Mistakes.

Pattie unwrinkled the piece of paper with her hand-written spell and stared at it. The words, they seemed perfectly credible as a spell that got the job done. If she'd taken one of her uncle's classes at Magic School, he would have passed her with flying colors.

Well, the spell got the job done, but not in the easiest of ways.

If Phoebe had said it once she'd said it a million times, spells always found their way of working out. They did what you asked, although it wasn't always the way you had planned.

She sat at the kitchen table of the Manor, breathing labored and heavily. Phoebe had sent Prue out the door with the younger version of herself and then called Piper home from the club. For now, Pattie had been spared the pain of facing the person she'd lost years ago, but she would still need to do some explaining to Piper and Phoebe, which could be worse on so many levels. Phoebe was sweet when she was on your side, but if you were under her suspicion, God help you that she didn't vanquish you on spot.

When the door hinges creaked from the hallway, the same door, she remembered, that Piper was always nagging Leo to fix, Pattie stuffed the paper into her jean pockets and folded her arms. She bowed her head and closed her eyes; no words no eye contact. Piper's boots clicked against the entryway floor.

"So, I don't exactly understand what you mean by, 'we have a visitor'," she said, placing her coat over her arm and meeting Phoebe at the arc to the dining room.

Pattie heard Phoebe's voice echo an answer, "Yeah, neither do I."

Both women crossed the foyer and found themselves in the kitchen, staring down at their mysterious guest.

"So this is…" Phoebe began, and then stopped, looking to Pattie to finish for her. Pattie didn't, she just squeezed her eyes shut tighter, as if she could disappear. Actually, that option did exist to Pattie had she been in her own time. Her invisibility had been an extended version of her astral projection power. She'd gone from projecting herself from one place to another to disappearing completely. But there wasn't a chance her invisibility would work.

Now she wondered how much she'd taken her powers for granted.

"…she hasn't exactly told me who she is."

"Or where you've come from," Piper asked, slamming down a hand on the table and frightening Pattie, who snapped her head up. She flashed Piper eyes filled with anxiety. Piper pulled out a chair and took a seat. "Look, sweetie, giving us the silent treatment isn't going to help you at all. You owe us an explanation, don't you think?"

Pattie clamped her lips shut even more and Piper sighed, this wouldn't be easy. Piper observed the unexplained girl, wondering her true identity. They were being extra cautious, seeing as a demon always had the ability to impersonate someone else, but she seemed genuinely scared to them.

"Is someone after you?" Phoebe asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, trying to coax the truth from her.

Pattie fingered her hair nervously. Just my aunts when they find out what I've done, she thought to herself miserably. Then Pattie froze, could they know who she was? After all of the endless comments on how much she resembled Prue, were they seeing that now?

She glanced up at Phoebe, who brought herself down to Pattie's level. "Honey, we're not going to let anyone hurt you. If you're afraid of something, or someone, you need to tell us."

She was afraid, but not of demons, though that was a conceivable fear seeing as this little time travel had rendered her powerless. The seven-year-old Pattie of 2000 had her powers now, so she needn't worry about them exposing her. Her mind was fixed solely on reuniting with her mother, painful as it might be she knew that was the point of this whole messed up spell, it would probably be what got her home.

When all of their efforts failed, Piper and Phoebe took a minute to converse. She saw them whispering, doing her best to eavesdrop inconspicuously.

"Do you think she's hiding something important?" Piper queried, an uneasy gaze Pattie's way.

"She's a teenager, aren't they all hiding something?" Phoebe replied.

"Yeah, but still, for all we know she could be a demon."

"I highly doubt that Piper, they don't usually sink to a level of silence."

"Well," Piper suggested, "why don't we use the truth spell and figure out once and for all?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pushing herself out of the chair while her aunts still had their backs turned, Pattie turned and darted from the kitchen, heading straight for the doorway before either had a chance to react.

If they cast that spell, it'll all be over, Pattie knew. I can't let them find out; it'd be life-changing.

But as Pattie threw herself out the door and down the concrete stairway, she tripped, and found herself landing straight in Prue's arms. However, instead of recoiling back, she let herself fall vulnerable. In an instant her priorities had shifted. "Oh," Prue yelped, steadying Pattie before she could collapse to the pavement. "I guess you're the visitor Phoebe was telling me about, huh?" she smiled.

Pattie ran her hand through her hair, moving it behind her ear, a nervous habit. "Yeah."

"Well that saying 'someone drops in', I guess you take that literally," she laughed, then noticed that Pattie had gone pale. Taking her hand, she asked. "Are you all right?" Pattie nodded, gaping at her mother.

This is going well, she told herself sarcastically. Just don't blurt anything out and you'll be fine. "

"Well, come on then, let's go inside," Prue started, pulling Pattie along. Pattie thought of the Truth Spell.

"Wait, no! I don't want to go back in there, don't make me," she begged helplessly. Prue looked at her with confusion, and Pattie, seeing no other option, used the awkward moment to make a run for it. She bolted down the front yard, past the driveway and was halfway down the street when she felt Prue's arms wrap around her waist and pull her backwards. "Let me go!" she screamed, although deep down Pattie was comforted by her mother's embrace. It was so long awaited. Why am I running? She had to ask herself. The answer was to get away, but from what? The Halliwells were obviously no threat to her, and even if she got away, where would she go? Pattie needed the book or Prue to get her home, there was no use relying on her own magic when it had screwed her over the first time around.

Feeling Prue's arms still around her waist, Pattie was absorbing her mother's compassion and concern over her own well-being. It stabbed her heart like a knife to feel the tender care, everything she missed and hadn't been able to feel for the past seven years. She tried to yank herself free from Prue's grasp, it was the only way to keep from breaking down, but there was no chance, Prue had her arms locked around Pattie.

"Calm down," she said soothingly, "Stop fighting me."

"Let me go!"

Prue had an idea. "All right," she agreed, and disentangled her arms so that Pattie, trying to worm her way free, was sent flying down to the pavement, hitting it with a thud. She moaned, rubbing her arm. "Well, you asked for it," Prue scolded, lending Pattie a hand and helping her get to her feet.

Pattie found herself nearly smiling, that was such a cocky sort of move, and it fit her mother so well.

Still, when Prue went to put an arm around her, she flinched and withdrew.

Prue threw her arms back, an act of surprise. "I'm not going to hurt you. Come on, just come over here and sit down." She gestured to the second set of stairs at the end of the front yard, making sure not to come in contact with the girl at risk of her running off again. Pattie stared at her for a moment, and then finally let her walls down, joining Prue.

Clasping her hands together, Prue waited for a minute or two until she realized she was going to need to lead the conversation. "So, why don't we start off with something simple? My name is Prue, you wanna tell me yours?"

Not really, Pattie thought. Hesitating for a second, Pattie said the first thing that came to mind. "Elizabeth." It's not really a lie, she considered unconvincingly, Elizabeth is my middle name.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And where do you live?"

"Well, I was born in North Beach but that's all I'm going to give you."

That was something, but Prue pushed for more. "Don't you think your parents are going to be worrying about where you are?"

Pattie strived for cryptic answers where she didn't have to lie but could stray from the truth. It was unsettling, the thought of lying to her own mother, despite the fact that that was the basic teenage code. Choosing her words carefully, Pattie explained, "My dad is dead, and my mom will know she doesn't need to worry about me."

"You look exhausted," Prue noted, reaching out and warily taking Pattie's hand. Pattie nearly retreated again but this time thought better of it. For once, she let herself enjoy Prue's presence. After all, hadn't that been what she wanted all along? "You're shaking too. Are you running from someone?"

"No," she replied immediately.

"Well, then how did you end up in my house?"

"I…I don't know," Pattie answered, completely honest. She didn't know, and she was running her emotions ragged, that much was true.

"Sooner or later you're going to have to tell my sisters and me what is going on," Prue said more sternly. But she realized she'd pushed too far when Pattie shrank back even more.

"I...I can't…I-," she started, confused more than ever. Her feelings could stay rooted one way for more than a minute before the winds altered. The spell had been cast for the prime reason to rid Pattie of her pain, but when it took her face to face with the one thing causing that, she began to allow the comfort from Prue, then retreated. Why can't I just decide what I want?

Prue interrupted her rambling. "All right, all right," she placed her hands on Pattie's shoulders leading her up the stairs towards the house. "Let's just get you inside."

Upon entering the household, Pattie instantly realized the reason Piper and Phoebe hadn't been on her tail after she'd run out of the kitchen. She'd assumed they'd chase her, but had failed to show. Now it was apparent why, they'd been a bit held back.

A lower level demon was on one end of the household, Piper and Phoebe struggling for their lives on the other. Walking in at the wrong end of the room, the demon growled and instantly flipped to the entering witches, throwing an energy ball Prue and Pattie's way. Both Prue and Pattie shrieked and then ducked, narrowing avoiding the oncoming destruction.

"Elizabeth, get upstairs, now," Prue commanded, nudging her towards the staircase.

"No, I can help," Pattie replied, determined though she was well aware the risk without her powers.

But Prue was firm, "I said get out of here!"

Reluctantly she sprinted towards the stairs, pounding her feet up the first few but stopping and shrinking behind the rail, gripping the bars and watching the mayhem.

"You think you can come in here and steal the Book of Shadows while were at work don't you?" Prue asked, using her hand to send the demon flying, "Well surprise, surprise, we're home. No luck for you today, pal." He crashed with a grunt into the Grandfather clock, glass shattering and embedding itself into his back.

"Ah, come on, we just fixed that damn clock!" Piper yelled furiously.

"Dirty little witch!" he roared, rising back up and wielding an athamae Phoebe's way. She levitated, the blade flying underneath her and landing quickly in the wall above Pattie's head. He was angered by his lack of ability to complete the task at hand. Stealing the book was one thing, but killing the Charmed Ones would be greater.

Phoebe returned to the Earth, a sly look drawing across her face. "Is that the best you've got?"

"I will kill you and steal your powers," he threatened, hurling another energy ball towards Prue, but she just deflected it, moving it back in his path. It clipped his shoulder and he fell to the ground in agony.

"Such a hollow threat," Piper taunted, using her available time to freeze the demon. She looked to her sisters for suggestions. "What now?

Before they had the chance to come up with a spell or potion, the forgotten athamae flew towards them, hitting the demon square in the chest. He went up in flames, each dying breath filled with the screams of torture. Finally they dissipated all together, leaving behind the usual remnants of debris and scorch marks.

Prue grabbed Phoebe's hand and the two gathered with Piper to examine the damage. Prue picked up a piece of the demolished clock. "The repair guy probably lives off of our calls alone," she muttered.

"But I don't understand," Piper said. "We didn't do anything."

It was Phoebe who turned around and noticed Pattie descending the stairs, half stunned, half satisfied that she'd worked with her mom and aunts to thwart another demon's plans. "I guess she did."

Pattie had been given a well-deserved reprieve for the meantime. She was curled up on the living room couch with a blanket draped over her, attempting to get at least a few hours of sleep before she'd have to fabricate a credible story for the Halliwell sisters.

Clutching the soft blanket to her chest, she wondered if anyone had discovered her absence in her own time. Of all people, Piper was the most likely and she hoped that whoever the lucky person was that would discover her missing didn't jump to the conclusion that she'd been kidnapped by demons. Either way, she was expecting a lecture upon arriving back home, however that would happen. Pattie just hoped she hadn't dug herself too deep that she would soon have an impending burial in this metaphorical hole. If that happened, she'd have to come clean to get home, and Pattie wasn't sure that she could handle it.

She thought of possibly summoning Patty or Penny, either might have some advice for her to get back on her own, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to risk exposure through that either.

Rolling over and groaning, Pattie once again thought back to 2008. She thought of Paige. Oh how much Pattie missed her, her quirkiness could come in handy for a good smile right about now.

Soon enough Pattie drifted off to sleep, but the peacefulness of her dreams was not long-lasting. She was plagued by the memories which flickered on and off at the drop of a hat. The hum of Prue singing her to sleep as a baby flashed to the funeral service where they had been attacked by demons. A distant memory of Pattie learning how to ride her bike at Golden Gate Park quickly morphed to the ravenous face of Shax as the newly reconstituted Power of Three finally ended his reign of terror. She had Prue now, but could she accept the fact that soon enough she might be whisked back to her own time. Could she deal with losing her all over again?

Inundated by the haunting recollections, her arms flailed and Pattie began yelling. "No! Stop! Don't leave!" her feeble cries ricocheted, floating through the household into the Conservatory where Prue had her feet up on a footrest and a laptop rested in her lap.

Upon hearing the whimpers, she slammed the computer closed, set it aside and quickly found Pattie on the floor, still quivering and moaning, repeating the same requests over and over. "Please stay, don't go…," it went on."

"Elizabeth," Prue called, doing her best to gather the grief-stricken teen into her arms and help her back up onto the couch. It didn't reach Pattie, who didn't recognize that as her name. "Elizabeth, settle down, you're okay," Prue consoled her, as Pattie finally awoke from her dreams to find that she was, again, in Prue's arms. "I'm here."

"Don't go," she mumbled, barely able to calm herself. Pattie pressed her face into Prue's shoulder and sobbed hysterically. It didn't matter anymore, it was too much, she didn't want to be apart from her mom any longer. She didn't have to know who Pattie was, but Pattie knew. She flung her arms around Prue, holding tight and afraid to let go. Still, she cried, for every second they'd been apart, every lost memory, every bit of Prue's love that soaked through her, and every wish that had finally come true.

Prue didn't know why Pattie was upset, but she did what she'd done the times her own little girl woke up with a nightmare and just let her ride out the fear. She didn't realize who had crawled into her embrace. "I'm not going anywhere," she promised.

Yes, Pattie thought through each tear, you are.

Not quite a cliffhanger, but pretty emotional. I hope everyone liked it! The suspense continues to build next chapter. Want to read it? Then you must review! I want to know how I'm doing here!