Author's Note: thanks for the reviews, guys. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and that it explains anything that might have been confusing.
Previously...
Even though she had left the manor and her sisters behind, her mother and grams still looked out for her. Naturally she believed the pages flipping were their doing, but when it turned to a blank page she was confused. That is of course, until a familiar script began to appear.
Prudence Victoria Halliwell, your presence is required at Halliwell manor at midnight of this evening. If you do not appear, we will summon you by force.
~The Charmed Ones
"Shit," was all she said before slamming the book shut.
Currently...
The chimes struck twelve on the Grandfather clock as the three sisters waited for Prue's arrival. Piper was angry and impatient, Phoebe was hurt, frustrated and anxious, and Paige could only pay attention to large pit in her stomach. Finding and meeting Prue was like Indiana Jones finding the Holy Grail. Once upon a time, she had desperately wanted to introduce herself to the woman who appeared to be the head of the Halliwell family, and when she had died and the chance gone, Paige had grieved and forced to live regret. As time had moved on with her sisters, and she had gotten to know them, she had felt as if she had to live up to Prue's memory, which neither of her big sister's could forget. Now, after she had finally accepted herself for who she was, meeting Prue was nerve wracking. Paige knew that Piper and Phoebe felt betrayed, but Paige wondered how the amazing Prue Halliwell would think of her.
"She's late," Piper said before moving towards the attic.
Phoebe placed a hand on her forearm, restricting Piper's movements. "She'll be here," she asserted. "Just wait."
Within seconds, bright lights fell like falling stars to reveal the prodigal sister. "Hello, sisters."
Phoebe began to cry, Piper to shake, and a small, hopeful smile appeared on Paige's face. For the first time in their lives, all four Halliwell sisters were together.
They sat at the dining table. Piper and Prue had each sat at the heads of the table, while Phoebe and Paige sat between them on opposite sides. The arguing had fallen into silence, as Piper realized she would never find the words to express her anger, sense of betrayal and the happiness of having her big sister back. Everything was at war inside her; how dare Prue make this kind of decision on her own to serve her own selfish desires. She had missed everything in her absence, from Paige to her nephews, Phoebe and Paige's weddings. There were so many times when they had needed her; she hadn't been there.
Since Prue had arrived at the Manor she hadn't gotten a word in edge wise. Piper had been yelling and doing a good job of making Prue feel small and insignificant. Never before had anyone made her feel like this, especially not her little sister. "May I speak now?"
Piper opened her mouth to argue when Paige covered it with her hand. "Go ahead." Of them all, Paige was the only sister Prue had a clean slate with. She didn't feel angry or betrayed, but grateful that the person she always assumed was super witch was human and capable of making mistakes. Prue looked at her with a smile.
"I really didn't think you guys would ever find me," she begun. "The plan was supposed to be fool proof. Grams and mom," Prue said as she was interrupted.
"Grams and mom what?" Phoebe had finally chimed in. "Tell me they didn't know about this?"
"How could they," Paige began. "You guys summoned them a whole bunch of times after your supposed death. We would have known."
"No, " Piper said. "Not if they didn't want us to." She was finally sounding calm even if the agitation was still evident in her voice. "'There's a reason for everything,' she said. 'Your destiny still awaits,' she said. Grams was always a lousy liar and as a ghost she was worse. At the time I thought she was just trying to keep her mouth shut because Mom swore her to secrecy about you, but we didn't know enough back then to even question if she was lying about what happened to Prue and why we couldn't summon you," she said finally making eye contact with her sister.
"But we did try to summon you, Prue," Phoebe said. "We tried everything. It should have worked."
"I planned for all of that," she explained. "When I left, I didn't just leave the state, Phoebe. I left this time."
"What do you mean," the youngest asked.
"I fled to the past."
The Charmed ones looked at her in wonder, disbelief and shock.
"The past? Are you crazy," Phoebe started to yell. "Do you know what you might have done by going to the past? About everything you might have changed?"
A high pitched whistle shocked Phoebe into shutting up. "Guys," Paige said. "I think you're forgetting the most important question." When Phoebe and Piper looked at her in curiosity, she turned to Prue. "Why did you do it?"
"Do you remember when I was tricked into a dark marriage to a warlock," Prue asked Phoebe and Piper. They nodded their heads, wondering where this was going. Turning to Paige, "When I was tricked into matrimony it planted a seed of evil in me, and spread to Piper and Phoebe; even the book. What they didn't know, was that I became pregnant."
Piper looked as if she had been slapped, and Phoebe looked down in remembrance of her first pregnancy with the Source's child.
"Why didn't you tell say anything," Phoebe asked in the smallest voice that had ever escaped her lips. This news hit her harder than anyone else; she and Prue had something in common. Both had experienced the sinking feeling of carrying evil within their womb.
"I summoned Mom and Grams, and they came up with a plan for me. Mom told me about Paige, and told me that if the Elders found out about the baby I would be in danger. She knew what it was like to give a child up," Prue said reaching for Paige's hand, "and she didn't want that for me. Not after everything I had already given up. That's why we came up with the plan to fake my death; Mom and Grams would lead you to Paige and keep the power of three in tact, so I wouldn't need to worry about you being safe without me. Still, we knew the only thing that would keep the baby safe was if we were hidden. Grams came up with the idea of sending me back in time. I scoped out a house for a few days before the plan was acted out, set up bank accounts and new identities. When the time came, I left with Andy."
"Who's Andy?"
"Prue's high school sweetheart," Piper answered Paige. "He died a year after we found out we were witches. How was that possible?"
"Andy became a whitelighter," Prue said. "Mom and Grams went to him, and even though he knew it would mean going rogue he agreed. We were together for a time after the baby was born."
"You had the baby," Phoebe said more to herself than her sisters.
"A little girl. I named her Charlotte Isabella after Melinda's mother, and Isabella after Andy's grandmother. We call her Bella, though."
"We have a niece," Paige said smiling. "She must be so pretty."
"She's seventeen now, and she's so smart. And powerful."
"How far in the past did you go? Why don't you look older," Paige asked.
"I set myself up with a completely new life so it was important I didn't look too mature. I used a glamor. When Bella found out, I glamored into my appearance at the same age I was that Renee would have bee, if that makes any sense. I know for you guy's it's only been two and half years since my death, but for me it's been almost eighteen years."
"You raised her with her powers," Piper asked, her curiosity curbing her hurt feelings.
"No," Prue said hesitating. "It's a little complicated."
Prue explained everything, from becoming Renee Swan and splitting up with Andy and finding out that Bella had inadvertently fallen in love with a vampire before she even knew that she was a witch. When she got up to the part about the prophecy, she was particular in describing what she knew. A part of her was afraid of what her sister's would say when they realized that Bella and Wyatt were directly placed together as either allies or adversaries. Prue still didn't have the rest of the pieces, but now that she was with her sister's maybe she wasn't that far away from figuring it all out.
