Samantha and Amy were playing in the family room while Timothy and Pamela talked about plans for that Christmas. It was getting late, and both the girls had school the next day so Pamela was about to leave. It had been years since his wife died, but Timothy still felt uncomfortable with the idea of having another woman stay the night in her house. Pamela was clearly disappointed, but she was patient. From the hallway Pamela and Timothy could hear the girls talking, and they both got concerned as it sounded like a fight was starting.
"No, it's mine," Amy said. "You can't play with it."
"You need to share," Samantha yelled as she pulled on the necklace.
"It isn't a play toy," Amy said as she wrapped her hands around her neck to stop Samantha from pulling the amulet.
"But you wear it all the time! I just want to look at it for a minute," Samantha said as she pulled harder.
Amy was in tears now, pleading with Samantha to let go. "It was my mother's. Please stop!" she cried.
Timothy understood what he was hearing now and he started to run into the other room. Pamela was a little confused, but she didn't like the idea of her daughter demanding something from a playmate in such a manner. Timothy rounded the corner and turned ash white when he saw the necklace lying on the floor with the crystal broken. Amy was in a corner of the room crying and muttering to herself. Samantha just stood over the broken amulet saying she was sorry.
Pamela walked over to pick up the necklace and crystal. "I'm so sorry Tim. I'll replace it right away."
Timothy just shook his head as he walked past Pamela to pick up his daughter. He was whispering in her ear that everything would be alright. When Pamela walked over to try to comfort Amy, Timothy backed away from her.
"Tim, I really am sorry, and Samantha will be punished, but this is a bit much. I'm sure it can be replaced by this time tomorrow," Pamela insisted.
Timothy just glared at Pamela, "The necklace isn't replaceable."
"Amy said it was her mother's," Samantha said softly from behind her mother.
Pamela put her hand on Samantha's shoulder. "You really shouldn't have done that then," she said toward her daughter. Then she turned to Timothy again, "The sentimental value must be extremely significant, but surely Amy's mother left other things behind for her."
Timothy softened a little, "Nothing like that. Please, can you just go now. I need to be alone with Amy."
Pamela nodded and gathered up Samantha's things. As she was getting ready to leave she peaked in on Timothy holding Amy. Amy was just rocking back and forth saying something about the bad man will come back now. Pamela didn't understand what was going on, but she knew she shouldn't interrupt them. So she and Samantha saw themselves out. "Maybe he just wasn't ready," she said under her breath as she drove home.
*****
The Monday morning staff meeting had just let out when Darryl saw her walk into the police station. He let out a little sigh as he finished refreshing his coffee and returned to his desk. He just spent a wonderful Thanksgivings weekend with his wife and kids, but holidays always increased his work load and he didn't want anything supernatural added to the cases already on his desk. "But how can I refuse a Halliwell?" he said under his breath.
Phoebe smiled as she watched Darryl sit down, "That isn't happiness to see me, is it?" she teased.
Darryl locked eyes with her and relaxed a little. "I didn't mean to be that obvious," he said.
Phoebe waved his comment off, "It's no big deal. It looks like you're busy," she said motioning to the files on his desk. "I hope you had a good weekend."
Darryl smiled and nodded, "It was wonderful. I'm still stuffed from the wonderful meal my wife and her mother made. But that isn't what brought you down here early on a Monday morning, is it Phoebe?"
"Actually, no. It isn't," Phoebe said as she shook her head. "I need to probe your memory a little,"
Darryl got a funny look on his face as he asked, "What exactly did you have in mind?"
Noting his change of expression Phoebe couldn't help but giggle a little, "Nothing like that silly." Then in a more serious tone she went on, " I need you to think back a few years to when Andy was still alive. It would have been right after you first meet us, about this time of year. Prue might have come in asking for Andy's help with a little girl named Amy. Ring any bells?"
Darryl shook his head, "Not yet. What's this all about?"
"When we were going through the Christmas decorations this weekend, I found this," she said as she pulled out the paper angel to show Darryl. "When I held it, I got a premonition of Prue protecting the little girl from a....," Phoebe fell silent as a cop walked by Darryl's desk. When he passed, she leaned in and continued in a whisper, "a demon. Then the premonition jumped to what we think is a future attack. We need to find the little girl to protect her. From what I can tell in my premonition, her mom was probably killed about that same time. Prue might have needed Andy's help tracking down the father or the mother might have turned up as one of your homicides. I don't really know."
"And Prue didn't tell you or Piper anything about this?" Darryl asked as he finished some notes he was taking.
Phoebe shook her head, "No, and I don't know why she wouldn't. It was kind of a long shot coming to you, but we had to try."
Darryl put down his pen, "None of this sounds familiar right now, but I will review our old case files and see if I can come across anything about the mother. Will you be home later today?"
Phoebe shook her head and took the pen and paper from Darryl, "Probably not. Here is Paige's new cell phone number. The one from the social office isn't good anymore. You have mine and Piper's, right?"
Darryl nodded yes as he stood to walk Phoebe to the door. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help right now," he said.
Phoebe smiled and turned to give him a hug, "You've been wonderful to all of us. I know you'll do whatever you can." She added a thank you and waved goodbye as she left.
*****
Amy and her father were sitting in the car both staring at the school. "Please Daddy. I don't want to go today," Amy said turning to her father.
"And what about tomorrow?" Timothy asked.
Amy looked down at her empty neck and teared up. "I won't want to go then either," she admitted.
Timothy ran his hand through his daughter's hair. "Honey, you've already missed half the morning, but you have to go in for the rest of the day."
"But Daddy, I'm scared," Amy said. "What if?"
Timothy took a deep breath, "That isn't going to happen. The bad man isn't going to come back. Remember? Prue took care of him."
Amy nodded, "But what if there are more bad men with fire?"
Timothy was tearing up now too because he knew there were more people out there who wanted to hurt his daughter, but what could he do? "I need you to go to school today honey. I have a meeting to go to. If I don't make that meeting, we could lose the house."
Amy nodded again, "After the meeting, will you go to the police?"
Timothy gave his daughter an odd look, "What for?"
Amy looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Prue had sisters remember?" she said. "Maybe the police can help you find her sisters? Maybe they can help me?"
Timothy shook his head, "Amy we agreed that noone else would know about this."
Amy was crying more now, "Daddy, we are in trouble. If Prue could help us then, maybe her sisters can help us now!"
Timothy wrapped his arms around his little girl. "Alright, alright. I will go to the police. We'll find Prue's sisters. But for now, let's go tell your teacher you weren't feeling well this morning."
*****
Phoebe walked into the manor screaming out her sisters' names. As she did Paige came bounding down the stairs. "Piper got called to the club for a busted water pipe. It's just you and me, sis," she said as she put on her coat.
"Ok then, let's go see where you spent your formidable years," Phoebe said as she got ready to leave the house again, "And maybe meet the people responsible for warping your poor little mind," she teased as she walked to the car with Paige.
"Oh," Paige said, "And when do I get to meet the people responsible for warping yours?"
"Please," Phoebe said as she got into the car with Paige, "You've meet most of the family, what more do you want?"
*****
Paige and Phoebe were wondering around the halls of her old elementary school trying not to look to conspicuous when they found themselves face to face with a stern looking face.
"Can I help you ladies with anything?" Mrs. Stevenson asked.
"What? We were just...." Phoebe stumbled with her words until she got a good look at the woman's eyes. "Are you Mrs. Stevenson?"
"Yes, I am. Now who are you two?" she replied.
Phoebe smiled, "I'm Phoebe Halliwell, and this is Paige Matthews."
Mrs. Stevenson took a minute to recognize the names, but as soon as she did her face softened. "Paige, Phoebe, goodness me. Come into my office."
*****
As Paige and Phoebe sat down in Mrs. Stevenson's (who was now Principal Stevenson) office they both spotted a little Christmas tree decorated with candy-cane ornaments. "We all still have the ornaments we made in your class," Phoebe said.
Mrs. Stevenson looked at the little tree and smiled. "I suppose if you are here together, you've learned that you are sisters?"
Phoebe and Paige were stunned. Paige was the first to try to speak, "How did you? I mean, they didn't even....I suspected, but....how?"
Mrs. Stevenson got up and shut the door to her office. She sat back down at her desk and calmed Paige down. Then she explained, "I, like your Grandmother, am a witch, a high priestess even. I practice with one of the local covens. In fact, that was why I switched schools so many years ago. I was moving to take over a position of leadership in my mother's coven."
She looked at the girls and judged that they were handling this news rather well, so she continued, "Now as you know Phoebe, your powers were bound before you all started school. But Paige, you were a different story. Your Grams, as the girls liked to call her, had no idea what type of powers you would have or when they would manifest themselves. I'm not entirely sure how, but she had managed to keep track of the family that adopted you Paige. When she learned I was switching schools, she called me over to the house and told me everything. She asked me to look out for you Paige and see how you were doing."
Then she turned to Phoebe again, "I was so sorry to hear of Prue's death. But I am glad you found each other," she said turning back to face Paige.
Paige and Phoebe sat in silence for a minute. While everything they had heard was interesting and they both had several questions for their former teacher, Phoebe decided that Amy's safety was more important. At least Mrs. Stevenson will believe our story she thought to herself before she started explaining.
"Mrs. Stevenson, we're here about a little girl named Amy. It's hard to explain, but we think she might be in trouble."
"Oh that can only be one little girl. Amy Roberts. Her mother was a witch in my coven, but she was killed a few years ago. The little girl still has her powers, but she never uses them at school so noone knows a thing. Come now, she should be at recess about this time of day," Mrs. Stevenson said as she stood up.
Phoebe and Paige stood to join Mrs. Stevenson and as they did, Phoebe asked, "Do you know what killed her mother? Could it threaten Amy now?"
Mrs. Stevenson got an odd expression on her face. "You know what type of thing killed her mother. As to why, you need to talk to her father. But Amy should be fine. She wears an amulet from her mother that protects her from all magic," she said as she and the sisters left her office to go find Amy on the playground.
*****
Timothy found himself walking into the police station immediately after his meeting was finished. He had barely been able to concentrate, but he had convinced the mortgage company to refinance the mortgage at a more affordable rate. Now he felt the need to find the witch's sisters who had helped his little girl years before. He hoped they could save Amy now. He wasn't even sure why he had picked this police station, but he felt drawn to a certain desk and soon found himself face to face with Detective Darryl Morris.
*****
Piper's cell phone rang at P3 right as she had frozen the plumber. Leo was giving her a look, but she smiled as she answered the phone. Darryl was on the other end of the phone filling her in on everything Timothy Roberts had told him while they were driving to Amy's school.
"Darryl, Darryl, hold up. Now what's going on?" Piper said into the phone. "An amulet got broken? Meet you at what school? That's Paige's old elementary school, she and Phoebe should be there now. Ok, Leo and I are on our way," she said as she hung up.
"Well, Charmed business calls," she said to her loving husband, "So, this guy is going to have to get in line and fast," she added turning back to unfreeze the plumber. "You're sure it would be personal gain to freeze the busted pipes until this is over?" she asked Leo over her shoulder.
Before he could reply, she unfroze the plumber intent to get to a bottom line and fast.
*****
Phoebe, Paige and Mrs. Stevenson walked out to the playground area and soon spotted Amy on the swing sets all alone. "She isn't usually that sullen," Mrs. Stevenson said as they walked over to the little girl. "But she came in late today, maybe she just isn't feeling well," she added.
As they got up close to Amy, Mrs. Stevenson could see what was wrong. "Where's the pretty necklace you usually wear Amy?" she asked.
Amy looked up at her principal and the ladies standing next to her. "Broken."
Mrs. Stevenson was about to ask something else, but then Mr. Roberts came walking up to the playground.
Amy, seeing her father, jumped off the swings and started to run to him.
As Phoebe watched the scene she got a bad feeling in her stomach, "Amy stop!" she cried.
Amy turned around to look at the woman who called her name, and just then the man appearing to be her father formed a fireball in his hands. "Oh crap, where is Piper when you need her," Phoebe said looking around at the playground full of children.
"You called of me?" Piper asked as she and Leo ran in from behind the building they used for orbing cover. Before Phoebe could respond, Piper caught on to what was happening and froze the place.
Phoebe let out a sigh of relief, "Nice timing Sis."
Amy turned around to see the bad man with fire standing there looking just like her Daddy and screamed. Then she saw everyone standing perfectly still and got really confused and scared.
Mrs. Stevenson ran over to Amy to try to comfort her. In response to Piper's confused look, Paige said, "Our second grade teacher is a high priestess of a local coven, the little girl is a witch, her mother, who was killed years ago, was in Mrs. Stevenson's coven."
Piper just shrugged, "Well, that explains that," she said as she ran over to join her sisters by Amy's side.
Mrs. Stevenson was hugging Amy telling her it was going to be alright. "Phoebe, Piper and Paige are going to keep you safe. I promise."
To those names, Amy looked up. "Your Prue's sister's aren't you?"
The sisters exchanged glances and then Phoebe knelt down by Amy, "Yes, we are."
Amy hugged Phoebe tight. "When Prue died she came to me in a dream. She told me if I was ever in danger to say a spell and you would come, but I couldn't remember it no matter how hard I tried. But you came anyway."
Phoebe looked up at her sisters and she hugged the little girl tight. She nodded her head in the direction of the frozen demon and mouthed, "What do we do about him?"
Piper mouthed back, "It isn't really her father is it?"
Phoebe shook her head no.
Piper looked at Paige and then unfroze the demon who sent his fireball flying. Paige called for the fireball and sent it back to the demon who vanished in a puff of smoke.
Amy had never looked up to see what happened.
*****
Piper unfroze the playground and the sisters were about to have a "Now What?" conversation when Darryl and Timothy came running up. Timothy ran over to his daughter, but she pulled back and hid behind Phoebe.
Timothy looked at Mrs. Stevenson and the sisters and asked, "What's wrong?"
Paige looked at Amy and at her father. "Darryl, can I borrow your pocket knife?" Paige asked.
Darryl gave Paige his knife and she opened it up. "I'm sorry about this," she said to Mr. Roberts as she sliced open his hand. "Ow," he screamed and pulled his hand away more confused than ever. Paige just grabbed his hand and pulled it toward Leo. "Heal him please?" she said.
Leo, surrounded by the sisters so none of the children could see, healed Timothy's hand.
"See Amy," Phoebe said as she gently tugged Amy out from behind her. "If it wasn't your Daddy, Leo couldn't have healed his hand." She mouthed a "Good idea" to Paige as Amy walked slowly forward.
Timothy was starting to understand something bad had happened to his daughter that involved someone looking like him. He knelt down in front of Amy. "It's me honey. I promise."
Amy looked deep into her father's eyes and then collapsed in his arms crying.
Darryl looked around the school yard, "Maybe we should all go back to the manor?"
"Another good idea," Leo said.
Mrs. Stevenson said she had to stay at the school, but that she would check in with the sisters later to see how Amy was doing. In the meantime, she was going to see about getting Amy another amulet.
Timothy, Amy and Leo rode with Darryl back to the house, while Piper joined Phoebe and Paige to brainstorm on the way home.