ACT I

Piper stared at Dan's figure in the doorway, still trying to comprehend what she was seeing. But something wasn't right. There was something about him being there that bothered her… it was as if he wasn't all there, like she was forgetting something about him that she should know. What annoyed her was that she couldn't think of what that something was.

Phoebe poked her head out from behind Piper. "Uh, hey, Dan," she greeted, a bit nervously.

Dan smiled at her. "Hey, Phoebe. How've you been?"

"Uh, I've been pretty okay…well, uh, not like bad okay, I mean, everything's been going pretty good… and not really great the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music okay either… just okay okay." Phoebe knew she was babbling, but she also couldn't understand why Dan was here why he was here now, especially now with everything being so topsy-turvy.

Paige looked from her sisters to Dan, confused. "You know Phoebe?" she asked him. She turned back to her sisters. "How do you know him?" she asked Piper and Phoebe.

"Well, uh, it's kind of a long, complicated story," Piper said.

"He's her ex-boyfriend," Phoebe answered. Piper glared at her. "What?" Phoebe asked. "It wasn't that long of a story."

"Obviously," Piper remarked, sarcastically. She turned back to Dan and smiled, agitated. "How have you been?" she asked him.

"Pretty good. I'm just here in San Francisco on some business so I just decided to drop by and say hey to all of you guys. Where's Prue?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Paige looked down at her feet as Piper tried to search for words to answer his question, but couldn't find them.

Dan looked to each of the sisters' faces, noticing their forlorn expressions. "What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Phoebe hesitated before finally answering, "Prue died, a few years back."

The look on Dan's face was one of genuine sorrow and pain. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I-I didn't know."

Phoebe smiled sadly at him. "That's okay, Dan. We totally understand. I mean, how could you have known? Don't worry about it." Piper still didn't say anything.

"I know, but, still," he looked at Piper who still couldn't look back at him, for fear that she would start crying, "I wish I could've been there for you." He looked at Phoebe. "For all of you. It must have been so hard."

Phoebe nodded. "It was. It still is. But it's better now. We're better now. Prue's at peace now… and we're doing our best to honor her memory. And we have Paige now who-"

"Paige?" Dan interrupted, confused. Paige waved at him from her little corner.

"Hi. That's me," she said.

"Uh, nice to meet you." Dan shook her hands, but he was still obviously puzzled. "Um, and who are-?"

"She's our half-sister," Piper interrupted.

Dan's face was one of surprise, but he quickly tried to hide it as he said, "Half-sister? Well, we do have a lot to catch up on, don't we?"

Phoebe grinned wryly at that comment. "You're not kidding."

"Um, do you want to come in?" Piper asked. "I can put some coffee on."

Dan smiled, but shook his head. "I would love to, but I can't. I'm meeting with some people later this afternoon. I just dropped in to say hello."

"Oh," Piper responded, not sure whether she was disappointed or relieved.

"But I was thinking maybe we could all go out tonight- you, me, Phoebe," he turned to Paige, "and you, too, of course."

Paige grinned at him. "Of course."

Dan turned back to Piper and Phoebe. "So what do you guys say?"

Dinner with Dan? Phoebe thought to herself. She wasn't sure if that was a good idea. This was just the worst time to have Dan back in town. The subject of Leo was sure to come up, and with Piper not remembering him… that could bring up a whole lot of questions that no one would be able to answer.

"By the way," Dan smiled, but it was an obviously forced one. "Where's Leo? Maybe he would like to… come."

Paige and Phoebe stiffened. Uh-oh, Paige said to herself.

Piper looked at Dan with a baffled expression. "Who's-"

"-ready for breakfast!" Phoebe interrupted Piper, trying to cover up the question she was about to ask. Phoebe started talking quickly, so as not to be interrupted. "I know we are, right, Paige?"

Paige caught on, quickly. "Oh, yeah! I'm starving."

"Dan," Phoebe said, as she headed over to him, "we know you got to go to that meeting or whatever so we won't keep you any more, okay? Bye!" Phoebe practically started shoving Dan out of the door.

"Okay, but what about dinner tonight?" he asked just as Phoebe nudged him out the door.

"Sure, yeah, 7:00, P3, okay? See you then! Bye!" She shut the door on his face, and sighed as she leaned against it. She looked over at Paige. "That was close."

"Uh, yeah," Paige replied.

Piper stared at her sisters. "What is up with you guys? You have been acting really strangely for a while now."

Phoebe shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "What do you mean? There's nothing wrong. We just didn't want him to miss his meeting."

Piper stared at her while, and then looked towards Paige. Paige nodded vehemently as to agree with what Phoebe had just said. Piper shook her head and started heading towards the stairs.

Phoebe and Paige looked at each other and both breathed a sigh of relief, simultaneously.

"You once said that Piper broke up with Dan because of Leo, right?" Paige asked.

Paige and Phoebe sat in the kitchen. Phoebe was filling in Paige more things from Dan and Piper's history.

"Yeah." Phoebe nodded. "She finally realized that, although she did love Dan, she loved Leo more."

"Well, did Dan take the news hard?"

"Well, actually, he took the news pretty well, considering the fact that he had suspected that Leo and Piper still had something going on while Piper and Dan were together."

"Did they?" Paige asked.

"Well, deep down, Piper knew that she still had feelings for Leo, but because of the whole witch/whitelighter thing, Piper didn't think the relationship could work out."

"She wasn't wrong," Paige remarked, sarcastically.

Phoebe didn't register that last comment as she stared into her coffee mug. "I probably shouldn't have agreed to dinner tonight with him at P3."

"Are you worried?" Paige asked.

"Well, yeah," Phoebe answered. "I mean, the subject of Leo will eventually come up, one way or another. I just can't keep interrupting and changing the subject. Piper and Dan will know that something's up, even though Piper will probably forget it later." Phoebe sighed, worriedly. "I don't know what to do."

Paige sighed, also. "Me neither." They both sat quietly looking down at the table for a while before Paige suddenly remarked, "I wonder if Piper and Dan will get back together."

Phoebe looked up quickly. "What?"

"Well, think about it. Piper broke up with him because of Leo, and, well, Leo's not around anymore. Not only that, Piper doesn't even remember that Leo was around. So what's to stop Dan and Piper from getting back together?"

"Well... he might be over her by now. He could even be married."

"Did you see a ring on his finger?" asked Paige.

"No, but-"

"Besides, I saw the way he looked at her today, and so did you. We both know that he's not over her."

Phoebe put her hands up to her face and groaned. "Oh, you're right, Paige! Oh, God, what are we gonna do?"

"Why do we have to anything?" Paige questioned. "Isn't this good? Now Piper can move on with her life with Dan. Dan's a nice, normal guy, right? I say, let romance work its own magic."

"But, Paige," Phoebe argued, "this isn't supposed to happen! It's not like Piper and Leo divorced. She just can't remember him."

"Leo left Piper anyway, remember?" Paige countered. "Even if she could remember him, they still wouldn't be together. Maybe there's a reason why she can't remember him. You know how Piper's always wanted a 'normal' life… or at least as normal as it is ever going to get. Maybe this is her chance to get some balance in her life… and find that nice, normal guy she's always wanted."

Before Phoebe could reply, the familiar twinkling of blue lights appeared in their kitchen. For a second, Phoebe thought it would be Leo, but then Chris's body appeared. He was holding a piece of blue cloth.

"We have a problem," was the first thing he said.

"Well, hello to you, too," Paige greeted, sarcastically.

Chris ignored the quip and continued. "A woman reported today that she was almost attacked by, what she described as, 'a tall, ugly mutant'."

"A mutant?" Paige inquired, incredulously.

"We should've expected it sooner or later," Phoebe said. "I mean, we've faced trolls, fairytale characters, and the Woogeyman, so why not the X-Men?"

"Just as long as it's not Wolverine," Paige joked. "He's too hot for me to have to vanquish." Phoebe and Paige both laughed.

Chris looked back and forth between Paige and Phoebe, angrily. "Do you guys think this is a joke?"

Phoebe looked up at him. "Come on, Chris. Lighten up. It's a probably just another demon. No biggie."

"This may not be just another demon," he countered. "And even if it is, you should still take it seriously."

"Okay, Dad," Paige replied.

"We're sorry, Chris," Phoebe apologized, trying to smooth things over. "We'll be serious." Paige did not look very sorry, but she didn't say anything. "How did the woman get away?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. I went to the crime scene and I managed to get this." He held out the blue cloth. "I wanted to see if you could get a premonition off of it," he said to Phoebe.

"I don't know." Phoebe took the cloth. "I'll try." She closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the blue cloth. Moments passed, but no premonition came.

"Well?" Chris asked, impatiently.

Phoebe opened her eyes in frustration. "I can't always get a premonition when I want to, Chris."

"Why not?"

"Because…" Phoebe didn't really know why. "Because I just can't."

"Well, try harder."

Phoebe sighed and closed her eyes again. This time, Phoebe felt the customary cold sensation come over her as she had a vision:

The place seemed oddly familiar to Phoebe, although she couldn't put a name to it. A woman kneeled, cowering, on the hard ground as a figure draped in a black cloak towered over her. The figure was getting ready to attack when, suddenly, it retreated. The figure continued to shrink back until it, then, turned and ran away. As the woman looked up, she opened her clenched fists and dropped a bright, shiny object onto the ground.

Phoebe snapped back to reality. She was breathless as she realized she knew what that shiny object was. It had belonged to Kevin, the mysterious man who they had met a few weeks ago. He was also the man who had almost brought Prue back… until he had been inexplicably vanquished. After his vanquish, the tiny object had disappeared.

Phoebe looked up at Chris and Paige, who stood watching her, expectantly.

"The place where the woman was found," Phoebe started, "where was that?"

"The alley behind Parker's Central," Chris answered.

Phoebe nodded; she knew that she had recognized that place. "The premonition I had took place in the past. I think I was seeing the woman who got attacked."

"So you saw what happened?" Paige asked.

Phoebe nodded her head again. She gazed up at Chris. "Did you find anything else at the crime spot?" Phoebe didn't think that the tiny item could have just disappeared.

However, Chris shook his head. "No. Why?"

Phoebe was about to answer, but she hesitated. For some reason, she didn't think she should tell Chris about the object. At least, not yet. "Just wondering," she finally answered. "We just need more to go by, that's all."

"So what do we do now?" Paige questioned.

Phoebe stood up. "We go demon-hunting. We should start at Parker's Central. See if we can find anything more. Piper!" Phoebe called as she, Paige, and Chris headed towards the front door.

Piper came down the stairs, dressed in a sweater and slacks. "What is it?"

"We have a demon to find," Paige told her.

"Now? But what about our dinner with Dan?"

"We should be back in plenty of time," Phoebe answered. "Let's go."

As the sisters put on their coats, Chris said, "I'll check with the Elders and see if they know anything."

Piper froze in the process of putting on her coat as she felt the, now well-known, wave of déjà vu washing over her. She had been feeling that she was forgetting something for a while now. It frustrated her that she couldn't remember what she was forgetting.

"Okay," Phoebe said, interrupting Piper's thoughts. "Check back with us later. Come on, you guys," Phoebe said to her sisters.

Piper finished putting on her coat and followed Paige and Phoebe out into the cold night, closing the door behind her.

Chris stood alone in the manor, staring at the closed door. Then, he put his hands into his jean pocket and pulled out the small, shiny article Phoebe had seen in her premonition. He looked at it, deep in thought. Finally, he put it back into his pocket and orbed out.

END OF ACT I