Charmed Forever II

[Esmeralda]

Whenever I re-post a fic at a different site, I always try to edit it to make it better by taking into consideration all of the fantastic constructive criticism I have received. This is particularly true of my "Charmed Forever", my most popular fic. I found myself re-reading the version that's here and I found myself wanting to share the updated version with all of you, especially because in the year since I posted this, no one took me up on my offer to rewrite it themselves.

If you've already read this fic, I hope you enjoy reading this updated version and finding all of the changes. If you're expecting the plot to be different, you'll be disappointed; I just think it's better explained.

For those of you who *haven't* read this fic yet, I hope you enjoy *my* version of the Charmed finale, especially a chance to read the whole thing without comments from me or others inbetween.

Thanks to all for reading and especially thanks to my wonderful betas, especially 4Ever Charmed--I hope she likes how I put her fantastic suggestions to use!

Es

[Esmeralda]

Author’s Notes: This fic is for all of you who like me watched “Forever Charmed”, the Charmed finale, and wondered:

1. How both Piper and Billie survived that explosion at the end of "Kill Billie Vol 2" without a broken bone

2. Why the Hollow didn’t go out of Piper and Billie until a being of good and a being of evil said the spell on the Hollow’s box

3. How Piper and Dumain, both non-cupids, were able to use a cupid’s ring, which is only used to amplify and direct a cupid's power

3. Why we only saw Piper and Leo as old and not Phoebe, Coop, Paige or Henry

4. Why Old Piper and Old Leo in the future knew what Piper and Leo were going to do, but Wyatt and Chris had no idea and neither did S6 Chris

5. Why Patty’s idea of 3 generations of Halliwells tapping into the Power of Three worked, when only three sisters descended from Melinda Warren are supposed to be able to tap into the Power of Three

6. Why Grams didn’t recognize Piper from "That 70’s Episode" when she said a spell to delete it from little Prue and little Piper's memory, not from hers and Patty's.

7. Why Wyatt ever had his powers in the future, if he’d lost them to the Jenkinses as a toddler

8. Why Henry wasn’t part of the final all-generation hug and why Chris didn't hug Leo

9. How the Charmed Ones were able to write down what would happen in the future when they hadn’t lived it yet

10. How Leo, an ex-whitelighter mortal, could possibly handle magical children while trying to teach them

Well, this is my answer. I’m sure you’ll find a hundred little things wrong with it. And I’m sure you’ll find parts of Forever Charmed that you’ll wish were part of this and that aren’t (Ditto--but they weren’t logical or consistent with the rest of Charmed) If reading this makes you want to do your own version of Charmed Forever (or whatever YOU want to call it)--GO FOR IT! Along the same lines, if someone has already done that and if there's any similarities between theirs and mine, it's purely coincidental, because at the time I wrote this, I hadn't read anyone else's yet--although I have since thenl! I hope you enjoy this and will let me know what you think!

“Charmed Forever"

Based on “Forever Charmed” by Brad Kern
Adapted by Esmeralda

Disclaimer:I don’t own anything Charmed--if I had, the finale would've been something like this! All of these characters belong to Spelling Productions and The WB, now the CW. I would like to acknowledge the spoilers that were found here at thecharmedones.com which I used as a basis for this story.

PROLOGUE

After using their newly-acquired Hollow powers to vanquish the Triad, Paige black-orbed her sisters back to the conservatory only to find Billie and Christy coming down the stairs.

“We have been waiting for you,” Billie told them, also Hollow-filled, her eyes black.

“Your wait is over,” Paige, her eyes also black, replied.

“Where are your potions?” a black-eyed Piper wanted to know.

Christy, her eyes black, too, glared. “We do not need potions this time.”

“Neither do we,” Phoebe shot back, her eyes as black as the others.

Piper glared at Christy. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

Christy shrugged. “You should have followed your instincts.”

Piper glared back. "Next time, we'll know."

Billie smirked. “There will not be a next time,” and holding out her hands, the Battle to End All Battles began. Both sets of sisters held out their hands and shot streams of fire at each other. The mega powers collided and caused a cataclysmic explosion. Billie and Christy were blasted backwards and caught up in the fiery tornado. The Halliwells were also blasted backwards and swept up as well.

The explosion rocked the Manor, blowing out every window before the entire Manor blew up into a mushroom cloud. Mixed in the middle of it was the picture of the original Charmed Ones, shattered, the spirit board broken in two, the wicker chairs from the conservatory ripped apart, the stairs splitting.

No one could possibly survive such an explosion, but in the midst of all the destruction were signs of someone orbing out. There was just one problem--the orbs were as black as the Hollow-filled sisters’ eyes!

Within moments, it was over. Debris continued to fall amongst the rubble and the dust settled, followed by an eerie silence. Just when everything seemed to be lost, someone orbed back--Paige! She'd panic-orbed and was safe! She started looking around, calling for her sisters, but the first ones she spot were the Jenkinses. Paige could see Billie, her blank eyes staring at nothing, her head lolling at a strange angle, her arms maybe buried, perhaps gone. Near her, Paige could see Christy in a similar condition, except it was her legs that couldn’t be seen.

Paige glared angrily at her enemies, then turned her back on them, still calling out for her sisters. That’s when she spot Phoebe’s tatooed arm, still attached to her shoulder. Screaming, she ran to her sister and began digging her out, crying out when she realized that Phoebe was dead. Then she screamed again as she spot Piper buried except for her head and shoulders, her head lolling at a strange angle. Dragging Phoebe’s body over to Piper, Paige began digging her oldest sister out, crying, moaning, keening as she did.

Taking both of her sisters in her arms, she began rocking them, kissing their eyes closed. “Don‘t worry,” she assured them, as she kissed Phoebe‘s bone-white cheeks. “You won‘t go unavenged! Evil will pay!” She turned to kiss both of Piper’s already-cold cheeks. “Don’t worry about your sons, big sister! Evil won’t touch either of them ever again, I guarantee it!”

Her pitch-black eyes glared at her enemies as she dropped her sisters’ bodies and driven mad by both grief and the Hollow, she black-orbed out.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER ONE: "Where is Paige?"

Henry grabbed his office phone, dialing frantically, trying to get a hold of Paige. For the he-wasn’t-sure-how-manyth time, he tried calling the Manor--again he got the “Not in Service” signal. He slammed the phone down in frustration, now in full panic, not sure what he should do, unsure what, if anything, he could do.

Suddenly the phone rang and he grabbed it. "Paige?"

A sobbing barely recognizable voice answered him. "It's me-- Victor. The police just called."

“Police!” Henry gasped. “What about?”

Victor started crying, unable to tell him. “Just turn on the TV. Channel 9. They’re showing it right now.”

Henry grabbed his remote and hit the power button. He stared as the screen showed the remains of the Manor, surrounded by yellow tape, the police going through the mess. Henry gasped as he read the caption: “GAS EXPLOSION ON PRESCOTT STREET--FOUR BODIES FOUND."

Even as he watched, a police officer announced, “We have identified two of the bodies as Piper Halliwell, who resided at this address, and her sister, Phoebe Halliwell, of 1234 California Street. The other two bodies remain unidentified. We are asking the public for help in identifying the other two bodies, so relatives may be notified."

Even as he spoke, four black-and-white photoes of the dead women were shown--Piper, Phoebe, Billie and Christy. Like Victor, Henry went into shock, mourning the deaths of Piper and Phoebe, but cried out what Victor was also wondering, “Where is Paige?“

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in the black room at Magic School, Dumain approached the melted platform where the Charmed Ones had vanquished the Triad, not sure what to do or where to go.

Suddenly Paige black-orbed in. “Where are the demons?” she demanded. “Tell me before I drain your powers and vanquish you!”

Dumain stared at her in shock. “What happened?” he asked. “Where‘s Billie and Christy?”

“Dead,” Paige told him, her voice totally emotionless. “Just like my sisters. Evil killed my sisters and now I’m going to kill everyone else! Now where are the other demons?“

"You can't drain their powers unless they use their powers on you!" Dumain protested.

Paige smiled, the cold smile of someone preparing to tear off the wings of a fly. "That is for an ordinary being. I am no ordinary being. I was half-whitelighter before I took in the Hollow and when my sisters and the Jenkinses died, I took in their portions of the Hollow, too. Now I'm a darklighter who can take in any power or any life force! Now tell me where those other demons are before I drain your life force!"

In a total panic, Dumain smoked out. Paige screamed in frustration and black-orbed out herself. If she couldn‘t get the demons, she‘d save her nephews!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Victor was still talking with Henry, the television on in the background. Suddenly Paige black-orbed in.

“Paige!” cried Victor as he heard Henry’s happy cry from the phone. “You’re alive!” He moved to hug her, but her black eyes stopped him. “What happened?”

“Where are my nephews?” Paige demanded, her voice still as cold as death.

“Why do you want them?” Victor asked in fear for his grandsons.

“Evil took my sisters--I won‘t let it take my nephews! I’m taking them instead!“ and she began to walk towards the guest room.

“No!" and Victor tried to stop her.

Paige held out her hands. “Victor!“ In a flurry of black orbs, Victor flew towards Paige, and she ricocheted him into the wall. As he sank to the floor, unconscious, Paige turned towards the guest room.

There she could see a youth bed where Wyatt was peacefully sleeping, and a crib holding a peacefully-sleeping Chris. Paige walked into the room, staring lovingly at her young nephews, insanely muttering, “Don‘t worry, it will all be over soon. Aunt Paige has always protected you. Now she will be sure that evil will never touch either of you again. Don‘t worry, it will be all over soon and you‘ll both be reunited with your mother again and never be separated from her again!”

If I'd had my way, this is where the credits for "Charmed Forever" would've run!

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER TWO: "There must be someone else."

Henry, still on the phone, breathed a happy sigh of relief to hear Victor call out for Paige until he heard her say she wanted the boys. “What’s going on?“ he yelled. “Victor! What’s happening?“ When there was no answer, he yelled for Paige, but she didn’t answer either.

Looking up to the heavens, hoping the Elders would hear him, Henry begged, “Please! Someone! Anyone! Help!"

But to his terror, it wasn’t an Elder who orbed in--Dumain smoked in, and he was holding the Hollow box.

---

Meanwhile, Paige, her eyes still black, was standing at Wyatt’s youth bed, looking down at him, rubbing a hand across his cheeks. “First I’ll drain your powers,” she muttered. “Then I’ll send you to your mother!” She tried to use the Hollow power combined with her now-darklighter powers to drain Wyatt’s humongous Twice-Blessed powers, but there were no powers to be drained. Screaming in frustration, shaking her head in disgust, she turned towards Chris’ crib.

---

Back in Henry’s office, Dumain was trying to explain. “Both sets of sisters called up the Hollow and now Paige has gone power-mad from the Hollow and the only way to stop her is to put the Hollow back.”

“How do you do that?” Henry demanded, scared silly for Paige and what she had done to Victor and what she might do to her young nephews.

“Both Good and Evil must say the spell written on the Box.. Put your hand on it…”

Henry backed off, putting up his hands to try to ward off this evil. “I’m only mortal. Not magical at all.”

Dumain growled in frustration. “There must be someone else!”

Henry thought and then yelled out, “Coop! Hey, Coop! Come here right now!”

Coop heart-orbed in, his face a study in utter devastation.

“Why didn’t you come before?” Henry demanded.

“Phoebe’s dead,” and Coop’s voice was as dead with grief as Paige's. “I felt it. I felt her death. Why didn‘t I do a better job of helping her find love? She deserved to be loved for the beautiful wonderful person she was before she died.”

“Well, maybe she did, ” Dumain shrugged. “But if you don’t want the whole world to be in a similar situation, you have to help.”

Coop sighed. “Why? What’s the use? The only one I ever loved is dead.“

Henry glared. “Because that’s what Phoebe would want you to do. Just like Paige would want me to help save her."

Coop sighed again. “Yeah. You‘re right.” He turned to Dumain. “What do I have to do?”

“Just hurry!” Henry implored them. “Please, hurry!”

---

Meanwhile, back in the guest room of Victor’s condo, Paige stood at an open window, her eyes even blacker than before now that she had drained Chris of his newly-discovered powers. She had the little boy in her outstretched arms. Looking ten stories down to the pavement below, Paige dropped Chris, insanely screaming, "Tell your mother I love her!"

Chris woke up, screaming as he fell, now unable to panic-orb himself to safety.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER THREE: "Why couldn't I save them?"

Back at Henry’s office, both Coop and Dumain had their hands on the Box and were chanting the spell: "Abolio exume ga ume to eternius."

The Box floated up in the air and let off a bright light. It disappeared and returned safely to its crypt.

---

Just when Chris was falling passed the second story of the condo building, Paige’s eyes returned to normal! “CHRIS!” she screamed. Quickly she held out her arms, this time calling for her nephew. When Chris found himself orbed into Paige’s arms, he began screaming in fear and terror. Paige hugged him and tried comforting him as best as she could, but the little boy was absolutely terrified, remembering seeing the look on Paige's face as she watched him fall. If he had his mother's power of explosion, his aunt would be in a billion pieces!

Then remembering how she used to settle Baby Wyatt down, Paige began to sing to him. At the sound of that voice, Chris began to relax in his aunt’s arms and Paige hugged him in relief.

Suddenly Paige remembered someone else. “Wyatt!” Still hugging Chris, she ran over to her older nephew‘s bed. But Wyatt was still sleeping like an angel. Sighing in relief, she hugged Chris tighter, before remembering someone else. "Victor!" and she ran back to the living room.

Victor was just coming to when Paige ran in. Seeing Chris in her arms, he yelled out in protest, looking for something, anything, he could use to defend Chris, not even daring to think what Paige might have done to Wyatt.

“It‘s OK, Victor,” Paige reassured him. “I don‘t know how, but somehow the Hollow‘s gone. I‘m OK, again.”

To be sure, Victor reached out for Chris, and Paige willing handed him to his grandfather. Then Victor pointed at the phone. “Talk to Henry. He must be terrified.“

---

Henry hung up the phone, relief and joy on his face. He smiled at Coop and Dumain. “She’s OK! Paige is OK!“ He turned to Dumain and with his heart in his eyes told him, “I don’t know who you are, but thank you.“

“Oh, I didn’t do it for your side,“ Dumain smirked. “I did it for mine,“ and he smoked out.

Coop reached for Henry’s hand. “Concentrate on your love for Paige and I will take you to her.”

“Do we really have to orb?“ Henry asked, fear in his voice, still not used to that method of transportation.

“Your wife needs you,“ Coop insisted, enjoying getting back at Henry for yelling at him, even though he knew he deserved it. Henry sighed and agreed, so Coop instructed, “Concentrate on how much you love Paige.”

Henry nodded. “That wasn’t really her who did that. I love her very much,” and as Coop's ring began to glow red, he heart-orbed them both out.

---

Soon Paige was back in Henry’s arms, glad to be there, but devastated over the loss of her sisters. “Why couldn’t I save them?” she moaned. “Why couldn’t we have found a different way to vanquish the Jenkinses? They were Hollow-filled, too. They must’ve said the spell the same time we did. Why couldn’t we have said it first or figure out some other way of getting it first? What am I going to do without them, Henry? I can’t stand being the only one left.”

Henry hugged her tightly. “You’re not the only one left,“ he comforted. “You’ve got me, Paige, and we’ve got the boys.”

"And you have me," Victor told her. "I may not be your true father, but ever since you've joined the family, you've still been like a daughter to me."

“No, no! It’s not the same!" At the hurt look in Victor's eyes, Paige shook her head. "I don't mean you, Victor--I love you, too!--I mean us! When Dumain tells the other demons that I’m the only Charmed One left, all the demons will be after us! And without my sisters, we’d be sitting ducks!”

“Isn’t there anything we can do to bring them back?“ Victor asked hopefully, and Paige only mournfully shook her head. “Can’t the Elders help?“ he insisted. “Or even the magical community? After all you girls have done for them!“

Paige shook her head mournfully. “No one can help. Thanks to the Jenkinses, everyone thinks we‘re the evil ones.”

“Well, the Elders should know better!” Victor retorted. “And what about Leo? The battle is over. Shouldn’t we get him back? He might know a way to get Piper and Phoebe back! If anyone would know what to do, Leo would.”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER FOUR: "My ring doesn't work that way."

Paige brightened with hope, so she called and called and called for the Angel of Destiny, but the Angel didn’t make an appearance. Instead Sandra the Elder orbed in. She truly looked sorrowful over the loss of the other two Charmed Ones and the loss of the Power of Three.

“I’m so sorry, Paige. Leo was to be returned after Piper helped win the battle. But the battle wasn’t won. No one has won.”

“But we vanquished the Triad!” Paige argued. “We vanquished Billie and Christy! We even put the Hollow back!”

Sandra nodded. “And you have also ended the Charmed Ones and vanquished the Power of Three. That means it was a draw.”

“There’s gotta be something you can do!” Paige begged. “Figure it out or, or, or I’ll never answer your jingles again!” she threatened, trying to do her best impersonation of Piper on a tirade.

Sandra’s face oozed sympathy. “I am so very sorry.” and she orbed out.

Paige stomped her foot in frustration, then fell into Henry’s arms and began sobbing wildly, now in complete despair. “Why did I have to be the one who survived? Why couldn’t Piper? She would’ve figured out something. I’m useless. I can’t do anything without her or Phoebe! I always just do what they tell me to do! What will I do without them?” and she buried her head in Henry’s shoulder, weeping uncontrollably while Henry tried to soothe her.

Victor refused to give up. He turned on Coop. “How ’bout you? You’re magical. Can’t you help?”

Coop shrugged. “How? I‘m just a cupid. I don‘t have powers like the Charmed Ones.”

“But you love Phoebe,“ Henry coaxed. “I can tell you do. Can’t you use your ring and your love to make her come back to life?” and Paige raised her head, afraid to even dare to hope.

Coop shook his head. “My ring doesn’t work that way. It helps me make a love connection between people or to show them why they’ve closed their hearts, but that’s it, and with Phoebe and Piper gone and you and Paige a couple, there‘s not much more I can do. I can’t do anything else until the next generation is ready for love. It‘s part of being a cupid.”

Paige brightened. “No, you can do more! Phoebe told us how you took her to the past to explore her love failures--can’t I use your ring to turn back time so I can save my sisters?”

Coop shook his head. “My ring doesn’t work that way. It’s used strictly to amplify and direct my cupid powers. You’re not a cupid, so it wouldn’t work for you.”

“Well, then can’t you take me on that time trip? To save Phoebe?” Paige knew which button to push.

“I wish I could,” Coop replied fervently. “Anything to save Phoebe so I can convince her that she feels the same way about me as I do about her. But I told you--I can only use my powers to take someone back in time to follow love.”

“Perfect,” Paige told him. “Because I love my sisters.”

Hope brightening their eyes, both Victor and Henry encouraged Coop to try. Coop wanted to, but was still reluctant. Turning to Paige, he warned her, “My powers do not always work as they should because love is not practical.”

Paige shrugged. “I don’t have any other choices. Please?”

Coop reluctantly agreed and put his hand on her shoulder. “Think about your sisters and how much you love them. Just remember, it’s best to keep it simple.”

“How ‘bout trying to keep it simple by concentrating on just one of your sisters?” Henry suggested, and Coop nodded.

Paige breathed the word “Piper.”

Coop looked disappointed, but his ring glowed as he and Paige heart-orbed out.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER FIVE: "What? You helped me find Henry?"

When Paige and Coop first heart-orbed back in, Paige couldn’t figure out why they had orbed into Piper and Leo’s bedroom. But just as she realized that all of the furniture was different, she and Coop were surprised by a scream of "Demon!“ as two young naked people sat up in bed. Screaming herself, Paige’s hands flew up to cover her eyes.

“Why did only he freeze?“ asked a familiar voice as Paige turned to look and saw a frozen Coop.

“I don’t know,“ admitted a beautiful voice that Paige had only heard once, a voice welcoming her to the Halliwell family. Peeking through her fingers, she was shocked to see a very, very young-looking Victor and a lovely young woman who could only be one person.

She smiled at that person, telling her and not Victor, “That’s because I’m your daughter, Mom!“

“What?“ screamed Victor in shocked disbelief. “She can’t have a daughter your age!“

“Uh,“ Paige muttered, desperately wishing Piper was here--Piper always knew what to say in a situation like this. “Uh, we came from the, uh, the future to ask for your, uh, help?”

“The future?” Victor demanded. “What sort of crock is that? I still think she‘s a demon! Vanquish her, Patty!”

“No!” Paige screeched in terror.

“She‘s right,” Patty agreed. “She can‘t be. She would have frozen. I think we should hear what they have to say.”

“Well, all right,” Victor reluctantly agreed. “But can she at least have the decency to give us some privacy so we can get dressed?”

“Uh, sure,” Paige agreed. “If you could unfreeze my, uh, my friend.”

Patty grinned. “Oh, right,” and she flicked her hands.

As soon as he could move, Paige led Coop out, calling out, “We‘ll meet you downstairs.” As they walked down the stairs, she shook her head. “I was thinking about Piper, not Mom! I hardly even know Mom despite having heard so much about her from Piper and Phoebe. Why would your powers bring us here?”

Coop shook his head. “I have no idea. But maybe it’s because I was still thinking about Phoebe. I haven’t stopped thinking about her since I felt her death. I haven’t stopped thinking about how much I love her and that I never even knew it. After watching her all this time, trying to help her find love the way I helped the rest of you find it--”

“What!” Paige interrupted. “You helped me find Henry?”

He shrugged. “Of course I did. And Glen and Richard and Kyle, too, but they didn’t work out. I can bring couples together; I just can’t always keep them together. I was so happy when Henry worked out for you. Not often I get to be at the wedding of one of the couples I brought together.”

Paige looked at him suspiciously. “The Elders didn’t really send you, did they?”

He grinned sheepishly. “You don’t really think that they would want any of you to find love and be distracted by a family from concentrating on your duties as Charmed Ones, now do you?” and Paige smirked. “I’ve had to fight those idiots ever since they were dumb enough to make Leo the Charmed Ones’ whitelighter.”

“Dumb?”

“Sure. They knew Piper and Leo were lovers in a past life. Not a good idea to have a couple like that work together, especially in life-and-death situations like you guys face. But if they were going to bring them together, well, it’s just not in my nature to not help them find the love that was already in their hearts. That’s what cupids do.”

Paige was still confused. “But why didn’t we ever see you before? Phoebe told me about another cupid she met, but he sure wasn’t you!”

“Nah, he just became one of their innocents when a demon stole his ring. A cupid is lost without his ring to amplify and direct his powers.”

“So why let us see you now?”

“Well, after you found Henry and Piper was happy with her mortal Leo, even after he was frozen, I was asked to personally help Phoebe. He said that after the love failures with Drake and Dex, the only way I’d be able to convince her not to give up on love was to do it face-to-face. He wants her to find the love she found with him with someone else. And I think he knew she'd find it with me and that's okay with him.”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SIX: "So are you Prue or Piper?"

Paige stared in shock. “Cole!”

Coop nodded. “Cole. I was so sure I’d made the right match there. And I did. But circumstances got in the way. But he loves her enough that he wants her to be happy, even if it means with someone else. But can you imagine what her reaction would’ve been if I had told her that I was sent by Cole?”

Paige giggled. “I think I’m going to enjoy having you as a brother-in-law.”

Coop smiled sadly. “If I get to be your brother-in-law. We still have to save her and Piper. And she still has to realize that she loves me as much as I now know that I love her.”

Paige smiled. “I think she does. It’s the idea of having a forbidden love that scares her. She’s seen what Piper and Leo have had to go through and she knows what she and Cole went through. She’s afraid to go through that again. But my bet’s on you,” and he smiled in gratitude.

“You must be a very powerful witch to be able to travel through time.”

At this new voice, Paige and Coop looked up the steps to see Patty and Victor walking down the steps, both now fully-dressed, their wet hair telling Paige what took them so long. She heard Coop give out a disappointed sigh.

“What?” she asked out of the corner of her mouth.

He replied the same way. “Seeing them hold hands. Another couple I brought together that circumstances tore apart.”

Paige didn’t reply. After all, if circumstances known as Grams hadn’t torn Victor and Patty apart, Patty would’ve never fallen in love with Sam her whitelighter, and they would’ve never had Paige. Instead she answered Patty. “Oh, I can’t time travel. That was him,” and she pointed at Coop. “who did that.”

Victor smiled at Coop. “So are you my future son?”

Paige smiled back. "Sorry, you just had all girls.”

Patty smiled at her. “So are you Prue or Piper?”

“I don’t think we should say too much,” Coop warned. “We don’t want to change history.”

“But we have to tell them something!” Paige protested. “Maybe they can help us.”

Patty nodded. “Of course, if we can. Why don’t we all go in the conservatory and sit down?”

As they walked into the sunny room, Paige heard a squeaky sound and looked down. Smiling, she bent down to pick up a soft toy bunny with bright white fur. “Whose is this?” she asked.

Patty’s smile was tender. “It’s Piper’s. She won’t go to sleep without her Floppy.”

“So how old is she now?” Paige wanted to know.

Victor smiled. “She’s three and you’re five, Prue.”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SEVEN: "It could just work."

At first that name startled Paige, but she quickly realized that letting them think she was Prue was easier than trying to explain who she really was, so she simply nodded, giving Coop a warning look. He merely shrugged. Both waited for either Victor or Patty to notice that Paige's brown eyes weren't Prue's electric-blue and she didn't have Prue's large freckle, but if either Victor or Patty noticed, neither said anything.

As they sat down, Victor requested, “Well, tell us what happened. I’m still new to this witch-stuff.”

“Well, we didn’t quite mean to show up here, but we’re trying to save Piper and Phoebe.”

“Phoebe?” asked Patty. “Who’s Phoebe?”

Coop smiled. “Your and Victor’s youngest daughter.”

“Daughter?” Patty asked. “You mean?” and she touched her tummy, and Coop smiled and nodded, and both Patty and Victor hugged in joy.

“But you said you wanted to save them,” Victor said, his arm now protectively resting on Patty’s tummy. “What happened?”

“They were both killed in a battle with evil,” Coop quietly told them.

“And I was trying to go back in time to warn them,” Paige explained. “I might have tried to do it myself, but without The Power of Three, I had to have Coop do it instead,” and Coop shook his head warningly, afraid that Paige had said too much.

“The Power of Three!” exclaimed Patty. “You mean you and your sisters are The Charmed Ones?”

Coop again tried to stop her, but Paige figured she might as well go for broke and nodded.

Patty smiled with pride. “The Charmed Ones! Oh, Victor! Our daughters are The Charmed Ones!”

“Sounds dangerous,” Victor fretted.

Patty smiled at him. “Being a witch, saving innocents, is always dangerous. But it’s worth it. I warned you about that when you asked me to marry you.”

“Yes, you did,” he admitted. “But I never dreamed it would affect our children, put them in danger, cause their deaths!”

“Well, it has, and now we have to save them. Maybe we can recreate The Charmed Ones.”

Paige began to get excited. “Do you think we could?”

“Well, we already have you, Prue, and you say I have Phoebe here,” and she touched her tummy. “So all we need is Piper. I’ll go get her and--”

“No!” protested Victor. “You are NOT going to take our three-year-old daughter on no time-travel trip! She’s much too young for that!”

Patty sighed. “Yes, you’re right,” and Paige looked disappointed, much as she agreed. Then Patty brightened. “Mother! That’s it! If we can find her, maybe we can recreate The Power of Three using three generations of Halliwells!”

Victor rolled his eyes. “Can’t we leave HER out of it?”

“Victor!” exclaimed Patty. “You said it yourself! These are our daughters we’re talking about. We must do anything we can to save them!”

Paige started getting excited, grinning at Coop. “It could just work!”

“No!” Victor still protested. “You are NOT going on no time-travel journey while carrying our child!”

Coop agreed. “What if something happened to you? Phoebe would never be born.”

Neither would I, Paige silently added. “We’ll just go find Grams.” She turned to Coop. “I love her, too,” and he nodded. “She’ll be able to figure out something.”

“No!” Patty protested. “You have to let me come. I’ll be careful, but you can’t just come here and tell me that I’m going to have another daughter and then in almost the same breath tell me that both she and Piper are going to be killed without letting me help!"

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER EIGHT: "I'm not asking you; I'm asking me!"

Paige started to protest, but she recognized the determination in her mother’s eyes--she’d seen it in Piper’s much too often and knew better than to try to talk her out of it. She shrugged at Coop, who also shrugged before motioning for Patty to stand next to him, while Paige started thinking about how much she loved Grams.

“Wait a minute!” Maybe Paige wasn’t protesting, but Victor sure was. “This is crazy! Patty, you can’t be seri--” but even as he kept protesting, he faded out in a glow of pink as Paige, Coop and Patty heart-orbed out.

As things came back into view, Patty cried out, “Where’s Victor?”

“Back in the seventies,” Coop smiled. “I don’t think we’re there anymore.”

“And we didn’t come back to our time either,” Paige said as she looked around. “Look at the furniture! I feel like we popped into the middle of a scifi-movie!”

Patty nodded, a bit scared, but more fascinated. “And look.” She reached down to pick up a bunny, old and grey, its fur matted down and an ear missing. “It’s Piper’s Floppy, but look how old he is!”

“I just got a triple score!” They all started at the sound of an old man's excited voice coming from the dining room.

“You don’t spell Zankou with an X!” protested an old woman’s voice. While a whole bunch of other voices picked up the argument, Paige’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. Zankou? How could anyone old know about Zankou? Reacting rather than thinking, Paige began walking towards the dining room. Coop tried to stop her, but Paige shook him off, so both he and Patty followed her.

Walking into the dining room, they saw three old couples sitting around a Scrabble board. Near the bottom of the board were six tiles that spelled “XANKOU“. All six glanced up, saw the newcomers, but never stopped arguing the latest play, as if strangers walked in on their Scrabble game all the time.

An old woman, her short hair a too-bright cherry-red that didn’t match her garish-orange lipstick and who had her back to Paige, turned around. “Do you spell Zankou with an X or a Z?”

“Are you challenging?” demanded another old woman, her long naturally-white hair flowing down her back.

“I’m not asking you,” “Red” replied, then smiled at Paige. “I’m asking me.”

“Me?” squeaked Paige, but as she looked more closely at “Red”, she realized that this was indeed herself--at least 50 years older, but definitely her.

“Well?” Old Paige asked again with an encouraging smile. “How do you spell it?”

“With a Z,” Paige managed.

Old Paige spun back with a crow of triumph to smirk at the woman with the long white hair. “Yes, I am challenging. Take the word back, Leo!”

“Leo!” screeched Paige as she looked at the man taking back his tiles. “It is you! You’re not frozen!” And now she recognized the woman with the long white hair and the other old woman whose hair was short and bright lemon-yellow. “Piper! Phoebe! You’re not dead!” And that must mean… "Henry!”

Her 80-year-old husband nodded, then slowly got up. “Be right back,” and he slowly made his way towards the kitchen.

Paige looked at the last old man for a long time before crying out, “Coop? But you’re old! How can a cupid grow old?” and the Coop who had heart-orbed her here was wondering the same thing.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER NINE: “How did you know we would be here?”

Old Coop turned to smile at Old Leo. “It’s worth becoming mortal for the woman you love,” and Old Leo and Old Piper smiled lovingly at each other, while Old Phoebe giggled like a teenager on her first date.

Coop’s eyes grew wide. “And if you’re mortal, then your love isn’t forbidden!”

Old Coop smiled back at himself. “Exactly. And how do you think I came up with the idea? I found out when I was here!”

“What?!” screeched Paige, now totally confused.

Old Piper reached behind her. “We knew you were coming, so--” and she brought out a plate of freshly-baked chocolate-chip cookies and offered it to the newcomers. “Mom? Grams always said that these were your favorites.”

Patty simply stared, her arms still wrapped protectively around her tummy. If Paige and Coop were confused, she was in shock. But something about the love in Old Piper’s voice gave her the courage to reach out and take a cookie. Biting into it, her face lit up in a bright smile. “Even better than the ones Mother used to make,” and everyone grinned while Coop reached for one, too.

Paige didn’t; she was still confused. “But why are we here?” she asked, still trying to make sense out of something that made no sense at all, desperately wishing the younger versions of her sisters were there with her--they would’ve figured it out, she just knew they would've.

“You were aiming for Grams,” Old Paige tried to explain. “But you came to a time when you, yourself, are the grandmother, just like your sisters are, because your love for your sisters is greater than your love for Grams.”

Patty, still enjoying her cookie, looked surprised by that and started to ask, but Coop interrupted her. “How did you know we would be here?”

Old Coop smiled. “Because 50 years ago, it was me and Pai-” Old Paige quickly elbowed him and looked at Patty. “Prue” he quickly corrected himself, “who traveled to the future, so, of course, we were expecting you.”

Old Leo nodded. “Be sure to write in the Book of Shadows that you arrived on May 20, 2050, so you'll know to expect your younger selves when you become us.”

“2050,” gasped Patty, and Paige and Coop were a bit surprised, too.

Old Leo sighed and smiled at Old Piper. “Those were the days before the truce, fighting demons, saving innocents.”

Old Piper smiled back tenderly. “Finding one another, losing you when you became an Elder, finding each other again, only to have to lose you again. Thank God I got you back!”

“But you didn’t!” cried a still-totally-confused Paige. “I still don’t get it! How can you be alive, Piper? How can Phoebe be alive? Why isn’t Leo still frozen?”

Old Paige shrugged. “Because we saved them.”

“But we haven’t yet!” Paige protested.

Old Paige smiled. “But you will.”

Paige shook her head. How could she possibly be having an argument with herself? “I’ve got a headache.”

“Here.” Old Henry was back, a glass of water in one hand, two aspirin in the other.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER TEN: “What! But The Seer said--”

Both Coop and Paige stared at this new proof that the old people truly knew what was going to happen because it had already happened to them.

Paige took the aspirin, threw them down her throat and then glugged the water down. “Thanks for that, but we gotta get back and--”

“--save Piper and Phoebe,” Old Paige said along with her. “And you’ll do it,” she assured her younger self. “Grams will de-”

“Shush,” Old Leo warned her. “She has to figure it out for herself, just like you did, or she could mess up the future.”

“It’s already messed up,” Paige muttered. “And Piper would have done a much better job at straightening it out. She should’ve survived. Not me.”

“You’ll do it,” Old Henry reassured her. “Just keep in mind that the future is well worth saving,” and all three old couples nodded.

Old Coop turned to Paige. “I can tell you, because when I was him,” and he pointed at Coop, “Old Coop told me,” and Paige felt that headache coming back. “Your love for Grams isn’t strong enough to bring you to her,” and again Paige had an attack of survivor guilt. Both Piper and Phoebe knew Grams, loved Grams. Certainly with one of them, Coop would’ve brought them straight to Grams rather than here.

“But,” and Old Coop turned to smile at Patty. “Your love for your mother will take you all there.”

Patty, her arm still wrapped protectively around her tummy, nodded. She was confused as to why Prue didn’t love Grams enough to take them to her, but then even as a youngster, Prue was a very stubborn, very determined little girl, while Patty's mother always wanted to be in charge, so they had clashed often… There was just much too much to try to assimilate, but it didn’t really matter. Only one thing did. “Just tell us how we save my daughters.”

Before Old Leo could stop her, Old Piper told them. “You must get rid of the Hollow.”

Coop didn’t look pleased at the prospect. “Does that mean we’ll have to find a demon to say the spell with us again? I don‘t know if that one guy would.”

“If need be, we’ll force Billie or Christy,” Paige declared. “They’re evil. Grams will figure a way to make them.”

Old Phoebe grinned. “You don’t have to. The Power of Three is stronger than the Hollow any day!”

“What!” screeched Paige, staring at Old Phoebe. “But The Seer said--”

Old Piper rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and we actually believed her!” and Paige had to smirk.

Quietly Old Phoebe explained, “That was just her way to make sure the essence of the Source possessed Cole,” and Old Coop nodded, reaching out to squeeze Old Phoebe’s hand, knowing the old regret that still lived in Phoebe‘s heart.

“Just remember,” Old Leo told Paige, figuring they’d already told them so much already, he might as well finish the job. “The Power of Three is the greatest force ever, good or evil. You just keep forgetting to use it. Don’t forget to use it now.”

“We won’t,” Paige vowed. “If we get the Power of Three back. How can we use it when two-thirds of it is dead?”

“So if we don’t have the Power of Three,“ Patty started. “Mother, Prue and I--”

“No,“ Old Leo shook his head. “Only three sisters descended from Melinda Warren can harness the Power of Three. Their connection as sisters is what makes it work, the way Coop‘s powers makes his ring work.”

“Then it’s hopeless!” Paige wailed, even as she stared at proof that it wasn‘t.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER ELEVEN: "That's the Piper I love!"

Old Henry shook his head. “Just go find Grams. You’ll see. It will all work out.”

Coop told Patty, “Think about your mother and how much you love her.”

Old Coop shook his head. “No, she must feel her love for her mother in her heart. Both of you, remember, when Coop uses his powers, you must focus on whom you want to go to with your heart, not just your head. That’s how you will get to Grams and then to Phoebe and Piper.” He smiled tenderly at Old Phoebe before smiling back at Coop. “In your heart, you wanted to go back to the beginning of your relationship with Phoebe and realize you loved her right away, so you’d have that chance to love her while she was still alive. That love in your heart is what brought you two to the beginning of Phoebe!“ and he smiled at Patty.

That made no sense to Patty, although it did to Coop and Paige, but Patty was getting used to ignoring things that didn’t make sense if it meant saving her daughters. So she concentrated on the great love for her mother that was in her heart.

Paige was smiling at Old Piper, silently swearing to her oldest sister that somehow she would get Leo back for her, even as the three old couples turned to pink fuzz.

When things became clear again, Patty smiled with relief. “We’re back in my time! But where’s Victor?”

Paige reached down to pick up Floppy, Piper’s bunny. Although not as ragged as it was in the future, it wasn’t brand-new either. “I don’t think so.”

Just then they heard a sound coming from the living room, one that sounded an awful lot like a sniffle followed by Grams’ voice asking, “Do you need a tissue? Just remember that you are very special.”

Just like in the future, Paige was drawn by those sounds, Coop and Patty following. Paige looked around a corner to see Grams looking much younger than the one that Paige knew, her arm around a young girl who looked to be around ten, her hair long and dark with bangs fringing her forehead, dabbing her eyes with the tissue. “Not as special as Prue or Phoebe,” she sniffled.

Grams smiled. “You’re special in your own way. After all, you’re the only one who can stop your sisters from killing each other,” and both Young Piper and Paige giggled through their tears. “And remember,” Grams continued. “You’re my very special helper. No one’s better at mixing things together than you are. That and other gifts you have will make you very special one day.”

Paige snuffled and whispered, “That’s the Piper I love and the one I was trying to reach.”

Coop smiled. “Then that is why we are here. In your heart, you wanted to reach this Piper, while in her heart Patty wanted to reach her mother, so we found both.”

But Coop spoke just a bit too loud, as Grams’ head snapped up and she looked around. Turning to Young Piper, hiding her suspicions, she said, “Now go make sure your sisters haven’t killed each other yet.”

Again Young Piper giggled before giving Grams a huge hug. Grams kissed her on the cheek, then sent her on her way, outside. Only after hearing the back door slam did Grams stand, tall and formidable, her arms raised, ready to TK anyone who would dare enter her home uninvited. “Who’s there?” she demanded. “Show yourself!”

Patty laughed in delight and before Paige or Coop could stop her, she stepped into the living room. “It’s just us, Mother!” and at the sight of the daughter she knew to be dead, for the very first time in her long eventful life, Penny Halliwell, Wiccan High Priestess, fainted.

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER TWELVE: "You're not Prue. So who are you?"

“Mother!” cried Patty as she ran to her side.

Coop and Paige looked at each other. “Go get her a glass of water,” Coop ordered, and without even thinking about it, Paige, who was used to being told what to do by Piper, headed for the kitchen. When she returned, Patty was attending to her mother, while Coop stood close by, a concerned look on his face. Seeing it, Paige worriedly asked him, “Is she okay?”

“Well, your grandmother’s coming around,” Coop told her. “Your mother, that’s another story.”

“Mom!” cried Paige. “What’s wrong with Mom?”

“She’s suffering from information overload. Along with everything we told her and what she saw in the future, I had to tell her that in this time period, only seven years after we came to her, she’s already dead. Not only that, it’s her mother who is taking care of her daughters, not the husband she’s still madly in love with and who is still alive.”

"You didn't tell her why!"

He shook his head regretfully. "Telling her that was more than enough."

Just then Grams came to, asking, “What happened?”

“You fainted,” Patty quietly told her.

Grams glared. “You’d faint, too, if your dead daughter suddenly appeared in the flesh.”

“I know. Coop told me. I’m from the past--the 1970’s--but he and Prue brought me here,” and she indicated her traveling companions.

Grams turned to look and slowly stood, once more raising her arms, glaring at Paige. “I remember when The Charmed Ones visited Patty and me while she was carrying Phoebe, and you are not Prue. So who are you?”

“What!” cried Patty, staring at Paige in shocked hurt.

“No, I’m not Prue,” Paige admitted. “But I’m not a demon either. Mom, you saw that I was part of the family in the future, that the others all accepted me. I’m another daughter. Your youngest daughter.”

Grams continued to stare at her. “Paige?” and Paige nodded. Grams also nodded. “And you’re part of the family now?” Again Paige nodded, and Grams did, too, putting two and two together and realizing why Paige hadn’t told Patty the truth. “Your mother keeps an eye on you. She tells me about you.” Then she spun to glare at Patty. “When I summon her from the other side, not when she comes visiting from the past!”

Poor Patty was still very, very confused and very, very hurt by Paige’s deception, but Paige gently told her, “I’m so sorry, Mom, but we really don’t have time to explain.”

Patty took a deep breath, her arms once more wrapping around her tummy as if by doing that she could keep all of her daughters safe, not just Phoebe. She nodded her acceptance of her daughter’s apology, then turned back towards her mother. “This isn’t a social call, Mother. It’s a plea for help. We must save Piper and Phoebe in the future. That’s why Coop and…and…Paige?” Paige nodded. “Paige brought me here.”

Grams nodded, the mention of Piper and Phoebe—not Prue—verifying what she had deciphered, that Prue was indeed gone. “What do we have to do?”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "Don't ask! Just chant!"

So Paige and Coop explained what had happened. Once Coop assured her that Young Piper would forget everything once they were returned to their own time, Grams came up with an idea very similar to Patty’s earlier one, and although Paige still wasn’t nuts on it, she knew it was their best bet. Ten-year-old Piper could handle something that three-year-old Piper couldn’t.

So Grams went to call Young Piper back into the house, explaining to her what was up as they walked back into the living room. Grams didn't tell Young Piper that she was going to help prevent herself and Phoebe from dying or how terrible the Hollow truly was--that would've been too much for the young girl--but Grams did tell her that she'd get to help herself out.

At first, Young Piper couldn’t quite believe that what Grams was telling her was actually the truth, but when she honest truly saw her mother alive again and got to run and hug her tightly, she became both excited and scared at the prospect.

Grams cast the spell that would temporarily unbind Young Piper’s powers and then again explained exactly what they needed her to do. Young Piper was anxious to try out her new powers, but Grams just told her, “Later! Much later!”

Young Piper was so excited that it made Paige smile. Phoebe had told Paige about how leery Piper was when she first found out that they were witches and, of course, Paige had heard Piper wish for a normal life too many times to count. To see Young Piper this excited, it was hard for Paige to believe that this was actually her older sister as a child.

After running through their plan a number of times, making sure everyone, especially Young Piper, knew exactly what to do, they all went into the conservatory and gathered around Coop, making sure that Paige and Young Piper were on either side of Patty. He again concentrated on his love for Phoebe, but this time he concentrated on the way he felt about Phoebe when he felt her die and how badly he wanted to prevent her from dying, feeling all of this strongly in his heart. At the same time, Paige concentrated on her love for Piper and her determination to stop her from dying and get Leo back for her, also feeling all of this in her heart. Soon the scene once more pink-fuzzed out.

This time when it cleared, Paige had no problems recognizing the scene. Three black-eyed sisters were facing two black-eyed sisters. Past Christy was just telling Past Piper, “You should’ve followed your instincts.”

“The spell!” yelled Grams. “Now!”

Immediately Paige and Young Piper put their hands on Patty’s tummy, feeling The Power of Three connection with Embryo Phoebe, Young Piper’s eyes growing wide as she felt that sensation for the first time that she could remember. All five of the time-traveling Halliwells began to chant:

“The Power of Three shall set us free! The Power of Three shall set us free! The Power of Three shall set us free!”

They chanted it over and over as the Battle to End All Battles began again. Even as Past Billie and Past Christy held out their hands to shoot energy balls, the five kept chanting. Rather than the mega streams of power, the black streams of the Hollow flowed out of the five black-eyed women and headed towards the five who had just arrived!

Young Piper screamed in terror. Patty squeezed her hand reassuringly while Paige yelled, “Don’t ask! Just chant!” and Past Piper, Past Phoebe and Past Paige, no longer Hollow-infected, joined the chant. As Old Leo had told them, The Power of Three, now doubled by both sets of The Charmed Ones and amplified by their familial connection to their mother and grandmother, was much too powerful for the Hollow as all five streams became one huge black stream.

“Keep chanting!” hollered Past Piper, so everyone kept chanting while Coop, Past Billie and Past Christy simply stared.

Suddenly the huge black stream of the Hollow turned into a hundred different colors before it very simply went POOF as all five Past women tried to figure out what just happened.

“What went wrong?” demanded Past Christy.

“I don’t know," Past Billie admitted. “But let’s get out of here and figure it out!” and taking her sister’s hand, the Jenkinses smoked out.

Meanwhile Past Piper, Past Phoebe and Past Paige were staring at Paige, Grams, Patty and Young Piper. “What’s going on?” Past Piper demanded as she, Past Phoebe and Past Paige began walking towards the time-travelers.

“Don’t ask,” Paige advised. “Not if you don’t want a headache.” No sooner did she say that than she blurred into Past Paige.

Grams shook her head. “Now that is something that you don’t see every day.”

“What just happened?” Piper demanded.

Coop smiled. “I think time just caught up with itself.”

“Coop!” cried Phoebe. “What are you doing here?” at the same time that Piper asked, “Grams! Mom! What are you doing here? And is that--?”

Young Piper was staring at her older self. “You’re me! And we really do have powers?”

Piper nodded. “We sure do,” before turning on her youngest sister. “You brought our mother and our grandmother and ME to face the Hollow? Do you know what could’ve happened if you had failed? Have you lost your freakin' mind?”

Young Piper hid behind Grams. “Are you sure that’s me?”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "Don't you recognize me, Mom?"

Grams reached behind her to bring Young Piper forward, squeezing her tightly with one arm. “Yes, my darling, that’s you, all right. I always knew there was some fire inside of you somewhere--you couldn‘t be a Halliwell without it. I told you that you were special. And now I know you‘re even more special than I thought you were,” and this time her eyes were on the older version. Her words calmed Piper down and now she managed to smile back.

Now Young Piper clapped her hands. “Wait until I tell Prue and Phoebe!”

“Um,” Grams started. “I’m afraid--”

“That’s okay,” Coop assured her with a smile. “Remember, I’ll take care of it when I return all of you. She won’t remember anything.”

Grams realized that he also meant her and she looked disappointed and everyone laughed, everyone but Piper. “Where’s the Angel of Destiny?” she asked. “Where’s Leo? We fought the battle. I want my husband back.” And looking up, she demanded, “I want Leo back, right now!”

But no Angel appeared. And although Leo did appear, it was only to Piper, much as he had before, only this time she could practically see through him, he was so transparent, the look of fear on his face clearly pleading, “Help!” before he was gone.

When she told the others, Phoebe hugged her, even when Piper tried to stop her. “Billie and Christy are still alive and still evil," Phoebe reminded her sister. "Despite beating the Hollow, I don’t think we’ve won the Battle yet.”

Paige nodded. “It’s still just a draw.”

Piper sighed. “So much for my future…”

Paige blinked back her tears. “I tried to save him for you, Piper! Really I did!” She spun to face Coop. “I don’t get it. We did what our future selves told us to do. Why didn’t it work?”

Coop could only shrug before adding, “At least your sisters are alive,” and he turned to smile at Phoebe, who shyly ducked her head, wondering why she always felt shy around this man, something she hadn‘t felt around any man since Cole.

“Yeah, but we’re right back where we started from,” Piper grumbled. “And still no Leo. We’ll just have to figure a different way to finish the Battle.”

Phoebe nodded. “And with Grams and Mom here, that should be a piece of cake. I mean, if we can beat the Hollow, we can certainly beat Billie and Christy!”

“But we have to be sure that Mom gets back to the past safely,” Paige reminded her. “Or you and I are toast! And if something happens to Young Piper, who knows what will happen to our Piper! That’s why I wasn’t nuts on this idea.”

Patty nodded and Piper held her head as she felt the pressure build.

“Something else I don’t understand,” Patty told Piper. “Is Leo your husband?” When Piper nodded, Patty continued. “Why do you have to vanquish those two to get him back? I mean, those two are obviously evil. Don’t you simply want to vanquish evil?”

“Please, Mom,” Piper begged, her head pounding. “It’s too complicated to get into.”

Patty looked ready to protest when suddenly an orbstream appeared in the middle of the room. “Leo?” Piper whispered, a whimper in her voice.

But it wasn’t Leo who appeared. It was--

“Wyatt!” cried Phoebe, as she ran to the good future version of her older nephew.

“Chris!” screamed Paige, running to hug the future version of her younger nephew. Chris hugged her back, but not as tightly as a different version of her nephew had, and Paige felt bad, knowing that somewhere deep inside, he still remember being dropped out of that window and still didn’t quite trust her the way that other version of him had. Despite all the stuff he must've gone through as a Charmed One's kid, that babyhood trauma remained.

Piper was staring at the girl who was standing between her sons and who had been holding their hands. She looked a couple years younger than Chris and had the long chocolate-brown hair and high cheekbones of the Halliwells, but her eyes were as green as Leo’s and Chris’, and her face reminded Piper of Leo even more than Wyatt's did.

“What are you two doing here?” Piper demanded of her sons, then turned to the girl. “And who are you?”

The girl looked hurt. “Don’t you recognize me, Mom? I'm Melinda."

Chris rolled his eyes. “I told you she didn’t know about you yet," then he turned towards Piper. "We found the entry you wrote in the Book of Shadows, Mom.”

“What entry?” Piper asked.

“You know,” Melinda insisted. “The one about needing us to come back here in order for Wyatt and Chris to reclaim their powers and so we could help free our father from being frozen.”

“WHAT?” demanded Piper. “I wrote no entry concerning you three. How could I? I didn't even know about you.”

“Well, you did,” Wyatt insisted. “Or maybe you will, because here we are!”

[Esmeralda]

Fair warning! This chapter has given just about everyone who has read it a headache...it gave *me* one when I wrote it! Time travel can do that to you. Don't worry if it doesn't make a lot of sense to you now...I promise it will before the fic is over!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: "How can they be dead and still play Scrabble?"

Everyone stared at the newcomers, still totally confused. Paige began to think she was back in the future with all this confusing talk and went to fetch some aspirin for both herself and Piper, who looked absolutely sick from the pressure.

Piper kept staring at Melinda, the only thing that was keeping her from going totally insane. She was going to have a daughter, a daughter who had to be Leo’s because she looked so much like him, even more than Wyatt did. She held that thought close in her heart. It had to mean that they would somehow get Leo back. That helped her headache even more than the aspirin that Paige insisted she take.

“So these are my grandchildren?” Patty asked in amazement. “Whose are they?”

Piper had to smile. “They’re all mine,” and Patty smiled back, pleased, while Young Piper just stared in shock. These kids who were supposed to be hers were even older than she was!

“GrandSONS!“ cried Grams, horrified. “I have great-grandSONS? And they had powers? Only the girls are supposed to inherit Warren powers!“

Piper rolled her eyes. “Grams, we’ve already had this argument or we‘re gonna have this argument or, or, whatever. Face it. They’re my sons, they have powers and if they don’t now, we’re gonna get them back for them, and I love them and eventually you do, too. Either face it and accept it or have Coop take you back right now!“

“Coop!” cried Wyatt. “Uncle COOP?"

Chris rolled his eyes at his brother. “Watch it! I warned you about future consequences!” but it was much too late, because Phoebe was already calling out, “Uncle COOP?” and Coop sheepishly shrugged.

“But you’re not dead!” cried Melinda, staring at Coop in amazement. “Does that mean Uncle Henry is alive, too? What about our father? Is he still frozen?”

Chris rolled his eyes at his sister. “Not you, too!”

Paige was staring at Melinda in shock. “No! They can’t be dead! They can’t! How can they be dead and still play Scrabble?”

Now it was Piper and Phoebe’s turn to look at their younger sister as if she was nuts, but Coop and Patty both nodded their agreement.

Paige ignored the looks her sisters were giving her to spin on her niece and nephews. “Your parents play Scrabble, don’t they?”

Now it was Piper’s children’s turn to look at their aunt as if she was crazy.

“You kidding?” Wyatt asked, while Chris sighed impatiently. Wouldn’t his brother ever learn? “I don’t even think they own a game.”

Melinda nodded. “They’re too busy fighting demons, just like the whole family always is. Even Wyatt and Chris. They may not have powers, but they're the ones doing the scrying and mixing potions and coming up with spells while the rest of us do the fighting. We never do anything but battle demons because they're always after us--they have been ever since you guys didn't win the Ultimate Battle. Us kids can’t even go to school or the demons would attack us there and we can't have the demons attacking the other kids. I don’t even know how to play Scrabble or any board games. I've heard of them, of course, but Wyatt's right; no one in any of our families even owns any board games,” and Wyatt nodded while Chris now rolled his eyes at his sister. Not her, too!

But Paige was still insistent. “Maybe not in your future,” she told the next generation. “But in some other future I’ll bet your parents did teach you, because in some other future they do play Scrabble--all of them do--and that’s the future I’m determined we're going to have! One that allows us to do something besides just fight demons and one that includes Henry, Leo and Coop all alive,” and that startled Phoebe.

Coop nodded. “Your heart took you to the future you wanted,” and his eyes smiled at Phoebe.

“But it was real!” Paige insisted. “Our older selves told us how to save everyone. All of our older selves!” and both Coop and Patty nodded.

Grams nodded. “So you must have to do something more than just getting rid of the Hollow, and these kids must have a role in it. And since they just came now, it must have been something you‘ve done recently.”

Piper nodded, then turned to her children. “Please tell us exactly what happened to bring you here.”

“We can’t tell you,” Chris insisted. “Future consequences!”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "We're the only Halliwells who can't kick demon a$$!"

Phoebe and Paige couldn’t help rolling their eyes. So did Wyatt and Melinda. Not Piper. She was royally pissed and let loose her anger on her younger son. “To hell with future consequences! We couldn’t care less about them!”

“But we do!” Chris insisted. “It’s our future! We can’t have it messed up!”

Piper glared as she rolled her eyes, and Paige and Phoebe ran over and held her hands down, afraid she might end up blowing up her son! “Look, buster! You’re talking about a future where all of us sisters are widows and we don’t even have time to play a simple game of Scrabble, while Paige is talking about a time where we’re all alive and have time to play games, not just battle demons!” and Paige nodded. “If the future consequence of you telling us what happened is that we’ll be able to have the future Paige saw rather than the one you came from, well guess what! That’s what we want! And if you stop and think about it, I'll bet it's the one you'd want, too!”

“But—“ Chris interrupted, trying to explain.

“No buts, buster!” Piper interrupted right back. “Look. If I really wrote that entry in the Book of Shadows, or if I’m going to write that entry, or, if, well, whatever, you know what I mean, well, then obviously that means that we need your help and how the hell can we ask you to help us if we don’t know what the hell happened to bring you back? So forget about the future consequences, buster, and start talking!”

Chris opened his mouth to argue, to explain, then thought about it, then closed his mouth again.

Melinda grinned. “She’s right, Chris. Mom’s always right.”

Wyatt nodded. “You should know better than to argue with Mom!”

Chris sighed impatiently, “Oh, all right, but you already told them everything anyway." He shrugged. "We found that entry in the Book of Shadows that says we helped you get Wyatt his Twice-Blessed powers back, and helped me get the ones I once had, which also helped bring our father back, so here we are.”

Melinda nodded. “I can’t wait to meet him!”

“What?” cried Piper. “You haven’t met your father yet?”

Melinda shook her head. “I was born after he was frozen. I just know him from your stories and pictures.”

Piper stared at her, knowing she had to be Leo’s daughter. Despite the dark hair, she looked too much like Leo not to be, even more than Wyatt did. Suddenly Piper’s eyes grew large as her hand went to her tummy, a tummy much bigger than it had been when she lost Leo, one that she thought was simply growing from all the comfort food she kept fixing for herself, and as for that other thing that didn‘t happen each month, well, she was certain that was a result of stress. Now she knew better.

Suddenly it hit her sisters, too, as they screamed in delight and ran to hug Piper and rub her tummy, as she tried to shrug them off. The older versions of Piper’s kids just shrugged at one another and Grams, Patty and Young Piper did the same while Coop just smirked.

Phoebe was ecstatic about Piper’s condition, but confused about something else as she turned to Melinda. “But then how can you orb? Leo must’ve been mortal when he and Piper made you, not a whitelighter.”

Melinda shrugged. “You guys wondered about that, too. Mom figured that even though my father was mortal, he must’ve still been able to pass down his powers, the way he was able to pass them down to my brothers, even though he was technically dead,” and her brothers nodded.

Paige was confused, too, as she turned on her niece and nephews. “I still don’t get something else. Why would Piper ever write such a thing? Wyatt, you’re the Twice-Blessed Child--the most powerful kid ever. Only the Power of Three must be stronger,“ she added, remembering how it had vanquished the Hollow. “Of course you have powers.”

“My great-grandSON the Twice-Blessed Child?” Grams demanded as it suddenly hit her. “Not my great-grandDAUGHTER? I was sure she was,” and she indicated Melinda.

Again Piper sighed impatiently, sounding an awful lot like Chris. “Not now, Grams! Not now!” She turned to her older son. “Wyatt, did you ever have your powers?”

“Well, I did,” Wyatt admitted. “I vaguely remember having them when I was very small. But neither Chris or I have powers now.”

“Sure,” Melinda agreed. “I mean I have powers, as do the rest of the cousins--’’

“COUSINS?” interrupted Phoebe and Paige.

Coop laughed. “Of course. How else could you have grandkids?”

Phoebe spun on Paige. “GRANDKIDS?”

Paige nodded. “Later!”

“Later, both of you!” Piper barked, then motioned Wyatt to continue.

“Chris and I are the only Halliwells who can’t kick demon a$$.”

“Watch it, young man!” reprimanded Grams.

Wyatt hunched his shoulders. “Yes, ma’am. We’re the only ones who can’t kick demon butt,” and as Grams nodded, Patty, Phoebe, Paige, Melinda and Young Piper all giggled while Chris rolled his eyes.

Not Piper. She was too worried. Shushing the others, she asked Wyatt to continue.

He nodded. “So when Patty--”

“Patty?” Phoebe interrupted, while Patty smiled. “Who’s Patty? Is she a cousin? Who’s her mom?”

“Yeah, she’s our cousin," Chris told her, figuring his mom was right and he might as well tell them everything. "Your oldest daughter."

"OldEST?" cried Phoebe. "I have more than one? More than two?"

Piper rolled her eyes. “Phoebe! Please! Time enough for that later. What did Patty do?” she asked.

"She’s the one who found the entry,” Chris told them. “And I remembered the time-travel spell from the other time.”

“Other time!” This time it was Piper who interrupted. “You still remember the last time you were here? With the Titans and the Valkyries and Gideon?” and Chris nodded.

“But how?” cried Paige. “Leo and I watched you die!”

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: "It has to be Billie and Christy!"

“I remember that,” Chris admitted. “But that’s the last double memory I have.”

“They both have double memories,” Melinda put in. “They’re both weird.”

Chris rolled his eyes at his sister then continued. “I’ve always remembered another life, one where both Wyatt and I have powers, but he’s evil, and I went back in time to before I was even conceived in order to save him. It’s strange, but I’ve gotten used to it.”

Paige snapped her fingers. “That future version of you that we thought had died faded at the same time the present version of you was being born, so that future version must’ve caught up in time with you, the way I caught up with myself when we came back.“

“So Chris wrote down the spell and I used it on my orbing powers.“ Melinda put them back on track. “And here we are.”

“It has to be Billie and Christy,” Piper groused.

“Can you please tell us who these Billie and Christy people are?” Grams requested, and Patty nodded.

Piper started to explain, with her sisters helping, about how they met Billie, but when she got to the part about Christy being kidnapped by demons as a child, Patty interrupted her. “Oh, that poor child!”

“Some poor child,” and Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Billie was fine before she showed up--a bit dumb, maybe, but at least she was our friend.”

"Wait!" Patty was still upset. "If this Billie is a witch that means her sister is a witch, too! What are you girls doing vanquishing fellow witches?”

“Sounds like they turned evil,” Grams judged darkly. “That means they’re warlocks now, not witches. Of course they must be vanquished.”

“But--” Patty started, but Piper shook her head.

“Mom, can we just table this discussion for now? Right now we have to figure out how to get my sons their powers back, since that seems to be part of getting Leo back."

Phoebe nodded. "Once they became warlocks, Billie and Christy must’ve used the Hollow to steal Wyatt’s powers.”

Paige hung her head. “And I stole Chris’ while I was possessed by the Hollow.”

Hearing this, Piper's eyes grew wide in amazement. "You what when you were WHAT?"

This time it was Paige's turn to wave Piper off. "Later. Just believe me when I say I didn't mean to." Then she brightened. "Hey, that should mean that I have Chris' now!" She waved her hand at a lamp, trying to move it with TK. The lamp stayed put. “But I don’t have them now. Where did they go?”

“I don’t get it,“ cried Phoebe. “The powers are supposed to go back to their rightful owners after the Hollow is returned to its box!”

It was Grams’ turn to hang her head. “But we didn’t return the Hollow to its box. We vanquished it. And with it, my great-grandsons’ powers! It wasn’t such a good plan after all, Piper. I’m so sorry.”

“Of course it was a good plan,” protested Paige. “It’s what our future selves told us to do! It’s what they must’ve done in order to make their future come to be. There must be something else that we need to do!”

Phoebe had been thinking about it and now she had an idea. “Well, I can only think of one way to get them back."

"What's that?" Piper asked.

"Go back in time and stop the Jenkinses from taking Wyatt’s powers in the first place.”

Paige nodded. “And if we vanquish them before they summon the Hollow, we won’t have to summon it ourselves, so I won’t take Chris’ powers.”

For the first time in a very long time, a genuine smile lit Piper’s face. “And we would win the Battle and I’ll get Leo back!”

“Only problem is you can’t use my powers to go back to them,” Coop reminded them. “My powers only bring you to the ones you love. You certainly don’t love those two."

[Esmeralda]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: "So let's go get Little Wyatt."

“But our spell should work,” Melinda pointed out. “If we knew when, we could tweak the spell so it would use my orbing powers to take all of us to that time.”

“Well, when did these two steal Wyatt’s powers?” asked Grams.

“I should know,” Wyatt admitted. “But unlike Chris and his double life, I can’t remember that far back--I'm not sure if Chris remembers that first version of Chris as a kid," and Chris nodded. "I do remember coming back here as an adult and becoming evil and then becoming good again and remember seeing myself as a little kid with powers, but I just vaguely remember having powers myself; so I don ‘t remember when I lost them.”

“But little Wyatt might,” Chris suggested. “I remember he was a pretty special little boy when I was here before.”

Wyatt smiled. “Thanks, bro.”

Melinda rolled her eyes at both of her brothers. “So let’s go get little Wyatt,” and she started to head for the stairs.

“He’s at your grandfather’s condo,” Piper told her. “Do you remember the way, Chris?”

“Sure. Melinda can take us there. Mel, it’s the same one he has in our time--he never moved.”

“Can I go with you?” Patty asked.

“Dad will be there!” Phoebe warned her.

Patty smiled. “I know. I miss him.”

Grams shook her head. “Must be from the time before I kicked him out.” She shook her head. “Marrying someone who’s not magical. They’d never understand, so it never works. I should know.”

Patty stared at her mother in hurt shock, while Paige and Piper exchanged, “Oh, yeah?” looks, thinking of Henry and Leo.

“Never mind,” Coop told Patty gently. Then he looked at the others. “May I come, too? I would like to see this reunion,” and there was a twinkle in his eyes. The others nodded and Coop looked back at Phoebe. “I’ll be back. We have to talk.”

Phoebe just sighed impatiently, sounding a lot like her younger nephew. She didn’t want to talk to someone who was magical. Grams was wrong. Marrying someone magical wasn’t a good idea, no matter what she might have done in a different timeline. Especially when it was forbidden. No matter what she felt for Coop in her heart. But she remembered what happened the other time she desperately loved someone whose love was forbidden her and she couldn't go through that pain again.

So Melinda took Chris and Wyatt’s hands, while Patty took Chris’. and Wyatt took Coop’s. As they began to orb out, Piper yelled, “Hurry back as soon as you find anything.” As soon as they were gone, she turned to the others. “We have to get to the Book of Shadows, so we can figure out how to vanquish Billie and Christy and get Leo back. Paige?”

Paige grinned, glad to have Piper back in control, and soon they were all taking the Paige Express to Phoebe’s loft and the Book of Shadows.

Soon Grams and Piper were busy working on brewing a potion. “We don’t have enough herbs.”

“Grams! They’re human, not demons, even if they are warlocks!”

“But they’re still evil. We can’t take chances.” She smiled at the Book of Shadows. “Look how thick it is! I’m so proud of you, Piper, all of you, but especially you. If Paige is a part of the Power of Three, it must mean that Prue isn’t,” and Piper nodded, blinking her eyes. “So you’ve had to take over. Oh, my precious girl! I’m so very proud of you! When Patty and Paige and Coop found me, I was right in the midst of telling you that you were just as special as Prue and Phoebe.”

Piper smiled. “I remember that. It’s one of my favorite memories.”

“I was right, wasn’t I?"