Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed.

Chapter Two

The Pentacle: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Aether

November 13th, 2027. Changed Future

The entire Halliwell-Wyatt-Turner-Matthews-Mitchell clan had gathered in Piper's restaurant, Charmed, to celebrate Annie's twenty-third birthday. The med student herself had a fondly exasperated look on her face as she mediated yet another argument between Junior and Kat about the latter's clothes.

"It's not acceptable to show that much skin in public!" Junior insisted for the third time. "Annie tell her!"

"Mom doesn't have a problem with it so I don't see why you should," Kat snapped back. "I'm twenty not twelve, I can wear what I like. Besides, you're my younger brother, not my older. Who do you think you are, telling me what to wear?"

"Okay guys, calm down," Anna waved her hands. "Let's avoid any more furniture becoming casualties, alright? Mom'll kill us."

Annie's fiancé, Nico Phoenix, was huddled in a corner to avoid drawing attention to himself. The fact that Anna, the Halliwell family's princess, was in a relationship with someone born to a coven of assassins with demonic powers was the cause of much unhappiness in the family. Then again, Annie being in a relationship full stop had always caused consternation in her fiercely protective family.

Cole had gone over to chat with the man. Despite the (unknown to any of the new generation) history between them, he rather liked Nico.

And, unlike the sisters and Leo, Cole knew that OtherAnna had continued to wear the necklace with her engagement ring under her shirt after returning from the future. If OtherAnna had loved him enough to let him into her fiercely guarded heart, and their Anna loved him enough to secretly date him for three years, then he had to be worth knowing. And Cole would rather put up with a disliked relative than lose his favourite niece.

Henry Senior was talking with Victor, the sisters were all sorting out the cake in the kitchen, Leo was trying (against his better judgement) to convince Wyatt not to vanquish Nico, Prue and Tam were talking about their shared history class' latest assignment, (Prue was studying to be a lawyer like her father while Tam was going to be a journalist) and Phoebe's younger daughters, Primrose and Pamela were whispering and giggling about something. All of them were completely oblivious as to the disaster that was about to happen.

Leo glanced over at his daughter with a sad smile. Twenty-three. Everything had come full circle now. Not only was Anna twenty-three years old today, but it was also twenty-three years to the day that his brilliant, determined, battlescared twenty-three-year-old daughter from the original timeline had died.

He was so proud of her, but he still desperately wished that OtherAnna had survived. She'd deserved to see the changes that she'd made, deserved to live out the last days of her life old and happy instead of young and frightened. His Anna was wonderful and he wouldn't trade her for anything, but she deserved to know what a hero she was.

"Dad," Wyatt interrupted his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

Leo blinked and turned back to his firstborn, nodding. "Of course I am," he reassured him. "I just can't believe that Anna's not a little girl anymore."

"I know," Wyatt agreed. "Must be hard, you and Mom and everyone have always been more protective of Annie than the rest of us."

Leo looked guilty. They hadn't told the kids about the other timeline. They'd figured it was all or nothing so, not wanting to reveal that Wyatt had been evil in another world, they'd gone with nothing. But after all her Otherself had gone through, and OtherAnna's death, Annie had been protected to point of being smothered by her family. "It's just-" he began to excuse himself, unsure how he'd explain it but Wyatt shook his head.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," he insisted. "I've always preferred it that way, I want Annie safe too. Just saying, ya know?"

Leo shifted uncomfortably but was saved from having to answer by Piper coming out with a large cake made from Anna's favourite flavour, red velvet with buttercream icing, in her hands.

The family gathered around the table, Annie laughing as she listened to the song. As she drew in a breath to blow out the '2' and '3' candles, she let it out abruptly with a shocked gasp.

The world seemed to slow down for Leo as he saw a bloodstain begin to form on Anna's white dress with pink flowers and he watched with the world roaring in his ears as she collapsed on the ground clutching her stomach. Loud cracks were heard as her bones broke and healed, rapidly and mostly incorrectly and new but old scars appeared on her arms and her legs and back. Injuries that his Anna had never received but OtherAnna had.

The sight of Wyatt and Paige bending over Anna with glowing hands on the floor of Charmed merged with the memory of bending over OtherAnna in the attic. His own were hands glowing as Gideon vanished with his son and his daughter begged him to leave her to die and save her brother instead.

"Power of Three spell!" Cole's voice cut through the white noise in his ears. "We need to put her in stasis. Now!"

The three Charmed Ones, all of them white with terror and recognition, clasped their hands.

"Time is running low,

The bleeding will not slow,

So with this quick rhyme,

We freeze this witch in time!"

Just as the spell ordered, Anna suddenly stopped bleeding, breathing or moving. She was frozen literally seconds from death.

"What the hell?" Wyatt spat. He was shaking and staring in horror at his bloodstained hands. "When I get the demon who did this-"

"You can't get him," Leo interrupted dully, everyone turning to look at him. "I killed him twenty-three years ago."

January 26th, 2003. Abandoned Warehouse in San Francisco

It was disconcerting, Anna could mentally admit, to be living with Wyatt. Especially a good version of Wyatt that was strangely protective of her. Anna hadn't had anybody try to protect her since she was twelve when the Charmed Ones died. Wyatt had never tried to protect her, only hurt her.

Right now, this weird protective streak was getting in the way of her mission. "Wyatt," she gritted out. "I," at his pointed look she rolled her eyes and corrected herself. Some battles weren't worth fighting after all. That had been one of the first things that Danielle had taught her.

"We need the Valkyries as allies for the plan to work. So, we need to gain their respect. Therefore, I will have to fight to do so."

"Why do you need to be the one to fight?" Wyatt demanded. "Why not me? How do you even know that you'll win if you aren't allowed to use your powers? You're so tiny, they might break you in half and I don't think I can heal you if that happens. And Valkyries can't be trusted, they kidnapped Dad you know."

Anna smirked. "Did they? So at least now I know that something I do tomorrow will gain their respect."

Wyatt shot her an appalled look as she went on.

"And as for the other part, not only was I trained by Valkyries in how to fight, both with and without powers, but it's also not the first time I've fought without powers. And this time my opponents won't actually be trying to kill each other."

Wyatt sighed in frustration and raked a hand through his hair. "Why do we even need all these allies and elaborate plots and stuff? We know that Gideon's the source of my turning. All we have to do is take him out of the picture and voila, the future is saved." He waved his hands for emphasis.

Anna sighed and looked down at the boiling potion in front of her.

"There's more to this than me just wanting not to waste my plans you know," she stated finally, giving the purple liquid another stir with her spoon.

"Everything that I would have done if you hadn't come back created your timeline. By you being here, and me not dying, another new timeline will most likely be created. And I don't know what it'll be like."

Wyatt stared in horror at her. "I, wha-, how-" he leapt to his feet. "I need to go think," he decided. "I'll go get lunch." He paused and turned back to her. Anna sighed slightly, pausing as she began to set up the cauldron and waited impatiently.

"I just thought of something," Wyatt frowned. "Where's the money you've been using for our food? And how much do we have, because we probably need to be careful with it if we're gonna be here for a year."

Anna felt her expression tighten as she shrugged and looked back down at her cauldron. "I've been," she faltered. "I haven't been paying, okay," she admitted grumpily.

Wyatt uncomprehendingly at her, "What do you mean?"

"I've just been orbing food directly out of the restaurants," Anna snapped, suspecting her cheeks had flushed. It was infuriating how difficult it was to keep control around Wyatt.

"I don't have any money and the Resistance sure as hell couldn't spare any."

"Oh," Wyatt said quietly. "Uhm, okay. So we need money then. I'll sort that out, get a job or something. And we can go shopping later so we can have a proper meal before we head to Valhalla. That is, if you can cook, 'cause I burn toast." He flashed a boyish grin at Anna's curt nod before orbing away.

"Stop touching my belly!" The sound of the familiar voice had both Halliwells freezing in shock. Anna had gone so pale that Wyatt was worried she would faint from shock. She grabbed him and pulled him over to another aisle, out of risk of being spotted as they heard Phoebe's voice reply.

"I just want to feel my itty bitty niece!"

"Phoebe!"

"Why did we come to this store?" Anna hissed furiously, casting a furtive look in the direction of the voices. Wyatt grimaced, he'd chosen this store because it was familiar and reassuring. The one where their family had always shopped for food when they were growing up. In hindsight, they should've avoided it at all costs.

"We need to leave," Anna sighed, casting a forlorn look at their half-full cart. Wyatt shook his head.

"No," he answered. "We just," he paused and ran his hand over his face and it instantly changed. His hair darkened to a burnished gold and the curls straightened out. Green leaked into his eye until they were hazel, without any blue. His facial features all subtly changed and he grew two inches. He went to glamour Anna but she slapped his hand away.

"I can do it," she grumbled, before waving her own hand over herself. Her hair lengthened and thickened, and her eyes turned grey. Her cheeks filled out until she was simply slim, not malnourished. Her crooked nose, cheekbones and other incorrectly healed bones all fixed themselves too. Wyatt carefully didn't let the fact that they no longer looked related, let alone like siblings bother him.

"Go get some bread," Anna ordered. "I'll get the produce and we'll head straight away. And don't speak to either of them!" She hurried away with the cart in tow. Wyatt stood stock still for a minute before he hurried off in the direction of the bakery aisle.

He'd just grabbed a random loaf and was beginning to think that they might escape with encountering their family when he turned and spotted a very young, very irritated Piper Halliwell. Complete with basket and swollen belly.

'That's me in there,' Wyatt thought, staring in shock at his young mother's large stomach.

"It's not going to bite!"

"Huh?" Wyatt managed to croak out, realizing that he was both blocking the bread and staring at (to her) a stranger. He scrambled out of way and shoved the loaf he held into Piper's hands. "Bread?" He asked her, voice high pitched.

Without a doubt, Anna was going to murder him. It was only a question of whether or not she would wait until there were no witnesses left or not. They couldn't exactly persecute her after all and Anna didn't need magic to kill. No exposure risk.

"Thanks," Piper said dryly, accepting the loaf. "You're looking at it like the baby's going to leap out and attack you or something."

Wyatt grimaced. "Oh, now all I can think about is that movie with the aliens."
Piper raised an eyebrow and he elaborated.

"You know the one," he babbled. "The aliens burst out and latch on to your fac-I'll shut up now."

"Me and my 'little alien' thank you," Piper answered, patting her belly. "Are you always this bad around pregnant women?"

"Uh, not sure actually," Wyatt frowned thoughtfully. "When my cousin was pregnant, I said she didn't look that different. She threw a book at my head for calling her fat and cried for three hours in my aunt's arms. I still don't understand why she thought I was saying that."

The book in question was the Book of Shadows and Prue had been looking through it for a cure to the demonic pregnancy she'd been cursed with. Anna had then grabbed the Book herself and tried to 'whack some cells into Wyatt's brainless head'. He hoped the abrupt pang of homesickness that he felt didn't show on his expression.

"Wy-arren, what are you doing bothering this poor woman?" Anna's (as usual for this version of his sister) irritated voice came from behind. Wyatt quickly turned to see her coming up. You'd never guess from the look in her eyes that she was seeing her long-dead mother for the first time since she was twelve. Wyatt, however, could sense the turmoil and raw grief that she felt through their tattered link. As well as the murderous thoughts she was contemplating toward him.

"It's okay," Piper smiled reassuringly at her. "Better someone be scared of my stomach than try to touch it."

"They seriously ask to touch it?" Wyatt yelped, appalled at the very thought.

Piper quickly went back to looking annoyed. "They don't even ask," she snapped grumpily. "They just come up and cop a feel."

"But that's space invasion," Wyatt cried, dismay at the thought of his mother being touched without permission.

"That's what I said!"

"I hate to be rude," Anna cut in with a tense smile. "But Warren and I have to go. We've to drop our groceries at home before the party tonight, remember Brother Dear?"

Wyatt winced, because no version of Anna ever called him 'Brother Dear' unless she was seriously pissed off at him, and nodded. "Uh, yeah. I remember." He grabbed a fresh pan of bread and reached out a hand to shake Piper's, ignoring the sudden urge to fall into her arms and beg her to make everything okay again.

After he'd let go, Anna too shook hands with their soon-to-be-mother. Wyatt was fairly certain that Piper didn't notice how she suddenly stiffened and went pale half-way through.

"Nice to meet you," Anna said quickly, letting go. "I hope everything goes well with your baby."

Piper smiled back as she thanked them and they rushed off.

"What happened back there?" Wyatt demanded as soon as they re-materialized inside their warehouse. "You looked like you were going to faint or something. Are you sick?"

Anna cast him a disbelieving look, as if thinking that her looking sick might mean that she was actually ill was completely ridiculous.

"Of course I'm not sick," she snapped. "The baby, it recognized me."

"What?"

"You, him, the unborn child inside our mother!" She snapped. "He touched my mind. He was," she shook her head helplessly, at a loss as to how to explain what had happened.

"Can you sense me through our bond now?" Wyatt asked eagerly. Anna frowned for a moment in concentration before shaking her head with a hint of disappointment in her once-again olive eyes.

Wyatt sighed but nodded. They emptied the food into the warehouse's old kitchen silently, both of them lost in thought. After a quick meal of sandwiches that would've made Piper throw a fit at her children claiming as dinner, they went to bed. Neither of them considered the possible consequences of Anna's momentary contact with her unborn brother.

AN: I know that the Event happened when Chris was fourteen but I like the thought of them both being very young when everything happened. So, the Event happened on Anna's twelfth birthday (all the Charmed Ones were attacked at their homes and killed), Wyatt disappeared and then showed up and exposed magic on New Year's Eve/Day of 2018, two years later.

And Cole is alive, I will forever deny that everything that happened with him becoming the Source and all happened. If you ask me, that's when the Charmed Ones started becoming so selfish and overly obsessed with their normal lives and romance.

The Seer became the second Source instead and Phoebe was never pregnant or moved out. The Elders did grant him the ability to use pyrokinesis though as reward for helping defeat the Source.