At the manor, Phoebe began to dream…
She walked into the manor, and the sun shone brightly through the stained-glass windows. Sounds of children playing in the conservatory caught her attention. Phoebe walked into the cheerful room, and found three children, all about ten years old, tossing a small blue ball around.
She knew them.
She reached over to the girl, who was telekinetically throwing the ball to a brown-haired boy, who looked a little older than her. Phoebe scooped up her daughter, and spun her around.
"Mommy…" the little girl , "I was winning!"
The brown-haired boy stuck his tongue out at her, and passed it quickly to the other, younger boy. He passed it to the empty spot where Melody had been, and it dropped to the floor.
"Ha!" the oldest boy cried, and jumped triumphantly. Mel struggled out of her mothers grasp and charged up an energy ball at him. He stuck out his tongue again and crossed his arms.
"Chris, be nice to your cousin," Phoebe scolded.
"Fine," he said, chagrined.
"And Mel," Phoebe continued, "get rid of that energy ball." Mel obeyed, and smirked at Chris.
"Jonas, what are you laughing at," a voice said from the hall. Phoebe spun around and was face to face with her oldest nephew.
"Hey Wyatt!" Jonas said eagerly, "Chris just got in trouble!"
"Yeah, whatever," the thirteen-year old said dismissively, and he orbed out.
Phoebe's eyes stayed frozen to the spot where the sullen teenager had disappeared from. He had been like that ever since Piper had named Chris as the next Charmed One from her line, the one who was join Melody and Jonas as the recipients of the power of three when they died. But Phoebe had understood her sister's reasoning behind her decision; they all did, except for Leo.
Footsteps were suddenly heard from the next room. Paige walked in, and Jonas ran up to her.
"Mommy!" Jonas cried, and leaped on top of his mother. She pulled him up and groaned.
"Jonas, sweetie, you're getting too big for this!" she said with fake exhaustion. Her son grinned impishly.
"How was Magic School?" Phoebe asked lightly, while trying to get a speck of dirt off her daughter's forehead, as Chris watched on with amusement.
"It was alright," she said, "Your husband gave Wyatt another detention today."
Piper, having heard that from the kitchen, walked in.
"What was it this time?" she said, exasperated.
"Why don't you guys go upstairs to play?" Paige suggested, and the three children grudgingly trumped up the stairs.
"He was using his powers on his fellow students," Paige answered quietly, once the thunderous stamping sounds stopped. She straightened out her black teaching robes, "and not in a healing capacity."
"Have you talked to Leo about this?" Phoebe asked. Piper looked down at the floor.
"He refuses to believe that his twice-blessed son could ever need disciplinary action." Piper looked a little angry. "And he won't even acknowledge Chris, who is an absolute angel."
"I told Cole not to let him off of the dentention, even if Leo comes down to try to convince him otherwise," Paige said, "But I don't think Leo will be happy about that."
"He just needs to accept it," Piper said quietly, "Wyatt is abusing his powers."
The scene dissolved in a swirl of colors, and black returned for a moment under Phoebe's eyelids before she awoke with a start.
"Oh my god."
Phoebe quickly dressed herself by moonlight, and headed downstairs. The grandfather clock read about three in the morning, but the time really didn't matter right now. Several thoughts were flying through her mind.
Chris, the neurotic, pain in the ass whitelighter, is my nephew: Piper and Leo's son.
Jonas, the comical boy who cannot keep secrets, is my nephew too: Paige's son.
Cole is Melody's father… I marry Cole – again.
Phoebe walked into the kitchen, and started the coffee maker, and sat down, rubbing her temples. She was in turmoil.
Chris and Jonas – she could handle them being her nephews. Chris was heroic, self-sacrificing, and defiantly good, once you ruled out him being evil. And Jonas – he was just plain funny.
But what disturbed her was the Cole aspect. She was going to marry him again, and the scariest part of that was…that she didn't think it was that frightful. She was actually happy that he was going to be alive again, and still in love with her. Most of all, he would be good, and would give her a beautiful daughter.
That thought was comforting and terrifying at the same time.
She heard soft footsteps down the stairs, and turned to face the hallway. Melody, in her black, billowing cloak, was looking down at the floor, and didn't notice her mother until she almost ran into her.
"Um…sorry," she said, softly, and reached over to the fridge. Phoebe nodded.
"Do you mind if…" she asked, trailing off.
"Oh," Phoebe said, pulled from her thoughts of how much that cloak resembled the one Cole had worn when he was part of the Brotherhood of the Thorn. "Help yourself, sweetie."
"Thanks," she mumbled, and pulled an apple out.
"What are you doing here?" Phoebe questioned gently. Mel looked up, having been concentrating a little too much on eating her apple. "I thought that you were staying at P3."
"I can keep secrets, unlike you," she said, trying to sound cold and arrogant, but it came out sad and lonely.
"So, your father is Cole." It wasn't a question, but almost a conversational statement, like two friend discussing what movie they had just seen.
Her daughter almost dropped the half eaten apple.
"What…how…" was all she could manage.
"Premonition as a dream," Phoebe said simply, and Mel gapped at her.
"You…you…you're not supposed to know that…" she mumbled looking scared.
"What is he doing now?" she asked quietly, her empathy picking up on some deep sadness now that shock had broken down her daughter's barrier.
Mel's eyes began to brim with tears. Phoebe got up and embraced her daughter as she broke down, and sobbed into her shoulder.
"He's dead," she wailed, the sounds, for the most part, muffled by her mother's shirt. "He's dad, and Ella's dead…I'm the only one left. Chris and Jonas are all I have…"
Phoebe just hugged her daughter, as her heart broke for her daughter - and herself.
The sun rose and the light streamed in through the attic window. Downstairs, Melody and Phoebe were asleep on the couch,while Chris and Jonas slept strewn across the attic chairs.
Piper woke up and stretched. She heard Paige yawn from the room nextdoor. The eldest sister stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom, where she showered and freshened up.
Paige, however, made her way up to the attic immediatly, after only pulling on a comfortable pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
Chris was the first to hear the danty steps echo through the manor. But as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, and noticed Jonas stir, it was too late. Paige opened the door and halted in the doorway upon seeing the two men.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, eyeing them suspisiously.
"We were summoning leprechauns," Jonas muttered sleepily, and yawned.
Chris kicked him from under the table. The younger man groaned deeply, and brushed his hand through his red hair.
"Leprechauns?" Paige said questionably.
"What a weird dream you had, Jonas,"a nervous Chris remarked, as Phoebe and Mel entered the room, still tired.
"Mel!" Jonas cried out, trying to shift the subject. "Hey!"
"You are way to perky," Mel said, and eyed them both.They translated it as we need to talk.
"Alright, we better go," Chris said firmly, and gestured to Jonas to stand up.
"See ya!" Jonas said, as he transported out, after his more serious cousins left.
Golden Gate Bridge...
Mel looked out at the city, and observed all that she could see. People walking to work, buying coffee from vendors, and children making their way to school all seemed so innocent, so unaware of what would become of them a mere 20 years from now.
She turned around when she heard the tinkle of orbs, and the popping of purple glitter. Jonas and Chris looked at her with anticipation, and she nodded her head.
"They know." The two looked at her with shock.
"How?" Chris asked.
"How much?" Jonas corrected. Chris looked at her.
"She knows that you two are her nephews," she said, "that Cole is my father, and which sister you two are related to."
"My father?" Jonas asked, almost hopfully.
"Wyatt?" Chris asked with painful fear, and to his relief, his younger cousin shook her head.
"What do we do?" Jonas looked from one cousin to the other. Mel shrugged, but Chris began to speak.
"First," he began, "we find out if Phoebe has told the others, and if she hasn't we tell her enough to prevent her from doing just that."
"Then," he continued, "we can probably tell Piper and Paige some, so Phoebe doesn't..."
"Spill the beans," Jonas finished.
All three left the bridge, en route to the manor.