A/N: Lets out a deep, calming breath Okay, now both my Microeconomics and Modern East Asia midterms are over, yea! So from now until final exams (ugh) I should have time to update my stories fairly regularly. Though since I alternate updating my stories, it can usually take from a few days to over a week between new chapters.

Secondly, I was going to post this last chapter, but the author's note just got too long, lol. I meant to add that now this fanfiction has its own ad on Youtube! I finally figured out how to make a video (you have no idea how hard it is for me to figure out a new program…ugh) on Movie Maker! It was fun, and I think it didn't come out too horrible. Just follow the link on my profile to watch!

Thanks for the reviews, and enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2

Pulling up to the manor, Detective Billie Jenkins, now in her mid-twenties, stepped out of her sedan and walked up the front path. After six years of knowing the sisters, it still amazed her that they were able to get over her betrayal and accept her as a member of the family.

The acceptance hadn't come quickly though. For months after losing her sister she was an emotional wreck, but the Halliwells didn't trust her enough to let her live in the manor. Until then, she lived off until the money her parents left her, getting a part-time job and trying to earn a scholarship. It was a little over a full semester before Piper let her move into Paige's old room. She didn't blame Piper, though. Billie had been flattered that the eldest sister trusted her that much after all she did. But then again, she came around during the battle and never stopped apologizing and trying to prove herself.

Billie decided to pursue a career as a detective shortly after that. The years she spent looking for her sister took a toll on her. If she could do her small part to help reunite families, then that was what she would do. Along with solving cases, she still kept up a thriving hobby of kicking demon butt. Yes, the demonic world was too chaotic to attack the Charmed Ones, but there were many demons of all levels who were desperate for the chance to kill anything, whether it be human or witch. Attacks didn't happen often but once in a while she walked down dark alleys just to see if anyone was screaming for help.

Tucking her blonde hair behind her ear, she got the door open with her key and stepped into the foyer. Of course she didn't live there any more. In fact, the moment Piper let her back in, she started saving enough money for a small apartment of her own. But like the other sisters, she never had to give back the key. "Paige? Phoebe? Piper? Anyone awake yet?"

While talking to Piper over the phone during the week, the Charmed One mentioned that she was having a sleepover with her sisters, and that Billie was welcome to join them for breakfast in the morning. Billie had been thrilled at the idea. She still saw Paige often since she was Billie's whitelighter, but she hadn't seen Phoebe or Piper in at least a few weeks.

"In here! Hurry up before Phoebe eats the last muffin!"

"Paige! Can I help it if they are fluffy and delicious?"

Chuckling, Billie made her way towards the kitchen. Piper, Leo, and the boys were seated around the side table. Paige and Phoebe sat at the island counter in the middle, arguing over the muffin basket. "Good morning, everyone," Billie said as the others replied with their various greetings.

She stood still when her gaze fell on the raven-haired woman sitting at the counter next to Phoebe. The woman was glaring at her with open hostility and getting out of her seat.

Swallowing the nervous lump in her throat, Billie took a few steps backwards. "Hi! I'm Billie, a friend of the sisters. Who are…ah!"

Before she got the question out of her mouth the woman flung out her arm. Billie felt like she were punched in the stomach as she was telekinetically thrown back, skidding along the foyer until she crashed into the manor door. "Ouch! That hurt!" Billie snapped, staying on the floor for a few seconds while she caught her breath, all the while glaring at the witch. "What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"Prue! What did you do that for?" Piper exclaimed, rushing passed the addressed woman and helping Billie to her feet.

Prue pointed an accusing finger at the astonished blonde. "Don't help her, Piper! She'll try to kill you!"

"What?" Billie gasped, horrified. Giving Piper a pleading look, she begged, "Piper, you're not seriously listening to whoever this is, are you? You know I'd never do anything to…"

Holding up a silencing hand, Piper assured her, "Billie, it's okay, you're not in trouble. Prue is just…confused. Obviously you never came back to the good side in her timeline."

"Her timeline?" Billie exclaimed. She supposed she shouldn't have been too shocked. Whenever she went over to the manor she knew there was always a chance she would be walking into chaos.

Meanwhile, the other sisters had been trying to calm an enraged Prue down. "You mean to tell me that she," Prue snapped, again jabbing an accusatory finger in the witch's direction., "is a friend of yours? What exactly happened in this version of the battle against the Triad?"

"What happened in yours?" Paige asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Keeping a wary eye on Billie, Prue explained, "We met our Billie about a year before the battle, but she betrayed us when she found her sister. I never thought we should trust her to begin with, but after that…that was it. We summoned the Hallow to destroy each other, but then I had to use a time travel spell from the Book to go back and save Piper and Paige with the help of Mom and Grams since I was the only one who survived. Well, there were some details I won't get into, but since Billie and Christy were witches we decided not to vanquish them, just banished them to the Underworld. Our magic still keeps them down there, last I checked." She then took a steadying breath and gave Billie a semi-apologetic frown. "I guess when Billie walked in I lost my head. Sorry."

"It's okay…I think," Billie said, sure she was more confused than she'd ever been in her life. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Billie, why don't we go sit down and, have a little chat?" Paige asked, directing Billie into the kitchen while the other three went into the living room.

"Hi, Billie," Chris said, giving her a concerned look. "Are you okay? Aunt Prue TK'd you real good."

"It was awesome though," Wyatt remarked around a mouthful of muffin.

"Wyatt!" Leo chided. "Why don't you and Chris finish up and go play in your rooms? I have a feeling it would be best if we made ourselves scarce for the rest of the morning."

"Okay, Dad," the boys chorused, saying good-bye to Billie as they ran up the stairs, Leo following them.

As she and Paige took seats next to each other at the island, Billie sputtered, "Paige, who was that woman? The only thing I've been able to get is that she's a witch from another timeline."

"Alright, this is going to be a little hard to process, but you know Prue, right? Our sister, my half-sister, who died ten years ago?" Paige asked. Billie nodded – she'd heard plenty of stories over the years. With a sigh, Paige continued, "That was her. You see, I accidentally summoned her here from an alternate universe where she never died. Normally I wouldn't have been able to do that by myself, but some warlock trapped her on another plane, so it was easier to pull her here."

Billie's eyes widened. That was new. But it also explained a lot. "Oh. Okay then. Um, do you need help vanquishing the warlock after her?"

"We can't," Paige shrugged. "As far as we know, he's still in the other universe. And crossing universes is tough, if not impossible, to do right…in most circumstances, of course. The most we can do now is figure out a way to send Prue back safely. Though we're not sure that's a good idea. The warlock might be there to kill her the second she gets to the other side."

Trying to follow all the information, Billie asked, "But that leaves alternate Piper and…you…and Phoebe without the Power of Three…or Power of Four?"

Paige shook her head. "Power of Three. Phoebe, ah, died in the other timeline – don't ask me how, because Prue hasn't spilled that detail yet. And yes, that would leave alternate Piper and me vulnerable, but…what good it would it do if we send Prue back, only for her to be killed by the warlock once she got there? We've decided for now our best bet is to search for some kind of way all four of us can safely pass through so that we can protect Prue. Which I don't see happening, but we don't have any other ideas."

"So I guess that means Prue is stuck here for now," Billie remarked, then noticed Paige's sullen look once she did. "You're not entirely happy about this, are you?"

Her shoulders sagging, Paige replied, "Sort of. Don't me wrong, I'm grateful for the unexpected chance to meet Prue. And I'm happy for my sisters, who have missed her so much. But…now they're treating me like I don't exist. And in the other timeline, Prue and alternate me hate each other for some reason."

"Aw, Paige, don't let it get to you. Piper and Phoebe, they're just excited to have their sister back. I know if Christy walked through the door I'd be overwhelmed too. As for Prue…well, give her some time to adjust to the new Paige. I'm sure she'll love you once she gets to know you," Billie suggested, giving her whitelighter a reassuring smile.

Paige hesitated for a moment, looking as if maybe she didn't believe her charge. But then she smiled back. "I guess so. It's only been a day, after all. Once everything calms down I'm sure we'll all be fine. Thanks, Billie. I think you really helped."

"Don't sound so surprised," Billie joked, getting off her stool. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to steer clear of Prue for a while. See you later," Billie said, grabbing one of the muffins. Taking a bite as she went out the back door, she groaned with pleasure. "Oh my God, Phoebe was right. These are fluffy and delicious!"

"I still can't believe you three," Prue admonished while she and her sisters climbed the stairs of the manor later that morning. "Billie betrayed you, tried to kill you…and now you invite her over for breakfast? You've gotten soft without me."

Piper chuckled as she opened the door to the attic. "We were willing to go easy on her since she did end up helping us in the end. But there's no point in thinking about that ."

"Right. We need to focus on getting you back so that alternate me and Piper aren't killed," Paige reminded them, pulling some candles out of one of one of the boxes in which they stored objects they used for spells.

Looking at her sister, Phoebe asked, "Paige…what are you doing? I thought we were coming in here to see if Prue's warlock…or demon…was in the Book."

"I think it would also help if we summoned Grams. After all, she's the one who got us into this mess in the first place," Paige reasoned, setting the four candles in a circle in front of the Book's stand.

Piper raised an eyebrow. "If you think we're going to forget that you're the one who actually read the spell, you're kidding yourself."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Paige muttered.

Staring at her younger sister from her position in front of the Book, Prue marveled at how different Piper was in this timeline. In hers, the middle sister was sarcastic, yes, but also a follower, very unsure of herself. In this universe, Piper was clearly the one in control. Prue was going to have to get used to that. "But summoning Grams isn't a bad idea," Prue remarked. "I'm not sure how 'up there' works when it comes to alternate universes, but maybe she knows something we don't."

Paige gave her a grateful smile. "Yeah! I mean, she obviously knew that saying that spell would bring Prue here…while I had no idea…"

"Give it up, Paige," Phoebe laughed, lighting the circle of candles with a match from the same box.

Clearing her throat, Piper opened the Book and went to the page of the summoning spell. "So, Prue, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure," Prue agreed, letting out a deep breath. Though it was such a long time since she cast a spell she hoped it still worked.

"'Hear these words, hear my cry
Spirit from the other side
Come to me, I summon thee
Cross now the great divide'"

They all glanced at the circle of candles, but Grams did not appear. Instead, there was a brief swirl of white light that fizzled out before it could form anything.

"That's not supposed to happen," Paige commented.

Giving Prue a thoughtful look, Piper replied, "No, but I thought it might. This morning I was surprised when Prue was able to TK Billie so hard. Her powers would've gotten stronger in her timeline, but I thought for sure since Paige had her TK ability in this timeline she would be powerless."

"But Prue does have her TK ability, as Billie found out," Phoebe said, wrinkling her brow in thought. "Maybe…maybe since the way she crossed timelines was so unusual, her powers responded differently than they normally would. I'm guessing that crossing that plane did something to them. Maybe both Prue and Paige just have less power than they usually would, and are splitting the magic that is allotted to one or the other in this timeline."

Prue and Paige shared bewildered looks, each trying to work out the reasoning in their heads. "I'm sorry, Pheebs, but…run that by me again?" Prue asked.

"I think I get it. Paige…try orbing that rocking chair across the room," Piper suggested, pointing to the mentioned object.

Shrugging, Paige called, "Rocking chair!" She stared in confusion when the rocking chair only half-dissolved in blue lights before reappearing in the same spot. "Hey!"

"Exactly. Now try moving this book," Phoebe told her as she grabbed a small book off a nearby shelf.

Now a little afraid of what her powers might do, Paige called, "Book!" It orbed into her hand with no problem. "Oh, I get it," Paige replied. "It's like, in this universe there's a magic quota that Prue used when she was alive, and that I inherited when she died. But since we're both here now, we're splitting it. Gotcha."

"Wait…Paige can orb things in this timeline?" Prue sighed with exasperation. Just when she thought she had the differences of this universe figured out, another one popped up. "In mine, she can see the future…sort of. Since she's half whitelighter, she sort of orbs there. To others it looks like she's in a trance, but in her head it's like she's orbed to the future."

"That makes sense. Paige has this power because you died, and the third power that was missing was telekinesis. But I guess since, well, we all know what happened to Phoebe…" Piper trailed off, letting them fill in the blanks themselves, while Phoebe squirmed in her position on the couch.

"Well, now that we've got that figured out, let's summon Grams, shall we?" Phoebe said, joining her sisters at the Book.

Prue put a comforting arm around her littlest full sister. In a way, they were each the only ones who realized how awkward this really was for the other. Together, all four chanted,

"'Hear these words, hear our cry
Spirit from the other side
Come to us, we summon thee
Cross now the great divide'"

Penny Halliwell stood in an area of Elderland, looking at an image in front of her with disgust. It was showing her what the sisters were doing in Prue's timeline, and she didn't like what she saw. "Look at them, Patty! Prue has been missing for almost a whole day and they haven't even realized it!"

Looking at the screen from behind her mother, Patty replied, "But we can't reach the Piper and Paige in that timeline. We have to leave it to our alternate selves."

Shaking her head, Penny reminded her, "They can't force Piper and Paige together, and right now that's what they need. Surely we can help the girls a little."

Patty glanced at her mother at that last remark. "Mother…you've already done something, haven't you?"

"Maybe…" Penny trailed off, pretending to be focused on the screen all of a sudden. "Oh, really, how can they not even know she's gone…"

"Mother! What have you done?" Patty exclaimed. Before Penny could stop her, she waved her hand at the screen. It changed to the attic, where Piper, Phoebe, Paige…and Prue were talking.

Shocked, Patty whirled around to face her mother. "Mother!" she shrieked, drawing stares from other souls nearby. "How…how…but Prue is…and she was…we are breaking so many rules! If the Elders found out about this…oh, Mother, you know how dangerous crossing universes is, what if something happened to Prue?"

"Calm down, will you? The scene you're causing will attract more attention than whatever I did," Penny snapped, causing her daughter to glare at her, but remain silent. "And it really wasn't that big a deal…oh, my…" Penny stopped mid-sentence, feeling a strong magical pull.

When she stumbled from the force, Patty went over to grab her mother's arm. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"They're summoning me, Patty. All four of them," Penny noted, tilting her head in the direction of the screen. "Oh, honestly, what were they thinking? With all that power they could've summoned half of Elderland…"

"Well, go, but when you get back I want an explanation," Patty said.

Penny let the summoning magic overcome her and for an instant she was blinded by white light. At her arrival in the attic, though, she fell through the circle of candles, her daughter on the floor beside her. Glancing at her daughter, then the astonished girls, she chided, "You know, you could've made the circle a little bigger."

"We didn't know you were bringing company," Paige replied, helping her grandmother to her feet.

Phoebe smiled as she did the same for her mother and gave her a hug. "Hi, Mom! Didn't expect to see you!"

"I didn't either," Patty admitted, hugging back. "That was a very powerful summoning spell you girls cast."

"Tell me about it. I think I'm still a little buzzed," Penny added, holding her aching head as she sat on the couch nearby.

Piper chuckled. "I guess our split power theory for Prue and Paige doesn't affect our combined power. Sorry about that. But you do owe us an explanation for why you told Paige to read the spell."

"And please tell them you wouldn't have taken no for an answer! They won't believe me!" Paige exclaimed, crossing her arms.

"Yes, don't blame poor Paige," Penny said. "Any of you girls would've done the same, including…Prue." Her eyes welled with tears at the sight of her eldest granddaughter. Prue was standing off to the side, looking uncomfortable. "Look at you, here…" With no regard for Prue's discomfort she wrapped her in a hug.

Hugging back, but with much less zeal, Prue greeted, "Hi, Grams. I-I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, I know. Alternate me must be furious," Grams remarked as Prue went on to hug Patty.

"I can't believe it…" Patty almost whispered, one arm around Prue while she looked around at her other daughters. "All four of my girls, together. I never thought I'd live to see the day…"

"You didn't," Penny reminded her with a smirk.

Patty sighed. "It's an expression, alright?"

As the six settled down and took seats on the couch and other chairs, Piper took on a serious expression and asked, "Okay, you two. Not that I'm not thrilled to see my big sister again, but…how is this possible? What's going on here?"

"I have no idea," Patty answered, turning to face her mother while the rest did the same.

"Thanks for the back up, Patty," Penny retorted. She was sitting in the rocking chair, surveying the sight before her with awe on her face. It was…incredible. Just seeing Paige and Prue sitting next to each other on the couch was astounding. "Alright, well, as you four already know, Prue was sucked into another plane by the warlock Ayden Bates…"

"Actually, we didn't know that he was a warlock. Thanks, Grams," Phoebe interrupted with a laugh.

Rolling her eyes at the look Patty gave her, Penny argued, "Well, they're smart girls. They would've figured it out eventually. Anyway, Prue was stuck on this plane, while alternate Paige and Piper had no idea Prue was even missing. And since Ayden had sealed off the connection between the plane and Prue's world, I figured the safest thing to do was…bring her here. It's better she's here than the captive of a warlock."

"Thanks, Grams. That place was driving me crazy. All those flowers…" Prue trailed off with a small shiver of disgust.

Paige chuckled. "It sounds like it could've been worse."

"I don't think so. There's nothing worse than being trapped in 'paradise'," Prue explained.

Taking in the information, Piper reasoned, "So, wait…'up there' you can see what's going on in all universes at the same time? What about those other universes – witches die there, too. Where do they go?"

"They have their own version of 'up there'," Patty explained. "We can see other universes, but inter-universe travel or interference is strictly forbidden, even when it comes to spirits. It's too easy for any little rift to have huge consequences."

"That's not good. How are we going to send Prue back, then? We can't send her alone – she could be killed the minute Ayden realizes she escaped," Phoebe groaned, looking at her eldest sister with worry.

Determined, Piper assured her, "We'll find a way. I'm not letting alternate me and Paige go through what we went through. They've already lost one sister. They're not going to lose their Prue like we lost ours."

"Maybe we can communicate with our alternate selves somehow," Paige thought aloud, giving Piper a one-armed hug. "Get them to be there to protect or help Prue once she goes through the other plane. We are the Charmed Ones, right? If anyone can do it, it's us."

"And now we have the Power of Four," Phoebe added.

"That's the spirit, girls. You'll do fine. And if you don't need us, your mother and I do have to go back. Blessed be," Penny said, and she and Patty disappeared in a swirl of white orbs.