A/N: This is sort of my idea as to what a modern-day Charmed would be like, and how the sisters would interact with each other if all four of them were there from the beginning. It's based on Something Wicca This Way Goes, obviously, but I've changed a lot of the settings/circumstances too. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

The midday sunshine poured through the chapel's stained glass windows, making everything shine with a radiance that betrayed the somberness of the occasion. Piper found herself staring at the flower arrangements, remembering that just outside this room was a world of happiness and carefree attitudes that she herself could finally reenter, once this day was over.

Orchids, she thought to herself, Where are the orchids? They were Grams's favorite flower - she knew this, everyone should have known this - so why weren't there any in the bouquets? She sighed, knowing she should have just taken care of the florist herself. But she had been too busy with everything else to even think about it. It doesn't matter now, she reasoned. And it's not like she can scold me about this anyway. Her train of thought was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Piper, you alright?" her baby sister asked her. "You kinda spaced out there."

"Yeah," Piper answered with as appropriate a smile as could be mustered, considering the setting. "I'm fine."

"I just wanna say, the eulogy you gave was beautiful. Grams would have loved it."

"Thanks, Paige," Piper said appreciatively. "I just wish everyone could have been here."

Paige sighed. "I know. But Phoebe dropped her cell service months ago. Even I don't know how to get in touch with her."

"Plus it's not like she'd really have the cash to just hop on a plane back here," said their eldest sister, between shaking the hands of mourners. "Unless her little scheme paid off somehow."

Paige eyed her. "I think her reasons for going to New York had less to do with your dad and more to do with you and Grams, Prue," she reminded.

"I don't care," Prue shrugged. "We're the ones that raised her. If that wasn't good enough for her, then good riddance."

Piper bit her lip. It was unwise, and heartless at this particular moment, to take a side on this issue. She'd been as mad as Prue over Phoebe's actions once, but after the ritual of dragging her sister home half-conscious from parties and talking mall security guards into reconsidering pressing charges had stopped being a part of her life, she'd found herself sympathizing with Phoebe's issues. She felt bad now for not being as supportive as Paige had been. Maybe if more than one of them had tried to keep up contact with Phoebe in New York, they wouldn't have lost track of her like this.

"Am I too late?" a voice said from the foot of the altar. Piper was almost knocked off her feet by the surprise of her little sister standing there. It was almost as if their words had somehow conjured her up out of the air.

"Phoebe!" Paige said enthusiastically, ignoring all attempts to look solemn as she rushed up to her.

"Hey, Paige," Phoebe smiled back as they embraced.

"Phoebe, how did you get here?" Piper asked in disbelief.

Her wayward sister stood up straighter, looking into the faces of her siblings with guilty eyes. "Well... I've been back," she admitted.

"What?" Paige asked.

"I left New York about two months ago," Phoebe explained.

"And you didn't tell me you were back in town?" Paige said in mock anger. The face of her oldest sister, however, was much more irate.

"Or me," Prue interrupted as Phoebe was about to answer. "Or Piper, or any of us. Grams was dying, and you were just hanging out around the corner?" she asked spitefully.

Phoebe crossed her arms defiantly. "Well I didn't know about that, Prue," she reminded. "And I'm sorry I wasn't there to say goodbye, or to help you guys. Truth is I was waiting to contact you, but then I saw the obituary in the paper..."

"Waiting for what?" Prue asked. Piper put a hand on her sister's arm, a silent plea for her to not start yet another argument.

Phoebe sighed. "Until I had something to show for myself," she admitted. "Running away to New York was..."

"Stupid?" Prue interrupted. Piper clamped down even harder.

"Yes," Phoebe admitted freely. "And I realized that. A lot of the things I've done were stupid. But I got help for them."

"Phoebe, that's great," Piper interjected, glad to be able to say something positive to her sister.

"Thanks, Piper," Phoebe answered. "I have a job in the Haight, and an apartment. I was just gonna wait until things with me were a little more stable to stop by."

"Phoebe, you can't just 'stop by...'" Prue started. This time, Piper verbally admonished her.

"I know, Prue," Phoebe answered. "I know I've done a lot of bad things, and I'm not expecting you to just magically forgive me. But for now, I'd just like a moment with my grandmother, please."

Prue stared at her for a long time before walking off to the side of the church. Piper followed.

"Prue, how could you?" she whispered, hoping to avoid causing a bigger scene than they already had.

"How could she?" Prue retorted. "Or have you forgotten?"

"No I haven't, Prue, but look at her. She's really trying to turn herself around. If you go and put her down the same way you always do, she's just gonna rebel again. I'm not saying you have to forgive her for everything, but just try to be a little supportive."

"I think you and Paige have that covered," Prue responded, rummaging through her purse to check her phone.

Phoebe finished her prayer and stood up again in front of the casket. She placed a hand on her grandmother's cheek for a long moment, wishing the woman could know everything she was feeling. With a sigh, she wiped a tear and turned away.

Paige scooted over in the front pew as Phoebe came to sit next to her. "Hey," she said sympathetically.

Phoebe smiled appreciatively. "Was it bad?" she asked. "Did she suffer?"

Paige shook her head. "You know she'd been deteriorating for a few years, mentally. But she wasn't in pain. She just lost the ability to do things all of a sudden, started making less sense... She kept saying something about destiny, it was really weird," Paige informed. "And then she stopped saying anything. She just... slipped away."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help."

"I wasn't really, either," Paige admitted. "Piper called me and Prue, in that last week, and of course we came over. But until then I just kind of thought it was business as usual. I went on with school, and Prue was busy planning her life with Roger." Paige paused to dab away some tears of her own. "You're not the only guilty one, Phoebe. We shouldn't have put it all on Piper's shoulders like that."

Phoebe looked over at her two older sisters. "They really hate me, huh?"

"I don't think Piper does," Paige answered. "She was just angry at first. Prue though... she won't let a grudge go."

"Tell me about it," Phoebe said, letting herself chuckle a little. "She's probably still mad that I stole her college boyfriend."

"That guy was six years older than you, Phoebe!" Paige reminded.

"And that's my fault? He was the one looking at high schoolers."

"Well still, it probably wasn't wise to have your prom portraits taken with him."

Phoebe rolled her eyes at herself. "I know. But that was me, always trying to stir things up. I was such an idiot."

"Hey, you figured it out," Paige reminded her.

Phoebe sighed, looking back at the open casket. "Not soon enough."

Prue and Piper approached them. "It's time for the burial," Prue announced. "The pallbearers..."

"Oh, wait a second," Paige interrupted. She began to dig in her purse.

"What are you looking for?" Prue asked.

"Well, I was trying to think of something unique to do for Grams, so I looked online and I found..." Paige produced some folded-up paper from her bag. "...this."

"What is it?" Piper asked.

"It's a Wiccan ritual."

"A what?" Prue exclaimed. "Are you still on that kick?"

"I am open to all beliefs and customs, as was Grams," Paige defended as she unfolded the paper. "This is a nice ritual, 'To Eulogize a Matriarch's Spirit.' Since we're all here, we can all say it."

"You want us to perform some kind of witchcraft at our grandmother's funeral?" Prue protested.

"Oh please, it's not like we need a blood sacrifice or anything," Paige argued. "Come on, Prue, all you have to do is read it, it'll take 10 seconds."

Phoebe shrugged. "I'm game."

"It might be kind of nice..." Piper agreed.

Prue sighed. "Fine. What am I supposed to do?"

"We all stand next to the casket and recite the words," Paige informed, handing her a copy of the ritual. "That's it."

The four sisters walked up to the altar. They paused for a moment, taking one last look at the woman who had been grandmother, teacher, mother, and protector to them for so many years.

"Are you ready?" Paige asked. The others nodded.

A matriarch now slumbers deep
But in our hearts, her life we keep
We call the power to move her on
And her legacy we take upon

They folded up the papers and handed them back to Paige.

"That wasn't so bad," Piper commented.

Just then, the earth began to shake.

A/N: I changed the spell from what was in the pilot, because the original one would have seemed really out-of-place and suspicious at a funeral, so this is what I came up with instead. A little shoddy (I've never been good with spells), but hopefully it serves its purpose. And I know that Paige was the one with alcohol problems in the series, but if both she and Phoebe were the "troublemakers", I don't think there would be enough differences between their characters here. So instead I made Phoebe a little more troubled, and Paige more of an understanding, free-spirited character. Will update soon (this story is surprisingly easy to write)!