Chapter 7
Prue and Phoebe walked into the manor, still remotely shaken from the events over at the social services office. And they were about to get more shaken. "Leo, where's…" Prue started, as a nearby vase exploded and the sisters dove out of the way. Across the hall stood Paige, hand outstretched and a determined glare on her face.
"I'm having a hard time convincing her that she is not evil!" Leo explained. "She found out about the other… side of her powers," he continued, dodging another blow which didn't come. Instead, there was a ripple on the air and the room froze. "Unfortunately…" he had started, but was affected by the freeze.
"Unfortunately, she can't control which she causes?" Phoebe guessed as Paige turned her sights on them.
"Oh great…" Prue muttered as Paige threw open her hand to unleash another swirl of orbs, directed at them. They ducked again and evaded the blow, which destroyed a lamp.
"Bright side - at least she's getting the hang of her new power," Phoebe tried to latch on to a bit of hope. Prue, on the other hand, had reached her last straw.
"That was Mom's crystal!" She rushed at Paige and got her down, Phoebe helping to keep her there as Leo unfroze.
"… she doesn't control…" he stopped, when he realized what had happened.
"Yeah, we got that, thanks!" Prue told him, struggling to keep Paige down.
"Okay. Relax. Relax," Phoebe told her sister. Leo took over holding from Prue, who stood again. "Alright. Now what?"
"We just better hope there's some Wiccan exorcism in the Book of Shadows because… yeah." She started for the stairs just as the lights began to flicker, on and off and on and off again. Shane appeared by the stairs. "Who are you?" He looked at Prue and his eyes were completely black. Before she could stop it, Prue was thrown up by an unseen force.
"Prue!" Leo called after her.
"Prue!" Phoebe yelled as well. He threw an energy ball her way, but she levitated off the ground and out of the way. She attempted to use her momentum and possibly knock him down, but he disappeared and all she managed to do was destroy the grandfather clock… again. Shane reappeared by the couch and Prue used her power to TK him back, as she and the others stood. He simply rose again, looking very much the sinister villain. Phoebe slipped on the pink sunglasses and stared at the man. What she saw made her skin crawl. "Oh, Prue! That's the… that's the…" She took off the sunglasses and went to hand them to her. "Loo… loo… loo… look!" Prue didn't take them, keeping her eyes on him.
"I know who that is."
"Your powers are strong, but will they be enough without the Power of Three?"
"Shane, what's going on?" Paige asked, suddenly seeming normal again. The Shane-Source turned to her, his face looking almost sincere… almost.
"It's okay. I'm here now."
"Stay away from me," she started to inch away from him, shaking her head.
"She still has free will. You can't force her to choose," Leo told him.
"Oh, but she's already chosen, haven't you? Come with me. You'll be safe forever. I promise," the Shane-Source spoke sweetly to the new witch.
"Don't listen to him," Prue instructed her baby sister, "He's lying."
"They only want you for your power. You don't have to share it. It's yours," the Shane-Source spoke, most pretenses dropped at this. He turned into Paige's boss as he continued to speak. "You've already seen what you can do with it. You do what nobody else can do," said the Cowan-Source before morphing again. "You nearly saved my son from his father. From all the pain and suffering he's put him through," said the Carol-Source before another morph, this time taking the form of the Grisanti boy. "Please help me. Don't let him hurt me anymore. You're my only hope." He reached out his hand and Paige slowly took it.
"No!" Phoebe yelled. The boy-Source turned his head toward her and his eyes were black like the Shane-Source's had been. He raised his arm and Phoebe lifted off the ground, suspended in a wave of electricity. "Help me!" she cried out. Instantly, Paige pushed the boy-Source down, causing Phoebe to fall free. Piper, Leo, and Paige, all went to help her up. And the clock, despite its damage, rang clearly as ever, announcing midnight… the end of the window.
"Phoebe? That's it, you can do it," Prue helped her keep steady on her feet. The boy-Source retook its first form, Shane. "I guess blood's a little thicker than evil," Prue told him, with a sort of pride building in her. He looked at the clock, and the Source stepped forward, letting Shane fall behind him, unconscious.
"I've broken the Charmed circle before. I'll do it again. Besides, it wasn't a complete loss. Thanks to Belthazor," he spoke slowly, and they could almost see the satisfied smirk under his hood.
"What did you do to him?" Phoebe breathed heavily.
*
Near the social services office, Cole lied on the ground, bleeding profusely. He wouldn't last much longer. "Cole!" Phoebe finally saw him, as she and the others ran toward him. She fell down to her knees beside him, crying. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no…" She placed his head in her lap gently.
"Paige, freeze him," Prue instructed the frightened girl.
"I can't… I might blow him up," she shook her head.
"You can do it. Just concentrate," Prue counseled her, her voice slow and reassuring. Paige nodded and held out her hand, breathing slowly. Two small orbs swirled into existence and flew down to Cole, who flared and froze. "See? No biggie," Prue smiled, and Paige did the same. "Heal him," Prue instructed Leo next.
"You know that's against the rules."
"Leo, screw the rules. The Elders owe us," Phoebe cried.
"Even if I could, I could only heal his human half and that… wouldn't be enough power to save him," he explained as he kneeled as well.
"Aren't I half whitelighter?" Paige suddenly spoke up. "I mean, couldn't I use my half to offset his half?"
"It's worth a try," Leo agreed. "Take my hand." Paige kneeled beside him and did as told. "Hold your other hand over his wound." Together, the whitelighter and half-whitelighter worked and Cole was healed. He unfroze and breathed in deeply. Phoebe hugged him, overflowing with joy.
"That was good, right?" Paige smiled to herself as Prue and Leo helped her up.
"That was very good. Let's just hope it wasn't all for nothing," Prue assured her.
*
The next night, Prue, Phoebe, Cole, and Leo did something they hadn't done in what seemed like forever. They gathered around their table at P3, drink all around and the mood lighter than it had been in far too long. Leo offered himself to go place an order for refills and went off to the bar. Prue excused herself and followed.
"Feels good to be here again," he told her when he noticed she was standing next to him.
"Leo…" she started, looking down a bit.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to know… How are you doing?" His smile faltered a bit. "I mean, so much has happened and you've been so strong about it… How do you do it?"
"It's denial, Prue," he spoke sadly. "Right now, there are a lot of important things happening and I'm needed. I have to focus on that, but at the same time it sort of helps. I couldn't deal with it… not yet."
"If you ever need anyone to talk to…"
"I will," he nodded, forcing a smile.
"Okay," Prue nodded before looking down again.
"Something else?" he asked.
"Leo… Is it possible… that… my dreams are trying to tell me something? I mean, I know I'm not the one with the visions in the family, but… I've been having this dream… more like a nightmare actually… Something about it just feels too… too real."
"It could be," he nodded. "What was it about?"
"Nothing important for now…" she shook her head, not wanting to approach that topic with him. She went back to sit with the others. Leo followed a minute later.
"Having fun?" Leo asked Phoebe and Cole, whose hands were still firmly clasped together.
"Well I'm alive, that's worth some fun."
"I'll drink to that," Phoebe smiled. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she told Cole, seriously.
"Promise."
"You okay?" Leo took his turn at asking that problematic question to Prue.
"I'm not sure."
"Piper?"
"Yeah. First the funeral, then all this thing with Paige, the Source… It's all so much in so little time and we didn't… mourn her. That's just not right."
"I think we'll have the rest of our lives for that," Phoebe told her.
"I'm still not sure about continuing on with this destiny thing. I need sometime to think about it. I hope you're okay with that," Prue looked to her sister.
"Absolutely."
"And I hope you're okay with it too," she turned to Leo.
"They may not be, but I am," he nodded. Just then, Paige walked up seeming very hesitant about the approach.
"So does this mean I get free drinks now?" Phoebe laughed. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. It's not that I really drink or… Okay. I'm just gonna go," she started to leave, but Leo stood and stopped her.
"No, Paige. You belong here, remember?"
"You sure? I don't want to intrude."
"Mmm. Come on. Come sit right here," she indicated the spot next to her. Cole stood and joined Leo. Paige sat.
"Okay, so, uh, maybe Leo and I should go uh… pretend like we got something better to do," Cole told the girls before leading Leo away.
"Good idea," Prue nodded.
"Yeah," Cole continued as the men walked off.
"I won't stay long. I just wanted to, uh, come by and thank you."
"For what?" Phoebe asked.
"For what? You mean, beside from saving my life?" Paige laughed. "I feel like I should bake you a cake or something," she spoke nervously.
"Do you cook?" Prue asked, wondering if that gene had been passed to her as well.
"No, no. Not really."
"So how's Shane?" Phoebe asked.
"He's okay, I guess, except I'm not too sure he wants to see me anymore."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Phoebe almost cringed.
"No. Can't say I blame him. You know? He doesn't know exactly what happened to him, but he knows it's something bad and he knows it's somehow connected to me."
"Yeah, well, you're not truly one of us until you've dated a demon, or a… really hot con man, so, welcome to the club," Prue smiled.
"Can I ask you a question?" Phoebe turned to Paige again.
"Hm-mmm."
"Why did you come to Piper's funeral? I mean, you never even met her, right?"
"No. I never did. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but… I just feel like a part of me lost her too and I just… I felt drawn to her, to all you guys. I guess it was just a part of me trying to find out who I was." Prue and Phoebe looked at each other.
"Come on. There's something we need to show you," Prue stood.
"Show me what?" Paige asked, as she and Phoebe stood as well.
"What good magic can do," Phoebe led them toward the exit smiling.
So the new Sisters Three returned to Halliwell Manor, going up to the attic. As Phoebe placed the candles and lit them, Prue led Paige to stand just outside the circle before going around to the pedestal and finding the right page. Phoebe joined her, and together they intoned…
"Hear these words, hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side.
Come to me, I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
Within the circle of candles, bright lights began to appear before depositing the ghost of Patty Halliwell. Paige looked at her, and somehow she knew who this was. She began to cry.
"There's someone here we thought you should meet," Phoebe told her mother. Patty looked to the young woman standing there, almost in awe.
"Paige…"
"Mom?" she asked, her voice shaking with tears. Patty stepped out of the circle, corporealizing instantly. She opened her arms up and took Paige into them. Paige smiled, still crying as Patty stood back, still with her arms around her, to look into her eyes.
"Welcome home," she nodded warmly before hugging her again, as Prue and Phoebe looked on, feeling a wave of happiness rarely felt on this level. It didn't matter that it wasn't Piper, though they would always miss her, it didn't matter that they didn't know Paige all that good yet… Their sister had come home.
Prue and Phoebe walked into the manor, still remotely shaken from the events over at the social services office. And they were about to get more shaken. "Leo, where's…" Prue started, as a nearby vase exploded and the sisters dove out of the way. Across the hall stood Paige, hand outstretched and a determined glare on her face.
"I'm having a hard time convincing her that she is not evil!" Leo explained. "She found out about the other… side of her powers," he continued, dodging another blow which didn't come. Instead, there was a ripple on the air and the room froze. "Unfortunately…" he had started, but was affected by the freeze.
"Unfortunately, she can't control which she causes?" Phoebe guessed as Paige turned her sights on them.
"Oh great…" Prue muttered as Paige threw open her hand to unleash another swirl of orbs, directed at them. They ducked again and evaded the blow, which destroyed a lamp.
"Bright side - at least she's getting the hang of her new power," Phoebe tried to latch on to a bit of hope. Prue, on the other hand, had reached her last straw.
"That was Mom's crystal!" She rushed at Paige and got her down, Phoebe helping to keep her there as Leo unfroze.
"… she doesn't control…" he stopped, when he realized what had happened.
"Yeah, we got that, thanks!" Prue told him, struggling to keep Paige down.
"Okay. Relax. Relax," Phoebe told her sister. Leo took over holding from Prue, who stood again. "Alright. Now what?"
"We just better hope there's some Wiccan exorcism in the Book of Shadows because… yeah." She started for the stairs just as the lights began to flicker, on and off and on and off again. Shane appeared by the stairs. "Who are you?" He looked at Prue and his eyes were completely black. Before she could stop it, Prue was thrown up by an unseen force.
"Prue!" Leo called after her.
"Prue!" Phoebe yelled as well. He threw an energy ball her way, but she levitated off the ground and out of the way. She attempted to use her momentum and possibly knock him down, but he disappeared and all she managed to do was destroy the grandfather clock… again. Shane reappeared by the couch and Prue used her power to TK him back, as she and the others stood. He simply rose again, looking very much the sinister villain. Phoebe slipped on the pink sunglasses and stared at the man. What she saw made her skin crawl. "Oh, Prue! That's the… that's the…" She took off the sunglasses and went to hand them to her. "Loo… loo… loo… look!" Prue didn't take them, keeping her eyes on him.
"I know who that is."
"Your powers are strong, but will they be enough without the Power of Three?"
"Shane, what's going on?" Paige asked, suddenly seeming normal again. The Shane-Source turned to her, his face looking almost sincere… almost.
"It's okay. I'm here now."
"Stay away from me," she started to inch away from him, shaking her head.
"She still has free will. You can't force her to choose," Leo told him.
"Oh, but she's already chosen, haven't you? Come with me. You'll be safe forever. I promise," the Shane-Source spoke sweetly to the new witch.
"Don't listen to him," Prue instructed her baby sister, "He's lying."
"They only want you for your power. You don't have to share it. It's yours," the Shane-Source spoke, most pretenses dropped at this. He turned into Paige's boss as he continued to speak. "You've already seen what you can do with it. You do what nobody else can do," said the Cowan-Source before morphing again. "You nearly saved my son from his father. From all the pain and suffering he's put him through," said the Carol-Source before another morph, this time taking the form of the Grisanti boy. "Please help me. Don't let him hurt me anymore. You're my only hope." He reached out his hand and Paige slowly took it.
"No!" Phoebe yelled. The boy-Source turned his head toward her and his eyes were black like the Shane-Source's had been. He raised his arm and Phoebe lifted off the ground, suspended in a wave of electricity. "Help me!" she cried out. Instantly, Paige pushed the boy-Source down, causing Phoebe to fall free. Piper, Leo, and Paige, all went to help her up. And the clock, despite its damage, rang clearly as ever, announcing midnight… the end of the window.
"Phoebe? That's it, you can do it," Prue helped her keep steady on her feet. The boy-Source retook its first form, Shane. "I guess blood's a little thicker than evil," Prue told him, with a sort of pride building in her. He looked at the clock, and the Source stepped forward, letting Shane fall behind him, unconscious.
"I've broken the Charmed circle before. I'll do it again. Besides, it wasn't a complete loss. Thanks to Belthazor," he spoke slowly, and they could almost see the satisfied smirk under his hood.
"What did you do to him?" Phoebe breathed heavily.
*
Near the social services office, Cole lied on the ground, bleeding profusely. He wouldn't last much longer. "Cole!" Phoebe finally saw him, as she and the others ran toward him. She fell down to her knees beside him, crying. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no…" She placed his head in her lap gently.
"Paige, freeze him," Prue instructed the frightened girl.
"I can't… I might blow him up," she shook her head.
"You can do it. Just concentrate," Prue counseled her, her voice slow and reassuring. Paige nodded and held out her hand, breathing slowly. Two small orbs swirled into existence and flew down to Cole, who flared and froze. "See? No biggie," Prue smiled, and Paige did the same. "Heal him," Prue instructed Leo next.
"You know that's against the rules."
"Leo, screw the rules. The Elders owe us," Phoebe cried.
"Even if I could, I could only heal his human half and that… wouldn't be enough power to save him," he explained as he kneeled as well.
"Aren't I half whitelighter?" Paige suddenly spoke up. "I mean, couldn't I use my half to offset his half?"
"It's worth a try," Leo agreed. "Take my hand." Paige kneeled beside him and did as told. "Hold your other hand over his wound." Together, the whitelighter and half-whitelighter worked and Cole was healed. He unfroze and breathed in deeply. Phoebe hugged him, overflowing with joy.
"That was good, right?" Paige smiled to herself as Prue and Leo helped her up.
"That was very good. Let's just hope it wasn't all for nothing," Prue assured her.
*
The next night, Prue, Phoebe, Cole, and Leo did something they hadn't done in what seemed like forever. They gathered around their table at P3, drink all around and the mood lighter than it had been in far too long. Leo offered himself to go place an order for refills and went off to the bar. Prue excused herself and followed.
"Feels good to be here again," he told her when he noticed she was standing next to him.
"Leo…" she started, looking down a bit.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to know… How are you doing?" His smile faltered a bit. "I mean, so much has happened and you've been so strong about it… How do you do it?"
"It's denial, Prue," he spoke sadly. "Right now, there are a lot of important things happening and I'm needed. I have to focus on that, but at the same time it sort of helps. I couldn't deal with it… not yet."
"If you ever need anyone to talk to…"
"I will," he nodded, forcing a smile.
"Okay," Prue nodded before looking down again.
"Something else?" he asked.
"Leo… Is it possible… that… my dreams are trying to tell me something? I mean, I know I'm not the one with the visions in the family, but… I've been having this dream… more like a nightmare actually… Something about it just feels too… too real."
"It could be," he nodded. "What was it about?"
"Nothing important for now…" she shook her head, not wanting to approach that topic with him. She went back to sit with the others. Leo followed a minute later.
"Having fun?" Leo asked Phoebe and Cole, whose hands were still firmly clasped together.
"Well I'm alive, that's worth some fun."
"I'll drink to that," Phoebe smiled. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she told Cole, seriously.
"Promise."
"You okay?" Leo took his turn at asking that problematic question to Prue.
"I'm not sure."
"Piper?"
"Yeah. First the funeral, then all this thing with Paige, the Source… It's all so much in so little time and we didn't… mourn her. That's just not right."
"I think we'll have the rest of our lives for that," Phoebe told her.
"I'm still not sure about continuing on with this destiny thing. I need sometime to think about it. I hope you're okay with that," Prue looked to her sister.
"Absolutely."
"And I hope you're okay with it too," she turned to Leo.
"They may not be, but I am," he nodded. Just then, Paige walked up seeming very hesitant about the approach.
"So does this mean I get free drinks now?" Phoebe laughed. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. It's not that I really drink or… Okay. I'm just gonna go," she started to leave, but Leo stood and stopped her.
"No, Paige. You belong here, remember?"
"You sure? I don't want to intrude."
"Mmm. Come on. Come sit right here," she indicated the spot next to her. Cole stood and joined Leo. Paige sat.
"Okay, so, uh, maybe Leo and I should go uh… pretend like we got something better to do," Cole told the girls before leading Leo away.
"Good idea," Prue nodded.
"Yeah," Cole continued as the men walked off.
"I won't stay long. I just wanted to, uh, come by and thank you."
"For what?" Phoebe asked.
"For what? You mean, beside from saving my life?" Paige laughed. "I feel like I should bake you a cake or something," she spoke nervously.
"Do you cook?" Prue asked, wondering if that gene had been passed to her as well.
"No, no. Not really."
"So how's Shane?" Phoebe asked.
"He's okay, I guess, except I'm not too sure he wants to see me anymore."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Phoebe almost cringed.
"No. Can't say I blame him. You know? He doesn't know exactly what happened to him, but he knows it's something bad and he knows it's somehow connected to me."
"Yeah, well, you're not truly one of us until you've dated a demon, or a… really hot con man, so, welcome to the club," Prue smiled.
"Can I ask you a question?" Phoebe turned to Paige again.
"Hm-mmm."
"Why did you come to Piper's funeral? I mean, you never even met her, right?"
"No. I never did. I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but… I just feel like a part of me lost her too and I just… I felt drawn to her, to all you guys. I guess it was just a part of me trying to find out who I was." Prue and Phoebe looked at each other.
"Come on. There's something we need to show you," Prue stood.
"Show me what?" Paige asked, as she and Phoebe stood as well.
"What good magic can do," Phoebe led them toward the exit smiling.
So the new Sisters Three returned to Halliwell Manor, going up to the attic. As Phoebe placed the candles and lit them, Prue led Paige to stand just outside the circle before going around to the pedestal and finding the right page. Phoebe joined her, and together they intoned…
"Hear these words, hear my cry,
Spirit from the other side.
Come to me, I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
Within the circle of candles, bright lights began to appear before depositing the ghost of Patty Halliwell. Paige looked at her, and somehow she knew who this was. She began to cry.
"There's someone here we thought you should meet," Phoebe told her mother. Patty looked to the young woman standing there, almost in awe.
"Paige…"
"Mom?" she asked, her voice shaking with tears. Patty stepped out of the circle, corporealizing instantly. She opened her arms up and took Paige into them. Paige smiled, still crying as Patty stood back, still with her arms around her, to look into her eyes.
"Welcome home," she nodded warmly before hugging her again, as Prue and Phoebe looked on, feeling a wave of happiness rarely felt on this level. It didn't matter that it wasn't Piper, though they would always miss her, it didn't matter that they didn't know Paige all that good yet… Their sister had come home.