AN: Thanks to piperleofan, xheart to thee, Jedi Alanna, Charmed 225 and lizardmomma for their reviews of Chapter Nine!
Chapter Ten
Phoebe couldn't remember the last time she had had this much fun with her sisters. She felt like she hadn't had a real conversation with either of them in weeks, and here they were sitting at the kitchen table, talking and laughing like best friends. They had talked like this a lot when they were younger. Back then she had assumed that they would always be close. Surely a bond as strong as theirs would last forever. Now that they were grown up, things were different. They had jobs and boyfriends and responsibilities. They didn't make time for each other anymore. Now Prue was getting married. She and Andy would have a place of their own, and someday a family of their own. Eventually she and Piper would have husbands and kids too. She and her sisters had drifted apart while living in the same house; how close would they be living apart? She sipped her champagne sadly.
"Something wrong, Phoebe?" Prue seemed to have noticed her less than festive mood.
"Things will never be the same. I'll miss you."
Prue gave her a hug. "I'll miss you, too."
"How touching," A strange male voice said.
Phoebe whirled around to see a strange man standing in the kitchen. He was about six feet tall with dark hair and eyes. There was something sinister about him that made her shiver involuntarily. She thought that maybe he was a hallucination brought on by the champagne, but her sisters were staring at him, too.
"Who are you?" Prue asked the stranger.
"I'm Tarquin," the stranger proudly announced. "And I'm about to go down in history as the one who finally killed the Charmed Ones." He moved towards Prue menacingly.
Phoebe felt a rush of adrenaline overtake her body. No one threatened her sisters! Before her brain realized what she was doing, she had grabbed the champagne bottle and hit the stranger in the back of the head. Tarquin fell to the floor, wounded but still conscious.
Leo rushed into the kitchen. "What happened? Are you all okay?" Tarquin glared at Leo and vanished into thin air.
"Where did he go?" Prue asked as she stared incredulously at the spot which only seconds earlier Tarquin had occupied. No one could answer.
"Leo, what are you doing here?" Piper asked. "I thought that you left hours ago."
"I did. I just...came back because... I remembered I had left some tools here, and I heard a loud noise. What happened?"
"This guy just appeared in the kitchen and threatened us. Phoebe whacked him," Prue looked admiringly at Phoebe, who was still holding the broken bottle, "and then he...disappeared."
"What did he say?" Leo asked. He seemed even more frantic than they were.
"That his name was Tarquin, and he was going to kill the 'Charmed Ones'. Whatever that means," Phoebe replied.
Leo took a long, deep breath. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about tonight: The Charmed Ones."
"Who are the Charmed Ones?" Phoebe asked.
"You are," Leo said. "All three of you."
"What?!" Piper said. "You're even crazier than this Tarquin guy."
"I know this will all sound strange, but please give me a chance to explain. Your mother, your grandmother, your ancestors for centuries have all been witches. Each of you has magical powers. Prue, you can move things with your mind. Piper, you can freeze things or blow them up. Phoebe, you can see the future. Each of you is a powerful witch, but together you are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches ever."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Prue interjected. "You're saying we're witches? With broomsticks and cauldrons and black cats?"
"Wouldn't that make us evil?" Piper added.
"Oh no," Leo quickly responded. "You are definitely on the side of good."
Phoebe couldn't believe it. Her fantasies of "Super Phoebe" were actually real? This was too good to be true. "How could we have magical powers and not know about them?"
"Your grandmother bound your powers when you were young to protect you. Originally, when you moved back to the Manor, Phoebe, you found the Book of Shadows, a book containing all the magical knowledge acquired by your ancestors. You read an incantation from the Book which gave you all your powers back. You used those powers to save countless innocent lives and vanquish countless demons."
"Demons?" Piper squeaked. "What do you mean by demons?"
"Evil beings like Tarquin," Leo answered.
"Leo, what did you mean by 'originally'?" Phoebe asked him.
"That's where Tarquin comes in. He's a timejumper, a demon who can move through time. He changed the timeline somehow so that you never received your powers. He made you normal so he could kill you. You need to accept your powers again and restore the timeline. Otherwise, all the innocents you saved will be dead, while the demons you vanquished will be alive and causing more destruction." Leo looked at the sisters hopefully. "I know this must sound crazy, but--"
"It is crazy!" Prue interrupted. "It's ridiculous. Mom and Grams weren't witches, and we certainly aren't. And how do you fit into in all of this?"
"I'm your whitelighter. I'm sort of a guardian angel for witches. It's my job to guide and protect you."
"Prue's right," Piper said. "This is insane. You're insane."
Phoebe wouldn't dismiss Leo's story so easily. "How else can you explain Tarquin vanishing, if not magic?"
"It was a trick, that's all." Prue answered. "This is some kind of scam. We're not falling for it, Leo. Please leave. Now."
"Wait," Phoebe begged her sisters. "What if he's telling the truth?"
Piper looked at Phoebe as if she were five years old. "How can he be telling the truth? Witches and demons are as real as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Please leave, Leo."
Leo deflated like a popped balloon. It seemed to Phoebe that Leo took Piper's rejection more personally than Prue's. Maybe she could convince her sisters to listen to him. "But shouldn't we at least discuss--"
"There's nothing to discuss, Phoebe. Leo's either lying or crazy, and either way Piper and I want him to leave," Prue declared with a note of finality.
"All right. I'll go." Leo said dejectedly. He disappeared in a shower of blue and white lights.
"How do you explain that?!" Phoebe challenged her sisters.
"Another trick. An optical illusion," Prue answered, but she sounded less confident this time.
Leo orbed to the Elders to discuss the situation, wondering if there was anything else he could have said or done to convince the sisters. He had known they would be skeptical, but he had hoped that he could make them trust him somehow. He approached Solon and Philip with a heavy heart.
"Hello, Leo," Solon called out.
"Hello, Solon, Philip," Leo said as he stood before them. "I tried to tell the sisters about their powers and the timeline change, but they wouldn't listen. I failed."
Solon smiled kindly at him. "That's understandable, Leo. We all agree that the timeline must be restored. We need the Charmed Ones to accept their destiny so that the balance between good and evil can be maintained. But why did you expect that they would do it so quickly? Why didn't you wait to tell them until you had known them longer, until you had gained their trust?"
"I know, I should have, but Tarquin attacked them. I didn't feel that I had a choice." Leo answered.
"You let your emotions cloud your better judgment," Philip declared. "Are you sure that your haste wasn't caused by a desire to be with your little wife again as soon as possible?"
"Piper," Leo said, forcing himself to restrain his anger. "Her name is Piper." If Philip had had his way, he and Piper would have never been allowed to marry. Philip was one of several elders who had believed that their marriage would interfere with their duties. "But that wasn't why I told them so quickly. I was thinking only of their safety."
"We understand, Leo. We're not here to place blame," Solon interjected, casting a sharp glance at Philip. "We only want to find a solution to this problem. How will you convince the sisters that you're telling the truth?"
"Especially since they think that you're unbalanced," Philip added.
Leo thought carefully before answering. Just as he was about to give up, just as he was about to admit that his emotions, especially his love for Piper, had ruined everything, the answer came to him. "I have an idea."
After Leo had left, Prue and Piper continued their conversation as if nothing had happened. Phoebe, however, was thinking about what he had said: witches, a Book of Shadows, magical powers, demons. It sounded like a fairy tale. Maybe her sisters were right to think that Leo was crazy. Or maybe she was right to believe him. He had seemed so earnest, so desperate to convince them. If his story were true, she and her sisters would be able to do all the heroic things she had imagined! She could really help people in a way she couldn't as a counselor. She imagined that she was battling a demon to save an innocent life when a knock at the front door interrupted her reverie. It was rather late for visitors. Another demon perhaps? "I'll get it," She told her sisters. She grabbed another bottle of champagne just in case.
Phoebe opened the door slowly. It wasn't a demon. It was Leo, their angel/handyman. "Leo, what are you doing here?" She whispered. "My sisters will be upset if they see you."
"I know," He whispered back. "But I brought some people with me who I think you and your sisters will want to see." He stepped aside to reveal two very familiar women.
"Prue! Piper!" Phoebe yelled. "Come here! Now!"
Prue and Piper ran out of the kitchen. "What is it?" Prue asked. Then she saw why Phoebe had shouted.
Standing beside Leo were Patty and Penny Halliwell, the girls' deceased mother and grandmother.