Three guys are breaking into a house in Egypt. One smashes his fist through the glass of the door. He reaches in through the hole he made and opens the door. Together with an other guy, he walks into the room.
"Told you, piece of cake."
"Let's just do this and get out of here, Palmer."
"Relax, Clay, I told you no one's home. The owner's dead."
The third guy joins them.
"Stay here and keep watch. We'll get the urn."
Two guys head into the next room to get the relic they're looking for. The one in charge looks around searching for his treasure, but he is stopped by the other.
"Hey. Clay doesn't know, does he?"
"Why spook him? He'd probably believe it actually was the curse that killed the old man."
"He was stung to death by a scorpion, Wesley, in the bathroom of an airplane."
"Don't tell me you believe in that crap?"
"You think I'd be here if I did?"
He finds the urn on the display table.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Wesley picks up the urn. The golden outline of the image of the guardian of the urn imprinted on the side of the urn glows as if it comes to life. But the guys don't notice it.
"You see any scorpions around?
"No, just dollar signs. Let's go."
As they talk, the image on the urn glows gold and sparks off of the urn as they turn to exit the room. Instead of them leaving, Clay joins them.
"Hey, man, there's a guard coming. You guys must've triggered an alarm."
"Let's get out of here."
They leave the room. The golden glowing dust rises up to the air, then follows them out of the room.
-c-
Two guards with guns run through the lobby towards the display room. The thieves are hiding behind the plants along the wall. Wesley is carrying the urn while Clay is getting concerned.
"I should've never let you guys talk me into this."
"Shut up. We'll split up and meet in San Francisco. Take the urn to your friend and hock it right away."
Wesley hands the urn to Clay.
"And don't you think about ripping us off, 'cause I'll find you."
Palmer and Clay leave. Wesley turns to follow them, but he's stopped by something.
"What, what... whoa."
In front of him, the golden dust from the urn appears and swirls untill it materializes into a woman dressed in ancient Egyptian robes.
"What are you?"
She steps forward.
"I'm the guardian of the urn."
"The what?"
The guardian's ring glows. She touches it and than touches Wesley's chest.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
In the spot where she touched him, a poisonous spider appears. He starts screaming. Palmer looks back through the plants and sees Wesley fall down to the ground in pain.
"You're being punished for your greed."
Wesley struggles under the poisonous spider. The guardian turns and looks directly at Palmer.
"As will your friends."
Palmer turns and runs.
-c-
Three days later. Phoebe walks quickly down the stairs. Piper is hot on her heels.
"New York Clay? That Clay?"
"That's the one."
"You said you never wanted to see him again."
"Ancient history."
"Six months?"
Phoebe and Piper reach the bottom of the stairs where Prue is waiting.
"Five. He's just stopping by on his way home. It's not a big deal. He was travelling or something."
"Who's Clay?"
"Nobody."
Paige also coming down the stairs hearing Prue's question.
"Isn't that your old boyfriend, the musician who you met when you were working at the Rainbow Room? Don't you remember him, Prue?"
"No, I don't. Nobody told me. They hired you at the Rainbow Room?"
"Yeah. She was a hostess until she started working at the Chelsea Pier."
"No, no, she first worked at the Crowd."
"Yeah, that's right, I forgot about that."
"Okay. Can we talk about this later, please?" The doorbell rings. "A lot later. We're just friends, that's all, you know. Do I have lipstick on my teeth?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
Phoebe starts rubbing her teeth with the tip of her finger, not realising that Piper was being sarcastic. Phoebe turns and runs to answer the door. Paige, Prue and Piper remain behind to watch.
"That was mean."
"That was not mean."
"Okay."
They turn to watch. Phoebe answers the door. Clay is standing on the front porch.
"Phoebe."
"Clay."
"It's really good to see you."
She hugs him and gets a premonition. Phoebe and Clay are kissing passionately in bed. Phoebe pulls back from Clay.
"You okay?"
"Uh-huh. Ooh."
-c-
Prue, Piper and Paige are sitting at the bar at Quake. Prue is troubled that she didn't knew about Clay.
"What else don't I know?"
"Prue, don't take this personally, but sometimes you can be a bit judgmental."
"Oh, that is so not true. All right, so maybe it's sometimes true. I just don't understand why Phoebe never even told me about this guy."
"People don't like to dwell on things that end badly."
"Yeah, well, I wish my relationships ended that badly. Did you hear them last night? There was music, there was wine, there was..."
"Talking."
"And how do you know there was wine?"
"Okay, so I peeked."
Paige and Piper look disgusted.
"You never peek in when I'm with Sean right?"
"Of course not. But, you know, if nobody tells me anything, I have to get creative."
"Stop worrying. She'll be fine." A waiter accidentally throws the glasses over on the tray. With one smooth motion, Piper freezes the room. "She knows what she's doing." Prue looks around. "Watch that entrance, make sure nobody comes in."
"Does Doug still drop everything?"
Piper gets off her seat and walks over to the three glasses hanging mid-air.
"Yeah."
"Poor guy."
Piper straightens Doug's tray and places the three glasses on it. Satisfied, she lets time resume. Doug gasps, but Piper is right in front of him straightening out his tray.
"Whoa, Doug, easy."
"Thanks, Piper. I hope Shelly didn't see that."
He looks at a blonde waitress.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Doug. You just hang in there."
Piper turns around and heads back to her seat next to Prue.
"What was that?"
"What?"
Prue makes a hand-waving, freezing motion.
"That. You know, the guy, the glass. Do you do that often, freeze time in front of, ooh, I don't know, let's say everybody?"
"Yeah. I'm finally getting some control over the unfreezing. The poor guy, he just keeps dropping everything."
"Oh, then maybe you should just fire him."
"Mm. The owner wants me to. Actually threatened to fire me if I don't. But Doug's just going through a hard time right now. Shelly the waitress just dumped him, after six years of dating."
"So what, you're playing Cupid at the risk of your own job?"
"I am. I mean, Doug loves her. He even bought an engagement ring and everything. He just waited too long to ask. So now he's a wreck."
"Still, you can't just keep…" She motions with her hands again. "… you know, freezing in order to protect him."
"I know."
"And how come Paige knows and I don't?"
"I often come here to help out and…"
"She was the one who suggested the freezing."
Paige quickly changes the topic before Prue could start yelling at her.
"So are you still going back to Buckland's?"
"Yeah, that's where I work."
"Oh, I just figured after everything that happened with Rex and Hannah that you would be hitting the classifieds."
As Prue talks, Piper looks up.
"Well, if we don't save the Auction House, I might have to. Rex left us all but…" Piper sees Doug walking by Shelly while carrying an armful of plates. He trips and Piper freezes everything. "… bankrupt."
"What were you saying?"
"Never mind. Gotta go."
Prue gets off of her seat and grabs her bag.
"Hey, can I get a ride to college?"
"Sure, let's go."
Paige and Prue head towards the door while Piper gets off her seat and walks over to Doug in a mid-spill. With her hands on her hips, she looks at the scene, shakes her head and sighs.
-c-
Phoebe and Clay are walking through the park.
"I wish you could have been there, Phoebe. You would have loved Egypt. Pyramids, giant sphinx, the Nile river, camel taxis. It was amazing."
"You rode a camel?"
"Hey, they're friendlier than some of the cabdrivers I've met, believe me."
"I can't imagine they're faster."
They look at each other.
"You were right to leave me."
"Oh, and the conversation turns."
"No, I'm serious. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I blew it. I know that."
"Clay."
She shakes her head.
"What, too much too soon?"
"Yep. Look, I, uh, I hope you don't take this the wrong way. Uh... but why are you here... with me… now?"
"Why? Can't a guy visit?"
"Yeah, but you're not just a guy." She playfully whacks him with her purse. "You're Clay, and Clay comes with strings attached."
"I never could hide anything from you."
"Actually, you could. That was one of our problems, remember?"
"I picked up this urn at a... overseas market. Thought it might be worth something."
"So you want me to get Prue to help you. Because of the Auction House."
"Guilty."
"Whew. For a minute there, I thought you were here to win me back."
"No, Phoebe. I think too much of you to still believe you're interested. Look..." They stop walking. "... it's no secret I've been in some trouble. Gotten in too deep. I just thought if I could sell this urn, make some money, pay off a little debt, I could make a fresh start. Hey. Think about it. Please, Phoebe."
-c-
Prue turns the corner and walks into her office. She finds a woman standing behind her desk going through the file drawer.
"Hi."
"Oh, hi. You must be Prue."
"And you must be..."
"Claire. Claire Pryce." They shake hands. "The bank assigned me to see if the business is worth salvaging. I'm looking for inventory records. The files in my predecessor's office were empty."
"Yes, well, Rex and Hannah weren't exactly qualified."
"Mm-hmm. Obviously why Buckland's is in such dire straits." Claire closes the filer drawer and steps away from behind the desk. Prue walks around her desk. "To be honest with you, Prue, I don't know anything about auction houses, and I know even less about art. But what I do know is the bottom line. And if we don't move $1.2 million worth of inventory at the auction tomorrow, I'm shutting the place down."
"Excuse me. Did you say tomorrow?"
"Did I stutter?"
"With all due respect, you don't just decide to throw an auction, okay? You need advance notice, a catalogue, buyers."
"Mm-hmm. Then it looks like you've got a lot of work ahead of you, doesn't it?"
Claire turns around and heads towards the door just as Phoebe and Clay are walking in. Clay is carrying the urn. They nearly bump into each other. Phoebe steps aside and into Prue's office.
"Sorry."
Phoebe walks up to Prue.
"Who was that?"
"New sheriff."
"Hey, Prue."
"Hey, Clay. What's up?"
"A favour." Phoebe takes the urn from Clay and puts it on Prue's desk. "Clay was hoping that maybe you could sell this for him."
"Yeah. I picked it up at a market overseas."
"'Picked it up'? Does that mean you bought it?"
"What else could it mean?"
Prue looks at the urn.
"Well, it's really beautiful. Gold inlay, 24-karat, a lot of lapis, looks to be from Egypt."
"Exactly. That's where I was travelling."
"These etchings are interesting, very unusual."
"You think it's worth something?"
"Oh, well, I would have to determine the urn's origins, its previous owners…"
"Oh, couldn't you just skip a step or two?"
"Phoebe, I cannot risk this auction house's reputation on something like this without checking on it first."
"Come on, come on, I will, uh… what will I do? I will cook you dinner."
"Oh, don't threaten me. Fine. I'll see what I can do."
Prue sets the urn aside.
"Hey, thanks. Thanks a lot."
"Is she the best or what?" Phoebe hugs Prue." Oh, thank you, thank you. Oh, I love you."
Phoebe grabs Clay's arm and they leave. Prue sighs and looks at the urn.
-c-
Clay and Phoebe are leaving the Auction House.
"Thanks for doing that, Phoebe."
"No problem. Prue will get you a great price for it, too. She's really good at her job."
"Well. It'd be nice if she just liked me a little bit."
"She likes you. She's just real protective of me, that's all."
"I remember when that was my job."
He puts his arm around her shoulders and Phoebe puts her arm around his waist. They continue to walk out.
"Yeah, and then I quit you."
Palmer walks up behind them.
"Hey, Clay."
They turn around.
"Palmer. What are you doing here?"
"I'm bumping into you." He looks at Phoebe. "Aren't you gonna introduce us?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Phoebe, this is Palmer. I met him in Cairo."
They shake hands.
"Hi. Oh, wow. Small world, huh?"
"Yeah. Hey, what's going on with that urn?"
"Wait. You know about the urn, too?"
"Well, actually, that's where we met. At the marketplace where I bought it."
"Yeah, right, the marketplace. Right. I thought you were gonna sell it?"
"Well, actually, Phoebe's sister works at that auction house. She's looking for a buyer as we speak."
"That's good, that's good. The sooner the better I guess, huh?"
He wraps his arms around himself and sniffs.
"Hey, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine, thank you. It's just, uh, I'm a little tired. Jet lag, you know." (to Clay) "Are you staying at the Ashcroft like I suggested?"
"Uh, yeah, sure."
"Good. Me, too. Maybe we'll hook up later?"
"Mm-hmm."
"It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you, too."
They shake hands again. With one last meaningful look at Clay, Palmer turns and leaves.
"Eew, creepy guy."
"Yeah. You hungry?"
He leads Phoebe in the opposite direction.
-c-
Palmer Kellogg walks up to a custom's officer on the airport who is writing on his clipboard on a large wooden crate.
"Can I help you?"
"I was a friend of Wesley's. His family wanted me to make sure he got home all right."
"Sorry. How'd he die?"
"I don't know. Spider bite, I think. He's off to J.F.K., right?"
The custom's officer checks his sheet.
"First flight in the morning."
The custom's officer turns and leaves. Palmer puts his hand on the crate.
"Sorry, Wes."
On the side of the crate is a blue Egyptian stamp outlined in gold. The gold in the stamp glows and changes into a puff of gold dust. Palmer turns and walks away form the crate. The gold dust materializes into the guardian of the urn who watches Palmer leave.
-c-
Prue is sitting behind her desk doing some research on her laptop while she's on the phone with Piper.
"What am I supposed to think, Piper? Phoebe's ex pops into town and wants me to sell something for him. You think that's a coincidence?"
Piper is sitting at the bar in the busy dining room.
"Oh, Prue, you wonder why you're out of the loop. You worry too much about Phoebe."
No, I don't. I just don't want to see her get hurt, that's all. Look, I just get this really bad feeling about Clay. I can't explain it."
Prue shuts her laptop and takes off her glasses.
"I can. You don't think he's good enough for her. Just like you don't think that Sean is good enough for Paige and just like you didn't think Jeremy was good enough for me. Of course, in his case you were right, but that's not my point."
"No, your point is that it's none of my business, and you're probably right. Speaking of playing matchmaker, how's Doug?"
"The same, unfortunately. Except I'm getting a little freeze frazzled. It's draining."
"Don't you think you need to find a better way to deal before you get fired?"
"I know."
Piper turns and sees Doug walk past Shelly. Once again, his eyes are on Shelly and not where he's walking.
"Oops. I gotta go, I gotta go."
Piper hangs up just as Doug turns and knocks into a vase on the side table. Piper tries to run over to stop him from tripping and from breaking the vase. She's too late but luckily Paige is also there. She uses her powers to stop the vase from falling. Doug looks back at the vase which Paige is now carrying.
"Watch out where you going Doug."
"Thanks Paige."
He turns and leaves. Piper walks back to the counter and puts the phone down. Paige follows.
"Hey sis."
"Thanks about that."
"It's nothing, just don't tell Prue."
"Why are you here, shouldn't you be at college."
"I have a free period. I wondered if there is a free table for tonight?"
"Sure."
"Great, Sean and I have romantic plans."
"Great, Phoebe has Clay, you have Sean and I have an dripping waiter on my hands. The world can be so dishonest sometimes."
Paige puts her arm on her shoulders.
"What can I say, it must be karma."
"Oh you, get back to college before I cancel your table."
"Before you cancel my table, you better check over there."
Paige points Doug out who is walking past Shelly again.
-c-
That night, Paige and Sean are going back to the manor after their dinner at Quake. Phoebe comes into the foyer.
"Paige, is that you?"
"Yes."
"Do you also want Chinese, I'm ordering for me and Clay."
"No thanks, we already ate at Quakes."
"Hey Sean, long time no see."
"Yeah, tell me about it. I don't know why, but it's like Paige doesn't like me to hang out at the manor, like it's dangerous to be here, you know."
He started laughing and comes over to give Phoebe a kiss on the cheek. Right when they meet Phoebe gets a premonition. Sean is kissing with another woman and begins to undress her and himself.
"Are you okay?"
"Sure. Hey Paige, I got to go, got an early class in the morning."
"Alright."
They have an long night kiss. "See you tomorrow." He opens the door to leave and runs into Prue.
"Sorry."
"Never mind."
Prue walks into the manor.
"Hey."
"Hey. Why are you're so late, you just started working again."
"Well, new chef in town." Prue looks at Phoebe and sees her tensed look. "What's wrong with you Phoebe, you're looking a little stressed."
"What do you mean?" She sees her sister's faces, knowing how bad she is at lying she decides to tell the truth. "Ooh okay, I'll tell you…" Clay comes back in the room. "Never mind." She turns her attention to Clay.
"I thought someone come in. So, how's it going with the urn?"
"It's going."
"I think what he's trying to ask is, is it going, going, gone?"
"Well, I put it on the auction block."
"Oh, great. That's great. Thanks a lot."
"Yeah, well, I'm still waiting for the background check to come through on it so I can set a reserve price."
"Okay, well, whatever you get for it is fine with me."
"As long as it sells, right? And in a hurry?"
"Well, from what I understand, if anyone can do that, it's you." (to Phoebe) "So, I will call you tomorrow? Maybe you can show me around the city, help me see where I left my heart."
They kiss. Phoebe and Clay head for the front door. He looks at Prue on his way past her.
"Okay. I really appreciate it. Thanks again."
"Anything for Pheebs."
Phoebe opens the door. Clay slips out.
"See you later."
Phoebe closes the door. She turns and looks at Prue.
"What?"
"Nothing. I can worry about my little sister, can't I?"
"Don't ever stop."
They look at each other and share a smile. But suddenly there is a loud bang from the attic.
-c-
Prue, Paige and Phoebe walk into the attic. Prue waves her hand in front of the white smoke disbursing. They head for Piper sitting on the floor in front of the potions table with the book of shadows open in front of her.
"Are you okay?"
"Nothing to see here. Move along."
"Welcome to London."
In the potion's pot is a smoking bag of something.
"What did you do?"
"More like who did you do it to?"
Piper stands up.
"I put a charm on Doug, but I doubled the recipe. It's just a little something to boost his confidence so he can give love a shot and give me a break."
"Go ahead, Prue, yell at her."
Prue turns to look at Phoebe. Paige lets out a little smile. Piper continues to explain.
"It's not for personal gain, and it fits into the whole 'harm none' thing we have to live by. Besides, Prue's the one who told me to do something."
"Did not."
"Yes, you did. I just need Doug to stop dropping things so I can stop freezing things. I'm just exhausted."
"You know. Well, maybe he and Shelly aren't meant to be together. Not everybody's supposed to..."
"Oh, that was, that was real subtle."
"Well, we'll never know unless Doug has the guts to pop the question. All I'm doing is giving it to him."
"Mm. It's just like the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz." Phoebe sees Paige's face. "Well, it is."
Piper smiles, Phoebe puts a hand to her mouth to quench the squishy thoughts, Paige laughs at loud and Prue looks at them and smiles.
-c-
The girls are leaving the attic, but Phoebe stops Prue before she can leave.
"I have to talk to you."
"What is it?"
"You know that Sean was here right? Well when I touched him, I got a premonition."
"He isn't in danger, is he?"
"Not yet."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw him cheating on Paige."
"Past or future."
"I actually don't know. But does it matters, he did or is going to cheat on her."
"Well, we got to be sure."
"Alright, what do you propose."
"We could breaking into his apartment looking for evidence."
"That's actually a good idea."
Phoebe turns around, leaving the attic followed by Prue.
"Phoebe, I was just kidding… Phoebe."
-c-
The next morning, Phoebe and Prue are before Sean's door.
"Do you know for sure, that he is gone?"
"Yeah, he said last night that he had an early class. Alright open the door."
"How?"
"Hello, you're a witch with that can move things telekinetically."
"Oh yeah."
Prue uses her powers unlock the door. The enter the room.
"Alright, what are we actually looking for?"
"I don't know, how do you prove that someone is cheating."
"Well let's start with the bedroom."
Phoebe walks up to the bedroom. Right after she opens the door, Prue hears voices.
"Who's there?"
Phoebe closes the door again and takes Prue by the arm, out of the apartment.
"What's wrong."
"I found the evidence, it was lying in the bedroom and I think it saw me too."
Phoebe and Prue get out of the apartment, but are followed by an half-dressed Sean.
"Hey you there, stop right now."
But the girls just speeded up. When the are outside they hide themselves behind a car. Sean also comes out and is searching for the girls.
"Oh no Prue, he is coming towards us."
"I have an idea."
Prue uses her powers and suddenly Sean's pants fall down in front of everyone in the street. Everybody starts laughing and pointing. Sean tries to get back in side while trying to put his trousers back on, but that just makes him slip and fall. Finally he gets back in, red from embarrassment.
"Good work Prue."
"Well, he had it coming."
"So how are we going to brake the news to Paige."
"I guess as soon possible, I don't want her to spend another minute with that jerk."
-c-
The auction is in progress. The auctioneer stands behind the podium while his assistant holds up the lot up for bid. Prue rushes up to a guy standing on the side. "Mark, move the F. Scott Fitzgerald pen to the next slot, all right? Our buyer Mr. Gordenson is getting restless. Go." Mark turns and leaves. Prue turns around. Claire is standing there holding a sheet of paper.
"I think you should see this, Prue."
"What is it?"
Prue takes the sheet from her.
"It's the appraisal on the urn you requested. The good news is it's worth a fortune. The bad news is…"
"It's stolen."
"Apparently. No wonder the Auction House is going under. Selling stolen goods."
"No, this is highly unusual and very embarrassing."
"Yes, it is."
Claire turns and leaves. Prue looks at the lot table and sees that the urn is up next. "Oh, no." She squints and uses her powers to move the lot labels switching it with a painting. Prue rushes up to the table and grabs the urn off of it and leaves the room with it.
-c-
Prue is walking through the hallway carrying the urn as she reads the background check sheet. She walks into her office where she finds Palmer. She puts the urn on her office.
"Who are you?"
Prue puts the urn down.
"You must be Prue, Phoebe's sister."
"Same question. Who are you?"
"Me? I'm a friend of Clay's. Why didn't you sell that urn? You're supposed to sell it."
"I think that you'd better leave."
"No! Don't you understand? You have to sell it before the curse…"
"Curse? What curse?"
"The urn, it's cursed." He walks over to her. "Never mind. Forget it, I'll get rid of it myself."
Prue turns and uses her powers on the urn, pushing it across the desk. Palmer sees the urn move. Prue pretends that she doesn't know how it moves.
"Oh, my god, it is cursed."
"Oh, no."
She uses her powers again. Prue points the urn while taking a step back.
"Uh... what's going on?"
"The curse. It's happening. It's too late. I gotta get out of here."
Leaving the urn, Palmer turns and runs out of the office. Prue stands there and looks at the urn.
-c-
Phoebe and Piper step out onto the sidewalk.
"Do you believe in giving people second chances?"
"Absolutely. That's probably why I wanted to help out Doug so much."
"Ok, well, Clay says he can change, and I want to believe him, but..."
"But you're afraid of getting hurt. That's totally understandable."
"So I keep my distance, and then what, hope that I'm wrong?"
"Well, you could be. That premonition of yours is definitely in the future."
"Yeah, but the problem is, I keep thinking about the past. When I moved to New York I was so angry." Piper looks at her. "All right, I was scared. And then I met Clay, and he helped me out a lot. And he was really good to me at a time in my life when nobody else was. I'm sorry. You know what I mean. I didn't mean it like that."
"All right. That's fine. So why did you leave him?"
"Well, he kept living beyond his means. He never thought about the future. Yeah, I know, that sounds familiar. Let's just say he took one too many shortcuts. Got involved with some bad people, got in over his head. Way over his head. And finally, I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave."
"And so now he's back, hoping to be the man you fell in love with originally."
"Yeah, so what do I do? What if he's the one, like you say Doug and Shelly are? Do I just walk away?"
"No. But…"
"We can't live together forever. What do we expect, to be sixty years old and still be sharing clothes and a cat?"
"Well, now that you put it that way, no. I don't want to live with you anymore."
Piper and Phoebe walk into Quake and see Doug acting like prince charming behind the bar. He's mixing drinks with flair in the middle of a crowd of women.
"I thought your charm was to boost his confidence, not turn him into Tom Cruise."
"Maybe I shouldn't have doubled the recipe."
"Uh, yeah."
Piper heads for the bar followed by Phoebe.
"Doug. What's going on?"
"Not sure. But whatever it is, I feel great."
"Oh. Oh, my."
Shelly walks up to the bar with a drink on her tray. Doug takes the drink and puts it firmly down on the bar counter and pushes it to the woman on the other end of the bar. Shelly looks hurt and leaves.
"Um, Doug. What about Shelly?"
"Who cares about Shelly when I got Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all lined up and waiting?"
"Ha ha!"
Doug smiles and looks at Phoebe.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"I don't believe you will. Off limits."
Doug raises his hands and heads back to the crowd of women.
"Well, your charm worked. You've turned Doug into a…"
"A monster."
"Mm-hmm. Oh, I gotta go. I told Clay I'd meet him over at the house."
Phoebe kisses Piper on the cheek.
"Try to talk with Paige."
"I'll try, goodbye."
Piper watches Doug and smiles dryly. She pounds her hand on the counter in frustration.
-c-
Palmer rushes into his room. A haze of gold dust materializes into the guardian of the urn.
"Leaving?"
Palmer is startled from packing his bags. He turns around and sees the guardian.
"How'd you get here?"
"I came with your friend. I waited for your fear to consume you. Where's the urn?"
He falls back on the bed as she advances towards him.
"It's at the Buckland Auction House. I tried to get it back. I was gonna return it, I swear. I tried to make things right, please. Don't. I'm sorry."
She takes a swipe at her scorpion pin on her shoulder and places it on Palmer's chest. With a whirl of gold dust, a real scorpion appears.
"No! No!" He falls back on the bed as the scorpion attacks his neck. "No! No!"
"You're being punished for your greed."
-c-
That afternoon Phoebe is sitting on the couch when the door opens.
"Hey Paige, is that you?"
"Yeah."
"Come in here, I have to tell… Oh Sean you're also here."
"Yeah, can't stay to long away from my angel."
He puts his arms around Paige's waist.
"Yeah, right I can really believe that."
"Phoebe is something wrong, you look a little stressed."
"Me, no I'm fine, perfectly fine."
"Alright than, Sean and I are going up to my room."
"Sure thing."
As soon as they are up the stairs, Phoebe phones Prue.
"Prue you need to get home."
"I'm already on my way, I have to tell you something about the urn."
"That doesn't matter, Prue, Sean is here, with Paige."
"I'll be there as soon as possible."
-c-
Piper is sitting on the chair with an open book of shadows in her lap as she writes something down. The door slams shut, startling Piper. Prue walks up to her holding a sheet of paper.
"Oh, Prue, you scared me."
"Where's Paige?"
"Upstairs."
"But you might want to..." She turns and sees Prue's gone. "...knock."
-c-
Prue walks through the hallway with the sheet of paper in her hand. She opens Paige's bedroom door without knocking... "Paige, we need to talk…" and finds Paige and Sean naked in bed, kissing.
"Yes, we do."
Prue shuts her eyes and groans. She turns and leaves
-c-
Paige holds the door open as Sean is leaving. Prue, Phoebe and Piper wait.
"You know, you don't have to leave."
"Yeah, I think I should."
He kisses her.
"I'll call you."
"Okay."
He leaves. She closes the door and turns around to glare at Prue.
"I hope you liked the show."
"Paige, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"What, that it was my room that you barged into? I have more privacy on campus where it's crawling with students."
"Sweetie, you can't blame her."
"Why not?"
"Because we need to tell you something."
"Alright I'm listening."
"Are you going to tell her?"
"You do it."
"Please, will somebody do it, I'm dying out here and I'm not even Paige."
"Alright I'll do it. But first sit down."
They move into the living sitting room and all sit down on the couch except for Phoebe who sits down before Paige on the table.
"Alright, it's not easy to tell this and you probably aren't going to like it."
"Just tell me, I'm a big girl Phoebe."
"Alright, here goes nothing. Sean is cheating on you."
Paige's smile leaves her face.
"What?"
"I know it's horrible."
"How do you?... Why?... How do you know this?"
"When he was here the other night I got a premonition and I saw him with another girl."
"Well that proves nothing, your premonition could be wrong."
"But it isn't. Phoebe and I went to his apartment when we thought he wouldn't be home. But we find him in bed with another girl."
"I don't believe it. How could he do this to me?"
Paige starts crying. Her sisters engage her in a group hug.
-c-
The next morning, Prue and Phoebe are going to check up on Paige, when Piper closes the door of Paige's room.
"She has been crying all night. She is now finally in sleep."
"Oh yeah Prue, didn't you need to tell me something about the urn?"
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about it with Paige. Wait I have to get something."
She goes into her room and comes out with a paper.
"Alright I'm just going to say it outright, Clay is a thief."
"I'm sorry. Excuse me?"
"My new boss handed this to me. Thankfully, just before the urn could be sold."
Prue hands the sheet to Phoebe. Piper moves behind Phoebe to read it over her shoulder.
"Clay didn't buy it at some outdoor bazaar, Phoebe. He stole it."
"This can't be right."
"It looks right, Pheebs."
"Seasons change. People don't."
"I changed. Do you remember what you thought of me before I walked back through that door?"
"That's different."
"How is that different?"
"You're my sister."
"Well, there's gotta be so mistake."
"It gets worse. If the background information is accurate, there's a curse attached to the urn. Anyone who steals it ends up dead, a victim of the guardian who protects it, and she feeds off their greed."
"Okay, well, even if that's true, Clay could have never known about it, otherwise he wouldn't have brought it here."
"Are you sure, Pheebs? You wouldn't be the first Halliwell to misjudge a guy."
"No, it's not about judging, it's about knowing. And I know Clay."
"And I know what Clay has done. He put my job in jeopardy. He lied to me. Phoebe, he lied to you."
"You don't know that." Prue can't believe it. "Look, I am not saying that he's perfect. Okay? And... even if he is foolish enough to risk his own life... he would never risk mine."
Phoebe walks past Prue and heads down the stairs.
-c-
Palmer is dead, his neck extremely swollen. The coroner looks at Andy and reports.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a scorpion sting."
"Scorpion sting in San Francisco?"
"I know, but that's what it looks like."
"Any chance he was killed somewhere else and then moved here?"
"No. The lividity is consistent with where he was found."
"Well, I buy this place has roaches. I'm not so sure about scorpions. Anything else?"
"Found someone's business card in his pocket. 'Buckland's Auction House'?"
"Ah-ah. Let me guess. Prue Halliwell?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
He grabs the business card from the coroner and tucks it into his jacket pocket.
"I'm cursed. Let me know when you get the report back on that sting."
Andy walks around the coroner and heads for the door. Clay is walking through the hallway slowly making his way toward Palmer's room. He's puzzled by all the people there. On his way in, he bumps into Andy on the way out of the room.
"Excuse me."
Clay looks into the room just in time to see the coroners zipping up the body bag over Palmer.
"Palmer?"
-c-
In the empty office, the urn is still on Prue's desk. Gold dust appear and magically seals itself back on the side of the urn in the form of the Egyptian blue and gold symbol. Prue and Claire walk into the office. Prue is holding a calculator punching in the numbers as Claire calls them out to her.
"Lot 49, twenty-six hundred. Lot 50, fifteen thousand. Lot 51... excluded." Claire looks at the urn. "Shouldn't that be turned in to the proper authorities?"
"I'm contacting customs as soon as we're finished here. Look... again, I just want to assure you that I didn't have anything to do with…"
"Just... handle it. How did we do?"
"$1.28 million. We did it."
"The Auction House lives to see another day. Congratulations."
She shakes Prue's hand.
"Good work."
"Thanks."
Claire turns and heads out of the office. Prue puts the calculator down and looks at the urn, noticing the Egyptian Symbol on its side.
"Hey."
She looks up as Andy walks into the office.
"Andy, hi. Here to arrest me again?"
"Mm... not this time." He looks at the urn and sees the image on its side. "A scorpion. Why am I not surprised?"
"I'm afraid I don't…"
"A young man died last night of a scorpion sting. Palmer Kellogg. You know him?"
"I don't believe I do."
"Well, he obviously knew you. I found your card on his body."
He shows her the business card.
"We did just have an auction. I met a lot of people."
"Ah. Well, I'll bring a photo by later, see if it jogs anything."
"That's fine."
"Prue, listen. Just because we're not dating anymore, I want you to know I still care about you. So if you're ever in jam or you ever need anything... just know you can always call me."
"I know that. Thanks."
He smiles at her. He turns and leaves the office.
-c-
Clay is shoving his clothes into his bag. There's a knock on the door.
"Clay, are you in there?"
"Phoebe?"
He opens the door.
"You stole the urn, didn't you?"
"Would you, uh, come inside?"
"No. I am not going anywhere until you answer the question."
"Okay. Yes."
She walks into the room and sees his incomplete packing efforts. He closes the door behind her.
"Were you planning on saying goodbye before you skipped town?"
"Palmer's dead, Phoebe."
"What?"
"He died from a scorpion sting. I called Wesley to tell l him. That's when his parents tell me he's dead, too. Spider bites. I don't know how. I don't know why. But I know one thing… I'm not gonna stick around…"
"You are such a liar!"
"Phoebe, I'm not lying."
"You knew the urn was cursed when you stole it. You knew the legend."
"What are you talking about? What legend?"
"Are you telling me that you didn't know whoever steals the urn dies?"
"Palmer, Wesley. I swear I knew nothing about it."
"Yeah, right."
She heads for the door.
"Come on, Phoebe, you have to believe me."
She turns around and looks at him.
"No, I don't. You're a liar, Clay. You will never change. You'll always look for the easy way out."
She opens the door and leaves.
-c-
Shelly walks over to the bar. Through the bar's mirror, Doug sees her just as he's putting a glass up on the shelf. He misses the shelf and drops the glass. He turns and looks at Piper.
"Oh, sorry. Uh, I'll go get the broom."
"Good idea."
Doug leaves. Phoebe appears and sits down next to Piper.
"I see you reversed the spell."
"Yeah. And I've been given until tomorrow to fire him."
"Maybe Prue is right. Maybe they just don't belong together. Seems like the theme of the week."
"Oh. Clay?"
"Uh-huh. He totally used me, Piper. He just used me to get to Prue."
"I'm sorry."
"Thanks for not saying, 'I told you so.' Why didn't I see it coming? What am I? A sucker for punishment?"
"No. You see the good in people, and that's never wrong. Besides, the wrong guys are usually the most interesting."
"Until you get your hopes up and let your guard down and they reveal their true selves. I mean look at Paige and Sean."
"Look at Doug. Great guy, kind of boring on the surface, easy to overlook, but... maybe in the long run, we're better off with his type."
"Maybe in the waaay long run. I think I'm still looking for adventure."
"Then you risk paying the price."
They hear a loud crash. Piper turns to look at the end of the bar. Doug steps out holding a dustpan and broom.
"I got it."
"Maybe it's a price worth paying."
"Yeah. I just don't know anymore. Thanks for the ear."
Phoebe turns and leaves.
-c-
Once home Phoebe checks on Paige and knocks on her door.
"Paige are you awake?"
"Yeah."
Phoebe enters the room and sees Paige still lying on the bed.
"Hey sweetie, how are you doing?"
"Great, I just heard my boyfriend cheated on me, how do you think I feel?"
"I don't really know how you must be feeling, but do you know what always helps for me when I'm sad?"
"No."
"A relaxing bath with some sweet music and a few candles. I will make one for you, alright?"
"Sure, why not?"
-c-
Paige walks on the bathroom and Phoebe is heading over to the attic when the doorbell rings. Phoebe answers the door and finds Clay there.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Look, I may have lied about buying the urn, but I swear, I didn't know it was cursed."
"Well, that still makes you a thief, now, doesn't it?"
"Well, that's why I'm here. I want to make things right. I want to turn myself in to the police." She rolls her eyes. "I mean it, Phoebe. Honest. It's the only way I can redeem myself with you."
"And how do I know this isn't just another one of your scams?"
"Well, I guess you don't. But I don't want to take shortcuts anymore. I want to take the urn with me to the police. There's no way Prue is just gonna give it to me. Not without you there. I need your help. It's the last favour I'll ever ask. I promise."
"I don't think so."
Clay reaches out to touch Phoebe's arm. "Please." Once his hand touches her arm she gets a premonition. Inside Prue's office is a cobra on the floor. It rises from the ground and stares at Clay. The premonition ends.
"The curse..."
"What?"
Phoebe grabs her coat off the hallway hook.
"Let's go."
She closes the door as she leaves with Clay.
-c-
Prue is in her office working when Phoebe rushes into the office. Clay's behind her.
"Phoebe… what is he doing here?"
"Save it till later. I have seen the future, and it's not bright. Oh, good. You didn't give the urn to the police."
"Yeah, no. I thought that it might get you in trouble."
"Yeah. Well, you know that little legend we were talking about? Well, I…" As she talks, the guardian materializes . "... I think it is true."
"What the hell is that?"
"Clay!"
"Get him out of here."
Phoebe pushes Clay out of the office.
"Go!"
She closes the door. Prue uses her powers on the Guardian. Nothing happens.
"I don't want to harm you. I came for the thief."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the guardian of the urn. You cannot destroy me."
"Uhh!"
Prue uses her powers again against the guardian, but only succeeds in pushing her back a couple of steps.
"Uh... Phoebe, run."
Prue and Phoebe run out of the office. The door closes behind them.
"So now there are more who will die."
She disappears in a swirl of gold dust and reappears as the Egyptian symbol on the side of the urn.
-c-
The door of the manor opens. Prue, Phoebe and Clay rush into the house.
"I still don't understand."
"You stay down here. We'll be right back."
Piper meets them in the foyer.
"What's going on?"
"Tell you in the attic."
Prue grabs her and pulls her with her toward the stairs.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Fill her in. I'll meet you guys upstairs. Uh... Piper is really into legends, and… and Prue is really good with her mind, so…"
"Yeah, but that thing, the guardian, she's not even…"
"Human? Yeah, I know, but she's real, and we have to figure out how to stop her before she gets you."
"I don't know what you're thinking, Phoebe, but I do not want you getting hurt because of me."
"You know, I think I actually believe you."
Phoebe smiles, then heads upstairs. Clay watches her go.
-c-
"Alright why did I have to come out of my warm bath? I was finally relaxing a bit."
"Problems."
"Oh no, what is it this time?"
-c-
Piper is flipping through the Book of Shadows while Prue fills Paige in. Phoebe enters the attic.
"Did you find anything?"
"Nothing about Egyptian urns or greed demons. Zip."
"Well, let's just hope that she didn't follow us here, because our powers are useless against her."
"How is that possible? I mean, that's never happened to us before."
"Maybe we're not supposed to protect him."
"What are you saying?"
"Look, all I'm saying is that maybe there's a reason... like Piper trying to force Doug and Shelly back together again. Maybe there are just some things that we're not supposed to save."
"No. We're saving Clay, period. There's just gotta be something that we're missing."
"Maybe this is something. I mean, it doesn't talk about the urn, but it talks about the seven deadly sins, greed being one of them."
"Wait a minute. The guardian punishes the greedy, so maybe if Clay does something selfless, it'll even the score."
Paige laughs softly.
"Good luck."
She looks at Prue, Piper and Phoebe.
"Sorry. Man-hater for the moment."
-c-
Phoebe, Paige, Piper and Prue rush down the attic.
"Clay! Clay, where are you? Clay!"
They look around and can't find him.
"I think he left."
"I don't believe it."
"Typical… Sorry, still an hater."
"No, I mean I really don't believe it. He wouldn't just leave like that."
"Well, do you have a better explanation?"
"He was worried about me. He was worried about us. I am telling you, he… wait. My vision. I think I know where he's going. We've gotta stop him."
They head out.
-c-
The Egyptian symbol on the side of the urn changes once again into the guardian. The door to the office opens. Clay walks in.
"I knew you'd come back. Your greed consumes you."
"I'm not here for the urn."
The guardian has a golden coil in her hands.
"You must be punished."
"I know. When you're done with me, that's it, right? You're not gonna hurt anybody else?"
"Not until somebody steals the urn again."
"How do you know anybody will?"
"Somebody always does."
She throws the coil on the floor at Clay's feet. It changes and grows into a large cobra. The cobra rises up and looks at Clay. Phoebe, Prue, Paige and Piper run into the room. Paige steps out with her arm out, ready to produce her shield but Prue stops her.
"Our powers don't work on her, remember."
"Clay!"
"Stay back, Phoebe."
"No!"
Clay pushes Phoebe back.
"Phoebe, look out!"
The cobra strikes. Clay lifts his arm to block the cobra and it vanishes.
"A selfless act. Just like Prue said."
The guardian of the urn goes back to the Egyptian symbol on the urn and the urn vanishes.
"Where'd it go?"
"Who cares as long as it's not here?"
"Are you okay?"
"Am I okay? Who says people never change?"
Phoebe hugs Clay.
-c-
Piper, Prue and Phoebe sit at the counter.
"Good thing we didn't have to end up using our powers to vanquish her, or otherwise Clay would've have seen them."
"They didn't work, anyway."
"Not something I hope ever happens again."
Piper perks up.
"Ooh! Ooh! Forgot about Doug!"
In front of them, Doug is carrying a large tray filled with a lot of things. Just then, Shelly walks by. Doug turns to look at Shelly and he drops the tray. Piper freezes the entire room before it hits the ground.
"This is getting ridiculous."
"Oh, tell me about it. That engagement ring's probably still burning a hole in his apron."
Prue gets off her chair and heads over to Doug.
"Where are you going? What are you doing?"
"Solving your problem and keeping you employed."
She takes the engagement ring out of Doug's pocket and puts it down on the floor in front of Shelly. Prue turns and rushes back to her seat.
"Okay."
Piper unfreezes the room. Doug drops the entire tray of things. He sighs as he looks at Shelly.
"Sorry."
He kneels down to clean up the mess. Shelly sees the ring box.
"What's that?"
Doug's jaw drops as Shelly picks up the ring box and opens it.
"I was carrying that around for weeks, trying to find the right time to ask you."
"Ask me what?"
"To, uh..." He stands up. "... marry me?"
"But... that's why I broke up with you. I gave up on waiting."
Doug and Shelly hug. Prue smiles. Phoebe draws her index finger down her cheek to indicate fake tears as she fake cries.
"Oh... maybe this would have happened sooner if I would have kept my little wicca nose out of their business."
"I guess you can't change people. They have to change themselves."
Prue sees something.
"Oh, speaking of that, yum."
Clay walks into the dining room.
"Go, baby."
"Go, girl."
"All right. I'm goin' in."
"You can do it."
Phoebe leaves Prue and Piper laughing. She walks up to Clay.
"Hey."
"Hey. I'm glad you stopped by."
"Yeah, well... any chance you're going to come back with me?"
"Mm... no. This is my home now."
"You know me. I had to try. I know I've lied to you about a lot of things. But one thing I never lied to you about was how much I care about you."
"I know, Clay."
They kiss.
"I guess I should be going."
"Yeah."
"Um... you know, I hope the next time we cross paths... I'll be the guy you always think you see."
"Mm. Good-bye."
He kisses her knuckles and leaves. Paige comes in. Prue, Piper and Phoebe walk up to her.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah. No big deal."
"I've heard that before."
"Oh..."
They give her another group hug.