

"I wrote that in the letter, didn't I?" Phoebe said, annoyed at herself.

"Yes, you did," said Paige.

"Do you want to know why I wrote it?" Phoebe asked. "Cole lies."

"Is that news?" Paige asked.

Phoebe smiled. "I don't actually blame him for it. He already knew that it had been difficult for me to not tell you two about the events of my astral premonition. I guess that when he realised that Leo needed help with that warlock, Cole already knew that they could go to limbo. He probably realised that if you went there, you'd be able to get me back then."

"Then why couldn't he just say so?" Paige asked, annoyed. "He didn't have to lie to you about the midnight thing, leading you to write it in the letter."

"Yes, he did," Phoebe said. "If that midnight note was not in the letter, you two would have been fixated on trying to get me back from limbo as soon as possible, and probably would have ignored Leo's call about the warlock and his ex-charge."

Piper and Paige exchanged sheepish looks.

Piper sighed. "I guess we do sometimes put each other before innocents, but it's easy to do."

"Yes, but we shouldn't let it be that easy," Phoebe said. "Remember "five strangers or one sibling"? It's easy to let our priorities slip, but we really can't keep choosing the sibling over the strangers."

There was a brief silence between the four in the otherwise noisy club.

"At least, we know who's after us now," Phoebe said.

"You know?" Piper asked.

"Of course I do," Phoebe said. "I followed you guys around whilst on the other plane."

"So you saw me find Prue's addition to the Book's entry? Do you know when Prue saw her?" Piper asked.

"Hey Paige?"

The three sisters and Leo turned around to see Henry standing behind them.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" said Paige. And then she remembered. "Oh! This is the club we were supposed to meet at? I'd totally forgotten!"

"You'd forgotten? But you're here," Henry said.

"Yes, I am," Paige said. She stood up. "Are you guys okay if I –"

"Go!" Phoebe said, playfully pushing her in Henry's direction. "We'll see you later or tomorrow. Go have fun."

Paige went red.

"Can I buy you something to drink?" Henry asked as he and Paige walked towards the bar.

"I can't believe she'd forget about going to see Henry after all the notes I left to remind her not to chicken out," Phoebe said, laughing.

Piper repeated her earlier question to Phoebe. "Did you ever hear Prue mention the Soul Collector, Phoebe?"

Phoebe turned to Piper, becoming serious again. "Not by name, no. Maybe she researched the woman after…"

"After? After what? When did the two of you discuss her?" Piper asked.

"Do you remember when you got annoyed at us when you found out that we didn't tell you about that Alcatraz ghost that Andy helped us vanquish?" Phoebe asked.

"I vaguely remember," Piper said.

"Well, I saw some woman help the ghost escape the prison – but she looked nothing like my fake assistant – unless she glamours?" Phoebe began.

"Focus, Phoebe. No tangents," Piper said. "When did Prue see her?"

"I think Prue saw the same woman when reciting the spell to vanquish the ghost. We briefly discussed it after that, but I never knew that she had found out that the woman was a Soul Collector," Phoebe explained.

"The Soul Collector?" Leo interjected. "Was it Charon, by any chance?"

"I don't know," Piper said. "Cole said there are a few Soul Collectors in existence. Why?"

"From what I've heard, there is only one Soul Collector left. And it's her," Leo asked. "And if she's after you three, she doesn't just want the Charmed Ones dead."

"She wants our souls," Phoebe said grimly.

...

Paige and Henry sat by the bar. Each of them had a glass of water in front of them that they were paying no attention to.

"I thought you said you were meeting up with some friends here," Paige said.

"I am. They're running late," Henry said. "Not that I care. Your company is enough."

"Ouch, Henry. I didn't think you were the sort for cheesy lines like that," Paige said, good-humouredly.

"I'm not, normally. I'm just not sure…" Henry paused. "We're not work colleagues anymore, and –"

"I like you too," Paige said, smiling.

Henry smiled back. "This song's good. I'm not one for dancing, but do you want to –?"

Paige took Henry's hand and dragged him onto the dance floor.

...

Back at the table where Piper, Phoebe and Leo sat, the atmosphere was still serious.

"I guess we should get back to the house and start researching about Charon then," Phoebe said.

"I think we can rest for just one night before we start," Piper said. "And on that note, I think it's about time we head home. I am exhausted."

"Is Cole still at the manor?" Leo wondered.

Piper shook her head. "He would have been sent back to limbo the moment Phoebe came back to our plane."

"And Phoebe's astral self?" Leo asked.

"My premonition ended before Cole was sent back, so you won't find astral me wandering around the manor when we get back," Phoebe said.

Piper stood up. "Let's go then –" Piper stopped, realising something. "Leo, did you come in my car?"

Leo nodded.

"Good, because the rest of us got here by magical means and I didn't want to break Paige away from Henry just to make her orb us home," Piper said.

"Should we let Paige know that we're off home?" Leo asked.

Piper, Phoebe and Leo spotted Paige and Henry from afar on the dance floor. The two had slowed to a stop, their eyes on one another. And Henry lent in for a kiss, which Paige happily reciprocated.

"No, we won't bother her. I don't think she even remembers we're here," Phoebe said gleefully.

[Chrisaholic]

Hi Astral Vision,

finally the problems between Phoebe and Cole are solved. And Paige seems to learn more about charges and all, at least she got Henry now.

Good going!

[Astral Vision]

Thanks, Chris. Glad you're enjoying it.