Phoebe reached up, wrapping her arms around Coop's neck, and sighed. "It's times like this that I miss Prue the most."
Coop raised an eyebrow and smirked. "When we're about to get ready for bed?"
Phoebe pulled herself out of his embrace, rolling her eyes as she did so, and slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "You know what I mean!" Her hand slid down and rubbed her just slightly rounded belly absently. "We just found out that our little bundle of joy will be a little girl. I know, I've seen in her my visions, but finally getting to see her on a real sonogram... it makes it real, you know? God knows every decision changes the future, as Piper learned not so subtly with Wyatt."
Coop wrapped his arms back around his wife in a comforting embrace and rested his head on top of hers. "She knows honey. She knows."
"Grams didn't know about Wyatt being a boy," she replied quietly. "Besides, I was thinking we could name her after Prue. If that's okay with you."
Coop kissed the top of her head. "I think that as the first Halliwell girl from a Charmed One, nothing could be more appropriate."
She smiled up at him before sighing and rested her head back on his shoulder. "Still. I just wish I could see her and tell her myself. Suddenly both of them were enveloped in a pink Cupid-like glow and disappeared.
The pair reappeared in attic of the manor. As Phoebe opened her mouth to ask Coop why he had taken them to the manor, Coops eyes widened and he pushed her to the ground, falling atop her, as a persons figure flew through the spot they'd just
vacated and slammed into a shelf.
Phoebe may have been surprised, but she'd been doing this long enough to know a demon had appeared. They found themselves on the floor behind Aunt Pearl's couch and Phoebe instinctively pushed herself flush pushed her back flush against the couch's back. 'Wait. Aunt Pearl's couch? In one piece?' Before she could take the thought any further, she heard the yelp of one of her sisters, and concentrated on triangulating the location and activities of the demon. 'Oh. Two demons,' she thought. 'Fantastic.'
Her eyes narrowed as she let one of the demon's hate flow into her, careful to compartmentalize it from her heart. The sounds of a magical battle floated at the back of her consciousness, a part of her mind registering that there was something off, yet familiar about it. She shut her eyes as they rolled back into the back of her head, the demonic psychic energy bypassing her core and traveled down her arms, to her hands, feeling as heavy as any bowling ball.
Simultaneously, she popped out from behind the couch and hurled the energy balls, her empathy registering the demon's locations before she'd seen them with her eyes. The energy balls each swung in opposite directions, like heat seeking missiles, and quickly found their targets. As both demons were engulfed by the tell-tale flames of a vanquish, Phoebe turned her attention to Coop. "You alright, hon?"
Coop drew up to his full height and dusted himself off. "I've been worse." He stopped moving as he looked up.
"That's not a good measure in this family," replied Phoebe before noticing that Coop seems frozen on the spot.
"Why isn't she freezing?" Phoebe heard Piper, who sounded panicked.
"Why would I? And why did you freeze Coop?" Phoebe asked as she waved a hand in front of her husbands face.
"Demon's generally do," replied a second voice, pitched low in a warning tone. And then Phoebe stopped and blinked, not moving. 'That was Prue's voice. That was Prue's voice.' She didn't move as a fear that she knew was irrational, that if she moved, Prue would disappear, gripped her heart. And she hadn't even seen her yet. Although she'd become an empath after Prue had died, she would recognize that heart anywhere.
"I think she froze this time," said Piper.
"Or is trying to trick us into thinking she froze, so we let our guard down and she kills us," replied Prue. "Try and blow her up."
"No, no, no! I could hurt you again!" answered Piper, nervously.
It was this statement that got Phoebe's survival instinct moving again, and she quickly whipped around, throwing her arms up in supplication. "Whoa! No, no! I'm your sister – not a demon or a warlock or anything!"
"Yeah. Right. Phoebe's downstairs in the basement. And besides, you look like a bad copy of her. You really should work on your shape-changing skills." Prue raised a hand in preparation to fling Phoebe. "Now, tell us what kind of demon, or whatever you are and I promise we'll make this as quick a vanquish as possible. Can't say about making it painless, though."
Phoebe's mind acted quickly, trying to figure out how to avoid her reunion with Prue ending with her sister killing her. "Wait – hey. Hold on... what kind of evil being vanquishes other bad guys?"
Prue furrowed her brow. "What kind of good being has demonic powers? Don't think I didn't see those energy balls."
Piper nodded. "Besides, demons kill each other all the time. Comes with the being evil part, I think. So -" she flicked her hands again, which got her a blast that destroyed a nearby couch cushion.
"HEY! WHOA! Seriously!I'm not a demon! Just listen for a sec-" She took a step forward and slipped her hand into the back pocket of her jeans, to pull her iPhone from her back pocket, and Prue reflexively flung Phoebe up and back. "Holy crap!" she yelped as she managed to slow herself down enough with her levitation to turn what would have been a massive crash into a wall into a gentle bump. She hung there in mid air, again throwing her hands up in supplication. "Seriously! I am Phoebe! Just - from the future! Look!" she cried, gesturing wildly at her hovering form. "See? Phoebe power!"
"Hi. Yeah! We've also met a demon who could fly!" shot back Prue, as she put her hands on her hips definitely.
Phoebe grumbled as she landed softly back on the ground. "How do I prove it to you?"
Prue raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you're really from the future, what are you doing here?"
Phoebe opened her mouth, then shut it again. She sighed. "That's a good question. Coop and I were just talking, and we hugged, and we appeared here. You must have screwed up a spell, or something."
Piper raised her eyebrows and gave Prue a questioning look. "How did she...?"
Prue shook her head. "That doesn't prove anything. They've probably been watching us."
Phoebe ran a hand through her hair nervously and bit her lip. This wasn't good. This was, in fact, very bad. But she could tell she'd hit on something; she just needed to figure out how to use that to her advantage. A light suddenly went off in her head. "Ok, listen... you said your Phoebe is down in the basement. So that means you guys must have vanquished the Woogey Man by now, right?" She tilted her head expectantly.
Prue and Piper exchanged surprised glances. Her eldest sister then crossed her arms. "I'm listening."
"Who else but one of us would know about the Woogey Man?"
"There are ways," replied Piper.
"Uh, okay..." Phoebe glanced around the attic, not really sure what she was looking for, until she saw it. She gestured at a corner filled with knickknacks. "May I?"
Prue nodded. "Slowly."
"Right. No sudden movements. I'd rather not blow up today, and by the way Piper keeps missing, I'm guessing this is sometime around when your powers first advanced. And were blowing up half our appliances because you kept getting startled." She could feel defensiveness and intrigue rise in Piper's heart at this last statement, though she didn't show it.
Phoebe had reached her destination by this point. "Okay, so... all this." She picked through the items, holding them up, one at a time as she told them about them. "This is the bunny that dad bought you before I was born. And that stitching along the neck was from when I ripped his head off as revenge for you ruining my favorite pair of jeans by drawing on them."
She picked up a small toy camera. "This was your favorite toy growing up, Prue." She gestured at the credenza that the items were resting on. "And this is the same furniture that we found the pet rock and 8-track tapes that we'd gotten rid of years before, when we went back to the seventies."
Prue cocked her head at this and finally really began to examine the woman claiming to be a future version of her sister. The features were all the same, but she seemed much more comfortable in her own skin. And certainly more pulled together. "... Phoebe?"
Phoebe's face broke into a wide grin that made her look much more like the Phoebe of her time. "Yes! I really am your sister," she said. Her features softened. "I swear it. Besides, if I were a warlock, you'd just vanquish me the second you figured it out, so why wouldn't I just blink away?"
"And he's with you?" asked Piper, nodding at the tall, handsome, but still very much frozen, man in the middle of the attic.
Phoebe nodded. "Speaking of which, could you let me unfreeze him? I'm afraid you might accidentally blow him up. No offense."
Piper eyed the brunette still, but had almost completely come around to her side. "Hey – I don't blame ya."
Prue had taken a few steps towards Phoebe, as if to get a better look, and soon seemed to come to a decision. "Well that explains the teleportation thing. Pink kinda ruins the bad guy vibe."
Phoebe quickly made her way over to Prue, but stopped short, her arms extended out. "You believe me?" Prue nodded, a little mystified by the gesture, but nodded succinctly. Phoebe quickly wrapped her arms around the sister she'd missed more than she'd ever thought it possible to miss anyone – even her own mother.
Prue, trapped in a vice grip, returned what she thought was a strangely intense hug. After a full minute, Prue finally asked, "gonna need to breath soon, Pheebs."
"Oh!" exclaimed Phoebe and she pulled back, blinking away tears threatening to spill over. "I'm sorry. I just... never mind."
"Well, I feel kinda insulted. When in the future did I become the third wheel sister?" remarked Piper.
Phoebe turned to other sister. "Oh, sorry Piper. It's..." she shook her head and gave a hint of an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's a future thing." She gave her a quick hug. "You're not a third wheel. It's... something I can't talk about. Future consequences. You know how that is." At Piper's blank nod, Phoebe shook her head. "No, wait. You don't, I guess."
Piper scowled. "We're not that new at this. I know you can't change the future." Phoebe shook her head, chuckling. "What's so funny? Or are you a crazy person in the future?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. It's an inside joke... let's just say it's an inside joke we have in the future."
Piper shrugged. "If you say so... Wait. Does that mean we end dealing with time travel things a lot?"
Phoebe shrugged. "You could say that. But I can't."
"Future consequences," replied Prue.
"Exactly."
"So, what was that thing you were pulling out of your pocket before I so rudely interrupted you?" asked Prue.
"Just my phone. I was going to show you some pictures, so you'd believe who I was." Phoebe pulled the phone out from her back pocket, clicked it on, and swiped her finger across the screen. A picture of a Piper with longer hair, holding a two little boys steady in front of her, as they rode on top of an elephant appeared.
"Whoa. Just how far into the future are you from? That looks like something out of Star Trek!" exclaimed Prue. "That's a phone?" she finished incredulously.
"This? Yeah. I need to upgrade this thing though. I took this picture last week, but I had to climb on top of the pen's fence to get close enough to get a decent picture. It doesn't even have digital zoom."
"You took that picture with a phone? Is that high definition?" Phoebe smiled at her sister's immediate fixation on the photography technology.
Piper had leaned over at this point. "Who are those boys I'm with? Are they mine?"
This had gotten Prue's attention shifted back. "The bigger one does kinda look like Leo..."
"But, but, they're boys!" Piper tilted her head. "It couldn't be... they barely let us get married. Kids would just be super forbidden – how would we even hide a half whitelighter baby?"
Phoebe shrugged. "You'd be surprised," she said mysteriously.
Piper just eyed her for a moment, before looking back at the picture. "II mean, I know we had in that future we saw, so I take it we figured something out. Just like with the rutabaga..."
"Rutabaga? Oh, yeah. Rutabaga..." said Phoebe. "Anyway, I can't say anything more."
"Wait a minute, I have a girl. I saw it. Her."
Prue nodded. "Phoebe never said they were yours. Maybe they're your nephews. Maybe they're mine or Phoebe's" Prue looked at her future sister for confirmation, but was interrupted before Phoebe could react.
"Maybe what are mine or your's, Prue?" By the other Phoebe. When her query was met by silence, she repeated herself. "Prue? Hey, who's that?" she asked, seeing the back of a strange women in the attic with her sisters. When the woman turned around her jaw practically hit the floor.
"What the..."
"Hey, Pheebs," said Prue with a smile. "Look who came for a visit! You!"
The younger Phoebe was frozen in her tracks, but the older simply gave her a slightly embarrassed smile. "Write any spells lately?"
