Laughter echoed through the Halliwell Manor. Children ran through the rooms, giggling and screaming whilst the adults watched them happily from the dining table. Phoebe held onto Coop's hand whilst they watched their 18 month old daughter Penelope Joanna trying desperately to run after her older cousins. Wyatt and Chris were chasing each other round in a very energetic game of tag that made their parents exhausted just to watch them. Piper was resting her head on Leo's shoulder whilst he fed her forkfuls of cake and making her chuckle when he missed her mouth so she had a chocolate smudge down her nose. Prue watched them all, leaning back into Lucas's embrace. His strong arms were wrapped round her and every now and then he brushed kisses into her hair. Contentment filled her and she couldn't think of a time that she'd ever been happier. Family was everything to Prue and after the events of the last two weeks it had become doubly important to her.
"So who's on washing up duty?" Piper asked and was greeted by a chorus of rejections. They laughed and Piper rolled her eyes. "Can I remind you of who spent all day creating this wonderful feast?"
"You say it like it's a chore. You know that you're never happier than when you're elbow deep in a hundred different ingredients." Prue told her.
"Doesn't mean I enjoy the mountain of clean up I have to do afterwards."
"Do you think there's a spell in the Book of Shadows for dishes?" Phoebe wondered.
"No! No magic or spells or demons for at least a month! I'm all magic-ed out." Prue pouted and buried her head in Lucas's shoulder.
"Besides if there was one we'd have found it by now and we'd be more like Bewitched than Charmed Ones." Piper said, wiping chocolate off her nose and onto Leo's shirt.
"I love that show." Phoebe sighed.
"We know!" Her sisters exclaimed before all three of them collapsed into silly giggles.
At this point Lucas maneuvered Prue so she was sitting back on her own chair comfortably before getting to his feet.
"Ok guys, I think we should leave the girls to their womanly chatting." His words earned him a swat on the thigh from Prue before he continued. "Let's go be macho in the kitchen and do the dishes."
The girls laughed as the other husbands agreed and began clearing the table.
"I've got some very macho aprons hanging on the basement door for you." Piper called after them and was answered with a resounding door slam which had the sisters giggling again.
"What other family night surprises do you have in store for us tonight Piper?" Phoebe asked, pulling her knees up to rest her chin on them.
Piper seemed to contemplate the question before a mischievous grin appeared on her face. Prue had a horrible feeling that tonight was going to be a disastrous repeat of Pictionary night but her fears went unconfirmed. Before Piper could speak a bright white light filled the room and eerie whistling screeched around them. All three of them leapt to their feet. Piper and Phoebe ran to their children, shielding them with their bodies whilst Prue stood between them and the figure that was slowly appearing in the centre of the light. She shielded her eyes as she tried to make out the person within. Friend of foe, she really wasn't sure but she stayed alert in case it wasn't a visitor they were happy with. The men came bursting through the kitchen door, Lucas leading the way. He'd already conjured fire in the palm of his hand and was ready to use it if he needed to. Prue couldn't be prouder of her warrior husband but she turned her attention away from him and onto the figure that was fully visible now.
The light faded and the whistling died away leaving a woman standing in their dining room looking very superfluous after the method of her arrival. Prue watched her carefully, looking for any sign of aggression but she simply gaped around the room until her eyes settled on Prue. Her expression changed into a mixture of emotions that Prue couldn't identify before the other woman spoke.
"Oh my god. It's you."
Prue raised an eyebrow at this statement.
"Yeah, it's me. Now who the hell are you?"
The other woman smiled before replying.
"I'm your sister."
Three Halliwell eyebrows were raised in unison now as they stared incredulously at this woman.
"Explain." Prue demanded, crossing her arms as she settled into her 'I am the oldest sister, you will obey me' pose. This did nothing to intimidate her, however, and she simply smiled with a touch of melancholy on her lips.
"You're just like they said you'd be. I never... I've wanted to know you for so long. I've been trying so hard to make you proud and I just... I don't know what to say now."
Prue was shocked to see tears well up in the other woman's eyes. She shared a confused look with her sisters who seemed as flabbergasted as she was. Turning back to face her, she was relieved to see her shaking her head and regaining her composure. She didn't want to have to deal with a witch who was obviously delusional and hysterical to boot.
"Why don't you sit down and tell us exactly what you're doing here and why you think we're your sisters." Piper told her in a soft voice that Prue had heard her use many times before with her children. The other woman gave her a strange look, almost as if she was comforted by Piper's mothering and did as she was told, dropping into a seat at one end of the table. The sisters sat at the other end, looking down at this intruder, whilst the men moved from the kitchen doorway. Leo and Coop took the children upstairs but Lucas remained, standing behind Prue. He was no less menacing than before but at least he'd put out the flame he'd been carrying around.
"Start from the beginning." Piper told her. The other woman took a deep breath and began speaking.
"My name is Paige Matthews."
"Another P. Imagine that." Phoebe muttered to her sisters.
"I was adopted as a baby and raised by wonderful parents who died when I was a teenager. As an adult I decided to look for my birth parents and for a while I thought that maybe... Patty Halliwell was my mom."
Prue felt her hand clench on the table cloth at the mention of her mother. The way this woman was talking was the same as blasphemy to her ears but Lucas's reassuring hand on her shoulder kept her emotions in check and she refrained from speaking.
"I never did anything about it after I found out she was dead, I just carried on with my life. Until..." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, obviously struggling to continue. After a few seconds of silence she began speaking again. "I saw an obituary in the paper, announcing the funeral of Prue Halliwell."
The sisters all tensed and the pressure on her shoulder increased as Lucas growled softly behind her.
"I don't know why I went but I'm so glad I did. I met Phoebe, later on she saved me from Shax and I discovered the truth. Patty Halliwell was my mother and her whitelighter Sam was my father."
"What?! Mom NEVER had a child with Sam." Prue spat out angrily.
"Not here they didn't. Not in this world. In my world Patty and Sam were together but their love was forbidden by the Elders."
"Pfft, why doesn't that surprise me? They put me and Leo through hell, why not Mom too?" Piper muttered angrily causing Paige to smile at her.
"You and Leo are the same in any world. Anyway, when she gave birth to me they were scared that the Elders would punish us, all four Halliwell children. So they gave me away. It took me years to find you and I was already too late. You were gone." She was speaking directly to Prue now. "I've never had the chance to meet you, to talk to you. We avenged you though. My first act as a Charmed One was to vanquish Shax."
At her words Prue felt a feeling akin to pride welling up inside her before she pushed it down. She had no idea whether this woman was telling the truth or not.
"So why are you here? In our world? I'm guessing you don't exist here right?"
Paige shook her head at Phoebe's last question before answering the others.
"In our world we've managed to vanquish most of the major threats in the Underworld, like the Source, the Triad... even Barbas is out of our lives. We were living semi-normal lives with children and husbands."
"Like us then." Prue stated, thinking of the battles they'd endured to allow them some freedom to live a normal life. Until the demi-god had shown up.
"We were wrong to think we were safe. There was a demon; actually a god is probably more accurate. He kept himself hidden in the very depths of the Underworld until we'd destroyed all those in power and he could take control of the chaos left behind."
"Wait, we know who you're talking about. Draws power from the earth, can create magical voids at will?"
Paige nodded and Prue continued.
"Well he's gone. I vanquished him five days ago."
Paige's eyes widened for a second before she spoke.
"The threat from your world may be gone but the one from ours isn't. He's too strong for the Power of Three or anything else in our world. We can't stop him yet he hasn't even tried to attack us. He's simply slaughtering his way through demons, stealing their powers as he goes."
"Sounds like he's doing you a favour." Phoebe snorted.
"He's searching for something. And I don't think we're going to like the consequences when he does." Paige informed them.
"That still doesn't explain why you're here, in our world."
"Because... because we think he's searching for you Prue."
"What?!" The exclamation was echoed by the four voices opposite Paige.
"We've had some help from the magical community and we found out that he's gained the ability to walk between realities. He was in contact with the god from your world and I think they planned the attack on you. They needed you to tap into that power which you obviously did if you managed to vanquish him."
"What power?" Prue spoke with an emotionless voice, her mind in turmoil but she refused to show it.
"We're not sure. All we know is that you were destined to inherit a great power, we don't know why and we don't know what it's for. All we know is you've got it and he wants it. I was sent here to warn you and help you. Piper and Phoebe would have come but they're looking after the kids and... it's too hard for them, to see you then have to go back to a world where you aren't."
Prue refused to feel anything for those sisters in another world, her sisters who were no longer together.
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" She asked instead. In answer Paige simply held out her hand and in a flurry of orbs the candlestick in front of the sisters disappeared before reappearing in Paige's hand.
"I inherited your power of telekinesis with my own whitelighter twist. I have whitelighter powers as well as Charmed Ones."
"That proves you're a witch. It doesn't prove you're our sister."
"Prue..." Piper spoke as if to ease Prue's aggression but was cut off as Paige got to her feet and moved down the table until she was standing in front of them.
"Hold hands." She commanded them. With a few seconds hesitation they did as they were told. Paige took Piper's free hand and reached over to take Phoebe's. Tension thrummed through all of them but as soon Paige's hand touched Phoebe's everything changed. A soft blue light flowed down from the ceiling and power burst forth to touch all of the women. They all stared at each other as a feeling of completion filled them. From worlds apart, they were joined and they all knew it. It was a feeling that came from deep within their soul and when the light faded, they all had tears in their eyes. Instinctively all three of them stood and enveloped Paige in a bone crunching hug. It was a strange situation but in that moment it didn't matter. They were sisters and that was what was important right then.
After a few moments they pulled apart, wiping their eyes. During their bonding moment, Lucas had gone upstairs and left them alone now that he knew they weren't in danger. Prue was grateful to him for that.
"What happens now?" Phoebe asked, her voice still thick with emotion.
"We have to find out more about this god. Maybe there's something in your world that we couldn't find out in mine. We need to stop him before he gets to Prue." Paige stepped away from them, clearly ready to go into battle but Prue reached out and took her hand.
"That's tomorrow's problem. Tonight I want to get to know our baby sister. I want to know everything."
Paige smiled, tears threatening in her eyes again. Piper and Phoebe obviously agreed with Prue as Phoebe put her arm round Paige's shoulders while Piper put an arm through Prue's. Demons could wait. Family was more important now.
