Chapter Text
Morality Bites
The Halliwell Manor
Piper stomped into the kitchen with a bag of groceries in one hand and one of her shoes in the other. Prue, Phoebe, and Paige were all gathered around the coffee pot when she dropped the groceries unceremoniously on the island.
"Whoa, what did you buy?" Phoebe exclaimed, referring to the smell that followed Piper inside.
"Doodie." Piper replied with a glare at her sisters as she held up her shoe for them to see.
"We weren't out of that." Prue quipped.
Paige wrinkled her nose and backed away a step. "Ew…" She whined. "Shoe!" She called, making it disappear in orbs and reappear in the sink where she ran over and turned the water on.
"Paige, that shoe was expensive." Piper snapped but sighed as the damage was already done. She turned her gaze to Prue and Phoebe. "I stepped in it again. That man has turned our front walk into a puppy minefield." She ranted.
Phoebe shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe that guy let's his dog do its business right in front of our house."
"Well, we've left notes…" Prue pointed out with a resigned sigh.
"And sent Andy out to talk to him." Paige added.
Piper grabbed the empty milk carton on the table in front of them and threw it roughly into the trash. "And gotten nowhere." She countered, ever the pessimist.
"Did Andy show him his gun?" Phoebe wondered with a glance at Prue. She nodded and Phoebe's faint smile faded. "That usually works…" She sighed. Phoebe suddenly slammed her hand down on the table with a loud 'thump.' "Well, I've had it. The next time I catch him in the act, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind." She decided.
All four sisters froze at the sound of a dog barking outside their house. "No…" Paige started, narrowing her eyes in the direction of the window.
"It can't be…" Piper agreed with Paige, her voice showing her disbelief.
"Oh, I hope it is." Phoebe announced, stomping toward the living room window as if she was off to battle. Prue, Piper, and Paige were quick to follow.
Piper yanked the curtain back so they all could see. "That's them. That's the guy and his dog. I can't believe it." Piper stammered in her anger.
Prue's hands rested on her hips as her eyes narrowed. "That is so rude. And he's just going to walk away."
Phoebe smirked mischievously. "Then don't let him. Use your magic." She suggested eagerly.
"Phoebe." Paige scolded.
"What? If you can't teach the dog new tricks, why not the owner? Just think of the money we would save on carpet cleaning alone." Phoebe insisted defensively.
Prue shook her head immediately. "Phoebe, we can't use our magic to teach him or anybody else a lesson." Prue lectured.
Phoebe stood her ground. "Why not? It's for the greater good, I mean, I mean that's our job, right?" She pressed, focusing mostly on Prue. "Think of it as community service. We'd be doing our whole block a favor." She continued. "Come on." Phoebe waved for Paige to open the window.
Paige only hesitated a split moment. "Okay." She agreed, pushing the window up. "Alright, Piper." She moved out of the way.
"Oh, I hope he's not out of my range." Piper wished. She leaned out the window and flicked her wrists so that the street outside froze, including the man and his dog.
"Prue…" Phoebe prompted. Prue sighed and flicked a finger so that the dog's poop smashed against the man's shoe. "Nice shot." She complimented just as the street unfroze. "An eye for an eye, a shoe for a shoe." Phoebe commented in satisfaction.
The man looked down at his shoe and attempted to wipe the stuff off onto the ground. He turned and looked around as if trying to figure out how it had happened. "Ooh!" The sisters whispered when he looked at their window. Prue dropped to the ground, Paige grabbed Piper and pulled them back against the wall out of sight while Phoebe let the curtain go so that it closed them from view.
"Did he see you?" Prue asked Phoebe from the ground as she was easily the last person to get out of sight.
Phoebe shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if he did? What's he gonna do? Cry witch?" Phoebe joked.
Paige peeked out around the curtain and saw the man and his dog leave. "Well, he's gone now." She pointed out.
Phoebe nodded, much happier than she had been earlier. "So we've done our good deed for the day. I think I deserve fifteen minutes of channel surfing." She decided, sprawling across the couch and flipping the television on with the remote.
"Who wants coffee?" Piper asked, receiving raised hands from Phoebe and Paige. Prue was a given.
"I'll grind." Prue offered, following Piper into the kitchen. "I suppose Andy will want some too…" Her voice drifted as she disappeared farther into the house with Piper.
Paige dropped down into an armchair next to Phoebe for some TV. "Maybe Looney Tunes are on." She lightly hit Phoebe on the arm for her to see.
"Okay, Paigey." Phoebe agreed with a laugh. She flipped the channel several times when she landed on the news. Before she flipped to the next channel a picture of baseball player Cal Greene covered the screen as the reporter talked about his grand slam record. Phoebe dropped the remote as she was hit by a premonition.
Phoebe is tied up to a stake and surrounded by many people. One of the men pointed her out, declaring something, and flames lit up around her, engulfing her while Prue, Piper, and Paige stood to the side watching and crying.
Phoebe screamed as she came out. Paige was by her side in a second. "Phoebe!" She called, kneeling down beside her elder sister. Prue and Piper came running from the kitchen and there was a stomping from the stairs as Andy hurried down to see what was happening.
"What happened?" Andy demanded, scanning the area as if he expected a demon to have attacked Phoebe. His gun was drawn as he searched for something to shoot.
"She had a premonition, I think… a bad one." Paige explained.
Prue pushed Paige to the side and took Phoebe's hand. "Phoebe, are you okay?" She questioned gently.
"Take a deep breath, honey, it's alright." Piper soothed, helping Phoebe into a sitting position.
Phoebe just shook her head, looking stunned and in pain at the same time. "No, it's not. I saw my future…" She met each of her sister's eyes and then Andy's before continuing. "I was being executed. Burned alive." She whispered.
~PO4~
"Why would a report about a baseball player trigger a premonition like that?" Piper wondered aloud as she came back from the kitchen with a cold glass of water that she passed to the shaken Phoebe.
Phoebe shrugged as she took a sip of water. "I don't know."
"It could be that baseball player had some role in putting Phoebe in the predicament she found herself." Andy mused.
"Andy, that's not helping." Prue stated, sending him a warning look that he just shrugged in return.
"But a very valid point." Paige allowed. She glanced at Andy with a half smile. "Just sometimes it's best to keep your valid point from the person it's about." She advised.
Andy rolled his eyes but gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. "Do you remember his name?" Andy inquired in his detective voice.
Phoebe shook her head slightly. "All I remember is that I could feel it. I could feel the fire." Phoebe admitted.
Andy's gaze shifted to Paige and she just shrugged. She hadn't been paying that much attention to the news. "We can find out. It's on the news so it might come back around." Paige suggested, reaching for the remote.
Piper knocked Paige's hand away from the remote. "We don't want to trigger it again." She snapped and Paige drew her hand back. She looked back at Phoebe. "So we were just standing there? That can't be right." Piper denied, sounding confused.
"That's what I saw…" Phoebe replied, taking another sip of her water.
Prue shook her head. "There's no way that we would let that happen. Not in the past, present, or future." She insisted.
Phoebe groaned and fell back into the couch. "What did I do? Or what is it I'm going to do?" All eyes shifted to Andy as his cell started to ring.
"Sorry." Andy apologized, pulling out his phone and moving to another room to answer.
~PO4~
"Hey, Trudeau, the captain just called. We've got a case that just came in." Darryl explained hastily.
Andy sighed and leaned against the wall. "Look, I'll be in as soon as I can." He promised.
"How come that makes me think that might be awhile?" Darryl asked, sounding partly impatient, partly sarcastic.
"I just need to finish something up here." Andy answered cryptically. He started to say something else when his phone flew from his hand. Andy's head snapped around to find Prue with his phone.
"Hey, Darryl, it's Prue. Andy will be wherever he's supposed to be on time." She promised, earning a glare from Andy. They exchanged a few more words before Prue hung up and passed Andy his phone back.
"Why are you trying to get rid of me?" Andy demanded with narrowed eyes at his girlfriend.
Prue tilted her head slightly to the side. "That's not it at all, Andy." She countered but Andy didn't let up his gaze. "Look, it's just that if all of us were to stay home every time something came up, we would never leave the house. I don't even have to go to work until later this afternoon which means all four of us are going to be here. There's no sense in you standing around here too." She explained. "At least not until we have a plan or come to some conclusion or something." Prue added for good measure.
Andy stared at her calculatingly before giving a faint nod, apparently deciding she wasn't trying to get rid of him. "Sorry." He apologized, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him.
Prue smiled and shrugged. "It's okay. I know it's been over a month since Rodriguez and you're really excited about helping us now that you sort of have some control over those powers of yours, but believe me, you'll have plenty of time to help us." She assured him, patting his chest in a soothing manner while flashing him a teasing smile. "But you should also take whatever normalness you can get which includes going to work when you can." Prue advised.
"Alright, I got it." Andy laughed, rolling his eyes at her lecture.
Prue narrowed her eyes playfully before standing on her tip-toes to give him a light kiss on the lips. "Now, go get ready for work." She ordered, spinning him around and pushing him toward the stairs. "And don't worry. One of the four of us will call you when we need you." She promised.
~PO4~
Andy was on his way back downstairs ten minutes later when he heard the sound of someone walking around upstairs. Thinking that the sisters had now migrated to the attic to check in the Book of Shadows for something to help them, he started up the next flight of stairs to tell them he was leaving. He froze in the doorway when he didn't recognize the person that was standing over the book. The pages of the book were flipping wildly as the person, a woman but definitely not one of the sisters, held her hands over it. Andy released one of Prue's telekinetic blasts at one of the chests behind the strange woman. The chest flew forward, right for the woman, when she orbed out so that it went straight through her. Andy paused… only good beings were supposed to be able to orb. "Who are you and what are you doing?" Andy demanded.
The woman straightened out her ruffled clothes professionally before responding to Andy. "Natalie." She answered, her gaze then shifting back to the book. "I'm just opening a spell for them to use to solve their problem with Phoebe's premonition." She continued nonchalantly.
Andy slowly advanced. "You're a whitelighter?" He guessed. How else would she know of Phoebe's premonition?
Natalie raised her eyebrows at his ignorance. "Yeah." She stated shortly.
Andy hesitantly let his eyes flicker over the open page. "A spell to the future?" He pressed, expecting an explanation.
"They have a lesson to learn." Natalie shrugged.
"I thought Leo was their whitelighter." Andy prompted with narrow-eyed suspicion at the supposed whitelighter.
Natalie nodded and stepped around the pedestal to Andy. "That's the second reason I'm here. Leo's missing. I was told to pass that on to you. They seem to think you can find him." Her eyes narrowed as she took him in and obviously didn't appear too impressed. "Good luck." She offered, not really sounding sincere. Natalie waved her hand and Andy was orbed down the stairs as she heard Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige coming up. She made sure the book was still on the correct page before orbing out, causing them to rustle slightly.
"What did he want?" Phoebe asked, speaking of Darryl calling.
"Andy has to go work on a case." Prue answered as she entered the attic. Her eyes landed on the Book of Shadows and she tilted her head to the side curiously.
Phoebe didn't notice yet as she followed Prue in. "He's not going to stay and help?" Her voice radiated her disbelief.
Paige rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Come on, Phoebe, all three of us are here to help you. Andy doesn't need to hang around and watch us all the time." She pointed out.
"The pages were doing that flipping thing on their own again." Piper interrupted their conversation, apparently the only sister other than Prue that saw the pages move a little. The four of them crowded around to see what it said.
"It's a spell to take us to the future." Prue read with a thoughtful expression.
"Two actually." Piper corrected. "One to send us, one to bring us home, but apparently we only get one shot. Once we use it they disappear." Piper cautioned.
Paige ran a hand over the spells. "Sounds like a plan." She agreed. "Andy, I thought you were going to work." Paige stated as Andy joined them in the attic.
Andy quickly scanned over the attic searching for the whitelighter but then realized the sisters were staring at him. "Yeah, I, uh, just came to tell you I was leaving… unless you found something?" His statement turned into a question at the end.
"We're going to cast the spell to the future." Prue explained, pointing down at the book.
Phoebe suddenly shook her head. "Wait a minute, you guys. We almost died going back to the past. This is not something that you just do." She argued.
"We're talking about your life, Phoebe." Prue retorted.
"And I'm talking about yours, Prue." Phoebe returned. "I'm just saying I think we should think this over a little bit." She reasoned, her gaze shifting from Prue to Piper and then to Paige.
"Look, you had that premonition today for a reason. It must mean that we're supposed to do something about it." Prue countered logically.
Paige shifted her weight from foot to foot, appearing thoughtful. "There might not be another way to find out what had happened." Paige added.
"How do you know it's something that I did? Maybe it's a demon or a warlock that puts me there." Phoebe suggested.
Prue paused before continuing. "Do you really want to wait to find out?" She asked. Everyone was silent and it became obvious that Phoebe didn't want to wait. Her eyes flickered over to the silent Andy. "Are you fine with us going?" Prue wondered.
Andy hesitated, not entirely sure whether to trust that whitelighter or not. In the end, it seemed all the sisters agreed that it was best so he nodded. "Yeah, just all four of you be careful."
Prue smiled at him before she turned back to the Book of Shadows. "Okay, pack your bags. We go, try to find out what happened and hopefully come back with enough information to stop it. We're gonna need a date, Phoebe." She prompted as she carried the book to their ritual table with Piper, Phoebe, and Paige following.
"February 12, 2009. That's two weeks before the date I saw in my premonition." Phoebe finally replied.
"Cool, that should be plenty of time." Paige decided while Prue gave a slight nod.
"I wonder how I look…" Piper suddenly thought aloud.
Phoebe cast her a funny look as she scribbled the date onto a piece of paper. "Piper, you look great but this is hardly the time…"
"Not now…" Piper interrupted, giving Phoebe an impatient look. "In the future. When we went back in the seventies we saw ourselves as kids and now we'll be seeing ourselves walking around ten years older. All that vanquishing… think of the wear and tear." Piper elaborated.
"Ooh… is it too late to back out?" Paige asked.
Andy couldn't suppress the chuckle at the sisters' worries. Prue smirked, shaking her head slightly. "Andy, don't forget to go to work. We'll be back soon." He nodded and she picked up the paper that had 02/12/2009 written on it. She held it over the ritual bowl while Paige used a match to light the paper. Prue dropped the flaming paper into the bowl and began the spell. "Hear these words, hear the rhyme…"
"We send to you this burning sign…" Piper followed.
Phoebe went next. "Then our future selves will find…"
"In another place and time." Paige finished. The sisters were surrounded with white orbs and disappeared, leaving Andy alone in the Manor.
~PO4~
Penthouse 2009
Prue opened her eyes to find herself in a lounge chair on an outside balcony that overlooked downtown San Francisco. Her jaw dropped at the view and she scrambled to her feet. She recognized the area almost immediately. Probably a five-minute walk to Bucklands Auction House from here. She vaguely wondered if she still worked there when a slight breeze blew her hair into her face. Prue pushed it out of the way but then spun around, looking for a mirror as she wondered what she looked like now. There wasn't one on the balcony so she pushed the sliding glass doors that led to the inside open, pulled the curtain back and stopped dead at the sight of her apartment, if it could be called that. A huge kitchen/dining/conservatory area with an open floor plan greeted her. She didn't see a mirror though so she picked one of the hallways leading off and ran down it. Prue ended up in what had to be the master suite. Another big room with a lot of light. The walk-in closet was filled with clothes and shoes that made Prue relax a little as she definitely hadn't lost her style over the years. She opened one of the doors leading off and found an office area with papers scattered around. Thinking to come back there after finding the mirror she went to the other door which opened to the master bath and included a mirror. She was relieved to see she hadn't changed too much. Her ravendark hair was long and straight with a few lighter highlights and that was the biggest change. Her style was a touch different but that didn't mean it wasn't flashy and sexy. Prue jumped as someone came running into the bathroom.
"Mommy!" The high-pitched voice of a child sounded just before a young girl around the age of eight or nine came into view. The girl was practically a younger copy of Prue except the eyes. She had blue-green eyes instead of Prue's pale blue. "Tell Andie she can't come with me to the park." The little girl ordered in the way children often do. She was pointing back behind her where another little girl came stomping in.
"That's not fair! Bree always gets to go out." She whined. Andie looked to be about five or six, had lighter brown hair and Prue's eyes.
Bree glared at Andie and crossed her arms. Prue thought the stance looked rather dramatic. "Zayne invited me to go to the park with him. Not you. Mom already said you couldn't come with me." Bree argued.
Andie stomped her feet, obviously upset, when ice crystals spread across the floor where her feet had touched. Prue's jaw dropped at the obvious display of magic. Bree responded similarly but flames spread across the floor, leaving faint scorch marks. "Oh my god, you two stop that!" Prue ordered, staring wide-eyed as the ice and fire disappeared though the girls still glared at each other. It then dawned on her that she was actually supposed to deal with them. Of course, she didn't remember what she had said before which proved to be a problem. "Andie…" Prue trailed off trying to make sure she'd heard the name correctly. She vaguely wondered why she named a girl Andie before continuing. "… What did I tell you before?" Prue asked. Prue silently prayed the little girl wasn't going to lie about it as she probably wouldn't be able to catch it.
Andie looked down at her feet and mumbled almost inaudibly, "That I couldn't go."
Before Prue could say anything there was a ding that announced the elevator was opening. Bree gave an excited squeal and ran out to meet whoever it was. Prue hastily followed with Andie trailing behind. A woman probably in her mid-thirties stepped out of the elevator with a boy that Prue guessed was Bree's age with her. Zayne, she presumed, had dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. His mother the same. "Hey, Prue." The woman greeted with a bright smile.
Prue smiled back… of course she didn't know her name. "Hi. How are you?" She asked conversationally.
"Alright, you know how birthday parties are. Thanks for letting Brianna come. We'll keep a close eye on her and she's free to stay at our place until you get off of work." She offered cheerfully.
It took Prue a moment to put together Brianna was the same person as Bree. "Right, Brianna, yeah, thanks…" Prue stammered, earning a funny look from the woman. "I'll, uh, pick her up at your place after work then." She hastily covered. Bree scampered back to Prue and threw her arms around her waist. Prue was stunned for a moment before she kneeled down so that she was eye-to-eye with her daughter. She couldn't help but smile. "Now, you be good, okay?"
Bree nodded enthusiastically. "I will and I promise I'll be very careful." With that Brianna spun around and ran back to Zayne.
Zayne waved as Bree joined him. "Thanks, Mrs. Trudeau." He gratified and he offered a smile to Andie. "I'll save you a piece of cake and have Bree bring it back for you." Zayne promised so that Andie smiled and waved as Zayne and Bree followed his mother.
"Bye, Mom. Bye, Andie." Bree called just before the elevator door closed, obscuring them from sight.
Prue had fallen silent the moment Zayne called her 'Mrs. Trudeau.' She looked down at her hand but there wasn't a ring on her finger, adding to the confusion. She then remembered Andie was still with her. Prue looked to find Andie looking rather upset at being left behind. She hesitated, knowing she really needed to find her sisters. The Manor was the best bet, but she couldn't leave Andie here by herself.
"Mom?" Andie called, turning wide blue eyes up to her.
"Yeah?" Prue answered hesitantly. That 'Mom' thing was still weird.
"Can we go see Mel?" Andie asked hopefully, a faint smile on her face.
Mel? Who was Mel? Prue bit her lip, not really knowing what to say. "Uh, maybe in a little while… how about we go out and get some ice cream." Prue suggested. What kid could turn down ice cream?
Andie's face that had initially fallen at not being able to see Mel, lit again at the mention of ice cream. "Okay." She jumped up and down excitedly.
Prue reached down and lifted Andie up into her arms. "Alright, Andie Candy, let's go get some ice cream." She grabbed her purse which was next to the door (Sometimes it's a good thing old habits die hard) and stepped into the elevator, letting it take her and Andie down.
"Mommy, 'Andie Candy' is for five-year-olds and I'm six now." Andie explained to her.
Prue smirked. "Really? I'll try to remember that." She laughed, tousling Andie's light brown hair. The elevator opened on the main floor and she hadn't taken more than three steps out when she was bombarded by several assistants asking her what she needed of them.
One assistant in particular, a woman with reddish hair and a permanent smile, ushered them all away. "Get Mrs. Trudeau her limousine out at the front." She ordered before turning her smile on a stunned Prue. She started to speak when she seemed to notice Andie in Prue's arms. "Hey there, cutie." She smiled wider if possible. "Where are you dropping the girl off at? I'll let the driver know."
Prue's eyes widened and she couldn't stop a freaked out laugh. "Uh, did you say limousine?" Prue demanded. The woman raised her eyebrows at Prue as if she was crazy. "I mean, uh, the limousine… I thought it was at the shop or something." She amended hopefully.
"It's always ready for you." The woman returned.
"Oh well, I'm not dropping off Andie." Prue emphasized her daughter's name as the woman had called 'the girl' which Prue thought was rather rude. "We're going to get ice cream." Prue explained.
She looked up again with that same look. "You have a meeting with the Bucklands' international managers this morning. They flew in from Paris, Tokyo, and London, remember?" She reminded her.
"Can't someone else talk to them?" Prue asked.
The woman's smile faded a little. "You own them so no, not really." She replied.
Prue had to work to keep her jaw from dropping. "Well, they can wait. I've got stuff to do." Prue stated, heading for the door.
The woman hurriedly followed. "Okay, to the closest ice cream shop and then?"
"1329 Prescott Street." Prue answered. She suddenly noticed the name tag on the woman. "Thanks, Anne." She added.
"No problem, the limousine should be waiting for you. I'll see you at Bucklands soon." Anne chirped.
Prue smiled at the chauffeur that was indeed waiting for her. He was pretty hot and he opened the door for her. It was once she was comfortably seated with Andie beside her that she realized Andie was playing with the necklace around her (Prue's) neck. She looked at it and her smile faded as she saw a wedding band and an engagement ring on the chain. She was married to Andy, but where was he?
~PO4~
Paige's Apartment 2009
Paige jerked awake to find herself at a table in a small but homey kitchen area of an apartment. She looked down at the papers in front of her and found she was supposed to be grading them. She looked thoughtful for a moment before looking around her. There was a plaque on the wall that read 'Teacher of the Year.' So she became a teacher, interesting. Paige stood up from the table when, to her surprise, Glen came stomping in.
He slammed some papers on the table in front of her. "There you go, Paige. Sign them." Glen told her, passing her a pen.
Paige hesitated, reading over the paper. The title read 'Divorce Proceedings.' Her jaw dropped and her eyes stared down at her hand where there was a ring. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed.
"What? Isn't that what you want?" Glen demanded. He rolled his eyes and stomped over to the refrigerator where he grabbed a drink. "You know, Paige, I just don't know what you want anymore." He admitted bitterly.
Paige opened her mouth to say something but then closed it when she realized she didn't know what was safe to say. "Um, hold on, I need to go talk to my sisters." She decided… that was safe enough.
Glen looked up and narrowed his eyes slightly. "You're supposed to be laying low. I'd prefer if you didn't go and get yourself caught by the witch hunters." His tone softened just a little.
"Witch hunters?" Paige repeated.
"What's the matter with you?" He questioned suspiciously.
"Never mind." Paige whispered. "Look, this is going to sound really strange but does one of my sisters still live in the Manor?"
Glen narrowed his eyes more. "Is this one of those magic things? Have you lost your memory or something?" He guessed.
"Sorta… so, my sisters?" Paige pressed impatiently.
Glen didn't answer immediately as he looked at her curiously. "Yeah, Piper still lives in the Manor. Prue lives in the apartments next to Bucklands." Glen answered.
Paige nodded deciding it was best just to go to the Manor. Prue would probably think of the same thing. "What about Pheebs?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. This time Glen didn't answer. He pointed at the TV that Paige just now noticed was on. Paige looked stunned by the headlines. 'Phoebe Halliwell set to burn at the stake today.' "Oh my god!"
She exclaimed for the second time that day. They were supposed to have come two weeks before not the day of. She shook the thought away and closed her eyes, concentrating on the Manor. She started to orb when Glen grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.
"What are you doing?" Glen snapped.
Paige glared at him. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm going to the Manor." She retorted.
"Then drive! I don't want to see you end up there too." Glen countered, pointing at the TV.
Paige hesitated. "It's that bad?"
Glen nodded seriously. "Yeah, it's that bad." He assured her. Glen grabbed at some car keys and tossed them to her. "I'll see you when you get back." He called over his shoulder as he disappeared into another room.
"Okay." Paige muttered, turning for the door and heading out to meet her sisters.
~PO4~
The Halliwell Manor 2009
Piper opened her eyes to find herself lying on the couch in the conservatory of the Manor. Before she had gotten off the couch a little girl came running in, her brown hair flying behind her. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." She called, sliding to a stop in front of Piper.
Piper's eyes widened as she pushed herself into a sitting position on the couch. "Uh, I think you have the wrong house. Certainly the wrong mommy." Piper explained, backing away just a little once she was on her feet again.
The girl just smiled. "Stop fooling." She laughed, wrapping her arms tightly around Piper's waist. Piper tensed but before she could say anything the doorbell rang. "Car pool!" She yelled, running to get the door.
Piper watched her run off but caught sight of herself in the mirror. "Ooh…" She mumbled, running a hand through her longer, wavy hair. She caught sight of the ring on her finger and smiled. Through the reflection of the mirror she saw the 'Execution of Phoebe Halliwell' come up on the TV screen. Her faint smile fell as she spun on the TV. "Phoebe." Piper pointed frantically at it. "Where's the volume?" She hissed, looking around for the remote, but the volume suddenly increased on it's own.
"More news on the execution of Phoebe Halliwell coming up in just a moment. Now back to your regular scheduled programming MTV's Real World 18, on the moon…" The report trailed off into something uninteresting to Piper.
"Mom, I'm going to be late!" The little girl's yell sounded from the foyer.
Piper reluctantly looked away from the TV. "Okay, uh, TV, shut up. Mute. Or something." She ordered it, waving her hand at it as if that would do something. Piper then hurried over to the front door just as the door opened.
The woman that came in smiled sympathetically at Piper. "Morning, Piper. You all right?" She asked carefully.
Piper looked confused, wondering if she shouldn't be. "I guess." Piper finally answered.
The woman crossed her arms across her chest and nodded in understanding. "Yeah, with your sister, it's rough, I know. So, don't worry about your little one. I'll get her to school like you asked but, uh, are you sure you want me to take her to your ex's?" The woman questioned.
"Ex? As in husband? As in mine?" Piper blurted out before meeting her little girl's eyes and remembering she was supposed to keep up pretenses. "Uh, yes, if that is what I told you then yes." She amended with a faint smile.
"So you and him are getting along better now?" The woman pressed.
"Maybe." Piper replied with a shrug. "Prue? Prue?" She turned around and called behind her, expecting her sister to be around here somewhere.
The woman watched her curiously for a moment before nodding and turning her attention to Piper's daughter. "Okay, kiddo, let's hit the road."
The little girl grabbed her bag and started out the door after the woman but hesitated and ran back to Piper. Piper leaned down as she started to whisper to her. "Don't worry, Mommy. I promise I'll do what you ask. I won't use my magic again, ever." She promised. She gave Piper a hug before dashing off to get into the car.
Piper watched her go with a look of hurt and confusion on her face. The little girl waved back at her from the car and Piper smiled, waving back. But then the door shut and the car drove off. Almost as soon as the car disappeared down the road, Prue's limousine stopped in front of the house. Prue stepped out, holding Andie in her arms with several assistants crowding around her and refusing to leave her alone.
"Okay, okay, enough people! Stop touching me." Prue snapped while Piper stepped down toward her with wide eyes. "Stay… stay… stay." Prue ordered her assistants, finally managing to turn around. She hurried up the steps, pulling Piper along with her until they were safely in the house.
"Mommy, I thought you said we weren't going to come see Mel." Andie spoke up before sticking a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
Prue looked at a loss for words as she looked at Andie, confused. "Um, well, I changed my mind." She replied.
Andie seemed fine with that answer. She turned in Prue's arms so that she could face Piper. "Aunt Piper, where's Mel at?" She asked.
Piper was too busy staring at the limo and then at Andie to get the question until Prue stepped on her foot to get her attention. "Ow…" She glared at Prue. "… I don't know." Piper answered to Andie.
Prue carefully put Andie down on the floor. "Why don't you go throw that away while I talk with your Aunt Piper…" Prue suggested, pointing to Andie's empty ice cream cup. Andie nodded and took off deeper into the Manor.
"Alright, Prue, what's going on?" Piper questioned while pointing to the limo and assistants on the other side of the door.
Prue smirked and shrugged. "I don't know but I could really get used to it. I was listening to my assistants brag about me and I don't just work at Bucklands. I own it and three more in Paris, Tokyo, and London." She explained.
Piper looked back to where Andie disappeared. "And you have a kid!" Piper exclaimed.
Prue's gaze shifted to where her daughter had gone. "Actually, I have two. My other daughter was picked up to go to a birthday party… strange isn't it?" Prue hastily pulled out her wallet from her purse and pulled out a picture of Brianna.
"Oh my god, she looks exactly like you. What's their names?" Piper demanded.
"Brianna, I think. And the one here is Andie." Prue replied.
Piper nodded thoughtfully. "Brianna from our ancestor I assume and Andie's name is obvious. Is your Andy the father?" Piper wondered.
"I guess. I'm married to him…" Prue started, pulling out her necklace that had her rings on it. "… of course, I haven't seen him." She admitted.
"He's probably at work." Piper offered.
"Okay, who's limo is outside blocking the entire driveway?" Paige interrupted as she shut the front door behind her.
Prue smirked at Paige. "That would be mine." Prue claimed before glancing over Paige. "Wow, did you not age at all?" She asked, appearing impressed with how good her sister still looked.
Paige raised her eyebrows. "Uh, I don't know. I haven't actually looked at myself. You guys don't look any different really." She stated.
"Well, that's good to know." Prue announced.
Piper rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's real miracle for you after having two kids." She teased.
"You have kids?" Paige squealed.
"Two girls; Brianna and Andie… speaking of Andie, where did she go?" Prue mumbled, spinning around as if she expected to find Andie waiting behind her.
"That's not all. She's stinkin' rich too." Piper added and Paige's hand rested on her hips with a look of disbelief.
Prue glared at them. "Well, how'd you guys do?" She returned. Piper laughed humorlessly and led the way into the conservatory. "Is that a good thing or….?" Prue started, following after Piper with Paige right behind.
"Well, if you ignore my apparently failed marriage and the fact I'm still living in the Manor." Piper replied, trailing off with a shrug.
"So you're married?" Paige pressed eagerly.
"Was." Piper corrected.
Paige shrugged as if that didn't matter. "If it makes you feel any better, Glen dropped divorce papers in front of me when I woke up." She offered.
Prue raised her eyebrows. "You're married to Glen?" She demanded.
"For now…" Paige trailed off thoughtfully. She then turned her attention back to Piper. "So what else?" She wondered.
"Well, my daughter is on her way to school." She continued.
Paige smiled wider. "You have a daughter too!"
"Yeah, and and and she's beautiful." Piper stammered, grabbing the nearest picture of her and thrusting it at her sisters.
Prue grabbed it from Paige's hands before her younger sister even had time to look at it. "Oh, of course she is. What's her name?" Prue inquired, smiling down at the picture while Paige looked over her shoulder.
Piper opened her mouth to answer but then realized she didn't know. "Oh god… I don't know!" She panicked. "But, you guys, she has powers and for some reason I told her not to use them." Piper went on.
There was a swirl of red lights and Andie materialized in front of Prue with a bag of cookies in her hand. "Can you open these?" She asked hopefully.
"Speaking of powers…" Prue mumbled while Piper stared down at Andie with wide eyes and Paige looked extremely impressed.
"Were those orbs?" Piper blurted out.
Paige nodded slightly. "Yeah, red ones. Totally awesome."
Prue debated whether to open the bag of cookies since they had just had ice cream but decided keeping Andie occupied while they talked was more important at the moment so she agreed. "Here you go." Prue passed them back down and Andie skipped over to the sofa where she settled comfortably and watched the commercials on TV.
"She's adorable, Prue." Paige complimented with a large smile as she watched her niece.
Piper waved her hands quickly so as to gain her sisters' attention without gaining Andie's. "Why would I tell her not to use her powers?" She questioned.
Paige stepped closer so she wouldn't have to talk as loud. "Glen says things are really bad here. Witch hunters or something. He wouldn't even let me orb here because he thought I might get caught and executed or something." Paige explained.
"Speaking of this future, does anybody know why we're in our future bodies? I mean, I thought we were supposed to come here and see them." Prue admitted, looking from Piper to Paige and back again.
Piper shrugged. "Well, apparently going to the past isn't the same as coming to the future. I just wish that since we're in our future bodies that we could have some memory of what's happened in the last ten years." She ranted.
"Oh my god!" Paige squealed, earning curious looks from her sisters. "Phoebe's in her body… and her execution is today. I saw it on the news." She exclaimed with wide eyes.
At that moment Andie sat up on the couch so she could see Prue, Piper, and Paige. "Mom, look, Aunt Phoebe's on the news." She pointed excitedly at the TV which was talking about Phoebe's execution.
"Oh, TV, louder, louder." Piper ordered.
"No, I don't want her to hear it!" Prue snapped under her breath, looking frantically at Andie. She hastily ran forward and picked Andie up off the couch. "I bet you want some milk to go with those cookies. Come on, let's go get some." She invented and dashed off out of the room. Only a second later Paige and Piper became aware of Prue listening in telepathically since she couldn't be in the room.
"… Execution. We're less than eight hours away now until the burning of Phoebe Halliwell. The witch accused of murdering Cal Greene six months ago…" The reporter was saying. "… Let's go there now live where Sierra Stone is standing by… Sierra." Paige slowly moved to sit on the couch, her eyes never leaving the TV screen and Piper sat down on the arm rest next to her while the camera switched to show a new reporter, apparently Sierra.
"San Francisco District Attorney, Nathaniel Pratt, who's discovery of the witch last August, has made him an early favorite of the Governor's seat, just came out to make a statement. Let's listen in."
The camera zoomed in on Nathaniel Pratt surrounded by dozens of reporters. "This is a reflection of our citizen's resolve to ferret out the hidden evil. To turn fear into fight, and band together as one. To cleanse our city of it's greatest threat. Tonight, Phoebe Halliwell, will burn for her crime. And when she does, let that be a warning to other witches out there. You're next." He warned. Nathaniel Pratt grinned and pointed into the camera. Paige and Piper stared in open-mouthed shock at the words and only looked away when Prue, appearing equally shocked, came back in, her grip on Andie tighter than it had been before.
~PO4~
"Oh, surprise, here we go, up the stairs into the attic, grabbing the Book of Shadows. Please tell me we still aren't going to be doing this ten years from now." Prue stated, crossing the attic. She was only partially paying attention as the other part was focusing on watching (literally) Andie play with the dollhouse downstairs through her advanced telepathy.
Piper stopped in front of the empty pedestal where the Book usually stayed. "Apparently not…" Piper remarked casually.
"What are you guys mumbling about?" Paige asked as she joined them only to find them standing around the pedestal.
"The Book is gone." Piper announced.
Prue spun around and started opening up trunks and cabinets, searching for it. "It's got to be here. We need it to find the return spell." She stressed bordering on panic.
"Prue…" Piper started in a soothing voice.
Prue ignored her. "You guys, just help me look for it." Prue ordered.
Paige ran forward and grabbed Prue wrists, pulling her around to face her. "Calm down, Prue. Just relax." She soothed, pushing a strand of Prue's dark hair out of her face.
"Yeah, we'll find it." Piper assured her.
Prue yanked her wrists out of Paige's hands and spun on Piper. "You don't know that. I mean, what if it's lost? What if we can't find it…?" She demanded but didn't wait for them to answer. "… Then we're stuck in our future bodies with no way of getting out of them and no way of saving Phoebe." Prue yelled. She waved her hand for emphasis and everything in the attic flew against the wall and was crushed by the sheer force of her telekinesis. When the explosion settled a large hole, almost the entirety of the wall, had appeared and pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground.
"Been working out?" Piper quipped.
Paige couldn't keep the impressed smile from crossing her features. "Wow, you're good."
"I guess that's a little sample of what ten years does to our powers." Prue declared, still staring at the destruction in surprise.
"And to our attic…" Piper agreed.
"Jeez, I don't envy your future self, Piper. That's going to take forever to clean." Paige exclaimed. At the word 'clean' everything that had been destroyed began to reform and rearrange itself the way it had been before. With the help of shining blue and white orbs, of course.
Piper placed her hands on her hips and looked around thoughtfully. "That's funny. Same power, polar opposite actions." She pointed out. "Handy." She laughed at Paige's surprised expression. Piper watched as the pedestal came floating back and saw the key stuck at the bottom. "Oh, a key." She stated as the pedestal righted itself in front of them. Piper immediately bent down to pull it out and held it up for her sisters to see.
"It's the key to my wall safe at Bucklands." Prue realized, taking it from Piper.
"Do you think that means it's there? We've never taken the Book out of the house before." Piper mumbled, sounding confused. "Well, with the exception of Paige and Phoebe that one time." She amended.
Paige rolled her eyes. "I've said I was sorry about that." She complained.
Prue just smirked. "Our future selves might have as well. The question is why." Prue allowed with a shrug.
"If I were to guess, we probably didn't want someone to catch us with the book and then they spread the word that they think we're witches." Paige offered.
"So let's check Bucklands, maybe it'll give us some answers." Piper suggested.
Prue nodded slightly. "Alright, we'll go there first and then to Phoebe to see if she's all right." She decided, leading the way to the door. "I don't know if I want Andie to see what we're doing…" Prue admitted.
"Well, maybe I can call Glen and see if he can watch her for us." Paige proposed, earning a grateful nod from Prue. "My place is on the way so we can drop her off before going to Bucklands…"
~PO4~
Hobart State Penitentiary 2009
"Hello? Hello?" Phoebe yelled, searching for someone that would talk to her. She paced her cell nervously as she continued to be ignored. "Could somebody please answer me? I really need to talk to someone!" There was still no answer and she crossed her arms with a loud huff. "Okay, how about a snack? Maybe some crackers, peanuts, or something?" Phoebe insisted. A guy finally walked up to her cell and slid a tray of slop under for her. "A tray full of goo?" She asked him only for him to walk away. "Hey, wait a minute!" She pressed up against the glass and was shocked backwards. She stared at the glass with a wary expression. "Don't I even get a phone call?" She sighed.
"Shut up, witch!" The man's voice carried from another room right before he slammed the door to block her voice.