By the time Leo returned, the candles were in a circle and lit, the spell ingredients were sitting ready on a small table in front of the circle, and the witches were reading over the spell.
"The elders said that Willow's essence is good. She is very powerful, and having overcome the dark magic seems to have only increased her power. They did suggest she stand in the middle so the two of you have as much influence as possible, just in case something goes wrong."
The women nodded and moved to their positions.
"So it's a go?" Paige asked.
"It's a go. Whenever you are ready." Leo responded.
Paige, Willow, and Piper moved to stand in front of the table. Taking a deep breath together, they focused on the spell. The others stood silently to the side. Dawn, Buffy, and Xander crossed their fingers.
As they said the spell, Piper couldn't help but think about Prue. It wasn't fair that the elders hadn't let them use this spell for her.
Willow, for her part, was thinking about Tara in the back of her mind, as she nearly always did, no matter what she was doing. She felt like she was mourning her girlfriend's loss all over again, having temporarily realized she might be able to bring her back to life.
Luckily for the spell, Paige was only thinking about Phoebe, having never met either Prue or Tara.
At first, nothing happened. Then slowly, in the circle, something started to happen. The witches continued to focus. They stared in amazement as not one but three forms began to appear. As they came into focus, it was clear that something odd had happened.
Three women were standing in the circle, wearing togas reminiscent of the goddess dresses the Charmed Ones had worn last year. Phoebe was in the middle, as planned. But flanking her were Tara and Prue.
Willow's jaw dropped. "Tara! What are you doing here? What happened?"
At the same time Piper gasped. "Prue? But…how can that be?"
The women looked around cautiously.
"It's okay. You can leave the circle. Leo, what happened?" Paige demanded.
"I don't know. Maybe this is one of the dangers? Bringing along extras?" he guessed.
Prue stepped out of the circle. Piper rushed to her.
"Prue! Oh my god, Prue!"
Prue backed up. "Prue? You bring me back from the dead and all you can think about is Prue?"
Meanwhile, Paige moved to Phoebe. "Are you okay? Oh god I hope it worked right. I mean except for the bringing back other people. Oh Phoebe we were so worried about you!"
Phoebe shrunk back. "W-who are y-you? Wh-where am I?"
Tara was still standing in the circle, shaking and looking around wide-eyed. Willow cautiously approached her.
"I can't believe it's really you." She tried to caress Tara's face and tuck her hair behind her ears but Tara moved back, fear in her eyes.
"Oh baby, you are afraid I did black magic to bring you back! No, no, I would not do that. It was an accident, I guess….we were trying to bring Phoebe back, with white magic that the elders told us to use. I guess that doesn't make it much better to you though, you always said we shouldn't mess with life and death…" she trailed off as the girl in front of her continued to stare blankly at her.
Willow walked over to where Xander, Buffy, and Dawn were watching in amazement.
"She..she does't remember me! Or she's mad at me, and really could you blame her? She must have seen all that bad stuff I did…" Willow started crying.
"WHAT! What do you mean you are Phoebe?" Piper shrieked, catching the attention of the Scoobies who had been preoccupied with the appearance of Tara.
Prue flinched. "I just told you. I'm Phoebe. I don't know why I am in Prue's body. Why am I here anyway? What the hell did you do? Why am I here in Prue's body, and who's in mine, and who the hell is that?" she pointed to Tara.
"Um, I don't know. Maybe Prue is in your body?" Piper suggested. They all looked at Phoebe, who backed up a little more and wrapped her arms around her chest.
"N-no…I'm n-not…" she stammered, looking back at the Scoobies.
Willow walked forward. "Tara? Is that you?" she asked softly.
The girl nodded slightly. "I th-think s-so…"
"Tara? Your girlfriend Tara who died?" Piper asked.
Willow nodded. "But that's her body." She said, pointing at Tara's body.
"So Prue must be in Tara's body. They are all mixed up." Piper mused.
"Um, why are they all here in the first place? What did you do? How did you bring us back to life?" Phoebe-in-Prue asked.
"We were trying to bring you back, Phoebe. When you died…I guess the elders care more about the Charmed Ones than they let on. They gave us a spell to do. To bring you back and restore the Power of Three. We don't know why Prue and Tara came back too, or why you are all in the wrong bodies." She tried to explain.
"Hey, but we can fix that!" Paige cut in. "Remember that time I accidentally switched bodies with Phoebe? We can use that potion to get them back in the right bodies!"
"That's a good idea…it might make them feel better to be in the right places." She looked at Prue-in-Tara and Tara-in-Phoebe, who both looked terrified. "Did you write it down?"
"Yeah, it's in the potion notebook, in the kitchen." She rushed out of the room and down the stairs.
"You all okay over there?" Piper adressed the Scoobies, who were just standing in the corner staring at the women in togas.
"Yeah, it's just…Tara.." Buffy tried to explain.
"I know what you mean. Well I guess we should try to switch them back. Let's go downstairs. It shouldn't take too long for Paige to make that potion."
Phoebe-in-Prue and the Scoobies started downstairs. Tara-in-Phoebe and Prue-in-Tara didn't move.
"Tara? Honey, I know it's a lot to deal with but we have to go downstairs to get you in the right body, okay?" Willow said gently. She reached out her hand tentatively towards what looked like Phoebe but her heart told her was Tara. To her surprise, Tara-in-Phoebe actually took it and followed her down the stairs.
"Prue….we have to go too." Prue-in-Tara looked at Piper like she had just suggested they walk into a demon party. It took a full ten minutes to convince her to go downstairs.
Paige was almost done with the potion.
"Okay Phoebe, remember, you take the powdered toadstool and say who you want to be as you drop it in." She reminded her sister. "I think we said something like 'I want to be me.'"
"Will that fix the other two?" Phoebe-in-Prue asked.
"I think it will just switch you and the girl in your body. But then we can do it again to fix them." Paige said.
"Okay here goes. I want to be me."
Phoebe-in-Prue and Tara-in-Phoebe both went limp and fell to the floor.
"Tara! What did you do to her!" Willow demanded.
"Just wait. This happened before." Paige explained.
Both girls began to stir.
"Did it work?" asked Phoebe as she opened her eyes. She looked down. "I guess it did."
Tara-in-Prue looked down at herself. Willow moved over to the new body that her precious Tara was now in.
"Are you okay? They said we could do it again to get you into your own body. I think you are going to have to do the spell though, because she doesn't seem to be talking." She indicated the girl in Tara's body, who had yet to say anything and was sort of rocking back and forth like someone in a mental institution. "Do you think you can do it?"
"All you have to do is take some of this powdered toadstool and say 'I want to be me,' just like Phoebe did." Paige said encouragingly.
"I th-think I c-can." Tara-in-Prue whispered.
"I know you can." Willow said, and handed her the bowl of toadstool.
"I w-want to b-be me." Tara-in-Prue said softly, and promptly fell over again, along with Prue-in-Tara.
Willow moved to Tara's real body and cradled her head. Tara's eyes fluttered open.
"Willow." She breathed, and closed them again, relaxing into Willow's arms.
Suddenly it fully hit Willow what had happened. Tara was back. Tears of joy streamed down her face as she rocked the blonde woman gently.
Phoebe and Piper were hugging Prue, who was numbly allowing it but not reciprocating.
"I think maybe we should all have a rest." Phoebe announced. "You'd be amazed at how tiring coming back from the dead is." She tried to joke. "Thanks for bringing me back." She said quietly and more seriously.
Piper squeezed her. "I just told them no way was I losing you. I told Leo to find a way." She said tearfully.
"I know." The sisters spent a moment hugging each other.
"Okay, well I'm going to go up to bed. Or…maybe Prue should go to my room…it's the most the same from before…three years ago I mean."
"Good idea. Familiar things will help." Buffy said helpfully, remembering how shocking the few changes in her house had been when she had come back from the dead.
"Okay then. I'll sleep in your room Piper, is Wyatt up there?"
Piper nodded. "I'll come check on him. And Tara, you can sleep in Paige's room."
"Tara, honey, is that okay? Do you want to go take a nap?" Willow asked.
Tara nodded her head sleepily.
Willow and Buffy helped get Tara up the stairs again to Paige's room. Dawn followed, not speaking but not taking her eyes off of the blonde witch.
They helped Tara get into bed and tucked her in but she grabbed Willow's hand. "S-stay?" she asked timidly.
"Of course I'll stay if you want me to." She answered eagerly, slipping into bed to hold her lost love.
Dawn grinned at the picture they made, Willow's right arm wrapped around Tara's shoulder with Tara's head pillowed on Willow's breast.
"We'll be downstairs if you need us, okay Will?" Buffy whispered.
Willow nodded as they left the room and turned out the lights.
"I can't believe this is really real. That Tara is back again." Dawn said in amazement as they went back downstairs to join the others.
"I know. I wonder why though. And Dawn, you have to remember how hard this must be for her. She was there for a long time." She reminded her sister.
"I know, I know. But she already seems better. Tired, but not like crazy like that Prue does. Or even, even like you were. I mean she knows Willow, and she wanted her to sleep with her. That's gotta be good right?"
"Yeah, it does seem that way." Buffy agreed. "I'm worried about Willow though. I mean she's wanted Tara back for so long, but what if Tara isn't ever the Tara we remember? How's Will going to deal with that?"
"Maybe she won't have to. I mean, you aren't so different. I mean you changed but everyone changes over time right? And you are still you. Tara still seems like herself too." Dawn said, refusing to be pessimistic about Tara's sudden reappearance. "Let's not worry until we have to. Let's be happy that Tara's back."