The next morning went by uneventfully. Pammie smiled into the mirror as she pulled a brush through her long brown hair. Phoebe wanted her to try out new hairstyles, and was currently bent over looking through the dresser drawers for a ribbon. She had no idea that the bright smile of the young girl before her was due to the sinister thoughts zipping along behind her light brown eyes.
Pammie had decided to stick close to the sisters today. This was the final day, and she wasn't willing to let any little slip up get in her way of tonight's conquest. She had asked Piper to take the day off work, and the three of them had already had a nice picnic lunch at the park, and were planning to splurge by going out shopping for the rest of the afternoon.
"Why are you in such a good mood today?" Phoebe asked as she retrieved a leopard print scarf from a drawer.
Pammie glanced up at Phoebe's reflection. "Let me do it." She said, and carefully let Phoebe drop the scarf into her palm before she answered. "I don't know. I just have a good feeling about today. I mean, I guess I'm just glad that the three of us are getting to do some real sister stuff." She beamed as she twirled the scarf into a headband and twined it around her head.
Phoebe grinned back at her in the mirror. "Well, your good mood is catching. I feel great today too!" Even Piper and Leo, who had been at each other's throats lately, were happily doing housework together downstairs.
Piper was standing on a stepladder, reaching up to dust the high stained glass windows in the parlor, with Leo steadying her from below. "Wow, when you wipe the grime from these things, it reminds me of how nice a view you get through colored glass."
Leo' s face opened up in a lascivious grin. "I was enjoying the view myself." Piper glanced down at him, with arched eyebrows and a smile. "You're cute."
Leo helped her down from the ladder as she continued. "You know Leo, I really think we just need to enjoy our marriage, and take all the other stuff one day at a time. My sisters aren't going anywhere anytime soon, so we may as well get used to them both being around."
Still holding her from behind, Leo ran his hands up and down her arms, and spoke into her ear. "That's exactly right Piper. I hate it that we've been fighting so much lately. We just have to accept that there are some things that we'll be able to control, and some things that are out of our hands. "
Twisting around to face him, Piper looked up into his blue eyes. "Surprisingly enough, Phoebe actually gave me some good advice that came from Sarta and Paul. They say it's just as important to give each other space as it is to expect it from my sisters." Then she smiled up at him and playfully powdered him on the nose with her feather duster.
"So let's compromise some instead of fighting. You won't wake me up at the crack of dawn…" Leo ducked his head and nodded. "And I won't be upset when you have to cancel something." Then she reached up and pulled his head down to hers. "Besides, kissing is so much more enjoyable…"
"Oh no you don't!" Phoebe warned as she and Pammie came down the stairs. "This is supposed to be a Sisters Only day! That means no boys! Scram Leo!" Pammie giggled at her sister's command.
"Alright, alright, I get the picture." Leo laughed. But he gave his wife one more kiss. "You girls go have your fun. I'll take care of the home-front." No sooner had he finished his sentence than the girls had gathered their things and were out the door. He just shook his head and smiled. "Sisters."
It was well past sunset when they returned from their expedition. Laughing, the three brown-haired beauties came home many hours later, each laden with her share of shopping bags.
"…Yeah, but only if you tell Phoebe to take back those ugly shoes she bought!" Pammie was saying to Piper as they all bustled through the door.
"Why you little…" Phoebe began, and reached out to shove Pammie playfully. Pammie quickly danced out of the way, and covered her hasty move by turning to Piper and suggesting dinner.
"Sure," Piper responded. "How about your favorite, Pammie? Lasagna!"
The girls settled into their evening routine, with Phoebe and Pammie modeling their new clothes while Piper cooked. They finished off the night with a game of Scrabble at Pammie's suggestion, and by then it was time for bed, since all of them had early mornings with class and work the next day.
It was past eleven thirty when Claudia and Celia arrived at the back door and let themselves in with the key Piper had given them the day before. Stealthily, they snuck up the stairs and Claudia quietly rapped on Piper's door, while Celia took Phoebe's.
Still sleepy, Phoebe and Piper looked confused to see the other two women standing there, each insisting to know what they were doing there in the house in the middle of the night. Claudia pulled the two witches into Piper's room and hurriedly shut the door, quickly trying to explain.
She was interrupted before she could get more than a few words out. "What's going on out here?" Pammie demanded as she burst through the bedroom door.
"Now, Celia!" Claudia cried out.
Grabbing both Piper and Phoebe by the hands, Celia wrapped them in her 'Shielding' power. Celia had the ability to shield herself and anyone else she was in contact with from the forces of evil, making them appear to be invisible.
With growing alarm, Pammie saw the three women instantly disappear from view, and with only Claudia remaining, she lashed out in fury. "What are you doing! Where did they go?"
Claudia stood there defiantly, "Piper and Phoebe! Behold the evil that sleeps beside you! Behold and remember! She is not your sister, she is a warlock sent here to steal your powers!"
Knowing Celia's power of 'Shielding', Piper gasped. "Phoebe, she can't see us! Pammie who are you?"
Still holding them by the hands, Celia led them around the room to stand on the other side of Pammie, who had by now moved into the center of the floor. Phoebe stood there dumbstruck, realization slowly creeping into her mind. "Pammie, don' t you know where we are? You really can't see us?"
Pammie jerked to spin around to her right and stare at emptiness. She could feel her control slipping away by the minute. "Wait a minute here. Piper, I'm the baby of the family remember? Phoebe, you know me, I borrowed your favorite CD just last week!" Pammie stared at the place where the two women should be with pleading eyes. "You KNOW me! I'm your sister!" getting desperate, she went on, "I'm a witch just like you, I just haven't come into my powers yet, you know that!"
Phoebe's disembodied voice came back to her with a menacing tone. "Don't you mean that you haven't come into your powers yet because you haven't STOLEN them from us yet?" Phoebe retorted indignantly as they moved in closer. Even gentle Piper had a hard look in her eyes, and though Pammie couldn't see it, Piper looked about ready to slap her "baby" sister across the face.
Pammie narrowed her eyes then, realizing that she had finally been caught. "You stupid women. You didn't even realize that you'd been harboring a warlock in your very home. Not even remembering your true sister, because you were too busy playing sisterly games with me, while SHE rots in limbo!" Glancing at the clock, Pammie saw that it was time for her final incantation. "Now you will see! You will be subjected to her very same fate!"
As she began reciting, Phoebe and Piper glanced at each other in panic. An unearthly glow began to surround Pammie as she chanted, and she grew taller by three feet by the time she made it to the second verse. A wind started to whip up, and magazines and pillows began to swirl around the room in at a frenzied pace.
"Quick!" Claudia yelled above the growing din. "Grab the charm bracelet!"
Phoebe darted forward and struck Pammie in the chest with a flying dropkick. As Pammie crumpled to the floor in a heap, Piper reached out and snatched the charm bracelet from the girl's left wrist.
Pammie screeched then, crying out in pain as the winds suddenly reversed, and they all seemed to be rushing back into her now shrinking body. The assembled women watched dispassionately as Pammie clawed at her own eyes when her blinding spell turned back on her threefold. Pammie gave one more horrified shriek as her body was lifted off the floor, and twisted up like a dry leaf turning in the wind. Then, body strained to the breaking point, she suddenly shattered into a million different sparking pieces. When the flying fragments dissipated, there standing in her place was a very disoriented looking Prue.
"Prue! I remember everything now!" Piper cried out. "It's good to have you back, Big Sister!"
A bemused Prue stood there a moment. "It's good to be back. I remember being on an astral plane, and I could see everything that Pammie was doing, but it was so hazy, and I couldn't reach out to you." The three real Halliwell sisters then moved in for a big long hug.
Claudia and Celia looked on with relieved and satisfied looks. "'When all is well, the heart smiles along with the soul'" Claudia concluded.
The three rightful sisters looked up from their fierce hug to see the High Priestess and other young witch. "Come here you two!" Prue said. "Without you, the Charmed sisterhood would have been broken forever!"
As all five women joined in a group hug, Phoebe quipped, "I just KNEW that I wasn't middle-sister material!" Piper glanced at her over Prue's back and harrumphed. Phoebe grinned even wider, "Well I did." Piper just shook her head and stuck out her tongue.
DISCLAIMER: This story and the Halliwell characters, Leo, and the Manor are based on the Spelling Productions television show, "Charmed", created by Constance M. Burge. All other characters and settings (Claudia, Sarta, Paul, Celia, and Pammie) are mine. All comments to the author are welcome! Copyright February 2001 AKA Ayla123, please contact me at swordhandler@yahoo.com