A/n: This story, in part, will deal with the lives of the Charmed Ones' children. Now, I know that Charmed ended by establishing that each sister has three children, including Paige's "Henry Jr," but I had such a clear picture in my mind of their futures that I simply couldn't give my ideas up for canon provided in the last five minutes of the series. So I'm pretty much ignoring the child situation that the show established.
The situations with Paige, Piper and Phoebe's children will reveal themselves as time goes on, so if there is any confusion, it should be cleared up soon.
I hope you enjoy.
Katie
Setting: March 2028; Halliwell manor; after Wyatt and Chris have come back from the past following the events of the episode, "Forever Charmed"
Destined
By: Ryeloza
Prologue
"I can't believe you called him Uncle Coop in front of the entire family."
"What?" said Meli, snapping the Book of Shadows shut and glaring at her brothers. "You saw Uncle Coop?"
"I couldn't help it!" said Wyatt, completely ignoring Meli. "It was an instinct. You know how it is. Besides, you were the one who was just itching to tell Aunt Phoebe to go for it, remember?"
Chris shook his head threw his hands into the air. "You're such a liar. You were the one who wanted to tell her. I could sense it."
"I could sense it from you."
"No–"
"Yeah, I could–"
"Oh my God!" said Meli. She stepped in between her brothers and stretched out her arms as if to restrain them, despite the fact that the gesture wouldn't really do anything to stop them if they truly wanted to go at it. "Shut up with the Whitelighter crap!" she said. Wyatt and Chris scowled at each other over her head, but both stepped back and put more distance between them. "Now, who wants to tell me just what the hell happened after you so kindly left me behind."
Wyatt and Chris both shrugged their shoulders, refusing to look at either each other or her.
"Come on, guys!" whined Meli as though she were six again instead of twenty. "I'm the one who's home on spring break. You two wouldn't even let me go on one little trip to the past with you and now you won't tell me what happened while you were there. You're treating me like a little kid."
"Mom said you weren't allowed to time travel anymore after what happened last time," said Chris. "Remember?"
"I was sixteen!" said Meli. "I'm an adult now. I can do what I want. Besides, Mom isn't even here! Now where'd you go?"
"I don't know exactly what year it was," said Wyatt. He looked over at Chris and raised an eyebrow. "2005?"
"No, it must have been 2006," said Chris. "That's when Dad was missing, wasn't it?"
"All right," said Wyatt. "2006. And nothing big happened, Mel. We went, explained that my powers had disappeared, and then Mom, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige fixed it. The end."
"But you saw Uncle Coop?" said Meli, not willing to let the matter go so easily.
"Yeah, we saw him," said Wyatt.
"Don't go blabbing that to Nora, though," said Chris.
"'Don't go blabbing that to Nora,'" mimicked Meli. She rolled her eyes. "I haven't seen Nora in two years. You know that."
Chris shrugged. "Doesn't mean you haven't talked to her."
"Okay, you two," said Wyatt, interfering before the fight could escalate. "No one is going to tell Nora anything, right? And for all intents and purposes, no one is going to tell Aunt Phoebe or Lena either."
"Yeah," said Chris and Meli sullenly.
"Good," said Wyatt. "Then we're agreed."
They stood in silence for a moment, but just when Wyatt moved to put away the potion ingredients they'd been using earlier, Meli spoke again. "So you didn't tell anyone what's going to happen?"
"Other than Wyatt's little faux pas?" asked Chris. "No."
"You know we couldn't have, Mel," said Wyatt. "Who knows what would have happened. Nora and Lena might not have even been born."
"I know," said Meli. "But I can't help thinking that things could have been...different."
"You mean that Nora might not have run away?"
"Yeah."
"You can't always change the past," said Chris.
"Yeah," Wyatt agreed. "Some things are just meant to be."
"Right," said Meli, sitting down on the sofa. "Some things. Have you noticed that the 'some things' that are meant to be always seem to involve death?"
Wyatt and Chris exchanged glances.
Meli shrugged. "Just an observation." And she lay down on the couch, tapping a fingernail against her front teeth and trying to ignore the increasingly persistent doubts she was having about destiny.