The Phantom of the Opera: Charmed Style!
Disclaimer: Sue Thomas, Myles, Jack Dawson, and Bobby belong to the "Sue Thomas, From.," television show because Piper and Phoebe Halliwell, Lieutenant Darryl Sheila Morris, Coleridge Benjamin Turner (Belthazor), Paige Matthews, Elise Rothman, Spencer Ricks, Whitelighter Kyle Brody, Drake De'Mon, and mortal parole officer Henry Mitchell belong to the "Charmed," television show, but Monsieur Richard Ferman, Monsieur Gilles Andrei, Singora Carlotta Judacelli, Signor Ubaldo Piangi, Monseur la Viscount Raoul de Chagny, Mademoiselle (Miss) Christine Daae, Madame Meghan (Meg) Giry, Joseph Bouquet, and the Phantom of the Opera named Erik belong to both Gaston Leroux and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Summary: Phoebe Halliwell is chosen to play Christine Daae in the San Francisco Lyric Theater's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical, 'The Phantom of the Opera'. When she puts on Christine's actual dress, she is magically transported to Paris, France in 1870. Trapped in the body of Christine Daae, she participates in the events occuring at the Opera Populaire. Can she be rescued through a time portal by the rest of her family before she is completely erased from history? Some dialogue was borrowed from the following "Charmed," episodes: "House Call," and "Soul Survivor." This story takes place right after the Eighth Season Episode "The Last Temptation of Christy."
Chapter One: The Unexplainable Murders
The wind whipped through Sue Thomas's hair as she walked through the Hoover building in the wonderful city of Washington, DC. Traffic had been heavy and Sue was running fifteen minutes late. Letting out a sigh, Sue raced through the lobby and hurriedly pressed the "up" button on the elevator. She impatiently tapped her foot against the floor as she waited for the elevator doors to open. Finally, they did and a few minutes later she reached the bullpen. "Well if it isn't our secret weapon?" Myles remarked to the pretty blonde.
Sue ignored him and walked over to her desk, unclipping Levi's leash from his collar. She glanced over at Jack's desk and noticed he was on the phone. "All right, thanks Darryl," Sue heard Jack say and then he hung up the phone. He glanced up and noticed she was looking at him, a curious expression on her face.
"Who's Darryl?" Sue asked.
"A friend who works in the San Francisco office. He's a police officer," Jack explained. He walked to the middle of the office. "Listen up ladies and gents," he said. "We have a new case. I was just on the phone with a police officer friend of mine and he says there have been suspicious murders happening in San Francisco."
"Serial killer?" Bobby asked.
"Not exactly," Jack said. "The way he described it was that whoever this killer is, only left the outlines of the bodies."
"So in other words we have no case?" Myles asked. "No evidence. No case."
"Well we sort of do," Jack said. "The bodies are outlined in ashes."
"Ashes?" Sue asked. "As in from a fireplace?"
"Kind of," Jack said.
"So if the murders are happening in California why are we being summoned?" Myles asked.
"Because Garrett wants us to team up with the partners there," Jack said. "go home. Pack a bag. We leave tonight."
* * * * *
Chapter Two: The Return of Belthazor
The morning sun shone down on San Francisco, promising another gorgeous spring day in the great state of California. The occupants of 1329, Prescott Street were just beginning to wake up. Piper Halliwell was already downstairs making breakfast for her family. She hummed a Josh Groben song as she took the meal off of the stove. "Morning Piper," Phoebe greeted her oldest sister as she entered the kitchen to the delicious smell of freshly-buttered toast, bacon, and eggs. "Food, good, I'm starving."
"I thought you stayed in your condo," Piper said, handing her a full plate.
"I did, but I just couldn't miss your awesome cooking!" answered Phoebe, sitting down to breakfast.
At that moment, Paige Matthews came running down the stairs. "Hi, bye. I have to go. I'm having breakfast with Henry."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Hold it a sec, missy Paige. Don't you want a little something for the road?" asked Piper.
"But I'm meeting Henry at nine," Paige protested. Then, (without thinking), she added, "We're actually making our wedding plans! Can you believe it? I'm finally engaged!" At the angry and confused looks she was receiving from Piper and phoebe, she amended, "Oh, did I forget to mention that Henry proposed and I said yes?"
"Yeah, you kinda did!" Piper said sarcastically and continued, "I mean, that's not the type of news you just drop into a conversation! The least you could have done was to tell your sisters about this monumental step in your life."
"I'm sorry," Paige apologized and attempted to explain her serious lapse of honesty. "but it happened last night on top of the Golden Gate Bridge and I was just waiting for the right time to tell you guys."
"Well, congratulations, Paige!" cried Phoebe, giving her little sister a big hug. "I'm happy for you and even if Piper's not showing it right now, she's happy too."
"Hey! I resent that!" Piper responded and turned to Paige. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, sweetie, but I'm just really stressed about the whole Billie Bridget and Christy Kerry Jenkins hellping us to fight against the Ultimate Power so I can get my husband back situation. Besides, Josh Groben is coming to the club next Friday and there's still so much I have to do to get ready! Despite what Phoebe says, I'm really happy for your engagement too."
"Piper rambles when she's nervous or stressed," Phoebe said.
"I'm not rambling!" contradicted Piper and glanced at Paige for support. "Was I rambling?" Paige nodded her head yes. "Oh, well that's just great. Are you going to eat anything for breakfast or not. You know, it's the most important meal of the day."
"Well, okay. I'll have a piece of toast I guess," Paige said taking a piece off Phoebe's plate.
"Hey! I was about to eat that!" Phoebe regarded Paige with a stern look.
"Sorry Pheebs," Paige said, rushing for the door. "I really have to go, but thanks for your congratulations. See you later." Paige left the manor for her date with her fiance, Henry Mitchell, the parole officer.
Phoebe finished eating and asked, "Piper, where are the boys?"
"Playing in the living room," Piper answered as she cleaned up the kitchen, "I fed Chris and Wyatt earlier, but I'm taking them to Dad's at ten o'clock today because I thought it was safer due to our upcoming battle with the ultimate power and all."
"I have to go too," said Phoebe, standing up and hugging Piper, "Elise will probably fire me if I'm late. Love ya sis."
"Have a good day, Pheebs," Piper responded as the door to the Halliwell manor closed in the distance. After Phoebe left, Piper sighed heavily as she put Phoebe's and Paige's dishes into the dishwasher. "Yeah, sure. I'll just stay here alone and prepare for the next demon atack because, oh well, that's what my life has been like for the last eight years!" As soon as those words were out of her mouth, there was a slight shimmer in the air near the doorway. Piper held up both of her hands, ready to either freeze or blow up whoever had just appeared with a flick of her wrists or the wave of her hands, but she gasped as a very familiar figure materialized there; a man in his late thirties, with brown hair and deep, hazel eyes. "Cole?" she questioned in astonishment, "what the hell are you doing here?"
"I" Boom! "can't" Boom! "come" Boom! "by" Boom! "to" Boom! "visit" Boom! "my" Boom! "favorite" Boom! "family?" Boom! "Piper," Boom! "stop" Boom! "blowing" Boom! "me" Boom! "up!" exclaimed Cole angrily; he kept exploding and reconstituting with each word as Piper waved her hands violently at the young half-demon.
"All right," Piper conceded, finally putting her hands down and studying Cole from head to foot. He looked exactly as he had the last time she had seen him, trapped in Limbo for his crimes as Belthazor. "Look, I appreciate you saving me from dying due to that thorn demon attack, but why are you here exactly?"
"To save Phoebe, while I still can," answered Cole, sitting down at the kitchen table.
"What?!" Piper cried in shock.
* * * * *
At the Bay Mirror, Phoebe sat in her office, and for the first time since taking the Advice Columnist job four years ago, she was completely stumped. She was supposed to be writing a response !'Lovelorn' about her husband who had died three years ago and she was thinking about dating again. Her boss, Elise Rothman, was expecting an answer by the end of the day, but Phoebe had been experiencing writers' block for the past seven hours. Unbidden, Phoebe's thoughts turned to her ex-husband, Cole Turner. It had been three years since he had been vanquished and she thought that she was over him. Of course, she had had other serious relationships (Jason, Leslie, and Drake), however, all of them had ended in one way or another. She had loved Jason and Drake, but Jason had moved away to Hong Kong because he hadn't accepted that she was a witch, Leslie had left San Francisco for Los Angeles after six weeks, and Drake had died after three weeks; none of them had filled the void in her heart since Cole's departure. She clearly remembered their last moments together and her last words to him in the basement of the Halliwell Manor after the Woogyman had failed to destroy him when he had summoned the shadow from the Nexus that was forever located underneath the house until May 22, 2005zankou: "You just don't get it, Cole, do you? I thought you were dead and I felt nothing. No pain, no love, nothing. I'm free. And when we do vanquish you, and we will, I'll never look back." Despite her cruel words, she had looked back, every night, alone in the bed they used to share, she'd taken the picture from the bottom drawer of her nightstand to dwell on his memory. Sighing, she glanced out the window and was surprised to see someone she hadn't seen in approximately nine months, after he'd moved 'on the east coast'! Abandoning her work, she stood up and ran outside to meet him. "Darryl! Darryl!" she called out excitedly as she sprinted toward her black friend.
"Jack, your FBI team is no longer needed because we solved our case___well, he's a unique kind of killer and we just caught him this afternoon. I'm sorry for the false alarm___okay, bye." Lieutenant Darryl Morris hung up his cell phone, stopped walking, and looked around to see Phoebe Halliwell sprinting toward him. "Phoebe! Hi, I was just coming to surprise you! How have you been?"
"Oh my gosh, I'm great and so are my sisters, but what are you doing back in San Francisco?" asked Phoebe, hugging him tightly and he hugged her back. "How long are you here? Are you back to stay? How's Sheila and the kids?"
"Everyone's great," replied Darryl happily. "I'm on vacation from my job and I'm only in town for a couple of days. I promise I'll come to visit you guys___maybe tonight?"
"Well," Phoebe began, "Tonight won't work because Josh Groben is performing at P-3 next week. As you can imagine, Piper sure has a lot to do in order to be prepared. As co-owners of the club, Paige and I are helping Piper work the bar, but you can come if you want. The concert starts at eight o'clock on Friday night."
"Sounds great," he answered, smiling. "I'll be there!" Darrryl pulled out a newspaper clipping and handed it to Phoebe. "I found this advertisement in today's edition of the San Francisco Gazette and thought you might be interested."
"Really?" Phoebe unfolded the clipping and read it aloud, "Auditions for Christine Daae in the San Francisco Lyric Theater's production of 'The Phantom of the Opera'! Final auditions for the co-starring role in this magnificent musical will be held all day at the Multiplex (two blocks from the Bay Mirror) from 9:00 A.M to 5:00 PM. Warning: these are the final auditions for Andrew Lloyd Webber's longest-running broadway musical since 1986 so if you're interested, please come by today!" Phoebe gave Darryl an incredulous look, "What makes you think I could play Christine! I can't even sing that well!"
"But I thought this was your favorite play," Darryl protested, "at least it was the last time we talked. Besides, I assumed you would be ecstatic to perform the co-starring role in your favorite musical."
"I'm flattered, and___maybe I will check it out." She checked her watch and gasped in surprise. "Oh no, it's 4:30, I have to get over there! Thanks Darryl!"
"You're welcome!" he called after Phoebe as she sprinted down the sidewalk toward the multiplex.
* * * * *
Chapter Three: The Audition
Phoebe made it to the Multiplex in five minutes. She raced into the building and her frantic pace slowed to a walk as she attempted to catch her breath. "Now, where do I go?" she asked herself as she looked around the large, completely empty atrium.
"Excuse me, miss?" Phoebe looked up as a strangely familiar figure strode quickly toward her. "Are you here for the auditions?" the familiar voice continued as he reached her side and Phoebe gasped in surprise as she recognized him.
"Drake! Hi, what are you doing here?" she questioned in surprise.
"Well, I decided to expand my horizons, besides my charge is playing Meg Giry." Drake smiled at her as they walked toward the manager's office where the auditions were being held.
"You're a whitelighter?" Drake nodded. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks!" Drake grinned and turned to see a young woman with dark-brown hair and light-blue eyes exiting the office to greet them. "Phoebe Halliwell, this is my charge, Kirsten and she's playing Meg Giry."
"It's nice to meet you," Kirsten said, shaking Phoebe's proffered hand enthusiastically. "I really hope I get the part because I've been dancing ballet since I was around eleven; it's always been one of my dreams to perform in my totally favorite world-renowned musical."
* * * * *
Chapter: The Bitter Rival
Friday morning, Elise Rothman, owner of the Bay Mirror, caught up with Phoebe before she reached her office door. "Phoebe, could you hold on a minute?" She held out a copy of the Daily newspaper for her young employee to examine.
Phoebe gasped as she recognized the advice column and the picture that accompanied it. She remembered her initial reaction when she first saw this particular article three years ago. She had entered Elise's office with the Daily newspaper in hand and said, `Did you see what that turkey did? It's a full page ad. Spencer Ricks is challenging me with this, this chauvinistic crap. Listen to this. `Ask Phoebe says every woman needs to find her own inner goddess,' right? Spencer Ricks says, `That's fine as long as she cooks and cleans.' Please don't tell me he's here___right now?"
"I wish I could, but I can't," Elise responded somberly. "I just hired him away from the competition to work with you for the day. I want you two to pick a letter and each give advice on it. I'll run both of your columns in tonight's evening edition of the Bay Mirror." Phoebe tried to protest, but Elise silenced her with a look. "Do this___or it's your job. I would really hate to lose you, Phoebe."
Phoebe groaned inwardly as she nodded and slowly trudged toward her office, remoniscing about her first encounter with the slimy advice columnist. Spencer Ricks was outside the Daily. He walked past a beautiful blonde woman and turned to check her out. Phoebe walked over to him. "Well, at least you practice what you preach. Spencer Ricks, right?"
Spencer replied, "That's right. You a fan? Got a pen?"
Phoebe's voice took on an edge. "No, actually, I'm your competition. But instead of stooping to your level, I decided to come and confront you personally."
Spencer studied her svelte figure appreciatively, but his gaze lingered for a moment on her breasts. "That's right_ Pheeble Halliwell as I live and breathe. Your billboards don't do you justice. You have a nice rack. You ought to show it off a little bit more."
Phoebe chose her words very carefully. "You know, I don't mind losing readers to a legitimate writer. But some misogynistic pig that's a fraud."
Spencer looked offended. "Ow, ow, that hurts. I'm not a fraud. I mean what I write."
"Oh, do you?" Phoebe scoffed.
Spencer's scatheing response had been the last straw. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, baby. Oh, wait, that's a woman's place, isn't it? So then you wouldn't have anywhere to go, would you?" She turned and walked away, ignoring him.
This is going to be a very long day, Phoebe thought as she entered her office. She rolled her eyes when she discovered Spencer Ricks sitting at her desk with his feet up on it, reading letters. "As I live and breathe. Pheeble. Where you been? What, are you keeping bankers hours?"
Phoebe repressed the overwhelming urge to snap at him. "Turkey. Okay, first of all get your feet off my desk, and secondly get out of my chair."
Spencer looked disappointed. "Aw, and here I thought we were gonna be friends."
Phoebe quickly bit back an annoyed retort. Instead she commanded, "Now."
Spencer sighed. "Alright, alright. Geez, keep your panties on." He got up. Phoebe walked around to the back of her desk and Spencer had a glance of her butt. "Nice."
Spencer headed for the door. Obviously, Phoebe thought, he's not really interested in doing this job, but I am because if I don't, I'm fired. Phoebe said, "Okay, let's get a couple of things straight here. I didn't ask for this and I don't like it so don't push it or else___was
Spencer took her challenge. "Or else what?"
Phoebe ignored him. "You know what? Let's just pick a letter."
Spencer quickly sifted through the many stacks of letters on Phoebe's large desk. "Well, let's start with there is nothing good in this pile of dribbble. I mean, there's some lady who wants to break up with a loser, another who wants to be closer to mummy, and this one, she's worried about losing her virginity. It's like a freakin' PMS convention. Let me ask you a question. Do you ever get letters from anybody other than a bunch of whiny chicks?"
"Oh my god!" Phoebe softly muttered under her breath as Spencer proceeded to comment on every single letter on the desk for the next four hours until the petite brunette simply couldn't take it any more.
Phoebe grabbed her bag and headed for the door, but Spencer blocked her way. "Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. Where are you going, toots?"
"Home if you must know." Phoebe glanced from him to the door, waiting for him to move out of her way. She had already answered her letter to Lovelorn during Spencer's tirade, telling her to get a dog.
Spencer held up one of her letters excitedly before he realized what she'd just said to him. "Home? Are you nuts? We got a column we gotta write. And I have just found the perfect letter for us to respond to. `Dear Phoebe, I am a breast man at heart but the problem is this girl I like is flat as a board. Should I even bother asking her out?'" He laughed. "Now this is a letter I could respond to."
"Well, good luck with that," Phoebe said, closing the door and leaving Spencer Ricks to respond to his chosen letter.
* * * * *
Two hours later, Phoebe entered P-3 holding a fresh copy of the Bay Mirror hot off the presses. She found Paige and Henry sitting in their curtained-off alcovve. "Hey Pheebs," said Paige as her older sister sat down beside the window.
"So, is that the latest edition of your column?" Henry asked and Phoebe nodded. "Who's that guy on the cover beside you?"
"Oh, that's Spencer Ricks, a rival advice columnist who's verry___hmm, outspoken. I had to work with him today and we each had to answer separate 'Ask Phoebe' letters."
Just then, Piper pulled back the curtain and entered the alcove. "Hi, I just thought I'd let you know that the concert's about to start."
"I can't wait!" Phoebe exclaimed excitedly. "Did you see Darryl? He arrived around the same time I did."
"Yes, I did," Piper studied her sister curiously. "You didn't tell me he was coming tonight."
"That's because I wanted it to be a surprise." Phoebe looked from one sister to the other. "Well, did it work?"
"Definitely," Paige said, grinning as the DJ picked up the microphone. "Oh, I think it's starting!"
"Attention ladies and gentleman," the DJ announced, "P-3 is proud to present, a one-night only show by___Josh Groben!" Everyone clapped as Josh stepped out onto the stage and the violinist (Miss Lisha Michavelli) began to play the opening chords of the song, "Mi Mancherai."
The End
