"Prue! What are you doing?" Piper yelled. Prue slowly started to descend the stairway looking at her hurt sister.
"What was that for?" Phoebe finally asked, but Prue gave no response.
"Prue?" Leo asked realizing that there was something wrong. "Prue?"
"What happened?" Prue asked.
"What do you mean 'What happened?'" Piper mocked. "You happened! That's what happened!"
"I don't remember--"
"You don't think that we're actually going to believe that do you?" Piper continued the attack.
"But I don't--"
Leo looked at Prue, examining the soul of the woman that he had grown to know. He picked up his wife's arm and directed her into the kitchen.
"Piper, I think she's telling the truth," Leo said once they were safely out of earshot. "I think that something just came over her, but she's fine now. I think--"
"I think that you are in on this with Prue and you two just want to keep me from protecting my little sister."
"Piper--"
The kitchen door swung open and a tall slender woman stood glaring at the two fighting lovers.
"What are you doing in her when there is work to be done?" the intruder questioned.
"Okay, your right. She's okay." Piper followed her big sister back into the front room to see what had giving Prue such a burst of witch's energy.
When Piper and Leo rejoined the group it was obvious to them that Phoebe hadn't been hurt from her fall down the stairs.
"Your head feel okay?" Piper asked.
"Yah, just fine."
"Let me get this strait--You are just fine that Prue pushed you down the stairs?"
"I deserved it."
"What?" Piper asked, shocked of her sister's answer.
"Strange things happen to us all the time. With Prue's power I am lucky that all she did was push me down the stairs."
"I think the only strange thing that is happening here is that you haven't punched Prue's lights out!" Piper responded.
"Piper!" Leo finally broke in. "Are you trying to start a fight?"
"I am trying to find out what just--"
In the middle of Piper's sentence everyone attention changed to the intruder in the room.
"Cole! What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked.
"Leo! Your right! There is something wrong, but don't forget my warning. If we fix the problem we may be destroying the solution," Cole's emotion was strong on concentrated only on Leo.
"What problem?" Phoebe asked.
"The one that we are about ready to fix," Prue responded.
"Too bad that we don't know what it is," Piper reminded. "But I bet it won't be long before we--"
"Leo! What the hell is going on?" Prue demanded.
"--Find out," Piper finished.
* * *
Carissa prepared for the moment when she would have what she always dreamed of having. The baby was almost hers; a magical child of my own, to raise in the way that I see fit. She won't have to waste her time saving all of the people this world that don't know how to protect themselves. No one should have to be condemned to that fate!
She thought of what evil deeds that could be done with this child on her side. Not only could she destroy the Charmed Ones, but also she could have all of their power, and not have to deal with the rules that the Charmed Ones had to.
"Soon," she thought. "Soon."
* * *
"What did you find out, Cole," Leo asked.
"There is a warlock named Carissa who has sent her brother back in time in order to still a baby Charmed One."
"She did what!" Piper couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"In other words she is going to still one of us!" Phoebe shouted.
"Looks that way, Pheebs," Prue commented.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Phoebe asked.
"What do you think we are going to do about it?" Prue continued. "We are going to beat her at her own game. Except this time we are going to take a gown up warlock."
"Phoebe, go get the time spell. I don't think we have much time to waste," Piper realized.
"Why don't we just have Cole take us?" Phoebe asked her sisters.
"I can't work with a demon," Leo began. "You should know that much."
"And I refuse to help you do something that I think is wrong," Cole protested.
"Good enough reason for me. If Cole thinks that it is the wrong thing to do, it must be the right," Prue declared.
Cole glared at his least favorite Charmed One. Someday, maybe she'll trust me and let me get a little closer to whoever is inside that cold shell. Maybe--maybe in hell. It wasn't that Cole wanted Prue to like him, all he wanted was for Prue to accept that he loved her little sister and that she loved him. There had to be something that he could do to prove his devotions to the Charmed Ones--someday, maybe.
"Phoebe, go get the spell!" Prue ordered. "We are wasting or time!"
* * *
"What am I going to tell Mom?" Patty thought out loud. "I'm going to have a baby! A Charmed Baby!" Through all of her worrying about having a child, she had never stopped to think of the prophecy that was beginning to take shape.
Patty sat at home in the living room alone. Her mom had gone somewhere for the day, and Patty was glad that she had time to think. There was so much that she needed to think about after all. What should I name her? I know it will be a girl? Don't I? How should I tell Kevin? Should I call him? Should I write him?
Patty reached over and picked up the small notebook that was on the floor. "Maybe I should write him a letter." She looked around the room for a pencil and realized that she had one holding her hair in a bun. She reached up and pulled it out, gracefully shacking her hair down.
"My Love," she began. "Guess what! You're finally going to become a father. I just went to the doctor and--"
After Patty started the letter it wasn't hard to complete. The words just seemed to flow onto the paper. I'm glad I thought of this, she thought while finishing the letter. "With all of my love, Your fiancé, Patty."
Patty leaned back in her chair, relieved that the task was done. Slowly she tore the paper from the notebook and folded it into intricate designs like the ones she passed at school. "That's a little childish," she thought. "Oh well."
She stood up and lifted up the couch cushion and reached into a little slit in the bottom of the cushion. This was the only place where Penny hadn't found Patty's notes, and with the contents of this one, she hoped it stayed that way.
Patty started to replace the cushion when she realized that she wasn't alone in the room. A woman stood in the corner, watching her every move.
Patty threw up her hands, but her power was too uncontrolled. The woman was not only unaffected, but she was laughing at the inexperienced witch's attempt to stop her.
"I'm with child!" Patty blurted out thinking that the woman would have petty on the unborn child.
"I know," she responded. "Why do you think that I am here?"
Patty stood in silence not knowing what to do next, but she didn't have long to thing. The woman held up a paper and began to read:
The child, which is yours no more
Leave your mother's womb secure
Place inside my motherly soul
The child which will now be stole.
The woman dropped the paper to the floor, but nothing had happened. Patty was new when it came to casting incantations, so she thought for a minute that it hadn't worked. The woman began to read it again, and this time Patty started to feel a little week.
Patty suddenly realized that she couldn't support her own weight. She began to sway and fell to the floor. As she laid helpless, she could see the writing on the paper. The woman had repeated the first part word for word, but there seemed to be more on the page.
Patty strained to see what was printed, finally her eyes adjusted to the small handwriting.
The incantation must be repeated until the deed is done. The power of the child will determine the strength the incantation requires.
"She must be powerful," Patty thought as she started to lose consciousness. The woman started to read it again, but this time something stopped her. Patty dreaded seeing an entity more powerful than the one that seemed to be killing her.
* * *
Phoebe came running down the stairs with a piece of refolded paper wadded up in her right hand. "I found it!" she yelled almost out of breath.
"What took you so long?" Prue scolded.
"It would have been a little easier to find if someone didn't decide to keep it in their jogging suit," Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Piper.
"Sorry," Piper said remembering what she was wearing the last time that they were using it. "At least I was using it to save you," Piper threw in trying to make it not seem so bad.
"Stop your bickering. If were going to do this, let's do it now!" Prue ordered again.
Phoebe unfolded the paper, making sure that it contained the spell that they wanted.
The bond which was not to be done
Give me the power to see it undone
And turn back time
To whence it was begun*
It was the right one. The three witches plus Leo who was going to go along for the ride, and probably the save, joined hands and began to chant. "The bond which was not to be done; Give me the power to see it undone; And turn back time to whence it was begun." They repeated it two more times when the room began to take on a life of its own.
Cole ran into the kitchen to make sure that he wasn't apart of this plan. He knew that whatever happened it would be the end of his loving witch.
The noises died down and Cole pushed open the kitchen door a crack to see what had happened. The room was completely empty of the Charmed Ones and their Whitelighter.
"I hope I'm wrong," he said, knowing inside that he wasn't. "I'm going to loose her." A tear slowly rolled down his cheek at the realization. He couldn't bare the thought of loosing the only person who had ever loved him, at least not again.
Cole walked over to kitchen table and picked up the necklace that he had seen on Phoebe earlier in the day. The pendant was close to the clasp, and he pulled it to the middle of the chain. "A wish," he thought as remember the old folktale. "I wish that whatever happens, it won't affect Phoebe, that she won't forget any of the timelines she has lived."
* * *
As the girls appeared they thought that they hadn't gone anywhere. They were standing in their living room, but that is when they noticed the difference. Their Mom was lying on the floor next to them.
"Mom!" Phoebe shouted out of concern.
Oh yah, she knows how to not pollute the timeline.
"Excuse me miss. What did you call me?" Patty muttered in her weakness. Patty looked confused about the magical intruders, but she had more important matters to deal with. "Stop her!"
Prue responded to the intruder as if she were attacking Belthazore himself. All of the anger that she has collected over the last year bolted out of her with one swing of her arm.
The lady tried to stand, but Piper froze her in place, while Phoebe pulled out a piece of paper that she had brought along.
"What is that?" Leo asked.
"What do you think?" she responded. "I have to contribute some way, don't I?"
"Phoebe, you know that you're important to us--" Piper started one of her reassuring speeches.
"I was joking!" Phoebe broke in. If I have to hear one more of those blasted "We need you, too" speeches I am going to scream. Ever since the Charmed Ones were blessed with there powers and Phoebe seemed to have gotten the raw end of the deal Piper had been trying to make her feel needed. Even after Phoebe gained her power to fly, Piper kept the speeches coming.
Phoebe unfolded the wadded up piece of flowered notebook paper and began to chant:
The child who hasn't seen the light of day
Is not yours to take away
End your attempt to take the un-named
And return yourself to where you came.
The room became bright, and brighter, and brighter, until it was too bright to look. Then suddenly, the light was gone. Patty, the Charmed Ones, and Leo looked up to see what had happened. They were the only ones in the room.
"Phoebe, your getting good at making spells up," Prue commented.
"It's about time that you noticed!"
"I think that that spell was a little bit better than good," Piper corrected.
"She's right, Prue," Leo added in. "You don't give your sister enough credit."
"Phoebe. That's a pretty name. I've been thinking about naming my child Phoebe, but I decided on something else first. Maybe Phoebe will be next, or the one after that."
Phoebe felt a little insulted. Why? She knew that she was the third born.
"What are you naming her?" Phoebe asked, though she already knew that her name was going to be Prue.
"We need to leave," Leo reminded them. "We've done enough damage to the timeline."
They gathered together and began to recite the spell that Phoebe had altered to get them home:
The bond that was not to be done
You gave us the power to see it undone
Move us forward to the time
When we first began this rhyme
"Thank you for saving my baby!" Patty cried. "Her name is Pamela!"
April 21, 2001
Dear Diary,
The way they treat me is so unfair. They seem to think that I am a second rate child. I am the same as them, of the same mother and father. I just don't understand why this had to happen to me. Why am I so unimportant? Why can't it be one of them? Who says that the first-born are more important than the last? The Elders, that who!
Phoebe
"What was that for?" Phoebe finally asked, but Prue gave no response.
"Prue?" Leo asked realizing that there was something wrong. "Prue?"
"What happened?" Prue asked.
"What do you mean 'What happened?'" Piper mocked. "You happened! That's what happened!"
"I don't remember--"
"You don't think that we're actually going to believe that do you?" Piper continued the attack.
"But I don't--"
Leo looked at Prue, examining the soul of the woman that he had grown to know. He picked up his wife's arm and directed her into the kitchen.
"Piper, I think she's telling the truth," Leo said once they were safely out of earshot. "I think that something just came over her, but she's fine now. I think--"
"I think that you are in on this with Prue and you two just want to keep me from protecting my little sister."
"Piper--"
The kitchen door swung open and a tall slender woman stood glaring at the two fighting lovers.
"What are you doing in her when there is work to be done?" the intruder questioned.
"Okay, your right. She's okay." Piper followed her big sister back into the front room to see what had giving Prue such a burst of witch's energy.
When Piper and Leo rejoined the group it was obvious to them that Phoebe hadn't been hurt from her fall down the stairs.
"Your head feel okay?" Piper asked.
"Yah, just fine."
"Let me get this strait--You are just fine that Prue pushed you down the stairs?"
"I deserved it."
"What?" Piper asked, shocked of her sister's answer.
"Strange things happen to us all the time. With Prue's power I am lucky that all she did was push me down the stairs."
"I think the only strange thing that is happening here is that you haven't punched Prue's lights out!" Piper responded.
"Piper!" Leo finally broke in. "Are you trying to start a fight?"
"I am trying to find out what just--"
In the middle of Piper's sentence everyone attention changed to the intruder in the room.
"Cole! What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked.
"Leo! Your right! There is something wrong, but don't forget my warning. If we fix the problem we may be destroying the solution," Cole's emotion was strong on concentrated only on Leo.
"What problem?" Phoebe asked.
"The one that we are about ready to fix," Prue responded.
"Too bad that we don't know what it is," Piper reminded. "But I bet it won't be long before we--"
"Leo! What the hell is going on?" Prue demanded.
"--Find out," Piper finished.
* * *
Carissa prepared for the moment when she would have what she always dreamed of having. The baby was almost hers; a magical child of my own, to raise in the way that I see fit. She won't have to waste her time saving all of the people this world that don't know how to protect themselves. No one should have to be condemned to that fate!
She thought of what evil deeds that could be done with this child on her side. Not only could she destroy the Charmed Ones, but also she could have all of their power, and not have to deal with the rules that the Charmed Ones had to.
"Soon," she thought. "Soon."
* * *
"What did you find out, Cole," Leo asked.
"There is a warlock named Carissa who has sent her brother back in time in order to still a baby Charmed One."
"She did what!" Piper couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"In other words she is going to still one of us!" Phoebe shouted.
"Looks that way, Pheebs," Prue commented.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Phoebe asked.
"What do you think we are going to do about it?" Prue continued. "We are going to beat her at her own game. Except this time we are going to take a gown up warlock."
"Phoebe, go get the time spell. I don't think we have much time to waste," Piper realized.
"Why don't we just have Cole take us?" Phoebe asked her sisters.
"I can't work with a demon," Leo began. "You should know that much."
"And I refuse to help you do something that I think is wrong," Cole protested.
"Good enough reason for me. If Cole thinks that it is the wrong thing to do, it must be the right," Prue declared.
Cole glared at his least favorite Charmed One. Someday, maybe she'll trust me and let me get a little closer to whoever is inside that cold shell. Maybe--maybe in hell. It wasn't that Cole wanted Prue to like him, all he wanted was for Prue to accept that he loved her little sister and that she loved him. There had to be something that he could do to prove his devotions to the Charmed Ones--someday, maybe.
"Phoebe, go get the spell!" Prue ordered. "We are wasting or time!"
* * *
"What am I going to tell Mom?" Patty thought out loud. "I'm going to have a baby! A Charmed Baby!" Through all of her worrying about having a child, she had never stopped to think of the prophecy that was beginning to take shape.
Patty sat at home in the living room alone. Her mom had gone somewhere for the day, and Patty was glad that she had time to think. There was so much that she needed to think about after all. What should I name her? I know it will be a girl? Don't I? How should I tell Kevin? Should I call him? Should I write him?
Patty reached over and picked up the small notebook that was on the floor. "Maybe I should write him a letter." She looked around the room for a pencil and realized that she had one holding her hair in a bun. She reached up and pulled it out, gracefully shacking her hair down.
"My Love," she began. "Guess what! You're finally going to become a father. I just went to the doctor and--"
After Patty started the letter it wasn't hard to complete. The words just seemed to flow onto the paper. I'm glad I thought of this, she thought while finishing the letter. "With all of my love, Your fiancé, Patty."
Patty leaned back in her chair, relieved that the task was done. Slowly she tore the paper from the notebook and folded it into intricate designs like the ones she passed at school. "That's a little childish," she thought. "Oh well."
She stood up and lifted up the couch cushion and reached into a little slit in the bottom of the cushion. This was the only place where Penny hadn't found Patty's notes, and with the contents of this one, she hoped it stayed that way.
Patty started to replace the cushion when she realized that she wasn't alone in the room. A woman stood in the corner, watching her every move.
Patty threw up her hands, but her power was too uncontrolled. The woman was not only unaffected, but she was laughing at the inexperienced witch's attempt to stop her.
"I'm with child!" Patty blurted out thinking that the woman would have petty on the unborn child.
"I know," she responded. "Why do you think that I am here?"
Patty stood in silence not knowing what to do next, but she didn't have long to thing. The woman held up a paper and began to read:
The child, which is yours no more
Leave your mother's womb secure
Place inside my motherly soul
The child which will now be stole.
The woman dropped the paper to the floor, but nothing had happened. Patty was new when it came to casting incantations, so she thought for a minute that it hadn't worked. The woman began to read it again, and this time Patty started to feel a little week.
Patty suddenly realized that she couldn't support her own weight. She began to sway and fell to the floor. As she laid helpless, she could see the writing on the paper. The woman had repeated the first part word for word, but there seemed to be more on the page.
Patty strained to see what was printed, finally her eyes adjusted to the small handwriting.
The incantation must be repeated until the deed is done. The power of the child will determine the strength the incantation requires.
"She must be powerful," Patty thought as she started to lose consciousness. The woman started to read it again, but this time something stopped her. Patty dreaded seeing an entity more powerful than the one that seemed to be killing her.
* * *
Phoebe came running down the stairs with a piece of refolded paper wadded up in her right hand. "I found it!" she yelled almost out of breath.
"What took you so long?" Prue scolded.
"It would have been a little easier to find if someone didn't decide to keep it in their jogging suit," Phoebe narrowed her eyes at Piper.
"Sorry," Piper said remembering what she was wearing the last time that they were using it. "At least I was using it to save you," Piper threw in trying to make it not seem so bad.
"Stop your bickering. If were going to do this, let's do it now!" Prue ordered again.
Phoebe unfolded the paper, making sure that it contained the spell that they wanted.
The bond which was not to be done
Give me the power to see it undone
And turn back time
To whence it was begun*
It was the right one. The three witches plus Leo who was going to go along for the ride, and probably the save, joined hands and began to chant. "The bond which was not to be done; Give me the power to see it undone; And turn back time to whence it was begun." They repeated it two more times when the room began to take on a life of its own.
Cole ran into the kitchen to make sure that he wasn't apart of this plan. He knew that whatever happened it would be the end of his loving witch.
The noises died down and Cole pushed open the kitchen door a crack to see what had happened. The room was completely empty of the Charmed Ones and their Whitelighter.
"I hope I'm wrong," he said, knowing inside that he wasn't. "I'm going to loose her." A tear slowly rolled down his cheek at the realization. He couldn't bare the thought of loosing the only person who had ever loved him, at least not again.
Cole walked over to kitchen table and picked up the necklace that he had seen on Phoebe earlier in the day. The pendant was close to the clasp, and he pulled it to the middle of the chain. "A wish," he thought as remember the old folktale. "I wish that whatever happens, it won't affect Phoebe, that she won't forget any of the timelines she has lived."
* * *
As the girls appeared they thought that they hadn't gone anywhere. They were standing in their living room, but that is when they noticed the difference. Their Mom was lying on the floor next to them.
"Mom!" Phoebe shouted out of concern.
Oh yah, she knows how to not pollute the timeline.
"Excuse me miss. What did you call me?" Patty muttered in her weakness. Patty looked confused about the magical intruders, but she had more important matters to deal with. "Stop her!"
Prue responded to the intruder as if she were attacking Belthazore himself. All of the anger that she has collected over the last year bolted out of her with one swing of her arm.
The lady tried to stand, but Piper froze her in place, while Phoebe pulled out a piece of paper that she had brought along.
"What is that?" Leo asked.
"What do you think?" she responded. "I have to contribute some way, don't I?"
"Phoebe, you know that you're important to us--" Piper started one of her reassuring speeches.
"I was joking!" Phoebe broke in. If I have to hear one more of those blasted "We need you, too" speeches I am going to scream. Ever since the Charmed Ones were blessed with there powers and Phoebe seemed to have gotten the raw end of the deal Piper had been trying to make her feel needed. Even after Phoebe gained her power to fly, Piper kept the speeches coming.
Phoebe unfolded the wadded up piece of flowered notebook paper and began to chant:
The child who hasn't seen the light of day
Is not yours to take away
End your attempt to take the un-named
And return yourself to where you came.
The room became bright, and brighter, and brighter, until it was too bright to look. Then suddenly, the light was gone. Patty, the Charmed Ones, and Leo looked up to see what had happened. They were the only ones in the room.
"Phoebe, your getting good at making spells up," Prue commented.
"It's about time that you noticed!"
"I think that that spell was a little bit better than good," Piper corrected.
"She's right, Prue," Leo added in. "You don't give your sister enough credit."
"Phoebe. That's a pretty name. I've been thinking about naming my child Phoebe, but I decided on something else first. Maybe Phoebe will be next, or the one after that."
Phoebe felt a little insulted. Why? She knew that she was the third born.
"What are you naming her?" Phoebe asked, though she already knew that her name was going to be Prue.
"We need to leave," Leo reminded them. "We've done enough damage to the timeline."
They gathered together and began to recite the spell that Phoebe had altered to get them home:
The bond that was not to be done
You gave us the power to see it undone
Move us forward to the time
When we first began this rhyme
"Thank you for saving my baby!" Patty cried. "Her name is Pamela!"
April 21, 2001
Dear Diary,
The way they treat me is so unfair. They seem to think that I am a second rate child. I am the same as them, of the same mother and father. I just don't understand why this had to happen to me. Why am I so unimportant? Why can't it be one of them? Who says that the first-born are more important than the last? The Elders, that who!
Phoebe
