A/N: So I forgot to point out in the previous chapter, the reference I made to the 'Evil Enchantress'. I was wondering how many of you spotted it.

Chapter Twenty: That Old Black Magic (And Pride And Pregnancy)

'Disputes in the workplace will always happen. From what I have learnt over the last year or so, it is to not let them get in the way of the task that you have set out to do…

Paige had orbed them to the Mura woods. The four sisters had been walking through the woods for five minutes now. Piper had said nothing to Prue about her unrequested presence on the mission. Prue had said nothing either about how she had went against Piper's orders. Phoebe and Paige had also remained quiet about the fact that Prue was not supposed to be there because they did not want to get involved in the argument.

'We should be getting close to the caves,' said Phoebe, breaking the silence between the four sisters.

'That's good. I don't like the jungle,' said Paige.

'It's not a jungle, Paige,' said Phoebe. 'It's a –'

Phoebe stopped speaking because she had noticed that Prue had come to a complete halt. Her face was suddenly paler than before and she was holding her hands against her stomach.

'Oh, please, no. Not now,' muttered Prue.

All anger had dissipated from Piper's face and tone, as she said, 'Prue? Are you okay?'

Prue lurched forward a little, but managed to keep control.

'Paige! Take her home! Now!' said Piper, worried for her eldest sister.

Paige nodded, complying. She grabbed Prue's arm and orbed the two of them back to the manor. Prue and Paige appeared right outside the manor's upstairs bathroom. Prue ran straight in, closing the bathroom door behind her. Paige sat down on the hallway floor, leaning her back against the closed bathroom door.

'I have a caring nature. If one of my colleagues is upset or unwell, I won't abandon them…

After Prue had finished throwing up, she did not leave the bathroom. However, she did shout, 'Paige, are you still out there?'

'Yes,' replied Paige.

'You should go and rejoin Piper and Phoebe. They might need your help,' said Prue weakly.

Paige shook her head, which was a little pointless because Prue could not see her. 'No, Prue. I am not abandoning my older sister when she is ill.'

There was a brief silence while Prue contemplated Paige's words. That's what Paige assumed had caused the silence. It could have easily been Prue trying to contain anymore involuntary vomiting that had caused the silence.

'Paige… Leave… Go back to Piper and Phoebe…' Prue began to say again.

'No,' said Paige stubbornly. Then she added a little more kindly, 'When will you get your blood test results?'

'The doctor said to expect a phone call at some point tomorrow,' Prue said.

Paige heard the sound of a tap running in the bathroom. A minute later the tap was turned off and then Paige felt the bathroom door open. She shuffled over to the adjoining hallway wall to avoid falling backwards. The bathroom door shut as Prue entered the hallway and sat down on the floor next to Paige. Prue was wiping her face dry with a towel.

'Feeling a little better?' Paige asked her eldest sister.

'A little,' said Prue. Changing the subject, Prue said, 'Why are you refusing to move into my old room?'

'It's not your old room. It still is your room and always will be,' said Paige.

Prue shook her head. She stopped doing this abruptly to avoid another bout of throwing up. 'It's not my room anymore. I live in Portland.'

'Yes, but you stay in that room whenever you visit the manor, because it belongs to you,' said Paige.

'No. I only slept in there last night, because it was empty and I needed a proper bed that was not the sofa with the way that I was feeling,' said Prue. 'That room should not have been empty though. It's yours.'

It was Paige's turn to shake her head in disagreement. 'That is the biggest room in the house. It goes to the head of the family. That's you.'

'I have two families now. There's you, Piper, Phoebe, and me. Then there's just Andy and me. With me absent from this family most of the time, that leaves the space for someone else to take my role as head of the Halliwell family,' said Prue.

'Then that should be Piper,' muttered Paige. 'She should have your old room.'

'Would you feel better about moving out of the attic if she did take that room?' Prue asked Paige. 'That way you could have Piper's room which is the same size as Phoebe's, but still much better than sleeping in the attic.'

Paige sighed. 'Maybe…' Paige furrowed her brow as she realised something. 'Better than sleeping in the attic? You said that as if you have had experience sleeping in the attic.'

'Well, for one thing: Piper, Phoebe, and I did become witches weeks before you showed up. I spent many nights in the attic, looking through the Book of Shadows to try and get some answers to what was happening to us. I would call them sleepless nights if I had not actually fallen asleep in the attic on numerous occasions over those few weeks. Besides all of us fell asleep in the attic that night when we were trying to help you research who your birth family were – You know, right before you found out that we were your family?'

Paige nodded. When it came to answering a question, Prue did not do it by halves.

There was suddenly a crash downstairs. Prue and Paige exchanged worried looks. Prue stood up and broke into a run. The sudden noise seemed to have made her forget that she was ill and therefore slightly weak. Paige followed Prue down the stairs. The noise had come from the conservatory.

The glass window of the conservatory was broken. Kyle was standing, breathing rapidly, as he still held his wand pointed towards the broken window. Leo orbed in next to Kyle, smiling. When Leo saw Prue and Paige, he began to explain about the training that he was putting Kyle through. Leo suddenly paused as his expression became a frown.

'Is someone calling you?' Paige asked, recognising Leo's expression.

'Yeah. Your sisters. Did you forget to bring them back with you?' asked Leo.

'Oh… You see… Prue and I came back early,' said Paige.

'Well, I better see what they want,' said Leo. He orbed out.

'As a potential social worker, I know that it is an advantage to be able to get along with people of all ages. My interpersonal skills are always improving…

Prue and Paige turned to Kyle, who seemed a little more relaxed than a few minutes previously.

'I see you are getting a hang of that thing,' Paige pointed out.

Kyle shrugged. 'I can only get it to work when I am angry.'

'Don't worry. My powers used to only work when I got angry,' said Prue.

'I heard you were a high school student. I bet you were glad to get out of school for something as ridiculous sounding as this,' said Paige.

Kyle shrugged. 'I think I would rather be in school than here.'

Prue frowned. 'Our house is not that bad!'

Paige laughed. 'So now it is your house? What happened to 'I don't live here anymore', huh?' Paige turned to Kyle and said, 'We are not forcing you to stay here. You can leave if you want, but it is important that you do stay.'

Kyle shrugged again. 'I thought you and your sisters wanted to try and defeat that evil person on your own?'

'There was a slight… hitch in that plan…' said Prue. She sounded very unwilling to accept that it was her fault that the drawback had occurred.

'It does not matter, Kyle. When our sisters get back, we will work out a new plan to vanquish Tuatha,' said Paige.

'That's if they haven't done it themselves already,' said Prue. Her tone suggested that she was trying to reassure Kyle rather than that she believed this herself.

Leo orbed into the conservatory with Piper and Phoebe. Piper's eyes widened at the state of the windows, while Phoebe let out a laugh and said, 'What did we miss here?'

'If I ever miss out on a task at work, I will always make sure to catch up…

'How did it go?' Paige asked the two middle Halliwell sisters.

The silence that came from Piper and Phoebe was all that was needed to answer the question.

'I know I should have staid,' mumbled Prue.

'Prue, you were getting ready to be sick all over the jungle, which is practically pollution and definitely not ecologically friendly,' Phoebe pointed out. Paige decided now was not the best time to point out to Phoebe that she had called it a 'jungle' even though she had pointed out to Paige earlier that it was not one. 'You were not in a state to fight.'

'Well, I am for now. Let's get straight back there and vanquish her,' said Prue resolutely.

'We could, but… She won't be there,' said Piper. 'She kind of disappeared after giving us an ultimatum.'

'An ultimatum?' echoed Paige.

'She told us that she would be ready for the two of us next time,' sighed Phoebe.

'The two of you. As in you and Piper?' said Prue.

Phoebe smiled. 'I see where you are going with this. She won't be expecting you and Paige to be here too.'

'Let's not forget about the addition of Kyle,' added Paige.

All four sisters turned to the teenage boy who was surprised at the conversation being turned on him when the sisters had just been discussing whether they could manage without him an hour earlier.

'Do you think you are up to it?' Paige asked Kyle.

Kyle gulped but then nodded. 'Yeah. I think so.'

'So what are we going to do? Summon her here? Get Kyle to vanquish her?' brainstormed Paige.

'We are going to think up a plan,' said Prue. 'We need to use whatever Piper and Phoebe learnt about Tuatha against her.'

'Learnt about her? She is powerful and knows her magic,' said Piper unhelpfully. 'I don't see how that will help us.'

'Well, she has not faced the interchangeable Power of Three or the Chosen One yet,' said Prue smugly.

Phoebe sighed. 'Can we not just say 'The Power of Four'? It would be so much easier.'

'I would call it that if that is what it was, but it isn't,' said Prue.

'When I am focused on a task, I will put as much effort as possible into it…

Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige spent the next hour thinking up and going over a plan. They kept encouraging Kyle to contribute as they did not want him to feel left out or like he was not needed. Leo had left towards the start of their plan discussion as he had been called by other charges.

This discussion had been taking place in the living room. Piper suddenly looked across the room and squeaked in terror, throwing her hands out.

'It's not freezing!' she shouted.

'What isn't fr – Oh what the –' Phoebe shrieked as she saw what Piper had been on about.

Paige suddenly looked over and saw it too. A snake was moving along the living room floor towards the sofa they were sitting on. As Prue set her sights on it, she swung her hand upwards, causing the snake to be telekinetically thrown across the living room.

Piper was already standing on the sofa, while Prue, Phoebe, and Paige were stood on the floor. Kyle had stood up from his seat on the armchair. He was now gripping the wand in his hands.

Prue turned to Kyle. 'Care to test your skills?'

Kyle nodded slowly. He pointed his wand at the snake. Shouting a violent word, Kyle caused the snake to disappear in a reddish glow.

Prue smirked. 'I think we are ready to face Tuatha.'

'Good thing I am here then,' said a voice from behind.

The four Charmed Ones and Kyle turned around. Standing at the entrance to the living room was the evil witch, Tuatha.

'I was only expecting two witches, but I can cope, considering I have disempowered two of you,' said Tuatha.

'That's why my freeze didn't work,' grumbled Piper.

Tuatha sneered wickedly. Paige picked up an athame that the sisters had put on the coffee table while figuring out their plan. With the athame in her hand she orbed to just behind Tuatha. Paige was about to stab her when the evil witch turned around and used her powers to throw Paige across the foyer into the adjacent dining room.

'Ow,' mumbled Paige as she slid across the floor, crashing into the dining table and chairs. She had dropped the athame somewhere in the process of being thrown through the foyer.

As Paige stood up she could see the wand floating halfway between Tuatha and Kyle in the living room. Kyle was stretching his hands out, trying to summon the wand back to him. Prue was squinting at the wand. It looked like she was trying to channel her telekinesis into sending the wand back towards Kyle.

'Your powers do not work on the wand, witch,' said Tuatha. 'Only my powers and the Chosen One's powers work on it, and my powers are stronger than his!'

The wand was slowly moving towards Tuatha. Prue – who had now given up on trying to use her powers to help – Piper, and Phoebe were all starting to give Kyle an encouraging pep talk.

The wand began to float back towards Kyle until it was in his grasp. Kyle glared at Tuatha before willing her to be vanquished. Tuatha was vanquished in a burst of fire.

'As much as we need to congratulate Kyle right now, I need to go!' Prue said, holding her hand to her mouth as she left the living room, running past Paige on her way up the stairs. A few seconds later the bathroom door was heard slamming shut.

'Is she okay?' Kyle asked the sisters.

'She's… a little under the weather,' Piper said.

'The reason I left my previous place of work was because I was going through a lot of things. I had just met my birth family and I was getting used to such a dramatic change in my life. However, I am now ready to get back into a working environment –

'Paige!'

It was the morning after Kyle had vanquished Tuatha. Paige had been sitting in the attic, looking into the hand mirror again. She was dressed in a long grey dress with a woollen cardigan and her dark hair was tied back.

Paige put the hand mirror down and stood up just as Phoebe walked into the attic.

'Paige! You are going to be late for your interview if you are not careful,' said Phoebe.

'Relax, Phoebe. It is nine o'clock. My interview is not until ten. If I run out of time I can orb straight there,' said Paige.

Phoebe's eyes wandered over to the hand mirror which was on a table right next to where Paige stood.

'It's that hand mirror again. What has had you so focused on staring at your reflection these last couple of days?' Phoebe asked Paige.

Paige blushed as Phoebe picked up the hand mirror and looked into it.

'Why do I see you dressed exactly as you are now but talking to a man in an office?' asked Phoebe suspiciously.

'I may have enchanted the mirror to show me how my interview would go,' said Paige tentatively.

Phoebe smiled. 'Don't worry. I am not the sister that will rant to you about personal gain. That's not my style.'

Paige let out a sigh of relief about avoiding a rant, but then said, 'Are you going to tell Prue, Piper, or Leo?'

'Of course not,' said Phoebe, handing the hand mirror back to Paige. 'Undo it now and I will pretend that I never saw it.'

'Thanks,' said Paige. She then muttered a spell under her breath and the image of her interview disappeared to be replaced with her own reflection.

Paige picked up her purse, the one with the long strap, and followed Phoebe down the stairs. As they were making their way down the stairs, the manor phone rang.

'I'll get it!' Prue shouted, her voice echoing through the manor.

Phoebe and Paige found Piper in the living room.

'Hey guys,' said Piper. 'Looking forward to your interview, Paige?'

'I think I have a good idea of what to say,' said Paige, glancing at Phoebe who was smiling considering she knew that Paige actually did know what she was going to say at the interview.

'I spoke to Prue last night and she told me why you were refusing to move out of the attic,' began Piper. 'I am more than willing to take Prue's old room. You can have mine.'

'Are you sure?' said Paige.

Piper nodded. 'Positive.'

Paige smiled, thanking her older sister.

'Paige, what's wrong with your hands?' Piper suddenly asked. Her expression changing to one of worry.

Paige frowned. She looked down at her hands. Both of her hands were tinted in a very pale blue colour.

'I – I don't know…' said Paige, staring at her hands in shock.

'Personal gain consequence?' whispered Phoebe, low enough for only Paige to hear clearly.

'What was that, Phoebe?' Piper asked.

'What was what?' asked Phoebe. 'I was talking to myself.'

Paige subtly shook her head to signal to Phoebe that it was very unlikely that this was an effect of a personal gain consequence.

'Maybe I made a mistake with my glamouring,' said Paige.

'Then try and fix it,' said Phoebe.

Paige took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She made the veil motion as she tried to use her glamouring ability. Paige opened her eyes and looked at her hands. They were still tinted in a pale blue.

'It didn't work…' said Paige.

'Maybe something else is causing it…' muttered Piper.

'I don't have time for this now!' said Paige, starting to panic. 'I have an interview in less than an hour! I don't want magic to ruin it!'

'It's okay. We can improvise,' said Piper. 'I think I may have the perfect solution!'

Piper ran out of the living room. The living room was left in silence. Phoebe and Paige could hear Prue's voice. She was still on the phone in the corridor, but her words were not discernible.

'So,' said Phoebe, breaking the living room's silence. 'You couldn't come to your future telling older sister for advice about your interview?'

'You can't call for premonitions, remember?' said Paige. 'Besides, what would be the chances of you getting a premonition based on my interview when they are all usually demon or innocent based premonitions?'

Phoebe shrugged. 'Well, did it even help?'

'I don't know,' said Paige. 'I mean, there is one thing I don't understand… Apparently I had heard some wonderful news before going to my interview.'

'What wonderful news is that?' asked Phoebe, intrigued.

'I don't know! Which is annoying because I am about to leave for that interview! I should know what the wonderful news is by now!' Paige moaned.

Prue came walking into the living room. Phoebe and Paige turned around to look at Prue.

'Hey Prue. Who was on the phone?' asked Phoebe.

'Just the doctor with my blood test results,' said Prue as if it was hardly worth mentioning.

Wonderful news, thought Paige, suddenly smiling. Exchanging a glance with Phoebe suggested to Paige that she was thinking along the same lines.

'Prue, are you..?' began Phoebe, smiling.

Prue raised an eyebrow. 'Am I what?'

'You know… Are you..?' Paige added, trailing off with a grin.

Prue frowned. 'What are the two of you on about?'

Piper returned to the living room with some grey gloves. She handed the gloves to Paige.

'Wear these for your interview,' said Piper. 'They will be a temporary solution.'

'Thanks,' said Paige, putting on the gloves.

Piper turned to Prue. 'Hi. Who was on the phone? Was it your results?'

Prue nodded, not adding anything more to the topic.

'So… What is it? What's wrong with you?' asked Piper. She suddenly noticed that Phoebe and Paige were grinning. 'Is it something good? Oh my gosh, are you pre –'

Prue shook her head and, before Piper could finish, said, 'No. I am not pregnant. Apparently I can't fly.'

Phoebe's grin faded. 'You can't fly? I hate to break it to you, Prue, but none of us can fly.'

Piper swatted Phoebe for wasting time, which could be filled with serious questions, with a joke.

'Prue, what do you mean by that?' asked Piper.

'Apparently it's as boring as air sickness,' said Prue, rolling her eyes. 'Except it was delayed and terrible and…'

'Wait, you have been on planes before and been absolutely fine,' Piper pointed out.

Prue hesitated a little. 'Well actually, when Andy and I went to move to Portland was the first time I had ever been on a plane…'

Piper frowned, but on adding everything up in her head, that did make sense. 'We have never really been on holiday as a family…'

'Wait, we were going to go to Cabo at one point last year,' said Phoebe.

'That got cancelled, because Leo was injured,' Prue said.

'Still though, you were fine after the plane trip to Portland with Andy,' said Paige. 'You were fine enough for Leo to orb you back here due to the Succubus stuff.'

Prue sighed. 'Apparently I was lucky not to get the symptoms that time.'

Piper frowned. 'So does that mean you won't be going back by plane?'

Prue shook her head, wandering out of the living room with Piper. 'Looks like I will be going back by orb. I don't know how often I will be able to come back and forth now, considering it is not fair to Paige or Leo…' Prue and Piper continued conversing, but Phoebe and Paige could no longer hear them as they had remained in the living room.

Phoebe turned to Paige. 'Aaww, I really wanted the wonderful news at your interview to be Prue's pregnancy.'

'So did I,' said Paige. 'I am still no closer to finding out what that news is!'

Phoebe put her hand on Paige's shoulder to console her. Phoebe gasped as she was pulled into a premonition. A few seconds later, Phoebe smiled, releasing her grasp on Paige's shoulder.

'Did you ever see the outcome of that interview?' asked Phoebe.

'No…' said Paige.

'You are going to get the job,' said Phoebe.

'Thanks for the encouragement, but –' began Paige, but Phoebe interrupted her.

'No. I mean that I saw you being offered the job. You are going to get the job,' said Phoebe. While Paige remained silent to contemplate this sudden news that the interview she was about to attend was definitely going to lead to an actual job, Phoebe added, 'See. You should have come to me straight away instead of resorting to enchanting a mirror.' With those words, Phoebe left the living room.

Paige followed Phoebe into the foyer. 'I would not personally call it wonderful news, but it will definitely boost my confidence on walking into that interview – as long as I don't change the outcome by being too arrogant since I know…' As Paige opened the front door to leave, she said to Phoebe, 'No need to wish me luck.'

A/N: So the title of this chapter was a bit of a red herring, kind of. I have been in two minds as to how to end this chapter with those all important blood test results, but after seeing your reviews and with what I have planned for upcoming episodes, a pregnancy would be too soon at the moment. Please review!