A/N: Updates for this occur on Thursdays. They may not be every Thursday; so there could be gaps of one, two, three, or even four or more weeks between updates. Anonymous reviews asking for me to hurry up and post the next chapter (this is a reference to an anonymous review that I received yesterday on Wednesday) will not speed up the updates. If those type of reviews continue, the updates may only end up slowing down. Rant over. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Twenty Five

'In amongst the midst of this riot,

Summon to me Leo Wyatt.

His healing powers we require,

Before things become too dire.'

A puzzled Leo appeared next to Phoebe in a flurry of silver orbs. Phoebe had been unable to contact Sam, so had decided to contact Leo instead. However, as he was not their white lighter yet – Leo was not due to be assigned as their white lighter for another twenty one years – it was not possible to call for Leo like normal. Therefore Phoebe had decided to quickly come up with a spell to summon her future brother-in-law. It was evident that her summoning spell had been successful.

'What's going on?' asked a disorientated Leo. 'Who are you and why did you bring me here?'

Phoebe had already thought out a reply to the questions she had been expecting this younger Leo to ask. Phoebe had decided that it was best if she did not reveal her true identity to him. She did not want to cause too many changes to the future – they were already trying to stop the pact between their mother and Nicholas. It was best that they did not change anything else by giving Leo future information. For this reason, Phoebe had to lie about who she and Paige were.

'There is no time for introductions! My white lighter is dying,' said Phoebe. 'Please heal her!'

Leo knelt down beside Paige, who was barely breathing as she lay on the grass. Phoebe knelt down next to Leo. She pulled the arrow out of Paige's back and threw it onto the grass. Leo's hands began to glow as he raised them over Paige's wound.

'I have never known a witch to summon a white lighter they have never met before with a made up spell,' said Leo as he continued to work on healing Paige.

'I will take that as a compliment,' said Phoebe.

'What happened to her?' Leo asked.

'Isn't it obvious? She got hit by a dark lighter's arrow,' said Phoebe, hoping that Leo did not want her to elaborate. Phoebe had no idea where Paige had appeared from. All Phoebe had figured was that there must have been a dark lighter present.

Before Leo could ask another question, he orbed on the spot, managing to miss a flying fireball. Forgetting that he was supposed to be continuing with the healing process, Leo turned to Phoebe angrily.

'Did you forget to vanquish a demon before summoning me here?' Leo asked.

Phoebe blushed. 'Actually it's a warlock who happens to have stolen the fireball power from a demon.'

It was true. When Paige had appeared in Piper's place, Phoebe's attention had been drawn away from Nicholas. Paige was badly injured and Phoebe's main focus had been to get her baby sister healed. Fortunately for them, Nicholas had been having fun taunting them with constant blasts of fireballs and lightning bolts, rather than staging a full-on attack.

'You call yourselves powerful witches!' Nicholas ridiculed. 'Face me then!'

Leo peered around the tree at Nicholas, who was staring in their direction, his hands planted at his sides. Leo quickly returned to his hiding spot behind the tree. Leo looked at Phoebe.

'Don't you think you should focus on vanquishing him then?' asked Leo.

'My si – white lighter is more important. Heal her!' shouted Phoebe. Paige had now lost all consciousness.

Leo knelt back onto the ground and continued the healing process. Not before he looked up at Phoebe and said, 'I have never seen a witch care so much about their white lighter.'

'Well, it just so happens that this white lighter is like family to me,' replied Phoebe.

As the wound on Paige's back closed, Leo helped her into a sitting up position. In her healed-but-still-weak state, Paige had to blink twice when she saw Leo.

'Leo? Where are we?' Paige asked. Her voice was slightly weak.

Leo raised an eyebrow. 'You know me?'

Her brief moments of unconsciousness had caused Paige to forget that the major issue was when they were, not where they were.

'Of course she knows you, Leo,' said Phoebe quickly as she dodged a lightning bolt. 'Most white lighters know one another, don't they?'

Leo frowned. 'I have never seen her up there before.'

'Up there? Why would I go up there?' asked Paige, who was still slightly out of it. Paige was quickly distracted by a fireball heading her way. 'Fireball!' Paige shouted, holding her hand out to telekinetically orb it away.

Knowing that Paige's telekinetic orbing would not work, Phoebe hastily pushed Paige out of the way. Phoebe really did not need to have an unconscious Paige in her care again. As the fireball caused a bush behind them to burst into flame, Paige stared at her hands.

Paige furrowed her brows. 'Why… didn't… that… work?' she said hesitantly. As she finished her question, she looked over at Phoebe.

'Why would it work?' countered Leo, who was clueless about that fact that Paige was half witch. However, Paige did not hear this remark.

As the three of them – now all on their feet – dodged another fireball, Paige asked, 'Phoebe, shouldn't we be attacking? Where's Piper?'

'Piper..?' asked Leo, as the three of them avoided a lightning blast.

Paige frowned again. 'Your wi –' Phoebe clamped her hand over Paige's mouth.

'Paige was just asking 'You're Wyatt, right?' You know, as in your last name?' Phoebe quickly said.

Leo narrowed his eyes. 'Yes… I thought we already established that she knows of me, even though I don't know of her…'

It was Paige's turn to narrow her eyes. She grabbed Phoebe's hand, pulling it away from her face, and said to Leo, 'Excuse me?'

Before the conversation of confusion could continue, Nicholas approached the three of them.

'I am getting bored of the three of you,' sighed Nicholas. 'It was more interesting when the other witch was here. She actually attempted to pose a threat to my plans.' Nicholas turned to Paige, and continued with, 'Her replacement was more interesting when unconscious.' Then Nicholas looked at Leo, and continued with, 'Bringing in a white lighter added to the boredom of the battle. Too much healing, too little fighting.' Finally Nicholas turned to Phoebe, and said, 'There is one thing I can thank you for, witch. The concept of going after the mother of the young Charmed Ones. Thank you for the tip-off that the newest generation of Halliwells consists of the Charmed Ones.' Nicholas blinked and he was gone.

Phoebe was standing there with her mouth hanging open. She had finally realised her stupidity in saying all she had told Nicholas earlier. She finally understood why Piper had been annoyed at her.

Paige gasped. Nicholas' mention of 'the young Charmed Ones' had triggered the return of her short term memory. She suddenly remembered they were in the past and understood why Phoebe had been calling Paige her white lighter and trying to stop telling Leo – this young, not yet assigned as their white lighter, Leo – future information.

Leo's confusion had disappeared, replaced with the desire for answers. He turned to face both Phoebe and Paige.

'Did he just say that Piper and Phoebe Halliwell are two of the Charmed Ones? The Elders were right that the prophecy would be fulfilled during this generation of Warren witches…' When Phoebe nodded in reply to Leo's question, he continued. 'That warlock also said that you told him that they are the Charmed Ones. How did you know that? Only white lighters and Elders are supposed to know.' Before Phoebe could answer, he turned to Paige and added, 'Did you tell your charge? We white lighters are under strict orders to keep that information a secret!' After a brief pause while Leo shook his head disapprovingly at Paige, Leo suddenly said, 'Hang on. Piper is not a common name. When you asked where Piper was before, were you referring to little Piper Halliwell?'

Phoebe and Paige exchanged nervous looks. Both were hesitant about answering the questions that had been posed to each of them.

Phoebe took a deep breath before turning her gaze back to Leo. 'You know that I am a witch, right? Well, my power happens to be premonition. Their mother is pregnant with her fo – third child, right? I had a premonition, where the Power of Three was formed soon after the third child was born. Unfortunately, that warlock overheard me telling my white lighter here about my premonition. That's how he found out. Therefore it is not my white lighter's fault that I knew about it in the first place.'

Slowly Leo nodded. 'That seems to make sense, except… How did you manage to tell your white lighter all of this if she was badly injured by a dark lighter's arrow when she orbed in?'

Phoebe closed her eyes tightly as she tried to think of a way to cover up yet another loose end in her lies. Paige, on the other hand, smiled. She was happy to have more time to think up her reasons for mentioning Piper's name.

'I never said she orbed here injured,' said Phoebe.

'You didn't, but the warlock did,' said Leo. 'He also said that there was another witch present before her…'

Phoebe sighed. 'The presence of that other witch will be explained by my white lighter.'

'How about the dark lighter arrow injury explanation?' asked Leo.

Phoebe groaned. She had been hoping that she had managed to avoid having to answer that question.

'Why don't you explain? You are the one who experienced it first hand,' Phoebe said, turning to Paige. 'We really should give Leo the whole story.'

Paige scowled at Phoebe. Paige did not like being pushed into the middle of things like that.

'When –' Paige suddenly stopped with her explanation. She was finding it hard to think of a way of explaining things without mentioning Phoebe's name. 'Do you know our names yet?'

Leo shook his head. Phoebe seemed to understand why Paige had asked. Considering Leo knew of the Halliwell family, Phoebe could not use her own name. Paige could use her own, as she was not yet born.

'I am P. Russell,' said Phoebe, using her past life's name with the hope that Leo would not make any connections to the people involved in his own past life.

'What's the P stand for?' asked Leo.

Phoebe frowned. She never actually did find that out. Therefore, Phoebe decided to make it up. Unfortunately, the first 'P' name that came to mind – that is one that was not 'Piper', 'Phoebe', or 'Paige' – was:

'Prue. Prue Russell,' said Phoebe, shaking Leo's hand.

'I'm Paige,' added Paige, to continue the introductions. 'Paige… er…' Paige paused as she tried to think up a fake last name. Suddenly she remembered a surname that Kyle had told her belonged to her in his alternate timeline. 'Matthews. Paige Matthews.'

'Nice to meet you, Prue and Paige,' said Leo. 'Could we continue with the explanations now?'

Phoebe and Paige nodded.

'When Prue here called for me, I was taking care of another charge. A charge called Piper… Nothing to do with this Piper Halliwell that you mentioned… 'The Piper I was referring to is a potential white lighter,' improvised Paige. 'I was healing her because she had just been attacked by a dark lighter. When I heard Prue's call, I orbed straight here. Prue began to explain her premonition to me. I think the dark lighter must have followed my orb trail here, because I suddenly felt a pain in my back and then that's it. After you healed me, I was a little out of it when I came back to consciousness, so forgot that I was not with my potential white lighter charge, hence my 'Where's Piper?' question.'

'Everything seems to be adding up,' Leo said. 'How about the other witch that the warlock mentioned?'

Although she had said that Paige would explain it, Phoebe had now come up with a lie, so decided to answer before Paige could.

'I did not realise that Nicholas – the warlock – was here, listening in on my conversation. I came here to discuss something with a witch friend of mine. Then I had a premonition. I did not tell her about it. She left because she had to get back home. That's when I called Paige. She orbed in. I explained my premonition to her. The dark lighter orbed in, shot Paige, and orbed out. Then Nicholas made his presence known by starting to attack me.'

'How about the fact that he said that he had conversed with this witch friend of yours?' asked Leo.

'That is because he must have been going after her before Prue showed up to speak to her,' put in Paige. 'I assume he must have hid while they spoke. Prue's friend's reason for leaving must have been to go and look for Nicholas.'

'Exactly,' said Phoebe, glad that her baby sister could think up lies as well as she could.

'Do you know who is at the top of the list to be assigned as the Halliwell children's white lighter?' Paige suddenly asked Leo.

'I would assume Sam,' said Leo.

Phoebe and Paige exchanged knowing looks. They knew that Sam would be clipping his wings soon after Paige was born. Therefore Sam never had the chance to be assigned as their white lighter.

'Leo, I think you should try to get your name to the top of that list. Just in case, Sam does not get chosen to do it,' said Phoebe with a smile.

'Thanks for the advice, but I should really go and find Sam. I need to warn him that a warlock is after Patty and the girls,' said Leo.

Paige shook her head. 'Don't. We will do that for you.'

Leo frowned. 'I know the family. I should do it.'

'Listen to us, Leo. We will handle it,' said Phoebe. 'You and Sam cannot fight Nicholas. Paige and I can. We know two other people that can help us too.'

'I should really warn –' Leo was about to repeat, but he was interrupted.

'The Halliwells have never faced Nicholas before,' Phoebe mentioned. 'My si – friends and I have. We may not have been able to stop him before, but we believe we may have figured out how to.'

'Trust us, Leo,' said Paige.

Leo sighed. 'Okay. Are you sure you don't want me to stick around to help?'

Phoebe shook her head. 'You have charges to keep your focus on.'

'Surely Paige has other charges too,' said Leo.

'I am relatively new at this. I only have been assigned two charges so far: That potential white lighter I mentioned and Prue,' Paige fabricated. 'The potential white lighter is safe for now, so my main focus is on looking out for Prue.'

Leo nodded. 'I will be orbing into Halliwell manor one hour from now to check on things,' he said before orbing out.

Phoebe and Paige looked at one another as they now stood alone in the park.

Phoebe smirked. 'You are getting good at the lying thing, Paige.'

'What can I say? I take after my sister, or should I say charge?' replied Paige.

'Sorry. I could not say you were a witch lighter. Nor could I say you were an ordinary witch considering you were dying from the impalement of a dark lighter's arrow,' Phoebe apologised.

'That's okay,' said Paige. 'So where are we going to start our search for Nicholas? The manor?'

Phoebe shook her head. 'We are going to start by rewording my spell to bring Prue and Piper here.'

'You cannot do that!' shouted Paige.

Phoebe frowned. 'Why not? We need them here. We need to work together to defeat Nicholas.'

'Do you not realise there is a dark lighter where Prue is?' asked Paige.

'I did assume that, yes,' said Phoebe. 'By the way, where were you?'

'In the underworld, which is where Prue is now,' said Paige.

'Then that is where Piper will be too,' muttered Phoebe. She added in a louder volume, 'So what if we have them abandon the dark lighter in the underworld? Does it matter? The dark lighter will live another day, but Prue and Piper will be safe.'

'They will be, but then they will have abandoned their innocent in the underworld,' Paige said.

'There's an innocent involved? We have gone back to 1977, yet we still manage to find an innocent we have to look after?' Phoebe moaned.

Paige decided it was best not to explain who the innocent was. They were wasting time as it was.

'Hmm,' said Phoebe. 'I guess I could use the spell to send myself there. Then I can come up with a new spell once in the underworld to bring me back to the park with the innocent included.'

Paige narrowed her eyes. 'Why do you assume that you are the only one who can make up spells on the spot?'

'I don't assume anything. I am the best of Piper, you, and me at spell crafting,' Phoebe explained.

'One made up vanquishing spell goes awry and I never live it down,' sighed Paige.

Phoebe was not listening. She was thinking over the spell that she had recited earlier. The spell that had replaced Piper with Paige, sending Piper to be with Prue. Phoebe began to recite a slightly altered version of it:

'Eldest to youngest, youngest to eldest,

Summon them at this time of risk.

Halliwells are scattered all over the place,

Bring them together in much haste.'

As Phoebe's form became enshrined in sparkling white orbs, Paige rolled her eyes. 'You think you are so good at making up spells. That was not even a proper rhyme!'

The sparkling white orbs disappeared to reveal Piper. Piper must have been in the middle of running when the spell had been cast because she continued to run in the direction she had been facing until she realised that her surroundings had changed. Piper came to a halt and turned around to see Paige staring at her.

Piper scowled. 'I need to get back to Prue!'

Paige looked upset at that remark. 'Does everyone hate my company?'

A/N: Leo is not the only past version that they will be bumping into. Prue and Phoebe will be bumping into the past version of someone else they know in the following chapter. Guess who? Please review.