This story is written by request of R_______. The idea for an alternate reality fiction including Noah and Fox with a heroine not a member of the Passions cast is their idea. Of course, Passions and it's characters are not and never did belong to me.

Some of the details go with the two other stories I wrote about Passions, and some are different from them as well, mainly that Fox and Miguel are friends and the whole framing business never happened. :) I hope you enjoy!

Legends and Pearls

Prologue ~

"It was a good death."

Sniff…sniff

Tabitha rolled her eyes as she stood outside of her teenage daughter's bedroom door. How was it that the best of the Bad Witches in the world had a daughter that cried at the thought of a mortal's death? True, Endora was half mortal, but her mortal father was as devious and uncaring as they came.

Julian Crane was known as a man that might revel in the death, or at the very least the demise of another human being. It was a well-known fact that he had masterminded several plans that led to the harm of several individuals. One of his plans had inadvertently ended in the victim's death after a particularly violent and heinous crime. In true Crane fashion, he somehow managed to come out relatively unscathed in comparison to what the masses demanded in recompense and hadn't lost a night of sleep over the matter since. If The Dark Side could love a mortal, Julian just might be the one.

Yet somehow, Endora managed to be a truly good soul. Even Father Lannigan said so. She was into charity and rainbows and happiness and whatever sickeningly sweet thing her mother gagged at, and that included being sad to see Tristan die. Yet again. Without knocking, Tabitha let herself in.

"Endora Lennox! I thought I told you to clean up the kitchen while I was gone. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find Fluffy finishing off the rest of our lunch. You know the rules—work before pleasure."

"Mom! The movie's almost over!" Endora nearly whined from where she lay lounged across her bed.

"Almost over? It is over! The credits are rolling. Come on. Get to it," Tabitha said.

Endora gave a typical teenage sigh at her mother's order, then quirked her little finger.

Bing.

"All right. It's clean now. I'm sorry I didn't do it earlier and Fluffy ate our lunch."

"Endora!" Tabitha exclaimed. "What have I told you about using magic to do your chores? You should never do that!"

"You do it all the time," Endora pointed out.

"Yes, but only when we're in the home alone!" Tabitha countered. "We're upstairs! Anyone could be down there or walking past the house for cripe's sake!"

"Mom, don't be silly. The only people that stop by unexpectedly or come in without knocking are Kay, Miguel, and Maria, and they know we're witches. Everyone else in town steers clear of this place since it's 'so creepy'." Endora put air quotes around the words as she spoke. "I'm sure no one saw me clean up the kitchen."

"What about Sam and Ivy?" Tabitha exclaimed. "The Bennetts live right next door!"

"Oh, they're busy," Endora said with a wave of her hand.

"Yes. That's actually what I came to talk to you about." Tabitha glowered at her daughter. "Why must you insist on wrecking my fun?" Tabitha, good bad witch that she was, had been over to the Bennetts to cause some trouble in the otherwise happy home only to find that Endora had already made it impossible.

Endora laughed. "Mom you've asked me that every day since the day I cast my first spell, and the answer has been the same every time."

"I know, I know." Tabitha rolled her eyes and her voice took on a mimicking quality. "You can't stand the evil I perpetrate on innocent people, and you'll never understand how I can actually enjoy it." The mocking died away and Tabby looked at Endora with loving eyes.

"Oh, my darling daughter. What am I going to do with you?" She sat on the bed next to Endora and pointed to the two DVD cases that lay in front of them. "At least you're watching movies that would give even The Boys a good laugh!" Tabitha chortled with glee. "I mean 'Legends of the Fall'? Tragedy and mayhem all around, especially for the goody goody, Alfred! And 'Pearl Harbor'? There was absolutely no way to make that a happy ending!" Tabitha continued to laugh to herself until she looked into Endora's eyes. They weren't amused.

"Oh, Endora. Don't give me that look. As much as you're a good witch, I'm a bad one and we both well know it."

Endora sighed. "They're just so beautiful, you know?"

"What are?" Tabitha asked, obviously confused.

"The two stories." Endora replied. "I mean think about it. Both Susanna and Evelyn were torn from their true loves by circumstances beyond their own control. Tristan's demons kept him from being with Susanna, and Rafe went to Great Britian to fight in the war. Still, they never forgot that one true love. The love they felt for Tristan and Rafe never died even when they were with other people. Evelyn's love kept Rafe alive, Mom, and even though she was going to stay with Danny you can't tell me that she wasn't chafing at the timing of it all! "Susanna really had it bad. She never could be married to Tristan, but never could let go of that tiny wish that Isabelle never had him. I don't think Tristan ever stopped loving her either. He just felt he wasn't good enough for her until he had gone away for awhile.

Endora sighed, and Tabitha blinked uncomprehendingly. "I'm not seeing the beautiful part. Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful to me, but I'm not sure what beauty you see in all that angst."

"True love. True, all encompassing love, Mom," Endora explained. "That kind of love doesn't exist in real life. People fall in and out of love all the time. I t's no big deal. No one lives or dies for the other. People just fall in love then fall out of it again and move on. No penalty, no flag on the play. Just…game over."

"Oh, pish posh!" Tabitha's voice dripped with scorn. "That sappy true love happens all the time, and it's usually ridden with plenty of angst and tragedy. Just look around Harmony! Most of the couples in this town seem happy on the surface, but they have a lot of problems to sort out, problems that could tear them apart forever just like in these movies."

Endora shook her head. "Those problems only exist because you usually create them, Mom, with the express purpose of breaking them up, and you usually succeed. That doesn't count."

"All right." Tabitha had to concede that point. "But I do know of one story that did happen right here in Harmony that has tragedy, and angst, and all that sappy true love that you love so much, and I didn't have a thing to do with it."

Endora looked skeptical. "Really?"

"Yes," Tabitha answered. "It's a triangle just like Tristan's, Susanna's, and Alfred's or Rafe's, Evelyn's, and Danny's."

"And you didn't have anything to do with it?" As long as Endora could remember, her mother had been causing most of the mayhem and heartache in Harmony. She couldn't imagine a couple that she hadn't tried to destroy.

"Nope. Not a thing," Tabitha reaffirmed.

"And it's all about the love in these movies?"

Tabitha nodded. "Oh yes. The heroine of our story believed like you do. That true love is precious and rare. 'Like a pearl' she always used to say. In fact, she gave you the pearl you wear around your neck."

"She did?" Endora's hand went to the single pearl on a gold chain that she never took off.

"Yep. She gave Maria one as well. Just to symbolize her point about love. She said she wanted you to look at it and always remember that your love was a precious gift and to be careful whom you chose to give it to. I don't know why she insisted on telling such tales to two girls barely old enough to tie their own shoes, but she said that it was never to early for girls to learn that idea."

Enodra's eyes looked dreamy for just a moment before she turned to her mother suspiciously. "How come I don't remember this girl? I've known and understood everything you've done since I was little more than a baby."

"That's why. You were too busy undoing all my hard work to pay attention to the one person I was leaving alone." Tabitha replied. "Now do you want to hear this story or not?"

"Yes!" Endora squealed. "Tell me. Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Very well then." Tabitha and Endora scooted until their backs were against the headboard of the bed and got comfortable.

"It all happened when you were barely four years old. Harmony was the same as it always had been, the people going about their boring drab little lives as they always had...with an occasional spicing up by me of course," Tabitha said with a wink. "So we shouldn't have been at all surprised that a new face would spark such a turn of events…"